MONCHY AU BOIS.
3rd July, 1916. 29th Oct., 1916.
North of Gommecourt the enemy's line, after passing Pigeon wood, ran a
few yards West of Essarts village along the high ground to within a
short distance of Monchy au Bois, then, turning West, made a small
salient round this village, which lay in a cup-like hollow. Between
Essarts and Monchy, and on higher ground still, stood Le Quesnoy Farm,
which, with some long tall hedges in the neighbourhood, provided the
Boche with excellent and well concealed observation posts and battery
positions. Behind Monchy itself, and again on high ground, was Adinfer
wood, and near it Douchy village, both full of well concealed batteries,
while the trees in Monchy itself gave the enemy plenty of cover for
machine guns and trench mortars. Opposite this our line was almost
entirely in the open. From Foncquevillers it ran due North to the
Hannescamps-Monchy road, more than 1,000 yards from the enemy opposite
Essarts and Le Quesnoy; then, crossing the ridge, dropped steeply to the
Monchy cup, where, at the Bienvillers road, the lines were only 200
yards apart. The only buildings near the line were the two Monchy mills,
North and South, both about 80 yards from the front line and both little
more than a heap of bricks with an O.P. concealed in the middle. Just
South of the Bienvillers road a small salient, some 180 yards across ran
out towards the enemy's lines, overlooked from two sides, and always
being battered out of recognition by trench mortars and bombs.
[Illustration: Red Mill, Lens, 1917.]
[Illustration: Bois de Riaumont from the Slag Heap. Boot Trench in
Foreground.]
The rest of our front line system was more or less ordinary--deep
trenches with, at intervals, a ruined dug-out for Company Headquarters.
Owing to the appalling weather all trenches were very wet, including the
communication trenches, of which there were several--Chiswick Avenue
opposite Essarts, Lulu Lane alongside the Hannescamps road, with
Collingbourne Avenue branching off it, and, on the Monchy side, Shell
Street in the middle, and Stoneygate Street alongside the Bienvillers
road. The last had been so named by the Leicestershire "New Army"
Brigade, who had originally built the trench. Hannescamps, a minute
village, lay 1,000 yards from the line, partly hidden by a hollow, and,
with an excellent bank full of dug-outs, was a home for Battalion
Headquarters and one Company. Another Headquarters was in Shell Street,
and the Support Battalion, with many batteries and others, lived in
Bienvillers au Bois, about 1½ behind the line. Pommier, la Cauchie,
and occasionally Humbercamps were rest billets still further back.
Beyond them a large farm, la Bazéque, was the home of all the Brigade
transport and Q.M. Stores. Such was the sector into which the Division
went after Gommecourt to rest and gradually recuperate. Our Brigade had
the Monchy front and the stretch with the wide No Man's Land opposite
Essarts; we, as a Battalion, were sometimes North, sometimes South of
the Hannescamps Road, the other Brigades were further North, in the
Ransart, Bailleulval and Berles area. Here we stayed, with one rest
later on, for eight months.
[Illustration: Hohenzollern Craters, 1917-1918.]
Soon after our arrival in Bienvillers, we were much surprised to see
Colonel Toller again return to us. We thought that he really had got a
permanent Command when he went to the Highlanders, but apparently a
former Colonel returned a few days after he arrived there, and he was
consequently sent back. However, there were now many vacancies in our
Division, and Col. Toller was at once sent to command the 7th Sherwood
Foresters, the Robin Hoods--an appointment which proved to be permanent,
and which he held for the next two years. At the same time, Lieut. N.C.
Marriott, wounded at Hohenzollern, returned to us, and soon afterwards
2nd Lieut. J.C. Barrett joined us from England, while we lost 2nd Lieut.
