Читать книгу Craven's Part in the Great War - John T. Clayton - Страница 23

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The great attack on the Somme had already been planned, and the 6th Duke’s were engaged for some months in digging assembly trenches, laying railway tracks, carrying material to the line, and generally assisting in the many preparations that had now become recognised as necessary to a successful offensive. They were quartered at different times in most of the villages from Toutencourt to the river Ancre, and in April and May went farther back to the pleasant village of Naours lying in a beautiful valley north of Amiens. Here vigorous training was carried on for the coming offensive, and replicas of the famous Thiepval defences were constructed and successfully attacked.

Conditions were now growing better. Expeditionary Force Canteens had come into being; Y.M.C.A. huts at times were encountered; organized entertainments were given. The general standard of living was much improved and wire beds were occasionally found in billets. The old days of scarceness had passed, and “rest areas” had become more worthy of the name and were visited with greater regularity.

But before the battle opened another change came in the command of the battalion. Lieut.-Col. Adlercron, D.S.O., received well-deserved promotion to the command of the 148th Brigade (in the same division), and Major C. M. Bateman, D.S.O., was appointed Lieut.-Colonel in his place. No more popular choice could have been made. Colonel Bateman had commanded the headquarters detachment of the Craven territorials for many years before the war and had already won golden opinions in France both as company commander and as second-in-command. Always cool in danger, and naturally endowed with a fine military judgment, he had a special asset in his intimate knowledge of his men, who would have followed him anywhere.

The great battle of the Somme, which was to last into November, opened at 7–30 a.m. on July 1st, 1916. On this day the 49th acted as reserve to two other Divisions in the 10th Corps, ready to exploit any success that might be won. The roar of the bombardment had been heard for some days and shells were singing overhead on the evening of June 30th as the 6th Battalion moved up from Warloy into the assembly trenches it had previously dug in Aveluy Wood. At 7–25 a.m. the trenches rocked as the mammoth mine went up at Beaumont Hamel. The roar of the heavies ceased for a moment, giving place to the rattle of machine guns as the British went over the top, to be succeeded by a terrific drumfire from the 18-pounders and French 75’s whose shells came swishing over the tree-tops.

Though the attack had been a success to the south, it made little headway against the powerful fortresses of Thiepval and Beaumont Hamel. The battalion crossed the river without loss and spent the night in the Crucifix dug-outs near Aveluy village. Next afternoon it received hurried orders to move to Thiepval Wood, prepared to attack at dawn next morning. It was an unpleasant march up the river valley, for this provided the only cover behind the line and the enemy’s artillery were giving it particular attention. At the North Bluff, Capt. Haddow, the popular medical officer, was wounded by a shell with some of D company, and Cpl. E. Briggs was killed while bringing up machine gun ammunition. In Thiepval Wood, reached in the darkness, there was little shelter and the battalion spent the night under heavy shelling and machine gun fire. What had been in the evening luxuriant woodland was found in the morning to resemble a group of clothes props. The attack, however, was postponed, and the battalion returned for a night of thunderstorms into Aveluy Wood. Next day it moved forward again and took over the line immediately facing Thiepval with headquarters at Johnson’s Post. Here the Brigade remained for forty-eight days, never moving further back than the support positions, some 800 yards from the German line. The trenches had been practically obliterated and had to be re-dug in close proximity to the enemy; there were many bodies to bury during the short hours of darkness, and rations and water were brought up with difficulty. In the first twenty-four hours the battalion, without making any attack, suffered over sixty casualties, and losses continued daily. At times the battalion had to make “Chinese attacks,” feints to hold the reserves opposite in their positions while other divisions were attacking to the south, and also threw out smoke bombs to obscure from the view of the Germans in Thiepval the flanking movement against them. This always drew a heavy bombardment. Meanwhile a good line was dug, and saps were pushed forward ever nearer to the doomed fortress.

At last towards the end of August the battalion moved out to Lealvillers for a week’s rest. Here Captain N. B. Chaffers, M.C., who had been adjutant since December, 1915, when Capt. Marriner had been promoted to a staff appointment, left the battalion to become second in command of the 3rd Worcesters. He was succeeded by Capt. F. L. Smith, M.C., who had won a great reputation as a company commander. Lieut. Robinson, whose notes on Lewis gun tactics, originally written for the 6th Battalion, had been adopted for use throughout the British Army, was ordered to G.H.Q., where he spent more than a year working at the organization of Lewis gun training before returning to the battalion.

