GORRE AND ESSARS AT PEACE.
12th April, 1918. 10th Aug., 1918.
Bracquemont was sadly changed. Instead of the gay, almost fashionable
suburb of Noeux les Mines, with numbers of people in the streets, it was
now a wilderness of empty houses; the only sign of life, the piteous
little groups of women and children waiting by the roadside for some
French car to come and take them to a place of safety. The miners alone
remained. Inspired by Clemenceau, who had visited the place a day or two
before, they were working day and night, regardless of bombardments and
nightly bombing raids. The furnaces at the Noeux Mines could be seen for
miles round, and were a constant mark for every German gun and
aeroplane, but still the plucky miners carried on their work, knowing
that on them alone depended the coal supply of France. We were billeted
in the Convent formerly occupied by the Casualty Clearing Station. The
following morning the Drums gave a short concert in the Bandstand, and
after dinner we were taken by lorries to Hersin Coupigny.
Hersin Coupigny was still fairly thickly populated, but the news from
the Merville and Kemmel area where the enemy seemed to be making good
progress, together with the arrival each evening of a few high-velocity
shells, were fast driving the inhabitants to seek safety further West.
We remained here until the 24th of April, the first few days in huts,
the remainder in the Tile Factory. It was not an enjoyable rest--in fact
it was no rest at all. All ranks were ready to move at short notice, and
one expected almost hourly to be sent forward to fill some new gap in
the line.
Pamphlets poured in--"How to fortify farmhouses for defence"--"Notes on
recent German offensives"--Plans of rear defences. Generals made
speeches telling the troops to be brave, artillery officers reconnoitred
new gun positions miles behind the lines, and the entire Labour Corps
seemed to be digging "last ditches." It was all very depressing, and
many men were heard to remark that they wished the Boche would attack,
so that there might be an end of words, and a chance for a few deeds. No
one doubted that the Division was perfectly capable of looking after
itself and dealing with any German attack.
Then came Influenza, and with it the end of all chance of immediate
action for the Battalion. Officers and men were attacked alike, and in a
few days more than 250 were sent to Hospital. Fortunately a temporary
place was fitted up at Bruay, and the majority of cases were dealt with
there and not sent down the line, where they would have been
irretrievably lost. The cause of the complaint will be for ever a
mystery; its symptoms were temperature--weakness, fainting and loss of
voice. Some blamed the gas, others the huts, and others the Bracquemont
hospital buildings. The Medical Officer, wise man, would give no
opinion. The weather was damp and raw and at times very cold.
Consequently no one was very sorry when, on the 24th, the Brigade
marched to Bruay. The Battalion and a 9" high velocity German shell
arrived in Bruay about the same time and found the place deserted.
Several houses had been hit, and the inhabitants had wisely decided to
take no risks, so, with the exception of the colliers, had all gone.
This made billeting very difficult. Buildings were all locked up and no
one had the key. Eventually everybody was squashed into the Girls'
School--the officers occupied one of the dormitories, and, though
uncomfortable, all had at least shelter from the rain which fell in
torrents. At intervals a tremendous roar followed by a crash announced
the arrival of what became known as "another toute suiter"; fortunately
no one was hurt. The following day the Brigade moved into Fouquières;
the 4th Battalion occupied the old Hospital huts, and we shared the
remainder of the village with the 5th Lincolnshire Regiment. Battalion
Headquarters were in the Chateau, still occupied by the two ladies, now
the only civilians left in the village. With the most wonderfully
cheerful courage did these two remain, though their servants had gone,
though food was almost unobtainable, and though there was seldom an hour
without a shell falling in some part of the village or its surroundings.
The Battalion was exceedingly lucky and escaped with practically no
casualties; not so the 4th Battalion, which lost several men in the
huts. Most of the influenza cases now returned, and we were once more
strong enough to take the field. On the 26th we lost Captain and
Quartermaster A.A. Worley who went to England never to return. For some
time his health had been bad, but though unfit for duty he had refused
to leave the Battalion until he had seen the stores properly organized
for battle. Except for a short stay in England in 1917, he had been
with us since the beginning. His one thought was always for the welfare
of the Battalion, and no one ever gave more devoted service than he did.
