NIEUPORT
(_October-November 1917_)
On September 26 and 27 the Division took over the coastal sector of the
Nieuport front, relieving the 66th Division, composed of the second line
of the East Lancashire Territorials. The relief was therefore a hurried
family gathering, a meeting of elder and younger brothers. The first-line
and second-line battalions were keenly interested in each other’s doings
and experiences. Friends met friends; many were related; more had friends
and acquaintances in common; so they “swapped lies,” and the time was all
too short to exhaust the store of anecdote, reminiscence, and inquiry.
The 66th Division left for Ypres, and a fortnight later “made good” in
the advance at Passchendaele.
D.H.Q. was at La Panne, a picturesque seaside village. The billets
were very good, and for the first time since the Division’s arrival
in France the excitement of shopping was experienced. The sea-bathing
was excellent, and the Belgian Army baths (in a theatre) were well
patronized. The Division now held the left of the Allied Line, Barrel
Post, on the seashore at the mouth of the Yser, being the extreme left
post. On October 1 Major-General Mitford proceeded to England on leave,
and temporary command was assumed by Brig.-General W. W. Seymour. Nothing
of importance occurred here, and on October 7 the Division was relieved
by the 41st Division, and took over the neighbouring divisional front
from the 32nd Division. The new sector included the town of Nieuport with
the Lombartzyde and St. Georges sub-sectors. Belgian troops were on the
right.
The Nieuport sector was a curious one, and those who had expected a
comparatively “cushy” time were disappointed. The town itself had ceased
to exist, for it had never a day’s immunity from the enemy artillery,
and the bombing was hardly less continuous. It was also heavily gassed,
the place being filled with gas on most nights. Here the large Gotha
bombing-planes were first sighted, going to or returning from Dunkirk,
where bombs had been dropped during twenty-three of the thirty nights of
September, the enemy pilots being greatly assisted by the guiding lines
of the canals and coast. The strained look, the expression of dull
despair, on the faces of the war-harassed peasantry of all the devastated
areas of France and Belgium, was particularly noticeable in this region.
Nieuport had been very thoroughly tunnelled by the French during their
occupation, and though at first the low, slimy, and very dark tunnels
were distinctly unpopular, all ranks were thankful for them as they
became more intimate with the situation. The tunnels, running parallel
to the streets, had been made by connecting up the cellars. They were—at
times—lighted by electric lights, but even then fully equipped troops
found difficulty in passing through.
[Sidenote: _Canals, Bridges, and Floods_]
The left, or Lombartzyde, sub-sector lay to the north and north-east of
Nieuport, across the wide and deep Yser canal. It was held by the 125th
and 127th Brigades in turn. The less important St. Georges sub-sector,
to the east and south-east, was in charge of the 126th Brigade, two
battalions being in line and two in reserve. In each sub-sector the front
line consisted mainly of breastworks and island-posts, as much of the
area was below sea-level, and it was impossible to construct trenches in
the flooded marshy ground. The front has been comprehensively described
as “one big flood,” and when, as frequently happened, a big shell knocked
in the bank of one of the many dams, this description was no exaggeration.
Just across the Yser were the Redan and Indiarubber House; the former
being a large triangular redoubt—apex towards the enemy—with an
artificial moat, the latter a barn-like structure apparently inviting
demolition, but in reality built of solid concrete ingeniously disguised,
from which the shells—so rumour says—rebounded harmlessly. This
building, which was lighted by electricity, was used as headquarters
of the battalions in line in the left sub-sector. The Redan was linked
to the town by three wobbly duckboard bridges, laid on floats, without
side-rails, and with many gaps between the boards. These bridges, Putney,
Crowder, and Vauxhall, rose and fell several feet with the tide, at times
making the approaches and exits, down and up very steep gradients of
the Yser’s muddy banks, a matter of the greatest difficulty. They were
shelled all day and machine-gunned all night, with the result that they
were frequently smashed, for the Germans had the exact range. Troops,
working-parties, and ration-parties had to make their way across the
swaying planks, carrying full equipment, and often two petrol-tins full
of water, or bags of rations, a trench-board, or a box of ammunition. It
was therefore unhealthy to linger when crossing, and some who had to take
frequent trips across began to think that Ypres was not so bad a place
after all.
