Christmas was spent in the huts at Bécourt with a wild gale blowing; the festivities and feastings of the previous year at Authie were not possible, but at least the men could congratulate themselves that they were not in the trenches. On the 28th we moved back through Albert to the village of Bresle, which lies just north of the great straight highway from Amiens to Albert. Here some houses yet remained, and contact was re-established with the vestiges of civilisation. The Brigade, drawn up in a hollow square, was inspected by Lieut.-General Sir W. P. Pulteney, the Corps Commander, and earned his praise. Boxing competitions, concerts and football matches reappeared in the intervals of work. A train journey on January 9th took us to Citerne, a quiet, comfortable village, intact of war, in the French area south of the Somme. The inhabitants were most friendly, accommodation good, and each officer found a bed at his disposal. The three weeks' respite from the rigours of the line was the more appreciated as the great cold had now set in, which was to continue with almost unmitigated intensity until the middle of April. There was much to be done in the way of training, for the new platoon organisation had now come into force. Its object was to make the platoon a self-contained unit of specialists, with its four sections divided into riflemen, Lewis gunners, bombers and rifle-bombers. This was obviously to require from the average man a higher standard of specialisation than before, and consequently threw greater responsibility on the platoon and section commanders. It was, in fact, found impossible during the course of the 1917 campaign fully to attain this ideal, as the time available for the training of new drafts was not generally sufficient. Another train journey on January 28th took the Battalion by a circuitous route through Amiens, past Villars-Brettoneaux to Hamel, two names destined next year to become famous in the fighting history of the Australians. Hamel was soon exchanged for Cappy, a village high above the southern bank of the Somme, overlooking its great loops, and the widespread marshes and pools all frozen stiff. Although only about 2,000 yards behind the trenches from which the French started to the assault of Frise on July 1st, it was not badly knocked about. Houses and barns were available for billets, but the men suffered considerably from the cold, as fuel was very scarce, and the frost was now at its height, the thermometer marking 20 or more degrees of frost every night. Then followed a few days in the great French Adrian Huts, each holding a Company, in a camp by the edge of the Somme Canal a few hundred yards further east.
The month of February passed uneventfully, though unpleasantly, in alternatives between the trenches west of Peronne and Cappy. Until the 16th the extreme cold continued unabated, so that all the water which was brought up in petrol tins each night from Cappy froze solidly in transit. Another result of the severe weather more appreciated by the men was the hardness of the trenches, which made most of the ordinary trench fatigues impossible. A thaw, however, set in on the 16th, and a mist arose over all the country, which lasted for many days, and made it possible for the enemy to carry out unobserved his plans for the great retirement. Though further north throughout this very bitter weather fighting was incessant round Miraumont and the approaches of Bapaume, here inactivity prevailed, and the month cost the Battalion no more than nine casualties. There was also little sickness, and strength and fitness were well maintained.
March came in with a return of frost and snow, but the front was gradually waking into life. It was obviously the German policy to mask the moment of their withdrawal by lively activity, and their artillery and machine guns showed considerable vigour. On the other hand, though the British had not yet realised that the front was about to give along a stretch of 80 miles it was clear from the events round Bapaume that the enemy had for the first time begun to entertain the idea of ceding ground voluntarily. Hence raids for purposes of identification again became frequent. One of these was most successfully carried out by the Battalion on the night of 7th-8th March without any loss to themselves. The raiders were under the command of 2nd Lieut. Hampshire, and were divided into three small parties, each of 8 men. The portion of trench to be entered was shut off by a 'box barrage,' which, falling on both flanks and on the support line, enclosed it, so to speak, in a frame of shells. The wire was fully cut, and no difficulty was found in penetrating the enemy's line, but all the birds had flown beyond the limits of the barrages on either side. Accordingly, as no prisoner had been caught, a second attempt was made at 2.45 a.m. Again an entry was easily effected on the left; the party worked further down towards the south owing to the enlargement of the barrage, and finally found a small dugout, which was bombed. This had the effect of producing two Germans, who were carried off. The object of the raid thus happily accomplished, Hampshire and his men returned. The flanks throughout had been strongly held by the enemy, who fired rapidly but inaccurately, and caused no casualties whatever. The only effect of this action was to prevent the entry into their trench of our right-hand party towards La Maisonnette, which could not get through the hostile wire, but returned undamaged. The two prisoners were found, on examination, to belong to King Constantine's Own 88th Infantry Regiment, and had their shoulder-straps adorned with a crown and the letter K beneath. The G.O.C. of the Division sent special congratulations on the success of the whole operation. For their conspicuous share in this success, 2nd Lieut. Hampshire received the M.C., Sergt. A. C. Evans, Corpl. H. Hart, Lance-Corpls. J. Mazey and G. W. Hutchings the M.M.
Shortly after this the results of the weary and bloody months on the Somme battlefields became manifest. On March 17th-18th the enemy began his general retreat. The 48th Division was in the forefront of the pursuit south of the Somme. The 1st/7th Royal Warwicks were the first British troops to enter Peronne, and the flag which they planted on the ruined towers is now carefully preserved and treasured in the Imperial War Museum. Our Battalion was in reserve at Cappy practising Advance Guards. Open warfare was no longer relegated to the dim and uncertain future, but became the certainty of the moment. On the morning of the 20th operation orders were issued which began: 'The Battalion will move to Peronne at 11 a.m.' For the first time since they went abroad, they could advance unmolested over enemy country. The weather at last showed a delusive promise of spring, and the sun shone. Hopes ran high and all were pleased beyond measure to be leaving the mire and clay for the green untouched country beyond. They went over the forsaken trenches, crossed the Somme by a bridge thrown over at Bézancourt Farm and entered Peronne. The little town, after its long history as a French fortress, after the battle of Mont St. Quentin and the German occupation of 1870, had now been laid utterly waste. Few houses had been previously damaged from shell-fire, since the French gunners had purposely spared the place, but now the destruction by the hand of the enemy was complete; it had been organised with the greatest care to make impossible military and civil occupation. In the suburbs the fruit trees had been felled; children's toys and all manner of debris, wantonly destroyed, lay about the streets. The Battalion was billeted in the remains of the barracks, and was joined during the evening and night by the rest of the Brigade.
Next day a march was made south-east along the Cologne Brook, which was crossed at Doignt. The roads were being everywhere busily repaired, the tall poplar trees which had been felled across them were being dragged out of the way, the great mine-craters at the crossroads were being filled up; the whole countryside was alive with labour repairing the damage for the advancing army. For some days the time was spent in outpost duty in the old style between Peronne and Roisel, and working on the defences which were being provisionally dug, till touch was fully restored with the Hun, and the limits of his retreat became clear. On March 24th the 5th Cavalry Division passed by, riding eastward, a sign of the new conditions of warfare. At Flamicourt, one of the adjacent villages used as billets for the Battalion for several days, were several interesting signs both of the carefulness of the enemy and of his hasty departure. In the street outside almost every house were great heaps of tin and zinc ready to be carted away; at another court was a pile of copper stripped from our shells. Here, too, for the first time was seen that inspiring yet most pitiful spectacle, a number of the civil population released from German captivity. The proof of victory, they were also an incitement to vengeance; their faces, from which all life and hope seemed to have departed, were a testimony to the misery which they had endured for the last 30 months. Among them were the inhabitants of Tincourt, whom the Germans, by a refinement of cruelty compelled to halt on the rise overlooking their homes and there to witness the destruction.
Meanwhile, in the bitter weather that had returned, incessant pressure was being exerted against the stubborn German rearguards, who were being gradually pushed eastward towards the much-vaunted defences of the Hindenburg Line.[(Back to Contents)]
