THE VIMY RIDGE.
6th Feb., 1916. 9th May, 1916.
Our return train journey was uneventful until we reached Paris, where a
German air raid started just as we arrived, and the train was compelled
to stop. We had a beautiful view, and, as the French depended more on
their own planes than on anti-aircraft guns, it was well worth watching.
The French machines all carried small searchlights, and, in addition to
these, the sky was light up with the larger searchlights from below,
while the efforts of the Boche to avoid the lights, and the French to
catch their opponents, produced some wonderful air-manoeuvering, which
ended in the retirement of the Boche. As soon as they had gone, our
train went on, and we reached Pont Remy station outside Abbeville at
8-30 a.m. on the 30th--back once more in rain, snow, and mud.
We marched at once to Yaucourt Bussus, a small village with comfortable
billets, which we occupied for nearly a fortnight, spending our time
training and playing football. Meanwhile, as the Brigadier and the two
Lincolnshire Battalions had not yet returned from Egypt, Col. Jones,
taking with him 2nd Lieut. Williams as Staff Officer, went to command
the half Brigade and lived with Captain Burnett at Ailly le haut
Clocher, another small village, to which the Brigadier came on his
return on the 11th. While the Colonel was away, Major Toller took
command and Major T.C.P. Beasley acted as 2nd in Command. For the time
no one seemed to have the slightest idea what was going to happen to the
Division next.
On the 10th we marched to Gorenflos, and the following day were taken by
lorries to billets in Candas, where, with an East wind, we could
occasionally hear the distant sounds of gunfire for the first time for
two months. Our new area we found was full of preparation for something;
what the exact nature of this something might be we did not know.
Several large railways and dumps were being built, new roads made, and
here and there with great secrecy big concrete gun platforms were laid.
Each day we sent large numbers to work, mostly on the railways, and once
more we heard the words "Big Push." We were always living on the verge
of the Big Push, and many times in 1915 had thought that it had
started--at Neuve Chapelle, Givenchy, Loos--only to give up hope when
these battles stagnated after a day or two. Now there were preparations
going forward again, this time apparently on a much larger scale than we
had ever seen before, so we felt justified once more in hoping for the
great event. Curiously enough the possibilities of a Boche big push were
never considered, and everyone of us was firmly convinced that, except
perhaps for a blow at Ypres, offensive action on the part of the enemy
was out of the question. This spirit animated all our work, which was
consequently very different from our opponents. Our trenches always had
a we-shall-not-stay-here-long air about them, his were built to resist
to the last man. It was the same in training and in billets, we
unconsciously considered ourselves an advancing army, and thereby,
though we may not have realized it, we ourselves supplied the finest
possible stimulant to our moral.
The IIIrd. Army (Gen. Allenby), to which we now belonged, introduced at
this time the Army School--an important innovation, shortly taken up by
all the other Armies. This School, first commanded by Col.
Kentish--afterwards Commandant of the Senior Aldershot School--aimed at
training junior officers to be Company Commanders, who owing to
casualties were now hard to find. The course, which lasted five weeks,
consisted of drill, tactical exercises, physical training, musketry,
bayonet fighting and bombing, lectures on esprit de corps--in fact
everything that a Company Commander should know, but many things that in
trench warfare had been forgotten. The Instructors were always
up-to-date, and the best use was at once made of any of the latest
inventions, while the school also kept a very efficient "Liaison"
between all parts of the Army. Students from one Division would exchange
latest schemes, ruses, and devices with others from another part of the
line, and so no valuable lessons were lost or known to a few only. Our
first students to this school were Capt. Ward Jackson, who was in charge
of "A" Company, and Capt. G.W. Allen, the latter for a special
Adjutant's refresher course. After these, all the Company Commanders
went in turn, first to Flixecourt, and later to Auxi le Chateau, whither
the school moved in the early summer. There were similar courses for
senior N.C.O.'s, which were of the utmost value.
