LA BASSÉE DISTRICT
Next day, Boxing Day, December the twenty-sixth, 1914, we once more
packed our traps, and, marching viâ Beuvry and Annequin, entered
Cambrin. The first four days we were billeted in houses and shops,
which had been shelled to pieces, and set to work digging ways through
the walls of cellars for means to get out should the house be hit again
by a shell during a bombardment. That night a night-attack by the enemy
was expected and the usual precautions were taken; it came to nothing.
Although this village was in ruins and only about two thousand yards
from the enemy's front line, civilians continued to live there.
Between the twenty-sixth of December and the twenty-ninth of December
there was "nothing doing": most of the Regiment were employed in the
communication trenches, cleaning up and carrying planks to lay on the
bottom, some parts of the trenches being deep in mud and water. In the
"Old Kent Road," a trench running from the church at Quinchy to the
front line was in a really dreadful state: one had to wade through mud
and water like whipped cream up to the armpits.
On the twenty-ninth we received a draft of sixty-nine men and three
Officers straight from the base. They were sent into the trenches the
next day on the Givenchy side of the canal to reinforce the 2nd Royal
Sussex. All they had had on leaving the base had been their rations
of bully-beef and biscuits, and, on coming out twenty-four hours
afterwards, had had to join the Regiment and go into a charge with the
Scots Guards on the Quinchy side commonly known as the "Brickfields."
In these fields, and about two kilometres from La Bassée, were three
huge brick-stacks, around which we built fortifications; these stacks
were also very useful for our snipers and observers, who took up
positions on the top. On the left of the fields was the railway track,
and in rear of that, running parallel to it, was the canal; on the
other side of which lay Givenchy.
[Illustration: MAP 5.]
On Wednesday, December the thirtieth, we had one Company in the
trenches as I have already stated; on Thursday, the thirty-first,
report came through that the enemy had broken through the King's Royal
Rifles lines. This was late in the afternoon; and two hours afterwards
we were called out and taken into Quinchy. On the way there we passed
the Black Watch, who were billeted just in front of us; they were
preparing to enjoy New Year's Eve. Arriving at Quinchy, I was sent back
to find and bring up the other Company from their present trenches
to join the Battalion, which I did. They fully expected to be taken
back to billets, for they were in a terrible condition, as it had
been raining all day long. Therefore I did not mention the place to
which we were bound. Fortunately on the way we came across the Medical
Officer, who, on seeing the state they were in, most of them suffering
badly from rheumatism, would not consent to let them join up, but
posted those suffering the least on barricade guard. I then joined the
Regiment on the road at Quinchy near the railway track: and, advancing
along its side, the Scots Guards taking the right, we succeeded in
driving the enemy from the position they had gained earlier that day,
and occupied the trenches, where we stayed all next day.
On January the first some shelling and artillery duels took place,
otherwise it was calm.
On Saturday, January the second, we were relieved by the 1st Brigade,
leaving about thirty men on barricade guard on the main La Bassée Road.
We went back into Cambrin.
On Sunday the third we left for Beuvry, three kilometres to our rear
and one and a half kilometres from Bethune. We arrived there at 6.30
p.m., and went into billets. A lot of our men were sent back from here
with trench-feet, which we then called frost-bitten feet; they were the
first cases we had of it. On Saturday, January the second, ninety-four
N.C.O.'s and men left us, and next day, Sunday, thirty-four more went
off.
On Monday the fourth we rested, enjoying a bathe and change of linen at
the Girls' College in Bethune.
On Tuesday the fifth we again left for Cambrin and relieved the King's
Royal Rifles from the trenches, Major Powell, who had joined us at
Hazebruck, going away sick. We arrived at Quinchy at 5.30 p.m., and the
Regiment took over the trenches in front of that village, two Companies
occupying the front line, one Company being in support behind the first
brick-stack and the other in reserve behind the other two brick-stacks,
whilst Headquarter Company took over and guarded a culvert running from
the road under the railway-line to the canal bank.
That night and during the next day little happened beyond artillery
duels. Around this sector of the line snipers were very prevalent.
