Hunting the Hun

by James Belton; E. G. Odell

We had an elderly man in our battalion who had gained the D.C.M. (Distinguished Conduct Medal) for bravery on the field. Our commanding officer, hearing that Brigade Headquarters wanted a man to repair tanks, recommended our D.C.M. for this job, as he thought it would be a fairly safe one. Later on, as I was leaving the trenches with my platoon to go into billets, I came across a party struggling with a tank that had broken down. An officer was outside trying to prop it up. I halted my party and asked him if we could render any assistance, for we were all curious to see the inside of the tank. The assistance was readily accepted and we got busy right away. It was not long until we had overcome the difficulty. The officer, I may say, who was in charge of the tank was not in the best of humours, as he had been getting shelled, and informed me that when shrapnel burst they all had to get inside the tank for safety. I asked him what kind of a tank it was, a male or a female, and he replied to my question by saying, "You know damn well what it is; it is one of those things that always gives us poor men trouble." I often wonder if he was a woman hater. The female tanks are armed with Lewis machine guns, and the male tank is supplied with guns of a heavier calibre. The tank officer also informed me that he had one of our men with him. I asked him who it was and he called out of the tank our worthy D.C.M.

I asked Johnson how he liked his job. He told me it was fine. All he had to do in an attack was to run in front of the tank and pick up the dead or wounded and put them to one side. Not much of a bomb-proof job at that!

Our commanding officer had thought that, when he was recommending this man for a job to repair tanks, this was for tanks that were stationary such as water tanks and gas tanks. However, Johnson was quite satisfied with his job.

All officers and men are allowed after an average of eight months' service in the trenches from seven to ten days' leave, although in a great many cases I have known both officers and men to go for over a year before they received leave. It just depends on whether or not there is urgent need for their services at the time.

A soldier going on leave to England is usually given a check for 20 pounds (one hundred dollars) and fifty francs ($10.00). If they decide to spend their leave in France they receive six hundred francs ($125.00). Transportation to their destination and back is provided by the Government.

When an officer or man goes on leave, he is naturally very keen to get off. I remember one instance of an officer who had been married just a few months before war was declared. Later on he had a picture sent to him of his wife and first born baby. He was naturally very excited, and kept showing the same to everybody he came in contact with.

I believe he thought it was the only baby in the world. He asked me what I thought about it. I told him that the baby was just like him, but I think I had a great deal to answer for in doing so, for the child, apparently about two weeks old, was a little pudgy thing. His features can only be discerned by those who own it. Later on when this officer was granted leave he was very anxious to get away to see his wife and baby. We had another look at the photograph and one French officer who was with us at the time was tapped on the back by this youthful father, who asked when the French officer was going on leave.

The reply was rather startling and at the same time very pathetic. It was spoken in broken English: "Me no go on leave, me stay to fight." We wondered what lay behind these words, and then this officer pulled a picture out of his pocket. It was a picture of his wife and daughter, the daughter apparently a young girl between 15 and 16 years of age. He then described to us that when he was called to the colours he had been living in Northern France. The town was now occupied by the Germans. His wife and daughter had had to remain behind, and the sequel was that they had been outraged by the Germans and each given birth to a child, whose father was a Hun.

So he had no home to go to and he preferred to remain and fight to avenge the wrong done to his wife and daughter. There are many instances of a similar nature to this in both France and Belgium, and no atrocity that is perpetrated like the foregoing shall ever be forgotten.