Dawn on the 13th of May was the signal for a howitzer bombardment
of the cavalry front which surpassed in intensity and duration any
previous gun-fire during the whole War.
From four o'clock in the morning until five o'clock in the afternoon
it drifted from one section to another, without respite. During the
entire forenoon the trench line north and south of the Zonnebeke
Road, viewed from Potijze, a thousand yards to the rear, was
covered continuously with a heavy pall of smoke, as if a well-fed
conflagration was raging beneath. The flashes of bursting shells in
that smoke-cloud were so numerous that no human eye could follow or
count them, even in a most restricted range of vision.
The sound was one grand, incessant roar. All the thunderstorms
of time, crashing in splendid unison, would not have made a more
magnificent din. The ear could not intelligibly record so tempestuous
a maelstrom of sound-waves, and the brains of those in the midst of
its wildest fury became numb and indifferent to the saturnalia of
explosion, save for one here and there which lost its mental balance,
perhaps never to be regained.
Early in the morning General de Lisle sent me to Potijze with Captain
Hardress Lloyd. General Meakin rode up with us on his first visit to
the Salient since his return from sick leave.
Ypres was impassable. We took a round-about course to the north, now
dashing down a muddy lane, now over a turnip field where constantly
passing traffic had worn a sort of path, over an improvised bridge
across the canal, at last reaching the Ypres-St. Jean Road that led
away to Wieltje and St. Julien. By a cross road of sorts we found our
way to Potijze, thankful to have arrived safely.
Before we had traversed much of the way from our headquarters, west
of Ypres, we were in a bad shell-zone. On the narrow road, ammunition
limbers went up at a trot and returned at full gallop. The route was
lined with red-bandaged wounded struggling rearward as best they
could, and ambulances were always in evidence. As we turned a corner
a Black Maria exploded with a fearful bang fifty yards ahead, right
beside the roadway. A small piece of the shell hit General Meakin in
the head, but luckily was so spent it did not cause a wound.
As we neared the canal blue ruin was spread everywhere. Battery on
battery of our artillery, firing like mad, barked and roared from the
fields at our sides, while Hun shells fell close and fast around them.
A car dashed towards us, the chauffeur holding up his hand to stop
us. It was "Babe" Nicholson's car, empty except for the driver,
whom Nicholson had told to "look out for himself," while "Babe" was
showing the way trenchwards to a depleted battalion of York and
Durham Territorials sent forward as reserve. Only 380 of their 1,000
remained from the fortnight's fighting and sixteen of their officers
had been killed or wounded, but they trudged up as if arriving fresh
from home.
"Stop, sir," said the scared chauffeur. "They are shelling the road
beyond so heavily no one can get through."
"Did you just come through?" asked Hardress Lloyd.
"Yes," replied the boy; "but a couple almost lit on me. One of them
blew the car into the hedge."
"Go ahead, President," said Lloyd grimly. "We have got to get there
somehow."
We got there, somehow.
Once we ran through the ill-smelling shell-cloud of a coal-box that
burst a few yards in front of us, and twigs from the trees fell
over the car as the shells screamed above, but we dodged on, past
shell-holes and around barricades, untouched.
Pulling up, I saw Nicholson's car behind us, the driver grinning.
"I thought if it was good enough for you it was good enough for me,"
he said. "But I'm hanged if I thought _anyone_ could get over that
road and not be hit. It's the first time I've been up here."
I introduced him to my tiny Potijze dug-out, which he thought
"smelled horrid." He was inclined to a preference for the open air
until a great howitzer-shell lit fifty feet away, pieces from it
knocking over some of the wall of the ruined house behind which the
dug-out had been made. As he joined me in the cramped space below
ground another Black Maria burst across the road from us, making the
earth tremble and showering splinters on the roof of our shelter.
Fortunately for those whose work took them over the roads that
morning the sky was leaden and rain fell at intervals, rendering
German aeroplane observation impossible. Had a Hun airman caught
sight of the traffic-filled road over which we had come the enemy
gunners might have effectually closed it to traffic.
As we waited at Potijze the shells from the British guns behind us
seemed to fill the air. Gradually the fire of the German howitzers
concentrated on the trench-line in front of us, and the Boche gunners
burst shrapnel all about the fields, searching erratically for the
English batteries.
Budworth, of the artillery, was very much upset that morning by the
target selected by one of the British howitzers.
Our divisional batteries H, I, and the Warwickshire Territorial
Battery, were doing fine work and splendid execution.
Budworth's observers sent back word that some of our heavy guns were
shelling a farm that he had instructed should not be shelled by his
batteries.
Instantly he sent to the howitzer commander and asked him to "Please
get off that farm."
"What's wrong with it?" asked the howitzer man. "It's in German
hands, right enough."
"Of course it is," said Budworth. "But I've figured out that the Hun
Artillery Commander would have his headquarters about there; very
probably in that very farm. The old chap is peppering my batteries
with shrapnel, which don't bother us, for we just get in our
funk-holes and wait until it's all over, then run out and bang away.
For that matter we don't even go in for it, if we are busy. If the
old Boche chap who is running their guns should be killed by one of
your big shells, and another German beggar, who decided to use high
explosives on us, should take his place, we couldn't stay here long.
Whatever you do, don't bother the old German gunner-chap. He is quite
all right, from our standpoint, where he is at present."
Budworth's theory was proven sound by the fact that out of his three
batteries of field guns he only lost eleven men and ten horses in a
fortnight of fighting.
Standing in the Zonnebeke Road and looking toward Verlorenhoek, the
shell-swept front line was plainly visible, a little more than half
a mile away.
To reconstruct a fight on a two-and-a-half mile front such as the
battle of May 13th, with official regimental reports to which to
refer, would be sufficiently difficult. To piece it out while it was
actually in progress was increasingly so.
I ran back and forth from our headquarters west of Ypres to the town
of Potijze many times that day. By evening, when I left the Salient
for the night, I had met with scores who had terrible tales to tell.
The wounded made an unending stream westwards, and numbered many a
familiar face.
Officers and men all declared the shell-fire was the heaviest they
had seen. At no point in the line was the German shelling more fierce
than on either side the Zonnebeke Road, near Verlorenhoek. The
Queen's Bays were to the north of it, the 5th D.G.'s on their left.
On the south of the road were the 1st Life Guards, and on their right
the 2nd Life Guards, then the Leicestershire Yeomanry.
The Bays, under Lieutenant-Colonel "Algy" Lawson, formerly of the
Greys, held on like grim death in spite of the storm of shell that
burst over them at four o'clock in the morning and continued hour
after hour throughout the day.
The Life Guards were driven back from their trenches with heavy
losses, and the Leicestershire Yeomanry had to fall back as well.
This exposed the right flank of the Bays, but still they stuck to
their position.
At about half past ten o'clock the commanding officer of the 5th
D.G.'s ordered the retirement of his regiment, the men trickling back
in two thin lines, one at either end of their section of front.
This resulted in the left of the Bays being uncovered as well as
their right, but they put their teeth in and held on. The 11th
Hussars came up magnificently on the left shortly after, and shared
the glory, with the Bays, of saving the line.
Twice during the day the Huns formed for an infantry attack in
front of the Bays, and each time our splendid guns were told of
the concentration, and poured shell into the massing Germans with
terrible execution, scattering the enemy detachments like chaff
before the wind, and thus nipping the attack in the bud.
A strong enemy detachment came down the Zonnebeke Road and deployed
to the north of it, immediately in front of the Bays. The Boches were
lying in the open, but were protected from our rifle and machine-gun
fire by a swell of ground.
A fat German observation officer obtained a place of vantage in a
shattered farmhouse just south of the road. No amount of sniping
could dislodge him, though the bullets chipped off bits of brick from
the slender stack behind which he was sheltered. Up came a Naval
Division armoured Rolls-Royce. Opposite the end of the Bays' trenches
it stopped and opened fire.
The Hun officer in the farm noted the approach of the car, and fled
up the road as fast as he could run.
"I had to laugh so much at the funny figure the little fat chap cut,
with the tails of his long grey coat flapping straight out behind him
as he ran," said one of the Bays to me that night. "I swear it did in
any chance I had of hitting him. He got back to his own lot safe, I
think, but he did made a holy show of himself doing it."
A large number of the enemy were seen concentrating in a wood in
front of the Bays toward evening, and again word to our gunners was
followed by a bombardment of the group of trees that made immediate
evacuation of it the only alternative to sure death.
On the extreme left of the cavalry line, the 18th Hussars suffered
more heavily than the other regiments of the 2nd Brigade, though the
9th Lancers had many casualties.
The trenches occupied by the 18th Hussars were blown to bits. Some of
the regiment retired to the left into the adjacent trenches of the
East Lancashire, and some went back over the open ground in search of
the reserve trenches. Failing to find them, the troopers advanced to
the ruins of their own line and dug themselves in as best they could,
only to be blown out of some parts of the trenches a second time.
The Hospital Corps men could not reach the 18th wounded, as the Huns
had a machine-gun trained on the only approach to the trenches.
Consequently many men, unable to be moved to a place of safety, were
killed as they lay wounded in trench or dug-out.
The right of the cavalry line, from the Ypres-Roulers Railway toward
the Menin Road, was in very soft ground.
The 3rd Dragoon Guards, North Somerset Yeomanry, and Royals, of
General David Campbell's 6th Brigade, were literally picked up and
thrown back by the howitzer shells, while the line was simply blotted
out of existence.
The Royals, in reserve, made a charge at 7.30 in the morning that
took them to the place where the original trenches had been, but all
that remained of them, even at that early hour, were great tumbled
piles of earth and mud without semblance of form.
Cecil Howard, Campbell's Brigade Major, was the only officer on the
6th Brigade Staff who was not hit, Campbell himself being slightly
wounded.
The most spectacular manœuvre of the day fell to the lot of Bulkeley
Johnson's 8th Brigade, who were taken from reserve to counter-attack
at 2.30 p.m. and win back the part of the line out of which Kennedy's
7th Brigade, the 1st and 2nd Life Guards, and the Leicestershire
Yeomanry had been shelled.
The area to be won back reached from the Ypres-Zonnebeke Road to the
Ypres-Roulers Railway. On the left of it the gallant Bays had stuck
to their trenches. On the right of it, David Campbell's men were
holding on, though frightfully decimated; their left, resting on the
railway, bent back slightly by the retirement of the 7th Brigade.
The British artillery opened the 2.30 attack in splendid style. Then
up went the 8th Brigade, Blues, 10th Hussars, and Essex Yeomanry.
It made the pulses beat high to hear the story of that charge from
the Bays, who had reserved seats for the show.
The lines swept forward with a cheer that was drowned in the crashing
of the shells. The Blues reached the line of shell-holes that marked
the position of the Life Guards' trenches. No cover was to be found.
So on they went, a few of them actually penetrating the German
trenches 400 yards beyond, but soon realizing that their numbers were
insufficient to maintain their position, and slowly coming back with
what was left of their regiment. The 10th Hussars went up invincibly,
men dropping at every step. One big trooper was seen advancing some
distance ahead of his comrades, those who had been in line with him
at the start all down. He stalked along coolly, without waiting for
the others. The big trooper made a gallant showing, standing for
a moment and firing steadily, then tramping on, to stop and fire
again. No one dreamed he would reach the Hun trenches alive, but he
did so, and was the first of the 10th Hussars to disappear over the
enemy's parapet.
Had the Germans stuck to their trenches the few of the 10th to reach
them might easily have been wiped out. But the Teuton soldiers fled
before that stern advance.
Like the Blues, the 10th Hussars were too few to be able to
consolidate the small portion of enemy trench which they had won, so
nothing remained but a retirement.
Back they came, the Hun supports quickly taking advantage of their
withdrawal. Two armoured cars pushed beyond the Bays' trench, up the
Zonnebeke Road, and poured a heavy machine-gun fire across the rear
of the retreating 10th Hussars' line. Few of that regiment would have
returned had this covering fire not protected their retirement.
Once a group of troopers took a few dozen German prisoners, but the
captured Huns were nearly all killed by German shell-fire before they
could be taken to a place of safety. No trenches existed in that
area into which to put them, and English and German, captors and
prisoners alike, were mowed down by Hun shrapnel as they crossed the
fields towards Potijze.
