ARRAS AND AFTERWARDS,
MAY, JUNE, JULY, 1917.
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.
The next battlefield to which the Battalion's steps were turned was
Arras. Early in May the French came to relieve the 61st Division at
St. Quentin. It was said, perhaps with little truth, that the ban
which forbade our guns to shell that town in such manner as, from a
purely military standpoint, it deserved, induced this re-arrangement
of the front. Certainly the French had tried in April, before the
German retreat had definitely stopped, to encircle the town and
capture it without bombardment, and possibly their staff yet hoped
that it might fall undamaged into their hands. The attitudes of
English and French artillerymen towards large towns which they saw
opposite to them were naturally different. On this particular front
St. Quentin was a potent hostage in the enemy's power and one which
accounted for the extremely quiet conduct of the war in that sector
after the English had left.
On its backward march--moves by divisions up and down the front were
always made at a good distance behind the line through districts known
as 'staging areas'--the Battalion spent a few days close to Amiens,
and thence marched through Doullens to familiar billets at Neuvillette.
The 184th Infantry Brigade reached Arras at the end of May, and went
into the line on June 2.
During this move Colonel Bellamy, who had commanded us since August,
1916, left the Battalion. He shortly afterwards succeeded to the
command of the 2nd Royal Sussex, his former regiment. A man of tact
and ripe experience, he had done much to improve the Battalion during
his stay. He lacked few, if any, of the best qualities of a Regular
officer. His steady discipline, sure purpose, and soldierly outlook,
had made him at once Commanding Officer, counsellor and friend.
Latterly he had been somewhat vexed by illness, but had refused to
allow his activity to be handicapped thereby. His stay had not
coincided with the brightest nor least difficult epochs in the
Battalion's history, for which reason, since he was not unduly
flattered by fortune, his merit deserves recognition.
Colonel Bellamy's successor, H. de R. Wetherall, was a young man whom
ability and leadership had already lifted to distinction in his
regiment and placed in command of an important military school. From
now onwards he is the outstanding figure in the Battalion's history.
In the new Colonel a quick brain was linked with vigorous physique. In
spite of his Regular training, Wetherall could appreciate and
himself possessed to no small degree the peculiar virtues of the
temporary officer, who based his methods on common sense and actual
experience in the war rather than servile obedience to red tape and
'Regulations.' He had studied during the war as well as before it,
with the result that military tradition--his regiment was the
Gloucestershire--and his long service in the field combined to fit him
for command of our Battalion.
The Division's share in the Arras Battle, 1917, was small. Already at
the time of our arrival the later stages of the fighting had been
reached. The British advance astride the River Scarpe had stopped on
its north side beneath the low ridge spoken of as Greenland Hill and
on its south before a wood known as the Bois du Vert. As on the Somme
in November, 1916, local actions were continuing. To prepare for an
attack on Infantry Hill, a position held by the enemy south-east of
Monchy-le-Preux, the 2/4th Oxfords went into the front line on June 6.
Orders were received to advance across No-Man's-Land and link up a
line of shell-holes as a 'jumping-off place' for the subsequent
attack. A Company successfully accomplished the task, and the
Battalion earned a message of thanks from the Division which a few
days afterwards made the designed attack.
Apart from this achievement, the confused network of old and new
trenches occupied during this period offered few features of special
interest. C and A Companies and part of D were in the front line,
which ran through chalk and was unsavoury by reason of the dead
Germans lying all about. The enemy's fire was of that harassing kind
which began now to mark the conduct of the war. In the old days
conventional targets such as roads, trenches, and villages within a
mile or two of our front were generally shelled at times which could
be guessed and when such places could be avoided. These methods
changed. Wherever Infantry or transport were bound to go at special
times during the night, the German shells, reserved by day, were fired.
Roads, tracks, and approaches, where in daylight English nursemaids
could almost have wheeled perambulators with confidence, by night
became hated avenues of danger for our Infantrymen moving up the line
or ration-carrying to their forward companies. The fire to which they
went exposed was the enemy's 'harassing fire,' and we, in our turn,
very naturally 'harassed' the Germans. At this time a crater on the
Arras-Cambrai road which must needs be passed and a shallow trench
leading therefrom, known as Gordon Alley, were the most evil spots.
Monchy, the hill-village which had cost us so many lives to capture,
was heavily shelled by German howitzers both day and night; below its
slopes lay several derelict tanks. Our gun positions, in proportion to
the new increase in counter-battery work, were also often shelled.
Though unconnected with any artillery, our doctor, Stobie, and with
him Arrowsmith had a bitter experience of German shells. One fine
summer morning the enemy commenced a programme of destructive fire
upon some empty gunpits where the Doctor had his dressing-station.
Stobie and Arrowsmith, with their personnel, received a high
explosive notice to quit, and their descent into a wrong-facing shaft
was next followed by the partial destruction of their only exit. They
escaped safely and arrived in a state of pardonable excitement at the
deep cave under Les Fosses Farm, where my Company Headquarters and
many others were.
This cave, perhaps, will bear a short description. In Artois and
Picardy, where chalk strata prevailed, deep subterranean passages and
caves abounded. Under Arras itself sufficient room existed to hold
many thousands of our troops, who were housed underground before the
battle opened. The Germans more than ourselves exploited this feature
of geology. Under Gommecourt and Serre their reserve troops had lurked
deep in caves. In the Champagne more striking instances occurred of
whole battalions issuing from hidden passages and exits to the fight.
The cave below Fosses Farm was about 40 feet below the ground. Of most
irregular shape, it branched and twisted into numerous alleys and
chambers through the chalk. In it lived representatives of the
Artillery, Royal Engineers, New Zealand Tunnellers, the whole of B
Company, parts of Headquarters, the Doctor's personnel, and my own
Company Headquarters. The cave was dimly lit by a few candles.
Throughout the day and night there were perpetual comings and goings,
and it was common to see men, dazzled by the outside sun, come
stumbling down the stairs and tread unseeing on the prostrate forms of
those asleep below. The bare chalk was floor, bed, and bench to all
alike. The shadows, the dim groups of figures, and the rough pillars
forming walls and roof, gave the impression of some old cathedral. At
one end a hole communicating with the ground above served as the only
chimney for the incessant cooking that was going on. The fumes of this
huge grill-room, which did duty, not only for the 400 men or so within
the cave itself, but for as many situated at a distance in the outside
world, lent a primeval stamp to the surroundings. We were cave-dwellers,
living in partial darkness and lacking even the elements of furniture.
Caves, cellars, and deep dug-outs had a demoralising influence upon
their occupants. The utter security below, contrasted with the danger
overhead--for often the entrances to these refuges were particularly
shelled--and the knowledge that at any moment the former might have to
be exchanged for the latter could deal a subtle injury to one's
morale. It was a golden rule, one perchance followed by many of our
leaders, to make each day some expedition afield before the sun had
reached its meridian. On the whole one was happier without deep
dug-outs--and safer, too, for to become a skulker was equivalent to
death.
In quoting things to show how little pic-nicing there was in the war I
feel it opportune to mention a fresh shape in which danger now appeared,
not only for the Infantry, but for others formerly immune in sheltered
positions far behind the front. I refer to bombing aeroplanes. The
warm clear summer nights were now, for the first time in common
experience, marked by the loud droning of the enemy's machines and
by the crash of bombs dropped upon huts and transport lines and along
roads and railways in our back area. Arras was often severely bombed.
The German aeroplanes on any fine night came to be regarded as
inevitable. Bombing might be continued until nearly dawn. When no
bombs fell close there was always the constant drone announcing their
possibility. To men in huts or in the open, without lights or any
means of shelter, the terror carried nightly overhead was greater far
than that which ever served to depress Londoners.
Another development which was destined to play an ever increasing part
in the war and to make its closing phases worse in some respects than
its early, was the long-range high-velocity gun. Though fully seven
miles behind the line, Arras was shelled throughout the summer with
very heavy shells. The railway station was their principal target, but
the 15-inch projectiles fell in a wide radius and caused great
destruction to the houses and colleges still standing in the city. Yet
to the Arras citizens now eager to return and claim their property
shells seemed a small deterrent.
[Illustration: ARRAS--THE GRANDE PLACE]
Our stay up in the line was short, but we had casualties. Lindsey, a
new officer in D Company, was killed on his first visit to the
trenches, and Herbert, of B, was wounded. D Company also lost as
casualties Sergeant Buller and Lance-Corporal Barnes and half-a-dozen
Lewis gunners in the line. The night of our relief was spent in
bivouacs near Tilloy. A violent thunderstorm, which was the expected
sequel to the fortnight's intensely warm weather we had been
experiencing, drenched our surroundings and gave the hard earth,
trampled by summer tracks, a surface slippery as winter mud. On June
11 the Battalion was back in billets at Bernaville, a village four
miles west of Arras, and it appeared that the Division (of which the
184th Brigade alone had been into the line) had completed its tour in
the Arras sector.
I rejoice that the few pleasant phases of the Battalion's experiences
in France elapsed less rapidly than I describe them. At Bernaville the
weather continued fine and warm; in fact, some of the hottest weather
of the year occurred. A busy training programme was in swing. To
escape the heat, companies paraded at 7 a.m. and worked till 11, and
again in the evening at 5 and worked till 7. This training must not be
judged by readers according to style and methods possibly seen by them
on English training grounds during the war. At home, after the last
divisions of Kitchener's Army went abroad, no officers trained their
own men whom they would lead in battle. The men were usually the
rawest drafts, while the officers in home battalions were too often
those who had never gone and never would go to the front. A totally
different spirit characterised training in France. Colonel Wetherall
was a master of the art of teaching. His emphatic direction and
enthusiasm earned early reward in the increased efficiency of all
ranks.
At Noeux, near Auxi-le-Château, whither we moved on June 23, the
Battalion's midsummer respite was continued; we were in G.H.Q.
reserve. Rumour, not false on this occasion, predicted the Division's
share in a great battle between Ypres and the coast which was due to
happen before the autumn. Expectancy was rife to the effect that
co-operation from the sea was to assist in driving the Germans from
the Belgian coast. News, big in its effects, was read one morning in
the _Daily Mail_. The enemy had attacked our lines at Nieuport and
driven our garrison across the Yser. A valuable footing had been lost.
Happy memories are associated with Noeux. It was a pretty village,
girt by rolling hills crowned with rich woods. 'Wood-fighting' (which
I always said should literally mean the fighting _of_ woods, and
indeed it often resolved itself into a contest of man _versus_
undergrowth) was a frequent feature in the training programme. What
was sometimes lost in 'direction' was as often gained in naughty
amusement at the miscarriage of a scheme. For off-duty hours the
wild-boars of Auxi woods and the cafés in that small town provided
varied attractions and romance. The General, who was delighted with
the war and the Battalion, was more vigorous and inspiring than ever.
It was owing largely to him that the 184th Brigade became the best in
the Division. This good time, which had for its object, not enjoyment,
but preparation for more fighting, came all too soon to an end.
[Illustration: NOEUX VILLAGE]
On July 26 the Battalion said good-bye to Noeux. Its inhabitants, of
whom an old lady called 'Queen Victoria' (La Reine Victoria, as she
was known even by her fellow-villagers) was typical, gave us a
hearty send-off. Three hours after leaving it we again passed through
the village, this time by train. We reached St. Omer in the evening
and marched to a scattered Flemish hamlet called Broxeele. Here a stay
longer than was expected was made; the 61st Division was in reserve to
the 5th Army. The introduction by the Germans of the celebrated
mustard-gas at Ypres had caused many thousand casualties in the line
and lent new urgency to our gas drill.
At Broxeele on August 6 the Corps Commander, General Hunter Weston,
paid a memorable visit of inspection to the Battalion. Long waits,
succeeded by tedious processions of generals and decorated
staff-officers of every grade, are usually associated with
inspections. General Hunter Weston was more than punctual. His
knowledge of all military appurtenances was encyclopedic. A rigorous
examination of revolvers, mess tins, and similar accessories at once
commenced. Companies, instead of standing like so many rows of
dummies, were given each some task to perform. Suddenly in the midst
of everything a loud cry of 'Gas' is emitted by the General. Not
unprepared for such a 'stunt' as this, the entire party scrambles as
fast as possible into gas-helmets. I think we earned high marks for
our gas-discipline. This inspection made a strong impression on the
men, who afterwards remembered the occasion and often spoke of it.
Towards the end of July the weather, hitherto so fine, broke hopelessly.
Torrential rains followed, which inundated the flat country far and
wide. After several postponements the Third Battle of Ypres
commenced on July 31. Some two weeks later the Battalion moved forward
by train from Arnecke to Poperinghe. We awaited our share in the
fighting; which was to make this battle the most bloody and perhaps
least profitable of the whole war.