His place was taken in June by Captain and Quartermaster W.A. Nicholson,
of the Essex Regiment. During the interval the duties were very ably
carried out by R.Q.M.S. Gorse.
On the 24th of April the Sherwood Foresters and Staffords had taken over
the line from Route "A" Keep to the Canal just South of Locon. Four days
later we were ordered to relieve the Sherwood Foresters in the right
half of the left sector. Various reconnoitering parties went up
beforehand, and at dusk we moved off by platoons through Béthune and
Essars. The former town had already suffered very badly. All roads
through the centre were completely blocked, and troops had to find their
way round its Western edge and past the Prison. Civilians had all been
evacuated and the only permanent occupants were the Tunnelling Company
assisted by some French colliers. The route to trenches was the main
road through Essars, and parts of this were constantly "harassed" by the
enemy's artillery. The Battalion was particularly unfortunate on this
first relief. Headquarter Officers were riding, and, in passing the
column, had just come level with the head of "C" Company, when the enemy
suddenly opened fire on the road with a field battery. Captain Banwell
was thrown from his horse which was hit, and the remainder of the
chargers immediately bolted across a field. The plunging animals and the
shells (about 50 of which were fired in two minutes) threw the leading
platoon of "C" Company into confusion, and, as the ditch at the side of
the road gave no cover, the casualties were high; but for the coolness
of the Platoon Commander, 2nd Lieut. H. Coxell, they would have been
higher still. The rear platoon of "B" Company also suffered heavily. The
shells were gas, and those men who were hit had small or no chance of
putting on their masks. Captain Jack, the Medical Officer, was as usual
wonderfully calm, and quite regardless of his own personal safety,
succeeded in getting several men under the wall of a house, where he was
able to dress their wounds. The remainder of the relief was carried out
without molestation.
Our new sector was very different from anything we had previously seen.
The front line--practically the outpost line--marked the limit of the
German offensive in April; on the right was Route "A" Keep, one of the
old 1915 strong points with two concrete machine-gun emplacements. It
was now a mere heap of shattered trees, shattered trenches and the usual
remains of many fights, for in 20 days it changed hands nine times. The
Staffords captured it for the last time on the 29th of April, and from
then onwards it remained British. The line then ran between Loisne
Chateau and Raux Farm--our old Brigade Headquarters of 1915, now a
German machine gun and trench mortar nest--to the S.W. outskirts of Le
Touret and on to the canal at Mesplaux. Except for the old keeps at
intervals, it consisted entirely of a few small holes dug more or less
at random, with little or no wire in front. Behind this, along the whole
Divisional front ran the Liverpool Line or Reserve Line, slightly deeper
and better sighted than the frontline, and defended by the "Beuvry
river," a small stream running between steep banks and reputed to be
uncrossable by tanks. Gorre and Le Hamel villages came behind this
line, and provided Battalion Headquarters with cellar accommodation, and
the Support Battalions with billets of a sort.
Farms in the front line were not too plentiful, and Company Headquarters
usually consisted of a hole 4ft. by 2ft. by 2ft. into which the Company
Commander could just squeeze himself, and curl up his feet to avoid
having them kicked and trodden on by the men passing along the ditch
outside. Rations came to Gorre and Essars by rail and limber, and were
carried forward by hand over the top to the front line. Except for
occasional bursts of fire on certain roads and villages, particularly
Essars and Gorre, the enemy was on the whole quiet. These were small gas
bombardments, and one or two really bad days, but for the most part it
was a quiet sector, except round Route A.
Behind the villages came the La Bassée Canal with all the bridges mined
and demolition parties ready to blow them up in the event of a hostile
attack. The idea of course was that they should be blown after the last
Englishman N. of the Canal had either been killed or had crossed it.