Months after that memorable battle, I had sent to me by a friend, a
distinguished officer in the 11th Hussars, some leaves from his War
diary. His account of the operations of his regiment that day read as
follows:--
"Thursday, May 13th.--At about four a.m. a terrific bombardment
began against our front line trenches. The fire was most intense,
and heavier even than at Messines. At 7.30 a.m. Brigade Headquarters
received a message from the 5th D.G.'s, saying that a great deal
of their trenches had been blown in, and that their position was
critical. The troops of C Squadron, 11th Hussars, under Norrie, were
ordered up to support them. There was no communication trench to the
front line, but by clever use of the ground they reached the 5th
D.G.'s with very few casualties. The bombardment still increased.
The Bays were holding on as well, but asked for more ammunition.
A party from Renton's troop succeeded in getting some up, but had
several killed in doing so. About 12 o'clock a regiment of the 3rd
Cavalry Division, on the right of the Bays, were shelled out of
their trenches, and the Germans succeeded in getting a footing in
them. General Briggs ordered a counter-attack, which was launched
at 2.30 p.m. Renton, who had been twice up to the front line to get
information for the Brigadier, volunteered to lead the 10th Hussars
up to the Bays' right, where they were to commence their attack. The
whole affair was carried out like an Aldershot parade movement. The
men screamed at the top of their voices, the officers making hunting
noises, as they all charged across the open. It was a glorious sight.
The Germans ran as if the devil himself was after them, our guns
pouring shrapnel into them. The trenches were retaken, but in the
excitement the attackers rushed on another half a mile.
"The Germans then turned on all their artillery, killing their own
men as well as ours. Confusion followed, and the attacking line,
being broken up, withdrew about half a mile. It was a pity they ever
went beyond their original line, as the casualties were heavy.
"To return to our own section of the line. The 5th D.G.'s reported
that they had put Norrie's troop into their front line, keeping the
other troop (Sergeant Lemon) in a support trench. Their casualties
had been heavy, and the situation extremely critical. During the
afternoon information came in that the whole of the 5th D.G.'s had
been shelled out of their trenches, and were retiring. Shortly after
this Lance-Corporal Watts came back from the front line with a
message from Norrie, explaining the situation. He had held on with
his troop when the 5th D.G.'s retired, and besides his own men had
a troop of the 5th and one of their machine-guns, and was covering
the left flank of the Bays--a grand piece of work. The line had to
be held at all cost, so the 11th Hussars were ordered to advance and
retake the lost trenches. Lawson's Squadron (A) was sent in advance,
with instructions to work up behind the Bays, and push in on their
left. Later, another message came in to say that a squadron of the
19th Hussars, under Tremayne, had pushed up to Norrie and had been
put on his left; however, there still existed a considerable gap of
unoccupied trench. Divine Providence must have come to our aid, as
the shelling practically stopped as the regiment advanced. Soon after
6 p.m. Brigade Headquarters heard that Lawson had successfully got
his squadron up to the front line. B Squadron, Stewart Richardson,
followed on, and by dusk the line was re-established.
"Our casualties for the day were about fifty, the Bays had the same,
and the 5th D.G.'s had over one hundred, a large number of which,
however, occurred during the retirement. As the sun was setting the
battle died down. It had been a nerve-straining day, full of gallant
episodes."
Wires cut, messengers killed, and the inevitable and exaggerated and
mistaken reports of the wounded, made the long day of fighting an
anxious one at de Lisle's headquarters.
The day's casualties in the 1st and 3rd Cavalry Divisions were
thought, until well into the following day, to exceed fifty per cent.
of the men engaged.
Early in the forenoon came word that "Hardly any of the 3rd D.G.'s
and the North Somerset Yeomanry are left." At midday Colonel Burnett
and Major Corbett, of the 18th Hussars, were reported killed, but two
or three hours later we learned the news, while unfortunately true
as to Major Corbett, was incorrect as to Burnett, who was sound and
well.
At 4 p.m. General de Lisle sent me to Colonel Browne, the Chief
Medical Officer of the 1st Cavalry Division, to ascertain what was
actually known as to officer casualties in the Division.
Colonel Browne said: "We cannot get the ambulances up yet to evacuate
the wounded, the shell-fire so covers the roads. Thus far but eight
of our wounded officers have been brought back."
Among the eight was Major Sewell, of the 4th D.G.'s. The 9th Lancers,
Sewell thought, had suffered from the shell-fire even more heavily
than the 18th Hussars.
As I was about to leave Potijze, at seven o'clock that night, a staff
officer reported that General Kennedy had just told him but ninety
men were left to him out of his fine 7th Brigade, and he greatly
feared that a large proportion, if not all, of the missing were
killed or wounded.
General Briggs, at Potijze, received report after report of heavy
losses from the various 3rd Cavalry Division units, as dark drew
on, until it seemed that the Division had been practically wiped
out. But 200 men were reported to be left to Campbell of the 6th
Brigade. Kennedy's 7th Brigade mustered 120 at the close of the day,
and Bulkeley Johnson's 8th Brigade was so shattered that to obtain an
estimate of its numbers was most difficult.
In spite of the fact that the 6th, 7th, and 8th Brigades had,
according to all military theory, ceased to exist as fighting forces,
their remnants were gathered together as best the darkness of the
night allowed, and put hard at work "digging themselves in," in
preparation for the fight that the morning light would be sure to
bring them.
The Northumberland Territorial Brigade, its numbers raised to 1,200,
was sent up to help the tired troopers dig. Their General, Fielding,
an old Aisne acquaintance, lunched with us that day. He had just
taken over their command, as their former Brigadier had been killed
a fortnight before in the Salient. The transformation of that lot of
Terriers from raw, untried troops to veterans of shell-warfare had
not taken many days.
Captain Johnson, a French liaison officer who had been attached
to General Briggs' staff since Mons, and who had won the respect
and deep affection of all with whom he came into contact, was
shot through the head and instantly killed that night as he was
accompanying General Briggs on a tour of the trenches in front of
Potijze.
Wilson's 4th Division, on the left of the 1st Cavalry Division, which
had also suffered heavily on the 13th, had sent a message asking the
cavalry to take over some of its line, but that night it found it
possible to occupy a few hundred yards of the line held by the 18th
Hussars. This proved a most welcome assistance. The right of the 3rd
Cavalry Division front, from the Ypres-Roulers Railway to the Menin
Road, was given into the hands of the Irish Fusiliers, of the 27th
Division.
The line, thus shortened slightly, was the scene of feverish work all
night long, that the importance of the small German gain might be
minimised, and a further Hun advance blocked.
The actual ground gained by the Germans on May 13th was but 300 to
400 yards on a front of 1,000 yards. Our new line from the Zonnebeke
Road across the Ypres-Roulers railway was in better terrain than the
old position, and offered superior natural advantages for defence to
the deplorable original line.
So we were far from disheartened when day broke on May 14th.
The German heavy guns had seemed at times during the 13th to number
scores on scores. Though fire came from every direction into the
badly placed and rottenly made British trenches, blowing our thin
line sky-high all along the front, the net result of advantage to the
enemy was extremely small.
On the morning of the 14th de Lisle said to me: "Bad as our losses
have been, I have the situation in hand. The men have held the line,
and will continue to do so. Every hour sees things get better."
The shattered, depleted, almost anihilated regiments of the day
before were found by the grey light of that cold, rainy May morning
to be fighting forces still, their moral undamaged, and their spirits
undimmed.
By half past six o'clock I was off for Potijze with de Lisle, a heavy
rain during the night having covered the road with slimy mud and made
it terribly slippery. We found Hun gunners so docile that I could
with impunity run the general to the G.H.Q. line on the Potijze road.
As I waited in the roadway two of the Blues came past. Mud-covered
and battle-stained, they slouched along as if completely tired out.
"Good morning," I called out, cheerily.
"Good morning, sir," they answered, straightening, instinctively, as
they spoke. Fine chaps they were, and soldierly from head to foot, in
spite of the mantle of dirt in which they were wrapped.
Nerves and muscles relaxed, almost at the limit of endurance, steeped
in physical fatigue, like a flash they could pull up, eyes clear,
heads erect, voices firm, the look on their faces showing that they
were just as good fighting men at that moment as they were thirty-six
hours previously.
Over the smoke of welcome cigarettes we chatted of the charge of
the day before. The rushing of the German trenches, the capture of
a section of them, and then being overpowered and turned out by
overwhelming numbers of Huns, was gone over, spiritedly, by the
troopers.
"Only seventy of the Blues are left, though," said one of them.
"That's the hard part of it."
"You are sure to find more when things get straightened out," I
replied. "Casualty lists always grow smaller when the returns are
all in."
They trudged on soberly, "Hoping so." Splendid men.
I was sent to search the houses in Potijze, or what was left of them,
for a couple of wounded officers who were reported to be waiting to
be evacuated by an ambulance that had not yet arrived.
An Essex Yeomanry trooper limped slowly passed as I started, and I
gave him a "lift" for a few hundred yards. He had badly sprained his
knee during the charge the day before. By morning it had become so
swollen and painful he could only hobble along with great difficulty.
No thought of coming back to have it attended to, after the charge,
had entered his mind.
"We were told to hang on till dark," he explained, "and it took all
of us that were left to hang on. I couldn't have come back very well,
could I?"
Before the day was over some of the official casualty lists of the
brigades were compiled, and we were greatly cheered to find the
losses were less heavy than had at first been reported.
The 1st Cavalry Division casualties for May 13th numbered 523. In
the 1st Cavalry Brigade two officers were killed and five wounded,
and 164 troopers killed or wounded. The 2nd Cavalry Brigade had a
casualty list of 249. Three officers in the brigade were killed and
eleven wounded. Among the killed was Lieutenant Lunan, a very brave
medical officer attached to the 9th Lancers. The 18th Hussars lost
160, the 9th Lancers 140, and the 4th D.G.'s thirty-five.
The 3rd Cavalry Division suffered more heavily. David Campbell's
6th Brigade had eleven officers killed and twenty-two
wounded--thirty-three out of a total of forty-nine. In the ranks, the
Royals lost 117, the North Somerset Yeomanry 105, and the 3rd Dragoon
Guards sixty-nine. The total for the brigade was 330 casualties. The
7th Brigade lost over 450 officers and men. Seven Leicestershire
Yeomanry officers were killed and five were wounded. In the ranks,
the Leicestershires had 180 casualties, making a total of over 190,
all told, out of a strength of 300. The 8th Brigade's list of over
300 brought the total of killed and wounded for the 3rd Division to
more than 1,100.
A patrol of 15th Hussars, under Lieutenant Kenneth Maclane,
while the regiment was holding a part of the line to the north of
Verlorenhoek, went up to the German first line trenches during the
afternoon and found a section of them deserted, which showed the Huns
were little better satisfied with the strategical location of their
line than we had been with parts of ours.
Visits to Potijze from time to time meant coming close to big
shell-bursts, but the fury of the 13th had made the itinerant
shell-fire of the 14th so insignificant in contrast that we paid
little attention to even the biggest of the Black Marias.
That night the 2nd Cavalry Division, General Kavanaugh commanding,
relieved the 1st and 3rd Divisions on a narrowed front, the infantry
closing in on the sides. Before morning of the 15th our tired men
were on their way back to billets for a well-earned rest.
_En route_ from Potijze to our headquarters at dusk on the 14th,
my despatch case fell from the car. I went over the road carefully
at daylight the following morning, and only desisted in my futile
search when the "morning hate" made it foolish to tarry longer in the
vicinity.
Great was my delight during the afternoon to learn that a wire had
been received at Divisional headquarters, saying that, "amongst the
_débris_ on the battlefield had been found a despatch case belonging
to Frederic Coleman." A gunner of H Battery, R.H.A., had spied it in
a roadside ditch in the Salient, and thoughtfully taken it to Major
Skinner, commanding the battery, who had at once advised us of its
recovery.
On the night of May 15th and morning of May 16th, General Hubert
Gough's 7th Infantry Division made a splendid "push" to La Quinque
Rue, in front of Festubert, the report of which made cheery reading.
The men of the 1st Cavalry Division were housed in "huts" near
Vlamertinghe. On the 16th General de Lisle addressed the contingents,
one after another. He asked me to verify one or two details that had
been reported, and this work gave me a most pleasant couple of hours
chatting about the battle of May 13th with men of half a dozen of the
different regiments that took part in it.
