Support Company: One platoon in Patu Support and the remainder of the Company in the reserve line near Battalion H.Q. In the event of enemy attack the whole company was to move up into Patu Support.
Reserve Company: In pill-boxes and dugouts to the north of the Polygon de Zonnebeke. In the event of enemy attack this company was to move up into the reserve line, vacated by the support company.
Battalion H.Q. was in a pill-box about two hundred yards from the Butte. Inter-company reliefs were carried out in the middle of each tour.
The sector was one of the most varied and interesting that the Battalion had ever occupied. It was taken over from the 1st Battalion Otago Regt. (New Zealand Division) on February 22nd. This division had occupied it for a long while and had done an extraordinary amount of work there. Like all the sectors on the Passchendaele Ridge, it was very wet, and the Battalion found it quite impossible to drain certain parts of the trench system, particularly Plumer Trench, the communication trench on the left. Except for one gap in the middle, where all attempts to get the water away had failed, there was continuous communication along the front line. This line had been well and deeply dug, and was well provided with fire bays, shelters, and all the necessary provisions for trench life. The right rested upon the valley of the Polygonbeke which, like all streams in the district, was an impassable morass. The centre ran through the ruins of the village of Reutel, whose existence would probably have been overlooked had not the trenches in places been cut through the actual foundations of the houses. Near the centre of the front line, the parapet had been built over the village well; this provided the water supply for both front line companies. There had once been a continuous support line, but the centre was now derelict, and only the two flanks were occupied. Each Company H.Q. was comfortably housed in a pill-box which gave practical immunity from shell fire. The front line faced roughly south-east, the ground, except on the extreme left, falling away to the Reutelbeke. On the left a spur ran out from the main ridge, near the point of which had been the village of Becelaere, now marked only by some prominent pill-boxes.
Behind the front system of defences lay Jetty Warren, once a tributary of the Polygonbeke, but now a filthy, noisome and impassable quagmire. It was crossed in two[14] places by gridded bridges, and these were the only means of communication with the front line, except a very roundabout route through the area of the next battalion. This fact was well known to the enemy, who swept them with machine gun fire at frequent intervals during the night. On the forward slope of the hill, overlooking Jetty Warren, was Patu Support Line, a well-constructed fire trench but rather short of accommodation for men. About five hundred yards further back lay the reserve line and Battalion H.Q., the latter in a small but very strong pill-box, the chief drawback to which was the lowness of the roof. When the Battalion first took over the sector all communication with the front line companies was across the open; but before it left a good communication trench had been dug from Patu Support to the right company H.Q., and a second had been started from the reserve line to Patu Support.
The main feature of the country-side was Polygon Butte, popularly supposed to be the ruins of the race course stand. This stood out so prominently that it naturally became a registration point for the enemy artillery, and people did not generally linger near it. Here Capt. A. J. Robb, of D Company, was wounded, when returning from his inspection of the line before the Battalion took over.
All the ground behind Jetty Warren was overlooked from Polderhoek Chateau. That commanding position lay about 1,000 yards due north of Gheluvelt and an equal distance from the Battalion’s right. It had been the scene of terrific fighting the previous autumn and had changed hands more than once; but finally the enemy had kept possession of it. From the Reutel Sector nothing but a great pill-box could be seen. This was a favourite mark for the British artillery. Guns of the heaviest calibre were constantly firing at it, and sometimes splinters from the explosions were hurled right into the Battalion’s lines. Attempts were even made to smash it in with 12-inch “duds.” But apparently no serious damage was done to it. Occasionally enemy snipers from that position fired on men moving to and fro between Patu Support and the Butte; but the range was too great for this to be really dangerous.
Like all sectors which had been occupied by the New Zealanders, the Reutel Sector was a very active one. It was not so much the hostile artillery. This was certainly not quiet, especially round the Butte, on Patu Support, and near the well in the front line. But most of the activity came from the infantry. The Germans had posts much nearer the British line than the Battalion had been used to of late. Although the crest of the ridge was in British hands, the enemy had retained a hold on the slope instead of withdrawing to the far side of the valley. Some of his posts were only about a hundred yards from the British line. When advanced parties from the Battalion first visited the line they were surprised at the amount of firing which was going on; and when the New Zealanders finally handed over they were most anxious that their old front should be kept lively. The Battalion did its best to oblige, and not without success. At night the amount of Lewis gun and rifle fire was extraordinary. Capt. A. M. Luty was particularly energetic in this respect, and C Company got through more ammunition in a night than the average battalion in the line fired in a month. The enemy retaliated with plenty of machine gun fire, sometimes making it very uncomfortable for parties working on the top. Some patrolling was done, but the enemy was so close, and his positions were so well known, that this was not a very important feature. Most active of all was the sniping by day. The enemy had no continuous line and he seemed to take comparatively little trouble to hide himself. Men could be seen at almost any hour of the day, and the front line garrisons became tremendously keen on sniping. Not many hits were made, so far as is known, but this caused no slackening of the fire. A low pill-box near Juniper Wood, little more than a hundred yards from the British front line and opposite to the right company, was the main centre of the sniping. Here there was one little German who became very well-known to everyone. He was bald-headed, and something of a sportsman. Many men spent hours trying to snipe him, and he was only too ready to retaliate. He fired over the top of the pill-box, but was careful not to show himself too often in the same spot. A man watching for him would see a rifle barrel slowly appear over the top, followed by a bald head. Sometimes he might succeed in getting in a shot; at other times, the bald head would disappear too quickly. Then the situation would be reversed; the little German would be up first, and it would be the turn of the Britisher to duck quickly. And so things went on day after day, with little execution on either side, and “honours easy.”
The enemy made considerable use of vane bombs, and it was by one of these that Sec.-Lieut. R. B. Atkinson was wounded. Stokes shells were the ordinary form of retaliation. Gas shells too were used, though in no great number, except in the neighbourhood of the Butte. In this sector the Battalion first met with the enemy Blue Cross Gas—comparatively harmless, but causing violent sneezing.
Needless to say, much work was done in the sector. The wire in No Man’s Land was much improved, a good deal of revetting was done in the front line, and great efforts were made to drain Plumer Trench, though without much success. Most important was the work further back. This was carried out under the supervision of Major E. Jackson, M.C., of the 458th Field Company, Royal Engineers, a very competent officer with whom the Battalion was on excellent terms. It was under his direction that the new communication trench was dug from Patu Support to the Right Company H.Q.