THE 1/4 BATTALION DURING THE WINTER 1916/17
On arrival at St Vaast-en-Chaussée the 1/4th Londons were reduced
in strength to about 275 all ranks, and although the morale of the
troops was not impaired by their recent experiences, the Battalion was
seriously in need of rest, reorganisation and reinforcement. A few days
of light training, which occupied the mornings only, with games in the
afternoon, went far towards recreating the troops physically; but the
reorganisation of the Battalion was necessarily a more lengthy and
difficult matter. No company had more than two officers, and N.C.O.'s
were very few. Lewis gun teams and bombers were newly detailed to their
respective duties and untrained, and the building up once more of the
fine fighting battalion which had entered the trenches at Hébuterne
three and a half months earlier, added to the proper assimilating of
the reinforcements which were expected from England, presented a task
the completion of which was likely to occupy the greater part of the
winter months.
After Lieut.-Col. Wheatley had succumbed to sickness the command of the
Battalion devolved on Major H. J. T. Duncan-Teape, who was appointed
acting Lieut.-Colonel.
The few days' rest at St Vaast were enlivened by an entertainment given
by the Bow Bells, which had an excellent effect in cheering up the men.
On the 20th October the Division moved to the Hallencourt area, where
it had originally been formed, the Battalion arriving in billets at
Citerne at about 5.30 p.m. after a march which, in the reduced physical
condition of the troops, proved to be exceedingly trying. Probably
never has the Battalion been accorded a kindlier welcome in billets
than from the good people of Citerne, who, having received it in
February and sent it out to battle, took a quite proprietary interest
in the laurels which it brought back to them.
At St Vaast and Citerne the Battalion was joined by Capt. F. C.
Grimwade, who assumed the duties of second in command with the acting
rank of Major, 2/Lieuts. C. E. V. Richardson and P. Pyne. Capt. L. G.
Rix also returned to the Battalion from Brigade Transport Officer, and
2/Lieut. O. D. Garratt was appointed Assistant Adjutant.
A course of light training was continued for a few days at Citerne
under weather conditions which continued bright and frosty until the
evening of the 24th October, when the Battalion marched at 8 p.m. in a
veritable deluge to Longpré Station to entrain for a fresh area. The
pitiless rain drenched all to the skin, but the men's spirits remained
completely undamped, for the rumour had gone forth that the new area
was far from the Somme, among the marshes of Flanders. The move from
Longpré was made by tactical train shortly after midnight, and about
midday on the 25th the Battalion detrained at Merville, whence it
marched straight to billets between Neuf Berquin and Estaires, being
now attached to the XI Corps (Haking) of the First Army (Horne).
No prolonged rest was, however, in store, for although the Battalions
of the 56th Division were momentarily not prepared for active
operations, they were perfectly capable of holding trenches. No
surprise, therefore, was caused by the receipt the day following
arrival at Neuf Berquin of orders to relieve the 61st Division in the
Neuve Chapelle-Fauquissart area.
A preliminary reconnaissance of the trenches by officers of Battalion
Headquarters and company commanders took place on the 26th, and on
the 27th the 1/4th Londons and London Scottish moved forward and
took over reserve billets in Laventie from the 2/7th and 2/8th Royal
Warwickshires.
On the 28th October the 168th Brigade completed the relief of the 182nd
Brigade, the 1/4th Londons and Scottish moving into the right and left
subsections respectively of the Fauquissart sector, there relieving
the 2/6th and 2/5th Royal Warwickshires, while the reserve billets in
Laventie were taken over by the Kensingtons and Rangers.
The new Divisional frontage covered some 7000 yards from the
neighbourhood of Richebourg l'Avoué on the right to a point opposite
Rouges Bancs on the left, all the Brigades being in line and each
finding its own supports and local reserves. The 168th Brigade held the
extreme left of the Divisional front, the 169th being on its right,
while the New Zealand Division was on its left. This extreme deployment
of a numerically weak Division was justified by the quiet character
of this area, and the fact that the German divisions opposed to it
were equally with ourselves somewhat exhausted by recent efforts in
the Somme battles and not anxious to venture on active operations. To
such an extent indeed had our continued pressure in the south drained
the enemy's resources that his lines opposite the 56th Division were
but feebly held, and at the moment not capable of being strongly
reinforced; and this area was therefore eminently suited to the
recuperation of a battle-worn Division and to the training in active
service conditions of the young troops from home who were shortly to
join it.
