The Seventh Manchesters by S. J. Wilson (inspirational novels .TXT) 📖

fun in the French

barns and shippons which were to be our temporary homes. Lt. Hodge and

Lt. Taylor who had worked hard allotting the billets for us joined the

battalion here. Lt. Sievewright had rejoined us at Alexandria on the

boat, he having been invalided to England from Gallipoli. Lt. G. Harris

left to take charge of a Divisional Bombing School, and ended his

service with the battalion, although later he became the Brigade

Intelligence Officer, when we saw a good deal of him again.

 

After three days the battalion moved back to Liercourt and there the

work of refitting commenced. We had much to learn about organisation and

methods of warfare as practised in France, and vigorous training was

commenced at once.

 

Major-General Sir W. Douglas left the division, and his successor,

Major-General Mitford, lost no time in getting us ready for the line.

Just at this time, and whilst Col. Cronshaw and other officers and

N.C.O’s. were up in the line for instruction, the German retirement on

the Somme and the Ancre to the Hindenburg line took place. As soon as

brigades were fitted out they lost no time in moving forward into the

war zone, commencing with the Lancs. Fusiliers. At the end of March the

127th brigade entrained for Chuignes and from there the 7th marched

forward to Dompierre, which had been the scene of such heavy fighting

by the French in 1916. We thus got our first impressions of the

devastated area of France, and I am sure there was not a mind in the

battalion into which these impressions did not sink deep. The misery of

it was by no means diminished when we arrived at our destination, for

accommodation had to be found amidst impossible ruins and in the

scattered half-destroyed dug-outs amongst the trenches which

criss-crossed the village. All this had to be done in pouring rain. When

at last we settled down it was found that our new homes were also shared

by huge rats who capered about in a most homely manner.

 

Dompierre was our abode for a few days whilst the battalion made daily

excursions through the mud in the direction of Villers Carbonel to

execute road making fatigues. Major Scott concluded his long period of

active service with the battalion about this time, being invalided to

England. His place at the Q.M. Stores was later filled by Lt. Rose of

the R.W.F’s. After this period we moved into Peronne, and were installed

in more comfortable dwellings, for although the town had been badly

knocked about, it was possible to find more or less good cover for

troops. The great boon here was the plentiful supply of timber from the

destroyed houses, and every group of men had its roaring fire. The

battalion and indeed the brigade was still on fatigue, repairing roads,

railways, bridges, etc. Meanwhile the division had made its debut in

France, the 125th and 126th brigades having taken over part of the line

during the pursuit of the Hun.

 

The 7th suffered their first casualty in the new theatre of war at

Peronne in a rather unfortunate manner. Whilst on a fatigue of salving

telephone wire on the battle-swept ground of Biaches, just outside the

town, Pte. Gibson of “C” company was accidentally killed by a bomb,

whose explosive mechanism he had unwittingly set in action when pulling

up the wire.

 

CHAPTER IV.

 

Holding the Line.

 

EPEHY.

 

On April 27th, our period of fatigues ended, the 7th Manchesters marched

out of Peronne in the full panoply of war, not gaudy, but serviceable

for modern requirements and not lacking the element of weight, with the

certain knowledge that their next deeds would be accomplished “in the

presence of the enemy.” The enemy of 1917 and after was not so elusive

as the Turk of the Sinai, so there was no possibility of marching on and

on and never feeling his force! That night was spent at Villers Faucon,

and next day preparations were completed for relieving the 4th East

Lancs. in the front line trenches east of Epehy. An advance party of an

officer and a few N.C.O’s. per company had been sent forward to learn

dispositions and other information about the line, and the thousand and

one minute details about rations, tools, Lewis guns, water, guides,

intervals between platoons and sections, etc., etc., had all been dealt

with when we got on the move once more in the early evening.

 

Everyone expected to take over trenches such as we had in Gallipoli or

had read about, but we were rather staggered to find that the battalion

front was not vastly different from the outpost positions we had made on

the desert. This is explained by the fact that the front was just in

process of solidifying from the liquid state as a result of the German

recent retirement to a safe position. The enemy therefore looked calmly

down upon us from his elaborate Hindenburg system of trenches beyond

Vendhuile whilst we expanded our isolated outposts into organised

continuous lines. He himself, however, was also busy digging a sort of

outpost work in advance of the main line of defence, for he had held up

any further British advance principally from a bulwark of land mass

called the Knoll on the western side of the canal, while his main line

was really on the eastern side.

 

Because of the disjointed condition of the front there was always a

danger, when going from one company to another, of men wandering into

the Boche lines. This unfortunately did occur one night to a couple of

men of the 7th who had to make their way with L. G. ammunition from the

Quarry to the Diamond (a forward isolated redoubt) for they struck a

wrong direction and walked into a hail of enemy bullets. One was killed

and the other wounded. Pte. (afterwards L.-Cpl.) Summers and Pte. Johns

distinguished themselves on this occasion, for, realising what had

happened, they volunteered to go out and recover the men. After being

away for more than two hours, constantly sniped by an obviously-startled

enemy they found them and were able to bring back the wounded man.

