The 1/4th (Hallamshire) Battn., York & Lancaster Regiment, 1914-1919

Excerpt:

June 1918

 

Though a fruitless raid had been carried out the night before the relief, we had been led to understand that it was suicide to attempt to reach the front line in daylight; but we soon came to the conclusion that the Boche held his main line a long distance away, with a few scattered outposts in front.

For the next few days we just endured the dull routine of trench warfare—i.e., the opposing gunners engaged in a pleasant little shooting match—with the infantry of each side as targets. We lost about twenty men as a result of efforts of the Boche in this direction.

The trenches were now in splendid condition, as the dry weather had made all the water and mud disappear. Grass and weeds grew over the parapets, and Nature began to hide the shell-holes in a marvellous way. Even flowers and vegetables appeared here and there, and our company headquarters' dug-outs were usually brightened by a few wild marguerites and poppies stuck into an eighteen-pounder shell case. Near the Ramparts were the remains of what had once been fine gardens, and from them many beautiful roses and other flowers were obtained to grace the tables of Battalion Headquarters.

On June 9th the first party (about two dozen strong) of American Infantry joined us, and were received with very great enthusiasm by our men.

On the night of June nth we were relieved by the 7th West Yorks. The relief was very late in arriving, and it was not until 5 a.m. that we reached Brake Camp. This was a collection of well-constructed huts built under the cover of a small wood. It had the advantage of being quite close to good parade grounds and baths, but it was also near an important cross-roads and a noisy battery of 9.2's. For the first three days out of the trenches we laboured at burying a cable which ran to Vlamertinghe Chateau, now our Brigade Headquarters. In spite of the fact that it was less than four miles from the enemy front, it had suffered very little from enemy fire.

The " Intelligence" at this time indicated that Prince Rupprecht's great attack might be expected at any moment. The troops in the Salient carried on with their work as if there were no such cloud overhanging them—probably many of them had no inkling of the threatened attack—but the Staff were distinctly ''nervy.'' Raids were carried out every night along our front, and the prisoners obtained always had startling information to give. We were therefore kept constantly m a state of tension, not knowing what orders the next despatch rider would bring. Several times we were ordered to "stand to " or to " prepare to move at thirty minutes' notice." Extra bandoliers of ammunition were issued to the men, and water-bottles were kept always filled. Very careful plans had been formed, laying down the action of every unit in the Salient in the event of attack.

In spite of all these scares and alarms we managed to enjoy ourselves and carry out some training at Brake Camp. On June 18th we were expecting to be attacked next day, yet in spite of this (or, perhaps, because of it) the men spent a very happy day at that mysterious building known as the "Delousing Station.'' At nighttime we were again ordered to "prepare to move," and all guns in the Salient were moved to different positions awaiting the attack—but eventually we went quietly to bed.

On June 20th we took over the front-line sector south of Hell-fire Corner from the 7th West Ridings. The relief was carried out without any great difficulty, and we settled down to our usual job of improving the trenches. Colonel Branson, who had recovered from his wounds received at Neuve Eglise in April, had now resumed command of the Battalion.

The amount of salvage recovered from this area was tremendous. Whether one needed a porcelain bath or a sack of nails, an armchair or an oil-stove, a brewer's rope or a mail bag, it was easily obtainable—yet the area was hardly a "land flowing with milk and honey." In fact, it stank horribly.

On the night of the 26th the West Yorks. on our left made a raid. The Hun appeared to think it was our fault, and poured literally tons of shells on the Hallamshires' front, fortunately without causing many casualties or doing much damage. Two nights later, at 11-30 p.m., we raided the enemy—or, rather, the enemy's country, for he was nowhere to be found. The raiding party consisted of two companies under Captains Elrington and L. W. Johnson, accompanied by Lieutenant Greenwood and 2nd Lieutenants Jeffs, Foweather and Robins.

Zero hour was fixed for 11-30 p.m., and our artillery put down a terrific bombardment on selected points in the Boche lines.

Our gunners used a good deal of smoke shell, and this would have formed a most effective screen for our men, but just before we went "over" the wind suddenly changed and the smoke screen was blown back in our direction. The smoke "fog" was so thick that it was quite impossible to keep direction or to find anything, and it was difficult to get our men back at all. Even at dawn the following morning it was impossible to see men standing ten feet away. In spite of this contretemps, our fellows made a penetration of several hundred yards into the enemy territory, but no one found the enemy except a certain officer who, apparently, caught a Hun, smacked him, and let kim go ! The Olympians heard our report—and we were ordered to repeat the performance at n p.m. next night. Except that the smoke behaved properly and that no Hun was even seen this time, the result was the same—i.e., a blank. There was little doubt that the enemy was holding Cambridge Road as his front line, with merely a scattered post or two in front of it, and, of course, those few poor Huns hurried back to tell their friends when our terrific barrage opened.

