Commanding the Battalion September 1914–September 1915.
]
Training was, of course, very quickly in full swing. It consisted for
the first few weeks of squad drill and marching and nothing else. Squad
drill from 6.30 a.m. until 8 a.m., squad drill and a little marching
from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., and squad drill from 2 to 5 p.m. It became rather
monotonous, but was, of course, very necessary. After a while a little
physical drill was added as a slight variation, and just occasionally an
afternoon was employed in marching down to the sea for bathing. On
Saturdays work stopped at 4 p.m. instead of 5 p.m., while even on
Sundays the 6.30 to 8 a.m. parade was held in addition to church parade,
so that it can be seen that we were starting in no half-hearted fashion.
So seriously indeed were we setting out on our training, that officers
did not dare to ask for permission to go to Brighton after hours, unless
it was to get their hair cut, and it must be admitted that hair seemed
to grow rather quickly in those days.
By this time the interior economy of the Battalion was more or less on
an organised basis, and considerable progress began to be seen in all
directions. In physique and keenness a very large majority of the men
were splendid, and there was no doubt that we had the nucleus of a very
fine battalion. On the other hand, there were some men who were
obviously medically unfitted for an army life, and who ought not to have
been passed in at all. Fortunately it was quite easy in these early days
to discharge such men, and by the end of October those “unlikely to make
efficient soldiers” had been pretty well weeded out. No one could have
wished for a finer set of men than the 1,026 who were retained.
It was about this time that the blue uniforms were issued. They were
blue serge, and though not beautiful and not particularly military, they
gave the Battalion an appearance of uniformity, and were an enormous
improvement on the very varied collection of mufti previously in use. In
addition to appearance, the change was very beneficial to discipline, as
it had been formerly impossible to tell whether a man was a soldier or
not.
The month of October was brilliantly fine, and very great progress was
made with the training, but November was not so kind, and the weather
got worse and worse, until by the end of the month the camp was no
better than a mud patch about six inches deep, and, as always happens in
a muddy camp, had become very unhealthy, and was condemned by the
sanitary authorities.
The Division then went into billets at Brighton, Shoreham, and Worthing.
The 72nd Brigade went by train on November 30 to Worthing, where the
Battalion was billeted at the western end of the town, and had very good
billets indeed. The people of Worthing were most kind to us, and no one
will forget the very pleasant four months’ stay there. Right up to the
end of the war we continued to get regular parcels of comforts sent out
by the townspeople, and we cannot be too grateful to the town of
Worthing for their kindness both during our stay and afterwards.
The training facilities were perhaps not quite so good at Worthing, but
the Downs could still be reached by a short march, and the Recreation
Ground was excellent for close-order drill parades.
One of the difficulties at Shoreham had been the absence of rifles. At
first only a few imitation rifles made of solid wood were available;
then a little later six D.P.s (i.e. for drill purposes only, unsafe for
firing) were issued per company, and were used for training the officers
and N.C.O.s in musketry. Shortly after reaching Worthing, D.P.s were
issued to the whole Battalion, and arms drill became for a time one of
the principal items on the programme of work.
The extreme, and in fact excessive ardour with which we had entered into
our training had been wisely tempered down, and parades now lasted about
seven hours a day, instead of eight and a half; we also had a proper
half-holiday on Saturdays, and the early morning parade on Sundays had
been knocked off. Christmas leave of four clear days was given to the
whole Battalion in batches between the third week in December and the
second week in January. When this was over, company training was
started, and this was the order of the day for the rest of the stay at
Worthing.
We now had supplies of full-dress scarlet tunics, which were obtained
from the depot, and which were worn for church parades and when
proceeding on leave. There were not enough to go round the whole
Battalion, only 460 coats and trousers and 420 caps, so the men who
appeared on parade in the ordinary blue were either excused or marched
to church as a separate party.
About the beginning of March the Battalion was issued with its first
khaki service dress, and this was a most cherished possession, and was
only worn for battalion drill parades, which took place each Saturday,
and for church parades on Sunday, the scarlet being then returned to
Maidstone. We had previously, however, about the beginning of January,
been issued with khaki greatcoats, which had been taken into general
use. Five miniature rifle ranges were erected at Worthing, and much
morris-tube firing was done, and the musketry made great progress all
round.
At the end of March the Battalion moved by train from Worthing, which
was left with many regrets, to Redhill, where we were again in good
billets. The only work or training done during the three weeks’ stay
there was digging trenches for the London defences at Merstham. This
meant parading at about 7.30 a.m. and marching four and a half miles,
working until 3 p.m., with half an hour’s break for eating haversack
rations, and then marching home, a somewhat exhausting job and very
tedious when repeated day after day.
