CHAPTER IV

THE GREAT GERMAN OFFENSIVE

"_There is but one task for all, For each one life to give, Who stands, if freedom fall? Who dies, if England live?_"

KIPLING.

[Sidenote: Jan. 1918.]

On the 9th January Divisional Headquarters moved to Victory Camp, near Roclincourt, and I assumed command of the artillery in the line, the 56th Divisional Artillery.

Our own artillery relieved the 56th on the 15th. The front we now covered ran roughly from Gavrelle to Oppy. The 310th Brigade, which formed the right group, occupied positions on or about the southern end of the Vimy Ridge, with one advanced battery, B/310, close to Arleux, and only about a thousand yards from the Boche front line; this battery was so sited as to enfilade a long portion of the enemy's trenches; and though in what was apparently a dangerously forward position, it was so well concealed in a hollow of the ground that it came in for no greater attention than did the other batteries much further in rear.

The 312th Brigade was the left group; two of its batteries, B/312 and D/312, were in the shattered ruins of Bailleul village; this was a most unpleasant spot, and I don't think I've ever seen a village which bore the signs of such serious and constant shell fire.

We now belonged to the 13th Corps, which consisted of the 31st and 56th Divisions, in addition to our own. A system of reliefs was arranged under which two divisions should hold the line and one division remain at rest, and it was hoped that divisional artilleries would get about three weeks' rest for every six weeks spent in action. No one, however, believed in his heart that this scheme would prove a lasting one. There were many indications that the enemy was preparing for a great offensive, and indeed it was now obvious that his only chance would be to strike, and strike hard, before the full weight of American intervention should be thrown into the balance.

The next few weeks were comparatively quiet ones, and a tremendous lot of work was done in improving the very indifferent positions which we had taken over. These positions, it is only fair to state, had not been occupied for more than ten days or so by the 56th Divisional Artillery, who were in no way to blame for their unsatisfactory condition.

Two Regular Majors were posted to us about this time, Majors M. R. H. Crofton, D.S.O., and J. F. K. Lockhart, who took over command of C/312 and A/310 respectively.

The experiment was now made of employing Indian drivers in ammunition columns, and on the 26th January I inspected those who had been sent to the 62nd D.A.C. There were about 130 of them, all Mussulmans, and they looked a useful lot of men; they proved to be so as it turned out, and did very good work for the rest of the war.

[Sidenote: Feb. 1918.]

On February 1st our heavy trench mortar battery, which, under command of Capt. S. V. Bowden, had done much good service, was transferred to the Corps, as it was now decided that divisional artillery should only have medium trench mortars. Capt. Bowden himself remained in the Division with the latter.

I have described this period as a comparatively quiet one, but that is not to say that the batteries were left alone by the Boche artillery. Shelling of a desultory sort was always going on, and most of the batteries came in for an occasional bombardment--a _daily_ bombardment it would be more correct to say in the case of the two batteries in Bailleul. Fortunately the shooting was strangely ineffective. D/310, for instance, was heavily shelled on the evening of the 23rd January; but though there were three direct hits on emplacements and the whole position was deeply pitted with shell craters, no damage was done to men or material. A/310 was less fortunate on the 5th February, when, unhappily, two sergeants and a signaller were killed, though no guns were put out of action. B/310 was shelled the same day at Arleux, and on this occasion one officer was wounded, Lieut. C. R. Witcher.

On the 16th February the artillery withdrew from the line into billets in and around Aubigny, Caucourt, and Frevin Capelle, the headquarters being in the chateau at Berles. This was the only rest we were to get under the scheme mentioned above.

[Sidenote: March, 1918.]

On the 6th and 7th March we went into the line in relief of the 31st Division, against an enemy front of about 4000 yards, stretching from Oppy to Acheville; the 310th was again on the right, and the 312th on the left, batteries being mostly in or about Willerval and Farbus. Headquarters were at Roclincourt.

