P. G. Bales

“ The Transport and Stores too did magnificent work. Frequently shelled, and on one occasion at least under machine gun fire, constantly on the move and often surrounded by disorder, they carried on their work in a way which earned the admiration of everyone. At a time when one was continually hearing of battalions who had had no rations for days, the 4th Battalion had never lived in such plenty. There is no doubt that this happy state of affairs increased the fighting efficiency of everyone enormously. ”

“ Perhaps the men did not look quite so smart as in Doncaster days, but they had become far more efficient soldiers. Trench routine was no longer a hidden mystery, and enemy bullets had ceased to be novelties. The Battalion had had to pay for its education. Much discomfort was suffered before the men learned to fend for themselves; much work had proved useless owing to the inexperience of the workers. The toll of life had not been heavy, but the graves near Croix Blanche still bear their testimony to the early work of the Battalion in France. ”

“ Many a man owed his life to the skill and care lavished on him by the 4th Battalion Medical Officer at Johnstone’s Post. But the casualties of those first days on the Somme were so appalling that the medical staffs were quite inadequate to deal with them. Hour after hour the Battalion worked to clear the wounded, but fresh cases streamed in far more quickly than earlier ones could be evacuated. And all the time, into the midst of that deadly valley, the 5.9’s screamed, taking their remorseless toll of human life and limb. Without a chance of a fight, scores of the Battalion went down. ”

“ Many writers have paid tribute to the gallantry of British troops in battle, but few have written of the heroism of those who held the line under such conditions as the 4th Battalion did in the autumn of 1915. The soldier in battle has excitement, and a good deal of exhilaration, to help him through; but the Yorkshiremen who faced the enemy near Boesinghe in 1915 had neither of these. Theirs was heroism of a far higher order—the heroism which, with no excitement to buoy them up, can make men coolly and quietly face horror and death in their worst forms. ”

“ The tour which followed—the last the Battalion was to do in that sector—was wonderfully, almost uncannily, quiet. It was rarely a shell fell at all, and the standing joke of the tour was that, if the enemy division opposite wanted a concentration of fire on its front, it would have to ring up the neighbouring divisions and ask each to switch its “gun” round. This was not so correct of the enemy machine guns; wiring was the main work carried out that tour, and several casualties were caused to men working on the top. ”

“ The fate of many a man was cleared up. At one point a German machine gunner was found sitting behind his gun, dead; by his side lay the man who had killed him, also dead, with his bayonet right through the German’s body. The inevitable “booby trap” was also in evidence—a brand new German machine gun, with a wire running from it to a spot a few yards away; but there was no time to examine the appliance.
On went the Battalion, across valleys and over ridges—and never a shell nor a bullet from the enemy. ”

“ They learned too—those of them who did not know it well before—that the spade, almost as much as the rifle, is the infantry man’s weapon. And, perhaps most valuable lesson of all, they learned that what appear to be the blackest and most hopeless situations can be restored by men, if only they possess the necessary determination.
Throughout the most trying and uncomfortable conditions all ranks continued cheerful, and morale never declined. In spite of appalling casualties, the Battalion never became in the least disorganised. ”

“ This fact did not altogether commend itself to the Battalion, but all men were so weary that it scarcely disturbed their sleep. In the afternoon a short march brought the Battalion to a hutment camp at St. Jans ter Biezen, where the rest period was to be spent.
The part taken by the Battalion, in what is generally known as the Battle of the Lys, is the most glorious chapter in its history. Never before nor since did the men fight so long continuously, nor against such overwhelming odds. They faced the enemy in the full flush of his successes on the Somme, when his morale was at its highest. ”

“ W. N. Everitt, with Sergt. Kitchen, carried out an extremely daring and highly successful patrol. The glow of a light had been noticed at a particular point in the enemy line, and they made straight towards it. No Man’s Land was not more than sixty yards across but it was no mean obstacle, owing to its water-logged condition. The enemy wire was very thick and difficult to negotiate but, after much trouble, the two found themselves at the foot of the enemy parapet. Leaving his companion at the bottom, Everitt carefully crawled up the parapet and looked into the enemy trench. ”

“ Working parties were not free from danger. There was little artillery fire at night, but machine guns were very active, and rifle batteries frequently played on obvious places like the trench tramways. Slowly, but steadily, the Battalion’s total of casualties mounted up. Yet, in spite of all, the men worked magnificently. They possessed almost boundless enthusiasm, and were now reaping the benefit of their training near Fleurbaix. Without exception, officers who served with them during this early period show the greatest enthusiasm when they speak of the splendid spirit of the Battalion. ”

“ They taught him that he was no match for a British soldier, either in attack or in defence. They helped to pave the way for his crushing defeat a few months later.
And the men learned many things too. They learned that the German will never push home an assault in the face of a really determined resistance; that infantry fire alone is sufficient to stop his most violent attacks. In the many engagements that they fought during April, 1918, no man of them ever used a bayonet, for never did the enemy reach their lines. ”

“ The crossing of the canal was always an adventure. The man who wanted to get to the other side first noted the areas of enemy shelling, and, when he had decided which was the quietest bridge, rushed across it as fast as he could go. No one ever loitered on or near a bridge. At night things were even more uncertain. In the dark, the middle of a bridge might be missing without one knowing it, and several men had duckings as a result. Somewhere at the bottom of the Yser Canal lie the remains of a bottle of whisky and a dozen eggs, abandoned by a Battalion runner when he had to swim for it. ”

“ Meanwhile, the Battalion was bearing the full force both of the gas and of the enemy bombardment. The men who had been warned in time were unharmed by the gas, for the P.H. helmet proved a very effective protection. But many men had been gassed before they could do anything, and among them the sights were ghastly. They lay in agony on the ground, sickly greenish-white in colour; they foamed at the mouth and gasped for breath; some even tore open their own throats in the paroxysms of their pain. ”

“ The high proficiency of the enemy in sniping has already been mentioned on more than one occasion. Gradually the Battalion came to realise that the most effective way of dealing with this form of annoyance was to adopt similar tactics. Luckily, the very man was to hand—Sergt. A. McNulty. A combination of all the qualities needed by a first-class sniper is rarely to be found in one individual; but this N.C.O. possessed them all to an exceptional degree. A magnificent rifle shot and a first-class observer, he had the patience of a Job, and was also an exceptionally good instructor. ”

“ Though, of course, everyone was glad that the war was over, there were undoubtedly some who viewed the event with rather mixed feelings. To those who had lived for more than four years with the one great purpose of defeating the enemy, it seemed almost that the object of their lives had been taken away. And there is also a spirit of camaraderie and good-fellowship on the battlefield and in the trenches which no peacetime conditions can wholly reproduce.
The Battalion had come to Auby expecting to remain for, at most, a week or two. ”

“ Day and night, for seven days, the rain of shells poured down on the enemy line without ceasing. A good view of much of the shelled area could be obtained from Senlis Mill, and many officers of the Battalion visited the observation post there, to watch the bombardment. All came away with the same opinion—that nothing could live in the German lines. Their hopes of an early and decisive victory were very high. They had yet to learn the strength of the enemy’s deep dugouts. ”

“ At Hannescamps, the Battalion had taken over the most elaborate and well-organised system of cooking they had ever seen in a front line sector. A good kitchen had been built in a sunken road not far from the village, and there hot meals were regularly prepared for the whole Battalion. These were carried up, in hot food containers, by the men of the reserve company, and living was almost as good in the front line as in rest billets. The only serious difficulties were the shortage of water, and the rats. Rats! Everyone who has seen much of trench warfare knows how prevalent rats are. ”

“ Yet every man in the Battalion was immensely keen to “bag a Bosch.” Often one man would hurl the most insulting remarks across No Man’s Land, or even show himself above the parapet, in the hope that some very simple-minded German would appear, and thus present a target to another Britisher who was anxiously waiting his chance in a neighbouring bay. But no successes have been recorded. The enemy was much too cute and usually retaliated only in kind. Hand-grenades too were just coming to the fore. ”

“ When they saw that the Battalion was having a bad time from enemy trench mortars they were always only too ready to help. They did not wait to be asked; [38] they simply cleared all their men, save a skeleton garrison, into deep dugouts or the British support line, and then opened fire on the enemy with every type of infernal engine they had available. It always amused them to see the enemy turn his wrath from the British and start pounding their deserted lines. They were, at this time, much better supplied with trench mortars than the British, not to speak of their 75’s. ”

“ The River Scarpe, with its surrounding marshes, was useful, not only for swimming, but more than once for the working out of bridge-head schemes. One night all officers and platoon sergeants carried out a rather intricate compass march which will not soon be forgotten, particularly by those who, at one point, found themselves sitting on horses’ backs in a wide trench. Altogether the time at Feuchy passed very happily. ”

“ Often, somewhere far away and for no apparent reason, a perfect storm of firing would open; company after company would take it up, and so it would travel quickly along the line until, literally along thousands of yards of front, every man would be working his bolt as rapidly as possible. Sometimes this would go on for many minutes, and then it would gradually die down. The good old custom of “Five rounds rapid” at stand to was always encouraged in the Battalion. Occasionally rapid fire, to harass enemy transport or carrying parties, would be opened on some back area. ”

“ Owing to enemy observation no movement was possible by day, and the nights were so black, and usually wet, that a man could hardly see a yard in front of him. The man who had carried up one trench grid or revetting frame from Battalion H.Q. to the front line, had done a really hard night’s work. The Ypres-Roulers Railway, which ran through a deep cutting and should have been an easy and direct route to the line, was absolutely impassable owing to the thick mud which covered it. ”

“ The country grows more desolate; on all sides are ruined buildings, shattered trees, and the countless signs of war. But jest and song help to enliven the way, for the men are fresh after their few days’ rest.
At “ten minutes to the hour” the platoon falls out on the right of the road. Equipment is taken off. The grass is wet, but some sit down; in later days, in spite of all orders to the contrary, they will sit on their “tin hats.” It seems hardly a minute before they are called on to don their equipment and fall in again.
At length a communication trench is reached. The men are quieter now. ”

“ Lewis guns and rifles opened rapid fire on the miniature rifle range, the marksmen all being arrayed in small box respirators; while a platoon, with many lurid epithets and a most unusual amount of energy, attacked a row of sacks with the bayonet. It is hoped that the G.O.C. was suitably impressed. At any rate he ought to have been. But his only comment after this great display of the Battalion’s offensive spirit was “How are the men’s boots?” Later in the day he presented medal ribbons, at a ceremonial parade, to a number of officers and other ranks of the 147th Infantry Brigade. ”