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diff --git a/35403.txt b/35403.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..58c7e39 --- /dev/null +++ b/35403.txt @@ -0,0 +1,15317 @@ +Project Gutenberg's From Bapaume to Passchendaele, 1917, by Philip Gibbs + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: From Bapaume to Passchendaele, 1917 + +Author: Philip Gibbs + +Release Date: March 2, 2011 [EBook #35403] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FROM BAPAUME TO *** + + + + +Produced by Moti Ben-Ari and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive) + + + + + + + + + +FROM BAPAUME TO +PASSCHENDAELE + + + + +FROM BAPAUME TO +PASSCHENDAELE + +1917 + +BY + +PHILIP GIBBS + +AUTHOR OF + +"THE BATTLES OF THE SOMME," "THE SOUL +OF THE WAR," ETC. + +_WITH MAPS_ + + +TORONTO + +WILLIAM BRIGGS + +1918 + + + + +PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN BY THE COMPLETE PRESS +WEST NORWOOD ENGLAND + + + + +CONTENTS + + + CHAP Page + + INTRODUCTION 1 + + PART I + RETREAT FROM THE SOMME + + I. A NEW YEAR OF WAR 23 + II. AN ATTACK NEAR LE TRANSLOY 28 + III. THE ABANDONMENT OF GRANDCOURT 31 + IV. THE GORDONS IN THE BUTTE DE WARLENCOURT 33 + V. THE BATTLE OF BOOM RAVINE 36 + VI. THE ENEMY WITHDRAWS 38 + VII. OUR ENTRY INTO GOMMECOURT 39 + VIII. WHY THE ENEMY WITHDREW 44 + IX. THE AUSTRALIANS ENTER BAPAUME 49 + X. THE RESCUE OF PERONNE 55 + + PART II + ON THE TRAIL OF THE ENEMY + + I. THE MAKING OF NO MAN'S LAND 60 + II. THE LETTER OF THE LAW 63 + III. THE ABANDONED COUNTRY 66 + IV. THE CURE OF VOYENNES 70 + V. THE CHATEAU OF LIANCOURT 73 + VI. THE OLD WOMEN OF TINCOURT 77 + VII. THE AGONY OF WAR 79 + VIII. CAVALRY IN ACTION 83 + + PART III + THE BATTLE OF ARRAS + + I. ARRAS AND THE VIMY RIDGE 87 + II. LONDONERS THROUGH THE GERMAN LINES 96 + III. THE STRUGGLE ROUND MONCHY 99 + IV. THE OTHER SIDE OF VIMY 108 + V. THE WAY TO LENS 113 + VI. THE SLAUGHTER AT LAGNICOURT 124 + VII. THE TERRORS OF THE SCARPE 125 + VIII. THE BACKGROUND OF BATTLE 133 + IX. HOW THE SCOTS TOOK GUEMAPPE 137 + X. THE OPPY LINE 139 + XI. THE BATTLE OF MAY 3 142 + XII. FIELDS OF GOLD 148 + + PART IV + THE BATTLE OF MESSINES + + I. WYTSCHAETE AND MESSINES 152 + II. THE SPIRIT OF VICTORY 159 + III. AFTER THE EARTHQUAKE 164 + IV. THE EFFECT OF THE BLOW 172 + V. LOOKING BACKWARD 176 + VI. THE AUSTRALIANS AT MESSINES 180 + VII. A BATTLE IN A THUNDER-STORM 183 + VIII. THE TRAGEDY AT LOMBARTZYDE 186 + IX. THE STRUGGLE FOR HELL WOOD 190 + + PART V + THE BATTLES OF FLANDERS + AND THE CANADIANS AT LENS + + I. BREAKING THE SALIENT 195 + II. FROM PILKEM RIDGE TO HOLLEBEKE 201 + III. THE BEGINNING OF THE RAINS 206 + IV. PILL-BOXES AND MACHINE-GUNS 211 + V. THE SONG OF THE COCKCHAFERS 221 + VI. WOODS OF ILL-FAME 226 + VII. THE BATTLE OF LANGEMARCK 230 + VIII. CAPTURE OF HILL SEVENTY 234 + IX. LONDONERS IN GLENCORSE WOOD 242 + X. SOMERSETS AT LANGEMARCK 246 + XI. THE IRISH IN THE SWAMPS 251 + XII. THE WAY THROUGH GLENCORSE WOOD 255 + XIII. THE SLAUGHTER-HOUSE OF LENS 261 + XIV. THE AGONY OF ARMENTIERES 269 + XV. THE BATTLE OF MENIN ROAD 274 + XVI. THE WAY TO PASSCHENDAELE 294 + XVII. THE BATTLE OF POLYGON WOOD 298 + XVIII. ABRAHAM HEIGHTS AND BEYOND 308 + XIX. SCENES OF BATTLE 321 + XX. THE SLOUGH OF DESPOND 329 + XXI. THE ASSAULTS ON PASSCHENDAELE 339 + XXII. ROUND POELCAPPELLE 343 + XXIII. THE CANADIANS COME NORTH 356 + XXIV. LONDON MEN AND ARTISTS 372 + XXV. THE CAPTURE OF PASSCHENDAELE 376 + + + + +FROM BAPAUME TO PASSCHENDAELE + +INTRODUCTION + + +1917.... I suppose that a century hence men and women will think of that +date as one of the world's black years flinging its shadow forward to +the future until gradually new generations escape from its dark spell. +To us now, only a few months away from that year, above all to those of +us who have seen something of the fighting which crowded every month of +it except the last, the colour of 1917 is not black but red, because a +river of blood flowed through its changing seasons and there was a great +carnage of men. It was a year of unending battle on the Western Front, +which matters most to us because of all our youth there. It was a year +of monstrous and desperate conflict. Looking back upon it, remembering +all its days of attack and counter-attack, all the roads of war crowded +with troops and transport, all the battlefields upon which our armies +moved under fire, the coming back of the prisoners by hundreds and +thousands, the long trails of the wounded, the activity, the traffic, +the roar and welter and fury of the year, one has a curious physical +sensation of breathlessness and heart-beat because of the burden of so +many memories. The heroism of men, the suffering of individuals, their +personal adventures, their deaths or escape from death, are swallowed up +in this wild drama of battle so that at times it seems impersonal and +inhuman like some cosmic struggle in which man is but an atom of the +world's convulsion. To me, and perhaps to others like me, who look on at +all this from the outside edge of it, going into its fire and fury at +times only to look again, closer, into the heart of it, staring at its +scenes not as men who belong to them but as witnesses to give evidence +at the bar of history--for if we are not that we are nothing--and to +chronicle the things that have happened on those fields, this sense of +impersonal forces is strong. We see all this in the mass. We see its +movement as a tide watched from the bank and not from the point of view +of a swimmer breasting each wave or going down in it. Regimental +officers and men know more of the ground in which they live for a while +before they go forward over the shell-craters to some barren slope where +machine-guns are hidden below the clods of soil, or a line of concrete +blockhouses heaped up with timber and sand-bags on one of the ridges. +They know with a particular intimacy the smallest landmarks there--the +forked branch among some riven trees that are called a "wood," a dead +body that lies outside their wire, the muzzle of a broken gun that pokes +out of the slime, a hummock of earth that is a German strong point. They +know the stench of these places. They know the filth of them, in their +dug-outs and in their trenches, in their senses and in their souls. I +and a few others have a view less intimate, and on a wider scale. We go +to see how our men live in these places, but do not stay with them. We +go from one battle to another as doctors from one case to another, +feeling the pulse of it, watching its symptoms, diagnosing the prospects +of life or death, recording its history, as observers and not as the +patients of war, though we take a few of its risks, and its tragedy +darkens our spirit sometimes, and the sight of all this struggle of men, +the thought of all this slaughter and sacrifice of youth, becomes at +times intolerable and agonizing. This broad view of war is almost as +wearing to the spirit, though without the physical strain, as the closer +view which soldiers have. The wounded man who comes down to the +dressing-station after his fight sees only the men around him at the +time, and it is a personal adventure of pain limited to his own +suffering, and relieved by the joy of his escape. But we see the many +wounded who stream down month after month from the battlefields--for +three and a half years I have watched the tide of wounded flowing back, +so many blind men, so many cripples, so many gassed and stricken +men--and there is something staggering in the actual sight of the +vastness and the unceasing drift of this wreckage of war. So we have +seen the fighting in the year 1917 in the whole sweep of its bloody +pageant; and the rapidity with which one battle followed another after +an April day in Arras, the continued fury of gun-fire and infantry +assaults, and the long heroic effort of our men to smash the enemy's +strength before the year should end, left us, as chroniclers of this +twelve months' strife, overwhelmed by the number of its historic +episodes and by its human sacrifice. + +The year began with the German retreat from the Somme battlefields. It +was a withdrawal for strategical reasons--the shortening of the enemy's +line and the saving of his man-power--but also a retreat because it was +forced upon the enemy by the greatness of his losses in the Somme +fighting. He would not have left the Bapaume Ridge and all his elaborate +defences down to Peronne and Roye unless we had so smashed his divisions +by incessant gun-fire and infantry assaults that he was bound to +economize his power for adventures elsewhere. On the ground from which +he drew back, more hurriedly than he desired because we followed quickly +on his heels to Bapaume, he left some of his dead. Many of his dead. +Below Loupart Wood I saw hundreds of them, strewn about their broken +batteries, and lying in heaps of obscene flesh in the wild chaos of +earth which had been their trenches. On one plot of earth a few hundred +yards in length there were 800 dead, and over all this battlefield one +had to pick one's way to avoid treading on the bits and bodies of men. +From the mud, arms stretched out like those of men who had been drowned +in bogs. Boots and legs were uncovered in the muck-heaps, and faces with +eyeless sockets on which flies settled, clay-coloured faces with broken +jaws, or without noses or scalps, stared up at the sky or lay half +buried in the mud. I fell once and clutched a bit of earth and found +that I had grasped a German hand. It belonged to a body in field-grey +stuck into the side of a bank on the edge of all this filthy +shambles.... In the retreat the enemy laid waste the country behind him. +I have described in this book the completeness of that destruction and +its uncanny effect upon our senses as we travelled over the old No Man's +Land through hedges of barbed wire and across the enemy's trenches into +his abandoned strongholds like Gommecourt and Serre, and then into open +country where German troops had lived beyond our gun-fire in French +villages still inhabited by civilians. It was like wandering through a +plague-stricken land abandoned after some fiendish orgy, of men drunk +with the spirit of destruction. Every cottage in villages for miles +around had been gutted by explosion. Every church in those villages had +been blown up. The orchards had been cut down and some of the graves +ransacked for their lead. There had been no mercy for historic little +towns like Bapaume and Peronne, and in Bapaume the one building that +stood when we entered--the square tower of the Town Hall--was hurled up +a week later when a slow fuse burnt to its end, and only a hole in the +ground shows where it had been. The enemy left these slow-working fuses +in many places, and "booby-traps" to blow a man to bits or blind him for +life if he touched a harmless-looking stick or opened the lid of a box, +or stumbled over an old boot. One of the dirty tricks of war. + +We followed the enemy quickly to Bapaume northwards towards Queant, but +with only small patrols farther east, where he retired in easy stages +with rear-guards of machine-gunners to his Hindenburg line behind St. +Quentin. The absence of large numbers of British soldiers in this +abandoned country scared one. Supposing the enemy were to come back in +force? It was difficult to know his whereabouts. We were afraid of +running our cars into his outposts. "Can you tell me where our front +line is," asked a friend of mine to a sergeant leaning against a ruined +wall and chatting to a private who stood next to him. The sergeant +removed his cigarette from his mouth and with just the glint of a smile +in his eyes said, "Well, sir, I am the front line." It was almost like +that for a week or two. I went down roads where there was no sign of a +trench or a patrol and knew that the enemy was very close. One felt +lonely. Sir Douglas Haig did not waste his men in a futile pursuit of +the enemy. He wanted them elsewhere, and decided that the Germans would +not return over the roads they had destroyed by mine-craters to the +villages they had laid waste. He was concentrating masses of men round +Arras for the battles which had been planned in the autumn of '16. + +The Commander-in-Chief has explained in one of his dispatches how the +general plan of campaign for the spring offensive was modified because +of the German retreat which relieved us of another battle of the Ancre. +It was readjusted also, as he has written, in order to meet the wishes +of the French Command, so that the attack on the Messines Ridge, to be +followed by operations against the Flanders ridges towards the coast, +had to be made secondary to the actions around Arras and the Scarpe. +They were intended to hold a number of German divisions while the French +undertook their own great offensive in the Champagne under the supreme +command of General Nivelle. In the Arras battles our troops were to do +the "team work" for the French, and if the combined operations did not +produce decisive results the British Armies might then be transferred to +Flanders, according to the original plan. It was a handicap to our own +strategical ideas, and was certain to weaken our divisions without +increasing our prestige before they could be sent to Flanders for the +most important assaults on our length of front. In loyalty to our Allies +it was decided to subordinate our own plan to theirs, and this agreement +was carried out utterly. By bad luck the Italians were not ready to +strike at the same time, and the Russian revolution had already begun to +relieve the enemy of his Eastern menace, so that the Anglo-French +offensive did not have the prospect of decisive victory which might have +come if the German armies had been pressed on all fronts. + +Our regimental officers and men knew nothing of all this high strategy, +nothing of the international difficulties which confronted our High +Command. They knew only that they had to attack strong and difficult +positions and that the immediate success depended upon their own +leadership and the courage and training of their men. They were sure of +that and hoped for a victory which would break the German spirit. They +devoted themselves to the technical details of their work, and only in +subconscious thought pondered over the powers that lie behind the +preparations of battle and decide the fate of fighting men. The scenes +in Arras and on the roads that lead to Arras are not to be forgotten by +men who lived through them. Below ground as well as above ground +thousands of soldiers worked night and day for weeks before the hour of +attack. Above ground they were getting many guns into position, making +roads, laying cables, building huts and camps, hurrying up vast stores +of material. Below ground they were boring tunnels and making them +habitable for many battalions, with ventilation shafts and electric +light. All the city of Arras has an underground system of vaults and +passages dug out in the time of the Spanish Netherlands when the houses +of the citizens were built of stone quarried from the ground on which +they stood. These subterranean passages were deepened and lengthened +until they went a mile or more beyond Arras to the edge of the German +front lines. The old vaults where the merchants kept their stores were +propped up and cleaned out, and in this underground world thousands of +our men lived for several days before the battle waiting for "zero" hour +on April 9, when they would come up into the light and see the +shell-fire which was now exploding above them, unloosing boulders of +chalky rock about them and shaking the bowels of the earth. The enemy +knew of our preparations and of this life in Arras, and during the week +before the battle he flung many shells into the city, smashing houses +already stricken, "strafing" the station and the barracks, the squares +and courtyards, and the roads that led in and out. During the progress +of the battle I went many times into the broken heart of Arras while the +bodies of men and horses lay about where transport columns had gone +galloping by under fire and while the shrill whine of high velocities +was followed by the crash of shells among the ruins. In the town and +below it there were always crowds of men during the weeks of fighting +outside. I went through the tunnels when long columns of soldiers in +single file moved slowly forward to another day's battle in the fields +beyond, and when another column came back, wounded and bloody after +their morning's fight. + +The wounded and the unwounded passed each other in these dimly lighted +corridors. Their steel hats clinked together. Their bodies touched. +Wafts of stale air laden with a sickly stench came out of the vaults. +Faint whiffs of poison-gas filtered through the soil above and made men +vomit. For the most time the men were silent as they passed each other, +but now and then a wounded man would say, "Oh, Christ!" or "Mind my arm, +mate," and an unwounded man would pass some remark to the man ahead. In +vaults dug into the sides of the passages were groups of tunnellers and +other men half screened by blanket curtains. Their rifles were propped +against the quarried rocks. They sat on ammunition boxes and played +cards to the light of candles stuck in bottles, which made their shadows +flicker fantastically on the walls. They took no interest in the +procession beyond their blankets--the walking wounded and the troops +going up. Some of them slept on the stone floors with their heads +covered by their overcoats and made pillows of their gas-masks. Under +some old houses of Arras were women and children--about 700 of +them--among our soldiers. They were the people who had lived underground +since the beginning of the war and would not leave. Only four of them +went away when they were told of the coming battle and its dangers. "We +will stay," they said with a certain pride because they had seen so much +war. A few women were wounded and one or two killed. Later, after the +first day's battle, in spite of some high velocities from long-range +guns, the streets and squares were filled with soldiers, and Arras was +tumultuous with the movement of men and horses and mules and wagons. The +streets seethed with Scottish soldiers muddy as they came straight out +of battle, bloody as they walked in wounded. Many battalions of Jocks +came into the squares, and their pipers came to play to them. I watched +the Gordons' pipers march up and down in stately ritual, and their +colonel, who stood next to me, looked at them with a proud light in his +eyes as the tune of "Highland Laddie" swelled up to the gables and +filled the open frontages of the gutted houses. Snowflakes fell lightly +on the steel hats of the Scots in the square, and mud was splashed to +the khaki aprons over their kilts--no browner than their hard lean +faces--as a battery rumbled across the cobbled place and the drivers +turned in their saddles to grin at the fine swagger of the pipers and +the triumph of the big drumsticks. An old woman danced a jig to the +pipes, holding her skirt above her skinny legs. She tripped up to a +group of Scottish officers and spoke quick shrill words to them. "What +does the old witch say," asked a laughing Gordon. She had something +particular to say. In 1870 she had heard the pipes in Arras. They were +played by prisoners from South Germany, and as a young girl she had +danced to them.... There was a casualty clearing-station in Arras, in a +deep high vault like the crypt of a cathedral. The way into it was down +a long tunnelled passage, and during the battle thousands of men came +here to have their wounds dressed. They formed up in queues waiting +their turn and moved slowly down the tunnelled way, weary, silent, +patient. Outside lay some of the bad cases until the stretcher-bearers +carried them down, and others sat on the side of the road or lay at full +length there, dog-weary after their long walk from the battlefields. +Blind boys were led forward by their comrades, and men with all their +heads and faces swathed about. They were not out of danger even yet, for +the enemy hated to leave Arras as a health resort, but it was sanctuary +for men who had been in hell fire up by Monchy. + +The first day of the Arras battle was our victory. We struck the enemy a +heavy blow, and the capture of the Vimy Ridge by the Canadians and the +Highland Division was as wonderful as the great thrust by English and +Scottish battalions along the valley of the Scarpe across the +Arras-Cambrai road. By April 14 we had captured 13,000 prisoners and +over 200 guns. But it was hard fighting after the first few hours of the +9th, and the operations that followed on both sides of the Scarpe were +costly to us. The London men of the 56th Division, and the old county +troops of the 3rd and 12th and 37th, and the Scots of the 15th suffered +in heroic fighting against strong and fresh reserves of the enemy who +were massed rapidly to check them and made fierce, repeated +counter-attacks against the village of Roeux and its chemical works, +north of the Scarpe, and against Monchy-le-Preux and Guemappe, south of +the river. Again and again these counter-attacks were beaten back with +most bloody losses to the enemy, but our own men suffered each time +until they were weary beyond words. I saw the cavalry ride forward +towards Monchy, where they came under great fire, and I saw the body of +their General carried back to Tilloy. It was a day of tragic memory. + +At this time, as Sir Douglas Haig has recorded, the battle of Arras +might have ended. But the French offensive was about to begin, and it +was important that the full pressure of the British attacks should be +maintained in order to assist our Allies. A renewal of the assault was +therefore ordered, and after a week's postponement to gather together +new supplies, to change the divisions, and complete the artillery +dispositions, fighting was resumed on a big scale on April 23. It was on +a front of about nine miles, from Croisilles to Gavrelle. Important +ground was taken west of Cherisy and east of Monchy, where our troops +seized Infantry Hill, but the violent counter-attacks of the enemy in +great strength prevented the gain of all our objectives on that day, and +once more put our troops to a severe ordeal. Roeux and Gavrelle on the +north of the Scarpe, Guemappe on the south, were the focal points of +this struggle and the scene of the bitterest fighting in and out of the +villages. On April 23 and 24 the enemy made eight separate +counter-attacks against Gavrelle, and each was shattered by our +artillery and machine-gun fire. On April 28 there was another great day +of battle when the Canadians had fierce hand-to-hand fighting in the +village of Arleux, and English troops made progress towards Oppy over +Greenland Hill and beyond Monchy. Gavrelle was attacked seven times more +by the enemy, who fell again in large numbers. The night attack of May 3 +was unlucky in many of its episodes because some of our men lost their +way in the darkness and had the enemy behind them as well as in front of +them, and suffered under heavy artillery and machine-gun fire. It was +"team work" for the French, and many of our sons fell that day not +knowing that their blood was the price of loyalty to our Allies and part +payment of the debt we owe to France for all her valour in this war. On +May 3 the battle front was extended on a line of sixteen miles, and +while the 3rd and 1st Armies attacked from Fontaine-lez-Croisilles to +Fresnoy, the 5th Army stormed the Hindenburg line near Bullecourt. The +Australians carried a stretch of this Hindenburg line. Cherisy fell into +the hands of East county battalions, Roeux was entered again by +English troops, and in Fresnoy, north of Oppy, the Canadians fought +masses of Germans assembled for counter-attack and swept them out of the +village. Heavy counter-attacks developed later, so that our men had to +fall back from Cherisy and Roeux--Fresnoy was abandoned later--but the +rest of the ground was held. During this month's fighting twenty-three +German divisions had been withdrawn exhausted from the line, and we had +captured 19,500 prisoners, 257 guns including 98 heavies, 464 +machine-guns, 227 trench mortars, and a great quantity of war material. +We advanced our line five miles on a front of over twenty miles, +including the Vimy Ridge, which had always menaced our positions. Above +all, we had drawn upon the enemy's strength so that the French armies +were relieved of that amount of resistance to their offensive against +the Chemin des Dames. That was the idea behind it all, and it succeeded, +though the cost was not light. The battle of Arras petered out into +small engagements and nagging fighting when on June 7 the battle of +Messines began. + +It was a model battle, and the whole operation was astonishing in the +thoroughness of its preparations through every detail of organization, +in the training of its method of attack, in generalship and staff work, +and in its Intelligence department. The 2nd Army had long held this +part of the Ypres salient, and knew the enemy's country as well as its +own. The observers on Kemmel Hill, which looked across to Wytschaete +Ridge, had watched every movement in the enemy's lines, and every sign +of new defensive work. Aeroplane photographs, stacks of them, revealed +many secrets of the enemy's life on this high ground which gave him +observation of all our roads and villages in the flat country between +Dickebusch and Ypres. A relief map on a big scale was built up in a +field behind our lines, and the assault troops and their officers walked +round it and studied in miniature the woods and slopes, strong points +and trenches, which they would have to attack. For eighteen months past +Australian and Canadian miners had been at work below ground boring deep +under the enemy's positions and laying charges for the explosion of +twenty-four mines. All that time the enemy, aware of his danger, had +been counter-mining, and at Hill 60 there was constant underground +fighting for more than ten months when men met each other in the +converging galleries and fought in their darkness. As Sir Douglas Haig +has written, at the time of our offensive the enemy was known to be +driving a gallery which would have broken into the tunnel leading into +the Hill 60 mines. By careful listening it was judged that if our attack +took place on the date arranged, the enemy's gallery would just fail to +reach us. So he was allowed to proceed. Eight thousand yards of gallery +had been bored, and there were nineteen mines ready charged with over a +million pounds of explosives. I saw those nineteen mines go up. The +earth rocked with a great shudder, and the sky was filled with flame. It +was the signal of our bombardment to break out in a deafening tumult of +guns after a quietude in which I heard only the snarl of enemy +gas-shells and the shunting and whistling of our railway engines down +below there in the darkness as though this battlefield were Clapham +Junction. Round about the salient a network of railways had been built +with great speed under the very eyes of the enemy, and though he had +shelled our tracks and engines he could never stop the work of those +engineers who laboured with fine courage and industry so that the guns +might not lack for shells nor the men for supplies on the day of attack. +The battle of Wytschaete and Messines was a fine victory for us, +breaking the evil spell of the Ypres salient in which our men had sat +down so long under direct observation of the enemy on that ridge above +them. Kemmel Hill, which had been under fire in our lines for three +years, became a health resort for Australian boys whose turn to fight +had not yet come, and they sat on top of the old observation-post where +men had hidden below ground to watch through a slit in the earth, +staring through field-glasses at the sweep of fire from Oostaverne to +Pilkem, and eating sweets, and putting wild flowers in their slouch +hats. Dickebusch lost its horror. The road to Vierstraat was no longer +bracketed by German shells, and there was no further need of camouflage +screens along other roads where notice-boards said: _Drive slowly--dust +draws fire_. On the morning of battle after the capture of the ridge an +Irish brigadier sat outside his dug-out on a kitchen chair before a deal +table, where his maps were spread. "It's good to take the fresh air," he +said. "Yesterday I had to keep below ground." All that made a difference +on the right of the salient, but Ypres was still "a hot shop," as the +men say, and the roads out of Ypres--the Lille road and the Menin +road--were as abominable as ever, and worse than ever when at the end of +July the battles of Flanders began. + +The Wytschaete-Messines Ridge is the eastern spur of that long range of +"abrupt isolated hills," to use the words of Sir Douglas Haig, which +divides the valleys of the Lys and the Yser, and links up with the +ridges stretching north-eastwards to the Ypres-Menin road, and then +northwards to Passchendaele and Staden. One of the objects of our +campaign in 1917 was to gain the high ground to Passchendaele and +beyond. A mere glance at a relief map is enough to show the formidable +nature of the positions held by the enemy on those slopes which +dominated our low ground. When one went across the Yser Canal along the +Menin road, or towards the Pilkem Ridge, those slopes seemed like a wall +of cliffs barring the way of our armies, however strongly our tide of +men might dash against them. The plan to take them by assault needed +enormous courage and high faith in the mind of any man who bore the +burden of command, and his faith and courage depended utterly on the +valour of the men who were to carry out his plan against those frowning +hills. The men did not fail our High Command, and for three and a half +months those troops of ours fought with a heroic resolution never +surpassed by any soldiers in the world, and hardly equalled, perhaps, +in all the history of war, against terrible gun-fire and innumerable +machine-guns, in storms and swamps, in bodily misery because of the mud +and wet, in mental suffering because of the long strain on their nerve +and strength, with severe casualties because of the enemy's fierce +resistance, but with such passionate and self-sacrificing courage that +the greatest obstacles were overcome, and the enemy was beaten back from +one line of defence to another with large captures of prisoners and guns +until, in the middle of November, the crest of Passchendaele was gained. + +Before the first day of the battle the 5th Army, with the 1st French +Army on its left, below the flooded ground of St.-Jansbeek, crossed the +Yser Canal and seized 3000 yards of the enemy's trench system. During +that night the pioneer battalion of the Guards, working under fierce +fire, built seventeen bridges across the canal for the passage of our +troops on the day of assault. On that day, July 31, at 3.50 in the +morning, battle was engaged on a front of fifteen miles from Boesinghe +to the River Lys, where the 2nd Army was making a holding attack on our +right wing. The German front-line system of defence was taken +everywhere. Our troops captured the Pilkem Ridge on the left, +Velorenhoek, the Frezenberg Redoubt, the Pommern Redoubt, and St.-Julien +north of the Ypres-Roulers railway, and were fighting forward against +fierce resistance on both sides of the Ypres-Menin road. They stormed +through Sanctuary Wood and captured Stirling Castle, Hooge, and the +Bellewaerde Ridge, and by the end of the day had gained the crest of +Westhoek Ridge. On the 2nd Army front the New-Zealanders carried the +village of La Basseville after close fighting, which lasted fifty +minutes, and English troops on their left captured Hollebeke and +difficult ground north of the Ypres-Comines Canal. Over 6000 prisoners, +including 133 officers, surrendered to us that day. + +It was in the afternoon of the first day that the luck of the weather +was decided against us and there began those heavy rain-storms which +drenched the battlefields in August and made them dreadful for men and +beasts. All this part of Flanders is intersected by small streams or +"beeks" filtering through the valleys between the ridges, and our +artillery-fire had already caused them to form ponds and swamps by +destroying their channels so that they slopped over the low-lying +ground. The rains enlarged this area of flood, and so saturated the +clayey soil that it became a vast bog with deep overbrimming pits where +thousands of shell-craters had pierced the earth. Tracks made of wooden +slabs fastened together were the only roads by which men and pack-mules +could cross this quagmire, and each of these ways became taped out by +the enemy's artillery, and very perilous. They were slippery under moist +mud, and men and mules fell into the bogs on either side, and sometimes +drowned in them. At night in the darkness and the storms it was hard to +find the tracks and difficult to keep to them, and long columns of +troops staggered and stumbled forward with mud up to their knees if they +lost direction, and mud up to their necks if they fell into the +shell-holes. It was over such ground as this, in such intolerable +conditions, that our men fought and won their way across the chain of +ridges which led to Passchendaele. I saw some of the haunting scenes of +this struggle and went over the ground across the Pilkem Ridge, and +along the Ypres-Menin road to Westhoek Ridge, and up past Hooge to the +bogs of Glencorse Wood and Inverness Copse, and beyond the Yser Canal to +St.-Jean and Wieltje, where every day for months our gunners went on +firing, and every day the enemy "answered back" with scattered and +destructive fire, searching for our batteries and for the bodies of our +men. The broken skeleton of Ypres was always in the foreground or the +background of this scene of war, and every day it changed in different +atmospheric phases and different hours of light so that it was never the +same in its tragic beauty. Sometimes it was filled with gloom and +shadows, and the tattered masonry of the Cloth Hall, lopped off at the +top, stood black as granite above its desolate boulder-strewn square. +Sometimes when storm-clouds were blown wildly across the sky and the +sunlight struck through them, Ypres would be all white and glamorous, +like a ghost city in a vision of the world's end. At times there was a +warm glow upon its rain-washed walls, and they shone like burnished +metal. Or they were wrapped about with a thick mist stabbed through by +flashes of red fire from heavy guns, revealing in a moment's glare the +sharp edges of the fallen stonework, the red ruins of the prison and +asylum, the huddle of shell-pierced roofs, and that broken tower which +stands as a memorial of what once was the splendour of Ypres. A +military policeman standing outside the city gave an order to all going +in: "Gasmasks and steel hats to be worn," and at that moment when one +fumbled at the string of one's gas-bag and fastened the strap of a steel +hat beneath one's chin, the menace of war crept close and the evil of it +touched one's senses. It was very evil beyond the Lille gate and the +Menin gate, where new shell-holes mingled with old ones, and men walked +along the way of death. The spirit of that evil lurked about the banks +of the Yser Canal with its long fringe of blasted trees, white and +livid, with a leprous look when the sunlight touched their stumps. The +water of the canal was but a foul slime stained with gobs of colour. The +wreckage of bridges and barges lay in it. In its banks were unexploded +shells and deep gashes where the bursts had torn the earth down, and +innumerable craters. The Yser Canal holds in a ghostly way the horror of +this war. Yet it is worse beyond. Out through the Menin gate the view of +the salient widens, and every yard of the way is bleeding with the +memory of British soldiers who walked and fought and died here since the +autumn of '14. How many of them we can hardly guess or know. The white +crosses of their graves are scattered about the shell-churned fields and +the rubbish-heaps of brick, though many were never buried, and many were +taken back by stretcher-bearers who risked their lives to bring in these +bodies. There is no house where the White Chateau used to be. There is +no grange by the Moated Grange where men crept out at night, crawling on +their stomachs when the flares went up. Hundreds of thousands of men +have gone up to Hell-fire Corner, some of them with a cold sweat in the +palms of their hands and brave faces and an act of sacrifice in their +hearts. It was the way to Hooge. It was a corner of the hell that was +here always under German guns and German eyes from the ridge beyond. +They had high ground all around us, as the country goes up from +Observatory Ridge and Sanctuary Wood and Bellewaerde to the Westhoek +Ridge and the high plateau of Polygon Wood. No men of ours could move in +the daylight without being seen. The Menin road was always under fire. +Every bit of broken barn, every dug-out and trench, was a mark for the +enemy's artillery. During the Flanders fighting all this ground was +still in the danger zone, though the enemy lost much of his direct +observation after our first advance. But he was still trying to find the +old places and hurled over big shells in a wild scattered way. They +flung up black fountains of earth with frightful violence. Everywhere +there were shell-holes so deep that a cart and horse would find room in +them. One looked into these gulfs with beastly sensations--with a kind +of animal fear at the thought of what would happen to a man if he stood +in the way of such an explosion. There was a sense of old black brooding +evil about all this country, and worst of all in remembrance were the +mine-craters of Hooge. I stared into those pits all piled with stinking +sand-bags on which fungus grew, and thought of friends of mine who once +lived here, with the enemy a few yards away from them, with mines and +saps creeping close to them before another upheaval of the earth, with +corpses and bits of bodies rotting half buried where they sat, always +wet, always lousy, in continual danger of death. The mines went up and +men fought for new craters over new dead. The sand-bags silted down +after rain, and machine-gun bullets swept through the gaps, and men sank +deeper into this filth and corruption. The place is abandoned now, but +the foulness of it stayed, with a lake of slime in which bodies floated, +and the same old stench rose from its caverns and craters. Bellewaerde +Lake, to the north of Hooge, is not what it used to be when gentlemen of +Ypres came out here to shoot wild-fowl or walk through Chateau Wood +around the White Chateau of Hooge with a dog and a gun. There are still +stumps of trees, shot and mangled by three years of fire, but no more +wood than that, and the lake is a cesspool into which the corruption of +death has flowed. Its water is stained with patches of red and yellow +and green slime, and shapeless things float in it. Beyond is the open +ground which goes up to Westhoek Ridge above Nonne Boschen and Glencorse +Wood, for which our men fought on the first day of battle and afterwards +in many weeks of desperate struggle. The Australians took possession of +this country for a time and had to stay and hold it after the excitement +of advance. They came winding along the tracks in single file through +this newly captured ground, carrying their lengths of duck-board and +ammunition boxes with just a grim glance towards places where shells +burst with monstrous whoofs. "A hot spot," said one of these boys, +crouching with his mates in a bit of battered trench outside a German +pill-box surrounded by dead bodies. Our guns were firing from many +batteries, and flights of shells rushed through the air from the heavies +a long way back and from the field-guns forward. It was the field-guns +which hurt one's ears most with their sharp hammer-strokes. Now and +again a little procession passed to which all other men gave way. It was +a stretcher-party carrying a wounded man shoulder high. There is +something noble and stately about these bearers, and when I see them I +always think of Greek heroes carried back on their shields. There was a +vapour of poison gas about these fields, not strong enough to kill, but +making one's eyes and skin smart. The Australians did not seem to notice +it. Perhaps the stench of dead horses overwhelmed their nostrils. It was +strong and foul. The carcasses of these poor beasts lay about as they +had been hit by shrapnel or shell splinters, and down one track came a +living horse less lucky than these, bleeding badly from its wounds and +ambling slowly with drooping head and glazed eyes. Worse smells than of +dead horse crept up from the battered trenches and dug-outs, where +Glencorse Wood goes down to Inverness Copse. It was the dreadful odour +of dead men. It rose in gusts and waves and eddies over all this ground, +for the battlefield was strewn with dead. I saw many German bodies in +the fields of the Somme, and on the way out from Arras, and on the Vimy +Ridge, but never in such groups as lay about the pill-boxes and the +shell-craters of the salient. Everywhere they lay half buried in the +turmoil of earth, or stark above ground without any cover to hide them. +They lay with their heads flung back into water-filled craters or with +their legs dangling in deep pools. They were blown into shapeless masses +of raw flesh by our artillery. Heads and legs and arms all coated in +clay lay without bodies far from where the men of whom they had been +part were killed. God knows what agonies were suffered before death by +men shut up in those German blockhouses, like Fitzclarence Farm, and +Herenthage Chateau, and Clapham