Thursday the seventh was a wet day; nothing occurred with the exception
of a German mistaking his way in the early hours of the morning and
walking into our machine-gun emplacement. He came in with two cans, one
with hot water and the other with hot tea. The boys, after making him
taste a little of each, took possession of them for their own use. On
being taken down the communication trench this German had the audacity
to remark that our trenches were very dirty--not nearly so clean as
theirs, as they had working parties cleaning up each day.
On Friday the eighth there was a great deal of shelling on both sides
between 10 a.m. and 11 a.m., and also a heavy cannonade and rifle-fire
during the afternoon, but no attack.
On Saturday the ninth the part of Headquarter Company doing guard
at the culvert were relieved, as they were no longer required, and
were put on fatigue duty, carrying all necessary things to the firing
line, to save the men in the firing line from becoming continually
wet through walking up and down the communication trench. These men
continued at this work until the Regiment was relieved, retiring at
night into a cellar at Cambrin to dry their clothes as best they might.
About 1 p.m. there was an hour's bombardment of the enemy's lines.
On Sunday the tenth there was a terrible bombardment, and seven men of
each Company volunteered to capture an enemy's machine-gun advanced
post, which was taken very successfully, with only slight casualties
and some prisoners.
Monday the eleventh and Tuesday the twelfth were very quiet, with the
exception of a bombardment each day.
On Wednesday the thirteenth I left the Regiment early in the morning,
and proceeded to Annequin, a small village just behind Cambrin, there
to find billets. We found a draft awaiting us there of four hundred
and eighty N.C.O.'s and men and three Officers, and the Regiment was
then relieved by the 2nd Royal Sussex, going to Annequin for rest, and
staying there the next two days.
On Saturday the sixteenth we fell in, in the afternoon, to return to
the trenches; but before we went the Brigadier gave us a few words,
saying: "To-morrow, Sunday, January the seventeenth, is the Kaiser's
birthday, so be on your guard, as we are expecting an attack in honour
of it." This attack did not mature: the day was one of the quietest I
had experienced in the trenches. A mistake had been made: the Kaiser's
birthday is the twenty-seventh of January.
On Monday the eighteenth we were again relieved by the 2nd Royal
Sussex, and returned to Annequin.
Tuesday the nineteenth we spent in resting, going into the trenches
again on Wednesday the twentieth, again relieving the 2nd Royal Sussex,
who took our billets at Annequin.
On Thursday the twenty-first the whole Brigade was relieved by the 1st
Brigade; we went to Bethune, where the 1st Brigade had just completed
eight days' rest. I was then on the staff of billeting orderlies,
and helped to find billets at that town. It was a very unenviable
berth, as the majority of French people objected to have soldiers
billeted on them, and our Officers were often very dissatisfied with
the billets we found for them. We settled down to what we thought was
to be an eight-days' rest; but early on Monday morning, January the
twenty-fifth, the enemy began to shell Bethune--the first occasion on
which it was shelled. The Brigade got the order to stand to, and moved
out of Bethune once more for the trenches, after having had only three
days' rest out of our eight. The report was circulated that the enemy
had broken through on the right of La Bassée canal, at the brickfields
at Quinchy. It was true; they had got as far as Quinchy church, and had
penetrated the village itself, only to be blown back by the fierceness
of our artillery fire, after which we delivered a counter-attack,
going up in support to the Highland Light Infantry 5th Brigade 2nd
Division, who were then operating around that district in conjunction
with the 1st Division, and also in reserve to the 3rd Brigade. We did
not on this occasion succeed in retaking all our old trenches; we lost
one of the three the enemy had succeeded in taking, and we lost one
brick-stack. Our armoured train was in action, and did great work in
keeping the enemy back whilst reinforcements were brought up; but we
were unfortunate in losing the engine-driver, a Belgian, who stopped a
fragment of shell with his head: the naval men in charge of the train
buried him with honours, firing the last volley over his grave. That
night we returned to Beuvry, and stood to in case of another assault.
On Tuesday, January the twenty-sixth, we had an unfortunate experience.
It took place at the time when the Regiment was holding orderly room.