G.E. Banwell, who was slightly wounded at Gommecourt, and, after several
efforts to remain with his unit, had to go to Hospital with a badly
poisoned foot. We also lost our Divisional Commander, Major General the
Hon. E.J. Montagu-Stuart-Wortley, C.B., C.M.G., D.S.O., M.V.O., who went
to England. Before he went, the following notice appeared in
orders:--"On relinquishing the Command of the Division, General
Stuart-Wortley wishes to thank all ranks, especially those who have been
with the Division since mobilization, for their loyalty to him and
unfailing spirit of devotion to duty. He trusts the friendship formed
may be lasting, and wishes the Division good luck and God speed." To
quote the Battalion War Diary--"The Major General has commanded the
Division since 1914; universal regret is openly expressed at his
departure."
The new Divisional Commander, Major General W. Thwaites, R.A., arrived
soon afterwards, and soon made himself known to all units, introducing
himself with a ceremonial inspection. Ours was at Bailleulmont, where we
were billeted for a few days, and on the afternoon of the 13th we formed
up 650 strong to receive him. After inspecting each man very carefully,
the General addressed the Battalion, calling Col. Jones "Col. Holland,"
and us the 5th Leicesters, two mistakes which were never forgotten,
though soon forgiven.
He congratulated us on our appearance, and said that he read
determination in our faces, promising to know us better by seeing us in
the trenches. We then marched past him and went home.
Our first few tours in this new sector might well be described as a
nightmare of H²O and H²S. It rained very hard, and all the
trenches at once became full of water--in some places so full that the
garrison, as the weather was warm, discarded trousers and walked about
with shirts tucked into sandbag bathing drawers. Some of the
communication trenches were in a particularly bad condition, and worst of
all was the very deep Berlin Trench running alongside the road from
Bienvillers to Hannescamps. A sort of "Southend-pier" gridded walk had
been built into one side of this about four feet from the floor of the
trench, and in some places even this was covered, so that the water in
the trench itself was nearly six feet deep. Pumps proved almost useless,
and it was obvious that something drastic would have to be done if we
were to remain in this part of the world for the winter.
The H²S was in cylinders. For some unknown reason the Special Brigade
R.E., or "gas merchants" as they were more popularly called, considered
the Monchy hollow a particularly suitable place for their poison
attacks. The result was that we spent all our rest periods carrying very
heavy cylinders into the line or out again, terribly clumsy, awkward and
dangerous things to carry, while our trenches, already ruined by the
weather, were still further damaged, under-cut and generally turned
upside down to make room for these cylinders. Then again, the actual gas
projection caused a most appalling amount of trouble. The wind had to be
exactly West, for a touch of North or South would carry the poison over
our miserable little salient, but at times the wind was due East, and on
one occasion it remained obstinately in the wrong quarter for three
weeks, while we lived in daily terror of some chance Boche shell hitting
one of the cylinders. On several occasions we had to assist with smoke
candles and smoke bombs, and this, too, caused us much worry. Perhaps at
dusk the wind would be favourable, and orders would arrive that gas
would be discharged at 11-34. At 11-34 we, having heard nothing to the
contrary, would light our smoke machines, and find no gas turned on. At
12-55 we should get another message by some orderly to say "discharge
postponed until 12-55"--then, of course, no time to warn anybody, and no
smoke left.
The reason for this delay in the communication of orders was that our
telephones were in a state of transition. We had discovered that the
Boche with his listening sets could overhear all conversations carried
on by the ordinary field telephone, and consequently it was absolutely
forbidden to use this instrument, except in emergency, within 2,000
yards of the front line. A new instrument, the "Fullerphone," was being
introduced which could not be overheard, but one could not use it for
talking; all messages had to be "buzzed." Incidentally the "buzzing"
process produced a continuous whining noise, and this, in a small
Company Headquarter dug-out, was almost enough to drive the unhappy
Company Commander off his head. The Fullerphone, too, was very scarce at
first, so that almost all messages had to be sent by orderly, or runner
as he now began to be called. This caused so much trouble that the next
stage was the introduction of codes and code names. At first these were
very simple, we were "John" after Col. Jones, the 5th Lincolnshires
"Sand," from Sandall, etc., while "gas" became the innocent "Gertie,"
and to attack was "to tickle." One very famous message was sent when an
expected gas attack had to be suddenly postponed--"John can sleep quiet
to-night, Gertie will not tickle." Later we became "Sceptre," when all
units in the Division were called after race-horses, and still later,
when Brigade Headquarters became "Girl," we each had a lady's name; we
were "Gertrude." It sounded somewhat curious to hear a Staff Captain who
had lost his Brigadier ringing up a Battalion Headquarters to ask "have
you seen a 'Girl' about anywhere?" The "Bab" code was also introduced, a
three-figure code with innumerable permutations and combinations. The
whole thing was very secret, and added much to the worries of the
Company Commander, who not only had to be careful not to lose the code
book, but had to remember, without writing it down, the Corps code
letter and number for the week.