Junction, which I passed on the way up. +Some of the garrisons had not stayed in the blockhouses until our troops +had reached them. Perhaps the concussion of our drum-fire was worse +inside those concrete walls than outside. Perhaps the men had rushed out +hoping to surrender before our troops were on them, or with despairing +courage had brought their machine-guns into the open to kill our first +waves before their own death. Whatever their motive had been, many of +these men had come out, and they lay in heaps, mangled by shell-fire +that came across the fields to them in a deep belt of high explosives. +Here under the sky they lay, a frightful witness against modern +civilization, a bloody challenge to any gospel of love which men profess +to believe. Over Nonne Boschen and Inverness Copse, and Polygon Wood +beyond, and the long claw-like hook of the Passchendaele Ridge, the sky +was clear at times and the water-pools reflected its light. But these +places had no touch of loveliness because of the light. Once in history +meek-eyed women walked in Nonne Boschen, which was Nun's Wood, and in +Inverness Copse, as we call it, maids went with their mates in the +glades. Now they are places haunted by ghastly memories, and there rises +from them a miasma which sickens one's soul. Yet bright above the evil +of them and clean above their filth there is the memory of that youth of +ours who came here through fire and flame and fell here, so that the +soil is sacred as their field of honour. + +In the first phase of the battle of Flanders the new system of German +defence was formidable. It was that "elastic system" by which Hindenburg +hoped to relieve his men from the destructive fire of our artillery by +holding his front line thinly in concrete blockhouses and organized +shell-craters with enfilade positions for machine-gun fire, keeping his +local reserves at quick striking distance for counter-attack. Our first +waves of men flowed past and between these blockhouses in their struggle +to attain their objectives, and were swept by cross-fire as they went +forward, so that they were thinned out by the time they had reached the +line of their advance. The succeeding waves were sometimes checked by +German machine-gunners still holding out in undamaged shelters, and our +troops in the new front line, weak and exhausted after hours of +fighting, found themselves exposed to fierce counter-attacks in front +while groups of the enemy were still behind them. For several weeks +there were episodes of this kind, when our men had to give ground, +though the line of advance seldom ebbed back to its starting line, and +some progress was made however great the difficulties. Still the +"pill-box" trouble was a serious menace, costly in life, and new methods +of attack had to be devised during the progress of fighting when the +area of the 2nd Army was extended on our left so that the 5th Army was +relieved of some of its broad battle front. Our heavy howitzers +concentrated on every blockhouse that could be located by aeroplane +photographs or direct observation, with such storms of explosive that if +they were not destroyed the garrisons of machine-gunners inside were +killed or stupefied by concussion. Our method of attack in depth, as at +Wytschaete and Messines--battalions advancing in close support of each +other, so that the final objective was held by fresh troops to meet the +inevitable counter-attacks--succeeded in a most striking way, in spite +of the fearful condition of the ground. The enemy changed his new method +of defence to meet this new method of attack. He went back to strongly +held lines with support troops close forward, and had to pay the penalty +by heavier losses under our artillery. The abominable weather and state +of ground were his best lines of defence, and in August and October he +had astounding luck. + +Through all these battles our men were magnificent--not demi-gods, nor +saints with a passion for martyrdom, nor heroes of melodrama facing +death with breezy nonchalance while they read sweet letters from +blue-eyed girls, but grim in attack and stubborn in defence, getting on +with the job--a damned ugly job--as far as the spirit could pull the +body and control the nerves. They were industrious as ants on this great +muck-heap of the battlefield. Transport drivers, engineers, signallers, +and pioneers laboured for victory as hard as infantry and gunners, and +worked, for the most part, in evil places where there was always a +chance of being torn to rags. The gunners, with their wheels sunk to the +axles, served their batteries until they were haggard and worn, and they +had little sleep and less comfort, and no hour of safety from infernal +fire. They were wet from one week to another. They stood to the tags of +their boots in mud. They had many of their guns smashed to spokes and +splinters. They were lucky if lightly wounded. But their barrage-fire +rolled ahead of the infantry at every attack and they shattered the +enemy's divisions. The stretcher-bearers seemed to give no thought to +their own lives in the rescue of the wounded; and down behind the +lines--not always beyond range of gun-fire--doctors and hospital +orderlies and nurses worked in the dressing-stations with the same +dogged industry and courage as men who carried up duck-boards to the +line, drove teams of pack-mules up tracks under fire, or unloaded +shells from trains that went puffing to the edge of the battlefields. It +was all part of the business of war. Wounded men who came back from +battle were dealt with as so many cases of damaged goods, to be packed +off speedily to make way for others. There was no time for +sentiment--and no need of it. I used to go sometimes to an old +mill-house on days of battle. During the Flanders fighting thousands of +wounded men came to this place as a first stage on their journey to base +hospitals. The lightly wounded used to sit in a long low tent beside the +mill, round red-hot braziers, waiting in turn to have their wounds +dressed. These crowds of men were of many battalions and of all types of +English, Scottish, and Irish troops, with smaller bodies of Australians, +New-Zealanders, Canadians, South-Africans, Newfoundlanders. They were +clotted with mud and blood, and numb and stiff until the warmth of the +braziers unfroze them. They sat silent as a rule, with their steel hats +tilted forward, but there was hardly a groan from them, and never a +whimper, nor any curse against the fate that had hit them. If I +questioned them they answered with a stark simplicity of truth about the +things they had seen and done, with often a queer glint of humour--grim +enough, God knows, but humour still--in their tale of escape from death. +Always after a talk with them I came away with a deep belief that the +courage, honesty, and humanity of these boys were a world higher than +the philosophy of their intellectual leaders, and I hated the thought +that we have been brought to such a pass by the infamy of an enemy +caste, and by the low ideals of Europe which have been our own law of +life, that all this splendid youth, thinking straight, seeing straight, +acting straight, without selfish motives, with clean hearts and fine +bodies, should be flung into the furnace of war and scorched by its +fires, and maimed, and blinded, and smashed. Only by the dire need of +defence against the enemies of the world's liberty can such a sacrifice +be justified, and that is our plea before the great Judge of Truth. Such +thoughts haunt one if one has any conscience, but when I went among the +troops on the roads or in their camps, and heard their laughter after +battle or before it, and saw the courage of men refusing to be beaten +down by the vilest conditions or heavy losses, and was a witness of +their pride in the achievements of their own battalions, I wondered +sometimes whether the sufferings of these men were not so pitiful as I +had thought. Their vitality helps them through many hardships. Their +interest in life is so great that until death comes close it does not +touch them--not many of them--with its coldness. In their comradeship +they find a compensation for discomfort, and their keenness to win the +rewards of skill and pluck is so high that they take great risks +sometimes as a kind of sport, as Arctic explorers or big game hunters +will face danger and endure great bodily suffering for their own sake. +Those men are natural soldiers, though all our men are not like that. +There are some even who like war, though very few. But most of them +would jeer at any kind of pity for them, because they do not pity +themselves, except in most dreadful moments which they put away from +their minds if they escape. They scorn pity, yet they hate worse still, +with a most deadly hatred, all the talk about "our cheerful men." For +they know that however cheerful they may be it is not because of a jolly +life or lack of fear. They loathe shell-fire and machine-gun fire. They +know what it is "to have the wind up." They have seen what a battlefield +looks like before it has been cleared of its dead. It is not for +non-combatants to call them "cheerful." Because non-combatants do not +understand and never will, not from now until the ending of the world. +"Not so much of your cheerfulness," they say, and "Cut it out about the +brave boys in the trenches." So it is difficult to describe them, or to +give any idea of what goes on in their minds, for they belong to another +world than the world of peace that we knew, and there is no code which +can decipher their secret, nor any means of self-expression on their +lips. + +In this book the messages which I wrote from day to day are reprinted +with only one alteration--though some are left out. For reasons of space +(there is a limit to the length of a book) I have not included any +narrative of the Cambrai battles, and thought it best to end this book +with the gain of Passchendaele. The alteration is one which makes me +very glad. I have been allowed to give the names of the battalions, +which I could not do during the progress of the fighting because the +enemy wanted to know our Order of Battle. For the first time, therefore, +the world will know the regiments who fought without fame in the dismal +anonymity of this war, with such Spartan courage, up to that high crest +of Passchendaele which was their goal, beyond the bogs and the beeks +where masses of men struggled and fell. There is no criticism in this +book, no judgment of actions or men, no detailed summing up of success +and failure. That is not within my liberty or duty as a correspondent +with the Armies in the Field. The Commander-in-Chief himself has +summarized the definite gains of the campaign in Flanders: + + "Notwithstanding the many difficulties, much has been achieved. Our + captures in Flanders since the commencement of operations at the + end of July amount to 20,065 prisoners, 74 guns, 941 machine-guns, + and 131 trench-mortars. It is certain that the enemy's losses + greatly exceeded ours. Most important of all, our new and hastily + trained armies have shown once again that they are capable of + meeting and beating the enemy's best troops, even under conditions + which required the greatest endurance, determination, and heroism + to overcome. The total number of prisoners taken in 1917, between + the opening of the spring offensive on April 9 and the conclusion + of the Flanders offensive, not including those captured in the + battle of Cambrai, was 57,696, including 1290 officers. During the + same period we captured also 109 heavy guns, 560 trench-mortars and + 1976 machine-guns." + +These are great gains in men and material, and the capture of the ridges +has given us strong defensive positions which should be of high value to +us in the new year of warfare calling to our men, unless the world's +agony is healed by the coming of Peace. + + * * * * * + +[_I am indebted to Mr. Robert Donald, editor of the_ Daily Chronicle_, +for permission to republish the articles which I have written for that +newspaper as a war correspondent with the British Army in the Field. My +letters from the Front also appeared in the_ Daily Telegraph _and a +number of Provincial, American, and Colonial papers, and I am grateful +for the honour of serving the great public of their readers._] + + + + +PART I + +RETREAT FROM THE SOMME + + + + +I + +A NEW YEAR OF WAR + + +NEW YEAR'S EVE, 1916 + +Last New Year's Eve--the end of a year which had been full of menace for +our fighting men, because, at the beginning, our lines had no great +power of guns behind them, and full of hopes that had been unfilled, in +spite of all their courage and all their sacrifice--an artillery officer +up in the Ypres salient waited for the tick of midnight by his +wrist-watch (it gave a glow-worm light in the darkness), and then +shouted the word "Fire!" ... One gun spoke, and then for a few seconds +there was silence. Over in the German line the flares went up and down, +and it was very quiet in the enemy trenches, where, perhaps, the +sentries wondered at that solitary gun. Then the artillery officer gave +the word of command again. This time the battery fired nine rounds. A +little while there was silence again, followed by another solitary shot, +and then by six rounds. So did the artillery in the Ypres salient salute +the birth of the New Year, born in war, coming to our soldiers and our +race with many days of battle, with new and stern demands for the lives +and blood of men. + +To-night it is another New Year's Eve, and the year is coming to us with +the same demands and the same promises, and the only difference between +our hopes upon this night and that of a year ago is that by the struggle +and endeavour of those past twelve months the ending is nearer in sight +and the promise very near--very near as we hope and believe--its +fulfilment. The guns will speak again to-night, saluting by the same +kind of sullen salvo the first day of the last year of war. The last +year, if we have luck. It is raining now, a soft rain swept gustily +across the fields by a wind so mild after all our wild weather that it +seems to have the breath of spring in it. For a little while yesterday +this mildness, and the sunlight lying over the battlefields, and a +strange, rare inactivity of artillery, gave one just for one second of a +day-dream a sense that Peace had already come and that the victory had +been won. It was queer. I stood looking upon Neuville-St.