MAY TO SEPTEMBER 1915 (2ND BATTALION)
[Sidenote: 2nd Batt. May 1915.]
During the remainder of May the Battalion remained in billets at La
Pugnoy and later at Vendin. On the 24th it was inspected by General
Horne, and turned out looking very smart. At the conclusion of the
inspection the General addressed it, and said that he wished to convey
to it the hearty thanks of the Corps Commander, Lieut.-General Sir C.
Monro, as well as his own, for all the good work done by the Battalion
during the past five months. Whether it was in billets, where its
discipline, good behaviour, and smartness had been an example to the
Army, or in the trenches, where it had endured hardships such as few
troops had been called upon to bear, or in action against the enemy, the
conduct of the Battalion had been all that could be desired. More than
that he could not say. They had to deplore the death of their gallant
Commanding Officer, whose loss was mourned by all who knew him, but no
losses must deter them, and it was their duty to prosecute the war with
the utmost energy, until the German Empire lay at the feet of England
and her Allies.
On the 31st the Battalion marched with the Irish Guards and the 11th
Field Company, R.E., under Major Jeffreys to Noeux les Mines _via_
Bethune. The Prince of Wales and Lord Claud Hamilton marched with it
most of the way. Some shelling took place _en route_, and it turned out
that the enemy's fire, which seemed unaccountably accurate, was being
directed by an observation balloon which could be seen behind his lines.
As the Battalion moved into its billets the enemy commenced to shell the
town, and succeeded in destroying some houses and wounding a few
civilians.
On the 25th a draft of 120 men under Second Lieutenant H. A. Clive
arrived, and on the 31st Second Lieutenant E. R. M. Fryer joined the
Battalion.
[Sidenote: June.]
During June the Battalion spent alternately two days in the trenches and
two days in billets. The billets were at Sailly-la-Bourse, and the
trenches at first near Auchy and afterwards at Vermelles.
Every precaution against gas attacks was taken, and an order was issued
to the effect that a G on the bugle was to be the signal to prepare for
gas. As the Battalion at that time had only two buglers owing to the
casualties and the boys who had been sent home sick, the order was
difficult to carry out, but men were found who, without being musicians,
were at least able to produce the desired note on the bugle.
The trenches at Auchy were indifferent, and required a great deal of
attention, but those at Vermelles were much better. The great difficulty
the men had to contend with at both places was the high crops and long
grass which had grown up quite close to the line, and which not only
impeded the view, but also provided cover which might be used by the
enemy. During the day it was an absolute impossibility for the men to go
out and cope with this difficulty, but at night parties were sent out to
cut down the crops. The men after working for an hour or so at this work
seemed to lose all sense of direction, and when an alarm was given they
had no idea in which direction their own trenches lay. It often happened
that men would wander off towards the German lines under the impression
they were going home. On several occasions when the enemy became aware
of any large numbers of men working out in front they would open a heavy
rifle-fire on them. All the men in the working party would then at once
lie down and wait until the fire subsided; but on one occasion the
Germans showed no inclination to cease firing, and the party had to be
withdrawn. They crawled back slowly, being guided by Captain Cavendish,
who held up his luminous watch to show them the right direction. Every
night there were a few casualties, and on the 7th Lieutenant R. S.
Corkran who had just gone out with one of these parties was severely
wounded by a rifle bullet in the thigh, and died a few days later.
On the 29th Brigadier-General the Earl of Cavan was promoted, and left
to take over command of the Fiftieth Division. He was succeeded by
Brigadier-General G. P. T. Feilding, who had commanded the 2nd Battalion
Coldstream Guards since the commencement of the war, and who had gained
a great reputation during the last twelve months' fighting.
[Sidenote: July.]
On the 28th the Battalion changed its billets from Sailly-la-Bourse to
Oblingham, and on July 1 to Annezin. On the 5th it went into the
trenches at Annequin in precisely the same part of the line it had
occupied in January and February, when hundreds of men had been killed.
The trenches were in a hollow, which was generally known as the Valley
of Death, and were in a very bad condition. Little seemed to have been
done to them since the Battalion was last there, and in many places the
parapet was too high and not bullet-proof. The Battalion therefore set
to work to improve them, and a company of the Queen's Regiment from the
Corps troops was sent up to help. This seemed the height of luxury to
the men, who were unaccustomed to having other people digging their
trenches.
On July 2 Second Lieutenant H. F. C. Crookshank arrived, and on the
5th Second Lieutenant E. H. Noble, Second Lieutenant M. A.
Knatchbull-Hugessen, and Second Lieutenant E. W. M. Grigg joined the
Battalion.