The evening of the 17th found the 1st Cavalry Division, after
seventy-two hours' rest, again marching through Ypres to take a
further turn in the trenches.
[Illustration: Hussars' cook-house, Vlamertinghe huts, Vlamertinghe]
[Illustration: Group of Cavalry officers at the huts at Vlamertinghe]
The Salient had been comparatively quiet since the last German
onslaught on the 13th, but howitzer shells were daily falling over
the lines with tiresome regularity.
I was sent by General de Lisle to a house near Ypres, where we had
planned to have a "basket dinner" before leaving for night quarters
on the Menin Road. A very young staff-officer, instructed to guide
me, misunderstood that such duty was required of him, and went off
about some business of his own before I had been able to learn the
location of the house.
Meeting "Rattle" Barrett, I asked him if he could give me the desired
information.
"I don't know about the dinner part of it," said "Rattle"; but your
headquarters for the night are well east of Ypres, on the Menin Road.
Go to the house nearest the château that stands by the Halte, where
the railway crosses the road, and you can't miss it if you try.
The General had disappeared on foot, the juvenile staff-officer was
nowhere to be found, so off I went, in accordance with Barrett's
instructions.
Darkness was coming on. I passed along lines of 2nd Cavalry Brigade
troopers, marching toward Ypres and through it.
No lights were allowed, though my car was secure from liability
of offence in that particular, for the electric installation had
gone wrong, a not infrequent occurrence, and no one but a master
electrician could coax a glimmer out of the headlamps.
Bump! Bump! I jolted from hole to hole in the smashed roadway. The
streets were crowded with the machinery of the divisional relief
in full swing. Ypres seemed more smashed, if possible, than when
we had last passed through six days before. From the Grande Place
down the Rue de Menin, to the bridge and Menin Road beyond, and
well out past the fork, where the roads branched to Zonnebeke and
Menin respectively, the path was narrow and tortuous. Piled high on
either hand were heaps of _débris_, alternated with chasms, some
sufficiently deep so that a fall to the bottom would put a car
promptly _hors de combat_.
An unpleasant smell of burning flesh came from the smouldering mounds
lining the way.
Star-shells and trench lights from the firing line made it possible
to see the road. Save for their assistance I could not have made the
journey without accident.
The house where we were to spend the next few days was easily found.
The officers of the 80th Infantry Brigade were busy in it arranging
reliefs when I arrived.
A house of stout brick, badly scarred and knocked about, covered a
cellar, low roofed and filled with foul air, but reasonably safe from
shell-fire.
In this underground sanctuary the flickering light of a dozen candles
fell on crowded tables for signallers, around which the men not busy
with 'phone or ticker were asleep, heads resting on their crossed
arms. Officers pored over maps spread on other tables, or were
engaged in close attention to the receipt or despatch of innumerable
orders. Against one wall were three or four bedsteads, covered with
mattresses that had borne the wearied forms of a long succession of
British fighting men, from general officers to privates, and bore
ample evidences of having done so.
A battery of British guns were firing from a position near by, and
German shells were bursting close enough to cause an interruption of
a conversation by their constant crashes.
No news could I find of General de Lisle until Captain Webb, of the
Signal Corps, arrived.
"The General?" he said in reply to my query. "I think the General is
in a house on the right of the road as you leave Ypres on the west."
I lost no time in getting under way. The return journey was like a
bad dream. Shells fell in the vicinity of the road, but not so near
as to damage the steadily flowing river of troops, ammunition and
food transport, horse and mechanical; ambulances, motor-cycles, and
once, another car.
A fatiguing house-to-house search landed me at the spot where
dinner had been. Orders left for me instructed me to bring various
impedimenta to the Menin Road; so, for the third time, I ploughed
through Ypres and toward the Halte, where at last I found de Lisle.
Nor was that by any means the last trip over that route that I was to
make that night. But enough of motoring troubles.
On the 18th it rained with dour persistency.
The 1st Cavalry Division line ran south from the Ypres-Roulers
railway, past the west shore of the Bellewaarde Lake. It dipped
south-east around the ruins of the Hooge Château and to the east of
where Hooge once stood. Crossing the Menin Road, the front threaded
the Sanctuary Wood, on the eastern edge of which the enemy were
entrenched.
The position in the Sanctuary Wood was the extreme easterly
promontory of the Ypres Salient, and not many yards west of the line
which the 1st Cavalry Division held in February and March.
General de Lisle's cellar headquarters were less than 2,000 yards
from the nearest front-line trench, and Hooge itself was not much
further distant.
In an adjacent farm, which had been abandoned for many days, dead
cattle and chickens lay about the yard. The table in the living room
showed the family had decamped at meal time, evidently hurried by a
shell which shaved a corner off the house. They left without waiting
to gather up any of their simple belongings.
The lonely cows ambled inquisitively toward me, and were evidently
greatly appreciative of a thorough milking, though few cared to drink
milk from cows pastured in that poisoned zone, where every inch of
ground was septic.
On a dash through Ypres at daybreak I again saw the poor hunted
collie. Many mongrels thereabouts were frankly glad of a kind word
and a pat on the head, but the high-bred, beautiful collie, his
splendid coat matted and bedraggled, was so thoroughly frightened
that all my efforts to get close to him were fruitless. It was wicked
to leave him to death by a chance shell, and more than one of us
risked carrying away a shell-souvenir in a vain attempt to save him.
At an early hour de Lisle said: "Find a shelter of some sort for your
car, President. Don't forget that the Germans turn their shells down
this road a bit at times."
A search resulted in the discovery of a maltster's, where some
push-cyclists attached to a battalion of King's Royal Rifles
cordially offered to make room for my battered conveyance. A passing
ammunition train the night before had ripped off a front mud-guard,
and a horse ambulance had crumpled one of the rear guards, while a
transport mule had endeavoured to climb into the tonneau, to the sad
detriment of my folded cape hood.
I never met a more cheery lot than those K.R.R. cyclists, who
generously insisted on my sharing a tin of steaming hot tea and
warming myself at their comfortable fire. They showed me a pump in
the ruins of a house adjoining, enabling me to get a rare wash, and
a still rarer shave, giving me a quite respectable appearance in
comparison with my comrades of the 1st Cavalry Division Staff.
During the morning the General sent me to a riddled château not
far distant, where General Mullens had placed 2nd Cavalry Brigade
headquarters. An attempt to use the remains of the drawing-room as a
more comfortable habitation than the cellar, was abandoned during the
day, as coal-boxes fell with annoying regularity in the château yard.
A call at the headquarters of General Arbuthnot, C.R.A. of the 28th
Division, in a house west of Ypres, found my lost despatch case had
been sent there by Skinner of H Battery, to whom General Arbuthnot
had kindly wired offering to keep it until I could call and reclaim
it.
At Arbuthnot's headquarters I met a captain of his staff, who had
been a military attaché in China before the Boxer troubles in 1900,
and who knew many of the acquaintances I had made when campaigning
with General Gaselee in the war with China.
In the course of conversation, I mentioned the prevailing belief
in many quarters that unwritten truces existed between British and
German gunners with regard to shelling certain areas. I instanced
Dickebusch, a continual home of one of our divisional headquarters,
which had been unshelled until our guns hammered a town in the German
lines where Hun headquarters were thought to have been located, and
thereafter was inundated with a steady rain of shell-fire for many
days.
"Some peculiar things of that sort have happened," said the Captain.
"The Divisional headquarters to which I was recently attached,
occupied, near the line, a château which for months had not been
visited by a German shell. I became possessed with the idea, without
any real evidence to which to attribute it, that so long as our lot
did not shell the Hollebeke Château, our house would be free from
a Hun shelling. The Hollebeke Château was in the German lines, and
while I did not, of course, know positively, I felt sure it contained
some German brigade or divisional headquarters. Many a time our
batteries fired at enemy batteries on all sides of the Hollebeke
Château, but not once was it made a target by our gunners.
"For week after week this condition of affairs continued, and was
often the subject of comment among us. Naturally, in the absence of
communication of any sort between the opposing forces, all this may
have been mere coincidence.
"One day, returning from a walk, I entered the drive to our château
just as Hun shells began to rain upon us. The shrapnel came thick
and fast for several minutes, and the Divisional Commander and some
of his staff officers had very narrow escapes. One shrapnel bullet
passed through a wall only ten or twelve inches from the General's
head.
"None of our divisional guns had been firing for some hours, but
another battery in the vicinity had been doing quite a bit of
shelling that morning. Curious, I asked the aeroplane observer who
had been directing the fire of that battery what target he had given
them.
"'I went up to direct their fire on some German guns reported to be
near the Hollebeke Château,' the observer told me. 'I couldn't locate
the described spot, so directed our battery to throw a few shells
into the château itself. Our gunners at once registered one lyddite
through the roof and four shells right through the face of the
building. I'll bet we made it hot for any Boches that were inside.'
"Comparing times," continued the Captain, "I learned that the
Hollebeke Château received its shelling exactly ten minutes before
our headquarters château was shelled by the Huns. What made the
incident more curious was the fact that for weeks our batteries did
no more damage to the Hollebeke Château and never again, at least
until I left it, did our château have a German shell near it."
The rain softened the earth about the dug-outs in front of Ypres, and
soon an epidemic of caved-in sides and roofs was raging all along
the line, assisted by Black Marias, which shook the moist ground
until dug-out supports fell and walls collapsed wholesale. A captain
of the 18th Hussars was in a dug-out roofed by an iron bedstead. A
small landslide brought down the beams above and the bedstead fell,
so striking the Hussar officer that his neck was broken and he was
instantly killed.
The 19th, 20th, and 21st of May passed quickly, the three brigades of
the Division changing from front line to support dug-outs and back
again in relays as the days succeeded each other.
On the 21st the sun came out, bright and strong, and justified a few
minutes' delay _en route_ through Ypres to obtain some photographs.
The town was sadly depressing. Earthquake and conflagration might
produce as much ruin, but could hardly arrange it so fantastically.
In Ypres Madame Caprice came hand in hand with Devastation and Death.
In diabolical mood she flung the shattered buildings of the staid old
town hither and thither with an eye to the spectacular. The grotesque
met one's glance on every side. Only a James Pryde could have done
justice on canvas to such a scene.
After a thunderstorm of almost tropical intensity on the night of the
21st, the 1st Cavalry Division troopers were relieved, and soon after
daylight were sleeping soundly in the huts and the adjacent farms
near Vlamertinghe. The 22nd and 23rd of May they spent in resting,
and on the evening of the 23rd again went back into the trench line.
General de Lisle returned for his rest to new quarters at Esquelbecq,
in a thirteenth century château which boasted the honour of having
once been stormed by Marlborough.
The 14th Division of the "K" Army was billeted near Esquelbecq,
and had been placed in the newly formed 6th Corps. Allenby's 5th
Corps then consisted of the 28th Division, 9th Division (the first
of the "K" Divisions to arrive in France), and the Northumberland
Territorial Division. The 6th Corps, containing the 4th Division, the
27th Division, and the new 14th Division was placed under the command
of General Keir.
On the evening of May 23rd, while the troopers of the 1st, 2nd and
9th Cavalry Brigades tramped through Ypres once more, and took over
part of the sodden trench-line of the Salient, General de Lisle
again took up headquarters in the big château not far west of the
demolished town.
The Salient front trenches led over the line that was taken up after
the reconstruction following the hard fighting on May 13th. Wilson's
4th Division reached from the French right, near the Ypres-Yser Canal
on the north, to the Canadian Farm, then past the Ypres-Passchendaele
Road to the Ypres-Zonnebeke Road near Verlorenhoek.
[Illustration: View of the 13th century château at Esquelbecque]
[Illustration: "Jeff" Phipps-Hornby and Frederic Coleman comparing
underpinning outside Ypres, May, 1915; the thinnest and thickest
"supports" in the 1st Cavalry Division]
From the Zonnebeke Road south, across the Ypres-Roulers Railway, as
far as the Bellewaarde Lake, troops of the 28th Division composed the
firing line.
