FOOTNOTES

‘For conspicuous bravery and initiative at Solesmes on October 20th, 1918, when, with twelve remaining men of his Platoon, he worked his way most skilfully, in face of heavy opposition, towards the Church. By prompt action, he enabled his party to rush a machine-gun, and during subsequent severehand-to-hand fighting he himself disposed of many of the enemy,[138]and secured his objective; his party, in addition to heavy casualties inflicted, taking thirty prisoners.‘He then located another machine-gun, which was holding up a portion of his Company. Under heavy fire he worked his way alone to the post, and shortly afterwards returned with twenty-five prisoners, and an enemy machine-gun, which he mounted at his post.‘His magnificent fighting spirit and example inspired his men, saved many casualties, and contributed very largely to the success of the attack.’

‘He then located another machine-gun, which was holding up a portion of his Company. Under heavy fire he worked his way alone to the post, and shortly afterwards returned with twenty-five prisoners, and an enemy machine-gun, which he mounted at his post.

‘His magnificent fighting spirit and example inspired his men, saved many casualties, and contributed very largely to the success of the attack.’

Douai. The Belfry

The war’s end on November 11th at 11 o’clock in the morning found the bulk of the 49th Division resting on its well-earned laurels in the neighbourhood of Douai. The Gunners, the Royal Engineers and the Pioneer Battalion went forward in the final stages of the advance, and the Artillery had the distinction of finishing at a point further east than any other Divisional Artillery engaged. The 62nd Division ended in the Valley of the Sambre. If we draw an irregular quadrilateral, dipping a bit on the southern side, with its north-west angle at Valenciennes, its south-west at Le Quesnoy, and its north-east and south-east angles at Mons and Maubeuge respectively, we shall be able to prick in the places of the Division’s stout advance between November 4th and 11th (Orsinval, Frasnoy, Obies, Hautmont, Louvroil: it is at this end that the line dips towards Avesnes), by the help of which, as Sir Douglas Haig wrote: ‘On the 9th November the enemy was in general retreat on the whole front of the BritishArmies. The fortress of Maubeuge was entered by the Guards Division, and the 62nd Division (Major-General Sir R. D. Whigham), while the Canadians were approaching Mons.’[139]

And Mons, as we know, is the last word of the war on the Western front.

On November 18th, 1918, the 62nd Division started to march to Germany, where it formed part of the British Army of Occupation in the Rhine Province of the Kingdom of Prussia. As a Division of the IXth Corps of the Second Army, it had the luck to come under the command of its former Divisional Commander, Lieut.-General Sir W. P. Braithwaite, K.C.B., then commanding that Corps, who, accordingly, saw the Pelican at last put down his foot on German soil.

