The War was Nearly Lost - I Helped to Smash the Prussians, by Pte HJ Polley | 31 October 1914 | Episode 44

October 31, 1914, has been called the most critical day of the whole 1914-18 war for the British and their allies. Then it was that the Germans came within an ace of breaking the thin British line and smashing their way through to the Channel ports, the capture of which would have added immeasurably to the difficulties of the Allies. Pte. Polley, of the 2nd Battn. Bedfordshire Regiment, tells of his experience at that time in simple, vivid phrases, first in the excitement of advance and after in the grim hours of defence.