They joined the left flank of the 18th Hussars, who occupied a
position on the south side of the Bellewaarde Lake and in front of
the Hooge Château, the trenches at that point being about thirty
yards to the east of the château ruins. The right of the 18th Hussars
rested on the Menin Road, and close behind them in reserve were three
score odd York and Durham Tommies who had been sent up to dig.
South of the Menin Road, in the Sanctuary Wood, came the 9th Lancers,
11th Hussars, Queen's Bays, and 5th Dragoon Guards, respectively.
The 4th Dragoon Guards, 15th Hussars, and 19th Hussars were in
reserve in the G.H.Q. line.
The night was less disturbed by gun-fire than usual, and even the
rifle fire and itinerant sniping were of less volume than for weeks
past.
General de Lisle, noticing the strong westerly breeze die away, and
the wind shift to the east during the course of the afternoon, sent
a warning to the troops in the trenches to be on the look out for a
German gas attack next morning.
At earliest light on Whit Monday, the 24th of May, the Hun gas came.
Before three o'clock in the morning, the yellow-green haze was
drifting slowly on the light breezes that heralded the coming of the
dawn.
Over the eastern front of the Salient the smoke-cloud came from near
Wieltje to the Zonnebeke road, and on to the south over the Menin
Road.
The 28th Division troops, from the Ypres-Roulers railway to the
Bellewaarde Lake, were in the thick of it, and were driven back _en
masse_.
The trenches of the 18th Hussars and 9th Lancers were also in the
path of the noxious fumes; but the 1st Cavalry Brigade troops further
south escaped them.
For an hour the gas rolled westward, accompanied by a cyclone of
shell-fire, and followed by a determined infantry attack.
No part of the cavalry line felt the gas more than the left of the
18th Hussars, which was held by a squadron under command of Captain
MacLachlan, who arrived at Vlamertinghe from England at seven o'clock
the night before. MacLachlan, with some of the half dozen other
officers and 130 men sent out to replace the casualties suffered by
the 18th Hussars on May 13th, was tramping through Ypres within half
an hour after he joined the regiment. New to Flanders and the Ypres
Salient, his experience of a gas attack before he had been in the
firing line twelve hours was a trying one.
MacLachlan was impressed by the warning to be on the watch for gas,
and was in his forward trenches, awake and alert. His respirator was
ready, and he repeatedly told his troopers to see that theirs were
ready also.
The gas was actually upon the men before they could distinguish the
poison-clouds from the early morning haze that frequently hung over
the lake.
The first thick mantle of gas scattered the 18th Hussars somewhat,
but enough of them remained in the trenches to hold on until a
German machine-gun opened on them from their left rear. Seizing the
advantage offered by the retirement of the 28th Division troops, the
Huns came on as swiftly as the dispersing gas would allow, and soon
were well behind the 18th line.
MacLachlan, later in the day, tried to write a diary of what
happened to him during the early morning hours, but it contained
little detail. To piece together a coherent story of such events was
difficult.
"3.15 a.m., gassed out. 3.30, in again. 4.30, some York and Durham
Light Infantry officers showed up. 5.15, twelve men left out of my
sixty-one. 5.30, six men left. 6.30, 15th Hussars coming up." So ran
the diary.
The Germans poured around the Bellewaarde Lake on either side of
it, and drove the few remaining 18th Hussars out of the trenches by
an outflanking movement with sheer weight of numbers. The troopers
retired across the Menin Road and trailed over the shell-swept fields
toward Zillebeke, and then on to the southern edge of Ypres.
While the trenches on the lakeside and around the Hooge Château were
being torn from the grasp of the 18th Hussars, the 9th Lancers on the
right, across the Menin Road, were fighting like mad.
The gas so filled their trenches that at some points the troopers
leaped on the parapets into the clearer air above, in full view of
the advancing Huns, and poured a fire into the German ranks that
dropped dozens of the enemy like shot rabbits.
Captain Rex Benson, howling like a dervish to make his instructions
audible above the din of battle, mounted a high bastion and so
directed the stream of fire of his squadron that the oncoming rush in
front of that trench was stemmed.
A rifle-bullet smashed through Benson's arm and badly shattered the
bone, but he held on in spite of his wounds until the first fierce
Hun attack was repulsed.
Major Beale-Browne, commanding the 9th Lancers, at once realised the
danger to his left flank as the German bullets began to pour into
it across the Menin Road. Down the south bank of the highway ran
a communication trench, which Beale-Browne at once ordered to be
transformed into a defence against a Hun attack from the position
that had been won by the enemy from the 18th Hussars.
A small infantry counter-attack to recover the lost ground at Hooge
failed, though two companies of the Buffs got a foothold in some
trenches north of the Menin Road, and not far from Hooge Château.
Beale-Browne's headquarters were in the Louave Wood, behind the
Sanctuary Wood, and not far distant from the Menin Road. He and
Captain "Bimbo" Reynolds, the Adjutant of the 9th, who had been twice
wounded that morning, constituted the bulk of the garrison of the
Louave Wood, when they saw three or four hundred Germans advancing
from the north towards the Menin Road, preparatory to attacking the
wood, and thus gaining the rear of the 9th Lancers' trenches.
At that moment some York and Lancaster Territorials, who had
been sent up from reserve in a wood south of the 9th, arrived.
Beale-Browne at once sent to the Infantry Brigade for more of them.
Lining the northern edge of the little wood with the Terriers he
waited until the Huns began to stream across the roadway, then swept
them back with volley after volley at close range.
This move and the gallant stand made by the 9th Lancers in their
front line trenches, ably aided by the York and Lancaster lads, saved
the day. A couple of squadrons of the 15th Hussars also played a
gallant part in saving our important position south of the Menin
Road.
The cost to the 9th Lancers was heavy, Captain Francis Grenfell,
Captain "Algy" Court, and Captain Noel Edwards were killed, the
latter dying from the effects of gas poisoning after he had been
taken to the hospital at Bailleul.
Four other officers of the 9th were wounded, several men were killed
by the gas, and forty-eight hours later the number of casualties,
including those gassed and missing, was still over 100.
While the strenuous struggle was proceeding in the front line
trenches, little was known of the actual results of the German
attack. Every man attached to Beale-Browne's headquarters, except
"Bimbo" Reynolds, was out of commission, save the telegraphists, who
hung on in the poisoned air of the signals dug-out until all the
wires were swept away by the German shells, and all communication
with the rear rendered impossible.
General Meakin took over the field command of the Division, and
Colonel "Tommy" Pitman again took the 1st Cavalry Brigade.
The 4th D.G.'s, 15th Hussars, and 19th Hussars in reserve in the
G.H.Q. line, were as badly gassed as though they had been in the
front trenches.
In spite of this, they pushed their depleted ranks forward in support
over ground where shells were bursting in scores and hundreds, and
formed a new line along a road that ran north from and at right
angles to the Menin Road, about 1,000 yards west of Hooge.
Here they held the enemy from making further inroads into our
territory, fighting fiercely every hour of the long day.
The 15th Hussars and 19th Hussars suffered heavy casualties, and the
9th Cavalry Brigade lost one of its most popular officers in Captain
Griffiths, its Brigade Major, who was killed by a shell.
The 4th Division front line held well, in spite of the gas. The only
4th Division trenches lost were along a front of 800 yards from the
Canadian Farm to the Ypres-Passchendaele Road. The East Lancashires
south of that road hung on with a bull-dog grip until help came and
counter-attacks could be formed and launched to retake the ground
that had been lost.
My friend in the 11th Hussars, from whose diary I quoted a few
paragraphs with reference to the part the gallant 11th played in the
battle of May 13th, kept a most vivid series of notes as to what
happened in front of the 1st Cavalry Brigade on that memorable 24th
of May.
While the 11th Hussars were on the right of the 9th Lancers, and
therefore on the fringe of the attack, a perusal of the following
will give an idea of what it meant to be in the front line of the
Ypres Salient on a bank holiday in 1915:--
"3 a.m.--Heavy firing, guns, rifles, Maxims, on our left; faint
smell of gas; just as dawn breaks.
3.15.--All quiet on our immediate front, heavy shelling going
on all round. Every wire cut between Brigade headquarters and
ourselves, and with the artillery.
3.45.--Still no touch with Brigade headquarters, so messenger
despatched. The headquarters of the 11th, Bays, and 5th D.G.'s
are all close together in a wood behind the trench line. The Bays
and 5th Dragoon Guards each have one squadron in hand; there
are also three companies of the 4th East Yorks Territorials in
brigade reserve in the same wood.
4.--The Bays send an officers' patrol to the left.
4.20.--Heavy firing still continues on our left. Telephone
message sent to O.C. A Squadron: "Try and get information of
situation on your left."
4.35.--Answer received: "Adjutant 9th Lancers just passed here.
Reports their centre and left gassed. No attack so far."
4.45.--Lieutenant Milne's patrol of the Bays returned. Report 9th
Lancers have been badly gassed, and retired from their trenches
in places, leaving big gaps. Reinforcements have gone up, and
line has, he thinks, been re-established.
5.--Captain Osborne, Brigade-Major, arrives from Brigade
headquarters. They have all suffered severely from gas; the
regiments in G.H.Q. line have caught it very badly. The
shelling has been very heavy, great number of casualties, men
streaming back from all parts of the line. When he left Brigade
headquarters they were in ignorance of the situation in any part
of the line. The only thing which kept their hopes up was that
not a single man of the 1st Brigade had returned.
6.30.--Lieutenant Milne reports that he went to Officer
Commanding 9th Lancers, who told him that his line was complete
to fifty yards north of the Menin Road. He has had many men
gassed, and has used up all his supports to fill up gaps in the
front line. He is pushing reconnaissance to his left. Heard
that the Officer Commanding York and Lancaster Regiment had his
battalion in a wood about 600 yards east of us, so went over and
saw him. He has 1,000 men, and is reserve to the section of the
line from our right to Hill 60. Got him to send two companies to
the Officer Commanding 9th Lancers.
7.30.--Lieutenant Hartman, 11th Hussars, returned with his
patrol. He had worked up to the Menin Road, where he had found
Captain F. O. Grenfell, 9th Lancers, holding on with a very
few men, and asking urgently for reinforcements of 200 men to
strengthen his line. As Lieutenant Hartman was leaving, three
platoons of infantry arrived.
9.--Heavy attack on Hooge. All our glasses are fixed on that
point. The village (now only a few ruined houses) is on a piece
of rising ground which commands, at close range, the rear of our
position. Withdrew one of the 11th Hussars' Maxims and laid it
on the village. Can see our troops falling back. If Hooge goes,
we are in the soup. 9th Lancers headquarters are in Louave Wood.
Beale-Browne is in command. He has still got one company in hand.
10.--Still holding on at Hooge. Can see more of our infantry
moving up from Louave Wood.
11.--Patrol reports "enemy have broken through 18th Hussars' line
north of Menin Road, and are working down on the road in rear
of Hooge." Hear heavy firing in that direction. Send Osborne to
officer commanding Y. and L. to get him to send three companies
to hold northern edge of Louave Wood, with machine-gun and
detachment at farm west of it.
12 noon.--Message sent by runner to Brigade Headquarters: "Still
holding on to Hooge, but Germans are astride the Menin Road.
Could you push up counter-attack in that direction? My line of
retreat is covered by German machine-guns in that direction.
Several orderlies have been wounded going backwards and forwards."
12 noon.--First messenger returned from Brigade headquarters.
Counter-attack is being organised. Messenger states that on
his way up he saw about 100 infantry straggling back from the
lines on our right, stating that their "'ole battalion had been
coot oop." If there is any truth in their statement, we are in
a nasty position, so send off at once an officer's patrol in
that direction to clear up the situation, and a squadron of the
5th D.G.'s to support the patrol and form a flank protection in
direction of Maple Copse. No firing has been heard at all on our
right.
12.5 p.m.--Learn that there is a company of Royal Engineers
in the wood near the York and Lancaster headquarters, so send
them following order: "Proceed with Y. and L. guide to O.C. 9th
Lancers in Louave Wood, and ask him if he can find work for your
fifty men in consolidating the position on northern edge of wood."
12.15.--Germans attacking right of 9th Lancers' line and left of
A Squadron, 11th Hussars, with bombs. They are reported to have
broken the 9th Lancers' line at one point, but been driven out
again.