In the same way the Artillery had all manner of codes for every
conceivable occasion. Various messages were devised and entered in the
Defence Scheme for retaliation, S.O.S., raid purposes, etc., and woe
betide the luckless F.O.O. or Infantryman who sent the wrong message.
There were "concentrates" and "Test concentrates," and "attacks" and
"Test attacks," and "S.O.S." and many others. If anything serious really
happened, the lines were always broken at once, and there remained only
the rockets and coloured lights. The S.O.S. signal was almost sacred,
not to be used for a hostile raid, or when retaliation was needed, but
only in the event of the enemy massing for a general attack. However, it
was once used--in a rather curious little battle fought on the 4th
August, 1916.
Our trench strength at the time was very weak, because two days later we
were to raid the enemy's lines opposite Monchy salient, and the raiding
party had been left out of the line at Pommier to practice. At 3-30 a.m.
on the 4th the Boche, either annoyed at our wire-cutting, or to
celebrate his favourite anniversary, the declaration of war, opened a
heavy fire with guns, mortars, rifle grenades, coloured lights and
everything else imaginable. The noise was terrific, and the C.O. and
Adjutant rushed to the Defence Scheme to find what was the correct
message to send; most of the noise was at trench 86. They decided to
tell the Gunners "assist L," but, between F.O.O. and signals, this
reached the Artillery as "assist 86," which was meaningless, so they did
nothing. Meanwhile, our Lewis Guns could be heard, so Col. Jones, unable
to telephone to Companies whose lines were all cut, finally sent the
S.O.S. The reply was prompt and terrific. There was plenty of
ammunition, and all the gunners, wakened by the bombardment, were only
too anxious to shoot, so that within a few minutes every weapon, from an
18 pounder to a 12" gun on railway mounting, was raining shells into
Monchy and its surroundings. It was very effective, but none the less
there had to be an enquiry into "who had dared to use the S.O.S.," and,
when the facts were all brought to light, the F.O.O., Lieut. Cave,
partly responsible for the initial mistake, earned the name of "S.O.S.
Cave," which stuck to him till he left the Division.
The raid was not a great success. For several days "C" Company, who were
chosen for the task, carried out continuous practices at Pommier, first
under Capt. Mould, and later, when he had to go to Hospital with septic
tonsilitis, under Capt. Shields. Capt. Moore was at the Army School at
the time. The Infantry arrangements were made satisfactorily, but there
was little or no opportunity for the Gunners to observe the result of
their wire-cutting, with the result that, when the party went over on
the evening of the 5th, they found no gaps. The raiding party advanced
in four groups, each group with bombers, bayonet men, and sappers for
demolition work, and each under an officer--2nd Lieuts. Steel, Barrett,
Heffill and Morris. The party removed all marks of identification, but
wore their collars turned up, and a small patch of white on the back of
their collars for mutual recognition.
At 11-0 p.m. the party left our trenches and lay out in front of our
wire, waiting for our bombardment, which 15 minutes later opened on the
enemy's front line. The shooting was excellent, but the backward burst
from our 6 inch Howitzers caused several casualties; amongst others 2nd
Lieut. Steel was badly wounded in the leg. At Zero, 11-25 p.m., we
advanced, but found no means of getting through the wire, while the
Boche sent numbers of bombs and rifle grenades along the whole front.
