Mills grenade. Each day I had fifty men to train, and they were kept
at it all morning and again in the evening, until they had each thrown
two live grenades. I had the services of three sergeant-instructors,
who were invaluable in getting the men past the first stage. All the
live firing I had to supervise myself; that being the rule of the
Army, that an officer should always be present during live practice.
All my spare time was spent in going over and testing the grenades to
be fired next day, or in baling out the bombing trench, which filled
very rapidly in wet weather. And so it went on day after day. Thirteen
officers and 671 men who had never previously thrown a live grenade
went through the course at Hénencourt; and about 1400 live grenades
were fired. The battalion bombers used the ground in the afternoon in
charge of their own officers; and they got through another 1000
grenades. On September 2 I was able to tell the General that every man
in the Brigade, including machine-gunners and trench-mortar men, had
been through the course, with which he expressed himself very pleased.
Towards the end of our stay the General came to see the live throwing
several times in the evenings, and he always spoke very encouragingly
to the men.
About September 6 I went with a party of officers from the Brigade to
view the trenches we were to take over on the Somme battlefield. And
as this was my first visit there it naturally made a great impression
on me. We started off in the dark and rode through Hénencourt and
Millencourt to Albert. Just before we reached Albert we passed through
a cloud of lachrymatory gas, which made me weep copious tears for
nearly half an hour. The great sight in Albert was of course the
ruined cathedral, with its colossal statue of the Virgin and Child
hanging downwards over the roadway. We rode on to where the front line
had been at Fricourt then to Fricourt 'Circus,' Mametz, and then to
the south of Mametz Wood, where we left our horses. First we went
through the wood to B.H.Q., which were in some deep dugouts there.
Having obtained guides and a rough sort of map, we went on to
Battalion H.Q. at the Chalk Quarry east of Bazentin-le-Petit. This was
about 1000 yards from the front line, which lay just below the ridge
from Martinpuich to High Wood. A deep C.T. called 'Jutland Alley'
took us up to the front line--'Clark's Trench.' So far we had little
trouble from shelling, but we passed over the bodies of two
unfortunate Highlanders in Jutland Alley who had been recently killed
by a shell. The entrance to Intermediate Trench on the left was
terrible, the smell being overpowering. As a matter of fact there were
scores of dead men just out of sight on both sides of this trench,
whom it had been impossible to bury. It was not unusual to see an arm
or leg protruding out of the side of the C.T., so hastily had the
Germans buried their dead. And there were swarms and swarms of flies
everywhere. When we had finished looking round in the front line,
which was a good trench and quite quiet, we turned back down Jutland
Alley. The German 'heavies' were now shelling the supports and close
to the C.T. One shell, which seemed not to explode, hit the edge of
the C.T.; and when we got to the place we found the trench partially
filled in and an unfortunate man buried up to his neck, much shaken
but not much hurt. We left him to be extricated by his friends who had
got spades. I then visited the trenches near the windmill and then
returned to the south of Mametz Wood. Whilst waiting here I examined
with interest the many curious little 'cubby holes' that our troops
had made during the attack on Mametz Wood. I also watched the German
'heavies' shelling our field batteries near Bazentin-le-Grand, and
sending up clouds of chalky dust. A few shrapnel shells were also
fired near the road, and I believe our horses and orderlies were
nearly hit, but escaped by galloping off when the first shell came.
The countryside looked very desolate and knocked about till we got to
Fricourt Circus, only the chalky roads were crammed with limbers and
lorries taking up supplies. At the Circus there was a remarkable
sight, a huge camping ground covering several square miles, every
available spot on it packed with dumps and horse-lines, artillery
parks, bivouacs, and tents. All the roads round here were full of
troops on the move, and of lines and lines of lorries either coming or
going. After passing Albert there was less of interest, but we saw one
of our aeroplanes stranded in a ploughed field east of Millencourt.
The pilot told us he had got his machine damaged over the German line,
but had managed to get back thus far, when he had made a bad landing.
