CHAPTER XII

A REST CURE IN THE YPRES SALIENT

To those whose memories of Ypres are only associated with thoughts of mud and slaughter, and who at the mention of the word “Salient” instinctively think of the horrors of Passchendaele, the Menin Road and Hooge, it will seem incredible that there was a time during the war when the Ypres Salient was peaceful and quiet, a place where Divisions, shattered on the Somme, came for recuperation.

It was in such a state that the 47th Division found the Ypres Salient in October, 1916, and after what had been endured in the previous month, it was particularly welcome.

In the Civil Service Rifles reconstruction had only just begun. No drafts had reached the Battalion, which was very much below strength. Some Companies had only one officer, the Company Commander, and practically no N.C.O.’s above the rank of Lance-Corporal. It was well, therefore, that there was no fighting and the sound of a shell was the exception rather than the rule.

The Division had had no experience of trench warfare for some months, and when the Civil Service Rifles on the 24th of October, 1916, relieved the Post Office Rifles in the front line in what was called the Ravine, a section of the Bluff Sector, they found several features of trench warfare which were quite new to them.

In the first place, each Company had a cookhouse in the trenches, and the Company cooks came in with their Companies and cooked all the meals on the spot. Rations were pushed up almost to Company Headquarters in trucks along a light railway, and there was a dump of R.E. material actually in the Battalion area. These were all amenities of trench life hitherto unknown, and all helped to convey the idea that the Civil Service Rifles were making a new start in life. These conditions helped materially to restore the confidence and fighting spirit of troops who were rapidly approaching the “fed-up” state.

The trenches were mostly sandbagged barricades such as had been seen as Festubert, but here they were neatly revetted with expanded metal, and although there was a good deal of water, all the trench floors were boarded. There were recesses labelled for bombs and S.A.A., and although the trench shelters were not by any means shell-proof, the majority at least were weatherproof.

There were many ambitious schemes for winter comforts. A Brigade gum boot store with lots of thigh gum boots was already established, and large shelters were being erected in each Battalion area as drying rooms, where men would be able to dry their clothes. These shelters, however, never got into working order. Another novelty was the precaution taken to prevent trench feet or frost bite. It was arranged that every man should change his socks and rub his feet with whale oil every day, the old socks being sent down every night and exchanged at the Divisional Laundry for alleged clean ones which were brought up with rations the following night.

Thus it was hoped to combat some of the evils which beset the Army during the previous winter, and there is no doubt that these measures bore good fruit, for the losses through sickness during the winter of 1916-17 were less than half those of the previous winter.

But although the prospect at the beginning of winter was very bright, and the troops were looking forward confidently to a spell of quiet life, it was not long before things began to liven up, as though the Ypres Salient had begun to look to its reputation.

The change was first noticeable when, on returning to the front line after a few days in Divisional Reserve at Ottawa Camp, near the village of Ouderdom, the Battalion took over a section of the front line in what was called the Hill 60 Sector, on the 13th of November.

These trenches differed in many respects from those in the Ravine, in spite of the fact that they were practically adjacent. Mining activities were carried on here on a very elaborate scale, and there were several deep tunnels, some, it was said, running as far forward as the German front line on Hill 60 itself. These tunnels were all being worked by one of the Australian Tunnelling Companies, to whom working parties were sent day and night. The main line of the Ypres-Roulers railway ran through the sector, and the old railway cutting formed the right boundary of the Battalion front. The trenches had been in existence for many months, and owing to the continual bombardments, the ravages of weather, and the quaint ideas of sanitation of former occupants of the sector, the area could hardly claim to be a health resort. Large fat rats abounded in and around every trench, and so fat were they that they had lost their turn of speed, and fell easy victims to any who could find time to hunt them. Bully beef and Maconochie’s famous meat and vegetable rations were to be found everywhere. Some men say that these were often used in place of trench boards.

Those working in the tunnels with the Australians were impressed, almost awestruck, by the magnitude of the mining operations, which they felt sure would end one day in a miniature earthquake, and they fervently hoped they would be at a safe distance when that should happen. The tunnels were lighted by electricity, the power for which was produced by a gas engine installed underground. A privileged few were allowed to explore the wonderful Berlin Sap, a long tunnel which stretched from some distance in rear of Battalion Headquarters to the German lines.

But it must not be imagined that the troops enjoyed home comforts in this area. The Companies holding the left of the Battalion front had practically no protection from either shell fire or weather, and those who have occupied the curiously-named Metropolitan Left and Metropolitan Right will be ready to swear that there was no more miserable place on the western front. They were, however, little better off than those who were stowed away in the tunnels of Marshall Walk, where the atmosphere reduced the occupants, packed in tight, to a state of coma.

