CHAPTER VIINIEUPORT(October-November 1917)

On September 26 and 27 the Division took over the coastal sector of the Nieuport front, relieving the 66th Division, composed of the second line of the East Lancashire Territorials. The relief was therefore a hurried family gathering, a meeting of elder and younger brothers. The first-line and second-line battalions were keenly interested in each other’s doings and experiences. Friends met friends; many were related; more had friends and acquaintances in common; so they “swapped lies,” and the time was all too short to exhaust the store of anecdote, reminiscence, and inquiry. The 66th Division left for Ypres, and a fortnight later “made good” in the advance at Passchendaele.

D.H.Q. was at La Panne, a picturesque seaside village. The billets were very good, and for the first time since the Division’s arrival in France the excitement of shopping was experienced. The sea-bathing was excellent, and the Belgian Army baths (in a theatre) were well patronized. The Division now held the left of the Allied Line, Barrel Post, on the seashore at the mouth of the Yser, being the extreme left post. On October 1 Major-General Mitford proceeded to England on leave, and temporary command was assumed by Brig.-General W. W. Seymour. Nothing of importance occurred here, and on October 7 the Division was relieved by the 41st Division, and took over the neighbouring divisional front from the 32nd Division. The new sector included the town of Nieuport with the Lombartzyde and St. Georges sub-sectors. Belgian troops were on the right.

The Nieuport sector was a curious one, and those who had expected a comparatively “cushy” time were disappointed. The town itself had ceased to exist, for it had never a day’s immunity from the enemy artillery, and the bombing was hardly less continuous. It was also heavily gassed, the place being filled with gas on most nights. Here the large Gotha bombing-planes were first sighted, going to or returning from Dunkirk, where bombs had been dropped during twenty-three of the thirty nights of September, the enemy pilots being greatly assisted by the guiding lines of the canals and coast. The strained look, the expressionof dull despair, on the faces of the war-harassed peasantry of all the devastated areas of France and Belgium, was particularly noticeable in this region. Nieuport had been very thoroughly tunnelled by the French during their occupation, and though at first the low, slimy, and very dark tunnels were distinctly unpopular, all ranks were thankful for them as they became more intimate with the situation. The tunnels, running parallel to the streets, had been made by connecting up the cellars. They were—at times—lighted by electric lights, but even then fully equipped troops found difficulty in passing through.

Canals, Bridges, and Floods

The left, or Lombartzyde, sub-sector lay to the north and north-east of Nieuport, across the wide and deep Yser canal. It was held by the 125th and 127th Brigades in turn. The less important St. Georges sub-sector, to the east and south-east, was in charge of the 126th Brigade, two battalions being in line and two in reserve. In each sub-sector the front line consisted mainly of breastworks and island-posts, as much of the area was below sea-level, and it was impossible to construct trenches in the flooded marshy ground. The front has been comprehensively described as “one big flood,” and when, as frequently happened, a big shell knocked in the bank of one of the many dams, this description was no exaggeration.

Just across the Yser were the Redan and Indiarubber House; the former being a large triangular redoubt—apex towards the enemy—with an artificial moat, the latter a barn-like structure apparently inviting demolition, but in reality built of solid concrete ingeniously disguised, from which the shells—so rumour says—rebounded harmlessly. This building, which was lighted by electricity, was used as headquarters of the battalions in line in the left sub-sector. The Redan was linked to the town by three wobbly duckboard bridges, laid on floats, without side-rails, and with many gaps between the boards. These bridges, Putney, Crowder, and Vauxhall, rose and fell several feet with the tide, at times making the approaches and exits, down and up very steep gradients of the Yser’s muddy banks, a matter of the greatest difficulty. They were shelled all day and machine-gunned all night, with the result that they were frequently smashed, for the Germans had the exact range. Troops, working-parties, and ration-parties had to make their way across the swaying planks, carrying full equipment, and often two petrol-tins full of water, or bags of rations, a trench-board, or a box of ammunition. It was therefore unhealthy to linger when crossing, and some who had to take frequent trips across began to think that Ypres was not so bad a place after all.

On the east of the town several smaller canals joined the Yser, and at this point the Five Bridges—so-called, though there were really six—had to be crossed. There were also other less important bridges over these canals, by which the front of the St. Georges sector was reached. This right sector included the site of one of the finest golf-links in Europe, but much of it was now under water. The destruction of dams and locks brought the tide into the canals,causing them to overflow and flood our defensive works; and the Boche amused himself at times by refraining from molesting the sappers while they repaired a dam, in order to knock it down as soon as completed and filled. The repairing and rebuilding of dams and bridges was a severe drain upon the resources of the Engineers and the infantry working under their supervision. The 428 and 429 Field Companies had each more than thirty bridges of various kinds under their charge. Infantry were attached to the Field Companies, and every unit supplied a permanent working-party of a platoon with an officer to serve with the Tunnelling Companies, which, among much other excellent work here, helped the R.A.M.C. to construct three deep A.D. Stations in the Nieuport cellars. The R.A.M.C. had their first experience of mustard-gas, and were also called upon to treat and evacuate several hundred cases of phosgene gassing.