It now seemed certain that a big German offensive was brewing, and henceforth practically all our firing was done by detached sections, while the main positions remained silent, and every possible artifice was employed to conceal them from detection by the enemy. At the same time several single guns were distributed along the front for defence against tanks, being so sited that every possible approach by a hostile tank would be under fire from one or more of the guns.

Some experimental firing by single guns was carried out on the afternoon of the 10th March near Souchez. A dummy tank, about three-quarters real size, was drawn across an open space at about a thousand yards from the gun. Detachments from various divisions engaged it in turn, and the results were most reassuring, two or three direct hits being very quickly scored in nearly every case; it seemed to prove that an anti-tank gun well handled ought to be able to knock out several tanks in a minute or two.

On the 11th Divisional Headquarters were persistently shelled by a 13 cm. gun firing from a range of about 14,000 yards. Information had been received that the long expected offensive was to begin on the 13th, and as the enemy's attacks were often heralded by long range firing into the back areas, it seemed likely that the report might in this case be correct, and all preparations were made accordingly. The bombardment was repeated on the night of the 12th, and all troops, artillery and infantry, were standing-to from an hour before dawn on the 13th. Nothing unusual, however, happened, although the long range activity against our headquarters became a regular nightly occurrence from now on. As it was important to find out what was brewing, it was decided to carry out a raid with the object of taking prisoners and getting such information out of them as might be possible. The raid was carried out by a battalion of the 186th Infantry Brigade. At 10.50 p.m. on the 17th March, two batteries of the 56th Divisional Artillery opened on the Boche front about a thousand yards south of the part we were raiding. The enemy at once sent up S.O.S. signals, and his artillery put down a barrage on that part of the front--which was exactly what we wanted. At 11 p.m. all our guns opened fire on the real front for five minutes, and then, lifting off the part that was to be raided, formed a box barrage all round it. Our raiding party, consisting of 2 officers and 70 men, then went over the top, passing through gaps in the wire which had previously been cut by the trench mortars and by Bangalore torpedoes. At 11.25 they returned, having killed several Huns and taken five prisoners. The guns kept up the barrage till 11.40, and one of the howitzer batteries fired a screen of smoke shell along the edge of Fresnoy Park from 11.25 to 11.40, to screen our men as they returned. The whole thing went off like clockwork, and our infantry only had three men slightly wounded.

I received the following letter next day from the G.O.C. 186th Infantry Brigade:

"The raiders wish me to say that the barrage was perfect. Would you please accept for yourself and your batteries their thanks for the large part you contributed towards the success of the show. To show the accuracy of the shooting, the Bangalore torpedoes were inserted in the wire while the barrage was still on the front line. This and the absence of casualties from short shooting, and the fact that the garrison was discovered prostrate on the floor of the trench, I think speaks for itself.

"J. G. BURNETT, "Brig.-General."

And also the following from Lieut.-Colonel Thackeray, who commanded the battalion that carried out the raid:

"Both the officers and men who took part in the raid last night are loud in their praise of the wonderful accuracy of the barrage. It gave them the greatest confidence...."

I may say here that the infantry were always most generous in their acknowledgment of our support, and there was the best possible feeling between the two arms in our Division. We all had the greatest admiration for our wonderful infantry, and it was a great gratification to us to know that they appreciated _our_ efforts.

Eight Military Medals were awarded while we were in action in this part of the line (v. Appendix).

Early on the morning of the 21st March the enemy began a tremendous bombardment on our front, and we could hear the thunder of his guns extending apparently for many miles to either flank. The great offensive had evidently begun, and we received orders to be prepared to withdraw from our part of the line, which was to be taken over by a Canadian Division, and to become G.H.Q. reserve.

Lieut. H. G. Goldsmith was wounded this day.