The Fauquissart breastworks were in every way similar to those in
the Neuve Chapelle area already described in connection with the
Battalion's service in the Indian Corps, though being opposite the
village of Aubers, which is on the highest part of the Ridge, were even
more seriously subject to observation from the enemy lines than the
Richebourg breastworks.
The village of Fauquissart, at this period in a condition of total
ruin, consisted of a scattered collection of houses extending for about
half a mile along each side of the Rue Tilleloy, which ran parallel
with the British front breastworks and about 200 yards in rear of them.
A thousand yards in rear of the Rue Tilleloy, and parallel to it, was
the Rue Bacquerot, these two roads forming good lateral communication
within the sector, though the former could only be used under cover of
darkness. The sector was also served by three communication trenches
starting from the Bacquerot, Elgin Street, Masselot Street and the
Strand, the last named during the winter months usually consisting of a
chain of unfordable lakes.
This sector was held by the Battalion with three companies in line and
one in reserve, the reserve company holding three keeps on the line
of the Rue Bacquerot, called Road Bend, Wangerie and Masselot Posts.
Battalion Headquarters was accommodated in shelters near Temple Bar on
the Rue Bacquerot.
The German lines opposite were heavily wired, and included two strongly
marked salients, the Devil's Jump and the Wick. But although the enemy
had the advantage in observation owing to his possession of the Ridge,
his front trenches were far from comfortable owing to the presence
behind his lines of the Rivière des Laies which, as the winter wore on,
became more and more swollen, finally bursting its banks and rendering
his forward defences completely untenable.
Our wire entanglements were exceedingly poor, and immediate attention
was directed to the improvement of this important part of our defences;
the parapets also were thin, firebays sadly in need of revetment, and
the whole sector seriously lacking in shelter for the men. No time
was lost in evolving an extensive works programme, which was promptly
put into execution, the more important work being carried out under
Royal Engineer supervision. The urgency of the Brigade works programme
rendered the supply of large working parties necessary, and it was
therefore arranged that of the two battalions for the time being
in Laventie one would act as "Works Battalion" finding all working
parties, while the other would devote itself to training.
The most peculiar feature of this sector lay in the immunity from shell
fire of Laventie behind the British lines and of Aubers in the German
territory. Each village layabout 2000 yards in rear of the respective
front trenches, and both were used as reserve billets for the troops
holding the line. By mutual and tacit consent the artillery on each
side refrained from bombarding the other's billets; any infringement
of this unwritten law on one side being met with immediate and severe
retaliation by the other. During the period therefore spent in
the Laventie area, the Battalion on coming out of the line had the
enjoyment of occupying tolerably wind-and water-tight billets without
molestation, although they were distant little more than a mile from
the enemy lines. A considerable number of civilians still clung to
their battered homes in Laventie, and it was strange to see French
soldiers, whose divisions were serving in Alsace or the Argonne, come
to Laventie "on leave from the front"!
The 1/4th Londons now settled down to a regular routine of four days in
the right subsection breastworks followed by four days in billets in
Laventie, tours being later extended to six days, and as this routine
continued until the middle of December we need not follow it in detail.
The sector had been particularly quiet prior to the 56th Division's
arrival, but almost from the day of its taking over the line conditions
began to change. Possibly a certain undesirable aggressiveness on
the part of the Londoners began to annoy an enemy who, but for
interference, was content to conduct a perfectly peaceful war; possibly
the change was due to the recovery of both sides from the fatigue and
over-strain of the Somme. Whatever the reason, certain it is that as
the winter wore on the whole Neuve Chapelle-Fauquissart area began
to become much more lively than it had been. On our side the most
vigorous system of patrolling, of daily organised shoots by guns of all
calibres, trench mortars and machine-guns, and of an intensive course
of sniping, quickly gave us the ascendancy and caused the Germans a
pardonable irritation under which they showed themselves less and less
disposed to take their punishment quietly.
