Capt. E. N. MARSHALL, M.C.
Capt. N. GELDARD, D.S.O., M.C.
Much permanent work was done while the Battalion was in this sector. The trenches were put into a thorough state of repair and were much improved, mainly by the construction of new shelters. A good deal of wire was put out. A series of concrete machine gun posts in front of the support line was begun. Front line and support companies inter-relieved in the middle of each tour, and, as tours were spent by companies on the right and left alternately, all officers and N.C.O’s got a thorough knowledge of the whole line.
Reliefs were all carried out by daylight and with greater ease than in almost any sector the Battalion has occupied. The distance to billets was short, and a relief which began about mid-day would be complete, with the relieved troops settled in billets, by about tea-time. Periods of rest were taken up mainly with training, though a certain number of working parties had to be found. The training area was near Richebourg St. Vaast, less than two miles from the front line, but it was very rarely a shell dropped there. Platoon exercises were generally carried out in the neighbourhood of billets. While in rest many football matches were played, both within the Battalion and against neighbouring units. An excellent recreation room at Senechal Farm was used for smoking concerts and lectures, as well as for reading and writing.
April 14th—the second anniversary of the Battalion’s landing in France—was celebrated at Vieille Chapelle. A dinner for all surviving officers of the original Battalion was held at the estaminet, best known for its associations with a lady named Alice. A smoking concert for the men who had come out with the Battalion was held in the Y.M.C.A. hut at Vieille Chapelle, the 49th Divisional Band coming over to assist in the programme. It was found that there were nearly two hundred survivors still serving with their old Battalion.
On April 27th Lieut.-General R. Haking, G.O.C. XI. Corps, presented medal brooches to a number of officers and other ranks of the 49th Division, including Major A. L. Mowat, M.C., Capt. J. G. Mowat, M.C., and ten other ranks of the Battalion. The ceremony took place at Merville and a guard of honour of 20 other ranks, under the command of Sec.-Lieut. A. J. Robb, was furnished by the Battalion.
Meanwhile, the first British offensive of 1917—the Battle of Vimy-Arras—had opened on April 9th. Lying only a few miles to the north of the battle area, the Battalion could clearly hear the roar of the artillery, and at night could see the glare of burning dumps and the flashes of the guns. Before long a current from the battle began to affect it; the demand for identifications became more and more persistent. Early in May signs began to point to the presence of a different division on the Ferme du Bois front, and the Intelligence Department was most anxious to secure a prisoner. On the afternoon of May 10th, a particularly urgent memo. on this subject was received. Very early the following morning a Battalion runner arrived at 147th Infantry Brigade H.Q. and insisted on seeing an officer at once. When told that all were asleep he still insisted, saying that the officer would not mind having been awakened when he saw his message. This is what had happened.
About 10-30 p.m. on May 10th, C.S.M. W. Medley, M.M., with eleven other ranks of B Company, left the front line, crossed No Man’s Land, and reached the enemy wire. There he left six men to form a covering party, and, cutting a passage through the wire, entered the enemy front line with the remainder of his patrol. About seventy yards to his right was an enemy sentry post, but he decided to attempt nothing against it as it was difficult for anyone to approach without being observed. He crossed over to the enemy second line, passed that also, and continued straight across country until he reached the third line. The patrol was now about six hundred yards in rear of the enemy outposts. Leaving the rest of his party in an old shelter, the patrol leader went forward alone to reconnoitre. He reached a communication trench, known as Serpent Trench, and saw a man walk along it. He returned and brought up his men, getting into the trench with two of them, and leaving the rest on the parapet. They were barely in position when three Germans—afterwards found to be a water-carrying party—came along the trench. C.S.M. Medley called on them to surrender and they at first laughed, probably thinking it was a joke of their own men; but, presently realising that they really were face to face with a British party, they turned and ran. The parapet party immediately opened fire and killed one German; Medley pursued and captured a second; but the fate of the third is unknown. The prisoner was promptly hoisted out of the trench and the patrol returned by the way it had come, reaching the British line without loss after an absence of more than four hours. The prisoner turned out to be a machine gunner of the 3rd Bavarian R.I.R. (1st Bavarian Reserve Division), a most valuable identification, since it proved that a relief had taken place opposite the Battalion front, and that one of the German divisions which had been shattered at Vimy was now holding the sector. It was to receive this news that Brigade H.Q. had been disturbed in the early morning.