Another important innovation at this time was the introduction of the
Lewis light machine gun. The Maxim, and even the Vickers machine gun had
been found for many reasons unsuitable for infantry work, being too
heavy and cumbersome for rapid movement, too conspicuous for easy
concealment. It was therefore decided to form Brigade Machine Gun
Companies, who would be armed with Vickers guns, while Battalions would
have Lewis guns only, on a scale of two per Company, for they were to be
considered a company rather than a Battalion weapon. This light gun had
no tripod, was air-cooled, and fired a pan instead of a belt of
ammunition. It was as easy to carry as to conceal, and was in every way
an enormous improvement on the "Vickers" from the infantry point of
view. Training in the new weapon started at once, and as 2nd Lieut.
Saunders and Serjt. Jacques were required for the Brigade Machine Gun
Company, 2nd Lieut. Shipston was made Lewis Gun Officer, with Corporal
Swift to help him, and these two trained as many men as possible with
the two guns issued to us, so that when more arrived the teams would be
ready for them. Captain Ellwood commanded the Brigade Machine Gunners,
and in addition to our chief instructors, we also sent 2nd Lieut.
Stentiford and 30 N.C.O.'s and men to start the Company. 2nd Lieut.
Stentiford was a new subaltern officer who, with 2nd Lieuts. T.P. Creed
and C.J. Morris, had arrived while the battalion was at Marseilles.
On the 16th February orders came that at an early date we should take
over the line North of the River Ancre, opposite Beaumont Hamel, and the
following day several lorry loads of officers reconnoitred the country
round Forceville, Englebelmer and Mailly Maillet, where there were some
rear defence lines. Maps of the front were issued, and we were about to
arrange trench reconnaissances, when the orders were cancelled and we
moved instead, on the 20th, to Bernaville, and joined the rest of the
Brigade. The other Battalions and Brigade Headquarters were in the
neighbouring villages. At this time the people of Leicestershire were
once more very good to us, and our War Diary contains a note that "This
day the C.O. acknowledges with thanks the gifts of 30,000 cigarettes
from our 2/5th Battalion, also a hand ambulance from Messrs. Symington
and Co., Market Harborough." The last survived the rough usages of war
for a very long time, and many a wounded man has been thankful for its
springs and rubber tyres.
The rest of the month was spent in doing a little training and a deal of
road-clearing. It snowed very hard once or twice, and many of the roads
became impossible for traffic, so each Battalion was allotted a road to
keep clean, ours being the main road to Fienvillers, along which we
spread ourselves armed with picks and shovels, while the village boys
threw snowballs at us. The 5th Division were moving North at the time,
and a whole day was spent by some of the Battalions dragging their
transport up a steep hill, a task beyond the strength of the horses.
Fortunately we were spared this, probably because we took care not to
clear the road to Brigade Headquarters, and so were left untouched.
During this very bad weather we lost 2nd Lieut. Brooke, who had to go to
Hospital with nephritis.
On the 29th we moved to Doullens, where we spent an enjoyable week, and
were introduced to yet another innovation. In August, 1915, the French
had introduced a steel helmet for their machine gunners, finally
extending the issue to all ranks. This had been found of the greatest
value, and there had been at once a marked decrease in the percentage of
head wounds. The British helmet now appeared, and was generally voted,
as it first seemed, a hideous flat object, though some humorists
admitted that it might have distinct possibilities as a washing basin. A
few soldiers of the vainer sort thought they looked more "becoming" with
a "tin-hat" over one eye, but the vast majority hated them, and it was
with the greatest difficulty that those to whom they were issued, could
be persuaded not to throw them away. This aversion, however, soon
passed, and within a few months the infantryman standing under an
aeroplane battle without his "tin-hat" felt distinctly naked.
It was now definitely decided that we were to relieve the French in the
Neuville St. Vaast-Souchez Sector, both places where the French had had
terrific fighting the previous year, and consequently a sector with a
bad reputation. The roads were still in bad condition, and a
char-a-banc, full of officers, who tried to reconnoitre reached no
further than the French Brigade Headquarters and had to return. On the
6th March we marched to Magnicourt and two days later to
Villers-au-bois, about three miles behind the line, going up to trenches
on the 9th.