-Vaast and the +Vimy Ridge. Our trenches and the enemy's wound along the slopes in wavy +lines of white chalk. There to my right was the Labyrinth and in a +hollow the ruins of Souchez. When I had first come to these battlefields +they were strewn with dead--French dead--after fighting frightful and +ferocious in intensity. Unexploded shells lay everywhere, and the litter +of great ruin, and storms of shells were bursting upon the Vimy Ridge. + +The last time I went to these battlefields the high ridge of Vimy was +still aflame, and British troops were attacking the mine-craters there. +Yesterday all the scene was quiet, and bright sunlight gleamed upon the +broken roofs of Neuville, and the white trenches seemed abandoned. The +wet earth and leaves about me in a ruined farmyard had the moist scent +of early spring. A man was wandering up a road where six months ago he +would have been killed before he had gone a hundred yards. Lord! It +looked like peace again! ... It was only a false mirage. There was no +peace. Presently a battery began to fire. I saw the shells bursting over +the enemy's position. Now and again there was the sullen crump of a +German "heavy." And though the trenches seemed deserted on either side +they were held as usual by men waiting and watching with machine-guns +and hand-grenades and trench-mortars. There is no peace! + + * * * * * + +It was enormously quiet at times in Arras. The footsteps of my companion +were startling as they clumped over the broken pavement of the square, +and voices--women's voices--coming up from some hole in the earth +sounded high and clear, carrying far, in an unearthly way, in this great +awful loneliness of empty houses, broken churches, ruined banks and +shops and restaurants, and mansions cloistered once in flower gardens +behind high white walls. I went towards the women's voices as men in +darkness go towards any glimmer of light, for warmth of soul as well as +of body. + +A woman came up a flight of stone steps from a vaulted cellar and stared +at me, and said, "Good day. Do you look for anything?" + +I said, "I look only into your cellar. It is strange to find you living +here. All alone--perhaps." + +"It is no longer strange to me. I have been here, as you say, alone, all +through the war, since the day of the first bombardment. That was on +October 6, 1914. Before then I was not alone. I was married. But my +husband was killed over there--you see the place where the shell fell. +Since then I am alone." + +For two years and two months she and other women of Arras--one came now +to stand by her side and nod at her tale--have lived below ground, +coming up for light and air when there is a spell of such silence as I +had listened to, and going down to the dark vaults when a German "crump" +smashes through another roof, or when German gas steals through the +streets with the foul breath of death. + +I asked her about the Kaiser's offer of peace. What did she think of +that? I wondered what her answer would be--this woman imprisoned in +darkness, hiding under daily bombardments, alone in the abomination of +desolation. It was strange how quickly she was caught on fire by a +sudden passion. All the tranquillity of her face changed, and there were +burning sparks in her eyes. She was like a woman of the Revolution, and +her laughter, for she began her answer with a laugh, was shrill and +fierce. + +"Peace! William offers peace, you say? Bah! It is nothing but humbug [la +blague]. It is a trap which he sets at our feet to catch us. It is a +lie." + +She grasped my arm, and with her other hand pointed to the ruins over +the way, to the chaos of old houses, once very stately and noble, where +her friends lived before the fires of hell came. + +"The Germans did that to us. They are doing it now. But it is not +enough. What they have done to Arras they want to do to France--to smash +the nation to the dust, to break the spirit of our race as they have +broken all things here. They wish to deceive us to our further ruin. +There will be no peace until Germany herself is laid in ashes, and her +cities destroyed like Arras is destroyed, and her women left alone, with +only the ghosts of their dead husbands, as I live here alone in my +cellar. Peace! Je m'en fiche de ca!" + +There was a queer light in her eyes for a moment, in the eyes of this +woman of Arras who saw down a vista of two years and two months all the +fire and death that had been hurled into this city around her, and the +bodies of little children in the streets, and her dead husband lying +there on the cobble-stones, where now there was a great hole in the +roadway piercing through to the vaults. + + * * * * * + +I met other women of Arras. Two of them were young, daintily dressed as +though for the boulevards of Paris, and they walked, swinging little +handbags, down a street where at any moment a shell might come to tear +them to pieces and make rags of them. Another was a buxom woman with a +boy and girl holding her hands. The boy had been born to the sound of +shell-fire. The girl was eight years old, but she now learns the history +of France, not only out of school books, but out of this life in the +midst of war. + +"They are frightened--the little ones?" I asked. A solitary gun boomed +and shook the loose stones of a ruined house. + +The woman smiled and shrugged her shoulders. + +"They are used to it all. Peace will seem strange to them." + +"Will there ever be peace?" I asked. + +The woman of Arras looked for a moment like the one I had spoken to on +the steps of the cellar. Then she smiled, in a way that made me feel +cold, for it was the smile of a woman who sees a vengeance for the +wreckage of her life. + +"There is no peace at Verdun," she said. "Our soldiers have done well +there." + +I said good day to her and went through the ruins again and out of the +city, and stood watching an artillery duel up towards Souchez. The stabs +of flame from our batteries were like red sparks in the deepening mist. +They were like the fire in the eyes of the women who lived in cellars +away back there in Arras, with a smouldering passion in the gloom and +coldness of their lives. + + * * * * * + +In many French villages the pipes are playing the New Year in, and their +notes are full of triumph, but with a cry in them for those who have +gone away with the old year, lying asleep on the battlefields--so many +brave Scots--like "the flowers o' the forest" and last year's leaves. I +heard the pipes to-day in one old barn, where a feast was on, not far +from where the guns were shooting through the mist with a round or two +at odd moments, and though I had had one good meal, I had to eat +another, even to the Christmas plum pudding, just to show there was no +ill-feeling. + +It was the pudding that threatened to do me down. + +But it was good to sit among these splendid Seaforths and their feast, +all packed together shoulder to shoulder, and back to back, under high +old beams that grew in French forests five centuries ago. They were the +transport men, who get the risks but not the glory. Every man here had +ridden, night after night, up to the lines of death, under shell-fire +and machine-gun fire, up by Longueval and Bazentin, carrying food for +men and guns at their own risk of life. Every night now they go up again +with more food for men and guns through places where there are now +shell-craters in the roads, and the reek of poison gas. + +The young transport officer by my side (who once went scouting in +Delville Wood when the devil had it all his own way there) raised his +glass of beer (the jug from which it had been poured stood a yard high +in front of me) and wished "Good luck" to his men in the New Year of +war, and bade them "wire in" to the feast before them. So in other +Scottish billets the first of the New Year was kept, and to-night there +is sword-dancing by kilted men as nimble as Nijinski, in their +stockinged feet, and old songs of Scotland which are blown down the wind +of France, in this strange nightmare of a war where men from all the +Empire are crowded along the fighting-lines waiting for the bloody +battles that will come, as sure as fate, while the New Year is still +young. + + * * * * * + +The queerest music I have heard in this war zone was three days ago, +when I was walking down a city street. The city was dead, killed by +storms of high explosives. The street was of shuttered houses, scarred +by shell-fire, deserted by all their people, who had fled two years ago. +I walked down this desolation, so quiet, so dead, where there was no +sound of guns, that it was like walking in Pompeii when the lava was +cooled. Suddenly there was the sound of a voice singing loud and clear +with birdlike trills, as triumphant as a lark's song to the dawn. It was +a woman's voice singing behind the shutters of a shelled city! ... + +Some English officer was there with his gramophone. + + + + +II + +AN ATTACK NEAR LE TRANSLOY + + +JANUARY 28, 1917 + +The "show" (as our men call it) near Le Transloy yesterday was more than +a raid--those daily in-and-out dashes which are doing most deadly work +along our line. It was an attack for the definite purpose of gaining an +important bit of ground on the slope which goes down to the ruined +village and of driving the enemy out of some strong points. The interest +of it, involving the capture of six officers and 352 men of picked +regiments, is the way in which we caught the enemy utterly by surprise +and the rapid, easy way in which the whole operation was done. A touch +which seems fantastic came at the end of the adventure when these young +Germans, still breathless with the amazement of their capture, were +bundled into omnibuses which had been brought up near the lines to wait +for them--the old London omnibuses which used to go "all the way to the +Bank--Bank--Bank!" in the days before the world began to crack--and +taken to their camp on our side of the battlefields. + +It was a grim, cold morning--piercingly cold, with a wind cutting like a +knife across the snowfields. Not a morning when men might be expected to +go out into the nakedness of No Man's Land. It was a morning when these +German officers and men of the 119th and 121st Regiments, the +Wuertembergers of Koenigin Olga, were glad to stay down in the warmth of +their dug-outs, cooking coffee on the little stove with which each man +of these favoured troops was provided, to the great envy of Bavarians on +their right, who go on shorter rations and fewer comforts. They had some +good dug-outs in and near the Sunken Road--which runs up from Morval to +Le Transloy, and strikes through a little salient in front of our +lines--till yesterday morning. The trenches on either side of the Sunken +Road were not happy places for Wuertembergers. For months past our guns +had been pounding them so that they were mostly battered down, and only +held here and there by little groups of men who dug themselves in. There +was no wire in front of them, and here during the wet weather, and now +during the great frost, the German troops (as we know from the prisoners +to-day) suffered badly from trench-feet and stomach troubles, and in +spite of their moral (they were all stout-hearted men) from what the +French call the "cafard," and we call the "hump." + +[Illustration: Map of the Bapaume Sector] + +Yesterday morning one or two shivering wretches stood sentry in the +German line trying to gain shelter from the knife-blade of the wind. All +others were below ground round the "fug" of their braziers. They +believed the British over the way were just as quiet in the good work of +keeping warm. That was their mistake. In our trenches the men were +quiet, but busy, and above ground instead of below. They were waiting +for a signal from the guns, and had their bayonets fixed and bombs slung +about them, and iron rations hung to their belts. A rum ration was +served round, and the men drank it, and felt the glow of it, so that the +white waste of No Man's Land did not look so cold and menacing. They +were men of the Border Regiment and the Inniskillings of the 29th +Division. Suddenly, at about half-past five, there was a terrific crash +of guns, and at the same moment the men scrambled up into the open and +with their bayonets low went out into No Man's Land, each man's +footsteps making a trail in the snow. I think it took about four +minutes, that passage of the lonely ground which was a hundred yards or +so between the lines, all pock-marked with shell-holes, and hard as iron +after the freezing of the quagmire. There was no preliminary +bombardment. As soon as the guns went off the men went, with the line of +shells not far in front of them. They found no men above ground when +they pierced the German line. It was curious and uncanny--the utter +lifelessness of the place they came to capture. Good, too, for men +attacking, for men who always listen for the quick rush of bullets, +which is the ugliest sound in war. Not a single machine-gun spat at +them. They knew quickly that they had surprised the enemy utterly. They +found the dug-outs and called down the challenge and heard it answered. +The Wuertembergers came up dazed with the effect of the capture, hardly +believing it, as men in a dream. One of the officers explained: "We +thought it was just a morning strafe. We kept down in the dug-outs till +it was over. We had no idea of an attack. How did you get here so +quickly?" + +They were abashed. They