Such was my first visit to the great battlefield, a dreary looking
spot with a general aspect of chalk, broken stumps of trees, and
crowded muddy roads.
Our stay at Hénencourt was drawing to a close, but before we left we
had an inspection by the III Corps Commander. And on the last day,
September 9, we held a grand sports day and had a band playing. The
men looked splendidly fit and well after their month's rest, and they
displayed a wonderful spirit, talking eagerly of their part in the
coming attack. Alas and alas! At times I could have wept to see these
splendid bronzed men go marching by, the very flower of our English
race. For I knew that very soon I should see few of them again, or few
indeed of their like.
XIV
MAMETZ WOOD
On Sunday September 10, the Brigade left Hénencourt, and B.H.Q. went
to the deep dugouts in Mametz Wood. I travelled there with Sergts.
Moffat and Hogg, and we were lucky enough to get good lifts, first in
a Canadian Staff car and then on a motor-lorry. Capt. Bloomer (5th
D.L.I. and attached to B.H.Q.) shared a deep dugout with me, and we
had meals together.
It was the first deep dugout I had entered, and of course it was the
work of the Germans. There were about twenty steps down at either end,
the wooden sides of the stairway scarred with bullet holes and
splinters. Inside there were just two narrow apartments, one for our
bedroom and the other for meals. Though rather draughty it was
comfortable enough and practically shell-proof. Capt. Bloomer had an
unpleasant job, which kept him out late at nights, and I did not envy
him. In order to make the attack, it was decided to dig a forward
trench some way in front of Clark's Trench. The digging was done at
night and cost us a number of casualties from shell and rifle fire.
Capt. Bloomer used to go up every night to see the work done.
The second morning at Mametz Wood I was greatly shocked to hear that
our Brigadier had been killed by a sniper from High Wood, as he was
going out to inspect the forward trench just after dawn. It was nearly
two days before his body could be brought in, owing to the shelling
that went on at night. He was buried at Albert. A few days later
Brigadier-General Ovens, an Irishman, came to take command of the
149th Infantry Brigade.
My job was now to prepare the Brigade bomb stores and to see that the
grenades were properly packed into sandbag carriers for taking up the
line. A special dugout had been prepared as a bomb store near the
Chalk Quarry at Bazentin-le-Petit, but almost at the last moment the
R.A.M.C. commandeered the place for their forward dressing-station. So
the boxes of grenades had to lie in the open in large shell-holes,
covered with German greatcoats, mackintosh sheets, or anything else we
could get hold of. I spent hours and hours examining the grenades and
packing them into sandbag carriers. One of our transport-wagons[10]
had a lucky escape, whilst carrying a load of 2000 Mills grenades, all
detonated, to one of our dumps. The safety-pin of one of the grenades
broke with the jolting of the wagon, and the grenade went off,
bursting its own and several other boxes, but not setting off any
other of the grenades. I had an anxious time unpacking that
wagon-load. The brass safety-pins of the Mills grenades were very
unsatisfactory at this time; but I had collected a large number of
steel pins from the bombing grounds, and I used to re-pin any that I
thought had weak brass-pins. This examination of the grenades was
rather wearisome, but it was time well spent, for we had no accident
with them when the carrying-parties took them up the line. And other
units were not so fortunate in that respect. About 24,000 grenades
went through my hands, and of these perhaps 5000 went into the
sandbags. On September 14 we first saw the mysterious tanks, which had
arrived behind the quarry to take part in the great attack next day.
We had two allotted to our Division. That night we moved from Mametz
Wood to the Chalk Quarry at Bazentin-le-Petit. Here one of the
Divisional Field Co. R.E. had prepared for us excellent H.Q. in the
side of the Quarry. The offices were well down in the side of the
Quarry, the mess room was a large shelter covered with sandbags a
little higher up. We were fairly crowded that night, for a large
number of 'liaison' officers arrived for duty next day. We were
sleeping inside the mess shelter, practically shoulder to shoulder all
over the floor. Officers were sleeping and feeding and working there
all at the same time. A day and night mess was run for the benefit of
all that came in.
