A soldier of the /çt.h Oxfordshire
and Buckinlhamshire Lilht Infantry
THE STORY OF
7-ho 214rb Oxfordshire an
7u«ngh«m«bir« Ligbt InJa,try
&tt, i, q. &. ïosï, ».c.
Bri E. -Genl.
II'ITH A PREFACE BY
lhe Hon. R. IVHITE, C.B., C.M.G., D.S.O.
(late Commander 184th InfantJy Brigade)
AND MN INTRODUCTION BY
Colonel II: H. AME& 7:D.
IITI'H MAPS AND ILLUSTRA TIONS BY THE AUTHOR
OXFORD
B. Il. 13LACKIVELL, 13ROAD STREET
MCMXX
LIST {)F PI.ATES
A Soldier of the Battalion - -
Colonel V T. H. Ames, T.D. - -
Pay-day for 'A' Co,mpany - -
Robecq fro.m the So.uth - - ,,
Brigadier-General the Hon. R. \Vhitc, C.B. -
A Front-line Post ....
Company Sergeant-Major E Brooks, V.C. -
Vlamertinghe--The Road to Ypres -
Hill 35, from an aeroplane photograph - -
A Street in Arras ......
' Tank Dump ' - ....
In a German gun-pit near Gavrelle - - -
The Çanal du Nord at Vtres ....
Lieut.-Colonel H. E. de R. \Vetherall, D.S.O., I.C.
Robecq. OId Iill and Bridge - - -
The Headquarters Runners, July, 918 - -
Corporal A. \Vilco.x, V.C. - - - -
Officers of the Baltalion, Decemt}cr, 9,q - -
84th Infantr.# Brigade Staff - -
The Adjutant. Cambrai. The Battalio«a Coks -
Lieut.-Colo«ael E. I. \Voulfe-Flanagan, C. 1 I.G., D. S. O.
R.S.M. \V. Hedley, I).C.5I. R.Q.M.S. Hedges
Fro»tispiece
Facing page i
, 19
- 4 8
- {}9
- IO1
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3î
'44
46
84
199
-'9
220
221
ILI.USTRATIC)NS IN THE TEXT
\Vinchester Trench - - ] I
The .larch to the Somme -
Somme Trench Map - - - 37
Maison l'o«athieu .... 45
Harbonni&res - - - 5 °
The Ablainco,urt Sector .... 57
A Duckboarded Communication Trench - - 73
The Advance to St. Quentin - - - 83
The Raid near St. Quentin - - - 95
Arras : The Grande Place .... o
Noeux Village ...... 3
Poperinghe from the \\'est ....
The Attack of August ;;, i9.i 7 .... 123
The Attack on Hill 35 - - - 33
The Retreat behind the Somme ....
Bird's-eye Map of the Robecq Area - - - 8o
The Nieppe Forest ..... 202
Merville Church .....
Battalion H.Q. at Chapelle Boom - - :c 9
CONTENTS
PAGF
INTRODUCTION ..... I
ÇHAI"rER I. LAVENITIE, May to October, I916 - 8
The 6Ist I)ivisio« lands in France.--Instruction.--The
Laventie sector.--Trench warfare at its height.--Moberl.v
wounded.--B Company's rMd.--Front and back areas.--
July Ig.--Changes in the Battalion.--A Company's raid.--
A projected attack.--Laventie days.--Departure for the
So.mme.
Ç.XPTV.R II. THÈ .";OMIXlE B.OETTLEFIELD, Novem-
ber, 1916 - - - 19
Departure from Laventie.--At Robecq.--Thc match
southwards.--Rest at Neuvillette.--Contav \Vood.--Albert.
--New trenches.--Battle conditions.--Relieving the front
line.--Desire Trench.--Regina dug-o,ut.--Mud and darkness.
--A heavy barrage.--Fortunes of Headquarters.--A painfu|
relief.--Martinsart \Vood.
CH.XPTER III. CHRISTMAS ON THE SOMME,
December, I916 - - 33
The more from Martinsart to Hedauville.--Back to
Martinsart.--\Vorking parties.--Dug-outs at Mouquet Farm.
--Field Trench.--Return to the front line.--Gettlng touch.--
Guides.--An historic patrol.--Christmas in the trenches.
CHAPTER IX'. AT MAISON PONTHIEU, January--
February, I9I 7 .... 42
Visitors to the Battalion.--The New Year.--A wintrv
march,.--Arrival at Maiso.n Ponthieu.--Severe weather.--At
war with the cold.--Training for offensive action.--By rail
t(> Marcelçave.--Billets at Rainecourt.--Reconnoitring" the
French line near Dani6court.
vi CONTENTS.
PAGE
CItPTE k'. IN 'THEABLAINCOURT SECTOR,
February, 1917 - - - .53
(;erman retreat foreshadoxved.--The Battalion takes over
the Ablaincourt Sector.--Issues in the making.--Lieutenant
Fry mortally wounded.--The raid by German storm-troops
on February zS.--Tbe raid explained.
C«.PaER VI. LIFE IN THE FRONT LINE, \Vinter,
916--1917 - _ 67
Ignorance of civilians and non-combatants.--The front
line posts.--Hardships and dangers.--Support platoons.--
The Company Otficers.--The Battalion relieved by the
8_nd Brigade.
CHAPTER Vil. THE ADVANCE TO ST. QUENTIN,
Match to April, 1917. - - - 77
Tbe enemy's retirement.--Road-mending in No-Man's-
Land.--The devastated area.--Open warfare.--Tbe Montolu
campaign.--Operations on the Omignon river.--oEhe 6ISt
Division relieved belote St. Quentin.--End of trench-warfare.
CHAPTER VIII. THE RAID AT FAYET, April, 1917 89
A German vantage-point.--Shell-ridden Holnon.--A night
of confusion.--Preparing for the raid o.f April 28.--The
enemy taken by surprise.--The Battalion's first V.C.--The
affair at Cepy Farm.
CHAPTFR IX. ARRAS .\ND AFTER\VARDS, May,
June, july, 917 - - - 103
Relief by the French at St. Quentin.--A new Command-
ing Officer.--At the Battle of Arras.--Useful work by
A Company.---Harassing fire.--A cave-dwelling.--At Berna-
ville and Noeux.In G.H.Q. reserve.--A gas alarm by
General Hunter \Veston.--The Ypres arena.
C«,EI X. THE THIRD BATTLE OF YPRES,
August, 19i 7 - - - 1 16
A Battalion landmark.--Poperinghe and Ypres.--At
Goldfish Château.--The attack near St. Julien on August
--Its results.--A mud-locked battle.---The back-area.--Mus-
tard gas.--Pill-box warfare.
CONTENTS. vii
PA(E
(-'H-PTER NI. THE ATT.\CK ON HILL 35, Septcm-
ber, 9î ....
Iberian, Hill 35, and Gallipoli.--The Battalion ordered
to make the seventh attempt against Hill 35.--The task.--
A and D Companies selected.--The assemblv position.--
Gassed by out own side.--\Vaiting for zero.£-The attack.
--Considerations governing its failure.--The Battalion quits
the Ypres battlefield.
CHAI'TER Xll. .\U'I'UMN .\T .\RR.\S .\ND THE
MOVE TO CAMBRAI, October,
November, December, 19 7 - - 142
The Battalion's return to Arras.--A quiet front.--The
Brigadier and his staff.--.\ novelty iii tat'tics.--B Comp«uly's
raid.--A sudden move.--The Cambrai ffont.--Havrincourt
\Vood.--Christmas at Suzanne.
CIIAI'TER Xlll. THE GRE.\T GERM.\N .\TT.\CK
OF .Xl \RCH 2I, January--March,
918. - _ _ _ 56
The French relieved' on the St. Ouentin front.--The calm
belote the storm.--A golden age.--The XVarwick raid.--
The German attack launched.--Defence of Enghien Redoubt.
--Counter-attack by the Royal Berks.--Holnon Vood lost.--
The battle for the Beauvoir line.--The enemy breaks
through.
CHM'TER X1V. THE BRITISH RETRE.\T, March,
J98 .... 65
Rear-guard acti.ons.--iThe Somme crossings.--Bennett
relieved by the 2oth Division at Voyennes.--Davenport with
mixed troops ordered to counter-attack at Ham.--Daven-
port killed.--The enemy crosses the Somme.--The stand bv
the 84th Infantry Brigade at Nesle.--Colonel \Vethera[1
wounded.--Counter-attack against La Motte.--Bennett cap-
tured.--The Battalion's sacrifice in the great battle.
CHAi'TER XV. THE B.\T, TLE OF THE LYS, .\pril
--May, 1918 - - - 173
Effects of the German offensive.--The Battalion amalga-
mated with the Bucks.--Entrainment for the Merville area.
--A dramatic journey.--The enemy break-through on the
VIl1 CONTENTS.
Lys.--The Battalion marches into action.--The defence ol
Robecq.---Operations of April iz, 3, i4.--The fight for
Baquerolle Farm.--A troublesome flank.--Billeted in St.
Venant.--The lunatic asvlum.-La Pierri?re.--The Robecq
sector.
ÇHAPTVR XVI. q'HE TURXIX(; O1: THE "IIDE,
May, .lune, July, August, 19,18 192
Rations and the Battalion Transpcwt.--At La Lacque.--
The bombing of Aire.--General Mackenzie obliged bv his
ound to leave the Division.--Return of Colonel Vetherall.
--Tripp's Farm on fire.--A mysterious epidemic.--A period
wandering.----The match from Pont Asquin to St. Hilaire.
--X/ieppe Forest.Attack hy ,\ and t3 Companies on
.\ugust 7.Headquarters gassed.--A new Colonel.--The
B:ttalion goes a-reaping.
CII.\PTER XVII. LAST ILYT'I'LES, August to Decem-
ber, 9 .... 2o8
ç;erman retreat from the Lvs.--Orderlv Room and its
staff.--The new devastated are«L---It«hin Frm, Merville and
Neuf 13erquin.--Mines and booby-traps.--Advance to the
Lvs.--Estaires destroyed.--Laventie revisited.--The attack
on Junction l'ost.--Lance-Corporal Vilcox, V.C.--Scaveng-
ing at the XI Corps sch.ool.--On the Aubers ridge.The
end in sight.--Move to Cambrai.--In action near Bermerain
and Maresches.--A fine success.--Domart and Demobilisa-
tion.--VCork at Etaples.--Off to Egypt.
COMi'OSIFION OF THE IATIALION ON (;OINt_; OVERSEAS - 22I
,, , ,, AT THE ARMISTICE - 222
INDEX ...... ", ", "
AIITHOR'S PREt«ACK
ll,z cordial thanks are due to mv old Brigadier
for his kindness and trouble in riting the Preface,
and also to Colonel Ames for contributing the Intro-
duction.
From manv friends in the Regiment I have re-
ceived information and assistance.
This book is based on a series of articles, which
appeared in the Oac/ord Times during the summer
of i9i 9. The project, of which this volume is the
outcome, was assisted bv that newspaper and bv
the courtesv of its staff.
G. K. ROSE.
OXFORD, November I9IC).
PREFACE
M" friend, Major G. K. Rose, has set out to
describe the doings of the "J4th Oxfordshire and
Buckingharnshire Light Infantry during the Great
\Var.
If I judge his purpose rightly, he designs to
paint v, ithout exaggeration and without depreciation
a picture which shall recall hot E, nlv now, but more
especially in the davs to corne, the wonderful years
during which we ceased to be individuals pursuing
the ordinary avocations of lire and becarne indeed
a hand of brothers, linked together in a cornmon
cause and inspired, however subconsciously, bv one
cornrnon hope and interest. If I arn correct in mv
surmise, then I think that Major Rose has written
partiçularly for his cornrades o,f the e/4th Oxfords
and, in a wider serse, of the I84th Infantry Briffade
and the 61st Division. And in doingthis he seerns
to me to be perforrninff a great service.
Unfettered by the necessitv of drawing an
attractive picture and of appealinff to the natural
desire of the general reader for drarnatic and sen-
sational episode, he can relv on his readers to fill
in for thernselves the ernotional and psychological
as.pects of the narrative. \Ve, his cornrades, have
but to turn the pages of his storv to lire again those
rnarvellous davs and to feel the hopes and fears,
the pathos and the fun, the exciternent and the
weariness, and the hundred other ernotions which
gave to lire in the Great \Var a sense of adventure
which we can hardlv hope to savour again.
xii PREFACE.
It is perhaps right that those who through poor
health, age, bad luck or other causes, were unable
to leave home and take an {ctive part in the lire
of the front line, should generously speak of their
more fortunate compatriots as 'heroes.' The term
is somewhat freely used in these davs. I am,
however, happy to think that the British oflïcer and
soldier is hot apt to consider himsclf in that light
and has, indced, a distinct aversion from being so
described. Rathcr does he pride himself, in his
quiet wav, on his light-hearted and stoical indiffer-
ente to danger and discomfort and his power to
see the comical and cheerv side of even the most
appalling incidents in war. Long mav this be so.
Viewed in this light, Major Rose's book will in
af ter vears give a true picture of the experiences
of an English Territorial Battalion in the 'Great
Adventure.' Shorn of fictitious glamour, events are
narrated as the.v presented themselves to the regi-
mental oflïcers, non-commissioned oflïcers, and men
who bore the heat and burden of the dav.
Having said so much, I ma} be allowed to think
that Major Rose is almost too reticent and modest
as regards the splendid record of his Battalion.
After the 'big push' of July, 96, on the
Somme, I had the honour to be promoted to the
command of the 84th Infantrv Brigade, 6st Divi-
sion. In September I round the Brigade occupying
a portion of the line in front of Laventie, just north
of Neuve Chapelle. The 6st Division, recentlv
landed from England and before it had had time
to 'feel its feet,' had to be pushed into an attack
against the enemv's position in front of the Aubers
PRAC. xiii
ridge. In this attack it suffered severe losses. The
DMsion, naturally, was burning to 'get its own
back.' Unfortunately it had for some weeks to
content itself with routine work in the Flanders
trenches.
In this connection I mav remark that the 6ist
Division had an unduly large share of the 'dirtv
work' of demonstrations, secondary operations, and
taking over and holding nasty parts of the line.
Those who have been through this mill will sympa-
thise, knowing how credit was apt to go to those
who took part in the first 'big push' rather than to
the luckless ones who had to relieve attacking divi-
sions and take over the so-called trenches which had
been won from the enemv.. Those trenches had to
be consolidated under a constant and accurate bom-
bardment. However, grumbling was not the order
of the da), and durinR the last vear of the war the
6st Division came into its own. It received in
frequent mentions and thanks from the Commander-
in-Chief and the higher command the just reward
for its loyal spade work and splendid fi.o.9.-hting
qualities.
In November, 96, the I84th Infantry BriRade
and the 2/4th Oxford and Bucks Light Infantrv
found themselves, as the narrative shows, on classic
ground near Mouquet Farm. Here I was first
thrown into close contact with the Battalion and
learned to know and value it. The work was, if
vou like, mere routine, mere holding the line. But
what a line! Shall we ever forget Regina and
Desire trenches, with their phenomenal mud and
filth" or Rifle Dump and Sixteen Street and Zollern
XiV PREFACE.
Redoubt--and Martinsart Wood and the 'rest'
there? Names, names! but with what memories!
I ara tempted to follow the fortunes of the
Battalion through the varied scenes of its experi-
ence. I should like to talk of happy mornings
' round the line' with Colonel or Adjutant, or cheerv
lunches with good comrades in impossibly damp
and filthy dug-outs, of midnight assemblies before,
and early-morning greetings after, successful raids,
and of how we inspected Boche prisoners, machine-
guns and other 'loot.'
I should like to recall memories of such com-
rades as Bellamy and Wetherall, Cuthbert, Bennett,
Davenport, ' Slugs' Brown, Rose, ' Bob" Abraham,
Regimental Sergeant-Major Douglas, Compan)
Sergeant-Major Brooks, V.C., and a host of other
friends of ail ranks.
I look back with pride on man)- stirring inci-
dents.
Among these I recall the raid near St. Quentin
on April 28, 1917, admirably planned and carried
out b)" Captain Rose and his company, and result-
ing in the capture of two machine-ffuns and prisoners
of the 3rd Prussian Jaeger regiment, three com-
panies of which were completely surprised and out-
flanked by the dashing Oxford assault. On this
occasion Company Sergeant-Major Brooks de-
servedly won the V.C. and added lustre to the grand
records of his regiment.
Equally gallant was the fine stand made by the
Oxfords on August 22 and 23, i9Iî, in front of
Ypres. Captain Moberly and his brave comrades,
surrounded bv the enemy and completely isolated,
PREFACE. XV
stuck doggedly for 48 hours to the trench which
marked the furthest point of the Brigade's objec-
tive.
Few battalions of the British Armx could boast
a finer feat of arms than the holding of the Enghien
Redoubt bv Captain Rowbotham, 2nd Lieutenant
Cunningham, Regimental Sergeant-Major Douglas
and some 5o men of D Company and Battalion
Headquarters. From o.3o a.m. till 4.3o p.m. on
March 2, 98, these brave soldiers, enormouslv
outnumbered and completely surrounded, stemmed
the great tide of the German attack and bv their
devoted self-sacrifice enabled their comrades to
withdraw in good order. 2nd Lieutenant Cunning-
haro, the sole surviving oflïcer for man 3" hours, re-
mained in touch with Brigade Headquarters bv
buried table until the last moment. Further re-
sistance being hopeless, he received mv instructions,
after a truly ma.gnificent defence, to destroy the
telephone instruments and eut his way out
But I must not encroach on the domain of out
author, a real front line oflïcer, who lived with his
men throughout the war under real front line con-
ditions.
It fell to my lot for I8 months'to have the Bat-
talion amongst those under my command. Attack-
ing, resting, raiding, marching, the 2/4th Oxford-
shire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry not only
upheld but enhanced the glory of the old 43rd and
52nd Regiments of the Line.
ROBERT WHITE,
Brigadier
.!
COLONEL W. H. AMES, T.D.
INTRODUCTION
THE raising of the Second Line of the Terri-
torial Force became necessary when it was decided
to send the First Line overseas. The Territorial
Force was originally intended for home defence,
a dut) for which its pre-war formations soon ceased
to be available. The early purpose, therefore, ot
the Second Line was to defend this country.
On September 8, I9I 4, I was privileged to begin
to raise the 2/4th Oxfordshire and Buckingham-
shire Light Infantry, the Battalion whose historv
is set out in the following pages. I opened Orderlv
Room in Exeter College, Oxford, and enrolled re-
cruits. The first was Sergeant-Major T. V. \Vood.
By the end of the da.-, we had sworn in and billeted
over t3o men.
The Battalion was created out of untrained ele-
ments, but what the recruits lacked in experience
thev made up in keenness. The Secretary of the
County Association had an excellent list of pro-
spective oflïcers, but these had to learn their work
from the beginning. We were luckv to secure the
services of several non-commissioned oflïcers with
Regular experience; Colour-Sergeants Moore, l,Vil-
liams, Bassett and \Valdon, and Sergeant Howland
worked untiringly, whilst the keenness of the oflïcers
to qualify themselves to instruct their men was be-
yond praise.
2 INTRODUCTION.
At the end of ten days sufficient recruits had
been enrolled to allow the formation of eight com-
panies, which exactly reproduced those of the First
Line, men being allotted to the companies accord-
ing to the localitv whence they came. A pleasant
feature was the number of Culham students, who
came from all parts of England to re-enlist in their
old Corps. \Vell do l remember mv feelings when
I sat down to post the officers to the companies.
It was a sort of ' Blind Hookey,' but seemed to pan
out all right in the end. Company officers had to
use the saine process in the selection of their non-
commissioned officers. Of these original appoint-
ments all, or nearlv all, were amply iustified--a fact
which said much for the good judgment displayed.
\Vith the approach of the Oxford Michaelmas
Term he Battalion had to move out of the colleges
(New College, Magdalen, Keble, Exeter, Brasenose
and Oriel had hitherto kindly provided accomoda-
tion) and into billets. Training was naturally
hurried. As soon as the companies could move
correctlv a series of battalion drills was carried
out upon Port Meadow. This drill did a great dea!
to weld the Battalion together. The elements of
digging were imparted by Colonel Waller behind
the Headquarters at St. Cross Road, open order was
practised on Denman's Farm, whilst exercises in
the neighbourhood of Elsfield gave the officers some
instruction in outpost duties and in the principles
of attack and defence.
The important rudiments of march discipline
were soon acquired. Weekly route marches took
place almost from the first. Feu, roads within a
INTRODUCTION. 3
radius of 9 mlles from Oxford but saw the Battalion
some 'rime or other. The Light Infantrv step
caused discomfort at first, but the Battalion soon
learned to take a pride in it. The men did some
remarkable marches. Once they marchêd from the
third milestone at the top of Cumnor Hill to the
seventh milestone bv Tubney Church in 57 minutes.
Just before Christmas, 1914, they marched through
Nuneham to Culham Station and on to Abingdon,
and then back to Oxford through Bagley \Vood,
without a casualty.
At the end of 1914 Second Line DMsions and
Brigades were being formed, and the 2/4th Oxford
and Bucks LiRht Infantry became a unit of the
I84th Infantrv Brigade under Colonel Ludlow, and
of the 6ist Division under Lord Salisburv. Those
oflîcers inspected the Battalion at Oxford before it
left, at the end of January, 95, for Northampton.
The move from Oxford terminated the first
phase in the Battalion's historv. At Northampton
fresh conditions v,ere in store. Smaller billets and
armv rations replaced the former system of billets
'with subsistence.' Elementary training was re-
verted to. The Battalion was armed with Japanese
rifles, a handy weapon, if somewhat weak in the
stock, and range v«ork commenced. The seven
weeks at Northampton, if hOt exactlv relished at the
rime, greatly helped to pull the Battalion together.
The period was marked bv a visit of General Sir
Ian Hamilton, who inspected and warmly compli-
mented the men on their turn-out.
A_ mlnor incident is worthv of record. One
Saturdav night a surprise alarm took place about
4 INTRODUCTION.
midnight. The Battalion was young, and the alarm
was taken verv seriously. Even the sick turned out
rather than be left behind, and marched the pre-
scribed rive miles without ill effects.
Just before Easter, 1915, the 61st Division
moved into F'.ssex in order to occupy the area
vacated bv the 48th. The Battalion's destination
was Writtle, where the amicable relations alreadv
established with the inhabitants by Oxfordshire
Territorials were continued. Though our stay was
a short one, we received a hearty welcome, when,
on our return from Epping, we again marched
thr(m.o.9.h the village.
After a fortnight at Writtle, the Battalion moved
t» Itoddesdon, to take part in digging the London
defences. \Ve left Writtle 653 strong at 8 a.m.,
and completed the march of 25 miles at 5 p.m., with
everv man in the ranks who started. Three weeks
later we were ordered to Broomfield, a village east
of \Vrittle and near Chelmsford. There was keen
compet{tion to take part in the return march from
Hoddesdon ; 685 men started on the 29 mile march.
which lasted i I hours: onlv 3 fell out. The ban.d
marched the whole wav and played the Battalion in
on its arrvial at Broomfield.
In the spring of 95 it was decided to prepaw
the Territorial Second Line for foreign service.
Considerable improvement resulted in the issue of
training equipment. Boreham range occupied much
of our time. A mtlsketrx course was beg_un but
never finished: indeed, the bad condition of the
rifles ruade shooting futile. Six weeks were also
spent at Epping in useful training, at the conclu-
INTRODUCTION.
sion of which we returned to Broomfield. The
Battalion was billeted over an area about six mlles
long by one wide, until leave was obtained for a
camp. For nearlv three months the men were
together under canvas, with the verv best results.
Strenuous training ensued. I am reminded of a
little incident which occurred during some night
digging at Chignal Smealv.' The object of the
practice was to enure the men to work, not onlv when
fresh, but when tired. Operations opened with dig-
ging ith the entrenching tool--each man to make
cçver for himself. Bv 8 p.m. this stage had been
reached, so tea and shovels were issued. 4.t 9 p.m.
serious digging began, the shelters being converted
into trenches, and this continued till .3 o a.m.
Coffee was then served, and work went on till dawn,
which provided an opportunit.v to practise standing-
to. A rest followed, but after breakfast work was
again resumed. About o a.m. an officer round a
man sittin down in the trenches and ordered him
to renew his efforts. The man obeved the order at
once, but was heard to remark to his neighbour,
' Well ! If six months ago a bloke had told me that
I was a-going to work the 'ole ruddv night and the
'ole ruddv dav for one ruddv bob, I'd never 'are
believed him!'
At the end of October, 95, I consider that the
Battalion reached the zenith of its efficiencv during
its home service. It was a great pit.v that the Divi-
sion could not have been sent abroad then. In-
stead, each battalion was reduced in November to
a strength of 7 oflïcers and 60o men. Individual
training recommenced, until specialists of everv kind
6 INTRODUCTION.
flourished and multiplied. At a General's inspec-
tion during the winter a most varied display took
place. Scouts were in every tree, a filter part}" was
drawing water from the village pond, cold shoeing
was being practised at the Transport, cooking
classes were busy making field ovens, ire entangle-
ments sprang up on everv side, nor was it possible
to turn a corner without encountering some fresh
form of activitv. I fancv the authorities were much
impressed on this »ccasion, for nothing was more
difficult than to show thc men, as thev normallv
would bc, t an inspecting officcr.
In January, 96, the Battali«»n, having been
recentlv ruade up : ith untrained recruits, moved to
Parkhmsc ç'alnl) on Salisburv Plain to complete
its training with thc rest «»f the Division. We
arrived in frost and show and lcft, three months
later, in almost tropical heat--remarkablc contrasts
within so short a period. The Division was speedily
completed for foreign service; new rifles were
issued, with which a musketrv course was success-
fullv fired, thou.o_.h snmv showers did hot favour hih
scoring. \Ve were made up to strength with drafts
from the Liverpool, Welsh, Dorset, CambridKe, and
Hertfordshire Regiments, were inspected bv the
King, and embarked as a unit of the first Second
Line Division to go abroad.
Thus at the end of 8 months' hard work the
preparatory stage in the Battalion's history was con-
cluded. Its subsequent lire is traced in the chapters
of this volume.
The period of home service is wrapped in
pleasant memorv. It was not alwavs plain sailin,
INTRODUCTION. 7
but difficulties were lightened by the wonderful spirit
that animated all ranks and the pride which all felt
in the Battalion. I recall especially the work of
some who have not returned; Davenport, Scott,
Stockton, Zeder, and Tiddy among the officers, and
among the non-commissioned officers and mena host
of good comrades. Nor do I forget those who came
safely through. No commanding oflîcer was ever
better supported, and mv gratitude to them all is
unending. I think the Battalion was truly animated
bv the spirit of the famous standing order, 'A Light
Infantry Regiment being expected to approach
nearer to perfection than anv other, more zeal and
attention is required from ail ranks in it.' Equally
truly was it said that not by the partial exertions of
a few, but bv the united and steadv efforts of ail,
was the Battalion formed and its discipline created
and preserved.
W. H. AMES, Colonel.
CHAPTER |.
LAVENTIE.
MAY TO OCTOBER, I916.
The »st Division lands in France.--Instruction.--The
Laventie sector.--Trench warfare at its height.--Moberly
wounded.B Co.mpany's raid.--Front and back areas.--
July gth.--Chanffes in the Batt,'dion.--A Company's raid.
.-\ projected attack.--I,aventie days.--Departure for the
omme.
N May 24, I916, the 2/4th Oxfordshire and
Buckinghamshire Light Infantry landed in
France. Members of the Battalion within a day
or two were addressing their first field postcards to
England. Active service, of which the prospect
had swung, now close, now far, for I8 months, had
begun.
The 6st Division, to which the Battalion be-
longed, concentrated in the Merville area. The
usual period of 'instruction' followed. The 2/4th
Oxfords went to the Fauquissart sector, east of
Laventie. Soon the 6ISt relieved the Welsh Divi-
sion, to which it had been temporarily apprenticed,
and settled down to hold the line.
LAVENTIE, MAY TO OCTOBER, 96. 9
It was hot long before the Battalion received
what is usually termed its ' baptism of lïre.' Things
were waking up along the front in anticipation of
the Franco-British attack on the Somme. Raids
took place frequently. Fighting patrols scoured
No-Man's-Land each night. In man.v places at
once the enemy's wire was bombarded to shreds.
By the end of June an intense feeling of expect-
ancv tiad developed, activity on both sides reached
the hi.o..hest pitch. The Battalion was not slow in
playing its part. One of the earlv casualties was
Lieutenant Moberly, who performed a daring dav-
light reconnaissance up to the German wire. He
was wounded and with .o..reat difficulty and onlv
through remarkable pluck regained our lines.
That same night the Battalion did its first raid,
bv B Company under Hugh Davenport. The raid
was ordered at short notice and was a partial suc-
cess. If the tangible results were few, B Company
was verv properly thanked for its bravery on this
enterprise, which had to be carried out against
uncut wire and unsubdued machine-guns. Zeder,
a lieu{enant with a South African D.C.M., was
mortallv wounded on the German wire and taken
prisoner. The casualties were numerous. Daven-
port himself was wounded, but unselfishly refused
treatment until his men had been fetched in. It
was a ni?..ht of battle and excitement. To the most
hardened troops a barrage directed against crowded
breastworks was never pleasant. The Battalion
bore itself well and earned recital, albeit with some
misdescription, in the English press a few daxs
later.
IO LAVENTIE, MA¥ TO OCTOBER I916.
During July 96 the Battalion was in and out
of the breastworks between Fauquissart and Neuve
Chapelle. Vrhen the 84th Infantry Brigade went
back to rest the Battalion had billets on the out-
skirts of Merville, a friendlv little town, since
levelled in ruins; and, when reserve to the Brigade,
in Laventie. Brigade Headquarters were at the
latter and also the quartermasters' stores and trans-
port of battalions in the line.
Some favourite spots were the defensive ' posts,'
placed a toile behind the front line and known as
Tilleloy, Winchester, Dead End, Picantin. Re-
serve companies garrisoned these posts. No ardu-
ous duties spoilt the days; night v,ork consisted
chiefly in pushing trolley-loads of rations to the
front line. Of these posts the best remembered
would be Winchester, where existed a board bearing
the names of Wykhamists, whom chance had led
that wav. Battalion Headquarters were there for
a long time and were comfortable enough with man-,
'elephant' dug-outs and half a farm-house for a
mess--the latter ludicrouslv decorated bv some
predecessors with cuttins from La l-ic t'arisiel««e
and other picture papers.
Though conditions were never quiet in the front
line, during the summer of I96 back area shelling
was infrequent. Shells fell near Laventie cross-
roads on most days and, when a 12 inch ho'«itzer
establ[shed itself behind the village, the Germans
retaliated upon it with 5.9s, but other«ise shops and
estaminets flourished with national nonchalance.
The railway, which ran from La Gorgue to Armen-
tières, was used by night as far as Bac St. Maur--
LAVENTIE, MA¥ TO OCTOBER, I9I(. II
\ !
WINCHESTER TRENCH.
I 2 LAVENTIE, MAY TO OCTOBER, I916.
an instance of unenterprise on the part of German
gunners. Despite oflïcial repudiation, on out side
the principle of 'live.and let live' was still applied
to back areas. "French warfare, which in the words
of a 915 pamphlet 'could and must cease' had
managed to survive that pamphlet and the abortive
strategy of the battle of Loos. Until trench war-
rare ended divisional headquarters were hot shelled.
Meanwhile the comparative deadlock in the
Somme fighting rendered necessary vigorous
measures against the enemy elsewhere on the front.
A gas attack from the Fauquissart sector cas
planned but never carried out. Trench mortars
and rifle grenades were continuously employed to
make lire as unpleasant as possible for the enemy,
hose trenches soon became, to ail appearances, a
rubbish heap. Ail dav and much of the niRht the
'mediums' fell in and about the German trenches
and, it must be confessed, occasionallv in our own
as well. Whilst endeavouring to annihilate the
\Vick salient or some such target, one of our heaviest
of heavy trench mortars dropped short (perhaps
that is too much of a compliment to the particular
shot) in our trenches near a company headquarters
and almost upon a new concrete refuge, wlich the
R.E. had just completed and not ver shown to the
Brigadier. Though sometimes supplied, the co-
operation of this arm was never asked for.
This harassing warfare had a crisis in July.
The operations of July 19, which were shared with
the 6ist Division by the 5th Australian holding
trenches further north, were designed as a demon-
stration to assist our attack upon the Somme and
LAVENTIE, MAY TO OCTOBER, I9 I6. I3
to hold opposite to the X I Corps certain German
reserves, which, it was feared, would entrain at Lille
and be sent south. That object was achieved, but
at .the cost of severe casualties to the divisions
engaged, which were launched in daylight after
artillery preparation, which results proved to have
been inadequate, against a trench-system strongly
manned and garrisoned by verv numerous machine-
guns. The objectives assigned to the 6st Division
were hot captured, while the Australians further
north, after entering the German trenches and
taking prisoners, though they held on tenaciously
under heavv counter-attacks, were eventuallv forced
to withdraw. 'The staff work,' said the farewell
message from the XI Corps to the 6ISt Division
three months later, 'for these operations was ex-
cellent.' Men and officers alike did their utmost
to make the attack of July 9 a success, and it
behoves all to remember the sacrifice of those who
fell with appropriate gratitude. It was probably
the last occasion on which large parties of storming
infantrv were sent forward through 'sallv ports.'
The Battalion was in reserve for the attack.
Ç Company, which formed a carrying part} during
the fivhting, lost rather heavily, but the rest of the
Battalion, though moved hither and thither under
heavv shelling, suffered few casualties. \Vhen the
battle was over, companies relieved part of the line
and held the trenches until normal conditions
returned.
Soon after these events the Battalion was un-
lucky to be deprived of Colonel Ames, a leader
whose energy and common sense could ill be
14 LAVENTIE, MAY TO OCTOBER, I916.
spared. This was the first change which the Bat-
talion had in its Commanding Officer, and it was
much regretted. A change in Adjutant had
occurred likewise, Major D. M. Rose having been
invalided to England earty in July and his place
taken by R. F. Cuthbert, formerly commander of
D Compan.v. Orderlv Room work passed from
sale hands into hands equally sale. Soon after-
wards I joined the Battalion, having been trans-
ferred from the I/4th , and received command of
D Çompany. The new Commanding Officer,
Major R. Bellamy, D..q.O., came from the Royal
.qussex Regiment and assumed command earl in
August. Robinson, an officer from the Middlesex
and one of the best the Battalion ever had, Cal-
lender and Barton also joined about this time.
Brucker, of C Company, became Adjutant of the
6ISt Divisional School, and command of his com-
pany passed to Kenneth Brown, a great fighter and
best of comrades, the first member of this Battalion
to in the Militarv Cross. Major Beaman was still
Second in Command. Two original officers of the
2/4th, Jack Bennett and Hugh Davenport, com-
manded A and B Companies respectively. W.A.
Hobbs, well known as Mayor of Henley, was
Quartermaster, and 'Bob' Abraham the Transport
Officer. Regimental Sergeant-l\Iajor Douglas and
Regimental Çuartermaster-$ergeant Hedges were
the senior warrant officers.
Higher up a new Brigadier in the person of
General Dugan arrived and held command for a
short while. The General, I regret to say, did not
stay long enough for the full benefit of his experi-
LAVENTIE, MAY TO OCTOBER, 1916. 1 5
ence and geniality to accrue, a fragment of a
Stokes' mortar shell wounding him at a demonstra-
tion near Merville and causing his retirement to
hospital. The new Brigadier, the Hon. R. White,
C.M.G., joined us at the beginning of September,
1916 , from action on the Somme, and soon made
his cheery criticisms felt.
.A_fter the operations of July 19 the former
methods of trench warfare were resumed. The
Division's casualties in the attaçk had been over
2,ooo, and time was required to reorganise and
make up these losses.
Early in August an unluckv shell deprived the
Battalion of one of its best officers. Lieutenant
Tiddy had joined the Infantry in a spirit of dutv
and self-sacrifice, which his service as an oflïcer
had proved but to which his death more amply
testifie-d. The regrets of friends and comrades
measured the Battalion's loss.
At IO p.m. on August 19 a raid upon the Ger-
man trenches near the ' Sugar Loaf' was carried out
bv ,a, Company. The raid was part of an elaborate
scheme in which the Australians upon the left and
the 2/sth Gloucesters on out own front co-operated.
The leading bombing party, which Bennett sent
forward under Sergeant Hinton, quickly succeeded
in reaching the German parapet and was doing
well, when a Mills bomb, dropped or inaccurately
thrown, fell amongst the men. The plan was spoilt.
.A_ miniature panic ensued, which Bennett and his
Sergeant-Major round it diflïcult to check. As in
many raids, a message to retire was passed. The
wounded were safelv brouffht in bv Bennett, whose
16 LAVENTIE, MAY TO OCTOBER, I96.
control and leadership were worthv of a luckier
enterprise.'
The Battalion was n,,t called upol' :for much
fighting activitv in September, 916. Raids and
rumours of raids kept manv of us busy. An attack
bv the 84th Brigade upon the \Vick salient was
pianned, but somcxvhat to« openly discussed and
practiscd t( deceive, I fan«y, even the participating
infantrv int«» thc belief that it xas reallv to take
place, l lt)m thc demolished German trenches
manv raids wcre made. In the course of these
raids, the h«mmr f whi«h was enerously shared
betwccn ail battali«ms in the l}rigade, sometimes bv
mcans «,f thc lkmg-ahrc "l'orped«», sometimes bv the
casier and mcre subtlc mcth¢)d of just walking into
thcm, the cncmv's front line as usuallv entered;
and rarclv did a raidino_, party return without the
capture of at least an old bomb, an entrenching tool
or evcn a lire German. These 'identification' raids
p«»ssil)lv did as much to identify ourselves to the
cnemv as to idcnti{v him to us, but they proved
useful ¢ccasi«ns on which to send parties 'over the
t,»I)" (alwa.vs an cnj%vablc trcat !) and gave practice
to our trench mortars, which fired remarkablv well
and drew down little retaliation--alwavs the bug-
bear o:f the trench mortar.
l'he mention of these things mav make dull
I ., faihlre of thls kind was far less due to an indeter-
minatlo.n of the men than to the complex nature of the
scheme, which anv misadventure was capable of upsetting.
On thls occasion t]qe ' order to retire ' was said to bave been
of German manufacture, but such explanatlon deserved a
grain of salt. Owing to the danger of its unauthorised use,
the word 'retire' was prohibited by Armv orders.
LAVENTIE, MAY TO OCTOBER, I916. I 7
reading to the blasé warrior of later battlefields, but,
as there are some whose last experience abroad was
during Laventie days and who may read these lines,
I feel bound to recall our old friend (or enemy) the
trench mortar, the rent-free (but not rat-free) dug-
out among the sandbags, the smelly cookhouses,
whose improvident rires were the scandal of many a
red-hatted visitor to the trenches, the mines, with
their population of Colonial miners doing mys-
terious work in their basements of clay and flinging
up a welter of slimy blue sandbags--all these
deserve mention, if no more, lest hey be too soon
forgotten.
Days, too, in Riez Bailleul, Estaires and Mer-
ville will be remembered, days rendered vaguely
precious bv the subsequent destruction of those
villages and bv lost comrades. Those of the
Battalion who fell in I916 were mostly bui-ied in
Laventie and outside Merville. Though both were
being fought over in 98 and manv shells fell
among the graves, the crosses were not much dam-
aged; inscriptions, if nearly obliterated, were then
renewed when, by the opportunity of chance, the
Battalion round itself once more crossing the fami-
liar area, belote it helped to establish a line upon
the redoubtable Aubers ridge, to gain which so many
lives at the old 915 battles of Neuve Chapelle and
Festubert had been expended.