After the raid we were relieved in the line by the 5th Y. and L-, and went back about two thousand yards to the support area. One company was in a comparatively advanced position at Doll's House, and the remainder of the Battalion some distance behind at Kruis-straat. Mosquitoes in swarms worried us by day and night, and their poisonous bites caused a lot of swollen faces. There was plenty of work to do in this support area, working on our own lines by day, and sending large parties up to work on the front line each night. The monotony of the days was relieved by watching the numerous aeroplane fights, and following the effect of our artillery on the Boche territory in front of us.

Just about this time the Colonel acquired a bright scarlet horsehair fly-whisk, which he always carried on his visits. This whisk was a perfect godsend, as he could be spotted a thousand yards away, and, of course, by the time he reached us, we had set our house in order. General Green-Wilkinson often visited us in the trenches, sometimes accompanied by the Colonel, but more often alone or with a runner. He always carried about with him a cheery "Just had a damned good breakfast" sort of atmosphere, but he had a remarkably keen eye for every detail—"An eye like a plurryawk," as one disgruntled Tommy remarked after the General had passed.

Each morning at about 3 a.m. the enemy opened a barrage, and each one we thought would be THE barrage, but no attack developed. On the night of July 7th we were at last relieved by the 7th West Yorks. We were decidedly thankful, for we had been in the front line for seventeen consecutive days and nights. It was a delight to get back to Brake Camp, where we remained for eight days' "rest,' work on rear defences, and—thank Heaven—bathing.

The 6th Divisional Concert Party, known as "The Fancies,'" which we had first met in Poperinghe in 1915, were quite close to us. and a large number of officers and men enjoyed their performance each evening. Our own "Tykes" were many miles to the rear at La Lovie Chateau with Divisional Headquarters. We organised several boxing contests on July 14th and 15th, which were enjoyed thoroughly —by the principals as well as the audience.

On the evening of the 15th we marched up to the line again and relieved the 4th West Ridings in the sector immediately north of the Menin Road. The cry of "Wolf" had by this time grown rather monotonous, but information from prisoners told us that the great Boche attack would take place on July 18th, and so we took special precautions to guard against surprises.

Before we had been in the trenches twenty-four hours a full company of American Infantry was sent to us to be "instructed." ,This company was distributed as follows :—one platoon to each company—one section to each platoon, and the section was then split up amongst the platoon, so that, eventually, each American soldier had two or three British instructors. That was the preliminary lesson of the course, and was known as "Individual Attachment." After a couple of days each American platoon was re-assembled, and although remaining attached each to one of our companies, the platoon acted as a unit under its own commander—"Platoon Attachment." A day later the four American platoons relieved the four platoons of our centre company and held a portion of the front as a company under their own officers, but with one of our companies on each side of them and with a Hallamshire officer left behind with them as guide, counsellor and friend. The next night our B Company returned to the line and relieved the American company, who thereupon marched back to the rear. The whole process was then repeated with another company, and finally the complete American Battalion came up and relieved us in the line—for one night only—after which we returned and the Americans marched to the rear.

Then two companies of another U.S.A. Battalion were sent up to us to be similarly trained, and the "course of instruction," as already detailed, was repeated throughout. The two battalions which we thus instructed were the 2nd and 3rd Battalions of the 118th' American Infantry Regiment.
 

As a precaution against the enemy bombardment, which would precede any big attack, the front line trench was vacated every night, and every officer and man moved forward about one hundred yards, so that if the trench had been accurately shelled and blown to bits, the Battalion would have been intact to meet the infantry assault. This was, no doubt, a most excellent plan, but it was aggravating to have to lie out in the slime of "No Man's Land" from midnight to dawn, particularly when it was raining. Many a time on those nights did we pray that the Boche would raid us. He could have hammered our trench for all he was worth without hurting us, and then, when his raiding party came over, expecting to "snaffle" a frightened sentry cr two, they would have met, in "No Man's Land," a long line of fixed bayonets. But, of course, the Boche did not provide us with such a pleasant diversion, and so we were compelled to relieve the monotony by "scrounging" for salvage to bring in at dawn.

After the middle of July the Special Company of the R.E. who dealt in "stinks" were thirsting to fire off several hundred bombs filed with a new and very potent gas, but it was essential for the success of the show that the wind should be of a certain speed and blowing in a particular direction. The bombs were all in readiness at the rear, and were to be brought up by a light railway when conditions —ere propitious for the stunt. Each day we received a code word, which meant that the gas attack would take place, upon which we made our preparations by evacuating a certain sector and bridging trenches—but each evening we received another code word which meant that the operation was postponed. As luck would have it, the wind and atmospheric conditions became favourable on July 23rd, the right that the American Battalion was first left alone in the line. The operations went off with perfect smoothness, and from prisoners' retorts afterwards we gathered that the German casualties must have been very great. This gas turned all the green weeds and grass with which "No Man's Land" was covered into a dead brown colour.

On the night of July 28th 2nd Lieutenant Constable and four men went out on an offensive patrol and penetrated several hundred yards into the enemy lines. Large parties of Germans passed quite close to them in the darkness, but no opportunity of securing a straggler presented itself. We therefore prepared a scheme for attempting to capture a few Huns, and this was carried out next day, A party of about twenty-five men, led by 2nd Lieutenants Constable and Jeffs, went into "No Man's Land," in twos and threes . . .