March.
On March 6 a raid was carried out by the 2nd Battalion. While it was in the support line, Major Bailey had been told that the Battalion would be required to carry out a raid when it went up into the front line, as the Intelligence Branch of the Headquarters Staff was anxious to obtain information with regard to the coming German offensive. The place selected for the raid was opposite the extreme left of the Battalion
frontage, and had been chosen partly because the aeroplane photographs showed that the enemy was thinner there than elsewhere, and partly on account of some rising ground on the left which would give partial protection from machine-gun fire. In the original scheme a silent raid by twenty-four men under Lieutenant Palmer was proposed, but this was altered later to a raid on a larger scale with an artillery and trench mortar barrage. In addition to the twenty-four men from No. 2 Company, eight volunteers from the other three companies were called for, and the whole party proceeded to Gordon Camp under Lieutenant Clarke, with Captain Browning, who was an old hand at raids, to supervise their training. Meanwhile a great deal of valuable reconnaissance and preparation was carried out from the front line by Captain O. M. Smith, commanding No. 2 Company. Unfortunately during the few days before the raid the visibility was good, and therefore unfavourable for such operations, since the greater part of the wire-cutting had to be postponed until the day before the raid took place. In order to deceive the enemy as to the actual place selected for the raid, wire-cutting was carried out at different places along the whole Divisional frontage.
The night of the raid proved to be fine and bright. The raiders were brought up from Gordon Camp in buses, and, after an issue of rum at advanced Battalion Headquarters, formed up on a tape in No Man’s Land about 150 yards from the enemy’s trench (the total distance between the opposing trench lines being 240
yards). At zero hour, 2.40 A.M., our artillery put down a barrage on the German front trenches for one minute, and then lifted it on to the support trenches, where it was maintained during the raid. At the same time two separate barrages were dropped on either flank, while suspected saps, machine-guns, and communication trenches had a standing barrage of Newton trench mortars and howitzers directed on them. The raiders were divided into three parties: the right and left parties, each consisting of a sergeant and eight men, entered the enemy trench simultaneously and immediately wheeled outwards. The centre party, consisting of Lieutenant Clarke himself, a sergeant, two stretcher-bearers, and five men, remained at the point of entry. The orders were that the raid was not to last more than twenty minutes, and the raiders were to withdraw as soon as a prisoner had been captured. In order to confuse the enemy great quantities of coloured lights were sent up along the whole Divisional front. The enemy were completely taken by surprise, although, as subsequent examination of the prisoners proved, they had been warned of the possibility of a raid. The right and left parties had not gone far before they came upon several small shelters containing Germans. These were at once bombed and two prisoners were quickly captured. At the same time a machine-gun mounted on the parapet was taken, and the team bayoneted. The gun itself was carried back to our lines by Private Marshal of No. 1 Company. Lieutenant Clarke at once ordered a withdrawal, as the object of the raid
had been accomplished, and the whole party returned safely with its two prisoners and machine-gun, having been away for only twelve minutes. Somewhat later the enemy retaliated with machine-guns, trench mortars, and artillery, but caused no casualties, and finally the shelling on both sides died down completely. The prisoners were identified as belonging to the 10th Imperial Bavarian Regiment; one was a machine-gunner and the other an orderly. A certain amount of useful information was elicited, but their knowledge was naturally only local.
With the exception of this raid, nothing of importance occurred at the beginning of March, until on the 12th Second Lieutenant G. H. Hanning and Second Lieutenant H. M. Chapman were both wounded by the same shell. Fortunately they were close to a dressing-station, and were in the doctor’s hands within ten minutes. On the 13th an attack was expected, and our artillery fired continual bursts of harassing fire which brought retaliation from the Germans, during which one sergeant and three men were wounded. The four days from the 14th to the 18th were spent in the line, but proved uneventful, and on the 20th the 2nd Battalion retired to Arras. Next day rumours of a successful German offensive on a large front reached the Battalion, but nothing definite was known. Shells fell in Arras, causing many casualties, and the town began to be cleared of its inhabitants. On the 22nd Lieutenant P. V. Pelly and fifty men who had been transferred from the Household Battalion joined from the Reinforcement Battalion.
Further disquieting rumours with regard to the German advance were repeated from mouth to mouth, and became so exaggerated that drastic and often unnecessary measures were taken to prevent any stores from falling into the hands of the Germans.
On the 24th preparations were made to relieve the 1st Battalion Scots Guards in the Army line, from St. Leger running north towards Henin, but in the afternoon these instructions were cancelled. It appeared that the enemy had taken Gomiecourt, and was advancing towards Courcelles. Lieut.-Colonel Rasch received orders to take up an outpost line on the high ground south-west of Boiry, and went off at once with the Company Commanders, to reconnoitre the ground and settle the boundaries.
The following officers accompanied the Battalion: