EARLY DAYS WITH THE 11TH CORPS AND FIRST ARMY
Towards the end of 1915 my services were again borrowed by the
First Army, this time to take a class of Sniping and Intelligence
officers through the course of sniping and observation which was
already in operation in the Third Army, and also to lecture to a
G.H.Q. Intelligence Class on the Observation and Intelligence side of
sniping--a big subject.
I went up the long road through Doullens, Frévent and St. Pol, which I
had traversed so many times from the days when it was impassable with
French soldiers before the Battle of Loos to the quieter times which
had now dawned. During the war one had very few relaxations of any
kind. Shooting was forbidden, games were difficult for the unattached
Ishmaelite to obtain, and often for long periods it was impossible to
get any change of thought. The long drives to all parts of the line
held by the British Army, which were part of my work, were, therefore,
exceedingly pleasant by contrast. Wherever there was a battle I used
to try and get to it at the earliest possible moment, in order to have
the opportunity of examining the German trenches, for as time went on
sniping became more and more scientific, and the Germans were always
starting some new method which had to be countered. One of the most
important points was to obtain specimens of each issue of their steel
plates, in order to experiment on them with all kinds of bullets.
But to return to the First Army Class. We were allotted a curious range
on the outskirts of the town of Bethune, then a thriving community,
which had been hardly shelled at all, although well within the battle
area. Our rifle-firing took place under cover, and each target appeared
through a series of holes cut in a number of brick walls which crossed
the range at right angles. The noise in the room of the cottage which
formed the 200-yards firing-point was deafening, but as the weather was
both wet and cold head-cover had its advantages.
The class which assembled consisted of a picked officer from each
Division, twelve in all. Some I lost sight of afterwards, but two, at
least, of this class rose to command their battalions, and one was
awarded the double D.S.O., another the M.C. and Bar, and several more
single decorations.
In order that the class might be taught the manipulation of telescopic
sights, all the rifles of the 1st Corps which were fitted with these
sights or with optical sights were sent down, together with the snipers
who shot them, in order that the rifles might be tested for accuracy.
As at that time there had been no real organization or instruction in
the use of adventitious sights in the Corps, it is not to be wondered
at that most of these were incorrect. Of the first eighty, fifty-nine
were quite valueless until regulated, and we were hard put to it to
correct them as party after party arrived.
At length a party of Scottish Rifles came, every one of whose weapons
was entirely correct. They were under the command of a young officer
who, when the trial of his men’s rifles was over, saluted and said to
me:
“Will I stay and help you with the other rifles, sir?”
“Do you understand telescopic sights?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Have you done much shooting?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Won anything?”
“The King’s Prize, and the Scottish Open Championship, and the
Caledonian Shield, sir.”
“What is your name?”
“Gray, sir.”
That evening Corps Staff was rung up and Gray was straightway appointed
Corps Sniping Officer. Suffice it to say, that in a few weeks the
German snipers had been dealt with in a way that must have amazed them.
Later on, Gray’s Division moved into the 11th Corps, where I have
always thought that sniping on some sectors reached its high-water
mark as far as the year 1916 was concerned. Afterwards he became my
assistant at the 11th Corps School, and later at the First Army School.
He finally proceeded to the U.S.A., with the rank of Major, to spread
the light there. In this he was most successful, receiving the thanks
of the Divisional General to whose Division he was attached for the
extraordinary efficiency of his work. In my experience of sniping
officers in France, two are outstanding, and he was one of them. The
other was Major O. Underhill, 1st K.S.L.I.
Our class on that queer range in Bethune lasted a fortnight and was
instrumental in getting me a bout of sick leave; for when, as part of
the instruction, we had to make a trench and build into it various
posts such as snipers use, we found ourselves working in an extremely
noisome atmosphere. As far as we could make out, the greater part of
the town drainage seemed to be at no great distance under the ground in
which we had to dig. The result was a bout of trench fever. The time
I spent at home was not, however, wasted, as I was able to collect
large numbers of telescopes and get the various courses for sniping
instruction written down, which was useful, as I was continually
receiving applications for a syllabus from units outside the Third Army.
When I returned to France I was again attached to the Third Army, but
not to the Infantry School, who had secured the services of Captain
Pemberthy during my absence. This very capable officer did splendid
work for the Third Army. Instead, I went down the line and resumed my
old work of instructing brigades and battalions. I also went to the
Indian Cavalry Divisions.