12.30.--Captain Lawson reports that section of trench held by
Territorials between his left and 9th Lancers has been captured
by Germans. They are working down his trench with bombs. The
captured section slopes up from the stream, and looks down on the
A Squadron trench.
12.35.--Interview the officer commanding 4th Yorks, explain the
situation, and tell him to take another company up, and with the
one already in the second line form a barrier behind the captured
portion, getting touch with the 9th Lancers on his left and the
11th Hussars on his right.
1.--Message sent to officer commanding 9th Lancers: "Have pushed
up a support to form a barrier behind the captured trench.
Endeavour to get touch with them from the switch trench. A
counter attack is now taking place from Potitjze towards Hooge."
1.30.--The pressure on the Menin Road seems to be relieved. The
Germans are still bombing down Lawson's trench, but A Squadron
are putting up a good fight with bombs. Lieut. Gunter has been
killed.
2.25.--Message sent by runner to Brigade headquarters. "At about
12.15 Germans captured portion of 9th Lancers' trench close to
11th Hussars' left. Company of East Yorks sent up to form barrier
behind broken line. Switch on 9th Lancers' right is now held
instead of advanced trench. Western edge of Hooge still held
by mixed force of men. Send me information of counter attack,
for if Germans establish themselves on Menin Road during the
night, position of brigade becomes untenable. If it is proposed
to retire from here it would have to be done at night. Please
inform Officer Commanding 83rd Brigade that I have had to call
on all the York and Lancasters except 250 men. Following is
disposition of line at present as known to me:--1st Brigade line
as taken over last night. 2nd Brigade--9th Lancers, weakened by
losses, with left on Menin Road; right broken but being secured.
Remainder of 9th Lancers, with York and Lancasters, have formed a
line right along north edge of wood facing north. They have two
machine-guns on their outer flank and patrols to the Menin Road."
2.45.--Message sent to Brigade headquarters: "Please arrange
to send up to-night two dozen hand grenades per regiment, and
detonators, most important; also two dozen rifle grenades per
regiment and two dozen extra detonators per regiment, as the
bombs here are without detonators; also as many gas-sprayers as
possible. Ask 1st Cavalry Division to send up trench mortars with
Royal Horse Artillerymen or Royal Engineers to man them, as our
men don't understand them. They are urgently required."
3 p.m.--No further developments. Situation well in hand, but
hope that counter-attack is developing on north side Menin Road.
Lawson is holding on to the line of stream, but position is
untenable unless 2nd Brigade can re-establish original line on
their right. Make dispositions for holding new line from left
of B Squadron down communication trench to the support trench;
thence along to where it joins up with front line. The situation
on the right down as far as Hill 60 reported all right. The
trenches near Hill 60 visited by our patrol did not even know
that there was a fight going on. They thought all the firing was
a long way to their left.
4 p.m.--Situation unchanged. Have got majority of A Squadron
back into communicating trench, moved up squadron of the Bays to
complete the line and join up with 9th Lancers. Send following
message to Lawson, who is still holding on at the stream:--
"Most of your squadron are now back in communicating trench.
Squadron of the Bays and infantry are holding the second line. I
cannot send you up any more support; doubt your doing any good
by holding on to present line. If you cannot get away now, wait
until dark."
4.--Message sent to Officer Commanding 9th Lancers:--"Portion of
front line marked with crosses on accompanying sketch, has gone;
suggest your falling back and holding line marked with red dots."
Operations carried on without any further alarms till dusk. We
saw the right flank of the counter-attack coming up towards
Hooge. The Y. and L. co-operated in this movement.
5.--Following received from Officer Commanding York and
Lancasters:--
"Our attack on the Menin Road has been successful. All the enemy
have been driven back off the road as far as our left flank
rests. The companies have withdrawn to Louave Wood after leaving
a post on Menin Road, facing north. Patrols have been pushed on
to the north to try and get touch with the counter-attack, but
these patrols will now be withdrawn, and the Oxford Hussars will
be asked to send similar patrols. Some of the enemy have been
killed. Have collected their papers and identity discs, and will
send them to Brigade headquarters."
Soon after dark we received orders that the Brigade would be
relieved to-night, but it was not till past midnight that the
relieving regiments arrived. During the hours between dusk and
midnight the enemy attacked vigorously with bombs both B Squadron
and A Squadron trenches. At midnight the 16th Lancers arrived to
take over. It was obvious that it was going to be a tight fit to
defeat daylight. Not a moment was lost, but it was nearly two
o'clock before the last squadron was relieved. The squadrons
moved off independently, keeping as far as possible on the low
ground. A violent fusilade commenced on both flanks of the
Salient, and "Spares" were fairly flying about over our heads.
The Germans were making another gas attack, and C Squadron, which
took a more northerly route, caught it slightly. Our casualties
were slight during the withdrawal, and it was quite light by the
time we reached Ypres. We raced on through the town, as shells
were falling about in a most unpleasant manner. We got back to
Vlamertinghe at 4.30 a.m., the men absolutely dead beat, having
walked seven miles across country at top speed. We dossed down
to sleep, most of the men preferring the open to the wooden
huts. Forty-eight hours without a check has been a bit more than
tiring. The casualties for the 24th of May were two officers
killed, twelve men killed, twelve wounded, and four died of
wounds. Lieutenant Poole, who was only slightly wounded on the
way back to Ypres, unfortunately succumbed to tetanus a few days
later at Boulogne.
After sweeping over the firing-line and drifting past the G.H.Q.
reserve line, on that Whit Monday morning, the gas still moved
westward.
H and I Battery men, caught in their dug-outs, had a liberal share,
and still more of the poisonous fumes gathered in ruined Ypres, or
floated on to our divisional headquarters further to the west. Some
of the gas was carried as far back as Vlamertinghe, between four and
five miles from the German trenches.
"Willie" Du Cros, running with his ambulance convoy from Vlamertinghe
to a dressing station well west of Ypres, was sufficiently overcome
by gas to be for some hours dangerously ill.
Hardly a member of the 1st Cavalry Division Staff, including General
de Lisle himself, escaped the gas fumes. Red and watery eyes, a pale
bluish tinge to the complexion, violent headaches, and continual
coughing were universal for the greater part of the forenoon.
Gas shells continually burst over Ypres and the roads near it. More
than once I ran through pockets of gas, apparently caused by these
gas shells. Every one of us wore respirators or masks when near
Ypres, though "Babe" Nicholson inhaled sufficient gas through his
respirator to render him unconscious for five minutes after a "dash
up front."
General Mullens, of the 2nd Cavalry Brigade, and Captain Paget,
his Brigade Major, were brought in a dangerous condition to our
headquarters. By night they were able to walk about, but for a time
it seemed quite possible neither would recover.
That evening I asked General Mullens, who was looking very ill, if he
thought he was free from the effects of the poisoning. "Somewhat,"
he answered. "No one could imagine what the experience is like. The
helplessness and mental suffering of it are beyond description."
Ypres came in for another terrific bombardment that day. The Menin
Bridge and the Menin Road proved such death-traps that they were
"closed to traffic" before the day was over.
Romer Williams, of General Mullens's staff, came through Ypres with a
message just as I was going up.
"You have a fine bruise on your forehead," said I, pointing to a raw
bump the size of a goose-egg. "How did you get it?"
"I haven't an idea," he answered; "unless a shell bounced off it.
Some of 'em have come close enough, so I thought they _might_ have
done so. As I was coming back down the Menin Road, an ammunition
limber passed me, the horses at full gallop. I watched them cross
the railway metals at the halt. The limber jumped up into the air
when it hit the crossing and the horses seemed to be skimming the
ground, they were going at such a pace. Just as the limber bumped up,
a flash came, right over it, and when the smoke rolled away the road
led clean on eastward, absolutely empty. Not a sign of horse, man or
limber remained. A big howitzer shell must have hit it squarely on
the outfit, and swept it into the ditch like the wind would sweep
away a leaf. It was a terrible thing to see."
Colonel Browne of the R.A.M.C. and his staff worked like Trojans.
Browne had not slept since 7 o'clock on the previous morning, and
had a bad touch of gas, like everyone else near headquarters.
At break of day the roads were full of panting, coughing stragglers
from the front. Scores on scores staggered into the big front gates
of the château, and sank exhausted and suffering on the deep grass
that lined the drive-way. The medical officers hastily gave such
relief as they could and packed the ambulances full of the wounded
and the worst of the gas cases.
By 9 o'clock in the morning 600 gassed men and 160 wounded had passed
through Colonel Browne's hands, more than four-fifths of them members
of the 28th or 4th Division units.
The number of men who were wounded by shell fire when coming back
toward Ypres from the gas-filled trenches was legion.
Five signal-corps men, attached to the 2nd Cavalry Brigade, were
badly poisoned, but managed to get back as far as the big square at
Ypres. They were in such a sorry state that a passing officer advised
them to lie down on the broken cobbles of the Grande Place until an
ambulance could be sent for them. They stretched out in a pathetic
row, and had not lain there long when a Black Maria lit at their
feet, shoving them half a dozen yards over the stones still in line,
every man of the five dead, killed before he knew of the coming of
the shell.
All day shattered men were brought to the divisional dressing station
near the château gates. The wounds from the shells were terrible.
A wounded sergeant of the Cheshires refused a ride from east of Ypres
in an ambulance, cheerily saying that those who _could_ walk should
do so, and not occupy space required for those more severely hurt. He
carried back his full kit, tramping sturdily along with a grim smile
on his fine face. At the dressing station a nasty bullet hole in his
shoulder was disclosed, which would have laid many a man flat on his
back.
"Good man, of the old school. New ones can't touch 'em," commented a
grizzled hospital orderly, as the Cheshire sergeant passed out of the
room.
A Tommy, with bright eyes peeping from a purple bit of face all but
hidden by a mass of white bandages, insisted on telling his story to
anyone who would listen.
"He has told his bally yarn half a dozen times, sir," complained a
hospital orderly to the doctor. "I told him he was not to talk, but
he just can't keep his bloomin' mouth shut, he says."
"Nasty wound, too," remarked the doctor, as we watched the talkative
individual. "Bullet went clean through his face, in one cheek and out
the other, and carried away every one of his upper teeth."
But his injury had apparently increased his volubility. We could hear
his tale as he poured it into the ear of a gunner, wounded in both
legs and unable to escape.
"You see the ol' gas stuff got us bad, some on us," he explained.
"But I got this 'ere bloomin' smash in the jawr, and that took up
so much o' me bally time I didn't pay no attention to no gas, you
believe _me_! I warsn't the only bloke lyin' there. They was a fair
lot o' our chaps near me.
"The snipin' was cruel. Some o' the poor blokes that was bloomin'
well shot already got 'it agin. I was jest thinkin' mine was comin'
when wot oh! 'ere comes three big Prooshuns, tall as 'ouses.
Good-day, Bill, says I to meself. You next! It'll be the butt for
_your_ nut from these 'ere lobsters.
"But not a bit. They ups with me and carts me over to a 'ouse.
Leastwys it _wor_ a 'ouse, wonct. An' wot do _you_ think! Them
Prooshuns give me a bloomin' fill o' cold coffee, like Christians!
"'Bout this time the Buffs was comin' on an' my Prooshuns had to skin
out, rapid. They didn't do nothin' to me only say, 'Ta-ta!' in Dutch.
The fire got so 'ot I crawled off down a crick-thing full of the
stinkinest stuff that ever got called water. I rounded around, after
a while, an' come up back o' them Buffs a little. They saw me and
bloomin' near shot my 'ead off, so I lay still.
"Then I crawled more. I 'ad got in front of some more o' our chaps
by then. Big 'uns was goin' orf right there, an' 'eads was down,
you bet. I was gettin' closer, when a fat-'ead sees me an' starts
shootin'. I 'ollered, an' the more I 'ollered the more 'e let off 'is
silly gun. 'E 'it my pore ol' cap, 'e did. Then some cuss shuts 'im
orf, an' they come out and gets me.
"'Who are you?' says a orficer chap. 'I'm damned if I know,' says I.
'I've been shot at by everybody I've seen all mornin', except three
big 'Uns.'
"'Mad,' says a cove, short-like. 'Send 'im in.'
"'An' 'ere I am, with no jawr much left.'
"'Humph,' commented the doctor as he walked away. 'Guess he could
stand the loss of some more jaw and not kill him. He seems to have
plenty left.'"
