NIEUPORT, SHOWING REMAINS OF PUTNEY AND CROWDER BRIDGES AND RUBBER HOUSE IN THE DISTANCE.
INDIA-RUBBER HOUSE, USED AS BATTALION HEADQUARTERS.
There were no communication trenches to most parts of the line in the left sub-sector, and on dark nights it was easy to lose one’s way. On the night of the 10th-11th of October, Lieut.-Colonel G. E. Hope, M.C., commanding the 8th Lancashire Fusiliers, while visiting his outposts with two officers at a point very near to the enemy line, saw a post ahead and called out: “What post is that?” On this challenge the German flat-topped caps were seen instead of the expected “tin-hats.” The three officers got clear, but, the night being very dark, they stumbled into another enemy post. Bombs were thrown and a machine-gun opened on them, and in the mêlée the three were separated. Hope, who had been leading, was last seen in the midst of the enemy, who were fighting one another in the confusion, and he was never heard of again. His companions got away, one by waiting until there was sufficient light to give him his bearings; the other by the desperate expedient of trusting to the enemy’s knowledge of the British lines and making for a spot where the “minnies” were falling.
General Solly-Flood arrives
The 15th of October, 1917, is a notable date in the history of the 42nd Division, as on this day Major-General A. Solly-Flood, C.M.G., D.S.O., assumed command. The new Divisional Commander when war broke out was a Major in the 4th Dragoon Guards, who were the first in the British Army to kill any of the enemy. As C.O. of this regiment he had also fought at Messines, Ypres, and in all the battles of the Yser in 1914 and 1915, and at Loos in 1915. In the Somme battles of 1916 he had commanded the 35th Infantry Brigade, 12th Division. For some months prior to taking command of the 42nd Division, General Solly-Flood had been Director of Training at G.H.Q. in France. Mingled with gratification there was some uneasiness on the part of officers, who feared that the new Divisional Commander might demand an abnormally high standard of “spit and polish” and take occasion to “strafe” them as mere Territorials, should the latest drafts fail to conform to a Guards standard. They were quickly reassured. They soon found that they were commanded by a man who understood men and how to get the best out of them; who meant to lead and inspire rather than to drive; one who knew well how to show appreciation of every trier, and how to stimulate him to try still harder, and instruct him how to make the best possible use of his efforts. Officers and men alike began to want to satisfy their Chief and to merit his approval, for he gave them the impression that he knew they would bring credit to the Division and that he was not only their General but their friend. From the outset he identified himself with the Division and was proud to command it.
Prior to August 1917, all drafts for the Division, and men returning from leave, had been passed through the Corps Rest Camp, and the training of officers and men had been carried out in England or at the Army and Corps Schools. These systems had not been found entirely satisfactory, and it was decided that drafts be sent direct to divisions. In August 1917, the 42nd Division Rest Camp accordingly came into being, and in October was changed into the Divisional Reception Camp, Lieut.-Colonel H. Grant Thorold, D.S.O., then assuming the command, which he retained until the end. In this camp at Ghyvelde the training of the drafts in such subjects as Musketry, Bayonet fighting, Signalling, Machine- and Lewis-guns, Scouts, duties of N.C.O.s, etc., was carried out. A Lewis-gun demonstration in November by men of the 7th Manchesters was the first of its kind in the Division, and was very instructive. The Division was fortunate, not only in the officer commanding this camp, but also in its instructors, most of whom came from battalions of the Division. But, perhaps, the chief responsibility for the training which was put to such good account a few months later rests with Captain Edwards, Coldstream Guards. In his classes for junior N.C.O.s, corporals, lance-corporals, and selected privates were put through a short intensive course on all subjects, from cleanliness in billets to tactical exercises with live ammunition and bombs. Sports were also included, this being a subject to which the Divisional Commander attached very great importance. At the end of the month’s course competitions were held and prizes awarded, the best all-round student receiving a watch from the Major-General. Competitions between units in classes and sports became very keen, with excellent results, and Commanding Officers stated later that they invariably found that the best students at these classes made the best leaders in action.
Incidents at Nieuport
Two or three instances, selected more or less at haphazard as typical of many, must suffice to illustrate the general character of service in the Nieuport Sector, memories of which are usually associated with the bridges, canals, and dams, each bridge having its own history worthy of individual record if space permitted, and such history would be particularly interesting to the engineers of the three Field Companies. At 4.20 p.m. on October 22, Putney, Crowder, and Vauxhall bridges were destroyed by shell fire while a relief was in progress, and the enemy continued to shell the area to prevent repairs. Lieutenant J. F. H. Nicholson, Corporal Brightmore, and Sappers J. Bennett and J. Rylance, of the 429 Field Company, at once volunteered to repair the bridges, and in spite of heavy shell fire they had restored communications across Putney bridge by 5.55 p.m. All four were decorated.
Bath Dam (Dam 66) was, perhaps, the worst job the R.E. had to tackle in the whole sector, as the enemy made a special target of it. This dam controlled the flow of the River Yser into the Yser Canal, and by its means the water in the flooded polders was kept at a sufficiently high level to form a military obstacle. On October 31 a breach fifteen feet in width was made by 8-inch shells, causing the flooding of the country up to the third-line trenches. Lieutenant Mellor, 427 Field Company, promptly organized a working-party of sappers and men of the 6th and 7th Manchesters, and at once started on its repair, the enemy, of course, doing their utmost to obstruct. The indefatigable C.R.E., Lieut.-Colonel D. S. MacInnes, D.S.O., who never failed to turn up at any hour of the day or night when his presence could assist and inspire, took charge of one of the reliefs, and set an example of energy and coolness under fire.[10] The breach was rebuilt with sandbags before the rapidly rising tide could take effect. On November 3 York Dam was damaged, but the same night a working-party closed the gap with 2000 sandbags; but on November 13 both York and Hull Dams were heavily shelled and wiped out, and on the 15th, Dam 66 and Mellor Dam were blown up by concentrated artillery fire. The height of the tide hindered the work of repair, which on this account could not be completed before the Division was relieved.