A soldiers Diary by Captain H. Raymond Smith.

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This was, of course, practically inviting one to go to sleep, which I did. I was awakened by a noise and found my shell shock patient had fallen out of bed. With the assistance of another patient I got him in and properly settled again, fortunately before the Sister arrived in the ward. Earlier that evening there was a concert at the hospital at which I was asked to recite, and did so with great success.

Shortly after this C____ and I were put on the Regimental Police, and had to do duty at the main gate. Oour chief duties were to see that no one left the camp without a special pass before 4 p.m., and see that no one left the camp at any time without a belt. On one occasion I had to stop a Sergeant-Major and although he grumbled a lot he went back to find a belt, and re-appeared woth a haversack strap round his waist. "Here, you; will this satisfy you?" he snaled at me. I assured him it would.

It was now almost the middle of November and as neither C_____ nor I had heard anything about being posted to a cadet school, we went before our Company Commander who in turn took us to the Commandant of the camp. When he heard how long we had been here he almost had a fit. He promised he would enquire into the matter and before the end of the month I had orders to proceed to No. 3 Cadet Battalion at Bristol.

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Bus

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Life of an Officer Cadet - Parades and Lectures - The Lighter Side - The "Passing Out" Examination.

The journey from Grantham to Bristol, via London, was a long one, and took a considerable time. I remember my companions on the train from London to Bristol were a Naval Petty Officer (who had served in the Australian Navy) and a Yeoman, and that we exchanged war experiences, which helped to pass the time. I had been stationed at Grantham for two months, and might well have remained there for the remainder of the war had C_____ and I not made some effort to regularise our position. Those two months formed a pleasant, though rather lazy, period, but after seventeen months active service it cama as a welcome rest.

The life of an officer cadet, on which I now entered, was entirely different from anything I had experienced before. These cadet battalions, to one of which I was now posted, were entirely the product of the war, and were not established until hostilities had been in progress for a considerable time. Previous to their establishment, commissions had been granted to people straight from civilian life, some of whom had never served even in a school officers training corps, while numbers of other men were recommended for commissions while on active service, and after a short course, lasting only a fw weeks, were gazetted as officers.

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The establishment of the Officer Cadet Battalions in various parts of the England, however, served to regularise all this, and everyone who was recommended for a commission was bound to pass out successfully from one of these battalions, after a period of several months intensive training, ere he would become an officer. If a cadet failed to pass his final examination, which came at the end of the training period, he was either given another chance, after a further period of training, or returned to his unit with the rank he held when he left it.

Our dress, as officer cadets, differed from that of the rank and file, and also from that of fully-fledged officers. For ordinary parades and lectures we wore our rankers khaki tunics, slacks and putteed, with leather equipment, rifles and bayonets. We retained the titles on the shoulder straps of our working tunics, but were distinguished by whitebands round our caps, with (in the case of our battalion) the number "3£ in the front in place of the regimental cap badge. For church parades and "walking out" we wore officer cadet uniform - an officers tunic, breeches and putties, with khaki shirt, collar and tie. In place of the Sam Browne belt with the thin universal brace-strap, we wore a plain leather belt with a brass buckle.

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Leave

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The Company to which I was drafted ("A" Company) were billeted at the old Queens Hotel. This hotel had been taken over by the military authority. There were only two other cadets in my room, overlooking Victoria Square. The original furniture had, of course, been removed, and in the centre of the room was a plain deal table, with several chairs, where one could study or "swot," while our beds consisted of what are known in the Army as "biscuits"; actually three square mattresses laid upon low trestles and boards, with a straw filled pillow. These, with our blankets folded on top, had to be placed in a neat pile before we left our quarters for the first parade each morning. We attended lectures at the University, our instructors being officers who held commissions in the University O.T.C., with a few officers who had been invalided from the front and were "specialists" on various subjects. Our meals consisted of breakfast, luncheon, tea and dinner (this meal at 7 p.m.), and the food was varied and remarkably good. We had all our meals in the large dining hall of the University, and when the four companies of cadets were all there together we quite filled it.

