Commanding the Battalion October 1915–August 1916 and January-October
1917.
]
During the tour on the Bluff, November 3 to 7, the Germans blew a crater
in front of our lines. This was distinctly an “experience” for the
Battalion in the trenches for almost the first time. This trench work
was a very trying time indeed. The state of our positions at St. Eloi,
where we held the trenches from November 12 to 19, was almost
indescribable. Our trenches were towards the bottom of the slope east of
St. Eloi village, and all water drained into the bottom of the valley.
Rain was continuous, there were practically no shelters whatever in the
front line, and the trenches were nearly waist deep in water. The enemy
whizz-banged our tottering parapets at all hours, and the sniping from
the trenches on the high ground was wonderfully accurate. The removal of
wounded was a matter of extraordinary difficulty and danger. The rests
at Reninghelst between trench tours were rests only in name. Large
working parties had to go up every day to St. Eloi, the Bluff, or Spoil
Bank. Parades were usually at 5.30 a.m., and the parties were conveyed
to Café Belge in G.S. wagons. From there a march of two hours, often in
a deluge of rain, brought the party to its work. About 5 p.m. the return
journey from Café Belge would commence, and the tired party—usually
depleted by a few casualties—would be swallowed into the mud of the camp
again between 6 and 7. Training was almost impossible. It was with great
relief that the Battalion heard during that terrible tour in the St.
Eloi trenches that it was to be the last for the time being. On November
19 the Battalion came out of the trenches at St. Eloi, and marched, via
Eecke, Ochtezeele, and Houles, to Bonningues, a small village some ten
miles from St. Omer.
Towards the end of this march Capt. N. I. Whitty, 2nd Battalion, joined
as 2nd-in-Command.
The Battalion arrived at Bonningues on November 25, 1915, and stayed
there till January 4, 1916. Few who were with the Battalion during those
five weeks will ever forget the stay there. The villagers were very kind
to us, and the rest and peace after the terrible shock of the Battle of
Loos, and the very trying trench life which had followed, were just what
were required to knit together the Battalion and set it firmly on its
feet again. New officers got to know their men, and the men got to know
their platoon commanders. Training and refitting occupied most of each
day, but on half-holidays and on Sundays one could roam on to the hills
and gloat over the really beautiful scenery. The weather was fine on
most days. During the month a good deal of football was played. In the
Inter-company Competition B Company won, while in the Officers v.
Sergeants’ match the Sergeants lost by 14 goals to nil! B Company also
reached the semi-final in the Divisional Inter-company Competition. An
inter-company cross-country run was arranged, forty runners per company,
and was won by A Company.
The whole Battalion spent a very happy Christmas at Bonningues.
Before we watch the Battalion marching into the line again, we might
recall the names of some of the officers and N.C.O.s of the Battalion at
this time. Lieut.-Col. J. C. Parker was commanding the Battalion, with
Capt. N. I. Whitty as 2nd-in-Command. Capt. W. K. Tillie, M.C., was
adjutant. The company commanders were: A Company, Capt. W. Wood (one of
the family of Wood which has been so long associated with the Royal West
Kent Regiment); B Company was commanded by Capt. W. V. Ross (who had
till recently been an N.C.O. in the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders);
C Company, Capt. T. P. P. Walker (from the 9th Battalion); and D
Company, Capt. C. F. Penton (who had been with the 8th Battalion in
England). Lieut. Evans was Quartermaster. The Warrant Officers were:
Regt.-Sergt.-Maj. Lee, Regt.-Quartermaster-Sergt. Dadd; A Company,
Coy.-Sergt.-Maj. Elson; B Company, Coy.-Sergt.-Maj. Ackhurst; C Company,
Coy.-Sergt.-Maj. Verrall; D Company, Coy.-Sergt.-Maj. Acland; Cpl. W. C.
Carr was chief clerk in the orderly room, and Sergt. Wood was Transport
Sergeant.
During the rest at Bonningues two very successful Sergeants’ suppers and
concerts were organised under Regt.-Sergt.-Maj. Lee.
A few days before leaving the rest area the whole of the 72nd Brigade,
still under the command of Brig.-Gen. B. R. Mitford, C.B., D.S.O., were
reviewed by Gen. Plumer, whose army in the Ypres Salient the 24th
Division was about to join.
The usual reconnoitring party set off early on the morning of December
28, by motor bus, to reconnoitre the Boesinghe Area with a view to
taking over those trenches. On arrival it was found that a gas attack
had been launched by the Boche a few days previously, and he had
attempted to come over, but had been driven back by the 47th Division,
whom he had then shelled mercilessly and with little reply for
thirty-six hours. The 47th Division had suffered many casualties and
were very weak in numbers, one company being down to twenty-three men.
The reconnoitring party was hailed with joy by the men in the line. The
trenches were in a bad state and reeking of asphyxiating and
lachrymatory gas.
Having spent thirty-six hours in the trenches and thoroughly
reconnoitred the area and the Canal Bank Dug-outs, the party returned,
not very favourably impressed with what it imagined to be its next
trench area.
The next few days were spent by the Battalion in rigorous gas training,
a special expert being sent down by General Headquarters to lecture on
the subject. On January 2 orders were received that the Battalion would
entrain on the 4th and 5th, and proceed to Poperinghe, preparatory to
taking over the Hooge Sector. Although not very sweet on the Boesinghe
Area, the name of Hooge struck an almost more unpleasant chord with some
of us.
