CHAPTER X

HIGH WOOD

What a wonderful scene it was along the New German Road on the afternoon of the 14th of September--a never-ending transport column moving along in broad daylight, conveying ammunition and R.E. material for the big fight. An object of special interest to the Civil Service Rifles was one of the tanks which was passed on the road. The men studied it critically and expressed a pious hope that it would turn up all right on the day.

Although the road was so crowded with traffic, there was little shelling, and after passing Bazentin-le-Grand the long communication trench was entered and the front line reached without loss.

High Wood was about the last vantage point that the enemy held along the ridge. Only a few jagged trees remained and the ground was littered with broken limbers and pitted with innumerable shell holes which literally intersected one another. Various trenches ran through the Wood, of which the greatest part was held by the enemy.

The relief over, it became known that zero for the attack would be at 5.50 a.m. on the morrow, and thereupon a weird silence fell over all the area of the assembly trenches, where the men were packed like sardines in a tin. Many chapters have been written in an attempt to describe the eve of a battle, but the finest description ever written falls very short of expressing the feelings and thoughts of the men as they wait in their assembly trenches for the dawn.

No attempt will be made here to describe the eve of High Wood. Suffice it to say that it was a very quiet night; that the troops, as they stood squashed up in Black Watch Trench, fervently hoped that their fate on the morrow would be better than that of the Battalion whose name the trench bore; and that the only fellows who got any sleep were those who crept out into No Man’s Land to lie down in shell holes. Rum was issued at dawn, and after a sleepless night it was unusually welcome.

And now zero hour approached, and thoughts turned to the tanks, which were due to be on the German front line five minutes before zero. The time drew nearer, but no tanks appeared, and a few minutes before zero, Company Commanders received a message telling them to send an officer to guide the tanks, if seen. Thus, the Civil Service Rifles were handicapped at the start, for the tanks were neither seen nor heard.

Owing to the irregular formation of the assembly trenches, “B,” “C” and “D” Companies had been instructed to creep out before zero, so that when the attack started they would be forming a straight line with “A” Company, who were on the extreme right. These Companies accordingly began to creep up soon after 5.30 a.m. The fight, therefore, can be said to have started well before zero, for at once as these men left their trenches, German rifles opened fire, followed by machine guns, and by zero hour the three left Companies of the Civil Service Rifles, together with the Battalion on their left, were already being treated to a murderous fire from a multitude of machine guns and rifles in the German front line trenches. At the same time down came the German artillery barrage on the assembly trenches. As there was no artillery support whatever, the attack at this point was held up, but not before about four-fifths of “B,” “C,” and “D” Companies had been either killed or wounded.

“A” Company, on the right, fared much better. They did not leave their trenches until zero, and their course led them out of the wood almost immediately. Consequently, when they started, the German machine guns were already busily occupied with the other Companies, and “A” Company carried the first and second German trenches outside High Wood with comparatively little loss. Arrived at the objective, a certain amount of hand-to-hand fighting took place, in which Sergeant H. B. Riddell and Second Lieutenant L. L. Burtt, distinguished themselves, the former being chiefly instrumental in putting a machine gun out of action, though he was wounded in the fight.

The Battalion signallers following up “A” Company had established a station in the captured trench, and as their lines held for some time, the details of how “A” Company had fared were quickly sent down to Battalion Headquarters.

“A” Company had already taken a number of prisoners, and they now proceeded to bomb along the captured trench towards where they expected to find “B” Company, but it was soon realised that the other Companies had been held up. The situation with these Companies was very grave. The Company Commanders of “B” and “D” Companies, Captains Leslie Davies and Arthur Roberts, had been killed, while Captain Geoffrey Gaze, commanding “C” Company, was wounded, but refused to go down. Captain Gaze, in fact, was the only officer in these three Companies remaining at duty. A good many of the senior N.C.O.’s had also been killed and wounded, but thanks to the timely efforts of C.S.M. Brett of “D” Company, C.S.M. Harris of “C” Company, and the surviving N.C.O.’s of all three battered Companies, the remnants were formed up again in the assembly positions, ready for another attempt.

Meanwhile the tanks had not shown up, though one of them later on, after nearly smashing up Battalion Headquarters, got stuck in a communication trench, and materially interfered with the removal of the wounded. Its pilot got out, and, going into Battalion Headquarters, asked the Commanding Officer where High Wood was. Colonel Warrender’s reply is not recorded.

The other tank eventually got into action somewhere in front of “D” Company’s objective, and then caught fire.

At 11.0 a.m. the 140th Infantry Brigade Stokes mortar battery came to the rescue. Captain Good, who was in command, had had his guns on the spot overnight, and had been anxious to give the attacking infantry some support. On the ground that surprise was to be the key-note of the attack, however, the authorities decided to keep the Stokes guns, like the artillery, silent. Captain Good and his men responded magnificently when they were given the permission they sought so eagerly, and for twenty minutes, “feeding their voracious little pets with bombs until they grew too hot to touch,” as De Ath says, the battery put down such an accurate and intense bombardment on the German front line that “C” and “D” Companies, when they went forward again, carried their objectives without much difficulty. The trench mortars had fired close on 800 rounds in twenty minutes--a feat afterwards described by 4th Army Headquarters as the most brilliant piece of work in the history of trench mortars.