FOOTNOTES[1]This includes the 2nd and 3rd Lines. The last had recently been authorized for formation at, approximately, two-thirds of War Establishment. The Peace Establishment of the West Riding T.F. had been fixed for one Line only.[2]Introduction toThe Territorial Force, by Harold Baker, M.A.: London, Murray, 1909.[3]SeeAppendix I.[4]The first Meeting of its Executive Committee was held on October 12th, 1908.[5]This letter was published in the Press on February 28th, 1913.[6]It is worth noting that the cost of the recommendations (including extra allowances to officers, efficiency bounties to other ranks, separation allowances during annual camp, insurance concessions, employers’ income-tax abatement, grant for boots, shirts and socks, but excluding the proposed grant for amenities) was estimated at £2,300,000 per annum.[7]Lieut.-Gen. Sir E. C. Bethune, K.C.B., of ‘Bethune’s Horse’; General Cowan’s successor as Director-General of the Territorial Force at the War Office, 1912-17, when he was succeeded by Lord Scarbrough.[8]Seepage 3.[9]Ibid.[10]Later, Colonel, and first Hon. Colonel of the Battalion.[11]These Colours were deposited in All Souls’ Church, Halifax, on April 3rd, 1910.[12]Brig.-General Archibald John Arnold Wright, C.B., appointed April, 1908. This officer had served in Bengal, 1883-88, as D.A.A.G. (Musketry), and in the Chitral Relief Force, 1895. He was awarded the C.B. after the South African Campaign (Queen’s Medal, 3 clasps; King’s Medal, 2 clasps), and subsequent to his retirement in 1910, was recalled to service, November, 1914, as Brig.-General Commanding the 90th Infantry Brigade.[13]Circular Memorandum, No. 131 of 14-1-1910; 9/Gen. No. 1700 (C. 3).[14]Lieut.-General Sir George Mackworth Bullock, K.C.B., of the Devonshire Regiment. After distinguished service in India, he commanded the 2nd Devons in the South African Campaign, and was Major-General Commanding in Egypt, 1905-8. He was created C.B. in 1900, and K.C.B. in 1911, in the September of which year he relinquished the West Riding Command.[15]Major Symonds was only able to hold the appointment for a few months. Thereafter, General Mends resumed it again, and carried on with conspicuous success till August, 1914.[16]Major-General Thomas Stanford Baldock, C.B. The General had served in South Africa, where he was awarded the King’s Medal with two clasps, and when he was created C.B. His honourable record in France, 1914-15, will appear in a later chapter of this book.[17]Seepage 14, note 1. The official Memorandum quoted in the text is dated October 31st, 1916.[18]Seepage 18.[19]To whom I am immensely indebted for the continuous archives of the Unit from 1859 to 1914. They were kept till 1910 by the late Major J. B. Howard, from whom Major Chambers took over the labour of love.[20]Invalided home in November, 1916. About 47,000 patients passed through the C.C. Station during Col. Wear’s two years’ command. The C.M.G. was awarded to this Officer in June, 1915, when the Military Cross was conferred on his Quartermaster.[21]Constable and Co., 1918.[22]‘We must grasp the trident in our fist’ said Kaiser Wilhelm II. at Cologne in 1897. The British Army occupied Cologne in 1918.[23]Col. Sir T. Pilkington was given Command of a Regular Battalion at the end of 1914, since when Col. Husband took sole charge of this branch.[24]The Administrative Centres were independent of the Establishments of the three Lines. They were commanded by an Officer not below Captain’s rank, and were charged with the duty of recruiting and of clothing all recruits prior to passing them to their units, and had charge of the Headquarters and Stores.[25]By authority of a War Office Letter from the Adjutant-General’s branch (No. 40/W.O./2481) of May 7th, 1915, published in IV. Army Corps Routine Order, No. 609, on May 16th. No change was made in the designation of the Artillery, Engineers and Medical units, but the number of the Division instead of the Territorial designation was attached to the Divisional Cyclist Company, Ammunition Column and Park, Signal Company, Supply Column, Train, and Sanitary Section.[26]The General Officer Commanding the 62nd Division from February, 1915, to May, 1916, was Major-General Sir James Trotter, K.C.B. He had served in Bechuanaland and South Africa (Queen’s Medal with two clasps, and C.B.), and was appointed C.M.G. in 1897, and K.C.B. in 1912.[27]Field-Marshal Viscount French of Ypres (created 1915), O.M., K.P., etc., Commander-in-Chief of the Expeditionary Forces in France, 1914-15.[28]Seepage 3.[29]On one occasion a scouring of latrines with a solution of chloride of lime caused a rumour of the arrival of poison-gas.[30]By Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.[31]John Buchan,Nelson’s History of the War, Vol. vii., p. 93.[32]Its numerical designation was not published in Corps Orders till the following week (seepage 40), but it is more convenient for use.[33]The 146th Brigade was between the 7th and 8th Divisions, on the right of the rest of the 49th. ‘We were holding the line pretty thin. My own Company,’ writes an Officer of the Brigade, ‘had 650 yards of front line trench.... Thus, you will see we did take part in the battle of May 9th, although we did not go over the top.’[34]By John Masefield. Heinemann, 1916.[35]General Edward Maxwell Perceval, of the R.F.A., served in India, Burmah, and South Africa, where he was awarded the Queen’s and King’s Medals (with 5 clasps) and won his D.S.O. He went to France, 1914, Commanding R.A., 2nd Division, and was promoted Major-General and appointed C.B. in the following year. He was acting as Sub-Chief of the Staff at General Headquarters when the accident to Maj.