In the front line at Maroc.
]
The most prominent feature on the Battalion front was the Double
Crassier, situated on the extreme left, which consisted of two long
parallel embankments of slag running out from Fosse 11 de Lens in the
Boche lines. About 50 yards at the western end of each crassier, which
was there about 50 feet high, was occupied by the British, C Company
holding the southern crassier, and the northern being in the possession
of the 6th Division, who were on our left. The situation on the crassier
was somewhat peculiar. The enemy post was within easy bombing distance
of our own, and consequently neither side cared about stirring up
strife, as it was apt to become unpleasant for the instigator. Shelling
was impossible, as the posts were too close together, but the garrison
found these advantages were somewhat discounted by a feeling of
insecurity and of being in the air, in two senses. Sniping on both sides
was very deadly, and although it was most interesting to look from this
point of vantage right back into the enemy trenches to the south, it was
a pleasure which could only be taken with the assistance of a periscope.
[Illustration:
LOOS VILLAGE AND PUITS 15, KNOWN AS TOWER BRIDGE.
]
Battalion Headquarters and the two support companies were in fairly
comfortable cellars in Maroc, and were not often shelled, but
machine-gun bullets used to whistle up the roads at intervals all night.
D Company supplied a platoon nightly to assist C in the defence of the
crassier, and the rest of the two support companies were fully employed
at work and carrying parties. The first tour passed without special
incident, and on the night of March 8/9 the Battalion was relieved by
the 1st Battalion North Staffordshire Regiment, Headquarters, A, B, and
C Companies moving to Calonne, and D remaining in support to the North
Staffords in Maroc. The cellars which served the Battalion as billets
were fairly good, and many of them were provided with stoves, fuel being
plentiful in the shape of beams from ruined houses. Baths were also
obtainable, but these advantages were, of course, mingled with plenty of
working parties. Considering its proximity to the line, shelling was
very rare in Calonne, but, as at Maroc, machine-gun bullets were
plentiful at night.
One of the principal forms of recreation, both in Maroc and Calonne, was
rat-hunting. To assist in this excellent sport A Company Headquarters
collected a pack consisting of Charles, who might, with a stretch of the
imagination, be described as a fox terrier, and who had a perfect genius
for catching rats, and John Willie, a large dog of no particular
extraction, but perhaps with a touch of great dane about him. The rest
of the party consisted of one person armed with a crowbar, usually 2nd
Lieut. B. Wade, probably someone with a pick and a shovel, and various
persons with revolvers and sticks. Wade would lead the pack to the scene
of operations, and would mention the word “rat” to Charles, who would
immediately take two sniffs, and then say in no uncertain fashion
whether rats were present or not. Crowbar, spade, and shovel would then
be employed until the victims were forced to break cover, when Charles
and John Willie would do the rest. The sticks and revolvers were very
seldom called into use. Thirty-seven was a record bag for a hunt,
twenty-five being taken in one hour. At dusk great execution could be
done with sticks or revolvers without the assistance of the pack.
Another diversion was the “Flying Pig.” For the benefit of the
uninitiated it should be said that the “Flying Pig” is the shell of a
9·45-inch trench mortar, is some two feet long, and has a tail with fins
of about the same length. When it lands in moderately soft ground and
explodes, it makes a crater some ten feet deep by twenty feet across,
and is considered an unpleasant thing to have within fifty yards of one.
The interesting part of a “Flying Pig” shoot consisted in counting the
number of shells which fell in the Boche lines compared with the number
which fell in our own. If the ratio was as much as four to one, it was
considered a good shoot. Quite good sport could also be obtained by
laying odds as to whether each shot would or would not be a dud. In the
comparatively short time it was in action on our front it got two
wonderful direct hits (which were not duds!) on our own front line
trench.
On the night of the 14th/15th the Battalion relieved the North Staffords
on its old front, Calonne II, B Company being on the right and D on the
left. There had been a good deal of rain, and the trenches were, if
anything, worse than on the previous tour. The next evening the enemy
shelled the left company front for a short time, but did very little
damage; the majority of the shells exploded very high in the air, and it
is probable that they were a form of star shell, being used to range the
guns for the raid which was attempted a few days later.
On the 18th, at 8 p.m., a shoot of old S.O.S. rockets was arranged to
test their efficiency and give practice in their use. The Boche, though
he used fireworks considerably himself, was always suspicious of other
people playing with fire, and proceeded to shell our lines heavily. He
even went so far as to put up his own S.O.S., and our artillery had to
reply before he quietened down.
At about 4 o’clock the next morning, under cover of a heavy barrage, the
enemy attempted to raid the Double Crassier, our part of which was then
held by 2nd Lieut. F. Proctor and No. 13 Platoon of D Company. It is
very largely due to the coolness and initiative of L.-Cpl. Dent that the
raid was repulsed without any casualties to us. At least four Boches,
including an officer, were known to be killed on the Southern Crassier
by us, and two or three more were killed on the Northern Crassier, where
the Yorks and Lancs of the 6th Division had one officer and one other
rank killed. Two heavy mobile charges were discovered with two dead
Boches at the foot of the crassier, and it was evidently their intention
to blow in the entrance to the tunnel in the Southern Crassier from
which extensive underground workings started. The dead Boches gave us a
very useful identification. L.-Cpl. Dent and Pte. Gale, who were with
the support section, did very good work in repulsing the raiders with
bombs when they had already worked their way round the forward section
along the sides of the crassier. L.-Cpl. Dent was awarded a
well-deserved Military Medal.
On the night of the 20th/21st, after some considerable enemy activity
early in the evening, which was checked by our retaliation, we were
relieved by the 1st North Staffords, and moved back to reserve in
Bully-Grenay. The billets were moderately comfortable and shelling was
rare. One afternoon, however, the enemy appeared to resent the presence
of an Archie gun in the eastern part of the village, and dropped some
4·2’s about the spot. Little damage was done, except for one shell which
burst in the road not far from Brigade Headquarters and cut a
water-pipe.
Very soon after our arrival in this area we lost our old friend,
Brig.-Gen. B. R. Mitford, C.B., D.S.O., who had commanded the Brigade
since its formation in September 1914. Gen. Mitford left to command the
42nd Division, and was succeeded by Brig.-Gen. W. F. Sweny, D.S.O.,
Royal Fusiliers.
Even in reserve we found many working and carrying parties in store for
us, the principal one being a company each night for wiring the reserve
or “Village Line.”
On the evening of the 26th the Battalion relieved the North Staffords in
the line. This tour we took over in addition to our old front, the
Northern Crassier, from the 6th Division. A Company were in their old
front on the right, with B in support, while D Company, in the centre,
and C Company, holding the crassiers, each found their own supporting
platoons. During this tour there was a considerable increase in the
enemy’s trench-mortar and artillery activity. The whizz-banging of
various portions of the line was fairly frequent and quite alarmingly
accurate. The weather during the tour was very bad.
On the evening of April 1 we were again relieved by the North Staffords
and proceeded to support, Headquarters and three companies in Calonne
and one company in Maroc. As during the last tour in the line, there was
a considerable increase in enemy artillery activity during our stay in
Calonne. This was doubtless caused by the fact that preparations for the
British attack on the Vimy Ridge and east of Arras had been in progress
since about the middle of March, and that the enemy was not quite sure
how far north our attack would extend, and that some of the heavy guns
employed in the preliminary bombardment were operating from our front.
On the night of the 7th/8th we returned to the line, B Company taking
over the right, with A Company in support, and D and C Companies in the
centre and on the left as before.
Throughout our stay at Maroc the patrolling of No Man’s Land had been
carried out regularly. The Boche was very seldom seen, and we had
practically taken possession of the ground between the two trenches.
During this tour patrolling became very active, two patrols going out
nightly from each company in the line with orders to penetrate if
possible into the enemy trenches and secure an identification. As was
expected, however, it was found that the Boche wire was very thick, the
whole line being protected by two and in places three good deep belts.
At dawn on April 9 the Battle of Arras opened with a terrific
bombardment, but nothing could be seen of it, as there was a very heavy
snowstorm at the time. Later in the day the weather cleared, and from
the Battalion observation post in the school building the British
barrage could be seen rolling across the more northern slopes of the
Vimy Ridge. The weather continued bad for the next few days, alternate
snow, hail, and rain making the trenches very unpleasant.
On the morning of the 12th the right brigade of the 24th Division, in
conjunction with a Canadian attack further south, captured the
Bois-en-Hache, and this apparently finally decided the enemy that the
salient now formed west of Lens was an unhealthy place to stay in. That
afternoon the enemy commenced to shell our trenches, and more
particularly Maroc, in a way which we had never before experienced
there. Eight-inch and 5·9-inch shells dropped into the south-eastern
corner of the village with alarming frequency, and the company in
support had to be brought back to cellars nearer Fosse 11 de Bethune.
All through the night of the 12th/13th the shelling continued, mostly
with 4·2’s, which fell in all parts of the village, and there was very
little sleep for anyone in Maroc that night.
Lieut. H. J. Dunn had a most wonderful escape. It sounds very like a
fairy tale, but is nevertheless quite true. A shell penetrated the
outside wall of the house and exploded on the ceiling of the cellar in
which Dunn was sleeping. Absolutely the whole ceiling collapsed into the
cellar, filling it to two feet deep with debris, with the single
exception of a portion of about eight feet by four feet in the corner
directly over Dunn’s bed. Those who saw the scene next morning will
never forget the sight of that bed, absolutely untouched in one corner
of the cellar, which everywhere else was covered with ruins. Dunn seemed
little the worse for the experience except for the absence of collar and
tie, which, with sundry other articles of kit, were buried under the
wreckage.
The next day there was considerable speculation as to the meaning of
this sudden artillery activity, and the possibility of an enemy
withdrawal on our front was considered quite likely in view of the
salient which had been created between Vimy Ridge and Loos by the Battle
of Arras. Throughout the day the enemy continued to shoot at our
aeroplanes with rifles and machine guns, and did a certain amount of
shelling. In the afternoon news was received that it was considered
probable that the Boche had retired. Patrols from the front-line
companies were immediately sent out to investigate, and these found the
enemy trenches unoccupied except for small parties evidently left behind
to shoot at aeroplanes and generally give the impression that the line
was still held. The B Company patrol, under 2nd Lieut. G. S. L. Hayward,
captured two prisoners of the 35th Fusilier Regiment, and the D Company
patrol, under 2nd Lieut. D. F. W. Tanner, was engaged with and drove off
an enemy rearguard. Orders were at once given for the front-line
companies to move forward and occupy the front and support lines, which
was accomplished by dusk. Capt. T. P. P. Walker and 2nd Lieut. K.
Pfeuffar, both of C Company, leading their company over were wounded by
a Boche sniper. When the enemy knew we had occupied his front-line
trenches, he strafed pretty heavily for about an hour. Patrols were
pushed forward and encountered no opposition, but orders had been
received that no further advance was to take place for the present.
Battalion Headquarters and A Company from Maroc moved up to our old
front line in the course of the evening, while during the night the
three front companies occupied the enemy’s third line of trenches, known
as Corsair, Cord, and Corporal. The night was very dark, which made
moving about in unknown country difficult, particularly on the right and
in the centre among the ruined buildings of Fosse 16 and the adjacent
cottages. The occupation of this line represented a maximum advance of
about 1,100 yards on the left and about 800 yards on the right.
Patrols continued active, and penetrated very much further into the
enemy lines, but we had orders not to advance from the positions we had
reached. The enemy kept up spasmodic shelling all night, but apparently
did not know where we were, and a lot fell short of our lines
altogether.
The next morning the 8th Queen’s passed through us and continued the
advance in Cité St. Pierre, meeting with only a little more resistance
than we had had before. A Company moved into line with the other three
companies, going into Corsair trench between B and D Companies, and
Battalion Headquarters moved up into Fosse 16. The Battalion found
working parties during the day consolidating a line of resistance which
ran near the church in St. Pierre. Mindful of the experiences of others
in the Boche retirement to the Hindenburg line earlier in the year, we
were very chary about entering inviting-looking dug-outs, and treated
new duck-boards and all movable objects and souvenirs with great
suspicion. As it happened, however, the enemy had had very little time
to prepare such surprises as booby-traps for us. Only one serious case
occurred, in which a deep dug-out in the old enemy front line blew up
and killed two men and wounded one. The Boche had made very extensive
use of concrete throughout St. Pierre, and there were numbers of cellars
so strongly protected that from our side they must have been nearly
indestructible, but, of course, when we got them, the weaker sides and
the entrances were facing the enemy.
