PART I

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SERVANTS OF THE GUNS

BY

JEFFERY E. JEFFERY

_By the ears and the eyes and the brain,

By the limbs and the hands and the wings,

We are slaves to our masters the guns,

But their slaves are the masters of kings!_

GILBERT FRANKAU.

LONDON SMITH, ELDER & CO., 15 WATERLOO PLACE

1917

[_All rights reserved_]

PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED LONDON AND BECCLES,

ENGLAND

_TO

ONE WHO KNOWS NOTHING OF GUNS

BUT MUCH OF LIFE

MY MOTHER_

CONTENTS

PART I

THE NEW "UBIQUE"

BEGINNING AGAIN

A BATTERY IN BEING

"IN THE LINE"

SPIT AND POLISH

A BATTLE

PART II

AND THE OLD

BILFRED

"THE PROGRESS OF PICKERSDYKE"

SNATTY

FIVE-FOUR-EIGHT

PART III

IN ENEMY HANDS

SOME EXPERIENCES OF A PRISONER OF WAR

HENRY

PART I

THE NEW "UBIQUE"

BEGINNING AGAIN

As the long troop train rumbled slowly over the water-logged wastes of

Flanders, I sat in the corner of a carriage which was littered with all

the _debris_ of a twenty-four hours' journey and watched the fiery

winter's sun set gorgeously. It was Christmas evening. Inevitably my

mind went back to that other journey of sixteen months ago when we set

forth so proudly, so exultantly to face the test of war.

But how different, how utterly different is everything now! Last time,

with the sun shining brilliantly from a cloudless sky and the French

sentries along the line waving enthusiastically, we passed cheerfully

through the pleasant land of France towards our destination on the

frontier. I was a subaltern then, a subordinate member of a battery

which, according to pre-war standards, was equipped and trained to

perfection--and I can say this without presumption, for having only

joined it in July I had had no share in the making of it. But I had

been in it long enough to appreciate its intense _esprit-de-corps_, long

enough to share the absolute confidence in its efficiency which inspired

every man in it from the major to the second trumpeter.

But now it is midwinter, the second winter of the war, and the French

sentries no longer wave to us, for they have seen too many train-loads

of English troops to be more than mildly interested. The war to which we

set out so light-heartedly sixteen months ago has proved itself to be

not the "greatest of games," but the greatest of all ghastly horrors

threatening the final disruption of civilised humanity. More than a year

has passed and the end is not in sight. But the cause is as righteous,

the victory as certain now as it was then.... The methods and practice

of warfare have been revolutionised. Theory after theory has been

disproved by the devastating power of the high explosive and the giant

gun. Horse and field batteries no longer dash into action to the music

of jingling harness and thudding hoofs. They creep in by night with

infinite precautions and place their guns in casemates which are often

ten feet thick; they occupy the same position not for hours, but for

months at a time; they fire at targets which are sometimes only fifty

yards or even less in front of their own infantry, with the knowledge

that the smallest error may mean death to their comrades; and the

control of their shooting is no longer an affair of good eyesight and

common sense, but of science, complicated instruments, and a

multiplicity of telephones.

And I, a novice at all this kind of work, am no longer a subaltern. I am

directly responsible for the welfare and efficiency of the battery which

this long train is bearing into the zone of war. How we fare when we get

there, what kind of tasks are allotted to us, and how we succeed in

coping with them I hope to record in due course. But this I know

now--the human material with which I have to deal is good enough. We

have the advantage of being a homogeneous unit, for we belong to one of

the "locally raised" divisions. With only a very few exceptions (notably

the sergeant-major, who is a "serving soldier" of vast proportions and

great merit), the N.C.O.'s and men all come from the same district. Many

of them were acquainted in private life and enlisted in little coteries

of five or six. Christian names are freely used, which is fortunate

seeing that we have four Jones', five Davies', and no less than eight

Evans' on our roll. In moments of excitement or of anger they resort to

their own language and encourage or abuse each other in voluble

Welsh....

A few miles back we passed G.H.Q. I was vaguely impressed with the

silent dignity, the aloofness, as it were, of that now celebrated place.

Our train drew up in the station, which seemed as deserted as that of a

small English country town on a Sunday. "Here, within a mile of me," I

thought, "dwell the Powers that Be, whose brains control the destinies

of a million men. Here somewhere is the individual who knows my

destination and when I am likely to get to it." But this surmise proved

incorrect. It was three-thirty on Christmas afternoon and even the staff

must lunch. Presently a R.T.O.[1] issued from a cosy-looking office and

crossed the line towards me. His first question was positively painful

in its naive simplicity.

[1] Railway Transport Officer.

"Who are _you_?" he inquired haughtily. My reply was not only correct

but dignified. "We know nothing about you," he said. "The staff officer

who should have been here to give you your instructions is away at

present." (I think I mentioned that it was Christmas Day!)

"Never mind," I replied, "but would it be disturbing your arrangements

at all if I watered my horses and gave my men some food here? They've

had nothing since last night, and the horses have been ten hours without

water."

"No time for that. You'll leave in two minutes."

And sure enough in half an hour we were off again!...

When, soon after five, we learnt that we were within a few minutes of

our journey's end I leant across and woke "The Child"--who is my junior

subaltern. If this war had not come to pass the Child would probably be

enjoying his Christmas holidays and looking forward to his last term at

his public school. Actually, he has already nine months' service, of

which three have been spent at the front. He has been home wounded and

is now starting out again as a veteran to whom less experienced persons

refer their doubts and queries. Last week he celebrated his eighteenth

birthday. He is the genuine article, that is he holds a regular

commission and has passed through "the Shop."[2] His clothes fit him,

his aspirates appear in the right places, he is self-possessed,

competent, level-headed and not infrequently amusing. Of his particular

type of manhood (or rather boyhood) he is a fine example.

[2] R.M.A. Woolwich.

"Wake up, Child," I said. "We're nearly there."

He rubbed his eyes and sat up, wide awake at once.

"_Some_ journey," he observed. "Hope it's not Hell's own distance to our

billets."

The R.T.O. at ---- where we detrained was an expert, the passion of whose

life it is apparently to clear the station yard in an impossibly short

space of time. He addressed me as follows, the moment I was out of the

train.

"You _must_ be unloaded and out of this in two hours. You can sort

yourselves in the road afterwards."

I promised to do my utmost, but the prospect of sorting men, horses,

vehicles, and harness on a narrow road flanked by deep ditches whilst

the rain streamed down out of a sky as black as tar, appealed only

vaguely to my optimistic spirit.

The R.T.O., having given minute instructions and made certain that they

were in course of being carried out with feverish haste, became

communicative.

"You see," he said, "there's been the dickens of a row lately. One unit

took four and a half hours to detrain and several have taken more than

three. Then 'Brass Hats' get busy and call for reasons in writing, and I

have to render a report and everybody gets damned. If you exceed your

time I shall _have_ to report you. I don't want to, of course, and I'm

sure you don't want me to."

But at this moment I spotted, by the light of an acetylene flare, my

prize-fool sergeant (every battery is issued with at least one of these)

directing his drivers to place their harness just where it could not

fail to be in everybody's way. I turned to the R.T.O.

"My good man," I said, "you can report me to any one you please. I've

reached the stage when I don't care _what_ you do." And I made for the

offending sergeant. The R.T.O., justly incensed, retired to the warmth

of his office.

As a matter of fact things went rather well; the men, heartened by the

thought that rest and food were not far distant, worked with a will, and

by the time the allotted two hours had elapsed we were not only clear of

the yard, but hooked in on the road and nearly ready to start. Moreover,

being the first battery of the Brigade to arrive we had had our choice

of billets, and knew that we had got a good one. The Child, preceded by

a cyclist guide whose knowledge of the country was palpably slight, and

followed by the mess cart, had gone off into the darkness to find the

way. It was his job to make all arrangements and then come back to meet

us. Since it was only drizzling now and not really very cold, the

outlook was distinctly brighter.

"Walk--march," I ordered, and we duly started. We progressed without

mishap for, roughly, twenty-five yards, when there was a shout from the

rear of the column. The sergeant-major took in its ominous purport

before I did. He forgot himself--and swore aloud. "G.S. wagon's

overturned in the ditch" was what I eventually heard. It was enough to

make an angel weep tears of vexation.

A battery is provided by a munificent government with two G.S. wagons.

One contains supplies (_i.e._ food for horse and man), the other

contains baggage and stores. To be without either is most unpleasant. I

went back to the scene of the disaster. The ditch was deep and more than

half full of water. In it, completely overturned and firmly wedged, was

the baggage wagon. Behind the wagon, also in the ditch and still mounted

upon a floundering steed, was our old farrier, talking very fast to

himself in Welsh. We got him out and soothed him--poor old man, he was

wet through from the waist downwards--and then looked sadly,

reluctantly, at the wagon. Evidently there was no hope of shifting it

without unloading, and that would take too long. So three unfortunate

gunners and a bombardier were told off to mount guard over it, given

some tins of bully beef and a few biscuits and marooned, as it were,

till the morning. All this took time. And we were very tired and very

hungry.

"I am the most unlucky devil on earth," I thought, as riding up to the

front again I found that the pole of an ammunition wagon had broken and

was going to cause still further delay. But it was a selfish thought.

There was a distant rumbling, not of thunder, far behind us. I looked

back. The night was clearing and the black horizon was a clear-cut line

against the heavens. Into the sky, now here, now there, kept darting up

tiny sparks of fire, and over the whole long line, for miles and miles,

a glimmer, as of summer lightning, flickered spasmodically. For in that

direction lay "the front." On this Christmas night in the year of grace

nineteen hundred and fifteen, from the North Sea to the Alps, there

stood men peering through the darkness at the dim shape of the parapet

opposite, watching for an enemy who might be preparing some sinister

scheme for their undoing. And I had dared to deem myself unlucky--I who

had hope that some time that night I should undress and slip into

bed--warm and dry....

* * * * *

St. Stephen's Day! I wonder if the U.H.C. are meeting at Clonmult

to-day. Closing my eyes I can picture the village street with its crowd

of holiday-making farmers, buckeens, horse-dealers, pinkcoated officers

and country gentlemen, priests and "lads on jinnets," as it was when I

went to a meet there that Boxing Day the year that "Brad" and I spent

our leave in Cork. But now hunting is a thing of small importance and

Brad--is a treasured memory....

We are comfortable here, extraordinarily so. The whole battery is in one

farm and more than half the horses are under cover. The men sleep in a

roomy barn with plenty of straw to keep them warm, the sergeants have a

loft of their own. We have arranged harness rooms, a good kitchen for

the cooks, a washhouse, a gun park, a battery office, and a telephone

room. "_M. le patron_" is courtly and obliging, Madame is altogether

charming. Their parlour is at the officers' disposal for a living-room:

I've got a bedroom to myself. We are, in fact, in process of settling

down.

My admiration for the soldiers of the New Army increases daily. For I

perceive that they too, in common with their more highly trained, more

sternly disciplined comrades of the original "Regulars," possess the

supreme quality of being able to "stick it." The journey from our

station in England to this particular farm in northern France was no bad

test for raw troops--and we are raw at present, it is idle to deny the

fact. We marched to Southampton, we embarked (a lengthy and a tiring

process). We were twelve hours on the boat, and we had an exceptionally

rough crossing, during which nine-tenths of the battery were sick. We

disembarked, we groomed our horses and regarded our rusty harness with

dismay. We waited about for some hours, forbidden to leave the precincts

of the quay. Then we marched to the station and entrained. Any one who

has ever assisted to put guns and heavy wagons on to side-loading

trucks, or to haul unwilling horses up a slippery ramp, knows what that

means. And I may add that it was dark and it was raining. We travelled

for twenty-four hours--with a mess-tin full of lukewarm tea at 8 a.m.

to hearten us--and then we detrained at just the time when it was

getting dark again and still raining. Moreover, whilst we were in the

train, cold, hungry, dirty and horribly uncomfortable, we had ample time

to remember that it was Christmas Day, a festival upon which the soldier

is supposed to be given a gratuitous feast and a whole holiday. But all

this, to say nothing of a five-mile march to our billet afterwards and

the tedious process of unharnessing and putting down horse lines in the

dark, was done without audible "grousing." Truly this morning's late

_reveille_ was well earned.