For the last four or five days our artillery had kept up an almost
continual fire on the enemy's lines. Now at the last moment the guns
of the Field Artillery were taken out of their hiding places and
brought forward into the open. Our chalk pit was practically under the
muzzles of about a dozen field guns.
Later on that night we heard a curious whistling, puffing sound, it
was the two tanks clambering up the hill to get into position near the
front line.
FOOTNOTES:
[10] Lieut. F.C. Clayton was now Brigade Transport Officer.
XV
THE 15TH SEPTEMBER 1916
We were all up early next morning, and got some breakfast well before
dawn. The air outside had a regular autumn chill. At first only an
occasional gun fired in the distance. But about twenty minutes before
dawn, our heavy guns opened their bombardment. To one standing in the
quarry, below the level of the ground, they had the most weird of
sounds. A dull rumbling in the rear and a continual whizz and hiss
high overhead. Hardly a sound of the guns firing and no sound of the
shells bursting. Only that terrible grinding swish in the air above.
Twenty minutes of that, and then, with a terrific roar, all our field
guns opened, and we knew that our comrades in front, the 4th N.F. on
the right and the 7th N.F. on the left, had 'gone over the top.' The
noise in front of the field batteries was pandemonium, excruciating to
the nerves. The air shook and quivered with the sound, the quarry
seemed to shake. You could only hear when the speaker shouted in your
ear. And so it went on hour by hour all day. The rate of fire
subsided, but the guns went on all day. I was standing with the
Staff-Captain in the Quarry, when I got what felt like a stone in
the face. It proved to be a piece of a shell, but happily for me it
struck the ground first and caught me on the rebound. A small cut
about the nose and chin, but I had to go and have it dressed. I got
well chaffed afterwards on my rather comical appearance. It was an
anxious time before the first news got back, but when it did it was
good. Our men had taken the first German trench, and were waiting to
go ahead again. Unfortunately High Wood was not taken by the 47th
Division on our right till midday, and meanwhile we lost numerous
casualties from having our right flank exposed to machine-gun fire. A
report came in that a large party of Germans were starting a bombing
attack on our right, so it was decided to send up a supply of
grenades. I went, therefore, and found Lieut. Mackenzie, who was in
charge of 100 men acting as carriers, and handed over 2400 grenades.
This party went up to the front line and back without mishap. But
shortly afterwards Lieut. Mackenzie was badly wounded by one of our
own shells bursting prematurely. We had fifty casualties at the Quarry
from premature bursts. It was not the fault of the gunners, but either
the guns were worn or the shells were defective.
[Illustration: Scene of Attacks by 50th Division. Sept. 15-Nov.
14, 1916.]
I lost two sergeant-instructors in the Quarry. Sergt. Moffat was badly
hit in the thigh with a fragment from a premature and died a few days
after. Sergt. Hogg was wounded in the chest by a bullet, but not
fatally. The wounded and prisoners began to stream back past the
Quarry. And as they came we began to get news of our friends in
front. Though successful the Brigade had to pay a heavy price. The 4th
N.F. were literally cut to pieces. I lost many friends killed,
including Capt. J.W. Merivale, 2nd-Lieut. J. Robinson, and Sergt.
Austin, and many more wounded, including Capt. G.F. Ball.[11] During
the attack thirty-seven out of the eighty bombers of the 7th N.F. were
killed or wounded, and the bombers of the 4th N.F. paid a still
heavier price, including their gallant officer killed.
At 4 P.M. the 151st Infantry Brigade took over the operations on our
front and continued the attack at night. Next day B.H.Q. returned to
Mametz Wood.[12] I had to pay a visit to the nearest large
dressing-station to get the anti-tetanus inoculation. This proved more
troublesome than the small cut I received, and it made me feel fairly
weak for the next ten days. On September 20 I went with Capt. D. Hill
to select a place for a dump near High Wood, and we passed over the
first captured German trench. There were few of our men lying about,
for the burial parties had been hard at work. But farther back around
Intermediate Trench there were piles of British and German soldiers
still lying where they had fallen weeks before. We had now to get a
number of sandbag carriers made for taking more grenades up the line,
and I was given a small party from the 5th N.F. to get this done.