Unfortunately this deed was not recognised by the higher authorities or

they would have been the first to have won distinction for the battalion

in France.

 

Little Priel Farm came in for a good deal of hatred by the Boche, and

the variations in its contour was a daily source of interest to the

troops in the vicinity. The battalion observers in the innocence of

their hearts and the zeal born of the new opportunities to put their

training into practice, selected the corner of the garden for an O.P.

and just as things were growing interesting in the field of view of the

telescope, the Hun instituted a “certain liveliness” of a different

sort. Repetitions of this sort of thing convinced the observers that no

useful purpose could be served by staying there, so they

left—fortunately without mishap—and they were eager to inform the I.O.

that their new position was infinitely superior to Little Priel Farm! It

was in this vicinity that Pte. Wilbraham was killed by a shell. This

news saddened the whole battalion, for he was our champion lightweight

boxer, and we had been entertained many a time on the desert by his

clever exhibitions.

 

There was naturally a good deal of digging to be done in this sector,

and although relieved eventually in the front positions by the 5th, the

battalion found itself up in the line each night making continuous

trenches. It was in connection with this work that we lost our

brigadier, General Ormsby. On the night of May 1st, he, with a number of

R.E. officers, was examining the position near Catelet Copse when the

Boche suddenly started a short hurricane bombardment. The trench he was

in was only waist deep, and soldier and leader to the end he disdained

to take full advantage of the scanty shelter, preferring to set an

example of calmness and steadiness under fire to his men. A piece of

shell struck him in the head and he died almost immediately. This was a

great blow to the brigade, just at the commencement of their adventure

in the new warfare. It was sadly remarkable, too, that he himself was

the first officer casualty in his brigade. A few days later, during

which time Lt.-Col. Darlington of the 5th assumed command, the new

brigadier arrived—General Henley, D.S.O.—and we were fortunate to keep

him as our Commander until the end of the war. The brilliant record of

the 127th brigade in France is testimony to his qualities as a leader,

and it was not very long before every man and officer in the Manchesters

was proud of him. General Ormsby always remained, however, as a tender

memory to those who had served under him.

 

Villers Faucon, which had been the rear H.Q. and transport lines was

invaded by battalion H.Q. and two companies when the battalion moved

back into reserve, but we did not stay long here, because the 126th

brigade required assistance in the completion of their trench system in

front of Templeux, and to do this we had to move into the quarries in

that district. The other two companies carried out similar work in the

vicinity of Lempire and Ronssoy. There was very little of interest

during the succeeding days after which the brigade moved out to Roisel

prior to accompanying the division to the Havrincourt sector of the

front.

 

HAVRINCOURT.

 

At the end of May the battalion marched out with the remainder of the

brigade from Roisel and in one day reached their destination behind the

Havrincourt Wood sector. We there remained for a short period in the

region of Ytres and Fins. Little time was lost in the necessary

preliminaries and we relieved a battalion of the Duke of Cornwall’s L.I.

of the 21st division in support in the wood. “D” company were early

unfortunate and suffered a number of casualties from heavy shelling on

the shallow trenches which they manned near the western edge of the

Wood. The enemy had noted the continued movement in this vicinity, and

suddenly decided to pay attention to it in the usual manner. This spot

was always remembered afterwards as “Where ‘D’ Company were shelled.”

 

Conditions at Havrincourt were rather different from those at Epehy,

although the same characteristics due to recent consolidation still

prevailed. It was more interesting, however, and in many senses more

“livable,” a word of deep meaning on the Western front! In the British

lines—the canal, the slag-heap (or more correctly slag-heaps) and the

wood dominated all other landmarks. The canal, a portion of the Canal du

Nord, was in course of construction at the outbreak of war, and its

deep, well-laid bed is one of the engineering wonders of this part of

France. At Havrincourt it first runs west to east and then sharply bends

to the north towards Moeuvres past Hermies. The left of the 42nd

divisional front rested on the bend, after running over a huge chalk and

limestone slag-heap which stands at the corner. Going southwards the

line roughly skirted the eastern edge of the wood which lies upon a

slope facing the east.

 

Before their retirement, the Germans had cut down all trees on this

forward slope, some said in order to make use of the timber, others for

tactical reasons, so as to leave us exposed to view. I should say both

reasons weighed heavily with them, but principally the latter, for it

was noticeable that the woods in their own lines had not been so

denuded. Havrincourt village lay behind the enemy’s front line on a

ridge that dominated our own positions. Further beyond were Flesquieres,

Marcoing, Premy Chapel and Ribecourt, where the main