_Spirit of the Battalion prior to the battle--zero and "over the
top"--Leipzig Trench carried--flanks exposed--precarious
position of the unit--great casualties--protective bombing
posts--consolidation--Battalion relieved--Victoria Cross gained
by Sergeant Turnbull--Roll Call._
Signs of the coming conflict were everywhere. The tremendous
accumulation of men and material had been going on unceasingly for
weeks, and during the long June days clouds of dust hung in the hot,
still air above the roads. For the roads all led towards the line, and
the tramp of men, and the rumble of wheels were unending. The
Battalion had long ago recovered from a hard and monotonous winter of
trench warfare. To each man there remained the joy of remembering days
and nights that were unpleasant--for it is a joy to remember, in the
comfort and happiness of to-day, the discomforts and sorrows of
yesterday. Now the sun was shining. Training was going on apace under
the pleasantest of conditions. They were a healthy family. Each man
felt his potentiality, and unconsciously boasted it in his every
action. Such was the feeling in the Battalion when the certainty of
conflict came. To everyone it was the "Big Push"--the mighty
Armageddon--of which all had thought and spoken during the winter of
waiting. There was no doubt as to the issue. Each man went about his
duties with an eye to an immediate and definite future. If anything he
gave greater care to his rifle. In his feeling the edge and point of
his bayonet, there was something of a caress. Now was the look in each
eye born of the lust of killing. It was the knowledge that on a bright
morning--now only a few hours distant--man would be matched against
man. "Justice of our cause may have been somewhere in our
sub-consciousness. Certainly it was not uppermost. To each man the
coming conflict savoured of individual mortal combat. The days of
waiting were gone. He was going forward to prove his manhood"--so
write two veterans of that fight.
The story of that morning is an epic. For every man it was the first
experience of "over the top." In sun-baked trenches everyone longed
for the zero hour, while the guns rolled and shells crashed with
ever-increasing intensity. Nothing was real. Men stood and waited as
if in a dream. They felt as if they were listening to the overture;
that soon the curtain would rise. Even when the guns ceased their roar
for a few moments towards the end, and in the death-like stillness was
heard the warbling of birds in "no man's land"--the grim reality of it
all was felt. With the lifting mist of the morning, the curtain
rose....
At 7.23 a.m. the Battalion started moving across "no man's land." When
the barrage lifted the men entered the enemy front line and the work
of the moppers-up soon began. The advance across the open was
splendidly carried out, all ranks behaving magnificently, as was the
case throughout the entire action. Leipzig Trench was taken and the
leading lines advanced against the Hindenburg Trench. These were mown
down and by 8.15 a.m. every Company Officer was a casualty. It now
became obvious to Colonel Morton that Leipzig Trench must be held, as
without reinforcements, no further advance could be made, both flanks
being exposed, as the 8th Division on their right had been driven
back. The left was particularly exposed and parties under Sergt.
Macgregor and Sergt. Watt were organised and sent to strengthen the
left where "B" and "D" Companies had been almost annihilated. It was
now 9 o'clock and the Battalion casualties now amounted to 22 officers
and 400 other ranks. The bombers, who had been sent up to replace
casualties, were holding the flanks successfully. By 11.15 the entire
line was very weak, and still at 2 o'clock in the afternoon the
situation was unchanged, 2nd Lieut. Morrison and 2nd Lieut. Marr
working and organising the protective flank bombers without the least
regard for personal safety. At 4 o'clock the 2nd Manchesters
reinforced them with two Companies. Just at this time the line wavered
a little in face of the overwhelming bombardment and the appalling
casualties, but control was immediately gained. At 5 the shattered
unit was ordered to consolidate the ground taken. This was done and
two strong enemy counter attacks repulsed. At 9.30 the Battalion
started to be relieved by the Manchesters, but the relief was not
wholly carried out until near midnight, although several bombing
parties had to carry on till well towards mid-day of the following
day before being relieved. The 17th concentrated on Campbell Post and
held the line in that Sector. In the evening of the next day the
Battalion was relieved and returned to dug-outs at Crucifix Corner.
[Illustration: MAP ILLUSTRATING THE OPERATIONS OF 1st JULY, 1916.
Objective of Attack--Mouquet Farm. First German Line attacked and
taken, C--D. Trench Line from which the attack was launched,
A--B. Second German Line taken and lost, E--F.
Note the Salient C--D and its exposure to German fire and attack
on the Flanks.
_To face page 40._]
The first V.C., not only for the Battalion, but of the Division was
gained in this battle and was won by Sergeant James Young Turnbull.
The following is the extract from _The London Gazette_, of 25th
December, 1916, intimating the award of the Victoria Cross:--
"No. 15888 Sergeant JAMES YOUNG TURNBULL,
late Highland Light Infantry.
"For most conspicuous bravery and devotion to duty, when, having
with his party captured a post apparently of great importance to
the enemy, he was subjected to severe counter attacks, which
were continuous throughout the whole day. Although his party was
wiped out and replaced several times during the day, Sergeant
Turnbull never wavered in his determination to hold the post,
the loss of which would have been very serious. Almost
single-handed he maintained his position and displayed the
highest degree of valour and skill in the performance of his
duties.
"Later in the day this gallant soldier was killed whilst bombing
a counter-attack from the parados of our trench."
Of all the units operating in that ghastly Sector, the 17th H.L.I. was
the only Battalion which reached and occupied and held the enemy's
trenches from La Boiselle northwards. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, writing
of the battle of the Somme in his history of the war, emphasises what
this unadorned record of the day's fighting bears out--that there had
been no flinching anywhere, and the military virtue shown had been of
the highest possible quality; but the losses from the machine guns and
from the barrage was so heavy that they deprived the attack of the
weight and momentum necessary to win their way through the enemy's
position. "In the desperate circumstances," he says, "it might well be
considered a remarkable result that a stretch of the Leipzig Redoubt
should be won and permanently held by the Highlanders, especially by
the 17th Highland Light Infantry."
Throughout these terrible operations Colonel Morton was present in the
most advanced positions encouraging and cheering the men by his
personal example and utter disregard for danger. In this work he was
gallantly seconded by his Adjutant and his Headquarters' Staff, who
were individually forward directing operations when all the Company
Officers had been knocked out. It is not too much to say that the
resolute spirit and example of the Colonel rallied the Battalion to
heights of endurance and endeavour which found their greatest
inspiration in his presence in the firing line.
Great work was also done by Captain D.C. Evans, R.A.M.C., who, for
over forty-eight hours, without interval or rest, attended to the
Battalion wounded. Throughout the action he carried on his task of
relieving suffering and saving life quite heedless of the shelling and
firing and quite cool in the face of the ever growing number of cases
demanding his attention and skill.
At the Battalion parade for Roll Call on the 4th of July, the
casualties totalled 22 officers and 447 other ranks.