A more sinister story was told by a trooper shot through the thigh.
He said the Germans got into one of our trenches, in which they found
him and nine of his comrades. Five of the ten had been hit. The Huns
told the wounded to crawl away to as safe a place as they could find,
and they straightway wriggled off down the trench, as directed.
With a scowl on his face a big German said to the five unwounded men,
"We don't want _you_. Go!" He pointed his finger to the shell-swept
field that led toward the British reserve line. The five started on
a run, but had not gone far when the rat-tat-tat of a machine-gun
behind them commenced. In an instant the air was full of bullets.
Four of the five men fell dead. The fifth was the man who told the
story. He fell, he said, at the first sound of the quick-firer, and
thus escaped with a bullet through his leg.
Counter-attack followed counter-attack as the day wore on. We
launched a small one at 2.30 p.m., a larger one an hour later, and
a still larger one was planned for 6 o'clock. This last was to win
back the lost trenches around the Hooge Château, past the Bellewaarde
Lake, and on to the north.
The British guns cleared the way splendidly for the 6 o'clock
attack. "Mother" shells fell into a line of ruined houses near
Hooge. The Germans had placed several machine-guns there, and as the
9·2 projectiles knocked the bricks about their ears they scampered
out like chickens. A machine-gun not far away in the 9th Lancers'
trenches poured a hail of bullets into the Huns as they left cover,
and numbers were seen to fall.
The Royal Fusiliers were attacking, but when their line "got up,"
the advantage was lost, other enemy machine-guns had been brought
into the German trenches, and the attack "fizzled out," no real gain
having been made.
So night closed in. By 2 o'clock in the morning of the next day the
fresh 2nd Cavalry Division troopers had relieved the tired men of
the 1st Cavalry Division, who were once more brought back to the
Vlamertinghe huts.
The Cavalry had lost heavily, and was still to lose before the second
battle of Ypres was finished, though the ground won by the Huns on
the 24th of May marked their furthermost westerly advance.
The part played by the infantry in the second Ypres struggle was
greater, numerically, than that of the cavalry, but the work done by
the troopers was of inestimable value. Their resistance broke the
back of the enemy's onslaught at its most tense moments.
The work of the Queen's Bays on May 13th, and the 9th Lancers and
15th Hussars on May 24th, will long live in the annals of the British
Army.
The following officers were awarded the Distinguished Service
Order, the task of selection for the awards from so great a number
of instances of gallant conduct during these May days being a most
difficult one:--
Major George Harold Abseil Ing, 2nd Dragoon Guards (Queen's Bays). At
Ypres on May 13th, 1915, when the line was broken beyond the right
flank of his regiment, he came out of his trench in the front line,
stood on the road in the open under heavy shell-fire, stopped the
retirement of forty men of another unit, and turned them into his
section of the defence. The good results of his gallant action were
far-reaching.
Major Charles William Henry Crichton, 10th (Prince of Wales Own
Royal) Hussars. Near Ypres, on May 13th, 1915, showed conspicuous
gallantry and ability in collecting and rallying men who were
retiring under heavy shell-fire through the 10th Hussars' position.
In our counter-attack he continued to direct operations, giving
great encouragement to his men whilst he lay in the open under heavy
shell-fire with his leg shattered.
Captain John Grey Porter, 9th (Queen's Royal) Lancers. On May 10th,
1915, when a very heavy attack was made on the front line near Hooge,
Captain Porter went up to the infantry line there and brought back
very valuable information regarding the situation. On May 13th he
rendered the greatest possible assistance in taking messages under
terrific shell-fire to various parts of the line, and reporting on
various local situations. He set an example of coolness and total
disregard of danger that was beyond all praise. He has been twice
wounded previously in this campaign.
The following eight cavalry officers were awarded the Military Cross
for their work in the Salient:--
Captain Stewart Graham Menzies, D.S.O., 2nd Life Guards. Near Ypres,
on May 13th, 1915, after his Commanding Officer had been wounded,
displayed conspicuous ability, coolness and resource in controlling
the action of his regiment and rallying the men.
Captain Edward Archibald Ruggles-Brise, Essex Yeomanry, T.F. For
conspicuous gallantry and ability, near Ypres, on May 13th, 1915,
when he held a position gained in a counter-attack, although entirely
isolated, until ordered to withdraw at night. He had only fifty men
under his command.
Captain Guy Franklin Reynolds, 9th (Queen's Royal) Lancers. For
splendid work on May 24th, 1915, near Hooge. When the headquarters of
the 9th Lancers were gassed, he constantly brought reports from the
trenches under very heavy fire, and helped to reorganise the defence
of the left section. Also when the enemy attempted to enter Louave
Wood, he was invaluable in helping to reorganise the defence. He
set the finest possible example of calmness, coolness, and courage
although suffering from gas and twice slightly wounded.
Captain Charles Joseph Leicester Stanhope, 15th (The King's) Hussars.
For gallant and skillful handling of his squadron, near Hooge, on May
24th, 1915, with most valuable results. His squadron, having been
badly gassed, he took forward the remnants, together with stragglers
he collected, and on his own initiative, under very heavy shell-fire,
reinforced the front line. He remained in action all day, and when
the line on his left gave way he doubled back his flank with great
skill, and continued with the utmost gallantry to hold the position.
Lieutenant Kenneth Douglas Lorne Maclaine of Lochbuie, 15th (The
King's) Hussars (S.R.). Near Ypres, for good work in command of his
squadron under trying circumstances, on May 13th, 1915. For gallant
and skilful leading of a patrol on May 14th, by which he gained
information of great value. He volunteered to lead this patrol, and
pushed forward by day, a mile in front of our line, and returned
with a good report as to the actual line then held by the enemy.
For coolness, determination and skill in handling his squadron
under difficult circumstances near Hooge on May 24th, 1915. He had
been ordered up with his squadron to reinforce the left of another
cavalry regiment, when the line north of the Menin Road gave way,
and the situation became critical. Lieutenant Maclaine showed great
skill in taking up a new position, facing north and west to meet
the new situation, and maintained his position under most critical
circumstances until relieved at 2.15 the next morning. His action
contributed greatly towards maintaining intact the line south of the
road.
Lieutenant William Spurrett Fielding Johnson, Leicestershire
Yeomanry, T.F. For conspicuous gallantry near Ypres on May 13th,
1915. Was with Major Martin, and continued the action until the
squadron was reduced to thirteen men. Afterwards displayed great
coolness in withdrawing to a flank and joining a cavalry brigade.
Lieutenant James Archibald Garton, North Somerset Yeomanry, T.F. Near
Ypres on May 13th, 1915, showed great coolness and daring. Held his
position throughout the day, notwithstanding that the trenches had
been blown in, and inspired all ranks by his behaviour. After all
senior officers were killed or wounded, he assumed command of the
regiment, displaying great judgment and initiative throughout.
Lieutenant Nigel Kennedy Worthington, 3rd Dragoon Guards (S.R.). Near
Ypres on May 12th, 1915, showed great coolness and daring. He took
over a new line of trenches just before dark, and to get round the
line in daylight, he had to cross several open and fire-swept zones.
On May 13th, at great risk, he came back several times to report.
From the foregoing list of honours it would be unfair to omit the
Distinguished Service Order given for magnificent work a week after
the fight on May 24th, to Major Philip Granville Mason, of the 3rd
(Prince of Wales') Dragoon Guards. "Whilst in command of Hooge Fort
and the adjoining trenches," the official report read, "he showed
conspicuous gallantry and ability in holding the village and defence
line allotted to him, notwithstanding a terrific bombardment for
several hours every day from May 30th to June 2nd, 1915, in which
practically all his trenches and dug-outs were blown in."
On the 25th the regiments took stock of their losses and began the
work of refitting. I called at the headquarters of Colonel Burnett
of the 18th Hussars, hearing he was in a dangerous condition from gas
poisoning. No one was allowed to see him, and fears for his recovery
were expressed by those who attended him. Burnett was soon afterwards
sent home, where he was compelled to spend many long months of
convalescence before he was able to rejoin his regiment.
Acting Adjutant Hill, of the 18th Hussars, had not been able to make
out any accurate list of casualties. Two officers of the regiment
were known to have been killed by gas, and five others were wounded.
The killed, wounded and missing totalled nearly 190 out of less than
300. Many of the missing, it was hoped, would prove to have been
gassed but slightly, and be able soon to resume their duties.
As the sun went down that evening their comrades of the 9th Lancers
buried the bodies of Francis Grenfell and "Algy" Court.
Court's face wore a smile, as though he was quietly sleeping.
Grenfell, shot through the heart at the height of the battle, bore,
too, a look of deep peace, as if at last he had cheerfully gone to a
better country, to join his beloved brother "Rivy," from the shock of
whose death, on the Aisne, Francis had never recovered.
Staunch friends and fine men, both Grenfell and Court.
Whatever Peace may bring us, it can never replace the ones War has
taken.
But they have left behind them their example, and the memory of the
clean, young manhood that England gave, without stint, to fight for
the right. With that memory enshrined in the hearts of those they
have left behind, victory lies not with the grave, for such lives are
deathless.
At an early hour on the 26th of May, General de Lisle was apprised of
his appointment to the command of the 29th Division, which had won
splendid laurels under General Hunter Weston in the Dardanelles.
My long and pleasant association with de Lisle bade fair to close,
much to my regret.
In the course of conversation I told the General how sorry I was that
I was not to accompany him.
"I much wish that you were," said he. "I doubt if I can take you
to the Dardanelles; but if you care to come with me to London and
the War Office, I will do what I can to have you attached to my new
Division."
After a morning of racing back and forth between the front and St.
Omer, we sped to Boulogne, arriving in time to catch the afternoon
boat.
No one could have been kinder than General Long, the Director of
Supplies and Transport at the War Office. In his office, next
morning, I met General de Lisle; but General Long could only tell us
that "it will very likely be a long, long time before motor cars will
be required in the Dardanelles; and, as you know, Americans are not
eligible for commissions in the British Army, even should you apply
for one."
So back I went to General Headquarters in France, deeply sorry to
say "Good-bye" to General de Lisle and his magnificent 1st Cavalry
Division.
[Illustration: COPYRIGHT "GEOGRAPHIA" L^{TD}. _55 FLEET STREET LONDON
E C_]
INDEX.