The sun is shining this afternoon. The gunners are busy washing down the

guns and wagons, the drivers sit around the courtyard scrubbing away at

their harness: through the open window I can hear them singing softly.

The poultry picking their way delicately about the yard, the old

_patron_ carrying armfuls of straw to his cattle, and Madame sitting

sewing in the kitchen doorway almost make one feel that peace has come

again into the world. But from the eastward occasionally and very

faintly there comes that ominous rumbling which portends carnage,

destruction--Death....

It was the quartermaster-sergeant's idea originally. He is a New Army

product, but he has already developed the two essential attributes which

go towards the making of a good quartermaster-sergeant--a suave manner

and an eye to the main chance. It was he who suggested, laughingly, that

since the men had missed their Christmas dinner, we should pretend to be

Scotch and celebrate New Year's Day instead. The arrangements are now

complete. The men are to be "paid out" to-morrow and they have all

agreed to subscribe a franc apiece. This will be supplemented until the

funds are sufficient. The Expeditionary Force canteen at ---- has been

visited, and in spite of the heavy demands previously made upon it for

Christmas has provided us with numerous delicacies. The old farmer,

entering cheerfully into the spirit of the affair, has offered beans and

potatoes which Madame proposes to cook for us. Bottled beer has been

purchased, beer on draught will be forthcoming. There are even crackers.

To crown all, the Child returns triumphantly seated upon the box seat of

a G.S. wagon which contains--a piano!...

In the end circumstances forced us to celebrate the birth of the year of

victory on the last day but one of 1915. For to-day two officers and a

large party of N.C.O.'s and men departed for the front on a course of

instruction. So we had to have our "day" before they went. And what a

day it was! The dinner--thanks largely to the energy and resource of the

"quarter-bloke" and the cooks--was an immense success. Every man ate

until, literally, he could eat no more. Then, after the issue of beer

and a brief interval for repose and tobacco, an inter-section football

match was started. The two subalterns whose commands were involved made

a sporting agreement that the loser should stand a packet of cigarettes

to every man of the winning section--some sixty in all. The game, which

was played in a water-logged meadow, ended in a draw, so they each stood

their own men the aforesaid packet--a highly popular procedure.

The piano, need I say, was going all the afternoon. It was necessary to

practise for the evening's concert, and besides we are Welsh and

therefore we are all musical. Moreover--and this I record with

diffidence--I saw the one sergeant we have who is _not_ Welsh but Irish

inveigle the dairymaid into waltzing round the yard!

In the officers' mess we too "spread ourselves a bit." We had guests

and we gave them an eight-course dinner which began with _hors d'oeuvre

varies_ (but not very varied seeing that there were only sardines and

chopped carrots) and ended with dessert. Specially selected ration beef

was, of course, the _piece de resistance_, but it was followed by roast

pigeon and a salad, the latter mixed and dressed by Madame's own fair

hands. But the pigeons, though cooked to a nicety, were undeniably

tough--a fact which was not surprising seeing that they were quite

possibly the oldest inhabitants of the farm!

Eventually, well pleased with ourselves and each armed with a brand of

cigar which one can buy at the rate of nine inches for twopence, we

adjourned to the smoking concert in the barn. The stage was our old

friend the G.S. wagon; the lights, siege lamps, hung round at intervals.

Bottled beer and cigarettes were in constant circulation; the performers

were above the average, and the choruses vociferous but always tuneful.

Every unit has its amateur comedian; but we have got a real professional

one--a "lad fra' Lancasheer" who is well known in the north of England.

I will not divulge his stage name, but he is a corporal now. His voice

is exceptional, his good-nature unlimited, and as for his

stories--well! Moreover, he is gifted enough to be always topical, often

personal, but never disrespectful.

The Child also performed. He has no great voice and had dined well, but,

since he _is_ the Child and sang a song about any old night being a

wonderful night, was wildly applauded. Then the saddler-sergeant, a

quaint character of whom more anon, brought the house down by playing a

quavering solo upon a penny whistle. Finally, the sergeant-major made a

speech which ended as follows:--

"Now there's just one point I want to remind you of. We all wear a badge

in our caps with a gun on it--those of us that is who haven't gone

against orders and given them away as souvenirs" (audible

giggles--although as a matter of fact this has not occurred). "We're all

members of the Royal Regiment. It's got a fine history--let's play up to

it. We'll now sing 'the King,' after which there'll be an issue of tea

and rum...."

The windows of our mess-room, as I have said, face the courtyard. We

were enjoying supper and a welcome drink whilst the long queue of men

waited for their tea at the cook-house door outside, when suddenly in a

dark corner of the yard a chorus started. But it was not an ordinary

chorus, raucous and none too tuneful. Neither was it music-hall

sentiment. It was Grand Opera, sung by a dozen picked men and sung

beautifully. We threw open the window to listen.

The effect was extraordinarily striking. It was a gorgeous starlit

night, and against the sky the farm buildings opposite looked like

silhouettes of black velvet. The voices of these unseen artists (for

they _were_ artists) came to us softly out of the darkness, rising and

falling in perfect cadence, perfect harmony. They sang two selections

from _Il Trovatore_ and then the "Soldiers' Chorus" from _Faust_.

Meanwhile the battery sipped its hot tea and rum and listened

critically. Then there followed a solo, "He like a soldier fell," from

_Maritana_. As a finale, most wonderful of all, they sang "Land of my

Fathers" in Welsh. The occasion, the setting, the way they put their

very souls into every note of it, made me catch my breath as I sat on

the window-sill and listened. And I went to bed feeling that there is

yet a thread of romance running through all the sordid horror which

vexes our unhappy world.

A BATTERY IN BEING

The author of a little red book "War Establishments," labelled "For

Official Use Only" (presumably a gentleman with a brain like

an automatic ready-reckoner), probably thought of nothing

whatever, certainly of no human being, when he penned the decree

"Farrier-Sergeants--per battery--1." But if he could only see the result

of his handiwork! For our farrier-sergeant David Evans is simply

splendid. He is small and sturdy and middle-aged, with grizzled hair

that shows at all times in front of his pushed-back cap. His soft Welsh

accent is a joy to hear; his affection for the horses is immense, his

industry unflagging, and his workmanship always of the very best. He

knows nothing about guns or drill or any kind of soldiering, he is an

indifferent rider and in appearance he would never be mistaken for a

guardsman! But we have only cast one shoe since he joined us months ago,

and he has been known to sit up all night with a sick horse and carry

on with his work as usual on the following day, whistling merrily (he

always whistles while he works) and hammering away as if his very ration

depended upon his shoeing the whole battery before dusk. The Child

summed him up with his customary exactitude.

"I love the old farrier," he said, "he's such a merry old man. I bet

he's a topping uncle to somebody!"

Then there is the saddler. I know that the formation of our new armies

has produced many anomalies, but it is my conviction that our saddler is

unique. To start with he is a grandfather! He is a little wizened old

man with a nose like a bird's beak and he wears huge thick spectacles.

He is sixty-two, and how he got into the service is a mystery. He has

never done a parade in his life, but when it comes to leather-work

(again I quote the Child) "he's a tiger." The battery was newly formed

and living in billets in North Wales when he joined it. His original

appearance caused a mild sensation, even amongst that motley and

ununiformed assembly. For he wore check trousers and a pair of ancient

brown shoes, a tweed tail-coat from the hind pocket of which protruded a

red handkerchief, and--most grotesque of all--a battered top hat of

brown felt! And in this costume he served his country, quite

unconcernedly, for two months before the authorities saw fit to provide

him with a khaki suit. It is his habit, no matter where the battery may

find itself--in barracks, camp or billets, to seek out a secluded spot

(preferably a dark one), to instal himself there with his tools and a

tangle of odd straps, threads and buckles, and proceed to make or mend

things. For he is one of those queer persons who really like work.

I was not fortunate enough to see him in his civilian garb, but I have a

vivid recollection of his first appearance after being issued with a

"cap, winter, overseas, with waterproof cover." This cap, though

practical, does not tend to add to the smartness of the wearer, even if

the wearer is in all other respects smart. But the saddler went to

extremes. He managed to put on the cover so that the whole, pulled well

down over his ears, resembled a vast sponge bag or an elderly lady's

bathing cap, beneath which his spectacles gleamed like the head-lights

of a motor-car. The wildest stretch of the imagination could not liken

him to any sort of soldier. Nevertheless, after his fashion, he is

certainly "doing his bit."

It is, of course, impossible to describe them all. Equally is it

impossible to understand them all. I wish I could, for therein lies the

secret to almost everything. The sergeant-major, for instance, who is

the personification of respectful efficiency--what does he think of this

infant unit? From the dignified way in which he says, "Of course in _my_

battery we did so and so" (meaning, of course, his old "regular"

battery), I gather that his prejudices are strong and that he harbours a

secret longing to go back whence he came. And I sometimes wonder whether

he finds himself quite at home in the sergeants' mess. But he shows no

outward sign of discontent and he allows no discord: his discipline is

stern and unbending. He knows all about every man and every horse, he is

always to be found somewhere in the lines, and he is extraordinarily

patient at explaining to ignorant persons of all ranks the "service"

method of doing everything--from the tying of a headrope to the actual

manoeuvring of a battery in the field. Last, but by no means least, he

is six foot three and broad in proportion, and his voice carries two

hundred yards without apparent effort on his part.

The quartermaster-sergeant--I learnt this only a day or so ago--is a

revivalist preacher in quieter times; the ration orderly, besides his

faculty for wheedling extra bacon out of the supply people, has a

magnificent tenor voice; the great majority of the rank and file are

miners. It is only comparatively recently that they have really settled

down to take a pride in themselves and an intelligent interest in the

reputation of their unit. For we are not KI. We are nearer to being KV

or VI, and we were not amongst the first to be equipped and trained. We

got our guns, our horses and our harness late in the day, and we were,

perhaps, the least bit rushed. Consequently we were slow to develop, but

we are making up for lost time now at an astonishing pace. I can

remember a time when, on giving the order "Walk--march" to any given

team, there was always an even chance that drivers and horses would

disagree as to the necessity for moving off. I can also remember a time

(and not so very long ago either) when our gunners had but the smallest

conception of what a gun was designed to do and (I know this) rather

shrank from the dread prospect of actually firing it. But now we drive

with no mean attempt at style; a narrow gateway off a lane is nothing to

us, and our horses, artistically matched in teams of bay or black, are

prepared to pull their two tons through or over anything within reason

with just a "click" of encouragement from the drivers they know and

understand. And we open the breech as the gun runs up after the recoil,

we call out the fuzes and slap in the next shell with more than mere

drill-book smartness; we're beginning to acquire that pride in our

working of the guns which is the basis of all good artillery work. In

fact we have reached a stage where it would be a wholesome corrective to

our conceit to be taken _en masse_ to see the harness, the horses and

the gun-drill of some regular battery that has borne the brunt of things

since Mons. Then we would go home saying to ourselves, "If the war lasts

another two years and we keep hard at it, we'll be as good as they are."

But in the meanwhile we are quite prepared to take on the Hun, moving or

stationary, in trenches or in the open, at any range from "point-blank"

to six thousand. And we have had it dinned into us, until we yawned and

shuffled our feet and coughed, that it is our _role_ at all times to

help our infantry, whose life is ten times more strenuous than ours, and

by whom ultimately victory is won. We know the meaning of the two

mottoes on our hats and we are distinctly optimistic. Which is as

well....

* * * * *

To-day I visited "the Front." We rode up, a subaltern and I, to see the

battery to which our men are at present attached and which we will

eventually relieve. It is a strange experience for the uninitiated, such

as I am, this riding along the flat and crumbling roads towards the

booming of the guns and the desolation of "the line." The battery

position, we found, was just on the borderland of this zone of

desolation. One would never have suspected the presence of guns unless

one had known exactly where to look--and had gone quite close. A

partially ruined house on the road-side had its front and one gable end

entirely covered with a solid wall of sandbags, but these were the only

obvious indications of occupation. This house, however, was the mess and

officers' quarters, and the Child was there at the door to welcome us.

"We've had quite a busy morning," he said gaily. "They've been putting

four-two's and five-nine's into ----" (---- is a village about a quarter

of a mile up the road). "I was just going out to look for fuzes: but

perhaps you'd like to see round the position first."

We crossed the road and entered a small orchard. The Child led me up to

a large turf-covered mound which had a deep drain all round it and a

small door at the back.

"This," he said, rather with the air of a guide showing a visitor round

a cathedral, "is No. 4."

I bent my head and stepped inside. The gun-pit (which was not really a

pit since its floor was on ground level) was lit only by the narrow

doorway at the rear and by what light could filter through the hurdles

placed in front of the embrasure. But in the dimness I could just make

out the rows and rows of shells all neatly laid in recesses in the

walls, the iron girders that spanned the roof and held up its weight of

sandbags, brick rubble and--reinforced concrete. Ye gods! concrete--for

a field gun! And there, spotlessly clean, ready for instant action, was

the gun itself. I felt sorry for it--it seemed so hopelessly out of

place, so far removed from its legitimate sphere. To think that an

eighteen-pounder, designed for transit along roads and across country,

should have come to this!

"The detachment live here," said the Child, and showed me a commodious

dug-out connected with the gun-pit by a short tunnel. Inside this

dug-out were four bunks and a stove--also a gunner devouring what smelt

like a very savoury dinner.

"What will these keep out?" I asked.

"Oh!" replied the Child, airily, "they're 'pip-squeak'[3] and

splinter-proof, of course, and they might stop a four-two or even a

five-nine. But a direct hit with an eight-inch would make _some_ hole, I

expect. Come and see the telephonist's place. It's rather a show spot."

[3] German field gun shells.

As we were walking towards it a stentorian voice shouted, "Battery

action."

Instantly, the few men who had been working on the drains and on the

pits, or filling sandbags, dropped their tools and raced to the

gun-pits. In a few seconds the battery was ready to fire.

We entered the telephone room--a shell-proof cave really. A man sat at a

little table with an improvised but extraordinarily ingenious telephone

exchange in front of him and a receiver strapped to his ear. A network

of wires went out through the wall above his head. His instrument

emitted a constant buzzing of "dots" and "dashes," all of which he

disregarded, waiting for his own call. Suddenly he clicked his key in

answer, then said--

"Hullo, oh-pip[4]--yes. Target K.--one round battery fire--yes."

[4] "Oh-pip" is signalese for O.P. = Observation Post.

This order was repeated to the guns by megaphone.

_Bang_ went No. 1 and its shell whistled and swished away towards its

goal.

_Bang_ followed No. 2 just before "No. 1 ready" was called back.

It all seemed astonishingly simple, and it seemed, too, quite

unconnected with war and bloodshed. Orders to fire came by telephone

from some place thousands of yards in front. The guns were duly fired by

men who had no conception of what they were firing at, men who had in

all probability never been nearer to the enemy than they were at that

moment, and who had in fact not the slightest conception of what the

front line looked like. According to order these same men made minute

adjustments of angles, ranges, fuzes, until the battery's shells were

falling on or very close to some spot selected by the Forward Observing

Officer, the one man who really knew what was happening. And when this

exacting individual was satisfied, each sergeant duly recorded his

"register" of the target upon a printed form, reminding me vaguely of

the manner in which a 'bus conductor notes down mysterious figures on a

block after referring to his packet of tickets. After which the

detachments, receiving the order "Break off," returned to their work or

dinners with no thought whatever (I am sure of this) as to where their

shell had gone or why or how! But then this was not a "show" but just an

ordinary morning's shoot.

We lunched in the mess, a comfortable room with a red-tiled floor and a

large open fireplace on which logs of wood crackled merrily. On inquiry

I learnt that these same logs were once beams in the church at ----,

devastated not long since by heavy shells and now a heap of shapeless

ruins from which the marauding soldier filches bricks and iron work. And

that church was centuries old and was once beautiful. War is indeed

glorious.

I have heard it said that people who live close to Niagara are quite

unconscious of the sound of the Falls. I can believe it. Practically

speaking, in this part of the world, two minutes never pass, day or

night, during which no one fires a gun. But the human beings whose job

it is to live and work here evince absolutely no interest if the swish

of the shell is _away_ from them and very little if it is coming towards

them, unless there appears to be a reasonable chance that it is coming

_at_ them. Throughout lunch the next battery to this one was firing

steadily. Rather diffidently I asked what was going on. The major

commanding the battery shrugged his shoulders.

"Old ---- has probably got some job on--or he may be merely

retaliating," he replied.

I subsided, not knowing then that before the day was over I was to learn

more about this same retaliation.

After lunch we set out for the O.P.[5]

[5] Observation Post.

"We've got quite a jolly little offensive _strafe_ on this afternoon,"

remarked the major. "There's some wire-cutting, and while it's going on

the attention of the Hun will be distracted by the 'heavies' who are

going to bash his parapet a bit. Then at dusk the infantry are to slip

across and do some bombing. We'll be rather crowded in the O.P., but I

dare say you'll be able to see something."

The Child and my other subaltern, who from his habit of brushing his

hair straight back and referring constantly to his _blase_ past is known

to his intimates as Gilbert, came too.

We passed through ----, which is shelled regularly. Some of its houses

are completely wrecked, but many are still partially intact. Infantry

soldiers lounged about the ruined streets, for this village is used as a

rest billet for troops waiting their turn in the trenches: the

expression "rest" billet struck me as euphemistic. I noticed that

several shells had burst in the graveyard near the church. Even the dead

of previous generations, it seems, are not immune from the horrors of

this war.

After going up the road for nearly a mile we turned off on to the

fields. Every ten yards or so it was necessary either to step over or

stoop under a telephone wire. These nerve strings of modern artillery

were all neatly labelled--they all belonged to some battery or other.

"They strafe this part fairly often," said the major unconcernedly.

It is this unconcern that amazes me. I suppose (or I hope anyway) that I

shall get used to this walking about in the open, but, at present, I am

far from feeling at ease. The odds against getting hit on this

particular bit of ground are enormous, but the chance exists all the

same. As a matter of fact we did get one salvo of "pip-squeaks" over as

we were going up. They were high, to our left, and at least two hundred

yards away, but they made me duck sharply--and then look rather foolish.

The Child pointed to a two-storied ruined house with a skeleton roof.

"Behold 'the Waldorf,'" he said. "Per_son_ally myself" (a favourite

phrase of his) "I think it's rather a jolly O.P."

Approaching it, we crossed some derelict trenches--our front line before

the battle of X----. I felt somehow that I was standing on holy

ground--on ground that had been wrested back from the invaders at a cost

of many hundreds of gallant lives and an infinite amount of pain and

suffering.

Several batteries observe from "the Waldorf," and I found that for all

its dilapidated appearance it was astonishingly strong inside. Telephone

wires ran into it from all directions, and there were several signallers

sitting about cooking over braziers or, if actually on duty, sitting

motionless beside their instruments.

Except for a narrow passage-way and a small recess for the operators,

the entire ground floor was blocked solid from earth to ceiling with

sandbags; there is a distinct feeling of security to be derived from

eight or ten feet thickness of clay-filled bags!

We climbed a wooden ladder and squeezed into the tiny room upstairs from

which the fire of this particular battery is directed. A long low

loophole carefully protected with sandbags and steel plates provided me

with my first view of the front.

I was now some fifteen feet or so above ground level and could see the

backs of all our lines of trenches, could see the smoke of burning fires

and men walking casually up and down or engaged in digging, planking,

revetting, and so on. Beyond was the front line--less distinct and with

fewer signs of activity in it; beyond that again a strip of varying

width, untrampled, green and utterly forsaken--No Man's Land. A few

charred tree-trunks from which every branch and twig had been stripped

by shell fire, stuck up at intervals. I could see the first German

parapet quite plainly and (with glasses) other lines behind it, and

numerous wriggling communication trenches.

So this was "the Front," that vague term that comes so glibly to the

lips of the people at home. I looked at it intently for a long time and

I found that one idea crowded all others from my mind.

"What madness," I thought, "this is which possesses the world! What

_criminal_ waste, not only of lives and money, but of brains, ideas,

ingenuity and time, all of which might have been devoted to construction

instead of to destruction."

The Child noticed my absorption, read my thoughts perhaps, and

translated them into his own phraseology thus:--"Dam' silly business,

isn't it, when you come to think of it?"

The expression fitted. It _is_ a damnably silly business, _but_, if we

are to secure what the whole world longs for--a just and lasting

peace--we have got to see this business through to the end, however

silly, however wasteful it may seem. We have got to "stick it," as the

soldier says, until the gathering forces are strong enough to break the

barrier beyond all hope of repair; to break it and then to pour through

to what will be the most overwhelming victory in the history of the

world....

The major turned his head and spoke into a voice-tube beside him.

"Battery action," he said.

The operator on the ground floor repeated his words into a telephone. I

pictured over again what I had seen in the morning; the detachments

doubling to the places and the four guns instantly ready to answer the

call.

It is altogether astonishing, this siege warfare. An officer sits in a

ruined house, strongly fortified, and not so many hundred yards from the

enemy. From there with ease and certainty he controls the fire of his

four guns. He knows his "zone" and every object in it as completely as

he knows his own features in a looking-glass. Further, he is connected

by telephone with the infantry which he supports, and through the medium

of his own headquarters with various other batteries. Normally this

"observation" work is done by a subaltern, who, nowadays, thank Heaven

and the munitions factories, shoots as much, if not more, than he is

shot at. But occasionally the enemy is stirred up and "retaliates." This

word, in its present military sense, was unknown before the war. It

means just this--

One side organises a bombardment. It carries out its programme, perhaps

successfully, perhaps not. The other side, sometimes at once, sometimes

afterwards, "retaliates" with its artillery on some locality known to be

a tender spot: this is by way of punishment. A year, six months ago

even, the aggression came almost entirely from the Germans, and our

artillery from lack of ammunition could only retaliate mildly, almost

timidly, for fear of drawing down still further vengeance on the heads

of its unfortunate infantry. But that state of things has passed for

ever. The aggression now is all on our side--I speak, of course, of an

ordinary day when there is no "show" on: moreover it is rigorous and

sustained and wearing. If and when the Germans reply to our aggression,

we re-retaliate, so to speak, with a bombardment that silences him. For

instance, to quote from "Comic Cuts" (the official Intelligence Summary

is thus named)--

"Yesterday the enemy fired thirty-five shells into ----. We replied with

500."