It was a fine autumn. The French civilians
were getting in their crops within a toile or two of
the trenches, while we did a series of tours in the
Moated Grange sector, with test billets at the little
village of Riez Bailleul.
I8 LAVENTIE, MAY TO OCTOBER, I9I(.
And then box respirators were issued.
Laventie days are remembered with affection by
old members of the Battalion. In October, I916,
however, there were some hot sorry to quit an area,
which in winter became one of the wettest and most
dismal in France. The Somme battle, which for
three months had rumbled in the distance like a
huge thunderstorrn, was a magnet to attract all divi-
sions in turn. The predictions of the French billet-
keepers were realised at the end of October, when
the 2/4th Oxfords were relieved in the trenches by
a battalion of the Middlesex Regiment and prepared
to match southwards to the Somme.
RCDECQ FROM THE SOUTH.
p. 19-
CAPXR I I.
THE SOMME BATTLEFIELD,
NOVEMBER, 19 1 6.
Departure from Laventie.--.\t Robecq.oEhe march
southwards.--Rest at Neuvillette.--Contav \Vood.--Albert.
--New trenches.-Ballle conditions.--Relieving the front
line.--Desire Trench.Regina du-o.ut.--Mud and darkness.
--A heavv barrage.--Fortunes of Headquarters.--A painful
relief.--iartinsart \Vood.
T the end of October, 96, the 6st Division
left the XI Corps and commenced its march
southwards to join the British forces on the Somme.
\Ve were among the last battalions to quit the old
sector. Our relief was completed during quite a
sharp outburst of shelling and trench-mortaring bx
the enemy, whose observers had doubtless spotted
the troops moving up to take over.
After one night in the old billets at Riez
Bailleul the Battalion marched on October 29 to
Robecq, where the test of the Brigade had alreadv
assembled, and took up its quarters in farms and
houses along the Robecq---Calonne road. Batta-
lion Headquarters were established at a large farm-
stead subsequently known as Gloucester Farm,
while to reach the billets allotted to them the com-
parties marched through the farmyard and across
the two small bridges, since so familiar to some,
20 THE SOMME BATTLEFIELD, NOVEMBER, I916.
which spanned the streams Noc and Clarence. My
company was furthest south and almost in Robecq
itself; my headquarters were in a comfortable
house with an artesian well bubbling up in its
front garden. V;hen fighting was taking place at
Robecq in April, 98, and I round myself, under
very different circumstances, in command of the
Battalion, knowledge of the ground obtained
eighteen months before, even to the position of
garden gates and the width of ditches, proved most
useful. I ara afraid the Battalion's old billets were
soon knocked down, the favourite estaminet in
D Company area being among the first houses
to go.
On November 2, i916 , the Battalion left
Robecq, «here it had been well-housed and happy
for a week, for Auchel, a populous village in the
mining district, and marched the next da) to
Magnicourt en Comté, an especiallv dirtv village,
and thence again through Tinques and Etrée-
Wamin to Neuvilltte. The civilians in some of
the villages passed were not friendly, the billets
crowded and often not vet allotted whe'n the Bat-
talion arrived, having covered its 4 kilometres with
fui1 pack and perhaps through tain. Nobodv
grumbled, for the conditions experienced were
normal, but this march with its daily moves involved
toil and much footsoreness on the part of the men,
and for the oflïcers much hard work after the mett
were in, and man)- wakings-up in the night to
receive belated orders for the morrow.
Afer reaching Neuvillette, a pretty village four
mlles north bv west of Doullens, a ten davs' rest
THE SOMME BATTLEFIELD, NOVEIIBER, 1916. 2I
was made. Boots had become ver 5 worn in con-
sequence of the march, and great efforts were now
made bv Hobbs to procure mending leather;
unfortunately the motor car seemed to have for-
gotten its poor relation, the boot, and no leather
was forthcoming. During the stav at Neuvillette
22 THE SOMME BATTLEFIELD, NOVEMBER, I916.
a demonstration in improvised pack saddlery was
arranged at Battalion Headquarters, the latest and
most disputed methods of wiring and trench-
digging were rehearsed, and two really valuable
Brigade field days took place. More than a year
afterwards the Battalion was again billeted at
Neuvillette, whose inhabitants remembered and
warmlv welcomed the Red Circle.
On November 6 we marched awav to Bonne-
ville and tbe next da) reached Contay, where we
climbed up to some unfloored huts in a wood. The
weather on this march had been bitterlx cold, but
fine and sunny. A duskv screen of clouds drifted
up from the west the evening of out arrival and the
same night snow fell heavily. The cookers were
hot near the huts and neither stores nor proper fuel
existed. There was the usual scramble for the few
braziers our generous predecessors had left behind.
\Vith snow and wind the Battalion tasted its first
hardship
As in ail such situations, things soon took a
cheerful turn. When the General came up next
morning, the camp was reeking with smoke from
braziers and the smell of cookers and the wood
alive with sounds of woodchopping and cries of
foragers. This change from a bad look-out to a
viorous optimism and will to make the best of
things was characteristic of the British 'Tomm,'
who, exhausted and 'fed-,up' at night, was heard
singing and wood-chopping the next morning, as
if wherever he was were the best place in the world.
I shall always remember Contav \Voods, the huts
with their floors of hard mud reinforced bv harder
THE SOMME BATTLEFIELD, NOVEMBER, I916. 23
tree-stumps, and the slimy path down to parade
when we left.
On November 9 we reached Albert, whose
familiar church needs no description. What struck
me principally on arrival was the battered sordid-
ness of the place and the filthy state of the roads,
on which the mud was well up to the ankles. Some
civilians were living in the town and doing a brisk
trade in souvenir postcards of the overhanging
Virgin. Traftïc, as always through a main arterv
supplying the prevalent battletïeld, was positively
continuous. The first rain of autumn had alreadv
fallen and men, horses and vehicles ail bore mud-
stains significant of winter's approach. Our
arrival--we went into empty, rather shell-damaged
houses near the station--coincided with the later
stages of the Beaum»nt Hamel offensive, and
German prisoners and, of course, British casualties
were passing through the town.
At Albert, Bennett was taken from A 'Company
to act as Second in Cmmand of the Berks. Brown
assumed command of his company and Robinson
about this time of C Company, Brucker having
returned to the 6ISt Divisional School, which was
set up at St. Riquier. Just now much sickness
occurred among the oflïcers, John Stockton, Moorat
and several others being obliged to go awav bv
attacks of trench lever. From Albert C and D
Companies moved forward to some Nissen huts
near Ovillers to be employed on working parties.
For the same duties A and B Companies soon
afterwards were sent to Mouquet Farm, while
Battalion Headquarters went to Fabick Trench.
2 4 THE SOMME BATTLEFIELD, NOVEMBER, I9 I6.
After some rain had fallen, fine autumn weather
returned and our guns and aeroplanes were shewing
the activitv typical of the late stages of a great
battle, when future movements were uncertain. A
string of 3o balloons stretching across the sky in
a wide circumference (whose centre, as in all
'pushes,' would have been somewhere behind our
old front) industriously watched the enemv's back
area. There was probably little comfort for the
Germans west of Bapaume, or even in it, for our
reluctance to shell towns, villages and (formerly
most privileged of targets) churches was rapidly
diminishing.
On November _'21 the Brigade took over its new
sector of the line and with it a somewhat different
régime to what it had known before. It was heard
said of the 6Ist Division that it staved too long in
quiet trenches (to be sure, trenches were onlv really
'quiet' to those who could afford to visit them
at quiet periods). Still the Somme 'craterfield'
presented a complete contrast to the old breast-
works with their familiar landmarks and day-
light reliefs. Battle conditions remained though
the advance had stopped. Our recent capture of
Beaumont-Hamel and St. Pierre Divion left local
situations, which required clearing up. The frag-
ments of newlv-won trenches above Grandcourt,
trenches without wire and facing a No-Man's-Land
of indeterminate extent, gave their occupants their
first genuine tactical problems and altogether more
responsibility than before. In some respects the
Germans were quicker than ourselves to adapt
themselves to conditions approximating to open
THE SOMME BATTLEFIELD, NOVEMBER, I916. 25
warfare. The principle of an outpost line and the
system of holding our ,front in depth had been
pronounced often as maxims on paper, but had
resulted rarelv in practice. Subordinate staffs, on
whom the blame for local reverses was apt to fall
rather heavily, were perhaps reluctant to jeopardise
the actual front line by holding it too thinly, while
from the nature of the case, the front line was some-
thing far more sacred to us than to the enemy.
Since the commencement of trench warfare the
Germans had held their line on the 'depth' prin-
ciple, keeping only a minimuin of troops, tritely
referred to as 'caretakers,' in their front trench of
ail, while we for long afterwards crammed entire
companies, with their headquarters, into the most
forward positions.
On the evening of November -, 5, 9 6, Robinson
of CCompany and myself, taking Hunt and Timms
(my runner} and one signaller, left for the front line.
This was being held along Desire--mv fondness
for this tren«h never warranted that name--with a
line of resistance in Regina, a verv famous German
trench, for which there had recentlv been heavv
fighting. Otlr reconnaissance, which was completed
at dawn, was luckv and satisfactorv; moreover--I
do hot refer to anv lack of refreshment bv the Berks
company commander--I was still drv at its con-
clusion, having declined all the communication
trenches, which were already threatening to become
impassable owing to mud.
The next night the Battalion moved up to
relieve the Berks, but was conducted, or conducted
itself, along the ver} communication trench which
26 THE SOMME BATTLEFIELD, NOVEMBER, I916
I had studiously avoided using and which was in
a shocking state from water and mud. As the
result of the journey, D ,Cornpany reached the front
line practically wet-through to a man, and in a verv
exhausted condition. A proportion of their im-
pedimenta had become future salvage on the way
up, while several men and, I fancy, some officers,
had compromised themselves for some hours with
the mud, which exacted their gumboots as the pric-e
«t their future progress. I regret that my own faith-
ful servant, Longford, was as exhausted as anybody
and snffered a nasty fall at the very gates of paradise
(ail hyperbole I tlse to justify the end of such a
mud-journey), namclv Cornpany Headquarters in
Regina, where, like a sort of host, I had been
waiting long.
Desire Trench, the naine bv which the front line
was known, was a shallow disconnected trough
upholstered in mud and possessing four or rive
unfinished dug-out shafts. These shafts, as was
natural, faced the wrong way, but provided all the
front line shelter in this sector. At one end, its
left, the trench ran into chalk (as well as some
chalk and plenty of mud into il!) and its flank
disappeared, bv a militar.v conjuring trick, into the
air. About 600 yards awav the Germans were
supposed to be consolidating, which meant that
they were feverishlv scraping, digging and fitting
timbers in their next lot of dug-outs. To get below
earth was their first consideration.
Regina dug-out deserves a paragraph to itself.
This unsavoury residence housed two platoons of
D .Compan.v, Compan.v Headquarters, and Stobie.
THE SOMME BATTLEFIELD, NOVEMBER, |916. 27
our doctor, with the Regimental Aid Post. In
construction thc dug-out, which indeed was typical
of manv, was a corridor with win.o.qs opening off.
about 40 feet deep and some 3o yards long, with
4 entrances, on each of which stood double sentries
dav and night. Garbage and ail the putrefying
matter which had accumulated underfoot during
German occupation and which it did not repay to
disturb for fear of a worse thing, rendered vile the
atmosphere within. Old German socks and shirts,
used and half-used beer bottles, sacks of sproutin.(,,-
and rotting onions, vied with mud to cover the tioor.
A suspicion of other remains was not absent. The
four shafts provided a species of ventilation, remini-
scent of that encountered in London Tubes, but
perpetual smoking, the fumes from the paraflïn
lamps that did dutv for insuflïcient candles, and out
mere breathing more than :otlnterbalanced even
the draughts and combined impressions, fit back-
ground for post-war nightmares, that time will
hardlv efface. Regina Trench itself, being on a
forward slope and exposed to full view from
Loupart \Vood, was shelled almost continuouslv bv
dav and also frequently at night. 'Out and away,'
'In and down' became mottoes for runners and ail
who inhabited the dug-out or were obliged to make
repeated visits toit. Below, one was immune under
40 feet of chalk, and except when an entrance was
hit the 5.9s rained down harmlesslv and without
comment.
During the da} I occasionallv ploughed mv wax
along Regina Trench to some unshelled vantage
point to watch the British shells falling on the vet
2 THE SOMME BATTLEFIELD, NOVEMBER, I916.
grassy slopes above Miraumont and south of
Puisieux. Baillescourt Farm was a ver)" common
target. At this time Miraumont village was com-
paratively intact and its church, until thrown down
bv out guns, a conspicuous object. Grandcourt
lav hidden in the hollow.
Such landscape belonged to the days; real
business, when one's orbit was confined to a few
hundred vards of cratered surface, claimed the
nights. A peculiar deree of darkness character-
ised these closing davs ot November, and with
rain and mud put an end to active operations.
Wiring, the chier lab«mr of which was carrying the
coils up to the frérot and afterwards settIing the
report to Brigade, occupied the energies of the
Battalion after rations had been carried up. In
this last respect much foresight and experience were
required and arrangements were less good than thev
soon afterwards became: food that was intended
to arrive hot arrived cold, and, having once been
hot, received precedence over things originaIIy cold
but ultimatelv more essential. Hot-food containers
proved too unwieldv for the forward area.
Although quite a normal circumstance in itselI,
the extreme darkness at this period was a real
obstacle to patrols and to all whose ability to find
In making these remarks I xant it understood that I
ara intending al this point no censure o.f out staff, whose
difficulties in their way were even greater than those of the
Infantry, nor ana I working up to any impeachment of mv
superiors in narrating those facts, the omission of which
wo.uld ruin the value of this storv.
THE SOMME BATTLEFIELD, NOVEMBER, i916. 29
the wav was their passport. Amid these difficulties
there was an element of humour. To make one
false turn, or to turn without noticing the fact, bv
night threw the best map-reader or scout off his
path and bewildered his calculations. One night
about this time a party of us, including Hunt and
'Doctor' Rockall, the medical corporal, who had
accompanied me round the front posts, lost its way
hopelessly in the dark. Shapes looming up in the
distance, I enquired of Hunt as to his readiness for
hostile encounter, whereupon the reassuring ansxer
was given that 'his revolver was loaded, but not
cocked.' I leave the point (if any) of this story to
the mercv of those whose rate it has been to lose
their wav on a foggy night among shell-holes,
broken-down wire and traps of all descriptions.
Temporary bewilderment of the calculation de-
stroyed reliance on any putative guides Stlch as
'Verev' lights, shells, ritte tire, &c., which on these
occasions appeared to come from all directions, and
English and German seemed all alike.
Hunt, who at this time, being my only officer
not partially sick, has called for somewhat repeated
reference, usually devoted the hours after mid-night
to taking a patrol to locate a track shown on the
map and called Stump Road, his object being to
meet another patrol from a neighbouring unit.
Success did not crown the work. Stump Road re-
mained undiscovered and passed into the apocrypha
of trench warfare.
At 5 p.m on November 2 9, I916, the Germans
opened a heavy barrage with howitzers on the front
line, giving every indication of impending attack.
30 THE SOMME BATTLEFIELD, NOVEMBER, I916.
Regina Trench, where were the headquarters of C
and D, the companies then holding the line, was
also heavily shelled, and telephonic communication
with the rear was soon cut. On such occasions it
was aiways diflïult to decide whether or not to
send up the S.O.S--on the one hand unnecessary
appeal to our artillery to tire on .q.O.S. lines was
deprecated, on the other, no forward commander
could afford to guess that a mere demonstration was
«»n foot; for the appearance of attacking infantry
followed immediately on a lifting of the barrage, a
symptom in itself often difficult to recognise. On
this occasion I intended and attempted to send up
a coloured rocket, but its stick became stuck between
the sides of the dug-out shaft and, bv the time the
efforts of Sergeant Collett had prepared the rocket
for firing, the barrage died down as suddenly as It
had started. This verv commonplace episode illus-
trates the routine of this phase of warfare. The
trenches were, of course, blown in and some Lewis
guns damaged, but, as frequently, few casualties
occurred.
While speaking of the life furthest forward I
do not forget the very similar conditions, allowing
for the absence of enemy machine-guns and snipers,
which prevailed at Battalion Headquarters. Con-
fined to a dug-out (a smaller replica of Regina) in
Hessian Trench, with a continual stream of reports
to receive and instructions to send out, and being
continually rung up on the telephone, Colonel
Bellamy and Cuthbert had their hands full, and
opportunities for rest, if not for refreshment, were
very limited. Nor do I omit our runners from the
THE SOIIME BATTLEFIELD, NOVEIIBER, I916. 3 r
fullest share in the dangers and activities of this
time.
Under battle-conditions lire at one remove from
the front line was rarely much more agreeable than
in the line itself, and was less provided with those
compensations which existed for the Infantrvman
near the enemv. It was necessarv to «o back to
Divisional Headquarters to find anv substantial
difference or to lire an ordered lire on a civilised
footing; and there, too, responsibility had increased
bv an even ratio.
The Battalion Transport during this time was
stationed at Martinsart and its task, along bad roads,
in bringing up rations each dav was not a light
one.
On the night of November 3o the Battalion was
relieved bv the 2/4th Gloucesters and marched
back to huts in Martinsart \Vood. This march of
eight mlles, coming after a four davs' tour in wet
trenches under conditions of open varfare, proved
a trying experience. For four mlles the path lav
along a single duckboard track, capsized or slanting
in man}" places, and the newly-made Nab Road, to
which it led, was hardly better. A number of men
fell from exhaustion, while others, their boots having
worn completely through before entering the
trenches, were in no state, to compete v«ith such a
distance. After passing Wellington Huts and
through Aveluy the going became easier, until at
last the area of our big guns was reached and,
adjoining it, the 'rest billets.' The latter consisted
of unfloored buts built of tarred felt and surrounded
bv mud only less bad than in the trenches. Our
3 2 THE SOMlXIE BATTLEFIELD, NOVEMBER, 191(3.
lights and noise scared the rats, which infested the
camp.
The relief and march occupied until 4 a.m., and
were succeeded by mist and frost. The concussion
of our neighbours, the 6-inch naval guns, echoed
among the trees, heralding the first of December,
CHAPTER I I I.
CHRISTMAS ON THE SOMME,
DECEmStCl, I9t6.
The moxe from Martinsart to Hedauville.--Back to
Martinsart.--\Vorkin K parties.--Dug-outs at Mouquet Farm.
--Field Trench.--Return to the front line.--Gettin K touch.--
Guides.--An historie paIrol.--Christmas in the trenches.
N December _, I916 , the Battalion rnoved
from Martinsart to Hedauville, on its way
passing through Englebelrner, the home of one of
our S-inch howitzers, but no longer of its civilian
inhabitants. The rnarch was regulated bv Pyrn,
the new Brigade Major, who had replaced Gepp a
few days before. The latter had proved hirnself a
most efficient staff officer, and his departure to take
up a higher appointrnent was regretted bv every-
body.
Hedauville was an indifferent viIlage, but out
billets were not bad. Brigade Headquarters were
at the château. One heard rnuch about the habitual
)ccupation of the French châteaux by our staffs
during the war. On this particular occasion the
Brigade had only two or three roorns at its disposal,
and on rnany others would be licencees of only a
small portion of such buildings. The I84th Infan-
.try Brigade Staff was always rnost solicitous about
34 CHRISTMAS ON THE SOMME, DECEMBER, IC) I6.
the comfort of battalions, and its efforts secured
deserved appreciation from all ranks. During the
winter Harling retired from the office of Staff
Captain, and after a brief interregnum Bicknell, a
Gloucester officer, who alread'« had been attached
to the Brigade for some rime, received the appoint-
ment. For the ensuing three years Bicknell
proved himself both an excellent staff officer and
a consistent friend to the Infantry.
After scraping off the remains of the mud it
had carried from the trenches, the Battalion settled
down at Hedauville to a normal programme for
ten davs. The weather was bad, and a good deal
of sickness now occurred among the troops, until
so man'« officers were sick that leave for the others
was stopped. Of general interest little occurred
to mark this first fortnight of December. At its
close the Battalion marched back to Martinsart
and reoccupied its former buts. Battalion and
Brigade were now in support, and out energies
were daily devoted to working parties in the for-
ward area. As these xxere some of the most
arduous ever experienced b'« the Battalion I will
describe an example.
I take December I6Ja Saturda'«. M" com-
pany was warlled for working part)" last night, so
at 6 a.m. we get up, dress, and, after a hurried
breakfast, parade in semi-darkness. As the outing
is not a popular one and reuction in numbers is
resented by the R.E., the roll is called by Sergeant-
Maior Brooks (recently back from leave and in the
best of early morning tempers) amid much cough-
ing and scuffling about in the ranks. At 7 a.m.
CHRISTMAS ON THE SOMME, DECEMBER, I916. 35
we start our journey towards the scene of labour,
some 80 strong (passing for IOO). We go first
along a broad-gauge railway line (forbidden to be
used for foot traflïc) and afterwards through Aveluy
and past Crucifix Corner to near Mouquet Farm.
After a trivial delay of perhaps 40 minutes, the
D.C.L.I. or 479 have observed out arrival and tools
are counted out and issued, the homeIy pick and
shovel. The task is pleasantly situated about i5 °
«ards in front of several batteries of out field guns
(which open tire directlx we are in position) and
consists in relaying duckboards, excavating the sub-
merged sleepers of a light railway or digging the
trench for a buried cable.
Perhaps the work onlx requires 50, hot IOO
(nor. even 80) men. Ver'« well! It is a pity those
others came, but here are a thousand sandbags
to fill, and there a pile of logs dumped in the wrong
place last night, so let them get on with it!
For six hours we remain steadilx" winning the
war in this manner and mildl'« wondering at the
sense of things and whether the Germans will shell
the batteries just behind our work--until, without
hooter or whistle, the rime to break off has arrived.
Bv 3 p.m the party is threading its x'ay back, and as
darkness falls once more reaches the camp. Cries
of ' Dinner up' and 'Tea up' resound through the
huts, and all is eating and shouting.
By December 20 it was once more the Brigade's
turn to relieve the front line. Berks and Glouces-
ters again took first innings in the trenches, while
the Bucks and ourselves staxed in support. Bat-
talion Headquarters with A and B Companies xere
36 CHRISTMAS ON THE SOMME, DECEMBER, 1916.
in Wellington Huts, near Ovillers; C and D went
two toiles further forward to some scattered dug-
outs between Thiepval and Mouquet Farm. Mv
own headquarters were at the farm, to whose site a
ruined cellar and a crumbling heap of bricks served
to tes[ifv. The Germans had left a system of
elaborate dug-outs, some of which now housed
Brigade Headquarters, but others, owing to shell-
ing and tain, had collapsed or were flooded. On
each of the four nights spent at Mouquet Farm mv
compan.v supplied parties to carry wire and stakes
up to the front line. These iourneys were made
through heavy shelling, and we were always thank-
ful to return safcly. My policy was never to allow
the pace to become that of the slowest man, for
there was no limit to such slowness I myself set
a pace, which [ knew to be reasonable, and men who
straggled interviewed me next dav. Bv this policy
the evening's work was complcted in two-thirds of
the time it would otherwise have taken, and mv
disregard of proverbial maxims probably saved the
Battalion many casualties.
Since our last tour in the line real winter condi-
tions had set in. Shell-holes and trenches every-
where filled with water till choice of movement was
confined to a few duckboard tracks. Those in our
area led past Tullock's Corner and from the Gravel
Pit to Mouquet Farm, and thence to the head of
Field Trench, with a branch sideways to Zollern
Redoubt. Field Trench, an old German switch,
led over the Pozières ridge, whose crest was well
"taped ' by the German guns. The British advance
having reached a standstill, the enemy's artillery
CHRISTMAS ON THE SOMME, DECEMBER, i916. 37
was now firing from more forward positions and
paid much attention to places like Mouquet Farm,
"Fullock's Corner, Zollern Redoubt and Field
Trench. Parties of D.C.L.I. were daily at work
upon the latter, duckboarding and revetting, and
completed a fine pioneers' job right up to Hessian.
Field Trench ranked among the best performances
of the Cornwalls, whose work altogether at this rime
deserved high praise.
38 CHRISTMAS ON THE SOMME, DECEMBER, 96.
On Çhristmas eve, 96, the ]3attalion relieved
the front line. Brown and Davenport took their
companies to Desire and Regina. Battalion Head-
quarters had an improved position at Zollern
Redoubt, and their old dug-out in Hessian was left
to D Company Headquarters. Robinson with C
Company was also in Hcssian, to the left of D.
His headquarters possessed plenty of depth but
neither height nor breadth. The dug-out entrance
was the size of a large letter-box and nearlv level
with the trench floor.
Aftcr the march up, the remainder of the night
was devoted to the trying process of ' gettin K touch.'
This meant finding the neighbouring sentry-posts
on each flank--an important dut), for the Germans
usuallv knew the date and sometimes the hour of
out reliefs and the limits of frontage held bv
dif{erent units (we naturally were similarly informed
about the enemy}. For reasons of security no relief
could be held complete belote hot onlv out own
men were safely in but out flanks were established
by touch with neighbouring posts.
In the course of the very relief I have men-
tioned, a platoon of one battalion reached the front
line but remained lost for more than a dav. It
could neither get touch with others nor others with
it. ' Getting touch' seemed easy on a map and was
often done in statements over the telephone. Tan-
gible relations were more diftîcult and efforts to
obtain them often involved most exasperating situa-
tions, for whole nights could be spent meandering
in search of positions, which in reality were onlv a
few hundred yards distant. Total absence of guid-
CHRISTMAS ON THE SOMME, DECEMBER, 1916. 39
ing landmarks was freely remarked as the most
striking chararteristic of this part of the Somme
area. I refer only to night movement, for by day
there were always distant objects to steer by, and
the foreground, seemingly a cratered wilderness of
mud, to the trained eye wore a multitude of signi-
ficant objects.
My last topic introduces the regimental guide.
Guides performed some of the hardest and most
responsible work of the war. Staff work could at
rime be botched or boggled without ill-effects; for
mistakes by guides some heavy penalty was paid.
Whenever a relief took place, men to lead up the
incoming unit into the positions it was to occupy
were sent back, usually one per platoon, or, in cases
of diflïcult relief and when platoon strengths were
different, one per sentry-post. Guides rarely re-
ceived much credit when reliefs went well, but
always the blame when they went ill. The private
soldiers, who guided our troops into trench and
battle, played a greater part in winning the war
than any record has ever confessed.
I have already spoken of patrols, their difl]cul-
ties and dangers. Than General \Vhite no man in
the Brigade was better acquainted with its front or
a more punctual visitor to the most forward posi-
tions. \Vhat 'Bobbie' could not himself see bv
day he was resolved to have discovered for him by
night, and thus a high measure of activity by our
patrols was required. About Christmas the ques-
tion whether the eastern portion of a trench, known
as Grandcourt Trench, was held by the enemy, was
set to the Battalion to answer. Vowed to accom-
40 CHRISTMAS ON THE SOMME DECEMBER I910.
plish this task or die, a picked patrol started one
dark night. Striking in a bee line from out
trenches, the patrol passed several strands of wire
and presently discovered fragments of unoccupied
trench. On further procedure, sounds were heard
and, after the necessary stalkin and listening, proof
was obtained that a large hostile wiring party, talk-
ing and laughing together, was only a few vards
distant. With this information the patrol veered
to a flank, again passing throu.o_,h wire and crossing
several trenches which bore signs of occupation.
A line for home was then taken, but much groping
and long search failed to reveal the faithful land-
marks of our front line. At length, as dawn was
breaking, the situation became clear. The patrol
was outside D Company Headquarters in Hessian,
more than 800 vards belzb«d the front line. The
report of German wiring parties laughing and talk-
ing did nof gratify, and on reconstruction of its
movements it was round that the patrol had spent
the entire ni.o_,ht reconnoitring not the German but
our own defensive system. The wire so easilv
passed through, the noise and laughter, and the final
dézotee! at Hessian allowed for no other con-
clusion. A few nights later Brown, with a small
party and on a clear frostv night, solved the riddle
bv boldlv walking up to Grandcourt Trench and
finding the Germans not at home.
I mention the story of this first patrol for the
benefit, perhaps, of some who took part in it and
who will now, I feel sure, enjoy the humour of its
recollection. I mention it more to show of what
unrequited labour Infantry was capable. The most
CHRISTMAS ON THE SOMME, DECEMBER, I916. 41
wholehearted efforts were not alwavs successful.
One had this confidence on patrol, that one's mis-
takes onlv affected a handful. It was otherwise for
artillerv commanders who arranged a barrage,
commanders of Field Companies who guaranteed
destruction of a bridgehead, or of Special Com-
panies undertaking a gas projection. Such was the
meaning of responsibility.
The Battalion spent Decembcr 25, 96, in the
trenches under some of the worst conditions that
even a war Christmas «ould bring. Christmas
dinners were promised and afterwards held when
we were in test.
As in previous years, otlr army circulars had
forbidden any fraternisation with the enemv.
Though laughed at, these were resented by the
Infantry in the line, who at this stage Iacked either
wish or intention to join hands with the German
or lapse into a truce with him. On the other hand,
a day's holiday from the interminable sounds of
shelling would have been appreciated, and casual-
ties on Christmas Da) struck a note of tragedy. This
want of sagacity on the part of our higher staff, as
if out soldiers could not be trusted to fight or keep
their end up as well on Christmas as an'," other day,
was a reminder of those differences on which it is
no object of this history to touch.
CHAPTER IV.
AT MAISON PONTHIEU,
JANUARY--FEBRUARY, I9I 7.
Visite»fs fo the Battalion.--'Thc New Year.--A wintrv
march.--.\rrival at laison Ponthicu.bSevere weather.--At
war wilh lhe cold.--Training for offensive action.--Bv rail
to larcelçave.--Billets at Rainecourt.--Reconnoitrin the
I;rcnch line near I)enmco.urt.
I CANNOT often treat my readers to a ride by
motor car. Jump into this staff car that is wait-
ing--it will not take you to the trenches ! You will
have distinguished company. Colonel A. and
Major Q. have decided to pay a visit to the Bat-
talion. It is at Maison Ponthieu, nearly 5o mlles
behind the line, whither it marched two days since
to undergo a period of rest.
Arrived there, 3ou learn that the Commanding
Officer is out, placating with the assistance of the
Brigade interpreter the wrath of the village hunch-
back, a portion of whose wood-stack was reported
missing last night. This is not the first time that
A. and Q. have visited the village (their lives are
martyred to the study of regimental comfort), so our
journey opens with an inspection of the two Nissen
huts on the village 'green.'
'Disgraceful! At least two planks, which
helped to line the roof of this hut, have been
AT MAISON PONTHIEU, JANUARY--FEBRUARY, i9i 7. 43
burnt. Stores? One was sent to each battalion
onlv yesterday, and ten more have been promised
by Corps. Fuel? I am astounded to hear that
the supply is inadequate. Quartermaster! How
many pounds of dripping did you send to the Base
last week? The A.S.C. sent twice that quantité.
Who is cooking on that field kitchen? It will be
impossible to make the war last if things are abused
in this wav. Your men have no rifle racks, more
ablution benches must be provided and the sanitary
arrangements made up to date .... '
This little parable has made me outstrip my
narrative. You must come another dav and see
what Sergeant Parsons is doing with the vast quan-
tities of timber, corrugated iron, and other stores
supplied to make the billets staff-proof for the
future.
The end of the last chapter left the Battalion
complaining of out guns and otherwise merrv-
making in the front line. A dav or two belote the
New Year, companies marched back to huts near
Pioneer Station and the next morning reached
Hedauville. Here, shortly afterwards, Christmas
dinners, consisting of pigs and plum-pudding, were
consumed. It was believed that we had left
Regina and Desire for good, were leaving the
Corps and likelv to do training in a back area for
several weeks. Colonel Bellamv went on leave,
and Bennett, amid manv offers to accompany him
as batman, departed for three months' instruction at
Aldershot as a senior offacer. A new Major, W. L.
Ruthven, arrived in January and temporarily was
in command. Loewe and John Stockton returned
44 AT MAISON PONTHIEU, JANUARY--FEBRUARY, 19i 7-
from hospital and Jones from a Divisional working
part.x, which had been engaged for a month on the
wholesale manufacture of duck-boards. Lyon, an
officer equally popular in and out of the line, had
round egress from the Somme dug-outs trouble-
some and withdrew for a time to casier spheres.
Men's leave was now going well and frequent
parties left Acheux Station for ' Blighty.'
"Fhis list of changes is, of course, incomplete,
and I orlly give it to show how constantly the wheel
c,f alteration was turnin.o.q. Comparatively few
,fficers «»r men staved verv h3ng with one battalion.
'Average lives' used to be quoted for all cases,
ranging from a few weeks for a platoon officer to
the duration f«»r R.T.O';s and quartermaster-ser-
.eants! Old soldiers may never die, but I think
out new soldiers 'faded awax.,' not the old, who
grew fat and craftv !
The Battalion marched awav from Pioneer
Huts--whither it had returned after its rest at
Hedauville--on Januarv 15. The first stage on
the rearward journey carried us to Puchevillers, a
village full of shell dumps and now bisected by a
new R.O.D. line from Candas to Colincamps.
Snow, which had fallen heavily before we left
Puchevillers, made the ensuing march through
Beauval and Gézaincourt to Longuevillette a
trying one. The going was quite slippery and the
Transport experienced difficulty in keeping up
ith the Battalion, especially for the last two
miles. The road marked on the map had bv that
time degenerated, in characteristic fashion, to a
mere farm track across country. The Battalion
AT MAISON PONTHIEU, JANUARY--FEBRUARY, I9I 7- 45
was in its billets at Longuevillette bv6 o'clock, but
blankets arrived so late that it was midnight before
Hobbs could issue them. On the next da3-,
January t8, the march was continued through Ber-
naville to Domqueur, a distance of ii miles, on
frost-bound roads. No man fell out. The 2/4th
Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantrx
MAISON PONTHIEU.
was one of the best marching battalions in France.
On January 9 we reached the promised destina-
tion, Maison Ponthieu, of whose billets glowing
accounts had been received; which, as often, were
hardly realised.
At Maison Ponthieu the Battalion remained for
nearlv three weeks. Brigade Headquarters, the
Machine-gun Cornpan.v, and some A.S.C. were
46 AT MAISON PONTHIEU, JANUARY--- FEBRUARY, 9 1 7-
alreadv in the village--ominous news tor a billet-
ing party.
Now much snow had already fallen throughout
the countryside, and the weather since the New
Year had been growing steadilv more cold. In
thc middle of January, 97, an iron frost seized
Ncrthern France till ponds were solid and the fields
hard as steel. This spell, which lasted a month,
was proclaimed by the villagers to be the coldest
since 80o. As dav succeeded dav the sun still
rose from a clear horizon upon a landscape spark-
ling with snow and icicles, and each evening sank
in a veil of purple haze. Similar frost was experi-
enced in England, but the wind swept keener across
the fiat plains of Ponthieu than over our own Mid-
lands. This turn of the weather was a militarv
surprise. It produced conditions novel in trench
warfare. Severe cold was a commonplace, but now
for three weeks and more the ground evervwhere
had been hard as concrete, digging and wiring
were quite impossible, and movement in our front
area easier than ever before. It almost seemed as
if our opportunity for open warfare had arrived.
Certainlv at this moment in the military situation
the enemy could not have availed himself of his
old tactics as guarantee against a break through,
nor could he, as formerlv during the Somme Battle,
have protected himself from gradual defeat by
digging fresh trenches and switch lines and putting
out new wire in rear wherever his front line was
threatened. No doubt there were reasons prohibit-
ing an attempt to rush the enemv on a grand
scale from his precarious salient between Arras and
AT MAISON PONTHIEU, JANUARY--FEBRUARY, 97- 47
Péronne other than fear of being 'let down' by the
weather; though perhaps the latter consideration
alone, from a Supply standpoint, constituted suffi-
cient veto.
At ail events the tactics of the Battalion were
in quite another order. How to shave, how to
wash, how to put on boots frozen hard during the
night, above ail, how to keep warm--these were
the problems presented. I doubt if there was
much washing in cold water belote parade, and, as
for shaving, I know a portion of the breakfast tea
was often used for this purpose. Sponge and
shaving brush froze stiff as matters of habit. To
secure fuel provided constant occupation and
frequent stumbling-blocks. On our arrival most
rigid orders had been issued not to burn our neigh-
bours' fences and I ara able to say that the fences
survived our stay. Temptation grew, nevertheless,
in orchards and rows of small pollards (usually of
ash), which formed the hedges in this part of
France, not to mention a wood at the lower end of
the village. That ancient trick of covering tree
stumps with earth needed little learnin,,o, tach
night for such as had ears, if hOt oftïcial ones, wood
and thicket rang with the blows of entrenching tool
on bole and sapling, till past the verv door of
Sergeant-Major sipping his rum, or company officers
seated around sirloin and baked potatoes would be
dragged trunk and branches of a young tree, that in
peace rime and warmer weather might have lived
to grace an avenue. There should be varietv in
storv telling; here was one told ver.-, much out of
school.
48 AT MAISON PONTHIEU, JANUARY--FEBRUARY, I9 7-
From contemplation of this illicit forestry I
pass to sterner matters. The first alarms of the
'spring offensive' were in the air, urging us
infantry to deeds of arms in the back area. Pam-
phlets proclaimed the creed of otSen warfare and
bade perish the thought of gumboot or of trench.
Hence daily practices in attack formation, the
followin of barrages to first, second, and final ob-
jectives, the making of Z shaped posts and sendinç
forward of patrols and scouts.
The Brigadier was an enthusiastic spectator of
the work, and woe betide the platoon oïcer whose
men gave reckless answers to the General's ques-
tions. The 'Platoon Test' was introduced.' Sol-
dier's catechism did hot vet reach the perfection it
afterwards acquired, when all who took part in an
attack knew beforehand every practical detail
assined to them. \Vhile knowledge of the com-
plexities of the war became steadilv more im-
portant, individual training of the man helped to
make good his deficiency in pre-war discipline.
Morale was never learnt from sack-stabbing at
home, but in France this education of each soldier
to.use his intellect and become a positive agent
instead of a member of a herd proved a potent
l Cross-examination of the mell h'l thelr duties. Thev
v«ere asked what they wcmld do in various emergencies.
Their powers of recognition were also tested. I recollect
a humoro.us incident when General \Vhite and Colonel V'ake
{G.S.O.I., 6st Division) both passed incof;nifo. The situa-
tion was well seized by the former, who slapped his chest
and declared, ' Such is faine ' ! Lav readers will find in later
chapters some attempt to explain the technical expressions
used in the text.
13RIGADIER-GENIKRAL THEItON. R. AHITIE, C B., C M.G., D.S.O.
9. 4S.
AT MAISON PONTHIEU, JANUARY--FEBRUARY, 19I 7. 49
factor towards the final superiority of the English-
man over his enemy.
On the morning of February 4, I917, the Bat-
talion has said good-bye to Maison Ponthieu and
is marching to Brucamps. Another week and we
see it on the move again, this time partly bv train.
Orders for that move were as follows :--
Reveille, 5 a.m.
Breakfast, 6 a.m.
Blankets rolled in tens and valises to be
dumped outside the Q.M. stores by
6.3o a.m.
Mess boxes, 7 a.m.
Parade, 7.3 ° a.m.