It was sometime before we could get any news of what was taking place, but on the 23rd we learned that the Boche had opened an attack with 45 divisions along a front of 50 miles, from the Oise to the Sensèe, and thence to the Scarpe, that he had retaken Ecoust, Noreuil, and the Mort Homme heights, and that the 17th Corps on our right had evacuated the important height of Monchy. Further news came at mid-day that our 5th Army was retiring on Peronne, and that the 3rd Army was also being pressed back by sheer weight of numbers. Two batteries of the 312th Brigade, A and B, withdrew from the line that night, and went into action on the 24th in positions close to Beaurains to support the 17th Corps. My headquarters moved on the same day to Warlus, and the 310th Brigade, and the remainder of the 312th, were ordered to withdraw from the line that night and march to the Warlus area.

Events, however, were moving rapidly, and at midnight on the 24th I received instructions to concentrate at Ayette. The previous orders were at once countermanded; the batteries at Beaurains were ordered to withdraw from action forthwith and to march on Ayette, where they were to be joined by the rest of the artillery, which had just arrived at the Roclincourt wagon lines. I left myself at 6 a.m. on the 25th and met the G.O.C. at Ayette. Here we found orders awaiting us to push on to Bucquoy. Our infantry began to arrive there about mid-day, and, tired as they were after marching all through the night, were at once thrown into the line from Logeast Wood to Achiet-le-Petit, where the Boche was attacking in great strength.

The scene in Bucquoy that morning and all through the day was a remarkable one, never to be forgotten. For hour after hour one continuous unbroken stream of transport belonging to several different divisions passed through the village retiring west towards Hannescamps. Everything had to move along one rather narrow road which, in bad enough condition to start with, became execrable later on in the day, and one bad breakdown of a lorry or wagon might have led to a disastrous block and the ultimate loss of thousands of vehicles. Fortunately the traffic control was admirably managed, and the shells, which as the day wore on began to fall with more and more frequency in the village, never happened to find out the crowded road, so that _that_ particular disaster was averted. We moved on to the high ground just east of Bucquoy, and were able to get a good view of the general situation. We joined the Headquarter Staffs of two other Divisions there, and heard from them that our troops were still falling slowly back under great and increasing pressure, and that there was actually a large gap on the right through which our flank was in imminent danger of being turned. As it was obvious that my guns could be of no use in Bucquoy, and would only make the confusion in the crowded village worse confounded, General Braithwaite directed me to divert their march if still possible, and to put them into action near Monchy au Bois. The advanced parties arrived about noon, and were sent back to Ayette, where they were just in time to stop the brigades and turn them off to the positions ordered.

General Braithwaite now assumed command, and we found ourselves responsible for a tremendous number of guns, consisting of several divisional artilleries. Nobody seemed to know where they all were, some batteries being in action, some on the move, and some in positions of observation or readiness in rear. FitzGibbon, however, did wonders, and, with the help of Trench, the Signalling Officer, and Anderson the R.O., at last succeeded in locating and establishing communication with the majority of them.

As night fell the shelling of Bucquoy grew very severe, and orders were received from Corps Headquarters to retire the infantry to a line covering Bucquoy, while the Divisional Headquarters moved back to Foncquevillers. It was a night of great stress and anxiety during which there was no sleep for anyone; the artillery was safely withdrawn, and positions were taken up in the area between Hannescamps and Les Essarts, my own weary batteries having to move up from the positions they had just occupied near Monchy. When the morning of the 26th dawned the infantry were holding their new line, and the guns were nearly all in action. There was desperate fighting throughout this day, in the course of which our right was pressed back out of Puisieux. Headquarters was shelled constantly, as was the whole area occupied by the artillery. Fortunately the enemy had not yet had time to locate the battery positions, and the shelling, being distributed over the whole country side, caused fewer casualties than might have been expected.

