On the 28th the men were back in La Bourse and from there to Robecq, Hazebrouck and Steenvoorde, all in turn. Steenvoorde was a special training area and most corps took a turn of work there when they could be spared. This visit of the Buffs lasted a fortnight, and on the 26th May they were close to Poperinghe. On this day 2nd Lieut. Lilley was awarded the Military Cross. On the 4th June the wandering troops were at Heksken, south of Poperinghe, and at midnight on the 5th/6th they moved from there to a camp situated in a wood where special stores and ammunition were issued.
The Battle of Messines commenced on the morning of the 7th June and was fought by General Plumer’s army to capture a ridge from which the Germans overlooked our lines and much of the area behind them. The preparations for this offensive action on Plumer’s part had been going on for a very long time and were thought out with the greatest care and trouble. The most remarkable point in connection with the battle was the fact that it opened by a tremendous explosion of nineteen deep mines, the noise of which was distinctly heard in parts of England. As far as the Buffs were concerned, the 8th Battalion paraded in fighting kit at 11.30 p.m. on the 6th June, proceeded to assembly positions via Dickebusch and spent the middle portion of the night in two great dug-outs, one of which held four hundred men. At 3.10 a.m. the soldiers were awakened by the most tremendous explosion they had ever heard in their lives, and this was immediately followed by the opening of the barrage. The 17th Brigade was in support near St. Eloi, and at 11.30 a.m. it moved forward to occupy the line already taken up by the 41st Division, from whence, at 3 p.m., a further attack was launched, during which the battalion reached its objective, known as the Green Line, with but few casualties.
The whole of the two following days were spent in the newly taken positions, being shelled and suffering a few casualties: mostly men of A Company, which with C was in the front line; Lieut. Sherwill was hit on the 8th. On the 10th the Buffs were relieved by the 9th Warwicks with great difficulty: the hostile gunfire being very heavy and causing several casualties, including Captain A. F. Gulland and Lieut. H. C. Arnold, who both died of their injuries, and also Lieuts. Curtis and Hilary, who were wounded but not quite so severely. After a day’s much needed rest, which was mostly spent in sleep, the battalion at nightfall relieved the 18th London Regiment at the “triangular dump” and the 3rd Rifle Brigade in Battle Wood.
An attack on the enemy’s position was arranged for and carried out on the 14th. The Buffs were told off to take one side of the railway while the Royal Fusiliers took the other. Battalion Headquarters were in Larch Wood. 7.30 p.m. was chosen as the zero hour; before this hour a certain amount of sniping was experienced in getting to the assembly position, but luckily the enemy’s artillery did not discover our moving companies. A and C Companies led the advance, each having two platoons in front line. Our barrage was good though perhaps a little short at first, and our men kept well up under it, casualties being small; the guns lifted their range a hundred yards every four minutes. Six minutes after our opening shot the enemy began his heavy fire on our assembly positions, but by then our men were clear, or indeed they would have suffered severely. A Company had for its objective Spoil Bank, which was about thirty feet high and three hundred yards long and running parallel to the Ypres-Comines Canal. The bank had been the object of an attack by some of the 47th Division a week earlier, but was still in German hands. There was a fine view of the country beyond the canal from its summit. It was afterwards officially known as The Buffs’ Bank, out of compliment to the 6th Battalion. A good deal of savage hand-to-hand fighting took place here, and the success of the company was very largely due to the extraordinary courage and initiative of two private soldiers, Dunning and Cornell, who together rushed a German machine gun in a concrete emplacement, killed the team, captured the gun, and thus saved the lives and limbs of many of their comrades of A Company; they were both awarded the M.M. for this exploit. The other leading company, C, was directed on the tramline and suffered considerably on the way. The company commander (Captain E. F. Hall) and all the rest of the officers were hit before the objective was reached, but 2nd Lieut. Wilkinson was able to remain with his men until it was taken and consolidated; and it was not till all work was done and midnight had come that this gallant officer withdrew to have his wounds dressed, when he had to leave his company under the command of Sgt. Pells. As soon as C Company had reached its objective, Sgt. Shute took his platoon about sixty yards ahead of the newly won line and there cleared a system of dug-outs, killed a great number of the enemy and brought back four prisoners. Touch was soon obtained with the battalion on the Buffs’ left, but the other flank was not so easy, and it was not until morning that the troops on the right were discovered. While the two leading companies had thus been busy their comrades had not been idle. D Company had come up behind the Spoil Bank and at the zero hour two platoons, less one bombing section, had advanced towards its western edge and cleared up the southern side in conjunction with A Company, while the bombing squad attended to the dug-outs on top of the bank, most of which were occupied, there being ten to twelve men in each. Several of the enemy attempted to escape across the canal at Lock 6, but these were dealt with by men of C Company and no one escaped that way. Further down Spoil Bank the enemy made a more considerable resistance, and 2nd Lieut. Paige was killed leading an attack at this point—in fact he was chasing a platoon of Germans across the canal all by himself. Many of the enemy then tried to get away round the eastern edge of Spoil Bank, but these were also shot and a German feldwebel[22] captured after a really heroic resistance. D Company then dug itself in on the southern slope of the Spoil Bank, with A Company in support on the northern slope. Digging in was no very easy matter on account of the continuous shelling, which the enemy kept up all night; however, morning found the job satisfactorily completed and the work cleverly camouflaged from aerial observation, which was a very necessary precaution, for the hostile aeroplanes showed in the morning very considerable interest in the exact position of our people. Many times they swooped right down and fired their machine guns into our trenches.
About 5 p.m. on the 15th the enemy started a heavy barrage and were seen to be massing on our right, but our guns were at once turned on these and dispersed the assembly. The Buffs were relieved the same night by the 2nd Leinsters, and three days later moved to Burgomaster’s Farm at Dickebusch under Major Vaughan, the commanding officer, Lt.-Colonel F. C. R. Studd, D.S.O., having been wounded the previous day. The casualties from the 7th to the 10th inclusive were Captain A. F. Gulland, who died on the 16th, 2nd Lieuts. Sherwill, H. C. Arnold (died on the 12th), Hilary and Curtis and 28 men wounded and 4 killed; but during the 14th, 15th and 16th the loss was more considerable, 2nd Lieuts. Paige, Carlos and Edwards, with 14 men, were killed; Captain Hall and 2nd Lieuts. Darling, Wilkinson, Young, Lilley, Greig and Lt.-Colonel Studd, with 89 other ranks, were wounded, though the commanding officer remained at duty for some time. There were also 4 men missing.
Times in this neighbourhood and at this period were, however, too strenuous to allow of much rest to anyone, and when the 23rd June came round again it found the Buffs once more in the trenches and, forty-eight hours afterwards, under an abnormally heavy fire, which did little damage to the front line, but found several victims amongst working parties in rear. 2nd Lieut. J. B. Millard was killed and Major Vaughan and Lieut. Hancock narrowly escaped from the same shell, and it is curious that both these officers were slightly hurt by another one only a few minutes later. 2nd Lieut. A. H. Webb was also killed. It was decided to push forward certain posts during the night of the 26th/27th, and B Company on the left actually did so and got to the edge of a wood which was on its front and there consolidated, but A Company, on the right, found that any advance would be impossible without heavy artillery assistance. The 23rd of the month brought a Military Cross for 2nd Lieut. Sherwill. On the 28th relief came in the shape of the 8th Battalion York and Lancaster Regiment, but the change over was a nasty job. The enemy appeared to have got wind of what was going forward and opened a heavy fire, wounding Lieut. Newcomb and three other men. The 29th took the battalion away. It travelled by train to Reninghelst for the training area round Lumbres, and on the last day of the month it marched fourteen kilometres to Escocuilles.
THE LOOS CRASSIERS
SPOIL (OR THE BUFFS’) BANK