In the line the Battalion was busily occupied with its share of
the works programme and in patrolling in which the infrequency of
encounters with the enemy in No Man's Land gradually led to the belief
that his front breastwork was not occupied. This was probed further on
the last evening of November when a fighting patrol of twenty men under
2/Lieut. W. H. Webster (Intelligence Officer) entered the enemy lines
at the Wick Salient and found it untenanted, in a shocking condition of
flood and affording ample evidence that no attempt was being made to
repair the serious damage caused by our artillery fire.
During the third week in November the Battalion's frontage was extended
to the right, involving the occupation by the right company of an extra
400 yards of breastwork and an additional supporting post, Erith, and
by the reserve company of a fourth keep on the Bacquerot line called
Lonely Post. This new piece of breastwork was usually subjected to a
good deal of enemy trench mortar fire, especially about the point at
which Erith Street communication trench joined the front line. This
was an unpleasant spot. Erith Street sunk into a slight depression so
that all traffic using it was plainly visible to the Germans; and as
it came to an abrupt end some fifteen yards short of the front line
an undesirable gap occurred which had to be traversed with more than
ordinary agility by those whose duty took them that way. A good deal
of extra trench repairing work was imposed on us in consequence of the
enemy's attentions at this point, and unfortunately some casualties
occurred.
The enemy's activity was rather marked on the 26th November, during the
morning of which day over seventy 5·9-inch shells fell near the Convent
observation post but without a direct hit being obtained. The Convent,
together with two or three other posts along the line of the Rue
Tilleloy, used by the forward observation officers of our supporting
artillery, consisted of a substantial brick tower some 25 feet in
height, like an attenuated Martello Tower. These had been erected
behind the cover of the houses of Fauquissart before the village had
been destroyed. But the subsequent demolition of the houses had exposed
the towers, which consequently stood up naked and unashamed within 200
yards of our front line, and their presence, possibly combined with
his evident inability to hit them, seemed to be a constant source of
annoyance to the enemy.
All this time the Battalion strength was steadily increasing with
reinforcements from home and with the return of many who had been
wounded on the Somme, till by Christmas it mustered some 700 all ranks.
Officer reinforcements followed on each other's heels with surprising
rapidity, and the following joined during November:
Captains V. S. Bowater and H. M. Lorden, Lieuts. H. Jones
(appointed Brigade Bombing Officer) and H. J. M. Williams,
2/Lieuts. E. G. Dew, L. W. Wreford, S. P. Stotter, H. W.
Spiers, R. W. Chamberlain and W. A. Froy; 2/Lieuts. H. N.
Williams, L. W. N. Jones, H. D. Rees, Bradley (to 168th L.T.M.
Battery) and A. L. Harper (attached from 4th Royal Welsh
Fusiliers); 2/Lieuts. F. H. Hutchins, A. G. Davis and L. E.
Ballance (attached from 11th Londons); Captain H. Pentelow and
Lieuts. T. Coleman (Works Officer) and H. D. Beeby (attached
from Hunts Cyclist Battalion).
Captain Pentelow was unluckily hit and sent to hospital two days after
his arrival.
At the end of November the Rev. R. Palmer, M.C., left the Battalion to
take up the duties of Divisional Chaplain in the 24th Division, his
place being taken a few days later by Rev. S. F. Leighton Green, who
remained with the Battalion until after the Armistice.
About this period a Divisional Musketry Camp was formed at Le Sart,
near Merville, and 2/Lieuts. Wreford and Pyne were appointed to it as
instructors. 2/Lieut. E. G. Dew was also appointed Battalion Bombing
Officer.
On the 21st December a readjustment of the Battalion sector was
effected, and in the afternoon the sector as originally taken over
from the 182nd Brigade was handed over to the 1/3rd Londons, and the
Battalion marched to billets at Bout Deville.