The first parade was physical training, known as "physical jerks," at 7 a.m. (except Sundays), then breakfast, and parade with rifles and equipment at 8.30 a.m. This parade consisted sometimes of company or battalion drill on the Grammar School field, but more usually we had some scheme of manoeuvres in Ashton Park.

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For this we had to cross Clifton Suspension Bridge, and as the head of the column reached it the order was always given to "break the step," i.e., march out of step, so that the measured tramp of so many feet would not disturb the equilibrium of the wonderful structure. These manoeuvres, which consisted of attacking or defending various position, were often quite interesting, and all cadets in turn were given small or large companies to accustom them to the handling of men. These manoeuvres were usually followed by a lecture at the University, then lunch, and in the afternoon further parades until tea, and then the principal lecture of the day. After dinner we were free to do as we liked, but we were expected to "swot" for an hour at least each evening. This, in common with the majority of cadets, I did, as a rule, every evening except Saturday and Sunday. This was highly advisable, especially as several of the subjects, such as Military Law, Military Organisation, and Interior Economy, were practically new to most of us. Other subjects to be studied included Topography, Field Engineering, Infantry Training (1914), Trench Warfare, and Musketry. The last two subjects, at any rate, gave me no trouble at all, as I had learnt them in the hard school of practical experience, but some of the others, especially Military Law and Interior Economy were rather a "tease,! and I for one sincerely hoped I should not get many questions on them in the final examination.

Life as an officer cadet was not, however, by any means entirely confined to parades and lectures, and we had a good deal of fun. My two room-mates were both "characters" and very amusing. One (the younger) had served in a battalion of the Royal Fusiliers and had been wounded in France, and the other had been badly frostbitten while serving overseas in the first winter of the war. He was merely awaiting discharge, and why he had been sent to the cadet battalion was a mystery.

[marina]

He was merely awaiting discharge, and why he had been sent to the cadet battalion was a mystery.

Future staff officer?

Marina

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He did not "swot" at all, because in his case there was no necessity, while the other did little or no private study from sheer disinclination.

He was a light hearted soul, and apparantly had confidence in his own ability to get through his final exam without any special effort. As it happened he did, and his first remark on hearing that he had passed was "Well, I'm glad I didn't waste a lot of time swotting!" Both had a large number of friends in Bristol, particularly girl friends. They introduced me to several and I must admit they had good taste!

Our officer cadet uniforms were made to measure at the best tailors shops in Bristol and when mine was delivered I celebrated the occasion by going out for the evening with my two room mates, the entertainment consisting of a good dinner with a variety show at the Hippodrome to follw. I was made a member of the Cadet Pierrot Troupe ("The Fascines") and took part in two successful concerts which we gave at the Victoria Romms in aid of war charities.

To our great delight we were granted a weeks leave for Christmas, leaving Bristol on December 21st and returning on the 27th. It was my first Christmas at home since the outbreak of war, and needless to say I greatly appreciated it. On returning to Bristol I must have suddenly developed renewed energy for study, for my diary for December 28th records that after we had been out on a field scheme in Leigh Woods during the day, I swotted for three hours in the evening. By now I had got to know quite a number of Bristolians, and frequently accepted invitations to tea or supper, which made a welcome change of environment.

Thus the year 1916 passed and 1917 dawned - a year which probably saw the most ghastly slaughter of any during the war, though it opened quietly enough.

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About this time we had several exams, in which I acieved varying degrees of success, without doing anything sensational. On several occasions we went on "night-ops", and as the weather was now intensely cold, with heavy snow and frost, these proved rather trying experiences and one was thankful that one had a comfortable bed to go back to when they were over. At these times I could not help thinking of my comrades at the front, with the lively recollections of the horrors of a winter campaign which I had endured a year before.

During January and February work went on smoothly enough in the Cadet Battalion, and on Febraury 28th we sat for our final "passing out" examination. It was a horrible ordeal. We sat it in a big hall at the Grammar School and took three papers, lasting five and a half hours in all. My two room mates and I settled ourselves at a desk together, but Captain McB____ soon altered this and ordered M______ to sit in one of the masters seats high above us; we looked round at him, and he bowed gravely to us, like a judge acknowledging a compliment from the Bar!

The subjects on which we were set questions were Military Law, Military Organisation, Interior Economy, Field Engineering, Infantry Training, Topography, Trench Warfare and Musketry. We took two papers before lunch and the third in the afternoon. We were wisely advised to answer the questions we knew most about first, then those we knew something about, leaving till last those about which we felt we knew little or nothing . Provided we numbered our answers, we could take them in any order.

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I followed this practice and found it saved a lot of time; even so, I had only just finished the paper as the time-limit expired. When it was all over, and we went into the University dining-hall for tea, we compared notes, and then one began to realise the number of mistakes one had made. Taking it all round, however, I calculated that it was probable that I had just got through, though I was by no means over confident. The same evening, my diary records, I recited with great success at a battalion smoking concert, though, strange to say, I have not the slightest recollection of this, probably because of the far deeper impression the examination left on my mind.

Waiting for the results was another trying experience. On the following day I went to a football match between our Company and "C" Company, in which we won easily by five goals to none. M______, my room mate, played in goal. After tea on the following day we lined up in "A" Company's office and went in one at a time to hear our fate. When it came to my turn I went into our Company Commander's room with my heart banging against my ribs. I clicked my heels and saluted Captain McB_____, who glanced down at a paper in front of him, the said "S____, I am very pleased to tell you that you are through; I congratulate you," and he shook me by the hand.

Never before or since have I felt such a wave of relief and delight break over me as I did at that minute. I was outside in a moment and it was a case of mutual congratulations, as M_____ and most of my other friends had also passed, though one cadet whom I knew quite well had failed, and I felt very sorry for him. That night three of us had supper at the home of friends and everything was very merry. We took off our white capbands and put on Sam Browne belts and "Lieutenant pips" on our shoulder straps. The following day I returned home to await instructions from the War Office.

My life as an officer had begun.

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On The Other Side of The Gulf - The Rifle Brigade is Different - Two False Starts - A Scene of Desolation - An Isolated Post - A Reconnaissance Patrol.

I was now a fully fledged officer, and the life upon wgich I was entering was a very different one from the life of a slodier in the ranks. Whatever the relations between commissioned officers and the "other ranks" now, in those days, at any rate, they were formal in the extreme. It might be thought that the senior non-commissioned officers and warrant officers would form a link between officers and men, but this was not the case. Either you held the King's commission or you did not, and even that great personage, the Regimental Sergeant Major, was never anything but deferential and formal with the most recently joined subaltern, even in our moments of relaxation, off parade. Between us and our men there was a great gulf fixed, established by ancient custom, and maintained by tradition, and woe betide anyone, officer or ranker, who tried to bridge that gulf. It simply was not done, and that was that!

For soldiers who, like myself, had spent some years in the ranks, to suddenly find oneself on the other side of the gulf was strange in the extreme. As the war went on, and more and more people appeared in uniform, saluting became at times something of a nuisance. The authorities recognised this, and the regulations with regard to this otherwise courteous practice were relaxed at railway stations, public restaurants, and such places.

[marina]

It must have been a difficult transition. I wonder how it felt to be saluted when he became a brand new officer. Embarrassing?

Marina

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I had not realised it until now that though a ranker had to do a lot of saluting an officer had to do a lot more. Roughly, I suppose, there were at least thirty "other ranks" to every officer, and that as every salute had to be returned, and as junior officers had, in addition, to salute everyone of and above the rank of Major, it is easy to see one had to do a lot more of it as an officer than when in the ranks. It worried some people quite a lot, but I cannot say that I ever minded giving or returning a salute, and after a time it became quite automatic. It was not customary to exchange these compliments in the trenches, except in the case of field officers and similar exalted personages, whom one did not meet every day as a rule in the more advanced positions.

When I left the Cadet Battalion at Bristol I had a short and very welcome leave at home. At first I did not know to what regiment I was gazetted, but I was not left long in doubt. A written communication from the War Office that I had been gazetted to The Rifle Brigade (The Prince Consort's Own), and posted to the 6th (Special Reserve) Battalion, stationed on Sheppey Island. Hitherto I had but the slightest acquaintance with this famous regiment. I knew that rifle regiments did a different arms drill from the line regiments, and that they marched at a quicker step, but that was about the extent of my knowledge. I was soon to learn more.In accordance with instructions I proceeded via London to Sheerness. I travelled from home as far as London with another officer from Evesham, who had been on leave, and was rejoining his unit somewhere on the east coast.

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We travelled by warrant, and in a first class compartment, as it was compulsory for every officer in uniform to travel first class. My companion said he wondered if I should prefer life as an officer to life in the ranks; I wondered too, as just then everything seemed very strange. I arrived at Sheerness sometime in the early afternoon, only to find that the War Office had furnished me with the wrong destination, and that neither The Rifle Brigade nor The King's Royal Rifle Corps (the sister regiment) were stationed here. Probably they were in 1914, and that was good enough for the W.O.! I then made my way by a slow local train from Sheerness (called by the sailors "sherr necessity") to Queensborough. I took my seat in an empty carriage, but immediately afterwards two Naval officers (presumably of high rank, by the amount of gold braid they wore) entered the compartment. They completely ignored my presence, which did not concern me, as I was busy with my own thoughts.

On arrival at Queenborough I was wrongly directed to the headquarters of the K.R.R.'s but here they very kindly insisted that I should stay and have a cup of tea before going to the R.B. Depot. Eventually I found the Orderly Room of the 6th Battalion, The Rifle Brigade, at the Potteries, and reported myself for duty, and after the Adjutant had taken certain particulars I was allotted a billet in a small private house near the parade ground.

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The Mess was a large one, and consisted mostly of young officers awaiting orders for active service with a sprinkling of older officers (some of whom were regulars) who had been disabled in the war, and were engaged in duties on the permament staff. I remember that at dinner every night the only drink served was barley water, though a decanter of port was passed around twice after the meal. Our time was fully occupied in attending various officer's classes for instruction in bayonet fighting, revolver practice, physical training, and gas defence. The first parade of the day was "on the square" at 6 a.m., which meant getting out of bed at 5.30 a.m. The parade consisted of company drill under the superintendence of the Regimental Sergeant-Major, in which each young subaltern was given command of a platoon. Generally speaking, the work was easy and familiar, and we soon passed most of the tests. The only thing strange to me was the arms drill. It came as a surprise to know that bayonets were never referred to as such, but were always called swords, and that they were never fixed on ceremonial parades. There was no "slope arms" - "shoulder arms" took its place, and when marching at attention the rifles were carried at the trial, and there were many other differences as compared with the drill of the "line" regiments - even some of the words of command were different.

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For instance, the usual way of calling a company to attention was to shout "Company - shun." In the Rifle Brigade, however, the cautionary command was "Stand to your front", then "Company!" and on this word the men sprang to attention.

Before many days had elapsed the Adjutant informed me that I might proceed on final leave, as I was due to join a draft of reinforcements for France. So it was to be France again. In many ways I would have preferred active service on some other front for a change, but as one cannot pick and choose in the Army the only thing to do was to make the best of it. On April 12th I was sent to France once more. At Victoria Station I met several other officers from Queenborough, and we formed a party and travelled together to Southhampton. In the evening we went aboard the "Viper," and expected to sail as soon as it got dark. At 9.30 p.m., however, we were informed by one of the ships officers that we should not be sailing that night owing to the presence of enemy submarines in the Channel, so we got passes and put up at the South Western Hotel. At 4 p.m. the following day we again went on board the "Viper," and stayed till 7 p.m., when we were again told we were not sailing, so we again returned to ur hotel, and this time went to a revue called "Keep to the Right" at the Hippodrome.

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We returned to our ship at 3 p.m., and this time we actually sailed at 9.30. The sea was very rough and I was violently sick, as were many others on board. We arrived at Havre at 3 a.m., and landed at 8 o'clock. On arrival we made our way by train to the camp at Harfleur. Hewre our quarters were quite comfortable. In company with two otyher officers, I spent the afternoon in the town, and visited the Folies Bergiers.

Our chief work here consisted in attending special officer's classes on the hill, while during our leisure hours in the evening we usually visited Havre, and occasionally had a really good meal at the Hotel Tortoni. One afternoon we had a big parade on the hill, when the General presented a French soldier with the D.C.M. We paraded with the Guards, the K.R.R.'s and a London Territorial regiment. The ceremony was very impressive. I was a platoon commander - the first command I had yet had on a ceremonial parade of such importance.

One afternoon, on the hill overlooking the harbour, I met Billy M____, one of my old comrades, now a sergeant and wearing the D.C.M. ribbon he won during the recent fighting. We were both delighted at the unexpected meeting, and had a long chin wag over old times. Life here was, of course, too pleasant to last long, and in a few days time we got orders to proceed up the line once more to join the 11th Battalion, The Rifle Brigade, who had been badly cut up in a recent show.

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I say "once more," but for the majority of these young officers it will be their first experience of active service. We left dear old Havre sometime during the hours of darkness, not in cattle trucks this time, and we were able to get a little sleep on the way. On arrival at Rouen we had breakfast at the Hotel d'Angleterre, and lunch at the Officer's Club. It was a fine sunny day, and the town presented a most animated appearance, the streets being crowded with British and French soldiers. We continued our journey at 4 p.m., and spent another night in the train. In the cold grey hours of the dawn we all awoke cold, hungry and stiff. Someone chaffs O____ on his unkempt appearance, and he retorts "Well, you can't expect to look like Gerge Laswood on a job like this!"

We detrained at 5.20 a.m. at La Chapelette, which was in ruins as a result of British shell fire. All this part of the front, which embraced the valley of the Ancre and the greater part of the Valley of the Somme was ground until recently in the hands of the enemy, but the previous month they had retired from their old positions and taken up much stronger positions, known as the Hindenburg Line. The very first man I met as I descended from the train was a member of the Headquarters staff of the 8th Worcesters. Our surprise was mutual, and we exchanged good wishes. We passed through the ruins of Peronne and into a reinforcement camp, then on to Le Shel in the evening, where we had a good dinner at the camp mess.

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On the following day we went on to Bus (not But-les-Artois, our old rest village near Hebuterne), and here we reported at the Orderly Room of the 11th (Service) Battalion, The Rifle Brigade. Despite the fact that it was April 26th there was snow on the ground, though almost immediately the weather changed and became fine and sunny. The Adjutant came into the room and looked us over. He struck me as being very young, tall, fair and good-looking. He at once proceeded to tkae particulars of our previous service, opening with the remark, "Now I must ask the impertinent questions." I was posted to "B" Company, with O____ and D______. Of these I was the only one who had seen active service before. O____ was tall and dark. In civil life he had been a theatrical producer, and had been a fellow cadet at Bristol, though I had not known him well in those days as he was not in my company. He turned out to be very good natured, very good company, and with a dry and rather sardonic sense of humour, which most people found amusing. D____ was very young, keen and enthusiastic. Both had done a good deal of rankers service at home. S_____, our regular Company Commander, was on the sick list, and F_____ had taken over command of the Company. He was very conscientious and a great stickler for detail, but off parade made himself very pleasant.

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The piece of action that cut up the 11th Battaion, The Rifle Brigade and whence Smith was sent as a replacement for was the attacking of a line running inside Havrincourt and was successful.

The ridge captured on 4th April by the 11th RB and the 11th KRRC was shown on the maps issued later as "Green Jackets Ridge".

Andy

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The village was a complete ruin, and so was Ruyaulcourt, where we moved the following day. Here, there was not a single house left standing, and we occupied bell tents. The retreating enemy had even cut down the fruit trees in the gardens, and left a scene of desolation as complete as it was appalling. That night F____ and I visited the front line at Trescault. Here there was no connected trenches, only a series of isolated posts, each consisting of a short section of trench, about 150 or 200 yards in length. It was into these posts on the following day that our Battalion moved, relieving the 12th Battalion.

Our (officers) quarters were in a tin hut, and one officer had to occupy the forward post for twenty four hours. We tossed for this "honour," and as I lost the toss it was my turn to go first. Accompanied by M____, my new servant, I went, under cover of darkness, to the post where Sergeant B____ was the senior N.C.O. This sergeant was a short, fair boy, who looked no more than sixteen, though of course he must have been older. On acquaintance he proved to be a very smart N.C.O. Dawn rose fine and bright, with the larks rising from the long grass in no-mans's land, and singing as if peace had come on earth once more, and indeed for a front line position this was strangely peaceful. There was no sign of the enemy. Owing to the long grass we could not even see his parapet, if he had one, and the whereabouts of the unseen enemy was uncertain.

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According to the good sergeant the nearest enemy post was from 500 to 700 yards distant, and all was very quiet. In the morning I sat in the entrance to my dug-out and read, and wrote letters home. A few German shells fell some two hundred yards on our left, but barring that it was "all quiet on the Western Front," so far as we were concerned. In the afternoon I wolked round and visited the sentries.

"There's a hell of a stink here, sir," remarks a sentry in a cockney voice. I stand up on the fire step beside him, for owing to the long grass sentries were obliged to stand looking over the parapet even in daytime, and immediately I am aware of the "sweet," sickening stench of decaying human flesh. On investigation I find there is a dead German lying within a few feet of our parapet, and that night I discovered several other bodies lying further in front. One had a stick bomb in his hand and a bag of these bombs by his side. He had evidently been killed when in the act of throwing one. I took his bayonet, which I still have in my possession. Later that night I was relieved by O_____, and returned to the hut.

On the following night D____ and I took a working party out. He and I were standing together watching the work of wiring which was going on, when there came a whistling scream, and a terrific crash, and we were both knocked over by the force of the explosion, but unhurt.

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A Rifleman close by was struck in the wrist, and an officer got a packet in the leg - a good Blighty wound by the look of it. Young D___ stuck it well, and betrayed no sign that he was scared, which is, after all, the great thing. The following day we were heavily shelled, and had several more casualties.

On the next night I took command of my first night patrol. The C.O. came into the hut and gave me my instructions, which were to proceed 400 yards up the road from the Cemetery and find out if there was any enemy wire across the road. The party consisted of Sergeant B____, six riflemane, and myself. We advanced with caution for about 400 yards. At this point we could hear the sound of movement not far in front. I passed the whispered order for the men to lie down, while the sergeant and I crawled forward. We went on until we were quite close to the German wiring party. We could hear them hammering away at the posts, and could also hear some scraps of conversation, and a guttural order or tw. How I wished I knew some German! After about five minutes we crept back and rejoined the others, and on return I sent in a written report to headquarters. At length we are relieved. Once out on the high road the Company "charger" awaits F____, who has already confided to us that he dislikes horses. By the way the charger eyes F____, I should say the aversion is mutual. O____ and I assist our Company Commander to mount, he jogs to the head of the column, and off we go. "Why don't you sing? The Colonel is keen on the men singing an the march," shouts F____ when we are at a safe distance from the enemy. The response is instantaneous:

"Bumpety, bumpety, bumpety, bump,

if I was riding my charger;

Bumpety, bumpety, bumpety, bump,

proud as an Indian rajah.

All the girls declare that I'm a gay old stagger.

Hi! Hi! clear the way, here comes the

Galloping Major!"

[marina]

Odd that the larks still lived in No Man's land.

Marina