The situation was most critical, as the gap on our right flank still lay open to the enemy who kept pressing up into it and actually got up to the outskirts of Hebuterne in the afternoon. It seemed as though he would succeed in getting round the rear of the division, and many alarmist reports were rife as to the presence of Huns in all sorts of unlikely places behind us. These reports spread back for miles and caused a good deal of commotion in the back area. It was believed that they were propagated by German spies, and it may well have been so. Certainly many suspicious cases were reported of orders having been given to various units to retire at once by red-tabbed officers who could never be identified afterwards as belonging to the staff of any of the divisions engaged. At least one such case occurred in the Divisional Artillery; a Staff Officer hurried up to Major Jephson, and, telling him that the enemy was working round behind his Division, advised him to retire his battery, C/310, before it should be too late. Jephson, of course, declined to adopt the suggestion, and reported the matter by telephone to Headquarters. He was from there told to arrest the Staff Officer, but unfortunately by the time the order got through to him the bird had flown.

That evening as the dusk was falling a group of us were standing at a corner of Foncquevillers watching Hebuterne rather anxiously, when an officer called out that he could see a crowd of Huns on our side of that village. Glasses were levelled on the place, and a very brief inspection served to show that the men were moving into and not out of the village. A moment later, and a sharp-eyed officer declared that he could make out the familiar slouched hats of the Australians. In the gathering darkness it was hard to make certain of this, but the arrival of an Australian Staff Officer a few minutes later dispelled all doubts. The infantry brigade to which he belonged had been rushed up to the critical point, and by 8 p.m. it had occupied Hebuterne and driven back the Hun patrols in front of that village, thereby greatly easing the situation. Later on in the night the New Zealand Division arrived after a wonderful 29 mile march, and filled up the gap still further to our right, from east of Colincamps to Beaumont Hamel.

The Military Cross was won this day by Lieuts. F. Abrahams and A. C. Murray:

"As Battery Signalling Officer, Lieut. Abrahams, regardless of personal safety, superintended the mending of wires under heavy shell fire, encouraging the signallers and men of the battery in their task by his example of energy and devotion to duty."

"When the line between the receiving station and the guns, some 300 yards, was broken, Lieut. Murray volunteered to take the orders from the station up to the guns. He did this again and again under very heavy fire. On a later date he carried out most useful observation from an O.P., in spite of continual shelling."

Bitter fighting went on on the 27th, when we beat off five separate attacks, all made in great strength, and killed large numbers of Huns. The hostile artillery fire was again very intense on Headquarters and the area occupied by the batteries. Lieut. W. P. Holt gained his Military Cross for the following action:

"Finding that he could see little from his O.P., Lieut. Holt worked forward to the infantry, and, returning, sent back messages which obtained artillery support for a counter-attack. He displayed marked courage and enterprise in moving over the open under heavy fire and keeping touch with the fighting infantry. The information he sent back was most valuable."

Next day, the 28th, four attacks were made from the direction of Puisieux. One especially, launched at 10 a.m. against the 5th Duke of Wellington's, was delivered in tremendous strength, but the attacking enemy troops were nearly annihilated, and the battalion not only held its own, but captured some twenty prisoners. The shelling of Foncquevillers had now grown so severe that it became impossible to keep Divisional Headquarters there any longer and still maintain communication with the troops in front and the Corps Headquarters in rear. We consequently moved to Souastre, leaving an advanced signal station in Foncquevillers, at which one officer of my staff always remained, taking it in turns among them to do each a 24-hour spell of duty there.

On this day Lieuts. L. C. Gane, M.C., and C. V. Montgomery were wounded, and Capt. A. Senior was awarded the Military Cross for "conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty"; this decoration was also gained by Capts. H. de B. Archer, Adjutant 310th Brigade, and J. Miles, its Signalling Officer:

"On the 26th, 27th and 28th March, 1918, during operations round Bucquoy, Capt. Archer sat, practically in the open, for 72 hours by the telephone, receiving and sending messages. He was constantly under shell fire, and had to carry the telephone from spot to spot, to be able to carry on. His coolness and thoroughness throughout this period greatly helped and encouraged the batteries. On the 25th and 26th March he also carried out most useful reconnaissances under constant heavy shell fire."