The party acted very coolly and searched carefully for gaps, but,
finding none, threw their bombs and returned, guided to our lines by
rockets and lanterns. Six men were missing. A curious thing happened
when our search party, under L/Cpl. Archer, went out to look for them. A
German machine gun, hearing the movement, opened fire, and, at the same
moment, our "Flying Pig"--240 mm. trench mortar--which had jammed during
the barrage, suddenly went off and dropped its shell exactly on the gun
team. The following night Cobley's body, one of the raiders, was found
in a shell-hole, and soon afterwards two others, Worth and Sommers,
returned to our lines, having been lost the previous night. Barkby was
found dead a day later, and Duckett's body was buried by a patrol which
found it during the following tour. The sixth was Private "Arty" Carr,
who returned unhurt at 11-0 p.m. on the 8th, after three days. During
the raid he had left his party, and, while they worked to the left,
looking for a gap, had gone to the right, where, outside the raid area,
he found the wire thin. He had entered the German lines, had some
exciting times with a post which he bombed, and then tried to get out,
only to find that he had moved away from his original gap, and was now
confronted by some very strong wire. He did not get through until dawn
on the 6th, so then lay in a shell hole until dark, when he started to
return. Tired and somewhat exhausted, he lost his way in the waste of
shell holes and mortar craters round the Monchy Salient, and did not
finally find our lines until the 8th.
[Illustration: General map to illustrate chapters VII, VIII &. IX.]
Our total casualties were three killed and one officer and 15 wounded.
To these must be added Captain Barton, who had a most unfortunate
accident. Always wanting to be "up and doing," he watched the raid and
helped the wounded, standing on our front line parapet, but, turning to
re-enter the trench, slipped and bayonetted himself in the thigh. It was
not a very serious wound, but would not heal, and he had to be sent to
England. With him we lost another valuable officer, 2nd Lieut. Williams,
who, while acting as bomb instructor at Brigade Headquarters, met with
an accident, and was wounded in the head. Not long afterwards, Serjt.
Goodman, our chief N.C.O. Instructor, who was wounded, and lost one of
his legs and part of an arm as the result of a bombing accident at the
Divisional School. During this first month our casualties, "holding the
line," were very slight, though we lost three good N.C.O.'s through
shell fire. Serjt. Shreeves, of "C" Company, died of wounds, Cpl.
Ambrose, of "B" Company, was killed outright near Hannescamps, and later
Serjt. W. Gartshore, of "C" Company.
Between raids and gas attacks we were kept hard at work repairing our
trenches. General Kemp was a sapper before he became an Infantry
Brigadier, and we were soon instructed in the mysteries of sump-holes,
"berms" and "batters," interlocking trench floor boards, and the correct
angles for the sloping sides of a trench, while anyone who dared to
undercut a parapet for any purpose had better not be present the next
time that the General appeared. As far as possible all the carpentry
work was done by the Sappers out of trenches and sump-frames were sent
up ready made, also small dug-outs in numbered parts, easily put
together; all we had to do was to dig the necessary holes. At the same
time some genius invented the "A" frame, a really wonderful labour
saving device. Hitherto floorboards had been supported on piles and
crossbars, while further and longer stakes were driven in to carry the
rivetment. The new frame shaped like a flat-topped letter "A," was put
in the floor of the trench upside down. The legs held the revetment
against the sides, the floorboards rested on the cross-piece, and the
space between the cross-piece and the flat top formed a good drain.
These were first used in communication trenches only, where the
Monmouthshires were at work for us; later we used them in all trenches
wherever possible.
[Illustration: Sketch of a trench.]
Meanwhile, when not in trenches, we rested, first at Bienvillers and
later at Pommier. Bienvillers had many good billets, but was too full of
our heavy artillery to be pleasant, for the noise was often very
disturbing. The enemy, too, used to shell the place, and 2nd Lieut.
Shipston had a most remarkable escape one day when standing in front of
a first floor window, shaving. A whizz-bang hit the window sill and
carried itself, sill and many bricks, between his legs into the room; he
himself was untouched. Another early morning bombardment found the
Doctor in his bath. He left it hurriedly and hastened, dripping and
unclothed, to the cellar, which he found already contained several
officers and the ladies of his billet. But this stay in Bienvillers is
most remembered on account of a slight fracas which occurred between
Col. Jones and a visiting Army Sanitation Officer. A full account is
given in two entries in the War Diary. The first, dated the 23rd July,
says simply--"Major T----, Sanitation Officer, IIIrd. Army, came to look
at billets. We received him coldly, and in consequence got a bad
report, see later." The second entry, a week later, is dated 30th July.