Early in 1915 the French line North of Arras had run through la
Targette, Carency and over the East end of the Lorette heights to Aix
Noulette. In May our allies made their first attack here and, driving
the Boche from the heights, gained possession, after terrific fighting,
of Ablain St. Nazaire, Souchez and Neuville St. Vaast. Later, in
conjunction with our September attack at Loos, they had again advanced,
and finally a brilliant assault by the Zouaves carried the line to the
Vimy ridge and on to these heights, beyond which the roads to Lens and
Douai lay open. The fighting for the summit had been severe, and in the
end each side retained its grip on the hill top, the opposing trenches
running 30 yards apart along the ridge. Active mining operations had
started soon afterwards, and shortly before our arrival the French had
been compelled to give up a considerable portion of their line, and so
lose their hold on the summit. With it they lost also their view
Eastwards, while the Boche, occupying their evacuated trenches, regained
his view of the next ridge to the West.
This second ridge was more in the nature of a large plateau, stretching
back to Villers-au-bois, and separated from the Vimy ridge by a narrow
steep-sided valley--the "Talus des Zouaves," where the support Battalion
lived in dug-outs. Crossing the plateau from North to South was the main
Béthune, Souchez, Arras road, on which stood the remains of an old inn,
the Cabaret Rouge, where some excellent deep dug-outs provided
accommodation for the French Poste de Colonel and an Advanced Dressing
Station. The plateau was two miles wide, and over the first half (up to
"Point G") ran a long and very tiring duck-board track; beyond "Point G"
were two communication trenches to the line. One, "Boyau 1, 2, 3," was
seldom used, being in bad condition; the other, "Boyau d'Ersatz," was
boarded and well cared for, and used by all. It ran via the Cabaret
Rouge into the Talus des Zouaves, most of the way revetted with a
wonderful "wedding arch" revetment, and thence to the front line,
passing the left Poste de Commandant. The forward part of "Boyau 1, 2,
3," East of the "Talus," was called "Boyau Internationale," leading to
"Boyau Vincent" and so to the front line past the right Poste de
Commandant. Carency, Ablain and Souchez were houseless, Villers au bois
was little better, and our rest billets were huts at Camblain L'Abbé,
about four miles behind the line.
The Brigade took over the left sector of the Divisional front and we
were allotted the left sub-sector, our right and left boundaries being
the two Boyaus "Internationale" and "Ersatz." The whole relief was to be
kept as secret as possible, and all reconnoitering and advance parties
were given French helmets to wear in the line, so that the Boche might
have no idea what was going to happen. It was a little disconcerting,
therefore, when a French listening post, two days before the relief,
reported that a Boche had suddenly looked into their post, and after
saying "Les Anglais n'sont pas encore donc arrivés," equally suddenly
disappeared. In spite of this we were not disturbed during the relief
and by 10-30 p.m. on the 9th had taken the place of the 68th Regiment,
who marched out at one end of the trench as we appeared at the other,
having told us that we had come to a very quiet sector. The trenches
were in fair condition, though very dirty, and we had a quiet night so
began to hope that the sector might not be too terrible after all. The
next day the French left the area, leaving behind them two companies of
Engineers to carry on the mining operations on the Divisional front. In
handing over their posts the French had said nothing about their
countrymen whom they were leaving in the mines, and during the first
night several of them, coming up from below and talking a strange
language, narrowly escaped being killed for Boche.
The enemy opposite us were very quiet, and obviously knowing of the
relief, were waiting to see what we should do. With the French there is
no doubt that they had had a tacit understanding not to wage a vigorous
war, though, while seeming inactive, they had all the time been
undermining the French trenches. With us they were uncertain what to do,
so for 24 hours did nothing except fire a few rifle shots, one of which
came through the parapet and killed C.S.M. E. Thompson, of "B" Company.
On the evening of the second day they went one step further, and threw a
single grenade, received two in return, and remained quiet for the
night. The next morning, the 11th, they threw six more, all short, and
we replied with 10, five of which fell in their trench and apparently
convinced them that we intended war; at any rate they made no more
tentative efforts, but in the afternoon started more or less in earnest.