"On the 26th, 27th and 28th March, during operations near Bucquoy, Capt. Miles established and maintained a complete system of communication to all batteries of the brigade, and all neighbouring formations taking part in the operations. During the whole of this time he was continuously laying or mending wires; where the shelling was most severe he had to go oftenest, and did so with entire disregard for his personal safety. His work (and the results of it) and his behaviour were beyond all praise."

On the 29th fighting was still very severe, but our front line was now more firmly consolidated, and it began to look as though the tremendous onslaught had been checked not only here but all along the British front. This was Good Friday, and it seemed very fitting that the day which already means so much for humanity should be still further consecrated as marking the first serious check received by the opponents of all that Christianity stands for. The following Divisional Order was issued:

"The Divisional Commander knows that all ranks are cheerfully bearing the strain of the prolonged fighting, and he is proud of their endurance and fine fighting spirit.

"The Division is performing a very important rôle of holding up the German advance in this part of the battlefield, and the very heavy casualties inflicted on the enemy are an earnest of their determined fighting.

"He congratulates all troops on their splendid gallantry, and is confident in the continuation of the fine resistance they are making to the enemy's attempts to break our line.

"Well done, 62nd (West Riding) Division!

"WALTER BRAITHWAITE, "29/3/18. Major-General."

Lieut. G. A. Ellis was this day awarded the Military Cross:

"He maintained communication and observed for his battery throughout the day, though his O.P. was spotted by the enemy and subjected to continuous rifle fire and shelling. He twice mended the wire, which was cut by shell fire, in the open."

Fifteen Military Medals were gained in the Divisional Artillery during the fighting from the 21st to the end of the month (v. Appendix).

During these strenuous days I had seven brigades of Field Artillery under my command, disposed as follows:

Right group. 93rd and 235th Brigades. Centre " 187th, 236th and 310th Brigades. Left " 190th and 312th Brigades.

And also the 54th, 71st, and 92nd Brigades of Heavy Artillery.

On the 30th March Lieut. C. R. Witcher was again wounded.

[Sidenote: April 1918.]

On the 1st April the 37th Division relieved our infantry but the artillery remained unchanged, the batteries of the relieving division not having arrived yet in the area.

On the 3rd April, Major J. Willey, Commanding A/312, was killed, to the great sorrow of all who knew him. He was a gallant, unassuming officer, with a rather diffident and altogether charming manner, and the loss of so able a battery commander at this critical time was felt severely.

Early on the morning of April 5th the 37th Division carried out an attack on Rossignol Wood and a position running thence westwards, under cover of a barrage from the guns, which was kept up from 5.30 to 7.30 a.m. The enemy answered with a very heavy fire on all the batteries, and especially on the headquarters of the right group at Chateau la Haie. Here the Adjutant of the 235th Brigade was wounded, and there were several casualties among the telephonists. About 130 prisoners were captured, including four officers. It soon appeared, however, that this local operation had merely forestalled another tremendous German attack, which reached its full force at about 10.45 a.m., and was kept up all through this and the following day. The Boche bombardment was extraordinarily intense, and stretched far into the back area. It included a large amount of gas shell, concentrated chiefly on the 312th Brigade, which was in action along a hedge close to and south-west of Les Essarts. The brigade fought with magnificent courage, and though inundated with gas shell the batteries never failed to fire when called upon throughout the day; there was scarcely a man but had his hands badly blistered by the foul mustard gas, while many officers and men were temporarily blinded by it. C/312 had a particularly terrible experience. All the six officers with the guns, including Major M. R. H. Crofton, D.S.O., were wounded or gassed, and the majority of the gunners, while several guns were knocked out. In fact by the evening the battery had ceased to exist as a fighting unit, and it was about a fortnight before it could take an active share again in the fighting. Much sympathy was felt for the gallant Battery Commander, Major Crofton. He had already been three or four times wounded during the war, and on this day orders arrived appointing him to the command of a brigade, a promotion which he was unable to avail himself of owing to this fresh wound. It was particularly bad luck, as he had once before missed promotion in Mesopotamia for the same reason, having been badly wounded on the day on which he was appointed to a command.