That the bridges would get demolished all right, none of us ever doubted
for a moment; we were equally certain that this would take place on the
first alarm of any attack, and those of us who happened to be on the
North bank would thus be compelled to fight to the end or swim.
Fortunately these warriors were never called on to perform.
Vaudricourt Park was the rest area. At first, bell tents and a few
bivouacs were all the available cover, but in time, as corrugated iron
could be sent down from old horse lines in the forward area, messhuts,
cook-houses and canteens were built. There were no long spells of wet
weather and when it was fine the Camp in the Park was delightful. It was
never shelled and never bombed, and it is hard to imagine a better
place. Verquin and Vaudricourt provided the necessary estaminets and the
soldiers could obtain as much vin blanc (or "Jimmy Blink" as it was more
popularly called) as they desired; while one Bertha made large sums of
money by inserting a slip of lemon peel into a glass as cheap champagne
and selling it to officers at an exorbitant price as a "champagne
cocktail." The country round provided good ground for a sports meeting,
in which "A" Company were victorious, while "D" Company managed to
finish a close second in most events. Lieutenants Everitt and Quint and
Private R.O. Start were the chief runners, but large numbers took part
and tremendous keenness was displayed by all. There was cricket almost
every day in the Park, and great enthusiasm was shown in the Battalion
Championship, won by Headquarters.
From the beginning of May to the middle of August the Brigade never left
these two sectors, Gorre and Essars, and during this time there was no
change in the front line. It was seldom that anything happened of
sufficient importance to find its way into the day's communiqué, but
every tour was full of interesting incidents, all of which show how the
warfare was rapidly changing.
Our first relief was remarkable for the fact that we took over at
Battalion Headquarters two cows (and with them a daily supply of fresh
milk), for whom L/Cpl. "Pat" Collins was self-appointed cowman--while
the left Company found a plentiful supply of eggs. A stray mule was
found wandering round the outposts on the "wrong" side of the Beuvry
river, while in the farm actually in the front line we discovered still
alive after 21 days without food--a cow and calf, two bullocks, an old
white horse and a pig; they were in a terrible condition of starvation
and had to be killed by the Intelligence Officer, 2nd Lieut. Hewson, who
found it a most unpleasant task. There were of course many dogs--one, at
a cottage in no man's land, being particularly unpleasant for
patrolling. In addition to Lance-Corporal Collins' cows, two others and
a goat were led out by Private Muggleton. The goat came to an untimely
end, being done to death in Vaudricourt Park by its Company Commander,
outside whose tent it was noisily bewailing its captivity.
In front of us, there was little or no wire, and our first encounter
with the enemy was on the 6th of May when a Corporal and three men of
"D" Company went out to wire their post and marched straight on to a
patrol of about 15 enemy waiting for them. The enemy opened fire at
close range and the wiring party threw down their wire and replied. Two
of the party were hit in the first few seconds and a third--Private
Smith--who had come to us from the 2nd/5th in January--was attacked by
two Germans and carried off struggling. The Corporal fired at the enemy
who then made off, leaving one dead man behind them. The Platoon
Commander (2nd Lieut. W.M. Cole) came up and, after assisting the
wounded back, set off to look for Smith. Except, however, for the dead
man, nothing could be found of the enemy, and by dawn the search was
given up as hopeless. The following night Smith returned. It appears
that the enemy meeting more opposition than they expected, made off as
soon as they had got their prisoner, and, as there were plenty of
bullets about, the remainder of the patrol, leaving prisoner and escort
to follow as best they could, hurried back to their lines. Smith watched
his chance; suddenly stooping, he kicked one man amidships, seized his
rifle, gave the other a jab with the bayonet, and ran for his life. He
got away, but had to lie up until the next evening to get back. For this
he was awarded the Military Medal.
