One morning during a tour in the front line in this sector. Col. Currin very nearly lost his runner. It was a rather foggy morning, and the Commanding Officer sent him to find an Officer in an adjoining Company. Unfortunately the runner made a mistake at a trench junction, and gaily followed an old communication trench, running straight to the enemy's lines. It was doubtful which party was the more surprised when he suddenly found himself confronted by a Boche sentry post behind a barricade. At any rate the latter were too amazed to shoot, whilst true to his calling the runner ran, and never stopped until he nearly crashed into the arms of the Colonel, who was wondering what on earth had happened.
On April 9th, the 6th Battalion relieved us again, and we went back to St. Pierre. On the same day there happened an event which was to have an enormous effect on the future of the war, at any rate so far as the fighting on the Northern portion of the front was concerned, viz., the attack on the British line immediately North of the La Bassée Canal, and on the Portuguese in the Neuve Chapelle area. The result was that whilst the 55th Division put up a magnificent defence on the Canal, and completely beat off all the enemy attacks, the Portuguese gave way, and the enemy were able to push on West for a considerable distance, until brought to a halt by the British, who were later helped by reinforcements rapidly sent up by the French. This had an almost immediate effect on us, for on the night of April 11/12th, we were taken out of the line, being relieved once more by the Canadians (13th Battalion) who were hurried up from the area North of Arras, where things seemed to be quiet once more. After a great scramble, relief was completed by 5.30 a.m. when it was practically daylight. Some got rides on the trains which brought up the Canadians, but the rest had to walk, and eventually we all got to Noeux-les-Mines, where we had breakfast and dinner, and proceeded in the afternoon to Vaudricourt. The whole Division had been relieved—one of the quickest reliefs known—and we now found ourselves in Army Reserve, to be sent to any spot where we might be required.
Things once more were in a very "nervy" state, as it was felt that ere long the enemy would make another desperate attempt to capture the rest of the mining area, either by direct frontal attack from the East towards Béthune, or by continuing his enveloping movement from the North, and attacking it from that direction across the La Bassée Canal. A large part of this area now formed a prominent salient, with the enemy on the East and North, and the consequence was a rapid evacuation of the French inhabitants from many of the mining towns and villages in that district, including Béthune, Beuvry, Annequin, Sailly-Labourse, Noeux-les-Mines, and Bully Grenay—all of which we knew well. For several days we watched the wretched inhabitants toiling along the roads, taking with them by whatever means they could, the few belongings they most treasured or required. Some had carts loaded with bedding and furniture, some their little dog carts full to overflowing, others footed it burdened with loads almost beyond human strength to carry. Ever the throng kept passing back from the forward regions, having left everything that they could not carry just as it was in their houses, with no other protection than locked doors. Their cattle and horses too, were driven back, and taken to pounds in villages in safer regions. Several more mines had to cease work, and the French miners thus thrown out of employment were mostly set to work in digging line upon line of additional trenches about Fouquières and Drouvin, for us to fall back on in case of a break through, as it was determined to contest every bit of the ground to the very utmost. Right well they worked, and in an incredibly short time, they had dug miles of trenches, and well wired them in front with substantial entanglements. Our only fear was that if the enemy got through, we should not have sufficient men to garrison these trenches so excellently dug!
This was probably the darkest period of the war. The inspiring message from the Commander-in-Chief was read to all ranks, and all indeed realised that we had our backs to the wall and were fighting for our very existence, and that it was touch and go whether the Hun would not, after all, break through the whole line and sweep through to the coast, and ultimately to England.
It was in these circumstances, after a few days quiet training about Vaudricourt, that we got word at 2.30 a.m. on the morning of April 18th, that a German prisoner had been captured, and had given information to the effect that the enemy were going to make another desperate attack that morning along the La Bassée Canal. We were accordingly ordered at once to man part of the Sailly-Labourse "Locality," known as the "Tuning Fork Line," just in front of that village, so-called because it formed part of a system of trenches and breastworks shaped like a tuning fork. There was some slight delay in getting the orders passed on, and it was 4.30 a.m. before we marched off. This was unfortunate, for we were not able to reach our battle position before dawn, when the enemy's barrage began. This as usual included heavy shelling of the rear roads and villages through which we had to pass, particularly Verquigneul and Sailly, where we suffered several casualties, and lost Corpl. Caudwell, who had done such good work with the Transport, and two men killed and several others wounded. One of the cookers was also badly blown about by a shell in Verquigneul. We got to our position at 6.30 a.m. where we were comparatively comfortable. The enemy had actually attacked at Givenchy, but once again, thanks to the 1st and 55th Divisions, he was completely defeated, and never again did he try to get through on this part of the front. We were kept in our positions here for two days, by which time things had become normal once more, and in the afternoon of April 20th, we marched back to our billets at Vaudricourt.
CHAPTER XIII
GORRE AND ESSARS
April 21st, 1918.— September 6th, 1918.
Two days after our return to Vaudricourt, the 46th Division was called upon to relieve the 3rd Division in the area North of the La Bassée Canal, afterwards known as Gorre and Essars sectors, where they had recently held up the German attack. This front extended from the 55th Division boundary on the right, near Givenchy, where the line bent now almost at a right angle, to Mesplaux Farm on the Lawe Canal, on the left, this line being more or less parallel with the La Bassée Canal, and at the nearest point about two and-a-half miles from Béthune.
Leaving Vaudricourt on the evening of April 23rd, we marched the short journey to Béthune, where after some rearrangement, we were eventually allotted billets in one of the French Barracks. How changed was our favourite old town of Béthune! From the earliest days of the war a resting place for the traveller, the chief shopping centre for a very wide area, probably the most popular and best known town to British Troops on the whole of the Western Front, full of life, and to a certain extent gaiety, although within such a short distance of the line, she had now been deserted by all her inhabitants, and was like a city of the dead. Previously only hit by a few stray shells on odd occasions, she was now being bombarded regularly, as the enemy had brought up his guns much closer, and they had already made their presence known in no uncertain manner. Everywhere notices had been put up warning troops against the crime of looting, but is it not more than human nature can stand to see houses, as they were here, often open for anyone to walk straight into, filled with all kinds of valuables, many quite easy to carry away, and all liable at any instant to be destroyed by shell or fire?