That is all: but the whole situation on the Western front _now_ is

summed up in that bald statement. In these days we have the last word

_always_....

On this particular afternoon, however, we had a definite object in view.

The "heavies" by two hours' methodical work made what the Child calls

"Hell's own mess" of a selected bit of parapet. Meanwhile a field

battery industriously cut the wire in front of it and other field

batteries caused "divarsions," as one says in Ireland, by little

side-shows of their own. The enemy went to ground, no doubt in

comparative safety, and sulked in silence. But as soon as dusk began to

creep over the sodden lines, he woke up and started to retaliate. It had

evidently occurred to him that we might be going to attack that hole in

his parapet.

I watched what seemed like a glorified firework display for five or ten

minutes, and somehow gathered the impression that I was merely a

spectator. Then there came three sharp cracks outside the

loophole--_just_ outside it seemed--followed by the peculiar but

unmistakable whirr of travelling splinters.

"Safer downstairs," observed the major, and we descended quickly.

For the next quarter of an hour it really seemed as though the enemy had

made up his mind to flatten out the "Waldorf." He had not, of course: he

couldn't even see it. What he was really doing was putting a "barrage,"

or wall of fire, on the road just in front of us to hamper the advance

of our supports in case we genuinely meant to attack on any scale. We

waited patiently downstairs until it was over; rather like sheltering in

a shop from a passing shower.

The signallers packed up their instruments and prepared to go home.

Personally I was inwardly none too happy about the prospect of sallying

forth into the open; but these men appeared to have no qualms whatever.

They were used to it for one thing, and for another they had had a long

day and wanted their tea. In such circumstances it takes much to deter

the British soldier.

"Seems to be over: might as well 'op it, Bill," said one.

"Righto," answered the other. "Bloomin' muddy this way. What say to

going down the road?"

_Tack-tack-tack-tack_ came from the direction of the road. Even war-worn

signallers retain their common sense.

"'Ark at that there [adjectived] machine-gun, it's 'ardly worth it;"

they agreed and squelched off through the thick clay, grousing about the

state of the country but perfectly indifferent to the deafening din

around them.

Five minutes later we followed them and walked back, facing the flashes

of our own guns, which were still firing steadily--just to make certain

of having the last word with the Hun....

It was nearly nine o'clock when we at last clattered into the courtyard

of our billet and slipped wearily off our horses. It had been a long

day but an interesting one, for we had seen, at close quarters, a

battery doing its normal job under the prevailing normal conditions. And

very soon now our battery will be in that position, putting the last

finishing touches to its education and doing that same job, I hope

efficiently. Then, and not till then, will it really be a Battery in

Being.

"IN THE LINE"

We are beginning now to regard ourselves as old stagers. We have been in

action for nearly three months and in that period our education, in all

the essential things, has advanced at a most surprising pace. Our most

cherished illusions--culled from the newspapers for the most part--have

been dissipated and replaced by the realities of this life. How often, I

wonder, have we read that this is a war of attrition, or of artillery,

or of finance, or of petrol! It is none of these things--at least not

from our limited perspective. It is rather, to us, a war of mud, of

paper (so many reams of it that the battery clerk's head buzzes and he

cannot sleep at night for thinking of the various "returns" that he must

render to headquarters by 9 a.m. on the following day), of routine, and,

above all, of marauding.

Wherefore we have adapted ourselves to circumstances. We have learnt

that mud in itself is harmless and, since it is impossible to avoid,

not worth noticing at any time; that unpunctuality in the submitting of

any report or return demanded (however senseless) leads to far more

unpleasantness from high quarters than any other sin one may commit;

that routine is an irksome fetish of the Powers, but that it makes each

day so like its predecessor that the weeks slip by and one forgets the

date and almost the month. Lastly, we have learnt that the way to get

things is to find them lying about; that while it is possible to indent

for material, it is also possible to collect it if one takes the

trouble. Timber, for instance, is required for building gun-pits, so are

steel girders and brick rubble and brushwood. Well, do not the winds

that shriek across this flat country blow down trees sometimes? Is there

not a derelict railway station less than a mile away, and are not piles

of rubble placed along the roadsides for mending purposes? It is

pleasant, too, to have a real door to one's dug-out instead of a hanging

corn sack: there is more than one partially ruined cottage near at hand.

We are beyond the borderland of civilisation here; We have left our

scruples behind us, for we know that if we refrain from taking those

rails, those doors and window frames, those stout oak beams, some one

else will have them shortly.

Circumstances, too, have brought it home to us that this war is not so

"stationary" as we imagined. The relative positions of the two opposing

armies remain the same, weary month after weary month. But the positions

of the units composing them do not. We, for example, soon after our

arrival in the country were sent up to be attached for instruction to a

battery which was in action. It was explained to us that we would

eventually "take over" from that battery when its division went out to

rest. We were at pains, therefore, to acquire all the knowledge we could

in the time. The subalterns learnt the "zone" which they would have to

watch and fire over--every yard of it. The sergeants mastered the

particular system of angles, "registrations," etc., in use; the

signallers knew the run of their wires and understood the working of the

circuit; the gun detachments, as a result of many hours of patient

sand-bag filling and building, had begun to regard the place as their

future home which it was meet to make as strong and (afterwards only) as

comfortable as possible. And I, as the battery commander, besides being

fairly confident of being able to "carry on," had noted, with

satisfaction, it being then midwinter, that there was a fireplace in

what would be my room.

But did we "take over" this position? Not we! Three days before the

relief was due to take place we were sent off to another battery about

which we knew nothing whatever and took over from it in a hurry and a

muddle. Which strange procedure may be accounted for in one of two

ways--as having been done expressly with a view to training us in

dealing with an unexpected situation or, more simply, as merely "Dam bad

staff work." We will leave it at that.

We occupied this new position, which, by the way, was a good one with a

quite comfortable billet close at hand, for just three weeks. At the end

of this time we had thoroughly settled down: we had done a great deal of

constructive work--strengthening gun-pits, improving dug-outs, fixing

voice-tubes for the passing of orders from the telephone-hut to the

guns; we had laid out an extra wire to the O.P. and relabelled all our

circuit: we had cleaned up the wagon-line, rebricked the worst parts of

the horse-standings and laid down brushwood so that the vehicles were

clear of the all-pervading mud. We had arranged a bathroom for the men

as well as a recreation room: we had built an oven (nothing acquires

merit more simply in the eyes of the Powers than a well-devised

oven--"Your horse-management is a scandal, Captain ----!" "Yes, sir: but

have you seen our oven?" Wrath easily deflected and the Great One

departs to make a flattering report). We had visualised at least twenty

various "stunts" that would make things safer, or more comfortable or

more showy. We had reached a moment, in fact, when we were secretly

rubbing our hands and saying "the place is not only habitable but

_good_: and we are about to enjoy the fruits of our labours thereon."

Which was a foolish attitude to adopt and one which, now that we are a

more experienced (and therefore a more cynical) unit, would not be

conceivable.

This time they moved the whole division, telling us (or the infantry

rather) that the order should be regarded as a compliment in that the

division had done so well that it was to be entrusted with a more

difficult--which is a euphemism for a more dangerous--portion of the

line.

Resignedly we packed up everything that we possessed, "handed over" to

the incoming battery, and, after failing to persuade the mess cat to

accompany us, trekked off in a howling gale to the new place. This

latter was not without merits, but had the great disadvantage that the

only house available for a mess was nearly a quarter of a mile from the

gun position.

The gun-pits, with the exception of one which had been partially

reconstructed on sound principles, were bad. They had been built in the

summer when every one was saying, "No use wasting material--we won't be

here next winter." But here we are all the same, regarding rather

gloomily the defects which it will take weeks of hard work to remedy.

I overheard one gunner expressing his opinion thus to a friend of his--

"Well now, Dai,[6] I don't know what battery was here before us now

just, but they weren't great workers, see! Our pit couldn't keep the

rain out last night--what'll it do if a shell comes along?"

[6] David.

So I indented on the Royal Engineers (who own vast storehouses called in

the vernacular "Dumps") for rails and bricks and cement and sandbags,

and I sent marauding parties out at night to collect anything that might

be useful.

The men with a good-will which was beyond all praise, seeing that this

was their third position within the month, started the arduous task of

dismantling the old pits and dug-outs and building them anew--guessing

by this time that in all probability they would be moved on elsewhere

before their labours were finished. For that is one very definite aspect

of this war....

Our mess is a cottage which we share with a French family. Monsieur

works in a mine close by, the numerous children play in the yard or are

sent on errands, Madame in her spare moments does our washing for us. In

the evening they all assemble in the kitchen and try to teach French to

our servants. It amazes me to watch the sangfroid with which they go

about their daily occupations regardless of the never-ceasing sound of

guns and shells, regardless of the fact that the German line, as the

crow flies, is less than two miles away. At 8 p.m. to the moment, whilst

we are at dinner, they troop through into their own room to bed, each

with a charming "Bon soir, messieurs." And on each occasion they make me

personally feel that we are rather brutal to be occupying two-thirds of

their house and spending our days making the most appalling havoc of

their country. But I console myself by remembering that these people

once had Uhlans in the neighbourhood and are therefore prepared to

disregard minor nuisances such as ourselves.

Seven to seven-thirty p.m. is generally rather a busy time. Official

correspondence, usually marked "secret" and nearly always "urgent," is

apt to arrive, and it is at this time that the intricate report on the

day's shooting has to be made out and despatched to Group Headquarters.

I am in the midst of this, working against time, with an orderly waiting

in the kitchen, when the door is flung open and the Child enters with a

cheery "Good evening, Master."

The Child calls me Master sometimes because I am always threatening to

send his parents a half-term report on his progress and general conduct,

or to put him back into Eton collars! He has now just returned from

forty-eight hours' duty at the O.P. and presents an appearance such that

his own mother would hardly recognise him. He wears a cap of a

particularly floppy kind which he refers to as "my gorblimy hat," an

imperfectly cured goatskin coat of varied hues which smells abominably,

fur gauntlets, brown breeches, and indiarubber thigh boots. Round his

person are slung field glasses, a prismatic compass, an empty

haversack, and a gas helmet. Moreover, he is caked with mud from head to

foot and flushed with his two-mile walk against the cold wind. For this

is still March, and we have had frost and snow and thaw alternately this

last week.

"Anything happen after I left?" I ask. I had been up at the O.P. in the

morning, and we'd "done a little shoot" together.

"Nothing much. The Hun got a bit busy with rifle grenades about lunch

time and started to put some small 'minnies'[7] into our second line. So

I retaliated on three different targets, which stopped him p.d.q. Later

on he put a few pip-squeaks round our O.P. and one four-two into the

church. That's about all, 'cept that I had to dodge a blasted

machine-gun when I was leaving at dusk--one of those 250-rounds-a-minute

stunts, you know--and I had to nip across that open bit, in between his

bursts of fire. The trenches are in Hell's own mess after this thaw--I

went down to the front line with an infantry officer to look at a

sniper's post he's located; we might get the 'hows'[8] on to it. Any

letters for me?"

[7] Minenwer, _i.e._ trench mortar bombs.

[8] Howitzers.

I push them across to him, but forbid him to remain in the room with

that smelly coat on.

"Righto," he grins; "I'm off to have a bath and a shave before dinner."

"But, my dear Child," I say, "you shaved last week! Surely----"

He grins again and saunters gracefully out. The Child is always graceful

even when wearing a goatskin coat and ungainly thigh boots. But he's

tired--I can see it in his eyes. His last two days have been spent as

follows: At seven p.m. the night before last he arrived, in the capacity

of liaison officer, at the headquarters of the battalion that we are

supporting. He dined there and slept, in his clothes of course and

always at the menace of a telephone, in a draughty hovel next door.

Before dawn the next morning he was groping his way along three-quarters

of a mile of muddy communication trench to the O.P. Arrived there it is

his business to make certain that the telephonists below in the dank

cellar are "through" on every line. Then he ascends the ladder of the

observation tower and stares through the loophole at the mists which

swathe the trenches in front of him. And there, alternately with the

subaltern of the other battery which uses this particular O.P., he must

remain until it is again too dark to shoot.

There are diversions, of course, which help to pass the long hours. One

is "shooting the battery." The F.O.O., as the subaltern on duty at the

O.P. is called, is allowed, within fairly wide limits, to shoot when and

at what he likes provided always that he has a reasonable objective. The

principles laid down for him are simple enough: whilst never wasting a

round if he can help it, he must also never miss an opportunity. That is

to say that he must keep ceaseless watch for signs of movement or of new

work being carried out by the enemy, for the flashes of hostile

batteries, for suspected O.P.'s, for machine-gun emplacements and

snipers' posts--for almost everything in fact. And when he sees, he must

shoot--at a rapid rate and for a few moments only. For it is useless to

"plaster" the same spot for any length of time: the enemy will not be

there--he must be caught unawares or not at all.

Another diversion is noting down the action of the hostile artillery, of

which a report has to be rendered every evening. This is easy enough

when he happens to be shelling at a convenient distance from you: it is

not so easy, however, to count the number of "pip-squeaks" that burst

within a few yards of the house in which you are, or of "minnies" that

arrive in silence and explode with a terrific report apparently just at

the foot of your tower, filling your observation room with acrid fumes.

Visitors appear at all hours--generals, staff officers, infantry

colonels, trench-mortar or sniping officers. Each wants to examine some

portion of the line from the vantage point of the tower, and each

expects to be told unhesitatingly everything he wants to know. But to

return to the Child and his tour of duty. After dusk he goes back to

infantry headquarters to feed and sleep. Then follows another long day

in the tower, at the end of which he is relieved by the "next for duty"

and returns to the battery with the privilege of breakfasting at any

hour he likes on the following morning. The Child, I may here remark,

has been known to eat poached eggs and marmalade at 12.30, and

unblushingly sit down to sausages and mashed potatoes at 1.15.

But those two days at the O.P. are a strain. No hot meals, long hours,

disturbed nights, shells for ever passing overhead, "mutual exchanges of

rifle grenades," snipers' bullets which have missed their mark in our

front line trenches flattening themselves against the outer wall of the

house--there are pleasanter ways of living than this. And two things are

always possible: one that the enemy may decide that this ruined house

that he has watched for so long really _is_ an O.P., and therefore well

worth razing to the ground with heavy shell; the other that an attack

(either with or without gas) may suddenly be launched against our line.

In the first case the cellar _may_ be a safe place, in the second there

will be what the Child calls "Hell's own job," requiring a quick brain,

keen vision, and the battery roaring in answer to sharp, curt orders.

But if the two occur at once, as is more than probable, why, then the

cellar is out of the question, for at no matter what cost the

guns--always ready, always hungry--must be effectively controlled, the

long-suffering, hard-pressed infantry must be supported. But at present

these are dull days. Neither side is trying to do more than annoy the

other.

"9.44 a.m. Working party seen at ----, fired on, dispersed."

"2.10 p.m. Fired 10 rounds at suspected O.P. at ----. One direct hit with

H.E. Drew quick retaliation on ----."

Thus is the daily report compiled. Is it worth all the trouble, the

science, the skill, the organisation? It is, for everything, every

little detail, every little effort helps to bring nearer the day when

our guns will be pulled out on to the roads again, to be used for their

legitimate purpose--the "quick thing," the fight in the open, "the

moving show."...

Our colonel is "some man"--which phrase, being expanded, means an

individual whose keen eye misses absolutely nothing from the too-sharp

rowel of a driver's spur to the exact levelling of a concrete

gun-platform; whose brain is for ever evolving schemes for the undoing

of the wily Boche; whose energy enables him to walk and ride fifteen to

twenty miles a day, deal with all his official correspondence and yet

find time to talk about hunting at odd moments. Periodically he holds

conferences of battery commanders at his Group Headquarters. After

seeing that every one is provided for, he produces a large scale map

with all the "zones" marked on it, sticks out his chin in a manner

peculiar to him, and says--

"The Hun is becoming uppish again and must be suppressed. Now, what I

propose to do is this"--and he proceeds to detail something entirely

original in the way of a bombardment. But he is seldom content to use

his own batteries by themselves: nearly always he manages to borrow a

few "heavies" and some trench mortars of various sizes. With these at

his disposal he feels that he can "put up a good show," as he says, and

it must be acknowledged that he generally does.

In addition to these definitely organised bombardments he is constantly

ordering small "joy strafes" to be carried out. For instance, he will

study the map and decide that two roads in a given area are in all

probability used by the enemy at night. He will forbid any one to shoot

on the northern one (say) and order two batteries to put salvoes on to

the southern one every night until further orders, "just to impress the

Hun," as he puts it, "with the idea that the southern road is a

distinctly unhealthy spot. Then he'll have double traffic on the

northern one. We'll wait till we know for certain that it's his relief

night and then we'll fairly plaster that road."

This thoughtful scheme was duly carried out about a week ago--with what

results, of course, it is impossible to say: but from the way the

hostile batteries woke up and retaliated, we gathered that something had

been accomplished.

And so the days and weeks pass by--quickly on the whole, so quickly that

we are already beginning to badger the adjutant with queries as to when

we are likely to get leave. There are rumours, too, that the division is

shortly going out "to rest." The infantry deserve it, for theirs is the

hard part: daily I admire them more, every man of them from the humblest

private who digs in the slushy trenches or stands on guard in a sap

thirty yards or less from the enemy and quite possibly on top of a mine

to their brigadier who conceals his V.C. and D.S.O. ribbons beneath a

rubber suit and spends more of his time in the front line trenches than

out of them.

But for us gunners it is different. We live in comfort and in perfect

safety (unless our actual position is spotted and "strafed," in which

case we merely withdraw our men until the enemy's allowance of

ammunition is expended). Except possibly for our hard-worked

telephonists we need no rest. Moreover, it would be heartbreaking to

leave the position that we have made so cosy, so inconspicuous, and, we

all believe, so strong.

We happen to be close to a main avenue of traffic. All sorts of people

pass by--"brass hats" going up to inspect the line, R.E. wagons laden

with every conceivable kind of trench store, mining officers caked in

yellow clay returning after a strenuous tour of duty underground, a

constant succession of small parties of infantry who are either "going

in" or "coming out," ration carts, handcarts filled with things that

look like iron plum-puddings but are really trench-mortar bombs and,

occasionally, an ambulance. Infantry officers or men who happen to halt

close by are generally invited to have a look at the gun-pits. More

often than not some one of them recognises a friend or a relation in the

battery: it must be remembered that we are a homogeneous division. If by

chance we are firing when a party of infantry (unaccompanied by an

officer) is passing, it invariably halts and watches the performances

with huge interest and quite often with a shout or two of encouragement.

"Go it, boys, give 'em a bit more marmalade," I heard one ribald private

yell out, when to his joy he heard the order, "Two rounds battery fire

one second." When the guns had flashed and roared in their sequence, and

the shells had gone rumbling away towards the distant lines, he picked

up his burden, hitched his rifle more comfortably across his shoulders,

and went upon his way, remarking, with a pleasant admixture of oaths--

"That'll give 'em something to think about for a while."

This, on a minor scale, is an example of the great principle of infantry

and artillery co-operation. I can picture that same private rejoining

his platoon in the trenches and saying to his "batty"--[9]

[9] = pal or friend.

"Look you, Trevor, as I was coming up the road now just, I see a battery

of our fellows givin' them ---- Hell."

And his friend would answer perhaps--

"Well, 'tis fine to hear our shells come singing over. What about them

fags, Tom? Did you get 'em?"

Neither of these men would know whether the rounds had been well or

badly placed, but each would be left with the impression that the

artillery exists for the purpose of helping him and his fellows when in

difficulties and of preparing the way when the time comes. A small

point, perhaps, but nevertheless a vital one....

It is fortunate that amid all the horror and the misery and the waste

that this war entails it is still possible to see the humorous side of

things sometimes. Here is an example. A major on his way up to the front

line saw a man hunting about amongst some ruins for "souvenirs"--and

this in a place which was in view of the Germans and only about 350

yards from their trenches. The major was justly annoyed: firstly, the

man was evidently wasting his time; secondly, there was every prospect

that hostile fire would be drawn to the spot. So he drew his revolver

and put a round into the brickwork about six feet to one side of the

man.

The effect was wonderful. The souvenir hunter, convinced that he had

escaped a sniper's bullet by a mere inch, made a wild dive into a handy

shell-hole and lay low. Twenty minutes later he emerged, crawling on

hands and knees through deep slime and eagerly watched by a working

party who had seen the incident. He arrived, panting and prepared to

give an account of his thrilling experience--only to be asked his name

and unit and placed in arrest on a charge of loitering unnecessarily in

a dangerous place thereby tending to draw fire.

Another incident, not devoid of humour (though I cannot say that I

thought so at the moment), occurred a week after we had arrived at our

present position. W----, the captain of the "regular" battery which we

had replaced, came over to inquire about a telescopic sight and a

clinometer belonging to his unit which had somehow got mislaid during

the muddle of "handing over."

"They must be somewhere here," W---- suggested politely, "and we _must_

have them because we are going back into action to-morrow."

I assured him that to the best of my belief I had only my own, "but," I

added confidently, "we'll go round and ask at each gun to make certain."

The sergeant of No. 1 was quite positive. The corporal of No. 2 was

apparently equally so, but I noticed the suspicion of a smile at the

corners of his lips.

"Are you certain," I repeated, "that you've only got your own telescope

and sight clinometer?"

The corporal's answer was positively brutal in its honesty. He

winked--an unmistakable wink--and said--

"Well, sir, o' course I've got those what I pinched off t' batt'ry that

was here before!"

If the mud had then and there engulfed me I should have been grateful.

As it was I could only weakly murmur, "Fetch them at once," and then

glance round to see the expression on W----'s face. But he, good soul,

was walking quietly away, though whether with the idea of relieving his

own feelings or of allowing me to vent mine upon the corporal, I never

dared to ask.

On the following day the corporal, who by the way is our professional

comedian from Lancashire, saw fit to apologise. He did so thus--

"Sir," he said, as I was walking past his gun-pit. I turned and regarded

him sternly, for I was still rather angry.

"I'm sorry about what happened yesterday," he observed contritely. "_I

didn't mean to make a fool of you!_"

The charm of the remark lies in the fact that, while disregarding the

enormity of his offence in "pinching" essential gun-stores from another

battery, he was genuinely upset at having made _me_ look ridiculous.

Which being the case I could do nothing but accept his apology in the

spirit in which it was offered.

SPIT AND POLISH

"Per_son_ally myself," said the Child, tilting back his chair until his

head touched the wall behind him, and stretching out a lazy arm towards

the cigarette-box--"per_son_ally myself, I've enjoyed this trip no

end--haven't you?"

"I have," I answered; "so much so, Child, that the thought of going back

to gun-pits and trenches and O.P.'s again fills me with gloom."

It was our last night in a most comfortable billet near ----, where, on

and off, we had spent rather more than a month of ease; on the morrow we

were going into the line again. The trip to which the Child was

referring, however, was an eight days' course at a place vaguely known

as "the ----th Army Mobile Artillery Training School," from which our

battery had but lately returned.

