On the 16th Major Lord Henry Seymour and Captain J. S. Hughes were transferred to the 1st Battalion in the Seventh Division, and Captain C. de Crespigny joined the Battalion from Brigade Headquarters.
On the 22nd Lieutenant F. G. Marshall, who had been having tea with the doctor at the dressing-station, was returning to the trenches, when a stray bullet killed him. The casualties in the trenches were at that time not great, but occasionally at night a violent shelling would begin, directed towards the rear of the trenches, in the hopes of catching the troops coming up to relieve those in the front line.
The terrible tragedies that went on daily between the two firing lines gave some idea of the barbarous cruelty of the Germans. Men who were wounded in any attack or raid were forced to lie out between the lines, often in great agony, but whenever any of our stretcher-bearers attempted to reach them they were promptly fired at by the Germans. To show the vitality possessed by some human beings, cases occurred of men being left out wounded and without food or drink four or five days, conscious all the time that if they moved the Germans would shoot or throw bombs at them. At night German raiding parties would be sent out to bayonet any of the wounded still living, and would feel these unfortunate men's hands to see if they were stiff and cold. If any doubt existed, the bayonet settled the question. In spite of this, men often managed to crawl back just alive, and were quickly resuscitated by their comrades.
April.
On April 1 Major B. H. Barrington-Kennett, and on April 2 Second Lieutenant Hon. G. S. Bailey and Second Lieutenant P. K. Stephenson, joined the Battalion.
While digging a communication trench, in what had once been the Curé's garden, some men of the Battalion unearthed some silver, and also some presumably valuable papers. It seemed to the men that this was treasure-trove, but Lieut.-Colonel Smith, on hearing of the find, insisted that it should all be carefully packed up, papers, silver, and all, and sent to the French authorities for safe keeping. The owner, some weeks later, wrote a letter of profound gratitude, and enclosed a plan showing where some more of his treasures were buried. Another search was made, and these were all recovered, with the exception of one box which had been blown to bits by a shell.
All throughout April the Battalion remained in the same trenches, and was relieved every forty-eight hours by the Irish Guards, when it went into billets at Preol. A new trench howitzer was produced by the artillery with a range of 520 yards, which put us more on an equality with the enemy, and gave the men confidence. The mining had now become a regular practice, and every one was always listening for any sound that might denote mining operations. The shelling continued regularly, and at times a battalion coming up to take its turn in the trenches would be subjected to an unpleasant shelling.
The Commanding Officer, Lieut.-Colonel W. Smith, was accustomed to what he called "stumble round the trenches" every day, and many visits were paid by Lord Cavan and his staff, who became quite proficient in evading the various missiles which the enemy daily aimed at the trenches. On one of these occasions the Prince of Wales, who was a constant visitor, tried his hand at sniping, and as there was an immediate retaliation, his bullets very probably found their mark. The men were delighted to see His Royal Highness shooting away at the enemy, and when, as sometimes happened, the evening shelling of the Germans—"the evening hate," as it was termed by the men—began while the Prince was in the trenches, the men were always anxious to hear that His Royal Highness had finished his tour in safety.
On April 21 Captain G. L. Derriman and Second Lieutenant C. O. Creed joined the Battalion, with a draft of thirty men. On the 12th Major Lord Henry Seymour returned to the Battalion. On the 13th Second Lieutenant P. K. Stephenson left to join the 1st Battalion, and on the 26th Captain R. H. V. Cavendish was appointed Town Commandant at Bethune.
The weather gradually changed, and instead of the general gloom, the appalling mud, snow, and rain, the days began to be bright and hot, although the nights were still cold.