On January 5 the Battalion, now quite up to strength again, entrained at
Audrieq for Poperinghe.
On January 6 the Battalion moved up and took over from the 12th
Manchester Regiment the right sector of the Hooge Trenches B1-C3, being
disposed as follows: B Company on the right, A Company on the left, D
Company in support, C Company in reserve.
A quiet five days were passed, B Company being slightly shelled from the
direction of Hill 60, and suffering a few casualties.
On the night of January 11 the Battalion moved back to Belgian Château,
and remained there in support till the evening of January 14, whence it
moved back to Ouderdon, forming part of the 24th Divisional Reserve.
Here from January 15 to 26 training was continued.
On January 27 the Battalion took over the left of the left sector of the
Hooge trenches from the 8th Queens, where it remained till January 31. A
very quiet few days were spent in the trenches, only two casualties
being recorded.
On the night of January 31, B Company and half C Company moved back to
camp at Ouderdon, and A Company, D Company, and half C Company moved
across to the left in support to the Railway Wood Trenches, A Company
and half C Company being in the Ramparts, and D Company in direct
support.
Working parties were the order every night while in this position,
assisting the Mining Company in making deep dug-outs in Hill 20 and
Leicester Alley.
On the night of February 5, A and D Companies moved up and took over
trenches A1, A2, and Hill 19 and 20 from the 8th Queens, D Company
taking over A1 and A2. A1 was a trench entirely unconnected with the
remainder of the system, there being no access to it except a duckboard
walk “over the top”.
As this was about the date of the Kaiser’s birthday, the Boche became
very bombastic, and prophesied large attacks, but nothing of any
importance took place.
On the night of February 8 the Battalion was relieved in this sector by
the 2nd Leinsters, and moved back to rest in Camp C, where it remained
for a week, training being continued, chiefly in bombing.
On the 16th the Battalion moved up and took over the Belgian Château
Dug-outs from the 8th Buffs.
The Boche was now getting considerably more aggressive all round the
Salient, and it was thought that he might attack during the coming
spring.
On the afternoon of the 19th a disaster occurred which shook the
Battalion very considerably, and carried off some of its best officers.
The Battalion was due to move into the Sanctuary Wood Trenches about 5
p.m., and all orders had been issued to that effect. At about 3 p.m. a
long-range naval shell fell in the neighbourhood of B Company’s
Headquarters Dug-out, followed by another at a short interval which
obtained a direct hit on the dug-out. Capt. Ross and Lieut. Atkinson,
who were in the dug-out, were badly wounded. Capt. Ross subsequently
died, and Lieut. Atkinson lost a leg. As D Company’s Headquarters’
Dug-out was close by, the Officer Commanding D Company at once left his
dug-out and tried to summon aid and render what assistance he could. He
had only got about six yards from the entrance of D Company’s Dug-out
when another shell followed, which burst right in the dug-out entrance,
severely wounding its three occupants, all of whom subsequently died of
their wounds. Thus perished Lieut. W. L. Wigan, a regular officer, who
had served with the 1st Battalion, and who was universally loved by all
ranks. His loss to D Company could not be adequately expressed. Also 2nd
Lieut. Cadell of D Company, a bright, cheery boy, and 2nd Lieut. G. M.
Stanton, who had only been with the Company about a week.
The commotion caused by this unhappy event seems to have been observed
somehow by the Boche, who shelled the whole length of the dug-outs for
the next hour or so, though without inflicting much further damage.
D Company was thus left to take over its portion of the Sanctuary Wood
Trenches, B1 and B2, with only Capt. Penton of commissioned rank. Lieut.
S. B. Smith was therefore ordered to report to D Company for this tour
in the trenches. About 5.30 p.m. the Battalion moved up and relieved the
8th Queens in the right of the Right Sector of the Sanctuary Wood
Trenches.
During this tour, February 19–23, considerable apprehension of attack
would appear to have existed in high quarters. On the 21st the following
messages were received in the front line in the space of three hours:
(1) “Gas reported by troops in Boesinghe Area, coming from the
north-east.”
(2) “Aeroplane reports enemy massing behind Sanctuary Wood.”
(3) “Prisoner taken at St. Eloi this morning states that an attack on
Sanctuary Wood is imminent.”
About two hours later another message came through:
“Cancel statement of prisoner taken this morning at St. Eloi; prisoner
misunderstood.”
Nothing, however, came of all the reported Boche preparations, and the
Battalion moved back to Belgian Château Dug-outs on the 23rd after a
quiet tour, during which a considerable amount of good wire had been put
up to cover the front-line system.
[Illustration:
SANCTUARY WOOD.
]
About this date the Boche was becoming rather troublesome in and about
the Salient, exploding a mine at Hooge and attempting to take the
crater. Though causing a number of casualties in the 9th Sussex, he was
completely stopped, and vented his anger in considerable shelling,
destroying a number of the communication trenches behind the front-line
system. He also persistently shelled the Belgian Château Dug-outs,
though whether this was directed at the large number of batteries
stationed about that spot or at the dug-outs is open to doubt. During
the period February 24–27 spent in these Dug-outs he caused a number of
casualties in the Battalion by shelling, D Company being particularly
unlucky, as he managed one night to drop a shell into the dug-out
occupied by No. 13 Platoon, which killed four and wounded fourteen.
[Illustration: