stiletto_33853 Posted 2 October , 2006 Author Share Posted 2 October , 2006 Geoff, Thanks for posting the picture, looking back at the picture it looks exactly the same virtually. Ah Wetherspoons, the price of progress eh! Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marina Posted 2 October , 2006 Share Posted 2 October , 2006 Sorry for interrupting a good thread. Photo in post #130 is taken outside Evesham Town Hall. On the far It seems hardly to have changed at all. Marina Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stiletto_33853 Posted 2 October , 2006 Author Share Posted 2 October , 2006 This was welcome news indeed, and it did not take me long to give the order to withdraw. We plodded off down the fire trench, and turned right into the main communication trench and eventually arrived in the open road at Gouzeacourt. In the village we met a company of infantry going towards the trenches. "Who are you?" shouts the officer in command. "Rifle Brigade; who are you?" I shout in reply. "Oh, _____er, Coldstream Guards," comes the answer in an altered tone. As the two bodies of troops pass each other one of my riflemen remarks chattily to the man next to him "What funny breeches those Guards officers wear, don't they?" at which there is a subduedlaughter. This meeting recalled another incident connected with this famous regiment. One morning back in the summer, while at "rest," I was marching my company along a by-road when we met a company of the Coldstream Guards. I saw the Guardsmen come smartly to the "slope" in response to a command, and at once brought my men to the "trail," as an exchange of compliments was indicated. I exchanged a salute with their company commander, and at the same time we both gave "eyes left" as the two companies passed each other. It was then that our quick hundred and forty paces to the minute quite threw the tall Guardsman out of their dignified stride, and I heard several muttered uncomplimentary remarks concerning our quick step and comparitive lack of inches!. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stiletto_33853 Posted 3 October , 2006 Author Share Posted 3 October , 2006 After a long tiring march we at length reached Heudicourt, and then how grand to fling oneself down on a wire bed, and sleep and sleep! The came a complete change of scene. On the following day we rode in buses to Ypres, and thence by rail and road to Ribicourt, where we stayed for two days. Then on by road and rail to Cavron-St.-Martin, where we had good beds in a small farm house, and after two days on to Wardrecque, where we remianed until after Christmas. While we were here we received much-needed reinforcements to make up for the heavy casualties we had sustained in the Salient and at Cambrai. One morning at the rifle range here I pleases the men of my company by making top score in rapid fire, what was known as "the mad minute" - fifteen rounds to be got off in sixty seconds, including loading and reloading. The clip of cartridges contained five rounds, so there were three loads during the practice. Out of the fourteen rounds I got off in the time period I scored 10 bulls and four inners; the last round in the magazine I failed to get off before the whistle went, as the rifle I borrowed for the occasion had a very stiff bolt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stiletto_33853 Posted 3 October , 2006 Author Share Posted 3 October , 2006 Actually in the "mad minute" you should be able to reload without taking the butt from your shoulder. It was this effective rapid fire which so astonished the Germans in the early months of the war, and led them to think that we had many more machine guns than we actually possessed. We spent a quiet and profitable time at Wardecque. On Christmas Day we had a Church Parade, and an excellent dinner for both officers and men. On December 27th we moved up towards the line once more to Dickibusch, where the battalion was engaged on working parties in the new line. I vividly recall the end of the year 1917 and the beginning of 1918, because we were engaged on working parties on Hill Sixty. It was bitterly cold with a cruel east wind. The men of my company were engaged in carrying rolls of wire over the hill to the trenches in front. The duck board track was slippery with ice, and I was frequently engaged in helping some fallen rifleman to his feet, placing him on the track again, and lifting his load of wire once more on his shoulder. This work went on for hour after hour during the whole of each night, and very tiring it was, though of course, far worse for the men than for us, but they bore it all with the patient cheerfulness which has made them the wonder and envy of the world! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stiletto_33853 Posted 4 October , 2006 Author Share Posted 4 October , 2006 Tor Top Tunnels - Invalided Home - Back in France Again - Victory. While we were engaged in strengthening our defences on Hill Sixty, under the trying conditions of severe frost, snow and bitter east winds, the year 1917, which had seen such slaughter on the Western Front, came to an end, and 1918 dawned, with the prospects far from bright for the Allies. In the spring of 1917 came the Russian Revolution, and Russia's collapse so far as participation in the war was concerned, and towards the end of the year many divisions of German troops were transferred from the Eastern to the Western Front, while reports stated that the Germans were to make a terrific onslaught on the Allies (with the spearhead of the attack thrust against the British). Against the loss of Russian assistance had to be placed the entry of America into the war on the side of the Western Powers. During the year which had just closed the States had been unable to render any material assistance on land, though her Navy had been of great service. Before the end of the year, however, American troops were pouring into France and the moral effect of this powerful new ally encouraged the war weary French and British, and made the enemy determined to make one desperate attack in the hope of bringing the war to a sudden termination in his favour. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stiletto_33853 Posted 4 October , 2006 Author Share Posted 4 October , 2006 On January 3rd I went home on tend days leave, crossing from Boulogne to Folkestone in a snowstorm. I spent a very happy time at home, and during part of my leave I stayed with some friends at Bristol. On returning to France I had some difficulty in finding my Battalion, as they had moved. After travelling all night I arrived at Steenwrech, in Belgium, and from there went back to Hazebrouch, only to find they had left there. Going to Poperinghe I slept the night at a convent, which had been evacuated early in the war and was used as officer's temporary quarters. On the following day I rejoined the Battalion at a place called Foresters Camp. Here I took over command of "B" Company for the third time. My diary for January 22nd states that I "appeared with great success at our concert last night, and at the 10th R.B.'s concert tonight," but strangely enough I have no recollection of either of these appearances. On January 25th we moved up into the line. My subalterns, J____ and T____, were with me at our Company headquarters in a "pill-box," while the men of the Company occupied two posts. Though the enemy was quite close to us we had a comparatively quiet tour, but the weather was very severe. When we were relieved from the forward position we went to Tor Top Tunnels. These tunnels were a wonderful feat of field engineering and I had never seen anything like them before. They consisted of a network of underground passages, lighted throughout by electricity. The tunnels were furnished with two tiers of lattice wire beds on wooden frames, with a passage running one side of the tunnel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stiletto_33853 Posted 4 October , 2006 Author Share Posted 4 October , 2006 Thelabyrinth was capable of accomodating a whole infantry brigade. Everyone had to remain underground during the hours of daylight, as outside one would be in full view of the enemy trenches. The floor of the tunnel in which our company lay was covered with several inches of water, and pumping went on continually. From these tunnels we went forward again, and occupied a curious part of the front line. The mud was knee deep, but this was no new experience. My Company occupied isolated posts at night, and withdrew before dawn to the trench near our pill box. Then we moved to the right, and occupied a trench close to Polderhoek Chateau, where we were only fifty yards from the gentlemen in field grey who occupied the opposing line of trenches! We exchanged some sniping here, which was a foolish thing to do, as reprisals were rendered so easy. The first afternnon Serft. S_____ was killed by a trench mortar bomb. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stiletto_33853 Posted 4 October , 2006 Author Share Posted 4 October , 2006 From here we moved, after a few days, to a pill box known as "The Tower," the Company being divided in two short disconnected sectors of trench. I visited "Jock" C____'s post on the first morning we were here by the simple process of walking to it overland. Before I leave him to walk back to "The Tower" Jock says, "Be verra careful, R____; the visibility is good to-day." (It usually is according to Jock) "All right," I reply. "If I'm killed you can come and bring my body in!" The sergeant laughs, but Jock is shocked. "Man, never say a thing like that!" he exclaims. But I left his post and reached "The Tower" in safety. Some days later we were relieved by the K.R.R.'s. It was pitch dark when the relief arrived and the change over took a long time. At last we were out of the trenches and moving along a duckboard track across the plain. Here each man had to hold on to the man in front in order to keep touch and even so now and again a man fell off the track into a shell hole. At length we arrived, just after midnight, at Scottish Camp, and from thence on the following day through Hazebrouche to Wannal-Capel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marina Posted 4 October , 2006 Share Posted 4 October , 2006 I've always had a horror of those tales of men falling off the dckboard into the mud. Ghastly! Marina Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stiletto_33853 Posted 4 October , 2006 Author Share Posted 4 October , 2006 I made the latter journey by car, as I had been taken ill with what was known as "trench fever," something very akin to malaria. I was sent to a casualty clearing station, and from thence was invalided down the line to the Duchess of Westminster's Hospital near le Touquet. Here my temperature chart looked like a trip over the Alps, and I was very weak with a bad cough. On March 11th, with other sick and wounded, I crossed to England, via Calais and Dover, to Woolwich, where I was admitted to the Royal Herbert Hospital. I was a "stretcher case," and was carried by German prisoners on to the ship at Calais. The second night I was at Woolwich there was a German air raid over London. I remember I was having a bath at the time, and heard the sound of anti-aircraft guns. A moment later an orderly came in and turned off the light, leaving me in the bath in pitch darkness. I protested, but he replied, "Sorry, sir, but those are the orders." I had considerable difficulty in finding a towel or my pyjamas, but eventually succeeded. There was a lot of firing, and the "all clear" did not go for about an hour. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stiletto_33853 Posted 5 October , 2006 Author Share Posted 5 October , 2006 After some weeks at Woolwich I was sent to Eaton Hall, Chester, a beautiful place. The hall proper had been converted into a convalescent home for officers, and we had a very good time. The ward I was in had formerly been the library. Opposite my bed was the picture of a mounted officer in an Englich uniform of the early 18th century. He is riding a spirited horse and looking very fierce and noble. I wonder if wars were ever really like that, or only appeared so in the mind of the artist. It was while at Chester that we first heard the grave news of the German offensive in France. Though I never had any doubt as to the ultimate outcome of the war, one could not help being anxious when we heard of the fall of Peronne and the capture of 30,000 British prisoners. I spent three very pleasant weeks at Eaton Hall. We had several concerts in the marble hall in which I took part. Some members of the Duke's family were still in residence in a private wing, and they used to attend our concerts and certainly seemed to enjoy them. I remember that in one of our concerted numbers, "Old Uncle Tom Cobley and All," I introduced several new characters into the list of names in the refrain, including the Duke of Westminster, which apparently amused them very much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stiletto_33853 Posted 5 October , 2006 Author Share Posted 5 October , 2006 I will pass over the next few months I spent in England rapidly, as they are of no special interest to anyone but myself. After being discharged from Eaton Hall I went first to Minster, on Sheppey Island, and from there to the Southern Command Depot at Perham Down, Salisbury Plain, close to Windmill Hill, where I had my first experience of soldiering (in the Yeomanry) in 1910. Here I remained for the whole of the summer, returning to Sheppey Island in September. Here I was appointed instructor to a class of young officers, and I remember I set them quite an elaborate written exercise on a tactical scheme. I never corrected their papers, as I had orders to proceed overseas again quite suddenly. During my short stay on Sheppey Island before going to Salisbury Plain we had an air raid, and our guns brougnt down a German aeroplane on the island, quite close to my billet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stiletto_33853 Posted 6 October , 2006 Author Share Posted 6 October , 2006 Just before this I had been asleep, but my landlady knocked at the door and told me my Company was on parade, so I hastily dressed and was in time to join them and see the bombardment from Sheerness and Chatham - long sheets of flame from the gun fire, and flashes of bursting shrapnel in the sky. On my second stay on the island, in September, nothing of this kind happened, and except for one or two pleasant evenings in the mess it was a very dull period. I was presiding over a Court of Enquiry when news came through that I was under orders for France again. I left my colleagues to finish the enquiry, and packed up for home. I never thought I should feel glad to go back to France, but strange to say on this occasion I really was. I remember a pretty girl drove my taxi to the station, and when I paid her she rewarded me with a kiss. I crossed from Southampton on the night of September 24th, and landed at le Havre the next morning. Here I was pleased to learn that I had been posted to my old battalion, and I rejoined them just before we moved to Savy. We spent a really jolly time at Savy. We had plenty of hard work, training for a new offensive, but our quarters (I speak of the officers) were very comfortable. The men were billeted in roomy barns, and incidentally one of those got burnt down, and we had a Court of Enquiry about it on which I served. We had our Company mess in a private house and slept at another house nearby. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marina Posted 6 October , 2006 Share Posted 6 October , 2006 I woinder if he's so chirpy about going back to the front because he smells the end of the war in the wind? Surely too early for that? Marina Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stiletto_33853 Posted 7 October , 2006 Author Share Posted 7 October , 2006 At the end of the month we left, and proceeded by train and buses through Havrincourt, Gouzeacourt, and over the old battlefields, into the town of Camrai, which we had tried so hard to take the previous year. I was now in command of "B" Company, and was certainly glad to be able to ride, as from Cambrai onwards we had a series of trying marches, following the retereating enemy. The news cheered us. Hungary, Bulgaria, and Turkey had surrendered unconditionally. Every day we moved further forward, and the Germans fled before us, leaving vast quantities of cannon and stores behind them. The few civilians (mostly women and children) left in the liberated villages cheered us as we passed through, and in one village a girld held on to my stirrup leather and shouted "Vive l'Angleterre, monsieur," much to the amusement of the men of my Company. Sfter a terrible march through swamps we at length arrived at the village of Jenlain on Sunday, November 10th. It is now certain that the end is at hand. The Kaiser has abdicated and fled. The next morning I receive the following message from B.H.Q. which has been handed down from G.H.Q.: All fighting ceases at eleven hours to-day. Troops will stand fast on line reached at that time. Defensive precautions will be taken. There will be no intercourse of any description with the enemy." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stiletto_33853 Posted 7 October , 2006 Author Share Posted 7 October , 2006 No one seems quite able to realise what has happened. A fair amount of firing has been going on all morning, but apparently only our cavalry and cyclist patrols are in touch with the retreating enemy. In the field in which I stand there is a ghastly spectacle. One of our shells has wiped out a German gun team - five of them. They lie close together, horribly mutilated. As I stand looking down on them the sun suddenly bursts forth out of the November mist, and the village clock chimes eleven. Then silence. The noise of the guns, which has continued without intermission for more than four and a quarter years, suddenly ceases, and it is as if the earth herself stood still! The five dead soldiers at my feet, the burst of sunshine, the village bells, and the sudden silence. It seems like the dawn of peace on a war striken world, and here (though I remained in the Army for four months afterwards) I will close these extracts from my diary. Hardly one of us, friend or foe, could have imagined that silence would be broken twenty years later, and that once again the Western Allies would be called upon to face an aggression even more wanton and brutal that that which plunged the world into war in 1914. H.R.S. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marina Posted 7 October , 2006 Share Posted 7 October , 2006 That finished suddenly, even though I knew it was close. I can almost feel the silence. I enjoyed this very much. How very different are the three sets of papers you have shared with us, Andy: Robert so quirky and with an eye for detail; the schoolmasters so introspective, idealistic, and so nostalgic for their old life; and Raymond, so matter of fact and outward turning. As you said, that may be because he was writing in retrospect. But what a picture the three sets of letters and memoirs present. Thank you for your time and trouble in publishing these papers - they can only serve to expand understanding of the men of that time. Do you know what happened to raymond in the next lot? Was he a soldier again or still? Marina Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stiletto_33853 Posted 7 October , 2006 Author Share Posted 7 October , 2006 Marina, To be honest I do not know if he served again in WW2. Glad that you enjoyed Raymonds diary. Plenty more of these type of books in my library, one day, a little later on, I might do another one if people are interested. Good contrast between the three books though, each one I have has a slightly different format and way of portraying their life and events which does make them interesting. Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marina Posted 7 October , 2006 Share Posted 7 October , 2006 Marina, Plenty more of these type of books in my library, one day, a little later on, I might do another one if people are interested. Andy I'll look forward to that! You only have to see the view numbers to see that people are interested. What especially suprises me is the FRESHNESS of the writing in these documents. Like yesterday, not 90 years ago. Have you seen Sue Light's blog? She's publishing snippets from the writings of medical personnel from the period - again, vivid and fresh, and all very differnt in tone and mood. I've been spoiled for meoirs this week... Marina Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
liverpool annie Posted 4 November , 2006 Share Posted 4 November , 2006 Andy ! I just want you to know that I've been keeping up with your wonderful stories - even though I've had endless ( it seems ) English visitors these last few months !! Please keep going .... they are so eye opening as to the day to day details of war !! and we all need to hear this ............ !! Thanks again my friend ! Annie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marina Posted 5 November , 2006 Share Posted 5 November , 2006 Great, aren't they? Andy did tell me he has other memoirs. I think he could be prevailed upon to start another on the Forum... Marina Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stiletto_33853 Posted 5 November , 2006 Author Share Posted 5 November , 2006 Ladies, What one would you like next?? Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
liverpool annie Posted 6 November , 2006 Share Posted 6 November , 2006 Wotcha got ?? Do we get to choose ?? Annie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marina Posted 6 November , 2006 Share Posted 6 November , 2006 There's a list, Annie. How about a personal memoir again, or else one of the memorial books like the Shrewsbury teachers' one. Marina Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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