“C” Company was gallantly led for a second time by Captain Gaze, but he was killed before reaching the objective.

By noon the whole of High Wood was in British possession, together with what was known as the Switch Line beyond, and the Civil Service Rifles had taken many prisoners and machine guns. The price of victory, however, was terrible, and only 150 of the four Companies reached their objective.

The foregoing is an attempt at a description of the first phase of the battle of High Wood, as it appeared to one who was present on the spot. A well-known war correspondent seems to have had a better view of the fight, for he related in detail in a London newspaper how the tanks captured High Wood!

The first stage of the battle was over, but there was much more to follow. The remnants of the Battalion advanced a little beyond the trench known as Switch Line and dug themselves in in a new trench, and the afternoon was spent in hard work in consolidating these positions, which were, however, subject to considerable shelling by heavy artillery.

During the day the 6th and 8th Battalions had pushed through to take trenches some distance beyond, known as the Flers Line (connecting the village of Flers with Eaucourt L’Abbé), and the Starfish, an intermediate line.

These operations only partially succeeded, so at 5.30 in the evening of the 15th of September, the 1st Surrey Rifles, who were in reserve, were sent out to attack the western half of the Starfish Line and the strong point known as the Cough Drop. The Civil Service Rifles were to occupy the Starfish when the 1st Surrey Rifles vacated it. The latter, however, on emerging from High Wood in artillery formation, were immediately caught by an intense enemy artillery and machine-gun barrage, and the attack failed.

A similar experiment was tried at 9.0 a.m. the next morning with the 23rd Battalion, but, although they advanced a considerable distance, they were unable to reach the Flers Line. The Boches, however, obliged by withdrawing to the Flers Line, and the 6th and 8th Battalions occupied part of the Cough Drop and the Starfish Line respectively. The 23rd Battalion included two ex-Civil Service Riflemen in Major Kemble and Second Lieutenant J. H. Hunt, who lost his life in this attack. As a sergeant in “D” Company, J. H. Hunt had been exceptionally popular, and the keenest regret was felt among his many friends when he left to take his commission.

When darkness fell on the first night of the battle, the melancholy work of the burial of the dead was begun. The special party told off for this work dug graves in High Wood itself, and all the dead who could be found were buried side by side there.

The night of the 15th September presented a very striking contrast to the previous night, when peace and quiet had reigned in High Wood. The heavy artillery, with which the enemy was so well supplied, pounded away continually at the new trenches and at the supporting field gun batteries on the edge of the wood. Amid the noise of the shells could often be heard the groans of the wounded who had not yet been brought in, the shouts of the search party of stretcher bearers, and the curses of a ration or carrying party who had got lost. But above all was the ceaseless wail of the field guns, echoing over the wilderness. Listening to them on that night one could almost imagine that they, too, were mourning for the gallant fellows who had lost their lives that day, and who were now being laid to rest. To many who were there the peculiar echo of the field gun ever afterwards brought back vivid memories of those terrible nights in High Wood.

There were many incidents and sights at High Wood which left a lasting impression on the minds of the survivors. The impressions of Corporal M. J. Guiton, of “C” Company, who lost a leg there, are typical of many others in the Battalion:--

“That day I saw sights which were passing strange to a man of peace. I saw men in their madness bayonet each other without mercy, without thought. I saw the hot life’s blood of German and Englishman flow out together, and drench the fair soil of France. I saw men torn to fragments by the near explosion of bombs, and--worse than any sight--I heard the agonised cries and shrieks of men in mortal pain who were giving up their souls to their Maker.

“The mental picture painted through the medium of the eye may fade, but the cries of those poor, tortured and torn men I can never forget: they are with me always. I would I had been deaf at the time.”

* * * * *

The day after the first attack was spent in the new trench, where the garrison was shelled by heavy guns nearly all day. The Adjutant, Lieutenant W. E. Ind, who had been full of energy from the start, was a very frequent visitor, and in the evening he brought the good news that the Battalion was to go forward to occupy a trench which had deep dug-outs and which wasn’t shelled. Tired as they were, the troops jumped at the idea, and were ready in less than no time. The Adjutant led the way in a pitch black darkness to the expected comfort, which proved in the end to be a trench two feet deep, which had been started by the Germans as a cable trench.