The circumstances were these. When, five weeks ago, the division moved

(for the _n_th time!) to a different part of the line, it transpired

that three batteries would be "out at rest," as there would be no room

for them in action. It also so chanced that it was our colonel's turn to

be left without a "group"[10] to command. This being so, he suggested to

higher authorities that the three batteries "out" should be those of his

own brigade, in order that he might have a chance "to tidy them up a

bit," as he phrased it. Thus it was that we found ourselves, as I have

said, in extremely comfortable billets--places, I mean, where they have

sheets on the beds and china jugs and gas and drains--with every

prospect of a pleasant loaf. But in this we were somewhat sanguine.

[10] A certain number of batteries.

The colonel's idea in having us "out" for a while was not so much to

rest us as to give us a variation of work. Being essentially a thorough

man, he started--or rather ordered me to start--at the very beginning.

The gunners paraded daily for marching drill, physical exercises, and

"elementary standing gun drill by numbers." N.C.O.'s and drivers were

taken out and given hours of riding drill under the supervision of

subalterns bursting with knowledge crammed up from the book the night

before and under the personal direction of a brazen-voiced sergeant

who, having passed through the "riding troop" at Woolwich in his youth,

knew his business. The strangest sight of all was the class of

signallers--men who had spent months in the foetid atmosphere of cellars

and dug-outs, or creeping along telephone wires in "unhealthy"

spots--now waving flags at a word of command and going solemnly through

the Morse alphabet letter by letter. Of the whole community, this was

perhaps the most scandalised portion. But in a few days, when everybody

(not excluding myself and the other officers) had discovered how much

had been forgotten during our long spell in action, a great spirit of

emulation began to be displayed. Subsections vied with one another to

produce the smartest gun detachment, the sleekest horses, the best

turned-out ride, the cleanest harness, guns, and wagons.

The colonel, after the manner of his kind, came at the end of a week or

so to inspect things. He is not the sort of man upon whom one can easily

impose. A dozen of the shiniest saddles or bits in the battery placed so

as to catch the light (and the eye) near the doorway of the harness room

do not necessarily satisfy him: nor is he content with the mere general

and symmetrical effect of rows of superficially clean breast-collars,

traces, and breechings. On the contrary, he is quite prepared to spend

an hour or more over his inspection, examining every set of harness in

minute detail, even down to the backs of the buckle tongues, the inside

of the double-folded breast collars, and the oft-neglected underside of

saddle flaps. It is the same thing with the guns and wagons. Burnished

breech-rings and polished brasswork look very nice, and he approves of

them, but he does not on that account omit to look closely at every

oil-hole or to check the lists of "small stores" and "spare parts."

For the next week or so we were kept very busy on "the many small points

which required attention," to quote the colonel's phrase. Nevertheless,

as a variation from the monotony of siege warfare, the time was regarded

by most of us as a holiday. Many things combined to enhance our

pleasure. The sun shone and the country became gorgeously green again;

the horses began to get their summer coats and to lose their unkempt

winter's appearance; there was a fair-sized town near at hand, and

passes to visit it were freely granted to N.C.O.'s and men; at the back

of the officers' billet was a garden with real flower-beds in it and a

bit of lawn on which one could have tea. Occasionally we could hear the

distant muttering of the guns, and at night we could see the "flares"

darting up from the black horizon--just to remind us, I suppose, that

the war was only in the next parish....

But it was not to be supposed that a man of such energy as our colonel

would be content just to ride round daily and watch three of his

batteries doing rides and gun drill. It occurred to him at once that

this was the time to practise the legitimate business--that is, open,

moving warfare. Wherefore he made representations to various quite

superior authorities. In three days, by dint of considerable personal

exertion, he had secured the following concessions: two large tracts of

ground suitable for driving drill and battery manoeuvre, good billets,

an area of some six square miles (part of the ----th Army Training area)

for the purpose of tactical schemes, the appointment of himself as

commandant of the "school," a Ford ambulance for his private use, three

motor lorries for the supply of the units under training, and a

magnificent chateau for his own headquarters. And all this he

accomplished without causing any serious friction between the various

"offices" and departments concerned--no mean feat.

Each course was to last eight days, and there were to be four batteries,

taken from different divisions, undergoing it simultaneously. It fell to

us to go with the second batch, and we spent a strenuous week of

preparation: it was four months since we had done any work "in the

open," and we knew, inwardly, that we were distinctly rusty. We packed

up, and at full war strength, transport, spare horses and all, we

marched out sixteen miles to the selected area. At the halfway halt we

met the commander of a battery of our own brigade returning. He stopped

to pass the time of day and volunteered the information that he was

going on leave that night. "And, by Jove!" he added significantly, "I

deserve a bit of rest. _Reveille_ at 4 a.m. every morning, out all day

wet or fine, gun drill at every odd moment, schemes, tactical exercises,

everybody at high pressure all the time. The colonel's fairly in his

element, revels in it, and 'strafes' everybody indiscriminately. But

it's done us all a world of good though. Cheeriho! wish you luck." And

he rode on, leaving us rather flabbergasted.

We discovered quite early (on the following morning about dawn, to be

precise) that there had been no exaggeration. We began with elementary

driving drill, and we did four and a half hours of it straight on end,

except for occasional ten-minute halts to rest the astonished teams. It

was wonderful how much we had forgotten and yet how much came back to us

after the first hour or so.

"I want all your officers to drill the battery in turn," said the

colonel. "I shall just ride round and correct mistakes."

He did--with an energy, a power of observation, and a command of

language which I have seldom seen or heard surpassed. But the ultimate

result by midday, when all the officers and N.C.O.'s were hoarse, the

teams sweating and the carriages caked in oily dust--the ultimate result

was, as the Child politely says, "not too stinkin' awful." And it had

been good to hear once again the rattle and bump of the guns and wagons

over hard ground, the jingle of harness and the thud of many hoofs; good

to see the teams swing round together as they wheeled into line or

column at a spanking trot; good above all to remember that _this_ was

our job and that the months spent in concrete gun-pits and

double-bricked O.P.'s were but a lengthy prelude to our resumption of

it--some day.

In the evening, when the day's work was over and "stables" finished, we

left the tired horses picking over the remains of their hay and walked

down the _pave_ village street, Angelo and I, to look at the church.

Angelo is my eldest but not, as it so happens, my senior subaltern.

Before the war he was a budding architect, with a taste for painting:

hence the nickname, coined by the Child in one of his more erudite

moods.

The church at L---- is very fine. Its square tower is thirteenth

century, its interior is pure Gothic, and its vaulted roof a marvel. For

its size the building is well-nigh perfect. We spent some time examining

the nave and chancel--Angelo, his professional as well as his artistic

enthusiasm aroused, explaining technicalities to me and making me

envious of his knowledge. It was with regret that we turned away at

last, for in spite of the tattered colours of some French regiment which

hung on the north side of the chancel, we had forgotten the war in the

quiet peacefulness of that exquisite interior. But we were quickly

reminded. At the end of the church, kneeling on one of the rough

chairs, was an old peasant woman: her head was bowed, and the beads

dropped slowly through her twisted fingers. As we crept down the aisle

she raised her eyes--not to look at us, for I think she was unconscious

of our presence--but to gaze earnestly at the altar. Her lips moved in

prayer, but no tear damped her yellow cheek. And, passing out into the

sunlight again, I wondered for whom she was praying--husband, brother,

sons?--whether, still hoping, she prayed for the living, or, faithfully,

for the souls of those lost to her. They are brave, the peasant women of

France....

Madame our hostess, besides being one of the fattest, was also one of

the most agreeable ladies it has ever been our lot to be billeted upon.

Before we had been in her house ten minutes she had given us (at an

amazing speed) the following information:--

Her only remaining son had been wounded and was now a prisoner in

Germany.

She had played hostess continuously since August, 1914, to every kind of

soldier, including French motor-bus drivers, Indian chiefs (_sic_), and

generals.

English officers arriving after the battle of Loos slept in her hall for

twenty-four hours, woke to have a bath and to eat an omelette, and then

slept the clock round again.

She remembered 1870, in which war her husband had fought.

The Boches were barbarians, but they would never advance now, though at

one time they had been within a few kilometres of her house.

The lettuce and cabbages in her garden were at our disposal.

She took an enormous interest in the Infant, who is even younger than

the Child and is our latest acquisition.

"Regardez donc le petit, comme il est fatigue!" she exclaimed to me in

the tones of an anxious mother--and then added in an excited whisper,

"A-t-il vu les Boches, ce petit sous-lieutenant?"

When I assured her not only that he had seen them, but had fired his

guns at them, she was delighted and declared that he could not be more

than sixteen. But here the Infant, considering that the conversation was

becoming personal, intervened, and the old lady left us to our dinner.

Towards the end of our week we packed up essentials and marched out to

bivouac two nights and fight a two days' running battle--directed, of

course, by our indefatigable colonel. After the dead flat ugliness where

we had been in action all the winter and early spring it was a delight

to find ourselves in this spacious undulating country, with its trees

and church spires and red-tiled villages. We fought all day against an

imaginary foe, made innumerable mistakes, all forcibly pointed out by

the colonel (who rode both his horses to a standstill in endeavouring to

direct operations and at the same time watch the procedure of four

widely separated batteries); our imaginary infantry captured ridge after

ridge, and we advanced from position to position "in close support,"

until finally, the rout of the foe being complete, we moved to our

appointed bivouacs.

In peace time it would have been regarded as a quite ordinary day,

boring because of its resemblance to so many others. Now it was

different. True, it was make-believe from start to finish, without even

blank cartridge to give the vaguest hint of reality. But there was this:

at the back of all our minds was the knowledge that this was a

preparation--possibly our last preparation--not for something in the

indefinite future (as in peace time), but for an occasion that assuredly

_is_ coming, perhaps in a few months, perhaps even in a few weeks. The

colonel spoke truly when, at his first conference, he said--

"During these schemes you must all of you force yourselves to imagine

that there is a real enemy opposed to you. The Boche is no fool: he's

got guns, and he knows how to use them. If you show up on crest lines

with a whole battery staff at your heels, he'll have the place

'registered,' and he'll smash your show to bits before you ever get your

guns into action at all. _Think_ where he is likely to be, _think_ what

he's likely to be doing, don't expose yourselves unless you must, and

above all, _get a move on_."

It was a delightful bivouac. We were on the sheltered side of a little

hill, looking south into a wooded valley. Nightingales sang to us as we

lay smoking on our valises after a picnic dinner and stared dreamily at

the stars above us.

"Jolly, isn't it?" said the Child; "but I s'pose we wouldn't be feeling

quite so comfy if it was the real business."

"Don't," said Angelo, quietly. "I was pretending to myself that we were

just a merry camping party, here for pleasure only. I'd forgotten the

war."

But I had not. I was thinking of the last time I had bivouacked--amongst

the corn sheaves of a harvest that was never gathered, side by side

with friends who were soon to fall, on the night before the first day of

Mons, nearly two years ago.

The following day was more or less a repetition of the first, except

that we made fewer mistakes and "dropped into action" with more style

and finish. We were now becoming fully aware of the almost-forgotten

fact that a field battery is designed to be a mobile unit, and we were

just beginning to take shape as such when our time was over. A day's

rest for the horses and then we returned to our comfortable rest

billets. It had been a strenuous week, but I think every one had

thoroughly enjoyed it....

