Chapter Eighteen
We were now told that we would be returning to the front line and that we would stay there until the offensive kicked off and that today we would receive our first proper briefing for the attack and that we would be attacking the dummy trenches again this was greeted by a big groan from us. It would be Major Danby who would brief us and he was joined by a new Company Officer Captain Stephen Dawes who had joined us from the 2nd Battalion. Major Danby pulled a sheaf of papers from under his arm and said. “Alright men listen up these are the Fourth Army Tactical Notes and this is what we must follow.” He coughed and then continued saying. “We will be advancing in waves with two Platoons to a wave and this will be on a 400yd front and each man will have a space of 5yds between them.” He consulted his sheets of paper again before he said. “Therefore our Battalion will advance in eight waves that will be two waves per Company and there will be additional waves for Battalion HQ and the stretcher bearers. When we advance it will be done at a steady walking pace and I stress there will be no running you will keep the line and make sure that you all advance at the same pace. We looked at one another and I can tell you that we were not happy about what had just been said I mean why were we walking instead of running?” The Major continued speaking. “We will be part of the 31st Division and will be in the leading wave of the attack altogether you will have to carry about seventy pounds of equipment. This will consist of your small pack, rifle and bayonet around 250 rounds of ammunition, 4grenades, a spade, empty sandbags, wire cutters, flares and anything else that you may need. He let this sink into our heads before he said. “The later waves will be carrying the same as you but in addiation Vickers and Lewis machine guns and ammo, barbed wire and stakes plus what ever else is needed to consolidate the enemy terrain we capture in the attack.”
Major Danby wiped his face with a large khaki hanky before saying. “It is our job in the first wave to capture and hold the first four enemy trench lines and to consolidate them. The other waves and reserves will then pass through us and continue to sweep the enemy before them.” He once more consulted his sheaves of paper before he said. “Our Division the 31st has been given the job of forming the defensive flank of the whole Fourth Army this will involve us driving east to capture the village of Serre and then turning north and consolidating our gains.” After the briefing was finished we got once more to attack the mocked up trenches but this time we had men with flags simulating the creeping artillery barrage whilst we walked in a line behind it and wondered to ourselves what this would be like with more than seventy pounds of equipment on your person. We got back to the farmstead and we were dog tired but we still had to get our stuff ready for the trip to the front line. Bert said to us as we were sitting outside smoking afterwards. “Well what do you think lads dose this offensive stand a chance or what?” Frank replied. “I’m not happy about the amount of equipment that we will have to carry it could make the attack dicey to say the least.” George chipped in saying. “I’m sure with the bombardment that we are being given that it will be alright after all everyone says that it will be a walkover.” Bert snarled at him. “What are you on about it wont affect you anyway your with HQ Company and will be one of the last to go over the top.” Georges face went red but he never replied to what Bert had said instead he just sat there quite and didn’t say another word. We all looked at Bert in amazement for what he had said was wrong we were all in this together and it was tantamount to calling George a shirker. Bert however seemed to realise that he had overstepped the mark and he looked a bit shamefaced and kept his head down for a bit after. Nobby Clarke now gave his opinion. “I agree with Frank all that kit on our backs and then walking across to the enemy lines as well I just hope these idiots know what they are doing?” A bloke called Mick Jones said. “Haig must know what he’s doing after all he’s an experienced General.” Dusty Miller who was sat with us laughed as he replied. “Its true Haig’s a General but he’s a cavalryman and no cavalryman has ever been any good to the poor bloody infantry. Mark my words son we will get the shitty end of the stick when it comes to this attack.” Soon after this our little gathering broke up and we all went off to finish sorting our stuff out and to get an early night before we moved up front tomorrow. I said goodnight to the lads and climbed into my blanket praying that the rampaging nightmares would stay away.
We moved into the front line trenches in the early hours and the Scottish Battalion we took over from told us that everything was pretty Tres Bon. They said that as a matter of fact the Germans were being unusually quite apart from trying the odd prisoner raid or two and to tell the truth they were being much too quite. I was talking to Bert and Frank when all hell let loose and Bert yelled. “What the fuck is going on?” His face was a pasty white and we had to shout to each other to hear ourselves over the crescendo of sound that was now overwhelming us. The first salvo had gone off with one big crash but now the artillery rippled all along and behind the front and you could seethe flashes going off like the devils light show. They fired in a stuttico of noise that left you stood with your mouth opened in awe and amazement at what man was capable of producing. I went to the trench periscope and watched as the opening salvos of fire from our artillery landed on the Hun positions. It was Saturday the 24th of July 1916 and this was the opening of our five day bombardment that would pave the way for the ‘Big Push’. The noise was overwhelming as 1,010 field guns, 182, heavy guns 245 howitzers and 100 mixed French guns opened up on the German trenches and rear areas. I don’t know about the Huns but we were shitting ourselves from the noise alone and I wouldn’t have like to be standing where any of this lot was falling. Now as the guns settled down into their rhythm you could hear the different types of guns the howitzers would cough their shells out and they sounded a bit like the trench-mortars only about twenty times as loud. We could also hear the crash of the big guns as they fired and the silences as they reloaded then the crashes would start all over again.
