The Road to Cambrai.
2/6th The King's (Liverpool Regiment)
To face Page [216].
Later on during the day these orders were altered, but only in the matter of exact frontages. At "stand-to" on September 10th "D" Company dropped in for some attention, 2nd-Lieutenant Green, who had but recently joined, being wounded, along with one or two others. Otherwise little happened. On September 11th the 2/7th and 8th K.L.R. attempted, at 6.15 p.m., to establish posts on the Canal du Nord. This great canal stands roughly north and south about 1,000 yards east of Inchy and about 500 yards east of Mœuvres, the latter place being just over a mile south-south-east of Inchy. The ground had been excavated to a great depth, and very large banks constructed, but the canal had never been finished and contained no water (see photo.). It was, notwithstanding, a formidable obstacle, being 20 feet deep in places, though the embankment had been pierced in places for roads and tram-lines. Opposite Mœuvres the canal banks were in some places quite low.
The attempt of the other two battalions to establish posts proved unsuccessful, and at 10.15 p.m. our "C" Company was pushed forward to replace "A" Company of the 8th K.L.R. in the Hindenburg Line.
At 12.55 a.m. on September 12th orders were received for our Battalion Headquarters to join Headquarters of the 8th K.L.R.; and we were warned that as many as three companies might be required to form a defensive flank north-east of Mœuvres. At 3.30 a.m. "A" Company was ordered forward for this purpose, with instructions to form platoon posts in Cemetery Trench, just north of Mœuvres, and to gain touch with the 170th Brigade on the right. It was now nearly daylight, and the company experienced the greatest difficulty in gaining its position, as there was no cover, and touch was not obtained with the 170th Brigade. At 6 p.m. the enemy counter-attacked on the Inchy—Mœuvres line, and "A" Company, finding itself being outflanked, after hard fighting was obliged to withdraw. In the course of this movement Lieutenant Sage, the Company Commander and a very gallant officer, and seven men were killed, and twenty-one men wounded.
That night the battalion was relieved by the 2/4th South Lancashire Regiment and one company of the Munster Fusiliers. This was completed at 5.30 a.m. on September 13th. Our new dispositions were two companies in the Buissy Switch and two in the Hindenburg Support north-east of Pronville. After remaining here for two days we learnt, on September 15th, that we were to be relieved by the 52nd Division and go back for a short rest. Taking everything into consideration, we had had a pretty strenuous time since we left Anzin on our preliminary marches, and after our first arrival in the battle area had had our share of fighting and shelling. There was, of course, no cover from the weather except in trenches. Villages had for the most part long since ceased to exist, and were but grass-grown mounds with notice boards to indicate what places they had once been. Our casualties had been fairly heavy, and the reduction in officers and N.C.Os., of course, threw extra work on the remainder, whose opportunities for sleep and rest, small as they were likely to be in any case, were thus further curtailed. A few days' rest and all would be well again, so we greeted the news that we were going back for a while with no little pleasure.
The relief by the 7th Cameronians commenced at 1.30 p.m. on September 16th with Battalion Headquarters, "A" and "D" Companies. This was finished by 4.30 p.m. "C" and "B" Companies could not be relieved till after dark, but had finished by 11.30 p.m. There was very little hostile activity during the relief, only two men being wounded, and the companies made their way back to Croisilles for the night in their own time.
Next day, September 17th, we moved to Boyelles, and entrained there at 4 p.m. for Saulty. Here we detrained and marched to Barly, arriving there at 7.10 p.m. Our rest at Barly will live long in the memory of the battalion. We had enjoyed periods out of the line before, but never was any place so acceptable as Barly. Everyone arrived full of that comfortable feeling which only hard work well done can produce. All were pleasantly tired, but quite ready to make the most of the golden hours so long as they should last. Even the senior officers of the battalion became light-hearted and youthful. Were not the Commanding Officer and the Padre seen hurrying up the main street with pockets and arms filled with bottles of "bubbly," and in no way disconcerted on reaching the Mess to find that a supply had already been obtained? Our stay lasted till September 25th, and during that time we rested and trained, cleared up and repaired, and generally made ready for the resumption of the offensive.
The second instalment of "Cheerio," published by the "Whizzbang Press," and edited by Rifleman Wheway, of "B" Company, duly made its appearance, and was acclaimed as a great journalistic success. The "Cheerios" Concert Party made its début here, and produced a really first-class entertainment in the Cinema on September 22nd. As to the doings of these artistes more will be said hereafter.