The assistance given by the 6th Manchesters, who had been lent to the 5th and 6th L.F., was warmly acknowledged by Brig.-General Fargus and the Battalion Commanders. Lieut.-Colonel Hammond Smith, commanding the 6th L.F., in a letter to Lieut.-Colonel C. S. Worthington, D.S.O., commanding the 6th Manchesters, regretting the heavy loss suffered by the companies attached to his battalion, added: “To-day I asked for help to bury some of our dead, involving a carry of three-quarters of a mile through the barrage area. Seventy-two of your men volunteered, and that speaks for itself. We could not bear to think of burying men in this area where they were bound to be blown up again, otherwise we should not have asked.”
The Division had had an object lesson in the peculiar strength of the German defensive system and the futility of “minor operations.” The losses from continuous shelling and from unproductive local assaults were heavy during the next ten days. There were deeds of valour, too, but the pill-box problem was no nearer solution. Gunner S. Hardcastle, “B” Battery, 211th Brigade, during a heavy bombardment of the battery position near Potijze on September 7, left cover to go a hundred yards through the shelled area to get water for a wounded comrade, and three days later, seeing an ammunition dump belonging to the battery on his left struck and set on fire by a hostile shell, he ran across and was first to begin the dangerous work of extinguishing the fire. But for his prompt action a large amount of ammunition would have been lost. During an attack on an enemy blockhouse on the night of the 11th-12th September, Private T. M. Howard, 9th Manchesters, volunteered to bring in an officer who lay wounded about forty yards from the blockhouse, from which severe machine-gun and rifle fire was maintained. Howard reached the officer and carried him 200 yards over exposed ground illuminated by enemy flares. On the following day Corporal W. White, 8th Manchesters, made five successive journeys through a continuous barrage, and each time brought in a wounded man. On the night of September 11 a covering party protecting workers in No Man’s Land found a wounded private of the Inniskilling Fusiliers, who had been lying out since August 11, unable to crawl into safety. In spite of thirty-one days exposure and starvation—except for the meagre rations found upon the bodies within reach—he recovered.
Frezenberg Ridge
Among the casualties of these ten days were Lieut.-Colonel R. P. Lewis, 10th Manchesters, killed by shell fire, and Brig.-General A. C. Johnson, D.S.O., seriously wounded within two days of his arrival to take over the command of the 126th Brigade in succession to Brig.-General Tufnell, who was Chief Staff Officer of the Division on the outbreak of war, and who had returned home for a much-needed rest. Brig.-General W. W. Seymour succeeded to the command of the Brigade a few days later. On September 18 the Division was relieved by the 9th Division, and D.H.Q. moved to Poperinghe, the infantry concentrating in camps in that region preparatory to a march northwards to the coast. The artillery remained in the Ypres sector for nearly three weeks, when they rejoined the Division at Nieuport. The East Lancashire Artillery did some of its best work in the Ypres Salient, and its best was very good. Losses in guns and personnel were heavy, especially from the accurate and relentless fire of the enemy’s 5·9 howitzers, for there was no cover and no protection other than the accuracy of their own fire. They were content to give more than they received, and they gave it with hearty goodwill. As an indication of their activity it is interesting to record that on one night, September 13, more than 1100 horsed vehicles conveyed supplies to the Divisional Artillery, in addition to the supply of ammunition by motor-lorries and pack-animals. Night after night, in pitch darkness, over cut-up and waterlogged ground, amid constant shell-storms, the daily supply of ammunition was brought up, and the gunner had little rest and less sleep. Dumps were set on fire by the daily bombardment, and officers and men vied with one another in fighting the flames, while shells from the enemy and from the burning dumps exploded right and left. Guns sank axle-deep in the mud—Napoleon’s fifth element—and were salved under deadly fire. After the rest of the Division had left for the coast, the artillery took part in continuous fighting from September 20 onwards, advancing to forward and exposed positions on Frezenberg Ridge on the 25th. These were the days of the greatest artillery battles of the war, and it was not unusual for a single battery to fire 5000 rounds in twenty-four hours. There were many casualties from gas, as the batteries were in small depressions in the ground, and these were never really free from gas. Men wore masks sometimes for five hours at a stretch—until they had to discard them through sheer exhaustion. In the course of a few days the four batteries of the 210th Brigade lost 120 men in gas casualties alone. When relieved on the 29th September batteries could barely muster more than 100 N.C.O.s and men. Majors Boone and Simon had been killed and Brig.-General Walshe and Major Highet severely wounded, Lieut.-Colonel A. Birtwistle, C.M.G., assuming temporary command of the Divisional Artillery.
Of numerous instances of devotion to duty and disregard of personal safety three examples (on September 25-26), taken haphazard from the Honours List, must suffice. Padre A. C. Trench, attached to the 211th Brigade, R.F.A., followed up the infantry to their forward positions and worked all day under shell fire, setting a fine example of cheerfulness to all ranks, bandaging the wounded and ministering to the dying. Sergeant H. Bentley was in command of “A” Battery, 210th Brigade—the officers being casualties—when an ammunition dump close to the guns was set on fire. Bentley kept the guns working, and with Corporal A. Butterworth tackled the burning dump and put out the fire, saving ammunition at a time when it was most valuable. A similar act was that of Sergeant W. L. Breese, Corporal E. Fletcher, and Driver A. Hughes, of “C” Battery, 210th Brigade. A gun-pit and an ammunition dump were fired during a bombardment, and the fire spread to the camouflage of the guns and to ammunition pits on both flanks. At great personal danger from bursting shrapnel and H.E., the three extinguished the newly-started fires and saved two guns and much ammunition.
Lighter incidents were not wholly absent on Frezenberg Ridge. A barrel of beer had arrived; naturally enough the Boche could not ignore so important an event, and before the barrel could be put in a safe position it was shelled. Men ran to cover, but kept an anxious eye on the barrel, which was soon punctured. The sight of beer running to waste was too much for one gunner, who ran to the barrel, calling out: “Hey, chaps, coom on! Jerry has knocked t’bung-hole in!” He remained by the barrel, stopping the leak until the shelling ceased, and ever afterwards marvelled at the lack of a sense of proportion shown in decorating men for saving guns and ammunition while one’s sole reward for rescuing a barrel of beer is to be hailed as a public benefactor.
While in the Ypres Salient the three Field Companies, R.E., as usual did all manner of work, from the maintenance of duckboard tracks to the construction of concrete emplacements. The Signal Sections displayed the efficiency that one learned to expect from them. A Lamp Signalling Station on the ramparts did useful work, and the carrier-pigeon service proved surprisingly quick and reliable. The linemen had a particularly hot time, as communications were exceedingly difficult to maintain in this sector; and their coolness, courage, and skill in repairing the constantly damaged lines gained several decorations, and also the admiration of their comrades of all arms.
Equally cool must be the stretcher-bearer. Casualties had to be conveyed by hand carriage over the duckboard tracks before wheeled carriers could be used. Yet day and night the bearers kept a continuous stream of wounded flowing to the rear. The distance between the front and the region of comparative safety made the evacuation of the wounded a matter of difficulty. The Field Ambulances were, however, equal to their task, and though the Advanced Dressing Stations at Railway Dugout, Bavaria House, and Potijze Château were cramped for space and were frequently gassed and always shelled, all the wounded were dressed and got away. The pressure in rear was so great that some bandages were not changed until the men reached England.
The Army Service Corps had a most trying time, but in spite of serious losses the supply services never failed. Reference has already been made to the dangerous and difficult work carried out so competently by the battalion transports.
Depression