At this time, I remember, volunteers who possessed a knowledge of the
fitting of telescopic sights were asked for in the 7th Corps. The
result was exceedingly typical. One private, who sent in his name,
stated that he was well acquainted with telescopic sights and their
fittings, having been for four years employed by Messrs. Daniel Fraser
of Leith Street Terrace, Edinburgh, the well-known firm of gun and
rifle makers, whose work on telescopic sights stands so deservedly
high. The staff who unearthed this applicant did not continue to
congratulate themselves on having produced exactly the article wanted,
when, through a letter to Messrs. Fraser, it transpired that, though
it was quite true that the man had been employed by them, the position
that he had held in the firm was that of errand boy, and that his
knowledge of telescopic sights was consequently not one which they felt
they could confidently recommend.
During these days I went back to many of the brigades to which I had
been attached six months previously. The casualties among snipers
had not been very heavy and we had fairly obtained the upper hand.
At this period troops were massing for the Battle of the Somme, in
which the Third and Fourth Armies took part. The use of the telescope
was now a matter of immense interest, as Intelligence wanted all the
facts they could get about the enemy, and consequently instruction in
glass-work for battalion and brigade observers became more and more
sought after, and I trained many observers for Major-General Hull,
G.O.C. 56th Division. Just at this period, however, there was a change
in my fortunes, and I was ordered to proceed to the First Army, to
the command of which Sir Charles Monro had just succeeded after his
wonderful performance in Gallipoli. I therefore left the Third Army
area and went by rail to Aire-sur-Lys, in order to report to First Army
Headquarters, which was situated in that town.
It would be absurd to deny that I was very glad to be attached to
the First Army, where the keenness which I had seen on my visit at
Christmas time to the various Corps Commanders was glorious. Arriving
at Aire I reported to the Town Major, and was allotted a room in the
hotel called “Le Clef d’Or.” Here I was eating my dinner when the Town
Major came across and wanted to know if an officer of my name was
present. He said that a car was waiting outside, and that I was to go
direct to the Army Commander’s château to dine and stay the night.
The next day the Army Commander questioned me very closely about
sniping, and about all that had occurred with regard to it since he had
seen me last. He then informed me that I was to be attached to the 11th
Corps, and that my orders were the same as they had been under him in
the Third Army--to make good shots, and as many of them as possible.
The 11th Corps, since my previous visit, had started a sniping school,
where they were putting through five officers and twenty men on short
courses. The school was situated on the far side of the Forest of
Nieppe, near a place called Steenbecque. I was ordered to make this
school my headquarters. It was in charge of Lieut. Forsyth M.C. of the
6th Black Watch. A more curious and picturesque-looking spot for a
school it would be hard to imagine. The headquarters were in a little
Flemish farmhouse, kept by an exceedingly close-fisted family, and the
range, which had firing points at one, two, three and five hundred
yards, was neither more nor less than a long sloping cornfield. A most
satisfactory point about the range--which was an excellent one--was
that it was within two hundred yards of headquarters, so that after
parade hours were over an immense amount of voluntary work was done
upon it. It was here that we first began to tend towards the really
much longer and more detailed course of instruction which we afterwards
amplified to a vastly greater extent at First Army School, as soon as
the courses were lengthened to seventeen days’ duration.
From the first it may be said that the men and officers who came upon
all these courses were extraordinarily keen. They liked sniping, and
still more, observation, because they felt that here, at last, in the
great impersonal war, was an opportunity for individual skill. The
more imaginative of them realized also the enormous possibilities of
the trained observer. In other chapters I will give several instances
of the observation of small details which have had consequences of the
most far-reaching nature. I think that this feeling of the ever-present
possibility of the opportunity of being able to do a big thing formed
part of the fascination of the S.O.S. courses--S.O.S. in this case
meaning, “Sniping, Observation and Scouting,” and not “Service of
Supply,” as it does in the American Army.