The enemy suffered a sanguinary defeat, being repulsed by our troops with tremendous loss at all points, except that he gained possession of a small corner of Bucquoy.

Major G. A. Swain was awarded the Military Cross for his gallant behaviour on the 5th. His battery, D/312, fired no less than 2600 rounds while under the heavy gas bombardment referred to above.

During the two days' fighting the following officers were wounded in addition to Major Crofton:

Lieut. H. F. Nowill, M.C. } " F. G. Sharpling } A/310. Capt. A. Senior } Lieut. J. B. Boden, M.C. } " S. A. Rissik } all of C/312. " E. W. Puttock } " A. E. Stuttle }

Although the Boche had failed so disastrously on this occasion, his resources in men and guns seemed to be unlimited, and he still kept up his daily attacks with unremitting vigour. Our troops were exhausted almost beyond the limits of human endurance, and the first three weeks of the great offensive seemed to us like as many months--a period of constant danger and anxiety, unceasing hardships, and utter fatigue. The news from other fronts was of so sinister a nature that it might well have driven even the bravest of men to despair. Amongst our splendid troops, however, there was never any thought of further retreat, and the following stirring order, issued by the Commander-in-Chief on the 11th April, only served to confirm the resolution already taken by every officer and man in the British army to hold back the hated enemy as long as there was a gun or rifle left to fire at him:

"To all ranks of the British army in France and Flanders.

"Three weeks ago to-day the enemy began his terrific attacks against us on a fifty-mile front. His objects are to separate us from the French, to take the Channel ports, and destroy the British army.

"In spite of throwing already 106 Divisions into the battle, and enduring the most reckless sacrifice of human life, he has as yet made little progress towards his goal.

"We owe this to the determined fighting and self-sacrifice of our troops. Words fail me to express the admiration which I feel for the splendid resistance offered by all ranks of our army under the most trying circumstances.

"Many amongst us now are tired. To those I would say that victory will belong to the side which holds out the longest. The French army is moving rapidly and in great force to our support.

"There is no other course open to us but to fight it out. Every position must be held to the last man; there must be no retirement. With our backs to the wall, and believing in the justice of our cause, each one of us must fight on to the end. The safety of our homes and the freedom of mankind alike depend upon the conduct of each one of us at this critical moment.

"D. HAIG, "Commander-in-Chief British Armies in France."

Divisional Headquarters were now at Henu, and on the 18th a readjustment of the artillery took place, bringing back the 310th to cover their own instead of the 37th Division. The right group now consisted of the 310th and 312th Brigades, and the 187th Brigade, while the 26th, 295th and 296th Brigades formed the left group. The headquarters of the right group was established in a dug-out at Chateau la Haie, and the batteries of the 62nd Divisional Artillery, which had been in the Essarts area, were now distributed about between Foncquevillers and Sailly au Bois. This was not quite so unpleasant an area as the one they had left, and things gradually became a little less strenuous. By the 19th April a French army had arrived in our support, and though it was not brought into action, the knowledge of its presence in close proximity to us was very reassuring.

The infantry of the Division was withdrawn from the line for a rest on the 24th April, and our headquarters moved back to Pas en Artois. The artillery remained in action, and had settled down by the end of the month to the old familiar routine of trench warfare. We had six more officers wounded during April, viz.:

Lieut. E. H. Vanderpump April 7th. Major E. W. Jephson, M.C. " 8th (for the third time). Lieut. E. J. C. Sheppard " 11th. " J. E. McIlroy " 18th. Major W. F. Tuthill " 22nd. Lieut. A. E. Cockerell " 22nd.

Twenty-four Military Medals were awarded during the month (v. Appendix).