In less than a week the battalion was back in the Thiepval area, but it did not take any active part in the attack on Sept. 3rd, in which the 49th Division was engaged. The 6th was in support, and suffered losses from shell-fire; Lieut. Gill was killed, Lieut. Jaques badly wounded, and a dug-out occupied by A company was knocked in. The 147th Brigade managed after heavy losses to capture most of their first objective, but their neighbours on either side made no headway and the attack was abandoned before the 6th was drawn in.

After ten days’ rest the battalion again returned near Thiepval, but this time it faced the village from the ridge to the south, instead of looking up at it from the valley to the west. The West Ridings were now in the old German lines in the “Leipzig salient,” which had been penetrated on July 1st, and occupied an extremely strong system of enemy trenches known as the “Wunderwerk” for the astonishing character of the defences. Though much damaged by our shells, the deep dug-outs and tunnels still remained to show how the enemy had been able to hang on in Thiepval through all our bombardments. From these lines the Division slowly crept forward, one battalion snatching a length of German trench one night and another the next. The 6th had to pay dearly for their successes. One night Capt. Cedric Horsfall was shot while making a reconnaissance in front of the line, and his death was a sad blow to all the battalion. As strong as a horse and a glutton for work, he was always ready to lend a hand with pick and shovel, and on a long march might be seen striding along carrying a couple of rifles for two of his weaker brethren. His shrewd leadership and unfailing kindness had endeared him to all ranks. Another gallant officer to fall was Lieut. W. B. Naylor, who was acting as Brigade bombing officer, and among other losses were Sergt. Marks, an excellent N.C.O., and Private Bottomley, whose unfailing humour had lightened many dark days for his comrades. Lieut. Clegg, who afterwards greatly distinguished himself with the Independent Air Force that bombed the German towns, was severely wounded.

After an attack in this sector a curious adventure occurred to that cheerful fighter, Sergt. Cecil Rhodes. Seeing a waterproof sheet stretched out upon the ground he stooped to pick it up, when to his surprise an unwounded German sprang from under it and bolted. The sergeant gave chase and soon had his man a prisoner.

The battalion was beginning to penetrate the inner defences of Thiepval when it was relieved by the 18th Division, who, with the assistance of tanks, finished off the task.

During September the battalion was sorry to lose its very popular Brigadier, Brig.-General E. F. Brereton, C.B., D.S.O., who had commanded them since the days of peace. When he returned home, Brig.-General L. G. Lewes, D.S.O., of the Essex Regt., took his place.

On leaving Thiepval the battalion at once marched northwards and took over the line near Fonquevillers, facing the German stronghold of Gommecourt, and for the remainder of the winter kept moving on from one bad line of trenches to another, working hard to drain and improve them for the benefit of their successors. At Fonquevillers the trench-mortaring was very heavy, and four N.C.O.’s in D Coy. were killed one night by a single shell. Here too 2nd Lieut. Wilson was mortally wounded by a chance bullet.

Shortly before Christmas the 6th moved out to rest at the little villages of Halloy and Grenas, near Doullens, and though the billets were not of the best the Duke’s were able to eat a good Christmas dinner without interruption from the enemy.

Early in the New Year, still moving slowly northwards towards Arras, the battalion went into a new line near Berles-au-Bois and then at last found some really good trenches in the solid chalk of Wailly. During this winter the game of “winkling” had come into vogue. The line on both sides was commonly held by detached posts, and small parties of resolute men would stalk one of these, surprise the sentry and then pick prisoners out of the dug-out behind him as one picks winkles out of shells. The 6th were never “winkled,” though they had to keep very alert, but at Wailly a small party of D Coy., headed by Sergt. Bury, D.C.M., took a hand in the game with great success. Raiding an enemy sap they inflicted heavy losses on the enemy. Pte. Scott, of Keighley, had the misfortune to lose his way when the signal was given to return and was captured. After being severely cross-questioned, about an hour later he took advantage of a moment’s inattention on the part of his captors and escaped back to his own lines with some useful information about the enemy’s dispositions. A raid on a grand scale was then planned and practised, but the battalion was again moved on before it could be brought off.