THE LANDING IN FRANCE
At Le Havre we were met by two men of the French Army, who to our
unaccustomed eyes appeared very strange in their red trousers and blue
coats. We promptly dubbed them "The Pantomime Army." They were to act
as our interpreters, and came forward with their credentials to the C.O.
After disembarking our transport, etc., we were marched, through the
docks, on to the dock road, there to hang about all day long, amusing
ourselves as best we could. A sentry was posted to stop any man from
going into the town, but we were allowed to let civilians bring us
provisions.
At nightfall we were formed up, and marched by way of the sea-front
through the town and away up a steep hill at the back, where we found
a camp already pitched for us. That march and landing I shall ever
remember, and so will all those who took part in it. We were among the
first English troops of the Expeditionary Force to put foot on French
soil, and the excitement was great. Over the whole of the distance we
travelled we were hemmed in by crowds shouting _Vive l'Angleterre!_
Often they broke our ranks to embrace us. We stayed only the one night
at Le Havre, and recommenced our journey on the night of the thirteenth.
At Le Havre Railway Station we were packed into horse-boxes, 36 men
and N.C.O.'s in each box, the total often reaching nearly 50 men. In
that condition we travelled the whole of the night, and the next day
passed through St. Amiens, Rouen, and Arras. At each place we had a
wonderful reception--especially at Arras, where the Mairie and other
Civic officials turned out with bouquets of flowers for the Officers;
and there was a Guard of Honour of French troops. The free giving of
chocolates and sweets by the populace was indeed very gratifying to us:
it made us feel more eager for the work which was to follow.
That night (the fourteenth of August) we detrained at a village called
Le Nouvain. It had come on to rain, and we were very pleased to find
our billets situated in a large schoolhouse with plenty of clean fresh
straw for our beds. On the morning of the fifteenth we marched out
in Brigade order, as we always did on every occasion afterwards. My
Brigade, which was the 2nd, commanded then by Brigadier General Bulfin,
consisted of the 2nd King's Royal Rifles, 2nd Northampton Regiment, 2nd
Royal Sussex Regiment, and 1st Loyal North Lancashire Regiment, each
Brigade consisting of four line Battalions. A smarter body of men, all
seasoned soldiers, one could not wish to meet (the average of their
service was not less than five years, all the younger recruits having
been left behind in England as peace details). Our destination for that
day at any rate was not a distant one; we proceeded only to a small
village called Esquerries, not more than three miles off. There we
again went into billets for four days. On arrival at the farm at which
I was billeted, the farmer's wife on seeing us broke into tears--she
thought that we were the Germans! But, I am pleased to say, the good
woman, and her good man too, were more upset when we left, on account
of having become so much attached to us.
We spent those four days in route marches; and all men under the age
of twenty-five years were then inoculated. The hard part of that stay
was that no man was allowed to write home giving his whereabouts, or
even to head the letter with his name or Regiment. Of course no Field
Service post-cards had been issued at that time.
On the morning of the eighteenth we bade good-bye to Esquerries, and
continued in a three-days' rush up-country to Mons. The first day we
covered something like sixteen miles, and came to rest in the usual
farm-buildings. Before we set off the next day, any man who thought
that he would not be able to perform the task before us was required
to give in his name to the Officer Commanding Companies. I believe we
had two sent back, one with a troublesome leg through a break, and the
other returned by the Brigadier on account of his very low stature. He
did not think that he would be able to accomplish any forced marches we
might have to undergo. That day we did a matter of twenty miles.
On the third day out we passed through Mauberge. We had only covered
some seven miles when a halt was called and we lay on the right of the
road for six hours. While there we were told that a force of about
30,000 Germans was on our front, and the Cavalry had gone out on a
reconnaissance.
At 5 o'clock they marched us into billets, but we had not been settled
more than an hour and a half when a Staff Officer came galloping up
with orders to move at once. About four miles from Mauberge we could
hear a distant boom of a gun, and all lines of communication had been
cut. A halt was called in the centre of Mauberge for one hour, and
we were told that no man was to eat his "iron ration" i.e. emergency
ration, or drink any of the water which he carried in his water-bottle,
as we were expecting to go into action and probably should not get
the supplies up for four days. On we went, and marched for two hours
without a minute's rest. The men began to tire, and their cry became
the opposite to that with which we set out. Then it was, "Are we
down-hearted?" now it had become, "Dump us in a field!"
After another hour we had passed the outer forts of Mauberge, and were
feeling our way very cautiously. Suddenly we would go on with a rush;
then more slowly; and this sort of thing continued until 2 a.m. We had
had no real rest since 6 a.m. the day before; but at length we arrived
at a small village south of Mons, where we found billets, one company
of my Regiment going further on to find outpost duty. Thankful I was
not to be in that company!