Hostile shelling increased during the afternoon, and remained fairly
active all night. In the early morning of the 15th, Battalion
Headquarters moved up to a cellar just off Corsair trench. B and D
Companies then went forward and sent patrols to try to make good the
trenches between the two railway embankments east of the Cité. Cowden
Trench and part of College Trench were occupied, but the enemy was found
to be holding a strong point at the railway junction at the far end of
College Trench. Late in the afternoon the 6th Division twice attempted
to get forward on the left, and on each occasion the Boche gave us a
very hot time, barraging Corkscrew Alley, the communication trench
running along the railway, and strafing the village very severely. At
dusk A and C Companies moved up to take over from B and D respectively.
Throughout the night the enemy shelled heavily, and as it was also very
dark, the relief was not complete until daylight the next morning.
Shells fell all over the village, but the enemy seemed to make a special
target of the neighbourhood of the church, where A and B Company
Headquarters and a support platoon of B Company were situated.
News was received at Company Headquarters about 5 a.m. that the relief
of the forward platoons was complete. The dispositions were now A and C
Companies in Cowden and College Trenches, C Company Headquarters being
in a tunnel under the northern railway embankment, and A Company
Headquarters in a tunnel under the southern embankment; B Company in
support were in the trench near the church, which had been so badly
shelled during the night; and D Company were in reserve near Battalion
Headquarters.
It was soon after the completion of the relief that a very sad event
occurred. The enemy were shelling with 5·9’s the northern railway
embankment and neighbouring trench, which was our most advanced
position, and the tunnel which served C Company as headquarters was
blown in. The tunnel appeared fairly safe, but although there were a
good ten feet of embankment above it, it was only made of slag, and it
turned out to be a regular death-trap. 2nd Lieut. R. C. Vaughan,
commanding C Company, and 2nd Lieut. N. T. Johnson, of A Company,
Coy.-Sergt.-Maj. Verrall, of C Company, and three men of the Company
Headquarters were killed, and 2nd Lieuts. Lanaway, Holmes, and Woolley
were dug out wounded. The last-named died of his wounds the next day. It
had taken the whole day and the assistance of skilled miners to
extricate him, and throughout that time he was perfectly cheerful and
hopeful. He set a wonderful example of courage to everyone, and it was
not until he was practically safe that the reaction set in and he seemed
to collapse. We could ill afford to lose such officers as Vaughan,
Johnson, and Woolley, and Coy.-Sergt.-Maj. Verrall was one of the best
and most popular of warrant officers, and had been with the Battalion
since its formation. The padre, the Rev. G. D. Barlow-Poole, came up in
the afternoon and read the burial service, and a memorial tablet was
subsequently erected.
All the officers of C Company were now casualties, and 2nd Lieut. Wade,
of A Company, took temporary command of C.
At about 8.30 a.m. orders were received by the front companies to push
forward patrols at 9 o’clock and try to make good more ground, and Maj.
Whitty came up to establish advanced Battalion Headquarters with A
Company and superintend the operations. The patrols found that the enemy
was still holding strongly his position at the railway junction, and the
houses to the north of the railway embankment contained snipers and
machine guns. It was quite evident that the enemy had carried his
voluntary retirement as far as he intended for the present, and that no
further advance could be made without an organised attack, which was
contrary to our instructions. A bombardment of the positions known to be
held by the enemy was therefore arranged in the hope that he would
evacuate them, but though patrols were able subsequently to penetrate to
the north of the railway embankment and examine Puits 12 bis and the
neighbouring buildings, the strong point remained held, and with the
sniping continuing from the houses, it was found impossible to make good
any more ground. The trench west of the railway strong point had been
filled in, and Cpl. Kirby twice led patrols over this exposed part; but
the enemy was watching it very carefully, and they were driven back by
rifle and rifle-grenade fire. The shelling of St. Pierre continued
spasmodically throughout the day. 2nd Lieut. E. B. A. Harvey, of B
Company, was killed by a shell near the church, and Capt. Lock, Officer
Commanding B Company, was wounded slightly for the second time in three
days, but remained at duty.
The A and B Companies’ Headquarters of the night before in the cellar
near the church, which B Company had retained throughout the day, was
blown in completely late in the afternoon, but fortunately it had been
vacated only a few minutes before, as things were becoming altogether
too hot there. Throughout the day fires and explosions were going on in
Lens, which showed that if he did not definitely intend to retire
further, the Boche was at least preparing for that possibility.
