At Ypres with Best-Dunkley Part 12

"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 Ches.h.i.+res 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 sh.e.l.l 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 a.s.sistance 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 Lancas.h.i.+re 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 a.s.sume 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 Ches.h.i.+res 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 doc.u.ments. 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 sh.e.l.ls 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. d.i.c.kinson 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, d.i.c.kinson 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 sh.e.l.ls 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 Ca.n.a.l 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 a.s.sembly 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-sh.e.l.ls on to every known German battery throughout the night. The enemy replied by sh.e.l.ling Liverpool Trench and Congreve Walk--especially the latter. One sh.e.l.l burst right in the trench, took one of Verity's legs almost clean off, and killed his servant b.u.t.terworth. The sh.e.l.ls 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 pa.s.sing through the front brigades and penetrating into the enemy's positions. The 2/5th Lancas.h.i.+re Fusiliers were the left front battalion of the 164 Brigade. Colonel Hindle's 1/4th North Lancas.h.i.+res 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 d.i.c.kinson, 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 Ches.h.i.+res. 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 sh.e.l.ls, the calm atmosphere shaken by a racket such as n.o.body 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 das.h.i.+ng 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 pa.s.sed; 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 pa.s.sed by. Everybody was wis.h.i.+ng 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 d.i.c.kinson to go on. So forward we went, platoons in column of route. Could you possibly imagine what it was like? Sh.e.l.ls 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 sh.e.l.l, over fields, trenches, wire, fortifications, roads, ditches and streams which were simply churned out of all recognition by sh.e.l.l-fire. The field was strewn with wreckage, with the mangled remains of men and horses lying all over in a most ghastly fas.h.i.+on--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 h.e.l.l 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 pa.s.sed 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. .h.i.t by a bullet. So I dashed to the nearest sh.e.l.l-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. .h.i.t. Whether they were in sh.e.l.l-holes or whether they were all hit, or whether they had found some pa.s.sage 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 sh.e.l.l-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 sh.e.l.l-hole! It was horrible. I thought I was lost this time. Sh.e.l.ls 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 sh.e.l.l-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 h.e.l.l, 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 pa.s.sed 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 refres.h.i.+ng 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 Wess.e.x 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.