The following tour, in the Gorre right sector, was very successful until
the last two days when Battalion Headquarters received the just
punishment for tempting fortune too far. Both 4th and 5th Battalions had
their Headquarters in the cellar of Gorre Chateau--cramped and stuffy at
any time, and in the hot weather unendurable. Our Headquarters,
therefore, cleared out a room on the first floor for a mess--it had a
carpet and other luxuries, and its only blemish was a shell-hole in the
corner of the window. With great pride we invited Brigadiers and others
to our new mess, until on the 17th of May the crash came. The enemy had
fired several salvoes towards the Chateau during the afternoon, and at
8-15 p.m. he started in earnest. The wood, the Chateau and the corner by
the Church were shelled unceasingly--first with 77 and 105 m.m.
shells--later on with 5.9's. The mess was knocked in, the wood was
filled with gas, the kitchen and signal office both had direct hits. The
Transport had a terrible time on the road, and it was only the devoted
work of the Transport Officer, 2nd Lieut. W.R. Todd, with his drivers,
particularly Hill and Randall and the Provost Serjeant Bennett, which
enabled rations to be taken up. An advance party of Stafford Officers
got to the cellar and couldn't leave it for two hours, until finally
Colonel Wood took them up the line himself, returning alone through the
wood.
The Companies were comparatively immune except near the "Tuning Fork."
General Thwaites was visiting the line at the time and had a narrow
escape himself, while his A.D.C. was badly wounded. Towards morning the
shelling somewhat subsided, but one very unlucky shot hit the cellar
ventilator and filled it with gas. Then came the sun and with it the
mustard; not very many mustard shells had been fired, but, as the day
advanced, the heat kept drawing the gas out of the ground and the
Chateau became a death trap. We all cleared out early and went into the
fields, but even so it was too late; many men's clothes were tainted,
and by 6-0 p.m. all the servants and more than half the other
Headquarter details were blind and had to go. Serjeant Bent, of the
Regimental Aid Post, and Allbright, the Orderly Room Clerk, were amongst
those who went down. Our Medical Officer (Captain W.B. Jack),
Intelligence Officer (2nd Lieut. J.A. Hewson) and Lieut. K. Ashdowne all
went to Hospital, while the 4th Battalion lost all their Headquarter
Officers. By night the Commanding Officer was unable to speak, the
Adjutant half blind, and the Padre was doing everybody's job with his
wonderful energy. It was a very sorrowful Battalion Headquarters that
handed over to the Staffordshires and found its way slowly back to
Vaudricourt.
Soon after that--on the 29th of May--"C" Company had another gas
misfortune while in support in Gorre village. Their house was heavily
shelled with mustard, and though all men were taken out as soon as
possible 40% of the Company, together with 2nd Lieuts. H. Coxell and O.
Darlington had to be evacuated. There was so much gas at this time that
special compartments were set apart for gassed men and gassed clothing
on the Fouquières-Le Quesnoy-Kantara Dump light railway.
Towards the end of the month the crops began to get very high, and by
the first week in June hardly a day passed without some daylight patrol
taking advantage of them. Captain Banwell first made the experiment.
Accompanied by his runner, Smiles, he visited the "crashed" aeroplane
just N. of the Rue du Bois and found a most elaborate German night post
in a tree, with wires to machine gun posts. His example was followed on
the 9th of June by 2nd Lieut. Cole, who went out one morning with
Lance-Corporal Thurman and a party from "D" Company. They crawled
through some wire and found themselves close to a German shell-hole
post. 2nd Lieut. Cole himself reconnoitred this post, and finding the
sentry dozing called up his Corporal. The latter hit the sentry on the
head with his rifle "to attract his attention" (so read the patrol
report), and leaning over the hole whispered "Ici yer ----er." The
Boche, however, was too frightened to "ici" and looked like giving the
alarm, so 2nd Lieut. Cole jumped down and fired his revolver to hurry
him along. This caused a considerable disturbance. Two German Machine
Gun posts only a few yards away joined in the fight and for a moment
things looked bad for the patrol. The latter, finding they could not get
a prisoner, made a note of his Regiment, shot him, and made off under a
heavy fire from the machine gun posts. They all got away safely. The
Corps Commander described 2nd Lieut. Cole's work as "a very fine piece
of patrol work, and called for courage, initiative and cunning of a high
degree." Ten days later--on the 10th of June--the enemy suddenly shelled
the "Tuning Fork Switch" trench, and this very gallant young officer was
badly wounded in the arm. He was taken down to the Casualty Clearing
Station at once, but in spite of all the Doctors' efforts, blood
poisoning set in, and on the 29th Lieut. Maurice Cole died. The same
evening he was awarded the Military Cross for his patrol fight. He lies
now in Pernes cemetery. No officer was ever more loved by his men, and
justly so, for he was not only their leader in danger, but their first
friend in difficulty. In the Mess "Bill" Cole was as popular as in the
field. Patrolling was not confined to these two Companies, and many
officers and men spent quite a large proportion of their time crawling
through the corn. Chief among these were 2nd Lieuts. Asher, Argyle,
Boarland, Christy, Davies, Serjeants T. Marston, M.M., Haines, Foster,
M.S.M., P. Bowler, T. Tunks, T. Needham, Clamp and others.
With the hot weather the La Bassée Canal became a very useful asset, and
not only were there constant bathing parties, but it was actually
possible at the end of July to hold a swimming gala in the "Brewery
Reach." There were several well contested races and diving competitions,
uninterrupted by hostile aircraft, and a very pleasant afternoon
(considering the Boche were less than a mile away) was spent in this
way. The chief race was won by Signaller Stanton.
Towards the end of July, as there was no sign of the long expected
German attack, preparations were made for the coming winter. Houses
were reinforced, and had concrete houses built inside them, and some
very comfortable Headquarters were built in this way. Perhaps the best
of these was the Battalion Headquarters of the Route A sector--a cottage
on the banks of the canal and screened from any observation by the
woods. It had its own bathing place (where Serjt. Wilbur nearly got
drowned) and its own private approach by the tow path--incidentally, of
course, its own mosquitoes, but one got used to them in time.
On the 13th of July we lost Captain Banwell, who went into hospital for
a few weeks with his fifth wound--an aeroplane bullet in the stomach. It
was not at all a slight wound, but he managed to persuade the Pernes
Doctors that it was, and so contrived not to be evacuated beyond the
C.C.S. He eventually returned in August, and after a few days as A.D.C.
to General Rowley, who was then Commanding the Division, went off on a
month's leave to get fit.
On the 6th of August the Staff had reason to believe that the Boche
might be contemplating a withdrawal that morning, and we were asked to
make sure that we could still get in touch with the enemy. Accordingly,
Lieut. Pearson, Lance-Corporal "Anty" Carr and Pte. Ferrin, all of "A"
Company, crawled out at dawn towards the ruined houses and battery
positions opposite Route A Keep. It was the anniversary of Carr's 1916
experience and before they went several of his friends jestingly warned
him not to be captured this time. The patrol crawled via several dykes
and got close to the house without disturbing anyone, until, to get a
better view Lieut. Pearson knelt up to use glasses. A machine gun then
opened fire on them at close range, so they returned. On the way back
they were suddenly fired at by a post in their path--the occupants must
have been asleep on the way out. Pte. Ferrin was hit and died almost at
once, but the others tried to bomb the enemy out, and, finding they
could not, decided to lie still until evening. However, the enemy proved
more resolute than usual and soon surrounded and captured the whole
party. The fight was seen by several of the front line posts and also by
a patrol of "D" Company under 2nd Lieut. Christy. This latter was quite
unable to give any help as it was itself having very great difficulty in
getting away from two large Boche patrols who were trying to cut it off.
A few days later, while we were in support at Le Quesnoy, the enemy
started his withdrawal, and the Gorre-Essars front once more became a
battle sector.