CHAPTER XII

TOWARDS A BOMB-PROOF JOB

Whilst we were practicing going over the tapes at Masnil Bouche for the attack on Vimy Ridge, we noticed that after we had finished our practice an Imperial battalion would follow on after us. It was rumoured that it was a London County battalion. We never had any chance to speak to any of the officers or men, so we nicknamed them the "Silent Battalion." Later on, when we had consolidated our positions after the attack, this battalion went over our heads and secured a position somewhere in front of us. We could see by the way that they went about their work that they were very efficient. On the morning of the attack I met the battalion sergeant major of this battalion in the _Zwischen Stellung_ trench. He was then leading a platoon. He informed me that the platoon officer had been killed and that he was placed in charge of this platoon. Later on I was informed that this sergeant major was also killed just as he reached his final objective.

You never hear much of the English battalions nor of their doings at the front, but from my own personal experiences of the Imperial battalion every Canadian soldier feels like taking off his hat to the British Tommy. He is ever cheerful under all circumstances, and the wit of the cockney soldier is something to remember. One incident that was brought to my mind of the bravery of the British Imperial troops was when the foe broke through at Cambrai. Three platoons of the 17th Royal Fusiliers and one company of the 13th Essex died facing the enemy. The Fusiliers were withdrawing from an advanced sap when the enemy attack suddenly developed. Captain W.N. Stone of the Fusiliers, a company commander, elected to stay behind with one of the junior officers in charge of the rear guard. The little force held off the whole of the German attack until the main position was fully organised. They died to a man, with their faces to the foe. The company of the Essex regiment becoming isolated and realising the improbability of being extricated, held a council of war, at which it was unanimously determined to fight to the last and have no surrender.

Two runners who succeeded in getting through were sent back to notify the battalion headquarters of this decision. Throughout the night of November 30th many efforts were made to effect the relief of these brave men, but all attempts failed against the overwhelming strength of the enemy. The last that is known of this gallant company is that they were fighting it out and maintaining to the last bulwark their stand against the tide of attacking Germans. It is impossible to estimate the value of this magnificent fight to the death, which relieved the pressure on the main line of defence.

In the present great battle now waging in France and Flanders the Imperial troops have been fighting continuously day after day for about one month. You can well imagine how tired these men are as they stagger forward or fight rear guard actions to hold the Huns at bay. Battalion after battalion are being overwhelmed with greatly outnumbered forces of the Germans, but they fight on with their backs to the wall. The Gloucester Regiment is allowed to wear the cap badge on both back and front of their caps, as in previous campaigns they fought the enemy, when surrounded, back to back. They are now fighting the Huns in a similar manner. It is hard to pick out one regiment above the other in this great war as English, Irish, Scotch and Welsh have all been doing heroic deeds that shall live for ever in history.

When this great war is ended the American troops will hold a very high opinion of the Allied forces fighting on the Western front, which will do more to unite the English-speaking races.

We often near the statement "So and So has a bomb-proof job." This is the term that is given to officers and men who do not go into the line. There are many jobs of this nature. First of all the medical officer is supposed to have a bomb-proof job, although in many instances medical officers have gone out into No Man's Land to attend the wounded and have lost their own lives in doing so. Then again comes the Chaplain or Padre. He is supposed to have a bomb-proof job, but there are many instances where these brave chaplains and priests have gone "over the top" and lost their lives.

Town majors have a fairly good bomb-proof job, although sometimes when the village or town over which they have control is within the danger zone and the village liable itself to be shelled, their job is not exactly bomb-proof. This job is usually given to an officer who has been up the line and is rewarded for his length of service by this appointment. He usually has a small staff under him of probably four or five men--it all depends upon the size and importance of the village, town or city. He is looked upon as a big man of the army in these places, as he has the awarding of all the billets for both officers and men.

If the town major is within ten miles of the German trenches you will usually find in his office a bell or horns which he has sounded in case of a German gas attack. On the whole his work is not hard, and both he and his staff have no reason to complain of anything on account of the war.

A railway transport officer is also supposed to have a bomb-proof job, although he must be on duty all hours of the day and night to attend to the troops as they entrain and detrain. It is his duty to see that the French authorities have sufficient accommodation in the way of either box or passenger cars for the troops and to arrange all matters pertaining to railway transportation of same. He is kept very busy and has little time to "swank."

The divisional gas officer has a nice position, although he may be in the danger zone. He has quite a number of men under him who know their jobs thoroughly, so he is seldom overworked.

The officer in charge of divisional baths has also a nice appointment. His work is important. He is usually in the danger zone but has very little work to do about the fighting in the trenches. His chief job is to have everything ready when officers and men come out of the trenches.

The paymasters have a pretty fairly safe job and certainly the men in the line do not begrudge it to them. Everybody likes the paymaster and it is certainly amusing when we are out to rest to see the way that the men try to wile out advances from the paymaster for all kinds of frivolous reasons.

The instructors at the various schools of instruction have all fairly bomb-proof jobs, but these jobs as instructors are usually given after a man has been in the line, although there are instances where probably a specialist in some branch of the service may hold one of these jobs without having to go in the line to secure it.

We now come to the brass hats. This is the term that is used by the Tommy to all staff officers, and their entrance into a trench usually is the forerunner of an advance. So Tommy always looks with a certain amount of suspicion when any staff officer makes a tour of the trenches. Even these staff officers are not always immune, many of them having been killed in the course of their duties.

The A.S.C. (Army Service Corps) are always looked upon as men who have bomb-proof jobs. They are really non-combatant, but many of them have been killed in their line of duty. We now come to the butchers, bakers, cooks, shoemakers and tailors--all of which have bomb-proof jobs. But in the recent attack by the Germans on the Lys Front one of our Major-Generals got together a scratch battalion of these non-combatant men, had them armed with rifles, and they bravely held the line against the advancing Huns.

Railway construction troops were supposed to have bomb-proof jobs, but many of these men have taken up the rifle to assist the infantry when required, and very capable they have proven themselves to be.

The forestry battalions are a non-combatant corps and their job can be described as a bomb-proof job, although the work they do is very essential to the forces in the field.

Bomb-proof jobs are few and far between in France, although in the various Base headquarters the orderly room clerks, etc., have all bomb-proof jobs. These are about the only men who have them.

We had an elderly man in our battalion who had gained the D.C.M. (Distinguished Conduct Medal) for bravery on the field. Our commanding officer, hearing that Brigade Headquarters wanted a man to repair tanks, recommended our D.C.M. for this job, as he thought it would be a fairly safe one. Later on, as I was leaving the trenches with my platoon to go into billets, I came across a party struggling with a tank that had broken down. An officer was outside trying to prop it up. I halted my party and asked him if we could render any assistance, for we were all curious to see the inside of the tank. The assistance was readily accepted and we got busy right away. It was not long until we had overcome the difficulty. The officer, I may say, who was in charge of the tank was not in the best of humours, as he had been getting shelled, and informed me that when shrapnel burst they all had to get inside the tank for safety. I asked him what kind of a tank it was, a male or a female, and he replied to my question by saying, "You know damn well what it is; it is one of those things that always gives us poor men trouble." I often wonder if he was a woman hater. The female tanks are armed with Lewis machine guns, and the male tank is supplied with guns of a heavier calibre. The tank officer also informed me that he had one of our men with him. I asked him who it was and he called out of the tank our worthy D.C.M.

I asked Johnson how he liked his job. He told me it was fine. All he had to do in an attack was to run in front of the tank and pick up the dead or wounded and put them to one side. Not much of a bomb-proof job at that!

Our commanding officer had thought that, when he was recommending this man for a job to repair tanks, this was for tanks that were stationary such as water tanks and gas tanks. However, Johnson was quite satisfied with his job.

All officers and men are allowed after an average of eight months' service in the trenches from seven to ten days' leave, although in a great many cases I have known both officers and men to go for over a year before they received leave. It just depends on whether or not there is urgent need for their services at the time.

A soldier going on leave to England is usually given a check for 20 pounds (one hundred dollars) and fifty francs ($10.00). If they decide to spend their leave in France they receive six hundred francs ($125.00). Transportation to their destination and back is provided by the Government.

When an officer or man goes on leave, he is naturally very keen to get off. I remember one instance of an officer who had been married just a few months before war was declared. Later on he had a picture sent to him of his wife and first born baby. He was naturally very excited, and kept showing the same to everybody he came in contact with.

I believe he thought it was the only baby in the world. He asked me what I thought about it. I told him that the baby was just like him, but I think I had a great deal to answer for in doing so, for the child, apparently about two weeks old, was a little pudgy thing. His features can only be discerned by those who own it. Later on when this officer was granted leave he was very anxious to get away to see his wife and baby. We had another look at the photograph and one French officer who was with us at the time was tapped on the back by this youthful father, who asked when the French officer was going on leave.

The reply was rather startling and at the same time very pathetic. It was spoken in broken English: "Me no go on leave, me stay to fight." We wondered what lay behind these words, and then this officer pulled a picture out of his pocket. It was a picture of his wife and daughter, the daughter apparently a young girl between 15 and 16 years of age. He then described to us that when he was called to the colours he had been living in Northern France. The town was now occupied by the Germans. His wife and daughter had had to remain behind, and the sequel was that they had been outraged by the Germans and each given birth to a child, whose father was a Hun.

So he had no home to go to and he preferred to remain and fight to avenge the wrong done to his wife and daughter. There are many instances of a similar nature to this in both France and Belgium, and no atrocity that is perpetrated like the foregoing shall ever be forgotten.