-Gen. Baldock gave him his appointment to the 49th Division, which he commanded till October, 1917.[36]One word about the field telephone will be in place. The whole countryside behind the British line was a network of telephone wires at this time; ‘one keeps tripping over them everywhere,’ it was said, and there were probably 30 to 50 miles of wire to a single Artillery Brigade.[37]So called, because they were on you and exploded before you heard the report. As to ‘heavies,’ a visitor to the lines in September, 1915, wrote: ‘Guns, particularly big Guns and Howitzers, are going to win this war, not rifles.... I was shown a most interesting map giving all the German gun positions discovered by our aeroplanes.... Ours were shown, too, and they outnumber us by about three to one.’[38]Including Colonel E. O. Wright, A.D.M.S., killed while organizing Ambulance traffic under heavy fire with his habitual gallantry.[39]Sixteen men at a time were stripped, and given three minutes each under a hot shower-bath, their underclothing changed, and their uniform cleaned and fumigated.[40]Wooden grids laid down like duck-boards to obviate the wet and slipperiness of the trenches.[41]Seepage 14, above.[42]The Territorial Force, by Harold Baker (John Murray), page 246.[43]Professor Spenser Wilkinson wrote inThe Sunday Times, June 1st, 1919: ‘Lord Kitchener does not seem to have been aware of the existence of an organization—the County Associations—for the purpose of raising new troops upon a Territorial basis.’[44]The numerical designation, 62nd Division, was affixed, as we have seen, in August, 1915; for convenience we shall henceforward employ it by anticipation.[45]The official figures of the draft sent out from the 62nd to the 49th Division from March to August, 1915, are: Officers, 116; Other Ranks, 2,778.[46]Walter Pipon Braithwaite, served in Burmah (1886-87) and South Africa (1899-1902; Brevet-Major, Queen’s Medal, 6 clasps; King’s Medal, 2 clasps); C.B., 1911; Major-General, 1915; K.C.B. and Lt.-General (Commanding IXth Army Corps), 1918.[47]It may be worth while to note that the 62nd was the first Division to proceed to France with an equipment of steel helmets complete.[48]Gustave Lanson.[49]Despatches, page 20.[50]He succeeded Lt.-Col. A. E. Kirk, V.D., in Command of the Battalion, August, 1916.[51]Brig.-General M. D. Goring-Jones, C.M.G., D.S.O., of the Durham L.I., had succeeded Brig.-General F. A. Macfarlane, C.B., in Command of the 146th Infantry Brigade, after a brief interregnum by Lt.-Col. Legge (December 20th, 1915, to January 12th 1916).[52]Despatches, page 21.[53]Ibid.[54]Ibid.[55]Seepage 49.[56]John Masefield.The Old Front Line, Heineman, 1917.[57]It will be remembered that the Division, being in reserve, was directly under the orders of the Corps Commander.[58]The award to Sgt. Sanders, V.C., was notified in theLondon Gazetteof September 9th, 1916, in the following well-merited terms:—‘For most conspicuous bravery. After an advance into the enemy’s trenches, he found himself isolated with a party of thirty men. He organized his defences, detailed a bombing party, and impressed on his men that his and their duty was to hold the position at all costs.‘Next morning he drove off an attack by the enemy and rescued some prisoners who had fallen into their hands. Later two strong bombing attacks were beaten off. On the following day he was relieved after showing the greatest courage, determination and good leadership during 36 hours under very trying conditions.‘All this time his party was almost without food and water, having given all their water to the wounded during the first night. After the relieving force was firmly established he brought his party, 19 strong, back to our trenches.’[59]Seepage 62.[60]Despatches, page 26. In a footnote to this passage, Sir Douglas Haig writes: ‘In the course of this fighting, a Brigade of the 49th Division, Major-General E. M. Perceval, made a gallant attempt to force Thiepval from the north.’[61]Despatches, pages 25, 27, 30.[62]Despatches, page 51.[63]The 1/7th West Yorkshires.[64]Despatches, page 44.[65]Despatches, page 53.[66]Seepage 40, above.[67]Seepage 7, above.[68]Army Council Instruction, No. 1830, of September 21st, 1916; 9/V.F./128 (T.F. 2).[69]“The configuration of the ground in the neighbourhood of the Ancre Valley was such that every fresh advance would enfilade the enemy’s positions, and automatically open up to the observation of our troops some new part of his defences. Arrangements could therefore be made for systematic and deliberate attacks to be delivered on selected positions.”—Despatches, page 63.[70]Captain Tom Goodall, D.S.O., M.C., to whom I am much indebted for the loan of this diary, and of some documents, etc., which he was at pains to collect and has kindly put at my disposal.[71]Later in the year, the surgical skill of French gardeners succeeded in some instances in joining the severed arteries of these trees.[72]Despatches, page 102.[73]Despatches, page 76.[74]Nelson’sHistory of the War, Vol. XIX., page 23.[75]Despatches, pages 82-83.[76]Despatches, page 93.[77]Blackwood’s Magazine, July, 1919. Seepage 131, above. The articles have been collected in book-form since this chapter was in type.[78]The present writer is indebted to Captain Joseph Walker for the particulars of this gallant and desperate exploit.[79]58th and 62nd Divisions, Major-General H. D. Fanshawe, Commanding the 58th Division.[80]Despatches, pages 99 and 102.[81]Competitors mounted and armed with a pick-handle dribbled the ball 100 yards, then round a post and back to shoot through a goal.