After three days occupied in cleaning up and training, Christmas Day
was celebrated as a holiday, and, the billets being beyond the range of
any but heavy guns, with which the Germans were not well supplied on
this front, the rest of the Battalion was quite undisturbed. But every
effort was made to render the Germans' Christmas as uncomfortable as
possible. At 6.30 p.m. on Christmas Eve a continuous steady bombardment
of his defences by all available batteries up to 6-inch guns began, and
lasted for forty-eight hours. This action was evidently much resented
by the enemy, and after Christmas the trench warfare in this area was
conducted with greater fierceness than it had been previously.
The Bow Bells were now established in the theatre at La Gorgue, and
it was found possible to provide a free visit for every man in the
Battalion to its splendid Christmas pantomime "Aladdin," which was most
heartily appreciated.
During the temporary absence of 2/Lieut. O. D. Garratt, the duties of
Intelligence Officer were taken by 2/Lieut. J. R. K. Paterson (Argyll
and Sutherland Highlanders, attached), who remained with the Battalion
for about a month.
On New Year's Day 1917 the 168th Brigade relieved the 169th Brigade
in Moated Grange sector, the Rangers and Kensingtons occupying the
trenches, with the London Scottish in support, about Rouge Croix and
Pont du Hem on the La Bassée Road, while the 1/4th Londons remained in
Divisional reserve billets at Riez Bailleul.
A week here was spent in supplying working parties, of which the labour
was considerable owing to the long distance--about four miles--which
had to be covered each night in each direction by parties going up the
line for work. The weather, moreover, had taken a marked change, and
a very severe frost had set in which increased tenfold the labour of
digging. Towards the end of the week snow fell adding further to the
fatigue of the long night marches.
On the evening of the 9th January 1917 the Battalion took over from
the Kensingtons the right subsection of the Moated Grange sector.
This sector had seen a good many changes both as regards defences and
boundaries since the Battalion's previous occupation of it in the
summer of 1915, and the lines now taken over extended from Sign Post
Lane on the right for a frontage of some 1400 yards to a point opposite
the village of Mauquissart which lay just within the German lines.
[Illustration: LAVENTIE, WINTER 1916-1917]
The sector was held with three companies in the front breastworks
and supporting posts and one in reserve on Cardiff Road. Battalion
Headquarters occupied shelters at Ebenezer Farm. These positions were
far from ideal. The strength of the Battalion was much scattered
and difficult of control in emergency, owing to the exceedingly bad
communications within the area. The supporting platoons of the front
line companies, at Bristol House, Cornwall Siding and Pump House,
occupied the only remaining tenable portions of what had originally
been the German second line prior to the Battle of Neuve Chapelle, and
were separated from each other by about 100 yards of broken down and
almost impassably wet breastworks. For communication from front to rear
only one trench, Tilleloy South, was passable with any degree of safety
in daylight. Between Pump House and the front line, a distance of
about 250 yards, it was seriously overlooked from the German positions
in the Bois du Biez, with the result that traffic up and down it was
frequently sniped with trench mortar and 5·9 shells.
Always an area of considerable activity, the Moated Grange possessed
several unpleasant features as a result of the active mining operations
which had begun in 1915, and were still proceeding with unabated
energy. The Duck's Bill Farm had given place to an enormous crater
of the same name, linked with the British lines by a defended sap
which left the front line at Sunken Road. The defence of this crater
and sap took a platoon, whose arduous duties of continual listening
and constant preparedness for an enemy raid were carried out under
exceedingly rough conditions, as both the crater and the sap were full
of water and shelters were conspicuous by their absence.
On the front occupied by the left company the German lines were
invisible from the British breastworks owing to the lips thrown up
round the Colvin craters, a series of some thirty or more of immense
size which covered half the area of No Man's Land at this point. The
largest of this series, the Mauquissart crater, occupied the site of
what had once been our front line, and the breastwork now ran round
its nearer lip. This mined area was the most uncomfortable part of
the line, since the Germans were continually searching with trench
mortar fire for the heads of our mine shafts while the cover afforded
to enemy patrols by the crater lips themselves necessitated constant
vigilance and counter-patrolling activity on the part of our trench
garrison. Add to this the extreme hardship which the troops in this
part of the line inevitably had to undergo owing to the total lack of
dugouts and the perishing cold. The blowing of so many craters had,
moreover, cut off the ditches between fields which had formerly been
used for draining the trenches, with the result that there was no
means of getting rid of the water which in a large number of firebays
rose higher than the firestep. Under these conditions cooking in the
neighbourhood of the front line was out of the question, and all cooked
food had to be carried by permanent headquarter carrying parties from
the Battalion cook-house near Ebenezer Farm; in the case of rations
destined for the flank platoons this meant a trudge for the food
carriers of over a mile in each direction at each meal.
The defences generally had suffered severely both from the enemy's
shell fire and the effects of the alternation of sharp frost and
heavy rain, and an immense amount of labour was called for in
working and carrying parties for the breastworks as well as for the
wire entanglements, which were in a very weak condition. The single
communication trench, therefore, became frequently congested with long
lines of troops "humping" material and food to the front line, and
altogether the Moated Grange was a hard sector to run efficiently and a
remarkably unpleasant one to live in.
Two tours of six days each were spent in this sector, broken by
six days--not of rest, but of most exhausting working parties--in
Riez Bailleul. The days in line saw a good deal of shelling and the
Battalion suffered some loss, but in spite of this and of exposure
to intense cold the men were probably more happy in the line than in
billets. Further heavy falls of snow had occurred. The working parties
supplied from Riez Bailleul were largely engaged in drawing trench
stores and material at a dump on the La Bassée Road between Pont du
Hem and Rouge Croix, itself nearly two miles from billets; and thence
pushing it up to the front trenches on the tram-line dignified with the
title of Great Eastern Railway, a further distance of upwards of 3000
yards. From railhead this material, consisting of trench boards, rolls
of barbed wire, revetting frames, hurdles and other heavy stuff had to
be distributed to companies in the line. These fatigues were obviously
exhausting, and seldom did a party leaving billets at 5.30 p.m. return
before midnight.
The most difficult task of all, however, which may not yet have quite
faded from the memories of many, was connected with an ingenious scheme
for draining the craters with heavy cast-iron water mains each about 16
feet long. With infinite labour these were brought to tram railhead,
but at this point the difficulty of carrying pipes, each weighing some
200 pounds, along 500 yards of quagmire proved too much even for the
stout hearts of Cockneys; and the high hopes which the author of the
scheme had entertained of draining the craters vanished as his pipes
sank in the mud. A change from this routine to the comparative peace of
trench mortaring in the line was not unwelcome.
An act of gallantry occurred during the first tour which must be
recorded. During one of the enemy's midday bombardments a time-fuzed
medium trench mortar shell fell on the parapet of our breastwork on the
lip of Mauquissart crater, and lodged in the revetting hurdle at the
side of the trench. The firebay happened to be crowded with men working
on the defences, and heavy casualties must inevitably have been caused
but for the bravery of 2/Lieut. W. H. Webster, who rushed forward and,
seizing the shell, flung it over the parapet into the crater, where
it immediately exploded. For this gallant action 2/Lieut. Webster was
awarded the D.S.O.
The enemy's artillery and trench mortars showed a marked increase of
activity during the second occupation of Moated Grange, the craters,
the Duck's Bill and Pump House, coming in for most of the punishment.
The 23rd January was perhaps the most trying to the troops. During the
morning "hate" a well-placed minenwerfer completely cut off the left
platoon in the craters, the only approach to them being by way of an
exposed and little used trench, Min Street, which involved a detour
of about 3200 yards from Headquarters. Shortly after midday a second
lucky German shell lighted on a dump of medium trench mortar shells
which were lying within a few yards of a shelter occupied by several
men of the right company. A terrific explosion took place and caused
a large crater which cut off the Battalion's right flank also, but,
strange to say, without inflicting so much as a scratch on any of the
men in the vicinity. These incidents are recounted merely as instances
of the constant annoyance caused to the troops in line by the enemy's
harassing tactics, as every bit of damage caused in this way involved
extra work to the already over-burdened troops in repairing it.
On the last evening in the line, the 25th, an attempt was made by a
fighting patrol of the reserve company (C) under 2/Lieut. Ballance to
obtain an identification from the enemy. Wire-cutting shoots had taken
place for two days previously in preparation for this, and arrangements
were made to support the patrol with artillery fire as occasion
should arise. The enemy were found, however, to have made efficient
counter-preparations, and the surprise effect of the patrol having
failed, the project had to be abandoned with the loss of 1 man killed
and 2 wounded.