I insert here a message received from Her Majesty the Queen. The generous sympathy shown for us by all at home, and their unshaken confidence in the army had been a source of great comfort and support to us all during the ordeal we had passed through, and Her Majesty's gracious and touching words were highly appreciated:

"From H.M. the Queen to F.M. Sir Douglas Haig.

"29/4/18.

"To the men of our Navy, Army, and Air Force, I send this message to tell every man how much we, the women of the British Empire at home, watch and pray for you during the long hours of these days of stress and endurance. Our pride in you is immeasurable, our hope unbounded, our trust absolute. You are fighting in the cause of righteousness and freedom, fighting to defend the children and women of our land from the horrors that have overtaken other countries, fighting for our very existence as a people at home and across the seas. You are offering your all. You hold back nothing, and day by day you show a love so great that no man can have greater. We, on our part, send forth with full hearts and unfaltering will the lives we hold most dear. We, too, are striving in all ways possible to make the war victorious. I know that I am expressing what is felt by thousands of wives and mothers when I say that we are determined to help one another in keeping your homes ready against your glad home-coming. In God's name we bless you, and by His help we, too, will do our best.

"MARY R."

The following special order of the day was published on the 9th May:

[Sidenote: May 1918.]

"I wish to convey to all ranks of the Royal Regiment of Artillery my deep appreciation of the splendid service rendered by them in all stages of the Somme and Lys battles since the opening of the enemy's attack.

"The difficult conditions imposed by a defensive fight against greatly superior numbers have been faced with the same skill, courage and devotion to duty which characterised the work of all branches of the artillery through the offensive battles of 1917. With less constant and loyal co-operation on the part of both field, heavy, and siege batteries, the great bravery and determination of the infantry could scarcely have availed to hold up the enemy's advance. The infantry are the first to admit the inestimable value of the artillery support so readily given them on all occasions.

"The knowledge possessed by each arm, doubly confirmed by the severe tests already passed through successfully, that it can rely with absolute confidence upon the most whole-hearted and self-sacrificing co-operation of the other, is the greatest possible assurance that all further assaults of the enemy will be met and defeated. I thank the artillery for what it has already done, and count without fear of disappointment upon the maintenance of the same gallant spirit and high standard of achievement in the future.

"D. HAIG, F.M., "Commander-in-Chief British Armies in France."

Lieut. J. Owen was wounded on the 10th May by a shell that entered his dug-out at Sailly au Bois.

[Sidenote: June 1918.]

During May and June there was not much activity on our front. We got many warnings from prisoners and other sources of the imminence of a further offensive, and on the 26th May especially an unusually severe bombardment, extending to the back areas, seemed to presage a fresh German effort. Nothing however came of it, except that on this latter date a big attack was started against the French near Reims. Our Headquarters came in for a good deal of unpleasant attention, chiefly from a high velocity gun firing from near Bapaume which bombarded us with especial intensity on the 18th and 19th May, and on the 9th June. We were also considerably annoyed by bombing aeroplanes at night, and early in the morning of the 17th June several bombs fell very close to the chateau in which we lived. One bomb on this occasion burst ten yards from a small shanty in which two men were sleeping. Fortunately the inside of the hut had been dug down about 2½ feet, and the men were lying below the ground level, with the happy result that although the hut was blown to fragments the men inside were absolutely unhurt. The batteries were subjected to a good many bombardments, but generally without much effect. D/310, however, had an unfortunate experience on the 11th June. A 5.9 shell penetrated one of their dug-outs, going through 12 feet of earth before it burst and killing all the six men who were inside it at the time. Major Foot, who commanded this battery, was at the time studying the duties of Brigade Major at headquarters, and I may mention here that, in order to have understudies always ready to take the place of any Staff Officer who might become casualties, there was generally a Regimental Officer attached to my headquarters to learn the work. We had a good many officers in the Divisional Artillery who had been trained in this way, and who were quite competent to take on the respective duties at a moment's notice. Majors Eeles and Foot, and Capts. Archer and Middleton did particularly good work of this sort at one time or another.