[82]Ride a mule and drive another (tandem) round a course through various obstacles, finish with 100 yards down the straight.[83]Run in heats of 16 or less. In front of each competitor, standing dismounted in line, is a row of stones at 10 yards distance from each other. At the word ‘go,’ mount, and bring each stone severally and drop it into bucket.[84]Despatches, pages 127, 129, 130. In a footnote to the first passage (page 127) F.M. Earl Haig has amplified the causes which led to the continuing of the Ypres offensive by a summary of a speech delivered in the House of Commons (August 6th, 1919) by Major-General Sir John Davidson, M.P.[85]Ibid., page 133.[86]Seepage 48, above.[87]‘Any port except Nieuport’ became a catchword.[88]Seepage 59, above.[89]A Special Order of October 19th contained the following message from the retiring General Officer Commanding:‘On giving up the Command of the Division which I have held since July, 1915, I wish to thank all ranks for their invariable loyal support, and to express my great admiration for their gallant conduct and for the cheerful manner in which they have borne the many hardships which they have had to endure.‘It will always be a special source of pleasure and pride to me that I was in Command of the Division in the recent action. Nothing could be finer that what the Division accomplished on that occasion. The performance of the Division will remain my chief interest in life, and I feel sure that, whenever opportunity offers, more fine records will be added to those already possessed.’[90]Some revelations have been made from French documents, but in a limited history of Territorial troops it has not appeared necessary to discuss matters not bearing immediately on these operations.[91]Complete lists will be found InAppendix II.[92]Seep. 136, above.[93]History of the War, Nelson, Vol. XXI., page 94.[94]Lt.-General the Hon. Sir Julian Byng, G.C.B. (1919), K.C.M.G., Commanding the Third Army since June, 1917, when he succeeded General (Lord) Allenby, transferred to Palestine; created Baron Byng of Vimy, 1919.[95]Despatches, pages 155, 156.[96]Captain Lynn and 2nd Lieut. James. We mention their nameshonoris causa. They were the first men in the enemy’s trenches that morning.[97]We may note here that the ascertained casualties in the Territorial Troops of the West Riding up to December 31st, 1917, amounted to 44,049 all Ranks, included 406 Officers and 5,242 other Ranks killed.[98]Details as complete as is practicable will be found inAppendix II. Here we select for mention a few particulars from the Divisional lists, completed to January, 1918. In the West Yorkshires, 62nd Division, for example, there were 19 awards to the 2/5th, 33 to the 2/6th, 30 to the 2/7th, and 28 to the 2/8th, headed in each instance by a D.S.O. (or a Bar to his D.S.O.) for the O.C. the Battalion. The four Battalions of the West Ridings in the 62nd carried off over 110 awards, including Col. Best’s (killed) Bar to his D.S.O., three D.S.O.’s, and six M.C.’s. These items are typical of the Division.[99]The British Campaign in France and Flanders: January to July, 1918.Hodder and Stoughton, 1919.[100]The Last Four Months: The End of the War in the West.Cassell, 1919.[101]Despatches, page 177 (July 20th, 1918).[102]Ibid.[103]Op. cit., page 82.[104]Sir A. Conan Doyle,op. cit., page 10.[105]The Last Four Months, page 38.[106]Despatches, page 208. The appointment of the future Marshal of France as Generalissimo (C. in C. of the Allied Armies) was confirmed on April 14th.[107]Seepage 117, above.[108]Despatches, page 206.[109]Op. cit., pages 63-64.[110]Despatches, page 208.[111]Ibid., page 212.[112]Despatches, page 218.[113]Ibid, page 220.[114]Sir A. Conan Doyle,op. cit., page 227.[115]The Last Four Months, page 59.[116]Despatches, page 229.[117]Despatches, page 232.[118]Op. cit., page 301.[119]The 9th Division, after its tremendous fighting, for which it was thanked by both Army Commanders, was withdrawn on April 26th, when Major-General Cameron, of the 49th, took Command of the sector.[120]The assailants brought up an Alpine Division (among three others), trained especially for hill fighting.[121]The Last Four Months, page 52.[122]From a Memorandum on the Yorkshire Dragoons, prepared for the purposes of this history by Lieut.-Col. W. Mackenzie Smith, D.S.O., in Command, 1914, of which full use has been made in the present chapter.[123]Col. Smith relinquished his Command of the Dragoons at this date, since in its new form it was only a Major’s Command, to Major, afterwards, Lieut.-Col. R. Thompson, D.S.O.[124]SeeTable, above.[125]Despatches, pp. 254-55.[126]The Last Four Months, pages 71, 97.[127]These Divisions, it will be recalled, had fought together at Cambrai in November, 1917. Seepage 148, above.[128]Despatches, page 255.[129]Despatches, page 257.[130]Ibid., page 278.[131]Seepage 74, above.[132]See, particularly,Despatches, pp. 278ff, and Sir F. Maurice,The Last Four Months, pp. 133ff.[133]It should be observed that Sergt. L. Calvert, V.C., was enlisted in the 1/5th K.O.Y.L.I., 49th Division. This Battalion was amalgamated in February, 1918, with the 2nd Line unit, and became the 5th K.O.Y.L.I., 187th Brigade, 62nd Division.[134]The figures were:Killed, 8 Officers, 199 other ranks;Wounded, 34 Officers, 1,068 other ranks;Missing, 228 other ranks;Total, 42 Officers, 1,495 other ranks.Captured:Prisoners, 18 Officers, 866 other ranks;Field Guns, 4;Trench Mortars, 12;Machine Guns, 46.[135]Despatches, page 276.[136]Despatches, page 285.[137]The Last Four Months, page 203.[138]A Battalion record gives the number as seven.[139]Despatches, page 297.

FOOTNOTES

[1]This includes the 2nd and 3rd Lines. The last had recently been authorized for formation at, approximately, two-thirds of War Establishment. The Peace Establishment of the West Riding T.F. had been fixed for one Line only.

[2]Introduction toThe Territorial Force, by Harold Baker, M.A.: London, Murray, 1909.

[3]SeeAppendix I.

[4]The first Meeting of its Executive Committee was held on October 12th, 1908.

[5]This letter was published in the Press on February 28th, 1913.

[6]It is worth noting that the cost of the recommendations (including extra allowances to officers, efficiency bounties to other ranks, separation allowances during annual camp, insurance concessions, employers’ income-tax abatement, grant for boots, shirts and socks, but excluding the proposed grant for amenities) was estimated at £2,300,000 per annum.

[7]Lieut.-Gen. Sir E. C. Bethune, K.C.B., of ‘Bethune’s Horse’; General Cowan’s successor as Director-General of the Territorial Force at the War Office, 1912-17, when he was succeeded by Lord Scarbrough.

[8]Seepage 3.

[9]Ibid.

[10]Later, Colonel, and first Hon. Colonel of the Battalion.

[11]These Colours were deposited in All Souls’ Church, Halifax, on April 3rd, 1910.

[12]Brig.-General Archibald John Arnold Wright, C.B., appointed April, 1908. This officer had served in Bengal, 1883-88, as D.A.A.G. (Musketry), and in the Chitral Relief Force, 1895. He was awarded the C.B. after the South African Campaign (Queen’s Medal, 3 clasps; King’s Medal, 2 clasps), and subsequent to his retirement in 1910, was recalled to service, November, 1914, as Brig.-General Commanding the 90th Infantry Brigade.

[13]Circular Memorandum, No. 131 of 14-1-1910; 9/Gen. No. 1700 (C. 3).

[14]Lieut.-General Sir George Mackworth Bullock, K.C.B., of the Devonshire Regiment. After distinguished service in India, he commanded the 2nd Devons in the South African Campaign, and was Major-General Commanding in Egypt, 1905-8. He was created C.B. in 1900, and K.C.B. in 1911, in the September of which year he relinquished the West Riding Command.

[15]Major Symonds was only able to hold the appointment for a few months. Thereafter, General Mends resumed it again, and carried on with conspicuous success till August, 1914.

[16]Major-General Thomas Stanford Baldock, C.B. The General had served in South Africa, where he was awarded the King’s Medal with two clasps, and when he was created C.B. His honourable record in France, 1914-15, will appear in a later chapter of this book.

[17]Seepage 14, note 1. The official Memorandum quoted in the text is dated October 31st, 1916.

[18]Seepage 18.

[19]To whom I am immensely indebted for the continuous archives of the Unit from 1859 to 1914. They were kept till 1910 by the late Major J. B. Howard, from whom Major Chambers took over the labour of love.

[20]Invalided home in November, 1916. About 47,000 patients passed through the C.C. Station during Col. Wear’s two years’ command. The C.M.G. was awarded to this Officer in June, 1915, when the Military Cross was conferred on his Quartermaster.

[21]Constable and Co., 1918.

[22]‘We must grasp the trident in our fist’ said Kaiser Wilhelm II. at Cologne in 1897. The British Army occupied Cologne in 1918.

[23]Col. Sir T. Pilkington was given Command of a Regular Battalion at the end of 1914, since when Col. Husband took sole charge of this branch.

[24]The Administrative Centres were independent of the Establishments of the three Lines. They were commanded by an Officer not below Captain’s rank, and were charged with the duty of recruiting and of clothing all recruits prior to passing them to their units, and had charge of the Headquarters and Stores.

[25]By authority of a War Office Letter from the Adjutant-General’s branch (No. 40/W.O./2481) of May 7th, 1915, published in IV. Army Corps Routine Order, No. 609, on May 16th. No change was made in the designation of the Artillery, Engineers and Medical units, but the number of the Division instead of the Territorial designation was attached to the Divisional Cyclist Company, Ammunition Column and Park, Signal Company, Supply Column, Train, and Sanitary Section.

[26]The General Officer Commanding the 62nd Division from February, 1915, to May, 1916, was Major-General Sir James Trotter, K.C.B. He had served in Bechuanaland and South Africa (Queen’s Medal with two clasps, and C.B.), and was appointed C.M.G. in 1897, and K.C.B. in 1912.

[27]Field-Marshal Viscount French of Ypres (created 1915), O.M., K.P., etc., Commander-in-Chief of the Expeditionary Forces in France, 1914-15.

[28]Seepage 3.

