WHEN THE SOM RAN RED ^ Captain A.Radelyffe Du^more ■t#" — ■gj"'^*^ -^.T^) VT'-- ^v'yj WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED Being a very egotistical account of my own personal experiences and observations from the early days of the war in Belgium to the Great Battle of the Somme in July, 1916 G^^i SERVING THE BIG GUNS AT THE BATTLE OF THE SOMME During an intense bombardment the men £;trip to the waist in order to have greater freedom of action. WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED BY A . RADCLYFFE DUGMORE,F. R.G. S.,F. R. P. S Temp. Captain King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry AUTHOR OF BIRD HOMES, CAMERA ADVENTURES IN THE AFRICAN WILDS, THE ROMANCE OF THE BEAVER, THE ROMANCE OF THE CARIBOU, Etc., Etq. . . , . PROFUSELY ILLUSTRATED WITH REPRODUCTIONS OF PHOTOGRAPHS AND MAPS NEW YORK GROSSET & DUNLAP PUBLISHERS . . COPYRIGHT, 1918, •/• ^¥ GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY • • » •• • * . • " • • • PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AS A TOKEN OF ADMIRATION THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED WITH ALL HUMILITY TO THE GLORIOUS MEMORY OW THE OFFICERS AND MEN OF THE KING'S OWN YORKSHIRE LIGHT INFANTRY WHO FELL IN THE BATTLE OF THE SOMME, AND TO THE OTHERS WHO MADE THE SUPREME SACRIFICE IN THE CAUSE OF HUMANITY 4.59Si8 FOREWORD THE SECOND BATTLE OF THE SOMME IN RELATION TO THE BRITISH OFFENSIVE OF 1916 When the Germans undertook their great offensive against France in 1914 their plan was, of course, to overrun with the utmost speed, a suffici0itly large area of the country to ensure an almost immediate and complete victory. Paris was the first important objective. The attainment of this was to have been followed rapidly by a drive against the sea-port towns on the English Channel, with the obvious effect of preventing Great Britain from coming to the as- sistance of her ally. In planning this ambitious scheme of conquest the German strategists real- ized the possibility of failure and selected as their strategic line of defense, in case they were forced back from Paris, the region east of the Somme and northward from Curlu, taking in the line which included the villages of Mametz, Fricourt, La Boisselle, Ovillers, Thiepval, Beaumont, Hamel, Gommecourt, and on in a more or less northerly direction to the coast. vii viii FOREWORD This line was chosen with the greatest possible skill. It followed the series of ridges and hills and thus gave command of the country to the west ; in other words, any attack against the Ger- mans would have to be made uphill, always a difficult undertaking. Besides the natural strength of the position the line was made still more secure by the employment of every device known to military science, so that it was re- garded as an almost impregnable system of trenches. This then was the line we were to at- tack in July, 1916, largely with the idea of relieving the pressure that was being exerted against Verdun. In the following pages I have attempted to give some idea of hov/ at least on one part of the front, the offensive was carried out. It was written before the recent gigantic German at- tacks, which, unfortunately, have succeeded in forcing us back to a line which in part is west of the position we occupied in June, 1916. Whether or not we could have avoided yielding this ground I am not in a position to know, but there is every reason to believe that to have held our line would have involved the sacrifice of such an immense number of lives that it was consid- ered wiser to give up the ground, at the same ^ FOREWORD ix time making the Germans pay a toll in lives out of all proportion to the value of the territory they have gained. Whether or not this is Germany's final effort none of us can tell. The common idea is that if it fails the German people will demand peace, as they will be sickened by the ghastly slaughter, which has surpassed anything the world has ever known. This theory is not generally believed by those who are in the best position to judge, so it is not wise for us to make plans based on the supposition that peace is near. Such action would mean the delaying of the most necessary war preparations, and this is exactly what the Germans are most anxious to have happen. It is the work of their propagandists to make people believe that the war will very soon be finished, so that we shall slow down on the mxanufacturing of war material and the training of men. It is well, therefore, to guard against all stories deal- ing with early peace, and if possible try to trace the origin of such stories. The source will in nearly all cases be found to be German, or what is equally vile, pacifist, for the pacifist is quite as dangerous as the pro-German in our midst. He would have us, among other things, conclude a shameful peace on any terms, he would have us X FOREWORD barter our heritage of liberty and freedom for whatever disgraceful form of government the unprincipled military power of Germany would impose on us, so that those who have died for our cause would have died in vain. Unfortunately so little information has been' given to the public regarding the exact position occupied by the Allies at the present time that it is extremely difficult to form any accurate opin- ion of the situation. Apparently the Germans are in possession of the country east of a line running south from Bailleul to Mourlancourt, from which point it appears to swing slightly westerly, curving round to Montdidier. Albert is in the hands of the enemy, and the famous statue of the leaning Virgin, mentioned in another chap- ter, has probably already been melted down for the purpose of making munitions. From Albert to Corbie runs the little river Ancre, which is bor- dered by more or less swampy ground from Ville to where it joins the Somme. On either side of the valley is high rolling ground, most of which is under cultivation, with patches of woodland here and there. It is ideal country for open warfare. Judging from the accounts that have been published, I am inclined to believe that we still hold the north side of the valley as far as FOREWORD xi Heilly, or perhaps a little farther toward Corbie, but whether we are in possession of the high ground which overlooks the town from the east and south I do not know. Everything depends on this, as these hills completely dominate the town. Should Corbie fall, the position of Amiens will be very serious and for many rea- sons the Germans are most anxious to force us out of this important town and railway centre. From Corbie to Amiens there is a wide belt of low and somewhat swampy land following the river. This is controlled to some extent by a range of hills on the north side and to a less ex- tent by lower rolling ground on the south, so that unless the Huns cross the Somme, and attempt to outflank us, the attack on Amiens would be difficult and very costly. It is quite impossible to make predictions with any degree of accu- racy, but though the situation at the present moment is serious, the optimistic tone of the French and British commanders as expressed in the newspapers should give us reason to believe that the great German offensive is doomed to ultimate failure, even though it gains a consider- able amount of territory. From a sentimental point of view we feel very deeply having to yield ground that was won at xii FOREWORD such a terrible cost in lives and energy; to those of us who took part in the 1916 advance it is a very great blow, for we believed that if once the Bapaume region was taken we would be able to hold it against any forces the Germans could bring against us. Through the greater part of the regained area the work of reconstruction had been carried on with the utmost energy. The shell-torn ground was being levelled and made ready for cultivation, roads were repaired and railways laid. And now, not only has all this work been either destroyed or taken over by the Germans, but many villages, which hitherto had been peacefully occupied by the French people, who had always treated us with such kindness, have been wrested from us, and the chances are very great that the wretched people will never again see anything but the ruined remains of their former homes. Apart from the actual material loss there is the terrible thought that the graves of our poor Dead are desecrated by the very presence of the Hun. At least we had hoped that the bodies of those who made the Great Sacrifice for the cause of Right might have been allowed to rest undis- turbed in their simple graves. But such ap- parently was not to be, and we can only pray that FOREWORD xiii the time is not far distant when the Hun and all he stands for shall be driven forever from the soil of France and Belgium. Before that day comes we must expect to go through periods of great strain and anxiety. Our endurance vvdll perhaps be tested almost to the point of breaking, but the knowledge of the righteousness of our cause, of the greatness of our resources, and above all, the wonderful spirit and determination of our men, who are engaged in the fighting, and the no less wonderful spirit of those who, though forced to remain at home, are so generously backing up the jQghting forces, make ultimate victory a matter of certainty. The Hun can never triumph. Even though he were to force us out of France; even though he were to capture Paris, that will not bring him nearer to victory. So long as a drop of living blood remains in France and Great Britain the war must continue. America's gi- gantic preparations are bearing fruit, her limit- less resources wiU, as time goes on, make her power more and more a factor in the task of defeating the Hun. She has championed the cause of World freedom, and she will not rest until that cause has been won, and adequate measures taken to ensure a lasting peace, a peace which will guarantee safety for even the smallest xiv FOREWORD and most helpless of nations. We owe nothing less than this to our heroic Dead, and we should never dare look on the little White Crosses that mark their last resting places if we failed in this sacred obligation. A. R. D. CONTENTS PART ONE CHAPTER PAGE I In Belgium — ^a Prisoneb 19 II Wounded at Alost 43 III In England — from CiviLLysr to Soldier . 59 PART TWO IV Rejoining My Battalion 73 V First View of the Trenches .... 83 VI AtBecordel — Strafed f/)4 VII In the Front Line Trenches . . . . 115 VIII Preparing for the Great Offensive . . 142 IX Hell Let Loose 176 X Battle of the Somme — ^The Great Day . 189 XI A Bad Night Among the Shells . . . 208 XII Captured Lines and Prisoners . . . 218 XIII The Toll of Battle 234 XIV Rest — ^and Return to the "Show" . . 250 XV A Hot Corner — Gassed 264 XVI The Pivot 281 XV ILLUSTRATIONS Serving the Big Guns Frontispiece PAGES German Metrailleuse (Machine Gun) ... 54 Billets! Tommy Always Cheerful Manages to Make Himself Comfortable 78 Aeroplane Photograph Showing the Opposing Lines of Trenches Near Fricourt .... 110 Aeroplane Photograph Showing Part of the German Lines 110 Message Sent by Author from Brigade Head- quarters 128 Magnetic Compass Bearings Laid Out . . . 128 List of Work to be Done by the Company Which Relieved the Author 128 Description of Enemy's Attitude as Experi- enced BY THE Author 128 A Typical Scene on the Roads Immediately Back of the Front Line 140 Part of Actual Map Used During the Battle of the Somj^ie 176 Sketch of Trenches Occupied by the Author . 176 Scaling Ladders Being Put in Position . . . 196 xvii xviii ILLUSTRATIONS PAGES During the Advance, the Men IVIarch Across No jVIan's Land at Slow Speed 206 Wave After Wave of Infantry Streamed Across 206 The Ger^lvn Front Line Trenches Near Fri- couRT 224 A British To^biy Leading a Wounded Hun . . 234 Part of ]VL\p Taken from Dead German Officer 256 A Tank Crushing Down Barbed Wire Entangle- ments 272 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED FART I CHAPTER I In Belgium — ^a Prisoner Before dealing with my somewhat limited ex- periences and impressions of the Great War I feel that a word of explanation as to how at my age I happened to give up my peaceful occupa- tion as a private citizen and join the army will not be altogether out of place, especially as it re- lates to that ghastly period of the war, the devas- tation of Belgium. It will be remembered that within a few days after Great Britain's declaration of war against Germany accounts of the atrocities committed by the invaders of Belgium were circulated through- out the country. We were incredulous at first, no one believed that a great nation could be guilty of the horrors attributed to Germany, and yet evidence was not lacking to show that the worst stories were to a great extent true. Throughout my life, which has been devoted to 19 20 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED the study, of 'outdoor natural history, I have al- sy&ys found it advisable to see before believing, iii other words to verify reports before regarding them as facts. Thus it happened that on August ,14th, 1914, I made my way to Belgium armed with a camera and a large and most imposing British passport. Ostend was my first objective, and I found the famous w^atering place in a very peaceful condi- tion, but there was a great deal of suppressed excitement, and the conversation was only of the war and what the Germans were doing in other and less fortunate parts of the country. The town was more or less bedecked with the flags of the Allies, and various proclamations regard- ing the duties of the people and other matters, together with coloured posters of the uniforms of friendly and enemy soldiers were conspicuous in every street. Later on refugees from various parts of the invaded country drifted into Ostend, and arrangements were hastily made to feed and house the unfortunate homeless people. Private individuals as well as the Bed Cross undertook this work of relief, but it put a great strain on the resources of the town. There was a rumour that Brussels was to be taken, so I went there and found the amusing, even pitiful, spectacle of ridi- IN BELGIUM— A PRISONER SI culous little barricades throv^^n across various main streets. These were guarded by members of the Garde Civique. The whole thing struck me as being absurd, to think that such childish efforts could stay the troops of the most highly organised military organisation the world had ever known. Reason fortunately prevailed and these futile preparations were abandoned. Six- teen hours after I left the city the Germans en- tered, so I missed the great but lamentable sight. I returned to Ostend in time for a small taste of excitement v/hen a few Uhlans made v/hat was apparently a reconnaissance of the town. They were v/armly received by the Belgians who met and engaged them on the outskirts. The town was in a badly frightened condition. Allied flags were hastily concealed. All w^ho could were flocking to the steamer landing in hopes of get- ting away to England. Frantic efforts were m^ade to get hold of money, English gold realising as much as 35 francs for the sovereign. I was eating my breakfast at the Hotel Maritime when the excitement outside In the square suggested a new development of affairs. A few minutes later some Belgian soldiers passed through the dining- room, leading a highly indignant German ofiicer on whose arm was the sign of the Bed Cross. It £2 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED appeared that he had been caught red-handed in the act of trying to shoot some Belgians. One of his captors was carrying the revolver. Soon a couple of badly wounded Uhlans were brought in and put on board the steamer for England. It is a pleasure to record that they were treated with the utmost care. This apparently was all we were to see of the skirmish. If I remember correctly about nine Germans were killed and three or four Belgians. It brought home to the people of Ostend that the war was very near. But their faith in France and Britain was great, help would come in time they felt sure. Alas they were doomed to disappointment. From Ostend I moved to Ghent, and while there paid several visits to Termonde during the various periods of its destruction, and what a pitiful sight it was. The wretched little town of some 1600 houses was almost a complete wreck. Over 1200 houses were destroyed, whole streets were simply piles of bricks and broken stones, mingled here and there with remains of bodies and torn clothing. A few houses stood intact for on their doors was the magic chalk mark that good people lived there — ^in other words Ger- mans, or at least German sympathisers, or still worse, spies. The churches and convents were IN BELGIUM— A PRISONER ^3 ruthlessly destroyed and this was not because the churches being usually high were places of ob- servation, for in one case the little low built chapel in the square surrounded by the houses -of the old women who were supported by the town was burned, though it could offer no possible point for observation, while at the entrance to the square was the chalked order, that, as only very old women lived there the houses need not be destroyed. The Germans seem to have had the idea that by destroying the churches they were taking the heart and soul from the people. It is one of their many great psychological mistakes. The last time I visited Termonde was a Sun- day two or three days after the most recent de- structive visit made by the Germans. I had with great difficulty obtained a pass. In fact it was granted only by explaining how necessary it was that people in England and America should know exactly what was happening to Belgium, so that they could help in whatever ways were possible, and that I would send or take these pho- tographs directly to England. It made one's heart sick to see the misery of the wretched Ter- monde people. They seemed to be stunned. Of course during the bombardment, and subsequent incendiary work, practically all of the inhabitants m WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED had fled. On this Sunday the country seemed so quiet and peaceful that they returned as though in hopes that it had all been a dream, and they wandered about among the blackened ruins try- ing vainly to discover what had but a few hours before been their homes. What had they done that they should be so treated? They were peace- ful people working only that they might live in their simple homes. Why then should these Ger- man devils come without cause or provocation and ruin them? One nice looking woman, who was carrying a tiny baby in her arms, pointed to a pile of bricks and said, ''My little baby was born there three weeks ago and now I have not even a cradle for her. My God, this is not war, this is the work of the devils," and she was right. As I wandered through the scene of desolation I came upon a building, two-thirds of which had fallen, and its walls were pitted with shot. All that remained was a small wine and coffee shop. A voice called as I passed, "Come in, you are a friend — you are English. Have a cup of cof- fee. It is all I have left to offer, but you are welcome to it." I accepted the welcome refreshment from the old couple who were happy to find even a part of their house more or less intact. When I offered IN BELGIUM— A PRISONER 25 to pay for the coffee they refused to accept any money saying that soon the English were coming over to help them and they would then be happy. Poor people, I wonder what has become of them and if they are still waiting for the help they were expecting over three years ago. After crossing the river where my car was waiting I engaged in conversation with a Belgian officer who told me how the soldiers had done all in their power to protect the to^vn. The odds against them were overwhehning. He pointed with pride to the decapitated tower of the Place de Ville, It appears that the Germans had man- aged to place a machine gun in the belfry and it must have been a difficult task. I had been up there only a couple of days earlier and had great difficulty in getting my camera up to the top. The officer who was in the field artillery told his men that he wanted the gun destroyed. Two shots striking simultaneously cut off the upper half of the tower completely and with it the ma- chine gun and crew. This same officer told how two German officers wishing to examine carefully the river banks, came out in the open street, carrying in their arms a baby, evidently hoping by this means to protect themselves. A man who was an expert shot was detailed to attend to the 26 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED case with the result that the officer carrying the baby was shot through the head. The baby escaped unhurt while the second officer hurriedly sought the nearest shelter. It was some days after this visit to Termonde that in company with my friend Arthur H. Glea- son (whose splendid unselfish work in Belgium and France is well known) I visited a convent in which I had been told there was a young girl who had been terribly maltreated by German soldiers. She was lying then at the point of death, a victim of some twenty human devils,' who forced the father and mother to be present that they might witness their daughter's ruin. This is not a nice subject to write about, and I merely touch on it to show one of the causes of my joining the army. Near Ghent is, or rather was, the little village of Melle. It happened to be in the way ox the German army of invasion. Early one morning reports came into Ghent that severe fighting was in progress. My car not being available I hired a carriage to which was more or less attached a dilapidated horse, and which took us along the road toward Melle. We passed numbers of Bel-i gian soldiers, ill equipped but always cheerful, going forward. Also numbers of wounded meq IN BELGIUM— A PRISONER 27 being brought back. They were in all sorts of vehicles, from fine motor cars to springless wag- gons, and it was indeed a pitiful sight. Two cases I can even now remember clearly were men, one with his lower jaw completely shot away, and the other terribly wounded in the body, lying on the top of an old fashioned covered carriage. The inside was full to its utmost capacity with wound- ed. Every jolt over the rough paved roads sent a shock of pain through their torn bodies. They endured it heroically, for it was better than fall- ing into the hands of the Germans whose treat- ment of Belgian wounded was in so many cases absolutely brutal. But v/hat a contrast were these makeshift vehicles to the ambulances of the present time, pneumatic tired and smooth run- ning, and equipped with stretchers, on which the w^ounded are borne with the minimum of pain. Conditions have greatly changed since those days of trial. By the time we had gone within two or three miles of Melle the sounds of battle filled the air. Not battle as we now know it with its over- whelming voice of heavy artillery, but chiefly the rifle, and the machine gun with its regular rap- ping death-dealing shots. 'Now and then light artillery punctuated the sound, and we wondered 28 WHBN THE SOMME RAN RED whether this meant that the Germans were ad- vancing on Ghent. No one seemed to know much of what was going on. The peasants stood about in silent groups, worried at the prospect of what fate had in store for them. Some few went on with their regular work apparently deaf to the unceasing clatter of shot. It did not seem advis- able for us to proceed any further along the road by carriage, so, much to the driver's relief, for he thought we were urging him straight into the jaws of death, we told him to hide his vehicle in a narrow alley, and leaving the motion picture camiera in his care we walked forward armed only with a small pocket camera. Before long the glint of a lance caught our eyes, and we saw what we thought was a German Uhlan peering from am.ong the trees at the en- trance of a big estate. He was about 800 yards distant. How strange it was to see this silent evi- dence of the war, this human being stalking his o\\Ti kind. It gave me a curious thrill of excite- ment for it was practically the first time I had been hunted by a soldier, a man trained to hunt his fellow m^an. And I was among those he was watching. He was dressed in the elusive gTey- green uniform of the German army, and the colours blended among the trees so that he v/as IN BELGIUM— A PRISONER 29 scarcely visible. Silently he had come and as silently he vanished from our view. After he had disappeared we looked further along the road and saw clearly a group of cav- alry, all carrying their long tubular lances. Be- ing filled with curiosity we wanted a nearer view, and decided to walk slowly in their direc- tion. Before we had advanced more than three or Jour hundred yards we were startled by the clatter of horses' hoofs behind us, and turning we were very much upset by seeing three mounted men in field green uniforms following us. It was too late to attempt concealment and v/e dared not turn back. The only possible course was to con- tinue forward as though we were not afraid, though I do not mind confessing I was so thor- oughly frightened that my knees trembled vio- lently. Before we had gone far the three hussars, as they turned out to be, overtook us and w^anted to know who we were and what we Vv^ere doing. I acknowledged myself an Englishman while my friend said he was American, whereupon one of the three spoke to us in good English, and told us he had been in New York for some years. All this time we were approaching the cross roads while we talked in quite a friendly way about New York. As we drew near to the group 80 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED of about a dozen, which proved to be of the same regiment as our escorts, our three formed up, one on either side, and one behind, and I had horrible thoughts of what might be in store for us. We were taken before the officer who on hearing our nationaHties addressed us in perfect Enghsh. He was most polite and told us that for a number of years he had lived in England, had been to Ox- ford, and finished by saying that he hoped the war would soon end as he was very much attached to English life and was most anxious to get back to his friends there. He declared that he thor- oughly disliked the idea of fighting us but that he had been recalled, and could not do other than obey. Altogether he seemed a thoroughly decent sort of Saxon. We asked whether we could go forward as we both were very anxious to see a fight. *'You can't go yet," he replied, "as you would most certainly be shot, but later, when things have quieted down, you may perhaps be able to go with safety, and by the way do you happen to have any cigarettes, I have not had a decent smoke for a week?'' So I handed him a nearly full box, telling him to keep them, for I fully expected to be back in Ghent within a few hours. I then asked if he IN BELGIUM— A PRISONER 31 had any objection to my taking a photograph of him and his men. He did not object at all, in fact he was very much pleased. "Don't forget to send me prints after the war," he said, as he wrote his name and address on the envelope containing my passport. *'I shall be delighted to do so only, of course, there won't be any Germans left when we have finished with you." He replied, *'You mean there won't be any Enghsh left." How little either of us realised what was be- fore us, and how soon that war would develop into such gigantic proportions. That it would last even until Christmas of that year did not seem probable, for we in general knew nothing on the subject. We all thought that with mod- ern methods conditions would be made so intoler- able that no country could endure the slaughter which apparently must result. Only those who were in high command, and who had studied the subject, understood that there was a probability of the war continuing for many years. Did not people regard Lord Kitchener as a pessimist when he said we must prepare for at least three years? That period has passed and the end is sa WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED not yet in sight. But to go back to our interview with the Saxon officer. By half past three the sounds of fighting had subsided. Only an occasional shot disturbed the stillness of the afternoon. We were told that it would be reasonably safe to go forward and foolishly enough we went. Our way led us through a small one-street village which had not been molested. The people stood about in groups talking over what had been going on in the near- by village of Melle, and we gathered from what they said that the place had been completely de- stroyed, and a great many civilians and troops killed. While pressing along the road between the two villages a German sentry warned us not to walk on the paved part as he said it was mined. Why he let us pass I cannot understand, but he asked no questions. Evidently he imagined that we had a right to be there. Soon we came on signs of the recent conflict, buildings burned or destroyed by shell, bodies of Belgian troops and occasional peasants in civilian garb, lying about in the queer distorted attitudes so common on the battlefield. Here and there the carcass of a cow or a pig lay across the road, often with the body of a soldier lying against it showing that the man had been foolish enough IN BELGIUM— A PRISONER 83 to trust to the soft body for protection against the enemy's bullet. All that remained of the village of Melle was the row of slowly burning cottages. A truly desolate sight. I was in the act of securing a photograph of the scene, in the foreground of which lay a poor Belgian soldier slowly burning, when a German cyclist approached without my seeing him. Quickly dismounting he seized my camera, and was about to break it, when I made him understand that it contained the photograph of one of his officers. At first he seemed incredu- lous, but on being shown the name and address written in the officer's own handwriting he some- what reluctantly handed back the camera. But strange to say, he did not seem in the least sur- prised and never even asked us what we were doing. Had we possessed a particle of intelligence we would have been satisfied with what we had seen and returned, instead of which we very foolishly continued on the road to trouble with the result that within a few minutes we were taken prison- ers by a number of soldiers, who, asking no ques- tions, led us straight to their officers. The prospect looked very dark and I must confess to having experienced a most disagree- Q4i WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED able sinking sensation in the region of my heart. That we should come out of it alive did not seem possible. I, at any rate, was an Englishman, and had been seen trying to use a camera in a region that could not by any stretch of imagina- tion be considered healthy for photographic work. The interrogations to which we were subjected by the group of ferocious unsmiling officers were brief. Gleason said he was an American out on newspaper work, while I proclaimed my British nationality, showed my imposing pass- port, and said that a thirst for knowledge and a roving disposition had brought me to Belgium to look on. The Germans have no sense of humour. They never so much as smiled, but brusquely ordered us both into a field and placed us under guard. Apparently we were not to be shot — just yet. Pretty soon a couple of large motors came along filled with a grand array of German staff officers. They stopped near us and began discussing the name of the village which their troops had so thoroughly destroyed. Evidently there were several different opinions, and, strange to say, I was called up and asked the name. I told them quite truthfully that I was a stranger, and so I was dismissed, and not even thanked for giving such valuable information. IN BELGIUM— A PRISONER 35 Life was getting to be very monotonous and we could elicit no information from our silent guards. Once an officer came by and we asked him if we could go as we were tired of doing nothing. His only reply was a growl which seemed to mean, "No, damn you," so we stayed. With the approach of evening other prisoners were added to the haul until we numbered nearly thirty. The newcomers being all Belgians who like ourselves imagined they were doomed to decorate the front of a convenient wall. Under the circumstances they were fairly cheerful, though there was no undue hilarity noticeable. Shortly before sunset we were greatly inter- ested in watching the German troops arrive, some 15,000 in all. Everything was done in the most orderly manner. Their neat bivouac tents were arranged in straight lines. ^ Their camp-cookers came up, and rations were distributed in a most business-like way. Few commands were given and those in a surly, bullying tone. Some of the officers carried small whips with them, evidently with the idea of accentuating orders. What a marked contrast to the way our officers treat their men! The troops were extremely well clothed and equipped but were by no means a cheerful lot. 36 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED There was none of that jolly banter that is al- ways to be found among our fellows. Not even any of that inevitable good-natured grumbling in which our men always indulge, especially when there happens to be no reason for it. I have al- ways noticed that the British Tommy's grum- bling, or grousing, as he prefers to call it, is in in- verse ratio to cause. In other words the more comfortable he is the more he complains, while when everything is miserable, when it pours with rain, when the twelve-mile march measures twenty, even v/hen his rations fail to turn up at the proper hour, he searches thoroughly for whatever there may be of a funny side to the situation, and promptly blossoms forth into song and jest — all of which is a Godsend, and helps so greatly to make the burdens as light as possible. The German soldiers struck us as perfectly trained but rather dull, and altogether too quiet. The food served to them from the camp cookers was, as far as we could see, a thick stew which smelt rather good. There was also a hot bever- age, which I suppose was coffee, but our hosts were thoroughly inhospitable, and never offered us any sort of refreshment, though I would ihave given a good deal for a drink of cold water. Shortly before dark we were moved forward, IN BELGroM— A PRISONER 0T and placed immediately behind a long straight freshly made trench. This was scarcely three feet deep, and the parapet about two feet high, composed of earth and coils of wire, taken from a nearby concrete factory. In the trench the men placed a lot of straw taken from a poor peasant'iS wheat stack, and there they slept with theu' rifles all laid on the parapet. How strangely unlike the trench methods of to-day! Around us a strong guard was placed, with one sentry in the centre of our little group. To make sure that we would not escape a lantern was hung so that we could be easily watched. The extraordinary precautions for our safety struck us as comical and I even ventured to laugh whereupon I received strict injunctions that laughing was forbidden. We were forced to lay flat, and the space allowed was so small that we were actually on top of each other, and were mis- erably uncomfortable and very cold. One human sort of sentry slipped a sheaf of oats to me and it made life more endurable, besides furnishing pie with food, for I peeled the husks and ate the grain. My light breakfast of the early morning was so very remote that my stomach had com- pletely forgotten it. One thing which rather disturbed our equanim- 38 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED ity was the fact that, so far as we could under- stand, we were to be used as a shield to protect our captors on their march into Ghent. I am not usually very particular as to what use I can make of myself, but the prospect of having the honour of leading the Huns did not appeal to me from any point of view. In fact, without any suggestion of untruthfulness, I may say that I thoroughly disliked the idea of being a human shield, for I knew how well the Belgians shot. However, there was a funny side to it, and once again I laughed with very nearly disastrous re- sults. Our hosts did not omit the customs of polite society for they sent an officer to bid us *'good night" and "pleasant dreams." Translated, his words, or growls, were, "If any one of you speaks, gets up or moves you will ail be imme- diately shot." We replied with great polite- ness, "Good night," whereupon he glared at us most ferociously and growled some rude remarks which lacerated our feelings to such a degree that we could scarcely refrain from a burst of laughter. Fortunately, however, we did control our features, but we lamented the fact that the Germans are so entirely without humour. That night was one that must live in my mind IN BELGIUM— A PRISONER 39 SO long as I stay on this troublesome old earth. Picture the scene to yourself: a small group of closely - huddled - probably-going-to-be-shot hu- man beings, very thoroughly surrounded by a portion of the magnificence of the gi^eat German army, all in full battle order. On our right a row of some fifteen burning cottages, the red glare from which painted everything in fantastic danc- ing patches of dull red. All was as quiet as the poor dead bodies that lay scattered along the road, staring with unseeing eyes at the starlit heavens. Behind us, beyond the groups of sleep- ing men and watching sentries, stood the remains of several corn stacks which had been torn apart to furnish bedding for the men (grain was not so valuable in those days, and wasteful destruction '^as the order of the day, — how little those devas- tators foresaw the time when food to them would be more precious than gold!) . Beyond these rose the pale full moon, casting its cold indefinite col- oured light on the objects surrounding us. The contrast of that cold light and the warm glow of the fires was wonderful and the bayonets gleamed now red and now v/hite in the varying light. It was beautiful but it did not seem real. It was a stage setting such as one seldom sees in nature, and I longed to put it on canvas. 