We left Hazebruck on Monday morning by motor omnibuses on December the twenty-first, going through Merville to Festubert. Four miles from Festubert we left the buses, and during the afternoon, waiting on the roadside for orders, we for the first time came across our Indian troops. The Meerut Division and 4th Corps were operating around that district. On the cross-roads at Le Touret we waited until dusk, and then moved up the road about a mile to the Rue-de-L'Epinette, Festubert, where we were told that each Regiment in the Brigade had to attack and take at least one trench. From the Rue-de-L'Epinette we were taken across several fields for about a mile, when the Brigade made a charge. It had then become dark and we were on ground that we had never been on before; but we succeeded in taking three lines of trenches—the Regiment on our left taking one, though that on our right was not successful. I honestly believe that it was a ruse on the part of the enemy, as we did not take a single prisoner, and had only a few casualties ourselves.
That night I was doing duty as an orderly, bringing up the machine-gun section and also two mess-waiters with refreshments for the Officers. A funny incident happened on the way up. A house just to the left of the farm where Battalion Headquarters were posted had caught fire, and another orderly on the way down from there said to me: "Be careful which way you go, as I think that house which is burning is in the German lines; so bear off to the right." This the two waiters and myself did; and, after tramping along for some time and crossing several ditches, I gave it up, declaring that I had lost the way. In front we could see some yew trees lining a ditch about a hundred yards off, so we made up our minds to go as far as that, and reached the trees safely; but as we got there bullets began to fall with a plop into the ground at our feet; so we thought we had better go round the other side. It was, however, just as bad there, and in front we saw a trench; so we thought we would investigate a bit. Creeping up quietly to the parapet, we peeped over: several Germans, unarmed and burdened with two jugs of coffee and a basket of provisions, greeted our eyes. We very soon made off back again, and had not gone more than a couple of hundred yards before we came to a garden surrounding a farm-house. It turned out to be the very house I was seeking, but of course I could not then recognize it, as it was night-time, nor was it familiar to me, as it had been night-time when I first went into it. We were only about thirty yards off and could hear a babel of sounds, but very unlike the English language. So I suggested that the best thing we could do was to lie down under cover of the hedge, and wait until some one came along. If he proved to be English, well and good; if German, we should have to get out of it the best way we could. We had not long to wait before three forms loomed in the distance through the gloom; and then we were all of a tremble! Fortunately they turned out to be three of our own Tommies, so we waited till they had passed, and then we went in. Many a laugh over the affair have those two waiters and myself had on after occasions.
Next morning, December the twenty-second, we were properly let in. The enemy commenced to shell us, continuing for some hours; then they came up in force. Unfortunately, by taking those three lines of trenches the night before, we had got too far in front; and consequently we were surrounded before we knew where we were. Anyhow, with bombs and rifle-fire (our machine-gun section being behind and not in position by then), we kept them off as long as we could—then we had a run for it, as the Company on our left had had to give in. There were very few of us left that day; but our machine-gun soon got into action, and held the position until reinforcements came up, when the remainder of us formed up in the Rue-de-L'Epinette. When the roll was called we numbered one hundred and thirty Officers and men out of eight hundred and thirty who went into action seventeen hours before. Our C.O., Major Powell, was very much upset, remarking that there had been a grave mistake somewhere, and he would immediately go to the General for satisfaction: we, of course, did not hear how he got on.
That night we were taken to Lacature until all the stragglers had joined up: they made the Regiment up to about two hundred; and next day we marched off to Essairs, just the other side of the canal of Bethune, where we spent a quiet but not joyous Christmas Day, as we felt greatly the loss we had sustained two days before.
CHAPTER VIII
LA BASSÉE DISTRICT