It was an agreeable change for us to occupy such a position as Hill 70, as observation could be got from there over the enemy country for many miles, and it was pleasant after having almost invariably been overlooked, to be able now to see something of the other side of the picture. The enemy, however, had good observation from Hulluch and Wingles, over our approaches through Loos, in the valley, and movement was mainly by that never-ending communication trench "Railway Alley," running from the top of the ridge behind Loos, through the outskirts of that village up to Hill 70, where it joined up to "Humbug Alley," the main communication trench of the left sector. The front line which was in none too good order, was known mainly as to its position with regard to the remnants of woods in its neighbourhood, "Bois de Dix-huit" opposite the right, "Bois Rasé" in the centre, and "Bois Hugo" on the left. All the forward trenches bore names beginning with H, two of which were "Heaven" and "Hell," but the former was not quite the Paradise one might expect from its name. Such dug-outs as were usable, were deep, but small. Many had been blown in, and practically all the entrances faced the wrong way, which was a distinct drawback.
For seven weeks, probably the most monotonous in the history of the Battalion's trench warfare, we helped to hold Hill 70, relieving in the line with the 7th Battalion. When in Brigade support, we lived in dug-outs in the old British and German front line trenches in front of and behind the Loos-Hulluch Road, with Battalion Headquarters in "Tosh Alley." When in Divisional Reserve, we lived in the Mazingarbe huts, which were fairly comfortable, but capable of much improvement. Battalion Headquarters occupying a house in the aristocratic street known as "Snobs' Alley." Tours in the trenches, in support and reserve were each of six days. Life in the trenches was of a most humdrum nature. There was not even a raid of any kind, so far as our Battalion was concerned. We simply slogged on week after week at real trench work, making fire-bays and fire-steps, thickening the barbed wire in front, improving dug-outs, and making good the communication trenches and reserve line, by revetting and trench gridding. The latter was probably the most important work carried out, and many were the "A" frames that were fixed, and trench grids that were placed in position during those tedious times, to say nothing of the tons of earth that were dug out in order that this might be done, for the trenches had mostly been flattened out by our bombardment before the hill was captured, and needed the expenditure of untold energy and hard work to get them in good order. Great keenness in connection with this work was shewn by Capt. E. J. Grinling, M.C., of the Lincolns, who had recently succeeded that most energetic Officer Capt. Buckley, as Brigade Major, when the latter left to take up a higher appointment.
The weather during the early part of October was fine, hot and dry, but with the inevitable rain which set in later, the trenches, where not cleaned and floorboarded, soon became in an almost impassable state, for the mud and chalk together made a sort of paste, two or three feet deep, of an extraordinarily sticky nature, almost impossible to get through, so that the carrying of all kinds of stores was extremely exhausting work. Fortunately we got some slight assistance by the use of Tump Lines—a leather arrangement by which the load was carried on the back, but the weight taken by a broad leather across the forehead—and Yukon packs—a kind of wooden framework covered with canvas, on which the material was fastened with thin rope, and the whole carried on the back, and held in position by straps round the shoulders. Constant practice in their use was carried out when back at the Mazingarbe huts, and in the end a number of men became quite expert, and could carry big loads with either of these devices, with much less fatigue, and in a much shorter time than was possible in any other way.
Water was supplied here, as in the Cambrin sector, by a system of pipes. These were the only two instances we met with where this system of supply was in vogue. To supply the Hill 70 sector, Australian Engineers had tapped the water from the mine at the end of the Loos "Crassier," and pumped it up to tanks fixed at different points in the trenches. The chief drawback of course was that the pipes were apt to get broken by shells. It was a drawback to be short of water for more reasons than one, as an essential part of trench discipline was to shave regularly, and the visitor to Battalion Headquarters must have noticed on more than one occasion a petrol tin labelled "Shaving Water," put in a prominent position so as to catch the eye (of the Brigadier!) Two of General Carey's pet orders in connection with trench routine, were that all ranks as far as reasonably possible should shave every day, and that tea leaves should not be deposited in or on the sides of the trenches.
Rations and supplies were mainly brought up by pack mules, the only sector in which this method was used regularly. The mules were taken from the Transport lines at Sailly-Labourse by road to Fosse 3, thence over a cross-country track past Brigade Headquarters at Prèvite Castle, to the Battalion dumps at Tosh Alley, and the old British front line. This was a perfectly silent method, and one which, with little practice, soon became a very expeditious one. During our stay, work was begun on the laying of tramlines up to Hill 70, but whilst we were there they were not used to any great extent.
There was a normal amount of shelling in the area, and an uncomfortable amount of heavy trench mortaring, particularly of the Left-Company front, whilst machine gun bullets along the front line, and about the Tosh Alley dump, which was enfiladed from Hulluch, often took much dodging. Otherwise the sector so far as we were concerned was fairly quiet. Our most unpleasant experience undoubtedly was on October 4th, when we got caught in the bombardment connected with an attempted Boche raid on the 7th Battalion, whom we were relieving. They had been very heavily shelled and trench mortared, and suffered numerous casualties, the clearing of which caused the relief to be a long and difficult business. Several dug-out entrances were blown in, and the front line in many parts was almost unrecognisable. B Company unfortunately got mixed up with some of the shelling, and lost several men, including Sergt. Drabble, who was killed. Pvte. Frank Green did very good work on this occasion, in rescuing buried men, working for five hours on end, though severely shaken as a result of the trench mortaring, and L.-Corpl. Stewart did excellent work in repairing broken telephone wires.
Straight Line Diagram Of Trench Communications At Hill 70. November. 1917.
A very good daylight patrol was carried out on November 11th, by 2nd Lieut. A. C. Fairbrother, a newly joined Subaltern, who managed to get into the enemy trenches, shoot a Boche, and return with the two men who were with him without casualty. For this he was awarded the M.C. A decoration of a different kind ought to have been awarded to another Officer, who on a perfectly quiet night in the line, when we had nothing to disturb our peace of mind, boldly sent off the cryptic message "G.A.S."—only to be used in case of cloud gas attack, and likely to cause every Officer and man, horse and mule, back almost to General Headquarters to have their box respirators or gas masks put on! Not content with that, he turned on a Strombos Horn, which was also to be used only on occasions of cloud gas, but fortunately it could not rise to anything more than a painful kind of wheeze. The cause of all his excitement apparently was that he imagined he heard another Strombos Horn some miles away!