Abele, 155, 181
Adeney, Gen., 205
Albert, King of the Belgians, 9, 11-12, 16-17
Alexander of Teck, Major Prince, 12
Algerian Brigade, 171
Allenby, Gen., 3, 185, 197, 219
Amiens, 122
Annesley, Capt. (10th Hussars), 92
Antwerp, 11
Arbuthnot, Gen. (C.R.A.), 255
Armentières, 188
Armstrong, Lieut. "Pat" (10th Hussars), 2
Arras, 186, 201
Auber Ridge, 184, 186, 199
Aubers, 107
Bailleul, 115
Barrett, "Rattle," 133, 249
Beale-Browne, Major (9th Lancers), 133, 265-6-7
Bellewaarde Lake, 188
Bell-Irving, Lieut., 66
Benson, Rex, 133, 178, 265
Bethune, 22
Bixschoote, 121, 137, 139
Black Watch, 83
Boeschoeppe, 18
Boesinghe, 139
Boulogne, 122
Bretherton, Capt. (Staff), 70
Bridges, Col. "Tom" (4th Hussars), 11, 12, 13, 16
Bridges, Mrs., 12
Brielen, 218
Briggs, Gen., 2, 66, 118, 149, 197, 237, 240-1
Broodseinde, 158
Brown, Lieut. (4th D.G.), 149
Browne, Col. (R.A.M.C.), 240, 281-2
Budworth, --, (R.A.), 155, 165, 167, 227-8
Buffs, The, 265
Bulfin, Gen., 91, 198
Burnett, Col. (18th Hussars), 148, 175, 239, 293-4
Byng, Gen. Sir Julian, 197
Calais, 115
Campbell, Gen. David, 233-4, 240
"Canadian Farm," The, 187, 220
Canadians, 50, 128, 140-1, 144, 151, 153, 156-7-8, 184
Cassel, 144
"Cavan's House," 58, 71, 77, 134
Chantilly, 122
Cheshires, 283
Coldstream Guards, 1st Bn., 83
Corbett, Major (18th Hussars), 239
Court, Capt. "Algy," (9th Lancers), 133-4, 136, 267, 294
Court, "Rivy," 294
Crichton, Major C. W. H. (10th Hussars), 289
Cummings, Col. (R.A.M.C.), 136
Davies, Gen., 105-6
De Lisle, Major-Gen. H. de B., 1, 9, 13, 16, 18 _et passim_
Dickebush, 118, 256
Dixmude, 13
Dorsets, 107
Douai, 187
Dragoons, 1st Royal, 221
Dragoons, Inniskilling, 177
Dragoons, 3rd, 221
Dragoon Guards, 2nd (Queen's Bays), 2, 98, 220, 229, 230,
233-4 _et seq._, 269 _et seq._, 288
Dragoon Guards, 3rd, 233, 246
Dragoon Guards, 4th, 2, 35, 149, 220, 261, 267
Dragoon Guards, 5th, 2, 220, 229, 230, 236 _et seq._, 261,
269 _et seq._
Drake, Lieut. (10th Hussars), 92
Dranoutre, 118
Du Cros, "Willie," 279
Dunkirk, 9, 17, 177
East Kents, 161
Ecke, 137
Edwards, Capt. Noel (9th Lancers), 267
Elverdinghe, 143-4, 146
Esquelbecq, 259
Estaires, 106, 115
Fergusson, Gen. Sir Chas., 2
Festubert, 189, 248
Fielding, Gen., 241
Fisher, Major "Bertie" (17th Lancers), 206
Fitzclarence, Gen., 84
Fitzgerald, Major Desmond (11th Hussars), 45, 95, 146, 207
Flying Corps, Royal, 214
Foch, Gen., 50, 122
French, Gen. Sir John, 2, 5, 11, 122, 128
Fresson, Capt., 23, 156
Fromelle-road, 200
Furnes, 10, 11
Fusiliers, Irish, 242
Fusiliers, Royal, 287
Garton, Lieut. J. A. (North Somerset Yeomanry), 292
Gaselee, Gen., 256
Gheluvelt, 83
Givenchy, 5
Godawaersvelde, 137
Gordon-Lennox, Lieut., 91
Gough, Gen. Hubert, 248
Graham, Alex., 133
Gravenstafel, 158
Grenfell, Capt. Francis (9th Lancers), 218, 267, 271, 294
Griffiths, Capt. (Brigade Major), 268
Gunter, Lieut., 274
Haig, General Sir Douglas, 2, 53, 85, 103, 108
Halte, The, 249, 252
Hambro, Major Percy (15th Hussars), 1, 23, 45
Hartman, Lieut. (11th Hussars), 271
Hazebrouck, 115, 142
Henderson, Gen., 3
Het-Sas, 139, 159, 162, 171
Highlanders, Argyll and Sutherland, 213
Hill, Actg. Adjt. (18th Hussars), 294
"Hill 60," 135-6-7, 276
Holdsworth, Capt. (18th Hussars), 148
Hollebeke Château, 256
Home, Col. "Sally" (11th Hussars), 1, 23, 58, 202
Hooge, 61, 75, 83, 95-6, 133, 271-2, 287
Hooge Château, 253, 264, 287
Hornby, "Jeff" (9th Lancers), 85, 133
Howard, Capt. Cecil (16th Lancers), 1, 74, 233
Hussars, 4th, 180
Hussars, 10th, 221, 234-5
Hussars, 11th, 2, 67, 213, 220, 230, 236, 238, 261, 269 _et seq._
Hussars, 15th, 129, 246, 261, 266-7-8, 288
Hussars, 18th, 2, 35, 184, 198, 220, 232, 240, 246, 258, 261 _et seq._
Hussars, 19th, 238, 261, 267-8
Hussars, Oxford, 277
Indian Cavalry, 128-140
Indian Corps, 128
Ing, Major H. A. (Bays), 288
Jelf, Major Wilfred (R.H.A.), 1
Joffre, Gen., 122
Johnson, Bulkeley, 233, 241
Johnson, Capt., 241
Johnson, Lieut. W. F. (Leicestershire Yeomanry), 292
Kaden, Lieut.-Col. (Hun), 123
Kavanagh, Gen., 247
Keating, Col. Father, 136
Keir, Gen., 260
Kemmel, 118, 122
Kennedy, Gen., 233, 240-1
Kitchener, Lord, 122-3
K.O.S.B.'s, 134
K.R.R. Cyclists, 254
La Bassée, 106-7, 121
Labyrinth, The, 201
La Clytte, 118-9
Lancashires, East, 232, 268
Lancashires, Loyal North, 83
Lancers, 5th, 180
Lancers, 9th, 2, 35, 134, 220, 232, 240, 246, 261-2, 264, 266-7,
269 _et seq._, 287-8
Lancers, 16th, 50, 278
Lancers, 19th, 129
Lancers, Sind, 177
Langemarck, 137, 139
La Quinque Rue, 248
Laventie, 106
Lawson, Col. "Algy" (Bays), 229
Lawson, Capt. (11th Hussars), 238, 273, 276
Lefebvre, Gen., 57, 97
Le Jeune, Capt. Baron, 119
Lemon, Sergt. (5th D.G.), 238
Lens, 201
Le Touquet, 116
Life Guards, 1st, 221, 229, 230, 233
Life Guards, 2nd, 221, 229, 230, 233
Lille, 107, 184-5
Lillers, 115
Lincolns, 107
Lizerne, 139, 153, 155-6-7, 159, 162, 168, 171
Lloyd, Capt. Hardress (4th D.G.), 1, 9, 10, 13, 16, 91, 189, 192, 194,
207, 224-5-6
Loch, Lord (Staff), 91, 198
Locre, 118, 198
Long, Gen. (W.O.), 296
Loos, 201
Louave Wood, 266, 272
Lowe, Gen., 116
Lumley, Gen., 116
Lumley, Lieut. (11th Hussars), 116
Lumsden, G. F. (A.S.C.), 183
Lunan, Lieut., 246
Lyne-Stephens, 142
Lys, River, 116, 188
Macfarlane, 198
MacLachlan, Capt. (18th Hussars), 263-4
Maclaine, Lieut. Kenneth (15th Hussars), 247, 291-2
Manchesters, The, 172
Mapplebeck, -- (R.F.C.), 130-1-2
Martin, Major, 292
Mason, Major P. G. (3rd D.G.), 293
Meakin, Gen., 197, 219, 224, 267
Menin Road and Bridge, The, 55, 58, _et passim_
Menzies, Capt. S. G. (2nd Life Guards), 290
Merville, 103, 115
Messines, 188
Meteren, 132
Mieville, -- (R.C.A.), 129
Milne, Lieut. (Bays), 270
Monro, Gen. C. C., 2
Moore, Major (Canadians), 140
Moore-Brabazon, -- (R.F.C.), 130
Moriarty, Capt. (R.A.M.C.), 66
Mullens, Brig.-Gen., 2, 85, 118, 179, 192, 217, 255, 280
Murray, Gen., 36
Neame, Capt. Bertram (18th Hussars), 147-8
Neuve Chapelle, 102, 107-8, _et seq._, 123, 184
Nicholson, Capt. "Babe" (15th Hussars), 74, 82-3-4-5, 83, _et seq._,
87, 89, 91-2-3, 149, 150, 225, 280
Nieppe, Forest of, 112
Nieuport-les-Bains, 10, 11, 13
Norrie, Capt. (5th D.G.), 236
Northcliffe, Lord, 18
Noyelles, 23, 24
O'Donnell, Surg.-Gen., 136
Osborne, Capt. (Brigade Major), 270
Paget, Capt. (Brigade Major), 280
Paris, 115
Passchendaele, 187
Pemberton, Max, 18
Peto, Capt. (10th Hussars), 92
Pilkem, 156, 162
Pilkington, Major (15th Hussars), 175
Pitman, Col. "Tommy" (11th Hussars), 66, 197, 219, 220, 267
Ploegsteert, 116, 122
Ploegsteert, Bois de, 117
Plumer, Gen. Sir Herbert, 3, 95, 185
Polygon Wood, 180
Pont Gal Joffre, 15
Poperinghe, 37, 133, 140, 143-4, 150-1, 173
Poole, Lieut., 279
Poona Horse, The, 177
Porter, Capt. J. G. (9th Lancers), 289
Potijze, 57, 189, 191-2, 202, 206, 227
"Princess Pat's," The, 136, 212
Pulteney, Gen., 2
Putz, Gen. (French Commander), 155, 178
Pypegaale, 163
R.A.M.C., 232
Rawlinson, Capt. Father, 136
Rawlinson, Gen. Sir Henry, 3, 200
Renton, -- (10th Hussars), 237
Reynolds, Capt. "Bimbo" (9th Lancers), 133, 266-7
Reynolds, Capt. G. F. (9th Lancers), 290
R.H.A. (H and I batteries), 165, 168
Richardson, Stewart, 239
Rifle Brigade, 107, 113, 114, 161
Rimington, Gen., 3
Royal Horse Guards (Blues), 221, 234-5, 244
Royals, 233, 246
Robertson, Gen., 36
Ross, Lady, 16
Rouge Croix, 107
Roulers, 188
Royal Engineers, 273
Ruggles-Brise, Capt. E. (Essex Yeomanry), 290
Sailly, 102
St. Eloi, 113
St. Julien, 141, 157, 172, 179
St. Leger, Major (Irish Guards) 132-3
St. Omer, 115, 122
Sanctuary Wood, 71, 188 _et passim_
Scots Guards, 4
Sewell, Major (4th D.G.), 240
Sherman, --, 179, 240
Skinner, Major (R.H.A.), 248, 255
Smith-Dorrien, Gen. Sir Horace, 2, 156, 185
Smith, Harold (R.A.C.), 129, 130
Snow, Gen. T. O'D., 18, 197, 199
Staffordshire Brigade, 115
Stanhope, Capt. C. J. L. (15th Hussars), 291
Steele, Major (R.A.M.C.), 119
Steenstraate, 139
Steenvoorde, 54, 144, 153
Territorials, Durham, 161
Territorials, London, 128
Territorials, Midlands, 128
Territorials, Northumberland, 128, 140, 161, 172, 184, 217, 241
Territorials, Warwickshire, 129, 227
Territorials, West Riding, 184
Territorials, East Yorkshire, 269
Territorials, York and Durham, 225
Territorials, York and Lancaster, 142, 266, 271
Territorials, York, 161
Thelus, 201
Thompson, Capt. T. O. (R.A.M.C.), 147
Thresher, Col., 136
Tirailleurs d'Afrique, 13
Tomkinson, Capt. "Mouse" ("Royals"), 1, 91
Tremayne, -- (19th Hussars), 238
Verbranden Molen, 135
Verlorenhoek, 188
Vermelles, 21-22, 29, 31, _et seq._
Vieux Berquin, 132
Vlamertinghe, 118, 211
Wales, Prince of, 36
Walker, Capt. (Staff), 118
Warren, Col. (A.P.O.), 136
Watts, Lce-Corporal, 238
Webb, Capt. (Signal Corps), 252
West Kents, 134
Weston, Gen. Hunter, 295
West Surreys, 83, 136
Wheeler, Capt. Bennie (15th Hussars), 74
Wieltje, 141
Willcocks, Gen. Sir Jas., 3
Williams, Romer, 133, 179, 213, 281
Wilson, Col. ("Blues"), 91
Wilson, Gen., 211
Wiltshires, 107
Woesten, 143, 146, 150
Wormhoudt, 176-7
Worthington, Lieut. N. K. (3rd D.G.), 293
Yeomanry, Essex, 221, 234, 245
Yeomanry, Leicestershire, 229, 230, 233, 246
Yeomanry, Northamptonshire, 108
Yeomanry, North Somerset, 233, 239, 246
Ypres, 43, 61, 189 _et passim_
Ypres Salient, 50, 133, 188 _et passim_
Zillebeke, 50, 69, 92, 134
Zonnebeke, 61
Zouaves, French Colonial, 169
LONDON: PRINTED BY WM. CLOWES AND SONS, LTD., DUKE ST., STAMFORD ST.,
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++With Generals French, Smith-Dorrien, and De Lisle in the Firing
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"From Mons to Ypres with French."