In the third week of April the Battalion returned by train to
Shoreham-by-Sea, and went into a new hutment camp which had been erected
on the southern slopes of the Downs, just north of the village. The
accommodation was quite up to the normal, except that we had by this
time amassed something like seventy officers (every platoon had at least
three, and most platoons four), and as a consequence the officers’
accommodation, which was only meant for a normal establishment, was
rather overcrowded.
From the point of view of training it was much more satisfactory to be
back in camp again. Most of this stay at Shoreham was devoted to
battalion training, and no more suitable piece of country could have
been found. The only difficulty was that the whole division was now at
Shoreham, and that in order to save congestion the ground was divided
into areas and allotted weekly to units, which meant very often a long
march before the actual training could be started. Usually the Battalion
had covered some twenty miles as well as carrying out a tactical
exercise by the time that it returned to camp in the afternoon. Night
work by companies was carried out frequently.
Some of the transport wagons and animals were issued here, and cookers
occasionally accompanied the Battalion. Many of the mules were
untrained, and were taken in hand by Lieut. S. R. Paul and Sergt. Wood,
up to that time Sergt. Master-Cook, who became transport officer and
transport sergeant respectively. The majority of the transport, however,
was not issued until we reached Aldershot.
The weather was, on the whole, very fine and hot, and although these
long days in such weather were very tiring, there is no doubt that they
got us into the very pink of condition.
The second suit of khaki was issued on arrival at Shoreham, and from
that time was taken into general use, and we felt that we really were
soldiers at last.
It was at Shoreham also that our band was formed from men who already
had a knowledge of, and were able to provide, their own instruments.
These were later supplemented by gifts from various officers. The band
was taken in hand by Sergt. Baker, and was the pet hobby of Capt.
Middleton, the adjutant. We had possessed our own drums for a long time.
At the end of June we moved by road to Blackdown Camp, near Aldershot.
The march occupied three days, halts being made at Horsham and
Guildford, where billets for the night were provided. Blackdown, though
of course a satisfactory place from a purely military point of view, was
by no means so pleasant in other respects as our former stations. It had
a dirty appearance and the country was anything but beautiful. It also
had the disadvantage of being a long way from a station or town, being
almost equidistant from Aldershot, Farnborough, and Camberley.
The men were in huts and the officers either in the old married quarters
of the barracks or else under canvas.
Soon after arrival at Blackdown service rifles were issued, and the bulk
of the training was devoted to brushing up musketry prior to firing the
general musketry course. Most of July and the early part of August were
devoted to firing, and little else was done all through this period, as
companies not actually firing were nearly always on duty in the butts.
The results were rather disappointing, due very largely to the
abominable weather. After the lovely days of the early part of the
summer it was very unfortunate that we should have such bad luck for the
musketry course. It became very much colder, the light was often most
indifferent, and we were also bothered by frequent high winds and a lot
of rain. On many of the days on which we fired, shooting would have been
cancelled under peace conditions; but time was short, and we were forced
to get on with the work if the targets could be seen at all. However,
the course gave the men confidence in their new rifles, and a very large
majority attained at least the standard of second-class shot in spite of
the weather. Bombing instruction, under 2nd Lieut. Hough, and scouting,
under 2nd Lieuts. Harris and Eccles, was also carried out, and the Lewis
guns were issued and used for training.
On August 12 the Division was inspected by Field-Marshal Earl Kitchener,
the Secretary of State for War. The whole Division was drawn up in one
line of battalions in mass, and Earl Kitchener rode down the line from
the right, and was received with the general salute. The whole
proceedings, as far as each battalion was concerned, lasted about two
minutes, but no one with experience of these functions will be surprised
to hear that we were on parade waiting for over one and half hours
before anything happened.
The rest of the month of August was devoted to training in trench
warfare, final preparations for proceeding overseas, and embarkation
leave. The trench-warfare scheme was carried out by the whole division.
The two opposing forces marched under war conditions until they met on
Chobham Common after dark, when each side commenced to dig in with
entrenching tools until the large tools were brought up. Work was
continued under war conditions until 7 o’clock the next morning, when
peace conditions were resumed in order to enable the work of completing
the trenches to be pushed on more quickly. It was intended that the
troops should occupy the trenches for some days and that reliefs should
be practised, and finally a trench-to-trench attack and consolidation
carried out. It happened, however, that the weather was very bad, and
the scheme was abandoned on the second day.
