The front line entrance to Munster Tunnel was held by us the whole time, and an attempt to blow it in, which was one of the main objects of the raid, was frustrated, 2nd Lieut. Hartle being wounded by a hand grenade. That the garrison of the outpost line withstood the onslaught to their utmost there is no doubt, and to this the pools of blood and reeking bayonets of some of the rifles found afterwards in the trench, bore convincing testimony. After the enemy's withdrawal, one unwounded and one seriously wounded German were left in our hands, the former having apparently become detached from his party, and being discovered later in front of our trench with a sheet of newspaper fluttering from his rifle.
The thoroughness with which the Boche trained for this raid was proved from the prisoners' statements and documents, which afterwards came into our hands. For six weeks the raiding party, consisting of about 250 men, had been training over an exact replica of our trenches, constructed with the help of an aeroplane photograph. The training had also included the teaching of several words of English. The work of the raiders was extraordinary, and our own men in the front line testified to the remarkable dexterity with which they removed their casualties. This is the more wonderful inasmuch as they had to penetrate our barrages, in order to regain their trench, and there is no doubt that in doing so they lost heavily. Our casualties amounted to three other ranks killed, including a very gallant N.C.O., Corpl. Tyne, 26 other ranks missing, and one Officer (Hartle), and ten other ranks wounded. We should like to pay tribute to the excellent work done by the Signallers, who as usual worked their hardest, to try and keep their lines in order, in spite of the heavy shelling. L.-Corpl. Parry's efforts to repair the broken lines back from one of the front Companies, were especially praiseworthy.
Though there was an element of surprise in the raid, there is no doubt that its success was due to the fact that the defence was designed for an attack on a large scale, and led inevitably to a weakening of our outpost line, making it peculiarly vulnerable to a raid or attack with a limited objective.
The following night, the whole Battalion was ordered to wire as hard as possible, and hundreds of reels of barbed wire were put out. Even Battalion Headquarters shared in the work, the whole staff being out in an endeavour to wire themselves in.
On March 24th, we were relieved by the 6th Battalion, Headquarters and two Companies proceeding to Beuvry, and two Companies remaining in the trenches in close support. "Wind" at this time was very "high," and our Intelligence reported that we must be prepared for any eventuality. The enemy had made enormous progress in their attack in the South, and everything pointed to the possibility of a general attack along the whole front. As a matter of fact no such attempt was ever made on the Cambrin-St. Elie sector, but we had to take every precaution, and for the next two or three nights, we marched up to our battle positions in front of Cambrin, in case the expected attack should mature. We even made arrangements for a possible retreat, and worse than that, all leave was stopped.
It was at this juncture that our Brigade Commander, General Carey left us to take Command of the 20th Division, with everyone's good wishes and congratulations. He arrived near Amiens in time to assume Command of a composite Army, known as "Carey's Force," and to assist materially in finally stopping the great German onslaught. He was succeeded by General Wood.
The "wind" in this quarter, dropped for the moment, but we heard that things just North of Arras were not looking too bright. The enemy were expected to attack at Vimy, and the Canadians who were holding the sector opposite Lens, were to be moved to that part to help the defence. As a result, we got orders on March 25th, to move back once more to the Lens region, to relieve the Canadians. Hasty plans were made by which the 11th Division took over from us, and on March 27th, we marched to Calonne and relieved the 72nd Canadian Battalion there in reserve, moving up the following night to the St. Emile sector, in front of St. Pierre, where we took over the right sub-sector front line from the 78th Canadian Battalion. The completion of the relief had to be rather hurried, as the enemy attacked at Oppy on March 28th, and the Canadians were hastily sent there to help. Transport and Quarter-Master's Stores had meanwhile gone to Fosse 10.
The front line in this sector was now of course much further forward, than when we were last there, as the Canadians in connection with their attack on Hill 70, had forced the enemy out of the whole of St. Pierre, St. Laurent, and St. Emile Cités, back to the outskirts of Lens itself. These Cités were now to all intents and purposes destroyed, and presented nothing but a mass of streets heaped up with broken tiles, brick and other débris, interspersed here and there with trenches, the remains of houses, and a few shattered trees. Amongst the ruins the Canadians had laid a splendid system of tramways, and the transport of stores and rations to the line was carried out every night by this means, in a most expeditious manner. Canadian Engineers continued to run the lines during our stay, and we must confess that we did not envy the drivers their job, for the lines went up uncomfortably close to the front line, and a good deal of noise accompanied the arrival and departure of the trains, unloading of stores, and loading of empties for the return journey, the guard or man in charge usually helping matters with a few shrill blasts of his whistle, quite in approved Canadian fashion.
After a quiet tour of four days, we were relieved in the early morning of April 1st, by the 6th Battalion, and went back to Brigade support at St. Pierre, where we lived in the cellars of the otherwise destroyed houses. Our stay there was rendered less pleasant than it might have been, by the fact that practically the whole of the village was under observation from Lens, so that during the day hardly any movement was possible, and most of our exercise had to be taken by night, when we were kept pretty busy with carrying and working parties. The nightly gas shelling of the village made this work anything but pleasant. Bathing parades too, were held at night, and took place in the weirdest bathing establishment we ever met, which was in the crypt of the church. It was well protected by the ruins of the church, and had been fitted up with a spray bath.
On April 3rd, we relieved the 5th Battalion in the line, and had a somewhat "thin" six days, owing to the enemy being extremely active, particularly with heavy trench mortars, with which he did a lot of damage to our front line, being particularly obnoxious on the night of April 5/6th, in retaliation for one of our gas projector shows. L.-Corpl. Beech did especially commendable work during these days in charge of a Lewis gun post.