"The Sanitary report referred to came and we replied. The report
detailed many ways in which we, as a Regiment, were living in dirt, and
making no attempt to follow common-sense rules, or to improve our state.
It stated that we had been in the village _three days_, and thus implied
that there could be no excuse. Our reply asserted that the inaccuracy of
the report made it worthless. That, though the Regiment had been there
three days, the Army, which the gallant Major T. represented and worked
for, had been in the village some months. That Major T.'s party had done
nothing to put or keep the billets in order, to put up incinerators, or
in any way to make suitable billets for soldiers resting from trench
duty. It suggested that Major T. had neglected his duty, and thus was
not in a position to judge a Regiment."
Pommier was much pleasanter, and was very seldom shelled. Brigade
Headquarters lived there, and, with the aid of an energetic Mayor and
our invaluable interpreter, M. Bonassieux, had done much to improve the
billets. There were plenty of civilians who were good to us, though, to
quote the War Diary again, 26th August, "A complaint was made by the
Maire that certain of our officers were bathing in the open, and that
this was not counted amongst the indecencies the French permitted." At
about the same time, during one of our rest periods, we were inspected
by General Thwaites--a full ceremonial inspection, the first of many of
these much dreaded ordeals. Again it is impossible to improve on the
account given by the War Diary. "At 2-30 we were drawn up in close
column in Ceremonial--Companies sized. We received the new G.O.C. with
several salutes, the last was probably the worst. The Battalion was then
closely inspected, and a few names taken for unsteadiness, dirty
buttons, badly fitted packs, and the like. A slight confusion between
the terms packs and equipment led us to take off equipment, and we then
formed up as a Battalion in Brigade. We saluted again, this time we had
no bayonets, and then marched past by Companies and back in close column
several times. Then, by a questionable, though not questioned,
manoeuvre, we came back again and advanced in review order. The
Brigade Band was in attendance and played the Brigade March in place of
the Regimental March, because it did not know the latter. While still in
Ceremonial order, we finished by doing Battalion drill, under the
general idea 'keep moving.' We kept moving for two hours in all, and it
was universally conceded that the men moved very well. One or two of the
newly arrived officers were unequal to the occasion. It was a good day
in the country, and, in the senior officers, stirred up pleasant
memories of old peace time annual inspections." The exceeding fierceness
of the General on this Inspection had an amusing sequel when, a week
later, two of our soldiers were repairing a road outside the Brigade
office. One regarded the other's work for a few minutes critically, and
then exclaimed fiercely, "Very ragged, very ragged, do it again!" It is
only fair to add, that, terrible as was the ordeal of a Divisional
Inspection, the General kept his original promise, and spent many hours
in the foremost trenches, "that he might know us well."
The evening of this same inspection was one of the few occasions on
which Pommier was bombarded. A sudden two minutes' "hate" of about 40
shells, 4.2 and 5.9, wounded three men and killed both the C.O.'s
horses, "Silvertail" and "Baby"; both came out with the Battalion. We
still, however, had some good animals left, as was obvious at the
Brigade Sports and Race meeting held on the 11th September at la Bazéque
Farm. This was a most successful show, and the only pity was that we
were in trenches at the time, and so could only send a limited number of
all ranks to take part. The great event of the day was the steeplechase.
The Staff Captain, Major J.E. Viccars, on "Solomon," led all the way,
but was beaten in the last twenty yards by Major Newton, R.F.A. Lieut.
L.H. Pearson was third on "Sunlock II.," the transport Serjeant's horse.