At 9 p.m. relief was commenced by the 9th East Surreys, and, owing to
the somewhat complicated situation of the companies and the darkness of
the night, combined with a considerable amount of shelling, it took all
night, as before. The Battalion returned to support in the positions it
occupied on the first night of the advance in Corsair and Corporal
Trenches, and had fairly good and very welcome cellars and dug-outs. The
next day was spent in consolidating the positions we were occupying as a
second line of defence and carrying up ammunition and bombs to make
forward dumps. Shelling was again fairly heavy, but not quite so bad as
on the previous day. The 18th was also spent on consolidation,
interrupted by considerable shelling, and in the evening a rather
unexpected but very welcome relief turned up, the 4th Battalion
Leicester Regiment of the 46th Division taking over from us. We were by
no means sorry for the relief. We had been in the line, either at Maroc,
Calonne, or in the advance, since March 26, that is twenty-three days,
and if the last five days had been child’s play to the Battle of the
Somme, or to what we were to experience in the summer campaign, it had
nevertheless been a rude awakening from the comparative quiet of the
winter. The shelling was severe nearly the whole time. The five days
cost us four officers and fifteen men killed or died of wounds, and five
officers and forty-three men wounded; while the casualties for the whole
of the six weeks at Maroc preceding the advance were only four other
ranks killed and twenty-six wounded. We were strongly of the opinion
that had we been allowed to push on further on the first and second days
of the advance, that we could certainly have gained more ground and
probably have taken Lens. As it was, after that time the enemy had
strengthened his positions and was able to withstand anything short of
an organised attack. The policy of caution, however, was doubtless due
to the fact that the Division had all three brigades in the line
occupying an extended frontage of about six miles, and with very little
artillery supporting it on account of the demands of the Battle of
Arras.
On relief we marched via Maroc and Bully-Grenay to rather crowded
billets for the remainder of the night at Petit Sains (Fosse 10), which
was reached about 3 a.m., and where the enemy greeted us by shelling the
fosse.
PHASE V
THE SUMMER CAMPAIGN IN THE YPRES SALIENT
_April—September 1917_
At 1.30 p.m. on the day after our relief in the Cité St. Pierre we
marched off to Lozinghem via Hersin, Barlin, Haillicourt, and
Marles-les-Mines, a distance of about eleven miles. Lozinghem was quite
a pleasant little village and the billets were good, but we only spent
one night there, and the march was continued at 9 a.m. next morning to
Ligny-les-Aires, which was also a good billeting area, and where we had
five days in which to clean up.
At 9 a.m. on April 25 we marched to Delette, which was to be our
training area. The billets were not too good for a rest area, but the
ground available for training was suitable and extensive, and the
country was charmingly fresh and open after the many months we had spent
amongst the closely grouped mining villages and the ugly mine buildings
of the Lens area.
In the morning the training was almost entirely devoted to open fighting
with half an hour’s close-order drill thrown in, while the afternoons
were devoted to physical training, bayonet fighting, and training in
Lewis gun, bomb, and rifle bomb.
Maj. C. P. Kingsland, from the 4th Territorial Reserve Battalion, who
joined the Battalion when it came out of the Cité St. Pierre, was now
commanding D Company, and Capt. H. L. Lewis, after his short stay with D
Company, had returned to command C Company. Capt. H. S. Brown and Capt.
W. G. Lock were commanding A and B Companies as before.
A good deal of football was played in the evenings. In the first round
of the company competition, D Company beat A, and C Company beat B, both
fairly easily. The final was played on May 5, and a most exciting game
ended in a goalless draw. It was not possible to replay the match until
the following September, when the two teams were very much altered by
the ravages of the summer campaign, and C Company won by six goals to
one.
On May 2 the Corps Commander, Lieut.-Gen. Sir Claude Jacobs, inspected
the companies at training in the attack, and in the afternoon all
officers of the Division went over to Corps Headquarters, where the
Corps Commander shook hands with each one, and made a short speech,
which gave us some inkling that we were in for a pretty warm summer.
On the same evening a battalion boxing competition was held. Excellent
progress had been made by the competitors under the expert tuition of
Pte. Bill Ladbury, of D Company, a former champion of England and holder
of the Lonsdale belt. Ladbury himself gave a very clever sparring
exhibition.
