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diff --git a/17813.txt b/17813.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2d5f491 --- /dev/null +++ b/17813.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6076 @@ +Project Gutenberg's At Ypres with Best-Dunkley, by Thomas Hope Floyd + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: At Ypres with Best-Dunkley + +Author: Thomas Hope Floyd + +Release Date: February 21, 2006 [EBook #17813] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AT YPRES WITH BEST-DUNKLEY *** + + + + +Produced by David Clarke, Janet Blenkinship and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries) + + + + + + + + + ON ACTIVE SERVICE SERIES + + + + + AT YPRES WITH BEST-DUNKLEY + + By THOMAS HOPE FLOYD + + + + LONDON: JOHN LANE THE BODLEY HEAD + NEW YORK: JOHN LANE COMPANY MCMXX + _Garden City Press, Letchworth, Herts._ + + + + + TO + + ALL RANKS OF THE + + SECOND-FIFTH LANCASHIRE FUSILIERS + + WHO FELL AT + + YPRES + + ON THE THIRTY-FIRST OF JULY, 1917 + + I DEDICATE THIS BOOK + + "... Henceforth + These are our saints. + + These that we touched, and kissed, + And frowned upon; + These that were frail, yet died because the good + Was overthrown. + + That they in one dread hour + Were terrible + Stains not their sainthood, nor is heaven less sure + That they knew hell. + + How beautiful they are, + How bright their eyes. + Their hands have grasped the key + Of Paradise! + + They hold it out to us, + Our men, our sons + ... To us + The lonely ones." + + --THOMAS MOULT.[1] + +FOOTNOTE: + +[1] Quoted with Mr. Moult's permission. + + + + +FOREWORD + + +No doubt it will be thought that some apology is necessary for thrusting +upon the public all this mass of matter, relating to many persons and +episodes with whom and with respect to which they may feel that they are +in no way concerned. I quite realize that my action may appear strange +and uncalled for to the superficial observer. But I do not hold that +view. I, personally, have always felt a desire to read this kind of +literature. The Press does not cease to pour forth volumes of memoirs by +leading and prominent persons--matter which is all wanted for a true +understanding of the history of our times. But this is not enough. We +require all the personal narratives we can get; and, in my opinion, the +more personal and intimate, the better. We want narratives by obscure +persons: we want to know and appreciate everybody's outlook upon public +events, whether that outlook be orthodox or unorthodox, conventional or +unconventional. Only thus can we see the recent war in all its aspects. + +The motives which have prompted me to publish this book have been well +expressed by Dr. A. C. Benson in his essay on Authorship in _From a +College Window._ In that volume there occurs the following striking +passage: + +"The wonderful thing to me is not that there is so much desire in the +world to express our little portion of the joy, the grief, the mystery +of it all, but that there is so little. I wish with all my heart that +there was more instinct for personal expression; Edward Fitzgerald said +that he wished that we had more lives of obscure persons; one wants to +know what other people are thinking and feeling about it all; what joys +they anticipate, what fears they sustain, how they regard the end and +cessation of life and perception which waits for us all. The worst of it +is that people are often so modest, they think that their own experience +is so dull, so unromantic, so uninteresting. It is an entire mistake. If +the dullest person in the world would only put down sincerely what he or +she thought about his or her life, about work and love, religion and +emotion, it would be a fascinating document. My only sorrow is that +amateurs of whom I have spoken above will not do this; they rather turn +to external and impersonal impressions, relate definite things, what +they see on their travels, for instance, describing just the things +which anyone can see. They tend to indulge in the melancholy labour of +translation, or employ customary, familiar forms, such as the novel or +the play. If only they would write diaries and publish them; compose +imaginary letters; let one inside the house of self, instead of keeping +one wandering in the park!" + +These memoirs, then, consist mainly of extracts from my private diary +and my letters home during those memorable days, spent in the Salient +and its vicinity, between the Battle of Messines and the Third Battle of +Ypres. The letters cover a definite period in the history of a great +battalion and in the course of the war. As will speedily be noticed, the +whole period was one of looking forward, practising and awaiting a great +day which we all knew was not far off, but the actual date of which none +of us knew until it was almost upon us. All this time our interests +(and, perhaps, our fears!) were centred upon one man, the unpopular +Colonel who, few of us guessed in those days, was destined to win the +V.C. on "the day," going down in a blaze of glory which should ever +associate his name with that battle. With that "day," which was for many +of us the end of all earthly troubles and hopes and fears, or, at any +rate, an end for many months, the story reaches its natural termination. + +In these pages I give to the public, for what they are worth, my own +personal impressions of the people and things I saw and with whom I +came into contact. I hope I have revealed the late Colonel Best-Dunkley +to the public just as he was--as he appeared to me and as he appeared to +others. I believe that in this I am doing right. "Paint me in my true +colours!" exclaimed Cromwell to Lely. That is all that any hero--and +Best-Dunkley was certainly a hero--can conscientiously ask. And I am +sure it was all Best-Dunkley himself would ever have asked. He was a +brilliant young man, endowed with a remarkable personality. It is right +that his memory should be preserved; and if his memory is to be +preserved it must be the memory of the Best-Dunkley we knew. + +The battalion which Best-Dunkley commanded has, since his death, +achieved great things and acquired great fame under the still more +brilliant leadership of his successor, Colonel Brighten; but we must +never forget that it was Best-Dunkley who led it on the glorious day of +Ypres and that it was the tradition which he inspired which has been one +of the strongest elements of esprit de corps in the 2/5th Lancashire +Fusiliers. All who served under Best-Dunkley remember the fact with a +certain amount of pride, however unfavourably his personality may have +impressed itself upon them at the time--for "All times are good when +old!" + +I am fully aware of the many imperfections of this book; but if it +succeeds at all in vividly recalling to those who were in the Ypres +Salient in 1917 the atmosphere of that time, and if it should encourage +others to risk a similar venture, I shall feel amply rewarded. + + + + + + CONTENTS + + + CHAPTER PAGE + + FOREWORD vii + + I OFF TO THE FRONT 1 + + II THE PRISON 26 + + III ENTER BEST-DUNKLEY 49 + + IV MILLAIN 57 + + V THE MARCH 63 + + VI THE GENERAL'S SPEECH 77 + + VII THE VALE OF ACQUIN 81 + + VIII BACK TO THE SALIENT 103 + + IX BILGE TRENCH 113 + + X THE RAMPARTS 128 + + XI MUSTARD OIL 136 + + XII THE CITY AND THE TRENCHES 146 + + XIII RELIEF 164 + + XIV WATOU 168 + + XV THE DAYS BEFORE 179 + + XVI THE BATTLE OF YPRES 187 + + + APPENDICES + + I MURRAY AND ALLENBY 227 + + II THE INFANTRY AT MINDEN 229 + + III GENERAL RAWLINSON AND OSTEND 230 + + IV EDWARD III AND THE ORDER OF THE GARTER 231 + + V GOLDFISH CHATEAU 233 + + + + +AT YPRES WITH BEST-DUNKLEY + + + + +CHAPTER I + +OFF TO THE FRONT + + +I had been to France before--in 1916, during the Battle of the +Somme--but not as an officer; in 1916 I was a private in the Royal +Fusiliers, and I had received orders to return to "Blighty" in order to +proceed to an officer cadet battalion at Gailes, in Ayrshire, before I +had been able to see what a front-line trench was like. So this, then, +was my first experience of war--my "baptism of fire." I had seen and +heard those magnificent bombardments up the line in 1916, and had gazed +with awestruck admiration upon the strange horizon far away from my +tents at Boulogne and Etaples, wondering what it must be like to be +amongst it all, and expecting to be amongst it all in the course of a +day or two; but, as I have already observed, I was recalled to England, +and was not destined to be amongst it until the following summer. But +now, at last, the experience, the great adventure to which I had been +looking forward so long, was to be mine. I was gazetted a +second-lieutenant in the 5th (Territorial) Lancashire Fusiliers on March +1, 1917; on March 26, I reported for duty with the 5th (Reserve) +Lancashire Fusiliers at South Camp, Ripon, where I spent some unpleasant +weeks amongst snow and mud; from Ripon the unit proceeded to +Scarborough, where I rejoined it after having spent a couple of weeks in +hospital, with tonsillitis, at the former place. Shortly after this, I +received orders to proceed overseas, and returned to my home in +Middleton Junction to spend my embarkation leave. + +That leave was spent in the happy way in which all such leaves were +spent during the Great War, terminating with a visit to the Gaiety, in +Manchester, in conjunction with my father and mother, where we saw a +most enjoyable comedy entitled "The Two Miss Farndons." + +I bid farewell to my parents on Victoria Station at 10.35 that +evening--Friday, May 25, 1917; and I then proceeded to the train which +was to carry me away to England's capital. + +The following letter, written at Folkestone at 11.15 the following +morning, describes my journey up to that moment: + +"I hope you and Father got home safely last night and are not worrying. +My train left Manchester at 11.20. I had to change at Stockport. In +neither case could I get a carriage to myself, but I managed to doze. +When dawn broke we were in Northampton. It was 6.30 when the train +arrived in Euston Station. I got a taxi across London to Victoria. There +was an enormous crowd of military there, bound for France. People were +seeing some of them off. I could not get any breakfast there. My train +left London at 7.50. The journey through Kent is really delightful, such +beautiful country. I am sorry to leave dear old England; hope I shall +soon be back again! + +"As we passed through Shorncliffe I noticed a house in ruins. Apparently +there had been an air raid. And there has indeed! There was a bad air +raid here at 6.30 last night. There is a good deal of damage done in +Folkestone: I have seen it while walking about the streets this morning. +There have been a good many casualties. + +"The weather is glorious, delightful sunshine and hot. I am now having +breakfast in a cafe in Folkestone with another officer. We sail on the +_Princess Clementine_ at 2 this afternoon, and so will be in Boulogne +about 3.30." + +I landed at Boulogne at 4 that afternoon and we went straight on to +Etaples the same evening. The following letter recounts my journey and +arrival at that great camp upon the sand-hills: + + +"May 27th, 1917. + +"I have now, once more, safely arrived in this place, where there is +nothing but sand. I expect you will already have received my +communications from Folkestone. Is the news of the raid yet in the +papers? I was told that there were thirty German aeroplanes and one +zeppelin. Bombs were dropped on the soldiers' camp there, and a good +many soldiers were killed. Apparently the operation made a big row, for +it was heard across the water in the cathedral city in which we landed. + +" ... We went on board at 1.30, but the boat did not start until 2.50. +It was, and still is, tremendously hot. It seems that submarines are not +harassing our transport route: for the number of ships, of various +kinds, crossing was considerable. It was a pleasant voyage; but as I saw +the white cliffs of Folkestone receding from my ken I could not help +recalling with what rapture I beheld them on my return from France last +October, and expressing a faint wish that I were again returning rather +than going out! But, still, one will soon get used to France again; and +we can always look forward to the next return. One thing is obvious--I +am here for the hottest weather; heat, if anything, will be the trouble, +not cold. + +"The boat stood in the harbour for some time before we could land; but +we eventually did so at 4. After seeing about my kit I had tea at the +British Officers' Club, opposite the Gare Centrale. Then I got into the +train. It should have left at 5.45, but, like all French trains, was +very late in starting. It did start a little before 7. It was a train +filled entirely with officers. It ambled along in the usual leisurely +fashion. When we were about half-way we noticed that a good many were +standing outside on the step; some had their legs hanging out of the +window, others were actually on the roof! When we came to a tunnel the +latter dived in through the open windows. Others got out and spoke to +girls on the way, and then ran on and got back into the train. This is +how travelling is carried on 'Somewhere in France'! + +"The scenery, beautiful as it seemed last autumn, is much more beautiful +now. It is at its best: the green grass with the dandelions and daisies, +the hawthorn and the trees in bloom, little villages clustering in +charming woods, the sheep and the cows, and little children cheering the +train, everything sparkling in the hot sunshine; such is France--and +such was the Kent I left behind me--at present. As one looks upon the +peaceful country-side in France to-day one can scarcely realize that war +is raging in all its ferocity and barbarity so near. It seems an +anomaly. The weather is more suggestive of cricket than of war. + +"I got here about 8.30, and went to the mess of the 23rd Infantry Base +Depot. Here I found Bridgestock, Hamer, and Allin (officers who had been +at Scarborough with me, and had come out a few days earlier). They have +been here nearly a week. They are going to the 3/5th Lancashire +Fusiliers. I had some supper before going to bed in my tent. We are +three in a tent. Leigh and Macdonald are the names of my tent +companions. + +"Fortunately it is Sunday to-day. So we did not get up until 7.45. I did +not feel like rising until then! + +"We (the twenty Lancashire Fusilier officers who arrived here yesterday) +saw the Adjutant, Captain Reid, this morning, in the orderly room, and +had some information given to us. I spent most of the morning at the +field cashier's, waiting for an 'advance of pay book'! Then lunch. It is +now about 2.30 in the afternoon. + +"As I expected, I find that I have too much kit: I am told that I shall +have to get rid of some when I get to my unit. I am at present writing +on my nice table, but no other officers have brought out tables or +chairs or anything of that kind! Well--we shall see...." + + +"May 28th, 1917. + +"It is still boiling hot; thank goodness we have finished for to-day! I +must first, however, tell you how I spent the remainder of yesterday, +after writing home. I spent the afternoon in the town. I explored most +of it. Happening to pass the church, I saw a great crowd. It was full +inside; the west doors were open, and people were sitting in the doorway +and standing out in the street watching the service. So I too stopped +and watched. It was most interesting, but as the service was conducted +in French (apparently the Gallican Church differs from the Roman +Catholic Church in England in that the service is conducted in the +vernacular), I do not know what the service was. Although most of it was +in French, bits were in Latin. It was exceptionally spectacular. There +were about a hundred little boys in surplices and little girls in white +veils (as if dressed for confirmation), all carrying long, lighted +candles. Music and hymns were proceeding all the time. The little boys +and girls were standing still part of the time, and processing up and +down the chancel at other times. Eventually they all processed past the +senior priest, attired in full vestments; and he blew out their candles +as they passed. Towards the close of the service, a little girl, +carrying her candle, was brought out by the priest and stationed in +front of the altar with her face to the congregation; then she recited, +in French, something which sounded like a very long creed. She was only +about twelve or thirteen; but she did it without a stop, and in a +clear, pleasant voice. After that a bell rang, everybody bent their +heads, and the priest pronounced the Benediction. Then the congregation +came out, and behind came the boys and girls and the priest. The people +lined the road, and the procession walked on until it reached a kind of +yard leading to some institute. The people followed. They all halted +inside here. Then the priest prepared to make a little speech and +pronounce another Benediction; but he would not proceed until all the +little choir boys were perfectly quiet. He waited about five minutes. +Then he preached a brief sermon (of course in French) directed to the +children. I could not understand much of what he was talking about; but +I think he was very eloquent. I could deduce from words here and there +that he was reminding them that their fathers and brothers and uncles +were fighting at the front, and telling them that if they were not good +little boys and girls their fathers and brothers and uncles would fall +in battle! Then he pronounced his final Benediction, and we +scattered--5.20. + +"I could see that everybody was discussing the service and the sermon. I +overheard a Frenchman in frock coat and top hat, who seemed to be a +churchwarden or something of the kind, expressing his appreciation of +the latter. + +"Then I came back to camp and paraded for a box-respirator! We then went +through 'tear gas.' Then dinner. I sat at the Commandant's table. He was +talking about a great concentration up North--guns and supplies and men +swarming there recently.... + +"After dinner I went to bed. Thus ended Whitsun Day, 1917. + +"I got up at 7.15 this morning. Breakfast. Then down to the 'bull ring' +in full marching order. Gas all day. Fortunately we were under nice +shady trees most of the time. We had sandwiches down there between 12 +and 1, and got back at 4.30, feeling very hot after the march. Then +tea.... + +"Hamer, Bridgestock, and Allin have gone up the line this morning. I am +posted to the 2/5th Lancashire Fusiliers (the battalion Norman Kemp was +in!). I shall not be going up the line for a few days, but by the time +your reply to this reaches me I shall be there...." + +My diary of that same day, May 28, records: "To Paris Plage in the +evening." And my letter written home the following day proceeds as +follows: + +"After writing home yesterday I walked down town, and took a car to the +seaside place opposite. The country through which the car went was +pretty, and the seaside place quite passable; all right in peace-time I +should think. Unfortunately the last car back leaves at 8.15, so I came +by it.... + +"To-day, Royal Oak Day, we have spent on the 'bull ring' again.... + +"I have seen David Morgan (who was in the same billet with me when we +were privates together in the 29th Royal Fusiliers at Oxford, in +January, 1916) this evening. I managed to find the C.R.E. offices where +he works. He saw me, and came out to me. I went inside. He is very cosy +there, in a nice new hut. He was working at a drawing. His hours daily +are from 9 in the morning until 8 in the evening; but, as I had come, he +managed to get a pass to go down town with me this evening. We therefore +had a walk. He looks very well with his stripe, and he seems to be +having a good time. He desires to be remembered to you both. I left him +at about 8. Then I had dinner at the Officers' Club, but was not struck +by it.... + +"It is now 'lights out,' so I had better stop." + + +"May 30th. + +" ... We spent the day on the 'bull ring' as usual. It has been fine. We +have not, I am thankful to say, had any rain at all since I landed in +France on Saturday last. + +"This evening I have spent parading the streets of the town. I have +become heartily 'fed up' with the dirty antediluvian place. Morgan +actually, after nine solid months of residence here, says that he likes +it and the people. I could not have imagined that there were many of +the latter whose acquaintance would be particularly charming; but he +speaks upon the authority of long experience!" + +I also wrote down the following note at that time while I was still in +Etaples: + +"One noticeable thing to-day (May 30) has been the number of men and +transport which have been passing through on the trains all day and +going north, obviously coming from one part of the Front and going round +this way, to avoid the observation of the Germans, to another. We are +massing troops round the great city where great battles have been fought +before--concentrating for a great offensive. So there will very soon be +a third battle of Ypres, and I expect I shall be present on the occasion +myself. It should be very exciting. In the two former battles we were on +the defensive; this time we shall be on the offensive. And I must +say--pessimistic as I am on all Western offensives--this idea holds +forth a faint ray of hope of success. I have always held that there is +only one way in which the war can be won in the West--by a flanking +offensive in the North. This is not entirely the type of flanking +movement I would myself recommend, but it is an attempt at the idea--and +that is something. It may prove a semi-fiasco like the awful tragedies +of Neuve Chapelle, Loos, the Somme, and Arras; but it might possibly +turn out a success. Then it would be simply a case of _veni, vidi, +vici_!" + +That memorandum is particularly interesting in view of the events which +followed, and the story which this narrative will tell. I always held +very strong-views on the conduct of the war. I was not one of those who +looked upon this great bid for world power on the part, of the German +Empire as purely a campaign on the Western Front, all other campaigns in +other corners of the globe being mere "side shows." I was always a firm +and consistent supporter of the "East End" school of strategy. I looked +upon the war as a _World War_ and, since the decisive Battle of the +Marne in September, 1914, when the German hopes of complete and crushing +victory in the West were shattered (which decision was still more +finally confirmed at First Ypres), as primarily a south-eastern war. I +held with that great statesman and strategist, Mr. Winston Churchill, +that Constantinople was "the great strategic nerve-centre of the world +war." I realized that a deadlock had been reached on the Western Front, +and that nothing was to be hoped from any frontal attack there; and I +also realized that Germany held Constantinople and the Dardanelles--the +gateway to the East. And the trend of German foreign policy and German +strategy convinced me that it was in the Near East that the menace to +our Empire lay. There was our most vulnerable part; while Germany held +that gateway, the glamour of the East, with its possibilities of +victories like those of Alexander, and an empire like that one which was +the great Napoleon's early dream, would always be a great temptation to +German strategists. I therefore always used to assert that "The side +which holds Constantinople when peace terms come to be discussed is the +side which has won the war," and I think the events of September, 1918, +have proved that my view and prophecy were correct. I firmly believe +that if unity of command under Marshal Foch and Sir Henry Wilson, with +the following decisive victories of D'Esperey at Cerna and Allenby at +Armageddon in September, 1918, bringing about the capitulation of +Bulgaria and the Ottoman Empire, and the surrender of Constantinople to +the Allies, had not been attained last year the war would still be in +progress. And I therefore hold that it is impossible to estimate the +debt which the Allies owe to those statesmen who brought about that +unity of command. + +But to return to my story. The next day was spent, as usual, on the +"bull ring." On June 1, I find that I recorded the following incident: + +"We have been on the 'bull ring' again this morning. The weather is as +hot as ever. While we were down there a German aeroplane flew right +over from one end to the other--north to south. The anti-aircraft guns +were firing at it the whole time, but failed to hit it. It was flying at +a great height, and the shrapnel appeared to be bursting all round it. +At one time it flew directly over our heads; but it did not drop any +bombs! A few minutes after it had passed, bits of shrapnel fell quite +near us--within four or five yards--proving how much overhead it had +been. It was quite exciting, but not quite so much so as it was during +those two minutes at Dover last September. Now the question which arises +is: What was its object? It did not drop any bombs. Its object, +therefore, must have been reconnaissance. I suppose that it came to find +out what number of troops we are moving round this way to the new +battlefield in the north. Even though we may move troops by so +roundabout a way, the enemy is able to find out by means of aircraft. +Aircraft makes manoeuvre in modern warfare intensely difficult." + +That same evening orders came through for me to proceed up the line, +but, as the following letter will tell, they were afterwards cancelled, +owing to some mistake: + + +"June 2nd. + +"I had a walk down town yesterday evening. Then I came back and called +at the C.R.E. office to say good-bye to David Morgan. He was in--writing +letters--and I stayed a few minutes; then he walked back with me part +of the way. He wished me the best of luck. We both expressed a hope that +the war would soon be over! 'What a life!' said Morgan. + +"Leigh got up before 4 this morning, as his train up the line left soon +after that. I got up at 6, and had breakfast. My kit was taken down to +the New Siding Station where I had to report at 7.50. The place was, as +usual, crowded with troops waiting to go up the line. There was a train +full of Portuguese troops in the siding. I reported to the R.T.O. He +said 'Get in officer's coach marked C, and get out at Bethune.' Then he +suddenly discovered that my name was crossed out. 'I've got your name +crossed off here; I don't think you are to go. You had better stand by a +few minutes while I telephone and find out,' he remarked. He then +telephoned to Headquarters and, after about ten minutes, the reply came +through: 'Not to proceed.' There had been a mistake about the division +or something. Anyhow, I was ordered to return to camp. So I told my man +to take my kit back, and returned. The others went up the line. It is +funny, isn't it? I am amused. I take all these changes with equal +equanimity. I am quite agreeable whatever happens.... I know that +whatever happens all will turn out right. I shall arrive at the right +place at the right time. It is most interesting. I expect you will be +pleased at the delay! + +"When I got back I saw the Adjutant and reported to him. He was with the +padre, an Irishman who was an officer in Carson's Ulster Volunteer +Force, at the time. He was amused, and the padre said 'Lucky man!' So I +have had a nice easy day, writing letters and strolling about.... + +"There are a whole crowd of Portuguese here now. A large number marched +up from the station, with band playing, this morning. I find that the +Portuguese troops pay more attention to saluting than do the French; I +have received more salutes from Portuguese than from French; but I hear +that the discipline of the Portuguese in the trenches is very bad +indeed. + +"I notice that it is announced in the paper to-day that a violent +artillery bombardment is in progress between Ypres and the sea. There +you are--that is the preliminary bombardment which always precedes a +great battle in war of to-day." + + +"June 3rd. + +"I am still here, and have heard nothing further about going up the +line. The weather is still hot and fine--summer at its best. Yesterday +evening I went down town as usual. When I got back I found some +Portuguese officers in the mess. Everybody was talking French; it was +amusing; but I soon disappeared to my tent. Macdonald left this tent +some days ago; Leigh went up the line; ---- took the latter's place: so +now there are just ---- and I in Tent 12. He returned slightly tight +about 11, and talked a lot of stuff, telling me many stories of his +lurid past! He seems to have been a gay undergraduate at Jesus College, +Oxford, seventeen years ago; he is now thirty-eight. His home is in +----. His two children live there. He has a daughter fifteen and a son +in the Cathedral choir. Yet he himself is a Quaker! And he is in the +Army! He was present at the Battle of the Marne. He is a most quaint +individual altogether. + +"He and I were censoring-letters this morning. It was amusing, but soon +became boring as most of the men employed the same formula: 'Just a line +to let you know that I am in the pink, hoping this finds you in the best +of health as this leaves me at present, etc.'! + +"I went down town this afternoon and had a bath (an expensive luxury +which cost me 2s.) and strawberries and cream (which cost 3s. 6d.) That +just gives you an idea of prices in this God-forsaken land named +France.... + +"I also looked inside St. Michael's Church during the afternoon service. +It appears to be a case of come in and go out when you please. There is +one redeeming feature about the French people: they take their religion +seriously, and the children are systematically taught. One can see that. +The priest is a depressing-looking old chap. The service in the Gallican +Church is much nicer than the service in Roman Catholic, or extreme High +Anglican churches in England. There were not nearly so many candles +to-day carried in procession as last Sunday. Nor was the congregation so +large. + +"I read the _Middleton Guardian_ correspondence to ---- in the tent when +I got back. He was interested. We then argued until about 11. Macdonald, +in a tent close by, called out 'Floyd, shut up!' The latter is marked +'temporary base' for a month; that is why he has not yet gone up the +line. All the others who came out when I did have now gone up the line; +I am the only one left behind!" + + +"June 4th. + +" ... At 3.50 this afternoon I was informed that the Adjutant wished to +see me; so I went to the orderly room. He informed me that I go up the +line to-morrow morning. I go to the 2/5th Lancashire Fusiliers, 55th +Division.... + +"Now I am going to bed in my tent for the last time in this peaceful +place, where the only reminder of the fact that war is raging is to be +traced in the encamped city on the sand dunes above the town and the +swarms of soldiers. The sunset is fine, the air is now a little cooler +after the heat of the day, and the sea and the river calm and +refreshing." + +Thus ended my long wait at Etaples. The following morning (June 5) I +rose at 6. Having had breakfast, I reported at the New Siding Station at +6.50. I was ordered to get into the train which was drawn up there, and +get out at Hazebrouck, where I would receive further orders from the +R.T.O. there. The train moved off at 7.40. As we passed Camiers we +noticed an American camp there; an American waved the Stars and Stripes +as we passed. We passed through Boulogne at 9. At 1 we reached the city +of St. Omer, where the great Earl Roberts had died at Field-Marshal +French's G.H.Q. in 1914. All round here we noticed numerous German +prisoners working along the line; and we passed many dumps of various +kinds. At 2.30 we steamed into Hazebrouck. I noticed a long hospital +train standing in the station, full of wounded who were being taken to +the Base hospitals. Those who were in a condition to do so looked very +pleased with life. + +I reported to the R.T.O. in the square at Hazebrouck, and he gave me +instructions to go by the next train to Poperinghe. It was a sultry day +and I was glad of a drink. I managed to get one on the station. I could +occasionally hear the rumble of the guns in the distance now, but very +faint. + +The train left Hazebrouck at 3.30 p.m. The country looked as calm and +peaceful as anything. The only signs which suggested war were the German +prisoners at the side of the railway and the numerous dumps. But we drew +nearer to the Front. The train halted at Abeele, a village near the +frontier of France and Flanders. As we stopped here for a few minutes a +number of us managed to dash into an _estaminet_ opposite the station +and get a drink! From Abeele onwards the most noticeable objects were +the aeroplanes which were now very numerous above us, the presence of +which indicated our proximity to the war. + +At 6.30 the train came to a standstill in a station which I was informed +was my destination, Poperinghe. "This is the railhead for the Ypres +Salient" I was told. So out I got with my kit. I was expected. There was +a mess cart awaiting me at the station; and in it I jogged along to the +Transport Lines which were in the vicinity of Brandhoek a mile or so +further on--on the left of the road from Poperinghe to Ypres. + +The transport driver told me what it was like in that part, how it had +been very quiet when the 55th Division took over their positions in the +Salient from the 29th Division the previous autumn, but had grown more +lively every day; how they had received a nasty gas bombardment only a +few days ago, how the Boche had recently taken to shelling us furiously +and systematically every night, and how there were some very hot times +ahead--there was to be a raid by a battalion in our brigade that night. + +It was fairly quiet when I arrived--it was a time of the day when things +generally were somewhat quiet, when the guns were resting before joining +in the nightly fray--so I did not immediately notice how near to the war +I had come. But I was soon to realize it. + +When I reached the Transport Lines I made the acquaintance of two +officers of the 2/5th Lancashire Fusiliers of whom I was destined to see +much in the coming months, Philip Cave Humfrey and Joseph +Roake--especially Roake, as it was his good fortune to remain with the +Battalion until long after the cessation of hostilities and to be with +me in the 15th Lancashire Fusiliers in the Army of the Rhine. Humfrey, +by a curious coincidence, turned out--though I did not know it until +many months after--to be the brother-in-law of my school-friend William +Lindop! + +Never shall I forget that summer evening near Brandhoek. Roake, +effervescing as always with droll wit, and Humfrey, with his natural +cheerfulness and affability, made me at home in their little hut at +once. I can well recall the scene: a tiny little wooden hut at the edge +of a large field; the wall adorned by a trench map of the Ypres Salient, +on which our present position was marked in pencil, and a striking +group photo of the Imperial War Cabinet, taken out of an illustrated +journal, in which the well-known faces of Lloyd George and Lord Curzon +seemed to dominate the picture; a little table upon which Humfrey +drafted a signal message to the Adjutant of the 2/5th, announcing my +arrival and asking for instructions, the table upon which an excellent +little dinner was almost immediately served; outside the observation +balloons in a curved line, denoting the Salient, and aircraft sweeping +through the skies. + +It was then that I first saw what was going to be to me a very common +sight during those memorable "Wipers days"--an air fight. I had not been +in the little wooden hut many minutes before Roake called me out to +watch a scrap between British and German aeroplanes over the Salient. We +got out our field-glasses and, in the cool of a summer's evening, when +any ordinary individual in "Blighty" would be relaxing from the labours +of the day in cricket or in tennis, we surveyed with interest the +contests between the chivalrous heroes of the air far above. It was then +that I first saw a "blazing trail across the evening sky of Flanders." +There were many such in the summer of 1917, though the brilliant young +airman of whose death that glowing eulogy had been written now lay +sleeping beneath a little wooden cross in the grave in which the +Germans, paying homage to true chivalry, had laid him at Annoeullin. Who +could watch those little specks rising and falling, and falling to rise +no more, up there in the bright blue sky without a thrill of admiration +for these "New Elizabethans" of England and Germany? + +It was during tea that I realized that I was really at the war. The guns +began to boom and the hut shook with the continual vibration. And then +the band of the 2/5th Lancashire Fusiliers struck up some jolly tunes in +the field. War and music going hand in hand, it was difficult to know +whether one ought to feel jolly or sad. I think I may safely say that we +felt as jolly and gay as could be; I know that the romantic aspect was +the one which appealed to me most. This was the real thing, none of your +home-service games. + +The bombardment became more intense as the evening progressed. After +dark the Transport moved off to carry rations up to the men in the line. +If it is not superfluous to do so, I would wish to pay here the warmest +possible tribute to those gallant Transport men who used to "carry +rations on the road from Pop to Ypres." It was no picnic. The Boche knew +quite well the time that vast and apparently never ending chain of +traffic would be wending its nightly way from Poperinghe to Ypres. He +shelled the great high road systematically every night. Every night +some of those gallant men would go never to return. It seemed marvellous +that so many could escape the destruction which was hurled at them; but +war is full of wonders. + +My diary of that night reads as follows: + +"As it began to get dark the bombardment became louder and louder and +the flashes more vivid. Shells were falling at Vlamertinghe, half way +between Poperinghe and Ypres, exploding with a great sound. They were +falling here yesterday! + +"At about 10.30 p.m. we saw the Transport set off along the road, taking +rations and supplies up to Ypres.... Humfrey went with them. (I would +have gone up with him, but the Adjutant of the 2/5th had sent a message +by the signals saying that I could sleep at the Transport Lines and +report the following morning.) Red Cross motors were also coming back +from Ypres with wounded. Meanwhile the moon--a full moon--steadily rose +above the Front, amid the flashes between Ypres and Messines, the +bombardment sounding like thunder. It was a fine scene. If only there +had been an artist there to paint it! A farm on the Switch Road (a new +road for traffic built by the British Army) some way off got on fire. I +hear that the King's, in our Brigade, are going over the top on a raid +to-night. Our great offensive here has not yet opened, but it will come +off before very long.... + +"To bed 11.30, the guns booming like continuous thunder. I was awakened +in the night by shells whizzing past the hut where I was sleeping." + +So I was, at last, introduced to that strangest of all music--the +screech of a shell: _Whoo-oo-oo-oo-oo-UMP!_ + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE PRISON + + +It has already been observed that the 55th (West Lancashire) Division, +after a hot time on the Somme, particularly at Guillemont and Ginchy, +had come up the Salient in October, 1916. So when I joined the Division +it was in the 8th Corps, commanded by Sir Aylmer Hunter-Weston +("Hunter-Bunter," as I remember Best-Dunkley calling him), in Sir +Herbert Plumer's Second Army. The 55th Division was responsible for the +sector between Wieltje and the south of Railway Wood. + +The 55th Division was commanded by Major-General Jeudwine, of whom it +has been said: "No General ever was more devoted to his Division: no +Division ever was more devoted to its General."[2] The three infantry +brigades in the Division were the 164th Brigade (Brigadier-General +Stockwell), the 165th Brigade (Brigadier-General Boyd-Moss), and the +166th Brigade (then commanded by Brigadier-General Lewis). The 2/5th +Lancashire Fusiliers, who had been commanded by Colonel +Best-Dunkley--an officer who had previously been Adjutant on the +Somme--since October 20, 1916, were in the 164th Brigade. + +In those days a brigade consisted of four battalions. The other three +battalions in the 164th Brigade were the 1/4th King's Own Royal +Lancaster Regiment, commanded by Colonel Balfour, the 1/8th King's +Liverpool Regiment (Liverpool Irish), commanded by Colonel Heath, and +the 1/4th Loyal North Lancashire Regiment, commanded by Colonel Hindle, +who, after winning the D.S.O. and Bar, was killed at the head of his +battalion at Heudecourt during the great Battle of Cambrai on November +30, 1917. When the necessity for "infiltration" brought about the +reduction of the strength of brigades from four battalions to three, the +Liverpool Irish were afterwards transferred to the 57th Division. But +throughout the whole of the period with which this narrative deals the +Liverpool Irish were still with us. + +It is interesting to note the summary of the situation written by the +chronicler of the 2/5th Lancashire Fusiliers in the 1917 _Lancashire +Fusiliers' Annual_: + +"On May 26th, the Battalion moved back to the Prison. Lieutenant-Colonel +B. Best-Dunkley went on leave the same day, leaving Major Brighten in +command. + +"Then began a very memorable 17 days--Ypres was shelled heavily every +day, particular attention being paid to the Prison. + +"By night the Battalion was occupied in digging a new communication +trench, Pagoda Trench. The digging was finished in two nights, but there +was all the riveting to do as well. Every night the working parties have +to pass through a barrage. Our casualties during this period totalled 60 +or 70. The _moral_ of the men was very high all the time. The continual +shelling, paradoxical as it must seem, hardened and prepared them as +much as anything for the great day which every one knew was not far off. + +"We had our first serious gas attack on June 3rd. It was preceded by a +heavy bombardment of Ypres, after which some 25,000 gas shells were put +over, lasting from 10 p.m. to 4 p.m. We were fortunate in having very +few casualties." + +That was the position of the Battalion when I set off to join it in the +Prison cells on the morning of June 5, 1917. + +I rose at 10 a.m. It was a rowdy morning. The guns were still unusually +lively. While we were having breakfast shells were bursting three or +four hundred yards away from our hut, and we could hear occasional H.E. +dropping as far back as Poperinghe behind us. + +The following letter which I wrote home from my cell (which I shared +with three other second-lieutenants, Gilbert Verity, Bernard Priestley +and H. A. Barker) in the Prison, dated June 6, 1917, describes my +journey to Ypres: + +"At 11 a.m. I set off up the road with another officer to the city where +my unit is stationed. We got a lift in a motor as far as a town +half-way. This town (Vlamertinghe) was almost entirely in ruins. There +has been an ancient church there, but only the front of the tower and +all the crucifixes remain. Shells were bursting all about. We sat down +on a fence and waited for another lift. It was most exciting. I have not +got the 'wind up' yet; I am more interested than anything else. I +contemplated a famous hill on my right. Then we got on another motor. +This ride was _most_ exciting, the excitement consisting in whether we +could reach the city without being blown to pieces by the shells which +were exploding to front of us, to right of us, to rear of us, and to +left of us! The road was cut up by shells which had exploded on it, and +trees were felled across it. We jogged a good deal riding over this +debris. We saw one of our batteries on the left of the road which had +been smashed by a German shell. A good many of the transport horses had +been killed on the road last night, but the bodies had been removed by +now. We got out of the car just outside the city and walked into it. +What struggles have taken place here! One could hardly realize that in +pre-war days this had been a great and flourishing city. Just a few +buildings remain standing, and those all in ruins; debris everywhere, +shells constantly exploding everywhere. It is reckoned that the rate of +casualties in this city just now is a thousand a week; military, of +course--there are no civilians here; it is a battlefield where battles +have been fought, where strafing is going on now, and around which a +great battle is about to be fought. One battalion in our brigade went +over the top on a raid last night. Our guns are even now conducting the +preliminary bombardment along the line which precedes a great offensive. +And the Germans are giving it us back too! My companion was very anxious +that we should reach the Prison without personally encountering any +shells. He told me that the corner round which we were passing was a +windy one! But we got inside the Prison safe and sound, and here I now +am writing this while the shells are flying and our guns stationed in +the city are speaking. The top of this building is in ruins as shells +are constantly hitting it, but we are down below, and we have +wire-netting to catch the falling debris. + +"I was received by a young Major and the Adjutant, Lieutenant Andrews. I +had lunch with them and the other officers in the (Headquarters) +mess-room." + +There let us pause for a moment. There are scenes in one's life, +pleasant and otherwise, which one can never forget, which ever rest +vividly in the eye of the mind. There were many such scenes during my +experiences in France and Belgium; but none do I recollect more clearly, +and few with more satisfaction, than this my first meal with the 2/5th +Lancashire Fusiliers. Never was a subaltern given a more friendly +welcome than that which Major Brighten extended to me. I was made at +home at once. Padre Newman, who seemed little more than a young +undergraduate with a gay and affable countenance, but with that +unselfish and utterly unostentatious heroism depicted in every +feature--a typical example of the kind of hero which our public schools, +with all their failings, have sent forth in hundreds and thousands +during the last five years--was placing jolly records on a gramophone +when I entered the little cell; and the mess-waiters were preparing +lunch on a table which had been erected for the purpose. + +In England I had been accustomed to "battalion messes," but out here +such an arrangement was very rare. "Company messes" were the thing out +here. There were generally five messes in all--Headquarters and the four +companies. Major Brighten at once invited me to stay for lunch at +Headquarters and, when the meal was announced to be "served," told me to +sit next to him. I found him extremely interesting. The conversation +was most entertaining. The subject upon which his wit pivoted during a +good part of the meal was the Brigadier (always an interesting topic!), +his latest sayings and possible future career 'after the war'--a period +which Major Brighten always declared to be in the very near future. The +first thing which struck me about Major Brighten was his youth; he was +only twenty-seven. I had not been accustomed to such young senior +officers in England. In fact, youth seemed to be the foremost +characteristic of the Battalion. Nearly all the officers were extremely +young. And I learnt that Colonel Best-Dunkley himself was only +twenty-seven! It was the pride of the Battalion that it was led by +youth. If ever a proof were required of the truth of Disraeli's famous +maxim "The youth of a nation are the trustees of posterity," it is here +in the brilliant record of the 2/5th Lancashire Fusiliers. Let Mr. Alec +Waugh and the League of Youth and Social Progress carefully note that, +for here, surely, is a feather in their cap! + +After lunch I was posted to a company--"B" Company; and I was conducted +to another cell where I found my company commander, Captain H. H. +Andrews, sitting up in bed, looking very happy. It was quite the thing +to stay in bed until the afternoon in those days, because the nightly +working parties did not get back until just before dawn. It was a day of +pleasant surprises. I had already been very favourably impressed by the +magnetic personalities of Major Brighten and Padre Newman; now I was +ushered into the presence of another amiable military genius, Captain +Andrews. I had not been in his presence two minutes before I +congratulated myself on my good fortune in having "clicked" for so +delightful a company commander as Captain Andrews. Though older and very +different in appearance, he was another officer of the same stamp as the +lovable and brilliant Major Brighten. He was an ideal company commander. +One could not hope for a better either from a military or from a social +point of view. He was ability, wit, and sociability combined. Those were +great days. + +But to continue the reproduction of the letter quoted above: + +"I am attached to B Company, commanded by Captain Andrews, and I have +been appointed by him to command the seventh platoon. Just before tea +Captain Andrews had me in his room and gave me maps of the district and +explained--with reference to the maps--the situation. He also told me +the plan of campaign and explained what Haig's intentions for the whole +summer offensive are and what he requires us to do; so I now know the +general idea, and I also know in detail what this battalion, this +company, and my own platoon have got to do--and when; but as it is all +very secret information only for officers, I, unfortunately, cannot give +it you. My opinion is that the general plan is good, with the exception +that I do not quite appreciate the point with respect to the particular +part which this battalion (and brigade) has to play in a few days; it +strikes me as being rather foolish, though it may be all right. + +"While we were having tea the Germans set up a most terrific bombardment +of this prison. Shells exploded just outside the window-opening, causing +quite a wind inside the room. It is going on still; shells keep striking +the wall outside. There it goes--bang! And there are our guns smashing +back at them. There again--debris scattering in the quad, the other side +of the door. Whizz-bang! It is extraordinary that any walls in this city +can remain standing at this rate. They say that this goes on day and +night. When a shell explodes the room is temporarily darkened by the +cloud of smoke which rises. This is _some_ bombardment; it is worse than +the worst of thunder-storms. + +"I have found Verity here. He has been here some time, and is alive and +in the best of health. + +"Well, I really must stop now; though I could go on recording every +bang as it comes; there are about two explosions during every sentence +which I write. + +"Now do not get anxious, we manage to exist through it all; and I do not +see why my luck should desert me. I am on the one point on the Western +Front where I had a desire to explore. There is something doing here." + +And "something doing" there was, much sooner than I expected. I had +reached the Prison at Ypres just in time to hear and feel the best +staged battle in history--the Battle of Messines. The following letter +written home on the evening of June 7, describes Messines Night: + +"Since I wrote to Mother yesterday a good deal has happened. About 6.30 +I attended a conference consisting of the officers and sergeants of B +Company in Captain Andrew's room; and Captain Andrews explained the +scheme which he had explained to me earlier on; though he did not tell +them quite as much. I, of course, will not tell you what the scheme was! +Then dinner. Things were much quieter now--quieter than they had been +all day. A working party of the Battalion was to leave after dinner. The +2/5th Lancashire Fusiliers are the battalion in reserve to General +Stockwell's brigade at present: we hang out here in the day-time, and go +out on working parties in the trenches in the Salient at night. But +Captain Andrews said that I need not go out with them on this occasion. +So I remained behind and censored letters. While doing so my eyes began +to water--about 11 to 11.30. Then the Company mess-waiter, Private Saul +(Captain Andrews' batman), came in and told me that the Germans were +sending over 'tear gas.' So on with my gas helmet. The gas shells were +bursting outside the windows; but I thought it safe to take off my +helmet after a few minutes; my eyes watered a good deal, that was all. +At about midnight I went to bed. + +"For three hours I slept quite comfortably. At 3.15 I was awakened by a +terrific row. The whole place was shaking like an earthquake; the wall +was quivering; our guns were firing rapid as fast as ever they could go; +every gun in the city, in fact, every gun on the British Front for +miles, was pounding the enemy with shells. A man came in to say that the +order was 'everybody down in the cellar.' So I threw some clothes on and +went down there. There was a crowd down there. The parties which had +been out working had returned, but not without casualties; there had +been a few killed and wounded. At a table in the centre of the room, a +lamp on it, sat Captain Andrews, in his shirt sleeves, and other +officers, seriously contemplating a message which had arrived, the +purport of which they were trying to understand. The man who had +brought it was under arrest as a suspected spy; but after inquiries had +been made at Brigade it was discovered that he was perfectly _bona +fide_; So Major Brighten ordered him to be set free. + +"I found myself next to Verity, so I asked him whatever all this hubbub +was about. He replied that it was the expected push on our right--'the +Messines push'--taking place. The New Zealanders (and Australians, the +36th Ulster Division, the 16th South Ireland Division, the 23rd +Division, and the 47th London Division) were going over the top, and +this was our barrage. Captain Andrews said that this was a bombardment +which our guns were conducting, double in intensity to any which we +inflicted upon the enemy during the Battle of the Somme! It was a row +indeed, and it continued for some time. Then dawn broke, and it had +slackened. At 5.30 we came upstairs and had some refreshment in the +mess; the gramophone was set going ('The Bing Boys'--'Another little +drink wouldn't do us any harm'--was the precise record which was put on +as soon as we entered the mess!); things were much quieter, but we were +expecting the Germans to retaliate." + +It was at these early morning breakfast parties in the Prison that the +grim significance of the word "Gate" impressed itself upon me. "Which +gate did you come in at?" was a very common question which one officer +would ask another on their return from work in the trenches. "I came in +by the Dixmude Gate," or "I came in by the Menin Gate," would be the +reply. And some would say that they had avoided "gates" altogether and +threaded their way across the open. These gates were places of evil +omen. The enemy had the exact range of them, and knew when working +parties would be likely to be passing them. And upon no spot was +conferred a greater legacy of awe than upon the Menin Gate. It was +always one of the most terrible spots in Ypres. People were killed there +every day. To go past the Menin Gate was considered to be asking for it. +So a terror of the Menin Gate was bred in me before I had ever seen the +gruesome, stinking spot. And the Menin Gate had taken its toll on +Messines Night. + +My letter continues: "At 6 I went to bed again. Just as I was doing so, +gas shells began to burst once more, but we did not smell much; the wind +could not have been very favourable to the enemy. I soon got to sleep +again. We all did. In my room, apart from myself, there are Verity, +Priestley, and Barker. They are in different companies from me. + +"We got up at midday to-day. Things are very much quieter; there are +only, on an average, about one or two bangs per minute; and those are +generally caused by our guns firing shells on the enemy. Very few German +shells have burst here to-day since the terrible bombardment in the +early hours of the morning. We lost no officers last night, but a few +non-commissioned officers and men were killed and wounded while +returning last night. An official message has come through that all our +objectives were captured this morning." + +It was on this afternoon that Major Brighten gathered all officers +together for a conference in Headquarters Mess, and read out to us, in +great exultation, a "secret" Special Order of the Day by Sir Douglas +Haig dated, if I remember rightly, the day before Messines. I wish I had +a copy of that Order in my hands now in order that I might quote it +verbatim here. In the course of his Order I remember the Field-Marshal +declared that another such blow as those which we had inflicted upon the +enemy on the Somme, on the Anare, and at Arras would win the war! Major +Brighten, with his eternal optimism, honestly believed it; and so did +everybody else. Everybody was effervescing with excitement about +Plumer's brilliant victory at Messines. I hold now with Mr. John Buchan, +and I realized then, that "Sir Herbert Plumer had achieved what deserves +to be regarded as in its own fashion a tactical masterpiece"; but, as I +have already pointed out, I took a much more telescopic view of the +World War than that. So, while sharing the satisfaction of the others in +the Messines success, I could not endorse the ultra-optimistic view of +the course of the campaign which Sir Douglas Haig had inspired. Major +Brighten was beaming with delight as he read out Sir Douglas Haig's +Order, and informed us that General Jeudwine and General Stockwell, with +whom he had just been conversing, were equally "bucked" about it all. +And he laughingly chaffed me upon my pessimism. I told him quite frankly +that I did not share the general opinion. + +That night only one company had to go out to work, and the company +detailed was C Company; so I was not affected. + +In the course of a letter written the following day (June 8) I wrote: + +"I went to bed about 10 last night. About 2, Barker, Priestley, and +Verity returned from their working parties. Priestley was very doleful; +he was mournfully discussing the horrors of the war, and of his +evening's experiences in particular. And it appears that there was some +reason, for he had been in command of a party of eight whose mission had +been to fetch back some steel helmets from the trenches. (A ruse had +been played upon the Boche on Messines Night. A large number of helmets +had been placed in such a position as to encourage the Boche to think +that we were concentrating troops there instead of, or as well as, at +Messines and Wytschaete!) They were returning, and Priestley was +remarking that the Boche was very quiet just at present, when a shell +burst amongst them. Four of his party were wounded and one killed; and a +piece of shrapnel went right through the tube of his box-respirator, he +himself escaping unhurt. A near shave! 'Well, do you think those helmets +were worth the life of one man and injury to four others?' I heard him +asking." + +In my next letter (June 9) I wrote: + +"There was only one working party last night. I went to bed at 10 p.m. +At 10.20 there was a terrible row on our front. A big artillery duel was +going on, machine-guns were firing continuously, and flares were going +up! I sat up in bed and watched it all through the prison bars. It went +on for about twenty minutes! I should think it must have been a raid of +some sort. Shortly after this, Priestley came to bed, and, later, Verity +and Barker. We had quite a long discussion upon all kinds of topics +ranging from the conduct of the war (East versus West), and the doctrine +of the Apostolical Succession, to the character and policy of Winston +Churchill (whom, of course, they all detest!), and the pre-war morals of +civilian Ypres, concerning which Barker held very decided views. We +went on arguing until dawn broke! Then we got to sleep. + +"I rose at 10 this morning. When I entered the mess for breakfast I was +greeted by the inquiry from Captain Andrews: 'How's Palestine?' They all +think that the war will end out here and in two or three months' time! +They think that the next great offensive will end it. I admit that there +is a great deal to be said for their theory; our plans are good, and if +successful, will probably do the trick; but I am none too sanguine. We +shall see. I hope they are right. Everybody does. Everybody is 'fed up' +with the war; that goes without saying. I have not read a single one of +the men's letters in which they do not say that. To say that, and to +inform their people that they are 'in the pink' is the stock substance +of their letters! + +"I ought now to tell you something about my platoon. To give you the +names of my non-commissioned officers is surely not giving away any +information which would be of use to the enemy! So I do not see why I +should not do so. + +"As I may already have told you I am in command of No. 7 platoon. My +platoon sergeant (second-in-command) is Sergeant Williams. (He was a +waiter in Parker's Restaurant in St. Ann's Square, Manchester, in +pre-war days). A platoon consists of four sections, each of which is +commanded by a corporal. My sections are as follows: Rifle Section +commanded by Lance-Corporal Tipping; Bombing Section commanded by +Lance-Corporal Livesey; Lewis Gun Section commanded by Lance-Corporal +Topping; and Rifle Grenade Section commanded by Corporal Baldwin. You +will notice that a Lewis Gun Section is part of every platoon; I think +that is sufficient answer to your question whether the fact of my +attending lectures on the Lewis Gun meant that I should go into a Lewis +Gun Section. + +"There has not been much to do to-day; nor has anything very notable +happened during the day up to now. It is now 6.40 p.m. So I will close." + + +"June 10th. + +"Last night the whole Battalion went out on working parties; so I had +command of a party. My party was detailed to repair the parapet of a +communication trench just behind our front line. I set off with Sergeant +Williams and a party of fourteen men of my platoon at 9.40, just as it +was getting dark. We were soon in the open fields and so could see all +around us the ruined buildings of the great city. Three shells fell +across the path we had traversed, _after_ we had passed the points. +Fritz was just a little too late on each occasion! We went on in the +dusk, amidst the flashes of booming guns and exploding shells and +flares lighting up the weird ruins and ghostly country, as far as a dump +(Potidje) where the remainder of the Battalion appeared to be +congregated. It occurred to me what a number would have been knocked out +if a shell had burst just by this dump just then! Fortunately no such +thing happened. Tools were drawn here; then we proceeded on our way by +platoons. The whole region was swarming with little wooden crosses where +lie the thousands who have fallen on this oft-fought, long-fought, ever +contending, battlefield. We threaded our way along a winding +communication trench (Pagoda Trench). We passed a party in the trench +with bayonets fixed--a party of one officer, Lieutenant Alexander, and +thirty men of the 1/4th King's Own--waiting to go over the top for a +bombing raid on a section of the enemy front line. 'Good-byee!' they +laughed as we passed them. Eventually we reached the point at which we +were to commence work. Flares were going up the whole time; the enemy +_must_ have seen us: the whole crowd of us all in the open by the side +of the trench which was to be repaired! When a flare goes up the whole +place is as light as day for a few seconds; and they were going up all +round the Salient--what remains of it, one side disappeared on Thursday +morning! Now and then a machine-gun would rattle a few rounds, and we +would all duck down; but none of them were ranged on our party. + +"At 11.20 I was informed that Captain Andrews wished to see me; and, +with some difficulty, I found him. He was in a trench with the other B +Company officers and Sergeant-Major Hoyle. He had sent for us in order +to tell us that at 11.35 we must each bring our parties into a certain +trench (Oxford Road) for refuge as we knew that the bombing raid was +coming off at 11.45, and we expected that the Germans would retaliate. +So I brought my party into this trench at the appointed time. We were +there just in time. At 11.45 our barrage--artillery, stokes-mortars and +machine-guns--opened on the section of the enemy trench to be raided +(Ibex Trench from Oskar Farm to The Stables) a little to our right; and +as our barrage lifted, the bombers went into the enemy trench. We could +hear the bombs exploding. The enemy replied by sending 'whizz-bangs' in +the vicinity of the trench in which we were taking refuge. Some of them +burst within a yard or two of us; but we crouched behind the parapet, +and there were no casualties. + +"At about 12.30 this morning, when the raid was over and things had +quieted, we emerged from the trench and went back to the job. Just +before we got back an ugly instrument of death familiarly known amongst +the boys as a 'minnie' burst about the spot where our work was. That +was not encouraging! But we went back and set to again. One or two more +'minnies' burst not far from us while we were there. You should have +seen us duck! And the flares continued rising and falling. We constantly +heard the shells from the big guns screaming like express trains over +our heads; and every now and then a machine-gun or a Lewis gun would +spurt forth its bullets. We felt anything but comfortable! One man in C +Company was carried away with very bad shell-shock--a 'Blighty' all +right! None of us were sorry when 2 came. Major Brighten came along just +before it was time to stop. 'Is that you, Floyd? How are you going on?' +he inquired as he passed me. He is liked by everybody. He is awfully +nice. + +"Major Brighten is the young Major who is temporarily in command of the +Battalion while the real Commanding Officer--the notorious Colonel +Best-Dunkley--is home on leave. By the way--I have not seen Colonel +Best-Dunkley yet. He was away when I arrived. I am told that it is a +treat in store for me! He is simply hated by everybody. His reputation +as a beast is famed in 'Blighty.' I heard about him in the 5th Reserve; +and Brian Kemp told me about him when we were in Harrogate. He is +discussed here every day. From what I hear he is a horrible tyrant; +nobody has a good word to say for him. So I am looking forward to +seeing this extraordinary man. He is only twenty-seven! His greeting to +Verity when he arrived a month ago was: 'Who the d---- are you?' + +"As soon as it was 2 a.m. we set off back. Going back is generally +considered the most dangerous of all; it is then that most of the +casualties occur. When we were going along one winding communication +trench shells began to burst in front of us right in our course. We bent +down and dashed through the hundred yards or so which these shells were +sweeping as fast as we could go. It was very hot, but we did not trouble +about that; that did not matter; to get safely past the shells was the +important thing. We got through all right, and we managed to get all the +way back to the Prison without a single casualty. I can tell you we felt +very happy when we were safely inside. To think that one should look to +the cells of a prison as a haven of refuge! + +"In Lieutenant Alexander's bombing raid five German prisoners were +captured--they are in here now--and three killed. Alexander sustained no +casualties whatever, and got back safely. + +"We had breakfast at 3 a.m. and I went to bed about 4 a.m. I rose at 12 +this morning. At breakfast we learnt some very good news. To-morrow we +are leaving here and going into rest billets a long way behind the line +for some time. Everybody is very happy indeed about it; I think we +shall have a fine time there. So you have absolutely nothing to worry +about now for quite a long time...." + +"Things are very quiet to-day. We had our usual gas parade outside this +afternoon. + +"Latterly all the men have been walking about with a windy expression on +their faces; now everybody looks gay in anticipation of the time in +front of us. Don't you think I am really exceedingly lucky? I do." + +FOOTNOTE: + +[2] _Story of the 55th Division_, by Rev. J. O. Coop (page 25). + + + + +CHAPTER III + +ENTER BEST-DUNKLEY + + +The following letter, written on June 12, at Millain, recounts my first +impressions of the colonel whose name figures on the title-page of this +book: + +"We are now in rest billets a long way behind the line. I write to +narrate to you the journey. + +"On Sunday (June 10) I went to bed about 10 p.m., and had only been in +bed half an hour when a very intense battle appeared to have broken out +on our right. A violent artillery duel was in progress, with the usual +accompaniments. The thunder of the guns continued for quite a long time. +I think there must have been something big on: either a further advance +of Plumer's Army or a counter-attack by the Crown Prince Rupprecht. It +was a big row. + +"Apropos of Sir Herbert Plumer, the victor of Messines: we were in his +Second Army until that battle; now we have been transferred to Sir +Hubert Gough's Fifth Army. I was amused when I heard Priestley telling +his servant that we had moved into General Gough's Army; the servant +replied 'Oh, he's a fighting man, isn't he, sir? We're in for something +big now!' (General Gough had the reputation of being 'a fire eater.') + +"Reveille went at 5.30 yesterday morning. We had breakfast in bed at 6. +It was arranged by Major Brighten that the Battalion should leave the +city by platoons, each platoon moving off at five minutes interval from +the ones in front and behind of it. I moved off with the seventh platoon +at 8.10. We marched through the city as happily as if we were a Sunday +School trip, looking at the magnificent ruins as we passed. Scarcely a +gun was fired on either side the whole time. Things were extraordinarily +quiet. On any ordinary occasion we would have been observed by the enemy +aircraft and strafed like ----; but fortunately it was very dull at the +time, the clouds precluding observation. The weather was in our favour. +The whole Battalion got safely away without a single casualty! An +astonishing feat. Major Brighten has reason to feel very pleased with +himself. We marched along the road for a distance of about four miles, +and then halted and concentrated; then we marched on together and at 10 +a.m. reached the transport camp where I first appeared last Tuesday +evening. Here the Battalion was halted and left to have lunch. The +officers were allowed to go into the town (Poperinghe) and have lunch +there if they wished. Donald Allen, the commander of the fifth platoon, +and I, got lifts on two motors down to the town. Then we had baths at +the Divisional Baths there. We then set off to the Officers' Club for +lunch; but just before we got there two other officers called out to us +from the opposite side of the road. They inquired whether we were going +to the Club; and when we replied that we were, they exclaimed: 'Don't; +the C.O.'s there!' + +"'Who? _The_ C.O.--Colonel Best-Dunkley?' we asked. + +"'Yes,' was the reply. So we jolly well did not go; we went to a +restaurant instead! Apparently Colonel Best-Dunkley had now returned. +Everybody was very fed up at his return. + +"At 2 we turned up at the station. The news of the Commanding Officer's +return had already spread throughout the Battalion. We got our platoons +entrained, and then proceeded to the officers' carriages. It was +rumoured that Colonel Best-Dunkley was going to travel by a particular +carriage. You should have seen how that carriage was boycotted! Nobody +would go into it. They preferred to crowd out the other carriages and +leave the tainted carriage empty. It was most noticeable. I do not think +there is a single person in the Battalion who would not rather travel +with the devil incarnate than with Colonel Best-Dunkley. + +"He appeared on the scene shortly. There was a flutter of low mutterings +as he appeared. I was very interested to see this extraordinary man of +whom I had heard so much. He stopped two or three doors away from our +own and stood talking to someone inside the carriage. He is small, +clean-shaven, with a crooked nose and a noticeable blink. He looks +harmless enough; but I noticed something about his eyes which did not +look exactly pleasant. He looks more than twenty-seven. When war broke +out he was a lieutenant. It is interesting to note that he was educated +at a military school in Germany! (And he had travelled a good deal in +the Far East. 'When I was in China' was one of his favourite topics of +conversation.) I have not yet spoken to the man, so I am not yet in a +position to judge him myself. I will tell you my own opinion of him when +I have had a little experience of him. I may just remark that an officer +observed in the mess this morning that he supposed that there were some +people who liked the Kaiser, but he was sure that there was not a single +soul who liked Best-Dunkley! That is rather strong. + +"Well our train moved off at about 3 p.m. We travelled through pleasant +country to a little town which I cannot, of course, name. (Esquelbeck.) +Here we had tea. I may mention that this place was just over the +frontier--that is to say 'Somewhere in France.' + +"Refreshed by our tea (for the preparation of which Padre Newman was +mainly responsible), we began our long march at 7.15 in the evening. We +marched to a village ten miles away (to Millain via Zeggers, +Erkelsbrugge, Bollezeele, and Merekeghem). Colonel Best-Dunkley had gone +on by himself; he left Major Brighten to carry on for the remainder of +the journey. We had the band with us. I enjoyed the march immensely. It +was a beautiful evening and the pretty villages through which we marched +looked at their best. One thing which I have particularly noticed in +France and Belgium is this: that a village, however small, seems to +possess a large and magnificent church. I have not seen a single village +in Belgium or France where the church is not the most prominent object. +And I think that the villages are much healthier and prettier, and in +every way much more inviting, than the towns. It is in such a village +with such a church in pretty rural surroundings that I am now stationed. +Darkness fell while we were on the march. We got here about 10.30, +feeling considerably tired and ready for bed. Talbot Dickinson had been +here a day or two and had arranged about billets. So the men were +immediately shown into their billets. I am billeted in a farm-house; I +have a nice little bedroom all to myself, and sleep in a civilian bed. +So I am very well off. What do you say? I have nothing to grumble about +as regards my quarters. B Company is billeted in the two barns belonging +to this farm: two platoons in each barn. The Company parade in a +delightful field the other side of the barns. There are three officers' +messes: Headquarters and two of two combined companies. B and A +Companies mess together in a house about two minutes' walk from this +farm. Battalion Orderly Room is in a house about five minutes' walk from +here. The other companies are in other parts of the village. General +Stockwell and the remainder of the Brigade have not yet arrived, but +they will be following on shortly. I am very happy here. The weather has +been delightful, and the country looks fine. The trees here are very +tall indeed. There was a heavy downpour of rain at tea-time: the first +real rain we have had while I have been in France this time. + +"We have spent the day 'under company arrangements': a series of +inspections in the field outside the barn. + +"At 5.30 Colonel Best-Dunkley wished to see all officers and +sergeant-majors at Headquarters Mess. When we got there we adjourned to +Battalion Orderly Room. He kept us until after 7, discussing various +matters of routine. He seemed to have set his mind on purchasing a new +band which was to cost L100 and for which officers should pay their +share according to rank--subalterns to pay L2 each. But there was not a +single person in favour of the idea! The proposal was received in cold +silence. (Everybody had agreed before the conference upon the attitude +to be taken up! I thought the whole affair a huge joke. Plots and +intrigues always appeal to me as exciting.) Then Captain Mordecai--O.C. +C Company--said that he did not think it worth it 'Since the war is +nearly over.' The Colonel did not like that idea at all! He appealed to +Major Brighten for his opinion; and Major Brighten urged that if we are +to spend money like this it would be better spent in helping the men in +some way. Others pointed out that one band was sufficient, and said that +they would rather pay 10s. each for the improvement of the present band. +Colonel Best-Dunkley blinked and twitched his nose in a disapproving +manner. Eventually it was decided that we should not get a new band, but +that we should all pay 10s. towards the present band. Colonel +Best-Dunkley had set his mind on this band enterprise; I do not suppose +he is at all pleased that it has not been taken up! The officers are all +congratulating themselves on their victory. Colonel Best-Dunkley has +announced that we must all see that the men have their equipment +blancoed and polished until it sparkles. I have no personal quarrel with +Colonel Best-Dunkley myself yet--in fact I have not yet exchanged a word +with him--but I cannot say that I am very favourably impressed." + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +MILLAIN + + +It was at Millain that I had my first personal interview with Colonel +Best-Dunkley. That interview is recounted in the following letter, dated +June 13: + +" ... The weather continues to be glorious: too hot to do anything. I am +Orderly Officer to-day. One of my duties as such is to inspect the +billets. They are scattered on all sides of the village, so quite an +appreciable walk is entailed. The Orderly Sergeant and I had a drink of +milk at one farm. We felt a little refreshed after that. I mounted the +guard with the Regimental Sergeant-Major. (Clements.) This afternoon he +has been made Sergeant of the Transport, and has been succeeded as +R.-S.-M. by Sergeant-Major Hoyle of B Company. Sergeant Preston becomes +Company Sergeant-Major of B Company. + +"Yesterday the padre was appointed President of the Sports Committee, +but, as the Colonel wanted to arrange everything on his own +lines--suggesting races in full pack, amongst other things!--he has +resigned to-day. + +"I had my first interview with Colonel Best-Dunkley this morning. As +Orderly Officer I was present at Commanding Officer's Orders. When he +arrived at the Orderly Room he saw me and said: + +"'Who are you? Let me see, I don't think I have been introduced to you +yet. How are you?' + +"I replied that my name was Floyd; and he shook hands quite genially! + +"There were only two cases up for orders. One man was there for cheeking +a sergeant. He had called the sergeant something which cannot be +repeated here. + +"'Why the b---- h---- did you speak to an N.C.O. like that?' exclaimed +the Colonel in a Judge Jeffreys tone. 'Will you take my sentence? Or +will you have a court martial?' he demanded. + +"The man replied that he would take the Colonel's sentence. + +"'Fourteen days Field Punishment No. 1,' snapped the Colonel. Exit +prisoner. + +"After orders, Colonel Best-Dunkley asked me: 'What is your strong +point?' I replied that I was sorry to have to say so, but I had none; I +was not a specialist on anything. He did not even then become annoyed, +but went on asking me one or two other questions. How long had I been +gazetted? 'Not long,' was his comment on my reply. How long had I been +in the Army? What unit was I in before? Where had I been educated? When +I had answered these questions he expressed himself satisfied; so I +saluted and departed. So I am on quite good terms with him so far, +despite his terrible reputation! The question is--how long shall I +remain on good terms with him? I wonder." + +The next letter (June 14) recounts one of those solemn Battalion parades +which I recollect so well--those parades concerning which copious orders +used to be issued the night before, and in preparation for which we were +instructed in the formula which we (platoon commanders) had to employ +when the Colonel, to the accompaniment of sweet sounds from the band, +reached the edge of our platoons: + +"We had a Battalion parade in a large field this morning. There was a +long type-written programme of the ceremony to be gone through. We +paraded on the company parade ground at 8 a.m. and the Colonel arrived +on the Battalion parade ground at 9 a.m. He rode round the Battalion. +When he reached my platoon he called me up to him and asked me whether I +had a roll of my platoon. I replied that I had. He asked me whether I +had it on me; and I replied that I had, and produced it. He seemed +perfectly satisfied. He also asked me one or two other questions; to +all of which I was able to give a satisfactory answer. And last night as +I passed him in the road and saluted he smiled most affably and said +'good evening.' So he is quite agreeable with me so far. I do not +therefore yet join in the general condemnation of him. As far as I can +tell at present his chief faults appear to me to be: that he suffers +from a badly swelled head; that he fancies himself a budding Napoleon; +that he is endowed by the fates with a very bad temper and a most vile +tongue; that he is inconsiderate of his inferiors wherever his personal +whims and ambitions are concerned; and that he is engrossed with an +inordinate desire to be in the good graces of the Brigadier-General, who +is really, I believe, a very good sort. Apart from those failings, some +of which are, perhaps, excusable, I think he is probably all right. You +may be sure that his unpopularity will not prejudice me against him; I +shall not join in the general condemnation unless and until he gives me +good reason. As yet I have no such reason. Up to now his personality is +merely a source of curiosity and amusement. + +"During the course of the morning's training, Captain Andrews rearranged +the composition of the platoons in the Company; so I now command the +eighth platoon. Sergeant Clews is the name of the platoon sergeant. +Sergeant Dawson (who saw Norman Kemp killed and has the same high +opinion of his heroic qualities as everybody else, whether officer, +N.C.O., or man, who knew him; who tells me that he was by far the most +loved officer in the Battalion--'one who will never be forgotten') is +also in my platoon. + +"In the afternoon I went with the Company on a bathing parade. It was +about half an hour's march. They bathed in a canal. + +"After tea I had a stroll in the country: it is very pretty, especially +this weather.... + +"Captain Andrews goes home on leave to-night; so Lieutenant Halstead is +in command of B Company for a fortnight." + + +"June 15th. + +"The weather continues hot. We had another Battalion parade this +morning: procedure the same as yesterday. The Colonel is still most +agreeable; he has not said a cross word to me yet. + +"We took the afternoon easy, except that there was a parade for +inspection of equipment at 4 p.m. + +"I received, this afternoon, a letter from you of June 11, and one from +Mother of June 10, also enclosures. I am sorry to learn that you are +both worrying. What's the use of worrying? What is there to worry about? +I am quite safe. If I had the 'wind up' it might be another matter; but +I do not, strange to say, even dread the time when we shall go back +into the line! I think it rather exciting. One is inclined to feel a +little 'windy' when shells and 'minnies' are bursting dangerously near, +or when a machine-gun spurts out of the gloaming; but there is a certain +element of excitement about it all. I would not have missed those few +days in the Salient for worlds. I had a pleasant 'baptism of fire' +there. Everybody seems to think that it was worse than going over the +top in a push. Those who fought at the Battle of the Somme last year say +that they would rather be there than in the place where we were last +week! Candidly, I cannot understand it. + +"We shall remain out of the line for some time yet--so cheer up!" + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE MARCH + + +I now come to one of the most remarkable, and in some respects certainly +the most comical, of all the episodes in which Colonel Best-Dunkley +figured--the memorable march from Millain to Westbecourt. The following +lengthy epistle which I wrote in my billet in the Vale of Acquin at +Westbecourt the following day draws a perfectly accurate picture of what +happened: + +"You will be interested to learn that we have moved again. We are now +billeted in a pretty little village in the heart of north-eastern +France.... + +"Yesterday, Saturday June 16, 1917--the hundred and second anniversary +of Ligny and Quatre Bras--is a day I am not likely ever to forget. Such +a march we had; and it was _some_ stunt! Let me tell you, as far as I +can without naming places, the whole story. + +"Reveille sounded at 3 a.m. I rose at 5 a.m. We (the officers) had +breakfast at 5.30. Parade at 6. At 6.45 we marched off from the village +in which we had been billeted during the last few days. It was a very +long march which we had before us to the village in which we now are--a +distance of sixteen miles. Yet we were expecting to arrive there by +midday! I will show you how events turned out so that we did not arrive +here anything like midday. The weather was, and is, just as it has been +all the time--a cloudless sky and a burning sun. It was already quite +warm when we set off, and as the morning advanced the sun naturally +became more powerful still. We joined up with the rest of the Brigade a +little further on, and marched past General Stockwell and Major Thompson +(the Brigade-Major)." + +It was in the streets of Watten that we marched past Stockwell; and I +vividly recollect that he was not at all pleased with things as early as +that. I distinctly heard the word 'rabble' burst from his lips! The +letter proceeds: + +"Men began to fall out before we reached the first village (or town as +it happened to be). And as soon as the falling out began it continued +without ceasing, only becoming more frequent the farther we got. I do +think they began falling out too early. Every time a man fell out we +subalterns had to drop behind with him and give him a chit. That +naturally took time and one got right behind; then one would endeavour +to catch up again; as soon as one was back with one's own +platoon--generally before--one would come across more men of one's +company who had fallen out, and so would get right back again. Thus it +went on the whole time. It meant that we had double the walking to do +that the men had; and we were loaded like Christmas trees just like +them. Fortunately there was a mess cart with the Transport, containing +still lemonade; so I had a drink now and then. It is an Army idea that +one should not drink on the march: that it knocks one up much quicker. I +say frankly, from experience, that it is nonsense. I drank as much as I +could get hold of on the way (by no means as much as I could have +drunk!) and though I was jolly tired I was as fresh as anybody else, and +a good deal fresher than the majority, as you will see later. Well, +after the first halt the falling out became dreadful; it was almost +impossible for us to cope with the number of chits required; crowds must +have been without chits at all. The whole roadside became one mass of +exhausted men lying full length. Some were very bad indeed, some had +sunstroke, some were sick, more than one were dying. At one time the +padre and I were a long way behind, attending to these men. We hurried +on to catch up the Battalion. The Transport, under Humfrey, were just +behind the Battalion, so we followed along the Transport. When we got to +the front end of it we saw nothing beyond! 'Where is the Battalion?' I +asked Humfrey. He informed me that he had lost it. The Adjutant had, at +the last turning, sent the Battalion one way and the Transport another; +and he (Humfrey) had not the faintest idea where he was to go to! So he +halted and got out a map. Then the Medical Officer (Adam) arrived on the +scene too. We told him that the Battalion had disappeared. So we +(Newman, Adam, Humfrey, and myself) sat down for about five minutes and +discussed the situation. It struck us as being rather comical, though we +wished that we were at the end of our journey instead of in a strange +village and ignorant of which way we were to go. Humfrey decided to take +his Transport the same way as the remainder of the Brigade Transport had +gone; so we went on with him! We went across some very open country. The +sun was simply burning down upon us. I felt very exhausted now; but I +can stick almost anything in the way of a route march; no route march +could, in my opinion, be as bad as that memorable Kidlington-Yarnton +route march in March, 1916. The difficulty then was fatigue caused by +the march through thick, soft slushy snow when vaccination was just at +its worst; the difficulty this time was fatigue and thirst caused by the +heat of a French summer. I admit that this route march yesterday was a +stern test of endurance; but if I could stick the Kidlington-Yarnton +stunt I could stick this, and I did stick this all the way, which very +few others did! The trail which we left behind us was a sight to be +seen: men, rifles, equipment, riderless horses all over; the Retreat +from Moscow was spoken of! 'An utter fiasco, a debacle!' exclaimed Padre +Newman. + +"Before we had gone with the Transport very far the Medical Officer was +called round a corner to see a man who was reported to be dying; the +padre went with him. I went on with the Transport. After a time I saw +Lieutenant Reginald Andrews (the Adjutant) standing alone in a village; +so it looked as if the remains of our Battalion must be somewhere about. +A little further on I found Captain Blamey (O.C. D Company) and Giffin +sitting by the side of the road. I asked them what they were doing, and +they replied that they had fallen out with Sergeant-Major Howarth who +was very bad indeed--reported to be dying. So the Battalion had passed +that way. + +"I went on, and, in about ten minutes, saw ahead Colonel Best-Dunkley +standing at the corner of a road branching off to the left from the road +I was proceeding along with the Transport (just outside the village of +Boisdinghem). Just as I reached this corner Brigadier-General Stockwell +rode up from the opposite direction (on horseback) and, with a face +wincing with wrath, accosted Colonel Best-Dunkley as follows: + +"'Dunkley, where's your Battalion?' + +"'This is my Battalion here, sir,' replied the Colonel, standing +submissively to attention and indicating fifteen officers, +non-commissioned officers, and men--all told--lying in a state of +exhaustion at the side of this shaded country road. + +"'What! You call that a Battalion? Fifteen men! I call it a rabble. What +the b---- h---- do you mean by it? Your Battalion is straggling all +along the road right away back to (Watten)! You should have halted and +collected them; not marched on like this. These men have not had a long +enough halt or anything to eat all day. If this is the way you command a +Battalion, you're not fit to command a Battalion. You're not even fit to +command a platoon!' + +"The General then said that the Colonel, the Adjutant, and four company +commanders could consider themselves 'under arrest'! The General was +simply fuming with wrath; I do not think I have ever seen a man in such +a temper. And I certainly never heard a colonel strafed in front of his +own men before. It was an extraordinary scene. Those who have writhed +under the venom of Colonel Best-Dunkley in the past would, doubtless, +feel happy at this turning of the tables as it were, a refreshing +revenge; but I must admit that my sympathy was with Colonel +Best-Dunkley--and so was that of all present--in this instance, for we +all felt that the General's censure was undeserved. It was not Colonel +Best-Dunkley's fault; if it was anybody's fault it was the General's own +fault for ordering the march by day instead of by night, and for not +halting the Brigade for a long enough period earlier on in the course of +the march. One felt that Colonel Best-Dunkley was being treated +unjustly, especially as the North Lancs. had only arrived with ten! And +the Irish had not yet arrived at all! (These facts must soon have become +apparent to General Stockwell, and, perhaps, caused him, inwardly at any +rate, to modify his judgment). And the way Colonel Best-Dunkley took it, +the calm and submissive manner in which he bore General Stockwell's +curses and the kind and polite way in which he afterwards gave orders +to, and conversed with, his inferiors, both officers and men, endeared +him to all. I consider that out of this incident Colonel Best-Dunkley +has won a moral victory. He played his cards very well, and feeling +changed towards him as a result. + +"The General went on: 'You yourself, the Adjutant, and four mounted +officers go right back to (Watten) immediately and collect your men +together and bring them along here before you proceed any further.' + +"'I _have_ sent two officers down the road, sir,' replied the Colonel. + +"'What the d----s the use of detailing unmounted officers for the job?' +snapped General Stockwell. The Colonel said something else, and the +General replied, 'That's no excuse.' + +"Then General Stockwell went off, and Colonel Best-Dunkley carried out +his orders. We could see that we were now in for a very long halt here. +It would take a deuce of a time to collect the Battalion together again! +So we lay down under the shade of the roadside hedge and discussed the +whole affair. Three sergeant-majors had fallen out on the way, two very +bad indeed; officers had fallen out; and men wearing ribbons of the +D.C.M. and the M.M., heroes of Gallipoli and the Somme, men who had +never been beaten by a route march before, were lying along the country +roads; so there must have been some reason for it! Amongst the sturdy +fifteen were the new Regimental Sergeant-Major (Hoyle) and +Sergeant-Major Preston of B Company; and there were also a few officers. +The Transport made us some tea, which we enjoyed immensely. Humfrey had +his little fox terrier, 'Darky,' who was born in the trenches at +Thiepval during the Battle of the Somme last summer, with him. It is a +nice little dog. I found a gold ring on the road just by me; and I +intend to keep it as a souvenir of the episode. + +"We remained here for five hours--from 2.30 to 7.30. Men were +reinforcing us all the time. After about half an hour General Stockwell +appeared again. Glaring at Sergeant-Major Hoyle he addressed him as +follows: + +"'Here are fifteen men whom _I_ myself--_I_--have collected along the +road. Get them some tea at once, sergeant-major!' He glanced at us all +and then rode off again. He is clean-shaven and exceptionally young for +a General; I should think he is not more than thirty-five. He is rather +good-looking, but he has _some_ temper. Some one remarked that General +Stockwell and Colonel Best-Dunkley were men of similar temperament; on +this occasion the latter had run up against the former; this interesting +little episode at this country corner was the result! + +"There was an aerodrome near by (at Boisdinghem), and the Major there +kindly sent his motor-lorries down the road to fetch up our men; so they +kept arriving in motor-lorries the whole afternoon. + +"I can tell you we enjoyed this rest. One officer who had fallen out saw +a mail motor-lorry. The driver said that he was looking for the (164) +Brigade! So he got a lift. The mail arrived while we were resting in +this shaded road; so I got your letter of June 12 and the enclosed +letters, and read them there.... + +"When we marched off again it was much cooler. The majority of the +Battalion had been collected during the five hours, and we marched +happily on--the band playing. The country was pretty, and everything was +gay! The Colonel was awfully nice, inquiring whether the step was to our +liking, and making himself agreeable in every possible way. All were +pleased with him. + +"We arrived at our destination at 8.30, and the men were taken straight +into the barns where they are billeted. Tea was served out immediately. + +"I am billeted in a farm again. The people are very decent indeed. The +woman gave me three drinks as soon as I arrived, offering them herself +and refusing to take any payment for them; she also offered to boil me a +couple of eggs, but I did not wish to put on good nature any further. +There is a nice little boy named Edmond, aged fourteen. I talked to him +in French as much as it was possible for me to do in that language. He +cannot speak English.... + +"Allen and I are both billeted in the same room here. B Company Mess is +in a house close by, and B Company are billeted in the barns of a farm +almost opposite. + +"The village we are in (Westbecourt) is geographically divided into two +parts, north and south. The southern portion, in which we are, is a +valley (le Val d'Acquin). The northern part is on the reverse slope of a +hill which lies on the other side of the valley. Battalion Headquarters +is at a farm on that northern side of the high ground, just by the +church. + +"We rose at 10 a.m. this morning. The weather to-day has been hotter +than ever. One perspires even when quite still. The sun has been +scorching down. We had an inspection at 11, and the M.O. came round to +inspect the men's feet at 2.40. Just as he was going away the Colonel +turned up at the farm where B Company is in billets. He was on +horseback, in slacks and in his shirt-sleeves; to live in one's shirt +sleeves is a very common custom this weather. He informed us that +General Stockwell is coming to inspect the Battalion to-morrow! + +"During the day I have been exploring the village. It is very pretty +indeed, much prettier than the last place we were at. There are thick +woods, green fields, shaded avenues--some completely arched by all kinds +of trees; and, the district being hilly, the country is thus all the +more charming. Milk is very cheap here. I got a big bowl of milk for 1d. +at one farm in the valley the other side of the hill. It is splendid +here; and we are likely to remain here some time. + +"At 7.40 the padre conducted a short voluntary church parade service in +an orchard behind the farm in which C Company hangs out--just opposite +the farm in which I am billeted. Allen, Priestley, Barker, Giffin, and I +were there. The band was there for the first hymn--it then had to go to +Headquarters to play 'retreat' at 8 p.m. There were about twenty +men...." + +Sergeant-Major Howarth, D.C.M., died at St. Omer that day, overpowered +by the march of the previous day. "He was not at all the class of man +one can afford to lose, and his loss was greatly deplored," comments the +_Lancashire Fusiliers' Annual_. And Sergeant-Major Howarth was not, I +believe, the only casualty of the kind caused by the march. + +Before I close this chapter I ought to say a word about the Brigadier +whose personality dominates the canvas. I do not wish it to be supposed +that I desire to reflect in any way upon the character and ability of +General Stockwell. Nothing could be further from my mind. I relate the +incident because it strikes me as being funny, because such an episode +forms the subject for an interesting study in the bearing of two +remarkable personalities, and because I hold that the truth should +always be told about such matters. The episode has long been a topic of +intimate conversation amongst members of the 2/5th Lancashire Fusiliers +and their friends; many a laugh have we had about it. Why should not +the public be allowed to laugh with us? + +All men and women, even the greatest, are capable of making mistakes. +Nobody is perfect. Even the great Napoleon made mistakes. So General +Stockwell will not, I am sure, claim to be immaculate. But for Clifton +Inglis Stockwell as a General I entertain, and always have entertained, +feelings of the most profound respect. Nobody can possibly entertain a +more ardent devotion for a leader than I entertain for General Stockwell +under whom it has been my good fortune to have the honour to serve in +1917, in 1918, and in 1919. The longer I have served under him the more +have I admired his perfectly obvious talent, his brilliant initiative, +and his striking personality. His record in the Great War is unique. As +a captain in the Royal Welsh Fusiliers, he commanded a company in the +retreat from Mons in 1914. He rose rapidly. He became a major; and he +became a colonel; and, during the Battle of the Somme, in 1916, he +became a Brigadier-General, succeeding Brigadier-General Edwards in +command of the 164th Brigade. And he remained in command of that famous +Brigade until the end of the war. As I studied the countenance of +General Stockwell on that country road at Boisdinghem that afternoon I +realized that he was no ordinary twopenny-halfpenny brigadier; but I +did not then know that this was the man who, less than twelve months +later, was destined to stand between Ludendorff and decisive victory in +his last dramatic throw at Givenchy on the glorious ninth of April, and +seven months later still to be chosen to command the flying column known +by his name which captured Ath on Armistice Day and fired the last shots +of the Great War. It is right that Stockwell's place in history should +be duly appreciated. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE GENERAL'S SPEECH + + +This chapter will be a very short one; but, despite its brevity, it +seems to me that the event narrated in it should form the subject of a +single chapter. General Stockwell's speech at Westbecourt, on Waterloo +day, 1917, was a very remarkable speech; it was the most striking speech +I have ever heard--and I have listened to a good many famous public +speakers in my time--and it produced a very profound impression upon all +who heard it. I only wish there had been a reporter present to take it +down verbatim. But that could not be. Those were the days of that most +objectionable of all tyrants, the Censor! I can but quote from the +letter which I wrote home from Westbecourt on June 18: + +"The Battalion paraded in a field just by my billet this morning. +General Stockwell arrived at 10.45. The General Salute, Present Arms, +was ordered by Best-Dunkley. The General rode up, and, facing the +Battalion, said to Best-Dunkley: 'All right; slope arms, order arms, +stand at ease, and close up your companies.' The Colonel gave the +required orders. General Stockwell then addressed the Battalion. +'Colonel Best-Dunkley, gentlemen, non-commissioned officers, and men of +the 2/5th Lancashire Fusiliers, I am very sorry indeed to have to say +what I am going to say to you now'--he began. He then spoke about the +march of Saturday, drew a vivid picture of the scene as it appeared to +him, said that he had had very great faith in the discipline of this +Battalion and was very sorry that under stress our discipline should +prove so weak; said that the Brigade had been selected for the most +difficult and trying part in the forthcoming operations (he then told us +what part: I cannot, of course, reveal what!) because Sir Douglas Haig +considers us the best brigade in the Division, and that if we could not +stick Saturday what would we do then? He remarked that the Lancashire +Fusiliers had won more V.C.'s than any other regiment in the British +Army, and he closed by saying that he would still trust us, and hoped +that we would act up to our traditions in the future. + +"Having said his say he disappeared as quickly as he had appeared! + +"We then carried on with training. We finished at 12. The weather is +still hot. + +"I had a stroll about the village this afternoon, having some milk +again at the farm I spoke of yesterday. + +"At 6.15 this evening we were all summoned to a conference at Battalion +Headquarters. Colonel Best-Dunkley told us all about a new scheme of +training which commences to-morrow and also explained to us the plan of +campaign and what part we are to play, with reference to the exact +points on the map, in the next great battle, which he said would be the +greatest battle of the war. It is a thing which I have always thought +ought to be done. And I may say that I am of a very decided opinion that +_if_ it is a _complete success_ there is not a shade of doubt but that +peace will be signed in September; but unless it is a complete success +we shall have to wait for Maude and Murray in Asia Minor.... This battle +is not going to be fought just yet; we have to practise it all first! + +"There is no harm in telling you that the Colonel told us that we should +remain billeted in this village for the remainder of this month at +least. And it is a delightful little village to be in. But we are an +hour and a half's march from the divisional training area where we are +now going to proceed for training every day.... + +"Every time June 18 comes round I cannot help thinking of the great +drama brought to a close on that day in 1815. Before many weeks have +passed I myself will probably partake in the operations of another +Waterloo fought upon the blood-stained soil of unhappy Belgium! I always +said that I would be in at the finish whether that finish happens to be +in Belgium, on the Rhine, or in Palestine, didn't I?" + +Yes, It was my destiny to be "in at the finish;" but the finish was not, +as so many of our optimists then thought it would be, at Ypres in 1917! +The decisive victory was not to be ours until Foch and Sir Henry Wilson +were at the head of military affairs and D'Esperey at Cerna and Allenby +at Armageddon had won their Waterloo in the September of 1918; and when +Stockwell's Force fired the last shots at Ath in Belgium I was there! + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE VALE OF ACQUIN + + +We now commenced that early rising and continuous training with which we +soon became heartily "fed up." + + +"June 19th. + +"I rose at 3.30 this morning, made a hurried breakfast, and went on +parade at 4.15. We marched about three miles to the training area. Our +dress on this occasion was without tunics, but Sam Brown and other +articles of equipment over our shirts; shirt-sleeves rolled up. When we +reached very open country, high up on the moorland, a thunder-storm came +on and we were drenched! It was splendid. As we were wet through, we +marched back to our village again when it got fine! It was quite fine +again when we got back. It is just a little cooler now, but is quite +fine and warm. + +"At 11 we had a conference at Battalion Headquarters. The Colonel +informed us that we are moving again, after all, to-morrow! We are going +to another village eighteen miles away. I expect the reason is because +the selected training area for us while here is not satisfactory. I am +sorry we are moving again so soon, because I like this village...." + + +"June 20th. + +" ... An order came round yesterday evening to the effect that we might +move to the new place by bus, it might be by march; in case it should be +the latter we must be prepared to move off at 2 in the morning. Later in +the evening Regimental Sergeant-Major Hoyle came to see us in B Company +Officers' Mess, as he frequently does by invitation, and told us that it +was now official that we were to move by motor-bus at 7 this morning; so +we all decided to go to bed. We got up at 4.30 this morning and had +breakfast. We were then informed that the move was 'washed out' for +to-day, and that we were to carry on with training. A parade was +ordered, and took place at 6.30, for the purpose of proceeding to the +training area as per yesterday; but it rained, and the parade was +dismissed with orders to stand by until further orders. Then a +box-respirator inspection in billets, with drill on same, was ordered +and took place; it was, I may incidentally remark, the second they had +already had during the day. This kind of thing went on for some time; +the weather cleared up; and then another parade was ordered and took +place at 9.15. We then marched off to the training area. We went four or +five miles this time, further than we went yesterday. We passed through +that village where the padre and I lost the Battalion on the march here +on Saturday! We halted in a field beyond that village. Then Colonel +Best-Dunkley asked for all officers. We all sat round him on the grass +for about a quarter of an hour while he explained to us a tactical +scheme which the Battalion was now to carry out in the district. We then +carried out the tactical scheme which took place over potato fields and +fine crops--it seemed a great pity for the farmers! We all had to move +our platoons across country to a certain position, each platoon +proceeding separately, but, of course, keeping its correct distance from +the others, and, by means of scouts and runners, keeping in +communication. On the front along which I had to proceed with my platoon +there were numerous fields enclosed by thick hedges and awkward +obstacles; but I got it along all right, without either map or compass. +In one lane I encountered Major Brighten, sitting on horseback. He asked +me various questions about the position, and gave me a word or two of +advice. I really like Major Brighten very much; he is the nicest, as +well as one of the most capable, officer in the Battalion. When the +scheme was over, Halstead told me that my platoon was in exactly the +right position. That information was a pleasant surprise! + +"We then marched back. Some of the way I rode on Halstead's horse, +'Peter.' He must be a very good horse, because I got along all right; he +did not play any pranks. We got back at 3.45.... We had a kind of lunch +at 4 p.m. At 5.30 we attended a conference of all officers at Battalion +Headquarters. The Colonel discussed the scheme, and criticized most +officers very roundly; fortunately he had nothing whatever to say about +me! While we were there the Adjutant opened an order from Brigade to the +effect that the move is now cancelled altogether; so we are remaining +here for our training. I am glad." + + +"June 21st. + +"We were up at 4 again this morning. I am becoming very 'fed up' with +this stupidly early rising. I have no particular objection to shells or +to route marches in themselves; but I do object to being awakened from a +pleasant sleep and having to get up at 4 every morning! It makes one +feel so washed out. + +"At 5 we marched off on a Battalion route march. We went round about +nine miles, and got back at 9.45. Then there was a kit inspection; then +gas drill. This afternoon I had a stroll in the woods. There was a foot +inspection at 4; there is a battle-order inspection at 5.40; and this +evening there is to be bayonet fighting and bombing! The men are, quite +naturally, not pleased." + + +"June 22nd. + +"We marched off at 6 this morning to a range about seven miles away (at +Cormette). When we had been going about twenty minutes it began to rain. +It rained all the way, but we went on just the same. I had no coat, so +was thoroughly wet. When we got to the range it was still raining. We +had lunch there and discussed whether to fire or not. We got there at 9. +At 11 it was decided to return without firing." + +This, I remember, was the occasion upon which I first met John +Bodington, who had just returned to the Battalion, from leave I suppose. +He was then second-in-command of D Company, and did not possess a single +ribbon. Few could have guessed what a remarkable military future lay +before him. "I should guess he's about the luckiest fellow that ever +dodged a 5.9," remarked a friend, now on the Rhine, who wrote to me the +other day (August 11, 1919). + +"It simply poured on the way back. I was drenched to the skin. I do not +think I have ever had such a drenching before. The ground was thick with +mud and slush. We were all horribly dirty. It was 2 p.m. when we got +back. I took off my things and had them dried by the fire. The people in +this billet are really very decent indeed. I went to bed for an hour. +Then tea. At 6 we had a lecture on the compass, by Major Brighten." + + +"June 23rd. + +"Reveille was not quite so early as usual this morning. We did not march +off from here until 8 a.m. We then went, in battle-order, to the +training area. While there I saw, through my field-glasses, General Sir +Hubert Gough, Lieutenant-General Sir Herbert Watts, Major-General +Jeudwine, and Brigadier-General Stockwell, on horseback, together with a +whole crowd of staff-officers, on the crest of a hill some distance +away. They were too far off for their faces to be distinguishable; but I +knew that they were the above-mentioned generals because Major Brighten +told us yesterday that they were coming. They were inspecting the +training. + +"The weather to-day has been very nice--sunshine, yet neither too hot +nor too cold. We got back at 2. Then lunch. I then went to the farm the +other side of the hill for some milk. Then tea. Then bombing. Then +dinner. Then letter-writing. Now bed! + +"Would you mind sending me a Lancashire Fusilier cap badge? Excuse me +asking for something fresh in every letter, but Colonel Best-Dunkley has +conceived the brilliant idea that our battalion should set an example to +the rest of the Brigade--'lead the way,' as he calls it--by having cap +badges in our steel helmets as well as in our soft hats. Of course with +such devices we cannot fail to defeat the enemy next time we encounter +him! What a life! + +"We are hoping, but scarcely daring to expect, that a somewhat easier +day will be ours to-morrow, Sunday!" + + +"June 24th. + +"I did not get up until 9 this morning. Church parade was at 10. The +service was, of course, taken by Newman.... The service was held in the +field which is the Battalion parade ground. After the service the padre +had a communion service in a corner of the field for those who wished to +stay. About twenty men stayed, and the following officers--Colonel +Best-Dunkley, Allen, Gratton, Giffin and myself. The padre had a +miniature oak altar, containing a crucifix, with two lighted candles, on +a table. + +"After this Colonel Best-Dunkley walked down the lane with us and +accepted Giffin's invitation to come inside B Company's Mess. He had a +drink with us there, and stayed a minute or two. He remarked that it was +a dirty mess, pointed out a match on the floor, and, with his customary +blink and twitch of the nose, asked how we dare ask him into such a +dirty mess; but he also paid us the compliment of saying that B Company +was the best working company in the Battalion! Then we walked up to +Headquarters with him as he wanted us there. He told us that Sir Hubert +Gough expressed himself pleased with the Battalion yesterday. When we +got to Headquarters he gave us a paper to answer--an account of an +operation upon which we were each to write a report. We then returned +and wrote out the reports. Then lunch. + +"The weather has been glorious to-day--bright sunshine, with a +refreshing breeze, not too hot. This afternoon I had a walk in the +country beyond this village, and strolled about a thickly-clustered +wood, plucking wild strawberries and eating them. Then back for tea. +Then letter censoring. + +" ... We are supposed to do an hour's reading per day of military +text-books, and have to send in to Orderly Room a certificate to that +effect every evening!" + + +"June 25th. + +"We have been to the range again to-day. A and B Companies went later +than the others, so we did not leave here until 8.45. It was 11.45 when +we got there. The weather was glorious as usual; and, since there was a +slight breeze, it was not too hot. We got the men into details of eight +and fired this time. We had taken our lunch with us, and so we had it +there. The ground there (at Cormette) is very high, and there is a +splendid view. I put my glass on it. We remained there until 4. Then we +marched back.... + +"I had three sergeants with my platoon to-day--Sergeant Clews, the +platoon-sergeant, Sergeant Dawson, and Sergeant Baldwin. The latter I +like very much; he is a very pleasant youth; he was a corporal in 7th +Platoon when I first joined the Battalion. My four section commanders in +8th Platoon are Corporal Pendleton (Bombers), Lance-Corporal Morgan +(Rifleman), Lance-Corporal Flint (Rifle Grenadiers, and Gas N.C.O.), and +Lance-Corporal Riley (Lewis Gunners). Lance-Corporal Topping, of 7th +Platoon, lives in Oldham Road, Middleton; he is a nice easy-going boy; I +like him very much. He told me, when we were out on that working party +on June 9, that he knew my face. + +"Since I am on this subject I might mention that there are the following +sergeants in B Company: Sergeant-Major Preston, Quartermaster-Sergeant +Jack, Sergeant Donovan, Sergeant Butterworth, Sergeant Williams, and the +three I have mentioned above. I think the most competent N.C.O. in my +platoon, apart from Dawson, who does not command a section, and Baldwin, +who really belongs to 7th Platoon, is Corporal Pendleton. My servant is +Critchley. He is, of course, in my platoon. He is a very obliging man. I +am perfectly satisfied with him. Officers' servants also act as runners. +I think it is a bit thick on the part of the Colonel making them go on +parade; it means that they have very little time to themselves. + +"The B Company officers are: Captain Andrews (Officer Commanding), +Lieutenant Halstead (Second-in-Command) who is Company Commander while +Captain Andrews is on leave, Lieutenant Giffin (a Rossall boy who, with +the traditional Rossall touch, tries to play the 'senior sub' +part--always ticking one off and making personal remarks), +Second-Lieutenant Allen, Second-Lieutenant Gratton, and myself. Gratton +was a private in Gallipoli, and so is a decent sort. Allen is very +orthodox and proper, and gets very 'windy' about being on parade in +time; but he is a good sort and we are great friends. He comes from +Buxton way somewhere. Gratton comes from the south; he was in the Royal +Fusiliers as a Tommy. Halstead comes from Haslingden; he is a very +decent, calm, fellow. He is married. Giffin comes from Burnley. He is +about my age. Gratton is twenty-seven. The two latter were on leave when +I arrived. + +"Two new officers have recently arrived from Scarborough--Walsh and +Hickey. They arrived there from cadet battalions just before I came out +here. They are in A Company, which is at present commanded by Captain +Briggs, Captain Cochrane being on leave. Lieutenant Ronald, an Argyll +and Sutherland Highlander attached to this Battalion--a decent sort--is +also in A Company; he has just been on leave. Leave comes round in turn +throughout the officers of the Battalion; it will be a long time before +my turn comes: perhaps when the war is over! Horace Beesley of D Company +is very nice with me; he is an awfully decent sort. Lieutenant Joye, who +is in command of Headquarters Company, is an amusing fellow; he is large +and fat, with yellow hair and a smiling face. Colonel Best-Dunkley is +always going for him; he had him under open arrest for something paltry +the other day! Lieutenant West is Assistant Adjutant and also physical +training officer. Captain Bodington is in command of D Company while +Captain Blamey is on leave. Reggie Andrews, the Adjutant, amuses me. He +does not seem to worry much, though the Colonel gives him a deuce of a +time; he is very short-sighted, but does not wear glasses. He is very +young. + +"I am Orderly Officer to-day and have not performed a single duty +appertaining thereto! It was too late to mount the guard when I got back +from the range; and the Colonel had a conference of all officers this +evening at the time when staff parade was being held. These conferences +are a bore. The Colonel blinks and twitches his nose, and the thing +dawdles on. The subject of the conference on this occasion was to +discuss a Brigade scheme taking place on the training area on +Wednesday." + + +"June 27th. + +"We have had hardly a moment to ourselves during the last two days. At 9 +yesterday morning we walked to the training area, as all officers and +N.C.O.'s had to reconnoitre the area in which the Brigade stunt was to +take place to-day. When we got a little beyond the aerodrome, Allen, +Verity, Barker and I got a lift in a Flying Corps tender as far as +(Cormette), the little village where we had to assemble at 10. We then +went over the area using maps, and the scheme was explained. The area +was exactly the same in dimensions as that with which we shall have to +deal in the great battle, and positions were named by the names of +positions which we shall attack then; strong points were marked by rings +of flags. We spent a terribly long time up there; we sat down waiting +for company commanders to return for about two hours. The whole thing, I +am sure, could have been done in much less time. The position of advance +allotted to our Battalion was on the extreme left of the Brigade, B +Company on the left of the Battalion, and 8th Platoon, therefore, on the +extreme left of the Brigade.... + +"It was nearly 5 p.m. before we got back, having had no lunch. We had +some then. At 6.30 we had to attend a conference at Battalion +Headquarters. It was 8 when we got back to B Company Mess, so then +dinner; and at 9.15 we were on parade for marching off on this Brigade +stunt! It was midnight when the Battalion reached the village where we +had assembled in the morning; we felt very tired and sleepy. The first +thing we did was to get all the dispositions of the Battalion (the same +happened throughout the whole Brigade) effected under darkness, every +section in its correct place. The dew had fallen very thickly and the +long grass and corn were wringing wet; consequently we all got our feet +and legs soaked. Then dummy ammunition was distributed. At about 2 a.m. +we had permission to lie down where we were and get some sleep if we +could! I lay down in the dirt at the roadside and had an hour or two's +sleep. At about 3.30, when it was becoming light, I was awakened, my +teeth chattering horribly, hearing the Brigadier-General strafing +somebody! General Stockwell and his Staff seemed to be walking up and +down all night. I saw them just before I went to sleep, and the first +object which I saw on opening my eyes again was General Stockwell. I +hear that poor Best-Dunkley got it hot again from the Brigadier about +something during the night! The fiery young General seemed to be on the +war-path. + +"At 5.15 we had breakfast, cooked in the travelling cook-waggons. We +had to keep going up and down the line most of the time, explaining the +scheme to the section commanders. Then Colonel Best-Dunkley went along +the line asking questions. The first section commander he dropped on was +poor Topping, who had only been put on the particular job last night; he +had been somewhere else yesterday when it was all explained. The Colonel +asked him what was the interval between his section and the section on +his right; he did not know! 'You see, your section commanders don't know +their orders,' blinked the Colonel. + +"7th and 8th platoons were merged into one under Giffin. I commanded the +left wing, consisting of the sections of Lance-Corporal Topping and +Lance-Corporal Heap. We were the fourth wave, supporting the two +platoons of Gratton and Allen who were in the third wave. The idea was +that another brigade had taken all the strong points, and our brigade +had to push forward past them and penetrate the enemy's lines to a +certain distance, consolidate, and repel counter-attacks. The other +brigades were supposed to have gone over the top at dawn. So we went +over at 7 a.m. We went forward very nicely, under cover of a 'creeping +barrage' which was represented by drums rumbling and flags waving. At +the little village of (Noir Carme) Giffin went to the right, and I took +Topping's and Heap's sections through the village and round to a field +the other side where I turned half-left and awaited Giffin's arrival on +the right. When he came up we all advanced to our final objective which +was in advance of the Battalion's objective. We have to go to the +outpost line. Then we sent off flares to signal to the aircraft that we +had reached our objective; and then we were supposed to be digging in +and putting out wire, patrolling, and resisting counter-attacks! As a +matter of fact we sat there for a an hour or two. My two sections were +on the extreme left of the whole Brigade. + +"At 11.30 the stunt was declared over and the men went home; but General +Stockwell wished to see all the officers in the Brigade. So we assembled +near the aerodrome. The General was very agreeable; he was in a most +agreeable and accommodating mood; he seemed very pleased indeed with +everything. He spoke for about twenty minutes on the operations. He is +really a brilliant speaker. He said that on the whole the advance was +carried out very well indeed, that the right was not quite so good, but +that the left was very good indeed; we kept our dressing splendidly! +Giffin and I exchanged glances of satisfaction. At the close of his +speech General Stockwell said that we must do the scheme once or twice +again, and asked the colonels (Best-Dunkley, Hindle, Heath, and +Balfour) whether 9.30 to-morrow morning would be agreeable on the +training area. Colonel Best-Dunkley said that it would do quite well; +but Colonel Heath objected that the men were all tired and would require +some sleep--would not Friday be better? 'Very well then; I'm quite +agreeable to have it on Friday; you can do what you like to-morrow,' +replied the General in a jovial tone. We were all very pleased. The +conference over we set off back. Thus ended our first 'dress rehearsal'! + +"When we got back we had some lunch. Then, at 2 in the afternoon we went +to bed. At 5.30 Critchley wakened me with the information that there was +a conference of all officers at the aerodrome at 6. Allen immediately +got the 'wind up,' but I pointed out to him that even if it were +correct, which I doubted, the thing was now out of the question so far +as we were concerned; so we might as well remain in bed and get up at +our leisure. As a matter of fact, the information turned out to be +incorrect: it was merely company commanders who were required--Halstead +had gone. + +"We got up for dinner at 8. Captain Andrews had then returned from +leave. When Halstead got back he was jolly glad to find that he was +relieved from the responsibilities and worries of a company commander. +But Captain Andrews is going to be second-in-command of the Battalion +in the forthcoming battle, as Major Brighten, who is now home on leave, +may not be there; so Halstead will have to command B Company in the +operations, and this scheme is to hold good, with regard to all schemes +and rehearsals concerning the operations." + + +"June 29th. + +"We are working very hard just now, and it is all I can do to find time +to write letters; one's natural inclination is to sleep when one has an +afternoon free after a strenuous morning, but some letters must be +written, so I must write. + +"Yesterday morning we rose at 8.30 and had breakfast. Then we received +notification that all officers and N.C.O.'s were to parade at the +aerodrome at 10.30 for a lecture. So we walked there. There was not much +of a lecture. A Royal Flying Corps officer explained some aeroplane +signals to us, and then an aeroplane went up and exhibited them. Then we +were told that we could dismiss. So we walked back again. We all thought +it a 'wash out' having us up there just for that. Colonel Best-Dunkley +stayed behind to have a fly. I will not repeat the hopes which were +expressed by certain of his battalion! He flew over our village and +dropped a message at Battalion Headquarters. All went off without any +accidents! + +"We had lunch when we got back. Then I censored two hundred letters. We +had a thunder-storm and a heavy fall of rain in the evening. I went to +bed soon after dinner. There was no mail yesterday. + +"This morning we rose at 5.30. We marched off at 6.30 and did the +Brigade stunt again on the training area. I am getting rather fed up +with Giffin on parade. He nearly landed me in the soup this morning by +his dictatorial interference; he seems to like to make one realize that +he is a full lieutenant! When I had got Topping's section down on to the +road just before the village he signalled for me to bring it back again. +The result was a 'box-up,' and we got right behind our wave, whereas if +we had gone straight on we would have kept in line; but, fortunately, I +got right again in a few minutes. We finished at 12.40. Then all +officers had to attend a conference with the General again. General +Stockwell was very pleased with the show, and had no complaints. I am +getting to like General Stockwell very much; his face is not unlike that +of the great Sir David Beatty. + +"We felt jolly tired after it all. It was hot and tiring walking back. +We got back at 3 p.m. Then lunch. Giffin had the decency to apologize +for his nastiness. 'I hope you did not mind me cursing you this morning, +Floyd,' he said. I replied that I did not, but said that I thought that +it would have been better for me to go on when I had got on the road. +Of course, he did not agree! When on the march if I call out a step he +washes it out and says that it is the wrong one. And he is always +criticizing one. Halstead is very different; he does not interfere with +one; in fact, he has complimented me on all occasions of these schemes. +After the General had mentioned that the left did so well the other day +Halstead said in the Mess: 'Yes, our left flank was fine, thanks to +Floyd; he managed it like a general!' That is, of course exaggeration in +the opposite direction; I make no claim to any talents of that kind: but +it is encouraging for one's company commander to talk like that, more +encouraging than the way the second-in-command, Giffin, behaves. Giffin +is quite agreeable generally, but I do not like his patronizing air. + +"We have packed and sent off our kit-bags this evening, as we are +returning to the trenches in a day or two. So if you do not get any +letters for a few days shortly, do not get the wind up; I will write +whenever I have time.... + +"I am rather surprised to hear of the change in the Mediterranean +Command. I gather that Sir Archibald Murray, towards whom I entertained +such complete confidence, is sharing the fate of his famous predecessor, +Sir Ian Hamilton; for I learn that Sir Edmund Allenby, the victor of +Arras, is leaving France to take command in Egypt. Sir Julian Byng has +been appointed to command the Third Army in his place, and General Byng +is succeeded by General Currie as commander of the Canadian Corps. +Things have certainly been very quiet in Palestine lately; but I think +that is the fault of Sir William Robertson in taking Douglas' 42nd +Division away from Murray; but poor Murray gets sacked because he fails +to get on when supplied with insufficient troops! I am sorry. I had +pictured Sir Archibald Murray leading a victorious wing at Armageddon, +but that, apparently, is not now to be: Sir Edmund Allenby reigns in his +stead. Perhaps the new general will have more troops sent out to him; +perhaps we shall now get a move on in Palestine, so important a theatre +of operations; the arrival of Sir Edmund Allenby in the East may prove +the signal for a fresh offensive out there.[3] Sir Stanley Maude has +been very quiet lately; but I suppose the weather will be adverse to +operations in Mesopotamia at present. I wonder why something is not done +with Sir George Milne's force at Salonica. Apparently all is not even +yet plain sailing in Greece. There is still intrigue going on. I do not +think Venizelos is going to have everything his own way, even now King +Constantine has gone to Switzerland. Switzerland is now, I think, the +theatre of important diplomatic intrigues. I think King Constantine's +abdication is only temporary; I think King Alexander only reigns for the +period of the war. Do not fret--King Constantine knows what he is doing! + +"What about Holland? There seems to be trouble there. And, as Father +remarks, Ireland is troublesome again; but Sir Bryan Mahon ought to be +able to deal with the insurgents, even though Lord Wimborne is still +Viceroy; and Duke is a better Chief Secretary than Birrell! + +"How is Lord Rhondda going on as Food Controller? Are things any better +than they were under Devonport? Lloyd George seems to be declining in +popularity. And the people seem determined not to have Churchill in +office! So what will happen? Things are very quaint at present. + +"Well, darkness has descended upon the country-side; it is time I was +retiring to rest; I therefore lay down my pen. Good night!" + +My diary, under date June 30, states: "A quiet morning. Inspections. +Then went to see relief plan of area of our forthcoming attack in a +field at Boisdinghem." + +Thus ended our long rest. The evening of June 30--our last at +Westbecourt--is one which is still well remembered by those who were +there, and still much spoken of by those who were not there! It was a +lively evening in the various company messes. Champagne was much in +demand, and "all went merry as a marriage bell." I will never forget the +fun we had in B Company Mess that evening. I laughed for two hours +without ceasing. At 11 p.m. I returned to my billet whence the staid and +quiet Allen had already preceded me. I talked volubly to him for about a +quarter of an hour, apparently causing him considerable amusement, and +then would insist on going back to the mess for my _Church Times_ which +I had left there. When I got there the mess was locked up, so I had to +return without it! The most amusing point about this episode is that an +officer who was in another company mess at the time has always professed +to know more about the happenings in B Company Mess that evening than +any B Company officers who were present! + +FOOTNOTE: + +[3] See Appendix I. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +BACK TO THE SALIENT + + +We returned to Ypres on July 1. Everybody was thinking and talking about +the great Battle on the Somme of which this was the first anniversary; +but before the day was over we ourselves had cause to remember the first +of July. + +My diary contains a brief synopsis of the journey: + + +"July 1st. + +"Up 4 a.m. Breakfast 4.40. Marched off from Westbecourt at 6.15. Marched +to Lumbres. The place full of Portuguese. Entrained there. Train left +Lumbres at 10 a.m. Went through St. Omer, Hazebrouck, and Poperinghe. We +got out at Brandhoek, about two miles beyond Poperinghe--nearly at +Vlamertinghe. Marched to Query Camp. Remained here in tents during the +afternoon. The arrangements concerning us seem very vague. Divisional +Staff do not appear to have given very definite orders to General +Stockwell. But one thing is known: we are to relieve the 165th Brigade +in the trenches in the Ypres Salient. At Query Camp we are about three +miles from the German front line, and so well within range of the guns. +They are booming as usual all the time." + +In a letter written home from the Ramparts the following day, July 2, I +described our return to the Salient as follows: + +"Yesterday, Sunday, was our last day in reserve billets. We rose at 4 +a.m. At 6.15 we marched off. We marched to a village about an hour and a +half's march away--a village where there are some Portuguese troops. +There we entrained. We left at about 10 a.m. We travelled to the +railhead where I got off on my arrival on June 5; but this time the +train took us about two miles beyond the station. Then we marched to a +camp about three miles behind the front line. We remained there, in +tents, all the afternoon. Colonel Best-Dunkley came into B Company's +mess tent. He was so taken up with the arrangements which Allen, the +mess president, had made that he remained for tea with us! He was in a +very agreeable mood; he is certainly a man of moods. He tried to put the +wind up me about life in the trenches, but did not succeed. The Adjutant +was there too, also Captain Andrews and an officer from the brigade we +are relieving. Nobody else seemed disposed to come in. The Colonel dined +at Division, which was the other side of some trees; but the Adjutant +remained for dinner with us. Gratton asked me to show my _Middleton +Guardian_ correspondence to the Adjutant, and I did so; he was very +interested. West, the Assistant Adjutant, also read it." + +While we were at Query Camp orders came round to all companies that one +officer per company was to be detailed to leave at 5 p.m. and proceed to +the Salient and reconnoitre the trenches. Captain Andrews detailed +Halstead to go from B Company. Ronald went from A, Barker from C, and +Wood from D. They all set off together. Giffin also left us, as he was +detailed to take over billets for us in the Prison. + +"At 8.40 we moved off. We went at intervals of three hundred yards +between platoons, with six connecting files. As Giffin had been sent on +much earlier to 'take over,' I was in command of the combined 7th and +8th platoons. I had four sergeants with me--Sergeant Williams and +Sergeant Clews in front, and Sergeant Dawson and Sergeant Baldwin +behind. At first I marched in front, but then Captain Andrews told me to +march in rear of my platoon; so I chatted with Sergeant Baldwin for the +rest of the way. He is twenty years old and has been in the Army since +he was seventeen. He joined the Argyles in 1914, and was stationed in +Edinburgh for some time. Then he was discharged on account of weak +eyesight. But he immediately enlisted again; this time in the +Lancashire Fusiliers. His home is Higher Broughton. His father, who is +forty-nine, is a sergeant in the Manchesters at Salonica; I believe he +said that he was wounded. + +"Things were moderately quiet until we reached the (Prison). It was +about 10 p.m. when we got there. Things then became much livelier; +shells were bursting all round. We found the building uninhabitable. The +casualties there during the last few days have been very heavy. One +shell buried a party in the debris; it took four hours' solid digging to +get them out! So it has been decided to abandon the place as a billet. + +"We were delayed here because we thought this was our destination; but +we were informed that we were to go on to some ramparts, wherever they +might be! I had not the faintest idea where they were. Anyhow I followed +those in front along the ghastly streets of the city. Shells were +dropping all round. One shell exploded ten yards away. A moment later +Sergeant Baldwin and I noticed one of the men in rear of the platoon +fainting and pulling horrible faces. I asked him whether he was hit. It +appeared that he had got shell-shock. So we got hold of him and called +out for the stretcher-bearers. Meanwhile, we got completely out of the +platoon; they, of course, went on. So we were left behind by ourselves. +A stretcher-bearer turned up in a minute or two; then another. So we got +Private Armstead off to the nearest dug-out we could find; it happened +to be a Brigade Headquarters of some other brigade. There was a Medical +Officer there; so he saw to the man, and gave me a chit to take back +with me concerning him. Baldwin and I thought that we might as well have +a rest for a short time as it was quite comfortable here! So we did. I +happened to have a couple of oranges in my haversack, so we each had +one; we then felt refreshed. At about 11.40 we thought it would not be a +bad idea to get a move on; so we went outside amongst the nasty shells +again. It was decidedly exciting in that we did not know how far we had +to go, or whether we were ever likely to find the dug-outs whither our +platoon had gone! We kept asking everybody we passed whether they had +'seen any L.F.'s?' We thus kept in the right direction as we were +generally told that they had gone over yonder! We came to a spot having +a very sinister tradition attached to it (the Menin Gate). So we doubled +across here as fast as possible! Eventually we managed to find the +dug-outs where our people were. We had arrived safe and sound. So +Baldwin went to his dug-out with the others and I looked for Captain +Andrews and reported to him when I found him. I then went into my +dug-out, which is the same one as his. It is very cosy. I lit a candle +and read the four letters which I had received by the mail which arrived +just before we left the tents, and also the newspapers which you have +sent.... + +"As regards the papers--they are very interesting indeed. The +Mesopotamian Commission Report seems to have caused a great sensation. A +good many public men are censured. I am glad to find that the one +reputation made, or rather restored, is that of Earl Curzon! I have been +discussing it with Captain Andrews at breakfast this morning. We had +breakfast in the mess dug-out at 12 this morning. The other B Company +officers stayed in bed for breakfast. + +"There was an inspection of box-respirators and rifles this afternoon. I +inspected my own platoon, which is now 7 again! with Sergeant Baldwin. I +happened to remark to him that I presumed that he was now platoon +sergeant of this platoon. He said that he was. 'That's all right,' I +replied; and he smiled. Then Giffin, who must have overhead our remarks, +approached and, in his imperious way, said: 'Sergeant Baldwin, you're +only in charge of 7 Platoon temporarily, until Sergeant Butterworth +comes back; you're not platoon sergeant. You understand that, Floyd?' he +concluded, turning to me. I think it a bit thick that one cannot choose +one's own platoon sergeant.... + +"Halstead has not yet turned up, and we now learn that the three others +(who went with him), have not returned to their respective companies. +When I was in that Brigade dug-out last night the M.O. casually remarked +to me that he had attended to four officers, who appeared to belong to +our brigade, at about 6 in the evening. They were all wounded; one was +very bad. In the light of the present situation it certainly looks as if +they must have been the unfortunate four. So Captain Andrews has sent +Giffin down there to inquire. It looks serious. + +"It is now 6 p.m. I must close. Captain Andrews says that I had better +warn you that you must not expect letters very frequently now, as it is +not easy to get them off from here. We are going further up to-night. +But do not worry; it is as safe there as here!" + +A postscript to this letter states: "It is as I surmised. Halstead, +Barker, Ronald, and Wood are all wounded--by the same shell." + +The _Lancashire Fusiliers' Annual_ thus sums up the events of July 1 and +the fate of these four officers: + +"On July 1st, the Battalion returned to the forward area. We were to +have gone into our old billets in the Prison and the Magazine, but, as a +17in. shell had just landed in the Magazine and the foundations of the +Prison had been shaken by 8in. duds, it was impossible to do so. Half +the Battalion therefore found billets in the Ramparts, etc., the other +half and Headquarters went back to Goldfish Chateau. During the +afternoon of July 1, the Battalion suffered the most severe loss it had +suffered for some time. Four officers, Lieut. W. C. Ronald, Lieutenant +H. A. Wood, Lieutenant J. Halstead and Second-Lieutenant H. A. Barker, +one officer from each Company, had started up to reconnoitre the line. +At Wells Cross Roads a shell landed and wounded all four. +Second-Lieutenant Barker died of his wounds a month later, but the other +three have all recovered." + +The _Lancashire Fusiliers' Annual_ goes on to say that "On July 2nd the +Battalion moved up into the Potijze sector. We had a hot reception, the +enemy sent over 1,500 shells all round Battalion Headquarters between +midnight and 5 a.m." But, as the following extract from my diary will +show, the move took place while I was otherwise engaged: + + +"July 2nd. + +" ... There came an order for a working party of one officer and twenty +men to report at Potijze dump at once. So Captain Andrew detailed me to +take Sergeant Baldwin and twenty men of 5 Platoon. We went by the +Water-pipe track across the open, in broad daylight. Enemy observation +balloons were up all the time and spotted us. A few shells were fired, +but nobody was hit. When we got to Potijze the men were given material +to take to Pagoda Trench; so we proceeded there in small parties. We got +to Pagoda Trench at 7.30; but enemy observation balloons were still up, +and a few bullets whizzed over the trench, so it was not yet safe to +work. We accordingly sat in the trench and waited. Darkness fell upon a +beautiful summer evening before the observation balloons disappeared. At +9.30 we decided that it was safe to begin work. The work to be done +consisted of repairing duck-boards. It did not require much supervising, +especially as representatives of the Royal Engineers were managing it, +so Baldwin and I sat down and chatted most of the time. As a matter of +fact, we had six men too many; so they had nothing to do. One or two +machine-gun and rifle bullets whizzed past while we were there, but no +one was hit. We stopped at 11.30 and filed back down the communication +trench through Potijze Wood. Coming round the corner here--near Bottle +Wall--we were shelled rather badly; the shells were bursting very near +us--one within six yards--but none of my party were hit. An R.E. officer +close by was wounded. We got back to Potijze dump at 12 midnight. I +reported to Captain Andrews, who was there in a dug-out. The Company had +moved up while we had been on this working party. I saw my party into +their new dug-outs here, and then came back and spent the night in the +officers' dug-out at Potijze with Captain Andrews, Giffin, and Gratton. +Allen was with a working party and did not return until 3 a.m.... Shells +were falling round our dug-out all night. One shell blew a dug-out, a +few yards away, to pieces, killing two, wounding two, and causing +shell-shock to the remaining man--all of 5 Platoon (Allen's platoon). +Two more B Company men were wounded on fatigue near St. Jean. A good +many transport men and horses, and men of other units, were killed and +wounded near. It was what might be called a rough night in the Ypres +Salient! Morning (July 3) dawned bright and clear. + +"A message came to us at 5 a.m. that I must proceed to Bilge Trench to +be temporarily attached to D Company in Wood's place. At present C +Company (Captain Mordecai) are in the front line, with their +headquarters in the Estaminet (the deep tunnel dug-out beneath Wieltje). +D Company (Captain Bodington) are in support in Bilge Trench. Colonel +Best-Dunkley calls it the front line, and considers it such in his +dispositions. A Company (Captain Briggs) are in reserve. And B Company +(Captain Andrews) are in Potijze dug-outs. Battalion Headquarters are +close to Potijze." + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +BILGE TRENCH + + +When I got to Bilge Trench I found that the facilities for +letter-writing were not quite what they had been before. But there was +plenty to write about. Every hour one was confronted with some new +aspect of modern warfare. I had an interesting taste of it in Bilge +Trench and its vicinity! On July 5 I began a letter home in the +following tone: "Letter-writing of the proper kind is becoming quite a +problem. I am quite behind-hand, but fortunately I am keeping lengthy +diary notes in pencil; so, if I have not the time to let you know all my +experiences just now, I hope to get a connected narrative together +sometime. How ripping it will be when that far-off day arrives when I +can come home and tell you all about everything! It will be a long tale +which I shall have to tell. I have almost forgotten which articles from +home I have acknowledged and which not. I received a nice parcel the +other day, containing a cake which we had for tea in the mess and which +was duly appreciated--also chocolates, toffee, ink, socks, and +badge...." As this letter intimates, the diary tells the clearest story +at this period. So for the time being I will quote from the diary: + + +"July 3rd. + +"I left Potijze at 7.20 a.m. accompanied by a runner named Firth. We +passed A Company in Garden Street on the way. I saw Captain Briggs, +Hickey, Kerr, and Walsh. They have had no casualties yet. We arrived in +Bilge Trench at 8 a.m. Here I found Captain Bodington, Victor Telfer, +and Beesley. I had a cup of tea and a sleep during the morning. In the +afternoon I sent for my batman, Critchley, as I expected to be here some +days. He brought up some letters for me.... In the evening Captain +Blamey returned from leave, and so takes over command of D Company. At +10.30 p.m. Beesley went out into no man's land with a patrol; and Kerr, +of A Company, Telfer, and I went out on a wiring party just behind him. +We went up Durham Trench by ourselves first; the party followed on +after. Machine-gun bullets whizzed past the desolate area; it was not +exactly pleasant. We went on along New Garden Street, and waited for the +parties. Then they drew wire and pickets which had been dumped by a +carrying party under Giffin. The Brigade-Major and Colonel Best-Dunkley +went past us while we were at this spot. We were delayed some time. +Then we moved on and got into Hopkins Trench, a new trench pushed out +right beyond our front line. They began to get over the top here, but +made a great row about it. Naturally the enemy heard us and a hell of a +strafe began. It continued for about five minutes; then we got on again. +Beesley's covering party was right out in front of a hedge in no man's +land. Our men started wiring in front of Hopkins Trench, and just behind +the hedge. Things seem very weird out there; from the continual series +of Very lights it looks just as if the enemy trenches were stretched all +around one. While we were there a little raid took place on our left. At +times machine-guns fired across from both sides--not exactly pleasant +for us in the middle of it all! + + +"July 4th. + +"We returned to Bilge Trench about 2 a.m. I had a sleep in my clothes +until 8. Then breakfast. Then a wash and shave. I was officer of the +watch during the morning. Duty consists of seeing that sentries are at +their posts, and fatigue parties at work. Hostile aircraft frequently +comes over and fires machine-gun bullets down into the trenches. Our +guns fire shrapnel at them, but I have not yet seen one hit. Periodical +shelling continues all day. At present the Germans continue to drop +shell after shell on one spot near St. Jean behind us. They scream over +us and alight on the same spot every time. + +"In the afternoon I had a chat with Telfer and Beesley, and then an +hour's sleep. Then tea. After tea Beesley and I went up Durham Trench to +Wieltje--the strong point on our front line at present held by C +Company. The headquarters of a company of the 1/4th King's Own Royal +Lancaster Regiment is also down in the mine at Wieltje. We went down +here and saw Captain Mordecai, Agnew, and Verity. The first had a bloody +bandage round his head; he has been wounded by a piece of shrapnel, but +is not bad enough to get away. We stayed there a few minutes and then +went into Dead End, the front line trench. Here we saw Francis (who was +at Scarborough before I came out, and who has just come back here again. +He was wounded out here in January in this unit) and Walsh and I sat and +had a chat with them there. These trenches are very pretty--the parapet +and parados covered with grass and flowers. In fact they seem to have +become natural features in the geography of the district. + +"We returned via New John Street to our Company Headquarters in Bilge +Trench for dinner. At 9.30 I went with Captain Blamey for a stroll up +Durham Trench, Armitage Trench and Hopkins Trench, out into no man's +land. Blamey was not sure of the geography of this particular part and +wanted to have a look round; so I went with him. Then Beesley got his +patrol out again. Blamey and I then supervised a working party in Durham +Trench. + + +"July 5th. + +"All was moderately quiet until 1.50 a.m. Then we heard rifle shots, and +more rifle shots, ringing out in no man's land; and at 2 a regular +set-to began. The Cheshires on our immediate left were making a raid +with an artillery barrage. It was quite a set-to. Beesley got back in +time. He, Telfer, and I watched it all from the parapet of Durham +Trench. The enemy were too preoccupied to trouble to shoot us! This went +on for about half an hour. Then the enemy retaliated in a furious manner +with his artillery. We made for Wieltje dug-out and were only just in +time. Shells were falling everywhere in a continual succession. It was a +terrific bombardment; it was the biggest row I have heard since the +Battle of Messines! After a few minutes we went and sat in C Company +dug-out in the Estaminet. Captain Andrews was there too. Who should walk +in but Gaulter, of Hut 5 at Gailes! He is in the 1/4th King's Own in our +Brigade. I had a talk with him. We returned about 4 a.m. to Bilge +Trench; and Andrews went back to Potijze. + +"When we got back to Bilge Trench we found that there had been two or +three casualties, and one dug-out totally demolished. Colonel +Best-Dunkley came on the scene, and started strafing one or two people +about something. He stayed and had a cup of tea in our mess. He asked me +whether I could tell him what were the six infantry regiments, including +the Lancashire Fusiliers, which took part in the Battle of Minden! I +confessed that I did not know. 'That's very feeble for a historian like +you,' he said, with a blink. As a matter of fact, he could not think of +all the names himself; he knew of about four.[4] + +"The Colonel departed about 5 a.m. I then came on duty as officer of the +watch until breakfast. The Germans were still shelling that spot near +St. Jean--some of the nose-caps returned as far back as Bilge Trench. +Sleep in the morning. There was a heavy bombardment of our trench from +12.20 to 12.45; one or two casualties. The padre called in to see us and +had tea in our dug-out. I had a little sleep before dinner, and was +officer of the watch from 9 p.m. to 12 midnight. While on duty, I +supervised a working party, consisting of Sergeant Dawson and eleven B +Company men, in Bilge Trench. They were putting up camouflage. Sergeant +Dawson tells me that Sergeant Butterworth is wounded. They have been +having a hot time of it. + + +"July 6th. + +"At 12 I had another sleep until 4 a.m., when I became officer of the +watch again. There was a good deal of aircraft about. One aeroplane, +despite the fact that shrapnel was fired at it every time, was very +persevering in returning over and over again. I felt horribly sleepy all +the time. At 7.30 Sergeant-Major Stanton took over duty again. So I had +my breakfast. Then I had another sleep. At midday I was awakened hearing +great excitement occasioned by an air scrap overhead. Four were brought +down. I felt too cosy to trouble to get up and look! Up at 12.45. One or +two whizz-bangs landed uncomfortably near while I was shaving. At 2 p.m. +there was another air scrap overhead. We watched it through our glasses. +We saw one of our aeroplanes cut off and brought down into the Boche +lines completely smashed. Then one of the German aeroplanes was brought +down. There has been considerable aerial activity all day. + + +"July 7th. + +"On patrol with Beesley at night (July 6-7). We left our own trench soon +after 10 p.m. and filed up the communication trench and out into no +man's land. The moon was shining brightly and a good deal of country +was visible in its silvery light. We got our patrol stationed along the +line of a hedge, facing the German front line. Then we crouched along to +the left to get into touch with a patrol sent out by the Cheshires on +our left. It was a strange sensation creeping along no man's land, +grasping our revolvers, and anxiously peering into every hedge or bush +or tuft of grass or ruined cottage (such as Argyle Farm and Lytham Cot) +wondering whether it were occupied; and ever and anon gingerly glancing +in the direction of the German trenches, wondering whether we were seen! +I cannot understand why we were not sniped; logically we ought to have +been; but, fortunately, the enemy were not logical on this occasion. We +found the party of the Cheshires and then crept back. We were walking +over the same ground where the recent bombing raid had taken place. I am +glad the enemy did not do a stunt while we were there! Kerr and Telfer +were behind us, wiring. Our patrol, or covering party, ran right across +what was _avant la guerre_, the St. Julien Road. It is now so completely +overgrown with grass that it is scarcely distinguishable at first sight +from the remaining country in no man's land. All went well until 12.30 +a.m. But for the rumble of the guns on both sides of us and the +periodical sound of the shells flying high over our heads, the Very +lights and the occasional rat-tat of a machine-gun, there was little in +the peaceful, moonlit country-side to suggest to us the fact that we +were between our own lines and those of the enemy! However, at 12.30 +a.m. we received a curt reminder that there was a war on, and that we +were in the very heart of it. Captain Blamey had given orders that, +since I was to be officer of the watch in our trench at 4 in the +morning, I must leave the patrol party at 12.30 and return in order to +be able to get a little sleep before going on duty; so Beesley said that +as it was now 12.30 I had better go; and I, therefore, stealthily made +my departure. A few yards behind were the wiring party; so I whispered a +word or two to Kerr and Telfer. Telfer said that I ought to have a man +with me; one is not supposed to go about here alone; so he detailed a +man. We were just setting off when, like a bolt from the blue, a rifle +bomb burst right amongst the wiring party with a crack; and immediately +we heard groans. Three men were wounded: one had his leg very badly +smashed, and the other two had nice 'Blighties'--one in the leg, the +other in the nose. That was the first shot. Shell followed shell and +bomb followed bomb in one continuous succession; a regular strafe began. +We made a bound for the nearest trench (Hopkins Trench) behind us. The +bottom was full of water; that did not matter; in we splashed, and only +just in time. The shells were dropping everywhere. An aeroplane flew +overhead and dropped a few bombs, just to liven things up a little more! +And then a machine-gun also opened right on to us--only the parapet of +the little trench saved us. But for this trench we would all have been +wiped out; the bullets were peppering the parapet. Such a to-do it was! +After about ten minutes of this, Kerr said that I had better go. Then +began the most desperate adventure I have so far struck. I made a dash +across the open into the communication trench and hurried down it, bent +double. I had to duck constantly, for shells were bursting around me +every yard of the journey. The dust raised by the explosions enveloped +me; and, to crown all, gas shells came over. But I did not trouble to +put my box-respirator on; the gas was not so bad as that. I simply +dashed from bay to bay, crouching behind each traverse as the shells or +bombs exploded and then bounding on to the next. In many places I went +down into thick mud and water up to my knees; but when it is a question +of life or death things like that do not trouble one. At last I reached +Bilge Trench in safety. It was crowded with fugitives from working +parties--amongst them many wounded men. There have been a whole crowd +wounded and some, including Sergeant Fergusson of the patrol, gassed. +Having got back, I reported the proceedings to Captain Blamey, and then +went to sleep. + +"At 4 a.m. I got up again and went on duty as officer of the watch. +Sergeant-Major Stanton relieved me at 7. Writing in the morning. Much +aerial activity. Sleep in the afternoon until 7.30 p.m. Working party +with Sergeant Noden in New John Street from Monmouth Trench to Dead End +in the evening." + +On July 8 I wrote home from Bilge Trench as follows: + +"I have just received two letters from home--July 4 and July 5--and I am +sorry to observe that you are both becoming anxious just because you +have not heard from me for a day or two. You really must not do this. +Circumstances may easily arise at any time out here which would prevent +my writing for a week or two; it is absurd to put a bad construction on +everything. I always write when I can. By the way, blotting paper would +be a great aid to writing. But some is probably on the way by now. I +received a parcel from home yesterday containing parkin, chocolates, +socks, writing material, and magazines. Thank you very much indeed. They +have been duly appreciated. + +"We had three artillery officers from the 36th Division here yesterday +reconnoitring as to where to place their guns. They were at the Battle +of Messines and are now coming up here. Recently we have had hardly any +guns here; we have been biding our time; if we had had them here now the +Germans would have found them out; as it is, they will come as a +surprise upon the enemy now; he will not have time to locate them before +the great push. We are having the same artillery which did the job at +Messines. + +"I spent yesterday afternoon sleeping. At dinner I found that +Second-Lieutenant Talbot Dickinson, M.C., had returned from leave. He +ought to have had his investiture while on leave, but, as there was not +one fixed at Buckingham Palace until a few days after the date on which +he should return, he had to come back without it. + +"Yesterday evening I was supervising a working party under Sergeant +Noden, repairing the parapet of a trench. All was quiet while we were at +it; but I knew that a raid, about a mile away on our right, was fixed +for 1.30 this morning. So, my party having finished their job, I brought +them away at 1.20 and got them all back in their dug-outs by 1.30. Then, +just as I entered our Company Headquarters dug-out at 1.30, the peaceful +night was suddenly turned into hell. With a thunderous noise shells came +over from the German guns in hundreds. Our dug-outs seemed to be their +particular mark. ('When in doubt, shell Bilge!' was a maxim which +Bodington used to attribute to the enemy artillery opposite us.) The +place shook. Captain Blamey, Captain Bodington, Beesley, Dickinson and I +were inside. We began to think that the dug-out was going to be blown to +atoms; but we occupied ourselves by eating some of the parkin you sent! +The candles were twice blown out by the force of the exploding shells. +It seemed impossible that anything could live in such a bombardment. +After about ten minutes of this the others went out, saying that all the +officers in the Company should not crowd in the same dug-out during a +bombardment because if a shell were to blow the dug-out to pieces we +would all be knocked out, which would not do; so Dickinson and I alone +remained. I remarked to him that this was a pleasant welcome for him on +his return from leave! After 2 a.m. the bombardment began to slacken +down; and by 2.15 it was all over, and quiet reigned again. I noticed +that it had begun to rain. When we took stock we found that D Company +had not suffered a single casualty on this occasion! This struck me as +being extraordinary when one takes into consideration the fact that our +trench was simply packed like sardines with various returning working +parties which had all got congested here--working parties from various +companies and regiments; there were some Irish amongst them. It was +amusing to listen to the language: men shouting, with all kinds of +unmentionable oaths, to each other to get a 'bloody move on for ---- +sake!' + +"It is amusing what a number of new men, 'obviously Derbyites and +conscripts,' as Beesley said the other day, have got the wind up. One +incident of the kind, related by Captain Bodington, was very funny. He +was walking along a trench last night and a man came rushing along as if +the whole German Army were chasing him; and he bumped right into +Bodington, nearly sending him flying. Bodington asked him whatever was +the matter; and the man replied in a voice of abject terror, 'They're +sniping at us up there, sir!' + +"At 2.30 this morning I retired to rest--in my clothes of course; we do +not undress in the trenches. At 5.40 I rose and took on officer of the +watch until breakfast at 8.45, when I was relieved by Sergeant-Major +Stanton. It was raining, so I wore my trench-coat. After breakfast I +retired to rest again. But at 10.15 I noticed something happen: our +guns, of which we have heard so little during this week in the trenches, +began to bombard the enemy lines. Not an intense bombardment, but a +continuous and systematic bombardment; they have been at it all day with +the exception of a pause for about an hour in the middle of the day. The +German guns have been quiet all day since they ceased at 2.15 this +morning. There is always a calm after a storm. It is fine again now. +Well--cheerio!..." + +My diary of the same date (July 8) carries on: + +"Germans started shelling us at 7.45 p.m. Dinner. Sleep from 10 to +11.30. Then I went into Company Headquarters to be ready for chits, as +all the other officers were away somewhere. The dug-out was shelled +while I was in there; the candle was blown out once. The shells were +landing pretty close. + + +"July 9th. + +"Sleep 1 a.m. to 4.30. Officer of the watch from 4.30 to 8. Then +breakfast. Sleep, or tried to, in the morning. The Germans were shelling +Bilge Trench the whole time. Lunch at 1.30. Got down again after tea. +Then, at 6 p.m., I left Bilge Trench with my batman Critchley and +proceeded to Potijze to rejoin B Company, as D Company's tour in the +front line is now concluded." Thus ended the memorable stay in Bilge +Trench. + +FOOTNOTE: + +[4] See Appendix II. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE RAMPARTS + + +My diary of July 9 tells how we once again got back to the cosy dug-outs +in the Ramparts, those ramparts from whence was continually stretched +out before our ken, in sunshine and in moonlight, the heart of the dead +city. + +When I arrived at Potijze "Allen had gone to the Ramparts to take over, +as B Company proceeds there to-night. D Company are going to Goldfish +Chateau, the other side of Ypres. I had dinner at Potijze. Things were +quite peaceful at that time; we stood outside after dinner and admired +the view in the Salient. Just a few shells were flying over. At 11 p.m. +Captain Andrews, Dickinson and I, with Sergeant-Major Preston and a few +runners, left Potijze and returned to the dug-outs in the Ramparts. +There is more room to move about here!" + +My first letter home after my return to the Ramparts--dated July +10--runs as follows: + +"I am now back with B Company, as D Company have come out of the +trenches. Dickinson has been transferred from D Company and appointed +second-in-command of B Company in Halstead's place; and he is to be in +command of the Company in the push. Captain Andrews will be, in the push +(not before: Major Brighten is back and is on 'battle reserve!'), +second-in-command to Colonel Best-Dunkley--'the man who stands by +waiting for the other man to die,' as Colonel Balfour has wittily +remarked to Captain Andrews upon the arrangement! Captain Andrews is +really a very smart man; he could have been a staff officer once, but +Colonel Best-Dunkley would not let him go in for it. He did not want to +lose him. Colonel Hindle stands in a similar position to General +Stockwell. + +"Gratton has gone to Headquarters (as Assistant Adjutant), so the +officers in B Company Mess now are Captain Andrews, Dickinson, Giffin, +Allen and myself, also an M.O. I had dinner in this dug-out and then +wrote a letter or two. Things were moderately peaceful at dinner-time, +and for an hour or two after. At 11 p.m., the relief having been carried +out, Captain Andrews, Dickinson and I, with Sergeant-Major Preston and a +few runners, proceeded to Battalion Headquarters, which are at a strong +point a little nearer the line. Then we turned back and proceeded to the +dug-outs where we were on July 1 and July 2. Allen had preceded us to +take over, and Giffin was with a working party in the trenches. While we +were on our way a deuce of a row began on the north; it was a German +raid on our trenches. So we watched it all the way. We got along quite +well until we were almost here. Then two shells burst just in front of +us. But we managed to get in quite safely. + +"I am now in the same dug-out as Giffin and Allen. We did not get up +until midday to-day. Giffin made himself quite unbearable, and +eventually remarked that we would be having a scrap soon. 'Yes. I notice +that you seem to have been trying to make yourself as objectionable as +possible!' I dryly replied. He then declared that he was only pulling my +leg, and he has not been quite so bad since then. + +"This afternoon we had platoon inspections. Sergeant Baldwin carried on +with 7 Platoon. Then Giffin came on the scene and said that he wanted +him in 8 Platoon because, since he is to go over the top with 8 Platoon +he ought to be with them now in order to get to know the men. Now, as +you know, Baldwin was in 7 Platoon as a corporal, so he naturally knows +the men in 7 Platoon very well indeed; also, he himself prefers, I +believe, to be in 7 Platoon; also, I want him as my platoon sergeant: +three excellent arguments why he should remain, as Captain Andrews has +ordered to-day. Giffin said that he would see Captain Andrews about it. +Then we fell to discussing the matter. The cause of the controversy is +really to be traced in a lack of sergeants now in B Company. The +Quartermaster-Sergeant having been wounded, Sergeant Jack has taken his +place; Sergeant Butterworth has been wounded; and Sergeant Williams and +Sergeant Dawson are on 'battle reserve.' There, therefore, remain only +three sergeants to four platoons; and all the N.C.O.'s in my platoon are +lance-corporals and cannot, therefore, very well be promoted to sergeant +at a bound.... + +"I have since discussed the matter with Allen. He sees in the difficulty +the chance of a solution which would give me what I want, and also +secure something which he wants. At present he has got Sergeant ---- as +his platoon sergeant. He says that he would not go over the top with him +for worlds; so he suggests that that sergeant should be put on 'battle +reserve' in place of Sergeant Williams and Corporal Stokes be promoted +platoon sergeant of 5 Platoon; that Sergeant Williams should take 8 +Platoon; and that I should thus retain Sergeant Baldwin for 7 Platoon. +Personally I think that would be quite a good solution of the problem. I +hope it will, when put forward, meet with the approval of Captain +Andrews." + + +"July 10th (later). + +"I have won! Captain Andrews has just been into our dug-out to give us +our orders as to working parties for to-night. Giffin brought up the +question of the platoon sergeants, and Captain Andrews immediately +replied: 'Oh, you will have to carry on with Sergeant Williams at +present; Sergeant Baldwin is going to remain with his old platoon'--7 +Platoon! Giffin then asked whether Sergeant Williams would be going over +the top with him; Captain Andrews replied that it would probably end in +his doing so. Anyhow, Sergeant Baldwin is now definitely appointed to 7 +Platoon. That is satisfactory. I am also quite satisfied with my section +commanders--Lance-Corporal Livesey (Bombers), Lance-Corporal Tipping +(Riflemen), Lance-Corporal Topping (Lewis Gunners), and Lance-Corporal +Segar (Rifle Grenadiers). The men in my platoon are practically the same +as they were when I first had 7 Platoon. So things are now much more +satisfactory. I hope they will continue so. + +"While here we are under direct orders from Brigade. The Brigade-Major +has just been in with detail of working parties for this evening. I am +to take Sergeant Clews and a party of thirty men to carry ammunition +from one dump to another. + +"I must now close. It is nearly dinner-time. It is 7.20 now; dinner at +7.30. I start with my party at 9.25." + +My diary of July 10 states: + +"Working party in the evening with Sergeant Clews--carrying ammunition +from a dump near White Chateau to a Brigade dump further on to the left, +behind Congreve Walk. A very quiet night." + +On July 11 I wrote home as follows: + +"We had Major Brighten and Captain Blamey in for dinner yesterday +evening. Major Brighten is delightfully optimistic; he is, like Captain +Andrews, positive that the war will be all over by October. He thinks +that the coming offensive will settle the dispute. We discussed the war, +its duration, and the coming battle. The other day I remarked to Captain +Blamey that a landing ought, during the heat of the action, to be +effected at a certain place, and that a certain famous General would +probably be chosen to do it, because he has already done it (but under +easier conditions!) on a former occasion. A day or two later Captain +Blamey was astonished to receive information from Major Brighten that +the very thing I had proposed, and by the very General I had suggested, +was going to be done! So he told him that I had said that this General +would probably be the one, because he had done it before; but Major +Brighten said that he did not think that he had done it before. Captain +Blamey said that he did not argue the point because he was not sure +himself, but he told me about it afterwards. I told him that this +general certainly had done this thing, and referred him to a certain +despatch of Lord French. So at dinner yesterday evening the subject was +again brought up. Major Brighten said that he had forgotten that this +general had done this thing before, but accepted my statement as +correct.[5] + +"Major Brighten went on to say that the Colonel had been debating in +Headquarters Mess the question as to who was the countess whose garter +Edward III picked up, and nobody knew, could I enlighten them? I replied +that I recollected having read of the incident, but had forgotten the +name of the countess!..."[6] + +My diary proceeds--under date July 11: + +"Working party in the evening with Sergeant Clews. We drew tools at +Potijze dump, proceeded up Strand, which has been badly knocked about by +shells, and repaired the parapet and parados of the front line to left +and right of Strand. The Germans sent over trench-mortars on our left +(about ten yards to the right of Giffin's party) while we were at it. +Nobody was hurt. Dickinson had a party further to my right. It is quite +high ground up there, and the front line trench slopes down to the +right; over the parados the open ground is much lower, dotted with +trees; it looks quite quaint when a flare goes up. We left about 1 a.m. +and returned via Strand, Oxford Road, Pagoda Wood and Potijze. Then +along Track 4. A thick mist came on, and we very nearly lost our way; I +was with my party just behind Dickinson's party. We managed to find our +way in time. To bed, 3 a.m." + + +"July 12th. + +"One shell during the morning so shook the place that my head bumped up +and down on my pillow. Before we were up the Brigade-Major (Thompson) +came to see Captain Andrews about working parties. Brigade are very +pleased with our work, especially as the ---- left their work +unfinished, owing to wind up about trench-mortars! + +"Up 2 p.m. Platoon inspections. Then lunch. From the sound I should +imagine that our preliminary bombardment for the forthcoming offensive +is beginning. Our artillery here is sending a good deal of stuff over. +At 6 p.m. I commenced a period of twenty-four hours as Orderly Officer. +My main duty consists of seeing that the road outside is cleared after +heavy shelling: for this object, Baldwin has a party permanently on the +job." + +FOOTNOTES: + +[5] See Appendix III. + +[6] See Appendix IV. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +MUSTARD OIL + + +"On the night of July 12th we were treated to a new form of gas, +'mustard oil.' The two Companies billeted in Ypres suffered heavily, the +casualties numbering 3 officers and 114 other ranks." Thus the +_Lancashire Fusiliers' Annual_. The following letter, which I wrote in +the Ramparts, on July 13, after alluding to the working party recorded +at the end of the last chapter, describes that great bombardment of +Ypres: + +"On Wednesday evening (July 11) I had had a working party, with Sergeant +Clews, in the front line. Dickinson had a party on my right. The work +was: repair of parapet and parados knocked in by recent shelling. While +we were at it the Germans sent over trench-mortars, a kind of shell +which rises to a great height, looking like a burning snake, and then +descends and pierces right into the earth, exploding underneath and +sending the earth above it in all directions. The men all crouched +against the parapet with a certain amount of wind up; but they were well +to our left. Giffin, who had a party some distance to our left, said +that they were about ten yards to his right. He and his party were +covered with dirt when one of them exploded. Dickinson and I ceased work +about 1 a.m. and returned. While returning, a thick mist came on. +Dickinson's party was in front; my party following behind his. It was +all we could do to keep in touch; and we almost lost the way. The party +in front kept halting while Dickinson tried to find the way; then they +would go on at a great speed, so much so that we had to run to catch up, +floundering into shell-holes; the men were cursing and swearing, each +thinking that he knew the way himself: on the whole it was a box-up; +but, as usual, we got home all right eventually. No casualties--two days +without any casualties! + +"To-day I am Orderly Officer. My period of duty began at 6 p.m. +yesterday and continues until 6 p.m. to-day. My chief duty is to see +that the road is repaired after shelling. There is a party permanently +detailed for the job under Sergeant Baldwin; they do not go out at night +because their working hours are from 4 to 9 in the afternoons. + +"Captain Blamey, Captain Bodington, Captain Briggs and Gratton were in +for dinner yesterday evening. Gratton is now Assistant Adjutant at +Headquarters. Every day Colonel Best-Dunkley goes to a certain house +(Hasler House at St. Jean) which has an upstairs still left, and, +through field-glasses, gazes at the front over which we shall have to +advance. On these trips Gratton accompanies him, and has to take +bearings and answer silly questions. He says that he is becoming most +horribly bored with it all. While they were at it yesterday a shell +exploded just by them. Gratton says that he jumped down below as soon as +he heard it come; he was hit by one or two bricks and covered with dirt; +when he looked round again he expected to find the Colonel done in, but +found him safe and sound! + +"Yesterday evening Captain Andrews, Giffin, Dickinson and Allen all went +out on working parties. I remained behind as Orderly Officer. Captain +Briggs and Gratton remained in my dug-out with me. After a while Gratton +had to go to Brigade Headquarters next door to discuss a map with the +Brigade-Major. Soon after he had left us--about 10.10 p.m.--a terrific +shelling of the city began. Shells were bursting everywhere; the ground +frequently vibrated as if mines were going off; dumps were blown up; and +very soon parts of the city were in flames. It was a sight such as I +have never seen before; at times the whole scene was as light as day; +the flames encircled the already ruined and broken houses, bringing them +to the ground with a rumbling crash. It was a grand and awful sight--a +firework display better than any at Belle Vue, and free of charge! The +sky was perforated with brilliant yellow light, and the shells were +whizzing and crashing all round. The air was thick with sulphur. So much +so that we did not smell something much more serious than sulphur. +Amidst all the turmoil little gas-shells were exploding all over. As we +could not smell the gas we did not take any notice of it. We little +dreamt what the results were going to be. We knew not what a revelation +the morrow had in store for us! + +"At about midnight I went to bed, and at about 6 this morning I heard +Giffin returning from his working party. He was muttering something +about gas and saying that he would be going sick with it in a few days, +but I was too sleepy to take much notice. I rose at 10.30 and made my +personal reconnaissance of the road, but only found two very serious +shell-holes actually on the road. These I pointed out to Sergeant +Baldwin and got his men at them. Then I began to hear things about gas. +I saw Corporal Flint (our gas N.C.O.!) being led by Sergeant Donovan and +Corporal Livesey in a very bad state; he could hardly walk, his eyes +were streaming, and he was moaning that he had lost his eyesight. So I +began to inquire as to what was the matter. I was then informed that +there had been a whole lot of men gassed. Then Captain Andrews sent for +me and questioned me about gas last night. I told him frankly that I +had not smelt any. He said that it was very strange, because when he got +back early this morning 'the place simply stank of it.' He said that +there would be a devil of a row about it; there were about ten +casualties already! But, as time went on, the numbers began to grow +rapidly. Yet I had not smelt it; the sentry had not smelt it; and the +Sergeant-Major had not smelt it! After some time the Colonel appeared on +the scene. He informed us that A Company had got seventy-two casualties +from last night's gas! (A Company were billeted in the Soap Factory, +near the Cathedral.) We felt a little relieved, because we realized that +ours was not the only company and by no means the worst; so we could not +be held responsible, as we were fearing that we might be--myself in +particular, as the only officer on the spot at the time, for not +ordering box-respirators on. I, of course, never thought of ordering +box-respirators, considering that I smelt no gas myself! The Colonel +further told us that three officers in A Company--Walsh, Hickey, and +Kerr--were suffering from gas. Hickey is very bad. + +"During the day our casualties have risen considerably. They are now +twenty-eight, including Corporal Flint, Corporal Pendleton, Corporal +Heap, Pritchard, Giffin's servant, and Critchley, my servant. There have +been heavy casualties all over the city. The Boche has had a regular +harvest if he only knew it! Over a thousand gas-casualties have been +admitted to hospital from this city to-day. And many who have not yet +reported sick are feeling bad. So much so that the Brigade-Major has +agreed that all our working parties, but one small one under Allen, +shall be cancelled for to-night. I feel all right. I must have a strong +anti-gas constitution. This is a new kind of gas; the effects are +delayed; but I do not think I am likely to get it now since I have +hardly smelt any yet. + +"The Germans are doing the obvious thing--trying to prevent or hinder +our forthcoming offensive. I notice that they have attacked near +Nieuport and advanced to a depth of 600 yards on a 1400 yards front. I +have been expecting an enemy attack here, because it is the best thing +the Germans can do if they have any sense; and I have repeatedly said +so, but have been told that I am silly, that the Germans dare not attack +us because they are not strong enough. For a day I held the view that +peace was coming in a week or two! But Bethmann-Hollweg's +straightforward declaration that Germany will not make peace without +annexations or indemnities, that she is out to conquer, has altered +things. We now know exactly how we stand. Germany is still out for grab. +Therefore she is far from beaten. _Ipso facto_, peace is out of the +question. The end is not yet in sight. There is still a long struggle +before us. I think the forthcoming battle here will be the semi-final: +the final will be fought in the East about Christmas or the New Year. +Constantinople still remains the key to victory, if victory is to be won +by fighting." + + * * * * * + +My diary of July 13 concludes with the statement: "Captain Briggs's A +Company--the remains of it--are coming to these billets to join with us. +Gas casualties in Ypres (latest) over 3,000." + + * * * * * + +It was about this time (in the middle of July) that, in the course of +one of my letters to my school-friend, Mr. K. L. P. Martin, then--having +been rejected for service in the Army as medically unfit--a student at +Manchester University, I had remarked that I would probably get a +"Blighty" in a fortnight; and I would, therefore, want something +interesting to read in hospital: would he please send me _England Since +Waterloo_, by J. A. R. Marriott, whom I had heard lecturing at the +Oxford Union on "The Problem of the Near East," in February, 1916, when +I was a recruit in the 29th Royal Fusiliers? + +Mr. Martin, who was staying with another friend, Mr. George Fasnacht, +at Clayton Bridge, replied as follows: + + + "The Hollies, Clayton Bridge, + "Manchester. + "July 23rd, 1917. + +"Dear Floyd, + +"Many thanks for your last letter. So you consider that you are likely +to become a casualty in the near future. I hope not. Though, if such an +event should take place, I hope it will not be serious and will involve +a sojourn in England for at least six months. + +"I will order the Marriott at once. I decline to accept it as off the +debt I owe you. It will do as a twenty-first birthday present, as I have +received no news re Lovat Fraser. As soon as the book comes I will +forward it on. + +"Teddy[F] and myself had a glorious cycle ride yesterday. We rode to +town, took the train to Ashley, then rode to Knutsford via Mobberley. At +Knutsford we had tea and then proceeded to Pickmere where we had a row; +then on to Great Budworth, Arley, Rostherne and Ashley. The country was +glorious, a fine day, good roads, midsummer and Cheshire--the +combination needs beating. + +"I may say that I am extremely pleased at Churchill going to the +Ministry of Munitions. + +"Both Teddy and myself intend getting our photos taken this week, and I +will forward copies of both to Middleton Junction. + + "Best wishes, + "Yours, + "KENNETH MARTIN." + +The Marriott was destined to have a curious history. As these pages will +show, I got my "Blighty" in a fortnight all right. Meanwhile the book +was on its way from England. It arrived after I had left the shores of +France behind, me. I never received it. Kenneth Martin visited me in +hospital at Worsley Hall in August and told me that he had sent it. I +had to tell him that it had not reached me. When I returned to the +Battalion in the spring of 1918, Padre Newman informed me that a book +had come out for me after I had been wounded, that he had read it with +much interest, and that it was now in the custody of Captain J. C. +Latter, M.C. Latter was one of the original 2/5th officers who had been +wounded in 1916 and who returned to the Battalion immediately after the +Third Battle of Ypres, in August, 1917, and succeeded Reginald Andrews +as Adjutant. But when Padre Newman told me this Captain A. H. G. Griggs, +M.C., was Adjutant and Latter was away with Sir Herbert Plumer in Italy. +However, Latter returned once more in the summer of 1918, and mentioned +that he had a book belonging to me; but he disappeared again--first on +to the Brigade Staff and then to a Staff job further away--as suddenly +as he had reappeared. I did not see him again until we were both once +more in civilian clothes, and I called at the Barracks at Bury one +August afternoon in 1919. He again mentioned the Marriott, remarking +that he had discovered it in his kit in August, 1917, and had not the +faintest idea how it had got there! + +FOOTNOTE: + +[7] Edward James Martin, Second-Lieutenant in the Seaforth Highlanders, +afterwards killed in action, December 1917. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +THE CITY AND THE TRENCHES + + +After the bombardment of Ypres there still remained seven more days +before our memorable nineteen days' sojourn in the ghastly Salient was +to end. And memorable those days certainly were. Nearly every day +brought with it some fresh adventure. For any boy who, like this boy, +craved for excitement, and, while hating war theoretically and disliking +it temperamentally, was not blind to the romance and grand drama of it +all, there was ample satisfaction in the Great War; and perhaps on no +other sector of the line did all the factors which are conducive to +excitement obtain as they did in the dead city of the Salient and the +shell-ploughed fields around it. + +My diary of July 14 carries on as follows: + +"Up about 2 a.m. Twenty-eight more men in B Company reported sick with +gas, but they were not sent to hospital. The M.O. said that they would +be excused duty to-night and must report sick to-morrow morning. We had +a little more gas in the afternoon. I think a German heavy exploded one +of our own gas dumps near the Canal Bank. A dense cloud of vapour rose +in that vicinity, and we felt the smell slowly drifting towards us in +the almost breathless calm of a bright summer afternoon. Giffin, who was +the senior officer present at the time, ordered respirators on. But it +did not last long, so we went on with our tea. + +"In the evening Giffin and I were on a working party with Sergeant +Clews, Sergeant Dawson and forty-five other ranks. We proceeded to +Potijze Dump and drew tools; thence to Pagoda Trench and carried on with +the making of a new trench branching off that trench. All went well for +the first three quarters of an hour. Our guns were pounding the German +trenches the whole time--the first preliminaries in the bombardment +preceding our offensive. But the Germans do not always allow us to have +all our own way in these matters; they always retaliate. And, by Jove, +we did get some retaliation too! At 10.50 p.m. quite suddenly, a heavy +shell exploded just near us; and a regular strafe commenced. I was +standing near a shell-hole at the time, so I immediately crouched where +I was; the men digging at the trench at once took refuge in the trench. +In a few minutes I mustered sufficient courage to make a dash for the +trench. I got there just in time, for, soon afterwards, a shell burst +almost where I had been. They were dropping all round us, both in front +of and behind the trench. Only the trench could possibly have saved us. +And it was a marvel that no one was hurt as it was. I honestly expected +every moment to be my last; it was a miracle that none of our party were +hit. If we had remained out in the open I firmly believe that the whole +lot would have been knocked out. It seemed as if it was never going to +cease. I never went through such a disagreeable experience in my life +before. Then, to crown all, gas shells began to be mixed with the +others. There was soon a regular stink of gas; I smelt it this time all +right. We got our respirators on, which added to our discomfort. This +went on for quite a long time. Then it also began to pour with rain and +we were all drenched. The night was pitch dark. Every now and then the +exploding shells around us and far away, the burning dumps near Ypres +and the star shells along the line, lit up the whole panorama with an +effect like that of lightning. The water and mud grew thick in the +trench; and still the shells fell thickly all around. We were thankful +for the discomfort of rain because it saved us from being gassed." + + +"July 15th. + +"About 1 a.m. Giffin decided, the shelling having slackened a little, +that we had better get down a mine-shaft near; so we stumbled along to +it in anything but a happy frame of mind. Everybody was cursing. Despite +our discomfort, however, the humour of the situation under such +circumstances cannot fail to strike one; I could not help chuckling. +Eventually we got down the mine. It was horribly damp and dirty down +there, but the atmosphere was much clearer; there was no smell of gas. +That was a relief. And we felt much safer here! No heavies could reach +us at such a depth as this. But it was all darkness. We remained in this +subterranean sanctuary for three hours, standing on a water-covered +floor, amidst dripping walls, in the darkness; above us, all the time, +we could hear the dull thud and feel the vibration of the bursting +shells. For want of anything better to pass the time away the men began +to air their opinions about the war to each other. 'We're winning!' 'Are +we heck as like; Billy's winning. Judging from t'newspapers you'd think +t'war was over long since! They keep telling us he's beat; but they want +to come out 'ere and see for 'emselves.... They say t'last seven +years'll be t'worst!' Such was the conversation which was going on. +Others had a sing-song. 