It has been said, and truly, that soldiers are pretty destructive, but
the fact remains that hundreds of privates, N.C.O.’s and officers went
through their shooting courses in the Steenbecque cornfield, which was
traversed in all directions by narrow paths, and yet it was difficult
to find any downtrodden ears of corn. Our one difficulty was that at
one of the firing points the corn grew up and obscured the targets. It
had, therefore, to be cut to the area of about ten yards. I do not know
what the claim sent in by the farmer was for this damage, but as far as
claims were concerned nothing was ever missed by the Flemish peasant.
Although it was my Headquarters I used only to spend the first two
days of every course at the school; the other days I passed attached
to various divisions and brigades, and in this way became conversant
with the trench line of the Corps along the whole length of which I
inspected the snipers’ posts. The 33rd Division, who were holding the
line opposite Violaines and the Brick-stacks, had had a tremendous duel
with the German snipers. This line has always been a difficult one from
the sniper’s point of view, as the Germans had, unfortunately, the best
of it as to position. The Brick-stacks made ideal sniping-posts, and
there were many other points of vantage which were very much in their
favour. It shows, however, what a first-class sniping officer can do
when it is realized that the 33rd Division who, when they went into the
trenches, found the Germans very much in the ascendant, soon reduced
them to a more fitting state of mind.
[Illustration: XI CORPS SNIPING SCHOOL.
Imitation German Trench used for spotting targets, &c. Note snipers’
loophole and observation hole in tree.]
[Illustration: METHOD OF INSERTING LOOPHOLE.
1. Original Section of Parapet
2. How bags are arranged and fixed round loophole to imitate original
parapet. (Gray’s Boards.)
3. Parapet reconstructed with loophole.
_Drawings by_] [_Basil Head._
]
It was here that Gray--the sniping officer in question--had a trying
experience. One day while making his tour of duty, an officer told him
that there was a sniper who was causing them trouble. Gray asked
where he was, and was led without words to the part of our trench
opposite which the German sniper was supposed to lie. Gray, being
signed to do so by his guide, looked over, only to be saluted at about
ten yards’ range with a bullet which whizzed by his ear.
“That’s him,” said the officer delightedly. “I knew he was pretty
close. But what am I to do? He shoots if one tries to spot where he is.”
“Have you never heard of the sniperscope, you ----?” demanded Gray.
“By Jove, the very thing!” cried the officer, and it was not long
before the German sniper was reduced to impotence.
But to return to the 11th Corps School. Work there was certainly
strenuous. There was nothing to do in the village and nothing to do
in Morbecque. The nearest place of relaxation was Hazebrouck, and
Hazebrouck was out of bounds. The result was that having an interesting
course with plenty of rifle shooting competitions, together with
occasional mild cricket and football, officers and men were able
to concentrate upon the work in hand, and certainly their shooting
improved with amazing quickness.
About this time the 33rd Division moved south, and Lieut. Gray
was attached to the School, where he soon left the impress of his
personality and methods.
One of the difficulties that we had always found in the First Army was
due to the fact that our trenches, as far at any rate as the Neuve
Chapelle-Fauquissart area was concerned, were very shallow, and, indeed
we lived rather behind breastworks than in trenches. To make loopholes
in these breastworks was exceedingly difficult, but Gray invented a
system which we christened “Gray’s Boards” which fairly met the case.
Thus, if he wished to put in a concealed iron loophole plate, he
first of all cut a square of wood of exactly similar size. In this he
fashioned a loophole to correspond with the loophole of the iron plate.
He then wired the wooden plate on to the iron plate, and having rolled
and stuffed a number of sandbags in exact imitation of the parapet in
which he wished to insert his loophole, he tacked these with a hammer
and tacks upon the wooden board. The whole loophole was then built in
at night. These loopholes of his were rarely discovered, and they had
also the added advantage that if a bullet struck them it did not ring
upon the iron plate, as it had to pierce the wooden board first, so the
posts were never given away by sound.
It was at the 11th Corps School that we first constructed exact
imitations of German trenches and German sniping posts; in fact, in one
way or another, a great deal of pioneer work was put in there, and the
school prospered exceedingly.
[Illustration: XI CORPS SNIPING SCHOOL.
Best form of parapet to conceal loopholes.
Wrong type of parapet for concealing snipers’ loopholes.
]
[Illustration: SECTION OF TYPICAL GERMAN PARAPET.
Showing concealed loopholes made through tins, bags, &c. Note--The
steel shields on top are dummies.