It was a remarkable performance, for he only decided to ride at the last
moment, and neither he nor horse had trained at all. The Battalion did
well in other events, winning 1st and 2nd places in both obstacle and
mule races, and providing the best cooker and best pack pony; the two
last were a great credit to the Transport Section. One of the features
of the day was the Bookies' G.S. wagon, where two officers disguised
with top hats, yellow waistcoats and pyjamas, carried on a successful
business as "turf accountants." At a VIIth. Corps meeting, held a
fortnight later on the same course, we secured two places for the
Battalion: Capt. Burnett came home 2nd in an open steeplechase, and
Capt. Moore 3rd in one for Infantry officers only.
During September our Mess, already up to strength, was considerably
increased by a large draft of Officers. First we were glad to see Major
Griffiths back as Second in Command, though sorry for Captain John
Burnett, who had to go back to Transport for the time. With Major
Griffiths came 2nd Lieuts. J.R. Brooke, S. Corah, and W.I. Nelson, while
within the same month, or shortly afterwards, 2nd. Lieuts. L.A. Nelson,
J.H. Ball, P. Measures, T.L. Boynton, W.C. Walley, W. Lambert, M.F.
Poynor, and J.A. Wortley all arrived. In October also Serjeant
Beardmore, M.M., of "C" Company, who had latterly being doing
exceptionally good work with the Battalion Scouts, was given his
Commission in the Field, and reposted as a platoon Commander to the old
Company. Capt. Barton's place as M.O. was taken by Captain T.D. Morgan,
of the 2nd Field Ambulance. At the same time a stroke of bad luck robbed
us of 2nd Lieut. Coles, who was badly wounded. During a raid of the 4th
Lincolnshires in October it was our duty to cause a diversion by blowing
up some tubes of ammonal in the Boche wire. The party, led by 2nd Lieut.
Coles, was about to leave our trenches when a rifle grenade or "pine
apple" bomb dropped in their midst and exploded one of the tubes, doing
much damage.
During these long months of trench warfare a considerable advance was
made in the work of the Intelligence department of the Infantry
Battalion. A year ago one officer did duty for a whole Brigade, now each
Battalion had its Intelligence officer, its scouts and observers, and
its snipers, sometimes the last under a separate officer. The duties of
the Intelligence section were many. They must see and report every
little thing which happened in the enemy's lines, no small detail must
be omitted. The number and colours of his signal lights on different
occasions, the relative activity of his different batteries and their
positions, the movement of his transport, the location of his mortars
and machine guns, the trench reliefs, all these must be watched. The
immediate purpose was of course retaliation, counter battery work, the
making of our bombardments more effective by picking out the tender
spots in his lines, and generally harassing the enemy; but there was a
further purpose. It was particularly necessary that the higher commands
should be kept informed of all the big movements of troops, the state of
the enemy's discipline, etc., and often some little incident seen in the
front line would give the clue to one of these. Lieut. L.H. Pearson was
at this time Intelligence officer, helped by Serjt. Beardmore, M.M.,
the humorous side to their work, and many amusing things were seen, or
said to be seen, through the observers' telescopes. The old white-haired
Boche, digging near Monchy, who looked so benign that no one would shoot
him, became quite a famous character, until one day his real nature was
revealed, for he shook his fist at one of our low-flying aeroplanes, and
obviously uttered a string of curses, so one of the snipers shot him.
Then again there was the lady of Douchy, who could be seen each evening
coming out to hang up the washing; she was popularly known as Mary, and
figured in the reports nearly every day.
With the observers worked the snipers. After nearly two years,
telescopic sights at last appeared, and we tried to train the once
despised "Bisley shot." They were very keen, and had much success, of
which they were duly proud, as their individual reports showed. "We
watched for ¾ of an hour until our viggillance was rewarded by seeing
a Boche; he exposed half of himself above the parapet, I, Pte. ----, shot
him," so said one report, the name has unfortunately been lost. Some
snipers even kept a book of their "kills," with entries such as "June
1st, 9-30 a.m. Boche sentry looking over, shot in shoulder, had grey
hair almost bald very red face and no hat." It was just the right
spirit, and it had its results. Autumn, 1915, saw us hardly daring to
look over the top for fear of being sniped; Autumn, 1916, saw us
masters, doing just what we pleased, when we pleased.