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THE STORY OF THE 2/4TH OXFORDSHIRE & BUCKINGHAMSHIRE LIGHT INFANTRY
by
CAPTAIN G. K. ROSE, M.C.
With a Preface by _Brig. Genl. the Hon. R. WHITE, C.B., C.M.G., D.S.O.
(late Commander 184th Infantry Brigade)
And an Introduction by Colonel W. H. AMES, T.D.
With Maps and Illustrations by the Author
[Illustration: A soldier of the 2/4th Oxfordshire
and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry]
Oxford
B. H. Blackwell, Broad Street
MCMXX
LIST OF PLATES
A Soldier of the Battalion _Frontispiece_
Colonel W. H. Ames, T.D. _Facing page_ 1
Pay-day for 'A' Company " " 4
Robecq from the South " " 18
Brigadier-General the Hon. R. White, C.B. 48
A Front-line Post 68
Company Sergeant-Major E. Brooks, V.C. 100
Vlamertinghe--The Road to Ypres 128
Hill 35, from an aeroplane photograph 136
A Street in Arras 144
'Tank Dump' 146
In a German gun-pit near Gavrelle 150
The Canal du Nord at Ypres 154
Lieut.-Colonel H. E. de R. Wetherall, D.S.O., M.C. 168
Robecq. Old Mill and Bridge 185
The Headquarters Runners, July, 1918 198
Corporal A. Wilcox, V.C. 214
Officers of the Battalion, December, 1918 219
184th Infantry Brigade Staff 219
The Adjutant. Cambrai. The Battalion Cooks 220
Lieut.-Colonel E. M. Woulfe-Flanagan, C.M.G., D.S.O.
R.S.M. W. Hedley, D.C.M.
R.Q.M.S. Hedges 220
ILLUSTRATIONS IN THE TEXT
Winchester Trench 11
The March to the Somme 21
Somme Trench Map 36
Maison Ponthieu 45
Harbonnières 50
The Ablaincourt Sector 57
A Duckboarded Communication Trench 72
The Advance to St. Quentin 82
The Raid near St. Quentin 94
Arras: The Grande Place 110
Noeux Village 113
Poperinghe from the West 119
The Attack of August 22, 1917 124
The Attack on Hill 35 132
The Retreat behind the Somme 166
Bird's-eye Map of the Robecq Area 180
The Nieppe Forest 202
Merville Church 206
Battalion H.Q. at Chapelle Boom 209
CONTENTS
PAGE
INTRODUCTION 1
Chapter I. LAVENTIE, May to October, 1916 8
The 61st Division lands in France.--Instruction.--The
Laventie sector.--Trench warfare at its height.--Moberly
wounded.--B Company's raid.--Front and back areas.--July
19.--Changes in the Battalion.--A Company's raid.--A
projected attack.--Laventie days.--Departure for the Somme.
Chapter II. THE SOMME BATTLEFIELD, November, 1916 19
Departure from Laventie.--At Robecq.--The march southwards.
--Rest at Neuvillette.--Contay Wood.--Albert.--New
trenches.--Battle conditions.--Relieving the front line.--
Desire Trench.--Regina dug-out.--Mud and darkness.--A heavy
barrage.--Fortunes of Headquarters.--A painful relief.--
Martinsart Wood.
Chapter III. CHRISTMAS ON THE SOMME,
December, 1916 33
The move from Martinsart to Hedauville.--Back to Martinsart.--
Working parties.--Dug-outs at Mouquet Farm.--Field Trench.--
Return to the front line.--Getting touch.--Guides.--An
historic patrol.--Christmas in the trenches.
Chapter IV. AT MAISON PONTHIEU, January-February, 1917 42
Visitors to the Battalion.--The New Year.--A wintry march.--
Arrival at Maison Ponthieu.--Severe weather.--At war with the
cold.--Training for offensive action.--By rail to Marcelçave.
--Billets at Rainecourt.--Reconnoitring the French line near
Deniécourt.
Chapter V. IN THE ABLAINCOURT SECTOR, February, 1917 53
German retreat foreshadowed.--The Battalion takes over the
Ablaincourt Sector.--Issues in the making.--Lieutenant Fry
mortally wounded.--The raid by German storm-troops on February
28.--The raid explained.
Chapter VI. LIFE IN THE FRONT LINE, Winter, 1916-1917 67
Ignorance of civilians and non-combatants.--The front line
posts.--Hardships and dangers.--Support platoons.--The
Company Officers.--The Battalion relieved by the 182nd Brigade.
Chapter VII. THE ADVANCE TO ST. QUENTIN,
March to April, 1917 77
The enemy's retirement.--Road-mending in No-Man's-Land.--The
devastated area.--Open warfare.--The Montolu campaign.--
Operations on the Omignon river.--The 61st Division relieved
before St. Quentin.--End of trench-warfare.
Chapter VIII. THE RAID AT FAYET, April, 1917 89
A German vantage-point.--Shell-ridden Holnon.--A night of
confusion.--Preparing for the raid of April 28.--The enemy
taken by surprise.--The Battalion's first V.C.--The affair at
Cepy Farm.
Chapter IX. ARRAS AND AFTERWARDS,
May, June, July, 1917 103
Relief by the French at St. Quentin.--A new Commanding Officer.
--At the Battle of Arras.--Useful work by A Company.--
Harassing fire.--A cave-dwelling.--At Bernaville and Noeux.
--In G.H.Q. reserve.--A gas alarm by General Hunter Weston.--
The Ypres arena.
Chapter X. THE THIRD BATTLE OF YPRES, August, 1917 116
A Battalion landmark.--Poperinghe and Ypres.--At Goldfish
Château.--The attack near St. Julien on August 22.--Its
results.--A mud-locked battle.--The back-area.--Mustard
gas.--Pill-box warfare.
Chapter XI. THE ATTACK ON HILL 35, September, 1917 132
Iberian, Hill 35, and Gallipoli.--The Battalion ordered to make
the seventh attempt against Hill 35.--The task.--A and D
Companies selected.--The assembly position.--Gassed by our
own side.--Waiting for zero.--The attack.--Considerations
governing its failure.--The Battalion quits the Ypres
battlefield.
Chapter XII. AUTUMN AT ARRAS AND THE MOVE TO CAMBRAI,
October, November, December, 1917 142
The Battalion's return to Arras.--A quiet front.--The
Brigadier and his staff.--A novelty in tactics.--B Company's
raid.--A sudden move.--The Cambrai front.--Havrincourt
Wood.--Christmas at Suzanne.
Chapter XIII. THE GREAT GERMAN ATTACK OF MARCH 21,
January-March, 1918 156
The French relieved on the St. Quentin front.--The calm before
the storm.--A golden age.--The Warwick raid.--The German
attack launched.--Defence of Enghien Redoubt.--Counter-attack
by the Royal Berks.--Holnon Wood lost.--The battle for the
Beauvoir line.--The enemy breaks through.
Chapter XIV. THE BRITISH RETREAT, March, 1918 165
Rear-guard actions.--The Somme crossings.--Bennett relieved
by the 20th Division at Voyennes.--Davenport with mixed troops
ordered to counter-attack at Ham.--Davenport killed.--The
enemy crosses the Somme.--The stand by the 184th Infantry
Brigade at Nesle.--Colonel Wetherall wounded.--Counter-attack
against La Motte.--Bennett captured.--The Battalion's
sacrifice in the great battle.
Chapter XV. THE BATTLE OF THE LYS, April-May, 1918 173
Effects of the German offensive.--The Battalion amalgamated
with the Bucks.--Entrainment for the Merville area.--A
dramatic journey.--The enemy break-through on the Lys.--The
The Battalion marches into action.--The defence of Robecq.--
Operations of April 12, 13, 14.--The fight for Baquerolle Farm.
--A troublesome flank.--Billeted in St. Venant.--The lunatic
asylum.--La Pierrière.--The Robecq sector.
Chapter XVI. THE TURNING OF THE TIDE,
May, June, July, August, 1918 192
Rations and the Battalion Transport.--At La Lacque.--The
bombing of Aire.--General Mackenzie obliged by his wound to
leave the Division.--Return of Colonel Wetherall.--Tripp's
Farm on fire.--A mysterious epidemic.--A period of wandering.
--The march from Pont Asquin to St. Hilaire.--Nieppe Forest.
--Attack by A and B Companies on August 7.--Headquarters
gassed.--A new Colonel.--The Battalion goes a-reaping.
Chapter XVII. LAST BATTLES, August to December, 1918 208
German retreat from the Lys.--Orderly Room and its staff.--
The new devastated area.--Itchin Farm, Merville and Neuf
Berquin.--Mines and booby-traps.--Advance to the Lys.--
Estaires destroyed.--Laventie revisited.--The attack on
Junction Post.--Lance-Corporal Wilcox, V.C.--Scavenging at
the XI Corps school.--On the Aubers ridge.--The end in sight.
--Move to Cambrai.--In action near Bermerain and Maresches.--
A fine success.--Domart and Demobilisation.--Work at Etaples.
--Off to Egypt.