_Drawings by_] [_Basil Head._
]
The chief reason, I think, for the success of the school was the great
personal interest taken in it by the Corps Commander, Sir R. Haking,
who would come out from his headquarters at Hinges and inspect the
school at frequent intervals, as did also Brigadier-General W. Hastings
Anderson, then B.G.G.S. of the Corps. We were inspected in July by the
Army Commander, and from time to time officers from other theatres of
war and from other armies visited us.
In a meadow near the school was a small pond, full of fish, which it
was the ambition of Gray and myself to catch. There was only room for
two fishermen at a time, and only on one occasion was a fish caught.
This we gave to the farmer who owned the pond, and I presume he ate
it, for he was up at Headquarters early the next day inquiring for a
“_médecin_!”
Still, nothing could be more delightful than after three or four
strenuous days, on each of which one walked perhaps eight or ten miles
of trenches, to sit before that funny little pool in the French meadow,
and forget there was a war.
At the time of which I write, the Corps which formed the First Army
were the 11th, the 1st and the 4th. The 3rd had gone to the Battle of
the Somme. The 1st Corps had a sniping school, which, at a later date,
reached an extraordinarily high pitch of efficiency under Captain Crang
and the late Lieut. Toovey, the author of “The Old Drum Major” and
well-known Bisley shot. It was a party commanded by Captain Crang which
went into the Portuguese trenches, where it was reported the Germans
were showing themselves rather freely, and made a big bag. The 4th
Corps also had a good school, but they soon moved out of the Army to
the south. In fact, when I first went there, the system in the First
Army was that which I had always advocated, to have Corps Schools of
sniping and observation. The difficulty, of course, was that there was
still no establishment, and that sniping schools did not officially
exist. This was quite a common thing in the war, for when I first went
to the large Third Army Infantry School, with a score of instructors, a
large staff, and a couple of hundred N.C.O. and officer pupils, it did
not exist officially.
While I was at the 11th Corps School, the War Office at last officially
acknowledged my existence as a sniping-officer to the extent that I
received my pay, which had been withheld for several months.
After various tours of inspection and work with other Army Corps, I
was ordered by the Army Commander to form an Army School of Sniping.
Greatly rejoicing, Gray and I borrowed a car from the Army and set out
to search through the broad lands of the Pas de Calais. These were
delightful days, but search as we would, it was exceedingly difficult
to find any place in the area of the First Army which would suit our
purpose. It was all too flat. I remember that we once very nearly
decided upon a queer little hill, not very far from Hinges, called Mont
Bernenchon, but luckily we went on further and at last came to the
village of Linghem. Above the village on a high plateau lies an old
civilian range backed by a large rifle butt. The plateau on which the
range is situated is of considerable extent, and upon its slopes (it
was July) bloomed heather and gorse.
“Why,” said Gray, “the place is trying hard to be like Scotland!”
The plateau gave us a range of eight hundred yards and plenty of room
for playing fields, which the Army always consider to be absolutely
necessary to the well-being of a school--one reason, I think, that the
health of our men was so good.
Having decided that here was the ideal place for our projected First
Army Sniping School, Gray and I were disgusted to see the fresh tracks
of a motorcar. It was quite clear that somebody else had discovered
and had an eye upon our find. We did not even wait for a cup of coffee
at the local _estaminet_ but got on board our car and went full speed
to Army Headquarters, where we informed the Staff that we had decided
upon our location, and were told that as no one else had applied for
it, it should be ours. We were only just in time for as we afterwards
discovered the Royal Flying Corps had decided to apply for it.
All’s well, however, that ends well, and a little later on we left
the 11th Corps School with great regret, and set forth on a lorry for
Linghem to found the First Army Sniping School.
Often afterwards I used to go across to see how things were getting
along at the dear old 11th Corps School. The last time I was there,
before it was taken over by a Second Army formation, it was a wintry
day with snow falling. I must say that I was glad that I had never been
attached there during winter, for what had been a smiling cornfield
was now a sea of yellow and glutinous mud. The little _becque_ or
stream which ran between our stop-butt and our targets had overflowed,
and Lieut. Hands, who had succeeded to the command of the school, was
urging some one hundred and fifty odd German prisoners to reconstruct
the stop-butt itself. The scene really might have been upon the German
“Eastern Front.”