said they would have put up a fight if they had +had any kind of chance. But they were trapped. They could do nothing but +surrender with the best grace possible. On the right, from two isolated +bits of trench, there came a burst of rifle-fire. A few Germans there +had time to recover from the stunning blow of the first surprise and +fought pluckily till overpowered. The Borders and the Inniskillings went +on farther than the objective given to them, to a point 500 yards away +from the German first line, and established themselves there. From +neighbouring ground, through the white haze over the snowfields, red +lights went up with the SOS signal, and presently the German gunners got +busy. But the prisoners were bundled back to the omnibuses, and the men +took possession of the dug-outs. Proper organization was difficult above +ground. It was too hard to dig. From the farthest point, later in the +day, the men were withdrawn to the ground given to them for their +objectives and German attempts to organize counter-attacks were smashed +by our artillery, because we have absolute observation of their +movements from the higher ground won by great fighting in the Somme +battles. To-day there was much gunning in all the neighbourhood of the +fight, and the roar of guns rolled over the desolate fields of snow, the +wide lonely waste which makes one's soul shiver to look at it as I +stared at the scene of war, to-day and yesterday, in the teeth of the +wind. + + + + +III + +THE ABANDONMENT OF GRANDCOURT + + +FEBRUARY 8 + +That the troops of our Naval Division (the 63rd) should have been able +to walk into Grandcourt yesterday and take the place after its +abandonment by the enemy (except for a few men left behind to keep up +appearances as long as possible, poor wretches) is a proof that the +German High Command prefers, at this point of the struggle, to save +casualties rather than to hold bad ground at any cost. It is a new +phase, worthy of notice. A year ago he would not let his pride do this. +Less than a year ago, when we took ground from him by a sudden assault, +he would come back with a frightful counter-blow, and there would be a +long and bloody struggle, as at the Bluff and St.-Eloi, over trenches +taken and retaken. Combles was the first place from which he crept away +without a fight. Grandcourt is the second place, abandoned for the same +reason--because it was caught in the pincers of our forward movements. +It lies low on the south side of the Ancre, below Miraumont, and it +became a place of misery to German troops after the capture of Beaucourt +and Beaumont-Hamel, on the other side of the river--still worse when on +Sunday last our men advanced north of Beaucourt, capturing a couple of +hundred prisoners and consolidating on a line of ground dominating +Grandcourt, on the north-west. It was probably then that the enemy +decided to withdraw to a stronger and higher position south of Miraumont +and Pys, which he has been digging and defending with rapid industry in +spite of the hard frost, which double the labour of the spade. Fear, +which is a great General makes him a hard digger, and he will burrow +underground while our men are scraping the snow away on our side of the +line. A few men, as I have said, were left behind to make a show. They +were seen moving about in the neighbourhood of a German trench barring +the way to Grandcourt on the south-west. It was some time before our +patrols, creeping out over the snow, saw that this half-mile of line was +empty of men, and that the enemy had gone back to some place unknown. On +Tuesday our troops moved into this position, watched by those few men, +left as scarecrows, who are now our prisoners, and who saw the English +soldiers get up out of their ditches and shell-craters and cross the +snowfield in open order with a steady trudge, their bayonets glittering, +and then drop down into the battered trench in which there was nothing +but the litter of former habitation and some dead bodies. Yesterday it +was decided to push on to Grandcourt. Observing officers could see the +snow on the broken roofs and ruined walls of that village, where bits of +brick and woodwork still stand after heavy bombardment. They could not +see whether the place was still held. Only actual contact would show +whether those quiet ruins would be noisy with the chatter of machine-gun +fire if our men went in. A sinister spot--with an evil-sounding name to +soldiers of the Somme, because here for many months the enemy had massed +his guns which fired down to Contalmaison and flung high explosives over +the country below the Pozieres Ridge. + +It was in the afternoon that the entry was made beneath a great barrage +of our shells advancing beyond the infantry and through a heavy fire +from the enemy's guns, which did not check the advance of our men. A few +German soldiers were taken in rear-guard posts. They came out of +shell-craters with their hands up, and were sent back to our lines. +There was no fighting in the ruins of the village. Grandcourt was ours, +with its deep dug-outs littered with German clothes and stored with +rations of German soldiers, which our own men enjoyed as a change of +diet, while they took cover from the enemy's shell-fire over his old +home. + +Last night in the light of a full moon, curiously red so that the snow +was faintly flushed, two more attacks were made and two more positions +taken, north and south-east of Grandcourt. On the north side of the +Ancre Baillescourt Farm was seized, and in its neighbourhood eighty +soldiers and one officer were made prisoner. They belonged to the same +corps as those I saw last Sunday, and were recruited from the +Hamburg-Altona district; all stout fellows, well nourished and well +clothed. They had not expected the attack, not so soon, anyhow, and were +caught in dug-outs by the ruined farmhouse, which some months ago was a +good landmark with its white walls and barns still standing. Now it is +but a litter of beams and broken plaster, like all houses along the line +of battle. + + + + +IV + +THE GORDONS IN THE BUTTE DE WARLENCOURT + + +FEBRUARY 9 + +The frost lasts. Even in times of peace I suppose it would be remembered +years hence because of its intensity of cold and continuance. Here on +the Western Front it will be remembered by men who live, now very young, +and then with hair as white as the snow which now lies in No Man's Land, +because of its unforgettable pictures in sunlight and moonlight, its +fantastic cruelties of coldness and discomfort, and its grim effect upon +the adventures of war when the patrols go out by night and British +soldiers crawl across snow-filled shell-holes. + +There was a queer episode of Canadian history--only a few days +old--which began when a sprightly young Dados (he's the fellow that gets +all the chaff from the Divisional Follies) startled a respectable old +lady behind the counter of a milliner's shop in a French village by +demanding 100 ladies' "nighties" ("chemises de nuit" he called them) of +the largest size. The village heard the story of this shopping +expedition, listened to the old lady's shrill cackle of laughter, and +wondered what joke was on among the Canadian troops. It was one of those +jokes which belong to the humours of this war, mixed with blood and +death. Up in the Canadian trenches there were shouts of hoarse laughter, +as over their khaki a hundred brawny young Canadians put on the +night-dresses. They had been tied up with blue ribbon. The old moon, so +watchful there in the steel-blue sky, had never looked down upon a +stranger scene than these white-robed soldiers who went out into No +Man's Land, with rifles and bombs. Some of the night-dresses, so clean +and dainty as they had come out of the milliner's shop, were stained red +before the end of the adventure. And Germans in their dug-outs caught a +glimpse of these fantastic figures before death came quickly, or a shout +of surrender. The Pierrots went back with some prisoners in the +moonlight, and Canadian staff officers chuckled with laughter along +telephone wires when the tale was told. + +Some of the prisoners who are taken do nothing but weep for the first +few days after capture. "The prisoners are young," reports the +Intelligence officer about the latest batch, "and have wept copiously +since their capture." The men I have seen myself during the past few +days had a look of misery in their eyes. They hate these midnight raids +of ours, coming suddenly upon them night after night through the white +glimmer of the snowfields. They have taken dogs into the trenches now to +give a quicker and surer warning than young sentries, who are afraid to +cry out when they see white figures moving, because they think they see +them always, when shadows stir in the moonlight across the snow. Our men +during recent nights have heard these dogs giving short, sharp barks. +One of them came out into No Man's Land and sniffed about some black +things lying quiet under the cover of snow. No alarm was given when some +friends of mine went out to make an attack some nights ago, and it was +lucky for them, for if they had been discovered too soon all their plans +would have been spoilt, and white smocks would not have saved them. + +They were the 8/10th Gordons of the 15th Division. Some of my readers +will remember the crowd, for I have described my meetings with them up +and down the roads of war. It is they who arranged the details of the +night's adventure, and because it is typical of the things that +happen--of the Terror that comes in the night--it is worth telling. The +Highlanders, when they took up their attacking line, were dressed in +white smocks covering their kilts, and in steel helmets painted white. +Their black arms and feet were like the smudges on the snow. They lay +very quiet, visible on the left, from the Butte de Warlencourt, that old +high mound in the Somme battlefields which was once the burial-place of +a prehistoric man and is now the tomb of young soldiers in the Durham +Light Infantry who fought and died there. The moon was bright on the +snow about them, but a misty vapour was on the ground. Each man had been +warned not to cough or sneeze. Their rifles were loaded, and with +bayonets fixed, so that there should be no rattle of arms or clicks of +bolts. They were in two parties, and their orders were to overthrow the +advanced German posts which were known to be in front of the Butte, and +to form a ring of posts round the position attacked while its dug-outs +were being dealt with. A heavy barrage was fired suddenly up and down +the German lines, so as to bewilder the enemy as to the point of attack, +and the Gordons in their white smocks rose up and advanced. Two shots +rang out from one of the German posts. No more than that. The two waves +of men went on. Those on the right flank had trouble in crossing the +ground. Several of them fell into deep shell-craters frozen hard. A +machine-gun was fired on the left, but was then silenced by our +shell-fire. The men inclined a little to the left, and came round on the +west side of the position, where there was a small quarry. On their way +they surprised an enemy post and took six prisoners. + +[Illustration: THE RETREAT FROM THE SOMME + +London: W^m. Heinemann _Stanford's Geog^l. Estab^t., London_] + +A little way farther on they came across a trench-mortar, a dug-out, and +two terror-stricken men. An officer put a Stokes bomb down the mortar +and blew it up. The men were taken, and the dug-out was destroyed. Then +the Gordons went on to the Butte de Warlencourt. Underneath it were the +dug-outs of a German company, snow-capped and hidden. The Scots went +round like wolves hunting for the way down. There were four ways down, +and three of them were found low down about four yards apart. Men were +talking down there excitedly. Their German speech was loud and there was +the note of terror in it. + +"Come out!" shouted the Gordons several times; but at one entrance only +one man came out, and at another only one, and at the third twelve men, +who were taken prisoners. The others would not surrender. Some bombs and +a Stokes shell were thrown down the doorways, and suddenly this nest of +dug-outs was seen to collapse, and black smoke came up from the pit, +melting the edges of the snow. Down below the voices went on, rising to +high cries of terror. Then flames appeared, shedding a red glare over No +Man's Land. + +On the left the Gordons had been held up by machine-gun fire and +rifle-fire, which came across to them from a trench to which they were +advancing. At the west side of the trench, in a wired enclosure, the +machine-gun was troublesome. Some of the white smocks fell. An attempt +was made to rush it, but failed. Afterwards the gun and the team were +knocked out by a shell. A group of Germans came out of the trench and +started bombing, until a Stokes bomb scattered them. Then the Gordons +went down and brought out some prisoners, and blew up a dug-out. + +It was time to go back, for the German barrage had begun; but the +Gordons were able to get home without many casualties. Nearly two hours +afterwards a loud explosion was heard across the way, as though a bomb +store had blown up. The sky was red over there by the flare of a +fire.... In the dug-outs of the Butte de Warlencourt a whole company of +Germans was being burnt alive. + + + + +V + +THE BATTLE OF BOOM RAVINE + + +FEBRUARY 15 + +On the way to Miraumont there was a deep gully called Boom Ravine, and +here on February 17 there was fierce fighting by the Royal Fusiliers, +the Northamptons, and the Middlesex men of the 29th Division. + +In difficulty, in grim human courage, in all its drama of fog, and +darkness, and shell-fire, and death, it seems to me to hold most of what +this war means to individual men--all that can be asked of them in such +hours. + +The thaw had just set in and the ground was soppy, which was bad luck. +In spite of the thaw, it was horribly, damply