On the east of the town several smaller canals joined the Yser, and at
this point the Five Bridges—so-called, though there were really six—had
to be crossed. There were also other less important bridges over these
canals, by which the front of the St. Georges sector was reached. This
right sector included the site of one of the finest golf-links in Europe,
but much of it was now under water. The destruction of dams and locks
brought the tide into the canals, causing them to overflow and flood
our defensive works; and the Boche amused himself at times by refraining
from molesting the sappers while they repaired a dam, in order to knock
it down as soon as completed and filled. The repairing and rebuilding of
dams and bridges was a severe drain upon the resources of the Engineers
and the infantry working under their supervision. The 428 and 429 Field
Companies had each more than thirty bridges of various kinds under their
charge. Infantry were attached to the Field Companies, and every unit
supplied a permanent working-party of a platoon with an officer to serve
with the Tunnelling Companies, which, among much other excellent work
here, helped the R.A.M.C. to construct three deep A.D. Stations in the
Nieuport cellars. The R.A.M.C. had their first experience of mustard-gas,
and were also called upon to treat and evacuate several hundred cases of
phosgene gassing.
There was little activity on these fronts other than artillery duels and
aircraft bombing. The line was often under fire from heavy mortars, and
the bridges, dams, roads, and back areas were constantly shelled. The
enemy’s 15-inch guns bombarded Dunkirk, twenty miles behind the line,
and the shelling of back areas increased in violence until on reaching
the front line it frequently attained an intensity unsurpassed on any
sector of the British front. The enemy had the advantage of slightly
higher ground at Lombartzyde village, so his works and trenches were
not affected by the floods. As he could see any movement on our side,
and as on the least sign of this his machine-guns and “whizz-bangs”
promptly opened fire, our men lay “doggo” behind the breastworks, or
in small pill-boxes, during the daytime. This absence of movement gave
one a sense of isolation and even the unpleasant feeling of being
left behind by one’s comrades and forgotten. At night there had to be
considerable movement, and the Lancashire men speculated on the length of
stay that would be required to transform them into amphibians, and when
they would begin to develop web-feet. Patrols sent out to reconnoitre
posts alleged to be occupied by the enemy had a particularly difficult
and nerve-testing task. Often they had to wade through the floods, and
sometimes to swim across the canals, the one compensation being that as
No Man’s Land was always flooded there was little chance of any surprise
attack. Listening posts close up to the German lines were reached by
means of duckboards resting on the marshes, and these at times crossed
ditches eighteen feet deep. Shell-holes in the front areas were quickly
filled with water and converted into ponds of varying depths. As at
Ypres, the heavy shells tore great pits in the roads and blocked them.
One night a guide was sent to conduct some transport past a newly-made
and particularly deep crater. Presently he warned the drivers that the
hole was close at hand—and a moment later disappeared. Out of the depths
arose an agonized wail. “Stop! for heaven’s sake, stop! I’m down the ⸺
hole myself!”
[Illustration: NIEUPORT, SHOWING REMAINS OF PUTNEY AND CROWDER BRIDGES
AND RUBBER HOUSE IN THE DISTANCE.]
[Illustration: INDIA-RUBBER HOUSE, USED AS BATTALION HEADQUARTERS.]