H.E.was plastering the German trenches while shrapnel was being fired to destroy the German wire in front of the Hun trenches then we would be just able to stroll through. It was pretty hard to see anything as the weather was atrocious with torrential rain and thunderstorms adding to the misery and the noise of the guns. Nobby Clarke came along his waterproof cape running with water he came up to our position and shouted. “Bloody hell Billy Boy we never saw anything like this on Gallipoli if we had a third of this stuff we would have blown old Johnny Turk away.” I replied. “Your right Nobby we could have done with some of this artillery it would have saved quite a few lives.” It was now nearly impossible to hold a conversation for the noise and so we kept mainly quite taking it in turns to look through the periscope at what was happening on the enemy side. We moved backwards and forwards between the reserve trenches and the front line ones. But it wasn’t that much quieter in the reserve trenches especially when the German artillery sent a barrage over and plastered them. Eventually though things settled down and we got to be quite fond of the reserve trenches as they were much better than the front line ones. We had returned to the front line when the barrage lifted onto the rear areas of the German positions this at least made it a little quieter and you could at least now shout a conversation at each other as the guns thundered on and the rain came down. A raid had been planned for further down the trenches it was to go in and see what damage had been done to the wire and the German troops. We had to know if the bombardment had wiped out the German presence in the front line trenches and we prayed that it had. Then word was passed down the line that the raid had gone over the top and we listened from out vantage point for any noise. All of a sudden we heard the sound of rifle and machine gun fire and then flares lit up the night sky where the raid was taking place.
Bert said. “That’s rifle and machine gun fire and it isn’t ours.” We listened again and it wasn’t long before Bert continued saying. “That’s bombs going off now they must have stuck”, and we listened to the explosions. It was Frank’s turn now has he said. “That’s more than one machine gun firing and I say its jolly decent of them they must have ammo to burn.” The artillery had been concentrating on the German rear areas but now some of it concentrated on the front line again and we could see the muzzle flashes of the guns behind us lighting up the sky. Then we heard the shells whistle and moan overhead but they were firing long and hitting the German reserve trenches instead of the front line ones. CSM Domby came along he lit his pipe and puffed on it quite contentedly nothing seemed to bother him and he just took everything in his stride. Nobby turned to him and said. “What’s happening Sir did the raid go well did they get in?” He replied. “No not really the raiding party didn’t get in they bogged down before the German wire which by the way is nearly all in tact. So are their troops the raiders said the trenches were packed with German soldiers jeering and calling them. Frank said. “But Sir we were told that wire would be taken out then we could just walk across. The CSM looked at him with pity in his eyes saying. “Well that just goes to show Lord don’t always believe everything you are told. The artillery are using shrapnel to cur the wire in order to do this the fuses on the shells must be cut exact. But it would seem that yon long range snipers can’t even get that right”, and he spat on the floor in disgust. This information put a feeling of dread in all of us and we felt scared and angry about it and we were not alone both Brigade and Battalion were worried about the lack of damage. But it didn’t worry Division one bit or the General Staff then again it wasn’t them that would be going over the top and having to face the wire with us.
Stretcher parties came past us with black faced men on them who had been wounded whilst taking part in the raid. Then S/Sgt Ted Wallace appeared and said. “This is no good lads those bum boys on the Staff will want another raid this time to grab prisoners and you can bet your life that the Hun will be waiting for us.” He shook his head disgustedly as he continued saying. “I will tell you something else if the bombardment after all this time and concentration hasn’t touched their wire then its god help us when we go over the top lads.” Ted was right and the next night we had to put a raid over in our sector to grab one or more prisoners if we could. Once again the task had fell to Ted Wallace and he made sure that Frank and I would be going with him as well. I said to Ted. “I know you want me on the raids with you because I’m a good marksman but I wish you would find someone else because one of these times our luck is going to run out and when that happens its good bye so next time choose someone else. Ted apologised saying. “Sorry Billy Boy I quite forgot how many raids we had been on but you are a sort of good luck charm to me and anyway who wants to live forever?” We went over the top that night and I was one of the riflemen and Frank had his homemade cosh a pistol and some bombs he was part of the snatch party that was once again led by Lt Pearson. We edged our way forward across ‘No Man’s Land’ and I stopped with Ted Wallace as the snatch party crawled on towards the German wire and the front line trench. Then all of a sudden a voice shouted in guttural English. “Come on you dam Tommie’s we are ready and waiting for you”, and the whole of the German line in our sector opened up firing. It was fucking chaos as explosions went off near us and then the rifles and machine guns fired in our direction flares whooshed up lighting up the sky and ground below them. I opened fire and just kept shooting as the snatch party came hurtling back through us making their way back to our lines.