Composition of the Battalion on going Overseas 221
" " " at the Armistice 222
Index 223
AUTHOR'S PREFACE
My cordial thanks are due to my old Brigadier for his kindness and
trouble in writing the Preface, and also to Colonel Ames for
contributing the Introduction.
From many friends in the Regiment I have received information and
assistance.
This book is based on a series of articles, which appeared in the
_Oxford Times_ during the summer of 1919. The project, of which this
volume is the outcome, was assisted by that newspaper and by the
courtesy of its staff.
G. K. ROSE.
Oxford, November 1919.
PREFACE
My friend, Major G. K. Rose, has set out to describe the doings of the
2/4th Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry during the Great
War.
If I judge his purpose rightly, he designs to paint without
exaggeration and without depreciation a picture which shall recall not
only now, but more especially in the days to come, the wonderful years
during which we ceased to be individuals pursuing the ordinary
avocations of life and became indeed a band of brothers, linked
together in a common cause and inspired, however subconsciously, by
one common hope and interest. If I am correct in my surmise, then I
think that Major Rose has written particularly for his comrades of the
2/4th Oxfords and, in a wider sense, of the 184th Infantry Brigade and
the 61st Division. And in doing this he seems to me to be performing a
great service.
Unfettered by the necessity of drawing an attractive picture and of
appealing to the natural desire of the general reader for dramatic and
sensational episode, he can rely on his readers to fill in for
themselves the emotional and psychological aspects of the narrative.
We, his comrades, have but to turn the pages of his story to live
again those marvellous days and to feel the hopes and fears, the
pathos and the fun, the excitement and the weariness, and the hundred
other emotions which gave to life in the Great War a sense of
adventure which we can hardly hope to savour again.
It is perhaps right that those who through poor health, age, bad
luck or other causes, were unable to leave home and take an active
part in the life of the front line, should generously speak of their
more fortunate compatriots as 'heroes.' The term is somewhat freely
used in these days. I am, however, happy to think that the British
officer and soldier is not apt to consider himself in that light and
has, indeed, a distinct aversion from being so described. Rather does
he pride himself, in his quiet way, on his light-hearted and stoical
indifference to danger and discomfort and his power to see the comical
and cheery side of even the most appalling incidents in war. Long may
this be so.
Viewed in this light, Major Rose's book will in after years give a
true picture of the experiences of an English Territorial Battalion in
the 'Great Adventure.' Shorn of fictitious glamour, events are
narrated as they presented themselves to the regimental officers,
non-commissioned officers, and men who bore the heat and burden of the
day.
Having said so much, I may be allowed to think that Major Rose is
almost too reticent and modest as regards the splendid record of his
Battalion.
After the 'big push' of July, 1916, on the Somme, I had the honour to
be promoted to the command of the 184th Infantry Brigade, 61st
Division. In September I found the Brigade occupying a portion of the
line in front of Laventie, just north of Neuve Chapelle. The 61st
Division, recently landed from England and before it had had time to
'feel its feet,' had to be pushed into an attack against the enemy's
position in front of the Aubers ridge. In this attack it suffered
severe losses. The Division, naturally, was burning to 'get its own
back.' Unfortunately it had for some weeks to content itself with
routine work in the Flanders trenches.
In this connection I may remark that the 61st Division had an unduly
large share of the 'dirty work' of demonstrations, secondary
operations, and taking over and holding nasty parts of the line. Those
who have been through this mill will sympathise, knowing how credit
was apt to go to those who took part in the first 'big push' rather
than to the luckless ones who had to relieve attacking divisions and
take over the so-called trenches which had been won from the enemy.
Those trenches had to be consolidated under a constant and accurate
bombardment. However, grumbling was not the order of the day, and
during the last year of the war the 61st Division came into its own.
It received in frequent mentions and thanks from the Commander-in-Chief
and the higher command the just reward for its loyal spade work and
splendid fighting qualities.
In November, 1916, the 184th Infantry Brigade and the 2/4th Oxford and
Bucks Light Infantry found themselves, as the narrative shows, on
classic ground near Mouquet Farm. Here I was first thrown into close
contact with the Battalion and learned to know and value it. The work
was, if you like, mere routine, mere holding the line. But what a
line! Shall we ever forget Regina and Desire trenches, with their
phenomenal mud and filth; or Rifle Dump and Sixteen Street and Zollern
Redoubt--and Martinsart Wood and the 'rest' there? Names, names!
but with what memories!
I am tempted to follow the fortunes of the Battalion through the
varied scenes of its experience. I should like to talk of happy
mornings 'round the line' with Colonel or Adjutant, or cheery lunches
with good comrades in impossibly damp and filthy dug-outs, of midnight
assemblies before, and early-morning greetings after, successful
raids, and of how we inspected Boche prisoners, machine-guns and other
'loot.'