Nearly all the Company Officers and N.C.O.'s were attending, besides
the C.O., Adjutant, Machine-Gun Officer, Regimental Sergeant-Major,
Pioneer Sergeant, Signalling Sergeant, Police Sergeant--in fact, every
one of note in the Regiment. There were also a number of men waiting to
be told off for various crimes; and they were holding this office in a
farmyard, on hard cobbled stones, when a shell of large calibre dropped
amongst them, killing and wounding close on forty Officers and men. The
C.O. and Adjutant had a marvellous escape, as the shell dropped at the
foot of the table without injuring either of them, whilst most of the
prominent Officers and N.C.O.'s were killed, as well as three who held
Distinguished Conduct Medals. That afternoon we returned to Quinchy, D
Company going in support to the 2nd Royal Sussex.
On Wednesday the twenty-seventh we went into the trenches, taking up
bombs in readiness for an attack. It was then 8.30 p.m. We found that
the keep, the first two brick-stacks, had now become our firing line.
We did not commence the attack until 4 a.m. on Thursday the
twenty-eighth, and succeeded in driving the enemy out with bombs,
but returned to our old line of trenches, where we received some
casualties. During that day we returned to Cambrin to billets in
reserve to the Sussex and Northamptons.
On Tuesday the twenty-ninth the enemy heavily attacked the keep: fully
1,500 Germans got out of their trenches, and, after advancing a couple
of yards, lay down, in preparation for a charge. Our artillery then
got to work, and, aided by our rifle and machine-gun fire, accounted
for every man, only five out of the 1,500 being left, and these we
took prisoner. Very excellent work was done that day by both the 2nd
Royal Sussex and the Northampton Regiments. That night we were relieved
by the Camerons and Black Watch 1st Brigade, and returned to our old
billets at Beuvry.
Next day, Saturday, January the thirtieth, we returned to Bethune,
and were billeted there in the Ladies' College, standing to at a
half-hour's notice if required.
There we also spent Sunday. Next day I set off with the billeting party
to find billets at a small place eight kilometres from Bethune and near
Choques. After we had arrived there, we arranged billets, when a Staff
Officer came up and ordered us to return to Bethune, as the enemy had
once more commenced to attack. Halfway on the road back we were met by
the Brigade despatch-rider, who ordered us to return to Allouagne, the
village where we had secured the billets. All this time there was a
heavy cannonade going on in the direction of the trenches; it was close
on ten miles away--anyhow, the attack by the enemy did not succeed, and
we proceeded as usual.
The Regiment arriving here the next day, Tuesday, February the second,
we were joined by a new C.O., Lieutenant-Colonel Bowlby. At Allouagne
we rested from February the second until the twentieth of that month,
having a similar time and doing similar work to that which we had done
at Hazebruck, only on this occasion we were not troubled by aircraft.
We were joined there by the 5th Sussex Territorials, making in all five
Regiments to the Brigade instead of four.
On February the twentieth we moved a little further up, about one
kilometre from Allouagne. On that march one of our men became a little
intoxicated: he was placed between an escort. On the road he threw
his rifle away, saying: "I'll fight no more." Next morning, on being
brought before the C.O., he was told by the C.O., who had overheard
what he had said the day before, that he would receive fourteen days'
field-punishment and fight on. We stayed at this village, Lozingham,
for eight days, leaving on February the twenty-eighth for Mont
Bernischon, where we stayed the night, and next day moved on to a small
village, by name Les Choques. All this time we were really moving back
to the trenches.
On March the second five of our men were overcome by charcoal fumes,
Quarter-Master-Sergeant Border and Private Sailor losing their lives.
On March the tenth we were awakened by a terrific bombardment of guns,
and did not then know that the Battle of Neuve Chapelle had commenced.
We were hurried off from our billets at Les Choques and proceeded along
the Lowe Canal to Locon, where we were kept until the afternoon, when,
crossing the canal and marching to the right, we went on to Le Touret.
That night we stayed in a field in reserve, but at ten o'clock went
into billets.
Next day, the eleventh, we moved higher up to just behind the
Rue-de-L'Epinette and occupied breastworks, where we heard the report
of the capture of 2,000 Germans and six guns.