By FREDERIC COLEMAN,
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_50 Illustrations taken there. Sixth Large Printing now selling._
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++With Generals French, Smith-Dorrien, and De Lisle in the Firing
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"From Mons to Ypres with French."
By FREDERIC COLEMAN,
A Member of the R.A.C. Contingent at the Front.
_50 Illustrations taken there. Sixth Large Printing in hand._
_Crown 8vo., cloth, gilt, =6=/- net._
Mr. Coleman gives his actual experiences in the thick of the fighting
during the first four months of the War.
A REVIEW BY LORD CROMER.
_Reprinted with permission from "The Spectator," May 20th, 1916._
English politicians and journalists deserve some credit for the
manner in which they have dealt with the attitude assumed by the
United States of America during the present war. The policy pursued
by President Wilson has unquestionably caused some surprise and
disappointment on this side of the Atlantic. But the discussion has
always been characterized by great restraint. Language calculated to
wound the national susceptibilities of Americans has been studiously
avoided. By far the most severe of President Wilson's critics
have been his own countrymen. Several causes have contributed to
bring about this result. Of these, the most important has been the
fact that the genuine friendship entertained by most Englishmen
for their Transatlantic kinsmen has made them very reluctant to
criticize. Then, again, incipient criticism has been checked by
a feeling that we owe some atonement for the harsh judgment most
unfortunately passed by some sections of English society on American
policy during the great struggle of half-a-century ago; by a just
appreciation of the fact that, whatever we might think, Americans
are not only the sole, but also the best judges of the conduct of
their own Government; and by the reflection that the difficulties
which beset President Wilson cannot be fully realized on this side
of the Atlantic. But, in addition to these causes, there has been
another which has largely contributed to prevent any estrangement
between the two great branches of the Anglo-Saxon race. Englishmen,
although they have been somewhat astonished at the equanimity with
which the frequent German outrages against American life and property
have been endured, have never resented the neutral attitude adopted
by the United States Government; but they have felt that President
Wilson failed to rise to the situation, that he did not adequately
appreciate the extent to which the greatest democracy of the world
was interested in the struggle against absolutism, and that, without
any departure from an attitude of strict neutrality, a greater amount
of sympathy might have been displayed for those who are the champions
of progress and civilization against retrogression and an abhorrent
State morality. At the same time, they felt that the attitude of
official America did not accurately represent the real feelings and
sentiments of the American public, or at all events of that portion
of the public whose views were most entitled to respect. Hence, it
has resulted that the opinions expressed by individual Americans,
who were untrammelled by official responsibilities, have served as
a healthy antidote to the acts and language of their Government.
Amongst this class Mr. Frederic Coleman is entitled to occupy a
distinguished place. In the very spirited and graphic account
which he has written of his personal experiences with the British
Expeditionary Force in France, he speaks with no uncertain voice.
"Friends and readers," he says, "do not forget that most Americans
feel much the same as I feel about the war. An overwhelming majority
of those of my countrymen who know the truth would do what lies in
their power to further the success of the Allies and their righteous
cause." Moreover, he arraigns the criminal monarch who has been
instrumental in bringing about the greatest catastrophe the world has
ever witnessed before the bar of human and Divine justice. Speaking
of the gallant Grenfell twin brothers, both of whom were sacrificed
on the altar of German ambition, he uses words which should find a
responsive echo in many a sorely-stricken French and English home.
"Fine men of noble character, the Grenfells. Surely the monarch
responsible for a war that mows down the flower of the world's
manhood in the fulness of its youth must one day answer for his
crime, in this world or the next."
Mr. Coleman was not, as is usually the case with civilians who
are attached to an army in the field, constrained to keep out of
the fighting line. On the contrary, it is clear from his stirring
personal narrative that most of his time was passed within the
region in which a hail of "Black Marias," shrapnell shells, and
Mauser bullets has been asserting Germany's right to occupy "a place
in the sun" by slaughtering the youth of England, by devastating
the fair homesteads of France, and by reducing to ruins the sacred
buildings and historic monuments of which French soil is so prolific.
Mr. Coleman does not profess to write a history of the operations
of which he was a witness. He frequently dwells on a point which
is too often forgotten by those who read the accounts given by the
actors in the great struggle. It is that each individual can only
bear testimony to what passes before his own eyes. Very few are in
possession of information which would enable them to judge of the
relative importance of events. "No one," Mr. Coleman says, "would
imagine how little regimental officers, or Brigade commanders for
that matter, know of the broad plan of operations." But Mr. Coleman
provides us with a very vivid picture of what he himself saw, and
thus enables us to realize the general character which the war must
have assumed elsewhere.
Mr. Coleman joined the Expeditionary Force in August, 1914, about
the time when the retirement from Mons and its neighbourhood began.
His account of this operation is deeply interesting. It would be
altogether premature to discuss, and still more to criticize, the
strategy of which this movement was the outcome. Moreover, the
British commanders were in no way responsible for the early strategy
of the campaign. They merely had to make their military dispositions
conform to the requirements of the plan which had been already
elaborated and partially executed by the French General Staff, and
that plan necessitated a withdrawal from the advanced position
originally occupied by the British troops in Flanders. A retreat
does not necessarily connote permanent defeat or irretrievable
disaster. When the Duke of Wellington withdrew within the lines of
Torres Vedras, he did so deliberately in order to prepare for the
advance which eventually drove the invaders from Spanish territory.
It is greatly to be hoped that the history of Torres Vedras will
be repeated at Salonika. Nevertheless, retreat generally involves
at least a temporary check. It disheartens the rank-and-file of an
army, more especially if it is the sequel of some local success in
one portion of the field of operations. Describing the situation at
St. Quentin on August 27th, 1914, Mr. Coleman says: "An orderly,
well-disciplined army had been through a great fight. Its infantry,
unbeaten by the infantry that opposed it, had been ordered to retire.
'Gawd knows why,' hundreds of Tommies were saying.... Everything
tended to discouragement." Retreat, in the presence of an advancing
enemy, flushed with the full confidence of victory, is one of the
most delicate and difficult of military operations, and one also that
affords a crucial test of the discipline and morale of the retreating
force. To such an extent has this been recognized that the successful
retreats recorded in history have shed a very special degree of
lustre on those in command and on the troops whom they conducted.
After a lapse of twenty-three centuries, the account of the retreat
of the famous Ten Thousand after the battle of Cunaxa is still read
with undiminished interest and admiration. The operations of Jovian
after the crushing defeat inflicted on the Emperor Julian in Persia
are still cited as an instance of what can be accomplished by a
highly trained and well-disciplined army. Sir John Moore's retreat
to Corunna is another case in point, and the heroic action of Ney's
rearguard during the retreat from Moscow, although it could not avert
disaster, nobly redeemed the honour of the French Army. The retreat
of the British force from Mons should find an honoured place side by
side with these celebrated episodes.
Good leadership was not wanting. Smith-Dorrien, Haig, and others
deserved well of their country. But the honours of the day lay mainly
with the regimental officers and men. "The very air," Mr. Coleman
says, "was full of unostentatious heroism." He was told to "cheer
the men up" as they straggled, ragged, muddy, and footsore, past
him. He soon found that "many of us had been labouring under a great
delusion. It was not that some one was needed to cheer up the Tommy;
it was that most of us needed the Tommies to cheer _us_ up." An
Irishman came by with a hole drilled through the lobe of his ear by
a Mauser bullet. "Close that, I'm thinkin'," said the proud owner of
the damaged member, "and I niver knew how close me ear was to me head
till that thing come along." The following story also illustrates
the spirit of the men, and shows what a capable officer with an
innate genius for leadership can do in very difficult circumstances.
Major Bridges, of the 4th Dragoon Guards, found a couple of hundred
men of various detachments seated on the pavement in the square at
St. Quentin in a state of complete exhaustion. They had been for
thirty-six hours without food or sleep. He at once recognized that
"no peremptory order, no gentle request, no clever cajolery would
suffice." He therefore went into a toy-shop and bought a toy drum
and a penny whistle. Then he asked the trumpeter whether he could
play "The British Grenadiers." "Sure, Sir," was the reply. So the
trumpeter whistled, and the gallant Major drummed vigorously. "The
spark caught! Some with tears in their eyes, some with a roar of
laughter, jumped to their feet and fell in. The weary feet, sore
and bruised, tramped the hard cobbles unconscious of their pain.
Stiffened limbs answered to the call of newly awakened wills.... 'Go
on, Colonel! we'll follow you to hell,' sings out a brawny Irishman
behind, who can just hobble along on his torn feet."
Instances of this sort, showing "the indomitable will and the
unconquerable power of the Anglo-Saxon," abound in Mr. Coleman's
pages. A wounded officer with a shot through his shoulder murmurs
"'Only a scratch,' with an attempt at a smile as he passes on." Major
Budworth, of the Royal Horse Artillery, visits his wounded men.
"'Promise, Sir, that I can come back to H Battery when I am right,'
was the one thing they had to ask, the one desire of their hearts."
"The General [Lawford]," a young officer said, "plugged on ahead
of all of us, waving a big white stick over his head and shouting
like a banshee. There was no stopping him. He fairly walked into the
Germans, and we after him on the run.... How Lawford escaped being
hit is more than any one can tell. I can see him now, his big stick
waving in the air, and he shouting and yelling away like mad, though
you couldn't hear a word of what he said above the sinful noise. My
Sam, he did yell at us! Wonder what he said?" Lord Cavan, Mr. Coleman
tells us, "was almost a demi-god in the eyes of his devoted men."
He also speaks of the bravery of young Chance, of the 4th Dragoon
Guards, and adds: "Truly an army containing a multitude of youths of
that mould may well be termed invincible." "Ah!" said one "grizzled
Brigadier," with the tears rolling down his cheeks, "they may be able
to _kill_ such men, but they will never be able to _beat_ them."
Experience has proved that in time of war, to whatever height
passions may be aroused amongst non-combatants, national animosity
amongst the actual combatants is to some extent tempered by the
admiration and respect which all brave men feel for foemen worthy of
their steel. Mr. Coleman quotes a letter written by a German officer
to a friend in Zürich, in which he said: "If we Germans were given to
understand formerly that the English soldiers were not to be feared,
then that idea may now be banished from our minds, for the general
opinion of those who have fought against them in these districts is
that one Englishman is more dangerous than any two of the Allies."
On the other hand, an English trooper, speaking to Mr. Coleman of
the fight at Messines, said: "They was plucky beggars, if they _was_
Germans. _I_ don't want to see no pluckier. They've been killed off
like pigs up there, in that town, and they keep on comin'. They fight
stiff, that lot--they fight damn stiff!"
When the day of peace returns, and we again relapse into the state
when possibly "God will be forgotten and the soldier slighted," let
us endeavour to remember that, if the world is not dominated by the
mail-fisted Kaiser, who has converted the half of Europe into a
shambles, the delivery is due to the French _poilus_, to the British
"Tommies," and to their officers, whose countless graves studded
over the bloodstained fields of Flanders bear ample testimony to
their heroism. And let it also be remembered that the hordes of poor
German peasants and artisans who were driven to the slaughter by the
politicians of Berlin also possessed some virtues. They fought in a
bad cause, which was not that of progressive civilization and which
was never truly explained to them, but they fought "damn stiff."
LONDON
SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON & CO., LIMITED
OVERY HOUSE. 100, SOUTHWARK STREET
TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE
Italic text is denoted by _underscores_.
Bold text is denoted by =equal signs=.
Text that is both underlined and italic is denoted
by ++double plus signs++.
The right-pointing finger symbol is denoted by ==>.
The left-pointing finger symbol is denoted by <==.
A superscript is denoted by ^{x}; for example, L^{TD}.
Page references in the Illustration captions, eg "_face p. 8_", have
been removed.
Obvious typographical errors and punctuation errors have been
corrected after careful comparison with other occurrences within
the text and consultation of external sources.
Except for those changes noted below, all misspellings in the text,
and inconsistent or archaic usage, have been retained. For example,
crossroad, cross-road, cross road; battlefield, battle-field;
debouching; enkindled.
Pg 272, 'Beale-Brown is in' replaced by 'Beale-Browne is in'.
Index: 'Menin-road and Bridge' replaced by 'Menin Road and Bridge'.
End of Project Gutenberg's With Cavalry in 1915, by Frederic Coleman