On May 7 the first blankets and winter clothing were withdrawn from the
men, and officers had orders to reduce their kit to the regulation 35
lbs., and were also issued with privates’ uniforms, so we had very
little doubt left that there was going to be a war somewhere, and that
we were going to be mixed up in it.
The last few days in this area were spent in practising trench-to-trench
attacks, following a creeping barrage.
The weather was brilliantly fine during our rest, and on the whole it
was very enjoyable. There can be no doubt that everyone left Delette
feeling thoroughly fit and quite ready to face whatever the gods and the
higher command, not to mention the Hun, had in store for us.
At 9 a.m. on May 10 we left Delette, and marched via Therouanne and
Rebecq to Wittes, arriving there at 4.10 p.m. It was very hot, and a two
and a half hours’ halt for dinners was made in the middle of the day.
Next day we remained at Wittes, and the Divisional Commander, Maj.-Gen.
J. E. Capper, C.B., inspected the Battalion, and made a speech,
complimenting us on what we had done in the past, and saying that even
greater things would be required of us in the future, finishing up with
blood and hatred in his very best style. This was the last time that
Gen. Capper inspected the Battalion, as within a few days he left the
Division, which he loved so much, to take charge of the Tank Corps, and
we lost a fine soldier and a great friend.
The next day we had a long and exhausting march in very hot weather via
Steenbecque, Hazebrouck, and Steenvoorde to Beauvoorde in the Boeschepe
area. We marched off at 5.30 a.m. and arrived in at about 7 p.m., after
covering twenty-two miles. There was again a long midday halt for
dinners.
At 10 a.m. on the 13th the march was continued via Poperinghe to
Brandhoek. It was again very hot, and after arriving at 4.30 p.m., and
getting into Dominion Camp, which had been taken over by the advanced
party, we had to pack up again and move into Eerie Camp at 9.30 p.m. On
that day, which was a Sunday, an advanced party of commanding officer,
officers commanding companies, and others went by lorry from Beauvoorde
to Ypres to reconnoitre the infantry barracks and ramparts which were to
be taken over the next day. The party had a most appropriate welcome to
the celebrated city; the barracks were heavily shelled with 5·9’s from
very soon after their arrival for nearly two hours. At the end of that
time the structure and appearance of the building had undergone
considerable modifications, and the advanced party viewed without
enthusiasm the prospect of spending a week there.
The next evening at 9.45 the Battalion marched out of camp and entrained
at Brandhoek, proceeding by train to the asylum just short of Ypres and
then going on, the companies to infantry barracks and Battalion
Headquarters to the ramparts. Here we were in brigade reserve, relieving
the 8th Battalion of the Yorks and Lancs Regiment. Maj. Whitty, with
thirteen officers and 230 other ranks, remained behind in the transport
lines, and moved on the 15th into Toronto Camp.
The Battalion spent six fairly peaceful days in Ypres. The city was
frequently shelled, but little of it fell in the barracks. These were
built almost square, with an open courtyard in the middle. The outside
wall on the eastern and the inside wall on the western side were very
badly damaged, but the northern and southern wings were in fairly good
repair, and were the most occupied.
[Illustration:
BATTALION HEADQUARTERS IN THE RAMPARTS AT YPRES.
]
On the evening of the 20th the Battalion marched out of the Lille Gate
and proceeded to relieve the 8th Queen’s in the right subsection Hooge
1, the most easterly point in the Salient, three-quarters of a mile
south of the village of Hooge. A, B, and C Companies were in the front
line in that order from right to left, with D Company in support. The
trenches lay in Sanctuary Wood, with right and centre companies on the
southern slopes of Observatory Ridge, almost the only piece of high
ground held by us in the Salient, and of further importance on account
of the sap-heads of the extensive Canadian tunnelling system in Crab
Crawl and Winnipeg Trenches. A Company and the right of B Company were
holding Cross Trench, but further to the left it was too water-logged
for occupation, and the rest of B Company and C Company held Vancouver
Trench as the front line. C Company was in very low damp ground, but was
a long way from the enemy, and escaped almost all the strafing which
occurred on the right. D Company were on the reverse side of the ridge,
with Fort Street as their battle position. The relief was a quiet one,
and was complete by midnight.
[Illustration: