The Sherwood Foresters in the Great War 1914 - 1919 Part 15

There were two Brigade Ceremonial parades during this period, both of which were held at Gosnay. On May 28th, the Divisional Commander inspected us and presented medals, and on June 10th, General Horne, commanding the First Army, honoured us in a similar way. Both inspections went off well, and without any adverse criticisms.

For entertainments we had the "Whizz-bangs," who seldom gave better shows than we got almost every night in the hut in Vaudricourt Wood, and the Cinema at Divisional Headquarters at Gosnay. There were the additional attractions of estaminets and shops in the neighbouring villages, especially Verquin, where we had many a good dinner, and drank many bottles of Veuve Cliquot at the estaminet of a great favourite of the Battalion, Mlle. Bertha.

On July 18th, a whole day was given up to Battalion Sports, on the aerodrome at Hesdigneul. Beginning at 9 a.m. they were not over until 7.30 p.m., after a most successful day, which was mainly due to the excellent arrangements made by Major Gingell, and Sergt. Major Mounteney. At the Brigade Horse Show and Sports held two days later, we won first prize for a good type of Officer's Charger, a chestnut, at one time ridden by Capt. Whitton, and later by the Second-in-Command (this horse won again a little later at the Divisional Show), whilst the first three places in the Cross-country Run also fell to the Battalion, and firsts in the 100 yards and quarter mile races. Whilst we were not quite so successful at these shows with Transport turnouts, their smartness reflected great credit on the Transport Officer, Lieut. Tomlinson, and that veteran N.C.O.

Sergt. Blunt. As they had got the Transport satisfactorily through one of Major-General Thwaites's critical inspections early in June, we felt sure there could be little cause for complaint.

What was, perhaps, from a rather selfish point of view, a drawback to the long spells of fine weather and brilliant moonlight nights that we had during this period, was that it enabled the enemy to make frequent night bombing raids. Our own bombing squadrons of course, did precisely the same thing, but it was not pleasant to be disturbed at night when out at rest, by aeroplanes, cruising around and dropping bombs. Fortunately we escaped with little harm, but the billets and Transport Lines of many Units suffered severely. For our better protection in this respect, a regular system of anti-aircraft defence was devised, and a special allotment of Lewis guns made for the purpose. These were mounted on poles, fixed at various points in the trenches, at the Transport Lines, and in the vicinity of the more important villages behind the line. Though perhaps in a general way they added to our protection against aeroplanes, for which we had hitherto relied almost entirely on our anti-aircraft guns, known as "Archies," we seldom saw them bring anything down, and were inclined to look upon them as likely to give away the positions they were supposed to be protecting.

As the months went by several changes took place in personnel. We lost Capt. Whitton, who after being Adjutant for 14 months, went for duty to the First Army Rest Camp at the end of June, and was succeeded by 2nd Lieut. Martin. Capt. Warner went to the Divisional Signal Company early in July, and D Company was then taken over by Capt. White.

Second Lieuts. Bromham and Russell went down sick, and 2nd Lieut.

Elphick to the Machine Gun Corps. New Officers who joined were 2nd Lieuts. E. J. Taylor, James Howard Smith, T. J. Sellis, H. M. Toyne, F. L. Harrap, J. F. Shackleton, F. T. W. Saunders, W. Pennington, S.

A. Tebb.u.t.t, and S. Bradwell, D.C.M., and we were given a new Padre in the person of D. E. Sturt. Sergt. Bescoby, who had done excellent work in charge of the Stretcher Bearers, became Comp. Quarter-Master Sergt.

of A Company, in place of G.o.dfrey, who left to train for a commission.

Our strength was kept fairly level by drafts, and we averaged throughout this period about 40 Officers, and 920 other ranks.

Our somewhat humdrum existence eventually came to an end about the middle of August. By this time the German offensive had finally ceased, having received its knock-out blow in the fruitless attack made against the French near Rheims on July 15th. On this occasion the French had received ample warning of the attack, and were consequently able to dispose their forces in such a manner as to inflict appalling casualties on the enemy with insignificant losses to themselves. This was followed up by a series of attacks by French, Americans, British, and Italians, which began on July 18th and finally drove the enemy out of the Marne Valley. Even before that time it had been realised that the Germans were not likely to make any further attacks on our part of the front, and about the middle of July we had gone so far as to contemplate an offensive in the Merville salient. Preliminary plans were actually made for the attack to be made on July 15th, by the Canadians and our own Division, but eventually the scheme was cancelled.

The offensive in the South met with extraordinary success at all points, and soon extended to the Third Army area, nearly as far North as Lens, with the result that in the end the Boche decided that he must take steps to withdraw from the Merville salient. His offensive on this front was, undoubtedly, from the first a serious strategic error. The unexpected ease with which the enemy had advanced on the Portugese front had induced him to push forward further than had been the first intention. Consequently, in holding the inner portion of a most p.r.o.nounced salient on flat ground, overlooked from the high land south of the La Ba.s.see Ca.n.a.l, he had at last experienced some of those difficulties and losses which had been for so long our experience in the Ypres salient. The many destroyed guns which we ultimately found on our subsequent advance bore witness, not only to the remarkable accuracy and efficiency of our own artillery, but to the folly of attempting to hold the salient when once the possibility of capturing Bethune and the area South of the Ca.n.a.l had disappeared. Owing to this mistake of tactics and strategy there is no question that the enemy's losses had been extremely heavy since his advance in April.

During the second week in August, whilst we were in the Gorre sector, we heard that the enemy were carrying out extensive demolitions behind the line, and our patrols were constantly out, so as to ensure keeping touch, should he begin to move back. He had already begun to do so on our left, but we were not actually affected until August 19th, by which time we had moved across to the Essars right sub-sector. About noon on that day, our left Company reported that the enemy had evacuated several of the front line posts astride the Rue-du-Bois. A and D Companies, which were in the front line, accordingly sent out strong patrols to keep touch, the remainder moving forward to the old German front line. Some 600 yards in front of our old line, lay the hamlet of Le Touret. This was cleared by the leading Companies with little opposition, except for a few snipers left to hara.s.s our advance, and by evening the line ran East of that place, a total advance of about 1,000 yards. The same night we handed over to the 6th North Staffords. On August 26th, the Battalion moved up to support in the Gorre sector, and was disposed about the Tuning Fork Breastworks, with Battalion Headquarters by the ca.n.a.l side, near Le Preol. Lieut.

G. G. Elliott was badly wounded here during a bombardment of the position held by A Company, of which he was then in command. A battery of guns had been put in the orchard adjoining his Headquarters, in spite of many protests, and naturally drew a considerable amount of sh.e.l.ling. Several men were wounded at the same time. "G.G." had succeeded Capt. Andrews, who had recently been appointed Second-in-Command on Major Gingell's departure for a tour of duty at home, and the command of A Company now pa.s.sed to Lieut. Thomas.

Re-adjustments of the Divisional front became necessary, owing to the continued withdrawal of the enemy, and on September 1st, we crossed over to relieve our 6th Battalion in the left Brigade sector. Here the withdrawal had been fairly rapid, Lacouture and Vieille Chapelle both having been evacuated, and the enemy were now holding a line roughly running from Richebourg St. Vaast through "Windy Corner" to Richebourg L'Avoue, the general direction of our advance being North-East. At the time we relieved them, the 6th Battalion were engaged in sharp encounters trying to dislodge the enemy from a number of posts just West of Windy Corner. We continued this hole and corner fighting, and on September 3rd, C Company occupied "Hens Post," Windy Corner, and "Edward's Post," after some sharp sc.r.a.pping, taking one wounded prisoner, whilst B Company occupied "Dogs Post" without opposition.

Very gallant work was done during this fighting by Corpl. Mosgrove, who in spite of heavy fire established liaison with the Company on his right which was held up, thereby enabling the advance to continue; by Pvte. Stamford, a Stretcher Bearer, who on two separate occasions went forward into the open, in full view of enemy snipers at close range to help wounded comrades, and by L.-Corpl. Beech, who did exceptionally good work in charge of a Lewis gun team.

Those who had been with the Battalion in the Autumn of 1915, were now on familiar ground, as the fighting was taking place on what was then the area just behind the line that we held in the Richebourg sector.

The capture of the posts about Windy Corner straightened out the line, and enabled us to obtain suitable jumping-off positions for an attack which was to take place the following day, as it had been decided to speed up the enemy's retreat in this part, and drive him back far enough to enable us to retake the old British front line near Neuve Chapelle, the enemy being at this moment about 2,000 yards West of that line.

Instructions for the attack were issued somewhat hurriedly during the night. B and C were to be the leading Companies, with A and D in support. The 5th Leicesters were attacking on our right, and the 19th Division on the left. There was little or no time to make any reconnaissance. Zero was 5.15 a.m. on September 4th, and the barrage came down on the stroke 200 yards East of a line through "Haystack,"

"Orchard," "Albert," "Dogs" and "Edward's" Posts. Having remained on this line four minutes it moved forward at the rate of 100 yards in two minutes, closely followed by the leading troops. The enemy made little resistance, and had evidently decided not to offer any serious defence to operations on a large scale, but to get out of the way as quickly as possible. The result was that within a couple of hours we had regained possession of the old British front line, and the "contact aeroplane" which cruised round a little later, saw our ground flares burning in the identical trenches we held in November, 1915.

The 5th Leicesters met with equal success, and were abreast of us on the same line. The 19th Division on our left had met with considerable resistance at Neuve Chapelle, and did not get the whole of their objective until later in the day. The enemy had decided for the moment to stand on his old line running through the Bois-du-Biez, a strong position, from which it would be difficult to dislodge him. The troops on our left suffered several casualties in a fruitless endeavour to push platoons forward into the wood. Our casualties were negligible owing to the feeble resistance offered, and the weak counter-barrage put down. Battalion Headquarters moved immediately after the attack to "Lansdowne Post."

Communication had been well maintained during this and other recent advances, and we were seldom out of touch by telephone, either with advanced Companies or with Brigade Headquarters. In fact, on the advance into Le Touret, there was so much cover available, on or near the Rue du Bois that a forward Signalling Station, supplied by a South and a North line, was established only a few hundred yards behind the front line, within a few minutes of that line being consolidated, and of these two lines the North line was not a mere ground line, but a poled cable. We owed it to the untiring efforts of the Signal Section, under Lieut. Stephenson, ably backed by Sergt. Templeman, Corpl.

Osborne and others, that communications were kept up so well.

The peace that we enjoyed for the rest of the day, was unfortunately not maintained, for on September 5th, the Boche made things unpleasant by sh.e.l.ling the various posts we were holding, which were nothing but isolated shallow trenches with a few corrugated iron shelters covered with earth. One of these, which was used as Battalion Headquarters, got a direct hit with a 4.2 whilst the whole of the Headquarters'

staff, except the Medical Officer were in it. The result was disastrous. Every Officer in it was wounded, though "Andy" escaped with nothing worse than a few scratches. Col. Currin got a leg damaged, Martin the Adjutant, and Elly, Intelligence Officer, both got broken legs, and several other wounds. Stephenson and Taylor (Works Officer) were also wounded in the leg, whilst Spinney (a.s.sistant Adjutant) and Salmon (Artillery Liaison Officer), sustained serious head and face wounds. Elly died the following day at the Casualty Clearing Station, at Pernes.

Owing to the continuance of the sh.e.l.ling, Battalion Headquarters moved to Hens Post near Windy Corner, but again were not left alone, as the enemy put over some eight-inch and gas sh.e.l.ls in the vicinity.

Altogether it was a decidedly unpleasant day, and we were not sorry to hear that the 19th Division were to relieve us the same night. The relieving Battalion, the 9th Ches.h.i.+res, fortunately for them did not arrive until things had quietened down, and the relief, if somewhat lengthy, was carried out more or less in peace. The lucky ones got a ride from Le Touret on the light railway, but the trains for the rest failed to turn up, and they had to foot it back to Beuvry, where the Battalion was billeted, with Major Andrews in temporary command.

CHAPTER XIV

AUCHEL TO PONTRUET

_Sept. 7th, 1918._ _Sept. 26th, 1918._

We left Beuvry on the morning of Sept. 7th and were taken back on the light railway to Ferfay. On this occasion, much to our surprise, the trains moved off at the scheduled time. From Ferfay it was but a short march to Auchel, another mining village, where we found very good billets, and were welcomed in their usual hospitable way by the French miners and their families. Thanks to a most generous Town Major we got all sorts of little billet comforts, of which he seemed to have an unlimited supply, whilst opposite the Headquarters Mess was a very comfortable little restaurant, bearing the sign, "Cosy Corner," where we found helping to run the show, an old friend known to us in earlier days at Bethune as "Lily."

On the day after our arrival Lieut.-Col. J. F. Dempster, D.S.O., 2nd Manchesters, took over command of the Battalion, Major Andrews resuming the duties of Second-in-Command, and Lieut. C. H. Powell temporarily acting as Adjutant. Changes had also taken place in the Higher Commands in the Division. Brigadier-General John Harington, D.S.O., from the 46th Machine Gun Battalion, had succeeded General Wood in command of the 139th Brigade, and Major-General Thwaites, who had laboured so a.s.siduously to keep the Division up to the highest pitch of perfection in every respect, had gone to England to take up the duties of Director of Military Intelligence at the War Office, and we now had the pleasure of meeting his successor, Major-General G. F.

Boyd, C.B., C.M.G., D.S.O., D.C.M., who was to command the Division for the rest of the war. He came to see us at Auchel, and we soon realised that under his leaders.h.i.+p, given ordinary luck, we could not help doing well. Fresh from the battles of the South, he had much to tell us about the latest forms of attack, particularly those carried out in conjunction with Tanks, and we were not long in finding out that what he could not tell us about the kind of fighting that was going on was not worth knowing. He introduced to us the system of advancing in the early stages of the attack in the "Blob" formation, that is, with Companies on wide frontages, echelonned in depth, with each Platoon in a line of sections in "blobs," or small and somewhat open groups. With this formation there was less likelihood of severe casualties from sh.e.l.ling or machine guns, whilst it was a most simple formation from which extensions could be carried out, and at the same time it allowed the Section Commander to retain control of his men up to the last possible moment. This system we at once set about practising, and later on used it in all the battles in which we took part. Very little training was possible during the few days spent at Auchel owing to the bad weather.

It was, of course, general knowledge that we were shortly to take an active part in the fighting in the South, and therefore no surprise when we received orders to entrain. This was carried out in the early hours of Sept. 12th, at Calonne-Ricouart Station, and was rendered extremely uncomfortable by a torrential downpour, which made it specially difficult to get the transport vehicles up the steep ramps on to the trucks. C Company had to do the loading for the whole Brigade, and were at the station for nearly twenty-four hours, working in s.h.i.+fts. They left by the last train at 12.40 p.m., the main body having left at 3.16 a.m. This was our farewell to a district of which we had got to know practically every inch, and of which we shall always retain most happy recollections. We had been there for seventeen months without a break.

Slowly but surely we wended our way Southwards, until we reached Amiens. At one period the town had been emptied of all civilians, but they were just beginning to come back and the streets were now showing slight signs of life again. A certain amount of damage had been done by sh.e.l.l-fire, and as we moved Eastward from Amiens, signs of the one-time proximity of the front line became more marked. Eventually we came to a stop at Corbie Station, where we detrained during the afternoon, after a journey of about twelve hours. After most welcome and refres.h.i.+ng tea, which we owed to the forethought of Capt. Salter, the Acting Staff-Captain, we marched to billets at La Houssoye, some five miles away, where C Company joined us early the following morning. We were now in the IX Corps, which formed part of General Rawlinson's Fourth Army. We were soon able to make ourselves comfortable, though the village was somewhat battered and contained very few inhabitants. When we moved further forward, it was, from a purely military point of view, a decided advantage to find no civilians at all. All around was a delightfully free rolling country, and we could wander anywhere according to our own sweet will, those lucky enough to have horses getting some lovely gallops across the chalk downs. This area had been too near the front line for the past few months for any work to be carried out on the land, and such crops as there were were now being harvested by soldier labour, mostly Canadian.

The enemy had been driven back from the neighbourhood during August by the Australians, who had had particularly hard fighting about Villers-Bretonneux, not many miles distant from where we were billeted, and the work of clearing the battlefield was already in hand. Gangs of Chinese were employed in the task, but we were not impressed by their industry. Everything had to be carried to dumps by the roadside, and no matter what the burden the only authorised way of carrying it was by putting it on the end of a pole, which the "c.h.i.n.k"

carried over his shoulder. It seemed decidedly comical, to say the least, to see a man walk several hundred yards to retrieve a coat, for example, hang it on the pole, and walk several more hundred yards with it to a dump! Nevertheless, this seemed to be the recognised way of working.

Such training as we carried out was mostly in the attack and other operations, such as advanced guards, likely to be required in open warfare. Little was done in the way of bombing, which had had its day.

There was a good deal of Lewis gun work, and "field-firing" practice in the shape of Platoon attacks on strong points. Flags to represent Tanks were introduced into the scheme with a view to giving some idea of how to follow up a Tank and take possession of the ground it gained. A good deal of practice in Map Reading and Compa.s.s work was carried out by Officers and N.C.O.'s, which proved most useful in the days to come. Several Officers and N.C.O.'s here enjoyed their first aeroplane flight through the kindness of the Officer commanding a Bombing Squadron in the vicinity.

Orders for a move came after little delay, but with unexpected suddenness. We had to break off in the middle of a practice attack on September 18th, to prepare for our departure, and at 9 p.m. on the same day we left La Houssoye and marched to Bonnay, where we embussed for the forward area once more. Transport marched brigaded and was now under Lieut. Toyne, who took charge when Lieut. Tomlinson broke his collar-bone in a jumping compet.i.tion a little while before at Vaudricourt. Somewhere about midnight the long procession of lorries moved off. The other two Brigades of the Division were being moved by the same means, and there is no doubt that the Auxiliary 'Bus Companies were having a pretty busy time! In the darkness the journey seemed endless. It was too b.u.mpy to allow even a doze, sleepy as most of us felt. The whole area was a desolate ruin, but in the darkness we were, of course, able to see little or nothing of it. For something like 40 miles, the Somme area, through which we were pa.s.sing, was nothing but an immense wilderness--every village practically in ruins, and hardly sufficient remains in many cases to identify their position. In one case a signboard had been put up to mark the site of the village, and on maps they were usually described as "---- ruins of." Old trenches and barbed wire entanglements existed at various points. Not a sc.r.a.p of ground was cultivated--all was wild and uncared for. Not a living soul was there except a few odd troops of our own, working mostly on roads or guarding dumps, and French, Italians, Portuguese and "c.h.i.n.ks" working on the railways. A few odd woods and shattered trees were practically the only things standing in this enormous tract of country. Later on we saw all this for ourselves when we used to cross this devastated area going on leave or for trips to Amiens, which a generous staff permitted us to indulge in occasionally. Much of the area had been fought over four times--firstly, when captured by the enemy in the original advance; secondly, when he withdrew to the Hindenburg Line early in 1917 and laid the whole place waste; thirdly, during his offensive of 1918; and, lastly, when he was driven out once and for all by British and other troops just before our arrival.

Eventually, about dawn on September 19th, the long train of lorries came to a halt, and we were dumped on the road about a mile West of a one-time village known as Poeuilly, to which we marched, and where we were told we had to bivouac.

It was a cheerless prospect to be turned loose into a bare field at 4.0 a.m. on a late September morning. Poeuilly, however, was found to contain a certain amount of useful material which very soon found its way to our field, and with the aid of a few "trench shelters," and taking advantage of some trenches which were there, it was not long before we had put up some quite useful protection. Though chilly in the early morning the weather was quite seasonable, and on the whole we did not fare badly. Our Transport arrived late the same day.

The Hindenburg Line lay a few miles in front of us, and some of its outer defences were already in our hands. On the afternoon of September 20th, we left Poeuilly and relieved the 2nd Royal Suss.e.x in Brigade Reserve in trenches and dug-outs about Pontru, with Battalion Headquarters at "Cooker" Quarry, the 5th and 6th Battalions taking over the front line. At this point we were some seven miles North-West of St. Quentin, and two to three miles West of Bellenglise, on the St.

Quentin Ca.n.a.l. There was no great excitement during the three days we spent there except that we had rather bad luck with the Transport. As the idea was rather pressed on us that we were now taking part in "moving warfare," some of the horses and Company limbers of bombs and small arm ammunition were taken forward to the edge of a small wood just behind Battalion Headquarters. Unfortunately this wood got sh.e.l.led and several mules were knocked out, with the result that the ammunition was dumped, and the limbers and rest of the animals were sent back to Poeuilly.

On September 23rd we received orders for certain action to be carried out by us in connection with an attack which was to be launched the next day, when the 46th Division were to carry out a "minor operation"

in conjunction with the 1st Division on their right. The Australians had pushed forward considerably on the left, and the line now bent back sharply, where the troops we had relieved had been held up by the village of Pontruet. The attack was planned both to straighten out the line and to get possession of the high ground on the right. The 138th Brigade, who had taken over from the Australians on the left, were ordered to capture the village of Pontruet, and for this purpose detailed the 5th Leicesters. The attack was to be carried out by an enveloping movement from the North, and the village was to be rushed from the East. Our 5th and 6th Battalions were to co-operate by occupying some trenches about Pontruet, and, on the night following, the 8th Battalion was to relieve the 5th Leicesters as far North as the inter-Brigade boundary.

The attack was launched at 5 a.m. on September 24th, and though the 5th Leicesters made most strenuous efforts to attain their objectives, they just failed to achieve the full purpose for which they set out, and at the end of the day Pontruet was not ours. Our 5th Battalion on the right also had some stiff fighting, and suffered several casualties, taking their objective on the high ground South of Pontruet, and capturing about 100 prisoners. Late in the day our orders to relieve the 5th Leicesters were cancelled, and we had to take over from our own 5th Battalion, who were holding the Western edge of Pontruet. This operation was completed just before dawn on the 25th, Battalion Headquarters being in a dug-out in the high ground South of Pontru. Fortunately we were there only two days, for the discomfort was very great, the dug-outs and cellars swarming with flies and vermin, and there was little other protection from the enemy sh.e.l.ling, which was fairly frequent. On September 26th we were relieved on an intensely dark night by the 1st Black Watch and went back to bivouacs just off the Vendelles-Bihecourt Road, put up for us by the Battle Details, who had moved up from Poeuilly. They, together with the Transport and Quar.-Master's stores, had had none too peaceful a time during the last few days. Having moved to Vendelles they were sh.e.l.led out of it almost at the moment they arrived, but eventually found a quiet resting-place for a brief s.p.a.ce at Bernes, where, in addition to ordinary stores, there were piled all the men's packs and spare kit, and numbers of Lewis gun boxes. All moves now were done in light "fighting order" and the Quar.-Master and Quar.-Master-Sergts. had their time fully occupied in thinking how all the spare kit was to be got forward when it was wanted.

During our recent moves we had received a regular influx of new Officers, no fewer than nine having joined between September 3rd and September 26th. They were 2nd Lieuts. G. Newton, John Henry Smith, A.

N. Davis, R. N. Barker, T. F. Mitch.e.l.l, W. J. Winter, R. S. Plant, P.

A. Turner, and W. G. Jacques. We had lost 2nd Lieut. Morris, who had gone to the 139th Trench Mortar Battery; and Comp. Sergt.-Major Slater and five N.C.O.'s who were sent to England as Instructors. Slater was succeeded as Comp.-Sergt.-Major of A Company, by Sergt. Attenborough.

Our battle casualties at Pontruet amounted to five killed and 24 wounded.

The men were now very fit and the Battalion was on the top of its form. Our chief anxiety was whether after all we were to be in a real good push. We suspected that we might have been brought here to be whittled away in minor trench attacks, and that the opportunity of really showing what stuff the Battalion was made of would never present itself. Our fears were not lessened when we saw how the 5th Leicesters and 5th Sherwood Foresters suffered at Pontruet, and we saw looming ahead what we imagined to be the never-ending luck of the 46th Division. Our fears were ill-founded. Better things were before us and arrived sooner than we expected.

CHAPTER XV

BELLENGLISE

_Sept. 26th, 1918._ _Sept. 29th, 1918._

A great effort was to be made to break the Hindenburg Line.