[29]On one occasion a scouring of latrines with a solution of chloride of lime caused a rumour of the arrival of poison-gas.

[30]By Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

[31]John Buchan,Nelson’s History of the War, Vol. vii., p. 93.

[32]Its numerical designation was not published in Corps Orders till the following week (seepage 40), but it is more convenient for use.

[33]The 146th Brigade was between the 7th and 8th Divisions, on the right of the rest of the 49th. ‘We were holding the line pretty thin. My own Company,’ writes an Officer of the Brigade, ‘had 650 yards of front line trench.... Thus, you will see we did take part in the battle of May 9th, although we did not go over the top.’

[34]By John Masefield. Heinemann, 1916.

[35]General Edward Maxwell Perceval, of the R.F.A., served in India, Burmah, and South Africa, where he was awarded the Queen’s and King’s Medals (with 5 clasps) and won his D.S.O. He went to France, 1914, Commanding R.A., 2nd Division, and was promoted Major-General and appointed C.B. in the following year. He was acting as Sub-Chief of the Staff at General Headquarters when the accident to Maj.-Gen. Baldock gave him his appointment to the 49th Division, which he commanded till October, 1917.

[36]One word about the field telephone will be in place. The whole countryside behind the British line was a network of telephone wires at this time; ‘one keeps tripping over them everywhere,’ it was said, and there were probably 30 to 50 miles of wire to a single Artillery Brigade.

[37]So called, because they were on you and exploded before you heard the report. As to ‘heavies,’ a visitor to the lines in September, 1915, wrote: ‘Guns, particularly big Guns and Howitzers, are going to win this war, not rifles.... I was shown a most interesting map giving all the German gun positions discovered by our aeroplanes.... Ours were shown, too, and they outnumber us by about three to one.’

[38]Including Colonel E. O. Wright, A.D.M.S., killed while organizing Ambulance traffic under heavy fire with his habitual gallantry.

[39]Sixteen men at a time were stripped, and given three minutes each under a hot shower-bath, their underclothing changed, and their uniform cleaned and fumigated.

[40]Wooden grids laid down like duck-boards to obviate the wet and slipperiness of the trenches.

[41]Seepage 14, above.

[42]The Territorial Force, by Harold Baker (John Murray), page 246.

[43]Professor Spenser Wilkinson wrote inThe Sunday Times, June 1st, 1919: ‘Lord Kitchener does not seem to have been aware of the existence of an organization—the County Associations—for the purpose of raising new troops upon a Territorial basis.’

[44]The numerical designation, 62nd Division, was affixed, as we have seen, in August, 1915; for convenience we shall henceforward employ it by anticipation.

[45]The official figures of the draft sent out from the 62nd to the 49th Division from March to August, 1915, are: Officers, 116; Other Ranks, 2,778.

[46]Walter Pipon Braithwaite, served in Burmah (1886-87) and South Africa (1899-1902; Brevet-Major, Queen’s Medal, 6 clasps; King’s Medal, 2 clasps); C.B., 1911; Major-General, 1915; K.C.B. and Lt.-General (Commanding IXth Army Corps), 1918.

[47]It may be worth while to note that the 62nd was the first Division to proceed to France with an equipment of steel helmets complete.

[48]Gustave Lanson.

[49]Despatches, page 20.

[50]He succeeded Lt.-Col. A. E. Kirk, V.D., in Command of the Battalion, August, 1916.

[51]Brig.-General M. D. Goring-Jones, C.M.G., D.S.O., of the Durham L.I., had succeeded Brig.-General F. A. Macfarlane, C.B., in Command of the 146th Infantry Brigade, after a brief interregnum by Lt.-Col. Legge (December 20th, 1915, to January 12th 1916).

[52]Despatches, page 21.

[53]Ibid.

[54]Ibid.

[55]Seepage 49.

[56]John Masefield.The Old Front Line, Heineman, 1917.

[57]It will be remembered that the Division, being in reserve, was directly under the orders of the Corps Commander.

[58]The award to Sgt. Sanders, V.C., was notified in theLondon Gazetteof September 9th, 1916, in the following well-merited terms:—‘For most conspicuous bravery. After an advance into the enemy’s trenches, he found himself isolated with a party of thirty men. He organized his defences, detailed a bombing party, and impressed on his men that his and their duty was to hold the position at all costs.‘Next morning he drove off an attack by the enemy and rescued some prisoners who had fallen into their hands. Later two strong bombing attacks were beaten off. On the following day he was relieved after showing the greatest courage, determination and good leadership during 36 hours under very trying conditions.‘All this time his party was almost without food and water, having given all their water to the wounded during the first night. After the relieving force was firmly established he brought his party, 19 strong, back to our trenches.’