During this tour the Battalion sustained 1 officer casualty, 2/Lieut.
W. Quennell, wounded.
On the 26th January the Battalion was relieved by the 1/8th Middlesex
at 10.5 p.m. and withdrew to rest billets at La Gorgue, the 168th
Brigade having passed into Divisional reserve with Brigade Headquarters
at Merville.
The 168th Brigade in rest in the Merville area settled down to such
training as was possible, the ground being covered with snow. One or
two useful instructional schemes with contact aeroplanes were carried
out, but the weather conditions prevented serious outdoor work, and
the training hours were, for the most part, devoted to repolishing the
parade discipline of the Brigade. According to the usual custom of the
Battalion when opportunity offered itself, the drums beat Retreat daily
and the Regimental Quarter Guard and inlying picket mounted in the
Grande Place at La Gorgue.
Two further drafts of about 70 N.C.O.'s and men joined the Battalion in
January.
It had been the intention that the 168th Brigade should pass fourteen
days in rest, but this idea had to be unexpectedly abandoned owing to a
concentration of troops near the frozen inundations of the Yser, where
it was feared that a sudden German advance over the ice might have
somewhat disturbing effects on the Allies' positions. This caused the
services of the 168th Brigade to be requisitioned once more, and on the
1st and 2nd February it relieved the 111th Brigade of the 37th Division
in the Neuve Chapelle sector, the Rangers and Kensingtons occupying the
line, while the Scottish moved as Works Battalion to billets at Croix
Barbée and the 1/4th Londons as Training Battalion to Fosse.
On the 1st February 2/Lieut. C. E. V. Richardson was admitted to
hospital.
After training at Fosse for six days the 1/4th Londons took over from
the Kensingtons the right subsector of Neuve Chapelle sector on the 8th
February.
The Battalion now found itself after a lapse of over a year once more
in the area in which it had passed so many months with the Ferozepore
Brigade. The sector taken over comprised the old Rue du Bois (right,
centre and left) sections, and extended from a point opposite the
German Boar's Head Salient on the right to some 250 yards north of the
La Bassée Road on the left. Considerable changes had now taken place
in the method of holding the line; old well-known trenches had fallen
into disuse and fresh ones had taken their places. Those who looked for
the Crescent, Orchard Redoubt, and other well-remembered spots found
them broken down and no longer occupied. The front line breastwork was
now occupied in isolated posts at intervals of about 150 yards, each
garrisoned by a platoon. Each post was protected on its flanks as well
as in front by wire entanglements, while the intervening firebays had
been either filled in or choked with barbed wire.
The communications within the sector were tolerably good, but the
breastwork was thin and in many places low, a natural result of leaving
long portions of it unoccupied for several months.
The main line of resistance was now in the reserve or "B" line which,
on the right of the sector, was represented by Guards Trench in front
of the Rue du Bois, and on the left by the old British front line (as
it had been before the Battle of March 1915) in Edgware Road. Battalion
Headquarters in 1915 had occupied dugouts on the Rue du Bois, but were
now at Lansdowne Post, which formerly had housed a whole battalion. The
defence scheme provided for holding the "B" line at all costs in the
event of serious attack, so that the front line became virtually a line
of outposts. This method of holding the line in great depth was not
only far sounder than the former method of crowding the whole strength
into the front trench, but was also more economical, as the sector
which formerly had demanded a garrison of a whole brigade was held by
one battalion.
The line was held with two companies in the front line posts and two in
support in the "B" line.
On the right of the La Bassée Road the German trenches were about 100
yards distant, and it was soon found that the enemy snipers had been
allowed to gain the ascendancy over the British, a state of affairs
which all battalions of the Brigade promptly set to work to correct.
