A consolidating platoon, armed with picks, shovels, sand-bags, etc., followed as a carrying party; and, finally, Company Headquarters moved into the German front line, and Battalion Headquarters moved up to Edmeads Farm. The Brigade Pioneer Company, assisted by working parties from the reserve battalion, were responsible for digging communication trenches from Fiji Road on the right and Hobbs Farm on the left, to the enemy's front line. The Reserve Battalion Headquarters and two remaining companies moved up to the subsidiary line.
To assist in these operations advanced dumps, containing vast quantities of R.E. stores and bombs and small-arms ammunition, were gradually accumulated in the vicinity of the front line, to the great delight of the Germans, who shelled them cheerfully. An elaborate system of flags and identification marks was also evolved. In addition to this, it being now presumed that we had to all intents and purposes occupied the German trenches, the collection of salvage from our old trenches became a matter of considerable moment, and comprehensive orders were issued for that work also; but these we may pass over.
To change for a moment from the offensive to the defensive, it was also considered possible that the enemy was likely to make an attack on Armentières, in the hope of obtaining a good headline, "Capture of Armentières," for his newspapers, which might divert attention from the rumour that Messines had fallen. Moreover, his possession of Armentières would have made our tenure of Messines Ridge extremely uncomfortable, if not impossible. Consequently, an extensive system of routes for reinforcing troops was worked out, and guides instructed for this purpose. Men not required to carry bombs and R.E. material to the front line dumps were now collecting similar material in Armentières itself. Others were busily engaged wiring up the streets, building machine-gun emplacements, and generally trying to make up in a few weeks for the total neglect of the old defences, which during the last two years had decayed to a degree almost beyond repair. A Major was appointed O.C. Armentières Defences, and the place began to hum with life and movement. Throughout the proceedings the foe kept up continual shelling with every description of gun, and made life in the town anything but comfortable. The swimming-baths, which had been so acceptable, had to be abandoned owing to the fact that they only had a glass roof, and shells came perilously near it. Training was confined to the vicinity of billets, or more often to the cellars. The destruction of the big brewery near Pont de Nieppe, whence came our beer supply, so needed in those scorching hot days, helped to complete our unhappiness. The baths near Erquinghem were also destroyed, thanks to the action of the Heavy Artillery Commander, who had placed some 60-pounders just in front of them. The sight of the soldier bathers, in every kind of dress or undress, running wildly across the fields in the company of the French laundry-maids certainly produced considerable merriment; but the price paid for this piece of humour, the entire demolition of the only bathing-place reasonably handy, was thought to be excessive.
The only people who really appreciated the spell out of the line were the raiding party. Captain Steward, Captain Parker, Lieutenant Clarke, 2nd-Lieutenant Moseley, and 100 men were comfortably installed close to Croix du Bac in the quarters of the old Divisional Reinforcement Camp, which had recently been moved to Steenwerck, the present railhead. Division Headquarters had removed from the White Chateau at Sailly, and were now in Croix du Bac; and a field close to their offices was secured for the training-ground. Here a replica of the enemy trenches was made with tapes and turned sods, care being taken to add sufficient "duds" to mislead the aerial photographer should he chance to wander over. Aeroplane photos were studied till the head nearly swam to ensure that the reproduced line corresponded as exactly as possible with the original. Throughout these proceedings Captain Glyn, G.S.O.3, was most helpful in procuring photographs and maps. The choice of the sector to be raided was limited by the necessity of having reasonable approaches to our own front line, and these the right sector alone provided. Moreover, the old road passing through the Pont Ballot salient made a fine natural guide, and was selected as such for the right flank. Centaur Trench and support, with their two communication trenches, Centaur Lane and Centaur Row, formed roughly speaking the area of operations. There were three parties—Captain Parker and twenty men of "D" Company, who were to enter on the right; Lieutenant Clarke and sixteen men of "A" Company in the centre, though Clarke himself was to remain on the parapet with a 'phone to our own front line to Captain Steward, O.C. Raid; and 2nd-Lieutenant Moseley and thirty-one men of "B" Company, who were to enter on the left. The route up to the gap in the wire was to be indicated by tapes. Bridges were to be laid and the parties formed up in No Man's Land between sign-boards by zero minus three minutes. The barrage was to lift and the raid commence at zero plus two minutes. The duty of the blocking parties, etc., was worked out to the smallest detail and rehearsed again and again.
The co-operation of medium trench mortar batteries, light trench mortar batteries, and machine guns was on a large scale both for barrage and neutralizing purposes. The artillery consisted of 18-pounders and 4·5 howitzers, fourteen pieces in all. All this time the Quartermaster was busy collecting revolvers, knobkerries, torches, and all the other minor but necessary articles of equipment, and many were the alarums and excursions.
During this period in billets the reorganized seniority of the Territorial Force was published, all temporary rank being cancelled. We suddenly found ourselves with no Majors and only four Captains, while several of our Company Commanders fell to 2nd-Lieutenants. The system of promotion to acting ranks was, however, at once instituted, and we resumed most of our original ranks, though Major Charles Wilson lost his majority, only one Major being allowed instead of two. About this time Captain Bowring took over command of "A" Company.
On June 12th "A" Company relieved "C" Company in the subsidiary line, and on the 15th the battalion relieved the 2/7th K.L.R. The route chosen was Buterne Avenue, the common communication trench between ourselves and the right battalion. Owing to the destructive shooting of the enemy, Irish Avenue had more or less ceased to exist; and "C" Company, who once more found themselves in this unhealthy sector, had to use Cambridge Avenue and Regent Street, which made their relief a slow and tedious process. "B" Company was on the right, and then came "A" and "D" Companies. Owing to the raiding detachment being left out of the line, "D" Company had to be assisted by a loan of men from "C" Company; while "A" and "B" Companies were supplemented by various employed men—buglers, grooms, etc.—normally left out of the line.
The sector was again full of gas, and the persistent efforts of the R.Es. to discharge it seriously hampered the patrolling that had to be carried out nightly in the vicinity of the area to be raided, and which was of vital importance. The real nature of the bridge over the ditches, which eventually proved to be a brick culvert, had long been in dispute, and Lieutenant Royle, the Intelligence Officer, spent every night while we were in Armentières with the Battalion scouts in No Man's Land up to and including the night of the raid. In spite of his multifarious duties as Intelligence Officer and his two daily summaries, he never spared himself in his efforts to make certain that the gaps were open and the routes beyond dispute. The enemy activity had meanwhile still further increased. Irish Avenue was reduced to a mere chain of shell-holes and débris, while every communication trench, and in fact every part of the sector, was well hammered. We were surprised and pleased to find how well the gas cylinders stood being knocked about.
On June 20th a practice disconnection of all telephones was ordered by the Division. The result as far as we were concerned was highly satisfactory, Battalion Headquarters getting a brief respite from those in authority. As regards the internal routine work it made no difference, as telephone messages had been reduced, at any rate during the daytime, to the lowest possible figure. The repeated warnings that the enemy could pick up messages, and later the presence of a Police Listening Set in the subsidiary line, had greatly cooled our enthusiasm for this form of communication. The daily report of conversations picked up by the Listening Set was, in fact, a source of much merriment, the angry remarks of Major Brookes one day to someone at his battery causing special amusement. We also received a rather futile complaint from the authorities, so to prevent a repetition of similar rebukes we made a suitable arrangement with the Listening Set personnel, who were located in a dug-out they had long coveted; and after that our conversations, when picked up, were treated with more discretion.