[58]The award to Sgt. Sanders, V.C., was notified in theLondon Gazetteof September 9th, 1916, in the following well-merited terms:—

‘For most conspicuous bravery. After an advance into the enemy’s trenches, he found himself isolated with a party of thirty men. He organized his defences, detailed a bombing party, and impressed on his men that his and their duty was to hold the position at all costs.

‘Next morning he drove off an attack by the enemy and rescued some prisoners who had fallen into their hands. Later two strong bombing attacks were beaten off. On the following day he was relieved after showing the greatest courage, determination and good leadership during 36 hours under very trying conditions.

‘All this time his party was almost without food and water, having given all their water to the wounded during the first night. After the relieving force was firmly established he brought his party, 19 strong, back to our trenches.’

[59]Seepage 62.

[60]Despatches, page 26. In a footnote to this passage, Sir Douglas Haig writes: ‘In the course of this fighting, a Brigade of the 49th Division, Major-General E. M. Perceval, made a gallant attempt to force Thiepval from the north.’

[61]Despatches, pages 25, 27, 30.

[62]Despatches, page 51.

[63]The 1/7th West Yorkshires.

[64]Despatches, page 44.

[65]Despatches, page 53.

[66]Seepage 40, above.

[67]Seepage 7, above.

[68]Army Council Instruction, No. 1830, of September 21st, 1916; 9/V.F./128 (T.F. 2).

[69]“The configuration of the ground in the neighbourhood of the Ancre Valley was such that every fresh advance would enfilade the enemy’s positions, and automatically open up to the observation of our troops some new part of his defences. Arrangements could therefore be made for systematic and deliberate attacks to be delivered on selected positions.”—Despatches, page 63.

[70]Captain Tom Goodall, D.S.O., M.C., to whom I am much indebted for the loan of this diary, and of some documents, etc., which he was at pains to collect and has kindly put at my disposal.

[71]Later in the year, the surgical skill of French gardeners succeeded in some instances in joining the severed arteries of these trees.

[72]Despatches, page 102.

[73]Despatches, page 76.

[74]Nelson’sHistory of the War, Vol. XIX., page 23.

[75]Despatches, pages 82-83.

[76]Despatches, page 93.

[77]Blackwood’s Magazine, July, 1919. Seepage 131, above. The articles have been collected in book-form since this chapter was in type.

[78]The present writer is indebted to Captain Joseph Walker for the particulars of this gallant and desperate exploit.

[79]58th and 62nd Divisions, Major-General H. D. Fanshawe, Commanding the 58th Division.

[80]Despatches, pages 99 and 102.

[81]Competitors mounted and armed with a pick-handle dribbled the ball 100 yards, then round a post and back to shoot through a goal.

[82]Ride a mule and drive another (tandem) round a course through various obstacles, finish with 100 yards down the straight.

[83]Run in heats of 16 or less. In front of each competitor, standing dismounted in line, is a row of stones at 10 yards distance from each other. At the word ‘go,’ mount, and bring each stone severally and drop it into bucket.

[84]Despatches, pages 127, 129, 130. In a footnote to the first passage (page 127) F.M. Earl Haig has amplified the causes which led to the continuing of the Ypres offensive by a summary of a speech delivered in the House of Commons (August 6th, 1919) by Major-General Sir John Davidson, M.P.

[85]Ibid., page 133.

[86]Seepage 48, above.

[87]‘Any port except Nieuport’ became a catchword.

[88]Seepage 59, above.

[89]A Special Order of October 19th contained the following message from the retiring General Officer Commanding:‘On giving up the Command of the Division which I have held since July, 1915, I wish to thank all ranks for their invariable loyal support, and to express my great admiration for their gallant conduct and for the cheerful manner in which they have borne the many hardships which they have had to endure.‘It will always be a special source of pleasure and pride to me that I was in Command of the Division in the recent action. Nothing could be finer that what the Division accomplished on that occasion. The performance of the Division will remain my chief interest in life, and I feel sure that, whenever opportunity offers, more fine records will be added to those already possessed.’

[89]A Special Order of October 19th contained the following message from the retiring General Officer Commanding:

‘On giving up the Command of the Division which I have held since July, 1915, I wish to thank all ranks for their invariable loyal support, and to express my great admiration for their gallant conduct and for the cheerful manner in which they have borne the many hardships which they have had to endure.‘It will always be a special source of pleasure and pride to me that I was in Command of the Division in the recent action. Nothing could be finer that what the Division accomplished on that occasion. The performance of the Division will remain my chief interest in life, and I feel sure that, whenever opportunity offers, more fine records will be added to those already possessed.’

‘It will always be a special source of pleasure and pride to me that I was in Command of the Division in the recent action. Nothing could be finer that what the Division accomplished on that occasion. The performance of the Division will remain my chief interest in life, and I feel sure that, whenever opportunity offers, more fine records will be added to those already possessed.’

[90]Some revelations have been made from French documents, but in a limited history of Territorial troops it has not appeared necessary to discuss matters not bearing immediately on these operations.