On the 15th the Battalion took over the trenches at Guinchy, spending
alternately two days in the trenches and two days in billets at Bethune.
On the 21st it went into Brigade Reserve, and remained for a week at
Bethune, and on the 28th moved into billets at Le Preol, and acted as
reserve Battalion to the troops in the trenches at Givenchy.
At Cuinchy, in addition to the regular shelling, the Germans employed
their new type of Minenwerfer, from which they fired large bombs, but
their effect was local, and as the men were able to see them coming,
they did little damage. Once a large wooden bomb landed in a trench
without exploding, and was carried off as a souvenir by two
stretcher-bearers, who happened to be passing. On the 18th the enemy
began shelling Bethune, and continued for nearly a week, which made the
men's two days' rest in billets a farce. The shells came screaming and
roaring into the town, and terrific explosions followed. The enemy of
course had no difficulty in hitting the town and shelling the houses,
but it was merely a matter of chance how many men were hit. The shells
were at first directed on the railway station, but beyond causing a
complete suspension of traffic they did little harm, and there were few
casualties. On the 22nd the bombardments became more searching, and many
men were killed. The Inniskilling Fusiliers alone lost seventy men that
day. The Grenadiers were more lucky, and at first escaped with little
loss, but on the 24th some men were wounded and nineteen horses were
killed.
[Illustration: Officers of the Second Battalion Grenadier Guards.]
On the 20th Captain Derriman who had been appointed Staff Captain to the
4th Brigade was very seriously wounded, and although he was moved down
to the base, he never recovered, and died some time afterwards. The
pluck he had shown in coming out in spite of a stiff knee which made him
lame, and the dogged manner in which he had persisted in serving with
the Battalion in the trenches until he was placed on the Staff aroused
the admiration of every one.
On the 18th Lieut.-General Gough, the new Commander of the First Corps,
Major-General Horne commanding the Second Division, and
Brigadier-General G. Feilding commanding the 4th Brigade paid a visit to
the Battalion, and went round the trenches at Cuinchy.
[Sidenote: Aug.]
During the first fortnight in August the Battalion followed the same
routine, spending two days in the trenches at Givenchy followed by two
days in billets at Le Preol. Mining operations were begun on a large
scale by both sides. It was assumed that as an advance above ground in
the face of machine-gun fire was too costly, the only other alternative
was to advance under ground and blow up the enemy's parapet. In the
craters made by the explosion of the mines men were then pushed, and the
position was consolidated. The advantage of this subterranean method of
warfare was that the men were safe from rifle- and shell-fire while they
were working, but there was always the danger of a counter-mine which
meant being buried alive.
On the 2nd the Battalion exploded three mines successfully near Sunken
Road, and in doing this blew in some of the enemy's galleries, and that
night the Irish Guards exploded three more mines. In each case the
positions were consolidated after much bomb-throwing, but the occupation
of the craters was always difficult, on account of the bombs from the
enemy's Minenwerfer.
On the 5th Brigadier-General Feilding and the Prince of Wales came round
the trenches, and inspected the sap-heads and craters.
On the 6th in the early morning the enemy exploded two mines in the
orchard near the shrine. At the time Captain Clive and Second Lieutenant
Crookshank were taking out a working party, and had they gone a little
farther, all the men must inevitably have been killed, but fortunately
they were just short of where the mine exploded. The whole ground moved
up in one great convulsion, and when it settled down several men were
completely buried. Captain Clive himself was severely cut and bruised by
the mass of debris that was blown past him, and after being shot up in
the air he came down so doubled up that his teeth were nearly knocked
out by his knees. Second Lieutenant Crookshank was completely buried in
about four feet of earth, and would inevitably have died had not Captain
Clive remembered where he stood before the explosion, and directed the
men to search for him. When he was finally dug out it was found that
beyond a few bruises and the inevitable shock from the explosion he was
not hurt. He was sent back to the dressing-station, but pluckily
insisted on returning to his Company in the evening. One N.C.O. was
killed by the explosion, and eighteen men who had been buried were sent
back suffering from shock and contusions. The work of digging out these
men was much retarded by the constant rifle-fire from the enemy's
trenches, and the enemy's guns also commenced shelling the neighbourhood
of the craters, but were not accurate enough to prevent our
consolidating the position.
These two mines wrecked the trench connecting our sap-heads and filled
in parts of the saps with debris. The Battalion received orders at once
to reoccupy the sap-heads and dig out the saps again. On the 5th
Lieutenant D. Abel-Smith was slightly wounded.
On the 7th a draft of drummers arrived, and proved a great acquisition.