cold, but the men had been +given a good meal before forming up for the attack, and officers brought +up the rum ration in bottles, so that the men could attack with some +warmth in them. In the utter darkness, unable to make any glimmer of +light lest the enemy should see, the brigades tried to get into line. +Two companies lost themselves, and were lost, but got into touch again +in time. It was all black and beastly. A great fire of high explosives +burst over our assembly lines. The darkness was lit up by the red +flashes of these bursting shells. Men fell, wounded and dead. The Royal +Fusiliers were specially tried, and their brigadier wondered whether +they would have the spirit to get up and attack when the hour arrived. +But when the moment came the survivors rose and went forward, and fought +through to the last goal. They were the first to get to Grandcourt +Trench, which lay between them and the Boom Ravine. The wire was not +cut, and there was a hammering of machine-guns and the swish of +machine-gun bullets. This battalion had already lost all its officers, +who had gone forward gallantly, leading their men and meeting the +bullets first. A sergeant-major took command, shouted to his men to keep +steady, and found a gap through the wire. They forced their way through, +passed Grandcourt Trench, and, with other men, dropped into Boom Ravine. + +That place is a sunken road, almost parallel with Grandcourt Trench, and +with South Miraumont Trench beyond. Before war came--even last summer, +indeed--it was like a Devonshire lane, with steep shelving banks, thirty +to forty feet high, and trees growing on either side, with overhanging +roots. It was not like a Devonshire lane when our men scrambled and fell +down its banks. It was a ravine of death. Our shell-fire had smashed +down all the trees, and their tall trunks lay at the bottom of the +gulley, and their branches were flung about. The banks had been opened +out by shell-craters, and several of the German dug-outs built into the +sides of them were upheaved or choked. Dead bodies or human fragments +lay among the branches and broken woodwork. A shell of ours had entered +one dug-out and blown six dead men out of its doorway. They sprawled +there at the entrance. Inside were six other dead. From dug-outs not +blown up or choked came groups of German soldiers, pallid and +nerve-broken, who gave themselves up quickly enough. One man was +talkative. He said in perfect English that he had been coachman to an +English earl, and he cursed our artillery, and said that if he could get +at our blinking gunners he would wring their blighted necks--or words to +that effect. + +But the battle was not over yet. While Boom Ravine was being cleared of +its living inhabitants by the Royal Fusiliers other waves were coming +up; or, rather, not waves, but odd groups of men, dodging over the +shell-craters, and hunting as they went for German snipers, who lay in +their holes firing until they were pinned by bayonet-points. Their +bodies lie there now, curled up. Some of them pretended to be dead when +our men came near. One of them lay still, with his face in the moist +earth. "See that that man is properly dead," said an officer, and a +soldier with him pricked the man. He sprang up with a scream, and ran +hard away--to our lines. Six prisoners came trudging back from the +Ravine, with a slightly wounded man as an escort. On the way back they +found themselves very lonely with him, and passed some rifles lying in +their way. They seized the rifles and became fighting men again, until a +little Welsh officer of the South Wales Borderers met them, and killed +every one of them with a revolver. + + + + +VI + +THE ENEMY WITHDRAWS + + +FEBRUARY 18 + +The enemy is steadily withdrawing his troops from many positions between +Hebuterne and the ground south-west of Bapaume, and our patrols are +pushing forward into abandoned country, which they have penetrated in +some places for nearly three miles beyond our former line. They are +already north-west of Serre, south of Irles, above Miraumont, +Petit-Miraumont and Pys, which are now in our hands without a battle. We +have gained a number of German strongholds which we expected to win only +by heavy fighting, and the enemy has yielded to our pressure, the +ceaseless pressure of men and guns, by escaping to a new line of defence +along the Bapaume Ridge. This is the most notable movement which has +taken place in the war since the autumn of the first year. The German +retirement in the battle of the Marne was forced upon them only by +actual defeat on the ground. This is a strategical retreat, revealing a +new phase of weakness in their defensive conditions. It has not come to +our Generals as a surprise. After the battle of Boom Ravine, there were +several signs that the enemy contemplated a withdrawal from the two +Miraumonts, and our recent capture of Baillescourt Farm and the ground +on the north of the Ancre seriously menaced Serre. Yesterday morning, +through a heavy grey mist, fires were seen burning along the German +front line. For several days the enemy's field-batteries had been firing +an abnormal amount of ammunition, and it seemed likely that they were +getting rid of their supplies in the forward dumps before withdrawing +their guns. Patrols sent out had a queer, uncanny experience. It was +very quiet in the mist, almost alarmingly quiet. They pushed in after +the enemy. Not a sound, not a shot came from Serre.... These reports +were sent back, and more patrols were sent forward in various +directions. They pushed on, picking up a few prisoners here and there +who were sniping from shell-holes and serving solitary machine-guns. +These men confessed that they had been left behind with orders to keep +firing and to make a show so that we might believe the ground was still +strongly held. Farther on the right the same thing was happening. +Patrols went out and sent back messages saying that no enemy was ahead. +They went into Miraumont, and in the centre of the main road a mine blew +up with a loud explosion; but by great good luck none of our men were +hurt. At the end of the street six Germans were seen among the ruins. +They were fired at and disappeared. Miraumont was taken without another +shot than this, and with it Little Miraumont, next door. + +Last night our troops advanced towards Warlencourt and south of Irles, +and they took possession of the famous Butte, that high mound above the +bones of some prehistoric man, for which there had been so much bloody +fighting in the autumn and the first month of this year. From the +direction of Bapaume the noise of heavy explosions was heard, as though +ammunition dumps were being blown up, and for the first time perhaps +since the German retreat from the Marne the enemy was destroying his own +material of war on his way back. + + + + +VII + +OUR ENTRY INTO GOMMECOURT + + +FEBRUARY 28 + +Last night the German troops abandoned Gommecourt and Pusieux and our +men followed the first patrols, who had felt forward and took possession +of the salient which keeps to the line of the park surrounding the +famous old chateau. + +This entry into Gommecourt without a fight was most sensational. It was +here on July 1 of 1916 that waves of London men of the 56th Division +assaulted an almost impregnable position, and by the highest valour and +sacrifice broke and held its lines until forced back by massed gun-fire +which threatened them with annihilation. Many of our dead lay there, and +the place will be haunted for ever by the memory of their loss and great +endurance. At last the gates were open. The enemy's troops had stolen +away in the dusk, leaving nothing behind but the refuse of trench life +and the litter of trench tools. In order to keep the way open for their +withdrawal, strong posts of Germans with machine-guns held out in a +wedge just south of Rossignol Wood and in Biez Wood, which is west of +Bucquoy. These rear-guard posts, numbering an officer or two and +anything between thirty to sixty men with machine-guns, and telephones +keeping them in touch with the main army, were chosen for their tried +courage and intelligence, and stayed behind with orders to hold on to +the last possible moment. + +All the tricks of war are being used to check and kill our patrols. In +addition to trip-wires attached to explosives, German helmets have been +left about with bombs concealed in them so as to explode on being +touched, and there are other devices of this kind which are ingenious +and devilish. The enemy's snipers and machine-gunners give our men +greater trouble, but are being routed out from their hiding-places. +There were a lot of them in the ruins of Pusieux, but last night, after +sharp fighting and a grim man-hunt among the broken brickwork, the enemy +was destroyed in this village, and our line now runs well beyond it to +Gommecourt, on the left and down to Irles on the right. The enemy has +destroyed Irles church tower, as he has destroyed the church of +Achiet-le-Petit, and the famous clock tower of Bapaume, on which we +tried to read the time from the high ground westward during the battles +of the Somme. This is to get rid of observation which might be useful to +us in our advance. + +Heavy shell-fire has been concentrated by enemy batteries on the village +of Irles, and he is also barraging with high explosives upon Serre, +Miraumont, Grandcourt, and other places from which he has withdrawn. It +is probable that he is using up his reserves of ammunition in the dumps +along the line of his retirement. Many of his heavy guns still remain +on railway mountings behind Bapaume--we are now less than a mile from +that town--and they are doing double duty by quick firing. The latest +village to fall into our hands is Thilloy, north of Ligny-Thilloy, and +just south of Bapaume, and the enemy is now retiring to Loupart Wood, +Achiet-le-Petit, and Bucquoy, strongly defended for the time being by a +thick belt of wire. + +It is enormously interesting to speculate upon this new plan of the +German High Command. It is a plan forced upon him by steady pressure of +our attacks, which thrust him into bad ground, where the condition of +his troops was hideous, but, beyond all, by the fear that our fighting +power in the spring might break his armies if they stayed on their old +line. Now he is executing with skill, aided by great luck--for the foggy +weather is his luck--a manoeuvre designed to shorten his line, thereby +increasing his offensive and defensive man-power, and to withdraw in the +way that he intends to make it difficult for pursuit, and so to gain +time to fall back upon new and stronger lines of defence. + + * * * * * + +It is difficult to describe the feelings of our men who go forward to +these villages and capture them, and settle down in them for a day or +two, unless you have gazed at those places for months through narrow +slits in underground chambers, and know that it would be easier to go +from life to eternity than cross over the enemy's wire into those +strongholds while they are inhabited by men with machine-guns. + +You cannot imagine the thrill of walking one day into Gommecourt, or +Miraumont, or Irles, without resistance, and seeing in close detail the +way of life led by the men who have been doing their best to kill you. +There is something uncanny in handling the things they handled, in +sitting at the tables where they took their meals, in walking about the +ruins which our guns made above them. I had this thrill when I walked +through Gommecourt--Gommecourt the terrible, and the graveyard of so +many brave London boys who fell here on July 1--and up through +Gommecourt Park, with its rows of riven trees, to a point beyond, and to +a far outpost where a group of soldiers attached to the Sherwood +Foresters of the 46th Division, full of spirit and gaiety, in spite of +the deadly menace about them, had dragged up a heavy trench-mortar and +its monstrous winged shells, which they were firing into a copse 500 +yards away where Fritz was holding out. So through the snow I went into +Gommecourt down a road pitted with recent shell-holes, and with a young +Sherwood Forester who said, "It's best to be quick along this track. It +ain't a health resort." + +It was not a pretty place at all, and there were nasty noises about it, +as shells went singing overhead, but there was a sinister sense of +romance, a look of white and naked tragedy in snow-covered Gommecourt. +Our guns had played hell with the place, though we could not capture it +on July 1. Thousands of shells, even millions, had flung it into +ruin--the famous chateau, the church, the great barns, the school-house, +and all the buildings here. Not a tree in what had once been a noble +park remained unmutilated. On the day before the Germans left a Stokes +mortar battery of ours fired 1100 shells into Gommecourt in a quarter of +an hour. + +"No wonder old Fritz left in a hurry," said the young officer who had +achieved this record. He chuckled at the thought of it, and as he went +through Gommecourt with me pointed out with pride the "top-hole" effect +of all our gun-fire. To him, as a gunner, all this destruction was a +good sight. He stopped in front of a hole big enough to bury a country +cottage, and said, "That was done by old Charley's 9.45 trench-mortar. +Some hole, what?" + +"Looks as if some German officer had had to walk home," said the +trench-mortar officer, who was a humorous fellow, as he glanced at a +shattered motor-car. + +So many of the young officers of ours are humorous fellows, and I am +bound to say that I never met a merrier party than a little lot I found +at a spot called Pigeon Wood, far beyond Gommecourt, where the enemy +flings shells most of the day and night, so that it is a litter of +broken twigs and branches. + +A sergeant-major took me up there and introduced me to his officers. + +"This is the real Street of Adventure," he said, "though it's a long way +from Fleet