In the enemy front line near Hulluch.
]
We used to have good times at Philosophe for six days in twenty-four. It
was just a one-street miners’ village, with the outer shells of most of
the houses intact, but lacking such comforts as window-panes and
furniture. Our first tour the billets were far from comfortable, but we
and the other battalions in the Brigade made improvements every time we
were there, and when we left the sector it was a very satisfactory rest
area. There were still some very dirty civilians about, mostly those
connected with the mines, and some of them did quite a good trade
selling odds and ends to the troops at a very large profit. Bethune was
only a few miles away, and was very popular. Shops and estaminets were
open there almost as in normal times, and divisional cinemas or concert
parties often gave their shows in the town. We sometimes got motor buses
or lorries to take a proportion of the Battalion into Bethune or to an
entertainment elsewhere, and several very successful Battalion concerts
were held at Philosophe during the winter.
Just before Christmas a draft of 200 arrived to make up our losses on
the Somme. Christmas Day was not very exciting. We moved into the line
from Philosophe on the morning of December 24, but we had all the
excitement we wanted that day, as the Boches elected to give us one of
the worst strafes we ever had in this sector. Christmas was kept up
during our next visit to Philosophe. Each company had one day set apart
for it, on which the concert hall was at its disposal. The programme
consisted of some form of sports or football in the morning, a colossal
midday meal washed down with a plentiful supply of beer, and the
afternoon divided up between the Divisional Band, a company concert, and
a big tea. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed the Christmas of 1916, although
it was celebrated in 1917.
From the beginning of January until a day or two before we left this
sector, on February 12, the weather was very cold. There was some snow
at the beginning of this long period, and the frost held so consistently
that it was lying on the ground for over five weeks. All this time it
was perfectly dry, and the trenches were in a far better state than at
any other time during the winter. When we left the sector the thaw was
just making itself felt, and we fear that our successors must have had a
lot of trouble repairing the trenches, which were bound to collapse as
the frost came out of them. During the latter days of January we were
preparing a raid to be carried out by a party of C Company, under Lieut.
H. L. Lewis and 2nd Lieut. K. Pfeuffar, but we were relieved before it
could take place.
On January 20 Lieut.-Col. J. C. Parker returned after an absence of over
four months, and resumed command of the Battalion.
Our last days at Hulluch were marked by raids and counter-raids, and a
considerable increase in strafing all round. The 9th East Surreys
captured a prisoner in a daylight raid on the left battalion front, and
inflicted several other casualties on the enemy, but the 1st North
Staffords had a bad time in attempting to enter the enemy trenches at
night. The Hun was apparently sitting up waiting for them. The enemy
made one or two attempts to raid our trenches in return without success,
one of them being repulsed by the North Staffords, who captured half a
dozen prisoners in addition to killing a number of the party.
On February 12 we were relieved by the 13th K.R.R.C. of the 37th
Division, and moved out to rest at Busnettes, near Lillers, spending one
night at Noeux-les-Mines on the way.
We were really sorry to leave Hulluch. We had been in the area so long
that we knew its advantages and disadvantages, and were able to make
full use of the former and avoid the latter to a great extent. Also we
had done a lot of work to improve the accommodation, both in the line
and the rest billets, and it always seemed to be our fate to leave to
others an area which we had made comfortable, and move to a new front
which had been neglected by our predecessors.
It had been a strenuous winter of trench warfare, but, knowing how
unpleasant war can be at its worst, we must admit that it was a
comparatively pleasant period and we had very few casualties.
The Battalion was very scattered at Busnettes, billets were not too
good, and there was practically no ground at all available for training,
which had to be carried out on the roads. However, it was a good rest,
and we were more or less out of sound of the guns for a time. Lillers
was quite close, and most of the Battalion paid one or two visits there.
Battalion Headquarters was provided with a piano, and the officers will
remember the wonderful playing of Lieut. H. J. Dunn, which helped to
pass many pleasant hours.
At the beginning of March orders for a move were received, and at 9.30
a.m. on March 3 the Battalion left Busnettes and marched via Choques to
Fouquereuil, where it was billeted for the night. The next morning the
march was resumed via Drovin, Noeux-les-Mines, and Petit Sains to
Bully-Grenay, where dinners were taken on arrival at 1 p.m., and where a
few hours’ rest were obtained in billets before moving up into the line
at dusk. The part of the line being taken over by the Division was from
immediately north of the Vimy Ridge, about Souchez to the Double
Crassier, south of Loos. The 72nd Brigade was on the left of the
Division in the Calonne Sector, with the right battalion holding the
line east of Calonne, known as Calonne I, and the left battalion holding
the trenches east of South Maroc, known as Calonne II. The support
Battalion Headquarters and three companies were in cellars in Calonne
ready to man the Calonne defences, and the 4th Company was in support to
the left battalion in cellars in South Maroc. The reserve battalion was
in billets in Bully-Grenay.
On the evening of the 4th we took over Calonne II from the 14th Canadian
Battalion, A Company being on the right, with B Company in support in
the southern portion of Maroc, near Fosse 11 de Bethune, and C Company
on the left, with D Company in support. The trenches were in a very bad
condition, particularly the main communication trenches, Edgware Road,
Neuf Alley, and Treize Alley—so bad were they, indeed, that most people
preferred to walk “over the top,” even in broad daylight, to plodding
painfully along the trench up to the knees in a particularly thick and
clinging specimen of mud. The state of the trenches was not due to the
fact that they were not revetted, but to neglect, as duck-boards and A
frames were discovered after removing a couple of feet of mud, which had
been gradually allowed to cover them. Needless to say, the Battalion set
to work to improve this state of affairs, but it was some time before
any great improvement was noticeable. We were indebted to the pioneer
battalion, the 12th Sherwood Foresters, for one of the finest specimens
of communication trench we ever had the pleasure to use. In a remarkably
short space of time, considering the state when they started, they
turned Edgware Road into a model, which for width, slope, and draining
might have come straight out of a text-book.
Each of the two companies in the line held its trenches by means of
three defended localities, with gaps of 200 to 300 yards between them
filled with wire. Patrols used to move about between these localities at
frequent intervals along the support line. There were a few deep
dug-outs here and there in the support line, but the majority of the
garrison had no cover either from the elements or the attentions of the
Boche. On the right No Man’s Land was only about 100 yards wide, and
locality A got a considerable amount of light trench mortaring, but in
the centre it widened to nearly 600 yards, and consequently the line
there was not favoured with the attentions of the “Pineapple.”
[Illustration: