AUCHEL TO PONTRUET
_Sept. 7th, 1918._ _Sept. 26th, 1918._
We left Beuvry on the morning of Sept. 7th and were taken back on the
light railway to Ferfay. On this occasion, much to our surprise, the
trains moved off at the scheduled time. From Ferfay it was but a short
march to Auchel, another mining village, where we found very good
billets, and were welcomed in their usual hospitable way by the French
miners and their families. Thanks to a most generous Town Major we got
all sorts of little billet comforts, of which he seemed to have an
unlimited supply, whilst opposite the Headquarters Mess was a very
comfortable little restaurant, bearing the sign, "Cosy Corner," where
we found helping to run the show, an old friend known to us in earlier
days at Béthune as "Lily."
On the day after our arrival Lieut.-Col. J. F. Dempster, D.S.O., 2nd
Manchesters, took over command of the Battalion, Major Andrews
resuming the duties of Second-in-Command, and Lieut. C. H. Powell
temporarily acting as Adjutant. Changes had also taken place in the
Higher Commands in the Division. Brigadier-General John Harington,
D.S.O., from the 46th Machine Gun Battalion, had succeeded General
Wood in command of the 139th Brigade, and Major-General Thwaites, who
had laboured so assiduously to keep the Division up to the highest
pitch of perfection in every respect, had gone to England to take up
the duties of Director of Military Intelligence at the War Office, and
we now had the pleasure of meeting his successor, Major-General G. F.
Boyd, C.B., C.M.G., D.S.O., D.C.M., who was to command the Division
for the rest of the war. He came to see us at Auchel, and we soon
realised that under his leadership, given ordinary luck, we could not
help doing well. Fresh from the battles of the South, he had much to
tell us about the latest forms of attack, particularly those carried
out in conjunction with Tanks, and we were not long in finding out
that what he could not tell us about the kind of fighting that was
going on was not worth knowing. He introduced to us the system of
advancing in the early stages of the attack in the "Blob" formation,
that is, with Companies on wide frontages, echelonned in depth, with
each Platoon in a line of sections in "blobs," or small and somewhat
open groups. With this formation there was less likelihood of severe
casualties from shelling or machine guns, whilst it was a most simple
formation from which extensions could be carried out, and at the same
time it allowed the Section Commander to retain control of his men up
to the last possible moment. This system we at once set about
practising, and later on used it in all the battles in which we took
part. Very little training was possible during the few days spent at
Auchel owing to the bad weather.
It was, of course, general knowledge that we were shortly to take an
active part in the fighting in the South, and therefore no surprise
when we received orders to entrain. This was carried out in the early
hours of Sept. 12th, at Calonne-Ricouart Station, and was rendered
extremely uncomfortable by a torrential downpour, which made it
specially difficult to get the transport vehicles up the steep ramps
on to the trucks. C Company had to do the loading for the whole
Brigade, and were at the station for nearly twenty-four hours, working
in shifts. They left by the last train at 12.40 p.m., the main body
having left at 3.16 a.m. This was our farewell to a district of which
we had got to know practically every inch, and of which we shall
always retain most happy recollections. We had been there for
seventeen months without a break.
Slowly but surely we wended our way Southwards, until we reached
Amiens. At one period the town had been emptied of all civilians, but
they were just beginning to come back and the streets were now showing
slight signs of life again. A certain amount of damage had been done
by shell-fire, and as we moved Eastward from Amiens, signs of the
one-time proximity of the front line became more marked. Eventually we
came to a stop at Corbie Station, where we detrained during the
afternoon, after a journey of about twelve hours. After most welcome
and refreshing tea, which we owed to the forethought of Capt. Salter,
the Acting Staff-Captain, we marched to billets at La Houssoye, some
five miles away, where C Company joined us early the following
morning. We were now in the IX Corps, which formed part of General
Rawlinson's Fourth Army. We were soon able to make ourselves
comfortable, though the village was somewhat battered and contained
very few inhabitants. When we moved further forward, it was, from a
purely military point of view, a decided advantage to find no
civilians at all. All around was a delightfully free rolling country,
and we could wander anywhere according to our own sweet will, those
lucky enough to have horses getting some lovely gallops across the
chalk downs. This area had been too near the front line for the past
few months for any work to be carried out on the land, and such crops
as there were were now being harvested by soldier labour, mostly
Canadian.