'Hi-tiddle-ite! Take me back to Blighty; Blighty +is the place for me!' rang out with great enthusiasm from the darkness +underground. + +"When we did go upstairs again daylight had dawned. We left the mine at +4.20 a.m. Giffin went, with one or two men, back to the trench to +replace the camouflage; he told me to get back to the Ramparts with the +remainder as quickly as possible. I did so. We went along the road all +the way from Potijze to Ypres. We were literally chased by gas-shells; +we had to run in respirators as fast as we could go; we came round by +the Menin Gate and got back into the Ramparts, safe and sound, about +4.45, very thankful that nobody in our party had got hurt. Other +battalions out on working parties had had a good many casualties. One +party of the King's Own had had one killed and eleven wounded by one +shell on the Canal Bank. + +"When I got back to the Mess dug-out I found Captain Andrews, Dickinson, +and Allen all sitting there. They had not been to bed. They had had a +deuce of a time. The shells had been falling here as well--also the gas. +But due precautions against gas had this time been taken! Captain +Andrews declared that the rain had saved the lives of hundreds of men. +Giffin got back soon after me. He is feeling the gas. We all got to bed +about 6 a.m.... + +"It was 3 in the afternoon when I got up. Before rising I read nine +letters which were awaiting me--_some_ post!" + +After describing the happenings of the previous night in a letter +written home that Sunday afternoon (July 15) I went on to say: "I shall +pull through all these exciting little episodes all right. I am quite +all right so far. Cheer up! Better times in store! We all look forward +to that great day 'When war shall be no more.' It will be a glorious day +when, at last, peace is attained. I am looking forward to the happy days +to come and intend to have a good time then. We are now going through +the storm. But there is a calm ahead: 'Peace shall follow battle, Night +shall end in day.'" + +My diary of July 15 carries on: + +"In the evening I went on a working party with Allen. It was a case of +extending the trench in Pagoda Wood another fifty yards. We set to work +at 10 a.m. Our guns were bombarding the enemy trenches most of the time, +but there were not many shells coming from the enemy. A few fell some +hundred to two hundred yards away during the night. Our chief annoyance +on this occasion was a German machine-gun firing from Kaiser Bill. It +swept our trench completely. One man in my platoon, Berry by name, was +wounded in the leg. It was a wonder there were no more casualties: the +bullets were flying amongst us in great profusion. But they were mostly +low, so not very dangerous. 'This is the place for "Blighties"!' +Lance-Corporal Livesey encouragingly observed to me while they were +whistling round us. We stayed at the job quite a long time. I was +beginning to wonder when Allen was going to pronounce it finished; the +men were obviously fed up. At last he let half the party go at 2.30 a.m. +and told me to take them back. We returned by the road all the way from +Potijze to the Menin Gate. It was 3 a.m. when we got back to the +Ramparts. It was getting quite light. Allen followed on with the +remainder about half an hour later; he came through the fields. We had +some refreshment and then went to bed." + + +"July 16th. + +"I did not get up until 3 p.m. this afternoon. Since 8 Platoon has +practically ceased to exist owing to gas casualties, 7 and 8 are again +combined under Giffin, and I am second-in-command. Baldwin remains +platoon sergeant. If and when we get sufficient reinforcements the two +platoons will separate again. + +"The Germans have been bombarding Poperinghe with very big shells +to-day. The shops, I hear, are all shut. It looks as if they intend to +destroy the town. Our great bombardment of the enemy trenches is in +progress." + +That evening I wrote a lengthy letter home. In the course of it I said: +"The padre is in hospital at present, having been wounded by a shell in +the streets of the city the other day. It is only a very slight wound, +so he will not be in hospital long. With regard to the four officers who +were wounded on July 1--Ronald is in hospital in Bristol doing well; +Halstead, with a wound in the stomach, is going to 'Blighty' shortly; +Barker and Wood are very bad indeed, the former was given up altogether +the other day. They are much too bad to cross the water yet. We were all +amused to read in the _Manchester Guardian_ that Halstead had been +lately in the Army Ordnance Corps; it is, of course, incorrect. + +"Whenever Colonel Best-Dunkley or Major Brighten come into our Mess they +always ask me what I think of the war and when I think it is going to +end. They came in yesterday. Colonel Best-Dunkley, with his customary +squint and twitch of the nose (I have been told that he contracted this +habit as the result of shell-shock on the Somme), said: 'Well, "General +Floyd," what do you think of the war? How long is it going to last?' I +replied: 'February, 1918.' They then always give vent to great +amusement, especially when I mention Palestine; but I really think this +sinister commanding officer is not at all badly disposed towards me; in +fact I am inclined to think that he likes me! I do not dislike him at +all. + +"I am Orderly Officer to-night so am now going to bed. The Germans are +sending copious gas shells over while I am writing this, but we have +got the gas curtain down in our dug-out and it has been sprayed; all +precautions have been taken; so we ought to be all right. There is also +a good deal of shelling of a heavier kind going on; our guns are giving +the German trenches hell at present; we have kept up a consistent +bombardment all day. The Germans are giving us some back now; but I feel +quite safe in this dug-out! I am glad I am not on a working party +to-night. So good night! Again I say, 'cheer up!' It's a funny world we +live in!" + +My diary of July 17 states: + +"Up 11 a.m. Had breakfast while dressing. Reconnoitred the road; all +correct. At 1.10 p.m. I reported to Captain Warburton at Brigade +Headquarters about a working party for which I was detailed. Carberry, +the Brigade bombing officer, explained to me what was to be done. At +1.30 I set off with a party of Sergeant Clews and thirty-four other +ranks including Corporal Chamley and Lance-Corporal Topping. The job +consisted of carrying boxes of bombs from a dump at the junction of +Milner Walk and the road to White Chateau; then detonating bombs which +were not already detonated; then carrying S.A.A. from one spot to +another about twenty yards away. I left Corporal Chamley in charge of +the first dump, where the men left their equipment. I went backwards +and forwards myself. On one occasion, while I was at the junction of +Milner Walk and the road, General Stockwell appeared. He asked me what +we were doing; I told him; he expressed himself satisfied and proceeded +up the trench. It was a very hot day and I felt very tired. My head +began to ache. We finished at 5.30 p.m. Then we came back. Our guns were +blazing away all day, making a great row. It was 6.30 when we got back +to the Ramparts. I reported to Carberry at Brigade. I felt very bad +indeed now. The exercise in the heat, after gas, was taking effect upon +me. I did not have any dinner, but lay down. I was told that I looked +white. I felt rotten. Giffin also is bad; he got some more gas last +night. A good many more have reported sick with gas to-day. I think I +have got a slight touch of it now. However, as the evening advanced I +began to feel much better. By midnight I felt quite well again." + +On July 18 I wrote home as follows: "More gas shells came over last +night. We had the gas curtains down again, but, even so, gas is bound to +get in. There are fresh gas casualties every day. The number is rising +rapidly. Giffin has, at last, reported sick with gas and has departed to +hospital to-day--another officer less! So now instead of having no +platoon at all I find myself in command of the two, 7 and 8!" + +I never saw Lieutenant Giffin again. I shook hands with him in the +dug-out and said good-bye when he announced that he had reported sick +and was going down the line. He went away and never returned; I have +heard absolutely nothing of him since. + +"Our guns have been blazing away all night, and are still pounding the +enemy lines. Our bombardment is now going full swing. But the Germans +are sending shells over too. Five B Company men were wounded by one +shell, just outside, this morning. One of them was Hartshorne. He has +got four shrapnel wounds and is off to hospital. I have been speaking to +him this afternoon. He said that they were hurting a little, but he +seemed quite happy about it. He said that he wished he was in hospital +in Middleton! It is nothing very serious; it should prove a nice +'Blighty' case! + +"The padre is now back from hospital! He has not been there long, has +he? + +"A few of those men who went to hospital with gas on July 13 were marked +for 'Blighty' and were just off, when General Jeudwine stopped them and +said that as few as possible from this Division must be sent home at +present. So, instead of going back, they have turned up here again as +'fit.' Hard luck!" + +My diary of the same date (July 18) states that in the afternoon "I went +on a working party with Sergeant Clews and fifteen men. We were filling +in shell-holes on the road near St. Jean. After we had filled in a few +we got shelled. We took refuge behind an artillery dug-out for about an +hour. The shells were falling close all the time. One fell less than six +yards from me. I quite thought we were going to have some casualties, +but the only one we had was one man who got a scratch in the arm with a +piece of shrapnel. At 5.15 we decided to come back via a trench, as the +shelling was still going on. All got back safely. But it is most +disconcerting--one cannot go out on a little job like that in the +afternoon without having the wind put up us vertical! I had tea and +dinner. Then to bed. I felt very hot and could not get to sleep. Allen +returned from a working party at 10.15 p.m. There was a strafe on at +10.30; the German trenches were being raided in four places." + +The following day, July 19, I wrote to my mother as follows: + +"I got up at 2.30 a.m. this morning, and with Sergeant Clews's working +party filled in the remaining shell-holes (outside Hasler House). We had +a moderately quiet time. Only about three shells burst anywhere near us +the whole time. Yet we were working in broad daylight! We got back at +5.45 and I then went to bed again. I had breakfast in bed. Then some +post arrived: a letter from Father dated July 16 and the enclosed from +Norman Floyd. As I expected, he, too, is now in the Army; has been for +some months. He is in the 74th Training Reserve Battalion, and is +thinking of going in for a commission. I have advised him to do so--in a +letter which I have just written to him. + +"I got up at midday and had lunch. The afternoon I took easy. The padre +was in for tea. While we were having tea newspapers arrived. Captain +Andrews opened the _Daily Mail_ and exclaimed with horror: 'Good +heavens! Churchill's been appointed Minister of Munitions!' + +"'Hurrah!' I exclaimed, nearly tumbling off my seat in my excitement. + +"'Good God! How awful!' dolefully exclaimed the padre, looking at me in +amazement that I should express satisfaction at such a catastrophe. +'What? Are you pleased to hear that Churchill is in office again?' +inquired he and Dickinson in surprise! + +"'Rather! he's one of our two most brilliant statesmen,' I replied. + +"Thereupon an argument began and continued throughout tea. I must say I +never admired Lloyd George more than I do at this moment when, in face +of most bitter public opposition, he has had the courage to give office +to Churchill. I admire him for it. + +"The new appointments are certainly of a sensational nature. Carson +leaves the Admiralty and enters the War Cabinet as Minister of +Reconstruction (whatever that may mean!). Montagu becomes Secretary of +State for India in Austen Chamberlain's place. Then the most startling +thing of all--the wonderful Sir Eric Geddes becomes First Lord of the +Admiralty! That is very significant indeed. The appointment of that +extraordinary production of the war to the Admiralty at this particular +moment is not, I think, unconnected with the forthcoming operations. I +leave you to surmise what I mean. Churchill has now once more set foot +upon the ladder, despite popular prejudice. Watch him now. He will not +rest until he has mounted to the top. It is really delightful. How angry +everybody will be! Do, please, pull their legs about it for me! But +watch also Sir Eric Geddes. He is one of the most remarkable men of our +time--general, admiral, statesman! + +"I am rather amused at the change in the Royal Name: our Royal Family is +now to be known as the Royal House of Windsor! It does strike me as +pandering somewhat to popular prejudice. That King George should change +his name to Windsor cannot change the fact of his ancestry; he is still +a member of the Royal House of Coburg, to which King Albert of Belgium +and King Manoel of Portugal belong: no legal document can alter the +facts of heredity! not that I think any the worse of him because he is a +Coburg. However, the Royal House of Windsor will be peculiarly the +British Royal Family and will probably marry amongst the British +nobility. To that I have no objection whatever, as I have said before. + +"No, I have not seen the King or the Queen out here; but I knew that the +Queen was inspecting the hospitals in the town where we get off the +train for this part of the front. + +"Talking of hospitals--the Padre says that Barker is not expected to +live many hours longer. The other three are pulling through. We have got +another officer gas casualty to-day. Kerr, who has been suffering from +the effects of gas ever since July 12, has reported sick to-day and has +gone to hospital for a fortnight. One by one we diminish! I feel quite +all right. + +"I was talking to Sergeant Brogden--the new gas N.C.O.--last night. He +comes from Middleton Junction. He says that he was in the Church Lads +Brigade at St. Gabriel's. + +"I have been reading the leading article about popular scapegoats in the +_Church Times_, and I agree with it. I think the young Duke of Argyll's +attack on Archbishop Davidson in the _Sunday Herald_ was conspicuous +rather for venom than for good taste. + +"Earl Curzon's speech in the Lords on Mesopotamia I thought very sober +and statesmanlike indeed. I read it in the _Times_." + +The next day (July 20) I wrote home as follows: + +"We actually had no working parties to take last night. How considerate +of the Brigade-Major! So we had a good night's sleep. And we have not +done anything particular to-day. We are going to have a change at last. +After twenty days in the line we are going out to-night, and are going +to have a few days in a rest camp some distance behind. The place to +which we are going on this occasion is nothing like as far back as we +were last month; but I can assure you it is a perfectly _safe_ distance. +So you need not worry. I can tell you it has been _some_ twenty days! I +have never experienced such a twenty days before; and I am glad to be +looking back upon them, writing during the last few hours, rather than +at the beginning. We are all glad to be going out again. General +Stockwell has ordered that we have three days' complete rest; and Sir +Hubert Gough has issued an order that on no account are the men in his +Army to be worked more than four hours per day, inclusive of marching to +and from parade ground, while out of the line. So the prospect is +bright. It is now 4.10, and we are going to have tea. Our bombardment is +still making a great row." + +My diary of the same date (July 20) states: + +"At 4.30 p.m. Captain Briggs, Dickinson, Allen, Sergeant Donovan and I +walked via Wells Cross Roads, La Brique (where our guns were very close +together, their sound almost deafening us as we passed them), to +Liverpool Trench. Here we reconnoitred our starting points for the +forthcoming push. Then Allen and I went on with Sergeant Donovan up +Threadneedle Street to Bilge Trench. We watched, through glasses, the +German line going up in smoke. In present-day warfare I certainly think +that artillery is the most formidable arm of the Service; it is +artillery which is the chief factor deciding success or failure in all +the great battles in the West. It is even now preparing the way for us. +After having had a look round from over the parapet in Bilge Trench we +returned the same way we had come; and we actually got safely back to +the Ramparts without having any adventures whatever!" + +When we got back to the Ramparts our tour in the line was at an end. All +we had to do now was await the arrival of relief. And a very pleasant +sensation, indeed, that is to weary soldiers! The sensation of "relief" +is the happiest of all the various sensations one had "out there." There +were just a few hours of irritating expectancy to live through--followed +sometimes, as at Givenchy in 1918, by some boring experience such as a +"stand to" in some particular, and generally uninviting, positions--and +then one would be free, safe and in a position and condition to enjoy a +delightful sleep: free and safe for a few days, until the all too soon +moment for return should come! + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +RELIEF + + +My diary of July 20 goes on to state how our relief was effected: "We +were relieved by a company of the 1/5th South Lancashires of General +Lewis' 166 Brigade at 8.45 p.m. So I set off with my platoon at 9 +p.m.... We went round Salvation Corner and across various tracks--a very +roundabout way; but Sergeant Baldwin, Sergeant Dawson and I between us +managed to find our way to Vlamertinghe somehow. Then we went along the +road to Brandhoek Cross Roads and thence into our destination, B Camp, +on the right." + +The letter which I wrote home on July 21 describes the events of the two +days in greater detail without naming places. It begins where my letter +of the previous day left off, at tea-time: "After tea yesterday I went +up to the trenches to reconnoitre our own positions as they will be on +'the day,' and the front over which we shall have to advance. I was +accompanied by Allen and others. We got there and back again without +any adventures whatever; but we saw crowds of batteries bombarding the +German lines. The noise as we passed them was deafening. And through our +glasses we saw the German lines going up in smoke. If the artillery +fails to achieve exactly what the General orders the infantry is +foredoomed to failure; and, conversely, if the artillery is successful +the infantry ought to have things all plain sailing. That was the secret +of the victory of Messines last month. Churchill, with his customary +intelligence, has aptly summed up the matter in the following words: 'In +this war two crude facts leap to the eye. The artillery kills. The +infantry is killed. From this arises the obvious conclusion--the +artillery at its maximum and infantry at its minimum.'[8] + +"We got back at 6.45 and had dinner. At 8.30 we began to be relieved. +So, at 9, I got off with my platoon. We had no adventures except that +even the three of us--Sergeant Baldwin, Sergeant Dawson and I--had some +difficulty in finding our way through the various tracks across the +fields! We passed some simply huge field-guns firing into the enemy +lines. On one occasion if I had not called out to inquire whether all +was safe I would have been blown up with others by one of our own big +guns. 'Just a minute,' was the reply; and then a loud report nearly +lifted us off our feet as the shell left the muzzle of the gun which was +pointing across the path we were taking! They ought to have had a picket +out to warn passers-by as is done in the case of most big guns when +firing. + +"We eventually got to our destination, a certain camp. We stayed the +night there. We tried to get some sleep on the floor in a large elephant +dug-out, but found it utterly impossible: the sound of the guns all +round was too terrific. This bombardment is as yet only in its early +stages. I was only a few hundred yards away from where I was last night +on that night previous to the night of the Battle of Messines when the +preliminary bombardment for that battle was at its height; yet I may say +that the present one sounded last night just like that one sounded then. +So what will it become as the days roll on? + +"We had breakfast at 4 this morning and marched off from this camp at +6.40. We marched about nine miles to a village which was really only +about six miles away! I can tell you I was, and we all were, very tired +indeed when we got here. It was about midday when we arrived. We are +still well in sound of the guns, but just nicely out of range of them. +Nevertheless, air scraps have been going on overhead most of the day. We +are under canvas--the whole battalion in a large field enclosed by +hedges. The weather is splendid; fine camping weather. We had lunch +about 2 p.m. Then I played a game something like tennis (badminton). The +Colonel is very keen on it. When he saw that I was going to play he +said, 'Oh, I'll back the "General,"' meaning me! Then he showed me how +to play. He has been most agreeable with me all day. Major Brighten has +started calling me 'The Field-Marshal!' I think I cause these gentlemen +considerable amusement! + +"Sir Douglas Haig is in this village to-day; but as I have not been out +of camp since I got here I have not seen anything of him." + +FOOTNOTE: + +[8] Churchill, _London Magazine_, Dec., 1916. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +WATOU + + +The time we spent at Valley Camp, Watou, is duly chronicled in my diary. + + +"July 21st. + +"We got here at 12. Lunch at 2.... My servant Johnson reported sick with +gas and departed for hospital; so I asked Sergeant Baldwin to suggest +another. He took me to M'Connon. I endorsed the selection. Allen's +servant, Parkinson, has also gone to hospital with gas to-day! To bed 10 +p.m." + + +"July 22nd (Sunday). + +"Breakfast in bed. Up 9.30. The Colonel had a conference of all officers +re training and man-power. Then there was a Church parade in the field +at 12.15 p.m. The main points of the padre's sermon were Repentance, +Hope, Intention. In the afternoon Dickinson and I went over my platoon +roll with the Sergeant-Major (Preston) to see how we stand. He also did +the same with the other platoons. After tea I had a walk into the +village of Watou and purchased some chocolates. Then dinner. The padre +tells me that Archbishop Lang is in Poperinghe to-day. + +"Critchley came back from hospital this evening; so he will resume his +duties as my servant to-morrow. + +"Corporal Flint has died, in hospital, of gas." + + +"July 23rd. + +"Breakfast in bed. Up 7.30. Parade 8. Training during the morning. There +were also lectures by company commanders on the forthcoming operations, +and a lecture on the compass by Major Brighten. In the afternoon General +Stockwell spoke about the forthcoming operations to all officers and +N.C.O.'s. His speech was very interesting.... He is to have his +Headquarters in Wieltje Dug-out. He said that casualties of this brigade +while in Ypres this time had been 26 officers and 470 men. I have been +very busy with matters relating to the push all day." + + +"July 24th. + +"Battalion parade 8.30 a.m., followed by lectures on the forthcoming +operations and a lecture to officers and N.C.O.'s on field messages by +Major Brighten. In the afternoon platoons marched to Poperinghe to bathe +at the Divisional Baths in the Square--just by the church, I left Valley +Camp with my platoon at 1.45. We marched via St. Janster Biexen to +Poperinghe and there bathed. Then I took my N.C.O.'s--Sergeant Baldwin, +Corporal Livesey, Lance-Corporals Topping, Tipping, Heap and Hopkinson, +and also Sergeant Dawson, to see a model of the battlefield at the +Divisional School. We were ages finding it. We went the wrong way. But +we eventually went along the Switch Road and found it. It was 6 p.m. by +then. So I gave Baldwin, Topping, Tipping and Heap a pass to have tea in +Poperinghe. Dawson and Hopkinson did not want one, so they set off back. +I went into Poperinghe and had a drink of citron. I felt very tired. +Then I set off back to Watou. I came across Dickinson returning on +horseback. Then I caught up Sergeant Dawson and Lance-Corporal +Hopkinson; and we got on a lorry which took us right as far as St. +Janster Biexen. We then walked back to Valley Camp. I had dinner. Then +to bed, feeling a little seedy." + + +"July 25th. + +"Breakfast in bed at 8. Dickinson, feeling very bad, stayed in bed. I +also felt washed out. I expect it is the gas at last taking effect. At +10 a.m. I set off with one officer and one N.C.O. from each company to +reconnoitre the route to Query Camp. Beesley and I with Sergeant Clews +and Sergeant Malone went one way; the others went another way. We found +ourselves wrong, but eventually got right. It was raining, the route was +thick with mud, and I felt very weary. I soon felt done to the world. +We had some coffee in a hut on the Poperinghe road, about a mile from +the town; then walked on to the Switch Road, right along that and on to +the main Poperinghe-Vlamertinghe road. Here Beesley and his sergeant +went one way and Sergeant Clews and I went another--right along the main +road. We had a drink of citron at a little hut named Villa Franca. Then +we turned to the left at Brandhoek Cross Roads, went through B Camp, and +eventually reached Query Camp. I felt horribly fatigued and also had a +most annoying cold.... Soon Beesley and his sergeant turned up. We had +some citron in a cottage here. The Belgian woman who served us said that +she had lost her father, mother and three brothers in the war. After +this we went along Track 1 and back to the main road. Here we got a +motor-lorry which took us through Poperinghe and right back to St. +Janster Biexen. We walked back to Valley Camp from there. I really feel +done up; and I have a headache in addition to my bad cold--something +like influenza. All symptoms of gas! When we got back the rain had +ceased and it was quite nice. A new large draft arrived about 6.30; +there were two new officers with it--Richard Maxwell Barlow and Kenneth +Leslie Smith. Young has also returned to the Battalion. There have been +a number of drafts recently, so we are getting up strength again. +Young, Barlow and Smith have all been posted to A Company; so, as the B +and A Company Mess is joint, they mess with us." + +The same day, July 25, I wrote home from Watou as follows: + +"Just a line to let you know that I have received all your letters up to +July 20 and the parcel for which I thank you very much. I have been +simply awfully busy--chiefly with maps and operation orders re coming +offensive--and have not been able to write home during the last few days +as a result. We are supposed to be resting, but I have hardly a moment +to spare. General Stockwell lectured all officers and N.C.O.'s of this +Battalion here in the field on Monday afternoon. He said that he was +going to tell us everything that he knew himself about the coming +battle, but did not tell us anything we did not already know! I do not +think he told us all: if he did tell us all then I don't think much of +the idea. The General had a cigarette in his mouth and his hands in his +pockets the whole time he was speaking; he was quite jovial, cracking +jokes all the time. He impressed upon us the importance of sending +messages back when we reach our objectives; he said that if we do not do +so it will mean his coming up to the front line himself for information +'and I don't want to have to do that,' he laughed, 'but it will come to +that if necessary,' he went on in a more serious tone, 'and it will be +woe betide the platoon commander whose negligence has brought his +brigadier-general's life into danger!' At the conclusion of his speech +the General asked whether any of us had any questions to ask. I could +have asked one, but I know he would not have answered it; so I remained +silent! + +"Archbishop Lang was in the big town half-way between here and the front +line on Monday, but I did not see anything of him. Nor did I see the +Queen when she was inspecting the hospitals there. But I think it very +fine of Queen Mary to visit troops within range of the Germans guns as +she did. + +" ... It is now evening and is quite bright, the sun is shining into the +tent where I am writing this. We have been stationed here since July 21, +and are now marching back in a few minutes to a camp beyond the +above-mentioned town--where I went to reconnoitre this morning. + +"You will see that it is impossible to write any reply to 'Bumjo' at +present as I have not the time.[9] I also warn you not to get the wind +up if you do not hear from me for a week or so. I can quite foresee a +period of that length elapsing between my letters now, as before this +present week is out we shall be engaged in fighting the great battle of +the North. 'Bumjo' will have to wait until we come out of action again. +I intend to deal with him and give him the telling-off which his +impudence and his treason are asking for after the battle. I hope to +have more leisure then! So au revoir!" + +These days at Watou, while being days full of work, were not unpleasant. +We had plenty to talk about; and, seated on the grass on a summer +evening, Joe Roake would make us rock with laughter at his quaint and +humorous tales of his experiences when a sergeant at Loos and other +battles. Roake was always a great asset to any mess when he honoured it +by a visit. He hated Headquarters Mess; he was always ready to jump at +any excuse to get away from the society of Colonel Best-Dunkley; and he +was never happier than when, over a nice selection of drinks, he was +retailing the Colonel's latest sayings and doings. And we, needless to +say, were never happier than when listening to him on this most +interesting topic! Roake and Humfrey with little "Darky," who was their +invariable companion, were always welcome. + +It was at this time that news came across that a son and heir had been +born to Colonel Best-Dunkley. The event was one of considerable +interest, and was widely discussed. "Poor little ----! To think that +there's another Best-Dunkley in the world to look forward to!" exclaimed +our humorous friend when he heard the news. "Well, when he grows up he +will always have the gratification of knowing that his father was a +colonel in the Great War!" mused Captain Andrews in a tone which +suggested that he had a presentiment that Colonel Best-Dunkley would not +survive the coming push. And, somehow--though nobody ever anticipated +for a moment that he would win the V.C.--we all discussed the +probability of his falling, and always thought that the odds were in +favour of his falling. And to be perfectly frank (my object in writing +this book is to tell the truth), nobody regretted the probability! If we +had really known what kind of a man he was, if we had been able then to +fathom beneath the forbidding externals, we might have felt very +differently about it. But it is not given to man to know the future or +even to discern the heart of his most intimate acquaintance! We only saw +in him a man who was as unscrupulous as his prototype Napoleon in all +matters which affected his own personal ambition, the petty tyrant of +the parade ground, who could occasionally be very agreeable, but of whom +all were afraid or suspicious, because none knew when his mood would +change. In a few days this man was going to give everybody who knew him +the surprise of their lives. Had he any presentiment or intention as to +the future himself? I think he had both intention and presentiment. +Throughout the whole summer of 1917 his whole heart and soul were +absorbed in preparation for the coming push; never did a man give his +mind more completely, unstintingly, and whole-heartedly to a project +than Best-Dunkley did to the Ypres offensive which was to have carried +us to the Gravenstafel Ridge, then on to the Paschendaele Ridge, into +Roulers and across the plains of Belgium. He was determined to associate +his name indelibly with the field of Ypres; he was determined to win the +highest possible decoration on July 31: he knew what the risks were; he +had seen enough of war to know what a modern push meant; he had not come +through Guillemont and Ginchy for nothing and learnt nothing; he was +determined to stake life and limbs and everything on the attainment of +his ambition. He was determined to cover himself with glory; he was +determined to let people see that he did not know what fear was. And I +think--there was that in his bearing the nearer the day became which +suggested it, everybody who had known him of old declaring that they +noticed a certain change in him during the last two months of his +life--that he felt that his glory would be purchased at the cost of his +life. + +I well remember one afternoon in the Ramparts when Captain Andrews came +in and told us that it had been proposed that Major Brighten should take +the Battalion over the top in the push and the Colonel remain behind on +"battle reserve." Captain Andrews said that that would be fine, because +if the push were a success--as it was sure to be--Major Brighten[10] +would probably get the D.S.O. before the Colonel, which would annoy the +Colonel intensely; and he said that he would do anything, risk anything +to bring success to our beloved Major Brighten--feelings which we all +cordially reciprocated. But Colonel Best-Dunkley would not hear of it. +He implored the General to allow him to lead his battalion over the top; +he waxed most importunate in his entreaties, almost bursting into tears +at the thought of being debarred from going over with the Battalion; +and, at last, his request was granted and the General agreed that +Best-Dunkley should take the Battalion over. + +Another very gallant officer was also very grieved when he was informed +that he was detailed to be on "battle reserve" for the push. That +officer was Kenneth Blamey. When Captain Blamey was informed that his +second-in-command would take the Company over he implored to be allowed +to go over the top with his company. But his request was not granted. +Bodington was to take D Company over. It would not do for all company +commanders to go over the top at once: the future has to be considered. + +One more reminiscence before I close this chapter. It was at Watou that +fat Joye used to come into the tent and get me to talk to him about the +war. I remember him coming in to see us the last night at Watou and +saying to me that we would both have nice "Blighties" in the leg in a +few days. I replied that I hoped so. Things turned out exactly as Joye +forecast: about ten days later I met him on the grand staircase in +Worsley Hall! + +FOOTNOTES: + +[9] This refers to the newspaper controversy in the _Middleton Guardian_ +in which I had been engaged throughout the whole time I was at the +Front. + +[10] He afterwards won the D.S.O. and Bar, Belgian Ordre de la Couronne +and Belgian Croix de Guerre. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +THE DAYS BEFORE + + +On the evening of July 25 the 164 Brigade marched back from the Watou +area to the camps behind Ypres; we went to Query Camp. In my tent at +Query Camp on July 27 I wrote my last letter home before going into +action. It ran as follows: + +"I have received all letters up to date: I got father's letter of July +23 this morning. I am still very busy, but have found time this +afternoon to send a reply to 'Bumjo's' insolent letter to the _Middleton +Guardian_ and to write this. + +"We left the last camp at 9.30 on the evening of July 25 and marched +back here. We are now in a camp behind the line. We got here at 1 in the +morning. Then we had dinner. A and B Companies mess in the same tent, so +we had the two new officers--Barlow and Smith--who arrived just before +we marched off from the other camp.... They have just come out from +Scarborough. + +"We went to bed at 2.20. Allen and I had a tent to ourselves, but were +yesterday joined by Harwood, a new officer who arrived yesterday and has +been posted to B Company. He seems all right. The new officers are all +fresh from cadet battalions via Scarborough. Captain Cocrame, who has +been at the Army School since June, has returned to-day, so our mess is +increasing. A and B Company Mess now consists of Captain Briggs, Captain +Cocrame, West, Barlow, Smith, Young, Dickinson, Allen, Harwood and +myself. Captain Andrews has gone to Headquarters. + +"The weather just now is glorious--too hot to move. Just by our tent +there is a military railway constantly carrying things and men up to the +front line. The engines and trucks are quaint little things. They have a +bell which sounds like the trams running from Blackpool to Bispham and +beyond. One expects to see the sea when one hears the tinkle, but one +merely sees--well! One sees life at the Front; one hears the roar of the +guns; and if one cares to lift one's eyes to the sky one sees copious +observation balloons and aeroplanes. The day is very near now. This will +probably be my last letter before going into action, so do not worry if +you do not hear again for a week. + +"Cheer up--all's well that ends well!" + +And in a P.S. I said, "I cannot guarantee even field-cards regularly." + +My diary tells the story of these last days until I packed it up with +my kit which I handed in when we reached our concentration area in front +of the Cafe Belge on the right of the Vlamertinghe-Ypres road on July +29. + + +"July 25th. + +"We marched off from Watou at 9.30 p.m. We got along very slowly; the +North Lancs in front kept halting. However, it was a nice cool evening. +We got to Query Camp at 1 a.m. We had dinner and then went to bed in +tents at 2.20. Allen and I have a tent to ourselves." + + +"July 26th. + +"Breakfast in bed. Up 10.30. At 11.30 Beesley, Telfer, Sergeant Donovan +and I went to the 39th Division Headquarters in C Camp in a wood near +by. We saw Major-General Cuthbert while we were there. We were sent to +the 39th Division model of the Ypres battlefield where we discussed the +operations with the officers of the 1/6th Cheshires on our left. We got +back at 1.30 p.m. and had lunch.... Took the afternoon easy; studied +maps, etc.... To bed 9.30." + + +"July 27th. + +"Inspections and explanation of scheme in the morning. In the afternoon +I went, with Sergeant Baldwin, to reconnoitre the trench on the right of +the main road between Vlamertinghe and Ypres, where we are to spend 'XY +night'! It was a very hot day. Coming back we (and also Sergeant-Major +Preston) got a lorry all the way to Brandhoek. I got back at 4 p.m.... +I wrote two or three letters and then had dinner. To bed at 9.30. At +10.15 a zeppelin came over and dropped a big bomb a few hundred yards +away, causing a loud explosion. We got up and stood outside the tents +looking for the zeppelin; but we could not see it, although there were a +whole crowd of search-lights trying to get on to it." + + +"July 28th. + +"Up 8 a.m. Parade 9 a.m. Drill and explanation of campaign. At 12 noon, +Major Brighten lectured all officers and N.C.O.'s on the forthcoming +battle. He closed with an eloquent peroration in which he said that, +although our little bit is only part of very large operations, our +holding the Gravenstafel Ridge may help to end the war and sway the +destiny of the world! In the afternoon I went into Poperinghe. It was +extremely hot. I had a cold bath at the Divisional Baths and felt very +refreshed by it. I met Gaulter of the King's Own on the same job. He +said that he was not looking forward to the push. His battalion are at +present in camp near Poperinghe Station. In the push they will be the +right rear battalion of Stockwell's Brigade. After my bath I made one or +two purchases in Poperinghe and then had tea there. Having had tea, I +returned to Query Camp--by lorry most of the way--where I arrived at +6.30 p.m." + + +"July 29th (Sunday). + +"Up 9 a.m. At 10 it poured with rain and prevented Church parade. At +10.30 Allen and I set off with Sergeant Baldwin, Sergeant Donovan, +Sergeant Brogden, and a few other N.C.O.'s and runners, to reconnoitre a +track. We went on a miniature train as far as Vlamertinghe. Then we +walked across the fields. We were in a hot-bed of artillery batteries. +Suddenly a shell dropped close to us. Three of our party were +wounded--Sergeant Donovan, Lance-Corporal Segar and Private Hampson. +Lance-Corporal Segar had a large slice out of his hip, but only a flesh +wound, a nice, but painful, 'Blighty'! Donovan and Hampson had slight +wounds; they were 'walking cases,' but it will be hospital for them all +right. When they were dressed we left them with an R.F.A. man to be +taken on the first ambulance; and we then carried on along Track 6, past +Salvation Corner, beyond Ypres and into Liverpool Trench. We left some +sign-posts there and then walked back to the miniature railway. It was a +horribly dirty trip; all the ground was thick with slush. We got a train +part of the way back and travelled on an engine the remainder! It was +4.15 p.m. when we got back. We had some tea. Then we attended a +conference, presided over by Colonel Best-Dunkley, in Headquarters Mess +Hut, to have our last corporate discussion upon the coming battle. There +were officers from other units connected with us there; and Best-Dunkley +made sure that everybody knew exactly what he had got to do and what +assistance he could expect from anybody else. He was calm and dignified +and even polite. He concluded the proceedings by making a soldierly +appeal to the honour of the battalion, said that he knew that every +gentleman in the 2/5th Lancashire Fusiliers would do his duty, that he +placed entire confidence in our loyalty and our ability; and remarked +that he would not hesitate to recommend for decorations anybody who +carried on when wounded or distinguished himself by any conspicuous act +of bravery. + +"Major Brighten looked into our mess tent just before dinner. I was +alone, looking at maps. He said that he wondered what I would think of +it all when I saw the coming battle in full swing. He told me that the +landing on the Coast is not, he thinks, after all, coming off this time! +In fact Rawlinson's Fourth Army is not to be in it at all. I expect the +German thrust at Nieuport has spoilt Haig's plans there. I am very sorry +indeed. Major Brighten said that the plan is completely changed. This +battle is going to be fought north and south of Ypres with the object of +breaking through here. One would naturally assume so from the number of +maps with which we have been issued. Major Brighten is going down to +the Transport. He will not take part in this battle unless required. He +is on 'battle reserve'; and so are Barlow and Smith as they have arrived +so recently, and have not practised the 'stunt.' Harwood is liaison +officer with the 1/6th Cheshires on our left. + +"A and B Companies had a very lively time at dinner this 'X' evening. +West was acting the fool and making us all laugh. + +"At 9.30 p.m. the Battalion left Query Camp and we marched to our +concentration trenches beyond Vlamertinghe. The men filed into these +trenches--5 and 8 platoons in the same trench. Battalion Headquarters +are at Cafe Belge on the left of the main road. B Company Headquarters +are in the cellar of the next cottage on the left. About a hundred yards +further on--on the left of the road--is the trench my (8) platoon is in. +The organization of my platoon is as follows: Sergeant Baldwin is +platoon sergeant, and Corporal Livesey is next in seniority after him. I +have five sections. The Bombing Section, under Livesey, consists of +eight all told; Tipping's Riflemen, thirteen; Heap's Rifle-Grenade men, +eleven; two Lewis Gun Sections--Topping and Hopkinson being the +respective section commanders and each having seven in their sections. + +"Various articles were drawn from a dump when we got to the trench. We +got to the trench about 11 p.m." + +There my diary of the period abruptly closes. For the events which +followed it is necessary to turn to the long letter describing the whole +operations which I wrote home from Worsley Hall a few days later. That +letter describes the Third Battle of Ypres which is the subject of the +next chapter. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +THE BATTLE OF YPRES + +(July 31st, 1917) + + "'Tis Zero! Full of all the thoughts of years! + A moment pregnant with a life-time's fears + That rise to jeer and laugh, and mock awhile + The vaunted courage of the human frame, + Till Duty calls, till Love and beck'ning + Fame + Lead forth the heroes to that frenzied line. + The creeping death that, searching, never stays; + To brave the rattling, hissing streams of lead, + The bursting shrapnel and the million ways + That war entices death; when dying, dead + And living, mingle in the ghastly glare + That taints the beauty of a night once fair, + And seems to flout the Majesty divine." + F. SHUKER (_Zero_). + + +Safely ensconced beneath the sheets of a very comfortable hospital bed +at Worsley Hall, I wrote the following letter in which I described the +Third Battle of Ypres up to the time when I left the battlefield. For +the progress of the battle beyond that it will be necessary to quote +other documents. Here is my own account of the operations written on +August 3: + +"I will now endeavour to tell you the story of the Third Battle of +Ypres. As you are aware, we were preparing for this battle the whole +time I was at the Front. It was part of Haig's general plan of campaign +for 1917. When I first arrived in the Prison at Ypres, the day before +Messines, Captain Andrews had me in his cell and explained to me the +plan of campaign. He opened some maps and explained to me that Plumer's +Second Army was, very shortly, going to attack on the south of the Ypres +Salient with the object of taking Hill 60 and the Messines Ridge. If +that attack should prove successful _we_ should, a few days afterwards, +do a little 'stunt' on a German trench named Ice Trench. We were issued +with photograph maps of this trench and many conferences were held with +regard to it. Further, he explained that this was only a preliminary +operation: the main campaign of the year was to be fought on the front +between Ypres and the Sea, and Sir Hubert Gough was coming to Ypres to +take command. Well, the Battle of Messines was fought the following +morning; all Plumer's objectives were gained; it was a perfect 'stunt'; +but, still, our Ice Trench affair was cancelled! We left Ypres soon +afterwards and went into rest billets at Millain and then training +billets at Westbecourt. Hunter-Weston's VIII Corps became a reserve +corps behind the line and we, Jeudwine's 55th Division, were transferred +to Watts's XIX Corps which became part of Gough's Fifth Army--that +famous general having arrived in Flanders. While at Westbecourt +we--Stockwell's 164 Brigade--practised the Third Battle of Ypres in the +open cornfields and amongst the numerous vegetable crops between +Cormette and Boisdinghem. When we got back to the Salient we understood +Haig's plan to be that Gough's Army should smash forward from Ypres, +that there should be a French Army on Gough's left, and that Rawlinson's +Fourth Army should land upon, or push up, the Belgian Coast at precisely +the same moment as Gough struck north from the Ypres Salient. That plan +commended itself to me as highly satisfactory. But one always has to +reckon with an enemy as well! I do not know whether Armin got wind of it +or not, but he effectively thwarted Haig by doing precisely the kind of +thing I expected he would do. Rawlinson's Army was engaged and driven +back at Nieuport, thus disorganizing his plans; and Ypres--the other +flank--was intensely bombarded with high explosives and gas shells on +that never-to-be-forgotten night of July 12-13. The gas casualties in +Ypres who were taken to hospital on July 13 were, I was told, 3,000! A +much higher figure than I thought at first. A day or two after these +events Gratton came in to us at the Ramparts and casually informed us +that the Coast idea was postponed: the battle was going to be fought +north and south of Ypres only. The Coast landing was going to take place +later if the Third Battle of Ypres should prove a success--of which, of +course, no patriot could entertain any doubts! Rawlinson was not ready. +Nieuport was to me sufficient explanation for that. And Beatty was not +ready! That I do not understand. I was very disappointed, indeed, when I +heard this news, as I was not very hopeful as to the chance of success +in any battle fought in the centre. A flanking movement is, in my +opinion, the best policy; and the original idea would have meant, if a +landing had been effected, a triangular advance which would have left +before Armin only two alternatives--retreat or surrender. But attrition +seems to be far more in Robertson's line than strategy! So the Third +Battle of Ypres has begun. And, unless things change very quickly, I am +bound to say that it is not a success. So much for the general idea. + +"During our twenty days in the Ypres Salient, from July 1 to July 20, we +suffered very heavily in casualties; and when we came out we were +certainly not strong enough to go into battle. So while we were at +Valley Camp, Watou, we were reinforced by large drafts. And, in +accordance with the above plans, we left Watou on the night of July 25 +and marched to Query Camp, near Brandhoek, but on the left of the main +road. Here we remained awaiting 'XY night.' 'Z day' was the day on which +the battle was to take place. On 'XY night' we left Query Camp and took +up our positions in our concentration trenches near Vlamertinghe. My +platoon and Allen's platoon were in a trench on the right of the +Vlamertinghe-Ypres road, across the field stretching from the road to +the railway. Sergeant Brogden's platoon (6 Platoon) was a little further +on. Dickinson was in command of B Company. We had our Headquarters in a +little wooden dug-out[11] in the centre of the field behind the trench. +Battalion Headquarters were at the Cafe Belge--a house on the right of +the road close by. 'XY night' was the night of July 29-30. We got a +little sleep during the morning. + +"For the last fortnight the artillery had been preparing the way for us, +raids had been taking place, and conflicts in the air had been of +frequent occurrence; the Royal Engineers had been constructing roads and +other means of advance; miniature railways were running up to the front +line; and the road from Watou, through Poperinghe and Vlamertinghe, to +Ypres was simply thronged with transport. The weather had been fine and +hot. On 'XY night' troops were swarming round Vlamertinghe and there was +every sign that a great push was about to commence. + +"During July 30, in our little wooden dug-out here, Dickinson held +conferences consisting of Allen and myself with Sergeant Brogden, +Sergeant Baldwin, Sergeants Stokes and, of course, Sergeant-Major +Preston and Quartermaster-Sergeant Jack. Did it occur to us that within +twenty-four hours we should all be scattered to the winds--some killed, +others wounded? I expect it did. But it did not worry us. We smiled and +discussed plans. During the day Colonel Best-Dunkley looked in and +chatted most agreeably; he was in a most friendly mood. Padre Newman +also looked in. + +"At 8.55 p.m. I marched off with my platoon along Track 1. All units +were moving up to the line. After I had been going about a quarter of an +hour half a dozen shells burst quite close to us, badly putting the wind +up us. We all lay on the ground. When the disturbance had subsided we +moved on again along Track 1, leaving Goldfish Chateau,[12] the one +building in that region which stands intact, on our right, along Track +6, touching Ypres at Salvation Corner, along the Canal Bank, again +across the open and though La Brique, where the Tanks (commanded by +Major Inglis) were congregating ready to go forward on the morrow, to +Liverpool Trench. We reached Liverpool Trench, the assembly trench from +which we were to go over the top on the morrow, about 11 p.m.... D and B +Companies were in Liverpool Trench, and C and A Companies in Congreve +Walk--the other side of Garden Street. It was a dull, cloudy night. The +guns were continually booming. Our howitzers were flinging gas-shells on +to every known German battery throughout the night. The enemy replied by +shelling Liverpool Trench and Congreve Walk--especially the latter. One +shell burst right in the trench, took one of Verity's legs almost clean +off, and killed his servant Butterworth. The shells were bursting all +night. All our trenches were simply packed with troops ready to go over +the top at Zero. Lewis's 166 Brigade filled the trenches in front of us. +The 55th Division occupied a front from the west of Wieltje to Warwick +Farm. Half of this frontage was occupied by Lewis's 166 Brigade on the +left, and Boyd-Moss's 165 Brigade occupied the other half on the right. +Stockwell's 164 Brigade occupied the whole frontage in rear with the +object of passing through the front brigades and penetrating into the +enemy's positions. The 2/5th Lancashire Fusiliers were the left front +battalion of the 164 Brigade. Colonel Hindle's 1/4th North Lancashires +were on the right. We were supported by the Liverpool Irish as 'moppers +up'; and the North Lancs. were supported by the 1/4th King's Own Royal +Lancaster Regiment in the same way. In our battalion, D Company, +commanded by Captain Bodington, were on the left front. On their right +were C Company, commanded by Captain Mordecai. In rear of D Company were +B Company commanded by Second-Lieutenant Talbot Dickinson, M.C.; and on +our right were A Company commanded by Captain Briggs. The front +companies comprised the first two waves; the rear companies the third +and fourth waves. The first wave of D Company contained Beesley's +platoon on the left; and behind Beesley's platoon was that of Telfer. +Then came Sergeant Brogden's platoon of B Company, with Allen on his +right. My platoon occupied the whole Company front behind Brogden and +Allen. My orders were to advance to the 'Green Line,' and when I got +there I was to take Lance-Corporal Tipping's rifle section and four +Lewis Gunners on to reinforce Allen at Aviatick Farm where he was to dig +a strong point in front of the front-line when the Gravenstafel Ridge +was reached. Two of my sections were detached: Corporal Livesey took his +bombers with Brogden's platoon to mop up a dug-out beyond Wurst Farm, +and Lance-Corporal Heap was sent with his rifle grenadiers to 15 +Platoon. On my left was a platoon, commanded by Sergeant Whalley, of the +1/6th Cheshires. They belonged to the 118th Brigade of the 39th Division +of Maxse's XVIII Corps--so, you see, I was on the extreme left of Sir +Herbert Watts's XIX Corps. It was Cuthbert's 39th Division that was to +take St. Julien. We were to go through Fortuin and leave St. Julien just +on our left. On the right of our division was the 15th Division. Behind +us, in the Watou area, was Nugent's 36th (Ulster) Division, ready to go +through us in a day or two. The 15th Division is entirely Scottish. So +much for Gough's dispositions for the battle. + +"Zero was fixed for 3.50 in the morning. As the moment drew near how +eagerly we awaited it! At 3.50 exactly I heard a mine go up, felt a +slight vibration, and, as I rushed out of the little dug-out in which I +had been resting, every gun for miles burst forth. What a sight! What a +row! The early morning darkness was lit up by the flashes of thousands +of guns, the air whistling and echoing with shells, the calm atmosphere +shaken by a racket such as nobody who has not heard it could imagine! +The weird ruins of Ypres towered fantastically amongst the flashes +behind us. In every direction one looked guns were firing. In front of +us the 166th and 165th Brigades were dashing across no man's land, +sweeping into the enemy trenches, the barrage creeping before them. I +stood on the parados of Liverpool Trench and watched with amazement. It +was a dramatic scene such as no artist could paint. + +"Before the battle had been raging half an hour German prisoners were +streaming down, only too glad to get out of range of their own guns! I +saw half a dozen at the corner of Liverpool Trench and Garden Street. +They seemed very happy trying to converse with us. One of them--a boy +about twenty--asked me the nearest way to the station; he wanted to get +to England as soon as possible! + +"The Tanks went over. As daylight came on the battle raged furiously. +Our troops were still advancing. Messages soon came through that St. +Julien had been taken. + +"Our time was drawing near. At 8.30 we were to go over. At 8 we were all +'standing to' behind the parapet waiting to go over. Colonel +Best-Dunkley came walking along the line, his face lit up by smiles more +pleasant than I have ever seen before. 'Good morning, Floyd; best of +luck!' was the greeting he accorded me as he passed; and I, of course, +returned the good wishes. At about 8.20 Captain Andrews went past me and +wished me good luck; and he then climbed over the parapet to +reconnoitre. The minutes passed by. Everybody was wishing everybody +else good luck, and many were the hopes of 'Blighty' entertained--not +all to be realized. It is a wonderful sensation--counting the minutes on +one's wrist watch as the moment to go over draws nigh. The fingers on my +watch pointed to 8.30, but the first wave of D Company had not gone +over. I do not know what caused the delay. Anyhow, they were climbing +over. Eventually, at 8.40, I got a signal from Dickinson to go on. So +forward we went, platoons in column of route. Could you possibly imagine +what it was like? Shells were bursting everywhere. It was useless to +take any notice where they were falling, because they were falling all +round; they could not be dodged; one had to take one's chance: merely go +forward and leave one's fate to destiny. Thus we advanced, amidst shot +and shell, over fields, trenches, wire, fortifications, roads, ditches +and streams which were simply churned out of all recognition by +shell-fire. The field was strewn with wreckage, with the mangled remains +of men and horses lying all over in a most ghastly fashion--just like +any other battlefield I suppose. Many brave Scottish soldiers were to be +seen dead in kneeling positions, killed just as they were firing on the +enemy. Some German trenches were lined with German dead in that +position. It was hell and slaughter. On we went. About a hundred yards +on my right, slightly in front, I saw Colonel Best-Dunkley complacently +advancing, with a walking stick in his hand, as calmly as if he were +walking across a parade ground. I afterwards heard that when all C +Company officers were knocked out he took command in person of that +Company in the extreme forward line. He was still going strong last I +heard of him. + +"We passed through the 166th Brigade. We left St. Julien close on our +left. Suddenly we were rained with bullets from rifles and machine-guns. +We extended. Men were being hit everywhere. My servant, Critchley, was +the first in my platoon to be hit. We lay down flat for a while, as it +was impossible for anyone to survive standing up. Then I determined to +go forward. It was no use sticking here for ever, and we would be wanted +further on; so we might as well try and dash through it. 'Come +along--advance!' I shouted, and leapt forward. I was just stepping over +some barbed wire defences--I think it must have been in front of Schuler +Farm (though we had studied the map so thoroughly beforehand, it was +impossible to recognize anything in this chaos) when the inevitable +happened. I felt a sharp sting through my leg. I was hit by a bullet. So +I dashed to the nearest shell-hole which, fortunately, was a very large +one, and got my first field dressing on. Some one helped me with it. +Then they went on, as they were, to their great regret, not hit! My +platoon seemed to have vanished just before I was hit. Whether they were +in shell-holes or whether they were all hit, or whether they had found +some passage through the wire, I cannot say. I only know that, with the +exception of Corporal Hopkinson and one or two Lewis Gunners who went +forward soon after, they had all vanished. It was one of the many +mysteries of a modern battlefield! Allen was going on all right: I saw +him going on in front: I believe he got to Aviatik Farm![13] It was 10.20 +a.m. when I was wounded. I lay in this shell-hole for some time. When I +had been there about half an hour the enemy put down a barrage just on +the line which contained my shell-hole! It was horrible. I thought I was +lost this time. Shells were bursting all around me, making a horrible +row; some of them were almost in the trench. I was covered with the +fumes from one or two of them and also sniffed some gas. I put on my +box-respirator. One piece of shrapnel hit me on the head, but, +fortunately, I had my steel helmet on my head; so I was all right. + +"At 11.30 a.m. I decided that I might just as well be blown to bits in +the open, trying to get back to safety, as lying in this shell-hole; so +I made a dash for it and got out of the barrage. I inquired the way to +the nearest aid post, and was told that it was a long way off. But I +proceeded in the direction indicated. Before long I met Corporal Livesey +returning from his bombing stunt with about half a dozen prisoners and a +shrapnel wound in his back; also another lance-corporal, from D Company, +who had been on a similar stunt and was wounded in the ear by a bullet. +Some of the prisoners were also wounded. So we all walked down together. + +"Corporal Livesey told me that Sergeant Brogden[14] was wounded in the +arm, Sergeant Stokes killed, and Corporal Chamley wounded. We saw some +horrible sights all the way along. We were joined by more prisoners as +we went down. German prisoners have only to be told which way to go and +they go. They are quite sociable people too--many of them bright-eyed +boys of seventeen and eighteen. They are only too glad to carry our +wounded men back; they need no escort. We got on very well indeed with +them. I suppose that in a sense we were comrades in distress, or, rather +comrades in good fortune, in that we were all leaving the field of +horrors behind us! Yet they were the very Boches who, an hour before, +had been peppering us with those bullets. One would never have imagined +that we had so recently been enemies. One of them asked for water to +'drinken;' so I let him have a drink from my water-bottle. About half a +dozen of them drank, and they appeared very grateful. + +"Germans are not half so vile as they are painted.... They are only +doing their bit for their Empire as we are for ours. The pity of it is +that destiny should have thrown us into conflict. It is a great pity. +How fine it would be if we could let bygones be bygones, shake hands, +and lead the world in peace and civilization side by side! If we can +fraternize so speedily on the battlefield, why cannot those who are not +shooting each other also fraternize? It is a cruel insult to humanity +that this thing should go on. War is hell, and the sooner some one +arises who has the courage to stop it the better. Somebody will have to +take the lead some time. I myself believe in peace after victory--but we +are not yet going the right way about achieving victory; and, unless Sir +William Robertson speedily changes his plans, we might as well make +peace. This killing business is horrible. The present policy of the +General Staff is: see which side can do the most killing. A far wiser, +and far more humane, policy would be to win it by strategy. I believe in +out-manoeuvring the enemy and taking as many prisoners as possible; +make him evacuate territory or surrender by corps and armies; it can be +done if we go the right way about it, but this bloodshed is barbarous. + +"When we walked over Wieltje we found our once 'strong point' no longer +existent. The sandbags were scattered all over. Yet in the mine +below--in the estam--General Stockwell had his Headquarters. + +"We were sent on from aid-post to aid-post. They were all crowded with +wounded. The number of 'walking cases' was very large. At Potijze we +were again sent on. So I walked into Ypres and passed the Cathedral and +the Cloth Hall and reached the remains of the Prison which is now the +central aid-post for Ypres. There was a pleasant padre there; and he got +me a refreshing cup of tea. Then I went on again. I got on a lorry and +was taken to the mill at Vlamertinghe, which is known as the 2/1 Wessex +Dressing Station. When I got there I was sent upstairs for some tea. On +entering the mess, I found Lieutenant Francis also there, having tea. He +was wounded in the arm. His arm was in a sling. There were also two or +three German officers having tea there. They were quite as sociable as +our Allies! Who should come in to see us, a few minutes later, but Major +Brighten, who, being on 'battle reserve,' was down at the Transport! He +expressed surprise when he saw me, and asked me to tell him all about +it. He would insist on carrying some of my equipment downstairs. He +informed me that my batman, Critchley, was down below. So I went and +saw him. He had got one in the leg too. + +"I had my wound dressed here and also had an anti-tetanous inoculation +put into me. I did not like it! + +"Then Francis and I got into a motor-ambulance and were motored away, +through Poperinghe, to Watou. We passed what I assumed to be Nugent's +36th Division coming up in motor-lorries to relieve the 55th Division. +At Watou we were taken to the 10th C.C.S. We had our wounds dressed +again there and then had tea. Then we got on to a hospital train which +was standing in the siding. Who should join us in the saloon on this +train but Gaulter, of the King's Own! He, too, had got one in the leg! +The question which interested us most on the way back was whether we +would get to 'Blighty.' The train went very slowly. We were held up +because the Germans were shelling Hazebrouck of all places. They must +have some long-range guns! + +"We arrived in Boulogne at 5.30 on Wednesday morning, August 1, and were +immediately motored to Wimereux, where we entered the 14th General +Hospital. We went to bed at once and remained in bed all day and night. + +"The next morning I was awakened by the greeting: 'You're for England; +you leave at 8.15.' So I got up and had breakfast. Then we were motored +down to Boulogne again where we all embarked on the _St. David_, and +sailed for the shores of old England. It was a happy voyage. We landed +at Dover at midday.... + +"The train left Dover at 4.30 p.m. We reached Manchester at midnight and +I and seven others were immediately motored to Worsley. So here I am in +a nice cosy bed in the spacious mansion of the Egertons of +Ellesmere--Worsley Hall. What vicissitudes one does go through!" ... + + * * * * * + +So, as far as the writer of this book was concerned, Ypres and all that +its name implies was now but a memory: I was safely back on the right +side of the water once again. My feelings on leaving "Wipers" behind me +can best be expressed in the words which a poet of the 55th Division +dedicated to the British Soldier in the second number of _Sub Rosa_: + + "Good-bye, Wipers! though I 'opes it is for good, + It 'urts me for to leave yer--I little thought it would. + + When I gets back to Blighty, and all the fightin's done, + Mebbe the picters of the past will rise up, one by one. + + Like movies at the Cinema, they'll bob up in my brain, + The places that I knew so well--I'll see them all again. + + The battered-in Asylum; the Prison scorched and scarred; + And 'ole Salvation Corner with the guns a bellowin' 'ard. + + The muddy, ruddy, Ramparts; the mist upon the Moat; + The grey Canal between whose banks no barges ever float. + + An' them Cathedral ruins--O Gawd, the fearsome sight! + Like mutilated fingers they points up through the night. + + The blighters what relieves us--we'll treat 'em fair an' kind, + They're welcome to the soveneers what we 'ave left be'ind. + + Good-bye, Wipers! though I 'opes it is for good, + It 'urts me for to leave yer--I little thought it would." + +It was with a thrill of pride that I read in the newspapers during the +following days of the magnificent achievement of the 55th Division--of +the "Lancashire Men's Great Fight:" "Stubborn in attack and withdrawal." +I read of heroic fights round Pommern Castle, of Wurst Farm being +captured by a gallant young officer, and, particularly, the case of: "An +officer who was left last out of his battalion to hold out in an +advanced position (who) said to the padre who has just visited him in +hospital, 'I hope the General was not disappointed with us.'" The +General, I am sure, was not disappointed with these Lancashire men. No +one could think of them without enthusiasm and tenderness, marvelling at +their spirit and at the fight they made in the tragic hours--because it +was a tragedy to them that, after gaining all the ground they had been +asked to take, and not easily nor without losses, they should have to +fall back and fight severe rear-guard actions to cover a necessary +withdrawal.[15] + +It was, naturally, a matter of great interest to me to determine to what +particular officers these remarks referred, as no names were given and +no battalions mentioned by name. Now, of course, we all know. The +officer who reached Wurst Farm was John Redner Bodington, and the +gallant young officer who fought like a hound at bay, while wounded over +and over again, and hoped that "the General was not disappointed," was +none other than the hero whose name is upon the title-page of this +book--Bertram Best-Dunkley. And, as the days rolled by, one familiar +name after another was recorded in the casualty lists. It was the +bloodiest battle in History; the casualty list which contained my name +was the longest I have ever seen in the _Times_. + +I wrote to Sergeant Baldwin for information as to the fate of my +platoon, and, some time afterwards, received the following reply: + + "Ward 24, + "Ontario Military Hospital, + "Orpington, Kent. + "August 15th, 1917. +"Dear Sir, + +"I have much pleasure in replying to your letter dated August 5th, 1917. +I am very pleased indeed to know that you are safe in 'Blighty.' Well, +sir, you ask me where I got to when we went over the top. I think you +will remember halting and lying down in no man's land. Well, as I lay +there the time seemed to be long; then I got up and went to the front of +the platoon to see what had gone wrong. When I got there I found you had +gone on and the remainder of the men had not the sense to follow you. So +I led on with the remainder, taking my direction from the compass. I +reached the hill and passed Schuler Farm on the right. We started to +climb the hill and then a funny thing happened: those already at the top +came running back again shouting 'Get back and dig in; they are +outflanking us.' I took the warning and retired to a suitable position +and got the men digging themselves in. We could see the Boches coming +over the ridge like a swarm of bees. When they got nearer we opened +machine gun and rifle fire. All the time this was going on the artillery +had ceased firing, and I began to feel a bit downhearted. Then things +quietened down a bit; so I told the lads to make a drink of tea for +themselves, which they did gladly enough. All the time we could see +Fritz preparing for a counter-attack and we knew it had to come. I +waited patiently keeping a look-out for them coming. The men were +getting knocked out one by one, until I had only five; and the Lewis Gun +had got a bullet through its pinion which rendered it useless. Nothing +happened until the evening, and then the bombardment started and we knew +we had something to put up with. I sent up an S.O.S. rocket and our +artillery opened out, but the shells were dropping short and hitting our +men. Then we retired for about fifty yards and took up some shell-holes. +I looked round and found all my men had vanished. I was amongst some of +the Cams. and Herts. I really did not know what to do. The artillery +became more intense and still our shells were dropping short. There was +another sergeant out of the Cams. in this shell-hole with a few men; so +I told him I would go back and try and get in touch with the artillery. +On my way back I got wounded in the leg, so I rolled into a shell-hole. +It began to rain and rained heavily all the night. When day broke I +found myself covered with clay and mud, and wet through to the skin. I +crawled out and looked about me. It was a quiet morning except for a +shell bursting now and again, and I could see some men through my +glasses, about a mile away, working on a road. I made my way towards +them. How I got there I do not know, for I was more dead than alive. I +inquired for the dressing-station, which I found after a long walk. I +was sent down to the Base to hospital and was sent to England on August +6. + +"I am pleased to say that I am feeling much better and my wound is +getting on nicely. I hope my letter will find you feeling much better +for the rest you have worked so hard for. I saw in the casualty list +that the Colonel had died of wounds, the Adjutant killed, Sec.-Lt. +Gratton missing, Captain Andrews wounded, and Lt. Telfer missing. I +think I have told you all the news you require, and hope you enjoy +reading it. + + "With best wishes, + "Yours sincerely, + "ROBERT CHARLES BALDWIN, Sgt." + +Sergeant Baldwin was awarded the Military Medal for his services on July +31--August 1, 1917. + +Having reproduced the personal narratives of our experiences at Ypres, +first by myself and then by my platoon sergeant, it is now desirable to +see what happened to the Battalion as a whole. For this it will be +necessary to quote the official account in the _Lancashire Fusiliers' +Annual_. After mentioning the machine-gun fire which caused me to extend +my platoon the account goes on to say: + + +"This fire was so heavy that it not only inflicted severe casualties, +but caused confusion in the shaking out into extended order, and it is +to be believed that from this moment the correct formation was never +absolutely regained. Machine-gun fire was active chiefly from Wine +House, Spree Farm, parts of Capricorn Support and Capricorn Keep, Pond +Farm, Hindu Cot and other points. Seeing that they could not advance +till these points were dealt with, the commanders of the leading waves +took steps to take the first points, such as Wine House, Spree Farm, +Capricorn Support. These were dealt with at considerable loss, some +enemy being captured, some killed and some running away. It was +difficult to obtain a definite account of all the incidents that +happened before the Black Line was reached, but great gallantry was +shown by the officers and N.C.O.'s in rallying and leading the men in +face of heavy fire. The Commanding Officer, Lieut.-Colonel B. +Best-Dunkley, put himself at the head of all men in his immediate +vicinity, and led them on through intense machine-gun fire. Ultimately +the Black Line was reached. The casualties up to this point may be +estimated at anything up to 50 per cent of the total strength of the +Battalion. However, the advance had to continue and that quickly, as it +was impossible to wait to reorganize under the heavy fire; moreover, the +advance was timed to a programme of artillery. The advance to the Green +Line, the Gravenstafel Switch, 6,000 yards from our original front line, +therefore continued. Few details necessarily are obtainable owing to the +heavy casualties. The creeping barrage, not a heavy one, certainly not +sufficient to deal with the country up to the Green Line, had run away +from us. Many more casualties were suffered, but the Battalion +eventually reached its objective. Digging in and consolidation at once +commenced. Captain J. R. Bodington, commanding left Company, reached +Wurst Farm with ten men, this number being shortly reduced by casualties +to two. The Green Line had only been in our possession for about twenty +minutes when the first enemy counter-attack, consisting of two +companies, commenced. This came from a north-easterly direction, +sweeping across the front of the division on our left. It was very +determined, as the division on our left had not been able to get up; our +left flank was quite unprotected. + +"An attempt was therefore made to form a defensive flank. The +counter-attack halted on a road running north-west and south-east. +Finding we had not sufficient men to form a defensive flank, a further +withdrawal was ordered to Jew Hill, east of St. Julien. From this point +a large enemy counter-attack was observed commencing. This also came +from a north-easterly direction, and was apparently simultaneous with +that from the south-east affecting the 1/4th Loyal North Lancs.--the +battalion on our right. This counter-attack was overwhelming in its +strength. It had been preceded by four enemy aircraft, flying low over +our advanced positions and firing Very lights and machine-guns. The +lights were apparently the call for artillery cooperation. They were +answered by the opening of fire by heavy guns which dealt with +individual points. Owing to the general disorganization caused by the +very heavy casualties, troops on the whole front of this unit had now to +commence a general withdrawal. Isolated points, however, held out most +gallantly and held up the advance of the enemy while consolidation on or +about the Black Line was completed by troops in rear and whilst the +withdrawal of the remainder was safely effected. A small strong point +situated west of Schuler Farm was held by one hundred and thirty men of +this Battalion, and the 1/8 (Irish) Battalion, King's Liverpool Regiment +and with them Captain Bodington, one of the few remaining officers of +the Battalion. Those were first attacked from the front, which attack +they warded off. The enemy counter-attack then developed on their left +and right; both these attacks also were held off for some time by +machine-gun, Lewis gun, and rifle fire. The few survivors were forced to +withdraw and fight their way back, Captain Bodington and ten other ranks +reaching the Black Line safely. + +"Battalion Headquarters was situated at Spree Farm, and they only +received late warning that the enemy were near them. Lieutenant-Colonel +B. Best-Dunkley gathered together all men available, and, placing +himself at the head, beat off the counter-attack at this point. At this +time our own artillery brought down an extremely heavy barrage on the +enemy which appeared to catch him, and it was probably due to this that +they were unable to gain a footing in the Black Line on our immediate +front. During this withdrawal the Adjutant--Lieutenant R. Andrews--was +killed. The Commanding Officer was wounded shortly afterwards--about 8 +p.m. There was then no officer of this Battalion known to be alive, and +the Orderly Room Sergeant--Sergeant F. Howarth--took command, organizing +the defence of that part of the line until the Battalion was withdrawn +to Bilge Trench, about 9 a.m. the following morning--August 1. Captain +Bodington, who was the one surviving officer, came in subsequently from +the left of the line." + + +Let us now follow the movements of Captain Bodington. He afterwards +wrote the following report: + +"Up to the time of reaching a point a hundred yards in rear of the Black +Line, the advance was easy. + +"On crossing the small rise behind Wine House we came under very heavy +machine-gun and rifle fire from both Wine House and Spree Farm. Two +platoons had to be used in driving the enemy from the above-named farms, +and the casualties were heavy in this minor operation. + +"Both the dug-outs at Wine House and Spree Farm were in fairly good +condition, and from here with the remainder of the men we pushed forward +towards Border House without much difficulty, and hence to Winnipeg, +where we got into touch with the 1/6th Cheshires on our left, and +proceeded to the Gravenstafel Ridge. Being left here with only two of my +men, I could do no more than reconnoitre Wurst Farm and Aviatik Farm. + +"Both the dug-outs and O.P. in these farms were in fairly good +condition, but must have been evacuated hurriedly, although no documents +of any importance could be found. + +"We could see at a distance of about six hundred yards more of our +troops on the right, but unable to get into touch with them as the enemy +held posts between us. + +"On returning to the 1/6th Cheshires on our left, a counter-attack had +already been launched against their left flank, consequently it was +decided to withdraw to the Winnipeg-Kansas Cross Roads. It was found +impossible to make a stand here, so the withdrawal continued to a point +where the 13th Sussex Regiment had dug themselves in on Jew Hill. + +"About two hours elapsed, when it was found that a party of the enemy +were getting round their left flank. A party was at once detailed to +deal with this, but at this time I became detached from this party and +consequently reported back to Battalion Headquarters, then situated at +Spree Farm. + +"I was at once detailed to take a party up to reinforce a partly +organized strong point about the dug-outs at D. 13. a. 8.0. I found here +two officers and about one hundred men. The position was strong, but +both flanks were unguarded. + +"There were two machine-guns and one Lewis gun. After a short time a +strong counter-attack was made by the enemy on this position from the +front which was easily beaten off, but almost simultaneously we were +attacked on either flank. + +"By this time, another machine-gun had been brought into position, but +the Lewis gun had used up all its magazines. A number of casualties had +been caused. We held the enemy for half an hour, and a heavy battery was +shelling us considerably. Two direct hits were obtained causing a number +of casualties. Meanwhile the enemy was advancing on either flank. It was +found that only forty or fifty men remained, and little means of escape +was left, but it was decided to withdraw to a line well wired about +three hundred yards in rear. On reaching this point it was found to be +untenable and the withdrawal continued to the Black Line, where some of +the 165 and 166 Brigades had been digging in. + +"They were at once warned of the advance of the enemy, and here he was +finally beaten off. A number of casualties were sustained in the +withdrawal from the dug-outs behind Schuler Farm. At that time we could +not get into touch on our left, but the gap was soon filled in by a +party of the 6th King's Liverpool Regiment and the Battalion +Headquarters from Spree Farm. Later we got into touch with the 1/5th +South Lancashire Regiment on our left and the 45 Brigade on our right. + +"At that time I could find none of my own Battalion. + + "(Signed) J. R. BODINGTON, + "Captain, + "2/5th Battalion Lancashire Fusiliers." + +The 2/5th Lancashire Fusiliers, what remained of them, "spent August 1, +Minden Day, in the utmost discomfort in Bilge Trench, everybody was +soaked through from the pouring rain. However, we all flaunted Minden +roses in our helmets. On August 2nd we were relieved and marched back to +our transport lines. There all preparations had been made for us and +everybody enjoyed a good hot meal. The same evening we were taken back +in buses to the Watou area." Thus writes the official chronicler in the +_Lancashire Fusiliers' Annual_. + +It was on July 31 that Philip Cave Humfrey distinguished himself by his +able and courageous leading of his Transport to carry supplies to the +worn and wearied troops. "He led one hundred pack mules, laden with +ammunition and bombs, through heavy enemy barrage to a point close +behind our lines which was then being defended against a strong +counter-attack. At this point he unloaded his mules in spite of hostile +machine-gun and rifle fire, and the ammunition which he brought up was +immediately used by the troops who were defending the position. By his +promptness and fearlessness he greatly assisted the defence at a +critical moment." For this act of gallantry he was awarded the Military +Cross. + +Many were the brave deeds done and numerous the honours gained by the +officers, non-commissioned officers and men of the Battalion on this +historic day. Captain Bodington was awarded the Military Cross as a +matter of course. He was the sole combatant officer who came through +unscathed, and his unique services have already been fully recorded; he +showed himself on July 31, what he has invariably shown himself since, +an incomparable man over the top, fearless and ruthless, ever where the +fight is hottest and always ready to display his individual initiative +on all possible and impossible occasions, a born man of action to whom +long experience of shot and shell has made the art of modern war a +second nature--an officer after Best-Dunkley's own heart: the Military +Cross was the least form of recognition which could reward such an +achievement as his. The bright and chivalrous Newman too--who had +already been recommended for the Military Cross for his bravery in +tending wounded at the Menin Gate on Messines Night--won this decoration +by his unselfish devotion to duty on July 31. Horace Beesley commanded +his platoon with such courage and success right out on our far-flung +battle line in the vicinity of Wurst Farm and Aviatik Farm until he was +badly wounded; and to him also was the Military Cross awarded. And John +Agnew, who was second-in-command of C Company, took command of that +company when Captain Mordecai was wounded: "Although shot through the +knee, he continued to advance and lead his men to their objective--a +distance of some 4,000 yards. He was then again wounded and had to +return, being wounded a third time on his way back. Although his wounds +were serious he refused to take a stretcher, in order that more serious +cases might be dealt with. He set a splendid example of pluck and +unselfishness." The Military Cross was also Agnew's reward. When I met +him again at Scarborough he was a cripple. Heroic, too, was the end of +that flamboyant patriot Talbot Dickinson, M.C., my Company Commander. +"He was wounded in the arm," wrote one of his friends, "but carried on +to a very advanced position, and, while encouraging his men, was shot +through the head." With him Sergeant-Major Preston, too, was killed. + +Sergeant Howarth was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal for his +personal initiative in taking command of the Battalion when no officers +were to be found, and for the able way in which he executed his task; +and the D.C.M. was also awarded to Lance-Corporal Lawson. + +Eleven Military Medals were awarded for deeds done that day: Sergeant +Baldwin, Sergeant Olive, Corporal Fox, Lance-Corporal Furnes, Sergeant +Hudson, and Privates Baron, Daynes, R. Turner, Rouse, Rodwell and +Fitzpatrick. + +The casualties, as has already been pointed out, were tremendous. Five +hundred and ninety-three other ranks went into battle; four hundred and +seventy-three became casualties. It was a very tiny Battalion therefore +that went to rest, reorganize, and train at Le Poirier a few days later! + +Gilbert Verity had expired shortly after his misfortune in Congreve +Walk. Douglas Bernard Priestly was shot through the head and killed +instantly almost as soon as he got over the top. The fate of the +Adjutant, Reggie Andrews, whom I last saw aimlessly wandering about the +battlefield shortly after we went over and who looked over his glasses +at me and inquired whether I had seen anything of Headquarters, has +already been recorded. And the Assistant-Adjutant met a similar fate: +Gratton was, first of all, wounded and he lay in a shell-hole; and while +he was in the shell-hole another shell came right into the hole and took +his head clean off. Joye remained with Colonel Best-Dunkley until quite +late in the day, when he got the 'Blighty' in the leg which was to send +him to join me at Worsley Hall. Captain Briggs, Telfer, and Young, +together with a large number of other ranks, were taken prisoners; +Briggs and Telfer were also wounded. West was badly wounded. Captain +Andrews, Captain Mordecai and Donald Allen were all wounded quite early +in the day. Out of nineteen combatant officers eighteen were casualties. +The non-combatants, Padre Newman and Dr. Adam came through this battle +safely, but they were both wounded at the Battle of Menin Road on +September 20! Newman got to England with his wound after that battle, +but he was very soon back with the Battalion again to play an even more +conspicuous part in the drama of the Great War. + +It was a great day was the 31st of July. General Gough sent the +following message of congratulation to Brigadier-General Stockwell: + +"The Army Commander wishes to convey his thanks and congratulations to +the G.O.C. and all ranks of the 164th Infantry Brigade on their fine +performance on July 31st. They carried out their task in a most gallant +manner and fought splendidly to retain their hold on the ground won. + +"All officers showed energy, courage, and initiative in dealing with the +situation, and the men under their command in spite of heavy losses did +their utmost by carrying out their orders to ensure our success and the +enemy's defeat. Great credit is due to G.O.C. 164th Brigade for the +magnificent behaviour of the troops under his command." And Stockwell +sent on the message with the following personal addition: "The +Brigadier-General Commanding has much pleasure in forwarding the above +remarks of the Army Commander. He considers that all the credit is due +to the officers and men of the Brigade." + +Major-General Jeudwine congratulated Stockwell in the following terms: +"Well done, 164th Brigade. I am very proud of what you did to-day. It +was a fine performance and no fault of yours you could not stay." And in +the course of a Special Order of the Day issued to his Division on +August 3, General Jeudwine said: "The attack you made on the 31st is +worthy to rank with the great deeds of the British Army in the past, and +has added fresh glory to the records of that Army." + +Meanwhile, the supreme hero of the day lay at the Main Dressing Station +mortally wounded. But like Sir Henry Lawrence long ago he had the +consolation of feeling that he had tried to do his duty. The Reverend +James Odgen Coop, D.S.O., T.D., M.A., the Senior Chaplain to the 55th +Division, visited the dying Best-Dunkley at the Main Dressing Station +on August 1. It was to Colonel Coop that Colonel Best-Dunkley said that +he hoped the General was satisfied, and Colonel Coop recounted the +conversation to General Jeudwine. Old "Judy's" heart was touched as it +always was by any deeds of gallantry, and to Best-Dunkley he immediately +wrote the following historic letter: + + "Headquarters, 55th Division. + "1st August, 1917 (Minden Day). + +"Dear Best-Dunkley, + +"The padre has given me your message, and I am very much touched by it. + +"Disappointed! I should think not, indeed. I am more proud of having you +and your Battalion under my command than of anything else that has ever +happened to me. + +"It was a magnificent fight, and your officers and men behaved +splendidly, fighting with their heads as well as with the most superb +pluck and determination. + +"The 31st July should for all time be remembered by your Battalion and +Regiment and observed with more reverence even than Minden Day. It was +no garden of roses that you fought in. I have heard some of the stories +of your Battalion's doings and they are glorious. And I have heard of +your own doings too, and the close shave you had. + +"Nothing would give me greater pleasure than that you should come back +and command your Battalion, and I greatly hope you will. I am afraid +you have painful wounds, but I trust they will not keep you long laid +by. + +"The best of luck to you. + + "Yours, + "H. S. JEUDWINE." + +"General Jeudwine's hopes were not to be realized. After a few days' +agony Best-Dunkley passed away. On August 6 Major Brighten issued the +following pathetic Special Order to the 2/5th Lancashire Fusiliers at Le +Poirier: + +"I regret to inform all ranks of the Battalion that our late Commanding +Officer, Lieut.-Colonel B. Best-Dunkley, died at a C.C.S. yesterday from +wounds received in the attack on 31st July--an attack to the magnificent +achievement of which he contributed so largely in the long preparation +and training and in the actual carrying out. His personal gallantry in +leading on the Battalion in the face of heavy enemy fire was an example +of bravery and courage which has added to the laurels of the Regiment, +and his loss is one which will be felt deeply. + + "(Signed) G. S. BRIGHTEN, + "Major, Commanding 2/5 Battalion + Lancashire Fusiliers. + "August 6th, 1917." + +Best-Dunkley was buried at Proven. The funeral was taken by Padre +Newman. As the body was lowered into the Flanders clay General Jeudwine +exclaimed: "We are burying one of Britain's bravest soldiers!" The +Battalion buglers played the Last Post. And the spot where the hero lies +is marked by the traditional Little Wooden Cross. + +The crowning triumph came when he was awarded the Victoria Cross; +though, to the great sorrow of all, he did not live to know that he had +won it. I well remember the excitement in the Mess at "Montpellier" at +Scarborough when we read the following announcement in the _Manchester +Guardian_: + + "CAPT. (T./LT.-COL.) BERTRAM BEST-DUNKLEY, LATE LAN. FUS. + + "For most conspicuous bravery and devotion to duty when in command + of his battalion, the leading waves of which, during an attack, + became disorganized by reason of rifle and machine-gun fire at + close range from positions which were believed to be in our hands. + Lieutenant-Colonel Best-Dunkley dashed forward, rallied his leading + waves, and personally led them to the assault of these positions, + which, despite heavy losses, were carried. + + "He continued to lead his battalion until all their objectives had + been gained. Had it not been for this officer's gallant and + determined action it is doubtful if the left of the brigade would + have reached its objectives. Later in the day, when our position + was threatened, he collected his battalion headquarters, led them + to the attack, and beat off the advancing enemy. This gallant + officer has since died of wounds." + + +And some time afterwards I noticed, in an illustrated paper, a little +photo entitled "Daddy's V.C." It was the picture of a little baby being +held in his mother's arms at Buckingham Palace, while His Majesty King +George the Fifth pinned upon his frock the Victoria Cross. + +[Illustration: Map of FREZENBERG] + +FOOTNOTES: + +[11] This refers to the officers' quarters. Company Headquarters were +stationed in the cellar mentioned in the previous chapter. + +[12] See Appendix V. + +[13] He did not get as far as Aviatik Farm. We met again at Scarborough +in October, and he told me that he was wounded about the same time that +I was wounded. + +[14] Sergeant Brogden was afterwards killed in action at the Battle of +Menin Road, September 20, 1917. + +[15] _Manchester Guardian_, August 4th, 1917. + + + + +APPENDICES + + +APPENDIX I. + +MURRAY AND ALLENBY + + +In view of my comments upon the appointment of Sir Edmund Allenby to +succeed Sir Archibald Murray, the following extract from the _Manchester +Guardian_ of September 17, 1919, is of interest: + + +_The Victor and His Predecessor._ + +When Field-Marshal Allenby stepped off the train at Victoria to-day one +of the first men whom he greeted was General Sir Archibald Murray, his +predecessor in the East. The meeting must have been a pregnant one to +them both. Sir Edmund Allenby came home victor of our most successful +campaign in the war to receive a peerage, while inside and outside the +station London was roaring its welcome. General Murray, after the +failure of the battle of Gaza, had been transferred home and had been +received there with the severest criticism and some personal attacks. +The War Office is famous for its short ways when it does make up its +mind to do something disagreeable, and its treatment of Sir Archibald +Murray is said to have lacked nothing in discourtesy. Since then a good +deal has come out about the early part of our war in the East and the +work done by General Murray, and the nearness he got to success with +quite inadequate support had become recognized even before Sir Edmund +Allenby's dispatch was published, which officially re-established his +military reputation. + +To-day, at Dover, Sir Edmund Allenby spoke even more clearly of the debt +he owed for the foundations laid by General Murray and for the loyal way +in which he started him off as a beginner. It is not too common in our +military history to find great commanders on the same battle-ground as +sensitive about one another's reputation as they are of their own. It is +so easy to say nothing and leave matters to history. The lustre of +Allenby's achievement is even greater for his acknowledgment of his debt +to his predecessor. + + +_The First Palestine Campaign._ + +Something may be added now about General Murray's work in the East. He +commanded in Egypt from January, 1916, to May, 1917. During that time he +dealt with the Gallipoli forces, disorganized and with most of their +supplies gone. He had to reorganize them into a fighting force again and +to send them West. He had to organize and plan the campaign against the +Senussi, to be responsible for the internal condition of Egypt, and to +defend Egypt from the Turks, then relieved of the Gallipoli operations. +The Turkish attack was beaten off and four thousand prisoners taken, the +defences of Egypt were pushed forward through the Sinai desert, +water-lines carried up and wire ways laid, and all the vast preparations +made by which it became possible to take Palestine. His two assaults on +Gaza failed, but he held the ground he had taken, including the Wadi +Ghuzze, which would have been a big natural defence of Palestine. + +He was fighting with three divisions very far short of their full +strength and several battalions of dismounted yeomanry, four big guns, +and thirty aeroplanes, all of old-fashioned type. His pipe-line was +within distance from which it seemed possible to "snap" the Turks at +Gaza, but fog delayed the start, and the manoeuvre took too long, and +the cavalry fell back from want of water. The snap was so near a success +that they picked up a wireless from the Germans in Gaza to their base +saying "Good-bye," as they were going into captivity. That was the main +point of the story. + +According to General Murray's friends what happened in Palestine was +what has happened so often in our history. A general is given a job to +do with insufficient forces, and urged on despite his appeals for a +sufficient force. He fails. Another commander is appointed, and the new +man naturally can exact his own conditions, begins the task with an +adequate force, and succeeds. All this, of course, does not take away a +single leaf from Sir Edmund Allenby's brilliant bays or suggest that +General Murray could have done so well. All that is suggested is that he +did not get the same chance. + + + + +APPENDIX II + +THE INFANTRY AT MINDEN + + +The six Infantry Regiments engaged at Minden, on August 1, 1759, were: + + 12th Foot--Suffolk Regiment. + 20th Foot--Lancashire Fusiliers. + 23rd Foot--Royal Welsh Fusiliers. + 25th Foot--King's Own Scottish Borderers. + 37th Foot--Hampshire Regiment. + 51st Foot--King's Own (Yorkshire Light Infantry). + +Tradition tells that in the course of the operations at Minden, the 20th +were passing through flower gardens and, while doing so, the men plucked +some of the roses and wore them in their coats. This story was the +origin of the "Minden Rose" which is worn annually, on August 1, by all +ranks of the Lancashire Fusiliers. + + + + +APPENDIX III + +GENERAL RAWLINSON AND OSTEND + + +Field-Marshal French did not definitely state in his fourth dispatch +that General Rawlinson landed at Ostend, but he devoted a number of +paragraphs to the subject of "the forces operating in the neighbourhood +of Ghent and Antwerp under Lieutenant-General Sir Henry Rawlinson, as +the action of his force about this period exercised, in my opinion, a +great influence on the course of the subsequent operations." However, in +"1914" Lord French has written (page 200): "I returned to Abbeville that +evening. I found that an officer had arrived from Ostend by motor with a +letter from Rawlinson, in which he explained the situation in the north, +the details of which we know." And John Buchan in _Nelson's History of +the War_, Vol. IV (page 33), states that "On 6th October the 7th +Division began to disembark at Zeebrugge and Ostend, and early on 8th +October the former point saw the landing of the 3rd Cavalry Division, +after a voyage not free from sensation. The force formed the nucleus of +the Fourth Corps, and was commanded by Major-General Sir Henry +Rawlinson, who had a long record of Indian, Egyptian, and South African +service." G. H. Perris in _The Campaign of 1914 in France and Belgium_ +is even more emphatic: on page 305 of that work he writes: "Part of the +4th British Corps--the 7th Infantry Division and the 3rd Cavalry +Division--under Sir Henry Rawlinson, had been landed at Ostend and +Zeebrugge without interference, and had advanced eastward to cover the +Belgian-British retreat to the south." + + + + +APPENDIX IV + +EDWARD III AND THE ORDER OF THE GARTER + + +Colonel Best-Dunkley's question on this subject can best be answered by +quoting in full the first paragraph of Chapter XVI of David Hume's +_History of England_, Vol. I: + +"The prudent conduct and great success of Edward in his foreign wars had +excited a strong emulation and a military genius among the English +nobility; and these turbulent barons, overawed by the crown, gave now a +more useful direction to their ambition, and attached themselves to a +prince who led them to the acquisition of riches and glory. That he +might further promote the spirit of emulation and obedience, the king +instituted the order of the garter, in imitation of some orders of a +like nature, religious as well as military, which had been established +in different parts of Europe. The number received into this order +consisted of twenty-five persons, besides the sovereign; and as it has +never been enlarged, this badge of distinction continues as honourable +as at its first institution, and is still a valuable, though a cheap +present, which the prince can confer on his greatest subjects. A vulgar +story prevails, but is not supported by any ancient authority, that at a +court ball, Edward's mistress, commonly supposed to have been the +Countess of Salisbury, dropped her garter; and the king, taking it up, +observed some of the courtiers to smile, as if they thought that he had +not obtained this favour merely by accident: upon which he called out, +'Honi soit qui mal y pense,' Evil to him that evil thinks; and as every +incident of gallantry among those ancient warriors was magnified into a +matter of great importance, he instituted the order of the garter in +memorial of this event, and gave these words as the motto of the order. +This origin, though frivolous, is not unsuitable to the manners of the +times; and it is indeed difficult by any other means to account, either +for the seemingly unmeaning terms of the motto, or for the peculiar +badge of the garter, which seems to have no reference to any purpose +either of military use or ornament." + + + + +APPENDIX V + +GOLDFISH CHATEAU + + +The following note about Goldfish Chateau, contained in the _Manchester +Guardian_ of September 8, 1919, is relevant to the text: + +All the men who had any part in the tragic epic of Ypres will be +interested in the news that the Church Army has taken over "Goldfish +Chateau" as a hostel for pilgrims to the illimitable graveyards in the +dreadful salient. + +For some reason (writes a correspondent who was in it) we christened the +place "Goldfish Chateau." It was a somewhat pretentious mansion, in +Continental flamboyant style, standing just off the Vlamertinghe road +about half a mile our side of Ypres. Its grounds are ploughed up by +shells and bombs, but most of the fountains and wretched garden statuary +remains with the fishponds which perhaps gave the villa its army name, +and rustic bridges most egregiously incongruous with the surrounding +death and desolation. + +All through the Ypres fighting it was a conspicuous landmark well known +to every soldier, and used, as things got hotter and hotter, as staff +headquarters, first for corps, then for division, and finally for +brigade and battalion. + +Strangely enough, the chateau never received a direct hit, though all +the country round was ploughed up and every other building practically +flattened out. The camp tales accounted for this immunity in all sorts +of sinister ways. One story was that some big German personage had +occupied the place. Probably these were romantic fictions. But the fact +remained that "Goldfish Chateau" bore a charmed life in spite of the +fact that the German sausage balloons almost looked down the chimneys +and so many staffs lived there. Hundreds of thousands of men in this +country who could not name half the county towns in England would be +able to describe every room in this Belgian villa outside Ypres. +Lancashire soldiers are well acquainted with it. + +During the third battle of Ypres the transport of the 55th Division had +to leave the fields just opposite the chateau in a hurry. The Germans +not only shelled the place searchingly, but one morning sent over about +a dozen bombing planes. Simultaneous shelling and bombing is not good +for the nerves of transport mules. But the luck of the "Goldfish +Chateau" held. Nothing hit it. + + * * * * * + + +THE ROAD TO EN-DOR + +By E. H. JONES, Lt, I.A.R.O. + +With Illustrations by C. W. HILL, Lt., R.A.F. Fourth +Edition. 8s. 6d. net. + +This book, besides telling an extraordinary story, will appeal to +everyone who is interested in spiritualism. The book reads like a wild +romance, but is authenticated in every detail by fellow-officers and +official documents. + +_Times._--"Astounding ... of great value." + +_Daily Telegraph._--"This is one of the most realistic, grimmest, and at +the same time most entertaining books ever given to the public.... _The +Road to En-dor_ is a book with a thrill on every page, is full of +genuine adventure.... Everybody should read it." + +_Morning Post._--"It is easily the most surprising story of the escape +of prisoners of war which has yet appeared.... No more effective +exposure of the methods of the medium has ever been written. This book +is indeed an invaluable reduction to absurdity of the claims of the +spiritualist coteries." + +_Birmingham Post._--"The story of surely the most colossal 'fake' of +modern times." + +_Daily Graphic._--"The most amazing story of the war." + +_Spectator._--"The reader who begins this book after dinner will +probably be found at one o'clock in the morning still reading, with eyes +goggling and mouth open, beside his cold grate." + +_Punch._--"It is the most extraordinary war-tale which has come my way. +The author is a sound craftsman with a considerable sense of style and +construction. His record of adventures is really astounding." + +_Country Life._--"More exciting than any novel.... The book is a record +or almost incredible courage and inventiveness." + +_Bystander_.--"It is one of the most unexpected and engaging books for +which the War has been responsible." + +_Pall Mall Gazette_.--"A really entertaining account of a wonderfully +successful and useful rag on an unusually big scale." + +_Westminster Gazette_.--"Lieuts. Jones and Hill displayed an +inventiveness, an ingenuity, and a patience worthy of the greatest +admiration." + +_Outlook_.--"The book deserves to become a classic." + +_Illustrated London News_.--"It is an amazing story, humorously told, of +a subtle and successful conspiracy to escape. But it is also a most +telling indictment of the spiritualistic craze." + +_New Age_.--"As a mere story of adventure and suffering the book is one +of the most remarkable known to me; it is an epic of human ingenuity and +human endurance." + +_Queen_.--"Sensational and amazing ... absorbingly interesting." + +_Daily Mail_.--"A really striking and diverting story." + +_Evening News_.--"The tale of the two lieutenants is perhaps the noblest +example of the game and fine art of spoof that the world has ever seen, +or ever will see ... their wonderful and almost monstrous elaboration +... an amazing story." + +_Everyman_.--"One of the most amazing tales that we have ever read. The +gradual augmentation of the spook's power is one of the most +preposterous, the most laughable histories in the whole literature of +spoofing. Lieut. Jones has given us a wonderful book--even a great +book." + + * * * * * + +THE SILENCE OF COLONEL BRAMBLE + +By ANDRE MAUROIS. + +_Translated from the French._ + +Second Edition. With Portrait. 5s. net. + +_Westminster Gazette_.--"_The Silence of Colonel Bramble_ is the best +composite character sketch I have seen to show France what the English +gentleman at war is like ... much delightful humour.... It is full of +good stories.... The translator appears to have done his work +wonderfully well." + +_Daily Telegraph_.--"This book has enjoyed a great success in France, +and it will be an extraordinary thing if it is not equally successful +here.... Those who do not already know the book in French, will lose +nothing of its charm in English form. The humours of the mess-room are +inimitable.... The whole thing is real, alive, sympathetic, there is not +a false touch in all its delicate, glancing wit.... One need not be a +Frenchman to appreciate its wisdom and its penetrating truth." + +_Star_.--"An excellent translation ... a gay and daring translation.... +I laughed over its audacious humour." + +_Times_.--"This admirable French picture of English officers." + +_Daily Graphic_.--"A triumph of sympathetic observation ... delightful +book ... many moving passages." + +_Daily Mail_.--"So good as to be no less amusing than the original.... +This is one of the finest feats of modern translations that I know. The +book gives one a better idea of the war than any other book I can +recall.... Among many comical disputes the funniest is that about +superstitions. That really is, in mess language, 'A scream'." + +_New Statesman_.--"The whole is of a piece charmingly harmonious in tone +and closely woven together.... The book has a perfect ending.... Few +living writers achieve so great a range of sentiment, with so uniformly +light and unassuming a manner." + +_Observer_.--"The flavour of M. Maurois' humour loses little in this +translation.... The admirable verisimilitude of the dialogue.... M. +Maurois' humorous gift is unusually varied.... He tells a good story +with great vivacity." + +Holbrook Jackson in the _National News_.--"The Colonel is an eternal +delight.... I put the volume under my arm, started reading it on the way +home, and continued reading until I had finished the same evening.... +That ought to be sufficient recommendation for any book...." + +_Times Lit. Supplement_.--(Review of French Edition.)--"M. Maurois ... +is indeed so good an artist and so excellent an observer that we would +not for worlds spoil his hand, or do more than merely introduce to +English readers by far the most interesting and amusing group of British +officers that we have met in books since the war began." + +_Gentlewoman_.--"The translation of this book is so splendidly done that +it seems impossible that it can be a translation.... One of the very few +war books which survive Peace.... This is one of the few war books that +will not collect dust on the bookshelf." + +James Milne in the _Graphic_.--"It is all very wise and very charming." + +_Morning Post_.--"This gently-humorous little book.... Half an hour with +Colonel Bramble and his entertaining friends will stop you worrying for +a whole day." + +_Saturday Review_.--"The wittiest book of comment on warfare and our +national prejudices that we have yet seen." + + * * * * * + +A KUT PRISONER + +By Lieut. H. C. W. BISHOP. Illustrated. 6s. 6d. net. + +This book is the remarkable story of the first three British officers to +escape from a Turkish prison camp. It contains a description of the +siege and the march of 1,700 miles to Kastamuni; of their capture, +escape and dramatic rescue, and finally the voyage in an open boat to +Alupka, in the Crimea. + + * * * * * + +SONNETS FROM A PRISON CAMP + +By ARCHIBALD ALLEN BOWMAN + +Crown 8vo. 5s. net. + +This book falls naturally in two parts; the first is a sonnet sequence +describing the author's capture with his battalion in the great March +Offensive, his weary tramp as a prisoner, and internment in a German +camp; the second consists of a series of meditative sonnets on these +inevitably suggested by close confinement. The poems show great promise, +their intense sincerity being foremost among their merits. + +_Morning Post_.--"Mr. Bowman's rich and dignified sonnets." + +_Scotsman_.--"There is only one possible verdict on this volume--well +done." + + * * * * * + +SAPPER + +DOROTHY LAWRENCE + +THE ONLY ENGLISH WOMAN SOLDIER + +_Late Royal Engineers, 51st Division, 179th Tunnelling Coy. B.E.F._ With +Portraits. Crown 8vo. 5s. net. + +_Daily Mail_.--"Her very astonishing tale ... an extraordinary +performance." + +_Daily Chronicle_.--"Miss Lawrence's book is interesting and well done." + +_Scotsman_.--"Her exploit supplies the materials for a fine tale of +adventure, and she tells her story uncommonly well." + + * * * * * + +A Last Diary of the Great Warr + +By SAML. PEPYS, Jun. + +With a coloured Frontispiece and eight Black-and-White Illustrations by +JOHN KETTELWELL. Uniform with "A Diary of the Great Warr" and +"A Second Diary of the Great Warr." 6s. net. + +_Punch_.--"This admirable book.... I would certainly recommend intending +historians to lay in these three volumes as an epitome in a brilliant +shorthand of the facts and moods of the war--packed with shrewd comment +and happy strokes of irony.... As a literary and dramatic _tour de +force_ I should judge it to be unsurpassed of its kind." + + * * * * * + +The Hohenzollerns in America + +AND OTHER IMPOSSIBILITIES + +By STEPHEN LEACOCK + +Author of "Literary Lapses," "Nonsense Novels," etc. 5s. net. + +_Daily Chronicle_.--"Equal in gay humour and deft satire to any of its +predecessors, and no holiday will be so gay but this volume will make it +gayer.... It is a book of rollicking good humour that will keep you +chuckling long past summertime." + + * * * * * + +Temporary Crusaders + +By CECIL SOMMERS + +Author of "Temporary Heroes." 4s. net. + +_Morning Post_.--"A cheery, chatty chronicle.... The author has a keen +eye for the humour of circumstance and a most beguiling way." + +_Scotsman_.--"Bright and exhilarating.... It is sure to be read widely." + +_Liverpool Courier_.--"Even more hearty and sincere than the successful +_Temporary Heroes_." + +JOHN LANE, THE BODLEY HEAD, VIGO ST., W.1 + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's At Ypres with Best-Dunkley, by Thomas Hope Floyd + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AT YPRES WITH BEST-DUNKLEY *** + +***** This file should be named 17813.txt or 17813.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/7/8/1/17813/ + +Produced by David Clarke, Janet Blenkinship and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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