Although Festubert was not a battle of such magnitude as the operations of 1916 and later, it was an event of no small importance at the time. The first attack was delivered on the 9th of May with the object, ultimately, of gaining the Aubers Ridge—which dominates Lille and La Bassée. The battle went on intermittently for some days and in the end was not successful.
But although the Battalion held a kind of “watching brief” during this battle, recollections of Festubert are not by any means pleasant. The ground was so marshy that it was impossible to dig trenches, and the line hereabouts was held by a series of sandbagged barricades, approached by two roads (Willow Road and Yellow Road) devoid of any kind of cover. Having negotiated these roads, the men of the front line of barricades were little, if any, better off than those in support at the so-called Welsh Chapel, while the Reserve Company “billets” between Welsh Chapel and Le Plantin could not be called healthy.
It was at Festubert that the Battalion first became acquainted with the realities of war, and although the men were employed practically throughout in holding the line, burying the dead, and on working and carrying parties, with a little patrol work thrown in, there were many gallant deeds done, and at the same time many gallant fellows were lost.
The most vivid impression of Festubert is associated with the enormous number of dead, who were not only lying about the ground, but in some places actually formed the barricades. It was often necessary for the members of burying parties to wear the primitive gas masks, and it was here that “Paddy” Brett, the C.S.M. of “D” Company, a man in his forty-third year, smoked for the first time in his life.
The actual number of dead buried by the Civil Service Rifles in this area is not known, but a very reasonable estimate puts it at 350 in three days.
The survivors of “B” Company, in particular, have most unpleasant recollections of the night when they had to crawl over piles of corpses in order to go forward to occupy an advanced position.
Among other incidents of Festubert, mention should be made of the scouting and patrolling done almost nightly by 2nd Lieutenants W. E. Ind and F. F. Trembath, Sergeant B. K. Ware, Lance-Corporal G. C. G. Andrews, and Privates R. W. Kelley and T. Taylor. The work of patrolling No Man’s Land was not at this time so simple and commonplace as it became later on, and the patrolling done by these men is mentioned specially, not because it was the first time it had been done in the Battalion, but because more than at any other time it was done in earnest, and was productive of really useful information.
But although the first day of the battle was uneventful so far as the Civil Service Rifles were concerned, it must not be imagined that no fighting at all was done at Festubert. For it was here that the first decorations for gallantry in the field were awarded to men of the Battalion. On the night of the 25th of May, eight bombers were sent to the assistance of the Post Office Rifles in an attempt to clear a trench. After a stubborn fight the position was captured, but of the eight bombers only four returned alive, and two of these were wounded. The excellent work of these four was recognised by the award to each of them of the D.C.M. These were thus the first members of the Regiment to receive decorations in this war:—
Private W. H. Brantom, “B” Co.
Private H. Harris, “A” Co.
Private S. Lawrence, “C” Co.
Private S. W. Mills, “A” Co.
The four who were killed were Privates W. S. Curtis, “B” Company; A. J. F. Tracey, “D” Company; P. A. L. Madell, “D” Company; and A. N. Sharp, “C” Company.