The march was through Vauchelles-les-Domart
to Longpré. Thence we were dragged by train
through Amiens to Marcelçave, where we detrained
and marched to huts at Wiencourt. We were about
to relieve the French in the line near Chaulnes.
On February 15 the Battalion marched through
Harbonnières, where the Maior-General, Colin
Mackenzie (now Sir Colin, K.C.B.) was standing
with a French General to see us pass, and on fo
Rainecourt. The latter village, where the Bat-
talion was billeted, improved on acquaintance. It
had lain some 3½ miles behind the old Somme
front and had suffered a good deal from German
shells. French industry and French materials had,
since the advance, converted damaged barns and
houses into quite good billets.
Several days were spent in Rainecourt in rather
dismal weather, for the prolonged frost had broken
.O AT MAISON PONTHIEU, JANUARY--FEBRUARY, IgI 7.
and mist and mud followed. Into the little church
were now dragged 6,4oo pairs of gumboots, repre-
senting about ,'Io,ooo. It was the Divisional
gumboot store, phrase of awful significance ! I feel
that the very mention of the word gumboot, when-
HARBONNIÉRES.
ever it occurs, is lending a smile to certain of mv
readers and, perchance, a frown to others. O gum-
boots, what reputations have you hot jeopardised,
what hairs brought down with sorrow to the Base!
The Battalion was divided before it left Raine-
court, orders being given for C and D Companies
AT MAISON PONTHIEU, JANUARY--FEBRUARY, 191î. 5 1
to move forward to Herleville and occup.v some
huts and dug-outs there.
It is morning of Februarv _22, 97- Colonel
Bellamy and his four company commanders are
setting out to reconnoitre the new front line.
Guides are to meet us at Deniécourt Château, a
heap of chalk slabs and old bricks, beneath which
are Brigade Headquarters. To reach this reJ«lez-
z'o2t« we pass through Foucaucourt and then along
a corduroy road through Deniécourt Wood to the
village of that name. The wood has been fought
through and but few branches remain on the trees,
whose trunks, like so man)" untidy telegraph poles,
fise to various heights from the upheaval of shell-
holes and undergrowth. Dismal surroundings Oll
a dismal mornin,, for the frost has relented for
several davs and already sides of trenches are
collapsing (flop go the chunks into the water !) and
on top the ground is loadin one's boots at everv
step.
We change into gumboots in an old cellar and
our jcurney commences. Sec the Colonel, Cuth-
bert, Marcon, Brown, Stockton, Robinson and mv-
self lead off down a communication trench behind
a guide, pledged to take us to the Berks Head-
quarters. The going is desperate--water up to
«»tir knees; however, each hundred yards brings
our goal nearer, and it can hardly be like this all
the wav. We tome to a trench junction, and our
guide turns left-handed; presently another--the
guide knows the way and again turns to the left.
5 2 AT MAISON PONTHIEU, JANUARY--FEBRUARY, I9I 7.
Confound the mud! If we do not get there soon
we shall never be home for lunch .... but we do
not get there soon. The guide, always protesting
that he knows the vay, has led us in a circle and
here we are whence we started an hour ago!
After such well-meaning mockerv of our efforts,
a route 'over the top' is tried. Soon we are out-
side Battalion Headquarters of the Berks. Whilst
we are there, German gas shelling starts--a few
rounds of phosgene--and helmets require to be
adjusted. It is not everybody's helmet that fits,
this being the first real occasion on which some oftï-
cers have worn them. There is some laughing to
see the strictest censor of a gas helmet (or its
absence) in difficulties with his own, when the
moment for its adiustment has arrived.
The company commanders duly separate to go
up to their own sections of the front. Thev sec
the 'posts,' or any of them that can be visited in
daylight, make notes of local details affecting the
relief, and so home independently.
Billets never seemed so comfortable or attrac-
tive as on the night preceding a relief. Perhaps
they would have seemed more so had the Battalion
known, what luckily it could not, that an unpleasant
tour was in store, and that afterwards, with the
enemy in retreat, there would be no more billets
until the summer.
ÇHAPTER V.
IN THE ABLAINCOURT SECTOR,
FEBRUARY, IgI 7.
German retreat foreshadowed.--The Battalion takes over
the Ablaincourt Sector.--Issues in the making.--Lieutenant
Fry rnortally wounded.--The raid bv German storrn-troops
on February _8.--The raid explained.
ARLY in 97 it became known to our
intelligence service that the enemv was
contemplating retirement on a lare scale from
the Somme battle-front. Reports from prisoners
and aeroplane photographs of a new line, famous
afterwards as the Hindenbur line, running from
west of Cambrai to St. Quentin, left in doubt only
the date and manner of the withdrawal. To the
latter question some answer was possible bv refer-
ence to our mentors or from a text-book apprecia-
tion of the situation, though no one guessed unti]
the movement had in reality started with what
circumstances the Germans would see fit to invest
it. The date was a more diflïcult problem. For
its solution recourse must be had bv commanders,
staff oflïcers and experts to the infantrv A compe-
tition open to all battalions holding the line (and
without other entrance fee) thereupon commenced.
To whom should fall the laurels of a correct
diagnosis of the march-table of the German rear-
54- THE ABLAINCOURT SECTOR, FEBRUARY, I9I 7-
guards, who be the first to scatter them bv the
relentless pursuit of out victorious arms?
To out higher staff the question whether the
cnemy was still manning with normal garrisons the
front opposite out armies seemed relatively simple.
Readers, however, with experience of trench war-
rare will remember that in the line bv da) it was
impossible to surmise correctlv one item of what
was happening a hundred yards awav in hostile
trenchcs- certainlv one kncw well enough when
shells were fallin, and 'minnies,' rifle-grenades
and snipers' bullets argued that a pernicious, almost
erminous, form of lire was extant not far awav"
but despite ail this, stared a sentry never so vigi-
lantlv.through his periscope he could hardi), predict
whether two, ten, or a hundred of the enemy tribe
were hidden below earth almost within a stone's
throw. At night it seemed probable that a patrol
of a few brave men could crawl right up to the
German wire and listen, or bv setting foot in them
enquire vhcther 'Fritz' was at home in his trenches
or no and so our patrols could, and did. In
practice, however, out most active patrols were
frequently deceived. .hots and Verev lights, which
came from several directions, might be discharged
bv a solitary German, whose function it was to
go the round of the enemv posts and tire from
each spasmodically in turn. A trench entered and
found empty might be a disused sap or bar
habituallv unoccupied. To maintain the normal
semblance of trench-warfare was an easy task for
the German, and one that he never failed in.
Repeatedly in his retirements during the war he
THE ABLA[NCOURT SEC'FOR, rEBRUARY, 97- 55
removed his real forces, his artillery and stores
unbeknown to our watching infantry and their
questioning staff. The screen of a retreating
enemy is not easily caught up and pierced by an
advaneed guard not superior toit in strength and
inferior in mobility. On the Somme in 97 and
from the Lys salient in 98 the Germans retired
from wide to narrower divisional fronts (giving
themselves greater 'depth' in the process), which
faet, coupled with destruction of bridges and roads,
prevented us from forcing an issue with their main
bodv on the move. There were exceptions, as
when the 32nd Division captured guns near Savy,
but the enemy, in retiring, played for safety and
denied much opportunity to our troops, despite
their zeal in keeping touch, to deal him damage.
Such was the tactical situation when the 84th
lnfantr) Brigade relieved the French in the Ablain-
court sector. The Berks, who first held the left
subsector, had an uneventful tour. Trenches taken
over from the French were usually quiet at first
owing to the different methods employed by us and
our allies in the conduct of trench-warfare. Within
a dav or two of the relief the frost had finally broken
and the trenches everywhere started to fall in,
making the outlook in this respect ominous.
On the afternoon of Februarv 23, we marched
up to relieve the Berks. Near Foucaucourt the
cookers gave us tea. There also we changed into
gumboots. Guides met us at Estrées cross-roads,
a tr.vsting place possible onl) when dusk had fallen.
and the lugubrious procession started along a tram-
way track amon whose iron sleepers the men
56 THE ABLAINCOURT SECTOR, FEBRUARY, 97 .
floundered considerably, partly from their precau-
tion of choosing gumboots several sizes too large.
On this occasion the usual stoppages and checks
were multiplied by a brisk artillerv 'strafe' upon
the front, accompanied by ail manner of coloured
lights and rockets. The noise soon dying down
we were able to continue a bad journey" with men
frequently becoming stuck and a few lost. The
relief was not over until nearlv dawn, by when the
last Berks had left and our worst stragglers been
collected.
The Battalion took over a three-company front.
Brown with A Company guarded the left. Robin-
son with C (containing a large proportion of a recent
draft now paying its first visit to the trenches) was
in the centre, and D Company on the right. Some
500 vards behind our front lay the Ablaincourt
Sucrerie, a dismal heap of polluted ruins, like ail
sugar factories the site of desperate fighting.
Ablaincourt itself, a village freelv mentioned in
French dispatches during the Somme battle, was
the verv symbol of depressing desolation. Péronne,
eight mlles to the north-east, was out of view.
,qave for the low ridge of Chaulnes, whence the Ger-
man gunners watched, and the shattered barn-roofs
of Marchélepot--the former on our right, the latter
directlv to our front--the scene was mud, alwa.ys
mud, stretching appallingly to the horizon.
Students of music are familiar with the rival
motifs that run through operas. In an earlier
paragraph I have indicated one such motif, and if
i-molf
te: D.C_BoTu de
Communication
C CoY
The
ABLAINCO
THE AILAINCOUKT
Tr«nth«s held by î/4mO×FOKi) &
FiBKU^gY 1 91 7
Drawn by G. ! .Fose
. THE ABLAINCOURT SECTOR, FEBRUARY, I 9 1 7"
in this opera of war a curtain be lifted to shew the
future act which this motif dominates, you would
see the German staff busy with maps over its re-
treat, planning the rime-table of explosion and
burning, and designating the several duties of
fou]ing wells and ]ayin booby-traps.
Another scene, in which the rival motif is heard,
shews a strong body ofugly-looking Germans at
practice over some shallow trenches some distance
behind their line. 13y a quaint coincidence these
trenches are a facsimile of those just taken over
by the Battalion. The ugly Germans are memt)ers
of a 'travelling circus.' For long past thev have
lived in the best billets and been receiving extra
rations. They play no part in the retreathhouse-
wrecking, the flooding of cellars, the hacking
through of young fruit trees and throwing over of
sundials and garden ornaments, much as they might
enjoy it, is not their function.
Thev are a professional raiding party, with tv,o
successful raids at Loos, one at Ypres and one
near Hébuterne to their credit. Wherever the
English have just relieved the French they are
sent for to perform. They are accompanied by two
8-inch howitzers and several batteries of 5-9s and
4-2s belonging to the 'circus' and bv a Minen-
Werfer Abteilung. Their raid upon the Oxfords
is fixed for Februarv 28, when the moon will be a
third full. The last aeroplane photograph admir-
ably shews the Sucrerie, communication trenches
leading forward and the whereabouts of all dug-
outs. The pioneer detachment--whose thoughts are
turned onlv to the retreat, of which rumours have
THE ABLAINCOURT SECTOR, FEBRUARY, 19I 7 . 59
been plentiful--must move from its comfortable
dug-outs in the railway embankmcnt to make room
for H.Q. of thc raiding party.
The front held by the Battalion was tacticallv
llOt satisfactory. Being three on a front, uith
B Company placed nearlv ,ooo vards in rear,
companies had to find their own supports, which,
owing to absence of other dug-out accommodation,
were disposed in positions not onlv too far back
but inadequately covering those portions of the
front which they were engaged to defend. More-
over, practical means of communication to and bv
these support platoons were likely to prove, in
event of need, negligible. They were, in fact,
isolated in places themselves not defensible and
equally remote from company and battalion com-
manders. This situation was bad enough as point
d'app«ti for an advance; to resist a counter-attack
or raid it was deplorable. Like manv similar situa-
tions, it was due to the lack of habitable trenches
on the ground that should have been occupied and
defended. It could be no one's fault either high
up or low down that the line was held in this way,
though perhaps had fewer men been allowed to
crowd into trenches and dug-outs in the forward
line, casualties in killed and prisoners might have
been spared to the Battalion.
A few hours after the relief was complete orders
came up for patrols to go out to see if the enemv
had or had not gone back 3et. Our artillery, which
was not vet strongly represented behind this sector,
also began to tire at extreme ranges on the German
60 THE ABLAINCOURT SECTOR, FEBRUARY, 1917-
back area east of Marchélepot and Chaulnes. The
enemy, on his part, sniped at and bombed our
patrols at night. The behaviour of his guns and
aeroplanes bv day suggested no passive retreat in
the near future. While BAB 1 code messages, pro-
viding mingled toil and excitement, announced the
impending departure of the enemv and asserted the
necessitv for keeping touch, aeroplanes flew a
thousand feet overhead and directed the tire of
fresh batteries of 5.9 s and 4-2s upon our trenches.
No doubt the Germans had stocks of ammunition
they preferred to tire off rather than cart backwards.
Gas shelling became common for the first rime in
the Battalion's experience. In the front line masks
had often to be worn. Headquarters also were
gassed more than once and suffered much incon-
venience. This activity by the enemy was reason-
ably regarded as his normal policy with which to
impede our preparations for advance, so that
complaints of re..,straton- coming from the front
line received no special attention from the authori-
ries, who were themselves tossed to and fro and
kept quite occupied by the manv conflicting prophe-
cies of the enemv's retreat.
On the morning of Februarv 2 7 German howit-
zer batteries commenced some heavy shelling on
the Battalion sector, especially on the communi-
cation trenches passing under the former F rench
titles of B.C.4 and B.C.5 .3 Working parties who
i A secret trench co.de, intended for use in ooerations.
- Deliberate shelling to ascertain exact range of targets
for a future bornbard-rnent.
B.C. = Boyau de commmffcatione, communication trench.
THE ABLAINCOURT SECTOR, FEBRUARY, 1917. 6I
were bus)' digging out mud from those trenches
were compelled to desist. At Io o'clock I heard
that Fry, the commander of No. I6 Platoon, had
been hit by shrapnel on his way from Company
H.Q. to the Sucrerie. To get him to the nearest
shelter (C Company H.Q.) was difficult through thc
mud, and uncomfortable enough with 5.9s coming
down close to the trench, but the men, as alwavs,
played up splendidly to assist a comrade. Soon
afterwards, the doctor, in answer to a telephonic
summons, appeared at my H.Q. On our way to
reach Frv we were both knocked down in the trench
by a 4"-', which also wounded Corporal Rockall in
the shoulder-blade. I regret that Fry, though
safely moved from the trenches the same night,
had received a mortal wound. In him died a fine
example of the platoon officer. He met his wound
in the course of a trivial dutv which, had I guessed
that he would do it under heavy shelling, I should
have forbidden him to undertake. His type of
bravery, though it wears no decorations, is distin-
guished, more than all other, by the unwritten
admiration of the Infantry
During that night I had a peculiar and interest-
ing task. It was to report on the condition of all
roads leading through our front line across No-
Man's-Land. Mud, battle and frost had so com-
bined to disguise all former roads and tracks, that
to decide their v,hereabouts it was often necessar
to folloçv them forward from behind bv means of
map and compass. Seen by pale nmonlight, these
derelict roads, in places pitted with huge craters
or flanked by shattered trees, wore a mvsterious
02 THE ABLAINCOURT SECTOR, FEBRUARY, I9I 7.
charm. More eloquent of catastrophe than those
thrown down by gale or struck bv lightning are
trees which shells bave hit direct and sent, splin-
tered, in headlong crash from the ranks of an
avenue. If wood and earth could speak, what
tales the sunken roads »t France could filld to
tell!
Mornin. and afternoon of the next day,
February 28, were fine and ominously quiet.
Excessive quietness was often no good sign.
Presentiments could have been justified. At
4.5 p.m. a stron.o,- barrage of trench mortars and
rifle grenades began to beat upon the front line,
accompanied by heavy artillerv tire against com-
munication and support trenches and the back
area. This sequel to the previous registration
clearly indicated some form of attack by the
enemv. The rhythmic pounding of the heavy
howitzers, whose shells were arriving with the
regular persistency of a barrage table, suggested
that a long bombardment, probably until after
dusk, was" intended. Under such circumstances
it was the part of the Cmpany .Commander to
'stand to' and await events with the utmost
vigilance. This never meant that the men should
be ordered out into the trenches and the fire-steps
manned, for to do so would bave invited heavy
casualties and demoralised the garrison before the
opportunity for active resistance had arrived. To
keep look-out by sentries, to watch for an)" liftinR
in the barrage, and to maintain communication
with H.Q. and with the flanks were the measures
required. Otherwise, except to destroy maps and
THE ABLAINCOURT SECTOR, FEBRUARY, I9 1 î- (3
papers, there was nothing to do but wait, for only
in the most clumsily organised shows did the other
side know zero. On this occasion, at the moment
the German raiding party came over, a patrol
consisting of Corporal Coles and Timms had onlv
just returned from D Company front line. Thev
said that though the shelling was heavy imme-
diately behind and on the flanks, the wire was
intact and there was no sign of attack. At dusk,
therefore, there was nothing save the heavy shell-
ing to report to Cuthbert over my telephone, which
by luck held until eut by German wire-cutters.
Within a few minutes, shouts and a few rifle
shots were heard, and the next moment bombs were
being thrown into my dug-out.
The lights went out and the interior became
filled with fumes, groans, and confusion.
A German raiding party had penetrated
C Company, seized the front line, which" 'was a
bare 8o yards from my H.Ç., and, without touch-
ing my own front (which indeed was 2oo yards
distant and to the flank), had picketed my dug-out,
and awaited their haul of prisoners.
Now, a bombed dug-out is the last word in
'unhealthiness.' It ranks next to a rammed sub-
marine or burning aeroplane. For severaI minutes
I awaited death or wounds with a degree of cer-
taintv no soldier ever felt in an attack. But in
such emergencies instinct, which, more than the
artificial training of the mind, asserts itself, arms
human beings with a natural cunning for which
civilization provides no scope. Lire proverbially
is not cheap to its owner.
6 4 THE ABLAINCOURT SECTOR, FEBRUARY, 97.
"Fhat evervone inside was not killed instantly
was due, no doubt, both to the sloping character
of the stairs, which made some bombs explode be-
fore they reached the bottom, and to the small
size of the bombs themselves. A gas bomb
finished the German side of the argument. Hunt's
useful kno«ledge of German commenced the
answer. We 'surrendered.' I went upstairs at
once and saw three Germans almost at touching
distance. In place of a docile prisoner they re-
ceived four revolver shots, after which I left as
soon as possible under a shower of bombs and
liquid tire. Shortlv afterwards, but too late to
follow me, Hunt also came forth and round the
enemv had vanished Afterwards the Sergeant
Major and Uzzell, sanitary lance-corporal, who on
this occasion showed the genius of a fieId marshal,
emerged and prevented the return of our late
visitors.
After an hour's struggle through mud and
barrage I reached the two platoons in Trench
Roumains, who (I mention this as a good paradox
of trench discipline) were engaged in sock-changing
and foot-rubbing according to rime table! From
there the counter-attack described in Sir Douglas
Haig's dispatch of Match st was carried out.
fear this 'counter-attack' was better in his telling
than in the doing, for the Germans had alreadv
decamped an hour before, taking with them Lieu-
tenant Guild[ord and some 2o prisoners from
C Company, several Lewis guns, and their own
casualties.
Against a front line crowded with untried
IN THE ABLAINCOURT SECTOR, FEBRUARY, x97. 65
troops (I refer to the new draft of which the
platoons holding C ,Company front line were
principally composed) a well-planned raid power-
fully pressed home under a severe box barrage and
assisted by gas and liquid tire, v«as almost bound
to succeed. The mud, strange trenches and weak
artillery support were other factors for which allow-
ance might have been ruade before such degree of
blame was laid upon the Battalion as was seen fit
for it to receive. The onlv cure for being raided
is to raid back. That was happily done exactly
two months later against the verv regiment to
which the German raiding party on this occasion
belonged. Nor was it true that the enemv was
hOt fought with. Some parties which attacked
Brown's front were, under the able example of that
officer, driven off with Lewis guns, and D Com-
pany, whose loss in prisoners was nil, also main-
tained its front intact. Casualties were inflicted
on the enemy, but these mostlv regained their own
lines or were carried back bv stretcher parties. Our
loss in killed that night amounted to some twenty.
The story of this raid I should not have allowecl
to reach this length but for the fact that the affair
created some stir at the rime, and correspondence
ra.o.9.ed on the subject till long afterwards Hunt,
who was with me during the bombardment and the
bombing of my H..Q., was not captured on emerg-
ing from the dug-out, but himself, some hour or
more afterwards, while wandering among the
blown-in trenches in an effort to follow me, entered
a German listening post and became a prisoner.
As a prisoner he was present at a German H..Q.
(36 IN THE ABLAINCOURT SECTOR, FEBRUARY, I9I 7.
when the details of an exactly similar raid upon
a neighbouring division were being arranged ; which
raid proved for the enemy an equal success.
The aftermath of this fighting proved a trying
experience. The dug-out to which I returned to
spend the remainder of the tour was a shambles.
The stairs were drenched with blood. Of my
companions, Thompson, a signaller, Timms, Smith
(Hunt's servant, a fine lad) and Corporal Coles--
one of the br.avest and most devoted N.CO.'s the
Battalion ever had--were dead or died soon after-
wards. Longford and Bugler Wright were severely
wounded. Longley and Short had escaped belote
the first bombs exploded in the dug-out, but the
remaining survivors, the Sergeant-Maior, Lance
Corporal Rowbotham, Roberts and myself were all
partially gassed and hardly responsible for further
action. Under these circumstances the task of
carrying-on involved a strain, lessened, as always
on such occasions, by management of everything
for the best by Battalion Headquarters.
On the night of Match 2 the Battalion was
relieved by the Berks, now under the command of
Clonel Beaman, and moved back about 2,000
yards to some support trenches near Bovent Cpse.
From here companies were employed ration-carry-
ing to the front line and cleaning the trenches.
Considerable activity continued to be displayed by
the German artillery and aeroplanes, in each of
which respect we lacked superiority.
The enemy retreat appeared postponed or
cancelled.
CHAPTER VI.
LIFE IN THE FRONT LINE,
VINTER, 96--I97.
Ignorance of civilians and non-combatants.--The front
line posts.--Hardships and dangers.--Support platoons.--
The Company Officers.--The Battalion relieved by the
82nd Brigade.
O far I have said little of the hardships suffered
by the Infantrv. Indeed, in places I have
laughed at them. Those scenes and experiences
which marked a soldier's lire in the front line will
have been supplied by those who knew them as
familiar background to mv storv. But I grudge
leaving them to the imagination of civilian and
non-combatant readers. I seriously doubt whether
the average man or woman has the least inkling
of what really happened 'out there.' Talk over-
heard or stories listened to ma}" in special instances
have revealed a fragment of the truth. For most
people the lack of real perception was filled in by
a set of catchwords. As the war dragged on, the
civilian mind of England passed into a conven-.
tional acceptance of phrases habitually read but
improperly understood, until the words 'raids,'
'barrages,' ' objective,' 'craters,' ' counter-attack,'
08 LIFE IN THE FRONT LINE, WINTER, 96--917 .
"consolidation,' became tolerated as everyday com-
monplaces. Take a war-despatch of I916 or I917
bit is made up of a series of catch words and
symbols. Plenty of out famous men, I ara sure,
who went to the front and perhaps wrote books
afterwards, on arrival there ruade remarks no less
foolish (and excusable) than the old lady's 'nasty
slippery place' where Nelson fell. The .q_omme
and Ypres battlefields are inconceivable bv anv-
one who has seen nothing but the normal surface
of the earth. The destruction of towns, villages
and farms is without parallel in history or fiction.
To witness some scenes in the Retreat of 918 was
to stake one's sanity. There are no standards bv
which civilians and non-combatants can appreciate
the true facts of the war. Deliberate reproduction
would hardly be believed. Suppose, for instance,
this winter I were to dig a large hole in a field, a
quarter fill it with liquid mud, and then invite four
or rive comrades, all arraved in much warlike
impedimenta, but lacking more extra covering than
a waterproof sheet each, to the hole to spend two
nights and a da)" in itbI should be credited with
lunacv. Yet I should be offering a fair sample of
front-line accommodation during the Great \Var.
Reliefs took place at night. Alike throuh
snow or rain, or in a biting wind, the Infantrv
marched up from huts or ruined barns (its rest
billets) to reach the line--a distance normallv of
seven mlles. First by road, next by a slippery
track, finally through a communication trench deep
in mud, our soldiers had to carry each his rifle and
12o round of ammunition, a share of rations, gum-
P
LIFF. IN TUF. FRONT MNF., WNTF.R, 916--I9y. 69
boots, a leather jerkin and several extras--a load
whose weight was fully 5 ° pounds. Many stag-
gered and fell. All finished the journey smothered
in dirt. Boots, puttees and even trousers were
sometimes stripped from the men by the mere suc-
tion of the mud, in which it was not unusual to
remain suck for several hours. Men, though not
of our Battalion, were even drowned. 1
Parties were often shelled on the wav up, or
else were lost and wandered far. From Head-
quarters, reached about midnight, of the Company
being relieved guides would take two platoons into
the front line 'posts,' the other two to the positions
in support.
In the front line itself there was often no better
shelter than an old tarpaulin or sheet o corrugated
iron stretched across the trench. At some 'posts'
there was nothing better to sit on than the muddv
'fire-step' or at best hall a duck-board or an old
bomb box. Despite continuous efforts to keep one
dr 5 place to stand, the floor was several inches deep
in water and mud.
Movement in anv direction, save for a few vards
to the flanks if the mud had been cleared awav or
dammed up, in daylight was impossible. No
visitors came bv dav. Stretcher bearers were not
alwavs near. tire could not, or if it could, might
not be lighted. Therefore no hot meal, except
perhaps a little tea made over a ' Tommv's .Cooker,"
was procurable bv da)'.
i Thls fact, which will hardlv be credlted bv future
generatio.ns, is related from the actual knowledge of the
writer.
7 ° LIFE IN THE FRONT LINE, WlNTER, 1916--!917.
The post would be shelled or trench-mortared
at intervals. In earlier davs it might be totally
blown up by a mine, or in later times bombed or
machine-gunned from the air. For 3 ° to 4o high
explosive shells to fall all round a post was quite
common. Sometimes a 'dud' would lai1 inside it,
or a huge 'Minnie,' which burst in the wire, cover
the occupants with earth and splinters. The crash
of these huge trench-mortar bombs was satanic;
and there was always a next one to be waited for.
$ometimes whole posts were wiped out. If there
were wounded they could expect no doctor's heIp
before night. Often bv day, owing to mud and
German snipers, it was impossible to lift a wounded
man from where he had fallen.
Night, longer than day, was also worse. Pitch
darkness, accompanied mavbe by snow or mist,
increased the strain. With luck the great compen-
sation of hot food---tea and stew--would be
brought up by the ration parties. But sometimes
they were hit and were often lost and arrived
se»eral hours late. The sandbags containing a
platoon's rations for a day were liable to be
dropped, and bread arrived soaked through or
broken and mud-stained. Moreover, the darkness
which permitted parties from behind to reach the
post also decreed that the post should get about
its work. Had the wire a weak place, the Germans
knew of it, and directly the wiring party set about
mending it lights were sent up, which fell in the
wire close to our men, and machine-gun bullets
banged through the air. Besides the wire the
parapet required constant attention. Atone place,
LIFE IN THE FRONT LINE, WINTER, 9697. 71
where a member of the post had been killed bv a
sniper, it would want building up; at another,
a shell perhaps had dropped only a yard short
of the trench during the evening 'strafe,' the
passage would be blocked and the post's bomb-
store buried. All this had to be put right before
dawn. During the night a patrol would be ordered
to go out. Men who were sentries bv day or were
the covering party for the wiring might be detailed
for this. After that was over the same men took
turns as sentries.
Sleep was confined to what those not on dut},
could snatch, wrapped only in the extra covering
of a waterproof sheet, in a sitting posture on the
firestep. At dawn, when the men at last could
have slept heavily, came morning stand-to. This
meant standing and shivering for an hour whilst
it grew light and attempting to clean a mud-clogged
rifle. Those Englishmen in England (and in
France) who have slept warm in their beds through-
out the war should remind themselves of those
thousands of our soldiers who wet through, sleep-
less, fed on food which, served as it finally
was up in the trenches, would hardly have tempted
a dog, have stood watching rain-sodden darkness
of night yield to dismal shell-bringing dawn,
and have_ witnessed the monotonous routine of war
till slln, earth, skv and ail the elements of nature
seemed pledged in one conspiracy of hardship.
What of the two platoons in 'support' ?
Their lot was preferable. They were placed
about 4oo yards behind the actual front and lived
(if such existed) in deep mined dug-outs. Until
7 2 LIFE IN THE FRONT LINE, WlNTE, 96I9 7"
the later stages of the war deep dug-outs, which
were subterranean chambers about 2 5 feet below
the leel of the ground and nearly shell-proof, were
made onlv by the Germans, whose industry in this
respect was remarkable. Found and inhabited by
us in captured territory, these dug-outs had the
defect that their entrances 'faced the wrong way,'
i.e., towards the German howitzers. Sometimes a
shell, whose angle of descent coincided with the
slope of the stairs, burst at the bottom of a dug-
out, and then, of course, its occupants were killed.
If no deep dug-outs were available, the support
platoons lived in niches cut into the side of the
trench and roofed over with .corrugated iron, timber
and sandbags. Such shelters afforded little pro-
tection aainst shelling.
In event of attack bv the enemy it was the
normal duty of support platoons to garrison a line
of defence known as the 'line of resistance.' They
might be ordered to make a counter-attack. V'hen
no fighting was taking place their work was likely to
consist in carrying up rations and R.t. materials
(wooden pickets, sandbags, coils of barbed wire,
etc.) to the front line. This work had to be
done at night, because in winter 'communication
trenches' (which alone made daylight movement
possible from place to place in the forward zone}
were so choked with mud as to be impassable. The
dav was spent in 'mud-slinging,' i.e., digging out
falls of earth from the trench, rebuilding dug-outs
or laying fresh duckboards (wooden slats to walk
on in the trenches). \Vhen the evening's 'carrying
parties' were finished, the men had some sleep, but
A DUCKBOARDED COi'gI"IUNICATIOH TiNCH
74 LIFE IN THE FRONT LINE, WINTER, i916--I9I 7.
support troops were often used as night patrols in
No-Man's-Land or as wiring parties.
After a da?" or longer in support they were sent
up to relieve, i.e., exchange positions with, their
comrades in the front line posts. Four days was
the usual 'tour' for a company. During it each
platoon did two spells of 24 hours in the posts and
the saine back in support. When the four days
were over, a fresh company relieved that whose tour
was finished. The one relieved moved back to
better conditions, but would still be in trenches and
dug-outs until the whole Battalion was relieved.
The English infantryman stands for ail ages as
the ensample of heroic patience, which words or
cartoon rail utterly to convey.
How did the Company Commander and his
officers rare in the trenches ?
The Platoon Officer shared every hardship with
his 25 men. If there was a roofed-in hole with a
box for a table he had it, for his messages were
manv. To the Company Commander a rough table
was quite indispensable, and so were light and some
protection from the rain. \Vithout these essentials
he could never have received nor sent his written
instructions, consulted his maps nor spoken by
telephone, on which he relied to get help frotn the
artillery. The Company Sergeant-Major, a few
signallers and some runners were his familiars, and
he lived with and among these faithful men. Ç)uite
often the Company Commander's dug-out was
appreciably the best in the company area. Some-
times it was little better than the worst. In the
spring of 98 it was often onlv a hole.
LIFE IN THE FRONT LINE, WINTER, 1916--19I 7. î5
Every good Company Commander made a point
of visiting each night all his front line posts and
spending some time with each, not only to give
orders, direct the work and test the vigilance of
the sentries, but in order to keep up the Company's
morale. The worse the weather or the shelling the
higher that duty was. Likewise the Battalion
Commander used to visit Company Headquarters
once a day and every front line post at least once
during a tour. The journey to the front line, pos-
sible only in darkness, was very dangerous. Shells
were bound to fall at some point on the way, the
enenv's machine guns or 'fixed rifles' were trained
on everv probable approach, and the Captain in
ordinary trench warfare was as liable to be killed
as any Private. Responsibility, however, made
these nightly walks not only necessary but almost
desirable.
"Fo conditions such as I have described the
Battalion returned to do another tour in the Ablain-
court sector. The line was again held by A on
the left (owing to the former three-company svstem
no proper interchange had been possible) and bv
B on {he right. Davenport went to mv old head-
quarters, which the enemv was now bus', trench-
mortaring, and held half the front previously held
by C, which, with D .Company, was now in support.
To the usual evils were now added rifle-grenades
filled with gas, which caused several casualties in
A Company. D Company lost a good man in
Lance Corporal Tremellen, who was wounded bv
a bullet through the legs when leading a ration
part.'," 'across the top,' and other N.C.O.'s went sick
76 LIFE IN THE FRONT LINE, WINTER, I916--I9I 7.
with trench lever. During this tour the energy of
Corporal Viggers, of my company, was most re-
markable. He did the work of ten.
On the night of March 15 the Brigade was
relieved by the Warwicks. The Battalion moved
back to Framerville, where Quartermaster's Stores
and Transport rejoined.
CHAPTER VI I.
THE ADVANCE TO ST. QUENTIN,
MARCH TO APRIL, I9 7-
The enemy's retirement.--Road-mending in No-Man's-
Land.--The devastated area.--Open warfare.--The Montolu
campaign.--Operations on the Ornignon river.q'he 6st
Division relieved belote St. Quentin.End of trench-warfare.
N March 6, 917, the Germans left their
front line and scuttled back behind the
Somme.
The news of this threw everything into a minia-
ture ferment. The Berks stopped practising a raid
which thev were to do on the Brigade's return to
the old trenches. The General rode off apace.
After orders and counter-orders the 2/4th marched
dramaticallv to a map reference near Lihons and
commenced pulling logs out of old French dug-
outs. Much good work was done, but I believe
the logs were never used. On the next dav Ger-
man aeroplanes saw the Battalion parade at
X 17 c 3- 8. and march to its old billets at Raine-
court. Never was the old song ' Here we are again'
more heartily rendered.
Meanwhile Divisional Headquarters advanced
and seized a colon)" of dug-outs at Vermandovillers.
Great eagerness was shown by everyone to see what
78 ADVANCE TO ST. QUENTIN, MARCH--APRIL, 917 .
the enemy had left behind and whither he had
gone. Often during the advance parties of Infan-
trv detailed to clear a village round members of a
Royal Corps already in possession. In this race of
the curious we were severely handicapped, for it
had fallen to the 182nd Brigade to be the Advanced
Guard of the 6ISt Division and to the I84th to
follow in reserve. To us the task of roadmaking
in No-Man's-Land was assigned. This proved
quite interesting work. Except where shells had
fallen on them or trenches been dug through, the
roads, when once the mud had been removed, were
round virtually intact. Soon G.S. wa.ons and lim-
bers and 18-pounders were passing forward. The
war was on the move.
To explore the former German trenches was a
pleasing novelty. The front line was deep and
fairlv dr}'. Elbow marks at every 5o yards or so
and bombs with caps screwed off vouched for the
situation of old sentry posts. Communication
lrenches were derelict, nor did proper support nor
second lines exist. The enemy's defence had been
the merest shell.
The Battalion moved to ,Chaulnes on March 22.
That village, damaged by our artillery, had been
finally wrecked by the departing enemy, whose rude
notices were scrawled on any walls still standing.
'One million tons of English shipping sunk in the
month of February,' said one more polite than
others. In spite of all that the Germans had done,
quite good accommodation was round for all ranks,
and its improvement by old doors, shutters, and
selected débris from other ruins provided much
a.DVANCE TO ST. QUENTIN, MARCH--APRIL, 1917. 79
amusement. Father Buggins and the Doctor, with
a wheelbarrow, were to the fore collecting arm-
chairs covered in red velvet. Stoves and fuel
were abundant, and at this time booby-traps were
few.
March 23 was spent in road mending between
Vermandovillers and Chaulnes. An example of
how surelv organisation wins wars was there pro-
vided. We, who had tome from Chaulnes, to work
near Chaulnes were sent to fetch our tools from
Vermandovillers. In fetching them we passed a
company of Devons, employed on similar work at
Vermandovillers, who were fetching their tools from
Chaulnes--an episode fit for a war-pageant.
On the same afternoon we marched to Marchéle-
pot. German sign-posts, old gun positions and
burnt dug-outs were objects of interest on the wav.
Though cold, the weather was fine. Freedom from
shelling was a treat. \Ve moved again on March 25,
when the Bucks arrived to take over our quarters at
Marchélepot. Passing St. Christ, where the R.E.
had bridged the Somme, we saw the first samples of
German back-area demolition. At Ennemain the
tïrst big road-crater held up the Transport. Our
destination, Athies, formerl.v a flourishing little
town but since utterlv wrecked and still smoulder-
ing, it was quite difficult to reach. Sent on ahead
as member of a billeting party, I had to cross the
Omignon river bv a single plank thrown across a
weir. Until they are blown up one rather forgets
thé blessing of bridges.
In Athies good enough quarters in cellars and
hal{-basements were round for ail. Headquarters
80 ADVANCE TO ST. QUENTIN, MARCH--APRIL, I917-
went into the only roofed house in the town--and
afterwards q uestioned their own wisdom. The
bouse had been foreman's shed to a large factory,
had been a Boche canteen, and, finally, the billet
of the wrecking party. Though our advanced
troops were in touch with the enemv some seven
mlles away in front, we were ruade to hold an out-
post line each night east of the town. To bring up
rations the Transport had all the distance from
Framerville to cover--about eighteen mlles. Never
had Abraham so lon K a journey for this purpose.
The wanton mischief, now manifest everyyhere
that the advance carried us, became a favourite topic
for correspondents from the front, but cannot be
passed over without some record here. To us
lnfantrv this advance was a sort of holidav from
the real war. It was like going behind the scenes
at a pantomime and discovering the secrets of the
giant's make-up. No list of things destroyed could
lend anv conception of the wholesale massacre by
the Germans of all objects both natural and arti-
ficial. Câteau and cottage, tree and sapling, lac-
tory and summer-house, mill race and goldfish pond
were victims equally of their madness. Hardlv the
most trivial article had been spared. The com-
pleteness of the work astonished. Yet withal our
discomfort was slight. It was the French civilians,
whose lives and bornes had been thus ruined, that
such Prussian methods touched.
Amid this wreckage signs were perceptible of
the enemy's weakening morale. Villages in no wise
organised for defence and so remote from the Ger-
man front as to bave been outside the range of out
ADVANCE TO ST. QUENTIN, MARCH---APRIL, igi 7. 8I
furthest gun-fire, inevitably contained deep dug-
outs. Such precautions surpassed all prudence and
were sufficient almost to argue lack of mental
balance. Germans seemed crazy on dug-outs.
To resume the war. On Match 3 ° the War-
wicks entered Soyécourt and shortly afterwards the
Bucks relieved their outpost line. \Ve ourselves
reached Tertry on the 3oth, and the next night
ruade bivouacs at Caulaincourt Château, formerlv
German Corps Headquarters, now wrecked past
recognition. Amid the rubbish, whose heaps repre-
sented buildins of grace and dignity, the eve
cauht, the half of a gigantic, Easter e««.. During
our stay a German High Velocity gun several rimes
shelled the château grounds. Our own artillery
was now getting to work and made the nights livelv
vith noise and flashes.