At 4.45 p.m. they blew up a small mine opposite "A" Company, demolished
a sap-head, and half buried the solitary occupant, who escaped with
bruises only; after this they bombed, or tried to bomb us, until 8-0
p.m., while we replied at the rate of two to one. Unfortunately, the
explosions caused a collapse in our parapet, about 10 yards of which
fell down suddenly, and had to be re-built during the night.
The following night proved to be still more exciting. Soon after
midnight a French sapper, narrowly escaping several sentries who thought
he was a Boche, came running along the line excitedly waving his arms,
and saying: "Mine, mine, faire sauter, demi-heure." No one knew what he
meant, though we gathered a mine would probably go up somewhere in
half-an-hour, whether ours or theirs we had not the least idea.
Eventually he was led to Battalion Headquarters, where he explained that
the French were going to blow a camouflet in half-an-hour. It was
already nearly an hour since he first said this, and nothing had yet
happened, so we hurriedly cleared a small portion of our front line and
waited, while we sent for the Tunnelling Officer. He arrived, and the
"blow" was arranged for 5-0 a.m., at which hour there was a terrific
explosion, a forty-foot crater was formed, and another ten yards of our
parapet fell down. Such an explosion must have been caused by a much
bigger charge than we had laid, so we probably included in our "blow" a
Boche mine laid ready for us. We easily bombed off a party of his which
tried to rush the crater, and spent the day re-building our fallen
parapet.
Rations, ammunition and R.E. material in this sector were brought to the
"Talus des Zouaves" on mule-drawn trucks along a narrow-gauge Railway
from Mont St. Eloi. Here, at a big Corps R.E. Dump, the trucks were
loaded every evening, the mule teams hooked in, and the party set off,
much harassed at times by bullets and shells, and seldom reaching home
without losing one, and often two animals. The Dump in the "Talus" also
got shelled; but the steep banks made the danger light and not much
damage was done in this way, though the Boche kept up a prolonged
bombardment at it with 5.9's on the evening of the 14th. Except for
this, the rest of the tour passed quietly, and on the following night
the 4th Lincolnshires relieved us, and we went back to rest in Camblain
L'Abbé huts, where we stayed for six days.
Our second tour started on the 21st, and from this day onwards until we
finally left the sector, we had a bad time. Our first trouble was the
weather. Alternate frosts and thaws, rain and snow, soon filled our
trenches with mud and slush, into which parapets and parados either
crumbled gradually or collapsed wholesale. No sooner could we repair one
length, than another would give way, and through it all many posts had
to live with water over their ankles and no proper drying accommodation.
There had to be three companies in the line, so 24-hour reliefs were
impossible, and to increase our troubles our stay in a warm climate had
made us less capable of standing the exposure to cold and wet, and there
were many cases of trench fever, trench foot, and some pneumonia, while
the health of all was considerably impaired. One of the most pitiful
sights of the war was to see 20 of our men crawling on hands and knees
to the Aid Post--their feet so bad that they could not walk.
Meanwhile the underground war was not as satisfactory as we should have
liked, and the Boche undoubtedly had the upper hand in the mining. Our
galleries were few and short, and in consequence useless for either
offence or defence, while his were known to be near our trenches in
several places. In one place between the right and centre companies the
Lincolnshires had expected a "blow" at any moment, and evacuating their
front line, had dug a new trench ten yards in rear of it. This seemed
to have been sighted in such a haphazard sort of way that it was at once
named the "Harry Tate" trench by some humorist, who pictured a Company
Commander coming out and saying "What shall we do next? Let's dig a
trench." And so they dug this one--quite useless, for it was bound to be
engulfed by any mine which exploded under the front line. The Boche,
however, thought more of the new trench than we did, and the day after
it was built, bombarded it with heavy minenwerfer shells until it was
unrecognisable.