I should like to recall memories of such comrades as Bellamy and
Wetherall, Cuthbert, Bennett, Davenport, 'Slugs' Brown, Rose, 'Bob'
Abraham, Regimental Sergeant-Major Douglas, Company Sergeant-Major
Brooks, V.C., and a host of other friends of all ranks.
I look back with pride on many stirring incidents.
Among these I recall the raid near St. Quentin on April 28, 1917,
admirably planned and carried out by Captain Rose and his company, and
resulting in the capture of two machine-guns and prisoners of the 3rd
Prussian Jaeger regiment, three companies of which were completely
surprised and outflanked by the dashing Oxford assault. On this
occasion Company Sergeant-Major Brooks deservedly won the V.C. and
added lustre to the grand records of his regiment.
Equally gallant was the fine stand made by the Oxfords on August 22
and 23, 1917, in front of Ypres. Captain Moberly and his brave
comrades, surrounded by the enemy and completely isolated, stuck
doggedly for 48 hours to the trench which marked the furthest point
of the Brigade's objective.
Few battalions of the British Army could boast a finer feat of arms
than the holding of the Enghien Redoubt by Captain Rowbotham, 2nd
Lieutenant Cunningham, Regimental Sergeant-Major Douglas and some 150
men of D Company and Battalion Headquarters. From 10.30 a.m. till 4.30
p.m. on March 21, 1918, these brave soldiers, enormously outnumbered
and completely surrounded, stemmed the great tide of the German attack
and by their devoted self-sacrifice enabled their comrades to withdraw
in good order. 2nd Lieutenant Cunningham, the sole surviving officer
for many hours, remained in touch with Brigade Headquarters by buried
cable until the last moment. Further resistance being hopeless, he
received my instructions, after a truly magnificent defence, to
destroy the telephone instruments and cut his way out.
But I must not encroach on the domain of our author, a real front line
officer, who lived with his men throughout the war under real front
line conditions.
It fell to my lot for 18 months to have the Battalion amongst those
under my command. Attacking, resting, raiding, marching, the 2/4th
Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry not only upheld but
enhanced the glory of the old 43rd and 52nd Regiments of the Line.
ROBERT WHITE,
_Brigadier General._
[Illustration: COLONEL W. H. AMES, T.D.]
INTRODUCTION
The raising of the Second Line of the Territorial Force became
necessary when it was decided to send the First Line overseas. The
Territorial Force was originally intended for home defence, a duty for
which its pre-war formations soon ceased to be available. The early
purpose, therefore, of the Second Line was to defend this country.
On September 8, 1914, I was privileged to begin to raise the 2/4th
Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, the Battalion whose
history is set out in the following pages. I opened Orderly Room in
Exeter College, Oxford, and enrolled recruits. The first was
Sergeant-Major T. V. Wood. By the end of the day we had sworn in and
billeted over 130 men.
The Battalion was created out of untrained elements, but what the
recruits lacked in experience they made up in keenness. The Secretary
of the County Association had an excellent list of prospective
officers, but these had to learn their work from the beginning. We
were lucky to secure the services of several non-commissioned officers
with Regular experience; Colour-Sergeants Moore, Williams, Bassett and
Waldon, and Sergeant Howland worked untiringly, whilst the keenness of
the officers to qualify themselves to instruct their men was beyond
praise.
At the end of ten days sufficient recruits had been enrolled to
allow the formation of eight companies, which exactly reproduced
those of the First Line, men being allotted to the companies according
to the locality whence they came. A pleasant feature was the number of
Culham students, who came from all parts of England to re-enlist in
their old Corps. Well do I remember my feelings when I sat down to
post the officers to the companies. It was a sort of 'Blind Hookey,'
but seemed to pan out all right in the end. Company officers had to
use the same process in the selection of their non-commissioned
officers. Of these original appointments all, or nearly all, were
amply justified--a fact which said much for the good judgment
displayed.
With the approach of the Oxford Michaelmas Term the Battalion had to
move out of the colleges (New College, Magdalen, Keble, Exeter,
Brasenose and Oriel had hitherto kindly provided accommodation) and
into billets. Training was naturally hurried. As soon as the companies
could move correctly a series of battalion drills was carried out upon
Port Meadow. This drill did a great deal to weld the Battalion
together. The elements of digging were imparted by Colonel Waller
behind the Headquarters at St. Cross Road, open order was practised on
Denman's Farm, whilst exercises in the neighbourhood of Elsfield gave
the officers some instruction in outpost duties and in the principles
of attack and defence.