The enemy had been driven back from the neighbourhood during August by
the Australians, who had had particularly hard fighting about
Villers-Bretonneux, not many miles distant from where we were
billeted, and the work of clearing the battlefield was already in
hand. Gangs of Chinese were employed in the task, but we were not
impressed by their industry. Everything had to be carried to dumps by
the roadside, and no matter what the burden the only authorised way of
carrying it was by putting it on the end of a pole, which the "Chink"
carried over his shoulder. It seemed decidedly comical, to say the
least, to see a man walk several hundred yards to retrieve a coat, for
example, hang it on the pole, and walk several more hundred yards with
it to a dump! Nevertheless, this seemed to be the recognised way of
working.
Such training as we carried out was mostly in the attack and other
operations, such as advanced guards, likely to be required in open
warfare. Little was done in the way of bombing, which had had its day.
There was a good deal of Lewis gun work, and "field-firing" practice
in the shape of Platoon attacks on strong points. Flags to represent
Tanks were introduced into the scheme with a view to giving some idea
of how to follow up a Tank and take possession of the ground it
gained. A good deal of practice in Map Reading and Compass work was
carried out by Officers and N.C.O.'s, which proved most useful in the
days to come. Several Officers and N.C.O.'s here enjoyed their first
aeroplane flight through the kindness of the Officer commanding a
Bombing Squadron in the vicinity.
Orders for a move came after little delay, but with unexpected
suddenness. We had to break off in the middle of a practice attack on
September 18th, to prepare for our departure, and at 9 p.m. on the
same day we left La Houssoye and marched to Bonnay, where we embussed
for the forward area once more. Transport marched brigaded and was now
under Lieut. Toyne, who took charge when Lieut. Tomlinson broke his
collar-bone in a jumping competition a little while before at
Vaudricourt. Somewhere about midnight the long procession of lorries
moved off. The other two Brigades of the Division were being moved by
the same means, and there is no doubt that the Auxiliary 'Bus
Companies were having a pretty busy time! In the darkness the journey
seemed endless. It was too bumpy to allow even a doze, sleepy as most
of us felt. The whole area was a desolate ruin, but in the darkness we
were, of course, able to see little or nothing of it. For something
like 40 miles, the Somme area, through which we were passing, was
nothing but an immense wilderness--every village practically in ruins,
and hardly sufficient remains in many cases to identify their
position. In one case a signboard had been put up to mark the site of
the village, and on maps they were usually described as "---- ruins
of." Old trenches and barbed wire entanglements existed at various
points. Not a scrap of ground was cultivated--all was wild and uncared
for. Not a living soul was there except a few odd troops of our own,
working mostly on roads or guarding dumps, and French, Italians,
Portuguese and "Chinks" working on the railways. A few odd woods and
shattered trees were practically the only things standing in this
enormous tract of country. Later on we saw all this for ourselves when
we used to cross this devastated area going on leave or for trips to
Amiens, which a generous staff permitted us to indulge in
occasionally. Much of the area had been fought over four
times--firstly, when captured by the enemy in the original advance;
secondly, when he withdrew to the Hindenburg Line early in 1917 and
laid the whole place waste; thirdly, during his offensive of 1918;
and, lastly, when he was driven out once and for all by British and
other troops just before our arrival.
Eventually, about dawn on September 19th, the long train of lorries
came to a halt, and we were dumped on the road about a mile West of a
one-time village known as Poeuilly, to which we marched, and where we
were told we had to bivouac.
It was a cheerless prospect to be turned loose into a bare field at
4.0 a.m. on a late September morning. Poeuilly, however, was found to
contain a certain amount of useful material which very soon found its
way to our field, and with the aid of a few "trench shelters," and
taking advantage of some trenches which were there, it was not long
before we had put up some quite useful protection. Though chilly in
the early morning the weather was quite seasonable, and on the whole
we did not fare badly. Our Transport arrived late the same day.
The Hindenburg Line lay a few miles in front of us, and some of its
outer defences were already in our hands. On the afternoon of
September 20th, we left Poeuilly and relieved the 2nd Royal Sussex in
Brigade Reserve in trenches and dug-outs about Pontru, with Battalion
Headquarters at "Cooker" Quarry, the 5th and 6th Battalions taking
over the front line. At this point we were some seven miles North-West
of St. Quentin, and two to three miles West of Bellenglise, on the St.