Several raiding operations were carried out by us. On the night of the 25th May our guns supported the 57th Division in a raid which resulted in the capture of eleven prisoners, and at 1 a.m. on the 18th June we fired off a thousand gas projectors at Ablainzeville, the guns and trench mortars firing a barrage through the village at the same time. The mortars that took part in this operation were firing from a position barely 400 yards from the Boche line, which had been selected by Bottomley, who had succeeded Powell as Trench Mortar Officer. It was a very dangerous and badly "strafed" place, but the risk was well worth taking, and the mortars were a constant thorn in the enemy's side. For obvious reasons the results of operations of this sort could very rarely be ascertained, but in this instance we were more fortunate for we learned from a document, captured in the following August, that the Germans lost in this gas attack two officers and 51 men killed, and 66 gassed, all of the 12th Bavarian R.I.R.

There were two rather notable events in the wagon lines during this period. On the 19th May, Whit-Sunday, General Braithwaite attended a parade service there and presented a large number of Military Medals. He took the occasion to make us a very graceful speech and to congratulate all ranks on their courage and fine behaviour during the trying days of the great offensive.

On the 16th June he inspected the D.A.C. and presented three Distinguished Service Medals which had been won by Indian drivers. The Indians, as I have said before, were a very useful lot of men, and could always be counted upon to obey orders, however difficult and dangerous the execution of them might be. In fact, as the following incident shows, the literal way in which they tried to obey their orders was sometimes carried to excess. Sometime during April, when the fighting was at its hottest, some wagons of the D.A.C., driven by Indian drivers, were carrying ammunition up to a battery near Essarts. The drivers of one of the wagons were making their first trip up to the battery area, and one of the instructions given them was that they must on no account leave anything behind them when they returned, however heavily they might be shelled. As luck would have it this wagon had a very bad time of it, the British N.C.O. with it being badly wounded, and two out of the six mules being killed. The drivers behaved very well, finished their job of delivering ammunition, and brought back the wounded man safely. They were, however, full of apologies on their return to camp; they had done their utmost, they said, to load up the two dead mules on to the wagon, but although they had tried their hardest for about an hour under heavy fire, they had had to give it up at last as beyond their powers.

On the 14th June a rather disturbing order came out, reducing our establishment of horses and mules; the first line wagons and all the ammunition wagons of the D.A.C. were henceforth to be drawn by four instead of six horses. No doubt this step was unavoidable owing to the shortage of animals, but it added enormously to the difficulties of ammunition supply for the rest of the war.

On the 18th the 312th Brigade, which had been supporting the Division on our right for some time past, moved across to the neighbourhood of Foncquevillers and joined its own division again.

In the _Gazette_ of the 3rd June, Lieut.-Colonel F. A. Woodcock and Major C. A. Eeles were awarded the D.S.O.

Nine Military Medals were awarded during May and June (v. Appendix), and two Military Crosses--to Lieuts. H. O. Schofield on the 9th June and Harold Smith on the 23rd:

"When a shell burst in a gun pit, set the camouflage on fire and damaged the gun, Lieut. Schofield, with a non-commissioned officer (Corpl. Edwin Burton, D.C.M.) rushed to the spot, and, despite continuous enemy shelling and the dangerously overheated condition of the ammunition, they removed the clinometer and a large number of rounds to a place of safety and put out the fire, thereby saving much ammunition."

"During a destructive shoot on the battery, Lieut. H. Smith, with the assistance of a N.C.O., removed all dial sights from the guns, carrying them to a place of safety. Later, when the camouflage on the pit caught fire from a direct hit, he, with the help of two men, cleared the burning stuff away and removed ammunition whilst rounds were exploding and the battery was still under heavy fire. He eventually put out the fire, and thereby saved a gun from destruction."

On the 25th June the Division withdrew from the line to go into G.H.Q. reserve, and the sorely tried batteries at last got a brief spell of peace, and went into rest billets in and about Orville, Amplier, and Sarton.