The important rudiments of march discipline were soon acquired. Weekly
route marches took place almost from the first. Few roads within a
radius of 9 miles from Oxford but saw the Battalion some time or
other. The Light Infantry step caused discomfort at first, but the
Battalion soon learned to take a pride in it. The men did some
remarkable marches. Once they marched from the third milestone at the
top of Cumnor Hill to the seventh milestone by Tubney Church in 57
minutes. Just before Christmas, 1914, they marched through Nuneham to
Culham Station and on to Abingdon, and then back to Oxford through
Bagley Wood, without a casualty.
At the end of 1914 Second Line Divisions and Brigades were being
formed, and the 2/4th Oxford and Bucks Light Infantry became a unit of
the 184th Infantry Brigade under Colonel Ludlow, and of the 61st
Division under Lord Salisbury. Those officers inspected the Battalion
at Oxford before it left, at the end of January, 1915, for
Northampton.
The move from Oxford terminated the first phase in the Battalion's
history. At Northampton fresh conditions were in store. Smaller
billets and army rations replaced the former system of billets 'with
subsistence.' Elementary training was reverted to. The Battalion was
armed with Japanese rifles, a handy weapon, if somewhat weak in the
stock, and range work commenced. The seven weeks at Northampton, if
not exactly relished at the time, greatly helped to pull the Battalion
together. The period was marked by a visit of General Sir Ian
Hamilton, who inspected and warmly complimented the men on their
turn-out.
A minor incident is worthy of record. One Saturday night a surprise
alarm took place about midnight. The Battalion was young, and the
alarm was taken very seriously. Even the sick turned out rather than
be left behind, and marched the prescribed five miles without ill
effects.
Just before Easter, 1915, the 61st Division moved into Essex in order
to occupy the area vacated by the 48th. The Battalion's destination
was Writtle, where the amicable relations already established with the
inhabitants by Oxfordshire Territorials were continued. Though our
stay was a short one, we received a hearty welcome, when, on our
return from Epping, we again marched through the village.
After a fortnight at Writtle, the Battalion moved to Hoddesdon, to
take part in digging the London defences. We left Writtle 653 strong
at 8 a.m., and completed the march of 25 miles at 5 p.m., with every
man in the ranks who started. Three weeks later we were ordered to
Broomfield, a village east of Writtle and near Chelmsford. There was
keen competition to take part in the return march from Hoddesdon; 685
men started on the 29 mile march, which lasted 11 hours; only 3 fell
out. The band marched the whole way and played the Battalion in on its
arrival at Broomfield.
[Illustration: PAY-DAY FOR "A" COMPANY.]
In the spring of 1915 it was decided to prepare the Territorial Second
Line for foreign service. Considerable improvement resulted in the
issue of training equipment. Boreham range occupied much of our time.
A musketry course was begun but never finished; indeed, the bad
condition of the rifles made shooting futile. Six weeks were also
spent at Epping in useful training, at the conclusion of which we
returned to Broomfield. The Battalion was billeted over an area about
six miles long by one wide, until leave was obtained for a camp. For
nearly three months the men were together under canvas, with the very
best results. Strenuous training ensued. I am reminded of a little
incident which occurred during some night digging at Chignal Smealy.
The object of the practice was to enure the men to work, not only when
fresh, but when tired. Operations opened with digging with the
entrenching tool--each man to make cover for himself. By 8 p.m. this
stage had been reached, so tea and shovels were issued. At 9 p.m.
serious digging began, the shelters being converted into trenches, and
this continued till 1.30 a.m. Coffee was then served, and work went on
till dawn, which provided an opportunity to practise standing-to. A
rest followed, but after breakfast work was again resumed. About 10
a.m. an officer found a man sitting down in the trenches and ordered
him to renew his efforts. The man obeyed the order at once, but was
heard to remark to his neighbour, 'Well! If six months ago a bloke had
told me that I was a-going to work the 'ole ruddy night and the 'ole
ruddy day for one ruddy bob, I'd never 'ave believed him!'
At the end of October, 1915, I consider that the Battalion reached the
zenith of its efficiency during its home service. It was a great pity
that the Division could not have been sent abroad then. Instead, each
battalion was reduced in November to a strength of 17 officers and 600
men. Individual training recommenced, until specialists of every kind
flourished and multiplied. At a General's inspection during the
winter a most varied display took place. Scouts were in every tree, a
filter party was drawing water from the village pond, cold shoeing was
being practised at the Transport, cooking classes were busy making
field ovens, wire entanglements sprang up on every side, nor was it
possible to turn a corner without encountering some fresh form of
activity. I fancy the authorities were much impressed on this
occasion, for nothing was more difficult than to show the men, as they
normally would be, to an inspecting officer.