When the Battalion was in billets at Le Preol, they played "Retreat" in
the village street, much to the delight of the remaining inhabitants. On
the 10th the enemy again exploded two mines near the Sunken Road,
destroying some of their own wire, and the explosion formed a new crater
on the northern side of a crater known as "Bluff." Second Lieutenant
Hon. G. S. Bailey was killed by a bomb, and Lieutenant A. V. L. Corry
was badly wounded. The casualties from mining and bombing in addition to
those from rifle-fire and shells were very heavy while the Battalion was
at Givenchy, and the digging was most unpleasant on account of the
bodies thrown up by mine explosions. On the 12th Lieutenant E. G.
Williams was accidentally killed in the Trench Mortar School at St.
Venant, where he was undergoing a course of instruction.
Some ten days later the following order was published:
The Commander-in-Chief has intimated that he has read with great
interest and satisfaction the report of the mining operations and
crater fighting which have taken place in the Second Division area
during the last two months. He desires that his high appreciation of
the good work performed be conveyed to the troops, especially to the
170th and 176th Tunnelling Companies, R.E., the 2nd Battalion
Grenadier Guards, the 1st Battalion Irish Guards, the 1st Battalion
King's Royal Rifles, 2nd Battalion South Staffordshire Regiment.
The 4th Brigade now received orders to join the newly formed Guards
Division.
On the 18th, before their departure, the officers of the 2nd Battalion
Grenadiers entertained General Horne, Brigadier-General Feilding, the
Commanding Officers of the other regiments in the 4th Brigade, and the
principal Staff Officers of the Second Division at dinner in the house
of Madame Richepin, who placed all her plate, china, and glass at the
disposal of the officers' mess.
The following order was published by Major-General H. S. Horne, C.B.,
commanding the Second Division:
The 4th Guards Brigade leaves the Second Division to-morrow. The
G.O.C. speaks not only for himself but for every officer,
non-commissioned officer, and man of the Division when he expresses
sorrow that certain changes in organisation have rendered necessary
the severance of ties of comradeship commenced in peace and cemented
in war.
For the past year by gallantry, devotion to duty, and sacrifice in
battle and in the trenches, the Brigade has maintained the high
tradition of His Majesty's Guards, and equally by thorough
performance of duties, strict discipline, and the exhibition of many
soldier-like qualities has set an example for smartness which has
tended to raise the standard and elevate the moral of all with whom
it has been associated.
Major-General Horne parts from Brigadier-General Feilding, the
officers, non-commissioned officers, and men of the 4th Guards
Brigade with lively regret. He thanks them for their loyal support,
and he wishes them good fortune in the future.
[Sidenote: Aug. 19.]
On the 19th the 4th Brigade, including the 2nd Battalion Grenadiers,
left the Second Division to join the newly formed Guards Division, and
marched about ten miles to Ham-en-Artois. It was a sort of triumphal
progress, and Major-General Horne and the other two Brigadiers came to
see them off while detachments from every unit in the Division lined the
road. The Divisional Band played them as far as Lillers, and on the way
they were joined by Major-General Lord Cavan accompanied by Major
Darrell and Lieutenant Oliver Lyttelton.
[Sidenote: Aug. 20.]
On the 20th the Brigade proceeded to Renescure, and as it passed by the
south of Aire it marched past General Sir Douglas Haig commanding the
First Army. In the evening the following order was published by Sir
Douglas Haig:
The 4th Guards Brigade leaves my command to-day after over a year of
active service in the field. During that time the Brigade has taken
part in military operations of the most diverse kinds and under very
varied conditions of country and weather, and throughout have
displayed the greatest fortitude, tenacity, and resolution. I desire
to place on record my high appreciation of the services rendered by
the Brigade and my grateful thanks for the devoted assistance which
one and all have given me during a year of strenuous work.
(Signed) D. HAIG,
Commanding First Army.
On the 21st the Brigade marched past Field-Marshal Sir John French in
the big square at St. Omer, and presented a very fine appearance. So
smart did it look that many of the onlookers were under the impression
that it had just come out from England, and one man in the crowd was
heard to say as the Grenadiers went past: "Wait till you've been in the
trenches a bit, then you won't look so clean and smart, my boys."
In the evening the 4th Brigade received the following message:
The Commander-in-Chief wishes to thank all ranks for the splendid
services they have rendered. He is much impressed by their
soldier-like bearing, and very much regrets that owing to pressure
of work he is unable himself to come and visit all units and speak
to them himself.
After marching for several days the Battalion arrived at Campagne les
Boulonnais, where it joined the rest of the Guards Division, and
remained until September 22.
On August 21 Second Lieutenant the Hon. W. A. D. Parnell, and on the
24th Second Lieutenant H. G. W. Sandeman joined the Battalion.