There were no communication trenches to most parts of the line in the
left sub-sector, and on dark nights it was easy to lose one’s way. On
the night of the 10th-11th of October, Lieut.-Colonel G. E. Hope, M.C.,
commanding the 8th Lancashire Fusiliers, while visiting his outposts with
two officers at a point very near to the enemy line, saw a post ahead and
called out: “What post is that?” On this challenge the German flat-topped
caps were seen instead of the expected “tin-hats.” The three officers
got clear, but, the night being very dark, they stumbled into another
enemy post. Bombs were thrown and a machine-gun opened on them, and in
the mêlée the three were separated. Hope, who had been leading, was last
seen in the midst of the enemy, who were fighting one another in the
confusion, and he was never heard of again. His companions got away, one
by waiting until there was sufficient light to give him his bearings; the
other by the desperate expedient of trusting to the enemy’s knowledge of
the British lines and making for a spot where the “minnies” were falling.
[Sidenote: _General Solly-Flood arrives_]
The 15th of October, 1917, is a notable date in the history of the 42nd
Division, as on this day Major-General A. Solly-Flood, C.M.G., D.S.O.,
assumed command. The new Divisional Commander when war broke out was a
Major in the 4th Dragoon Guards, who were the first in the British Army
to kill any of the enemy. As C.O. of this regiment he had also fought at
Messines, Ypres, and in all the battles of the Yser in 1914 and 1915, and
at Loos in 1915. In the Somme battles of 1916 he had commanded the 35th
Infantry Brigade, 12th Division. For some months prior to taking command
of the 42nd Division, General Solly-Flood had been Director of Training
at G.H.Q. in France. Mingled with gratification there was some uneasiness
on the part of officers, who feared that the new Divisional Commander
might demand an abnormally high standard of “spit and polish” and take
occasion to “strafe” them as mere Territorials, should the latest drafts
fail to conform to a Guards standard. They were quickly reassured. They
soon found that they were commanded by a man who understood men and how
to get the best out of them; who meant to lead and inspire rather than
to drive; one who knew well how to show appreciation of every trier, and
how to stimulate him to try still harder, and instruct him how to make
the best possible use of his efforts. Officers and men alike began to
want to satisfy their Chief and to merit his approval, for he gave them
the impression that he knew they would bring credit to the Division and
that he was not only their General but their friend. From the outset he
identified himself with the Division and was proud to command it.
Prior to August 1917, all drafts for the Division, and men returning from
leave, had been passed through the Corps Rest Camp, and the training
of officers and men had been carried out in England or at the Army and
Corps Schools. These systems had not been found entirely satisfactory,
and it was decided that drafts be sent direct to divisions. In August
1917, the 42nd Division Rest Camp accordingly came into being, and in
October was changed into the Divisional Reception Camp, Lieut.-Colonel
H. Grant Thorold, D.S.O., then assuming the command, which he retained
until the end. In this camp at Ghyvelde the training of the drafts in
such subjects as _Musketry_, _Bayonet fighting_, _Signalling_, _Machine-
and Lewis-guns_, _Scouts_, _duties of N.C.O.s_, etc., was carried out. A
Lewis-gun demonstration in November by men of the 7th Manchesters was the
first of its kind in the Division, and was very instructive. The Division
was fortunate, not only in the officer commanding this camp, but also in
its instructors, most of whom came from battalions of the Division. But,
perhaps, the chief responsibility for the training which was put to such
good account a few months later rests with Captain Edwards, Coldstream
Guards. In his classes for junior N.C.O.s, corporals, lance-corporals,
and selected privates were put through a short intensive course on all
subjects, from cleanliness in billets to tactical exercises with live
ammunition and bombs. Sports were also included, this being a subject to
which the Divisional Commander attached very great importance. At the end
of the month’s course competitions were held and prizes awarded, the best
all-round student receiving a watch from the Major-General. Competitions
between units in classes and sports became very keen, with excellent
results, and Commanding Officers stated later that they invariably found
that the best students at these classes made the best leaders in action.
[Sidenote: _Incidents at Nieuport_]
Two or three instances, selected more or less at haphazard as typical
of many, must suffice to illustrate the general character of service in
the Nieuport Sector, memories of which are usually associated with the
bridges, canals, and dams, each bridge having its own history worthy
of individual record if space permitted, and such history would be
particularly interesting to the engineers of the three Field Companies.