It had been reported that the 6th Battalion was holding the Flers Line, and the Civil Service Rifles were accordingly going to occupy Drop Alley, a communication trench leading from the strong point called the Cough Drop to the Flers Line. But on arrival at the Cough Drop, Lieutenant Ind found that the report was untrue, and he had perforce to squeeze his small body of men in the western half of the Cough Drop and the afore-mentioned cable trench which ran out of it. It had been a long and weary journey, but the men set to work like niggers to dig a decent trench. There were now only two officers and about 100 other ranks, but these included a good sprinkling of seasoned warrant officers and N.C.O.’s, and the force made up in quality what it lacked in quantity. C.S.M. Callingham and Sergeant Irving of “A” Company had done their comrades a very great service by struggling along with a jar of rum, which was practically all that turned up that night in the shape of rations, unless mention is to be made of rations sent up by a thoughtful Quartermaster for the two officers--a bag of candles!

The process of digging in was no sooner finished than the exhausted troops had to stand to for about an hour and a half, on information from the 6th that the enemy was “coming over in large numbers.”

So the day went on with a constant succession of alarms, intense bombardments and standing to. It was indeed a trying time for all that was left of the four Companies and Lewis gun teams who, forty-eight hours ago, had been so full of hope. But they all “stuck it” very valiantly, and the excellent spirits of the men--prominent among whom were Lance-Corporal F. A. Coward and his Lewis gun team, Privates Hundleby, Lynch, and E. H. Lyons--together with the splendid example set by Paddy Brett and Bob Harris, served to sustain the excellent morale of the Civil Service Rifles. Special mention should be made of the excellent patrol work done by Sergeant D. Gooding, of “D” Company, who went out in broad daylight “to find touch on the left.” The left flank of the position was exposed, and it was not known whether friend or foe occupied the country beyond. Sergeant Gooding, with two men, started off, therefore, without any information and, although under rifle fire from shell holes and isolated posts, they carried out a complete reconnaissance of the country which separated the Civil Service Rifles from the nearest friendly troops, four or five hundred yards away. Many others of that little band distinguished themselves by their devotion to duty during a day when there was no communication of any kind from Battalion Headquarters, and the party in the line became attached to the 6th Battalion in the Cough Drop.

On the 18th, a small reinforcement arrived in the shape of three officers--Lieutenants W. L. C. Rathbone, G. M. Hoste, and B. K. Ware, and fifty other ranks, from the “Non Starters” camp in Bottom Wood, where a few officers and other ranks had been kept out of the fight in order to form a nucleus for reorganisation in case of heavy losses.

Before being relieved on the night of the 19th September by the 1st Battalion The Black Watch, the Civil Service Rifles undertook two more operations. The first was an advance into the Flers Line on the 18th, but as the enemy had by now evacuated this trench, the advance passed off without loss.

But the enemy still held the junction of the Flers Line and Drop Alley, and that portion of the Flers Line west of the junction. The New Zealanders had a party in the Flers Line between the Bosches and the Civil Service Rifles, but the Civil Service Rifles had a small force under Lieutenant B. K. Ware in Drop Alley. These two forces attempted, by joint bombing attacks, to dislodge the Bosches, but the attempt failed. The men were now thoroughly exhausted, for in addition to the enormous amount of work of the past few days and the excitement of the fray, the last twenty-four hours had been endured in a pitiless rain, which caused huge chunks of the trenches to give way. There was mud and rain everywhere and, as there was no shelter, rifles and Lewis guns eventually became choked with mud. It was while in this state that the enemy attempted to drive Lieutenant Ware’s party out of Drop Alley. He partially succeeded at first, but was afterwards driven back. But at 7.0 p.m. on the 19th, he came again with renewed vigour, and got down Drop Alley, where the defending troops, with rifles and Lewis guns out of action, and themselves quite worn out, were unable to dislodge him. They did not give up without a struggle, however, and Lieutenant Ware died that night in a plucky attempt to achieve the impossible. Thus ended the operations of the Civil Service Rifles at High Wood, but it was indeed a skeleton of a battalion that Lieut.-Colonel Warrender led down the New German Road to Bottom Wood on the morning of the 20th September. Round a huge bonfire these remnants threw themselves down to get their first rest since leaving Becourt Wood, and here a pause was made to count the cost of what was so far the greatest trial of the Civil Service Rifles and, at the same time, surely their greatest achievement.

To this day, High Wood is regarded by many as the finest performance of the Battalion during the war. But whether this is true or no, it is certain that this battle was the most distinctive landmark in the history of the Civil Service Rifles, for it was at High Wood where the first great changes took place in the personnel of the Battalion. Some say it was the last of the original Battalion, but such a statement is open to question.

Many old faces had gone, but the old spirit still remained, and there were enough old hands left to train drafts in the way they should go, and to tell them what manner of men they had been whose places these freshmen had the honour to fill.

There fell during the fighting at High Wood, so many of the real flower of the Battalion that it is impossible to do justice to them by any eulogy here, and it would be invidious to single out any in particular among so many illustrious dead. Their names will all be found recorded elsewhere. Suffice it to say that they died like the true Englishmen of tradition, every one gallantly and gamely carrying on against odds. In the four days the casualties amounted to 15 officers, 365 other ranks.