We have had two days in which to "clean up," and now to-morrow we are to

relieve another battery and take our place in the line again. Our

holiday is definitely over. It will take a little time to settle down to

the old conditions: our week's practice of open warfare has spoilt us

for this other kind. We who have climbed hills and looked over miles of

rolling country will find an increased ugliness in our old flat

surroundings. It will seem ludicrous to put our guns into pits

again--the guns that we have seen bounding over rough ground behind the

straining teams. To be cooped up in a brick O.P. staring at a strip of

desolation will be odious after our bivouacs under the stars and our

dashes into action under a blazing sun. Worst of all, perhaps, is the

thought that the battery will be split up again into "gun line" and

"wagon line," with three miles or more separating its two halves,

instead of its being, as it has been all these weeks, one complete

cohesive unit. But what must be, must be; and it is absurd to grumble.

Moreover--the end is not yet.

* * * * *

"Let's toss up for who takes first turn at the O.P. when the relief is

completed," suggested the Child.

"Wait a minute," said I, remembering something suddenly. "Do you know

what to-day is?"

"Friday," he volunteered, "and to-morrow ought to be a half-holiday, but

it won't be, 'cos we're going into action."

I passed the port round again. "It's only a fortnight since we

celebrated the battery's first birthday," I said, "but to-day the Royal

Regiment of Artillery is two hundred years old. Let's drink its health."

And we did.

A BATTLE

Somewhere about the middle of June, we knew definitely that we were "for

it," as the soldier says; we knew that our division was one of those

chosen for the great concentration which was to culminate in the "great

push"--and we were proud of the distinction. A three days' march brought

us to a certain training area, where we camped for a week and worked

some seventeen hours a day--counting, that is, from _reveille_ at 4 a.m.

until the last bit of harness was hung up clean and ready for the morrow

at 9 p.m.

During this period two incidents of note occurred. One was that the

Child suddenly developed pleurisy, and was removed to hospital--a

serious loss at any time, but especially so at this particular moment.

The other was that a squadron of hostile aircraft flew over our

manoeuvre ground and actually dropped a bomb within 150 yards of the

tail of our column. Which, seeing that we were some twenty miles from

the nearest part of the line and at the moment only playing at soldiers,

was most disconcerting.

From the time when we left this training until, about three weeks later,

we were withdrawn to rest in a quiet part of the line, I kept a rough

diary of our particular share in the greatest battle ever fought by the

British Army. The following are some extracts from it, in no way

embellished, but only enlarged so as to make them intelligible.

_June 27._--Nine-hour night march southwards, arriving in comfortable

billets at 3.30 a.m. Aeroplanes (or at any rate, hostile ones) are the

curse of this war: if it was not for fear of them we could move by

daylight in a reasonable manner. The old saddler, dozing on a wagon,

fell off and was run over: nothing broken, but he will be lost to us. A

great pity, as he's a charming character and a first-class workman.

_June 28 and 29._--Rested, the continuation of the march having been

postponed.

_June 30._--Orders to move on to-night. Was sent off with a small party

on a road and river reconnaissance: this presumably with a view to

going forward "when the advance begins." By the time we got back to

where the brigade was to billet, had ridden about forty miles. Job only

half finished. Battery marched in at midnight.

_July 1._--Started at 5.30 a.m. with same party to finish

reconnaissance. Reached a point about four miles behind the line, at

7.15 a.m.: a tremendous bombardment in progress. Left our horses, and

walked on two miles to a river. Here learnt that the attack had been

launched at 7.30 and was going well. Walked north up the river-bank,

keeping well under the shelter of the steep ridge on the east side, and

only emerging to examine each bridge as we came to it. Thousands upon

thousands of shells of every size, from "Grannies" to 18 prs., passing

over our heads unceasingly: expected the enemy to retaliate. But not a

round came: probably the Boche was too busily engaged elsewhere. Met

streams of wounded coming down; some with captured helmets, nearly all

with grins.

Finished the river reconnaissance about 10.30 and walked back by a

roundabout (but less unpleasant!) way, and reached our horses about

midday. Rode back to the battery and spent the afternoon writing out

full report. Orders to move at 11.30 p.m. Long night march to new

billets, arriving 4.15 a.m.

_July 2._--Rested. In the course of the day the Child returned, having

in some amazing way persuaded the hospital authorities that pleurisy and

a temperature of 104 deg. are the best possible things to have on the eve of

a great offensive. Swears he's all right now, and objects to being

ordered it to take it easy--while he can. Heavy bombardment all day, but

we are eight miles back here. Official _communiques_ record further

successes.

_July 3._--Moved at 9.30 p.m., and arrived (5.30 a.m.) soaking wet at

the worst bivouac it has ever been our unhappy lot to occupy.

_July 4._--Saw about 150 German prisoners being brought back. In the

afternoon, after a violent thunderstorm, went to look at the position

which we are to take over. Found that it was immensely strong.

Originally it was only 1200 yards from the enemy front line, but now,

since the advance, is about 3000. Steady rain all the time. Got back to

find the camp converted into a veritable bog, and men of all the

batteries making shelters for themselves by cutting down trees and

looting straw. There will be a row over this, but--well, it is too much

to expect men to submit to such _unnecessary_ discomfort.

_July 5._--Took the Child and two telephonists and went up to new

position. Bombardment proceeding incessantly. Was amazed at the amount

of material already brought up, at the gangs already working on the

shell-wrecked roads, and at the crowd of spectators who lined a

convenient ridge to "watch the show."

Went with the Child and the battery commander from whom we were taking

over to get a look at the country and visit the O.P. Passed through

Fricourt--not long captured. Never could a bombardment have done its

work of destruction more thoroughly than here. Not figuratively, but

literally; no one brick stood upon another, scarcely one brick was

whole. Walked on up the sunken road that leads north from Fricourt past

the Dingle and Shelter Wood. For days this road had been a death-trap.

It was strewn with corpses, with stretchers on which lay wounded men

awaiting removal, with broken bits of equipment, English and German--and

it stank. We arrived at the headquarters of a battalion and asked if we

could see the colonel.

"No," they told us, "you can't at present. He's just been buried in his

dug-out by a shell, and it will be some time before we get him clear;

he's all right, but a bit shaken."

So we went on up a battered trench to the O.P. In it a subaltern and two

signallers, all three caked in mud. At the moment the wire to the

battery was intact. Two men had been killed and one wounded whilst

mending it. From here we could see the famous Quadrangle Trench, which

at that time was holding up the advance. Many batteries were shooting at

it. Having got our bearings, so to speak, we did not linger in this most

unhealthy spot, but returned to the battery position.

On the way home we met our own colonel bearing the news that the brigade

would probably go into action in quite a different area. This news

confirmed at H.Q. at 5 p.m. Turned back and reconnoitred the new

position, which was farther south, nearer Fricourt; rather cramped and

quite unprepared for occupation. Cadged dinner from an old friend whom

we met at D.H.Q. Met the battery on the road about 10 p.m. and led it to

new position. Work of getting guns in, ammunition and stores dumped, and

teams away completed by 3 a.m. Awaited dawn.

_July 6._--As soon as it was light went up the hill on the right front

of the battery to meet the colonel, choose an O.P. and "learn" the

country. The scene of wreckage upon this hill now is past all belief,

and is, I should imagine, a perfect example of the havoc wrought by a

modern "intense" bombardment. The whole face of the earth is completely

altered. On the German side of No Man's Land, not one square yard of the

original surface of the ground remains unbroken. Line upon line of

trenches and tunnels and saps have been so smashed that they are barely

recognisable as such: there are mine craters seventy to a hundred yards

across, and there are dug-outs (some of these still intact) which go

down fifty feet and more into the chalk. On every side is debris--rails,

timber, kit, blankets, broken rifles, bread, steel helmets, pumps,

respirators, corpses. And nowhere can one get away from the sickening

smell--the smell of putrescent human flesh....

The morning mist cleared at last and we were able to see the landscape.

From the O.P. we chose, the view, for our purposes, was ideal. Below us

lay the ruins that once were Fricourt, to the right Fricourt Wood,

farther off Mametz Wood and village, and on the skyline Contal-maison.

Returned, very dishevelled, to breakfast at 8 a.m. During the morning

ran out a wire, got "through" to the battery, but did not dare to start

shooting until further information as to the situation of the infantry

was available. Eventually gathered that we only hold the southern edge

of Mametz Wood, and that the Quadrangle Trench which lies to the left

(west) of it is not yet in our possession. Spent the afternoon

registering the guns, and then began shelling Mametz Wood. Was relieved

by the Child at tea-time. Came down to the battery and washed. Looked

forward to decent night's rest but was disappointed, viz.:--

_July 7._--Woken by Angelo at 1 a.m., who brought orders for a "strafe,"

which was to start at 2. Battery fired at a rapid rate from that hour

till 2.30. Went back to bed. Woken by the Infant, who had relieved

Angelo, at 6. Big bombardment to start at 7.20. Went to telephone

dug-out at 7.15, unwashed and half-dressed, and remained there all day;

meals brought in to me. The battery fired practically continuously for

fourteen hours at rates varying from one to twenty-four rounds a minute.

Targets various--mostly "barraging" Mametz Wood and ground immediately

to the west of it. Worked the detachments as far as possible in

reliefs, turning on spare signallers, cooks, and servants to carry

ammunition as it arrived.

The Child, who was at the O.P., sent down what information he could, but

reported that it was hardly possible to see anything owing to the smoke.

Passed on everything to Brigade H.Q. (communications working well), and

received their instructions as to changes of target, rate of fire, etc.

By dusk we were all very tired, and several of the men stone deaf. There

were several heavy showers during the day, so that the position became a

quagmire into which the guns sank almost to their axles and became

increasingly difficult to serve. Empty cartridge cases piled several

feet high round each platform: mud awful. No official _communique_ as to

result of the day's operation. Got eight hours' sleep.

_July 8._--Shooting, off and on, all day--mostly registration of new

points. In the intervals when not firing the detachments kept hard at

work improving and strengthening the position. Hostile artillery much

more active, but nothing really close to us. Fired 150 rounds during the

night into Mametz Wood: northern portion not yet in our hands.

_July 9._--A good deal of barrage work all day, but as it was mostly at

a slow rate the men managed to get some rest--goodness knows, they both

need and deserve it.

_July 10._--Went out with the colonel to reconnoitre an advanced

position. Got caught in a barrage, and had to crouch in a (fortunately)

deep trench for half an hour. Sitting there began to wonder if this was

the prelude to a counter-attack; just then, looking out to the left,

that is towards the south-west corner of Mametz Wood, saw a lot of men

running hard. Suddenly spotted the familiar grey uniform and spiked

helmets of the enemy.

"God!" I cried, "it is a counter-attack. Those are _Huns_!" Expected

every moment to have one peering in over the top of the trench: did not

dare to run for it, owing to the barrage, which was still heavy. T----,

who was with me, remained calm and put up his glasses.

"All right," he said; "they're prisoners. Look at the escort."

And so they were, running for their lives through their own

shrapnel--and the escort keeping well up with them!

The storm being over (no "hate" lasts for ever) returned as quickly as

we could, and reported that the position was possible but by no means

tempting! A lot of night firing.

_July 11._--Set out with the Child, two sergeants, and my trusty

"look-out man" to look for a more favourable spot. After a good deal of

walking about found one, a fairly snug place (though pitted with

shell-holes).

Intended to reconnoitre for an O.P. in the front edge of Mametz Wood,

but met a colonel just back from those parts who assured us that the

enemy front line ran there. Reluctantly (!) we abandoned the enterprise

and returned. At 6 p.m. the Child started off with a digging party to

prepare the new position. Move of the battery ordered for 9.30, then

postponed till 10.30. Road crowded with infantry and transport; progress

slow. To be mounted and at the head of a column of twelve six-horse

teams is a very different thing to being alone and ready to slip behind

a wall or into a trench if occasion calls for it. Luck was on our side,

however, and we got through before any shells came.