About September 22 we returned to the line, and B.H.Q. to the Chalk
Quarry at Bazentin-le-Petit. I have but a confused recollection of the
period from now to the end of our stay in this locality. My servant
had a lucky escape in the Quarry. He was sitting outside my dugout
with two others making some tea, when a small shell fell right in the
middle of their feet. All were thrown over by the explosion, but only
one was really hurt--Capt. Bloomer's servant. We brought the poor
fellow into the dugout, with his right arm almost severed at the
elbow; and we spent the next ten minutes tying him up as best we
could. He died about a week later. I also remember paying two visits
to a most unpleasant spot selected as the Brigade ammunition dump, at
the junction of Crescent Alley and Spence Trench. The German artillery
never seemed to leave it alone.
About October 3 the 5th N.F., commanded by Lieut.-Col. N.I. Wright
attacked the Flers Line, and took two trenches. Before this attack
started a huge howitzer was brought up and placed on the west side of
Mametz Wood. And during the one and a half hours preceding the attack,
it fired sixty 15-inch shells into Le Sars, of which only two failed
to burst. On October 5 the 50th Division was relieved, and B.H.Q.
moved back to a doctor's house in Albert. That night General Ovens
gave a dinner to the officers of the Staff at a restaurant in the
town, where a good repast was served by some French civilians. Next
day we moved farther back to Millencourt, and we were billeted in a
nice house.
FOOTNOTES:
[11] The two other Company Commanders of the 7th N.F., Capt. V.
Merivale, M.C., and Capt. E.F. Clennell, M.C., got safely through the
action.
[12] At this place I first had the opportunity of speaking to our
Divisional Commander, Major-General Sir P.S. Wilkinson, K.C.M.G.,
C.B., who was beloved by every one in the Division.
XVI
MILLENCOURT
I went off to Millencourt, on October 6, in front of the rest of
Brigade in order to look for a bombing ground. I found one all right,
but I cannot say that it was altogether safe or in very good
condition. The firing-trench was a square emplacement cut into the
ground and there was no easy exit in case of trouble; also our
predecessors there obviously had had an accident on the spot, for I
found a box of Mills grenades lying there, half buried, two or three
of the grenades exploded and the rest more or less damaged and in a
dangerous condition. However, the mess was cleared up at last, and I
had to make the best of the place, such as it was. I had now only
Sergt. P. Flannigan to help me, but Lieut.-Col. Scott Jackson, D.S.O.,
my colonel, kindly allowed L.-Sergt. Piercy of the 7th N.F. to come
and assist in the training at the Brigade Bombing School. After the
heavy fighting the Brigade was supplied with large drafts of new men.
They came chiefly from the Fen country and were only partially
trained. I found them far more difficult to instruct in bombing than
the Northumberland miners. I had between forty and fifty of these men
each day, and they had to throw two live grenades before they left.
One exciting event happened during this training. One of the drafts
was about to throw his grenade, when he dropped it and of course it
started to burn. With great quickness and resolution Sergt. Flannigan
picked it up and got it out of the trench before it burst--and his
action undoubtedly averted a tragedy. Many men have received
decorations for similar acts in the trenches, but the Brigade decided
that nothing could be done in this case except mentioning it in
Divisional Orders and recording it in the Sergeant's pay book. After
this I arranged with the Sergeant to keep an undetonated grenade
handy, and if any man seemed too nervous to throw his first grenade
safely, we supplied him with this. He went through all the emotions of
throwing a live grenade, and endangered neither himself nor us. The
empty grenade was then picked up and treated as a 'dud,' i.e. one that
had misfired. Between October 7 and October 21, 477 new men went
through the bombing course, and nearly a thousand grenades were fired.
Shortly after this Sergt. P. Flannigan went to the Corps School, first
as a bomber and afterwards as a Lewis gun instructor; and I never had
his services again.