At 3 a.m. on April C and D Companies were
ordered forward to support the Bucks in an attack
on the line of single railway which runs northwards
from Vermand. The attack gained the ridge east
of the railway and no support by us was wanted.
Ten prisoners were captured by the Bucks, whose
only casualties resulted from out own shells drop-
ping short and an unfortunate mistake of some other
troops, who lost direction and, pressing forward,
encountered men of their own side. Towards even-
ing the General ordered D Company forward to
occupy Montolu Wood. The journey was made at
dusk through a blinding storm of hail and tain.
The wood to which I went was the wrong one alto-
gether. Nevertheless to my wood my company
returned twice later, till tactical recognition was
2 ADVANCE TO ST. QUENTIN, MARCH--APRIL, 19I 7-
gained for it from the failure of the staff to observe
the mistake and my own to disclose it. The wood
I went to was some half-mile distant from the proper
one, but the saine shape, as near the railway, and
answering the General's map-description to a nicety.
I like to think of my wood, where I was so rarely
round, whither perplexed rulmers brought orders
so late, where I never was relieved, but where my
old shelters of tin and brushwood escaped disturb-
ance in my absence.
At midnight, ApriI 3/4, the Battalion relieved
the ]3ucks. B, C, and D .Companies shared the new
outpost line. Headquarters and A Company went
to .qovécourt. "lhe relief, the first of its kind, was
difficult. In my own front a small brushwood copse
was repu}ed to contain a sentrr post. The ground
was dotted with small copses which the darkness
made indistinguishable, and no report of this post's
relief was ever made. When dawn was breaking
in the sky, Sergeant Vatkins, accompanied bv the
Bucks guides, returned to say that no sentry group
nor post in any copse could be round. The most
likely copse was then garrisoned and the night's
mystery and labour ceased.
F urther advance was evidently in store. The
smoke of burning villages still mounted the sky.
At night a glow showed where a great tire in St.
Quentin was abIaze. The weather now changed
for the worse. Hail, rain and snow prevailed alter-
nately. A tierce wind blew. Winter conditions
were repeated in the outpost line, where no shelter
other than tarpaulins rigged across the shallow
renches existed. Nor was the artillerv inactive.
THE
Inset "
ADVAHCE TO ,._%r. QUENTI N
A' Company's attack,Good Friday 191
Caubreres
F nne
rlo ;ermaine
Tert
Uo
HAH
Tincour|
Bia«he
N
lhies Homhleu,
risl
v
NESLE
dncourl °
aulnes
4 ADVANCE TO ST. QUENTIN, MARCH--APRIL, I9I 7.
_As the enemy's resistance stiffened, shells com-
menced to fall on fields yet unscarred by trench or
shell-hole. Better ammunition seemed to be in use
--.or was it a month's holiday from shells that ruade
it seem so ?--and more subtletv was shown by Ger-
man gunners in their choice of targets. Our casual-
ries, though not numerous, proved that the war, in
most of its old incidents, had been resumed.
In the early morning of April 4 the 59th Divi-
sion, which was operating on the Battalion's left,
attacked Le Vergier. Fighting continued till noon,
but the village was not taken. The 59th lost
heavilv. .As they formed tl[) for their advance--
which was for some ,ooo yards across the open and
exposed to view--behind the line the Battalion was
holding, considerable enemy tire was brough't down
upon us and I lost Sergeant \Vatkins, wounded in
the arm, and several other casualties. It snowed
nearlv all day. In the shallow trenches, which were
ill-sited both for drainage and concealment from the
enemy, lire was miserable. On the next night a
battalion of Sherwood Foresters relieved D Com-
pany, which returned to its wood, but B and C
Companies remained holding the line. John Stock-
ton, who now commanded B, was ill, but refused to
leave the trenches and carried on in a most deter-
mined manner under shocking weather conditions.
A new officer, Allden, in my company also proved
his worth about this time. Events of some sort
were of hourly occurrence. The 2./sth Gloucesters
held the line on the Battalion's right, near the
Omignon river. One night, after a heavy bombard-
ment with 4-2s, the Germans rushed one of their
ADVANCE TO ST. QUENTIN, MARCH--APRIL, 97. 85
posts. It had recently been evacuated, and the
enemy spent his trouble in vain.
For April 6--Good Friday, I97--an attack
on a large scale had been arranged. The 59th
Division on our left, the Gloucesters and the I82nd
Brigade on our right, shared in the operations. The
line was to be advanced a mlle on both sides of
the Omignon. The Battalion's objective was a line
of trenches recentl- dug bv the enemy and running
between Le Vergier and the river. To capture
them Brown's company, which hitherto had sta.ved
.q
in reserve at _oyecourt in tolerable accommodation,
was selected. B and D Companies were ordered
to keep close behind A to support the attack, while
C remained to garrison the outpost line.
Zero was midnight, but before that snow and
sleet were falling heavily. It proved the dirtiest
night imaginable. Companies moved in columns
across the ,ooo yards of open fields between their
old positions and the objective, against which our
artillery kept up as severe a fire as possible. That
tire was less effective than was hoped. In its
advance A Company lost men from our own shells,
of which nearlv all were seen to be falling very
short. The German xvire, still the great argument
to face in an attack, was round uncut. Although
at first inclined to surrender, the enemv soon saw
the failure of our men to find a gap. Machine-guns
were manned, which swept the ground with a tierce
enfilade tire. Brown, Aitken, and Wavte behaved
in a most gallant manner, the line was rallied, and
a renewed attempt made to storm the trenches. In
vain. No troops will stand against machine-gun
,6 ADVANCE TO ST. QUENTIN, MARCH--APRhL, I9 1 7-
tire in the open w hen no object can be achieved.
I t was idle to repeat the attack or send fresh com-
panies to share the forlorn enterprise. Before dawn
our troops were in their old positions.
In the attack the sergeant-majors of both A and
B Companies were hit. Of the oflîcers, Barton,
commanding B, and Tilly, of A, were kilIed.
Aitken and \Vayte were wounded. Nearly 40 of
rank and file were casualties.
The attack had proved a failure, but, as often
happened, hopes of success ere reluctantly aban-
doned bv the staff. Thus my company was warned
that it might have to repeat the attack at dawn.
Pending such a rate, I was sent to bivouac in a
windswept spinney known as Ponne Copse. It was
stilI snowing. After their week's exposure I was
loth to inform my men of such a destin3. But a
more favourable turn of events was in store. The
weather cleared, and at i a.m. on the îth I was
allowed to return to my version of Montolu \Vood.
On the same da)" the Battalion was relieved bv the
.
Bucks and marched back through oyecourt to
Caulaincourt. There we round Bennett, who had
corne from the Aldershot course to be Second in
Command. The château grounds were quieter than
before, for our guns had now moved further up
tovards the line.
At 3 p.m. on ApriI 8 a curious noise was heard
in the air. A German aeroplane had attacked the
kite balloon, which hung, suspended by its gas,
above the château park. A French machine, not a
moment too soon for the balloon's safety, had
swooped and shot the attacker to the ground. Ail
ADVANCE TO ST. QUENTIN, MARCH--APRIL, I9i 7. 8 7
the Battalion was out staring up at the balloon
rotating on its wire, and the portions of the German
'plane, which amid smoke were fluttering to earth.
A rush, as always, commenced towards the scene.
The aeroplane, brought down from a height, v«as
hall embedded in the mud. It was an Albatross,
painted all colours, and possessed two machine-.
guns and several sorts of ammunition for use against
balloons. I could see nothing of its former occu-
pant, who must have been removed for burial,
except a pool of bright blood upon the ground.
During the night orders arrived for a move for-
ward to support the \Varwick Brigade, which had
been fighting for several days between Mai..ssemy
and Fresnm. At 7.30 a.m. on April 9 we marched
in wind and tain to Marteville, and then formed a
reserve line in front of Maissemy and Keeper's
House. Ail dav we dug trenches and erected wire.
A divisional relief was to take place. The weather
was vile; almost every hour a violent squall of
hall and snow swept over us. That night was spent
in bivouac in sunken roads.
Next morning manv of us walked along the
Holnon road to view St. Quentin, whose cathedral
and factor 3 chimneys were onb, visible between the
storms. The town seemed undestroved. The Ger-
mans were busv shelling its approaches. Salvoes
of their 5.9s fell steadilx, and black splashes of
earth jumped up ever and again, whilst smoke from
the preceding, shells coiled and drifted away to the
west.
The 6ISt Division was relieved on April I and
moved back to the Nesle area. The /4th Oxfords
88 ADVANCE TO ST. QUENTIN, MARCH--APRIL, I9I 7.
marched to Hombleux, a village where the enemy
had left the church and a few houses standing.
The German retirement from the Somme, now
practically complete, had opened a new phase in
the war. For the first rime since 1914 ground in
France had changed hands upon a large scale.
The enemy's relinquishment of 3 ° toiles of front
line trench and his withdrawal to a depth, in places,
of 4o kilometres, restored the principle of manuvre
to armies which had fronted one another for two
years in positions hitherto justifying the description
of stale-mate. Strong moral and political effects
accompanied. And this manuvre, though carried
out upon a part only of the entire battle front,
infused a sense of change and movement into the
most static portions of the allied line. From theory
open warfare had passed into practice. In its old
sense trench-warfare was no more; its genius had
departed. Trenches and dug-outs, which in some
sectors had been visited and re-visited with change-
less repetition for thirty months, lost their sense of
eternitv. Who could say when the trenches oppo-
sitë might not be round empty and the burning
wake of a German retreat glow in the skies?
Schemes for action in event of enemv wlthdrawal
began to take precedence over trench standing
orders. Corps lines ceased to be the show-places
for Russian colonels, and the Corps Commander's
gardener paused before sowing a new season's peas
in the château grounds.
G.H.Q. were agog.
CItAPTER V I I I.
THE RAID AT FAYET,
AVRIL, I917-
A German vantage-point.--Shell-ridden Holnon.--A night
of confusion.--Preparing for the raid o.f .\pril 28.--The
enemv taken bv surprise.--The Battalion's first V.C.wThe
affair at Cep)" Iarm.
I T was hard to believe that anv loftv eminence
which overlooked our lines was not in constant
use by the enemy for observation. The iron towers
at Loos, the spire of Calonne, even the crazv relics
of the church at Puisieux at different rimes contri-
buted this uneasy feeling to the denizens of our
trenches. But surely never was the sense of being
spied on more justified than near St. Ç)uentin,
whose tall cathedral raised itself higher than ail the
roofs of the town and higher, too, than the ridges
surrounding it for man 3 toiles.
On April 2o, 1917, a German observer from
the cathedral belfrv could have seen the divisional
relief which brought the 6ISt Division back to
the line. Ail da 3 - small parties were moving in
the forward zone, while further back Iarger ones
crossed and re-crossed the ridge 'twixt Holnon
and Fayet, and in rear again, along the road through
Savv to Germaine, columns of Infantrv in fours
followed bv horses, vehicles, and smoking cooker-
9 ° THE RAID AT FAYET, APRIL, 1917.
chimneys, were passing one another, some coming,
others going back. Those coming made a left-
handed turn at Savy, hugged the line of single
railwav as far as a crucifix at a cross-roads, and were
then lost to distinct view amid the abject ruins of
Holnon. Those going were the 32nd Division,
whose march carried them out of the cathedral's eye
or observation by German balloons.
Among the new arrivals were the 2/4th Oxfords,
of whom all companies, followed untiI the end bv
cookers and ILewis-gun limbers, disposed them-
selves in or around Fa.vet, on whose north side
sto{d a stone monument commemorative of local
fighting in the Franco-Prussian War. Near to this
monument was round a deep sunken road, broken
with two huge craters. It was A Company's posi-
tion as support to the Gloucesters, who went into
the line.
The Battalion spent a week at Holnon village.
A line of trenches linking up 'strong points' had
been designed to guard the ridge which overlooked
Favet and St. Quentin. From Selency Château,
whose thickets flinged the sky-line, on the right, to
the hih-perched windmill above Maissemy on the
left, work to consolidate this system had com-
menced. It remained for us to excavate the chalk
trenches deeper and erect wire. The demand for
that material exceeded the supply, and it was neces-
sary to salve old German stores. Some excellent
coils I round--of American manufacture. Pickets
were improvised. Thus liberated by the amateur
assortment of our tools from the irksome tvrannv
of armv wiring circulars, we set about the work
THE RAID AT FAYET, APRIL, I917. 9I
and soon put up some of the best wire of my ex-
perience.
In Holnon the lire was a new sample of un-
pleasantness. Of accommodation, save for a few
low walls and half-roofed cellars, there was no
trace. What Holnon lacked in billets it received
in shells. With intervals--possibly onlv those of
German mealtimes--during the da.', and nearly
throughout the night, 5-9s and 4-2s were throwing
up the brickdust, till it seemed reasonable to ask
whv in wonder's naine the Battalion or an.', living
soul was kept in Holnon. After a feu bad nights
with little sleep and some close shells, Headquar-
ters moved from their shed, hard by a mound, to
a dismantled greenhouse further back. It was a
nastv time. The German aeroplanes were verv
active ....
That faint patter of machine-gun tire which
comes from aeroplanes circling overhead ends in
the descent of one of them. At first it seems to
corne down normallv, ",-et with a sort of pilot-light
twinkling at its head" but, when a hundred feet or
so from earth, see it burst into a sheet of flame and
shrivel up upon the ground in a column of dark
smoke !
I had mv company in shelters under a bank,
clear of the village but immediatelv in front of a
battery of I S-pounder guns, whose incessant firing,
added to the evil whistle of the German shells,
deprived the nights of comfortable sleep. But
passive experiences were due to give place to
active. Events of moment were in store. The
I84th Brigade had been warned to carry out an
92 THE RAID AT FAYET, APRIL, I9I 7.
'enterprise' against the enemy. During the morn-
ing of April 26 I was sent for by the Colonel. I
round Headquarters in their new position, an
oblong greenhouse over whose frame, destitute of
glass, was stretched a large 'trench shelter.' They
had passed a shell-ridden night. Bennett just now
had narrowlv eluded a 5-9. This morning shells
were falling as usual in Holnon, and pieces occa-
sionallv came humming down to earth close bv. I
listened to the plan of a large raid which with two
companies I was soon to perform. Moore was
here to outline the scheme and also Colonel Cotton
of the R.F.A., whose uns were to support the
c, peration.
At this point I must explain for the benefit of
lav readers the difference between a raid and an
attack. The purpose of the latter was to drive
the enemv from ground he occupied and stay there.
Earlv attacks upon the \Vestern Front were usuallv
directed against trenches, of v,hich successive lines,
reaching to a distance or 'depth' of several
thousand yards, were often out goal or 'objective.'
3o that out Infantry could enter hostile trenches it
was invariably necessary to destroy the wire in
front or make a pathway through it. Many attacks
failed because the wire had hot been cut. Belote
the davs of Tanks the means emploved consisted,
broadlv speaking, in artillery tire, which it was also
hoped would pu't ' the enemy's machine-guns out
of action and frighten his garrison. Out Infantrx
advanced immediately this tire had ceased or
lifted' to the next objective. During the Battle of
the Somme it was round that the enemv often
THE RAID AT rAYE'r, APRIL, 9 7- 93
left his actual trenches and came forward into shell-
holes in No-Man's-Land so as to escape the tire of
out artillerv. To counter this manuvre the
'creeping barrage' was devised. Out shells were
fired so as to form a moving curtain of destruction
immediately in front of out men in their advance,
whilst at the same rime the enemy's trenches were
bombarded. Attacks on any scale were planned
to capture and hold against the enemy some ridge,
bv losing which he lost observation of out lines,
while we, in gaining it, saw more of his and also
were enabled to advance out uns.
The purpose of a raid was to penetrate a portion
of the enemy's front, to kill or capture as man
Germans as possible, and then retire. Raids
differed materially from attacks in this respect, that
no attempt was ruade in the former to hold the
ground won longer than was necessar" to satisf"
the plan. Raids were usuall supported by artil-
lerv and took place at night; but daylight raids,
though less common or successful, were sometimes
ruade, and ' silent raids,' v«hen no artillery was used,
were also tried.
This explanation, dull to military readers, will
serve to indicate what operation I was now about to
undertake. The scheme, of which the General
and his Brigade Major were the authors, was to pass
a body of men through a gap in the unoccupied
portion of the German trenches opposite Fayet,
deploy, and sweep sideways against some other
trenches, thouht to be held, and through several
copses wh.ch Bucks patrols had pronounced
weakly garrisoned by the enemy. These copses,
94 THE RAID AT FAYET, APRIL, 1917"
which were expected to yield a few handfuls
«,f runawav bovs in German uniform, would be
attacked by us in flank and rear at the saine rime.
The scheme promised well, but the proposed
manner of retirement, which would be in daylight
and across nearly a mlle of open ground, presented
difficulties. The more to overcome them and to
be fresh for the event, D Company and the
platoons of C selected for the task were to stay in
the sunken road north of Fayet, v«hile A and B
Cmpanies went to garrison the outpost line.
The Battalion was mostlv fortunate in the
opportunity of its reliefs. One always prayed that
the rime spent in moving up and changing places
with troops in the front line would coincide with a
period quiet in regard to shelling. One hoped
still more that no hostile attack would clash with
the relief.
Such prayers and hopes on April 26, when a
quiet, easv relief was specially desired, came near
to being falsified. At dusk, just as our companies
were starting towards Fayet, the enemy com-
menced an operation against Çepy Farm, a ruined
building near the front line, predestined bv its
position to be an object of contention. The at-
tack was ably dealt with by Tubbs' company of
the Bucks had proved abortive for the enemv.
The circumstance was accompanied by much
erratic shelling from both sides. Orders to stand-
to were issued rather broadcast, and as the relief
was now in progress a degree of confusion resulted
evervwhere. The destination of mv company and
hall of C was the sunken road leading down into
THE RAID N£AR ST QUEHTIN
BY î/+ 0XFORI) & BUCKS LTINF. Y Al?. Z 191/
i!
Il
C CO¥
GRI£OURT
Lin
96 THE RAID AT FAYET, APRIL, Iglî'.
Fayet, but that I round already crowded with
troops. Almost all units of the Brigade seemed
to be trying to relieve or support each other, and the
front line itself was in quite a ferment, nobody
actually knowing what the enemy had done, was
doing, or was expected to do. Under these condi-
tions it became impossible for me to send patrols to
learn the ground from which the impending raid
was to be launched. It happened, in fact, that
when the time to move forward had arrived, [ alone
of ail the rive platoons about to be engaged knew
the route to the 'position of assembl',',' that is to
sa.,,', the place where the attacking troops were to
collect immediatelv belote the raid. That most
severe riskmfor had I been a casualtx" the entire
enterprise would have miscarried--was owing partly
to the accident of the confused relief, but more to
the short notice at which the work was to be carried
out. Instead of that thorough reconnaissance which
was so desirable I had to be content with a visit,
shared b'« my officers and a few N.C.O.'s, to an
advanced observation post from which a view was
possible of those trenches and woods we were under
orders to raid.
The sunken road proved anything but a pleasant
waiting place. The shelling of Fayet--fresh-
scattered bricks across whose roads showed it an
unhealthv place--was now taken up in earnest by
the enemv. Partly perhaps from their own affec-
tion for such places, but more probably because it
was out most likely route to reach the village, the
Germans seldom allowed an hour to pass without
sending several salvoes of 5-9s into the sunken
THE. RAID AT FAYET, APRIL, I9 7. 97
road. My men were densely packed in holes under
the banks. I was expecting large supplies of flares
and bombs and all those things one carried on a
raid, and had, of course, orders and explanations of
their duties to give to many different parties.
Ail this made April ")7 a vexatious day. Dur-
ing the early part of the night men from mv com-
pany had to carry rations to the front line
companies. At midnight, while resting in a
wretched lean-to in the sunken road, I had tidings
that Corporal Viggers and several others had been
hit by a shell, which destroyed ail C Company's
rations. Of these casualties there was a man
whose name I forget, who insisted on going, hot
back to hospital, but into the raid a few hours after-
wards. He went, and was wounded again. It is
a privilege to place on record the valorous conduct
of this un-named soldier.
V'hile I was receiving the serious news which
deprived me of a valuable leader and several
picked men, a shell pitched a few yards from the
spot I occupied. The light went out, and I was
half covered with dust and rubbish. To move was
second nature. Followed by Taylor I 'moved'
Ioo vards down the road to the rest of mv com-
pany. My kit and maps were later rescued from
the dirt and brought to my new position. Compan.v
Headquarters should be mobile, and on occasions
like these were volatile.
At I a.m. I roused the men, some I5o all told,
and the responsible task of issuing the bombs, wire-
cutters, and other things commenced. All these,
invoiced with excellent precision by the Brigade
9 8 THE RAID AT FAYET, APRIL, I9I 7-
Major, Moore, had been carried up bv the Berks.
The shelling rarely ceased, and I ovced everything
on this occasion to Corporal Leatherbarrow, ",','ho
showed not only steadfast braver} but skill. The
platoons could not, on account of the shells which
sometimes fell in the roadway itself, be paraded,
and each received its share of bombs piecemeal by
sections. Food, to supplement which I did not
scruple to issue some of the next day's rations, was
partaken of at 2 a.m., but it took long, and hall an
hour later the vchole party should have started upon
its journey across the toile of open fields to reach
the assemblv post. Disposal of the bombs, the
meal, and those man}" last attentions which breed
delav had taken longer than I had allowed. Time
was getting very short. I wanted to dodge the
shelling, but had missed a quiet interval that
occurred at ".3o a.m. At 3 a.m. I moved, leading
the part.,, in a long column over the open round
north of Favet to reach its eastern side. The in-
evitable 'wire mats,' an encumbrance without which
few raiding parties ever started, hampered the pro-
gress. It was a pitch dark night, nor was I certain
of the way. To cover the toile and then pass 5o
men, ignorant of their whereabouts, silentlv and in
single file through a gap into No-Man's-Land ere
dawn broke and our bombardment started now
seemed impossible. It was a serious quandary.
To «o on might be to compromise hOt onlv the
operation, but the lives of 150 men, who would be
discovered in daylight and in the open near the
enemy. But to go back was to jeopardise the repu-
ration of the Battalivn.
THE RAID AT FAYET, APRIL, 1917- 99
I went on.
Great darkness preceded the dawn, which was
expected shortly after 4 a.m. I round the road,
the tirst crater, the narrow track through the wire,
and the empty ground beyond. A few minutes
after the last man had reached his place our bar-
rage opened. Shells fell spasmodically here and
there for a few seconds; then all our batteries were
shooting together. Their tire was admirable, heavv
and well-directed.
In the stumbling rush forward to reach the
nearest wood--C Company to the second crater on
the Favet Road--waves and platoons were rapidiy
confused. The Germans, who round themselves
attacked in tank and rear, were totallv surprised.
They had not stood-to and manv were }et asleep.
Some lights went up and a few sentries' shots were
tired, but it appeared that small resistance to our
progress would be made. The wire was trampled
through, and for some minutes our men pla.ved
havoc with the Germans, who ran, leavinç draggled
blankets and equipment in their trenches. Dug-
outs were generously bombed, and explosions tilled
the air as our men hastilv used the weapons brought
to hurt the enemv. Three machine-guns fell into
our hands. A miniature victory was in progress.
But a turn of events followed- the trenches
and woods bevond those we had tirst entered were
neither unoccupied nor weakh" held. A force cer-
tainlv equal to ours was in opposition. After their
tirst surprise the Germans recovered, manned their
reserve machine-guns, and opened a tierce tire from
front and flanks upon their assailants. Manv of
I OO THE RAID AT FAYET, APRIL, I917"
us xvere hit, including Taylor, the of-ficer of No. 15
Platoon, who was severely wounded in the thigh.
In No. '3 Platoon, which lost most heavily, Allden
and his Platoon Sergeant, Kilby, were killed. The
full programme could not be effected. It was get-
ting light; so I decided to withdraw. Most of
D Company I round had already donc this in their
own way, but the remainder now collected at my
summons. Lance-Corporal O"Connor with his tv«o
Lewis guns did yeoman service to stem what had
become the German counter-attack. Ammunition
was running short, and German stick-bombs obliged
me, in order to save from capture those less badlv
hit, to leave Taylor, whose wound made him quite
helpless. The ire, through which Sergeant
Mowbv had been bus) cutting a path, was safelv
passed, and an hour afterwards we had regained the
sunken road. I learnt that Jones, who had led the
right of the advance, had hOt returned. He with
his men had narrowlv missed being cut off when
the dawn broke. During the ensuing dav this party
had to lie scattered in shell-holes till darkness
enabled them to reach our lines.
The raid was hailed as a signal success for the
Battalion. Two machine-guns and one protesting
prisoner had been dragged back to our lines. The
German trenches had been over-run and manv of
their occupants had been killed or wounded. Bv
a satisfactory coincidence the troops whom we sur-
prised were a battalion of the Jaegers, the verv
regiment which after three hours' bombardment
had raided us exactlv two months previously at
Ablaincourt.
COMPANY SERGEANT-MAJOR E. BROOkS, V.C.
p. lOI.
THE RAID AT FAYET, APRIL, 191 7" I O I
Our losses, considering the scope of the opera-
tion, were heavy, but not so proportionately to the
number of troops of both sides engaged nor to the
severe nature of the fighting. Most of our casual-
ties had bullet wounds. The list, officially, was"
Killed, I oflïcer and IO other ranks; wounded, 2
otîicers and 41 ; missing, I oflïcer and 2. Of Tay-
lor I regret to say no news was ever heard. I left
him wounded, probably fatally, and quite incapable
of being moved. The likelihood is that he died
soon afterwards and was buried b}i the enemy in the
trench where he lay. Allden and Kilbv were a
serious loss to the fighting et:ficiencv of D Com-
pany.
For their gallantry Corporal Sloper and Ser-
geant Butcher received the Military Medal and
Jones the Militarv Cross. Corporal Leather-
barrow for his seadfast conduct in the sunken
road was mentioned in dispatches. To Sergeant-
Major Brooks fell the honour of the Battalion's
first V.C., of which the oflïcial award ran as fol-
lows "--
For most conspicuous braverv. This Varrant Offi-
cet, while taking part in a raid on the enemy's trenches,
saw that the front wave was checked by an enemy
machine-gun at close quarters. On his oxvn initiative,
and regardless of personal danger, he rushed forward
from the second wave with the o.bject of capturing the
gun, killing one of the gunners, with his revolver and
bayoneting another. The remainder of the gun's crev,
then made off, leaving the gun in his possession.
S.M. Brooks then turned the machine-gun on to the
retreating enemy, after which he carried it back to out
lines. Bv his courage and initiative he undoubtedly
preventeci manv casuaIties, and greatly added to the
success of the operations.'
IO2 THE RAID AT FAYET, APRIL, I9I 7.
Infantry's recompense for raids and attacks was
usually a short test. This rime it had to be post-
poned by a brief tour in the front line. So the next
day, having exchanged positions with a Gloucester
company, we lay in holes and watched the 5.9 s
raising their clouds of red brick-dust in Holnon.
Favet was left alone, nor did the sunken road re-
ceive attention. It was a balmv day, the first of
swing.
At night another minor operation preceded the
relief. Orders were given for B Compan.) which
hcld the riht of the Battalion's line, to seize the
much-disputed Cp.'," Farm and hand it over to the
incomin Berks. Moberly, who had recently re-
ioined his old Battalion, was in command of this
enterprise. The farm was reached and dulv occu-
pied, but when the time for handing over to the
Berks arrived our post was driven out bv a strong
part} of the enemy. This was the first of man}
similar encounters a,t .Cepy Farm. Luckilv it did
hOt long pre)udice the relief. Though chased a
little on the way by sheIls, the Battalion had an easy
march to Holnon Vrood, in which a pleasant rest-
ing place was round. The trees and undergrowth,
just bursting into .o.9.reen, presented happy contrast
to the dust and danger of Favet. In the sandv rail-
wav cutting, where the sinle line turns through the
wood to reach Attilly, companies sat during the day
and slept secure at night. Transport and cookers
were near, and for a spell one was on terms of
friendship with thWworld.
CHAPTER IX.
ARRAS AND AFTERWARDS,
MAY, JUNE, JULY, I9I î.
Relief bv the French at St. Quentin.--A new Command-
ing Officer.--At the Battle of .\rras.--Useful work by
A Company.--Harassinff fire.--A cave-dwelling.--At Berna-
ville and Noeux.--In G.H.Q. rese-e.--A gas alarm bv
General Hunter \Veston.--The Ypres arena.
HE next battlefield to which the Battalion's
steps were turned was Arras. Earlv in May
the French came to relieve the 6st Division at St.
Quentin. It was said, perhaps with little truth,
that the ban which forbade otlr guns to shell that
town in such manner as, from a purely military
standpoint, it deserved, induced this re-arrange-
ment of the front. Crtainly the French had tried
in April, before the German retreat had definitely
stopped, to encircle the town and capture it with-
out bombardment, and possibly their staf-f vet
hoped that it might fall undama,ed into their
hands. The attitudes of English and French artil-
lervmen towards large towns which they saw
opposite to them were naturally dif-ferent. On this
particular front St. Quentin vas a potent hostage
in the enemy's power and one which accounted for
the extremely quiet conduct of the war in that
sector after the English had left.
o4 ARRAS AND AFTERWARDS, MAYJULY, 97-
On its backward march--moves by divisions up
and down the front were always ruade at a good
distance behind the line through districts known as
'staging areas'--the Battalion spent a few days close
to Amiens, and thence marched through Doullens
to familiar billets at Neuvillette. The I84th In-
fantry Brigade reached Arras at the end of May,
and went into the line on June 2.
During this move Colonel Bellamy, who had
commanded us since August, 96, left the Bat-
talion. He shortly afterwards succeeded to the
command of the 2nd Royal Sussex, his former
regiment. A man of tact and ripe experience, he
had done much to improve the Battalion during his
stav. He lacked few, if any, of the best qualities
of a Regular oflïcer. His steadv discipline, sure
purpose, and soldierl.v outlook, had made him at
once Commanding Oflïcer, counsellor and friend.
Latterlv he had been somewhat vexed by illness,
but had refused to allow his activitv to be handi-
capped thereby. His stay had not coincided with
the brightest nor least diflïcult epochs in the Bat-
talion's history, for which reason, since he was not
unduly flattered by fortune, his merit deserves
recognition.
Colonel Bellamv's successor, H. de R.
Wetherall, was a young man whom abilitv and
leadership had already lifted to distinction in his
regiment and placed in command of an important
militarv school. F rom now onwards he is the
outstanding figure in the Battalion's historv. In
the new Colonel a quick brain was linked with
vigorous physique. In spite of his Regular train-
ARRAS AND AFTERWARDS, MAY--JULY, i9 7. io 5
ing, Wetherall could appreciate and himself pos-
sessed to no small degree the peculiar virtues of
the temporary officer, who based his methods on
common sense and actual experience in the war
rather than servile obedience to red tape and
'Regulations.' He had studied during the war as
well as before it, with the result that militarv tradi-
tion--his regiment was the Gloucestershire--and his
long service in the field combined to fit him for
command of our Battalion.
The Division's share in the Arras Battle, I917,
was small. Alreadv at the rime of out arrival the
later stages of the fighting had been reached. The
British advance astride the River Scarpe had
stopped on its north side beneath the low ridgc
spoken of as Greenland Hill and on its south be-
lote a wood known as the Bois du Vert. As on
the Somme in November, i916 , local actions were
continuing. To prepare for an attack on Infantrv
Hill, a position held bv the enemv south-east of
Monchv-le-Preux, the 2/4th Oxforc[s went into the
front line on June 6. Orders were received to
advance across No-Man's-Land and link up a line
of shell-holes as a 'jumping-off place' for the sub-
sequent attack. A Company successfullv accom-
plished the task, and the Battalion earned a
message of thanks from the Division which a few
davs afterwards ruade the designed attack.
Apart from this achievement, the confused net-
work of old and new trenches occupied during this
period offered few features of special interest.
C and A Companies and part of D were in the
front line, which ran through chalk and was un-
o6 ARRAS AND AFTER\VARDS, MAY--JULY, I9I î.
savoury by reason of the dead Germans lying ail
about. The enemy's tire was of that harassing
kind which began now to mark the conduct of the
war. In the old days conventional targets such as
roads, trenches, and villages within a mile or two
of our front were generally shelled at times which
could be guessed and when such places could be
avoided. These methods changed. \Vherever
Infantry or transport were bound to go at special
rimes during the night, the German shells, reserved
bv day, were tircd. Roads, tracks, and approaches,
where in daylight English nursemaids could almost
have wheelcd perambulators wit I confidence, by
night became hated avenues of danger for our
Infantr.vmen moving up the line or ration-carr.xing
to their forward «ompanies. The tire to which thev
went exposed was the enemy's 'harassing tire,' and
we, in our turn, verv naturallv 'harassed' the Ger-
mans. At this time a crater on the Arras-Cambrai
road which must needs be passed and a shallow
trench leading therefrom, known as Gordon Alle 3,
were the most evil spots. Monchy, the hill-village
which had cost us so manv lives to capture, ,`,`as
heavily shelled by German howitzers both da,` and
night; below its slopes la,` several derelict tanks.
Our gun positions, in proportion to the new increase
in counter-batterv work, were also often shelled.
Though unconnected with an,` artillery, our doctor,
Stobie, and with him Arrowsmith had a bitter
experience of German shells. One fine summer
morning the enemy commenced a programme of
destructive tire upon some empty gun-pits where
the Doctor had his dressing-station. Stobie and
ARRAS AND AFTERWARDS, MAY--JULY, i9 7. IO7
Arrowsmith, with their personnel, received a high
explosive notice to quit, and their descent into a
wrong-facing shaft was next followed by the partial
destruction or their onlv exit. They escaped
safelv and arrived in a state of pardonable excite-
ment at the deep cave under Les Fosses Farm,
where mv Company Headquarters and manv others
were.
This cave, perhaps, will bear a short descrip-
tion. In Artois and Picard}, where chalk strata
prevailed, deep subterranean passages and caves
abounded. Under Arras itself sufficient room
existed to hold many thousands of out troops, who
were housed underground before the battle opened.
The Germans more than ourselves exploited this
feature of geology. Under Gommecourt and
Serre their reserve troops had lurked deep in caves.
In the Champagne more striking instances occurred
of whole battalions issuing from hidden passages
and exits to the fight. The cave below Fosses
Farm was about 40 feet below the ground. Of
most irregular shape, it branched and twisted into
numerous allevs and chambers through the chalk.
In it lived representatives of the Artillerv, Royal
Engineers, New Zealand Tunnellers, the whole of
B Cmpany, parts of Headquarters, the Doctor's
personnel, and my own Company Headquarters.
The cave was dimlv lit by a few candles.
Throughout the dav and night there were perpetuaI
comings and goings, and it was common to sec
men, dazzled bv the outside sun, come stumbling
down the stairs and tread unseeing on the prostrate
forms of those asleep below. The bare chalk was
IO8 ARRAS AND AFTERWARDS, MAYJULY, 1917.
floor, bed, and bench to ail alike. The shadows,
the dim groups of figures, and the rough pillars
forming walls and roof, gave the impression of
some old cathedral. Atone end a hole communi-
cating with the ground above served as the only
chimney for the incessant cooking that was going
on. The fumes of this huge grill-room, which did
dut.v, not onlv for the 4o0 men or so within the
cave itself, but for as man situated at a distance
in the outside world, lent a primeval stamp to the
surroundings. \Ve were cave-dwellers, living in
partial darkness and lacking even the elements of
furniture.
Caves, cellars, and deep dug-outs had a de-
moralising influence upon their occupants. The
utter securitv below, contrasted with the danger
overhead--for often the entrances to these refuges
were particularly shelled--and the knowledge that
at anv moment the former might have to be ex-
changed for the latter could deal a subtle injury
to one's morale. It was a golden rule, one per-
chance followed bv manv of out leaders, to make
each da) some expedition afield before the sun had
reached its meridian. On the whole one was
happier without deep dug-outs--and saler, too, for
to become a skulker was equivalent to death.
In quoting things to show how little pic-nicing
there was in the war I feel it opportune to men-
tion a fresh shape in which danger now appeared,
not onlv for the Infantry, but for others formerlv
immune in sheltered positions far behind the front.
I refer to bombing aeroplanes. The warm clear
summer nights were now, for the first rime in com-
ARRA.q AND AFTERVARDS, MAY--JULY, 917 . lO 9
mon experience, marked bv the loud droning of
the enemy's machines and bv the crash of bombs
dropped upon huts and transport lines and along
roads and railwavs in our back area. Arras was
often severelv bombed. The German aeroplanes
on any fine night came to be regarded as inevitable.
Bombing might be continued until nearly dawn.
When no bombs fell close there was always the
constant drone announcing their possibility. To
men in huts or in the open, xithout lights or an)
means of shelter, the terror carried nightly over-
head was greater far than that which ever served
to depress Londoners.
Another development which was destined to
play an ever increasing part in the war and to make
its closing phases worse in some respects that its
early, was the long-range high-velocity gun.
Though fullv seven mlles behind the line, Arras
was shelled throughout the summer with verv
heavy shells. The railwav station was their
principal target, but the 5-inch projectiles fell in
a wide radius and caused great destruction to the
houses and colleges still standing in the citv. Yet
to the Arras citizens now eager to return and claim
their property shells seemed a small deterrent.
Our star up in the line was short, but we had
casualties. Lindsey, a new officer in D Company,
was killed on his first visit to the trenches, and
Herbert, of B, was wounded. D Company also
lost as casualties Sergeant Buller and Lance-
Corporal Barnes and half-a-dozen Lewis gunners
in the line. The night of our relief was spent in
bivouacs near Tillov. A violent thunderstorm,
ARRAS--THE GRANDE PLACE.
ARRAS AND AFTERWARDS, MAY--JULY, I9I 7. I I I
which was the expected sequel to the fortnight's
intensely warm weather we had been experiencing,
drenched our surroundings and gave the hard earth,
trampled by summer tracks, a surface slippery as
winter mud. On June the Battalion was back
in billets at Bernaville, a village four miles west
of Arras, and it appeared that the Division (of
which the 84th Brigade alone had been into the
line) had completed its tour in the Arras sector.
I rejoice that the few pleasant phases of the
Battalion's experiences in France elapsed less
rapidly than I describe them. At Bernaville the
weather continued fine and warm; in fact, some of
the hottest weather of the year occurred. /k busv
training programme was in swing. To escape the
heat, companies paraded at 7 a.m. and worked till
, and again in the evening at 5 and worked till 7.
This training must not be judged by readers
according to style and methods possibly seen bv
them on English training grounds during the war.
At home, after the last divisions of Kitchener's
Army went abroad, no officers trained their own
men whom thev would lead in battle. The men
were usually the rawest drafts, while the officers in
home battalions wëre too often those who had never
gone and never would go to the front. A totally
different spirit characterised training in France.
Colonel \Vetherall was a master of the art of
teaching. His emphatic direction and enthusiasm
earned early reward in the increased efficiencv of
all ranks.
At Noeux, near Auxi-le-Château, vhither we
moved on June 23, the Battalion's midsummer re-
I I 2 ARRAS AND AFTERWARDS, MAY--JULY, I9 1 7-
spite was continued; we were in G.H.Q. reserve.
Rumour, not false on this occasion, predicted the
Division's share in a great battle between Ypres
and the coast which was due to happen before the
autumn. Expectancy was rire to the effect that
co-operation from the sea was to assist in driving
the Germans from the Belgian coast. News, big
in its effects, was read one morning in the iOaily
Mail. The enemy had attacked our lines at Nieu-
port and driven our arrison across the Yser. A
valuable footing had been lost.
