RELIEF
My diary of July 20 goes on to state how our relief was effected: "We
were relieved by a company of the 1/5th South Lancashires of General
Lewis' 166 Brigade at 8.45 p.m. So I set off with my platoon at 9
p.m.... We went round Salvation Corner and across various tracks--a very
roundabout way; but Sergeant Baldwin, Sergeant Dawson and I between us
managed to find our way to Vlamertinghe somehow. Then we went along the
road to Brandhoek Cross Roads and thence into our destination, B Camp,
on the right."
The letter which I wrote home on July 21 describes the events of the two
days in greater detail without naming places. It begins where my letter
of the previous day left off, at tea-time: "After tea yesterday I went
up to the trenches to reconnoitre our own positions as they will be on
'the day,' and the front over which we shall have to advance. I was
accompanied by Allen and others. We got there and back again without
any adventures whatever; but we saw crowds of batteries bombarding the
German lines. The noise as we passed them was deafening. And through our
glasses we saw the German lines going up in smoke. If the artillery
fails to achieve exactly what the General orders the infantry is
foredoomed to failure; and, conversely, if the artillery is successful
the infantry ought to have things all plain sailing. That was the secret
of the victory of Messines last month. Churchill, with his customary
intelligence, has aptly summed up the matter in the following words: 'In
this war two crude facts leap to the eye. The artillery kills. The
infantry is killed. From this arises the obvious conclusion--the
artillery at its maximum and infantry at its minimum.'[8]
"We got back at 6.45 and had dinner. At 8.30 we began to be relieved.
So, at 9, I got off with my platoon. We had no adventures except that
even the three of us--Sergeant Baldwin, Sergeant Dawson and I--had some
difficulty in finding our way through the various tracks across the
fields! We passed some simply huge field-guns firing into the enemy
lines. On one occasion if I had not called out to inquire whether all
was safe I would have been blown up with others by one of our own big
guns. 'Just a minute,' was the reply; and then a loud report nearly
lifted us off our feet as the shell left the muzzle of the gun which was
pointing across the path we were taking! They ought to have had a picket
out to warn passers-by as is done in the case of most big guns when
firing.
"We eventually got to our destination, a certain camp. We stayed the
night there. We tried to get some sleep on the floor in a large elephant
dug-out, but found it utterly impossible: the sound of the guns all
round was too terrific. This bombardment is as yet only in its early
stages. I was only a few hundred yards away from where I was last night
on that night previous to the night of the Battle of Messines when the
preliminary bombardment for that battle was at its height; yet I may say
that the present one sounded last night just like that one sounded then.
So what will it become as the days roll on?
"We had breakfast at 4 this morning and marched off from this camp at
6.40. We marched about nine miles to a village which was really only
about six miles away! I can tell you I was, and we all were, very tired
indeed when we got here. It was about midday when we arrived. We are
still well in sound of the guns, but just nicely out of range of them.
Nevertheless, air scraps have been going on overhead most of the day. We
are under canvas--the whole battalion in a large field enclosed by
hedges. The weather is splendid; fine camping weather. We had lunch
about 2 p.m. Then I played a game something like tennis (badminton). The
Colonel is very keen on it. When he saw that I was going to play he
said, 'Oh, I'll back the "General,"' meaning me! Then he showed me how
to play. He has been most agreeable with me all day. Major Brighten has
started calling me 'The Field-Marshal!' I think I cause these gentlemen
considerable amusement!
"Sir Douglas Haig is in this village to-day; but as I have not been out
of camp since I got here I have not seen anything of him."
FOOTNOTE:
[8] Churchill, _London Magazine_, Dec., 1916.