The enemy had now begun to bombard the area fiercely with various kinds of shells and minenwerfer bombs, but fortunately he was kind enough, at first at all events, to limit his bombardments strictly to certain hours of the day. His special effort was always served up during the two hours after lunch, and strangely enough it was mostly bestowed on the Marshall Walk area, where the troops were able to squeeze into the tunnels. The men in other parts of the line had to sit under a ground sheet or a bit or corrugated iron and hope that nothing would come their way. In this way five somewhat anxious days were endured with comparatively few casualties before the Battalion moved into support in another of the wonders of the Ypres Salient--the Railway Dug-outs. These were dug-outs formed by tunnelling into the railway embankment between the village of Zillebeke and Ypres itself. Half the Battalion was accommodated here, the men occupying wire beds which were erected in tiers. The atmosphere was thick, to say the least, and fatigue parties were frequently told off to try to fan the foul air out with gas fans. The other two Companies were at Battersea Farm and Château Belge.

The Railway Dug-outs area had its advantages, however, for there was little shelling and there were opportunities during the day to wander out into the fresh air, to visit the Brigade canteen, and sometimes to visit the ruins of the historic city of Ypres. The working parties at night were employed in pushing trucks of R.E. material along what remained of the railway line to the ration dump of the front line Battalion, in the Hill 60 sector. On the whole the five days at Railway Dug-outs were written down as not too bad, and after five more days in the front line in Hill 60 sector, the end of November saw the Battalion in Divisional Reserve in the huts at Ottawa Camp.

The Division had now settled down to a very stereotyped form of warfare, and as there seemed every likelihood that no move would take place for some months, an elaborate programme of work for improving the accommodation both in trenches and camps was embarked upon.

There were two Brigades holding the line and one in reserve occupying four hutted camps in the neighbourhood of the villages of Ouderdom and Busseboom. It was arranged that whenever a Brigade was in reserve, the various Battalions should always go to the same camp. So it came about that the Civil Service Rifles always went to Ottawa Camp. This arrangement, it was hoped, would encourage Battalions to work hard at camp improvements. Works Officers were appointed and pioneer platoons were detailed in each Company for this purpose, but every time the Civil Service Rifles returned to Ottawa Camp they swore no work had been done since they were last there.

Somebody did work in Ottawa Camp, however, for in course of time it became transformed from the sea of mud, with a collection of broken-down, draughty huts, into a tolerably comfortable camp--if any camp in Belgium could be comfortable. The Battalion Mess for sergeants was revived, and under the stewardship of Sergeant R. F. M. Bigby, a fairly successful attempt was made to restore the former glory of the Civil Service Rifles Sergeants’ Mess.

In looking back on the year spent in the Ypres Salient, the average member of the Civil Service Rifles, full of the bitter memories of the Menin Road, Hooge and Château Wood, is apt to forget that there was a time when life was quite enjoyable in Ottawa Camp, with the trips to Poperinghe, where there was much gaiety.

It is quite true, however, that at first Ottawa Camp was better known for its discomfort than for anything else, and it was a curious fact that Halifax Camp, which was the home of one of the Support Battalions of a Brigade holding the front line, was much more comfortable.

The month of December 1916 is chiefly notable for the formation of what was known as the “football team”--two officers (Second Lieutenants H. S. Gosney and C. E. Groves) and fifty other ranks. This team began to train for a raid on the German trenches, when they hoped to atone for the ill-luck which had attended previous Civil Service Rifles’ raids.

The party was housed in reserve dug-outs in the trenches about Château Ségard, one of the support positions for the Ravine sector, and in addition to training in the surrounding trenches after dark, parties went up to the front line nightly to patrol No Man’s Land and inspect the enemy wire.

The scheme was entered into with enthusiasm by the whole party, which was split up into six groups, each with a definite job to do, and they were all brim full of confidence when, at 5.45 p.m. on the 23rd of December, they set out from the front line on their adventure--to the strains of music from a violin in the German lines!

The troops entered the German front line safely enough and worked their way round the appointed area. The opposition, not very strong, was quickly overcome, but no prisoners could be brought back. Two Bosches did get as far as the parapet but there they decided to stay, and as nothing would induce them to come over, “they had to be disposed of,” as one of the N.C.O.’s afterwards said in his report.

The return home at the appointed time was carried out successfully and as numerous identifications were brought back, the object of the raid had been achieved. The casualties were very few, but unfortunately they included two killed--Lance-Corporal A. T. C. Geary and Private A. F. Pearson.

The success of the raid put the whole party in good spirits for Christmas, which, as in 1915, was spent in the trenches. The Christmas celebrations duly took place, however, early in January at Ottawa Camp, when each Company had a Christmas dinner and concert. The festival lacked nothing on account of the postponement, and in many sections of the Battalion it was kept up for several days. To celebrate their success the survivors of the raid were given a dinner at which the heroes of the evening were Lance-Sergeant H. J. Steele and Corporal J. H. Swain, who had both been awarded the M.M.