In this state we found it when we came in for our second tour, "C"
Company (Farmer) on the right and "A" Company (Ward Jackson) in the
centre. Our first morning the Boche started just before midday, and for
four hours rained heavy minenwerfer shells on these two Companies, and
particularly on the new trench. Fortunately there was no one in this,
and equally fortunately most of the shells fell between our front line
and supports; there was a thick mist at the time, and it was almost
impossible to judge their flight. Through it all Capt. Farmer walked
calmly from post to post, cheering the garrison, and just before the end
of the bombardment at 4-0 p.m., made his way down the small
communication trench towards his support platoon. Thence he went to call
on "B" Company, but was caught on the way back by a mortar, which he
probably could not see coming in the mist (for no one was more accurate
at judging their flight than he), and was killed instantly, being blown
out of the trench and lost for several hours. Captain Farmer was perhaps
the quietest, certainly the bravest, officer of his time, for he feared
nothing, and nothing could shake his calm, while it was said of him
that he was never angry and never despondent. When he was killed, "C"
Company lost their leader, and every man his best friend, while the mess
lost one who was the most cheerful comrade of every officer.
This bombardment left our front line in a terrible condition, and
General Kemp decided to build a new main line of resistance 50 yards in
rear, holding the front with odd posts only. Meanwhile the front parapet
must be repaired, and the night was spent in doing this as far as we
could--a hopeless task, for the following afternoon we were again
hammered. This time "A" Company suffered most, and Corporal Williamson
and one man were killed, Serjt. Staniforth and one other wounded, while
the trench was blown in for several yards and a dug-out demolished.
Dug-outs were few, and consisted only of little hutches formed by
putting a sheet of iron over some slot. Even Company Headquarters of the
centre Company had little more than this, though Battalion Headquarters
and the other companies had a half-deep dug-out.
The bombardments now became daily, and all our efforts at retaliation
either with artillery or trench mortars proved entirely ineffectual.
There was nothing we could do except clear as many men as possible away
from the danger area, and come back at dusk to rebuild our parapet.
Towards the end of the tour the Boche started firing rifle grenades
before each mortar, so that we should stoop to avoid the former and so
miss seeing the flight of the latter. The tour ended with a four-inch
fall of snow on the 26th, which melted almost at once and filled the
trenches with water, which no amount of pumping would remedy. After
relief we went to the "Talus des Zouaves" in Brigade support, except for
"C" Company (Moore), which went to the Cabaret Rouge--now used as
Brigade advanced Headquarters.
The East side of the valley, where the Support Battalion's dug-outs had
been built, was immune from German shells owing to the steepness of the
hill side, and here for six days we had comparative rest, except at
nights, when we most of us went digging on the new line. The Battalion
Grenadiers under Serjeant Goodman particularly enjoyed themselves, and
their dug-out in the valley became a regular anarchists' arsenal.
Fiendish missiles were made out of empty bottles stuffed with ammonal
and other explosives, which they managed to obtain in large quantities
from the French miners, while the strength of various poisons and gases
was tested against the rats, against whose habitations they carried on
an endless war. A catapult was erected for practice purposes, and our
bombers became adepts in its use, knowing exactly how much fuse to
attach to a T.N.T.-filled glass beer bottle to make it burst two seconds
after landing in the Boche trench. The valley was a little dangerous
during practice hours, but nobody minded this so long as the enemy
suffered in the end.
At the same time another innovation was introduced in the shape of the
Stokes light trench mortar--a stove-pipe-like gun firing a cylindrical
shell some 400 yards at the rate of 8 in the air at once. It was simply
necessary to drop the shell into the gun, at the bottom of which was a
striker, and the rest was automatic and almost noiseless, the shock of
discharge being rather like a polite cough. Brigade Trench Mortar
Companies were formed, in our case 2nd Lieuts. A.N. Bloor and W.R.
Ashwell, with several other ranks, went to join the first company.
On the 2nd March, having received a draft of three N.C.O.'s and 106 men,
we went once more to the line and took over from the 4th Lincolnshires.
This time we were able to have two Companies in front, one in Boisselet
trench, part of the new work, and one in reserve, a far more
satisfactory distribution. The trenches were still in a very bad state,
and it was found in many places quite impossible to dig new lines,
because the ground had been so shaken by continuous bombardment for more
than a year, that the soil would no longer bind, and the sides of any
new trench collapsed almost as soon as they were dug. The tour was
fairly quiet, though Boche snipers and artillery were more active than
before, and we reached Camblain L'Abbé at the end of it without having
suffered any repetition of the trench mortar bombardments.