At 4.20 p.m. on October 22, Putney, Crowder, and Vauxhall bridges were
destroyed by shell fire while a relief was in progress, and the enemy
continued to shell the area to prevent repairs. Lieutenant J. F. H.
Nicholson, Corporal Brightmore, and Sappers J. Bennett and J. Rylance, of
the 429 Field Company, at once volunteered to repair the bridges, and in
spite of heavy shell fire they had restored communications across Putney
bridge by 5.55 p.m. All four were decorated.
Bath Dam (Dam 66) was, perhaps, the worst job the R.E. had to tackle in
the whole sector, as the enemy made a special target of it. This dam
controlled the flow of the River Yser into the Yser Canal, and by its
means the water in the flooded polders was kept at a sufficiently high
level to form a military obstacle. On October 31 a breach fifteen feet
in width was made by 8-inch shells, causing the flooding of the country
up to the third-line trenches. Lieutenant Mellor, 427 Field Company,
promptly organized a working-party of sappers and men of the 6th and 7th
Manchesters, and at once started on its repair, the enemy, of course,
doing their utmost to obstruct. The indefatigable C.R.E., Lieut.-Colonel
D. S. MacInnes, D.S.O., who never failed to turn up at any hour of the
day or night when his presence could assist and inspire, took charge
of one of the reliefs, and set an example of energy and coolness under
fire.[10] The breach was rebuilt with sandbags before the rapidly rising
tide could take effect. On November 3 York Dam was damaged, but the same
night a working-party closed the gap with 2000 sandbags; but on November
13 both York and Hull Dams were heavily shelled and wiped out, and on the
15th, Dam 66 and Mellor Dam were blown up by concentrated artillery fire.
The height of the tide hindered the work of repair, which on this account
could not be completed before the Division was relieved.
On October 31 Lieutenant K. MacIver, of “B” Battery, 211 Brigade, R.F.A.,
during a bombardment of his battery position, which destroyed two of the
three guns, ran out to attend to a wounded man of another unit. He was
knocked down by a shell and his left arm rendered useless, but, assisted
by a driver, he removed the wounded man to safety. Soon afterwards two
dumps caught fire and MacIver, foreseeing that the flames would assist
a hostile plane to register the battery, ran out into the shelled area
and, though one arm was useless, he extinguished the flames at both
dumps. On November 2 Private T. Brotherton, 5th E. Lancs., while in
charge of a limber taking rations up the line, was wounded by a shell
which dropped three yards in rear of his vehicle. Although in great pain
and under heavy shelling all the time, he coolly unhooked his mules,
one of which had been injured, refusing attention for himself until he
had done everything possible for the animals. He then had his wounds
dressed, and obeyed the order to report to the nearest Field Dressing
Station with great reluctance, as he wished to return to his transport
lines for another mule so that he could carry on. On the same day Crowder
Bridge was shelled while a party of the 6th Manchesters was in the
act of crossing singly, and one man was seriously wounded and knocked
into the water. Sergeant E. E. Parry, R.A.M.C., attached to the 6th
Manchesters, at once rushed on to the bridge, and remained supporting
him and crouching over him until the shell-storm ceased. The man was
saved, and Parry received the M.M. for this brave deed. On more than one
occasion Captain Brentnall, R.A.M.C., carried wounded men across a bridge
on his shoulders when he considered the shelling too severe to permit a
bearer-party to cross in safety.
On November 4 an enemy shell fired an ammunition dump near White House,
in the right sub-sector. Captains L. Green and M. B. Bolton, with a
number of N.C.O.s and men of the 4th East Lancashires, hastened to the
spot, isolated the fire, and prevented the destruction of the entire
dump. They worked for forty minutes under heavy shell fire, sometimes
carrying burning boxes of smoke bombs away from the flames. Both officers
were decorated, as were C.S.M. R. Graham, C.S.M. A. Potts, Sergeant R.