The first day's occupation of this sector passed without incident, but
on the evening of the 9th February, at about 7 p.m., the enemy opened
a heavy trench mortar and machine-gun bombardment on the front line
from Pioneer to Pope Posts, astride the La Bassée Road. The trench
mortar fire was well directed, and the breastwork on the right of Pope
Post was badly breached. At about 7.30 p.m. this preparatory shelling
was followed by a heavy "box" barrage, and an enemy raiding party
entered our lines between Pioneer and Pope Posts. An S.O.S. signal
was sent up from the left company Headquarters, and our artillery
responded promptly with a heavy barrage on the German front line and
communication trenches.
The raiders, about twelve in number, divided into two groups, of which
one attacked Pope Post and the other Pioneer Post. The attack on Pope
Post was driven off by the garrison, three of the raiding party being
bayoneted by Sergt. Gardiner, whereupon the others turned and fled,
being followed back to the German lines by the second group.
Capt. Rix, commanding B Company, accompanied by his Sergt.-Major
(Shelton) and his runner, gallantly endeavoured to pass through the
barrage on Hun Street in order to take control of affairs in the front
line; but all were unfortunately hit by the same shell, Shelton and
the runner being killed outright while Rix died in hospital a few days
later. The raiders were successful in capturing 2/Lieut. Webster,
D.S.O., who was with the Lewis gun post at Pioneer Post; he is believed
to have been mortally hit prior to his capture, and died in the enemy's
hands the following day. In addition to these regrettable casualties
about a dozen men were slightly wounded, the bulk of the loss on our
side being sustained by a carrying party from the Rangers who were
caught by the German barrage at Edgware Road tram railhead. 2/Lieut.
Stotter (B Company) was also slightly wounded. He remained at duty
for some days, but was admitted to hospital about ten days later.
The reorganisation of the line was promptly taken in hand by Capt.
Stanbridge (A Company) in support, who temporarily reinforced the front
line with one of his platoons under 2/Lieut. Harper, and subsequently
took over B Company vice Rix. The raiding party belonged, as was found
from the three enemy dead left in our hands, to the 2nd Battalion,
13th Bavarian Regiment. For his coolness and good work during the raid
Sergt. Gardiner was awarded the Military Medal.
The remainder of the night passed without incident, and the bright
moonlight during the later hours enabled our working parties to make
considerable headway in repairing the breaches in our breastwork.
On the morning of the following day an observed shoot--which caused
very great material damage--was carried out by our trench mortar
batteries on the enemy first and second lines. This shoot produced a
certain amount of trench mortar retaliation on Guards Trench, in the
course of which an unlucky shell destroyed a Stokes mortar section
under 2/Lieut. Bradley, and the whole of its team, causing a block in
our line at Mole Post.
No further incident of importance occurred during the remainder of
this tour, though our lines were daily subjected to heavy bombardments
by the enemy medium trench mortars, especially in the neighbourhood
of Pioneer Post, where very considerable damage was caused to our
breastworks and wire. On the evenings of the 12th and 13th, however,
when this activity of the enemy began to assume somewhat serious
proportions, they were effectively silenced by prearranged retaliatory
shoots by our supporting artillery on the German front and support
lines.
The following afternoon the Battalion handed over the right subsection
to the Kensingtons, and withdrew as Works Battalion to billets at Croix
Barbée. Here the Battalion supplied large working parties nightly, the
principal tasks being the raising and thickening of the weak portions
of the breastwork and the wiring of the new parts of the "B" line.
Throughout this winter the prosecution of the works programme placed a
heavy strain on all ranks and totally deprived the periods spent out
of the line of any semblance of rest. Even on the night of relief the
working parties were carried out, and many times during these months
companies which had held front line trenches for six days marched back
to reserve billets and within an hour were paraded again for a working
party from which they were not dismissed till after midnight. The
necessity for this extreme pressure of work was doubtless real, but the
unceasing drudgery of it could not be conducive to good work while the
efficient recreation of the men by games out of the line received so
little attention.
However, on this occasion it was found possible to make progress with
the Brigade boxing competition, a good ring being available at the
Brigade Lewis Gun School at Croix Barbée, and in this competition the
Battalion gained several successes.
On the 20th February the Battalion returned to the trenches, taking
over the right subsection from the Kensingtons.