In January, 1916, the Battalion, having been recently made up with
untrained recruits, moved to Parkhouse Camp on Salisbury Plain to
complete its training with the rest of the Division. We arrived in
frost and snow and left, three months later, in almost tropical
heat--remarkable contrasts within so short a period. The Division was
speedily completed for foreign service; new rifles were issued, with
which a musketry course was successfully fired, though snow showers
did not favour high scoring. We were made up to strength with drafts
from the Liverpool, Welsh, Dorset, Cambridge, and Hertfordshire
Regiments, were inspected by the King, and embarked as a unit of the
first Second Line Division to go abroad.
Thus at the end of 18 months' hard work the preparatory stage in the
Battalion's history was concluded. Its subsequent life is traced in
the chapters of this volume.
The period of home service is wrapped in pleasant memory. It was not
always plain sailing, but difficulties were lightened by the
wonderful spirit that animated all ranks and the pride which all felt
in the Battalion. I recall especially the work of some who have not
returned; Davenport, Scott, Stockton, Zeder, and Tiddy among the
officers, and among the non-commissioned officers and men a host of
good comrades. Nor do I forget those who came safely through. No
commanding officer was ever better supported, and my gratitude to them
all is unending. I think the Battalion was truly animated by the
spirit of the famous standing order, 'A Light Infantry Regiment being
expected to approach nearer to perfection than any other, more zeal
and attention is required from all ranks in it.' Equally truly was it
said that not by the partial exertions of a few, but by the united and
steady efforts of all, was the Battalion formed and its discipline
created and preserved.
W. H. AMES, _Colonel_.
CHAPTER I.
LAVENTIE,
MAY TO OCTOBER, 1916.
The 61st Division lands in France.--Instruction.--The Laventie
sector.--Trench warfare at its height.--Moberly wounded.--B
Company's raid.--Front and back areas.--July 19th.--Changes in
the Battalion.--A Company's raid.--A projected attack.--Laventie
days.--Departure for the Somme.
On May 24, 1916, the 2/4th Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light
Infantry landed in France. Members of the Battalion within a day or
two were addressing their first field postcards to England. Active
service, of which the prospect had swung, now close, now far, for 18
months, had begun.
The 61st Division, to which the Battalion belonged, concentrated in
the Merville area. The usual period of 'instruction' followed. The
2/4th Oxfords went to the Fauquissart sector, east of Laventie. Soon
the 61st relieved the Welsh Division, to which it had been temporarily
apprenticed, and settled down to hold the line.
It was not long before the Battalion received what is usually termed
its 'baptism of fire.' Things were waking up along the front in
anticipation of the Franco-British attack on the Somme. Raids took
place frequently. Fighting patrols scoured No-Man's-Land each night.
In many places at once the enemy's wire was bombarded to shreds. By
the end of June an intense feeling of expectancy had developed;
activity on both sides reached the highest pitch. The Battalion was
not slow in playing its part. One of the early casualties was
Lieutenant Moberly, who performed a daring daylight reconnaissance up
to the German wire. He was wounded and with great difficulty and only
through remarkable pluck regained our lines.
That same night the Battalion did its first raid, by B Company under
Hugh Davenport. The raid was ordered at short notice and was a partial
success. If the tangible results were few, B Company was very properly
thanked for its bravery on this enterprise, which had to be carried
out against uncut wire and unsubdued machine-guns. Zeder, a lieutenant
with a South African D.C.M., was mortally wounded on the German wire
and taken prisoner. The casualties were numerous. Davenport himself
was wounded, but unselfishly refused treatment until his men had been
fetched in. It was a night of battle and excitement. To the most
hardened troops a barrage directed against crowded breastworks was
never pleasant. The Battalion bore itself well and earned recital,
albeit with some misdescription, in the English press a few days
later.
During July 1916 the Battalion was in and out of the breastworks
between Fauquissart and Neuve Chapelle. When the 184th Infantry
Brigade went back to rest the Battalion had billets on the outskirts
of Merville, a friendly little town, since levelled in ruins; and,
when reserve to the Brigade, in Laventie. Brigade Headquarters were at
the latter and also the quartermasters' stores and transport of
battalions in the line.
Some favourite spots were the defensive 'posts,' placed a mile behind
the front line and known as Tilleloy, Winchester, Dead End, Picantin.
Reserve companies garrisoned these posts. No arduous duties spoilt the
days; night work consisted chiefly in pushing trolley-loads of rations
to the front line. Of these posts the best remembered would be
Winchester, where existed a board bearing the names of Wykhamists,
whom chance had led that way. Battalion Headquarters were there for a
long time and were comfortable enough with many 'elephant' dug-outs
and half a farmhouse for a mess--the latter ludicrously decorated by
some predecessors with cuttings from _La Vie Parisienne_ and other
picture papers.
