CHAPTER XVI

THE RENAISSANCE

Among the prominent events which may be regarded as landmarks or milestones in the career of the Civil Service Rifles in France, two have already been passed--Vimy Ridge and High Wood. The third milestone was one of a different character, but the arrival of Lieut.-Colonel F. W. Parish, M.C., to take command most certainly marked the beginning of a new phase in the life of the Battalion. As the pre-war Adjutant, Captain Parish had played a great part in the training of the Civil Service Rifles for war, and all who knew him at the time will remember his keenness. He left the Battalion at the end of October, 1915, to be G.S.O. III of the 19th Division, and afterwards took command of one of the Service Battalions of the North Staffords, with whom he was severely wounded in the Somme Battle of 1916.

It was soon found that he had lost none of his enthusiasm for the Civil Service Rifles, and although a great many changes had taken place since he left, there were still a good many who remembered him, and as he walked along the trenches in Bois Confluent, near St. Eloi, on the 9th of July, he could not mistake the welcome that was shown to him in the faces of all his old friends. The Battalion, sad to relate, had become somewhat stale and had a tired look, and the new Commanding Officer supplied just the touch of renewed vigour which had been lacking of late. He took the earliest opportunity to tell the troops that he was glad to see them all, but that they were not quite the Battalion of old, and he would not be content until they were. He said they were not as clean as they might be, and although they had fought well, they were not so smart, and their discipline was not so good as it should be. All these things, he said, must be put right, and, as there was no time like the present, he put his preaching into practice right away in the support positions in Bois Confluent.

There followed such a craze for cleaning up clothing and equipment as had not been known for many months, and all ranks entered into the new spirit with enthusiasm. Ten rough days in front line trenches around the gates of the White Château grounds on the Hollebeke Road, where the Germans shelled all day and every day, and where one side or the other carried out a raid nearly every night, ended in the Battalion being relieved on the night of the 24th of June by the 18th King’s Royal Rifles, and moving to Carnarvon Camp, near Westoutre, one of the most uncomfortable camps occupied by the Civil Service Rifles during the war.

After one day’s rest the work of “restoration” was resumed, and vigorous “spit and polish” was indulged in for three days before the Commanding Officer inspected the Battalion. In a breezy speech he said he could already see a distinct improvement, and he felt sure a further improvement would follow.

On the 30th of July the Civil Service Rifles became the envied of all the other units in the Division as they marched to Wippenhoek Siding near Abeele, and entrained for St. Omer, whence a short march brought them to Tatinghem. Here the Battalion was to carry out a training programme, consisting chiefly of musketry on the 2nd Army ranges near Moulle.

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In his work of revival, there is no doubt that Colonel Parish had everything in his favour. In the first place he had sole command of the unit and was not worried by any orders from either Brigade or Division. The training was to be done entirely under the Commanding Officer’s own arrangements, the only condition laid down being that every one must have musketry practice on the range. In the second place the Battalion was sent to a pleasantly situated training area many miles from the firing line, and thirdly the billets were excellent--in many cases better than the men had ever had before in France. Practically every sergeant, at least, had a real bed in an inhabited house.

In these circumstances it would have been strange indeed if all ranks had not responded wholeheartedly to the call of their Commanding Officer, whose enthusiasm quickly spread throughout the Battalion. It is true the “spit and polish” days of General Cuthbert were put into the shade by the scrubbing and polishing which were indulged in from morning till night in the early days at Tatinghem, and all the time-honoured jokes and gags about Bluebell Metal Polish, Kiwi, etc., were literally worked to death. Men groused and joked alternately about the new craze, and one wag chalked up on a billet door a colourable imitation of the Regimental crest, beneath which he had substituted the words “Ich Posh” for the actual motto. Thanks to the inclement weather, there was no chance during the first few days to do anything but remain in billets and “clean up,” and when eventually the rain ceased and Colonel Parish saw his Battalion on parade, he was so proud of the men that he spent a good deal of his spare time thereafter in persuading General Officers and others to come and inspect them. The Civil Service Rifles, in consequence, underwent inspections during this holiday by General Plumer (twice), Brigadier-General Kennedy, and Brigadier-General Bailey, in addition to numerous inspections by the Commanding Officer. The men endured these ordeals with little or no grousing--for they had now learnt to take a proper pride in their smart appearance.