Our rest did not last very long. Arriving in as we did at 2 a.m., we
were brought out again at 3.30 a.m., with a remark from the Colonel
that we were a lazy lot of ----. Some of us could barely crawl, being
stiff and chafed from our long march of nearly thirty-five miles--not
bad for one day, considering that we were fully equipped.
Our next move was to a field two miles off. We were moved so early from
the last place because it was thought advisable to shift us before
daybreak, owing to the probability of its being shelled by the Germans.
In this field the morning was occupied by feet and rifle inspection.
A German aeroplane came over us, and we were all ordered to line the
hedges and seek cover, which we did in quick time.
During the afternoon we moved higher up toward the enemy, staying in
another village for a few hours. We were put into another schoolhouse,
which was well stocked with vegetables in the garden, so we set about
preparing for ourselves an enjoyable repast. Just on our front the
batteries were in action, and, whilst awaiting our dinner, we sat upon
the wall of the school and watched the duel. It was a glorious sight! A
flock of birds in the distance was mistaken by all of us for a Zeppelin
through the haze. We were, however, doomed to go without the big
dinner we had promised ourselves, as we were given our marching orders
and were off before it was cooked.
On forming up with the remainder of the Brigade, we were ordered to
charge magazine, with one round in the breach also. Things began to
look exciting, and in their agitation a few men let their rifles go
off, narrowly missing their comrades. We then advanced through an
avenue for a mile at the double, when the word was given to halt and
lie down, no smoking and no talking, as we were now in support to the
South Staffords on our front, who were expected to retire through us at
any minute. After laying there the whole of the night, and having the
Pioneer Sergeant run over by a pair of mules attached to an ammunition
limber, we were not required! All we got for our night out was the
loss of the Pioneer Sergeant, with two broken ribs, and one other man
injured. It had been a pitch-black night, and we had not noticed a
trench just off the road filled with straw, where we could have rested
our aching limbs.
As soon as daybreak appeared, we were ordered off that road; and we
had no sooner left it than it was heavily shelled. We dug some more
trenches that same day and retired from them just before they were
blown up, so we were evidently very fortunate on the twenty-second of
August, 1914.
On leaving the road, we retired to a thicket on our left rear, but
quitted it, and came to the trenches aforementioned. Two batteries
were just behind us there, and they were having a bad time. Also while
there the Scots Greys, who were our brigade scouts, came in with a
report of meeting with a body of Uhlans. They had evidently surprised
these Uhlans, and had given them a warm time, the losses of the Scots
Greys being only one man, I believe, and two wounded. As I pointed
out before, we left those trenches in the nick of time; they were not
the trenches we have now in France, but only what we call "one-man
trenches"--very little more than head cover, dug with our entrenching
tools and no good whatsoever against shell fire.
After retiring from them we were kept on the side of the road for the
night; and for the next few days were rushed from one position to
another.
Early one morning we set off to guard a bridge, and, after going a mile
or so, we were again placed in a field. On the way we were handed some
corned beef and biscuits, also a grocery ration, i.e. a tin of tea and
sugar and two Oxo cubes, by some A.S.C. men who had been left with
orders to issue them to troops going into action. One of them handed me
mine with the remark: "You'll need it, old man, where you're going!"
Very cheerful, I thought.
We then advanced over some open fields in Artillery formation, the
Scots Greys going first, probing all hedges with their swords. In this
field we were told to line the hedges.
Two incidents worth relating occur to my mind: one was the bravery of
one of our flying-men--he had just flown over the German lines, and on
coming back was being shelled by the German batteries--how he escaped
being hit I cannot think, as shells were bursting no less than a dozen
at once all around him, and the fragments of shells were dropping
around us everywhere, though no one was hit. Our Colonel, highly
pleased with the steadiness of the aviator, remarked that he felt proud
to be an Englishman.
The other incident occurred in connection with an order of the C.O. He
gave out that the Germans had advanced upon the Middlesex Regiment,
driving the civil population of various villages in front of them and
thus screening themselves. He was very sorry to say that, if it was
done to us, we should have to fire upon them, as it was our duty to
those at home. But happily it did not occur then, or on any occasion on
which I faced the Germans, so I was spared the horror of assisting in
the slaughter of women and children in such a cowardly way.
However, the bridge we set out to guard in the first place had, I
believe, been taken by the enemy, so our services were not required.
Our fighting experiences at Mons were not very severe, as the work fell
to the lot of other Brigades. The 1st Brigade, which contained two
Battalions of Guards, the 2nd Black Watch, and the Munster Fusiliers,
suffered far more heavily than did we, who were moved from one place
to another, mostly in support. Operating as we did chiefly round the
outskirts of Mons, our casualty list was very slight.