On that day the King and Queen visited the Division and walked along the
trenches, speaking to many of the officers and men, and we felt that
this foreshadowed a fairly imminent departure for other trenches.
Immediately the trench-warfare scheme was abandoned, embarkation leave
commenced, each man getting four clear days.
On about Wednesday, August 25, instructions were received to be ready to
proceed overseas on the following Sunday. All leave was cancelled from
Friday, and the last three days were spent in one long rush of packing
up, kit inspection, exchange and issue of new kit, and all the necessary
preliminaries for proceeding on active service.
On Sunday, August 29, the Battalion actually left Blackdown for
Southampton. The organisation of the Battalion as it proceeded overseas
was as follows:
Commanding Officer, Col. E. Vansittart.
2nd-in-Command, Maj. L. Brock-Hollinshead.
Adjutant, Capt. C. de C. Middleton.
Machine-Gun Officer, Lieut. W. K. Tillie.
Transport Officer, Lieut. S. R. Paul.
Quartermaster, Lieut. H. Evans.
Regt.-Sergt.-Maj. A. Lee.
Regt.-Quartermaster-Sergt. W. Dadd.
A Company:
Commander, Maj. A. H. Pullman.
2nd-in-Command, Lieut. R. M. Old.
Coy.-Sergt.-Maj. Campion.
No. 1 Platoon, Lieut. L. Gibbs.
No. 2 Platoon, Lieut. R. M. Old.
No. 3 Platoon, Lieut. H. S. Brown.
No. 4 Platoon, 2nd Lieut. C. D. N. Lawson.
B Company:
Commander, Capt. R. W. Grant.
2nd-in-Command, Lieut. P. T. Smith.
Coy.-Sergt.-Maj. Ackhurst.
No. 5 Platoon, 2nd Lieut. E. A. Bigsby (Billeting Officer).
No. 6 Platoon, Lieut. N. B. Green.
No. 7 Platoon, 2nd Lieut. V. G. Don.
No. 8 Platoon, Lieut. O. Jones (Engineering Officer).
C Company:
Commander, Capt. A. C. Edwards.
2nd-in-Command, Capt. C. A. Hutchinson.
Coy.-Sergt.-Maj. Mills.
No. 9 Platoon, 2nd Lieut. D. H. Watts.
No. 10 Platoon, 2nd Lieut. M. S. Ell.
No. 11 Platoon, Lieut. H. L. Lewis.
No. 12 Platoon, 2nd Lieut. A. N. Harris (Scout Officer).
D Company:
Commander, Major J. C. Chillingworth.
2nd-in-Command, Capt. P. M. Robertson-Ross.
Coy.-Sergt.-Maj. Acland.
No. 13 Platoon, 2nd Lieut. R. F. T. Burrell.
No. 14 Platoon, 2nd Lieut. H. O. Beer.
No. 15 Platoon, 2nd Lieut. G. de L. Hough (Bombing Officer).
No. 16 Platoon, 2nd Lieut. D. W. Plant (Signalling Officer).
We journeyed to Southampton in two trains, half of the transport going
with each half battalion, and on arrival in the afternoon the Battalion
was marched to the docks and there detained in a large shed, on account
of submarines. The next day was spent in the shed, and the Battalion
embarked late in the afternoon, and left the docks in time to reach the
open sea, where the convoy was met by a patrol of destroyers, as it was
getting dark. The sea, without being particularly rough, was
sufficiently uncomfortable to make many people wish for dry land again.
We anchored outside Havre in the early hours of the morning, and went
into the harbour soon after daylight. There we disembarked, and marched
up to camp on the high ground about Honkville. The troops were delighted
with the new experience of being in a foreign country, and were in most
excellent spirits. We remained in this camp until the next morning, when
we marched down to the Gare des Marchandises and entrained at about 11
o’clock. This being the Battalion’s first experience of travelling in
cattle trucks (40 hommes and 8 chevaux), considerable disgust was
expressed. But this mode of travelling became quite a normal thing for
those who had an extended career in France. After a very slow journey of
seventeen hours, via Rouen and Abbeville, we detrained at Montreuil at
about 4 a.m. and marched to Hucqueliers, a halt being made on the way
for breakfast.
The billets at Hucqueliers were very good, and the population was most
kind to us. Training was continued by companies, considerable time being
devoted to field firing, which was carried on in any likely spot, and
seven ranges were constructed for target firing. Later some big
divisional field days were included in the programme, the most memorable
being an alarm in the night, followed by a field exercise lasting until
6 p.m. the next evening.