Driver, and Privates J. Berry and G. Kay. On the same day Private Isaac
Whitehall, A.S.C., whilst driving a motor ambulance, came under shell
fire at India Post, and was badly wounded in the shoulder. He succeeded
in driving the ambulance under very heavy shelling to the A.D.S., where
he had to be carried in, his machine being destroyed a few moments later.
So serious was his wound that an operation had to be performed.
The Nieuport Sector was in many ways an exceedingly interesting part
of the line, but space does not permit of more than an allusion to a
number of places and events that will be long remembered. Among these
were the rest billets at East Dunkirk and Wulpen, the camps in the sand
dunes, Fisher’s Post, Suicide Corner, Cocked Hat and Triangle Woods;
the Lombartzyde Road at night, a storm-centre of “whizz-bangs” and
machine-gun bullets; the assistance given by artillery and machine-guns
to the Belgians in their raids and attacks on Dixmude; the heavy naval
guns on board monitors, on the coast, and in the dunes; the outbreaks of
sand colic among the animals in the transport lines.
It was in this sector that the Division made the acquaintance of
several Medical Officers of the U.S. Army. These were attached to Field
Ambulances and battalions, and became very popular.
Early in November the system of “_Retaliation Fire_” was abandoned
as unprofitable. The British positions here being entirely dependent
upon the maintenance of dams and bridges, we had many more vulnerable
points than had the enemy. “_Punishment Fire_,” consisting of crashes of
devastation fire of all guns and howitzers, including heavies, on certain
well-known tender spots, was substituted, and was more effective.
[Sidenote: _Cementing the Entente_]
On November 19 the 133rd French Division (“La Gauloise”) relieved the
42nd Division, which was now ordered to La Bassée. The occasion was an
interesting one, as the men were keen to notice differences in methods
and kit. In the middle of the relief the Germans began heavy shelling,
and the Divisional Commander, risking the starting of an artillery
battle, applied his scheme of Punishment Fire and silenced the enemy in
twenty minutes. The relief was completed without further molestation,
all ammunition in the left sub-sector being brought across the Yser in
an overhead cradle. There were no regrets on leaving Nieuport. “Remember
Belgium!” muttered a Fusilier, in allusion to the posters he had seen
when home on leave. “Can I ever bloomin’ well forget it?” The cool bright
weather was ideal for route-marching, and the day’s march of about twelve
miles was usually completed about 2 p.m. After a short rest, followed
by cleaning up and polishing, the troops would make for the nearest
estaminet, there to drink _vin rouge_ or _vin blanc_ and converse in
a strange compound of English, French, Arabic and sign-language with
the thoroughly competent Hebe, of any age between nine and ninety, who
attended to their wants. While resting for two days at Aire the Festival
of St. Catherine was celebrated, and the local custom which ordains that
any youth, by presenting a girl with a flower, may claim a kiss, was
voted a bright idea, many staunch Protestants from Lancashire admitting
that there was more to be said for some of the Roman Catholic customs
than they had hitherto imagined. It was said that the flower-gardens of
the village were devastated, but the villagers condoned this departure
from the strict respect for private property normally shown by the
British soldier. Indeed, the men’s conduct in France won high praise
from the civilians, who termed them _très gentils_. There was a bad
moment when a borrowed bucket fell down a well, and the owner began to
express very eloquently her opinion of such carelessness. Fortunately the
cook-sergeant had “won” a _buckshee_ bucket on his way through France,
and the presentation of this much superior article softened the good
lady’s heart.
The five days’ road-marching acted as a tonic; the splendid feeding and
undisturbed rest night after night revived the spirits and raised the
tone of the troops by the time that they arrived in the La Bassée Sector.
On November 29 they relieved the 25th Division in the line.