There was little activity on these fronts other than artillery duels and aircraft bombing. The line was often under fire from heavy mortars, and the bridges, dams, roads, and back areas were constantly shelled. The enemy’s 15-inch guns bombarded Dunkirk, twenty miles behind the line, and the shelling of back areas increased in violence until on reaching the front line it frequently attained an intensity unsurpassed on any sector of the British front. The enemy had the advantage of slightly higher ground at Lombartzyde village, so his works and trenches were not affected by the floods. As he could see any movement on our side, and as on the least sign of this his machine-guns and “whizz-bangs” promptly opened fire, our men lay “doggo” behind the breastworks, or in small pill-boxes, during the daytime. This absence of movement gave one a sense of isolation and even the unpleasant feeling of being left behind by one’s comrades and forgotten. At night there had to be considerable movement, and the Lancashire men speculated on the length of stay that would be required to transform them into amphibians, and when they would begin to develop web-feet. Patrols sent out to reconnoitre posts alleged to be occupied by the enemy had a particularly difficult and nerve-testing task. Often they had to wade through the floods, and sometimes to swim across the canals, the one compensation being that as No Man’s Land was always flooded there was little chance of any surprise attack. Listening posts close up to the German lines were reached by means of duckboards resting on the marshes, and these at times crossed ditches eighteen feet deep. Shell-holes in the front areas were quickly filled with water and converted into ponds of varying depths. As at Ypres, the heavy shells tore great pits in the roads and blocked them. One night a guide was sent to conduct some transport past a newly-made and particularly deep crater. Presently he warned the drivers that the hole was close at hand—and a moment later disappeared. Out of the depths arose an agonized wail. “Stop! for heaven’s sake, stop! I’m down the ⸺ hole myself!”

NIEUPORT, SHOWING REMAINS OF PUTNEY AND CROWDER BRIDGES AND RUBBER HOUSE IN THE DISTANCE.

INDIA-RUBBER HOUSE, USED AS BATTALION HEADQUARTERS.

There were no communication trenches to most parts of theline in the left sub-sector, and on dark nights it was easy to lose one’s way. On the night of the 10th-11th of October, Lieut.-Colonel G. E. Hope, M.C., commanding the 8th Lancashire Fusiliers, while visiting his outposts with two officers at a point very near to the enemy line, saw a post ahead and called out: “What post is that?” On this challenge the German flat-topped caps were seen instead of the expected “tin-hats.” The three officers got clear, but, the night being very dark, they stumbled into another enemy post. Bombs were thrown and a machine-gun opened on them, and in the mêlée the three were separated. Hope, who had been leading, was last seen in the midst of the enemy, who were fighting one another in the confusion, and he was never heard of again. His companions got away, one by waiting until there was sufficient light to give him his bearings; the other by the desperate expedient of trusting to the enemy’s knowledge of the British lines and making for a spot where the “minnies” were falling.

General Solly-Flood arrives

The 15th of October, 1917, is a notable date in the history of the 42nd Division, as on this day Major-General A. Solly-Flood, C.M.G., D.S.O., assumed command. The new Divisional Commander when war broke out was a Major in the 4th Dragoon Guards, who were the first in the British Army to kill any of the enemy. As C.O. of this regiment he had also fought at Messines, Ypres, and in all the battles of the Yser in 1914 and 1915, and at Loos in 1915. In the Somme battles of 1916 he had commanded the 35th Infantry Brigade, 12th Division. For some months prior to taking command of the 42nd Division, General Solly-Flood had been Director of Training at G.H.Q. in France. Mingled with gratification there was some uneasiness on the part of officers, who feared that the new Divisional Commander might demand an abnormally high standard of “spit and polish” and take occasion to “strafe” them as mere Territorials, should the latest drafts fail to conform to a Guards standard. They were quickly reassured. They soon found that they were commanded by a man who understood men and how to get the best out of them; who meant to lead and inspire rather than to drive; one who knew well how to show appreciation of every trier, and how to stimulate him to try still harder, and instruct him how to make the best possible use of his efforts. Officers and men alike began to want to satisfy their Chief and to merit his approval, for he gave them the impression that he knew they would bring credit to the Division and that he was not only their General but their friend. From the outset he identified himself with the Division and was proud to command it.