After a stay of nearly three weeks the Battalion marched out of
Hucqueliers at 6 p.m. on September 21, and proceeded to Dennebroeucq,
which was reached in the middle of the night. There were no billets or
camp available, and the men bivouacked in a field with no covering
except their own waterproof sheets. There was a barn available for the
officers, but it was so plentifully supplied with fleas that many wished
they had remained in the field.
The next night the march was continued to Isbergues, the Battalion being
billeted in the brewery, and a much more comfortable day was spent than
the last. The next night a short move of about three miles was made and
quite satisfactory barns and billets occupied; while on the night of the
24th the march was continued through Choques, which was full of guns,
ambulances, and other very warlike appliances, to Bethune, where the
Battalion was billeted in the tobacco factory, with the officers in an
empty house on the opposite side of the road.
The four nights’ marching had been rather exhausting, not so much on
account of their length as on account of the congestion of traffic on
the roads, which, combined with the darkness, made progress very slow.
The officers had already been told that they were going into the biggest
battle the world had ever known, and were also told that their rôle
would be to march through to Douai and hold it, a task which was
considerably modified before we actually reached the battle.
On the morning of September 25 the 72nd Brigade moved to Beuvry, and
from there marched to a point behind Vermelles, where the battalions
rested on the road-side. The Battle of Loos was now in full swing, and
many prisoners and wounded were coming down from the line, but no very
definite information could be got from them. The task now allotted to
the Division was that it should pass through the village of Hulluch,
which was believed to be in our hands, and then capture and organise the
Pont-a-Vendin bridgehead some three and a half miles further east. As a
matter of fact, the 73rd Brigade and two battalions of the 71st were
detached to other parts of the line, leaving only the 72nd Brigade to
carry out the attack.
When night fell the Brigade moved up from Vermelles, and opened out into
artillery formation, as the exits to the village were being shelled,
advancing first on Le Rutoire Farm and then on a compass bearing to the
Lone Tree, where the Battalion halted and got into touch with the other
battalions of the Brigade. Later the advance was resumed, with the
Battalion leading the Brigade, and the final position reached during the
night was a line of old German trenches parallel to and some 1,000 yards
west of the Lens-La Bassee road. It is interesting to note that although
this part of the line was supposed to be occupied, no troops were passed
on the way up, and there were none in the trenches to be relieved.
Although the shelling had been fairly heavy, the casualties were not
very serious, but included Lieut. P. T. Smith, slightly wounded in the
foot. He refused, however, to be sent down to hospital. Col. Vansittart
was also slightly wounded in the hand during the night.
Our instructions were that we should attack at dawn, the objective for
the Brigade being the main German position some 2,000 yards away, which
stretched from Hulluch village on the left to the Bois Hugo and on to
Hill 70 on the right, our frontage being from Hulluch to the Bois Hugo.
Considerable sniping and random shell-fire was kept up by the enemy
during the night, but did very little damage. The Battalion scouts,
under 2nd Lieut. Harris, were sent forward during the night, 25/26th,
and came back with the report that Hulluch was in the hands of the enemy
and strongly organised, and that they were also holding the line of the
Lens-La Bassee road. The whole Battalion could not be accommodated in
the main firing trench, and an attempt was made by C and D Companies to
dig a parallel trench in front, but, owing to the approach of daylight,
and the increasing attentions of the enemy’s whizz-bangs and machine-gun
fire, this was abandoned, and the surplus was withdrawn into a
communication trench, where the men hollowed out scoops for themselves
as additional protection from the shelling which was enfilading them.
No orders for the attack at dawn came to us, and we had to wait. As the
light grew stronger, the enemy’s artillery fire increased and casualties
became more numerous, while our guns did heavy counter-battery work. At
about 10.20 a.m. Col. Vansittart was sent for by the Brigadier and got
orders to attack at 11 a.m.; he reached the Battalion again at 10.53,
and only had time to give orders for the whole Battalion to move up into
the fire trench, and to tell off companies as firing line and supports.
We were told that there were plenty more fellows in reserve to go
through us, and that the troops on either flank would attack
simultaneously with ourselves. We were to leave Hulluch village on our
left, and it would be dealt with by the troops on our flank.
