The relief of the 2nd South Lancashires was carried out in daylight on the 9th of September, and the Bosches welcomed the change by indulging in a general bombardment of the area, which caused a few casualties in “A” Company before they reached their new positions.
The Battalion was disposed round about the site of the village of Hooge. There were no trenches, although there were several marked on the map, and the sole accommodation was found in old concrete shelters which until recently had housed the Germans. “A” Company, however, occupied part of the Menin tunnel, which had once been a triumph of German field engineering. This ran underneath the Menin Road, and inside had been a trench tramway, along which the enemy stores and rations had been brought up. The main signal lines also ran along, and it was noticed that these had been neatly pinned into the walls of the tunnel—in contrast to the English method of laying lines criss-cross along open trenches in such a manner as to catch the occupants across the throat. This method of fixing lines, so common throughout the British area, caused more bad language on a dark night than any other provocation in France.
The Menin tunnel may have been a safe refuge in the early days of its existence, but now it was in a deplorable condition. Daylight was admitted at very frequent intervals by the huge gaping holes caused by the heavy artillery of both sides, but in spite of these the atmosphere inside was almost overpowering, and the protection from shell fire was purely imaginary.
Gas shells were scattered freely over the area both day and night, and the casualties increased each day. During the bombardment of the night of the 11th of September, Lance-Corporal Foote, of the Headquarters Pioneers, distinguished himself by carrying a wounded man from the ruins in Château Wood occupied by Battalion Headquarters right down the Menin Road to the dressing station at the famous Birr cross roads.
The discomforts increased each day, and the bombardments of the main track to the front line—the Kanwan track, which had formerly taken place at regular times each day, now became more frequent and irregular. The whole Battalion made the perilous journey along this track nearly every day, for huge carrying parties had to be provided to carry R. E. material and ammunition up to Clapham Junction—the Headquarters of the front line Battalion. There were many signs of the recent advance to be seen on the way to Clapham Junction, the most noticeable being a mass of ruined tanks which looked as though they had all been put out of action in trying to mount the embankment along a part of the Menin Road.
On the 15th of September began a series of practice barrages, and the long-suffering infantry now had to endure the retaliation in addition to other bombardments. Following one of the practice barrages the 7th Battalion, holding the front line, sent forward a party and captured a strong point. “C” Company, under Captain L. L. Burtt, went up at night to work for them, and their journey along Kanwan Track ranks as one of the worst experiences of the Company during the war. Misfortune befell the party from the start, and the intense shelling combined with the pitch-black darkness of the night caused the journey to Clapham Junction to degenerate into a scramble. This was practically the closing incident in the eleven months spent in the Ypres Salient, for on the following afternoon the 2nd Australian Infantry Battalion arrived, and the Civil Service Rifles made their way down the Menin Road, strewn with all the débris of war, with here and there a dead horse, and so to Château Segard, where one night was spent before marching to the village of Steenvoorde and saying good-bye for ever to the hated Ypres Salient.
The departure from the Salient was not without its thrills for the Lewis Gunners, who had been left with their guns on the Menin Road near Hooge awaiting the limbers. These had to pass a corner on the Ypres side of Birr Cross Roads known as Hell Fire Corner, and it so happened on this evening that the spot was justifying its name, for it had been shelled so heavily that the dump of R.E. material and ammunition by the roadside was all ablaze—thus completely shutting off the Transport. This state of affairs lasted for some hours, but Sergeant Sladden solved the difficulty by taking his limbers round by a devious route through Zillebeke, and eventually got the limbers away without loss.
The Transport Section had had many exciting trips along the Menin Road, and they were proud of the fact that they were able to leave the Ypres Salient without having lost a horse in that area.