I was then sent with five other men to fill their places, and our orders were to lie down in the bottom of the trench and not show ourselves, as our machine-gun was trained directly over the top to the Thirteen Trench beyond us, and on any move being made by the enemy the gun would instantly open fire directly over us. My comrades and myself lay there the whole of the day; the stench from the dead men who had been killed that morning was sickening—indeed, the whole of that trench smelt of blood, warm blood as from a slaughter-house, which in fact it was. We all got very cramped towards evening, and a great deal of grumbling was going on, as in the ordinary course of events we should have been relieved by that time and back resting. Some one at length suggested going to the Officer to ask for relief and beg him to exchange us with some men higher up the trench, who had more freedom. I was asked if I would be spokesman. Replying in the affirmative, I went to the Officer and explained the case, telling him how cramped we had become. He asked me where I had come from. When I told him, he asked me who gave me permission to leave my post: I replied no one, but that I was the oldest soldier, whereupon he came with me to the bottom of the trench, and, addressing the men, promised them he would relieve them as soon as possible. He also said: "You have nothing to fear while I am with you; the Germans are ten yards off." After further promising to send the relief, he departed. We then decided, as night was falling, that three of us should keep watch for the first hour and the other three for the second hour, carrying on like that alternately throughout the night.
The night was very black and the gloom very thick, and we could not see a movement of the enemy ten yards away, but could imagine all sorts of forms and shapes in front of us. I think it was during our second watch that we discerned what we thought to be three forms moving behind the enemy trench and making for the road; so one of us fired. We heard a yell and concluded we had got somebody. During the third watch my two comrades grew very tired, and, getting down with the other men at the bottom of the trench at my bidding, were soon fast asleep. I then pulled two of the dead bodies to the end of the trench and stood them up against the wall facing the enemy to make them appear as if there were more of us. I had no sooner done this than a German got stealthily out of his trench; and, creeping along behind the hedge and to the rear of our line, up popped another, and then another. Whereupon I sent word of the enemy's movements viâ the next traverse to the Officer, asking what I should do. In the meantime I was doing all I could to awaken my comrades; but they were so sound asleep that, although I was kicking them, I could not get them to budge. The word then came back from the Officer to say we were to do nothing—not even to fire a shot, as the machine-gun was trained upon the enemy, waiting for them to come up. I was in a very awkward position, as I could see the line of enemy trenches in front, and the one they were coming out of on our flank, and I had to stand there and say nothing whilst they crept around the back of us. I began to get "wind up" (frightened), as by this time they were six to one against me, and, being the end man, I had no chance whatsoever. No doubt I should have accounted for one or two of them, but I should never have got away myself.
This situation continued for about twenty minutes. I had at last been able to arouse my comrades, when an order came down for the North Lancashires to file out: we were being relieved by the West Riding Regiment. I may state that I never heard such welcome words in my life! How the West Ridings fared after that I do not know, but I do know that I was well out of it!
That night we returned to our old reserve trenches for rest at Hooge; and next day a message from General French was read out to us, praising us for the work we had done and regretting that he had had to keep us so long in action without a rest. We had been either marching or fighting since the middle of August, and it was then the middle of November, but he did not think we should have to go into the trenches again before we had had our long-deferred and well-earned rest.
That night the 3rd Battalion Scots Guards, just out from England, came into the wood also, and a fresh Regiment of Zouaves joined us. We were all very pleased to think that we were about to be relieved, and I remember well taking a dozen field post-cards from different men of the Scots Guards to post as we went down the line. We marched out at eight o'clock, every one convinced that we were going to have our rest, when, on reaching the road, instead of marching towards Ypres, they took us towards the trenches. Even then we thought we were going for our rest, some suggesting that we were on our way to a meeting-place for the Brigade; others took it to be another way round—"Yes, viâ Germany," remarked some one. Well, we did not get our rest: we went into the trenches again on two occasions after that, and for forty-eight-hour stretches. At length we were relieved by the Guards Brigade, and went back to Hazebruck by easy stages.
I should like to say a few words about Ypres before I close the account of my experiences there. We were during the whole of the first Battle, from October the twenty-third to the seventeenth of November, 1914, fighting in the trenches all the time, with the exception of the first three days. I was in the Bipschoote-Langemarck-road engagement, in what is now better known as "the Ypres salient." From the time when I first went there until October the thirty-first our front line was fully six kilometres from Ypres town, but between the twenty-third and the thirty-first of October the Germans gained from us quite three to four kilometres. We did not regard this as a defeat to the British arms, as at that time the enemy were, without exaggeration, six to one against us, and they were also much better equipped with artillery. On the contrary, I wish to pay my humble tribute to all ranks who served during that time, short as they were of men, sometimes even putting the military police into the trenches, to say nothing of the cavalry and cyclist corps. It was there that we finished off the remainder of what was the original Prussian Guards, as well as the Bavarian Guards; and to-day the British nation has to thank those troops who fought so well during that time, and put a finish to the chance of the Germans ever reaching Calais, and thence England.
My Regiment entered Ypres not less than one thousand strong, and while there we had five lots of reinforcements: we came away with only seventy-five men and one Officer, a Lieutenant. I do not, however, in my above remarks refer specially to my own Regiment any more than to any other Regiment in my Brigade or Division—all the Regiments in the 1st Division were splendid: though some may have been a little better than the others where all were very good.
We went then to relieve the 7th Division after it had fought the rearguard action from Antwerp, and we were only just in the nick of time, for the Division had suffered very heavily. Altogether with reinforcements the 1st Division must have lost thirty thousand men in stopping the great rush for Calais. When we entered Ypres everything was normal; but when we came out of it the town was in ruins and burning furiously in several parts.
At Hazebruck we rested for close on a month. By "rested" I mean away from the firing line. Of work we had plenty. Two days before leaving Ypres we were joined by a draft of six hundred from home, which had been kept behind with the Transport until we should come out of the firing line. Captain Smart, who was with this draft, took over the Temporary Commanding Officer's duties during the three-days' march to Hazebruck, where we arrived in a snowstorm, and were billeted in private houses at the rear of the railway station and running along near the line. Whilst there, we received two further large drafts from England, and we also had a lot of men sent back medically unfit on account of defective teeth, etc. Even there we were not left in peace, doing each day either route marches or brigade training. To every man new clothes and underlinen were issued; and we all had to have a bath!—an amusing affair, that took place in a rag-shop. A canvas bath had been rigged up, and each Company took it in turn to bathe, the water being fetched by the cooks in dixies. We had about four of these dixies filled with about twenty quarts of water to each bath, with some strong disinfectant put in it. About one hundred men would bathe to each bath, the last dozen or so revelling in pea-soup. Every one had to go in—as at that time we all had plenty of live stock crawling over us—under the eyes of the Company Officer and two or three N.C.O.'s. Enemy aircraft was continually flying over us, and one Sunday morning an airman dropped eight bombs, which killed several civilians, mostly children, and caused sixteen casualties amongst men of my Regiment.