Punctually at 11 o’clock the first wave, with B and D Companies in the
front line, left our trenches, followed at short intervals by the
subsequent waves. The 9th East Surreys were on our right, and the 8th
Buffs (right) and the 8th Queen’s (left) were in support. Instead of a
whole division attacking on our left, a handful of some fifty to
seventy-five men, belonging to a Welsh regiment, alone left our
trenches, the orders apparently having arrived too late, while the right
flank of the East Surreys also appears to have been in the air.
The ground to be covered sloped gradually down to the Lens-La Bassee
road, and from there rose to the main German positions, about 1,100
yards beyond, near the crest of the ridge running north from Hill 70.
The attack was carried out at a marching pace in order to save the men’s
breath for the final charge and bayonet work, and the advance was so
steady and the formations so regular that it looked more like a field
day at Aldershot than part of a great battle. The enemy brought a very
heavy rifle, machine-gun, and artillery fire to bear on the attacking
lines, and shortened his range to keep pace with the advance with
wonderful precision; but the casualties up to this point, though severe,
were not inordinately heavy.
When the first wave was still some hundred yards short of the main road,
the enemy withdrew, some retiring in very open order up the hill, and
many of these were shot down by our men, while stronger parties made off
to either flank, those on our left gaining the village of Hulluch, and
those on the right reaching a sunken road on the near side of the Bois
Hugo. A very severe machine-gun fire from either flank swept the road,
and very heavy casualties were sustained in crossing it. About 400 yards
east of the road the Battalion passed a forward German trench full of
enemy dead.
As the advance swept up the long slope towards the main German trenches
the machine-gun fire increased in intensity, being very severe from both
flanks. Shelling directed from behind Hill 70 and from the south-eastern
part of Hulluch was also very heavy, and two field guns were brought up
to a position from which they took the attack first from the flank and
later from the left rear, firing practically over open sights. In spite
of the very heavy casualties which were being sustained, the Battalion
continued its advance up the slope with the utmost gallantry, but it was
found on reaching the enemy’s main position that the barbed wire
protecting it was absolutely intact. What more hopeless situation could
possibly have arisen? When the orders for the attack were issued, it had
been assumed that all the enemy’s wire had been cut by our bombardment,
but here, after a most gallant advance of about 2,100 yards in face of a
murderous fire, not only from the front, but also from both flanks, the
Battalion, and in fact the whole Brigade were faced with a thick belt of
uncut wire, swept by artillery, rifle, and machine-gun fire from three
different directions. With assistance on our flanks to keep the enemy
occupied and to draw a due proportion of his fire, it would perhaps
still have been possible to force a way through the wire and capture the
trench. We wish to make it quite clear that we are not blaming our
comrades on either flank for their failure to help us. The facts appear
to be that at the time fixed for our attack the enemy himself launched a
counter-attack against the troops on our right, who were consequently
pinned to their ground, while the orders did not reach those on our left
in time, with the consequence that the 72nd Brigade had both its flanks
exposed, and the enemy was able to concentrate on the one brigade the
fire of the artillery and small arms which would normally have been used
on the front of three divisions. Many men made gallant attempts to get
through the wire, 2nd Lieut. Don being killed when half-way through. The
remainder dropped to the ground where they were and returned the heavy
fire from the enemy’s trench. The situation, however, was hopeless. In
front was an impenetrable belt of wire, and the line, such as was left
of it, raked with rifle and machine-gun fire from the front and both
flanks, and enfiladed by an equally deadly artillery fire. What were the
men to do? Turn to their officers for orders? Out of the twenty-five
officers who had left our trench little more than an hour before, only
one was now unhit. To stay where they were, outflanked on both sides,
was impossible, and the poor remnant of that gallant Battalion was
forced to make its way back to the line of German trenches from which it
had started. There they remained for the rest of the day, subjected to
heavy shell-fire. Lieut. W. K. Tillie, the Battalion M.G.O., the only
officer who was not a casualty, brought the Battalion out of the line
the same night, when it was relieved and moved back to bivouac in a
field near Noeux-les-Mines.
Had the Battalion had more experience of modern warfare, it is probable
that a nucleus of officers, N.C.O.s, and specialists would have been
left behind at the transport lines before entering a big battle; but, as
it was, every available officer and man went into the line, and with
casualties to every combatant officer except one, and over 550 other
ranks out of about 900, the organisation of the Battalion was
temporarily ruined, and what remained of one of the finest and most
gallant battalions that ever left England required months of careful
rebuilding before it was a semblance of its old self. To those who had
seen the Battalion grow from its infancy and who lived to look back on
that day, there remained, and will remain, an everlasting regret that it
should have been frittered away in two short hours on a hopeless task;
but at least we know and are proud that the task was undertaken with a
determination and bravery which could not have been excelled, and the
fact that it was impossible is the only reason why it was not
accomplished.