I could see that they were dragging a prisoner with them who looked half unconscious but they weren’t stopping for anybody or anything. Ted Wallace said to me. “Right Billy Boy lets get out of here there’s nothing to keep us here now”, so we did faster than a Scotsman sinks a free drink. With a lot of difficulty we made it back to our lines whilst the German troops jeered and fired a hell of a lot of ordinance at us. After we got back we learned that for one prisoner we had lost four men killed and three wounded. When we got back to our dugout I talked to Frank who said. “The Huns were waiting for us and we didn’t get anywhere near the trenches before all hell broke loose.” I replied. “You don’t need to tell me about it remember I was there myself.” He continued saying. “Lt Pearson told us to scarper and that the game was up we had already started to take casualties. Then low and behold a lone German lad bumps into me don’t ask me what he was doing out there because I don’t know but you cant look a gift horse in the mouth can you?” He shook his head laughing at the memory and said. “Any way I tapped him on the scull and me and Dusty hoisted him up between us and dragged him back to our lines”. Frank continued saying. “Still I must admit he wasn’t the best specimen of German manhood that I’ve seen and he certainly wasn’t worth the deaths of our blokes but I suppose the shits on the Staff are happy.” Little did we know that they weren’t and that they would send out more and more prisoner raids in the coming days? Ted Wallace turned up and had a chat with us saying. “Bloody hell lads I’m getting to old for this kind of excitement it was getting far too hairy out there for awhile don’t you think?” I replied. “Your not bloody kidding me and Frank have just been talking about it did you know it was him that captured the prisoner?” He said. “Yes and Battalion are very pleased so is Major Danby and there the ones that matter.” Ted left our dugout and went back to his own and we got our heads down as it had been a pretty stressful night.
A few days later we were all packed into our trench in the pre dawn light weighed down with our kit and waiting for the offensive to kick off in about half an hour. We were loaded like pack-horses and we could hardly move out bodies in the confines of the trench as we had so much kit and were so packed together. The rain continued to fall and we were wet and miserable as well and our nerves were stretched tighter than a virgin’s knicker elastic. Then we heard the shouted order echoing through the trenches to ‘Stand Down’ as the attack had been called off for some reason. The tension went out of our bodies and you could hear the sighs of relief all through the trench lines we had no idea why it had been cancelled only that it meant we wouldn’t be walking through the shadow of the valley of death today. Bert smiled and said. “Well there’s a turn up for the book”, as we finally managed to get our kit off after the rest of the waves had returned to the reserve trenches. Nobby grumbled. “Thank the lord for that because I will tell you something the weight of this kit is no bloody joke its bad enough just standing here in it imagine what it will be like walking towards the German lines with it on. RSM Greaves was going round so I asked him. “Can you tell us why it was cancelled Sir I mean what went wrong?” He replied. “I know it’s a bit of a let down lads but it seems the weather is to blame it’s so bad that the fly boys from the R.F.C. can’t spot for the artillery and tell them where there shells are landing which isn’t very good for us.” He looked at us grinned and continued saying. “So the bombardment has been extended for two days when the weather is supposed to pick up. That means we will now go over the top on Saturday the 1st of July and let’s just hope this two days of further bombardment finally sorts the Huns out.” He wandered off doing his rounds as Bert said. “The 1st of July that sounds like a good omen lets hope we get the luck”, and so the bombardment continued. But at least the Staff had got one thing right for a change because about two hours after the assault had been cancelled the rain stopped and cleared away and the afternoon was bright and sunny.
The next day we were once again briefed on what was going to happen during the attack Major Danby told us. “Our Battalion will be in the first wave of the attack along with some Pal’s Battalions from Yorkshire and our Company Platoons will be in this first wave.” He consulted his notes again saying. “The first wave will move forward through the wire at 7:20hrs they will then lie down on the white tapes that will have been laid out in ‘No Man’s Land’. Once again he looked at his sheave of notes before he continued. “A whirlwind barrage will be directed at the German front line trenches and this will last for ten minutes. Then at 7:30hrs whistles will be sounded and the first wave of the attack will walk towards the German trenches there will be no running.” The Major smiled at us and said. “With a bit of luck the Germans will be finished and we should be able to walk over and secure their trenches as per the plan then the second and corresponding waves will follow the first wave and as they pass through us we will consolidate our gains.” He now looked directly at us saying. “All that is left for me to say is good luck for tomorrow and that you should be proud to take part in this offensive it is the biggest one mounted in this war by our army and it should help relieve the pressure on our French allies at Verdun.” The briefing broke up and we went off to get ready for tomorrow each one of us with our own thoughts and more than a little fear coursing through our veins. All sorts of thoughts ran through your head you asked yourself if tomorrow you would be killed or maimed and left to lie in terrible pain suffering limbs blown off or blindness or a thousand other wounds you could receive. Then the thought would enter your head am I strong enough to do this or will I runaway like a coward when the going gets rough. But then the thought of your friends came into your head and you knew there was no way you could let them down and so some respite came from the doubts. I went to sleep thinking about Helen I could not think of letting her down but at the same time if I was killed I couldn’t bear being parted from her.