[Illustration: WINCHESTER TRENCH.]
Though conditions were never quiet in the front line, during the
summer of 1916 back area shelling was infrequent. Shells fell near
Laventie cross-roads on most days and, when a 12 inch howitzer
established itself behind the village, the Germans retaliated upon it
with 5.9s, but otherwise shops and estaminets flourished with national
nonchalance. The railway, which ran from La Gorgue to Armentières, was
used by night as far as Bac St. Maur--an instance of unenterprise
on the part of German gunners. Despite official repudiation, on our
side the principle of 'live and let live' was still applied to back
areas. Trench warfare, which in the words of a 1915 pamphlet 'could
and must cease' had managed to survive that pamphlet and the abortive
strategy of the battle of Loos. Until trench warfare ended divisional
headquarters were not shelled.
Meanwhile the comparative deadlock in the Somme fighting rendered
necessary vigorous measures against the enemy elsewhere on the front.
A gas attack from the Fauquissart sector was planned but never carried
out. Trench mortars and rifle grenades were continuously employed to
make life as unpleasant as possible for the enemy, whose trenches soon
became, to all appearances, a rubbish heap. All day and much of the
night the 'mediums' fell in and about the German trenches and, it must
be confessed, occasionally in our own as well. Whilst endeavouring to
annihilate the Wick salient or some such target, one of our heaviest
of heavy trench mortars dropped short (perhaps that is too much of a
compliment to the particular shot) in our trenches near a company
headquarters and almost upon a new concrete refuge, which the R.E. had
just completed and not yet shown to the Brigadier. Though sometimes
supplied, the co-operation of this arm was never asked for.
This harassing warfare had a crisis in July. The operations of July
19, which were shared with the 61st Division by the 5th Australian
holding trenches further north, were designed as a demonstration to
assist our attack upon the Somme and to hold opposite to the XI
Corps certain German reserves, which, it was feared, would entrain
at Lille and be sent south. That object was achieved, but at the cost
of severe casualties to the divisions engaged, which were launched in
daylight after artillery preparation, which results proved to have
been inadequate, against a trench-system strongly manned and
garrisoned by very numerous machine-guns. The objectives assigned to
the 61st Division were not captured, while the Australians further
north, after entering the German trenches and taking prisoners, though
they held on tenaciously under heavy counter-attacks, were eventually
forced to withdraw. 'The staff work,' said the farewell message from
the XI Corps to the 61st Division three months later, 'for these
operations was excellent.' Men and officers alike did their utmost to
make the attack of July 19 a success, and it behoves all to remember
the sacrifice of those who fell with appropriate gratitude. It was
probably the last occasion on which large parties of storming infantry
were sent forward through 'sally ports.' The Battalion was in reserve
for the attack. C Company, which formed a carrying party during the
fighting, lost rather heavily, but the rest of the Battalion, though
moved hither and thither under heavy shelling, suffered few
casualties. When the battle was over, companies relieved part of the
line and held the trenches until normal conditions returned.
Soon after these events the Battalion was unlucky to be deprived of
Colonel Ames, a leader whose energy and common sense could ill be
spared. This was the first change which the Battalion had in its
Commanding Officer, and it was much regretted. A change in Adjutant
had occurred likewise, Major D. M. Rose having been invalided to
England early in July and his place taken by R. F. Cuthbert, formerly
commander of D Company. Orderly Room work passed from safe hands into
hands equally safe. Soon afterwards I joined the Battalion, having
been transferred from the 1/4th, and received command of D Company.
The new Commanding Officer, Major R. Bellamy, D.S.O., came from the
Royal Sussex Regiment and assumed command early in August. Robinson,
an officer from the Middlesex and one of the best the Battalion ever
had, Callender and Barton also joined about this time. Brucker, of C
Company, became Adjutant of the 61st Divisional School, and command of
his company passed to Kenneth Brown, a great fighter and best of
comrades, the first member of this Battalion to win the Military
Cross. Major Beaman was still Second in Command. Two original officers
of the 2/4th, Jack Bennett and Hugh Davenport, commanded A and B
Companies respectively. W. A. Hobbs, well known as Mayor of Henley,
was Quartermaster, and 'Bob' Abraham the Transport Officer. Regimental
Sergeant-Major Douglas and Regimental Quartermaster-Sergeant Hedges
were the senior warrant officers.
Higher up a new Brigadier in the person of General Dugan arrived and
held command for a short while. The General, I regret to say, did not
stay long enough for the full benefit of his experience and
geniality to accrue, a fragment of a Stokes' mortar shell wounding him
at a demonstration near Merville and causing his retirement to
hospital. The new Brigadier, the Hon. R. White, C.M.G., joined us at
the beginning of September, 1916, from action on the Somme, and soon
made his cheery criticisms felt.
After the operations of July 19 the former methods of trench warfare
were resumed. The Division's casualties in the attack had been over
2,000, and time was required to reorganise and make up these losses.
Early in August an unlucky shell deprived the Battalion of one of its
best officers. Lieutenant Tiddy had joined the Infantry in a spirit of
duty and self-sacrifice, which his service as an officer had proved
but to which his death more amply testified. The regrets of friends
and comrades measured the Battalion's loss.
At 10 p.m. on August 19 a raid upon the German trenches near the
'Sugar Loaf' was carried out by A Company. The raid was part of an
elaborate scheme in which the Australians upon the left and the 2/5th
Gloucesters on our own front co-operated. The leading bombing party,
which Bennett sent forward under Sergeant Hinton, quickly succeeded in
reaching the German parapet and was doing well, when a Mills bomb,
dropped or inaccurately thrown, fell amongst the men. The plan was
spoilt. A miniature panic ensued, which Bennett and his Sergeant-Major
found it difficult to check. As in many raids, a message to retire was
passed. The wounded were safely brought in by Bennett, whose control
and leadership were worthy of a luckier enterprise.[1]
[Footnote 1: A failure of this kind was far less
due to any indetermination of the men than to the
complex nature of the scheme, which any
misadventure was capable of upsetting. On this
occasion the 'order to retire' was said to have
been of German manufacture, but such explanation
deserved a grain of salt. Owing to the danger of
its unauthorised use, the word 'retire' was
prohibited by Army orders.]
The Battalion was not called upon for much fighting activity in
September, 1916. Raids and rumours of raids kept many of us busy. An
attack by the 184th Brigade upon the Wick salient was planned, but
somewhat too openly discussed and practised to deceive, I fancy, even
the participating infantry into the belief that it was really to take
place. Upon the demolished German trenches many raids were made. In
the course of these raids, the honour of which was generously shared
between all battalions in the Brigade, sometimes by means of the
Bangalore Torpedo, sometimes by the easier and more subtle method of
just walking into them, the enemy's front line was usually entered;
and rarely did a raiding party return without the capture of at least
an old bomb, an entrenching tool or even a live German. These
'identification' raids possibly did as much to identify ourselves to
the enemy as to identify him to us, but they proved useful occasions
on which to send parties 'over the top' (always an enjoyable treat!)
and gave practice to our trench mortars, which fired remarkably well
and drew down little retaliation--always the bug-bear of the trench
mortar.
The mention of these things may make dull reading to the _blasé_
warrior of later battlefields, but, as there are some whose last
experience abroad was during Laventie days and who may read these
lines, I feel bound to recall our old friend (or enemy) the trench
mortar, the rent-free (but not rat-free) dug-out among the sandbags,
the smelly cookhouses, whose improvident fires were the scandal of
many a red-hatted visitor to the trenches, the mines, with their
population of Colonial miners doing mysterious work in their basements
of clay and flinging up a welter of slimy blue sandbags--all these
deserve mention, if no more, lest they be too soon forgotten.
Days, too, in Riez Bailleul, Estaires and Merville will be remembered,
days rendered vaguely precious by the subsequent destruction of those
villages and by lost comrades. Those of the Battalion who fell in 1916
were mostly buried in Laventie and outside Merville. Though both were
being fought over in 1918 and many shells fell among the graves, the
crosses were not much damaged; inscriptions, if nearly obliterated,
were then renewed when, by the opportunity of chance, the Battalion
found itself once more crossing the familiar area, before it helped to
establish a line upon the redoubtable Aubers ridge, to gain which so
many lives at the old 1915 battles of Neuve Chapelle and Festubert had
been expended.
It was a fine autumn. The French civilians were getting in their crops
within a mile or two of the trenches, while we did a series of tours
in the Moated Grange sector, with rest billets at the little village
of Riez Bailleul.
And then box respirators were issued.
Laventie days are remembered with affection by old members of the
Battalion. In October, 1916, however, there were some not sorry to
quit an area, which in winter became one of the wettest and most
dismal in France. The Somme battle, which for three months had rumbled
in the distance like a huge thunderstorm, was a magnet to attract all
divisions in turn. The predictions of the French billet-keepers were
realised at the end of October, when the 2/4th Oxfords were relieved
in the trenches by a battalion of the Middlesex Regiment and prepared
to march southwards to the Somme.
[Illustration: ROBECQ FROM THE SOUTH.]