Of the twenty-four officer casualties, thirteen were killed. Major
Brock-Hollinshead, the 2nd-in-Command, Lieuts. Gibbs and Lawson of A
Company, Lieuts. Smith, Bigsby, and Don of B Company, Capt. Edwards and
Lieuts. Watts and Harris of C Company, and Capt. Robertson-Ross and
Lieuts. Burrell, Beer, and Plant of D Company; Col. Vansittart and Major
Chillingworth, Capts. Middleton and Hutchinson, Lieuts. Old and Ell were
badly wounded, and were picked up by the enemy after lying exposed in No
Man’s Land for many hours; and the only five to reach England were Major
Pullman, Capt. Grant, and Lieuts. Green, Lewis, and Hough.
For gallantry in this battle Major Pullman was awarded the D.S.O.,
Lieut. Tillie the Military Cross, and Col. Vansittart and 2nd Lieut. Don
were mentioned in dispatches. After the Armistice a further award of the
Distinguished Service Order to Col. Vansittart was announced, and was a
most fitting tribute to his gallant personal leading and a great
compliment to the Battalion which he had brought to such a high state of
efficiency during the period of training.
When he was back in England in 1917, Col. Vansittart closed his report
to the War Office with the following paragraph: “Might I add that the
8th Royal West Kents actually got from half to three-quarters of a mile
east of Hulluch—that although the fire was very heavy and from every
direction, officers and men alike showed not the least semblance of any
check or stop. They advanced as if on parade and under perfect
discipline till they reached the enemy’s undamaged barbed-wire
entanglement, beyond which they were unable to go; and here our losses
were very heavy.”
Writing to Mrs. Vansittart after the battle, Gen. Mitford said: “Nothing
too much can be said for the 8th Royal West Kent Regiment;
notwithstanding the shell and machine-gun fire under which they advanced
over open slopes destitute of cover, they never wavered an instant, but
moved on towards their objective as if on parade.”
The other three battalions of the Brigade were nearly as badly hit, and
the total casualties were approximately 78 officers, and 2,000 other
ranks, out of about 3,600.
The following address by Brig.-Gen. B. R. Mitford, C.B., D.S.O., was
read to the 72nd Infantry Brigade at the Parade Services on October 3,
1915:
“72ND INFANTRY BRIGADE,
“Last Sunday the Brigade went into action for the first time, only a
year after they came forward at their Country’s call.
“The way the Brigade advanced under very heavy machine-gun and artillery
fire from flanks and rear has evoked the approbation of the Divisional
and Corps Commanders. You were an example in steadiness and
determination to carry out your task, not only to the new Armies, but
also to seasoned troops, who could not have done better than you have.
“As I say, you carried out your task, but you had to retire. Yet do not
think it was a failure, for it was not, as you caused 16 battalions of
the enemy reserves to be brought up into your area and taken away from
the French just South of us, thereby enabling the French to make an
appreciable advance.
“I should like all of you who know the relatives of those who are no
longer with us to tell them how gallantly they fought and how nobly they
served their Country, in whose service they fell, and what prestige they
brought on the names of the Regiments to which they belonged.
“Men of the Queen’s, Buffs, East Surreys, Royal West Kents, you have
added glory to the ancient Regiments of which you are the children. You
have made for the 72nd Infantry Brigade a name which none of you can be
anything but proud of, and which I know, in the future, you will never
allow to diminish.
“I feel it a great honour to have had the chance of commanding such
troops on service, and I shall never forget the ground about Hulluch
village.”
PHASE II
TRENCH WARFARE IN THE YPRES SALIENT AND AT MESSINES
_September 1915–July 1916_
After Loos the work of rebuilding the Battalion was commenced at once.
From the plains of Hulluch the remnant of the Battalion was withdrawn to
Mollinghem, thence to Houtkerque, and finally to the muddy camps at
Reninghelst.
Here, on Oct. 6, Maj. J. C. Parker came to take over command of the
Battalion. Large drafts of officers and other ranks had been arriving
from the 3rd and 9th Battalions, but it was not possible to give many
days to the important work of reconstruction, and on October 15 Major
Parker took the Battalion into the trenches at Spoil Bank, on the
Ypres-Commines canal. Six-day trench tours with four-day intervals spent
in the Reninghelst mud were the order of the day.
[Illustration:
_Photo by_] [_J. Weston & Son, Folkestone._