40 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED The dismal crackling of the burning timber, and the peaceful snoring of the tired troops, were the only sounds, save the occasional groans of one of the Belgians who lay next to me. The poor fellow was in terrible mental agony. He lay there never for a moment taking his eyes from the nearest cottage yet saying nothing but a mut- tered heartrending, "Mon Dieu, JMon Dieu," every now and then. What a long, long night that was and how busy our thoughts were. Among other things I wondered what would my wife and children say if they could see m^? Would I see them again, and so my thoughts wandered between the short fitful dozes. The air was very keen and I wrapped a copy of the Times, which I happened to have in my pockets, around my legs to keep out the cold wind. With the first glimpse of daylight I no- ticed that the headline across my knees, in large black type was, "Germ^an Atrocities in Belgium." That did not strike me as a healthy thing to display, so I quietly and unobtrusively buried it. In the dim soft light of the early morning, when everything was painfully quiet, I noticed that my unhappy neighbour stared v/ith renewed in- tensity. The horror and pain depicted in those IN BELGIUM— A PRISONER 41 eyes I shall never forget, and what was the cause of the increased agony? A small procession lead- ing out from the nearest ruined cottage. Some black-robed priests were carrying five stretchers on each of which lay the remains of human beings, charred, distorted and so terribly still. The poor man broke dov/n at the sight and bursting into bitter tears said : "There goes my whole family. My mother, my wife and my three little children. Oh ! Holy Mother of God, why don't they kill me too? I have nothing to live for." This you may say is a small incident, but it is typical of what was happening all over Belgium and must surely call do^vn the curse of the Al- mighty on those who are responsible for the un- called-for misery and cruelty which characterised the invasion of unoffending Belgium. * * * * Thanks to a stroke of unexpected good fortune the following day saw us safely back in Ghent, but our troubles were not entirely past. It ap- peared that some Belgians had seen us going to- ward the German cavalry patrol, and had watched us go with them on the road to Melle. 42 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED With some reason they concluded that we were spies, and it reqinred a lot of explaining before we were freed from the suspicion. The fact that we had been living in a German-owned hotel, and had been taking our meals at a German restau- rant did not help our cause. I need scarcely add that we had no idea of the nationality of these places, and thought they must be all right as they were allowed to do business in this important Belgian town. CHAPTER II Wounded at Alost Nothing worth regarding as of especial in- terest occurred during the next week or two so I made a trip home and stayed there three or four days in order that my family might see that I was still alive. Dame Fortune had been good to me, and I owed it to her, and incidentally to my wife, to be more careful in the future than I had been in the past and whatever happened not again to get caught by the Germans. It is all very well to play the fool occasionally — it keeps one's blood moving and prevents that terrible disease known as vegetating, but to make a practice of doing so is not entirely desirable, as the old Dame who takes care of fools, objects to working overtime and lets you down roughly when you least expect it. For some days after my return from England nothing very exciting occurred. There had been some minor engagements and skirmishes in the neighbourhood during which a few peasants had 43 44 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED been killed and a number of farmhouses burned. We had experienced a few hours of interest when out in search of a certain hospital in which, I had been told, a brother of mine lay wounded. His death had been reported at home, but there seemed room for considerable doubt, and believ- ing that all reports following the battle of Mons must necessarily be more or less unreliable, I had followed various clues, one of which was that he had been wounded and was still in Belofium. The place was a fair distance from Ghent, so I engaged a large motor and a driver who knew the country. As we proceeded on our way, disturb- ing rumours of raiding Uhlans being in the im- mediate vicinity continued to reach us. Added to this our car proved to have very defective tyres and, as if this was not enough, the weather became very unruly. The wind increased to a gale and flurries of rain proclaimed themselves the advance party of a regular downpour. Stopping at a fair sized village we made enquiries regarding the hospital we were in search of, and learned that it had been completely abandoned. This was very unsatisfactory and left us no alternative but to turn back with the hope of reaching Ghent that night. That was a run to be remembered. Tyre after WOUNDED AT ALOST 45 tyre burst, while the rain came down in torrents. Finally when still some miles from Ghent the chauffeur announced that he could go no further. The last tyre had a bad blowout and we had no more repair material, in other words we were done. 'Now of course this should have been the moment for the Uhlans to appear, but good luck had not altogether abandoned us and they did not arrive. We pushed the car to the side of the road and abandoned it, and after search- ing for some time managed to find a man who had a carriage of sorts and so, dripping wet, very tired, and a little bit discouraged, we got back to Ghent late that night. During these weeks at Ghent there was a steady stream of refugees from the stricken areas. People of all classes driven from their homes by the ruthless Huns. Many of these unfortunates had terrible stories to tell. Some had lost their children and they told how the poor little innocent victims had been carried on bayonets by the sav- age brutes of soldiers. Others gave ghastly ac- counts of how the wretched women had been mal- treated, how some had had their breasts cut off and nailed to the doors, as a warning of what would happen to any who dared oppose the will of the invader. Others had been violated in the 46 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED most brutal manner with every imaginable re- finement of torture. It made one's heart ache to hear these fearful stories and to know that a great nation which had been considered civilised should stoop to such a barbarous means of terror- ising a peaceful people whose only crime was their faithfulness to their own small and almost de- fenceless country. Some say that the behaviour^ of the troops was due to drink but the argument is bad, for the German soldier is so highly dis- ciplined that he does not get drunk unless he is permitted as a part of a devilishly conceived plan. One camiot but believe that in many, if not most cases, the soldiers would have been loath to commit the atrocities had they not been inflamed by liquor, and there are some instances where they even refused to obey their officers and were shot because they could not bring themselves to go contrary to their better natures. One day I met an English officer, Capt. , who had been wounded at Mons and had, thanks to a kindly Belgian nurse, managed to make his escape from a temporary hospital. He told me that when he lay on the field badly wounded he saw a German army doctor or under- doctor ex- amine an English sergeant who was shot through the leg. After binding up the leg wound the WOUNDED AT ALOST 47 brute deliberately fired two revolver bullets through the man's shoulder, then strange as it may seem he bound up these fresh wounds and had the victim taken to a hospital. It happened that he and Capt. were put in the same room. The unfortunate sergeant died three days later. Surely no more cold-blooded murder could have been committed. Germany imagined at that time that she y/as bound to win, and there- fore would not be called to account for her in- human behaviour, and the violation of all the rules of modern warfare. Toward the end of September there v/as some fairly heavy fighting not many miles from Ghent. Unfortunately we were prevented from getting to it thanks first to the unscrupulous conduct of a certain newspaper correspondent w^lio by unfair means got possession of the car we had engaged. It was a great disappointment to us but we could do nothing except take a carriage which was a slow and very unsatisfactory substitute. Hov/- ever, with this we should have been able to ac- complish something had not an American press man, who evidently feared we would steal his thunder, put a spoke in our wheel hj telling some queer story to the officers who had their headquar- ters behind the firing line at a place which could 48 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED not be passed without their sanction, and they absolutely refused to honour our passes. There was nothing for it but to return to Ghent, where thanks to the American Consul we managed to secure a good car and chauffeur for the following day, when we made an early start. The fighting was on the road to Alost, at a village whose name I have forgotten. We were armed with valuable letters that would take us anywhere we wished to go. These and a lot of English illustrated papers (we bought up all the supply in Ghent) and plenty of cigarettes for presents did wonders and we met with no opposi- tion. In fact, we were received with open arms. A good share of the fighting was on, and near, the main road, so we were able to take the car right into the firing line. On our way we passed s, long stream of refugees trudging with what they could carry toward Ghent. The peasants who were on the Belgian side of the fighting line were scarcely at all concerned, but continued their every day pursuits, totally disregarding the fire of artillery, rifle and machine ^uns. When a shell would tear a branch from a tree the thrifty people would immediately go after the branch and cut it up for firewood. Their coolness was remarkable. WOUNDED AT ALOST 49 It happened soon after we had reached the Belgians' advanced position that they decided to retire a few hundred yards to where their artil- lery would get a better field of fire on the slope of a low hill. As they turned on the road I managed to secure some cinema films of both their artillery and cavalry. Curiously enough they had no infantry further forward. Having used up the spool of film that was in the camera I decided to reload before moving after the troops. This was rather unfortunate as it turned out, for the next minute the Germans opened up a steady rifle fire, all aimed apparently at the car which presumably they mistook for a machine-gun car. The first few shots went some- what wild but soon they came unpleasantly close, and I thought it safer to complete the loading of the camera while sitting behind the row of trees which lined the ditch on the roadside. For nearly half an hour we were unable to make our depar- ture as the bullets were cutting the bark about our heads. The Germans were only about 500 yards away and yet strange to say they never once hit the car. Nevertheless it was to say the least of it an awkward situation for us to be caught between the Belgian and German lines. During a momentary lull in the firing we 50 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED jumped into the car and with no regard to the speed laws made an ignominious retreat until we were well back of the Belgian front line. There was no object in remaining much longer as the fighting was dying down. On the whole the Ger- mans had had the worst of it and had lost a fairly large number of men, many of the killed being men of considerable age with quite grey hair. The next day, September 2Tth, we made an early start as we were told that there was every indication of severe fighting in or near Alost. Before we had gone more than eight or nine miles we met the sad procession of refugees which marks the German advance. For miles it was an almost unbroken line of men and women and children, some twenty thousand, all told, most of them walking, or rather struggling under im- mense burdens of household treasures, — a more extraordinary assortment of belongings could scarcely be imagined! The younger people seemed quite cheerful, but the old men and women, who hobbled along laboriously, were ter- ribly downhearted, for well they realised what the exodus meant, and to be torn from the home you have known from infancy is a hard wrench, especially when it is practically certain that the home will be completely destroyed. No wonder WOUNDED AT ALOST 51 then that they were sad and murmured bitter words against the heartless invaders. In the pro- cession were some few carriages and carts piled high with everything from beds to pictures, from people too infirm to walk to tiny babies sleeping peacefully among the collection of household gods. Carts drawn by dogs were numerous, and some there were which combined horses and dogs for their motive power. On one side of the road this dreary line marched northward, many of them would ultimately reach the hospitable shores of England, the protector of small nations ; v/hile on the other side, going south towards the ever increasing booming of guns were the Belgian sol- diers of all branches of the army, a cheerful lot who cracked jokes with the refugees and told them what they were going to do to the Ger- mans. They were a strangely hopeful body of men who did not realise in any way what lay before them. We passed one particularly jolly crowd and met the daredevil soldier who only a short time before had stolen a train from the Germans. He told us with a keen sense of humour how he had been out one day on a private sniping expedition, when he saw an empty train brought to a siding where there were a number of German troops. 52 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED Being a locomotive engineer he conceived the bright idea of making off with the train. The Germans, entirely unsuspicious, left it quite un- guarded, so he carefully crawled along the ditch and made his way to the engine and started it off. At first it did not occur to the Germans what was happening. Finally they realised that the train had been stolen, and they opened a perfectly harmless rifle fire. Thanks to our cheerful friend's loiowledge of the lines he managed to return the train to its rightful owners, the Belgians. It was late in the morning when finally we reached the outskirts of Alost, to find that there was considerable artillery activity going on. The Germans were using a few fairly large shells which they dropped about the town in a very aim- less way. We could see no definite object in the attack except a sort of general idea of destruc- tion, while the Belgians numbering in all ap- parently about 10,000 were trying to keep pos- session of the town. We paid our respects to the I General commanding the operations and asked if we might go forward to w^here the fighting v/ould be most active. I told him how anxious I was to get some moving pictures which would show our people how well the Belgians fought. He frankly expressed the opinion that I was, without any WOUNDED AT ALOST 53 doubt, a lunatic (to which I readily agreed) and that if he gave me permission to go forward I should probably get killed and blame him. He smiled when I pointed out that I would positively undertake not to blame him in the event of my getting killed, and so he allowed us both to go forward. The town of Alost was in a state of semi-de- sertion. The thousands of people we had passed on the way had simply closed their front doors. Here and there some more courageous souls re- mained in their homes, notwithstanding the warn- ings they had received from the troops. The streets were occupied by scattered lots of sol- diers, and the occasional groups of civilians who waited, hoping that the Germans would be re- pelled, and they would be allowed to remain. When we asked the way down to the street where the staff officers told us the fighting was most likely to take place, the people thought us mad and said we would surely be killed if we went there. However we finally reached the square and found it occupied by quite a fair num- ber of troops, most of them dismounted lancers. There were also a few machine guns arranged to hold the various converging streets. Just what the Germans were doing, or trying to do, was 64 WHEN THE SOMIME RAN RED diiBcult to understand. Occasionally the singing of a shell followed by terrific detonation disturbed the otherwise quiet of the day. These shells seemed to be fired simply at the town in general without any definite target. Some dropped in the homes for old w^omen, others on buildings of no special value, all doing material damage, with- out gaining any military advantage beyond show- ing the citizens that it was wise to get out while yet they could. After a talk w^ith some Belgian ofiicers we decided to go down toward the canal v/ith a body of the dismounted lancers w^ho were to hold the canal bridge. With them came two armoured machine-gun cars. The position chosen was a small street in which about fifty yards from the canal bridge a barricade (composed chieiiy of barrels of fish) was hastily thrown across. Here the troops ensconced themselves, v/hile I, select- ing a suitable place v/hich offered a good view, assembled my "movie" camera. Evidently the Germans saw it, and presumably mistaking it for a machine gun, began to be ver^T- disagreeable, fir- ing a number of shrapnel shells. These all went wide of the mark and only occasional bullets fell near enough to be picked up as souvenirs. The Belgians called them "German hail," and were GERMAN MITRAILLEUSE (MACHINE GUN) CAPTURED BY MEN OF THE BELGIAN CYCLE CORPS WOUNDED AT ALOST 55 much amused at the poor shooting. We were laughing at it all when suddenly the keen whistle of a v/ell-directed H. E. (high explosive) shell made us change our tune. That it was coming pretty straight there could be no doubt. There was equally no doubt as to the utter impossibility of doing any dodging. One's thoughts move quickly, and I remember as I stood flat against the door near which the camera was standing, wondering whether this was to be the end of my Belgian trip. The shell struck immediately over my head and I felt as though the end of the world had come. The deafening sound of the explo- sion, the falling of bricks and plaster and the choking sensation as the fumes and dust v/ere swallowed was all very terrifying. The camera was falling and I instinctively grabbed at it. Then a sharp pain stung my leg and I thought it must be broken. But on kicking it about I found that there was nothing serious the matter, only a flesh wound. The whole air seemed full of confusion, for sev- eral more shells were coming and it seemed as though I ought to be making photographs, so in spite of being rather stunned, and almost blinded, I took the camera to the other side of the street, and proceeded to turn the crank, and got a few 56 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED feet of film, though I could not see what I was getting. The handle had only been turned a few times when in the midst of the turmoil I heard the Belgians retiring at the double, and with them came the snorting machine-gun cars. Retreating apparently was the fashionable form of amuse- ment, so wishing to keep in the fashion, and not caring to be left alone, I also retreated, camera and all, and well it was that I did so for the next shell, a large one, landed within a few yards of where I had been standing. It would have very effectively cured my taste for adventure had I remained a few seconds longer. It is perhaps superfluous for me to say that I felt badly shaken and generally much the worse for wear. iYet fortunately I v/as able to keep going for some time and secured a few interesting films. While in the to^n square, after the retreat from the canal, a party of Belgian cyclists volun- teered to silence a certain German machine gun which was doing a lot of damage. They were given permission, and half an hour later returned, bringing with them the troublesome gun. To say they were delighted scarcely expresses it. It appears that they were residents of the town and knew intimately the building in which the gun had been hidden. By going through back WOUNDED AT ALOST 57 lanes and cellars they had come on the gun crew quite noiselessly, and — well, anyway, they brought the gun back, and v/ere none the worse for the experience. This I may say is very typical of the way in which the Belgian soldier likes to do things. He seems to like individual jobs, and can usually be relied upon to give a very good account of himself. The rest of the events of that day were very in- distinct and hazy in my mind. I can remember seeing black-robed priests walking and cycling into wherever the fighting was thickest and nuns, too, all bound on their errands of mercy, giving what aid they could to the wounded and dying, caring nothing for their own safety. Indeed, the unselfish work done by these good people throughout Belgium stands out with glorious clearness, and they sacrificed their lives without a murmur, satisfied only to be able to follow out the teachings of their sacred calling, to do what- ever good lay in their power without thought for themselves. This day at Alost was my last one in Bel- gium. The effect of the shell began to tell, and, realising that I was in for trouble, it seemed wise to make all haste for England. It was very hard luck having to give up just then, for only a day 58 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED or two before I had succeeded in obtaining passes which would have allowed me to go to Antwerp and do photographic work during its bombard- ment, which unfortunately seemed so imminent. But perhaps it was all for the best that for two months I was laid up as a result of the overdose acquaintance with the high explosive, for the Antwerp shov/ turned more disastrously than any one could have foreseen, and I might have found it difficult to get away. Still I remember how terribly disappointed I was when the doctor told me that Antwerp had fallen, and I was lying helpless in bed. Ghent, too, was in the hands of the Germans, and so was my "movie" camera which I had left in a small hotel. There was nothing to do but get well as soon as possible, so that I might join the army and pay back my debts to the Germans. Recovery occupied over two months, while the payment of the various debts will never be completely settled. CHAPTEK III In England, From Civilian to Soldies On December 14th, 1914, I paid my very first visit to tliat great institution the "Vfar Ofiice" and offered my services to my King and Country. Owing to the fact that I was about six years past the age limit my chances of being accepted were very siriall. Eut I assured the powers that were, that if they v/ould not accept me when I made a truthful statement of my age I would visit a beauty parlour, have my face rejuvenated, and come back with a falsified age. After some con- sideration and taking into account the fact that I had lived outdoors all my life, hunting and studying w^ild animals in various parts of the world, I was sent down to be medically examined before a decision was made. The result of the said medical examination being quite satisfactory I was promised a commission as soon as I had gone through training in an O. T. C. (Officer's Training Corps). So far so good. Next came the getting into the O. T. C. At 59 60 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED first they ridiculed the idea on account of age, but after a little persuasion I got in. Shall I ever forget those months of training! Being com- pletely ignorant of all drill the reader may well imagine what I went through. Whatever con- ceit had existed in my composition was totally and very thoroughly removed. I became the wormiest of worms, the kind that did not dare turn. I perspired, or I should say sweated (be- cause only officers are allowed to perspire, pri- vates sweat) out of sheer fright when I made glaring mistakes. At first we drilled in London (I was in the Inns of Court O. T. C. known as the "Devil's Own"), and were duly stared at by the ever curious and that of course made me extra nervous. Then came the move to the camp out in the country and here the Regimental Sergeant Ma- jor, the terror of the "rooky," got in his very good work. He searched diligently for any traces of conceit in each one of us, and when he found it proceeded, w^th great gallantry and dash, to launch his attack. The result was withering. Some poor fellows fainted under the ordeal. Of course it was not long before I gave him an op- portunity for personal remarks. I made a mis- take, or to be more correct some one else made FROM CIVILIAN TO SOLDIER 61 the mistake, and it placed me out of my proper position. Not being quick enough to grasp the situation I stood firm in a place where I should not have been. Suddenly six feet tv/o inches (it looked like fifteen feet) of very straight Sergeant Major loomed up directly in front of me, and a voice like an ocean-going steamship foghorn bel- .owed for the whole world to hear "You blithering idiot ! What the H do you think you're do- ing, having your photograph taken?" etc., etc., etc., etc. He wanted me to answer him back when he would really and truly have laid me out, but I had not been born in the army, and had all my family in it, for nothing. With great bravery ,(for I was much too frightened to do anything else), I stood fast at rigid attention and stared, unseeing past the great man. What were my thoughts during this ordeal? My sense of hu- mour was most dangerously tickled, and I had the utmost difficulty in keeping my face straight. What would have happened had I laughed, good- ness only knows. But there I was, a man between forty and fifty years old, accustomed to being treated with respect, to governing instead of being governed, being "cussed" by a man w^ho or- dinarily would have had to say "sir" in speaking to me, and yet, was not this part of that great 62 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED thing called discipline, the thing that is the key- note of a soldier's successful training, without which soldiers are little more than unruly mobs. All this passed through my mind as I accepted my "dressing down" and I felt not the slightest resentment. For the time being I was IT while the other rookies smiled. But soon another fellow was attacked and he, foolishly, tried to exculpate him- self, to explain how and why it was he had made a certain mistake. This was what the R. S. M. was looking for and he "did himself proud." The very earth shook with his roars as he explained with unwonted vigour what he and all other de- cent soldiers thought of the man who presumed to "answer back," and we all stood smartly to attention, the bitter winter wind nearly freezing us, while we tried our best to keep our faces from any indication of smiles. I may add that no one in that company ever again attempted to explain his mistakes to the K. S. M. on parade. Off parade v/e could be sure of a most kindly wel- come. Advice and help were given generously, for he was a splendid fellow and he taught me very many valuable lessons. For nearly three months I remained in the O. T. C. We started work each day long before FROM CIVILIAN TO SOLDIER 63 dawn, when the roll was read out by the aid of an electric torch while we stood and shivered in the bitter cold, and woe betide the man who was late, and we worked all day. When we were not drilling, or attending lectures, or digging trenches, we were cleaning our boots or our rifles, for on each parade we had to appear smartly turned out, and as it rained every day except when it snowed, keeping ourselves and our rifles clean was not an easy task. Then we had those joyous 'night opps" (night operations) when we fought very imaginary battles and marched very real miles, for the battle ground was always chosen as far away as possible from our billets, and we very seldom had the slightest idea of what we were supposed to be doing, while the question of who won was regarded as a strict military se- cret and under no condition was it allowed to leak out. Still I suppose it was all good train- ing, it hardened us at any rate and that was very necessary. There was one marvellous institution which al- ways struck us as difficult of explanation. Dur- ing that v/inter of '14-'15 a severe form of in- fluenza was very prevalent. If any of us were not feeling well and had bad colds, in most cases the beginning of "flue," we we-^e given L. D. 64i WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED (light duty ) , and this consisted of sitting in a bit- terlj^ cold and draughty lumber yard (where our mess and kitchen were situated) on the edge of a canal, while we fished icy cold potatoes ou^" of tubs of icy cold water and peeled them with blunt knives. Now this did not in any instance cure the cold or intercept the "flue" strange though it may seem, and the net result was far from satis- factory. ]My stay m the camp ended for me on March 15 when I received the glad news that I had been given a commission as a Lieutenant in the nth battalion of the King's Own Yorkshire Light In- fantry, having jumped a grade on account of my age. Packing up was a quick job, and I was homeward bound within an hour after receiving the welcome news, feeling tremendously impor- tant, for was I not a real (though temporary) officer in his JMajesty's Army? I was granted a few days' leave in order to get my uniform and kit (the uniform had been made for over a month and only needed the necessary regimental but- tons and badges) and was as proud as a peacock of my new feathers, while my children were even more proud and took the utmost delight and satisfaction in seeing their father saluted. It \vas most amusing. FROM CIVILIAN TO SOLDIER 65 Then came the day when I joined my bat- talion. That was one of the greatest days of my life, one that will never be forgotten so long as I live. As I look back at all that has passed, and think of the delightful lot of fellows that were my companions for so many months, and now, how few of them remain! The years of war have thinned their number most pitifully. Every one has been in the casualty list, and some have been wounded several different times. No better lot of feEows had any battalion. We were like a huge family, working, studying, playing, and living together, with the one object in view, and that object is not yet attained. It is perhaps unnecessary to go into any de- tails of my life in England. Of how I first tried to move a company the day after I joined, as the company commander was otherwise engaged. The agonies I went through. The dread of the first General's review, in fact of all the things which every new and imperfectly trained ofiicer must go through. Yet with it all I look back to the months of training as some of the happiest in my whole life. There was the great satisfac- tion of seeing the men develop ; when I first saw them they were in any sort of clothes, without rifles or equipment. Then came the great day 66 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED when the Idiaki uniform arrived, followed soon by the leather equipment, and the consequent difficulties of assembling the endless parts, and then rifles to take the place of the soulless dum- mies, and the men felt that they were really sol- diers and we were, oh, so proud of them! Each march through the town in which we were billet- ed was a sort of triumphal procession. Our Colonel, who fortunately was a regular, took the greatest pride in the battalion, and in- stilled in every one the keenest sense of pride and respect, and the battalion increased in smart- ness and efficiency in a most gratifying way. Our life was a thoroughly happy one, for with scarcely an exception we all pulled together. My own po- sition was in a way rather curious as the Captain, who was second in command of our company, was a f ellov/ considerably less than half my own age. A splendid chap in every way under whom it was a pleasure to serve. He knew more than I of matters military and so it was but right that he should have rank senior to mine. In our army we do not feel that rank must be according to age, we have many second lieutenants who are forty or even forty-five years of age and who do not feel that it is beneath their dignity to take or- ders from men very many years their junior. It is FROM CIVILIAN TO SOLDIER 67 all a part of the discipline which is such a splendid thing for us all, both young and old. Our life during the period of training was one of constant activity. We all had to learn from the very beginning what was necessary for the making of soldiers. In less than a year we must be converted from peaceful citizens, enjoying the privileges and luxury of civilian life, to well-dis- ciplined fighting machines, and modern warfare calls for such a vast amount of technical knowl- edge that every minute of our time was thorough- ly occupied. Fortunately the enthusiasm of our men was wonderful. Not only would they do what work was demanded of them, but on Sat- urday afternoons and Sundays, when they could have rested, they would ask us to give them spe- cial instructions. It was indeed a pleasure and a privilege to help to the utmost of our power. The days seemed only too short for us to do what we wanted yet we worked frequently from 6 a. m., our first parade for physical training, till mid- night or later. The Huns might speak of us as an untrained rabble, but we were determined to show them that when we took to the field, be it in France or elsewhere, we should be able to dem- onstrate that even the untrained British rabble was equal, if not superior, to the highly trained 68 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED German troops, born and educated to the one idea of fighting. Looking back at events after these more than three years we cannot but feel a thrill of pride at the way our men have behaved in the greatest war that has ever been fought for right against wrong. In June of 1915, owing to appendicitis I was forced to undergo an operation and had the bad luck to be laid up for over two months. Hearing from our Colonel that the battalion would soon be leaving for abroad I rejoined before properly regaining my strength, which resulted in my hav- ing a breakdown, and I was not allowed to accom- pany them when in September they left for France. It was a bitter night for me as I bid good-bye to the fellows and saw them march off in a dense fog shortly after midnight. Not to be going with them was one of the greatest dis- appointments of my life and I was left behind to clear up camp (I. C. details w^as the name of ^y jot)). How utterly dreary and deserted it was! The endless empty huts, the silent mess, which so recently had been ringing with song and laughter of the fellows who were so keen to get into the fight, and now they had gone ! After clearing up the camp I was laid up till December, when I joined the reserve battalion FROM CIVILIAN TO SOLDIER 69 stationed in the Midlands and remained with it until March when the Medical Board (after strong persuasive arguments and appeals) passed me fit for G. S. (General Service) . Needless to say I was delighted and immediately applied for embarkation leave of four days, and within a week was on my way to "Somewhere in France." We were a jolly crowd of some hundreds of officers, all bound to various units, and all in the highest spirits. Nearly all had friends or rela- tives to see them off, and it was interesting to watch the heroic efforts of the women, v/ives, mothers, children and sweethearts to keep smil- ing when one Iviiew how very near the tears were. But crying in public is not considered the proper thing for our women, and least of all v/hen seeing their men going to war. Dry, or almost dry eyes and smiling faces were the rule. Yet one won- dered what would happen when the excitement of the departure had passed, when that crowd scattered and returned to their homes. They were proud to have their men go to fight for the country. Not for worlds would they have had them stay behind and seek soft jobs in England. Yet the dread of the future must have been hard to face. With none of the excitement which keeps the men at the front busy and cheerful, and pre- 70 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED vents too much thinking, the woman has the harder task, the terrible task of waiting, waiting and always dreading the arrival of the fatal tele- gram which to so many means the end of all that they have held most dear. As the clock struck the hour the long crowded train started. Every window blocked by weather- browned faces anxious for the very last glimpse of the waving mass on the platform, and soon London was a thing of the past, a grey smoky blur. We settled ourselves down for the jour- ney, and for a time a strange quiet prevailed. Men were actually thinking, yet no one would have dared discuss his thoughts. Gradually con- versation began, began as usual with the light- ing of cigarettes. What a strangely sociable lit- tle friend is the cigarette. It breaks the ice of reserve among men as nothing else does and leads to the forming of many a friendship. PART II CHAPTEK IV Rejoining My Battalion Our trip to France was entirely uneventful and on landing at B we all received our in- structions. With several others of my regiment I was to leave that evening for the base, Etapies, commonly known to Tommy Atkins as ''Eat Ap- ples," and we arrived in due course in the midst of a howling snowstorm. Guides met us and took us and our kits to our respective tents in which we were soon packed like sardines. Each man had his ''flea bag" (sleeping bag of blanket with waterproof canvas cover properly known as a valise). In the morning after overcoming cer- tain diiiiculties in the way of shaving, etc., we reported to the adjutant, a delightful fellow who gave us our instructions. We were to draw "iron rations" (tinned beef, dry biscuits, marmalade, and a tin containing tea, sugar, and a cube of beef extract), gas helmets, field-dressing outfit, 73 74 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED and sundry other articles considered necessary for the welfare of the soldier, and the following day entrained for the Front. To my great delight I found myself bound for my old battalion. That was indeed a relief and a piece of extraordinary good luck. To have gone among a lot of strangers would have been hard to say the least of it. The train journey was slow and rather unin- teresting. On our way we stopped for a few hours at a fair-sized town where, after some dif- ficulty, we managed to secure a bath, of sorts. The French people have discovered that we are a very dirty race, and therefore need a great deal of washing, so a few wide-awake ones have bought large tubs, or even baths, and arranged for a lim- ited, strictly limited I might say, supply of hot water, and for the sum of two francs or so we are allowed to disport ourselves more or less according to our national custom. Privacy is not included in the agreement and while we, perhaps half a dozen to a room, remove the dust of travel, Madame and her husband come in and out and keep us supplied with water and towels. It is all a trifle primitive, but better than nothing. Following the bath, a fair dinner, with abundance of vin ordinaire put us REJOINING MY BATTALION 75 all in good humour and we resumed our journey arriving at B 1 before midniglit. The bat- talion was in "country" billets a few miles away^ so we put up at the hotel and in the morning found the mess cart awaiting us. It was delightful getting back to the old lot. Of course many changes had taken place. They had been in the battle of Loos which had taken its toll, and the long winter months in the trenches had also taken a few. Still the regiment had been lucky and most of the old lot were there. It was like going home to see them all again. They all had had experience of war, while I was green, which made me feel very inferior. I was fortunate enough to be given a company imme- diately, and consequently was much pleased with life. Our billets were in farm houses of very unprepossessing appearance and most unsavoury odours. Does not Bairnsfather describe them as buildings surrounding a rectangular smell or words to that effect? Well, that just about fits it. Cleanliness was not, and in many instances the people were far from friendly. Notwith- standing the fact that they received good pay for all the VvTretched accommodation, they did noth- ing but grumble. The Battalion was resting, i.e., not in trenches, but busy with parades and exer- 76 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED cises necessary for smartening up. I had a splendid lot of junior officers and our company mess was as jolly and harmonious as possible. Within a few days we received orders to move, but there was no intimation as to w^hat our des- tination would be. One cold morning before daylight we started on a march of about eight miles to the railroad. On arriving, there was a short delay and we entrained for the south, the men chiefly in freight cars, and the officers in first- and second-class carriages. All day we moved along in a most aggravatingly slow way, finally detraining shortly before dusk not far from Ainiens. We were all tired and dirty, and the men badly in need of tea, so as soon as the camp cookers were unloaded, preparations were made for a hot meal before proceeding on the next stage of our journey, about thirteen miles of marching. As darkness set in, the sky to the east reflected the warm glow of the guns and the cold silver colour of the star shells, and the low booming told us that we were not very far from the firing line. Those of us who had not been into battle began to realise what lay ahead of us, and we could not help feeling a certain queer tingling sensation at each burst of the ominous red light. REJOINING MY BATTALION 7*7 I My own thought was that some poor fellows were probably being killed or wounded, and when we moved along to the cheery singing or whistling of the men, war seemed a strange thing, a thing of infinitely great contrasts, and such a foolish and inhuman way of settling the affairs of na- tions. Here we were a body of men all brought up to peaceful pursuits to whom the idea of kill- ing our fellow beings or of allowing ourself to be killed had not come into our heads until a few months ago, and yet now we were like thousands of others marching along as cheerful as boys go- ing on a picnic, when if v/e would but give thought we must know that this march was taking us one step nearer to that wonderfully terrible thing, the modern shell torn, gas swept, barb-wired battle- field. I have often w^ondered w^hether the aver- age soldier does much thinking. Does he look ahead and analyse what is before him? I do not believe he does. He just plods along patiently, doing his allotted tasks, quite happy if his imme- diate body comforts are satisfied, and giving little or no thought to what fate may have in store. It is better so. While tea was being served, the French girls did a thriving business with chocolate, and cakes of low quality and high price. Tommy Atkins 78 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED seldom misses an opportunity of spending his very small amount of money and can never refuse to buy from the girls, no matter what their na- tionality. Darkness set in before we were ready to move, and then followed a very dreary march to the village of La N , which was some twelve miles behind the front line. We were all very tired before starting and it took a great deal of work to keep things going, and in spite of all we could do the singing slowly died dov/n as mile after mile was passed. Toward eleven o'clock it seemed as though that march would never end ; the men smiled sadly and unbelievingly when I told them v^e had only a mile and a half more to go; they were quite surprised to find half an hour later that I had really told them the truth. We entered the straggling village and were met by our billeting officer and the battalion inter- preter who guided us to our various quarters. After seeing that my company was properly housed in a couple of very airy barns, I joined the other officers and we went to our billets and met a delightful welcome from a couple of elderly French women who insisted on giving us bowls of black coffee with rolls and eggs. These people were quite a different type from those we had REJOINING MY BATTALION 79 been staying v/ith near the Flanders border, and we found everything as clean as possible and to our joy each of us officers had a separate bed with nice clean sheets, and as it was well after mid- night, and we had been up since three o'clock, no time was lost in seeking the sleep we so greatly needed. The following week we spent at the village do- ing a certain amount of training and attending to the men's equipment, special gas helmet instruc- tion being given on account of the Germans' con- tinually increasing use of this vile form of war- •/ c_> fare. At the end of the week we moved forward to the village of B — — e, which was only about six miles from the front. Owing to the limited accommodations we were closely crowded into our billets but still, as usual, managed to make the best of things, and soon settled down after the ordinary amount of grumbling. We were fortunate in having secured a most comfortable mess for the company officers, but it was too good to last. Some senior officers discovered our com- fort and we were promptly evicted and had to put up with very inferior quarters. It might perhaps be well to explain to the reader how we arrange things when we are sta- tioned "Somevv^here in France." The Brigade, 80 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED consisting of four Battalions, usually moves from place to place as a unit, but in order to allow for the separate disposition of the component parts, each company is made a complete unit which can be sent away without interfering in any way with other arrangements. This means that the of- ficers of each company run their own mess, one of their numbers (and there are usually five and sometimes six officers ) acts as mess president and he takes charge of accounts and buys all the things necessary, pays for the room, and every week a settlement is made, the total expenditure being divided equally. The officers receive the same rations as the men and supplement this good, though somewhat unvaried, diet with such luxuries as eggs, fresh butter, fruit, cofiee and whatever liquid refreshment is procurable. Each mess has its inevitable gramophone and receives its newspapers both daily and weekly illustrated, and is in a way a miniature club. As regards the men the organisation is not very dif- ferent from what it is at home except that the ser- geants are not always able to have tlieir own mess, though occasionally they manage to arrange this Vvdth more or less satisfactory results. Each company is supposed to have its own travelling cooker, and this usually stays with the company. BILLETS Tommy, always cheerful, manages to make himself comfortable, more or less, even in the most dilapidated of buildings. REJOINING MY BATTALION 81 except of course during the time we are in the trenches, when it stays in some reasonably safe place as close to the line as possible, and the cooked food is sent up to the men by specially detailed ration parties. At each village where any number of troops are quartered there is usually a Y. JM. C. A. hut, or a converted barn, and this is a veritable god- send to the men, where free stationery is fur- nished so that letters may be written in comfort. It is their club. Games and music are arranged for whenever possible and supplies of the ordi- nary necessities and some modified luxuries may be bought by the men at reasonable prices. In every way these Y. M. C. A. places are of the greatest value and they should have the utmost support of all who have at heart the welfare of the men who are giving up everything in the way of homie, and home comforts, in order to do their share to free the world from the threatened tjTannj of German domination. The only other place of amusement that is to be found in our billeting areas is the "theatre," usually a large barn in v/hich a rude stage is erected with very much home-made scenery and settings. In these theatres both plays and motion pictures are shown, and the diversion is most excellent as it 82 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED takes the men's minds away from the everlasting military work and thought. The plays are given by amateurs or ex-professional men in khaki, and by kind-hearted theatrical people, men, who for some reason cannot get into the army, and women, who volunteer their services as a contri- bution toward the welfare of the men who need healthy amusement just as they need food and clothing. The theatres are to be found well with- in the zone of fire though seldom nearer than three or four miles from the actual front line trenches and it is not an uncommon thing to see a shell hole decorating the building in which the plays are given. CHAPTER V First View of the Trenches While at B e I made my first visit to the trenches with the three other company com- manders. They had all seen a fair share of trench life and there was no novelty to them, but to me everything was new and of course most interest- ing. As the distance from B e to where we v/ere likely to be shelled was about six miles we made the journey on horseback in order to save time. Our way took us along the crowded dusty roads and through the one long street which com- prised the village of M e, where many of the houses were more or less destroyed by shells, and it struck me as strange that so many of the people continued to live in such unsafe quarters. From this village our way took us along a shell-marked road on the sides of which screens of burlap and brush were arranged to conceal the passing traf- fic from the eyes of the enemy. Beyond the village everything was desolation, the roadside estaminets, where the peasants used 83 84 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED to meet and take the mild drinks of the country, were now only masses of ruin; fields, formerly so well cultivated, were now barren wastes on which even weeds could scarcely grow. The trenches of the opposing sides were clearly visible as we rode forward, strange white chalk-edged lines on either side of No Plan's Land. The day was unusually quiet and only an occasional burst of shell showed that the war was still on. Now and then a sniper's rifle would destroy the quiet with sui^i^rising suddemiess. But the singing of the larks and the general air of peace and quiet were not at all what one would have expected to find. Here and there along the roadside often guarded by shrines and crucifixes from which gazed the agonised face of Christ we passed the graves of French soldiers who had given their lives for their glorious country, and on these mounds of earth lay faded flowers, while many of the graves were surmounted by a simple cross on which instead of the image of the crucified Christ hung the weather-beaten cap of the fallen man. Occa- sionally a khaki cap told us that one of our own men had been buried alongside of his French brother in arms and on the cross was written the simple yet eloquent inscription: "No. COO private FIRST VIEW OF THE TRENCHES 85 — regiment. Killed in action, February 5, 19 ." On reaching the ruined village of Becordel we dismounted and left the horses in charge of a gi'oom while we proceeded on our way to the front line. The first first half-mile was through the communication trenches, kregular, narrow, zigzag ways which led us to the main system of the firing line. We had been given a guide at the Battalion headquarters and he took us to the various company dugouts along the line. These were simple affairs lacking in most of the ordi- nary requirements considered necessary for com- fort. A rough table usually occupied the greater part of the excavation in addition to which there was something in the way of a seat or two. On beds composed of sandbags or ragged v/ire net- ting were sleeping officers who had been up all night and were now trying to snatch a wink of sleep. A guttering candle was the only form of illumination and it barely made the darkness visible. There were brief introductions to the sleepy inmates who immediately offered the in- evitable cigarette without which in our life at the front no introduction seems quite complete. The rough v/alls of the dugout were adorned by a few pictures from the illustrated papers. 86 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED The usual selection being, one or two of the in- imitable Bairnsfather cartoons and by way of contrast some of the coloured pictures of fair but not over-clothed damsels from La Vie Paris- ienne. After a brief talk with the fellows the company commander, who was a second Lieutenant, of- fered to take us out and show the line. He did it most cheerfully for our coming meant that he was to be relieved within a few hours and that is an event of considerable moment to those who oc- cupy the first line. For obvious reasons it is not advisable to have detail maps of the trenches, as there is always the possibility of the Germans making a raid, and the capturing of a map would be most undesirable. The trenches being some- what complicated it was necessary that we should take very careful, mental notes of everything, and it was surprising how many things had to be noted. To me, unaccustomed to trenches as I was, it seemed a most difficult task to obtain and memorise a correct and adequate picture of the whole system. Especially as few of the trenches had names on them. The lack of signs seemed almost inexcusable and I determined that the first thing I would do on "taking over" would be FIRST VIEW OF THE TRENCHES 87 to put some sort of sign-board in every corner in order to avoid confusion. We found the trenches in fair condition though in places there v/ere stretches of badly demolished line, certain spots were shelled regularly our guide told us and they had given up in despair all attempts at repairs. Each time they had tried to rebuild these places the enemy had interrupted the work after an hour or so by vigorous straf- ing j which resulted in many casualties. While crossing these danger zones we had to crawl to avoid being seen by the ever v/atchful German sniper. For the m.ost part the trenches were fairly dry and the bottoms covered with "duck boards," i.e., wooden grills, much like the wooden "sidewalks" so often seen in some parts of Amer- ica. These prevent the bottom of the trench from being worn by the constant traffic and en- able one to walk dry shod during moderately rainy weather. The wet chalk or clay makes these boards very slippery so that walking is al- most impossible without hob-nailed boots, espe- cially for men carrying heavy loads. Needless to say the extraordinary regularity which characterises the practice trenches at home was entirely lacking. The size of the bays and traverses varied according? to conditions. The 88 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED depth alone remaining fairly constant. In most parts the sides were sand-bagged from the bot- tom up to the parapet, in others wire netting, wooden or iron stakes or corrugated iron sheath- ing were used to support the sides. Dugouts of many sizes and in various degrees of decrepitude were located at more or less convenient places, but there had been no effort to make them either comfortable or even reasonably safe. How dif- ferent they were from those built by the Ger- mans, as we were to discover before many months. The contrast between the two was a proof of the difference in the points of view. Our dugouts were of the crudest possible type. They showed that we evidently had no intention of staying in the neighbourhood, while the wonderful!}^ elabo- rate ones made by the Germans seemed to show that they expected to remain indefinitely. I might even say for the rest of their natural lives, for that was to be the fate of so many of them. One was struck by the cleanliness of the trenches. No litter or refuse of any kind is al- lowed, and all the sanitary arrangements were thoroughly satisfactory. This is one of the great secrets of the remarkable health of our troops. The trenches being actually healthier than billets except during severe strafing and very wet FIRST VIEW OF THE TRENCHES 89 weather. The things that made perhaps the greatest impression on me not only on this first visit to the front hne, but also later on, was the seeming scarcity of men, the apathy and bore- dom, and the apparent lack of appearance of readiness. Here and there one saw a khaki-clad figure huddled under a ground cloth, looking for all the world as though he were dead as he lay on the fire-step or in some nook. In all cases such men are fully equipped and are never al- lowed to be separated from their rifle. Occasionally one came upon an industrious fellow polishing his rifle or even shaving, or what was still more frequent, writing letters home, for that is the great recreation of the men. Here and there a sentry would be found peering through a peep-hole or gazing into a home-made peri- scope. Unfortunately regular periscopes were only too rare and sticking one's head over the parapet is not a desirable form of amusement unless one wants to stay permanently in France. So the men showed a considerable degree of in- genuity in converting small shaving mirrors into periscopes. They were usually attached to the bayonet, the edge being held toward the enemy, so that it was scarcely visible. Any object that can be seen is immediately and very persistently 90 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED used as a target by the snipers. This leads to a highly praiseworthy effort on the part of every one to be as inconspicuous as possible. I was very much interested in what I saw of the crudeness of our methods of firing rifle gre- nades. At this time we did not take these weap- ons seriously, notwithstanding the remarkable efficiency shown by the Huns in using them. Not alone did they send over immense numbers of the deadly grenades, but they fired them with pain- ful accuracy. I noticed a couple of men with rifles that were clumsily fastened to stakes, to the triggers were attached pieces of string, then the grenades were put into the rifle, which was loaded with a blank cartridge and the men walked behind the nearest traverse for shelter in case the rifles exploded. Just as the two men I was watching were about to fire, one remarked, "Wait a minute. Bill, you'll hit the bloomin' parapet," so Bill returned to the unprovised rifle stand and gave the rifle butts a shove down and then looked along the barrels to see that the para- pet did not obstruct the free flight of the grenade. Having satisfied himself on this point he again sought the protection of the traverse and pulled the strings. After allowing a reasonable time for the grenades to reach their destination both FIRST VIEW OF THE TRENCHES 91 Bill and his mate looked over the top to see what they had hit. One grenade dropped fully fifty yards short of the enemy trenches and the other a little nearer, but both were utterly useless. I did not wait to see what happened next, but the whole method or rather lack of method struck me as painfully bad, and a waste of grenades, which at that time were very scarce. In front of our trenches there was a very ir- regular amount of barbed-wire, scarcely enough to offer any effective protection against an at- tack. While the German lines were most elab- orately protected by great quantities of very heavy wire. More particularly was this notice- able in front of the second and third line of trenches. The distance between our line and the Germans varied from about fifty to two hundred yards. The nearest part being in the neighbour- hood of the Tambour where a great amoimt of mining and counter-mining was being done. The net result of this form of warfare seemed nega- tive. Neither side gained appreciable advantage, but so long as one side indulged in the pleasant pastime of trying to blow up the other side, it is obvious that both had to play the same game, only we tried to do our work a little better than the Germans and, be it said to our credit, our 92 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED mines in nearly every instance were fired first, and that is a great and very important detail. The entire ground between the lines at this point was a mass of torn chalky earth and deep irregular craters — a truly ghastly confusion. Winding its erratic way among the craters hastily constructed barbed-wire entanglements were vis- ible, and on these hung several human bodies. Their tattered clothing blowing in the breeze gave the effect of scarecrows, the gruesome scare- crows of war. For the greater part No Man's Land was a desolate waste, pock-marked here and there with shell holes, a dreary uninviting tract over which the bullets of rifle and machine guns screamed all night and the sky larks sang during the comparative quiet of the day. To the East beyond the many lines of chalk- rimmed trenches lay Fricourt nestling against the small woods, which were beginning to show the faint delicate gi'een of early spring. The vil- lage v/as fairly intact and seemed strangely peaceful, yet in reality it was neither more nor less than a fort. Everything that modern mili- tary science could accomplish had been done to render the place impregnable. Its snug home- like red brick cottages w^ere bristling with ma- PIRST VIEW OF THE TRENCHES 93 chine guns and its streets covered a veritable labyrinth of underground passages and immense dugouts in which thousands of troops could be assembled in comparative safety from our guns. Our guide took us through his entire lines and then handed us over to the officers of the adjoin- ing Battalion. They in turn showed us their trenches, and after an hour or two vv^e returned to where our horses had been left, and made our way back to billets. CHAPTER VI At Becordel — Strafed Two days later we received orders to move forward. The Brigade was divided so as to hold the various integral parts of our front, and it fell to my lot in con j miction with another com- pany to take up our position at the little village of Becordel, which was about fifteen hundred yards from the front line, and from which we could see our own and the German trenches quite clearly. The village was badly dilapidated. The church and many of the houses were completely wrecked, but here and there a building: remained in fair condition except for occasional holes in the walls or roof. The Germans seem to think that we Britishers need a lot of fresh air, and as soon as they know we are occupying any particu- lar billet, they promptly proceed to ventilate the rooms by means of shell holes. We found the fellows v/ho were holding the village exceedingly pleased at the immediate prospect of being relieved. It appeared that 94 AT BECORDEL— *Sri2^F£Z) 95 every day the Huns had indulged in a "hate hour" and the shells dropped into the place in a most promiscuous and highly unpleasant fashion. The result was that there had been many casu- alties. This of course was most reassuring and comforting, for we had a spell of ten days still before us. However, there was no use in worry- ing and after we had bid good-bye to the relieved companies {relieved is a word full of meaning in such cases) we began to make ourselves at home, picked out more or less suitable places for sleep- ing and messing and saw that the men were prop- erly housed. Then instructions were issued for protection in case of shelling, dugouts and cel- lars allotted to each platoon, and rough plans made in case of attack. The village v/as a very small one built roughly in the form of a T with an open square at the junction of the lines; at the side furthest from the front line trenches there was a small field more or less protected from the Germans' view by two large barns whose roofs had been riddled by shell and shot. I As soon as the men had been dismissed they I started the inevitable gam.e of football in the small field. Everything was going smoothly when one foolish chap kicked the ball high. Ap- 96 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED parently the Huns saw it. Now if there is one thing they hate besides a Britisher and an Ameri- can it is football. This hatred dates from the time at Loos when the Irish regiment dribbled a ball across the line toward their trenches, as one fel- low would fall another put the ball forward and this showed a lack of respect for the Hun. Such an attitude is disliked b3/ the noble creature and to know that we contemptible Britishers were daring to play the game within sight of his trenches was insulting and he forthwith proceed- ed to stop it by firing a few shells. The men were promply ordered into shelter and I then started across the square to see to the safety of the rest of my men who were on the further side of the village; fortunately for me I am a slow runner, for I had only taken a few steps when I heard the whistling of a shell. Needless to say, I stopped, stopped very suddenly as the shell struck just v^'here I would have been had I been a fast runner. Had we coincided I feel convinced that the shell would have had the best of it, as it was I turned and made what I am sure was a speed record in my endeavour to reach a place of safety in a nearby cellar. The following day passed without incident or AT B^CORBEl^—STRAFED 97 shells, and we began to feel that the Hun fright- fulness had been much exaggerated, so we settled down to enjoy a peaceful ten days in our little ruined village. It was not long, however, before our tranquillity was rudely disturbed. We were about to have our five o'clock tea in the open, outside of our improvised mess, when just as the tea was being poured a shell came screaming into the village followed quickly by another. This was most annoying as we had to retreat to the safety of the cellars and when the strafing had ceased our tea was quite cold. Fortunately no other damage had been done, except that a corner of our building had been shot away. That day our C. O. (commanding officer) paid us a visit and gave the order that the officers of our two companies must separate so as to avoid the risk of all of us being knocked out at one time. Under no condition v/ere we all to congregate in one place even for meals. This meant that we must have our meals in relays as there v\^as only one room fit for a mess. A day or so later while the other company v/ere having their meal I missed one of my junior officers. On investigation he was discovered sitting in the mess. I was in the act of telling him that this was contrary to orders when my remarks were em.phasised by a 98 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED shell tearing through our verandah, a curious co- incidence which resulted in a race for the cellar; the speed with which we accomplished this act would have reflected great credit on a lot of agile rahhits getting into their burrows. One of our tasks while in Becordel v/as to fur- nish work parties to assist the tunnelling com- panies who were engaged in mining under the German lines. About half of our men had to go each night for this work, and most unpopular work it was, both for officers and men, especially during wet weather. The enemy knew exactly where our mine heads were situated and amused himself regularly each night by dropping shells and rifle grenades among the work parties. The previous occupants of our village had suffered heavy casualties in this way, so we were not sur- prised v/lien during the following night work the officers reported several wounded and one killed. Later on v/hen the men had finished their allotted task earlier than usual some of them were seized with the souvenir-hunting craze and crawled out in No J^Ian's Land to look for unexploded gren- ades. Unfortunately they discovered a few and in coming through the narrow trench on their way back to the village one let his fall ; it exploded and caused no less than ten casualties. This resulted AT BECOR'DF.I.—STRAFED 99 in an order that under no condition was any man allowed to touch unexploded shells or grenades. The following day two of the victims of this unfortunate tragedy were brought through the village for burial in the little cemetery nearby. It was the first time I had seen one of those pa- thetically simple funerals. The bodies were sewn up in Army blankets (which the Germans with their high degree of efficiency would have consid- ered criminal waste) and borne on light two- wheeled stretcher carriers ; there was no guard or firing party, no one but the Padre and the men who pushed the stretchers, and so they were taken to their last resting place over v/hich two more small crosses would be added to the thousands, yes hundreds of thousands that will remain in France to mark England's dead, her part in the great sacrifice for the rights of humanity. Many strange things happened during the night operations. I was told that on several oc- casions the Germans had sent a man over dressed in our uniform. The fellow would crawl along and watch his chance to join our work party, with them he would work until an hour or so be- fore daylight and then vanish with complete lack of ostentation, probably carrying valuable in- formation regarding our mining operation. Such 100 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED a task certainly requires courage and no one could help admiring a man who would take the risks. Each of our officers took turns in conducting the work parties, and my turn happened on a fine and fairly quiet night. After handing over my men to the various tasks allotted to them by the mining officer, I visited their dugout, had a bite of supper and then accepted the invitation to go down the shafts. These were about one hundred feet deep and we went down on rope ladders. I was glad that many years of my early life had been spent at sea as it made the ladder descent a little less unpleasant. On arriving at the bottom, I was allowed to take one of the listening devices, a sort of micro- phone w^hich was fastened in the ground. By listening carefully I could hear the Germans w^orking at their mines, apparently very near. It was an uncanny, queer, and not at all pleasing sensation being down there in the dark damp hole listening to men working with the sole object of blowing you to pieces, and I could not help think- ing of what would happen should they decide to set off their mines while I was down in the stuffy, heated and very cramped place. To tell the truth I did not enjoy the experience AT Bi:COnBEI.—S,T,AAFkp 101 and was only too glad when my guide had finished his inspection and suggested returning to the sur- face again, but my joy was short lived for on ar- riving at the top I found that I was expected to go down two more of the shafts. Pride alone pre- vented my saying that I had had quite enough to satisfy my curiosity, especially as I was being entertained by blood-curdling stories of how mines had been fired by the Huns at unexpected moments with horrible results to the wretched men who were working below. In going along the trenches I noticed cages of canaries and thought how nice it was for the men to have their pets with them, they gave a sort of touch of home. I was however, surprised to learn that these birds are taken down the saps as a test of the purity of the air. If they die the men know that the air is foul and unfit for human beings to breath so the supply of fresh air sent down by the pumps must be increased immedi- ately. 'Not so very home-like after all! It appeared that when we first took over this part of the line, the Germans had the advantage in the minin^", but that for some time nast our fel- lows had gained in every point. We had found a way of ascertaining when the enemy intended to fire his charge and thereafter we invariably 103 WKEI^; 1'HE SOMME RAN RED fifed ours first, with results entirely satisfactory from our point of view. This underground form of fighting is one of the many strange and ghastly developments of modern w^arfare and perhaps none calls for a greater degree of nerve control. It is no wonder indeed that the men frequently break down under the long-continued strain of working in awkward, cramped positions, the ter- rible suspense, and the long hours spent in the foul air, and it is astonishing that human beings can be found who will volunteer for it, knowing w^ell what hardships it entails. Shortly before daylight appeared, I w^as told that the men had completed their tasks and that they had given entire satisfaction and only one had been wounded (they were nearly all miners and thoroughly understood everything connect- ed wdth the work they had been doing), so we made our way out along the narrow crooked trenches and arrived at our village in good time for breakfast. During the rest of our stay at Becordel noth- ing of great importance occurred; as a rule we received about ^ve shells each day just to relieve the monotony; strange to say we did not suffer a single casualty from these shells, and lost very few men among the nightly work parties. The AT BF.CORB'EI.— STRAFED lOS only work of importance we had to do was the planning of an effective scheme of defence and construction of dugouts. How it was the Iluns did not give us a thorough and effective bom- bardment I could not understand as they could very easily have wiped us out with a few large shells. On the ninth day of our stay, officers from the relieving companies came to inspect the place. They had heard terrible stories of the village and were greatly relieved when told how we had fared, and returned to their billets very much pleased with the prospect of a pleasant stay in our mass of ruins. That night, shortly before the ration party arrived, as it always did about nine o'clock, the Huns sent an extra allowance of shells and two whiz-bangs (field artillery shells, so called because the whiz and the bang, that is to say the noise of the shell coming through the air, and the explosion are almost simulta- neous: if you hear the "whiz" you are alive, if you do not you are likely to be dead) landed in the street exactly where the ration party usu- ally stopped. When the party arrived we showed them the holes and it was surprising how quickly the rations were unloaded and the horses driven off at their utmost speed. They had not gone 104« WPIEN THE SOMME RAN RED more than a few hundred yards when several shells dropped in their immediate vicinity, but fortunately caused no damage, and the sound of galloping horses caused a considerable amount of amusement among our fellows, who imagine that the transport men have far too easy a time and run little or no risk. The next day we packed up our belongings and eagerly awaiting the arrival of the relief. They were not very punctual and it was late in the afternoon before they finally arrived so we lost no time in turning over the place to them, I regret to say they had very bad luck; within an hour after their arrival they v/ere caught by some shells and lost several officers and a number of men. Their ill-fortune continued throughout their stay and they suffered unusually heavy losses both while v/orking at night in the trenches and in the village itself. It is curious how luck, good or bad, seems to go with certain Battalions. For a long time past this lot had experienced nothing but ill fortune while we had earned the name of "God's own" for our exceptionally light casualties and general good luck. Later the tide turned against us and we suffered terrible losses. The march back from Becordel to our rest bil- lets was made on one of the finest nights I can AT BBCORBBJ^—STRAFED 105 remember, a clear full moon lighted our road and every one was in the best of spirits; on the way ,we stopped at a place where the camp cookers awaited us, and had tea ; it was like a regular pic- nic and then in the cool of the night we continued our way reaching our former billets at La N e about midnight, all wholesomely tired and quite ready for a well-earned sleep. [ The day following a spell in the front line is always more or less slack, a general cleaning up is necessary and there are no parades. As the baths would not be available for my company un- til the following day, I took the men to a little river not far from the village and allowed them to indulge in a swim. The British Tommy has a mania for w^ashing, and one of our greatest trou- bles is to keep him from bathing in all sorts of places whether they are suitable or not. It is a good fault but causes a certain amount of worry and anxiety. I once found some of my men bath- ing in a large pool in which were numerous dead rats, and these rats were by no means recent. The excuse was that there was no other water avail- able. The whole question of w^ater supply is a very serious one and of course the drinking of any that has not been tested is absolutely prohibited and men are severely punished for violation of 106 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED the order. Practically all the water issued to us is chlorinated which makes it safe but very nasty. However one gets used to anything, even the flavour of chloride of lime in tea, and this is a severe test of one's adaptability. During our stay in La N e we had to do a great deal of trench digging. Rest billets are so named because one gets everything ecvcept rest. It is always work and more work and the great- est ingenuity is displayed by those who arrange our itinerary in avoiding any blank periods ; each hour is filled to its limit of sixty minutes, though we are never expected to work more than 24 hours per day. Of course it keeps us out of mis- chief and certainly does not hurt our health and there is not the least opportunity for getting soft. The trench digging that we were ordered to do had a definite object, we had to reproduce the German trench system which lay in front of our line. Rumour had it that we were planning a great offensive along an extended front and that our division was to have the line opposite Fri- court, a charming spot which promised well in the way of excitement. No one knew when the of- fensive w^as to be undertaken but there was a great amount of suppressed excitement at the prospect of actually attacldng the Hun seriously and on a AT BBCORB^l.— STRAFED 107 long front, and the men worked with a consider- able degree of enthusiasm. Of course we were not allowed to discuss the scheme, but naturally every one of us recognised the arrangement of the staked-out lines that we were digging. The plan was made from a large series of aeroplane photo- graphs and was therefore fairly accurate, quite sufficiently so for our purpose. Few people realise the amount of preparation that is necessary for a big offensive, the intricate detail is bewildering, nothing can be left to chance, from the important question of water supply at each stage of the advance, to the posi- tion of the ammunition reserves, the food, the surgical requirements, the number of men needed, and the placing of them, it is an endless chain of detail. There must be complete co-ordination of the various branches of the army, so that no unit shall fail. Not only is there the main plan for the attack which presumes more or less com- plete success, but alternative plans must be worked out with equal elaboration. Even the chance of failure must be most carefully consid- ered and provided for. All of this is done by the Staff at G. H. Q., then each Division works out its own plans, each Brigade of each Division does the same, and again each Battalion and each com- 108 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED pany until finally minute orders are issued to each platoon, so that every man knows exactly what is expected of him. The trenches we had to dig wxre a small part of the preparations and were intended for use in instructing the Brigade. Over these trenches different schemes and formations for the attack were tried, until by repeated prac- tice every one knev/ what he must do when the great attack was launched. The whole thing was extremely elaborate and very satisfactory. The work, together with certain parades, oc- cupied practically all our time and energy, and our ten days passed only too rapidly. At the end of the period we moved forward a few miles to the village of V e, when for another ten days we were kept busy with various branches of training. These included demonstrations of li- quid fire and gas, and I can safely say that no part of the training is so thoroughly disliked. It is bad enough to be forced to face these bar- barous forms of warfare when actually fighting, but to enter a trench in cold blood and have liquid fire launched at the trench is, to put it mildly, very terrifying. We were using instruments which had been captured from the Germans ; they consisted of reservoirs containing oil under high pressure; the man who carries the infernal ma- AT Bl^CORBJLlu— STRAFED 109 chine directs the fire by means of a long nozzle which is pointed toward the enemy; as the oil is released by pressing a valve to which is arranged a fire jet it is ignited, and belches forth a verita- ble breath of hell with a deafening roar like Niag- ara Falls. Anything better calculated to strike terror into the heart of man would be dimcult to imagine. Yet our men had to submit to this at- tack in order that they might realise how little danger there v/as if they knew hov/ to act, the great precaution being the necessity of keeping as flat as possible in the bottom of the trench, as the fire does not fall. On April SO, I received instructions to ride forward the following day with another of the company commanders to inspect the line of trenches that we were shortly to occupy ; my line was to be the part adjoining the much dreaded Tambour so I looked forward to a very lively ten days as the Germans were particularly active on this section. Early in the morning we started and rode to within about three miles of the line and from there proceeded along the road on foot. We found that this road was subject to a cer- tain amount of shelling and in several places, there were large holes, which testified to the ac- curacy of the enemy's shooting. On nearing the AT Bi:COKDBl^— STRAFED 111 visit the enemy had been behaving badly and we were shown whole sections of trench that had been destroyed by shells. The occupying company had suffered a large number of casualties and had been unable to do much in the way of reconstruc- tion. The company officer said that every time he had attempted repairs the work party had been shelled and that finally he had given it up in despair. I was naturally interested in his re- port and inquired as to his methods. He said they found that in every case the shelling would begin after the men had been working in one part for half an hour or more, so I determined to try very short shifts. That the trenches must be repaired was imperative, if we wished to live in any sort of comfort and safety. For in their present condition they were scarcely fit to be oc- cupied. It was late in the afternoon v/hen we bid our hosts good-bj^e with the promise that we should arrive promptly at the appointed hour two days later, and arrangements were made for meet- ing the platoon guides at a suitable place. In this part of the line the reliefs were carried out in daylight; this is far more comfortable than when done at night, which is necessary in some sections. So far as comfort goes the night re- 11^ WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED lieving has absolutely nothing to recommend it, but it has to be done when the opposing lines are divided by perhaps less than fifty yards. In returning to JM e, where our horses had been left, we were told to avoid the road and fol- low a little guliy near v/hich a new communica- tion trench was being dug in order that men could be moved forward with less risk. On either side of the gully we had a number of heavy batteries which the Germans were always trying to "find," i.e., hit. As we made our way along several shells passed overhead singing their drooning song of death. Now and then they would fall in the fields on either side of us making a lot of un- necessary noise and sending great clouds of earth in the air. About a hundred and fifty yards away on our right I noticed a hare hoppmg along in a field apparently not realising that he was in a most unhealthy part of the world. Suddenly there was a tearing screaming sound and a shell landed not fifty feet away from the poor animal. For a moment he was stunned and probably v/ondered what sort of giant sportsmen were af- ter him, and then in a m^ost bewildered way he went round and round as hard as he could, grad- ually increasing the circle, v/hen another shell AT BilCORBl^TSTRAFED US came and sent up a shower of earth. I thought my little friend must have been killed, but as the air cleared I saw his white tail disappearing with commendable speed over the brow of the hill. On reaching M e we got our horses and started back but had scarcely gone halfway through the village when the gas gong sounded. The ominous v/arning sent men scurrying about and within a minute every one appeared in gas helmets ; what a queer grotesque effect they pre- sented, scarcely human! Being on horseback we thought we could avoid the gas by galloping, but before long the smell of the deadly fumes reached us and we had to put on our helmets. The fellow with me was only acting company commander and had no experience with horses ; riding was in fact a painful performance for him, especially if the animal went faster than a walk. He dis- mounted to adjust his helmet and forgot to re- tain hold of his horse and of course the beast went off, much to the fellow's astonishment. After some difficulty I recovered his mount for him and we proceeded along the road warning all trans- port of the gas. Horses were promptly unhar- jiessed and taken back as fast as possible, for in those days the animals were not provided with the protection of gas helmets. This was my first 114 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED experience of the much dreaded gas and I confess it scared me badly. By the time we had gone a few miles the air was practically clear of the poi- son as the wind had died down with the coming of evening. CHAPTER VII In the Front Line Trenches Two days later we left billets at V e and moved forward in the usual formation adopted near the front when the Battalions never move in. the ordinary column of route. This makes such 8. conspicuous line that it is considered un- J- safe, so we move in platoons several hundred yards apart. The road was so filled with traffic of all sorts that we were forced to form "two deep" as there was not room to go in fours. At the appointed hour we arrived at the place where our guides met us and each platoon v/as taken through the long irregular communication trench to its destination; as it reached the front line, the relieving and very much relieved platoon filed out from the opposite end and down the out- ward-bound trench. In company with the ser- geant-major I took over all trench stores and signed the necessary documents and bid good-bye to the officer in charge, but not before he had given us the pleasant news that after I had left 115 116 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED the previous day the enemy had been unusually active and had given them a very bad time killing and wounding a number of men and still further damaging the trenches. A corner about ten yards from the company dugout had been completely blown away and a man who was passing at the time had vanished, only one of his boots having been recovered. (Later we found one of his legs nearly a hundred yards away.) Naturally this did not fill us full of joy, and I own to a feeling closely akin to dislike for war in general and trench warfare in particular. It is one thing to run the chance of being killed while doing some- thing that looks like fighting, but to be potted while quietly ( ?) holding a piece of trench is not exhilarating at all. One feels like a cornered rat. My line of trench included a frontage of nearly three hundred yards; this gave a hundred yards to each of three platoons while the fourth was kept in reserve in the suppbrt line a hundred yards further back. From the condition of the trenches it was evident that the right sector which bordered on the Tambour was by far the hottest part, so I decided that those who held it should be relieved by the support platoon at the end of ^ve days. By the time the men had been assigned to IN THE FRONT LINE TRENCHES 117 their various posts the sun went down and soon after we indulged in the regular hours' stand-to. During this time, every one is on duty and the fire-step is manned. Nothing occurred to relieve the quiet of the evening except a volley of five rifle grenades which fortunately did no harm. After dark the usual listening patrols were posted and then we settled down to the long dreary night of v/atching. These nights seem very long and very monotonous, each side fires a number of shots across INo Man's Land, both with rifle and machine gun, this constant sharp punc- tuating of the stillness of night seems actually to add to the monotony. Each machine gun is sup- posed to fire about a thousand rounds in short volleys of ten or fifteen shots. The idea is to dis- courage the enemy from doing any prowling about near the waste of IsTo Plan's Land and pre- vent wiring parties from getting too much pleas- ure out of life. Star shells, or Verey-lights, are sent up with a frequency that is quite disconcert- ing if one happens to be doing any work outside of the parapet, and it is astonishing how conspicu- ous these cold blue lights make a man feel. Oc- casionally the Huns sent something over to re- mind us that they were not asleep, and the dull 118 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED explosions of the bursting shells made the still- ness which followed all the more noticeable. At intervals during the night the company commander is supposed to go the round of his lines to see that everything is correct and the stumbling along the dark trenches, being chal- lenged at every bay by the unseen figures, is most uncanny. Having heard that occasionally a Ger- man, dressed in our uniform, finds his way un- detected into our trenches and goes along gather- ing what information he can, I had instructed our men to be extremely careful and let no man pass no matter what his rank might be until he w^as properly identified. This caution to the men led to a somewhat amusing incident a few nights later, but only by good luck was it amusing. It nearly ended seriously. An officer of the tunneling company was com- ing to pay me a visit on his way to inspect certain saps at the left of my line. On coming round a traverse he was challenged suddenly. In reply he gave his name and business, but the sentry was not satisfied and insisted on a close examination. The officer stood still while the sentry with fixed bayonet approached to within a few feet and asked numerous questions, at the same time call- ing another man to his assistance. Fearing IN THE FRONT LINE TRENCHES 119 treachery the overzealous sentry kept his finger on the trigger of the rifle. Probably owing to nervous contraction of the finger the rifle went off unexpectedly, and the bullet passed unpleas- antly close to the wretched officer's head. It is difficult to say who was the more surprised or frightened. The unfortunate sentry thought at first that he had killed the officer, but a vigorous torrent of colourful language convinced him that he had not added a name to the casualty list, and he was equally convinced as to the na- tionality of the almost-victim. The officer came to my dugout and reported the matter and when I suggested bringing the man up for his behaviour he would not hear of it as it showed what he described as commendable alertness and thoroughness, the latter perhaps slightly overdone. Later, I interviewed the sen- try who was in a state bordering on nervous col- lapse. He was quite surprised to find that no charge would be made. I was sorry that it was not a German who had come along instead of one of our own fellows. During the night most of the men are allowed to rest unless assigned to special duty such as repair work, wiring or patrol. A certain number, one or two in each bay keep careful watch while 120 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED the others sit about ready at all times for any emergency, none being allowed to enter dugouts or leave the immediate neighbourhood of their bay. In most of the bays there is a gas gong, usually an empty brass shell case, at the first suspicion of gas these gongs are sounded and as the signal goes along the line every man is ready with his protection helmet. When the wind is favourable it is of the utmost importance that extra lookouts be posted to watch for the poison. Any little mist drifting across No Man's Land is likely to be mistaken for gas and results frequent- ly in the sounding of the alarm. Speed is so nec- essary that it is far better to err on the side of pvercaution, at the same time it must be remem- bered that the gas alarm is likely to ''put the "wind up," i.e., give the men a scare, especially among new men, and so it is not advisable that it should be sounded without cause. To avoid worrying about the direction of the wind, I made a very sensitive wind vane. This was attached to an old bayonet found in No Man's Land and placed outside my dugout in ^uch a position that it was clearly visible. When the wind blew from the enemy we of course took extra precaution. It is interesting to note that in the way of wind the Almighty has arranged IN THE FRONT LINE TRENCHES 121 things in our favour notwithstanding the German boast of divine aid. Throughout the North East- ern part of France and Flanders the prevailing wind is more or less westerly. This means that we can employ gas more frequently than those who started the vile form of warfare. It is hard to understand how the Germans could have been so careless when they made their compact and goes to show how careful people should be. The men are so accustomed to strange and brutal forms of German warfare that they imag- ine almost anything unusual is associated in some way with the enemy. An amusing example of this occurred one evening when an imonense cloud of cockchafers (insects resembling the American June-bug, but rather larger) came to us from the German line. The men seeing the apparently endless mass of flying insects thought they were in for some new Hun horror and I had great diffi- culty in persuading them that it was a perfectly natural phenomenon, and that the insects were quite harmless. Although it is true that I had never seen the cockchafer in anything like the numbers that appeared. The noise they m^ade falling on the wooden duckboards, scrambling over the loose chalk or hitting against our "tin 122 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED hats" made the task of the listening-posts ex* tremely difficult. I did not attempt to have any repair work car- ried on the first night in the trenches as the men were very tired and we had no empty sand bags, so beyond sending out a listening patrol noth- ing was done. Immediately before daylight we had the customary one hour stand-to which passed as usual without much excitement, and then the men had their breakfasts, after which rifles were cleaned and inspected and those men not detailed for duties were allowed to get what sleep they could. As company commander I had to send in various reports and I came to the con- clusion that though nominally permitted to sleep during the daytime the permission was somev/hat of a joke owing to the almost hourly reports on such things as casualties, direction and force of wind, number of grenades, amount of ammuni- tion and rockets and general altitude of the ene- my, and how many and what kinds of shells, etc., he had presented to us and what we had re- turned. In those days things were very one-sided. The Huns had apparently endless ammunition while we had very little. So our reports would read something like this. * 'Enemy fairly active. IN THE FRONT LINE TRENCHES 123 between 6.30 and 7.30 A. M, 25 shells landed on our support line from point X to Y also 45 rifle grenades, most of which fell near point ,W. From 8 A. M. till noon 30 shells and about 100 rifle grenades fell on line between Y and U. Trench badly damaged. We retaliated at 9.30 A. M. by firing 5, 5A shells at X 20d i7.2 and 15 rifle gixnades distributed on enemy front line from X 20b 7.2 and X 26b 9.2." This is about as high a proportion as we could ob- tain and showed approximately our daily allow- ance, while the Germans would frequently give us twice or even three times the above number. Besides the reports I had to send in requisi- tions for anything necessary. I mentioned my very keen desire for periscopes every day but up to the time of my leaving none appeared, so we had to manage with our home-made contrivances. I even suggested that if regular periscopes were not available I would greatly welcome penny mirrors for which I would gladly pay, but these are not part of goverrmient stores and so none came. The mention of these reports brings to my memory a certain day when I felt that a little sleep was due; for some time there had been a rather undue amount of enemy activity, such ac- 124> WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED tivity interferes with sleep. So I determined to make up a little of the shortage. With this in view I made out my reports and arranged that they should be sent off at the proper hours, and that if anything occurred while I was asleep that would interfere with the accuracy of the said reports I was to be called. Then having per- suaded most of the rats to leave the immediate vicinity of my sacred person I wrapped my mackintosh around me and went to my chicken- wire-and-sand-bag bed. Sleep was gradually coming, when with unpardonable rudeness and customary insistance the telephone called me, "Are you there?" said some one miles away. "Yes, unfortunately I am," said I in a very un- friendly way; "what's wanted?" "Please send unmediately the names of any men in your company who can play musical in- struments and what instruments they can play," said the unsympathetic voice from the region of J^o-shells and Much-comfort. "What for and who for?" said I with increas- ing and surprised indignation. "The Divisional Band." "Damn the band," said I in my haste and replaced the receiver with a slam. Now who can say that I was not justified? IN THE FRONT LINE TRENCHES 125 Imagine my going round to the wretched tired men and asking each one what instruments they played. Even the strictest discipline would not have prevented them from wishing me in some place in which only asbestos instruments could be safely used. I confess I felt thoroughly in- subordinate. I was much interested to notice that my dug- out received each day a great amount of attention from German snipers. The shots always struck about the same spot which happened to be direct- ly over my "bed"; besides the bullets a few rifle grenades were also dropped on the same place at odd moments. For a long time I was at a loss to understand why this should be, so one eve- ning I crawled over the parapet and took a look at the sky line of my dugout as seen from the enemy point of view and discovered a small stake protruding about two feet above the earth work. This evidently was mistaken for a periscope, and was the target which attracted so much unwel- come attention; on removing it the firing ceased. My dugout was a very primitive affair about ten feet square, and six feet high with the floor two feet or so below the level of the trench. The sides were of chalk, and the roof composed of corrugated iron, covered with an absurdly thin 126 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED layer of chalk, loose and in sand bags ; every time a shot struck anywhere near, the chalk would come rattling down, and when a shell exploded within a hundred yards it caused a regular ava- lanche ; even the rats, which were very numerous, caused the chalk to fall so that sleeping was dif- ficult. Speaking of rats they really were a great nuisance, their surprising boldness and persis- tence was extraordinary. Food was taken from the table without the slightest hesitation, even while we were there, and when it happened that we were called away during a meal, if we forgot to tell our servants* to keep guard, the food would completely disappear in an incredibly short time. Then, too, while sleeping, these pests, both rats and mice, were very annoying. Several men were quite badly bitten while asleep and inciden- tally I may add having the brutes run over one's body was somewhat trying. The "furniture" of the dugout was of a thor- oughly primitive description ; it consisted simply of a sort of rough table, narrow and unsteady, over which was a rack for food. This was hung by wires so that the rats and mice could not get * The word servant, according to the custom in the British Army, applies to our soldier servants who accompany the officer where- ever he goes and takes care of his belongings in case he is wounded. IN THE FRONT LINE TRENCHES 127 to it without doing acrobatic stunts, and for- tunately only a few were experts in that line. Some ammunition boxes served as seats, and two tiers of bunks made of very ragged mesh wire completed the list. For illumination we had can- dles, but owing to the scarcity they had to be used sparingly. Our "mess" kitchen was a rough dug- out less than fifty feet away in a direct line, but a couple of shells had wrought such havoc in the trench between the two dugouts, that it was nec- essary to make a wide detour in going from one to the other. The Huns seemed to know our meal times and invariably selected the moment w^hen our servants were bringing us food to drop a few of the cursed riiie grenades on or near the path, and it was quite amusing to hear the servants apologise for bringing a soup plate with scarcely a spoonful of soup left. A grenade having caused the man to start violently while he was carrying the plate. I will say one thing for our service, we usually got the food pretty hot as speed be- tween dugouts was alv/ays considered desir- able. Often the men came in at the double, this meant that a shell or grenade had been heard in the air. The result was a race, and frequently a wasteful distribution of food along the trench. During the first few days I had done my shav- 19.8 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED ing and washing at about eight o'clock in the morning, but the Huns latterly selected that hour for some gi^enade practice, so I had to change my plans. I strongly advise the use of safety razors for trench shaving, as sudden explosions are apt to cause a degree of jerkiness not at all conducive to comfort and good results when the ordinary razor is being used. After the first night I started having the trenches repaired and parapets replaced, and by working according to the short term plan already mentioned a fair amount of work had been car- ried out with very few casualties. About twenty minutes was the limit of comparative safety. On several occasions the working party had scarcely left the place before trouble would come, chiefly in the form of rifle grenades ; these, though disastrous to men, do not damage the trenches, but sometimes heavy stuff was sent over and the new work would be completely de- stroyed; one piece of line I had repaired eight times and when we left, it was once m^ore a mass of wreckage. 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