Prior to August 1917, all drafts for the Division, and men returning from leave, had been passed through the Corps Rest Camp, and the training of officers and men had been carried out in England or at the Army and Corps Schools. These systems had not been found entirely satisfactory, and it was decided that drafts be sent direct to divisions. In August 1917, the 42nd Division Rest Camp accordingly came into being, and in October was changed into theDivisional Reception Camp, Lieut.-Colonel H. Grant Thorold, D.S.O., then assuming the command, which he retained until the end. In this camp at Ghyvelde the training of the drafts in such subjects asMusketry,Bayonet fighting,Signalling,Machine- and Lewis-guns,Scouts,duties of N.C.O.s, etc., was carried out. A Lewis-gun demonstration in November by men of the 7th Manchesters was the first of its kind in the Division, and was very instructive. The Division was fortunate, not only in the officer commanding this camp, but also in its instructors, most of whom came from battalions of the Division. But, perhaps, the chief responsibility for the training which was put to such good account a few months later rests with Captain Edwards, Coldstream Guards. In his classes for junior N.C.O.s, corporals, lance-corporals, and selected privates were put through a short intensive course on all subjects, from cleanliness in billets to tactical exercises with live ammunition and bombs. Sports were also included, this being a subject to which the Divisional Commander attached very great importance. At the end of the month’s course competitions were held and prizes awarded, the best all-round student receiving a watch from the Major-General. Competitions between units in classes and sports became very keen, with excellent results, and Commanding Officers stated later that they invariably found that the best students at these classes made the best leaders in action.

Incidents at Nieuport

Two or three instances, selected more or less at haphazard as typical of many, must suffice to illustrate the general character of service in the Nieuport Sector, memories of which are usually associated with the bridges, canals, and dams, each bridge having its own history worthy of individual record if space permitted, and such history would be particularly interesting to the engineers of the three Field Companies. At 4.20 p.m. on October 22, Putney, Crowder, and Vauxhall bridges were destroyed by shell fire while a relief was in progress, and the enemy continued to shell the area to prevent repairs. Lieutenant J. F. H. Nicholson, Corporal Brightmore, and Sappers J. Bennett and J. Rylance, of the 429 Field Company, at once volunteered to repair the bridges, and in spite of heavy shell fire they had restored communications across Putney bridge by 5.55 p.m. All four were decorated.

Bath Dam (Dam 66) was, perhaps, the worst job the R.E. had to tackle in the whole sector, as the enemy made a special target of it. This dam controlled the flow of the River Yser into the Yser Canal, and by its means the water in the flooded polders was kept at a sufficiently high level to form a military obstacle. On October 31 a breach fifteen feet in width was made by 8-inch shells, causing the flooding of the country up to the third-line trenches. Lieutenant Mellor, 427 Field Company, promptly organized a working-party of sappers and men of the 6th and 7th Manchesters, and at once started on its repair, the enemy, of course, doing their utmost to obstruct. The indefatigable C.R.E., Lieut.-Colonel D. S. MacInnes, D.S.O., who never failed to turn up at any hour of the day or night whenhis presence could assist and inspire, took charge of one of the reliefs, and set an example of energy and coolness under fire.[10]The breach was rebuilt with sandbags before the rapidly rising tide could take effect. On November 3 York Dam was damaged, but the same night a working-party closed the gap with 2000 sandbags; but on November 13 both York and Hull Dams were heavily shelled and wiped out, and on the 15th, Dam 66 and Mellor Dam were blown up by concentrated artillery fire. The height of the tide hindered the work of repair, which on this account could not be completed before the Division was relieved.

On October 31 Lieutenant K. MacIver, of “B” Battery, 211 Brigade, R.F.A., during a bombardment of his battery position, which destroyed two of the three guns, ran out to attend to a wounded man of another unit. He was knocked down by a shell and his left arm rendered useless, but, assisted by a driver, he removed the wounded man to safety. Soon afterwards two dumps caught fire and MacIver, foreseeing that the flames would assist a hostile plane to register the battery, ran out into the shelled area and, though one arm was useless, he extinguished the flames at both dumps. On November 2 Private T. Brotherton, 5th E. Lancs., while in charge of a limber taking rations up the line, was wounded by a shell which dropped three yards in rear of his vehicle. Although in great pain and under heavy shelling all the time, he coolly unhooked his mules, one of which had been injured, refusing attention for himself until he had done everything possible for the animals. He then had his wounds dressed, and obeyed the order to report to the nearest Field Dressing Station with great reluctance, as he wished to return to his transport lines for another mule so that he could carry on. On the same day Crowder Bridge was shelled while a party of the 6th Manchesters was in the act of crossing singly, and one man was seriously wounded and knocked into the water. Sergeant E. E. Parry, R.A.M.C., attached to the 6th Manchesters, at once rushed on to the bridge, and remained supporting him and crouching over him until the shell-storm ceased. The man was saved, and Parry received the M.M. for this brave deed. On more than one occasion Captain Brentnall, R.A.M.C., carried wounded men across a bridge on his shoulders when he considered the shelling too severe to permit a bearer-party to cross in safety.

On November 4 an enemy shell fired an ammunition dump near White House, in the right sub-sector. Captains L. Green and M. B. Bolton, with a number of N.C.O.s and men of the 4th East Lancashires, hastened to the spot, isolated the fire, and prevented the destruction of the entire dump. They worked for forty minutes under heavy shell fire, sometimes carrying burning boxes of smoke bombs away from the flames. Both officers were decorated, as were C.S.M. R. Graham, C.S.M. A. Potts, Sergeant R. Driver, and Privates J. Berry and G. Kay. On the same day Private IsaacWhitehall, A.S.C., whilst driving a motor ambulance, came under shell fire at India Post, and was badly wounded in the shoulder. He succeeded in driving the ambulance under very heavy shelling to the A.D.S., where he had to be carried in, his machine being destroyed a few moments later. So serious was his wound that an operation had to be performed.

The Nieuport Sector was in many ways an exceedingly interesting part of the line, but space does not permit of more than an allusion to a number of places and events that will be long remembered. Among these were the rest billets at East Dunkirk and Wulpen, the camps in the sand dunes, Fisher’s Post, Suicide Corner, Cocked Hat and Triangle Woods; the Lombartzyde Road at night, a storm-centre of “whizz-bangs” and machine-gun bullets; the assistance given by artillery and machine-guns to the Belgians in their raids and attacks on Dixmude; the heavy naval guns on board monitors, on the coast, and in the dunes; the outbreaks of sand colic among the animals in the transport lines.

It was in this sector that the Division made the acquaintance of several Medical Officers of the U.S. Army. These were attached to Field Ambulances and battalions, and became very popular.

Early in November the system of “Retaliation Fire” was abandoned as unprofitable. The British positions here being entirely dependent upon the maintenance of dams and bridges, we had many more vulnerable points than had the enemy. “Punishment Fire,” consisting of crashes of devastation fire of all guns and howitzers, including heavies, on certain well-known tender spots, was substituted, and was more effective.

Cementing the Entente

On November 19 the 133rd French Division (“La Gauloise”) relieved the 42nd Division, which was now ordered to La Bassée. The occasion was an interesting one, as the men were keen to notice differences in methods and kit. In the middle of the relief the Germans began heavy shelling, and the Divisional Commander, risking the starting of an artillery battle, applied his scheme of Punishment Fire and silenced the enemy in twenty minutes. The relief was completed without further molestation, all ammunition in the left sub-sector being brought across the Yser in an overhead cradle. There were no regrets on leaving Nieuport. “Remember Belgium!” muttered a Fusilier, in allusion to the posters he had seen when home on leave. “Can I ever bloomin’ well forget it?” The cool bright weather was ideal for route-marching, and the day’s march of about twelve miles was usually completed about 2 p.m. After a short rest, followed by cleaning up and polishing, the troops would make for the nearest estaminet, there to drinkvin rougeorvin blancand converse in a strange compound of English, French, Arabic and sign-language with the thoroughly competent Hebe, of any age between nine and ninety, who attended to their wants. While resting for two days at Aire the Festival of St. Catherine was celebrated, and the local custom which ordains that any youth, by presenting a girl with a flower, may claim a kiss, was voted abright idea, many staunch Protestants from Lancashire admitting that there was more to be said for some of the Roman Catholic customs than they had hitherto imagined. It was said that the flower-gardens of the village were devastated, but the villagers condoned this departure from the strict respect for private property normally shown by the British soldier. Indeed, the men’s conduct in France won high praise from the civilians, who termed themtrès gentils. There was a bad moment when a borrowed bucket fell down a well, and the owner began to express very eloquently her opinion of such carelessness. Fortunately the cook-sergeant had “won” abucksheebucket on his way through France, and the presentation of this much superior article softened the good lady’s heart.

The five days’ road-marching acted as a tonic; the splendid feeding and undisturbed rest night after night revived the spirits and raised the tone of the troops by the time that they arrived in the La Bassée Sector. On November 29 they relieved the 25th Division in the line.

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