[91]Complete lists will be found InAppendix II.

[92]Seep. 136, above.

[93]History of the War, Nelson, Vol. XXI., page 94.

[94]Lt.-General the Hon. Sir Julian Byng, G.C.B. (1919), K.C.M.G., Commanding the Third Army since June, 1917, when he succeeded General (Lord) Allenby, transferred to Palestine; created Baron Byng of Vimy, 1919.

[95]Despatches, pages 155, 156.

[96]Captain Lynn and 2nd Lieut. James. We mention their nameshonoris causa. They were the first men in the enemy’s trenches that morning.

[97]We may note here that the ascertained casualties in the Territorial Troops of the West Riding up to December 31st, 1917, amounted to 44,049 all Ranks, included 406 Officers and 5,242 other Ranks killed.

[98]Details as complete as is practicable will be found inAppendix II. Here we select for mention a few particulars from the Divisional lists, completed to January, 1918. In the West Yorkshires, 62nd Division, for example, there were 19 awards to the 2/5th, 33 to the 2/6th, 30 to the 2/7th, and 28 to the 2/8th, headed in each instance by a D.S.O. (or a Bar to his D.S.O.) for the O.C. the Battalion. The four Battalions of the West Ridings in the 62nd carried off over 110 awards, including Col. Best’s (killed) Bar to his D.S.O., three D.S.O.’s, and six M.C.’s. These items are typical of the Division.

[99]The British Campaign in France and Flanders: January to July, 1918.Hodder and Stoughton, 1919.

[100]The Last Four Months: The End of the War in the West.Cassell, 1919.

[101]Despatches, page 177 (July 20th, 1918).

[102]Ibid.

[103]Op. cit., page 82.

[104]Sir A. Conan Doyle,op. cit., page 10.

[105]The Last Four Months, page 38.

[106]Despatches, page 208. The appointment of the future Marshal of France as Generalissimo (C. in C. of the Allied Armies) was confirmed on April 14th.

[107]Seepage 117, above.

[108]Despatches, page 206.

[109]Op. cit., pages 63-64.

[110]Despatches, page 208.

[111]Ibid., page 212.

[112]Despatches, page 218.

[113]Ibid, page 220.

[114]Sir A. Conan Doyle,op. cit., page 227.

[115]The Last Four Months, page 59.

[116]Despatches, page 229.

[117]Despatches, page 232.

[118]Op. cit., page 301.

[119]The 9th Division, after its tremendous fighting, for which it was thanked by both Army Commanders, was withdrawn on April 26th, when Major-General Cameron, of the 49th, took Command of the sector.

[120]The assailants brought up an Alpine Division (among three others), trained especially for hill fighting.

[121]The Last Four Months, page 52.

[122]From a Memorandum on the Yorkshire Dragoons, prepared for the purposes of this history by Lieut.-Col. W. Mackenzie Smith, D.S.O., in Command, 1914, of which full use has been made in the present chapter.

[123]Col. Smith relinquished his Command of the Dragoons at this date, since in its new form it was only a Major’s Command, to Major, afterwards, Lieut.-Col. R. Thompson, D.S.O.

[124]SeeTable, above.

[125]Despatches, pp. 254-55.

[126]The Last Four Months, pages 71, 97.

[127]These Divisions, it will be recalled, had fought together at Cambrai in November, 1917. Seepage 148, above.

[128]Despatches, page 255.

[129]Despatches, page 257.

[130]Ibid., page 278.

[131]Seepage 74, above.

[132]See, particularly,Despatches, pp. 278ff, and Sir F. Maurice,The Last Four Months, pp. 133ff.

[133]It should be observed that Sergt. L. Calvert, V.C., was enlisted in the 1/5th K.O.Y.L.I., 49th Division. This Battalion was amalgamated in February, 1918, with the 2nd Line unit, and became the 5th K.O.Y.L.I., 187th Brigade, 62nd Division.

[134]The figures were:Killed, 8 Officers, 199 other ranks;Wounded, 34 Officers, 1,068 other ranks;Missing, 228 other ranks;Total, 42 Officers, 1,495 other ranks.Captured:Prisoners, 18 Officers, 866 other ranks;Field Guns, 4;Trench Mortars, 12;Machine Guns, 46.

[134]The figures were:Killed, 8 Officers, 199 other ranks;Wounded, 34 Officers, 1,068 other ranks;Missing, 228 other ranks;Total, 42 Officers, 1,495 other ranks.

Captured:Prisoners, 18 Officers, 866 other ranks;Field Guns, 4;Trench Mortars, 12;Machine Guns, 46.

[135]Despatches, page 276.

[136]Despatches, page 285.

[137]The Last Four Months, page 203.

[138]A Battalion record gives the number as seven.

[139]Despatches, page 297.

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