Our six days' rest included two big working parties, two inspections,
and one demonstration, to say nothing of such minor details as church
parades, conferences, baths, and the usual overhauling of boots and
clothing. The work consisted of clearing dug-outs in the Bois des
Alleux, and only lasted two days, after which we polished ourselves for
General Kemp, who inspected us in a field near Camblain, and
said that he was much pleased indeed with our turnout. General
Montagu-Stuart-Wortley was equally complimentary at the second
inspection, and congratulated all ranks on their appearance and
smartness, which, considering the state of the trenches, was very
creditable. The demonstration was particularly interesting, and proved
the futility of the famous German flame projector. As many men as
possible were placed in a trench, while the demonstrator, standing at 30
feet away with the machine, turned on the flame. The wind was behind
him, and the flame, with a tremendous roar, leapt out about 30 yards.
But the noise was the worst part, for the burning liquid, vapourising as
it left the machine, became lighter than air, and in spite of all the
efforts of the Demonstrator, could not be made to sink into the trench,
whose occupants were untouched. The men were all rather amused at the
whole performance and suggested that we should bring the machine into
the line to warm them up on cold days.
On the 12th we marched once more to the line and relieved the 4th
Lincolnshires, this time for a four-day tour. We found on arrival that
the Boche a few hours previously had blown a large mine in the left
sector, to be occupied by "D" Company (Shields), so that in addition to
the work on the new trench, we had to supply many men for repairing this
new damage--no light task, for many yards of our front trench had
disappeared. To make work more difficult the Boche was continually
throwing bombs and rifle grenades to try and catch our working parties,
and it was only after two days' vigorous retaliation that we taught him
that it was wiser to keep quiet. The leading spirit in this retaliation
was Captain Shields himself, who would sit in his dug-out listening for
a German bomb. If he heard one he would rush out, coat off and sleeves
rolled up, and throw back as many Mills' bombs as he could lay hands on,
a formidable attack, for he could throw a tremendous distance. 2nd
Lieut. A.E. Brodribb was also a keen bomber who would stand at a post
and send back bomb for bomb until he had the Boche beaten. Meanwhile the
Battalion anarchists, though they had bad luck with the "West" spring
gun, which got buried in the bombardment, were very successful in other
ways. Serjeant Goodman, with his catapult, flinging home-made infernal
machines, first from one post, then from another, must have been very
annoying to the German sentries, while Cpl. Archer, firing salvoes of
rifle grenades, eight at a time, always had a quietening effect on any
Boche bomber who ventured to try his luck in this way. So far as bombs
were concerned we had the upper hand, but the Boche could always start
heavy shelling or mortaring, and against this we seemed to have no
effective retaliation. He did particularly heavy damage with these one
morning in this tour, a few hours after we had been visited by General
Byng, the Corps Commander, who went round the front line. On this
occasion we had two killed and six wounded by a direct hit on the
trench, while the F.O.O., who was observing at the time, was also badly
wounded.
Towards the end of the tour the situation became quieter and we went
once more into the Talus to wait for relief by the 25th Division, whose
advance parties had already visited the line, and who were expected in a
few days. The Boyau d'Ersatz, re-named Ersatz Alley for the sake of
simplicity, had lately been heavily shelled, and it was therefore
decided to open up Boyau 1, 2, 3, as an alternative route to trenches,
calling it "Wortley Avenue," in honour of the Major General. Parties
from all companies worked day and night at this, soon making it
passable, though it would always be dangerously exposed to view.
Unfortunately "A" Company were shelled one day while at work, and we
lost 2nd Lieut. Pickworth, who had to be sent to Hospital, and
eventually to England, with a bad wound in the lungs.