[Illustration: _Sign Post Lane, Neuve Chapelle_]
[Illustration: _Ruined Farmhouse near Neuve Chapelle_]
This tour of duty was marked by an all round increase of activity both
in trench mortar and artillery fire on both sides, the points which
received the majority of the shelling being the front line about the
much battered Pope and Pioneer Posts, Port Arthur and the "B" line in
the neighbourhood of the Rue du Bois. The enemy was also active by day
with rifle grenades, and at night with machine-gun fire.
Owing to the particular discomfort of living in Pope and Pioneer Posts
an inter-company relief between the two left companies was effected on
the 23rd February, A Company withdrawing into support in favour of C
Company, which took over Port Arthur sector.
An attempt was made on the evening of the 26th by the 5th Division on
the right to raid in force the enemy's lines to the south of the Boar's
Head Salient. The enemy had exhibited numerous signs of nervousness,
and it was not altogether surprising to find him quite prepared for the
attempt by the 5th Division. The exact point against which the raiding
party was directed, however, did not coincide with his anticipations,
for the bulk of his rather sharp counter-barrage came down on the
sector held by this Battalion. This barrage lasted with intensity for
twenty minutes, and, trench mortars being freely employed, caused
a good deal of further damage to our already weak breastworks, but
inflicted practically no loss of personnel.
The following morning the Kensingtons once more relieved the 1/4th
Londons, taking over the right subsection and extending it to the left
as far as the outskirts of Neuve Chapelle village, the adjusted line
being known as the left subsection of Ferme du Bois sector.
On relief the Battalion occupied billets as training battalion at
Fosse, C Company being detached in hutments at Les Huit Maisons.
Training was proceeded with uninterruptedly though the weather remained
intensely cold and further falls of snow occurred. The opportunity
was taken to hold a Battalion cross-country run, which passed off as
satisfactorily as the arctic conditions permitted. The frost, which
had lasted for several weeks, was indeed now becoming a little serious
as it was utterly impossible, owing to the hardness of the soil, to
carry out repairs to the trenches which were daily being more knocked
about by the enemy's fire. The appalling destruction which must later
be caused by the inevitable thaw filled the hearts of those who would
form part of the subsequent working parties with feelings of misgiving,
mingled with resentment.
On the 5th March the Battalion relieved the Kensingtons in the left
subsection of Ferme du Bois, the order of battle in the front line
being from the right, B, D and A Companies, with C in support in the
"B" line. The additional frontage between La Bassée Road and Neuve
Chapelle was also held in isolated posts.
As before the "B" line was the main line of resistance; but the great
length of the "B" line sector--some 2300 yards--which had to be held in
eight separate posts, with three additional posts at night, presented
a difficult problem in defence to one weak company of about 120
fighting ranks. The solution of the problem was not, however, actually
called for as the enemy remained unusually quiet for the whole of this
tour of duty, during which the snow fell thicker every day. After an
occupation of four uninteresting days the Battalion was relieved in
the left subsection on the afternoon of the 9th March by 1/6th Duke of
Wellington's Regiment (49th Division). On relief it withdrew to billets
at Bout Deville, marching the following morning at 8 a.m. to Merville,
where the Brigade entrained for the Le Cauroy area. Detrainment took
place at Doullens, and the Battalion marched some six miles to billets
at Le Souich, arriving shortly before midnight.
The Battalion, which had left the Somme battlefields in an exhausted
condition in the previous October, had undergone a good schooling in
the Flanders breastworks. The strength had been increased to some 850
all ranks, and all new drafts had become not only well assimilated,
but also well trained in a rather trying trench warfare. The physical
strain on the troops throughout the winter had been exceptionally
severe, owing to the terrible intensity of the winter weather, and
the very great amount of trench work for which the Battalion had
been called upon; and of this side of the incidents of the winter
sufficient has already been said for it to be realised without
difficulty that, although the Battalion still had a clean bill of
health, the prospect of a rest before embarking on active operations
was welcomed by all.
The great retirement of the Germans was now in progress, and as the
1/4th Battalion was not actively concerned in this we may turn for the
moment to follow the fortunes of the 2/4th Battalion, who had recently
arrived in France with the 58th Division and were now in action in the
Arras sector.