The Commanding Officer’s chief worry was lack of a parade ground where he could drill his battalion, and the Adjutant was ordered to find one. It was in vain that he said the local farmers objected to their pasture being ruined by the tramping of army boots, so eventually he discovered a field without a gate to it, and hoped the farmer would not turn up during battalion drill. The farmer did not appear himself, but his wife came on parade and protested so loudly to the Adjutant that the Commanding Officer exclaimed in a loud voice “Send that woman off parade. This is not a woman’s battalion.” This brilliant sally, however, was wasted on the woman, who continued to protest volubly--and those who have heard a French peasant woman when she is roused will realise how difficult it was to induce her to leave the field.

The great day of the training was the Regimental Rifle Meeting, run almost on Bisley lines, which was held on the ranges at Moulle, on the 6th of August. Prizes were offered for the best sergeant and the best corporal in the Battalion, for the best private in each Company, and for each member of the Platoon having the highest average. In addition, all prize winners were to have a day’s leave.

The Prize Meeting was a great success, and the keenest interest was taken in the competitions, on which there were various sweepstakes, while, in addition, two members of the Battalion “made a book” on one of the competitions, their most profitable dupe being the Commanding Officer himself.

“C” Company appear to have swept the board as far as Platoon averages went, as two of their Platoons took the first two places, and one other tied with numbers eight (“B” Company) and thirteen (“D” Company) for third place. The following received silver wrist watches suitably engraved for the occasion:--

_Best Sergeant in the Battalion_: Sergeant H. Salmon - ‘C’ Company.

_Best Corporal_: Corporal O. L. H. Levey - ‘C’ Company.

_Best Privates_: ‘A’ Company - Privates L. W. V. Wilkinson and H. A. Vernham, tied. ‘B’ Company - Private W. J. Tuckett. ‘C’ Company - Privates E. A. Honney and A. Strong tied. ‘D’ Company - Private F. T. G. White.

The Officers’ competition was won by Second-Lieutenant G. E. Tatum, ‘C’ Company.

Shortly after the Rifle Meeting the Battalion became attached to the 142nd Brigade, and this caused a move to Moringhem, but after two General Officers’ inspections in four days the Civil Service Rifles, to their great joy, returned to their old billets, the 140th Brigade having been sent to the Tatinghem area for training.

The puzzle so far had been the absence of the marked-out or “flagged” course, and speculation was rife as to how soon the familiar signs would appear on the training ground, but beyond practising an advance (through fields of cut corn) in what the Commanding Officer called lines of “worms,” no very warlike movements were undertaken, nor was there any mention of a coming operation. So the holiday at Tatinghem came to an end without any rehearsing of a set piece which had been such a conspicuous feature of former holidays of this kind.

Just before leaving Tatinghem, a mild interest was taken in the appearance on parade of a second Colonel, wearing the uniform of a Scottish regiment, who inspected the Battalion on the 23rd of August, and thereafter did not miss a parade. There were numerous speculations as to who was this unassuming-looking fellow in the Scotch cap, and what did he want, but no one guessed what a great part he was soon to play in the history of the Regiment.

A seemingly endless column of motor buses and lorries took the 140th Brigade back to the war on the 24th of August, and the Civil Service Rifles occupied Vancouver Camp, which seemed dreadfully uncomfortable after the luxury of Tatinghem. The accommodation was poor, and the day was cold with a biting wind howling and blowing the dust over everything. The troops experienced very much the same kind of feeling as on return to a City office after a month at the seaside or in the country, and before turning in for the night a rumour went round that the Division would very soon attack Polygon and Glencorse Woods, beyond Westhoek Ridge. Pleasant dreams!