Brigadier-General Ovens was a pleasant, genial Irishman, who tried to
make us all feel at home in his mess. But I doubt whether the Irish
really understand the Northumbrians or vice versa. At this time John
Coates, the famous tenor singer, came out as a lieutenant in the
Yorkshire Regiment. He was attached to us for a time. It was a
sporting thing for him to do, but he was neither young enough nor hard
enough to stand the severities of the campaign. He acted as General's
Orderly-Officer for a time and afterwards became Town Major of
Bécourt, not an easy or a very pleasant job. He sang several times for
the men, once in the open air, and his singing was certainly top hole.
During this stay at Millencourt I paid a flying visit to Amiens with
Lieut. A.E. Odell. We went there and back in a Divisional Signal car
and stopped only a few hours, in fact for dinner.
About October 24 we went to Albert, stopping one night at the same
house as before, and next day we went back to the line.
XVII
HOOK SAP
On October 25, 1916, we took over from a brigade of the 1st Division
at the ruined sugar factory at Bazentin-le-Grand. The sleeping
apartments were in a dugout below ground, but the mess room and
offices were in the building on the ground floor. After arriving I
went with a bombing sergeant of the Black Watch to have a look at the
Brigade Dump, which was a good way from B.H.Q. You got at it by
walking across country to the west end of High Wood, and then along a
trench tramway till it ended rather abruptly at the Flers Switch. Like
most dumps, it was at the end of the tramway and none too healthy a
spot. It was afterwards moved forward to a sunken road called 'Hexham
Road,' where the boxes of ammunition were just piled in the open.
The position in front was now as follows. The 1st Division had pushed
the enemy back to a line along the top of a ridge running from the
Butte of Warlencourt practically due east. This ridge prevented our
seeing the enemy's approaches and support positions in Le Barque. On
the other hand from Loupart Wood the whole of our approaches and
support trenches were in full view of the enemy, as far back as High
Wood. Across those two miles no one could move in daylight without
being seen by the enemy, and there was practically no position to put
our field guns forward of High Wood. The enemy's front line consisted
of two trenches--Gird Line and Gird Support--with a forward trench on
the top of the ridge, called on the left 'Butte Trench' on the right
'Hook Sap.' Our front line Snag Trench and Maxwell Trench lay this
side the ridge and about two hundred yards away from the German
forward trench.
The Butte of Warlencourt, an old Gallic burial place, was a round
chalk hill, rising about 100 feet above ground level; and had been
mined with deep dugouts and made into a formidable strong point. From
the Butte machine-guns defended the approaches to Hook Sap, and from
Hook Sap and the Gird Line machine-guns defended the approaches to the
Butte. The ground between and around the opposing trenches had been
ploughed up with innumerable shells, some of huge calibre, and it was
now a spongy morass, difficult to cross at a walk and impossible at a
run. As events proved, unless both the Butte and the Gird Line could
be taken at the same time, the one would render the other impossible
to hold. This then was the problem that faced the 50th Division, a
problem that would have been difficult enough in the driest of
weather, but rendered four times more so by the rain which fell in
deluges on three days out of four during the whole of October and
November. I have dealt with these details rather fully, because this
phase of the Somme battle has been passed over as a thing of no
account. The eyes of the public have been directed to the successful
operations at Beaumont Hamel and Beaucourt. They have not been
directed to the misery and horror that were endured heroically but
unavailingly on the slopes between Eaucourt L'Abbaye and Le Barque.
Never have the soldiers of the 50th Division deserved more and won
less praise than they did during the operations between October 25 and
November 15. I have no pen to describe the conditions that were faced
by the brave men, who, after labouring unceasingly in the slimy
horrors and rain for three weeks without rest or relief, stormed and
took Hook Sap, only to be cut off and killed to the last man by
successive counter-attacks. It is a sorrowful page in the history of
the 7th N.F., but for stark grim courage and devotion to duty it
cannot be surpassed by anything in the history of the battalion.