Occupied the position quickly, emptied the ammunition wagons, and got

the horses clear without casualties. The Child reported that a few

four-twos had come pretty close while he and his party were digging and

had stopped their work for a while: nevertheless, quite a lot already

done. Time now 12.30. Turned on every available man and continued

digging till dawn. Men very beat, but not a word of grousing.

_July 12._--At dawn went up to find a new O.P.: took the Child and two

signallers, the latter laying a wire as they went. Found excellent place

with good general view in an old German redoubt. Trenches, however,

crammed with sleeping infantry, over whom one had to step, and under

whom the signallers had to pass their line! Thick mist till 8 a.m., when

light became good enough to start on our task, which was to cut through

the wire at a certain spot in the German main second line north of

Mametz Wood. Observation difficult, as we were rather far back and the

whole line was being heavily bombarded by our "heavies." About 10.30

what was apparently an excursion party of generals and staff officers

arrived to see the fun, crowded us out of our bay in the trench and

lined up, with their heads and red hat bands exposed. Lay down in a

corner and tried to sleep, but got trodden on, so abandoned the idea.

Shoon (another of my youthful subalterns) came up to relieve us at 2.30,

so the Child and I returned to the battery and got about three hours'

sleep. The detachments with amazing industry and endurance again hard at

work digging. A good deal of hostile fire all round us, especially

close to the nullah, but nothing within 200 yards of the guns.

About 5.30 p.m. Shoon rang up from the O.P. to say that he and a

signaller had been wounded. Angelo went up to take his place. Poor old

Shoon, when he arrived down, was pretty shaken. Evidently the crowd of

spectators previously remarked upon had attracted the attention of some

cross Boche gunner. A five-nine dropped just beside the O.P. and knocked

both signallers and Shoon, who was observing his wire-cutting at the

moment, head over heels back into the trench below. While they were

picking themselves up out of the _debris_ a salvo landed on the parados

immediately behind them. One signaller was untouched (and rescued his

precious telephone), the other was badly cut about the head and leg and

departed on a stretcher--a good man too. Shoon got a scratch on his

forehead and some splinters into his left arm. Swore he was all right,

but since he didn't look it was ordered to bed.

Ammunition replenished in the evening in a tearing hurry. It is not

pleasant to have teams standing about in a place like this. Heard that

on the return journey to the wagon line last night a bombardier, four

drivers, and five horses had been wounded--all slightly, thank Heaven!

Shot all night at the wood (Bezantin-le-petit), and at the front line.

_July 13._--Continued wire-cutting and searching the wood all day.

Scores of batteries doing the same thing, and noise infernal. The Child

went off to find out if he could see the wire from the front edge of

Mametz Wood (which now really _is_ in our possession). Failing to see it

from there, he wandered on up an old communication trench known as

Middle Alley, which led direct from our own to the German front line.

Eventually he found a place from which he could see through a gap in the

hedge. The wire was cut all right--and, incidentally, he might have come

face to face with a hostile bombing party at any moment! But what seemed

to interest him much more was the behaviour of the orderly who had

accompanied him. This N.C.O., who is the battery "look-out man,"

specially trained to observe anything and everything, raised himself

from the ground a moment after they had both hurled themselves flat to

await the arrival of a five-nine in Mametz Wood, peered over a fallen

tree-trunk and said, "_That_ one, sir, was just in front, but slightly

to the left!"

Spent the afternoon preparing detailed orders and time-tables for

to-morrow's "big show." Slept from 11 till 2.45 a.m.

_July 14._--The "intense" bombardment began at 3.20 a.m.; the infantry

attack was launched five minutes later. Even to attempt to describe this

bombardment is beyond me. All that can be said is that there was such a

_hell_ of noise that it was quite impossible to give any orders to the

guns except by sending subalterns from the telephone dug-out to shout in

the ear of each sergeant in turn. The battery (in company with perhaps a

hundred others) barraged steadily, "lifting" fifty yards at a time from

3.25 till 7.15 a.m., by which time some 900 rounds had been expended and

the paint on the guns was blistering from their heat. We gathered

(chiefly from information supplied by the Child at the O.P., who got

into touch with various staffs and signal officers) that the attack had

been very successful. About 7.30 things slowed down a little and the men

were able to get breakfast and some rest--half at a time, of course.

At midday cavalry moved up past us and affairs began to look really

promising. Slept from 3 to 5 p.m., then got orders to reconnoitre an

advanced position in front of Acid Drop Copse. (It may here be noted

that from our first position this very copse was one of our most

important targets at a range of nearly 4000 yards.) Chose a position,

but could see that if and when we do occupy it, it is not going to be a

health-resort. And, owing to the appalling state of the ground, it will

take some driving to get there. Had a really good night's rest for once.

Battery fired at intervals all night.

_July 15._--Attack continued. By 10.30 a.m. our guns had reached extreme

range and we were forced to stop. (We started at 2700 in this position.)

News very good: enemy much demoralised and surrendering freely.

Practically no hostile shelling round us now--in fact, we are rather out

of the battle for the moment. After lunch formed up the whole battery

and thanked the men for the splendid way that they had worked. Shoon,

whose arm has got worse, sent under protest to hospital. Desperately

sorry to lose him.

In the afternoon switched to the left, where we are apparently still

held up, and fired occasional salvos on Martinpuich. Ditto all night.

_July 16._--Everybody much concerned over a certain Switch Trench, which

appears to be giving much trouble. Fired spasmodically (by map) on this

trench throughout the day. In the evening all guns removed to a

travelling Ordnance Workshop for overhaul--they need it. Late at night

received orders to dig the Acid Drop Copse position next day, and occupy

it as soon as the guns are sent back.

_July 17._--Took all officers and practically every man up to new

position at 7 a.m. and started to dig. Shells all round us while we

worked, but still no damage. This is too good to last. In the afternoon

went out with George (another B.C.[11] in the brigade), the Child, and a

telephonist to look for an O.P. whence to see this infernal Switch

Trench. After a while parted from George, whom we last saw walking

_forward_ from the villa, pausing occasionally to examine the country

through his glasses. We learnt afterwards that he spent a really happy

afternoon in No Man's Land carrying various wounded infantrymen into

comparative safety! For which he has been duly recommended.

[11] Battery Commander.

Got into the old German second line (taken on the 14th), and found that

it had been so completely battered by our bombardment that its captors

had been obliged to dig an entirely new trench in front of it. This part

of the world was full of gunner officers _all_ looking for an O.P. for

Switch Trench. Returned to Acid Drop Copse about 5 p.m. and found that

the digging had progressed well. Marched the men back to the old

position, where they got tea and a rest. Teams came up about 8. Packed

up and moved forward. Ground so desperately heavy that it became

necessary to put ten horses in a team for the last pull up the hill to

the position. Got all guns into action and twenty-one wagon loads of

ammunition dumped by 11 p.m.--no casualties. Work of the men, who were

much worn out, beyond all praise.

The noise in this place is worse than anything previously experienced.

Being, as we are now, the most advanced battery in this particular

sector, we get the full benefit of every gun that is behind us--and

there are many. Moreover, the hostile artillery is extremely active,

especially in the wood, where every shell comes down with a hissing rush

that ends in an appalling crash. About midnight the Boche began to put

over small "stink" shells. These seemed to flit through the air, and

always landed with a soft-sounding "phutt" very like a dud. One burst

just behind our trench and wounded a gunner in the foot. Found it

impossible to sleep, owing to the din.

_July 18._--At 4 a.m. the hostile bombardment seemed so intense that,

fearing a counter-attack, I got up to look round. Was reassured by

Angelo, who had already done so. Beyond the fact that the wood was being

systematically searched with five-nines, there was nothing much doing.

Returned to bed, but still failed to sleep.

Fired at intervals throughout the day at various spots allotted by

Brigade H.Q. Having no O.P. had to do everything from the map. Men all

digging when not actually firing: position now nearly splinter-proof. A

most unnerving day, however. A Hun barrage of "air-crumps" on the ridge

in front of us by the Cutting, another one to our right along the edge

of the wood, many five-nines over our heads into the dip behind us, and

quite a few into Acid Drop Copse on our left rear.

In the afternoon we had half a dozen H.E. "pip-squeaks" very close at a

moment when there were three wagons up replenishing ammunition. One

burst within four yards of the lead horses--and no damage. This _cannot_

last. Orders for a big attack received at 4 p.m. At 5 counter-orders to

the effect that we are to be relieved to-night. Fired continuously till

about 8.30, then packed up and waited for the teams, which arrived about

9.

We were just congratulating ourselves on our luck, it being then rather

a quiet moment and three out of the four teams already on the move, when

a big "air-crump" burst straight above our heads, wounding the

sergeant-major in the thigh. Put him up on the last limber and sent the

guns off as fast as they could go--ground too bad to gallop. Two more

shells followed us down the valley, but there were no further

casualties. At the bottom missed the Child: sent to inquire if he was at

the head of the column--no. Was beginning to get nervous, when he

strolled up from the rear, accompanied by the officers' mess cook.

"Pity to leave these behind," he observed, throwing down a kettle and a

saucepan!

Nervy work loading up our stores and kits on to the G.S. wagon, but the

enemy battery had returned to its favourite spot by the Cutting, and

nothing further worried us. Marched back to the wagon line (about five

miles). Much amused by the tenacity with which one of the sergeants

clung to a jar of rum which he had rescued from the position.[12] At the

wagon line collected the whole battery together, and while waiting went

across to see the sergeant-major in the dressing-station. Am afraid,

though it is nothing serious, that it will be a case of "Blighty" for

him. A very serious loss to the battery, as he has been absolutely

invaluable throughout this show.

[12] This jar was afterwards found to contain lime-juice!

Marched to our old bivouac at the swampy wood, but were allotted a

reasonable space outside it this time. Fell into bed, beat to the world,

at 3.30 a.m.

_July 19._--Much to do, though men and horses are tired to death. Moved

off at 6 p.m. and did a twenty-mile night march, arriving at another

bivouac at 2 a.m. Horses just about at their last gasp. Poor old things,

they have been in harness almost continuously throughout the battle

bringing up load after load of ammunition at all hours of the day and

night.

_July 20._--Took over a new position (trench warfare style) just out of

the battle area as now constituted, and settled down to--rest.

* * * * *

The above is an accurate, though, I fear, far too personal record of the

doings of one particular unit during a fortnight's continuous fighting.

It is in no way an attempt to describe a battle as a whole. That is a

feat beyond my powers--and, I think, beyond the powers of any one

actually engaged. Thinking things over now, in the quiet of a well-made

dug-out, I realise that the predominant impressions left upon my mind,

in ascending order of magnitude so to speak, are: dirt, stink, horrors,

lack of sleep, funk--and the amazing endurance of the men. In the first

article of this series I wrote: "But this I know now--the human material

with which I have to deal is good enough." It is. I grant that our

casualties were slight (though in this respect we were extremely lucky),

and that compared with the infantry our task was the easier one of

"standing the strain" rather than of "facing the music." But still,

think of the strain on the detachments, serving their guns night and day

almost incessantly for fourteen days on end. In the first week alone we

fired the amount of ammunition which suffices for a battery in peace

time for thirty years! They averaged five hours' sleep in the

twenty-four, these men, throughout the time; and they dug three separate

positions--all in heavy ground. Nor must one forget the drivers,

employed throughout in bringing up ammunition along roads pitted with

holes, often shelled and constantly blocked with traffic.

The New Ubique begins to be worthy of the Old.