Quentin Canal. There was no great excitement during the three days we
spent there except that we had rather bad luck with the Transport. As
the idea was rather pressed on us that we were now taking part in
"moving warfare," some of the horses and Company limbers of bombs and
small arm ammunition were taken forward to the edge of a small wood
just behind Battalion Headquarters. Unfortunately this wood got
shelled and several mules were knocked out, with the result that the
ammunition was dumped, and the limbers and rest of the animals were
sent back to Poeuilly.
On September 23rd we received orders for certain action to be carried
out by us in connection with an attack which was to be launched the
next day, when the 46th Division were to carry out a "minor operation"
in conjunction with the 1st Division on their right. The Australians
had pushed forward considerably on the left, and the line now bent
back sharply, where the troops we had relieved had been held up by the
village of Pontruet. The attack was planned both to straighten out the
line and to get possession of the high ground on the right. The 138th
Brigade, who had taken over from the Australians on the left, were
ordered to capture the village of Pontruet, and for this purpose
detailed the 5th Leicesters. The attack was to be carried out by an
enveloping movement from the North, and the village was to be rushed
from the East. Our 5th and 6th Battalions were to co-operate by
occupying some trenches about Pontruet, and, on the night following,
the 8th Battalion was to relieve the 5th Leicesters as far North as
the inter-Brigade boundary.
The attack was launched at 5 a.m. on September 24th, and though the
5th Leicesters made most strenuous efforts to attain their objectives,
they just failed to achieve the full purpose for which they set out,
and at the end of the day Pontruet was not ours. Our 5th Battalion on
the right also had some stiff fighting, and suffered several
casualties, taking their objective on the high ground South of
Pontruet, and capturing about 100 prisoners. Late in the day our
orders to relieve the 5th Leicesters were cancelled, and we had to
take over from our own 5th Battalion, who were holding the Western
edge of Pontruet. This operation was completed just before dawn on the
25th, Battalion Headquarters being in a dug-out in the high ground
South of Pontru. Fortunately we were there only two days, for the
discomfort was very great, the dug-outs and cellars swarming with
flies and vermin, and there was little other protection from the enemy
shelling, which was fairly frequent. On September 26th we were
relieved on an intensely dark night by the 1st Black Watch and went
back to bivouacs just off the Vendelles-Bihécourt Road, put up for us
by the Battle Details, who had moved up from Poeuilly. They, together
with the Transport and Quar.-Master's stores, had had none too
peaceful a time during the last few days. Having moved to Vendelles
they were shelled out of it almost at the moment they arrived, but
eventually found a quiet resting-place for a brief space at Bernes,
where, in addition to ordinary stores, there were piled all the men's
packs and spare kit, and numbers of Lewis gun boxes. All moves now
were done in light "fighting order" and the Quar.-Master and
Quar.-Master-Sergts. had their time fully occupied in thinking how all
the spare kit was to be got forward when it was wanted.
During our recent moves we had received a regular influx of new
Officers, no fewer than nine having joined between September 3rd and
September 26th. They were 2nd Lieuts. G. Newton, John Henry Smith, A.
N. Davis, R. N. Barker, T. F. Mitchell, W. J. Winter, R. S. Plant, P.
A. Turner, and W. G. Jacques. We had lost 2nd Lieut. Morris, who had
gone to the 139th Trench Mortar Battery; and Comp. Sergt.-Major Slater
and five N.C.O.'s who were sent to England as Instructors. Slater was
succeeded as Comp.-Sergt.-Major of A Company, by Sergt. Attenborough.
Our battle casualties at Pontruet amounted to five killed and 24
wounded.
The men were now very fit and the Battalion was on the top of its
form. Our chief anxiety was whether after all we were to be in a real
good push. We suspected that we might have been brought here to be
whittled away in minor trench attacks, and that the opportunity of
really showing what stuff the Battalion was made of would never
present itself. Our fears were not lessened when we saw how the 5th
Leicesters and 5th Sherwood Foresters suffered at Pontruet, and we saw
looming ahead what we imagined to be the never-ending luck of the 46th
Division. Our fears were ill-founded. Better things were before us and
arrived sooner than we expected.