British cavalry scouts over looking the field where the cavalry charged as describe by Lt-Col. Osburn takes place. Notes with the photos say taken only a few days before the charge.

Lt.-Col. Arthur Osburn said "Two troops (were) sent out to reconnoitre followed by practically the whole brigade. The Germans on seeing a comparatively large mass of cavalry suddenly let loose and galloping towards them, got a bad attack of nerves.

Why, it is hard to understand, for the network of hedges, wire fences, allotments, trolley lines and other obstructions made it unlikely that our cavalry would ever reach either their infantry or guns.

But nearly every German gun within range had at once let out on to the small area on which our cavalry were moving.

Presumably to counter this our field and horse artillery had also been compelled to open fire, thus disclosing prematurely their own position.

For the German infantry, imagining themselves to be really threatened also by this charge of British cavalry, had taken it seriously and checked their advance.  As every rifle and machine gun on their side was now also blazing away at our desperate and rather objectless cavalrymen.

Some eventually got over to a sugar factory, from where they were soon driven out by machine gun fire. Hundreds crashed amongst the railway lines, horses tripped on the low signal wires or pitched headlong breaking their riders necks, into ballast pits near the railway, some even reached the hedge and wooden palings bounding the allotments on the far side of the railway, fairly terrifying the Germans".

An unknown German soldier later said of the skirmish "by their (the British) reckless and meaningless rush, some few actually galloped under this terrific fire through a half circle of 2 miles and survived".

Source "I was there" magazine (1930).