In Flanders, in 1917, a spy is suspected to have infiltrated the Allied lines. A sentry is posted at “the Gap” with orders not to let anyone through without a pass from the General. Before long, an officer by the name of Boyd Heron attempts to pass and is challenged by the sentry.
Note: Barrowsgate wrote at least two versions of this story. It was originally set, not in Flanders but in the Flers sector of the Somme, and the sentry was an ANZAC soldier. In December 1916 and early 1917, Barrowsgate was in the trenches at Flers where, perhaps not co-incidentally, there was a trench called “Fish Alley”, with a gap or “switch trench”. The Brigadier General in the story was most likely modelled on Ewen George Sinclair-Maclagan, who commanded the 3rd Brigade AIF, of which Barrowsgate’s 10th Battalion was a part.
The version published in the Buchan Observer has clearly been modified for a Scottish readership and expanded to fill his column.