Meanwhile offensive mining operations were being undertaken by both
sides with increased activity. The British Tunnellers, who had relieved
the French mining companies, found that in several places, unless they
themselves blew big mines at once, the Boche would blow them instead, so
blew big craters without delay. To this the Boche retaliated, and for
the past week there had been an average of two mines a night on the
Divisional front, most of them in the sector on our right. But on the
night of the 20th our Brigade was also involved, and the 4th
Lincolnshires lost most of their centre company in an explosion which
demolished nearly 100 yards of their front line. The shock was terrific,
and could be felt so violently even in our valley behind, that Captain
Barton went to see what had happened. Some half-hour later, when the
Lincolnshire C.O. went to the scene of the disaster, he found the "Doc"
there by himself, digging out an injured man in the middle of the gap.
No British troops had yet arrived, and his nearest neighbours were the
Boche lobbing bombs from the other side of the new crater.
This latest blow shattered our front line so badly that it was quite
unfit to hand over to a new Division, taking over this part of the line
for the first time, and, as the Lincolnshires had not enough men to
repair it themselves, we had to help them. On the 21st, therefore, when
the rest of the Battalion was relieved by the Lancashire Fusiliers and
went back for the night to Camblain L'Abbé, "D" Company stayed behind
in the Talus till dusk and then went up to work, spending the night
under R.E. supervision, digging in the gap. A screen of bombers lay out
on the crater lip, while the rest worked, through mud, water and pouring
rain to try and produce some kind of fighting trench. As fast as they
dug, their new work collapsed, but at last a cut was made, and by
morning there was at least communication across the gap, though the
trench was terribly shallow and gave no real protection. The following
day, "D" Company on lorries, the rest of the Battalion by march route,
we moved through Cambligneul and Aubigny to Penin-Doffine, where we were
to billet for a rest. "B" and "C" Companies were with Brigade
Headquarters and the Lincolnshires in Penin. The Headquarters and "D"
Company had a large farm, and "A" Company billets in the hamlet of
Doffine.
Here we stayed for a week. A Staff ride under the Brigadier formed the
chief incident in our training, while our recreation was enlivened by an
excellent Battalion Sports Meeting. Great keenness was shown in every
event, and there were consequently some well-contested races:--"A" and
"C" Companies divided the prizes between them. "A" Company won the
long-distance bomb-throwing, tug-of-war, relay and stretcher-bearer
races, "C" the accurate bomb-throwing, ¼-mile, sack and three-legged
races. Brigade Headquarters came to watch, bringing their band with
them, and the General gave away the prizes at the end of the day. The
weather was good and we all spent a very pleasant afternoon.
The 27th April brought us orders to return again to the line, this time
to work with the Tunnellers, French and English, in the neighbourhood of
Neuville St. Vaast. The following day the C.O. and most of the Company
Officers went to Mont St. Eloi to reconnoitre, returning in the evening.
While getting into a car in St. Eloi Colonel Jones was slightly wounded
in the left hand by a six-inch shell, which burst alongside the car. He
was sent to Hospital, but returned to us ten days later. On the 29th we
moved into Neuville St. Vaast, living in tunnels and dug-outs, and
provided large working parties in the mines. Tactically we were at the
disposal of the 25th Division, to whom we lent one or two Lewis Gun
teams. The work consisted almost entirely of clearing sandbags from the
mine-shafts and distributing them along our trenches, as far as possible
out of sight. It was hard and dangerous work, as was proved by an
accident which happened on the 7th May, the night before we were
relieved. The enemy blew a counter-mine close to one of the saps where
"D" Company were working, burying the French miners, and completely
destroying the whole sap. Two of the four men at work were never seen
again; the other two, bruised and shaken, managed to crawl half-naked
out of the wreckage.
On the 9th May, after spending a night in tents at Mont St. Eloi, we
went by motor-'bus through Avesnes-le-comte, Liencourt, Grand
Rullecourt, to Lucheux, where we went into billets. We left at Vimy a
party of 25 men under Lieut. A.M. Barrowcliffe, working with the R.E.
(Tunnellers). Most of them gradually became sappers, and we saw very few
of them ever again. During these two last months there had been only one
important change in the personnel. R.Q.M.S. Stimson, who had been at
the Stores since the beginning of the war, and whose knowledge of French
had been as invaluable to Captain Worley as his energy and skill with
"mobilisation store stables," returned to England. C.S.M. Gorse became
R.Q.M.S., and in his place J. Hill became C.S.M. of "A" Company.