CHAPTER II
WARFARE
"Plug Street"—British Army in being—At General Headquarters—Rest billets—Mud or death—The trenches—Buzzing bullets—Sir Douglas Haig—The Front—Restrictions on the narrative—Reviewed by Commander-in-Chief—Canadians in the trenches—Our men take to football—"Jack Johnsons"—A German challenge—General Alderson—-The General's methods—His speech to the Canadians—A fine Force.
"Things 'ave transpired which made me learn
The size and meanin' of the game.
I did no more than others did,
I don't know where the change began;
I started as an average kid,
I finished as a thinkin' man."
—KIPLING.
"The strong necessity of time commands
Our services awhile."
Antony and Cleopatra.
After a slow journey by rail of 350 miles from the landing point in France, the Canadians reached a wayside station which lies about twelve miles due west of Ploegsteert—the war-historic "Plug Street" wood, which British regiments had already made famous. At this point the Canadians were well within that triangle of country lying between St. Omer to the west, the ruins of Ypres to the east, and Bethune to the south, which at that time contained the entire British Army in France.
It was one of the most remarkably interesting pieces of triangular territory imaginable, full of movement, romance, and the intricate detail of organisation. Within it lay the already wonderful beginnings of the great British force as it is to-day, and I will do my best to make clear how, within that triangle, the first British Army lived, moved, fought, and generally had its being.
You must picture the British Army in the field, spread out like a fan. The long, wavy edge of the fan is the line of men in the firing trenches, at the very forefront of affairs, often within a stone's-throw of the opposing German line. Some hundreds of yards behind this firing line lie the support trenches, also filled with men. The men in the firing and supporting trenches exchange places every forty-eight hours. After a four days' spell they all retire for four days' rest, fresh troops taking their places as they move out. At the end of their four days' rest they return again to the trenches. All relieving movements are carried out in the dark to avoid the enemy's rifle fire.
Further back, along the ribs of the fan, one finds the headquarters of the many brigades; behind these, headquarters of divisions; then headquarters of army corps, then of armies—the groups becoming fewer and fewer in number as you recede—until, at the end of the fan handle, one reaches the General Headquarters, where the Commander-in-Chief stands, with his hand on the dynamo which sends its impulses through every part of the great machine spread out in front.
From General Headquarters the movements of the entire British Army, or rather of the several British armies, are directed and controlled. It is a War Office in the field, with numerous branches closely co-ordinated and working together like a single machine. Here is the operations office, where plans of attack are worked out under the direction of the Commander-in-Chief and his chief of staff.