Read "The Great War in England in 1897" by William le Queux online for free on Textopian. Full text with search, annotations, highlights, and AI-powered reading aids.
Our valiant defenders were striking swift, decisive blows for England's honour. The French, demoralised by their severe defeat in the south of London, and suffering considerable loss in every other direction, fought desperately during the two days following the disastrous bombardment.
In darkness and sunlight fierce contests took place along the Surrey Hills, where our Volunteers, under Major-Gen. Lord Methuen, were still entrenched. Every copse bristled with rifles; red coats gleamed among the foliage, and winding highways were, alas! strewn with corpses. Guildford had again been reoccupied by our Regulars, who were reorganising; and Leatherhead, holding out for another day, was retaken, after a terribly hard-fought battle, by the Highland, South of Scotland, and Glasgow Brigades, with the 1st Ayrshire and Galloway Artillery, under Col. J. G. Sturrock, V. D.; 1st Lanarkshire, under Col. R. J. Bennett, V. D.; 1st Aberdeenshire, under Col. J. Ogston, V. D.; and 1st North Riding Yorkshire Volunteer Artillery, under Major C. L. Bell.