Craven's Part in the Great War

by John T. Clayton

Christmas was spent in these desolate surroundings; the battalion was in the front line on that festive day, standing in deep mud and subsisting on such rations as had not been bogged on the long journey from Belgian Battery Corner. On Boxing Day the battalion had to deplore the loss of Sergeant Cecil Rhodes, M.M., who was killed by a shell. In the very early days he had made a great reputation as a fearless bomber; always cheerful himself, his gift of humour in the most disheartening circumstances was a real asset to the battalion, and he had won the lasting affection of both officers and men.

THE LAST YEAR.

Relieved early in January by the 66th Division, the battalion was employed for nearly a month in constructing a reserve line on Westhock Ridge, a couple of miles in front of Ypres; but in January moved back to billets in Hondeghem, near Hazebrouck. Here, in February, the battalion had its Christmas dinner. There was one large room in the village and there each company in turn was regaled on beef and Yorkshire pudding, pork, cold ham, Christmas pudding and other seasonable fare. About a fortnight was spent at Hondeghem, companies going in rotation to Moulle, near St. Omer, for musketry practice.

At this time it was decided to reduce the number of battalions in an infantry brigade from four to three throughout the British army; as a result many battalions were disbanded and their men sent as drafts to other units. The ⅙th Duke of Wellington’s received about a dozen officers and 300 men from the 5th and 8th battalions of the Duke’s, and were thus brought up to strength.

In the middle of February the battalion was back again in the salient, taking over the Polygon Wood sector with headquarters in the conspicuous mound known as the Butte, one of the few recognizable landmarks in the area. The New Zealanders, whom the battalion relieved, had worked hard at the line and bequeathed to our men quite a respectable line of trenches and a light railway running to within 300 yards of battalion headquarters. In doing this they had suffered heavily, and a subaltern was commanding their brigade; but the ⅙th was very grateful for the shelter afforded, for the shelling all round was fierce and the German artillery had got a very accurate range on all the tracks. There was a good deal of raiding at this time and the battalion had to repulse two attempts upon their lines; they were also spectators of a most successful raid carried out by the 4th Duke’s at Polderhoek.

In this neighbourhood the battalion had three tours of duty in the front line and then moved back to Reninghelst, a village a short distance south of the Ypres-Poperinghe main road.

STEMMING THE GERMAN ONSLAUGHT.

The Duke’s had already heard the news of the desperate German onslaught on the Somme where much ground had been lost by the Third and Fifth Armies, and as they marched to Reninghelst the rumbling of artillery could be clearly heard from the direction of Armentieres, which lay only some ten miles to the south, on the far side of the ridge running from Mont des Cats to Kemmel Hill and dividing the plain of Ypres from France. But no news of any offensive in that area had reached them, and the men took off their clothes and went to bed in comfort for the first time for several weeks.

But the battalion was not to enjoy an undisturbed night. Shortly after midnight (April 9-10) everyone was awakened and dressed hurriedly. Ammunition was made up to fighting scale, Lewis guns taken off the limbers, and two days’ rations served out. By 2 a.m. the battalion was on the road in motor buses. Crossing the ridge they descended at Trois Rois cross roads, north of the town of Nieppe, where the whole of the 147th Brigade (¼th, ⅙th and ⅐th Duke of Wellington’s) was concentrated. After a hasty breakfast the whole Brigade moved forward across the open fields and took up a line in front of the town of Nieppe, facing Armentieres and astride the main road leading from that city to St. Omer and the Channel ports. After working some hours on defences, at 1 p.m. bullets began to enfilade the line from the south, and the brigade fell back a short distance to an old trench line from which they could more securely watch the threatened flank.

Only now did the battalion learn more or less what had happened. On the morning of the 9th after a heavy bombardment the Germans had attacked and driven back the Portuguese, who were still holding the Neuve-Chapelle-Fleurbaix sector; following up their success they had crossed the river Lys near Bac St. Maur and had thus turned the flank of this valuable line of defence. When the 6th Battalion took up its line at Nieppe, the Germans were at no great distance from their right flank and later in the day captured Steenwerck, which was actually behind them. So far as was known a British division still held Armentieres but they were weak in numbers and hard pressed. The task of the 147th Brigade was therefore twofold: (1) to check any advance of new German forces from Armentieres; and (2) to prevent the enemy from continuing his enveloping movement from the south and capturing the valuable line of hills behind them.