The Seventh Manchesters by S. J. Wilson (top ten ebook reader .txt) ๐
CHAPTER I.
Holding up the Turk.
In September, 1914, the 7th Bn. Manchester Regiment set out for active service in the East in goodly company, for they were a part of the 42nd (East Lancashire) Division, the first territorials to leave these shores during the Great War. After many interesting days spent on garrison duty in the Sudan and Lower Egypt they journeyed to Gallipoli soon after the landing had been effected, and took a continuous part in that ill-fated campaign until the final evacuation. The beginning of 1916 thus found them back in Egypt, where they were taking part in General Maxwell's scheme for the defence of the Suez Canal. The things that befell the battalion during this long period have been admirably described in Major Hurst's book With Manchesters in the East, and this short history will attempt to continue the narrative from the point where it left off.
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great blow to his friends to hear of his death after the armistice in
his own home at Cheadle Hulme. His name can be added to the long list of
victims of the great German offensive in March.
Strict training was indulged in during these weeks, and in addition hot,
laborious days were occupied by rehearsals of the manning of the Red
Line in the neighbourhood of Souastre, to say nothing of skeleton
counter-attacks upon Beer Trench, Rum Trench, and Stout Trench, near
Gommecourt. We never knew the point of these names unless they were to
act as a stimulant to the vigour of our thrusts, the troops labouring
under the delusion that the trenches were filled with the liquids
indicated. At all events they were not there during the rehearsals in
spite of the hot weather. But if these diversions caused us to attain
the boiling point of excitement, the arrival of General Byng on May 21st
to witness a special stunt by the 7th almost burst the thermometer. A
source of some interest was the presence of an American battalion
consisting of raw troops of three weeksโ New York training, to which the
127th brigade was acting as godfather. They worked diligently and with a
keen appreciation of any hints supplied to them by their British
friends. Also, not to be outdone by our frequent displays of football,
they regularly utilised our ground for baseball, of which game they
possessed a few brilliant exponents. We soon grew to like our new
allies, and we were rather sorry when they departed to join their own
division.
On June 6th the 42nd division took over the line once more and were not
relieved of responsibility of the front until Sept. 6th, sixteen days
after the big offensive had commenced. The 7th occupied the part of the
front which we knew so well at Hebuterne, relieving a battalion of the
New Zealand Division. The โDiggersโ had worked hard upon these trenches
with the result that they were now in excellent condition. A good spell
of weather also assisted in the comfort of the troops. Col. Mangerโs
policy was to give the Hun no rest, and he began to put his principles
into practice at Hebuterne. As soon as we arrived, a thorough
reconnaissance of the enemy positions was made, and we began to make
preparation for a raid of some magnitude. This was carried out by โBโ
company, of which Capt. Grey Burn was now in command, and the officers
selected to go over with the raiders were Lieut. Wender, D.C.M., who had
previously served with the 1st Battalion in Mesopotamia, 2nd-Lt. Milne
and 2nd-Lt. Goodier. Goodier had been a sergeant in โCโ company, and for
his excellent services at Bucquoy had been recommended for promotion in
the field to the commissioned ranks, a distinction which came through
while we were at Henu.
It was known that the enemy held his front line in a series of isolated
posts, each armed with light machine guns. Curiously enough, whether
through lack of material or not we never knew, he paid little or no
attention to wiring in these days, except in utilising what old wire lay
about. One of these posts was located within one hundred yards of our
front line in Fusilier Trench, and this, it was decided, should be
raided. At 1 a.m. on the morning of June 16th a three minutesโ shrapnel
barrage was opened on the enemyโs trench, while a box barrage of H.E.
was placed all round the portion to be raided. At the end of this time
the boys leapt over in four parties, three to make for the trench and
the fourth to act as support and as a covering party for withdrawal.
Then it was found that the shelling had hardly been sufficient for
numerous enemy flares went up, throwing daylight over the whole scene,
and our men were greeted by heavy machine gun fire. Wender, who was on
the right, jumped over first and rapidly dashed off for the Boche
trench, leaving his men well behind. He was never seen or heard of
again, and it must be presumed that he was killed in the trench. Goodier
got his men across on the left and they jumped into the trench, only to
find it filled with concertina barbed wire, so they came out again and
worked their way along the top to the centre, being by this time heavily
bombed. They came to a party of Huns who immediately fled, but Goodier
seized one and he and his now tiny party returned triumphantly with
their prisoner and with fragments of bombs in their bodies. Milne,
having ranged over part of the Boche trench to find no one, covered the
withdrawal and then brought his party in. It was an extraordinary show
in which everyone had displayed considerable pluck, and the taking of
one prisoner had just converted it into a success, but we had sustained
a large number of casualties, most of them, fortunately, only slight. Of
the officers, Goodier was scratched, and Milne had a bullet through his
arm, whilst among those who were not actually with the raiders Lt. C. S.
Wood, the signalling officer, was somewhat badly wounded, his work being
taken over later by 2nd-Lt. Smith, and Lt. S. J. Wilson was slightly
wounded. 2nd-Lt. Goodier was awarded the M.C., Sgt. Fleetwood and Sgt.
Green the D.C.M., while five others received the M.M. for this nightโs
work. This was the concluding page of our first chapter in the front
line, for we then moved out to Sailly in reserve.
When the brigade went into the line again it was to take over the sector
to the right of Hebuterne on the ridge previously mentioned. The most
important feature about this part of the line was La Signy Farm, which
lay just below the crest on the eastern side of the ridge. The ruins of
the farm building were in Boche hands, but the eastern side of the five
hundred yards square hedge that surrounded the grounds ran along our
front line. North of the grounds our line was echeloned forward and then
ran due north to the corner of Hebuterne. Skeletons of large trees stood
up like tall sentinels over the piles of bricks and stones which had
once made up the farm buildings. At the farthest corner of the hedge was
a shell-pitted patch of ground in a slight depression marked on the map
as Basin Wood. This was known to be honeycombed with deep dug-outs and
galleries and was therefore a frequent target for our heavy howitzers.
Further south the two opposing lines were almost parallel as far as the
vicinity of Watling Streetโthen a Boche trench. In the dead ground
behind our line was Euston Dump, which had gone up with a tremendous
roar in the early days of the March fighting, leaving a large hole.
Stokeโs mortar shells, โfootballs,โ etc., were scattered about in all
directions. Not far away from here was the Sugar Factory, which, from
the attention it received, the Hun regarded as more important than we
did.
The C.O. maintained his policy of worrying the Hun in every possible
manner, the fullest use being made of the artillery liaison officers and
the Stokes and Newton trench mortars for this purpose. Every night
little strafes were planned which must have kept Fritz in a constant
state of speculation as to what might happen next. To assist in these
annoying tactics a special company of R.E., whose particular devilry was
gas, came up and dug in 1,000 gas projectiles behind the support lines.
On two separate nights, after everything had been considered favourable,
they gleefully let them off at La Signy Farm and its environs, and then
disappeared down their dug-outs to gloat over the picture of choking and
writhing Huns. We consoled ourselves with the probability that the enemy
had sustained more casualties than we had.
On July 8th Corps had a sudden recurrence of โattackitis,โ and,
doubtless at the instigation of a junior intelligence officer, they sent
out a frantic request to โall whom it may concernโ to ascertain who the
enemy were in front. They had feared a relief by large German soldiers
who were anxious to smell the blood of the Hated English. This message,
or an adulterated form of it, filtered โthrough the usual channelsโ and
so reached the 7th in the late afternoon. Two hours before darkness it
had been answered in the following manner.
Reconnaissance had indicated an enemy post within eighty yards of our
line close to where the Serre road crossed it, but it was protected by
concertina barbed wire. โDโ company were holding that part of the line,
and they were asked to furnish a party prepared to go over almost at
once for a Hun. An enterprising artillery liaison officer, Lt. Bates,
obtained permission to make use of a couple of 4.5 howitzers which he
said were new and very accurate, and these, firing graze fuse shells at
his correction would smash the wire. The only place from which
observation on this wire could be obtained was in our front line
directly opposite to it, and here a temporary O.P. with telephonic
communication to the battery was rigged up, the garrison of this part
being moved off left and right for safety. It was a nerve-racking
experience in that O.P., as may be gathered from the fact that we were
trying to hit an object less than 70 yards away! It took over an hour to
get a satisfactory result, and then 2nd-Lt. Gorst, Sgt. Horsfield and
seven other men, in shirt sleeves and armed with revolvers, hopped
quickly over, ran along a shallow trench or ditch, and entered the Hun
post. It was empty with the exception of one dead man who had just been
killed by one of our shells. He was quickly carted back, but with great
difficulty for he was a big heavy fellow, while Gorst and Horsfield
searched along the trench both ways for more Huns. None were to be
found, howeverโevidently our inexplicable shelling had scared them off
altogether. Still the dead man was good enough for the purpose, for he
furnished the required identification, and his regiment was immediately
wired to H.Q. There had been no relief, so calm reigned once more.
The spirit of โGo one betterโ inspired Lieut. Wilkinson and a few of his
transport men to perform deeds of โderring doโ in the line, for one
night they came up and captured a German G.S. wagon from No Manโs Land.
It lay just in front of our line near the Serre Road and had evidently
been abandoned during the New Zealand counter attack in March. A bridge
of duck boards was put over the trench and Wilkinson and his men went
out and skilfully dragged their prize back to safety. Its arrival at the
transport lines next morning was naturally the occasion for great
rejoicing and hero-worship, after the sensation caused by dressing up
the driver in a Boche tin hat and great coat. On another night Sgt.
Aldred with a small party made an exceptionally plucky effort to enter
an enemy post and was afterwards awarded the M.M. After eight days of
such work as this in the front line we moved out to Bus in divisional
reserve to enjoy a most pleasant few days under canvas.
We lost Padre Hoskyns at this period. He had received an order which
filled him with chagrin to report for duty as Senior Chaplin to the 6th
division, so he journeyed at once to the divisional H.Q. and told the
major-general he would sit on his doorstep until he got permission from
him to stay with the battalion. Efforts were made but they
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