“From the bottom of my heart I want to thank you all—officers, N.C.Os. and men, for all you have done during these weeks of strenuous fighting.
“The demands made on all branches of the Division have been great, and right well have they been answered.
“The infantry, Highlanders, Lowlanders, and South Africans, have as usual had to bear the most continuous strain. To sustain appalling and continuous shell-fire, to try to dig for themselves trenches amongst the fallen trees and through the roots of Bernafay and Delville Woods, to suffer heavy casualties amongst their comrades and friends, to go on day and night for a week or more without any relief and with only snatches of disturbed sleep, to bear all the time the stern responsibility of being the guardians of the very pivot of the Commander-in-Chief’s manœuvre, and to maintain throughout, as they have done, an uncomplaining resolution, a cheerful bearing—for all this, we who have had other work to do offer the infantry our wholehearted admiration and thanks.
“And the infantry, I am sure, will be the first to recognise the continuous assistance they have received from the artillery, who have been working at the highest pressure day and night since the 24th June, and are still in the line, as also from the Engineers and from the Pioneers, whose skilful help has always been at hand.
“Equally deserving our gratitude are the Surgeons and their untiring assistants, including the Chaplains, for the care they have given to the wounded without thought for their own safety; and none of us will easily forget all the difficulties overcome by the Supply and Transport Services.
“Lastly, I would thank the brigadiers and their staffs—and the various members of my own staff—for their zealous and efficient work, which has had so much to say to the successes we have gained. Nor do I forget the Signal Service—that invaluable and hard-worked channel of orders and reports.
“We shall miss with lasting regret the many comrades and friends we have lost, but they with you, thank God, have won fresh honours for the Ninth Division and success for our arms.”
When the Division left the battle line it was only the skeleton of what it had been on the 1st July, but as the enemy had employed no fewer than three first-rate divisions against it, one may assume[49] that his losses had been more numerous. This seemed to indicate that the intentions of Sir Douglas Haig were being fulfilled. Episodes such as the costly fighting in Longueval were inevitable in a battle of this magnitude, but in this case more might have been achieved with a greater economy of lives had it not been for the anxiety of the Fourth Army to prevent the programme of the British Commander-in-Chief being affected by delay. Its insistence on the necessity of securing Longueval at once did not allow General Furse a free hand to deal with the situation, and as it turned out, the attempt to rush matters was a spendthrift policy, and actually resulted in losing instead of saving time.
With the opening of the Battle of the Somme there was a noticeable change in the attitude of the men. They now realised the full seriousness and gravity of the business that they had undertaken, and they no longer entered into battle with the exuberant optimism that had filled the men at Loos with the belief that they could sweep away the defences of Germany at one blow. Their confidence was unshaken and their belief in ultimate victory assured, but if the Somme became for the enemy a Gehenna, it was also a supreme trial and test for the soldiers of the British Empire.