Happ.v memories are associated with Noeux.
It was a pretty village, girt by rolling hills crowned
with rich woods. '\Vood-fighting' (hich I alwavs
said should literallv mean the fighting o/ woods,
and indeed it often resolved itself into a contest
of man verszts undergrowth) was a frequent feature
in the training programme. \Vhat was sometimes
lost in 'direction' was as often gained in naughty
amusement at the miscarriage of a scheme. For
off-duty hours the wild-boars of Auxi woods and
the cafés in that small town provided varied attrac-
tions and romance. The General, who was de-
lighted with the war and the Battalion, was more
vigorous and inspiring than ever. [t was owing
largely to him that the 84th Brigade became the
best in the Division. This good time, which had
for its object, hot enjoyment, but preparation for
more fighting, came all too soon to an end.
On July 26 the Battalion said good-bye to
Noeux. Its inhabitants, of whom an old lady
called 'Queen Victoria' (La Reine Victoria, as she
was known even by her fellow-villagers) was typi-
NOEUX VILLAGE.
II 4 ARRAS AND AFTERWARDS, MAY--JULY, I917.
cal, gave us a hearty send-off. Three hours after
leaving it we again passed through the village, this
rime by train. \Ve reached St. Orner in the even-
ing and marched to a scattered Flemish hamlet
called Broxeele. ttere a star longer than was
expected was made; the 6st Division was in
reserve to the 5th Army. The introduction bv the
Germans of the celebrated mustard-gas at Ypres
had caused manv thousand casualties in the line
and lent new urgency to our gas drill.
At Broxecle on August 6 the Corps Cmman-
der, General Hunter \Veston, paid a memorabie
visit of inspection to the Battalion. Long vaits,
succeeded by tedious processions of generals and
decorated staff-oflïcers of everv grade, are usually
associated with inspections. General Hunter
\Veston was more than punctual. His knowledge
of all militarv appurtenances was encyclopedic. A
rigorous examination of revolvers, mess tins, and
similar accessories at once commenced. Com-
panies, instead of standing like so manv rows of
dummies, were given each some task to perform.
Suddenlv in the midst of everything a loud crv of
'Gas' is emitted by the General. Not unprepared
for such a 'stunt' as this, the entire part}" scrambles
as fast as possible into gas-helmets. I think we
earned high marks for out gas-discipline. This
inspection made a strong impression on the men,
who afterwards remembered the occasion and often
spoke of it.
Towards the end of July the weather, hitherto
so fine, broke hopelessly. Torrential tains fol-
lowed, which inundated the fiat country far and
ARRAS AND AFTERWARDS, MAYJULY, I97.
wide. After several postponements the Third
Battle of Ypres commenced on July 3. Some two
weeks later the Battalion moved forward bv train
from Arnecke to Poperinghe. We awaited our
share in the fihting which was to make this battle
the most b/oodv and perhaps least profitable of the
who|e war.
CHAVTER X.
"I'HE THIRD BATTLE OF YPRES,
AUGUST, 917.
.\ Battalion landmark.--I'operinghe and Ypres.--Al
Goldfish ÇhSleau.--The attack near St. Julien on Atgust 22.
--Ils results.--.\ mud-hcked battle.--The back-area.--Mus-
tard gas.--Pill-box warfare.
N the war-historv of ail Battalions there is a
season when it is possible to sa} that they
have reached their fulness of development, but
have not }et lost all original identity. August,
i917, was such a season in my history. Of oflïcers
and men who had served with the BattaIion in its
infancy man} were vet remaining. Time and
experience of car had moulded these, with the
admixture of subsequent drafts, into a Battalion
sure of itself and well-developed. But when it
quitted the battleground of Ypres most of its old
identity had vanished. From that time onward the
2/4th Oxfords were a changed unit, whose roots
were set no longer in England but in France, for
in France had corne to it the oflïcers and men of
whom it was afterwards constituted.
On the eve of this great change-importing battle
a short review is not amiss of the Battalion's con-
stitution. A Cornpany still had for its Cornmandeï
THE THIRD BATTLE OF YPRES, AUGUST, 1917- 117
Brown, among whose ofiïcers were Coombes, Cal-
lender, and Webb. As Company Sergeant Major,
Cairns was a tower of strength. John Stockton led
B Company, and under him was Moberly. C Com-
pany possessed two Captains, Brucker and Harris,
and had as platoon commanders, Hawkes, Matthews,
and Jones. D Company was still commanded bv
the author. An acquisition to mv company had
recently arrived in Scott, the bearer of two wounds
received in service with the Oxford Territorials.
$cott was the best officer I ever had. Guest,
another new ofiïcer, before he went into the line
showed that he was made of the right stuff; he
was commander of No. 6 Platoon. Dawson-
Smith, Copinger, Gascoyne, and Hill were other
new arrivals in mv company. The N.C.O.'s on
whom I most relied were Sergeants Palmer,
I.eatherbarrow, and Sloper, but the real backbone
of the Company were the gallant and determined
section leaders whom I had chosen for promotion
from the ranks. Of mv runners and signallers I
was especially proud, and at Company Head-
quarters there was, of course, the redoubtable
.qergeant-Major Brooks, who besides being a great
fighter possessed also high organising powers. Mv
total strength on reaching Poperinghe was over
2oo, which shows that at this time the Battalion was
well round in men. It was known nevertheless
that some reduction from this maximum fighting
force was to take place. One hundred men of the
Battalion, including 'specialists' like Lewis gun-
ners, signallers and runners, were henceforward
'left out of the line' whenever the Battalion went
THE THIRD BATTLE OF YPRES, AUGUST, IgI 7. II 9
forward to take part in an attack. They were so
left in order that, if the casualties were very high,
some nucleus of veteran soldiers would still
remain around whom the new Battalion could be
built. A Iike rule applied to officers. A month
ago the Colonel had decided which of these should
not take part in the first Ypres attack. Brown and
mvself stayed out of the line, and in out stead Cal-
lender and ,qcott respectively commanded A and
D Companies.
Out star near Poperinghe was short. Attention
was devoted to the final organisation of platoons
and sections and to the problem of what kit to
carrv in the attack and how best to carry it. Varied
experiments were ruade to see whether a pack or
haversack was better and which way uppermost a
shovel should be slung. Supply of ammunition
for the Lewis guns raised many questions for de-
bate. \Vhen all the sections--the Lewis-gunners,
bombers, rifle-grenadiers, and riflemen--were finallv
complete, a new drain was made on our numbers
by the demand for seventeen men per Company,
who frorn their duties became known as ' Loaders
and I.eaders.' Their function was to lead forward
during battle mules loaded with rations, water, and
ammunition. So little advancing was there that
the mules, so far as this Battalion was concerned,
were never used, and the loaders and leaders,
thanks to their function proving illusory, escaped
all share in the fighting.
If Poperinghe and Ypres had quite borne out
their reputations I should not here remark on either
of them. The former was a most crowded and
I20 THE THIRD BATTLE OF YPRES, AUGUST, 1917.
degenerate-looking town, by a few towers rendered
impressive from a distance, but in reality of mean
structure. Besides its club--at which I recollect
that Heidsieck 19o6 was then onlv ten francs the
bottle--and its estaminets, the town held few attrac-
tions. Damage by long-range German guns around
the station had been considerable, but to the town
itself, except its windows, not very much had up
till now occurred. The surrounding country was
neither fiat nor uninteresting. The Mont des Cats
and Kemmel bounded the horizon on the south-
cast, while to the west and north gently undulating
hills, covered with fields of hops, distinguished this
area from the sodden plains commonly credited to
Flanders. Ypres, though destroved past an 5" hopes
of restoration, in 197 still wore the semblance of
a town. From previous descriptions of the
' Salient' I had almost expected that a few hand-
fuis of ashes would be of Ypres the only vestige
left. The portions least destroyed in Ypres com-
pared perhaps equally with the worst in Arras, but
of the two the Flemish citv had been the less well-
built. The remains of the great Cloth Hall, cathe-
dral, and other buildings revealed that what had
once been, supposedly, of stone was in reality white
brick.
On August 18, starting at 4 a.m., the Battalion
marched to Goldfish Château, close to Ypres, and
the Transport to a disused brickfield west of
Vlamertinghe. Vre lived in bivouacs and tents
and were much vexed bv German aeroplanes, and
to a less degree bv German shells. On August "o,
v-,,hile companies were making readv for the line,
THE THIRD BATTLE OF YPRES, AUGUST, I9I 7. I2I
an air fight happened just above our camp. Its
sequel was alarming. A German aeroplane fell
worsted in the fight, and dived to ground, a roar-
ing mass of tire, not forty yards from our nearest
tents. Bv a freak of chance the machine fell in
a hole made by a German shell. The usual rush
was made towards the scene--by those, that is, not
alread'" sufficiently close for their curiosity. A
crowd, which to some extent disorganised our pre-
parations for the line, collected round the spot and
watched the R.F.C. extract the pilot and parts of
the machine, which was deeply embedded in the
hole. For hours the wreckage remained the centre
of attraction to many visitors. The General hailed
the burnt relies, not inappropriately, as a lucky
omen.
During the night of August 2o/2 thê Bat-
talion relieved a portion of the front eastward of
Wieltje. Three companies were placed in trenches
bearing the name of 'Capricorn,' but B was further
back. During the night a serious misfortune befell
the latter. Three 5.9s fell actually in the trench
and caused thirty-five casualties, including all the
sergeants of the company. On the eve of an
attack such an occurrence was calculated to affect
the morale of any troops. That the company after-
wards did well was specially creditable in view of
this demoralising prelude.
On the following night Companies assembled
for the attack. Neither the starting place nor the
objectives for this are easilv described by reference
to surrounding villages. The nearest was St.
Julien. The operation orders for the attack of
I22 THE THIRD BATTLE OF YPRES, AUGUST, I9I î.
Aug-ust ",', assigned as objective to the Oxfords a
road running across the Hanebeck and referred to
as the Winnipeg-Kansas Cross Road. The 48th
Division on the left and the 15th on the right were
to co-operate with the I84th Brigade in the attack.
Shortly before 5 the bombardment started. In
the advance behind the creeping barrage put down
by out guns, of which an enormous concentration
was present on the front, C, D and A Companies
(from right to left) provided the first waves, while
B Company followed to support the flanks. The
Berks came afterwards as 'moppers up." Half-an-
hour after the advance started D, B and A Com-
panies were digging-in I5O yards west of the
\Vinnipeg-Kansas Cross Road. The losses of these
companies in going over had not been heavy, but,
as so often happens, casualties occurred directly
the objective had been duly reached. In the case
«»f C Company, on the right, but little progress had
been made. Pond Farm, a concrete stronghold, to
capture which a few nights previously an unsuc-
cessful sally had been made, had proved too serious
an obstacle. Not till the following night was it
reduced, and during the whole of August ",_ it
remained a troublesome: feature in the situation.
Belote the line reached could be consolidated or
they could act to defeat the enemy's tactics, out
men round themselves the victims of snipin and
machine-gun tire from Schuler Farm, which was
not taken and to which parties of reinforcements
to the enemy now came. More dangerous still was
an old gun-pit which la) behind the left flank. The
capture of this had been assigned to the 48th Divi-
Tu ATTAC K or AIjG 2 2
BY 15 TM 61sr&zi-8" DIV! SI0NS
Posi|ion o[ 2/ .thOXF M
/'1"
GU
WJne
sas Cross
es
Aisne House
ree Fro
I2 4 THE THIRD ]3ATTLE OF YPRES, AUGUST IgI 7.
sion, but as a measure of abundant caution
Colonel Vetherall had detailed a special Berks
platoon to tackle it. This platoon, assisted by
some Oxfords on the scene, captured the gun-pit
and near]y seventy prisoners, but failed to garrison
it. A party of the enemv round their way back and
were soon firing into out men from behind.
During the earl'« stages of consolidation, when
personal example and direction were required, John
Stockton, Scott, and Gascoyne were all killed by
snipers or machine-gun tire. Scott had been hit
a]ready in the advance and behaved finely in re-
fusing aid until he had despatched a message to
Headquarters. \Vhile he was doing so three or
four bullets struck him simultaneously and he died.
Throughout the 22nd no actual counter-attack
nor organised bombardment bv the enemy took
place, but much sniping and machine-çun tire con-
tinued, making it almost impossible to move about.
Out loss in Lewis-gunners was particularly heavv.
Çal]ender, the actin- company commander of A
Company, had been killed belote the attack
commenced, and Sereant-Major ,Cairns was now
the mainstav of that cornpany, whose rnen were
thoroughly mixed up with B. Upon the left the
48th Division had failed to reach \Vinnipeg, with
the result that this flank of A and B Çompanies
was quite in the air. On the Battalion's right the
faihlre of C Company,'in which Brucker had been
wounded, to pass Pond Farm left the flank of D
Çompany exposed and unsupported. But the
position won was kept. Ground to which the
advance had been carried with cost would hot be
THE THIRD BATTLE OF YPRES, AUGUST, i9i 7. 12 5
lightly given up. Moberly, Company Sergeant-
Major Cairns, and Guest--the latter bv volunteer-
ing in daylight to run the gauntlet of the German
snipers back to Headquarters--greatly distin-
guished themselves in the task of maintaining this
exposed position during the night of August e',
and throughout August 2.3. Some of our men had
to remain in shell-holes unsupported and shot at
from several directions for over fiftv hours. Dur-
ing the night of August "3/"4 the Battalion was
relieved, when those whom death in battle had not
claimed nor wounds despatched to hospital
marched back through Ypres to the old camp at
Goldfish Château.
The attack, in which the Bucks had successfullv
co-operated on the right of out advance, earned
credit for the Brigade and the Battalion. It had
been, from a fighting standpoint, a military success.
But from the strategical aspect the operations
showed by their conclusion that the error had been
made of nibbling with weak forces at objectives
which could onlv have been captured and secured
bv strong. Moreover, the result su««ested that the
objectives had been made on this occasion for the
attack rather than the attack for the ,objectives.
The-I84th Brigade had played the part assigned
to it completely and with credit, but what had been
gained bv it with heavy loss was in fact given up
bv its successors almost at once. \Vithdrawal from
the Kansas trenches became an obvious corollary
to the German omission to counter-attack against
them. Ground not in dispute "twas not worth
casualties to hold. On the Battalion's front Pond
126 THE THIRD BATTLE OF YPRES, AUGUST, IgI 7.
Farm, a small concrete stronghold, remained the
sole fruit of the attack of August 22. It was after
the 6ISt Division had been withdrawn, wasted in
stationary war, that what success could be asso-
ciated with this third battle of Ypres commenced.
Judged bv its efforts, the 6st was ill paid in results.
On August -'5 the Battalion, and with it the
rest of the Bri.gade, move.d back from Goldfish
Château to Ç)uery Camp, near Brandhoek. The
weather, which had been fairlv fine for several
weeks, now again broke in thunderstorms and rain.
"Frees were bl«wn down along the main road to
Ypres. The clouds hung low or raced before the
wind, so that no aeroplane nor kite-balloon could
mount the skv. This meteorological revulsion
stood the Germans in great stead. Mud and delay,
fatal to us, were to them tactical assets of the
highest value. As tan easilv be appreciated, to
postpone a complicated attack is a proceeding only
less lengthy and difficult than its preparation, nor
tan attacks even be cancelled except at quite con-
siderable notice. Thus it befell that some of our
attacks, before thev had commenced, were ruined
bv deluges of rain when it cas too late to change
the plans. On August 27 a further attack upon
Gallipoli, $chuler Farm and \Vinnipeg was made
by the 83rd Brigade in co-operation with the sth
and 48th Divisions. The mud and enemv
machine-gun tire alike proved terrible. The con-
tact aeroplane soon crashed, the advance failed to
reach the 'pill-boxes' from which the Germans
held out, and before night a return had to be
ruade to the original line.
THE THIRD BATTLE OF YPRES, AUGUST, IgI 7. I2 7
On August ,30 the Brigade went forward once
again to Goldfish Château. The camp had not
been improved by our predecessors, who had
attempted to dig in. Holes filled with water were
the result, and nearlv all the tents and shelters had
to be moved. Since the stagnation of the battle
German shelling in the back area had much in-
creased. The field where the camp lav was
bounded on three sides bv railwavs or roads. Some
of our ',-inch howitzers were close in front. De-
spite our best attempts to sex er association with
such targets we had a share in the shells intended
for them. One night especially the Iong howl
of German shells ended in their arrival very near
our tents. The latter had been placed at one side
of the field in order to escape, as we expected, the
shells more likelv to be aimed bv German gunners
at the main road and railwav as targets. \Ve
changed our 'pitch,' but the next morning came a
pursuing shell on an old line of tire, which ruade it
clear that the best place was the deliberate middle
of the field.
The passage overhead of German aeroplanes
ruade nights uneasv. Darkness was lit bv those
huge flashes in the sky, which denoted explosions
of out dumps of shells. The ground shook many
times an hour with great concussions. Sometimes
the crash of bombs and patter of machine-guns
firing at our transport lasted till pale dawn
appeared or its approach was heralded bv the
bombardment of our guns, whose voice pronounced
the prologue of attack.
On both sides the concentration of artillerv was
I2,q THE THIRD BATTLE OF YPRES, AUGUST, i9 7-
very great. Though the bad weather had shackled
our advance from the start, our staff }et hoped to
gain the ridge of Passchendaele before winter set
in. The Germans, too, held that the stake was
high. Our guns, which were advanced as far as
\Vieltje and St. Jean and stood exposed in the
open, became the object of persistent German
shelling. Sound-ranging and aerial photography
had reached a high developmcnt, and few of otlr
batteries went undiscovered. For the Artillerv
lire became as hard as for the Infantrv. Gunner
casualties were verv numerous. Our batteries for
hours on end were drenched in mustard-gas. Into
Ypres as well large quantities of 'Yellow Cross'
shells, cleverlv mixed up with hi.o.qh-expIosive, were
fired with nocturnal frequency. The long range
of the enemv's field-guns made the effect of these
subtle gas-shells, whose flight and explosion were
almost noiseless amid the din of otlr own artillery,
especially widespread. The enemv's activity
against our back area was at its height at the end
of August, 97- Casualty Clearing Stations were
both bombed and shelled. Near Poperinghe
nurses were killed. No service forward of Corps
Headquarters but had its casualties. Otlr lorrv-
drivers' work was fraught with danger. The Ger-
mans were waging a war to the knife and employ-
ing every means to serve their obstinate resistance.
The 'defence in depth,' practised to some
extent at Arras, had become the enemy's reply to
our destruction by artillery of the trench svstems
on which, earlier in the war, h had relied with con-
fidence. Destruction of prepared positions had
\LAMERTINGE--THE ROAD TO YPRES
THE TItIRD BATTLE OF YPRES, AUGU.T, I917. I29
reached so absolute a stage that the old arguments
of wire and machine-guns brought up from deep
dug-outs to fir.e over parapets, were no longer
present. The oround to a distance of scveral
thousand vards behind the enemv's front line could
be, and had been, churned and rechurned into one
brown expanse. For four miles east of Ypres
there was no green space and hardly a vard of
ground without its shell-hole. Positions vhere the
enemy hcld out consisted in groups of concrete
'pill-boxes,' which had becn ruade from Bclian
.o.9,ravel and cernent in partial anticipation of this
result of the artillery war. They in all cases were
carefully sited and so small (being designed to
hold machine-guns and their teams) that their de-
struction by our heavy shells was almost impos-
sible. "]'hese 'pill-boxes' were also so desined
as to support each other, that is to say, if one of
them v«ere captured, the tire of others on its flanks
often compelled the captors to yield it up. Gar-
tisons were provided from the élite of the German
armv. One cannot but admire the steadfastness
xvith which, during this phase of warfare, these soli-
tary strongholds held out. Indeed, the only wav
to cope with this defence was to press an advance
on a wide front to such a depth as to reduce the
entire area in which these pill-boxes lay into our
possession. By attacking spasmodically we played
the enemy's game.
Our methods of attack which had been practised
through the spring and summer still consisted,
broadlv speaking, in the advance of lines of Infan-
try betiind a creeping barrage. These lines were
I30 THE THIRD BATTLE OF YPRES, AUGUST, i9 7.
too often held up by pill-boxes, against which the
creeping barrage was ineffectual, and once delay
which had not been calculated on occurred, the
creeping barrage was proved doublv useless, for it
had outdistanced the speed of the advance. The
change in tactics necessary to reduce these con-
crete strongholds was soon appreciated, but troops
who had been trained in the older methods were
slow, in action, to adopt the new ones requisite.
Partlv from such a reason the 6rst Division scored
little success against the pill-box defence, but lack
of tangible results was hot joined with lack of
honest attempts. The mud, the nibblin R tactics
passed down from above, inadequate co-operation
bv the divisions fi.o,hting side bv side with us, and
the failure of our artillerv to hit the pill-boxes
which we had hoped could be put out of action
bv our heavy shells, further combined to paralyse
efforts which, had thev been directed to more eas
tasks, would now, as often, have earned for the
Division the highest militarv success.
CHAPTER XI.
THE ATTACK ON HILL 35,
SEPTEMBER, I917.
Iberian, Hill 35, and Gallipoli.--The Battalion ordered
to make the seventh attempt against Hill 35.--The task.--
A and D Companies selected.--The assembly position.--
Gassed by our own side.\Vaiting for zero.--The attack.
--Considerations governing" its failure.---The Battalion quits
the Ypres battlefield.
A T 4 p.m.' said the 6ISt Divisional Summary
for the twenty-four hours ending I2 noon,
September II, I917, 'we attacked the Battery
Position on Hill 35- This attack cas not suc-
cessful.' A grim epitaph. The terse formula, as
though vasted words must not follow wasted lives,
was the official record of the seventh attempt to
storm Hill 35-
Against the concrete gunpits which crowned
this insignificant ridge the waves of our advance
on July 31 had lapped in vain. Minor attacks
designed to take Gallipoli, a German stronghold
set behind the ridge, and against the sister position
of Iberian on its flank, proved throughout August
some of the most costly failures in the 5th Army
operations. The defence of the three strongholds,
Iberian, Hill 35, and Gallipoli provided a striking
I32 THE ATTACK ON HILL 35, SEPTEMBER, I9I 7.
example of German stubbornness and skill, but
added an object-lesson in the squandering of our
efforts in attack. Operations upon a general scale
having failed to capture all three, it was fantastic-
allv hoped that each could be reduced separately.
]berian, Hill 35, and Gallipoli supported one
another, nor was it feasible to hold any without
holding all. Yet to take Hill 35 on September 9
the 2/4th Oxfords were specially selected. The
spirit of A and D Companies, chosen bv Colonel
\Vetherall for the attack, was excellent. We con-
fidcntly believed that we could succeed where
others failed. Optimism, so vital an ingredient in
morale, was a powerful assistant to the English
Armv. It was fostered, perhaps unconsciously,
throughout the war by the cheerful attitude pre-
served by our Generals and staff, but its foundation
la), in our great svstem of supply. The A.S.C.,
which helped to win our victories, helped, too, to
temper our defeats.
On September 7 Brown and myself went up
through Ypres to view the scene of the attack. At
Wieltje, where Colonel Wetherall and B and C
Companies already were, we descended to a deep,
wet dug-out and that night listened to a narrative
brought by an officer who had participated in the
last attempt to take the hill. He dispensed the
most depressing information about the gun_pits, the
machine-guns, the barrages, and last, but not least
terrible (if believed), the new incendiary Verey
lights used by the Germans to cremate their assail-
ants. The description of a piece of trench, which
we were to capture and block, particularly flattered
IîlLL5
Hindu Cott
Pond
Farm
Capric
/ /
!
/ l /'
I . /
Gal/i i po,,
/
H,,
[ 5tale in Yards b 5bo ir/Ta Pillbox
t34 THE ATTACK ON HILL 35, SEPTEMBER, I9 7.
our prospects. 'Wide, shallow trench, enfiladed
from Gallipoli, filled with --th Division dead,' it
tan. The talc of horror becoming ludicrous, we
soon afterwards clambered on to the wire bunks
and slept, dripped on, till the early morning.
The next da)" was misty. Out 5-inch howit-
zers, on whose ability to smash the enemy's con-
çrete strongholds reliance was staked, could not
tire. The attack was postponed until Septem-
ber o, but that decision came too late to stop our
companies quitting the camp according to previous
orders and marching up through Ypres. They
could have stayed at \Vieltie for the night, but the
men's fear that bv so doing they would miss their
hot tea, decided their vote in favour of a return to
Goldfish Château. Tea is among the greatest
bribes that tan be offered to the British soldier.
Accordingly the march through Ypres, or
rather, round it (for no troops chose to pass its
market place) as repeated on the morrow. The
tracks towards the line were shelled on our way
up, but we came safel through. Dusk was
awaited in a much war-worn trench in front of
Wieltie.
As daylight fades we file away, each man with
his own thoughts. \Vhose turn is it to be this
iourney ?
Along the tortuous track of tipsy duckboards
we go for a mlle, until acrid fumes tell that the
German barrage-line is being passed. This is a
moment to press on! To get the Company safely
across this hundred vards is worth man a fall.
Presently the shattered pollards of the
THE ATTACK ON HILL 35, SEPTEMBER, 97 . 35
Steenbeek are left behind and flickering Verey
lights cast into weird relief the rugged surface of
the earth. At Pommern Castle our front trenches,
in which figures of men loom indistinctly, are
reached. At one corner, where the trench is lit-
tered with fragments, we are cautioned by a sentry,
whose voice is a little shaken, not to linger; the
entrance to a pill-box (which faced the enemy) was
hit a short rime ago. From the trench we proceed
further into No-Man's-Land, where the Bucks are
said to have linked up shell-holes since night-fall.
(Those will be our "assemblv position' for the
attack to-morrow afternoon).
By now all shells are passing over our heads;
we are level with where Verev lights are falling,
and the sweep of bullets through the air shows that
the enemy is not far off. Figures appear as if bv
magie. All at once there is a crowd of men,
rattling equipment and talking in suppressed
voices. A few commands, and the relief is com-
plete. We are in No-Man's-Land, strung in a line
of shell-holes, from which in sixteen hours' time the
attaçk is to start.
Soon after 3 a.m. I set out to visit all the scat-
tered groups of men to give my last instructions,
for from dawn onwards no movement would be
possible. It was an eerie situation. The night
was filled with multifarious noise--peculiar
'poops,' the distant crash of bombs, and all the
mingled echoes of a battlefield. At one time Ger-
36 THE ATTACK ON HILL 35, SEPTEMBER, 97"
man howitzers, firing at longest range, chimed a
faint chorus high above our heads; anon a hissing
swoop would plant a shell close to out where-
abouts. Lights rose and sank, flickering. Red
and green rockets, as if to ornament the tragedy
of war, were dancing in the sky. Occasionallv a
gust of foul wind, striking the face, could make olle
fancv that Death's Spectre marched abroad, claim-
ing her children .....
Onr guns fired incessantlv. Their shells came
plunging down with an arriving whistle that made
each one as it came seem that it must drop short
--and manv did. Mist drifted fitfullv around and
hid, now and aain, two derelict tanks, at which a
forward post of m) company was stationed. This
post I was on mv way to visit, when, suddenly, what
seemed trench-mortar bombs began to fall. About
twentv fell in a minute, the last ones verv close to
where I stood.
They were as. It was a sickenin moment;
surprise, disaster, and the possibility that here was
some new German devilrv fired at us from behind,
joined «ith thc fumes to numb the mind and
powers. Half-gassed ] gave the gas-alarm. By
telephone I managed to report what had happened.
The Colonel seemed to understand at once; 'l've
stopped them,' conveyed everything of which it
was immediatelv necessarv to make certain.
For it was an attack by out own gas. Some
detachment, without notifying out Brigade staff or
selecting a target which sanity could have recom-
mended, had donc a 'shoot' against my company's
position under the mistake that the enemv was in
HILLS5, from n eropl8ne phololraph
taken a week belote |he allack of et 10.
Noie lhe our derelict Tanks
P. 37.
THE ATTACK ON HILL 35, SEPTEMBER, Z97- I37
it. Two casualties, which I believe proved fatal,
resulted. Many men vomited. I was prostrated
for two hours. "Fhe effect on the morale of some
of m) men was as pitiable as it was amply justifi-
able.
For this dastardlx outrag-e I fancy that no per-
son was ever brought to book. Infantr loyall
condoned the so-called 'short shooting' by out
guns. Out of thousands of shells fired at the
enemx some must and did rail in out lilleS. But
from such condonatiol is specifically tobe excepted
this instance of a gas projection carried out with
criminal negligence upon m comrades. For or
by its perpetrator no excuse was offered: and et
the facts xxere never in dispute.
Proverbially the worst part of an attack was
waiting for it. On September io, from dawn till
4 p.m., A and D Companies lax cramped in shell-
holes on the slopes of Hill 35- In my own hole,
so close that out knees touched, sat Sergeant
Palmer, Rowbotham, my signalling lance-corporal,
lJaxter, another signaller, Davies, mx runner, and
myself. \Vith us we had a telephone and a basket
of carrier pigeons.
At 8 a.m., while some of us were sleeping
heavily, there came a crash and a jar, which shook
ex'ery fibre in the body. An English shell had
burst a yard or two from the hole wherein we la)'.
Voices from neighbouring shell-holes hailed us-
'Are )'ou all right?'" and we replied '\\re are.'
We had no other shell as close as that, but ail dax
long there were two English guns whose shells,
aimed at the Germans on the ridge in front, fell
38 THE ATTACK ON HILL 3,î, SEPTEMBER, 97-
so near to where we la)- that we became half-used
to being spattered with their earth. As the air
warmed the error of these guns decreased, but we
counted the hours anxiously until the attack should
liberate us from such cruel jeopardy.'
The intolerable duration of that dav baffles
description. The sun, which had displaced a
morning mist, struck down with unrelenting rays
till shrapnel helmets .o.rew hot as oven-doors. Blue-
bottles (for had hot six attempts failed to take the
bill ?) buzzed busilv. The heat, our sait rations,
the mud bc]ow, the brazen skv above, and he
suspense of waiting for the particular minute of
atta«k, vied for supremacy in the emotions. The
drone of howitzers continued ail the da',. Only
at 2.30 p.m., when a demonstration was made
against Iberian, did anv variety even occur. There
was no choice nor respite. Not bv one minute
could the attack be either anticipated or postponed.
Of the attack itself the short outline is soon
.o,iven. Promptly at 4 p.m. the creeping barrage
started. In a dazed way or lighting cigarettes the
men, who had lost during the long wait ail sense
of their whereabouts, began to stumble forward tlp
the hill. Our shrapnel barrage was hot ood. One
.\t this stage in the war the barrels of manv of our
guns and howitzers in use on the Western Front xvere very
xvorn. That fact alone and not any want of care or devo-
tion on the part of our .\rtillery or staff would have
accounted for the 'sho,rt shooting' which I record. To
locate a worn barrel, when scores of balteries were bombard-
ing together according to a complicated programme, was
naturallv impossible. Infantrv i-ecognised this.
THE ATTACK ON HILL 35, SEPTEMBER, 917 . 39
of the earliest shells burst just behind the hole from
which I stepped. It wounded Rowbotham and
Baxter (my two signallers) and destroyed the basket
of carrier pigeons. Of other English shells I saw
the brown splash anaongst our men. Prolonged
bombardment had ploughed the ground into a
welter of crumbling earth and mud. Our progress
at only a few dozen yards a minute gave the Ger-
mans in their pill-boxes ample time to get their
machine-guns goin, while correspondingly the
barrage passed away from our advance in its suc-
cessive lifts. Heavy firing from Iberian com-
menced to enfilade our ranks. Long before the
objective was approached our enemies, who in some
cases left the pill-boxes and manned positions out-
side, were masters of the situation. The seventh
attempt had failed to struggle up the slopes of
Hill 35-
Despite the disappointment of this immediate
failure of the enterprise, I realised at once the im-
possibility of its success. Yet on this occasion less
was done bv the men than the conduct of their
leaders deserved. Almost as soon as bullets had
begun to bang through the air some men had gone
to shelter. Those who stood still were mown down.
A handful of D Company, led bv the company
commander, bv short rushes reached a ruined tank,
close to the enemy, but the remainder disappeared
into shell-holes, whence encouragement was power-
less to more them. Only in A Company was any
tire opened.
No sense of anti-climax could be demanded
of the En<lish soldier, whose dailx shilling was
I40 THE ATTACK ON HILL « .
03, SEPTEMBER, I9I î
paid him whether he was in rest-billets, on working-
Imrty, or sent into the attack. L
On the part also of the Artillery less was done
than the scheme promised or our attacking Infan-
try had counted on. By shell-tire the issue of
Hill à5 vas to have been placed beyond doubt.
\Vhen the artillerv machine broke down, achieve-
ment of success demanded more initiative on the
part of the lnfantry than if no artillery had been
used. In a sense our loss of a hundred guns at
Cambrai a few weeks later became a blessing in
disguise, for it restored the scales in favour of the
Infantrvman as the decisive aent on the field of
battle.
,go ended the attack on Hill 35- Upon its
slopes were added oui dead to the dead of many
regiments. But our casualties were few consider-
ing that the attack had been brought to a standstill
by machine-gun tire. Of D Company oflïcers
Guest was wounded (he had behaved with gallantry
in the attack) and Copinger missing. Viggers,
a ver} brave ser,o_,eant, was killed. Three lance-
corporals, \Vise, Rowbotham, and Goodman, had
been wounded. The total casualties to the Bat-
talion, including several in B Company Headquar-
ters from a single shell and others in passing
afterwards throu,o_,h Ypres, were, happily, under
fiftv.
A few davs after its attack on Hill 35 the
Battalion marched awav from Ypres, never to
1 Nowhere is this truth better expressed than in the v«ords
of 'Tommy's' own song, the refrain of which ends :
' But you get your " bob " a da3", never mind ! '
THE ATTACK ON HILL 35, SEPTEMBER, 97" 4]
return. \Vhat credit had been earned there bv the
61st Division was principally associated with the
work of the I84th Infantrv Brigade and of the
2/4th Oxfords. Improvement in morale flowed
from the test of this great battle. The losses of
the BattaIion had been heavv; fourteen officers
and 26o men were its casualties. The final win-
ning of the war could not be unconnected with such
a sacrifice. IAke others belote and others after
it, the Battalion at Ypres gave its pledge to pos-
terity.
CHAPTER XI I.
AUTUMN AT ARRAS AND THE
MOVE TO CAMBRAI,
OCTOBER, NOVEMBER, DECEMBER, gIï.
',The Battalio,n's return to Arras.--A quiet front.--The
Brigadier and lai staff.--A novelty in tactics.--B Company's
raid.--A sudden move.--The Cambrai fro.nt.--Havrincourt
Vood.--Çhristmas at Suzanne.
F ROM Arras the 6ist Division came to Ypres
to Arras it returned. After a week spent in
the back area, advance by the usual stepping stones
was made to the front line..The 84th was the
last Brigade to go into the trenches; not till the
beginning of October did it take over the line.
The front held by the 6st Division stretched from
the Chemical \Vorks of Roeux upon the right to
a point south of Gavrelle upon the left. Two
Brigades were in the line at once and stayed
twenty-four days, Battalions changing places dur-
ing the period. A Irest of twelve days back at
Arras followed.
This process of relief and the general condi-
tions brought a return of trench-warfare almost on
its old lines. As autumn waned gumboots were
AUTUMN AT ARRAS, OCTOBER--NOVEMBER, I9I 7. I43
even spoken of. The trenches were mostly of
chalk, and had been left by the i Tth Division in
excellent condition. The experience of a former
winter prevented the error being made, at all events
in theory, of leaving trenches unfloored and un-
revetted, until winter, bringing its consequence of
mud, arrived. Especially the mile-long communi-
cation trenches called " Cili' and 'Cvil' Avenues,
if they were to be kept passable, required attention.
A thorough programme of work with R.E. and the
Pioneers was put in hand. Drv trenches would
have repaid its labour spent in carrying and dig-
«inc had the Battalion staved in this sector for
the winter. As not unexpectedly happened, we
had lëft the scene of our labours before winter
set in.
More than three weeks of October were spent
by the Battalion in the trenches. This was no
great hardship. Hall of the time was spent nearlv
two miles behind the line in an old German trench
known as the Gavrelle Switch. In this position
there was little restriction, if indeed there could
ever be any--short of its prohibition--on the making
of smoke, and with good rations and dav working
parties the men were happy enough. But these
long periods in the trenches, when no proper
parades or drill wer possible, thou.o_,h acquiesced
in by the men themselves, were bad for the Bat-
talion's discipline. Much regard was ahvavs paid
--especially in the 6st Division--to what is called
'turn out.' This meant more than button-polish-
ing. It was that quality of alertness and self-
respect which even in the trenches could be main-
I44 AUTUMN AT ARRAS, OCTOBERNOVEMBER, I917"
tained. Trench-life bred loafers, and loafers
never made the best soldiers. It was a good thing
when October 28 came and the Battalion moved
back to Arras for a twelve davs' spell in rest. Bil-
lets were the French prison, whose cells provided
excellent accommodation.
Arras in the autumn of I9 7 was an attractive
place. The clear atmosphere, through which the
sun shone indimmed bv factory-smoke, lent to its
majestic ruins almost Italian colouring. Upon the
western side of the town quite a number of un-
damaged houses still remained; at its centre the
theatre and concert hall had luckily escaped de-
struction, and to hear the various divisional troupes
most crowded audiences assembled every night.
The streets, though unlighted, were thronged with
jostling multitudes. The Arras front, as though
in acknowledgement of greater happenings else-
where, had become dormant since midsummer.
Against the trenches themselves little activitv by
the enemy was shown, and in the back area, pend-
ing a change of policy by us, quietude reigned
during the early autumn. A big German gun occa-
sionally threw its shells towards our Transport
lines at St. Nicholas or into Arras Station. One
dav a party which had corne several hours earlv
to secure good places on the leave train was scat-
tered bv the unscheduled arrival of a shell.
During the stay of the Battalion at the prison,
Thomas, out champion boxer, issued a challenge to
the divisions near the town. A man from the ISth
Division, heavier than Thomas, accepted. In the
fight which ensued before manv spectators the
A STREET IN ARRAS.
x44-
AUTUMN AT ARRAS, OCTOBER--NOVEMBER, 97- 45
Oxford man won on a knock-out in the fourth
round. So strong at this time was the Battalion
in boxing that Brigade competitions became fore-
gone conclusions.
Another feature of this period was a Brigade
schoo|, with Bennett as its commandant, at Arras.
A week's course was held for each platoon in the
Brigade. The school was well run and parti.',
recompensed for the lack of training during the
long tours in the tren«hes.
More than a vear had passed since General
White first took command of the 184th Infantrv
Brigade. During that time the Brigade had im-
proved out of all recognition. For such result its
commander was more than partially responsible.
The General had to the full the qualit.v called
"drive': that, rather than profound knowledge of
militarv science, made him a first-rate Brigadier.
War is a department of the world's business, in
which capacity not onlv to work oneself, but to
make others work, begets success. I should hesi-
tate to sav of General \Vhite that he 'used' others,
but his prudent selection of subordinates ensured
that all units in his Brigade were well commanded.
He was more than a good judge of character:
hollow prevarication was useless with him, and
bluff--thouh, when he liked, he was himself a
master of it--a dangerous policy. Among the
shrewd qualifies of this man there were the abilities.
to summarize rapidly whatever he had been told,
and to remember most of everything he saw. His
power of observation was so developed that some-
rimes the actual picture of some deta{l--such as a
,46 AUTUMN AT ARRAS, OCTOBER--NOVEMBER, '97-
dirty rifle, a man without equipment, or a few sand
bags laid awry--lent him a false impression of the
whole. Yet his memory and rapid power of obser-
vation ruade him a real tactician--I use the adjec-
tive advisedly. No man who knew less, and there
were few who knew more, of the front line than
he did, could afford to argue with him about the
position of a machine-gun, although if the matter
had been presented as of theor} at some headquar-
ters rather than upon the ground, the machine-gun
expert would perhaps have held his own.
'Bobbie' did not interfere with his staff officers
in their 'paper-work,' but if ever occasion de-
manded he did not hesitate to draw his pen, not in
self-defence, but in defence of the Brigade and his
subordinates. He was no party to that unctuous
politeness that sprang up during the war when staff
met staff upon the telephone. He thought nothing
of ringing up Corps, and expected speech with
the head of a department, for he was the enemy of
all high-placed obstructionists. His lame spread
widelv on the telephone. Impatient of camouflage,
he learnt with difficulty the language of code-names
under which it was sought to disguise our units to
the enemy. ' Brigadier of I84 speaking,' he would
sa: 'Are }'ou the Bucks \Vhat regiment are
plifi "
}'ou?' Therewasan'am er'at'Tank Dump ;
it was always most faithfully manned about 8 p.m.
The example which the General set was especi-
ally fine. He spent every da}- and nearly all da}
in the front line. Nothing annoyed him more than,
say, at 9 a.m. to receive the message of a divisional
conference fixed for his headquarters at i.
AUTUI'v[N AT ARRAS, OCTOBER--NOVEMBER, i9i î. 47
Equipped in his short overalls and shrapnel-helmet
(conspicuous in a light cover) and carrying a white
walking-stick, he used to quit Brigade Headquar-
ters with matutinal punctuality. His outset bor-
rowed something of the atmosphere of 'John Peel'
on a fine morning. Battalion Headquarters, if not
warned surreptitiously of his arrival, would
scramble through their breakfast (hot that the
General designed to interfere either with rest or
eating) as his form outlined itself in the doorwax,
accompanied by cheery greeting. In the front line
itself his visits were refreshing. Prospects of
shelling never deterred him. No post was too [ar
forward for him to pay it a call. Often, when shells
fell, he deliberatelv remained to share the danger.
Once I knew him to return to a trench, which had
been quite heavily shelled while he was there, be-
cause the Germans started on it again. A prodi-
gious walker, he tired of daylight imprisonment to
trenches and chose the 'top.' His figure must have
been familiar to enemy observers. But his route
was so erratic that, though he drew tire on manv
unexpected places after he had left, he was rarelv
himself shot at during his progress.
The General is a great representative of espril
de co,ps, and believes strongly in militarv com-
radeship. In a sense his claire for 'esprit de
Brigade' was a little far-fetched, for Battalions
held to themselves very much, and the fact that they
relieved each other, though often a bond of
alliance, was sometimes also a cause of friction.
Between Battalions he did not shrink from making
comparisons. 'My Berks' had done this; 'My
I48 AUTUMN AT ARRAS, OCTOBER--NOVEMBER, I9I 7"
Bucks' should do the same. Much good resulted.
The standard of efficiency was raised. Though at
times he was discovered to be naïvely inconsistent,
one thing was certain--the I84th Brigade felt
throughmlt its members that it was the best in the
Division. The war has not produced many great
men, but it bas produced manv great figures--
amongst whom Robert White is by no means the
least.
If it was well commanded by its General, the
84th Brigade was as well served bv its staff.
Gepp, the Brigade Major at Laventie, had been
the pattern of a staff officer. His advice was at
the service of the most recent company commander
or newest subaltern. \Vith Gepp as author, no
march-table ever went wrong. Moore fell no whit
short of his predecessor in ability. He was alike
eager to acquire and to impart his knowledge, which
in military matters was both profound and practical.
He made friends readily with regimental officers,
for he remained one of them at heart and in out-
look. His powers were truly at the service of the
whole Brigade. When George Moore left in Sep-
tember, I9 Iî, to take command of a Battalion, the
third Brigade Major who makes a figure in my his-
tory appeared--H. G. Howitt. In the sequence for-
tune continued to favour the Brigade. Howitt was a
Territorial whose prowess had been proved in the
Somme fighting. In place of a long staff training
he brought business powers. He was indulgent of
everythlng save fear, laziness, and inefficiency.
Stout-hearted himself, he expected stoutness in
others; this was the right attitude of a staff officer.
AUTUMN AT ARRAS, OCTOBER--NOVEMBER, 19I ï. I4C)-
Though a business man by training, he did not
negotiate with the war; in him everything was
better than his writing.
Of these three, Gepp, Moore, Howitt, it would
be difficult to name the best Brigade Major; the
I84th Brigade was happy in the trio.
On November 9 the 2/4th Oxfords returned to
the trenches in weather that cas still relativelv fine.
The Briade sector had been changed: its front
now stretched across the Douai railway below the
slope of Greenland Hill. The previous quietude
of the trenches now gave place to more activity.
German shellin,,o much increased. The ruins
of the famous Chemical Vrorks, which covered
several acres of ground, were daily stirred bv the
explosions of shells among the tangled wreckage
of boiler-pipes and twisted metal. In the front
line trench-mortaring became frequent. On No-
vember 14 Çuthbert was wounded by a bomb
which fell inside the trench, and other casualties
occurred, inchlding the General's runner. Manv
new officers and men had joined since Ypres. Wilt-
shire took up the adjutantcy when Cuthbert left.
Plans were afoot for a big demonstration to
cover the surprise bv English tanks at Havrincourt
on November 2o. A series of gas projections.
smoke barrages, and raids were to take place.
The better to maintain secrecy from the German
'listening-sets' no telephones were used. The
Battalion bore its share in the programme: already
at Arras plans for a novel raid were under contem-
plation. Cuthbert had devised a scheme, which
Colonel \Vetherall adopted and chose B Compan.v,
150 AUTUI%{N AT ARRAS, OCTOBER--NOVEMBER, I917-
under Moberly, to carry out. The details of this
raid, inasmuch as their novelty is of some historical
interest, demand an explanation.
Gas fired in shells was of two sorts, lethal and
non-lethal. _l'he former was a deadly poison.
Unless taken in large quantities, the latter had no
fatal, nor indeed serious, effects; designed to irri-
tate the throat and eyes, it caused such sneezing
and hiccoughing that whosoever breathed this sort
«f gas lost temporarily his self-control. Lethal and
non-lethal gas were intermingled both by the
Germans and ourselves with high explosive shells;
the effect of each assisted the effect of the other.
If (»ne began to sneeze from the effect of non-lethal
gas, one could not wear a gas-helmet to resist the
lethal; the high-explosive shells disguised both
types. Now it was planned by Wetherall to tire
lethal gas against the enemy for several nights. On
the night of the raid and during it, non-lethal only
would be used. The two gases smelt alike and the
presumption was that on the night of the raid the
enemy would wear gas-helmets.
On the evening of November 7, onlv an hour
before the raid was to take place, it was announced
that the wrong type of shells had been delivered to
the artillery. Barely in time to avert a fiasco, the
affair was cancelled. Two nights afterwards, when
thewind luckily was again from the right direction,
the raid was carried out. The Germans, of whom
some were round in gas-helmets, had no inkling of
our plan. B Company, though they missed the
gap through the enemy's wire, entered the trenches
without opposition and captured a machine-gun
p 5o.
AUTUMN AT ARRAS, OCTOBER--NOVEMBER, I9I 7. ISI
which was pointing directly at their approach but
never fired. Wallington, the officer in command of
the storming party, killed several Germans. As
often, there was difiqculty in finding the wav back
to otlr lines; in fa«t, Moberly, the commander of
the raid, after some wandering in No-Man's-Land,
entered the trenches of a Scotch division upon otlr
right. His appearance and comparative inabilitv
to speak their language made him a suspicious
visitor to our kilted neighbours. Moberly rejoined
his countrvmen under escort.
For a lmg rime it seemed that no material
results had been achieved in the raid. But the next
morning Private Hatt, who for his exploit gained
the D.C.M., crawled into our lines carrying the
machine-gun which he had hugged ail night be-
tween the German lines and ours. This raid took
place the night preceding the reat Cambrai
offensive, and the success of Moberlv and B Com-
pan. formed part of the demonstration designed
to attract enem reserves awav from the area of the
operation mentioned.
On the last day of November the Division was
withdrawn from the Arras sector; its move to
relieve some of the troops who had been severely-
handled bv the enemv at Bourlon Wood seemed
probable. Events occurred to change the destina-
tion. The Battalion, after two nights at Arras,
entrained amid all symptoms of haste on the morn-
ing of November 3 ° and travelled without the
transport to Bapaume. The noise of battle and
excitecl staff-officers greeted its arrival. In the
back area it was on everybody's lips that the enemv
]5 2 THE MOVE TO CAMBRAI, DECEMBER, If)Iï.
had broken through. Bapaume was being shelled,
manv officers had travelled unprepared for an early
engagement with the enemy, and the General was
hot vet on the scene ; the situation was as unexpected
as it was exciting. At 3 p.m. we were placed in
'buses under Bicknell's directions and moved
rapidly to Bertincourt, a village four kilometres
west of Havrincourt ,Vood. The night of Novem-
ber ào/December was spent in an open field.
It was intenselv cold. At 4 a.m. a flank match as
made to Fins, where some empty huts were found.
Enem long range shells, aimed at the railway, kept
talling in the village. Through Fins at o a.m. on
December the Guards marched forward to do
thcir fam«ms counter-attack (»n Gouzeaucourt- on
the afternoon of the same dav the Battalion moved
up to Metz, whither Brigade Headquarters had
alreadv gone. During the night, which was frostv
and moonlight, the Clonel led the Battali(m across
country to occupy a part of the Hindenburgh Line
vest of La Vacquerie. On the follming morning
the enemy delivered a heavv attack upon the
village, from which, after severe losses in killed and
prisoners, troops of the 8end Brigade xvere driven
back. To assist them ,C Cmpany was detached
trom the Battalion. The trenches--our front was
now the Hindenburg Linewere frozen, there was
snow on the ground, and the temporary supremacy
of the enemy in guns and sniping produced a toll of
casualties. It was an anxious time, but the Bat-
talion was involved in no actual fighting" the
German counter-attack, for the time-being, was at
an end.
THE MOVE TO CAMBRAI, DECEMBER, 97- I53
The 6st Division was left holding a line of
snow-bound trenches bet«een Gonnelieu and La
Vacquerie, consisting of fragments both of the
Hindenburg Line, the old German front line, and
otlr own as it stood before the Çambrai battle
opened. Except in the 84th Brigade the
casualties suffered by the Division during the heavv
German counter-attacks had been heavier than those
at Ypres. Thc 2/40xfords by luck had escaped
a share in this fighting, and the Battalion's casual-
ries during these critical events were few.
The German counter-attack from Cambrai xxas
an important step in the war's progress. At the
time it was considered even more important than it
was. Judged by the rapidity with which thev were
replaced, the loss of guns and stores bv us was not
of high moment it mattered more that for the
first time since the Second Battle of Ypres the
enemv had driven back our lines several mlles. A
counter-surprise had been cffected. On a small
scale the panic of defeat was proved bv its physical
results upon the ground. The valley north-east of
Gouzeaucourt was littered with ail kinds of relics.
which in trench warfare or in our attacks had been
unknown. Whole camps had been sacked and
their contents, in the shape of clothing, equipment
and blankets, xvere strewn broadcast. Packets of
so«ks and shirts showed where an English quarter-
master's stores had been, and flapping canvas and
dismantled shelters were evidence of a local
débâcle to our side. The sight of derelict tractors,
motor cars, and steam rollers, left in the sunken
road at Gouzeaucourt, produced a sense of shock.
54 THE MOVE TO CAMBRAI, DECEMBER, 97-
A broad-gauge railway train, captured complete
with trucks and locomotive and recovered in our
counter-attack, bore witness to a victory seized but
not secured. The battles of Ypres and Cambrai,
917, though well-fought and not without results,
robbed the British army for the time being of the
initiative upon the Western Front. America became
spoken of--98, it was said, would be a defensive
vear. Yet the German StlCCeSS had in reality no
effe«t tlpon otlr Infantry's morale. By the troops
engaged in it Cambrai had been almost forgotten
before Christmas. Less than a year afterwards the
Germans had lost, not only Cambrai, but the war.
The end of 97 was as cold as its beginning.
._qnow and frost, destined to play utter havoc with
the roads, laid their white mantle on the battlefield.
Fighting had slackened when the lIattalion went into
the line in front of Gonnelieu. The trenches there
ran oddlv between derelict tanks, light railways,
and dismantled huts: in No-Man's-Land lav several
batteries of our guns.
On December 7 the 83rd Brigade relieved the
Battalion, which moved back to tents in Havrin-
court Wood. It was bitter! qhells and aeroplane
bombs made the wood dangerous as well as cold.
On the oth a further tour in the front line com-
menced. This rime trenches north-east of Villers
Plouich were held. \Viring was strenuouslv car-
ried out, but save for activitv bv trench-mortars the
enemy lay quiet. The Battalion returned to
Havrincourt Wood on December 15 and remained
in its frozen tents until the Division was relieved
bv the 63rd. After one night at I.echelle the Bat-
P- 5.5
THE MOVE TO CAMBRAI, DECEMBER, 97- 55
talion entrained at Ytres and moved back to Christ-
mas rest-billets at Suzanne, near Brav.
Huts, built by the French but vacated more than
a vear ago and now very dilapidated, formed the
accommodation. In them Christmas dinners, to
procure which Bennett had proceeded earlv from
the line, were eaten. And O'Meara conducted the
Brigade band.
CHAPTER X I I I.
THE GREAT GERMAN ATTACK OF
MARCH 21.
JANUARY, FEBRUARY, IARCH, ! 9 ! -
The French relieved on the St. Quentin front.--Thc calm
before the storm.--.\ golden age.---The XVarwick raid.--
The German attack launched.--Defencc of Enghic,a Redoubt.
--Counter-attack bv thc Royal Berks.--Holnon XVood lost.--
The battle for tie l{eauvo.ir li,m.--'l'hc enemv breaks
through.
HE Battalion's mid-winter respite was brief.
On New ear's Eve, 917, the 2/4th Ox-
fords quitted the wretched quzanne huts and
marched through Harbonnières to Caix. No
'march past' was necessarv or would have been
possible, for so slippery was the road that the men
had to trail along its tmtrodden sides as best thev
could. Old 61st Divisional sign-boards left stand-
ing nearly a year ago greeted the return to an area
which was familiar to manv. The destination
should have been Vauvillers, but the inhabitants of
that village were stricken with measles. Better
billets and freedom from infection compensated for
a longer march. At Caix the Battalion was com-
fortable for a week.
THE GREAT GERMAN ATTACK OF MARCH 2I, i98. i57
The Division's move from the Bray-Suzanne
area to south of the Somme heralded a new relief
of the French, whose line was now to be shortened
bv the amount on its left flank between St. Quentin
and La Fère. About January i the Battalion
found itself once more in Holnon Wood, where a
large number of buts and dug-outs had been made
by the French since last spring. The front line,
now about to be held between Favet and Gricourt,
was almost in its old position. The outpost line
of nine months ago had crvstallised into the usual
trench svstcm. Those courteous preliminaries, so
much the feature of a French relief, were, on this
re-hltroduction to scenes soon to become so famous
-and so tragic--a little marred by an untimelv
German shell which wounded \Veller, who had
accompanied the Colonel to see the new line.
Industrious calm succeeded the relief. Since
the Russian break-up and the consequent liberation
from the Eastern Front of fresh German legions,
the British army had been on the defensive. A
big effort by the enemv was expected, and when it
came, the St. Quentin front was not unlikelv to
receive the brunt of his massed attack. The months
of January and February and the first half of March
were ominously quiet. Shelling was spasmodic.
After the artillery activity of the last summer and
autumn our guns seemed lazy. So quiet was it that
Abraham used to ride up to the two small copses
that lav behind our front.
For the time being the 'offensive spirit' was in
abeyance; our paramount task was the perfection
of our defensive system. By this time in the war
I58 THE GREAT GERMAN ATTACK OF IIARCH 2I, I918.
it was acknowledged that against attacks in weight
no actual line could be held intact. Faith in 'lines'
became qualified in favour of the series of 'strong
points' or redoubts, which were constructed to
defend 'tactical features.' This policy, founded
on our experience of the German defence during
the Third Battle of Ypres, was very sound. All
the redoubts constructed in the area occupied by
the 84th Brigade were so well sited and so strongly
wired that the faith seemed justified that they were
part of one impregnable system. But against loss
of one important factor no amount of industry could
serve to insure. ' Strong points' must act in concert
and for such mutual action 'on the day' good visi-
bilitv was essential. As we shall sec, this factor
was denied. In rear of these redoubts, which lay
along the ridge west of Fayet, a line known as the
'Battle Line' was fortified, and in rear again a
trench was dug to mark the 'Army Line,' where the
last stand would be made. These lines were strong,
but more reliance was apt to be placed upon their
mere existence on the ground than, in default of
any co-existent scheme to fill them at a crisis with
appropriate garrisons, was altogether justified, l
Early in the year the Bucks had been taken
from the Brigade (now like all Infantrv Brigades
reduced to three Battalions) and went to Nesle to
work as an entrenching Battalion. Many old
friends, including especially Colonel 'Jock' Muir,
had to be parted with. The three Battalions which
remained were now arranged in 'depth,' a phrase
t For the terrain referrcd to in th, is chapter see the maps
ante pp. 83 and 95-
THE GREAT GERMAN ATTACK OF MARCH 2I, I918. I59
explained by stating that while one, say the Berks,
held the front line 'twixt Fayet and Gricourt, the
Gloucesters as Support Battalion would be in
Holnon \Vood and ourselves, the Oxfords, in re-
serve and back at Ugny. When a relief took place
the Gloucesters went to the front line, ourselves to
Holnon, and the Berks back to Ugny. The Bat-
talion holding the line was similarlv disposed in
'depth,' for its headquarters and one compan.v were
placed more than a mlle behind the actual front.
After the January frost and snow had gone, a
period of fine, clement weather set in. This, in a
military sense, was a golden age. Boxing, thanks
to encouragement from the Colonel and lïrown
and under the practical doctrine of 'Bennv'
Thomas, the Battalion pugilist, flourished as never
belote. Each tour some oflïcers, instead of going
to the line, were sent to worship at the shrine or
Maxse. The Battalion reached the zenith of its
eflïciencv. Early in Match some reinforcements
from the 6th Oxfords, who had been disbanded,
arrived; they numbered two hundred. Among
the new officers who joined were Foreshew, Row-
botham, and Cunningham. Foreshew received com-
mand of C Company, whose commander Matthews
went to England for a six months' test. To Hobbs
also, out worthy quartermaster, it was necessarv to
bid a reluctant farewell. His successor, Murray,
a ver}" able oflïcer from the 4th Gloucesters, arrived
in rime to check the table of stores belote the open-
ing of the great offensive.
On the night of I8/9 Match the Battalion
went into the front line. C Company was on the
I60 THE GREAT GERMAN ATTACK OF MARCH 2I, I918.
right, in front of Eayet ; B Company, under the com-
mand of \Vallington, was on the left, just south of
Gricourt. A went to Fayet itself and D Company,
commanded in Robinson's absence bv Rowbotham,
provided the garrison of Enghien Redoubt, which
was a quarry near .qelency Château; Battalion
Headquarters also were at this redonbt. Dnring the
night of March 20 a raid ou the Battalion's right
was carried out near Cepy Farm bv the 82nd Bri-
.o_,ade. It was successful. German prisoners from
three divisions corroborated our suspicion that the
-reat enemv offensive was abont to be launched.
From headquarters to headquartcrs throbbed the
order to man battle stations. Ere dawn was due to
lighten the sky a dense mist shrouded everything
and added a fresh factor to the suspense.
Early on March 2 I, onlv a short rime after the
Colonel had returned from visiting the front line
posts, the gronnd shook to a mighty bonlbardment.
At Amiens windows rattled in their frames. Trench
mortars of all calibres and field gnns, brought to
closest range in the mist alld darklleSS, began to
pound a pathway through ont wire. Back in artil-
lerv dug-outs the light of matches showed the rime;
it was 4.50 a.m. The hour had strnck. Our guns,
whose programme in reply was the fruit of two
months' preparation, made a peculiar echo as their
shells crackled through the mist. Some 'silent'
guns' fired for the first time.
1 Defensive artillery, whose inactivity prior to. the German
attack was intended to ensure against discoverv bv enemv
sound-rangers and obserx'ers.
THE GREAT GERMAN ATTACK OF MARCH 2 I, 19 1 8. 1 6 1
On ail headquarters, roads, redoubts, and obser-
vation posts the enemy's howitzer shells were falling
with descending swoop, and battery positions were
drenched with gas.
In the back area the tire of long-range guns was
brought with uncanny accuracv to bear against our
rest billets, transport lines, and dumps. Cross-
roads, bridges, and ail vital spots in our communica-
tions, though never previously shelled, were receiving
direct hits within a short time of the opening of the
bombardment. The Berks had casualties at Ugny.
.qome English heavy batteries, recent arrivais on the
front and seemingly undiscovered by the enem.v,
were now knocked OUt almost as soon as they had
opened tire. The Attillv level crossing was hit bv
an earlv shell v,hich blocked the road there with a
huge crater. Never in the war had the Germans
flung their shells so far or furiouslv as now.
By da.vlight all front line wire had been destroved,
and our trenches evervwhere were much dama.o_.ed.
The mist hung thick, but the Germans did not ",-et
attack. About 9.3o a.m. the barrage was felt to lift
westwards from Fayet and the fitful clatter of Lewis
guns, firing in short bursts v,ith sometimes a long
one exhausting a 'drum,' '`','as heard. In the front
line shov,'ers of stick bombs announced the enem', "s
presence. Everywhere it seemed that quick-moving
bodies in grey uniforms were closing in from either
t]ank and were behind. In the mist our posts v,'ere
soon over-run. Few of our men were left to rallv
at the 'keeps.' A messenger to A Company's
platoons, which had been stationed in support at
the famous 'Sunken Road,' round that place filled
162 THE GREAT GERMAN ATTACK OF MARCH 2I, I918.
with Germans. Before noon the enemy had passed
Fayet and his patrols had reached Selency and the
Cottages.
At Knghien Redoubt Battalion Headquarters
had received no news of the attack having begun;
the dense mist limited the view to fifty, yards.
The earliest intimation received by Colonel
\Vetherall of what was taking place was enemy rifle
and machine-gun tire sweeping the parapet. Atone
corner of the redoubt some of the enemv broke in
but were driven out bv D Company with the
bayonet. Outside Headquarters the first three
men to put their heads over were killed bv Ger-
mans, who had crept close along the sunken road
which leads from Favet to Selency Château. The
rifles and machine .o,uns of the garrison opened up
and gained superiority. The defence, destined to
last for man)' hours, of Enghien Redoubt proved
an important check to the enemy's advance and
helped to save manv of our guns.
At I2 noon, after several patrols had failed
to find out whether the enemv had captured
Holnon, the Colonel himself went out to see all that
was happening. He did not return, and shortlv
afterwards Headquarters were surrounded by the
enemy, who had made ground on either flank.
Nevertheless till 4.3o p.m. Cunningham, the officer
left in command, held out most manfullv. Of ail
the companies, Jones and less than fiftv men had
escaped capture. They reached the 'Battle Line'
of trenches east of Holnon Wood, and there joined
the Gloucesters, who had not )et been engaged in
the fighting. The enemy, having captured Mais-
THE GREAT GERMAN ATTACK OF MARCH 2I, I918. ;6 3
semy, Fayet, and Holnon, paused to reorganise as
evening fell.
Towards evening on the ",st the Berks, who
were in reserve when the attack started, were sent
to counter-attack against Maissemy, which had
been lost by the division on our left. Near the
windmill, which stands on the high ground west of
the village, Dimmer, the Berks V.C. Colonel, was
killed leading his men on horseback. This local
attempt to stem the German onslaught proved of
no avail. At o.3o a.m. on March 22 the enem.v,
whose movements were again covered by mist,
pressed the attack against the Battle Line. Almost
belote the Gloucesters knew they were attacked in
front, they round themselves beset in flanks and
rear.
At noon the enemv from its north side had
penetrated Holnon Wood. Gloucesters and Ox-
fords fell back to join the garrison of the
Beauvoir Line, ail parts of which were heavilv
engaged by evening. A gallant resistance, in which
the Gloucesters under ,Colonel Lawson were speci-
allv distinguished, was made bv the 84th Infantry
Brigade. The General encouraged the defence in
person. But the line was too weakly manned long
to withstand the enemv; though parts of it held
till after 8 p.m. on March 22, before midnight the
whole of this last Army Line had been lost. The
enemy had 'broken through.'
CHAPTER XIV.
THE BRITISH RETREAT,
MARCH, I918.
l.ear-g'uard acfio, ns.--The Somme orossings.--Bennett
relieved bv the 2oth Division at Voyennes.--Davenpo,rt vith
mixt.d troops ordered fo counter-attack at Ham.Daven -
port killed.--The enemv cross«s the Somme.--The stand bv
the 84th Infantry Briade at Nesle.--Colonel \Vetherail
wounded.--Counter-attack against La Motte.--Bennett cap-
tured.--The Battalion's sacrifice in the great battle.
F'FER the battle for the Beauvoir Line the
I84th Infantrv Brigade was ordered back to
Nesle. At Languevoisin on Match 23 we find the
relies of the 2/4th Oxfords under the command
,,f Major Bennett, who with a force including other
members of the Battalion had been providing rear-
guards at the crossings of the Somme. \Vhat force
was this? To understand the story it is necessary
to go back a little and see what had been happen-
ing behind the line since Match 2I.
When the attack was known to have com-
menced, all transport, quartermasters" stores, and
men left out of the line were ordered back to Ugny,
where Bennett as senior Major present formed all
out divisional details into a composite Battalion
some 900 strong. Earlv on Match 22 Colonel
Wetherall, limping and tired, arrived. He bore
THE BRvrSH RETREAT, MARCH, I98. 16 5
the tale of his adventure. During the 2ISt we saw
him disappear from Enghien Redoubt to go on a
reconnaissance. Near Holnon he was surrounded
by an enemv patrol and led a prisoner towards St.
Quentin but when the tire of 6-inch howitzers scared
his escort into shell-holes, the Colonel escaped, and
the same night, choosing his opportunity to slip
between the German digging parties, contrived to
reach our lines.
As March 22 lenthened out, the tide of battle
rolled nearer and nearer towards Ugny, above which
air fighting at only a few hundred feet from the
ground was taking place. At 7 p.m. Bennett had
orders to more his men westwards across the
Somme. Soon afterwards a runner came post-
haste. He told of the fighting on the Beauvoir
line; the intrepid General had been wounded in
the head while with his shrapnel helmet in his hand
he waved encouragement to his men. Colonel
Wetherall had alreadv started on the wav to
Languevoisin but was caught up at Matigny. He
the saine night (22nd) regained the Beauvoir line
and took command of the Brigade. As we have
seen, he moved back with the Brigade on the next
Further developments soon diverted Bennett's
force, whose fortunes we are following. At
Matigny he was ordered bv the Major-General
with hall his force to guard the Offoy bridgehead
and with the other hall to hold Voyennes. The
Offov garrison was despatched under Moberly, who
was commanding the details of the I84th Brigade,
including a hundred Oxfords. Moberlv's force
66 THE BRITISH RETREAT, MARCH, 918.
comprised many administrative personnel. 'What
vour men lack in numbers they must make up in
courage,' was the Major-General's encouragement.
But the men were not at once put to the test.
The 2oth Division, which was covering the retreat
across the Somme, relieved the Offoy rear-guard, of
which Davenport had now assumed command, early
in the morning of March 23, and Bennett was like-
wise relieved in his duties at Voyennes, where the
bridge was blown up. Though the Offoy bridge-
head had been taken over by the 2oth Division,
Davenport's troops were kept in support along the
railway embankment at Hombleux, for it was feared
that the enemv had alreadv commenced to cross the
Somme at Ham. During the morning of the 23rd
Davenport received peremptory orders to make a
counter-attack against the town with the object of
regaining possession of its bridgehead. Consider-
able success resulted; Verlaines was cleared of the
enemr's patrols, and the advance reached the ridge
east of that village.
With fresh troops acting on a concerted plan
something might have been accomplished. Daven-
port's men were a disorganised mixture of many
battalions, including, besides the Oxfords and other
representatives of the I84th Brigade, a number of
Cornwalls and King's Liverpools. They were un-
fed, and the demoralisation of the retreat was be-
inning to do its work. As alwavs on these occa-
sions, when officers of different services were thrown
together, divided counsels were the result.
Moberly, an officer who could have been relied
upon to make the best of the situation, was wounded
FHE RETREAT BEHIND THE SOPIHE
roi× Hoi ,naux
H
C
table
mery Hall
168 THE BRITISH RETREAT, MARCH, I918.
in the leg during a moonlight reconnaissance with
D avenport.
Bv March 2 4 the position was unaltercd the
troops were still lining the ridge east of Ver-
laines and awaited the enemv's next morve with
their field of tire in man cases masked by, or
maskin.o.q, that of thcir cornrades. Against this
type of defence the enemv's tactics did not require
to be as infallible as thev perhaps seemed. Our
tfity is drm n t{, these [".nglish troops, disorganised,
withmt their «,n proper commanders, unsupplied
with rations--thc stop-gaps thrust forward in the
last stages of a retreat.
At 0 a.m. the enemy, whose patrols had during
the night of Match 23/24 been feeling their wav
up the slopes frç»m the Somme Canal, commenced
to press forward in earnest. The mixed troops,
who were lining the ridge, had been 'down' too
long to offer much resistance. Thev melted away,
as leaderless troops will. Davenport, a gallant
officer who to the verv last never spared himself,
was killed, shot through the head at Verlaines.
The enemy, whose advanced artillerv was alreadv
in action from behind Haro, had secured Esmery
Hallon bv the evening. Nesle was threatened.
On the same dav of which I was last speakinR"
--March .?4--the 84th Brigade, minus those Ox-
fords who were iii actù»n with thc _-oth Division.
though sadlv wasted in numbers, formed up again
to make a stand. Colonel Wetherall, the acting
Brigadier, had received orders to hold the line of
the ,Cnal east and south-east of Nesle. On the
left of this line stood the Oxfords nnder Bennett.
LIEUT.-COL. H. E. DE l'. XVETHERALL,
D.S.O., M.C.
THE BRITISH RETREAT, MARCH, 98.
eoo Berks under Villink were in the centre, hile
the Gloucesters, about 2o strong tlnder Colonel
l.awson, guarded the right. At a.m. on March 2 5
thc enemy attacked. As oiten during these days,
when a line was held solidly in one place, it broke
else«here. Bv noon the enemv had captured
Nesle, and the left flank of the Brigade was turned.
During the fip.qht Clonel \Vetherall was wounded
in the neck bv a piece f shell and owed his life
t« the Bri,o_,adc Major, Howitt, who held the arteries.
The line xvas driven back to Billancourt and
the saine night (sth) the remnants of the XVIII
Çorps withdrcw in darkness to Roye, a town where
otlr hospitals were still at work, evacuating as fast
as possible the streams of wounded from the battle.
One of the last patients to leave by train was
\Vetherall, who at this crisis passed under the care
of .qtobie, the Oxfords' old M.O.
On Mar«h _6 we see the ,q4th Bri,ade held in
reserve near Mezières, to be suddenlv moved at
midnight oi Match _728 by lorries. The lorries
made towards Amiens, and it appeared that the
battered relies of the Brigade were beinv with-
drawn. The belief was disappointed. At Villers
EIretonneux Bennett received orders from a star{
oflïcer to ..,cro to Marcelçave, where the 6st Divi-
sion was being concentrated for a counter-attack at
dawn against the village c)f La Motte. In the
darkness the rotlte was mised and the convoy
drove straight into out front line. Marcelçave was
reached eventually, but so late that a dawn attack
was impossible. At Io a.m. on Match 28 the for-
lorn enterprise, in which the 83rd Brigade. the
I70 THE BRITISH RETREAT» MARCH» I918.
Gloucesters, and the Berks shared, was launched
from the station yard. The troops were footsore,
sleepless, and unfed. They were mostly men from
regimental employ--pioneers, clerks, storemen--to
send whom forward across strange country to drive
the enemy from the village he had seized on the
important Amiens--St. Quentin road was a mockery.
.quch efforts at counter-attack resulted in more and
more ground being lost. Still, the men staggered
forward bravely, to corne almost at once under
tierce enfilade machine-gun.tire. The losses were
heavy. Craddock, a young officer now serving
under Bennett, moved about among the men, en-
couraging them by his example of coolness and
gallantry.
W'hen 3.o yards short of La Motte the advance
was driven to take cover. It was useless to press
on; in fact, already there was real danger of being
surrounded. Bennett, whose leadership thoughout
was excellent, with difficulty extricated his men by
doubling them in two's across the open. Towards
evening those that got back were placed in trenches
outside Marcelçave.
By now that village was being severely shelled
and bombed, and in danger of becoming surrounded
bv the enemv. Soon after dark it was attacked in
earnest. Bennett stayed too long in Marcelçave
attempting to get news of the situation and some
orders. Brigade Headquarters had in fact already
left, belote Bennett, instead of returning to his
former headquarters, decided to join his men in the
trenches before the village. Those trenches were
no longer being fought for. Near the railway
THE BRITISH RETREAT, MARCH, I918. I7I
bridge he ran straight into the enemv as they
swarmed towards the village and was captured.
The remains of the Battalion were driven back on
Villers Bretonneux, the contents of which village
had to make up for absent rations. Robinson, who
had returned from leave in time to take part in
the La Motte affair, assumed command. The
Australians were at hand; fresh troops arrived to
relieve those ````,orn out by a week's continuous fight-
ing. After four da``s at Gentelles all that were
left of the "/4th Oxfords, together with the other
fragments of the 6ISt Division, were withdrawn for
rest and reorganisation west of Amiens.
A Battalion is too small for its historian to enter
into any controversy upon the measures taken for
the defence of the St. Quentin front. \Vhatever
else the Oxfords could have done would have had
no effect upon the main issues of this great attack.
But for the mist the German onslaught, delivered
in the preponderance of four to one, would hardly
have achieved the saine historical result. The Bat-
talion had stood in the forefront of the greatest
battle of the war. Accounts, alreadv growing
legendary, tell how our men acquitted themselves
that da','. Some posts fought on till all were killed
or wounded. There were few strao.lers Of B
Company, only one man returned from the front
line. It is said of A Company that, when sur-
rounded by the enemy, Brown formed the men into
a circle, back to back, and fought without surrender.
The monument which stands above Fa'cet is
happily placed. It is inscribed to the sons of
France who fell in action nearlv fifty vears ago.
I72 THE BRITISH RETREAT, MARCH, IglS.
On March 2, I918 , it was enriched bv its associa-
tion with a later sacrifice, rl'he credit won in this
lost battle gives to the 2/4th Oxford and Bucks
Li.o,,ht Infantry a share of honour in thc war equal
to that which has been earned bv our most successful
troops in tbe advance.
The loss in ail ranks had been so heavy that the
killed and missing could onlv be computed bv
counting «»ver those feu that remained. Bennett
and ail four compan.v commanders in the line were
missing. The Cohmel and Moberlv had been sent
to En.o_,land wounded. Jones was the onlv oFficer
from the front line who remained sale. C:airns, the
,qergeant-Major of A Company, had come through
and earned distinction. "Fhe Ioss in Lewis gunners,
si,o_,nallers, and runners had been especially heavv.
Douglas, the Reimental .qergeant-Major, after
most valuable work in the P, attalion, had been killed.
Transport and stores, for extricating which credit
was due to Abraham and Murrav, alone came out
complete.
ÇHAeTER XV.
THE BATTI.E OF THE LY.q,
AeRIL--,AY, I 918.
Effects of the {;erman offensive.--The Battalion amala-
mated with the Bucks.--lùatrainment for the lerville area.
--.\ dramatic journey.--The enemy break-through on the
I.vs.--The Balalio,n marches haro action.--The defence of
Robecq.--Operations of .\pril i_-, 3, 4.The fight for
Baqueroile Farm.--.\ troublesome flani«--Billeted in St.
Venant.--The lunatic asvlum.--I.a Pierrière.--The Robecq
sector.
HE closing phases of the war are so compara-
tivelv fresh and vividlv remembered that a
less close description need be attempted of them
than of more early periods. I feel that justice
cannot easily be done to the events of last year,
events which in dramatic force eclipsed anv since
the Battle of the Marne. Of 918, moreover, the
facts bave not yet had rime to drop into that relief
which a historian prefers before reducing them to
chronicle. It is unlikely that, in years hence, when
the full history of the war is written, the German
offensive of 98 will not be taken as the .turning
point in the great conflict. For the second time
since the invasion of Belgium and for the first since
conscription, readers of the Times saw a black line
sagging across the map towards the English
Channel. In France at the end of March condi-
I74 THE BATTLE OF THE LYS, APRIL--MAY, I918.
tions meriting the popular description of 'wind
up' were recognisable. Bases were crowded to
overflowing. Train services were seriously de-
ranged by the German approach to Amiens. The
traffic upon the main roads in the Somme valle?
was an eloquent intermingling of troops, guns, and
civilians evacuating as much of their property as
possible upon wagons and carts, which were piled
high with «hildren, tables, utensils, bedsteads, farm
implements, and always mattresses. The shelling
of Amiens Cathedral and the long .un which
played on Paris were signs of the destructive
ascendancy of the enemy. Otlr railways, which
depended on a few junctions now placed none too
far behind the line, were attacked vigorously bv the
enemy in the hope of their disorganisation. St. Pol
station was shelled to ruins; Hazebrouck, Chocques,
and Doullens were nightly targets for German
bombs. Already at Tinques and Achiet the
R.T.O.s had been killed. (\Ve had donc the saine
and more to the Germans for two years). Our rail-
wavmen and engine drivers showed staunch devo-
tion to dutv and were as much responsible as any
branch of the service for keeping our armies fight-
ing during the critical months of the swing and
early summer.
"Fo Avesne, a remote village behind Amiens,
the _'2/4th Oxfords were withdrawn early in April
for completion with new drafts and for refitting.
An amalgamation--which was a great advantage to
both units--of the Battalion with the Bucks now
took place. As the 25th Entrenching Battalion
the Bucks had been engaged in the fighting round
THE BATTLE OF THE LYS, APRIL--MAY, I9t8.
Nesle, when they became attached to a Brigade of
the 2oth Division. Thev were now most anxious
to be sent to join us or at all events to rejoi the
61st Division. Unable to obtain the orders thev
desired, the Bucks availed themselves of the pre-
vailing confusion to match awav ' without authoritv'
and were already at Avesne when the Oxfords
arrived.
The addition of some aoo N.C.O.s and men,
with whom came such valued oflïcers as Clutsom,
Buttfield, Kemp, Lodge, Boase, Kirk, and several
others, acted as an infusion of new blood and vigour
into the Battalion which had given nearlv all of
its best in the St. Quentin fighting. As the senior
officer now present, I was placed in command of the
Battalion af ter the amalgamation, for which no more
suitable surroundings could have been round than
Avesne, whose château and grounds we had to our-
selves. On April 7, belote the regimental tailors
had hall finished substituting the red circles for the
black ones previously carried by the Bucks, a large
draft of 43 men joined the Battalion from Eng-
land. Manr of these were boys, but among them
stood a few veteran soldiers who had been out be-
fore and been wounded. \Vith this draft, which I
believe was posted without the knowledge that the
Bucks had joined us, the Battalion reached the
strength of over i,ooo men. It as a goodl.v force,
unhampered by passengers. \Vith Abraham,
Murray, and Regimental Sergeant-Major Hedlev
(from the Bucks) those departments of the Battalion
not purely tactical were sure to be well managed. I
felt cluite confident in the command of this force
76 THE BATTLE OFTHE LYS, APRIL--MAY, 1918.
of men, and General Pagan, the new Brigadier,
was kind enough to express his confidence in
mv. ability.
Our billets at Avesne--the entire Battalion was
accommodated in the buildings of a large château
from which some armv school had been precipitated
bv the German advance--were too good for much
hope to be entertained of a long star in them. The
unificd command from now onwards brought more
rapid moves than formcrlv had been the custom.
Thus at a few hours" notice ' billeting parties' were
rdered, hot back towards Amiens, but to Merville
and St. Venant. The 6lSt was to become a Divi-
sion in G.H.Ç. reserve behind the old Laventie
sector. But belote Battalions could follow their
representatives and while the billeting was still in
progress the Germans attacked and broke through
on the Lys, south of Armentières. \Ve marched,
however, from Avesne on April x x in happy ignor-
ance of this new battle. Not till Hangest, and there
bv means of a Continental Daily :llail, was the
changed prospect of our destination revealed. The
Hangest R.T.O. was hall beside himself v,ith ex-
citement and delav. There were several hours to
spend in waiting, and during this time the kits were
retrieved from the station yard and a prudent
change was made from sort hats into shrapnel
helmets and fighting equipment. After a rapid
entrainment we at last pulled out at about _.2 p.m.
So strong was the Battalion that D Company, which
itself numbered over 2oo, was unable to travel with
us and had to follow by a later train. In its early
stages the journey, though similar to most of the
THE BATTLE OF THE LYS, APRIL--MAY, I918. 77
kind, produced one formidable incident, for at the
top of the steep gradient between Candas and
Doullens the train snapped in hall; its hind portion
was left poised in a cutting for an hour, until two
locomotives arrived to push it on to Doullens,
whither the forward hall, in gay ignorance, had run.
The night was overcast, a fact which doubtless
saved us from the attention of enemv aeroplanes.
The journey from St. Pol through Chocques and
Lillers to Steenbecque is stamped on the memory
by its more than manv halts, the occasional glare of
mines and munition factories which, in anticipation
of another break-through, seemed to be working
at tensest pressure to evacuate coal and manufac-
tured stores from capture by the enemv; b the
loud booming of artillery, to which the train seemed
to draw specially near at Chocques and Isbergues;
and the final sudden grinding of the brakes
at Steenbecque, distracted railwaymen, and the
small but in which Bennett and the Brigade Staff
were exhibiting a mixture of excitement, impatience
and a sort of reckless familiarity with this apparent
repetition of the Somme retreat. At Steenbecque
station, which is three mlles short of Hazebrouck
and hidden behind the Nieppe Forest, we received
the latest news of the battle into which we were
being so dramaticallv plunged" the enemv had
broken through the feeble resistance of the Portu-
guese and was outside Merville. My orders were
to take up a line, which was at present covered by
the 5st Division, between Robecq and Calonne
and for that object to detrain and move forward
immediatelv. The station vard was ill-suited to a
I78 THE BATTLE OF THE LYS, APRIL--MAY, I918.
rapid detrainment, there being feu ramps or sidings.
and despite the impatience of Bennett, a Divisional
Staff Of-ficer, who was most anxious to get finished
before dawn, we were kept seated in the train for
nearlv two hours. This delav was reallv most
valuable, for it enabled me to appreciate the situa-
tion and issue detailed orders, which otherwise it
would never have been possible to give.
As the dawn of April 12, I98, was break-
ing, we set foot to the long pavé road which runs
through the Nieppe Forest to St. Venant, followed
bv the transport and the cookers, from which at the
cost of never so much delay I felt determined to
give the men, who had had no proper meal for
twent.v-four hours, a good square feed beIore be-
coming involved in the uncertain and p.ossibly
rationless conflict which lav belote us in countr
that was likely to have been looted bv the retreating
Portuguese. Nevertheless, during this breakfast,
taken at the eastern edge of the great Forest ot
Nieppe, feverish messages arrived, which said that
the enemy was in Robecq and already crossing the
)
La Bassee Canal. This, of course, was not true, but
troops who are moving up towards an advancing
enemy, though met by exaggerated and conflicting
reports of the hostile progress, are almost confined,
until actual encounter occurs, to this species of
information. By now Corps Headquarters, after
a three years' sojourn at Hinges, had commenced tc
scour the country west of Aire for a suitabl
remote château. Kxcept for Howitt there was no.
staff oflïcer upon the spot, and we round after pass-
ing St. Venant towards Robecq that it was everv
THE BATTLE OF THE LYS, APRIL--MAY, i98. 179
man for himself in the task of stemming the Ger-
man attack. Parts of the Division, notably the 5th
D.C.L.I. and the _-/6th Warwicks, which had been
ddtrained earlier than ourselves to join in the battle,
had been roughly handled in fighting south of
Merville during the night of April I I/I2. The
5ISt Division was to all intents out of action, and
there was a gap of more than a mlle between Robecq
and Calonne on the morning of April ',. Into, but
not through, this gap German patrols had pene-
trated, and at Carvin had crossed the streams Noc
and Clarence. As a matter of fact these enem'
were but the flankers of an advanced guard, whose
objective at this time lay in the direction of Havers-
kerque. Thus it befell that the Battalion came into
no direct conflict with the main enemv forces on
April I 2.
Still the situation at 9 a.m. was both obscure and
difficult. Until their ammunition seemed to be
expended, our artillery, which had withdrawn be-
hind the La Bassée Canal, kept up a tire upon the
open ,o,round between Les Amusoires, where the
Battalion was concentrating, and the Calonne road,
which it was necessary for us to cross. Doubtless
this untoward shelling was due to the reports spread
by stragglers, of whom there was a considerable
number from different units. Shortly after this
occurrence I had the good fortune to meet a .unner
subaltern, and for the next few days, pending a
reinforcement of the artillery, what guns there were
gave us excellent support. A greater menace came
from the long dumps of our shells north of Robecq
cemetery, to which some irresponsible person had
THE BATTLE OF THE LYS, APRIL--MAY, I918. ISI
set tire. An acre of explosives was ablaze, barring
progress across a wide area. Later a fusilade of
small-arms ammunition broke out near St. Venant
station, suggestive of fighting in out rear. There
also it had been the final errand of some dump-
keeper, in a fancied performance of dut)', to destroy
ammunition of vhich there was a crying need.
Subsequentl.x St. Venant was quite heavilv bombed
bv our own aircraft--an example of what could
happen during the rime that our higher organisation
was out of gear.
The appearance or the Battalion, which could
easily have passed for a Brigade of Infantrv as it
issued, about IO a.m., from among the trees of Les
Amusoires, mav have been a moral factor in itself
sufficient to indispose the German outposts to remain
longer upon the outskirts of Robecq. From mx
former knowledge of the ground I decided to use
no delav in occupying the network of orchards and
as manv of the farms as possible along the Calonne
road before hostile opposition increased. After
sharp fighting and some ào casualties, mostlv in C
Company, which was on the left, a line was reached
beyond Noc river, between Robecq and Calonne.
On the ri.o,ht we linked up with the Berks (who
placed their headquarters in the estaminet at Robecq
cross-roads) and on the left vith the 2/Tth \Var-
wicks, whose line bent back at a right angle across
the Calonne road towards La Haye. During the
afternoon fiffhting for the possession of Baquerolle
Farm and its adjacent orchards engaged the Bat-
talion's left flank. In this fighting Lodge, a young
oflïcer to whom command of C Company had fallen
],2 THE BATTLE OF THE LYS APRIL--MAY I918
in consequence of a wound to Captain Buttfield, and
also Boase much distinguished themselves. To
them and to the N.C.O.s of C Company, and also
to the conduct of the new draft, was owing the suc-
cess of the day's operations. By 3 p.m. not only
had the Battalion accol-nplished the task assigned to
it twenty-four hours previously, when the extent oi
the Gcrman advance was unknown, but ground was
beinR ruade and the enemv was being driven back-
ward upon (alonne. Robecq was guaranteed.
Ail dav verv severe fightin was in progress a
toile to out left. Mervillc and Calonne were aImost
blotted out in sm«»ke, and the air was thronged with
aeroplanes. The heap of shells behind us still
burned. Bv now the chmds which rose from this
bonfire had become such a pall in the sky that the
German balloons--the enemv was expert in moving
forward this machinery of observation--could see
nothing of the surrounding country. The Robecq
district was remarkable for its well-stocked farms,
and with the general fliht of the civilians large
numbers of unmilked cows, geese, goats, hens, and
all manner of farmyard creatures commenced to
strav across the fields and down the roads. Bat-
talion Headquarters, which were ultimatelv estab-
lished at a large farmhouse in Les Amusoires, as
dusk approached, seemed to become the rendezvous
for lowing cattle, hens, pigs, goats, and small armies
of geese, to manage all of which a certain number
of cowherds and farm-hands had to be detailed.
Nor was it only at Battalion Headquarters that these
movable larders were in the process of congregation.
At nightfall, when the companies--D Compan.v
THE BATTLE OF THE LYS, APRIL--lkIAY, 1918. i83
had rejoined during the afternoou--were settled into
a secure outpost position and the Brigadier (General
Pagan) had visited and approved the dispositions,
an order from Crps was received to retreat a mile
and to dig trenches across the open, hedgeless fields
which stretched between Robecq and St. Venant.
The whole of the Calonne road was to be aban-
doned. It was diflî«ult to account for such a policy,
which meant, hot onlv the relinquishment of two
bridge-heads of some importance and numerous
farms and orchards whi«h had been carried at
expense and since garrisoned to good purpose, but
the adq»ti«n instead of a position in rear, which
was condemned with everv tactical disadvantage and
in which it would be impossible to remain once the
enemv had secured possession of the ground we
were now ordered to give up. I am happy to sav
that these orders, which can onlv have emanated
from some staff inadequately informed upon the
situation, were cancelled during the night and be-
fore the Battalion had acted on them. The fact is,
I expressly remained in the forv, ard position until
at least rations had been delivered to the men, and
bv the time that had been done the staff pendulum
had swung affain. The salient of Baquerolle Farm,
which it had cost valuable lives to reach, was re-
tained.
O11 the morning of April 3 the enemy, under
cover of a dense mist, which allowed his use of
close-range artillerv, attacked St. Floris, in front
of which the Gloucesters were stationed. A demon-
stration affainst the Battalion accompanied, and in
the mist it was uncertain whether an enemv attack
8 4 THE BATTLE OF THE LYS, APRIL--MAY, I918.
on RolSecq were not developing. The attack died
down without the Germans having penetrated the
Gloucesters, who put up a stout defence. Our line
elsewhere was firm.
On the next day it was decided to use an oppor-
tunity to improve the position of our outpost line
by occupying a group of cottages which lav in front.
A platoon of A Company practicall.v reached the
nearest cottages without a sign of hostiIe opposition
being shown. The rate of this little operation was
the fruit of my miscalculation of the enemy's
strenth. The Germans knew better than our-
selves how to sit still behind their machine-guns
and avoid discovery. French civilians were
moving about among the cottages at the time when
our advance to occupy them was made and it seemed
impossible that the enemv could be holding them
even weaklv. Civilians, too, were min,led in the
fray as vell on this as on later occasions. After
trench-warfare days there was an incongruity in
some episodes, which was not devoid of humour.
One old Frenchman, at an hour when his farm was
actually being fought over, arrived at Company
Headquarters with a special p.ass-port to feed his
beasts ; and the tenacity of an old woman in clinging
to her household gods terminated in her discovery,
at the time of an attack, in a shell-hole in No-
Man's-Land, where she was sheltering from, the
machine-gun barrage under a large umbrella (one
felt that she at least deserved a copy of the opera-
tion orders !) During the ensuing weeks visits bv
French civilians to the front line became such that
almost as many sentries were required to vatch or
THE BATTLE OF THE LYS, APRIL--IIAY, 1918. 185
restrain their movements as were needed against the
enemy.
A more serious attack, in which the 4th Division
upon our right was intended to co-operate, was
made by B Company at ï.3o p.m. o1 April 15
against the same cottages, which formed part of the
hamlet called La Pierre au Beurre. Our bombard-
ment in support of this attack was almost due to
start, when an urgent message from the line
announced that large forces of the enemy were
massing opposite our front. To bave called for
S.O.S. tire by the artillery would totallv have upset
the programme of attack, and one could onlv hope
that out zero would be the earlier. Luck was in
our favour. Whatever else happened that night,
it is certain that the enemy received a severe shell-
ing from our gtlns.
The attack, carried out by B Company under
Stanley, with D in support, was quite successful in
its plan but not in its result. From a cause such
as everv series of complicated operations in open
warfare threatened to introduce, the troops of the
4th Division on our right failed to co-operate as we
expected. O'Meara, whom Stanlev had placed in
charge of his leading troops, after securing the
cottages named as his objective, round himself
attacked bv the enemy from the very direction
whence he had counted on assistance. After
ineffectual attempts by our 'liaison' officer, Kirk,
to get our neighbours to do their share, B Company
had to be withdrawn to their original position. The
4th Division at this time were the flank division of
one corps while we were of another. To reach
l,q6 THE BATTLE OF THE LYS, APRIL--MAY, I918.
Battalion acting oll otlr right a notice of our plan
had to climb up through our Brigade, Division, and
Corps to Army and down again as many steps the
other side. A staff-officer from Army or from
Corps should have been on the spot.
Coucher and Kemp, two capital officers, were
killed during the evening when this attack took
place. Our other casualties were Killed, 2;
\Vounded, 8; Missing, l.
Throughout April 3 and for several davs after-
ards desultory fighting, in which our trench-
m«rtars under Miller performed good service, was
maintained for the possession of Baquerolle Farm
and another lyin 5o vards south of it and
christened Boase's Farm. Both remained in our
hands. \Vith the troops on our left flank there was
some difficultv. Their line bent back awkwardly,
and when the enemv shelled the houses on the
Calonne road, where their right flank rested, they
showed signs of withdrawing and leaving our C
Company in the air.' The Germans quickly bene-
fited bv this irresohltion, for thev commenced to
push forard from house to house along the
Calonne road, until Baqucrolle Farm was in
danger of bein.g taken in its rear. The prompt
determination of kodge, the officer I have already
mentioned as commanding C Company, served to
avert critical consequences. He delivered a local
counter-attack, capturing a machine-gun and kill-
ing several of the enemv. Our neighbours thus
reoccupied their former positions, but were warned
in Divisional Orders not to give up an} more of
the Robecq-Calonne road. This incident, which
THE BATTLE OF THE LY.q, APRIL--MAY, I9]8. I8 7
rightly earned for 'Tommy' l.odge a Militarv
Cross, had a vexatious sequel a few days later. In
quoting where the left flankof the Battalim in fact
rested I made a slip in the co-ordinates of its map
reference. By that mistake I ,as trapped, when it
appeared as black and white in relief orders, into
having to hand over oo yards of extra fronta.e,
and had the mortification of causin sevcral hours
of troublesome delav to the front line, besides inno-
centlv saddling mv successors with responsibility
that was not honestly theirs to receive.
By April 6 the tactical situation was alreadv
stable. On that night--in realitv during the earlv
hours of April 7--the Battalion was relieved
almost in the ordinarv av bv the Gloucesters, who
came forward from the luxurv of .qt. Venant and
took over the line between Carvin and Baqnerolle.
St. Venant had been Portu.guese G.H.Q. but was
so no longer. It was by now receiving plentv of
5.9 s and was rapidly losing the character of the
quiet, well-to-do little town in which part of the
Division was to have been billeted when it left the
Amiens district. Still, for the rime being, what St.
Venant received in shells it paid for in choice vin-
tages and fine houses. The Germans were not the
onlv people to taste a glass of French wine during
the Great War. About this time Colonel Boyle,
who had commanded the 6th Oxfords until their
disbandment, arrived to assume command of the
Battalion. He remained till \Vetherall, whose
wound had taken him to F.ngland, returned.
For the rest of April and during Mav the Bat-
talion continued to do tonrs in the Robecq sector,
I88 THE BATTLE OF THE LYS, APRIL--MA¥, i9[8.
which, owing to its proximity to Givenchv and
Béthune, was never quiet so long as the enemy was
planning to attack those places. An alteration of
the front was brought about on April "3, when the
Gloucesters under Colonel Lawson advanced in co-
operation with the 4th Division and captured Riez
du Vintage and La Pierre au Beurre. Of this victory
some spoils fell to the Battalion, which ",',as holding
the front line. Company Sergeant-Major Moss, or
D Company, who went out to reconnoitre two hours
after the attack had taken place, brought in forty-
rive prisoners, and during the following night half-
a-dozen machine-guns were collected by the com-
pany.
German shelling at this time was often heavy.
The tracks across the open up to the front line were
rendered speciall} unpleasant by the pernicious
'o6' fuzes, with which the enemy's artillerv was
well supplie& From Robecq, v,'hich was steadilv
being shelled to ruins and through which one
passed with reluctance, a disinterested salvage
party, consisting of Stanley and the officers of
B Company, brought a piano, which was destined
to be an historie instrument. On more than one
occas[on the Battalion returned from its spell in the
front Iine to the St. Venant Asylum, a large insti-
tution said to be the second largest of the kind in
France. Its protesting inmates had been removed
in lorries at the rime of the German capture of
Merville, and the long galleries and rooms there-
after became filled with troops. The ample bath-
house, laundry, and kitchen of the Asylum, though
ravaged bv shelling and rifled by the mvsterious
THE BATTLE OF THE LYS, APRIL---MAY, i98. 89
depredations of looters, more than provided for the
Battalion's wants. I have to record a ver)' regret-
table incident in connection with St. Venant
Asvlum. On the morning of May 2 I, during some
shelling, wherl most of us had descended to cover,
a German shell pierced the building where C and
D Company Headquarters were and dropped
through into the cellar, where it exploded. Several
men were killed and also 'Tommy' Lodge, the
officer whose conduct had earned him distinction
three weeks before at Baquerolle Farm. Robinson,
too, was wounded and was lost to the Battalion.
At the Asvlum, despite its comfort, it was diffi-
cult to feel at ease. On Mav 7 the Orderlv Room
was struck full on its door bv a 59- Headquarters
had man) an anxious moment (as when a large aero-
plane bomb was heard coming through the air: it
fell 3o yards from the Mess). At the end of Mav
rest billets were altered to La Pierrière, a small
straggling village west of the La Bassée Canal,
where few shells fell but whither the civilians were
as vet timid to return. At La Pierrière, whenever
the Battalion came out for its four days' rest, the
Canteen vas established on the most up-to-date
lines with a full stock, including beer and the
current newspapers from England. During the
summer several local papers were kind enough to
send me copies every week for free distribution to
the men. I make this an opportunity to thank Mr.
Stanley Wilkins and the Bucks Comforts Fund for
most generous gifts of 'smokes,' which more than
once helped to stave off a cigarette famine.
The ,Canteen, though I have not before men-
I9 ° THE BATTLE OF THE LYS, APRIL--MAY, IOIS.
tioned it, was a grcat feature in Battalion life. For
the last eight months of the war, while I was
President of the Regimental Institute, I was most
anxious that out Canteen should be as good as
possible. But mv anxietv would have been worth-
less without the industry and enthusiasm of Lance-
Corporal Kaye and Privatç \Varburton, who man-
aged everv detail.
At this stage in my history, whcn, almost reluc-
tantly, I ara drawing towards its close, there are
manv features of the Battalion lire v«hich crowd
upon me in their demand for mention. The
Pioneers lining out for their match in six-a-side
football aainst the Shoemakers and Tailors, the
Stores piled high with 'hay-packs' and wicker
baskets filled with unissued signalling equipment,
.qergeant Birt quietly demanding last month's
war-diary, Connell the arch-footballer, Kettle, the
Sergeant-Cook, arguing about an oven, and the four
Company Quartermaster-Sergeants whose vote was
ahvavs unanimous--to proceed further would be to
enumerate a list of people and things over whom
it is my regret to pass so rapidly.
At the end of my chapters I have so often shown
the Battalion marching back to rest that I shall
leave it this time in the line. You must picture
a medlev of small fields and orchards,, bounded on
one side by the Calonne-Robecq road (which is the
avenue of supply to the i'ront line and much shelled)
and on the other by the small streams called Noc
and Clarence. Among the orchards stand numer-
ous i'armsteads, of which a large one known as
Gloucester Farm had been our Battalion Head-
THE BATTLE OF THE LYS, APRIL--MAY, 1918. I9I
quarters in i96, during a period of back-area rest.
It has again been Battalion Headquarters. Re-
centlv the farm was shelled and the Berks Çolonel,
then in occupation, quittcd it in favour of a two-
storied house called Carvin. In the domed cellar
oI Baquerolle Farm--an old-fashioned building
looking out across a wide midden to numerous
cowsheds and outhouses--were usually the head-
quarters of C or D Companies and the Trench-
Mortars. This farm was freelv shclled. On
April -4 the early-mornin?,- attention of thc Ger-
man guns set tire to the buildings ; and Robinson was
obliged to lcave the cellar and repair with his head-
quarters to a trench to windward. The Posts them-
selves, as spring deepened into summcr, became
hall lost in the crops and Krass, until manv of them
could be reached in daylight. This fact, combined
with his undaunted spirit of enterpr{se, led Çolonel
Lawson of the Gloucesters to crawl forward one
morning to the German lines. His reckless braverv
paid the penalty, for he was killed when onlv a short
way from where a German post was lurking.
I.awson was a brilliant soldier and a fine example of
English character; his sudden and needless death
cast a gloom over the whole Brigade.
On the evening of Mav 3 the last raid to be
made by the Battalion was carried out bv No. i3
Platoon, commanded b.v Rowlerson. The af{air
was a small one but satisfactory, for two prisoners
were brought in and we had no casualties.
CHAPTER XVI.
THE TURNING OF THE TIDE,
]IAY, Ju_NF., JUL¥, AUGUST, 98.
Rations and the I-I«ttalioll Transpo,rt.--.\t Ll Lacque.--
l'he boml»in of .\ire.--(ienerl ]',lackenzie obliged bv his
wound lo leave the Division.-- I(eturn of Colonel \\'etherail.
--']'ripp's l;arm on tire.--.\ mvsterious epidemic.--A period
v«udering.-The march from Pont Asquin t St. Hilaire.
--Nieppe l;orest.--.\tlck Iw .\ and B Companies on
.\ugust -.-Hcadqturlers .assed.--.\ new Colone/.--The
1,1att:lion .¢oes [-reping.
HOUGH used to being told that our army was
the best fed of anv in the war, few English
people have an¥ idea how rations reached the line.
Thev came up ever) dav from the Base b¥ train as
far as Railhead--which meant a convenient station
as far forward as possible while still being outside
the ran?Re of ordinarv German guns--and were
thence conve)'ed, normallv in lorries, b¥ the A.S.C.
to the various 'refilling points' assigned to Infantr)"
Brigades. From the refilling point, which was onl¥
a s.tretch of the roadside, the Transport collected
the Battalion's rations and delivered them to the
Quartermaster's stores; and bv means of the Trans-
port the Quartermaster, after their necessary divi-
sion between companies, fowarded rations to the
front line. Latterlv it was rarely possible to cook
THE TURNING OF THE TIDE, I918. I93
in the trenches and it never was during active
operations, so to Murray, our Quartermaster, and
his staff fell the duty of sending up cooked food.
It is impossible for me here to explain the system
practised; but by means of food-containers, speci-
ally ilnprovised from petrol tins and rammed into
packs stuffed with hay, we were able to supply the
men with hot food in the front line. Murray's
organisation was excellent, and the four Company
Quartermaster-Sergeants--Holder, Freudemacher,
Taylor, and Beechev--and the Company Cooks
earned equal credit in the performance of these
important duties, which never miscarried.
The Battalion was fortunate in keeping as its
Transport officer 'Bob' Abraham. He suited the
job, and the job him. He had organised the Trans-
port in 194 and brought it overseas. Several pairs
of mules, which had come out with the Battalion in
1916, were still at work and thriving three years
later. Bv a riding accident Abraham was lost to
the Battalion for a time, but his place was taken bv
Kirk, who proved himself an excellent substitute,
and when Kirk left Woodford carried on with equal
efficiency.
Long before the war was reaching its close I
had ceased really to envy the Transport Officer, nor
did our men in the trenches forget the responsibili-
ties and danger of the drivers. In their turn the
transport men felt that it was their dutv to make up
for the part they were hot called upon to play with
bomb and bayonet by never failing to deliver
promptly and faithfully at company headquarters
their limber-loads of rations. In its turn-out,
I94 THE TURNING OF THE TIDE, I918.
whether at a Brigade horse-show, a veterinary in-
spection, or on the line of march, otlr Trans.port set
a high standard; men and animals were alike a
credit to the Battalion.
During the warm weather of the spring, when
the canal banks were lined with bathers, our Trans-
port was situated at La Lacque, a village a few mlles
west of Aire. Not far off stood the tall chimnevs of
the Isbergues steel works--a large factor}', which,
like Cassel and Dunkirk, had in the early davs of
the war attracted occasional shells from German
long-range guns. Now that the line was only a few
lea.9.ues distant the steel works became the almost
daily target for 'high velmities.' Once the tiles
had been shaken from the workshops no visible
damage seemed to result from the man}" hundred
shells which fell inside the factorv's area. None
the less the continuous shifts of workmen afforded
a striking example of the national devotion of
French industr.v, tobe compared with that total
dislocation of London business which even an air-
raid warning was sufficient to engender. Isbergues
village was now crowded with Portuguese, who spent
their rime tormenting dogs and washing themselves
in the canal, but who officially were employed in
making trenches, which they could be trusted to dig
deep. At La Lacque a second Brigade School was
established. The details of its management were
under Coombes, who possessed considerable ability
in this direction. The Battalion instructors were
Sergeants Brooks and Brazier, both of whom were
well versed in regimental drill and tradition and
shewed much zeal in the work. Than Sergeant
THE TURNING OF THE TIDE, I918. 195
Brazier no more heartv sportsman ever belonged to
the Battalion.
At the end of Ma.v, I918, when the whereabouts
of his next attack were vet uncertain, the enemy's
power reached its apparent zenith. A Canadian
corps had been in reserve ahmg the line of the
La Bassée Canal for three weeks in expectation of
a renewed attempt against Hazebrouck and Béthune.
From prisoners' statements more than once an
attack upon the Battalion seemed imminent and
special precautions were adopted. Ail this time
our artillerv had been recovering its ascendancv,
until the enemy, cooped up as he was within a
salient bounded bv canals, became faced with the
two alternatives of attack or retreat. Meanwhile his
aircraft used the fine nights of the early summer to
wreak the utmost spite on our back area. During
one night Aire, which had hitherto been left un-
scathed, was so severelv bombed that one could
have fancied the next dav that the town had been
convulsed by an earthquake. St. Omer, though
less damaged, was frequently attacked. In
northern France the visits of German aeroplanes
became such that all towns, alike bv militarv and
civil populations, came to be deserted before night-
fall.
How I should introduce appropriately and with
becoming respect a reference to our Major-General
has somewhat puzzled me. Sir Colin Mackenzie,
K.C.B., had commanded the 61st Division through
many difficult vicissitudes. His watchful eve and
quiet manner gained everywhere the confidence and
admiration of his regimental subordinates, who saw
i96 :w TURNING OF TUE TIDE, I918.
in him great soldierly qualities. The General's
bearing and his string of real war-ribbons made
manv an eve rove at an inspection. Bv a wound he
was obliged in June, 98, to retire from command
of the Division. He was much missed.
Towards the end of Ma} C«»lonel Wetherall
returned to take command of the Battalion. To be
his Second in Command was both a pleasure and a
privilege, similar feelings were evoked towards
the Brigadier, General Pagan, in whose small frame
beat a lion's heart. When the frontage of the
Brigade was changed from one to two battalions,
we had to give up Baquerolle and Carvin and
occup.v instead the barren fields on the other side
of the ,Calonne road, whcre most wretched front-line
accommodation existed. Headquarters for the new
sector were in [.es Amusoires; and rations came up
each night as far as a farm, called Tripp's Farm,
forward of which neither cooking could be done
nor any water obtained. One night German shell-
ing, that tune to which rations were usually carried,
set light to Tripp's Farm. Ouartermaster-Ser-
geants, mules' heads, and guides were mingled in
the glare, while from a concrete pill-box hard by
machine-gunners (its rightful occupants) were com-
pelled to avoid roasting bx" flight. About this time
both St. Venant and Robecq were burning for
several davs. Of the former, most of the remain-
ing houses near the church (which had been fre-
quently struck) were destroyed, but in Robecq the
tire almost confined itself to the famous café near
the cross-roads. To quench these conflagrations
no measures were, or could be, taken, for their
THE TURNING OF THE TIDE, I918. 97
occurrence was a great .gratification to the German
artillery, which alvavs redoubled its efforts in the
hope of spreading a tire as far as possible.
In the middle of June, during a stay at La
Pierrière, the Battalion was ravaged bv a mvsterious
epidemic, which claimed hundreds of victims be-
fore it passed. Starting among the signallers, it
first spread through Headquarters, and then
attacked ail Companies indiscriminateIv. Among
the officers, Cubbage and Shields (the d{}ctor) were
the tïrst to go to hospital ; soon f{}ll{,wed bv Clutsom,
who was adjurant at this time, and Tobias, the verv
doctor who had corne to replace Shields. The
Colonel and myself were the next victims, and when
the time came for the Battalion to go into the line,
it was necessary to send for Christie-Miller, of the
Gloucesters, to take command and to make Murrav
from quartermaster into adjutant. This epidemic
was not contïned to the Battalion, nor to the 6st
Division. Isolation camps had hastilv to be
formed, for the evil threatened to dislocate whole
corps and even armies. Among the Germons the
same complaint seems to have spread with even
-reater virulence; indeed, it mav welI have pre-
vented them from launching a further offensive
against Béthune and Hazebrouck. Bv doctors it was
classitïed under the name of Pyrexia of Unknown
Origin (' P.U.O.') while in such guarded references
as occurred our Press spoke of it as ' Spanish Influ-
enza.' The symptoms of the illness consisted in
high temperature, followed bv great physical and
mental lassitude. Most cases recovered within a
week, but some took longer, nor was a second attack
Iç8 THE TURNING Oç THE TIDE, I918.
following recovery from the first at all uncommon.
Such was the only epidemic of the war. Thanks to
the care and eflïciency of our Regimental M.O.s the
dreaded scourges of past wars--cholera, dysentery,
and enteric--in France could together claim few,
if an)', victims.
On June 25 it was rime for the 84th Infantry
Brigade to move out of the line to Haro and Ling-
hem, two villages south-east and south of Aire.
The relief took place, but at the last minute it was
decided that the I82nd Brigade was so depleted by
the epidemic that it was necessary for the 2/4th
()xfords to remain at La Pierrière to assist them in
holding the line. At the Briade sports, held at
I.inghem on July 7, the Battalion easily carried off
the cup offered for competition by General Pagan.
In the relay race Sergeant Brazier accomplished a
fine performance, while in the boxing we showed
such superiority that no future Brigade competi-
tion ever took place.
Before we left La Pierrière what can well be
looked back to as a red-letter da)" was spent in
sports and a full programme of entertainments,
including the Divisional 'Frolics,' who were pre-
vailed on to perform in a farmvard. Jimmy Kirk
also brought his coaching part) of clowns--who on
this occasion avoided a conflict with the Military
Police---and of course the Battalion Band regaled
us with choice items throughout the dav. In the
sports a race had to be re-run because one of the
competitors, instead of waitinç for the 'pistol'
1 In the realm of sport a later achievement of the Bat-
talion deserves record. On July 7 at the XI Corps horse-
shoxv our team won the o,pen tug-o,f-war.
THE HEAD(U3.RTFR.% RUNNEI¢.S. ]UIY [9S.
p. 09-
THE TURNING OF THE TIDE, 918. I99
(A. E. G. Bennett with home-made ' blanks ') started
at the report of our 6-inch gun in the next orchard,
which occurred a fraction of a second earlier. The
evening was saved from bathos by the news that the
Division was to be relieved. Life operates by con-
trast, and though the war vas going on a few miles
to the eastward I believe as much pleasure was
experienced that dav in the small orchard behind
Headquarters at La Pierrière as in any elaborate
peace celebration in this country. Indeed, to see
the crowd ' celebrating' the armistice up and down
the Strand as enough to make one recall with
regret such an occasion of the war as I have de-
scribed.
On July io we moved back, most of the wav bv
'bus, to Liettres, a ver)" pretty village well behind
the line and south-west of Aire. Hardly were we
settled before we were ordered to more, which we
did with no very good grace to St. Hilaire, a much
in[erior village. Two days later our tactical loca-
tion was discovered to be still unsatisfactory, so we
tried a march northwards to \Varne, where for the
third time in ten days a quartermaster's store had
to be built from the materials we had managed to
drag along with us. Almost before our head-
quarter runners had learnt the whereabouts of com-
panies we were on the road again. This tîme xe
left the XI Corps, with which so many of the
Battalion's fortunes and misfortunes had been
associated, and passed into General Plumer's Armv
as part of the XV Corps. The paradise which
every division, sent back for 'rest,' fancies will have
been prepared for it, now degenerated to a mere
200 THE TURNING OF THE TIDE, 19I,.
field. Still, there are many worse places, if some
better, than a grass field; footballs were soon
bouncing merrily, and on the air floated the mono-
tonous enumeration of 'House.' One cvening the
Colonel, myself, and the company commanders
returned wet-thrugh from a voyage of inspection
of the Hazebrouck defences, foi a German attack
was still anticipated. The last of these shuttle-cock
moves occurred on July 3T, from our field at Pont
Asquin back to St. Hilaire, whose billets few of us
were anxious to rcvisit.
As I have hot loadcd my narrative with marches
mv readers shall hoist full pack (no air-pillows
allowed !) upon their backs and fall in with the
Battalion. It is alreadv dusk as the sanitarv men,
like so man}" sorcerers, stoop in the final rites of
tire and burial. Some tays ago I taxed the band-
toaster, Bond, with the possibility of playing in the
dark ; for a moment his face was as long as Tavlor's
bassoon, but since then by means of surreptitious
practice and, I fane5, the sheer confiscation of his
bandsmen's folios, the impossible has been achieved.
Every band is the best in France, but onlv ours can
pl.ay in darkness. Thus, as the column swings past
the pond and waiting cookers, the Banal strikes up
one of its best and loudest marches.
Such midnight music, if it drowned the drone
of German aeroplanes, which ever and anon swam
overhead, lookin.g like white moths in the beams of
out searchlights, served also to arouse the village
inhabitants, whose angry faces were framed for an
instant in windows as we passed. Our musical
uproar set dogs barking for mlles, cocks crowed at
THE TURNING OF THE TIDE, I918. 201
our passage, and generals turned in their second
sleep to hear such martial progress in the night.
The march--through Racquinghem and Aire--was
long, lasting nearly all night. To flatter its interest
a sweepstake had been arranged among tl'/e officers
for who should name the exact moment of its con-
clusion. Years of foot-slogging in France made
mv considered guess formidable in the competition.
More dangerous still was that of the Colonel, for to
him would fall the dutv of the de«isive whistle-blast,
and his entrv ultimatelv was hot accepted by the
' committee.' As in most sweepstakes, the first prize
fell to a most undeserving winner.
julv closed with a feeling of dissatisfaction at
the cycle of moves which had rendered futile both
rest and training. Cnsciousness that one .xas
helping to win the war was more often imputed than
felt. Earlv in August, ¢)I8, the 6ISt relieved the
3th Division in front of the Nieppe Forest. .Iinor
attacks had alreadv cleared the enemv from the
eastern fringe of the forest and driven him back
towards Neuf Berquin and iIerville. At 7 p.m.
on August 7 A and B Companies attacked and cap-
tured the trenches opposite to them, causing the
enemv to retire behind the Plate Becque, a stream
as wide as the Cerwell at Islip but far less attrac-
tive. \Ve had a dozen casualties in this attack,
which was rewarded bv hall as manv German
prisoners and a machine-gun. .qergeant Ravens-
croft, of B ,Company, for an able exploit during the
advance, received the D.C.M.
Alreadv the Forest of Nieppe had become
notorious or German gas. It was now a nihtly
vIEUX
BERQUIN
ltchin
FFb4'a
.aude$cure
Boom
Rennet
)resiano
._Camp
THE TURNING OF THE TIDE, I918. 203
programme of the enemy to drench the wood, which
was low-lying and infested with pools and under-
growth, with his noxious 'Yellow Cross'--shells
whose poisonous fumes bore the flavour of mustard.
Throughout the night of August 7/8, when things
generally were ver) active, a heavy gas-bombard-
ment was kept up. The Colonel was awav from
his headquarters at the time. He returned after
the shelling to find that gas helmets had been taken
off. No harm was expected, but the next da.',, after
the stln's heat had awakened dormant fumes, the
Colonel, Svmonds (the adjutant), Kirk, v«ho had
brought up the rations, and Cubbage, as well as the
Regimental Sergeant-Major and man) signallers
and runners, all round that thev were gassed. Their
loss was serious. It v,as known that \\retherall
would soon have to leave the Battalion, for he had
been appointed to a command in the Machine Gun
Crps; indeed alreadv his successor, Colonel
Woulfe-Flanagan, had arrived to take his place.
Under the present unluckv auspices (for more than
hall Headquarters were knocked out) the inter-
change took place.
Herodotus savs of the kings of Sparta that the
last was alwavs regretted as the best the country
had ever had. Colonel \Vetherall's merit did not
depend on his being the last of a series. Phrases
such as 'he was worshipped b.v the men' have be-
corne so hackneved as to be meaningless, nor sha!l
I use an even worse commonplace, that 'he was
sparing of his words.' Wetherall was just a
rattling good Commanding Officer, a truc friend,
and a fine soldier. His successor, lï. M. Woulfe-
204 THE TURNING OF THE TIDE, I9I 8.
Flanagan, came from the East Surreys. He bore
a distinguished record of pre-war service and had
been wounded in the Mons retreat. A regular
soldier of the old school, in ideas and methods he
differed widely from his predecessor. But he was
worth his salt everv time. .Crtainlv no braver
fficer ever set foot in France.
After we had finished our first tour in the
Nieppe Forest sector, both the Berks and Glouces-
ters were sent f«»rward against the enemy, who was
rightly suspected by the staff to be on the point of
retreating from the Lys salient. The attack had to
cross the Plate Becque, whose eastern bank the
enemy was fi«hting hard to hold. Gloucesters and
Berks rushed forward at mistv dawn and flung
bridges over the stream; but the machine-gun tire
x as too intense, and though some parties got across,
others did hot, co-operation broke down, and the
attack gained no result. A few davs afterwards the
Germans went back, giving up Calonne, Merville,
and Neuf Berquin--villages hich our artillery had
utterly pulverised. As in the Match retreat of
I9I 7, the 84th Brigade had no immediate share in
following up the enemy as he retired. The Ox-
fords had withdrawn on August 4 to Spresiano
Camp, in the forest, and waited without eagerness
to be ordered forward to the new devastated area.
It is curious to reftect that at this time, so distant
did the end of the war still seem, we grumbled at
losing our comfortable base at Steenbecque, which
we hoped to keep perhaps through the winter. Most
thinking people could sec neither value nor wisdom
in pursuing the Germans in their retreats, planned
1916
MEg¥1LLE
206 THE TURNING OF THE TIDE, 1918.
and carried out in their own time, from salients.
Hardlv on one occasion did we hustle them, and
the policy, deprecated by most commanders of
lower formations, of snatching at the first morsels
of abandoned territorv always cost us heavv casual-
ries. Bctween war and chess there is a close
analogy. In front of Nieppe Forest there were now
a hopeless crowding of the pieces, moves aimlesslv
ruade from square to square, and the reckless call-
ing of 'check,' which to a good opponent means
time and renewed chances to escape defeat.
During the earlv stages of the retreat the Bat-
talion was sent to fresh fields of conquest among
the crops, which the German withdrawal had donc
nothing to ripen but had at least removed from shell
range. Plans were afoot to harvest a large area
adjacent to the forest and present its fruits to the
rightful owners. If harvesting weather should be
hot, conditions were ideal. This novel form of
working-party at first delighted the men, who set
about the crops in ?_.oodly earnest. In a short space
of time wheat, oats, and barlev were added to our
battle-honours. But if the spirit was willing, our
reaping implements were correspondingly weak.
The Corps' Agricultural Officer' had collected from
surrounding farms a fantastic assortment of cast-nff
scythes, jagged hooks, and rustv sickles, which fell
to pieces 'in the 'ands' and refused to do more
than beat down the crops to which they were
opposed. The scythes seemed hardly able to stick
their points, in the approved manner, into the
ground, sickles were back-to-front or left-handed,
and the entire panoply issued to this Reaping Bat-
THE TURNING OF THE TIDE, I9I,. 207
talion should have been seconded for dut at a
music-hall or gazetted out of agricultural service as
old iron. The Major-General, visiting the scene
of out labours, was scandalised to find that fewer
actes of corll had been put Otlt Of action than reports
from other parts of the harvest front inclined him
to expect. A ' stinker' followed, to which we could
onlv retaliate by posting sentries the next dav to
warn us of the General's approach. Of course he
came bv a fresh road. And now, to avoid the
inevitable anti-climax, I will ring down the curtain
as the General steps from his car, demoralised
reapers bestir themselves into some semblance of
activity, and the commander of the part 3 simpl.v
is not.
CHAPTER XVI I.
LAST BATTLES,
AUGUST TO DECEMBER, I9 1 8.
(;erman-retreat Irom thc l.vs.--Orderlv Room and its
stafl.--The new devastated area.--ltchin Farm, Mcrville and
Neuf llerquin.--Mines and booby-traps.--Advance to the
L.vs.--Estaires destroved.--Laventie revisited.--The attack
on Junction l'ost.--Lance-Crporal \Vilcox, \.C.--Scaveng-
ing at the NI (_'orps school.--On lhe Aubers ridge.--The
end in sight.--.love fo Cambrai.--In action near Bermerain
and Maresçhes.--.\ fine success.--Domart and Demobllisa-
tion.-- \Vork al Etaples.--Off to Eg.vpt.
W HILE the Battalion harvested the corn
behind Nieppe Forest, on the other side of
it hue and cry were being raised after the enemy,
whose tail was well turned in his last retreat. The
Lys salient, which had proved so useless to him, was
being evacuated. On the evening of August 20,
1918 , the Battalion cas ordered forward from
Spresiano Cmp to occupy the old trenches near
Chapelle Boom, a quaint moated farmhouse on the
eastern outskirts of the forest. \Ve found the area
already overstocked with troops; indeed Capelle
Boom itself, though assigned to us, was the head-
quarters of not less than two units of the I8àrd
Infantry Brigade. The arrival of the Battalion,
loaded as it was with the encumbrances of advance,
further contributed to the congestion. In a few
LAST BATTLES, AUGUST--DECEMBER, I918. 209
days the Suffolks and Northumberland Fusiliers
suddenly disappeared, and Chapelle Boom fell into
out power. There we stayed until the Colonel went
upon a course.
As usuallv when the Gerrnans genuinel.v retired,
to use their own phrase, 'according to plan,' earlv
BATTALION
FIEADQLI A R TE K S
Kr i HAPELLF_
B00Pl
irnrnunity frorn shells preluded days when the last
spite of their artillery was flung as far as possible.
Harassing tire against out exits frorn Nieppe Forest
was cleverly rnanipulated by the enerny. Out guns,
which had the choice of few orchards or buildings
to screen their flashes, were vigorously searched for
when they opened tire. Bonar Farrn, Dene Farm,
Rennet F arm--places of ill narne during the tight-
2IO LAST BATTLES, AUGUST--DECEMBER, II8.
ing for the Plate Becque--were freely shelled.
From the explosion of a chance 4.2 Ellis and several
men in D Company were casualties. Whilst in
reserve we bathed in the river and for a time
resumed our harvesting pursuits. The method be-
came more unique and amateur than ever--we
were directed to pluck the ripe ears of corn by hand.
I laid down the standard task of one sandbag-full
per da}' per man. Some men used nail-scissors,
and it was round that a 'one hour day' was ample
to ensure a good 'return.' Soon a pile of bags la}"
by the roadside. One wonders instinctively what
became of the corn and whether it was used.
The word ' return ' should set some readers ao-o«
I am sure no battalion had a better Orderly Room
than the 2/4th Oxfords. Though only a Company
Commander, I was struck by its efficiency when I
ioined the Battalion. Units were apt to be iudged
by the promptness and accuracv of their returns,
and Cuthbert, who for longer than anyone was
Adjutant of the Battalion, won a deserved reputation
in this respect. But inside the Battalion as well as
out of it his efficiency was understood and valued.
Cuthbert was a good instance of an officer without
pre-war training whose common-sense and agree-
ability made him the equal in his work of an}'
Regular. In the office Sergeant Birt had now for
two years been a pillar of reliability; few officers
or men of the Battalion but owed something to him.
Spring I98 brought an interregnum in the adjut-
antcy, till R. F. Symonds, formerly of the Bucks,
returned from a staff attachment to take the post.
Symonds had a remarkable gift for office work.
LAST BATTLES, AUGUST--DECEMBER, 1918. 211
Wrapped up in the routine of the Battalion, he was
never happier than in Orderly Room with a full
'basket.' Since the gassing of Headquarters,
Shilson, a recently arrived officer with antecedents
in the A.S.C., had acted adjutant; right credit-
ably did he acquit himself in the duties suddenl.v
cast upon him. Other new officers were now filling
important positions in the Battalion. Faithfull,
another disciple from the A.S.C., whom also we got
to like very much, was now in command of D Com-
pany; Clutsom commanded C, and Young, who
had seen long service with the 48th Division, B
Compan.v; Jones still led A. Time had wrought
changes among the Sergeant-Majors of the Com-
panies. At this period in Cunningham of A, Mudd
of B, Smith of C, and Brooks of D, we had a
quartet of tried experience. The recurrent con-
flicts about 'strength'--a word which in effect
meant the number of men employed with Quarter-
master's Stores and at tteadquarters--were now at
a high pitch. Af ter much 'camouflage,' by aid of
Bicknell, of the real facts, we had reluctantly to
choose between the 'return to duty' in the line of
either Band or Buglers. The choice was hard, but
in the end we kept the Band intact, for loss of a
few bandsmen as casualties might leave such gaps
as would prevent the Band from playing at all.
On August 24 we relieved the 5th Suffolks in
the outpost line, which had remained stationary for
several days. It lay upon the eastern fringe of
Neuf Berquin, through whose scattered ruins one
picked a way to find the posts. Headquarters were
some distance back, but most wretchedly accommo-
212 LAST BATTLES, AUGUST--DECEMBER, I918.
dated in an-orchard close to a lonely brick-stack
known as Itchin Farm. The German guns showed
marked persistency, not actually against the holes
which formed Headquarters, but all around. No
area more dismal could be imagined than the fiat,
dvke-ridden country north of Merville. So
thoroughly had our artillery during the last four
months plastered the ground behind his former
lines that little scope had been lcft for the retreat-
ing frenzy of the enemv. IIv bombs and shells we
had driven the Germans not only from such places
as Merville and Neuf Berquin, but from the mere
proximity to roads or houses. They had concealed
themselves as best they could in ditches and'narrow
tunnels made wit corrugated iron or planks. The
Huns,' indeed, had been meeting with their deserts.
Their life in the Lys salient must have been a
nightmare. One required onlv to read a few of the
notices displayêd to realise the difference of life
behind their line and ours. Evervwhere appeared
in big letters the word Fliegerdeckung ! ' i.e. cover
from aircraft. No testimony more eloquent of
British superiority could have been offered.
Further behind, round [staires and La Gorgue,
the (ermans were busv blowing up and burning
ere their retreat ebbed back across the Lys. Black
palls of smoke rose dailv from where mills and
factories were affame. One dav the tall church of
._qaillv had simply vanished; the next, one looked
vainly for Estaires' square tower. Often, when
idlv scanning the horizon or watching aeroplanes,
eyes were arrested bv huge jets which sprang into.
the air to become clouds as large as any in the skv.
LAST BATTLES, AUGUST--DECEMBER, I918. 2I 3
Combining with this present orgy of destruction
numerous booby-traps were left behind, whose
action was delayed till our advance should provide
victims for their murderous art. Cross-roads and
level-crossings especially 'went up,' or were ex-
pected to, and so man}- houses were mined that it
became impossible to rest secure in any. In fact,
the I82nd Brigade ordered its men out of all
buildings. Some measure of vile ingenuity must
be accorded to the authors of these booby-traps;
but whether bornbs under beds or attached to
pump handles can be included in legitimate war-
rare is a case for judgment.
At short notice we attacked from Neuf Berquin
on August _'8. In some places the advance was
quite successful, but in others not. German
counter-attacks obliged A ,Company, which had
made good progress south of the Neuf Berquin--
Estaires road in the morning, to withdraw its
patrols at dusk. A few davs later, however, the
opposition lessened, and companies went forward
several mlles. Soon afterwards the I82nd Brigade
took turn as the advanced guard, the Lys was
reached and crossed, and presently patrols were
passing through the old 'posts' and grass-grown
breastworks which used to lie behind our front-line
svstem. We followed, and for several davs lived
in reserve among the scattered farms and houses
north of Estaires, over the ruins of which Cros-
thwaite, an officer of mature service, who had just
joined the Battalion, was appointed Town Major.
His task was not entirely enviable. Houses, roof-
less or otherwise, had to be subdivided into sale,
2I 4 LAST BATTLES AUGUST---DECEMBER I918.
doubtful, or certain to 'go up.' I cannot help
regarding this Flanders retreat as a subiect
supremely dull. The constant suspicion of mines
and booby-traps rendered doubly sordid the pol-
luted ruins which formed the landmarks of our
advance. One feature alone provided interest to
some. We were approaching, from an odd direc-
tion as it seemed, the old area where the Battalion
had first held its trenches. La Gorgue, Estaires,
Laventie were places rich in association. How
much the two former were altered! La Gorgue,
where in 06 Divisional Headquarters and Rail-
head had been, was heaped in ug!y ruin. Its ex-
pensive church had been blown in two. Of
Estaires proper little more than its charred walls
remained. In such shape was victory passing into
our hands.
\Vhen the enemy was holding the line Picantin
Junction Post, the Battalion went forward to
hold an outpost line north-east of Laventie. On
September o, while he was taking over his new
piece of front, Clutsom, of C Company, was badlv
wounded bv a German shell. No officer could
have been more regretted. I am glad to say his
wound healed steadily and he was soon writing
cheerful letters to his friends from England. Com-
mand of his company passed to Stanley.
Headquarters now were in the old dressing
station at Laventie. It was a house of quite
pretentious size, left standing by the enemv.
Although its floors were heaped with shavings,
prophets of all ranks assigned a violent end to
tenants of such a residence. For the next tour we
CORI::'ORAL A. XVILCOX. V.C.
p. 215.
I.AST BATTLES, AUGUST--DECEgIBER, I918. 2I 5
were content to move into Laventie North Post, but
all the time the house belied our fears, nor have I
evidence that an) mine existed. I walked through
the village, and I must sa)" it seemed less damaged
than I had expected. Most of its buildings were
quite recognisable. The house formerly Battalion
Headquarters might, with labour, have been made
to serve again. The line of small plane trees,
which gave Laventie the meretricious semblance of
a garden city, was standing yet. In the war's pas-
sage over it Laventie suffered less havoc than had
seemed probable.
At a few hours' notice and in weather calculated
to make an)" operation a fiasco, the Battalion on
September 2 attacked Junction Post, a grass-
bound breastwork where the enemy was offering a
stubborn resistance. Though finally unsuccessful
in result, the fighting, which was accompanied by
driving storms of rain, produced two noteworthy
incidents. Rowlerson, one of C Company's platoon
commanders, after reaching the German trenches,
somehow lost touch and was captured with several
of his men. In A Company an exploit was per-
formed, which gained for the Battalion its second
Victoria Cross. Lance-Corporal çVilcox came to
close quarters with some enemy defending a piece
of trench with four machine-guns. Each of these
uns Lance-Corporal Wilcox, followed by his sec-
tion, successively captured or put out of action.
Wilcox was shortly afterwards wounded and was in
hospital in England when news of the award
arrived. His deed lent lustre to a profitless
attack.
216 LAST BATTLES, AUGUST--DECEMBER, I918.
A few days later the Battalion was relieved
and spent a period in reserve among fields and
orchards west of Sailly-sur-la-Lys. We suffered
much from the night-long attention of the German
'pip-squeak' guns, whose range, longer consider-
ably than that of the English 18-pounder, was made
fullest use of by the enemy. A move came as
a welcome surprise. Under mysterious directions
the Battalion was ordered back as far as Linghem,
a village I have mentioned belote as lying south of
Aire. Arrived there, we were placed in some huts,
destined for eventual occupation by the XI Corps
school. More than a day elapsed before the object
of our visit was explained" the Battalion was to
sweep and clean the camp for its inspection bv the
Corps Commander. \Ve were not present at the
ceremony, but for a week preceding it all four com-
panies were dailv engaged weeding potato patches,
tarring roofs, and evacuating a dump of several
hundred thousand empty tins. Rarely were the
energies of an Infantrv Battalion more curiously
devoted.
At Laventie no startling events had filled our
absence. But after our return--Junction Post had
not ",-et fallen, so that the outpost line was st,ll in
front of Roue de Bout--developments began. On
September 3o the enemy lost Junction Post to a
spirited attack by the Gloucesters, the line that he
had been holding for three weeks was broken, and his
retreat became fast and general. After relieving the
Gloucesters our companies were hard put to it to
advance rapidly enough to keep touch. At last we
stood upon the Aubers Ridge itself. Lille was
LAST BATTLES, AUGUSTDECEMBER, 98. 2;7
almost in view; but at this point the Division was
relieved by the 59th and sent southwards to join
our a.rmies before Cambrai, where the final issue
between British and German arms was destined to
be decided.
Out of the closing phases of the war I feel there
must be material from which historians will find
that climax which so grand a conflict deserves as
its termination. But I confess that ! find scarcely
any.
After its dramatic and sinister opening the war
seemed almost belittled by its tame conclusion.
Years of nerve-racking experiences, the hardships,
and the immutable association which towns like
Ypres, Arras and Albert, and the trench-dwellings
of Flanders and the Somme possessed, had indis-
posed the mind to receive new impressions from the
last battle of the war. Patient from a hundred
moves from trench to billet, from billet to trench,
the British soldier accepted with characteristic
resignation moves which were sweeping him to Vic-
tory. By gas, liquid tire, night-ftying aeroplanes,
and hmg-range artillery, the war had in four years
demonstrated the incredible. The mere collapse,
on one side, of the agencies military and political
which lay behind, was in itself commonplace.
The Battalion joined the XVII Corps half way
through October, I918, and was soon put into im-
portant fighting. The enemy, who had lost Lille,
Douai, and St. Quentin earlv in the month, was now
in full retreat between Verdun and the sea. To
preserve his centre from being pierced and his
ftanks rolled up, rearguards eastward of Cambrai
218 LAST BATTLES, AUGUST--DECEMBER, 1918.
were offering the maximum resistance. Most vil-
lages, though they passed into out hands nearlv
intact and in some cases full of civilians, had to
be fought for. The German machine-gunners
rarely belied their character of fighting to the end.
In an attack on October 24 from Haussy, the Bat-
talion, advancing rapidly in artillery formation,
captured the high ground east of Bermerain; and
the next dav B and D Companies (the latter now
commanded by Cupper) again attacked, and cap-
tured the rail«ay south-east of Sepmeries. For
these operations the weather was fine, the ground
dry, and the leadership excellent. A period fol-
lowed in reserve at Vendegies and afterwards at
Bermerain, villages which were liberally bombarded
by the German lonK-range guns. Moving up again
on November 2, the Battalion made its last attack
of the war. A fine success resulted. The objec-
tives-St. Hubert and the ridge east of it--were
captured, together with 7oo prisoners, 4o machine-
guns, and 4 tanks, recently used bv the enemy in
a counter-attack. The fruits of this vîctory were
well deserved by the Battalion, the more because
so often in the course of the war it had been set to
fight against odds in secondary operations. It was
a good «ind-up.
Of some battalions it was said that on November
Il, 1918 they round themselves standing within a
mlle or two of where they first went into action in
914 . \Ve, naturaIly, could claim no such coin-
cidence ; "cet a dramatic touch was hOt wanting when
the telegram, which bore the news of the cessation
of hostilities, was read out bv the Colonel to a
,i,)
I
'l
GENERAL THORNE AND I,,.'54TH INFANTRY I{RIGADE ST.\FF,
CHI(1STMAS 98.
p- 29.
LAST BATTLES, AUGUSTDECEMBER, I918. 2I 9
parade formed up at Maresches upon the ,'ery
ground whence the Battalion had started in its last
attack.
The Battalion was never in the Armv on the
Rhine. After time spent at Cambrai we travelled
back to Domart, a village mid-way between Amiens
and Abbeville. In duration the journey surpassed
all records. Three davs we spent impatiently waiting
for a train, and two more patiently waiting in the
train itself; and we arrived at the destination faced
with a ten-mile match in rain and pitch darkness.
Happily the war was still sufficientlv recent for such
delav to pass as comedv. At Domart the one reaI
topic was Demobilisation. I could set mvself no
harder task than a description of the workings of
this engine. Few people understood how they were
themselves demobilised, and fewer cared how others
were. That the scheme worked on the whole well
and justly was in great measure due to Symonds,
whose zealous energ.v, though the Battalion was les-
soning daily, never flagged. For two months Bat-
talion drill and the 'Education Scheme' occupied
our mornings, football our afternoons. Christmas
was a great festival. The 'Frolics' pantomime
visited the village, in which the Battalion pioneers,
under the direction of Cameron, the Brigade sig-
nalling oflïcer, had transformed an empty building
into a capital theatre. General Thorne, who had
so successfully commanded the I84th Infantrv
Brigade in its last battle, was unstinting in his efforts
to give the men's lire in the army a happy and use-
ful conclusion. He secured visits from all the best
concert parties and raised a fund to finance the
220 LAST BATTLES,.AUGUST--DECEMBER, 1918.
department of Brigade entertainments, of which
Nicholas, the Brigade Major, was chief minister.
A weekly magazine was started, which tan to its
fourth number. Truly the arts flourished.
In a windy field south of the village the Bat-
talion was in January presented with its colour by
Major-General Duncan. The occasion passed off
well. Its feature was the admirable speech made
bv the Colonel.
In Februarv the Battalion, which it was known
vould be made up with drafts and retained for
service as a unit, was sent to I:taples to assist in
the Demobilisation scheme. For a month we re-
mained meeting trains, escortin EE parties to camps,
sorting clthing, and driving herds of the demobil-
ised through the intricacies of a machine called the
' Delouser,' until the arriving trainloads decreased,
dwindled, and finallv stopped. In March several
large drafts of officers and men, to replace all those
who had been, or would be, demobilised, joined the
Battalion, which, after a pause at Le Tréport and
some leave, sailed for Egypt. Thither mv story
does not follow it. When peace was signed, the
cadre of the Battalion had not returned to Oxford.
On Christmas Dav i9 9 the 2/4th Oxfordshire and
Buckinghamshire I.ight Infantry was still serving
overseas.
THE ADJUTANT AT HIS DESK.
l| i
Il I I î . J : I I I I I. | |III.
i I [I o . '
CAMBRAI: THE HOTEL IE VILLE.
THE BATTALION COOKS AT ETAPLES.
p. 22o.
,
I.IEUT,-¢'(»I. E. M \\'OUI FE-
I:I..\N.\;.\N, C.M.G., ILS,O.
I EGI.'Xl ENTAI. SF ICG T.-.'XI.\J OR
HEI I.EY.
R EGIM EITAL QUARTER3IASTER-
SERGEANT HEDGES.
13 .
Composition of the Battalion
going overseas
on
Headq ua rters.
Colonel .V.H.A.uEs, T.D.
Major G. 1'. R. IEA.Xa×, 2nd in Command.
Major I). M. Ros.:, .\djutant.
Lieut. C. S. .V. I.RCOX', Signallin Officer.
2/Lieut. H. E. Cooxms, Intelligence Otficer.
Lieut. G. H. G. S,:'»:Rt, lachine-gun Officer.
Lieut. R. L. AR.XA., Transport Olficer.
Lieut. \V..\. Hos, Ouartermaster.
Captain A. X.'os..v, Medical Officer.
Compan.,
Captain H. J. BENXETï, .\ Company.
Captain H. N. DAVENPORT, B Compan 5.
Captain A. H. Bm'c:E, C Company.
Captain R: l v. Ct"I'mET, D Company.
Regimental .gergea tt-3lajov.
T. V. .VooD.
Regimental Quarterma.ster-Sevgeant.
V. C.
Company Nergeant-3lai.ors.
C. A. 'ITNEY, ?k Co.mpany.
A. B.au, B Company.
'iV. F. CA'ox, C Company.
V. DOt'(;LAS, D Company.
Composition of the Battalion
the Armistice
at
lteadq m tiers.
lieut.-Colonel E. 1. \\'Ot:LvE-FI..XXA«;.XX, C.M.(;.,
I).S.O.
Major G. K. ROSE, bi.C., 2nd in Command.
Captain R. F. SVXlOXDS, .\djutant.
Lieut. T. S. R. Bo.xsE, M.Ç., Signalling Officer.
Lieut. \V..\. F. th«uxE, Intelligence Oflqcer.
Çaptain J. \v. SUlLSOX, Assistant Adjurant.
l.ieut. (i. \V. \Voovorm, M.C., Transport Officer.
Çaptain \V. G. MtRR.xv, Quartermaster.
l.ieut. F.. P. NE«v (U.S.), hledical Officer.
Ct»npany Commanders.
Captain H. JoxEs, .bi.C., .k Company.
Captain R. E'. M. ¥Ot'NG, B Company.
Captain J. S'rAXLEV, M.C., C Company.
Captain J. H. D. I:;unEt'L, D Company.
Regimental Nergeant-Maor.
\V. HEDI.EV, D.C.M.
Regim ental Qua rtermaster-Sergeant.
V. C. HEDGES.
Company Sergeant-Majors.
C. R. HOLDER, A Company.
A. J. ]IUDD, B Company.
S. Sm'rn, D.C.M., C Company.
M. T. BRoo:s, D Company.
INDEX
Ablaincourt, 55, 5% 75-
Abraham, Capt. R. L., 14,
157 , I'2, 175 , 193.
Aire, 194, 193, 2oi.
Aitkcn, Lieut. R., 85, 86.
Albert, 23-
Allden, Lieut. J. ti., 84, 1,o, lOl.
Ames, Col. W. H., 7, I3-
Amiens, lO4, 74-
A.S.C., 43, 45, 132, 192-
Arras, lO 7, I, 144.
Arrowsmith, Rev. SV. L., .M.C.,
I (
Asylum, St. Venant, 1,q,q, ,o.
Athies, 70-
Auxi-le-Château, i i, 112.
Aveluy, 3.5-
Avesne, 174-170.
Hand, the, 2no, 211.
Baquerolle Farm, 181, 1S3, 1o,
189, 101, 196.
Barnes, Lance-Corpl., lOO.
Barton, Lieut. C. J., 14, ,go.
Bassett, Col.-Sgt., 1.
Baxter, Pte., 137, 13o.
Beaman, Mai. G. P. R., 14 , 66.
Beauvoir Line, 10-1 5.
Beechey, C.Q.-M.S., q3-
Bellamy, Lt.-Col. R., ILS.O., 4.
3 ° , 43, 51 , lO4.
Bennett, Lieut. A. E. G., 1{}0.
Bennett, Maj. H. J., M.C., 14,
15, 23, 43, 86, 92, 14.5, 164-17o.
Berks, 2/4th Royal, 25 , 35, 5,
55, 66, 77, 98, ioz, 122, 124,
1131, 103, IO0, 170 , 181, 204.
Bermerain, 218.
Bcrnaville, 11 I.
Bicknell, Capt. A., .M.C., 34, 15"t,
211.
Birt, S.t. J. V:, lOO, 21o.
Boase, Lieut. T. S. R., M.C.,
175 , IS2, 186.
Boyle, Lt.-Col. C. R. C., D.S.O.,
187.
Brigade, 182nd Inf., 78, 85, S 7,
16o, 198, 213.
-- 183rd Inf., 126, 169, oS.
Hrazier, Sgt., 194 , 108.
Brooks, C.S.M.E, V.C., 34, 64,
0(), lOI, Il 7.
Hrooks, S.t. M. T., lq4, z.
Broomfield, 4-
Brown, Capt. N. E., M.C., 4,
23, 3 , 4 °, 5 , 5 O, 85, 7,
32, 50, 7 l-
Broxeelc, 4.
Ih-ucamps, 40.
Brucker, Capt. A. I1., 4, I7,
z 4.
Hucks, 2't, 35, 79, 8, 94,
35. 58. 74, 75-
Buggins, Father, 79-
Buller, SRt.,
Butcher, St., M.M.,
Buttfield, Capt. I.. F., M.C.,
('airns, C.S.M.J., I).C.M., 1_, 4 ,
125, 172.
Cllender, I,ieut. J. ('., 14, 17,
I,I 9, 124-
Calonne, 177, 17q-3, 204.
Calonne Road, 19, 183, 180, 10o,
Cambrai, 217, 219.
Camcron, Bde Signalling Ocer,
2.I I}.
Çanteen, the, 189, 10o.
Crvin, 17q , lql, 196.
Çaulaincourt, 1,
Ct.py Farm, tt4, lO2, 16o.
Chapelle Boom, 2o0.
('haulnes, 4, 5o, 0% 7 S, 79.
Chemical XVorks, 142 , 14o.
Chili Avenue, 143.
Chocques, 174, 177.
Christie-Miller, Lieut.-Col. G.,
I).S.O., M.C., 197.
Chri.tmas l}ay, 41, 155 , 21Q, 220.
Carence River, 170, lOI.
Clutsom, Capt. C. R., 75, 197,
2II, 2I 4.
Coles, Corpl., 63, 66.
Collett, Sgt., 3o.
Connell, Bugler, 19o.
Contav Wood,
4 INDEX
I )omart,
I )ouglas,
I)avenport, Capt. 1I. N., bi.C.,
7, 9, 14, 3 N, 75, I06, 168.
I)avies, Pte. A. 1[., 137.
l)aw«on-Smith, Lieut. Ç. F., I7-
ILC. I..1., 5th, 34, 36 , , 179.
I h.niécourt, 5 i-
lb.sire "I'rench, 5, 6, 38.
l)immer, l.t.-Col. J. s., V.C.,
I)ivision, 4th, ig3, iS.
, []1, 201.
,, isth, izz, lz6, 4.
I7 th, i3-
zoth, [»6, I{8, 175.
32nd, 55, Oo.
48th, lZZ, 124 ,
5 st, 177, 70-
2IQ.
R..[. '., 14, I72.
l)ollens, t 74, t 77-
Dugan, Br.-Gen. V. J., C.M.G.,
D.S.O.,
1)uncan, Maj.-;en. F. J., C.B.,
C.M.G., D.S.O., zo 7, zo.
Ellis, Lieut., 2IO.
Enghien Redoubt, 16o, I62, 165.
Estaires, 17, ziZ-Zl 4.
Etaples, zzo.
Fabick Trench, z 3.
Faithfull, Capt. J. 1[. IL, 2II.
Fauquissart, 1o.
Fayet, 9o, q-l, 96, 98 , 157, 15S,
»o-63, 7 *.
Field Trench, 36, 37-
Foreshew, Capt. C. E. P., M.C.,
]
Freudemacher, CQ-M.S., 103.
' Frol[cs,' the, 108, z9-
Fry, I.ieut., 6.
h.pp, Bde.-Maj., 33, l'l"g'
(Houcester Farm, lq, I91.
Houcesters, z/sth, I5, 35,
9 ° , 162, 163 , 160, I7o, l,q3,
iS7, 188, 2o 4, 216.
oldfish ChAteau, i2o,
;onnelieu, i53, I54.
;oodman, lmnce-Cpl., I4.
ouzeaucourt, I52, 153.
randcourt, 4, 28.
reenland llill, o 5,
;uest, l.ieut. I[. R., M.C.,
z5,
iuildford, IAeut., 64.
Il;mL 66, 108.
llanget, 176.
larbounières, 4q-
l|arling, Major R. "0,'., 34.
ll.,-ris, Capt. ll. T. T., 117.
llatt, l'te., ILC.M., 1.51.
laussy, ziS.
lavrincourt VVood, i54.
llawkes, Lieut. T. W. P., il 7 .
Ilazebrouck, i77, 105, zoo.
lledauville, 30, 33, 34, 43-
tledges, R.Q-M.S. W. C., 14.
l[edley, R.S.M. XV., D.C.M., 175,
203 .
Herbert. Lieut. S. E.. lO 9.
th'ssian Trench, 3 o, 37, 3', 4 .
tli11, Lieut. T. A., lIî.
l|ill 35, I3I-I4°-
||inton, Sgt., [.[, I
Hobbs, Capt. (Q.-M.) XV. A., 14.
21, -1,
Holder, C.Q-3I.S.C.R., lq 3.
Holnon, 9 °
I62, I63.
Ilombleux, 8,q, 166.
{owand, Sgt., 1.
l[oxvitt, Capt. {Bde.-Maj.) H.
|LS.O., .[.C., 14, 160, tî8.
lhmt, IAeut. C. B., z 5, q, 6-t, 65.
lnfantrv Hill, lO 5 .
lsbergu'es, 177, IO-1.
ltchin Farm, 212.
Jones, Capt. H., M.C., 44, IOO,
IOI, IIî, 16Z, lîI, 172 ' 2II.
July lqth, io6, Operations of,
I, 13.
Junction Post, 2I-1-216.
Gas, i-1, z,q, i36, 15o, 2o 3. Kemp, Lieut. S. F., bi.C., i7. %
Gascoyne, Lieut., il 7, i2-1. lq6.
INDEX 225
Kilby, Sergt., IOO, ioi.
Kirk, Lieut. J., i75 , I93, I98,
203 .
Kettle, Sgt., i90.
l.a (iorgue, to, 212, 214 .
La [.acque, t04.
La Motte, t0t)-lîi.
I.a Pierre au Beurre, 185,
l.a Pierrière, i,'¢,Q, i«}î-io0.
Languevoisin, 104, 105.
i.aventie, ,q, lO, I70, 214-210.
lmwson, l.t.-Coi..\. B., D.S.O.,
103, 160, INS, 1111.
l.t.atherbarroxv, Sergt. J., 98, ioi,
II 7.
Les Amusolres, iît), 181, i82, il}0.
l.es Fosses Farm, io 7.
Le Vergier, 84, 85.
Liettres,
l.indsey, l.ieut., lot).
Linghem, qS, 20.
I.odge, 2lift. T., M.C., 175,
180, IN î, 181}.
Loeve, Lieut. L. I.., 43-
l.ongford, Pte., 26, 66.
l.ongley, Pte., 06.
l.yon, Lieut., 44.
l.vs River, 176 , 212, 21.3.
Maçkenzie, .Maj.-Gen. Sir Colin,
K.C.B., 40, 165, 195-
Maison Ponthieu, 42, 4.';, 49-
Maissemy, 81, 9 ° , 163 .
Marcelçave, 40, I69, I7o.
Marchélepot, 56, 60, 70-
Marcon, Capt. C. S. W., 57-
.M aresches, 210.
Martinsart ,Vood, 3 I, 33, 34-
Matthews, Capt. C S., 11î, i50.
.'Xferviile, 8, io, 17, 176, 177, 179,
I82, i88, 2oi, 2o 4, 212.
Millet, Capt. J. G. R., llg6.
Moated Grange, 17.
Moberly, Capt. 3,'. H., l).S.O.,
Q, iiî, i2.g, l:îO, 1i, 165, 166,
I î2.
Monchy-le-Preux, IO 5, io(.
Montolu \Vood, 81, 86.
Monument, at Fayet, 9 o, Iii.
Moorat, 23.
Moore, Capt. (Bde.-.Maj.), L. G.,
D.S.O., 02, 03, 98.
Moore, Col.-Sgt., i.
Mouquet Farm, 23 , 35, 36.
Moss, C.S.M., i,qS.
Mowby, Ser.,_.t. \V., ioo.
Mudd, C.S.M.A.J., 211.
Muir, 1.t.-Coi. J. 13., ILS.O., i58.
Murray, Capt. (Q.M.) XV. G.,
I5J, 172, 17.5, 193, 197.
Nesle, t6g, I6O, I75.
Neuf Berquin, 2ot, 204, 21i-2i 3.
Neuve Chapelle, IO.
Neuvilh.tte, 2o, 1o 4 .
Nicholas, Bde.-Maj., 220.
Nicppe Forest, 177, iT,q , 2OI-206,
Noc River, 2o, I79, iSi, iqs.
NoeLl& 111, 112.
Northampton, 3-
()'('onntn, l.ance-('pi., 1oo.
()'Me.ara, l.ieut. R. .\., M.C.,
1S5, IS S.
()mignon River, 70, 84.
()11o 3 , 1('1., 166.
()rderly Roolll, 2IO, 211.
I)Xfilrd, B,ttt.tlion bilh.ted in col
h'ges, 2.
()xf«rds, 6th, i5t), 18 7.
Pagan, Brig.-Gen. A. XV., ILS.O.,
I76, I,$3, Iq6, 108.
l'aimer, Sgt., 117, 137.
Parkhouse Camp, 6.
Parsons, Sgt., 43-
Parfois, 20, 4 o.
l'htte B,'cque, 2OI, 204, 2113.
Pond Farm, i22, I24 , i25 .
Ponne Copse, 86.
lh,peringhe, II5, IIQ.
PortuRuese, i77 ' i78 ' 187, it}4.
P.U.O., i97.
Pym, Bde.-Maj., 33-
Raid, at .\blaincourt (bx enemx),
58 , 63, ('4-
,, by A Cor., i5.
,, bv B C@., 9.
,, b, C Coy'., iqi.
,, by 11 Coy., 92 .
Rainecourt, 4o, 77-
Ravenscroft, Sgt., I).C.M., -'oI.
Regina Du-out, 26.
Regina Trench, 25, 27, 3 o, 3 S.
Riez Bailleul, 17, 19.
Robecq, IO, 20, 177-184, i,7,
I
Roberts, Pte., 66.
Robinson, Capt. A. J., 14, 23,
38, SI, .-6, I60, lîl, I80, IqI.
Rockall, Corpl., 29, 61.
Rose..Mai. D. _M., 14.
INDEX
Rowbulham, Capt. G. V., M.C.,
Rowbotham, Lance-Ci)Il, t,(;,
13q, 14o.
Rmvlerson, IAeut. G. A., M.C.,
Iql 21.
Ruthven, Mai. V. L., 43-
Sailly-sur-la-Lys., ,
St. Ililairo, IO}, 200.
St. I lubert,
%t. ()mer, « H.
St. Pol., 174, 77-
St. Quentin, 82, 87, «, «o, 1,3.
t. Venant, 170, 17, 1N, 3,
N 7,
Schuler Farm, t22.
Scott, IAeut. XV. IL, 7, 7,
124 .
Sepmorics, 2
Shit.ld% (',tpt. (M.O.), t 7.
Nhilson, Capt. J. W.,
Nhort, l'te., 66.
Sloper, Nt., M.M., tre, 7-
Smith, Pte., 66.
mlth, C.S.M.S., ILC.M., 2tl.
o3écourt, t, $2.
Nprosi,mo ('amp, 2o 4.
Stanlc3, Capt. J., M.C., S 5,
2 5.
Stobie, Capt. W., O.B.E., 26,
Nunl¢en Re,ad (Fayet), qo,
I(11.
Nuzanne, ]55, 50-
N3monds, Capt. R. F., 2o 3 ,
2I 9.
laylor, 15eut., 07, oo,
Taylor, ('.Q-M.S., ;o3-
Tt'rtry,
lhomas, ' Benny,' 44, 59-
Thompsoo, Pte., 66.
Thorne, Bri.-G«,n. A. F. A. N.,
('.M.(;., I).S.O., 2 9.
Tidd3, , I.ieut. R. J. E., 7, x5-
Tilly, Lieut., 86.
Timms, Pte., 25, 63 , o0.
Transport, the, 92-[94.
Tremellen, Lance-CI»l., 73-
Tripp's Farm, o6.
Tubbs, Capt. A., 04-
Tullocli's Corner, 30.
Ugny, 15t), lO 4, 165
Uzzell, lmnce-Cpl., 04.
Vendcgies, 2, S.
Vcrlaines, lOO,
Verlnandovillers, 77, 70-
Viggcrs, Corpl., 70, qT, '4 °.
Villers Bretonneux, llq, ,7
Vlalnertinghe, 1 :o.
Vo3 ennes, '()S,
SÇ:_tldon, Col.-Sgt., I.
$\':tllington, l.ieut. C. ll., M.C.,
Il, I00.
SVarwicks, 0th, 179.
,, 2 7th, igi.
Watkins, St., 82, 84.
Wayte, Lieut. J. P., M.C.,
XVt.bb, l.,eut. E. S. F., 1, 7.
Woller, l.,eut. B. O.,
W,.therall, I.ieut.-Col. H. de R.,
II.5;.O., .M.C., lO 4 , ,i,, ,32 ,
150 ' INT, lt}O, 2o 3, 204.
Wh,te, 13rig.-Gen. the Hon. R.,
C.B., C.MAI., ILS.O..
48 , 93, 12, 1:1, 4.:,-,4 s
65.
Wileox, Lance-Cpl. A., V.C., 2..
Wieltje, 132 , 134.
Williams, Cl.-Sergt., 1.
Willink, Capt. ll. O. W.,
1 9.
Wiltshire, Lieut. G. H., ,4«).
Winchestcr Post, io.
SVinnipeg, I22.
Wise, lmnce-çpl., 14«.
Wood. R.S.M. T. V., 1.
\Voodford, Lieut. (;. XV., M.t'..
193-
\Vou'.f,'-Flanngan, l.t.-Col. E. Xl ,
C.M.G., ILS.O.. 203 , 2_,0.
Wli¢llt, Bugler, 00.
Writtle, 4-
Young, Capt. R. E M., -' I.
Ypre, 58. ,19, 12o.
Zeder, Lieut. J. It., ILC.M., 7, q-
Zollcr, Redoubt, 36, 3";-
HOL¥1,VELL PRESS» OXFORD.