On the next day, the twelfth, we again returned to Les Choques to our
old billets, which were not required. We did not, of course, take full
part in the Neuve Chapelle battle, but were there in reserve to the 4th
Corps, the 4th Meerut Division taking the bulk of the work.
On March the twelfth we moved to Essairs, to the old billets we had
occupied on Christmas Day, and renewed many old acquaintances. We
stayed there five days, still in reserve and under an hour's notice.
On the eighteenth we removed nearer to La Bassée canal and behind
Givenchy to a place named Goue. This time we found working parties in
the trenches between Festubert and Givenchy.
On the twenty-second we left our billets at Goue, and removed to our
old position in the Rue-de-L'Epinette, where we had lost so many of our
men just before Christmas. We did not relish going there. I went as
orderly to the Northamptons in case of communication being cut off by
telephone, the Northamptons being more to our left in trenches at the
Rue-de-Bois.
On the twenty-third we were relieved by the King's Royal Rifles,
and, going round by Richebourg St. Vaast, we took the trenches on
the Rue-de-Bois, relieving the Indians. These trenches were really
barricades built up with sandbags. We had three companies in them, and
one in reserve in billets behind. We found there another implement of
torture used by the Germans, a three-pronged steel or iron with sharp
points: they were thrown out in front of the trenches for men to step
on--it mattered not which part you stepped on: one of the prongs would
be sure to run into your leg. That night we had one Lieutenant and
one private killed, and about thirteen casualties in all. We were in
those trenches for a week, until the thirtieth, and it was one of the
quietest spots of the whole line--scarcely any rifle fire and little
shell fire. These trenches are linked up with from the right Givenchy
at the La Bassée canal end; then come Festubert, Aubers Ridge, Port
Arthur, and Neuve Chapelle, all within a distance of five miles.
We did not have many casualties during our stay on the Rue-de-Bois,
and returned to our old billets at Les Choques on March the thirtieth,
resting and refitting until April the seventh.
On April the eighth we marched to Neuve Chapelle, and occupied the
trenches at Port Arthur, a portion of the line there having been given
that name. Another spot there was known as "Windy Corner," on account
of its treacherous nature, as it was under a cross fire from the enemy.
On April the sixth we were joined by a new C.O., Colonel Sanderson,
who came to us from the 2nd Battalion, which was then serving in East
Africa. At Port Arthur we went into reserve, one Company occupying the
dug-out at the rear and on the road. From this road our Engineers had
erected a wooden track and wooden rails, for the purpose of taking by
trolleys all necessities for the trenches. We found this very useful
during our stay here of four days, after which we were, on the twelfth,
relieved by a Territorial Division.
We then proceeded to Mont Bernischon, for three days' rest, leaving
that village for Richebourg St. Vaast, where we occupied billets
in reserve. Here I left the Regiment to join the 1st Divisional
Headquarters for a refresher course in signalling, as that Regiment
was at that time short of these specialists. I remained at Locon until
May the sixth, when the class was broken up, and all men were sent to
rejoin their respective Regiments, in view of a great advance that was
then supposed to be about to take place.
During the time I was with the class, all qualified signallers and
Officers of the Regiment had been attending lectures held at the 2nd
Brigade Office to learn the scheme of the proposed attack, which was
to be commenced by a huge bombardment of guns on a front of less than
two miles. Before we left our billets at Les Choques we were told that
it was to be the greatest bombardment ever known; and we had detailed
instruction in the various parts we were to play. We were all under the
impression that we were going to have an easy task of it, as we were to
take up our position and start from the Rue-de-Bois, which place had
always been so quiet when we occupied it. That night we were taken to a
field near the canal at Locon expecting to proceed to the trenches to
be in readiness for the night; however, we did not go up, and stopped
there all the next day, May the sixth, until 8 p.m. We were then sent
back to billets at Les Choques, the advance having been cancelled
for forty-eight hours. Thus we left Les Choques on May the eighth in
the evening, and proceeded to the Rue-de-Bois, where we occupied the
reserve trenches, every one being in and ready for the fray at 3 a.m.
on the morning of the ninth.