1st September 1914, Krishouten.
Lieutenant Commander Samson had taken a Rolls Royce car out to scout the German lines and to recover a downed Short S.41 aircraft, this aircraft had been undertaking reconnaissance when it had gone down. The report from one of the outlying cavalry squadrons had been telegraphed through to the R.N.A.S. base near Ghent and Samson had set off immediately to find the Aircrew and recover them.
He was aware of the presence of German Cavalry units in the vicinity, so he took a pair of cars, he had managed to acquire a pair of Belgian Hotchkiss guns. These guns were mounted in the cars so that they could be used by a man stood in the passenger compartment of the car and fired whilst on the move.
Their initial mission had been highly successful, they had recovered the Pilot, Observer and the camera which the observer was using to take photographs. Unfortunately as they attempted to return they found their way blocked by advancing German Cavalry units.
This necessitated a long detour to get in front of the advancing Germans before returning to the British lines, their detour had been made more complex by the huge numbers of Belgian civilians still fleeing on foot away from the German advance.
They had finally outpaced the invader as they entered Krishouten, there they found the Belgian Garde Civique had constructed a barricade across the main road. After convincing them that they were British and not German, a task assisted by the White Ensign which they were flying from the lead vehicle and the horrible schoolboy French of Lt Commander Sampson. They agreed to assist the Belgians with the initiation of an ambush on the first German unit to enter the town. With that in mind they positioned the two cars on the edge of an adjacent wood, this position gave them the ability to enfilade the Germans as they shook out of marching order to attack the town when they encountered the barricade. They did not intend to stay for long, the Belgians would be routed and in keeping with the brutal methods which the Germans had adopted, likely any survivors would be shot. But in this war, anything which delayed the seemingly unstoppable flood of German units across Belgium was worthwhile.
A unit of German Lancers had appeared and was trotting forward on the road into Krishouten, the road made a sharp turn by the old church, which was the centre of village life. Hidden from view by the church and the turn in road, the barricade was of relatively sturdy construction, it consisted of several farm wagons which had been overturned, timber baulks and piles of bricks had also been piled up as breastworks behind the wagons. The Garde Civique unit which consisted of 35 men, had most of them on the barricade itself, a number however had chosen the bell tower of the church as a position from which to fire, whilst a few more were concealed in the buildings which overlooked the barricade.
The Lancer unit, which was in approximately squadron strength paused before the village, a few horsemen peeled off from the column and road to the nearby farmhouses to check for threats. A single troop, then trotted forward into the village, their nonchalant entrance was met by heavy gunfire and the rapid retreat of many of the horsemen and riderless horses.
The squadron commander gave an order, and the column began to advance with half the cavalry riding to enter the town and the other half clearly moving to out flank the defenders by riding between the town and the wood. This would place them astride both the gardes line of retreat but also and more importantly that of Lt Commander Sampson and his party. Fortunately for Sampson as the cavalry split they were in such a position as to be easily fired on by his two machine guns. This commenced with the Hotchkiss guns sending bursts of fire down range onto the German cavalry. The first fire had taken them completely by surprise and had been devastating more than 15 horses had been downed and their pain could be heard over the hammer of the guns. The flanking unit seemed unsure of where the fire was coming from, the village or the wood, they wavered, an opportunity to reload both guns, firing as they did from 24 round strips this was something that would be required many times in this brief engagement. The fire resumed and the more cavalrymen fell. Determining them not to be a threat with a third their number unhorsed or dead Sampson directed the fire be moved onto the other column. They had bunched up before the Belgian defenders, trying to deal with the Garde Civique, they had not noticed the ambush of their compatriots nor the sound of the machine gun firing. Their position was well chosen, the cavalry had taken cover from the barricade and were tying down the Belgians effectively, small groups of cavalry were also trying to work around the defenders in the buildings but clearly they were going to rely on the other column taking the Belgians in the rear. The machine guns began firing on them, the first group to be taken under fire were the horse holders that were on the edge of the village. Soon they were down, shot or kicked by panic horses, Sampson could not tell but the guns had done a fearsome execution amongst both horse and man. The next target was the cavalry taking cover from the barricade, their positions for the most part were effective against the Garde Civique but did not consider what was on their flanks, and the pounding of the heavy machine guns were soon to be heard. Like the flanking column the attacking cavalry began to retreat, almost immediately retreat became rout, leaving the dead and wounded scattered on the road way.
Returning to fire on the flanking column, Sampson worked them over again before he ordered his men to retire, they packed up and drove off. Leaving one of the leading units of the German First Army bleeding in their wake.
The return to the British lines was uneventful after that, though petrol was running short by the time they got back to Ghent. Sampson sent a brief report to his HQ and included a copy for the 3rd army intelligence officers to consider.
He reviewed the action in his own mind, taking the view that whilst they had managed to damage the Germans out of all proportion to their numbers, had they run into a well-positioned machine gun they would have been destroyed. He also took the view that had he had a wireless unit, he could have provided intelligence on the positions of the German units he encountered rapidly, rather than after he returned to the British lines.