Street"--which I thought was pretty good for a sergeant-major +met in a casual way on a field of battle. It appeared that there was to +be a trench-mortar "stunt" in half an hour or so, and he wanted me to +see "the fun." Through the driving snow we went into the bit of wood, +trampling over the broken twigs and stepping aside from shell-holes, and +because of the nasty noises about--I hear no music in the song of the +shell--I was glad when the sergeant-major went down the entrance of a +dug-out and called out for the officer. + +It was one of the deep German dug-outs thirty or forty feet down, and +very dark on the way. In the room below, nicely panelled, were the merry +grigs I had come to meet, and in less than a minute they had made me +welcome, and in less than five I was sitting on a German chair at a +German table, drinking German soda-water out of German glasses, with a +party of English boys 500 yards from the German outposts over the way. + +They told me how they had brought their trench-mortar up. It was an +absolute record, and they were as proud and pleased as schoolboys who +have won a game. They roared with laughter at the story of the senior +officer chased by two Boches, and roared again when the captain sent +round to the "chemist's shop" next door for some more soda-water and a +bottle of whisky. They had found thousands of bottles of soda-water, and +thousands of bombs and other things left behind in a hurry, including a +complete change of woman's clothing, now being worn by one of our +Tommies badly in need of clean linen. + +"This dug-out is all right," said one of the younger officers, "but you +come and see mine. It's absolutely priceless." + +It was one of the best specimens of German architecture I have ever seen +on a battlefield. It was not only panelled but papered. It was furnished +elegantly with a washhand-stand and a gilded mirror and German coloured +prints--and not all our shells could touch it, because of its depth +below the ground. ... I saw the trench-mortar "stunt," which flung up +volcanoes in the German ground by Kite Copse, and stood out in the snow +with a party of men who had nothing between them and the enemy but a +narrow stretch of shell-broken earth, and went away from the wood just +as the enemy began shelling it again, and sat down under the bank with +one of the officers when the enemy "bracketed" the road back with +whiz-bangs, and stopped on the way to take a cup of tea in another +dug-out, and to make friends with other men who were following up the +enemy, and moving into German apartments for a night or so, before they +go farther on, with that keen and spirited courage which is the only +good thing in this war. They are mostly boys--I am a Rip Van Winkle to +them--and with the heart of boyhood they take deadly risks lightly and +make a good joke of a bad business, and are very frightened sometimes +and make a joke of that, and are great soldiers though they were never +meant for the trade. The enemy is falling back still, but these boys of +ours are catching him up, and are quick in pursuit, in spite of the foul +ground and the foul weather and the barrage of his guns. + + + + +VIII + +WHY THE ENEMY WITHDREW + + +MARCH 3 + +The weather is still favourable to the enemy in his plan of withdrawal. +Yesterday there was over all the battlefields such a solid fog, after a +night of frost which condensed the earth's moisture, that one could not +see fifty yards ahead. Our airmen, if they had thought it worth while +mounting, would have stared down into this white mist and seen nothing +else. Our gunners had to fire "off the map" at a time when direct +observation would have been most valuable. I do not remember to have +seen anything so uncanny on this front as the effect of our men moving +in this heavy wet darkness like legions of shadows looming up in a grey +way, and then blotted out. The fog clung to them, dripped from the rims +of their steel helmets, made their breath like steam. The shaggy coats +of horses and mules plastered with heavy streaks of mud were all damp +with little beads of moisture as white as hoar-frost. + +Nothing so far in this German movement has been sensational except the +fact itself. Fantastic stories about gas-shells, battles, and great +slaughter in the capture of the enemy's positions are merely conjured up +by people who know nothing of the truth. + +The truth is simple and stark. The enemy decided to withdraw, and made +his plans to withdraw with careful thought for detail in order to +frustrate any preparations we might have made to deal him the famous +knock-out blow and in order to save his man-power, not only by escaping +this great slaughter which was drawing near upon him as the weeks +passed, but by shortening his line and so liberating a number of +divisions for offensive and defensive purposes. He timed this +strategical withdrawal well. He made use of the hard frost for the +movement of men and guns and material, and withdrew the last men from +his strongholds on the old line just as the thaw set in, so that the +ground lapsed into quagmire more fearful than before the days of the +long frost, and pursuit for our men and our guns and our material was +doubly difficult. He destroyed what he could not take away, and left +very little behind. He fired many of his dug-outs, and left only a few +snipers and a few machine-gunners in shell-holes and strong posts to +hold up our patrols while the next body of rear-guard outposts fell back +behind the barbed wire in front of the series of diagonal trench lines +which defend the way to Bapaume. In Gommecourt our troops found only one +living man, and he was half dead and quite blind. He had been wounded +twenty-four hours previously by a bomb from one of our scouts and had +crawled back into a dug-out. It is astounding, but, I believe, quite +true, that he knew nothing about the abandonment of Gommecourt, even +when it had been achieved. He would not believe it when our men told +him. He had lain in his earth-hole wondering at the silence, believing +himself deaf as well as blind, except that he could hear the crash of +shells. He was frightened because he could hear no movement of his +fellow-soldiers. + +The German scheme is undoubtedly to delay our advance as much as +possible and at the cheapest price to himself, so that much time may +have elapsed (while his submarines are still at work, and his diplomats, +and his propaganda) before we come up to him with all our weight of men +and metal upon the real lines to which he is falling back. By belts of +barbed wire between the lines of retirement, down past Loupart Wood, and +then past Grevillers and Achiet, and outside Bapaume, as well as by +strong bodies of picked troops holding on to these positions until the +last moment before death or capture or escape, and by massing guns +eastward of Bapaume in order to impede our pursuit by long-range fire +from his "heavies," and to hold the pivot while his troops swing back in +this slow and gradual way, he hopes to make things easy for himself and +damnably difficult for us. + + * * * * * + +MARCH 12 + +Loupart Wood, a high belt of trees, thick and black against the sky, is +the storm-centre of the battle line on this part of the front. Our guns +were busy with it, flinging shells into its network of naked branches. +The shell-bursts were white against its blackness, and the chalky soil +in front of it was tossed up in spraying fountains. From the enemy's +side high explosives were dropping over Miraumont, and Irles was being +heavily bombarded. It was like a day in the first battles of the Somme, +and brought back to me old memories of frightfulness. Behind me were the +Somme battlefields, one vast landscape of the abomination of desolation +strewn still with the litter of great conflict, with thousands of +unexploded shells lying squat in mud, and hideously tormented out of all +semblance of earth's sweet beauty by millions of shell-holes and the +yawning chasms of mine-craters, and the chaos of innumerable trenches +dug deep and then smashed by the fury of heavy guns. That is an old +picture which I have described, or failed to describe, a score of times +when over this mangled earth, yard by yard, from one ruin to another, +from one copse of broken woodland to another group of black gallows +which were trees, our men went fighting, so that here is the graveyard +of gallant youth, and the Field of Honour which is sacred to the soul of +our race. It was the old picture, but into it came to-day as yesterday +new men of ours who are carrying on the tale to whatever ending it may +have. They came through mud and in mud and with mud. The heavy horses of +the gunners and transport men were all whitened with the wet chalk to +the ears. Mules were ridiculous, like amphibious creatures who had come +up out of the slime to stare with wicked eyes at what men are doing with +the earth's surface. Eight-inch guns were wallowing in bogs from which +their shiny snouts thrust up, belching forth flame. Over the wide, +white, barren stretch of hell which we call the battlefield their +monstrous shells went howling after the full-throated roars which +clouted one's ear-drums like blows from a hammer. And between the guns, +and in front of the guns, and past the guns went our marching men, our +mud men, with wet steel helmets, with gobs of mud on their faces, with +clods of mud growing monstrously upon their boots at every step. + +A grim old war, fantastic in its contrasts and in its stage properties! +Once when I heard the chimes of midnight in Covent Garden and stood +drinking at a coffee-stall by Paul's Church I never guessed I should +find such a place of wayside refreshment, such a house on wheels, in +the middle of Armageddon. But there it was to-day, a coffee-stall bang +in the middle of the battlefield, and there, asking for a "mug o' +thick," stood a crowd of English soldiers, worse scarecrows than the +night birds of the London slums and more in need of warmth for body and +soul. Not far away, well under shell-fire, was a London omnibus, and as +a mate in evil days, a Tank. + +The rain came down in a thick drizzle. Loupart Wood disappeared like a +ghost picture. Irles was blotted out. Our eight-inch shells went howling +out of a cotton-wool mist. Our men went marching with their steel hats +down against the beat of the rain. It was a wintry scene again--but on +the moist air there was a faint scent not of winter--a smell of wet +earth sweeter than the acrid stench of the battlefields. It was the +breath of spring coming with its promise of life. And with its promise +of death. + + * * * * * + +The enemy is still holding out in Achiet-le-Petit and Bucquoy, though I +believe his residence there is not for long. From what I saw to-day +watching our bombardment of the line to which he has retreated, it seems +certain that he will be compelled to leave in a hurry, just as he left +Loupart Wood the night before last. + +As I went over the battlefields to-day it was made visible to me that +the enemy has suffered most devilish torments in the ground from which +he is now retreating. All north of Courcelette, up by Miraumont and Pys, +and below Loupart Wood, this wild chaos--all so upturned by shell-fire +that one's gorge rises at the sight of such obscene mangling of our +mother earth--is strewn with bodies of dead German soldiers. They lie +grey wet lumps of death over a great stretch of ground, many of them +half buried by their comrades or by high explosives. Most of them are +stark above the soil with their eye-sockets to the sky. I stood to-day +in a ravine to which the Regina Trench leads between Pys and Miraumont, +and not any morbid vision of an absinthe-maddened dream of hell could be +more fearful than what I stared at standing there, with the rain beating +on me across the battlefield, and the roar of guns on every side, and +the long rushing whistles of heavy shells in flight over Loupart Wood. +The place was a shambles of German troops. They had had machine-gun +emplacements here, and deep dug-outs under cover of earth-banks. But our +guns had found them out and poured fire upon them. All this garrison had +been killed and cut to pieces before or after death. Their bodies or +their fragments lay in every shape and shapelessness of death, in +puddles of broken trenches or on the edge of deep ponds in +shell-craters. The water was vivid green about them, or red as blood, +with the colour of high-explosive gases. Mask-like faces, with holes for +eyes, seemed to stare back at me as I stared at them, not with any +curiosity in this sight of death--for it is not new to me--but counting +their numbers and reckoning the sum of all these things who a little +time ago were living men. Some of our dead lay among them, but out of +850 lying hereabouts, 700 were German soldiers. + +Our gun-fire, continued to-day as yesterday, leaves nothing alive or +whole when it is concentrated on a place like this, deliberate in +smashing it. Here it had flung up machine-gun emplacements and made +rubbish-heaps of their casemates and guns. It had broken hundreds of +rifles into matchwood, and flung up the kit of men from deep dug-outs, +littering earth with their pouches and helmets and bits of clothing. +Where I stood was only one patch of ground on a wide battlefield. It is +all like that, though elsewhere the dead are not so thickly clustered. +For miles it is all pitted with ten-feet craters intermingling and +leaving not a yard of earth untouched. It is one great obscenity, +killing for all time the legend of war's glory and romance. Over it +to-day went a brave man on his mission. He was not a soldier, though he +had a steel hat on his head and a khaki uniform. He was a padre who, +with a fellow-officer and a few men, is following up the fighting men, +burying those who fall, our own and the enemy's. He collects their +identity discs and marks their graves. For weeks he has done this, and, +though he is sickened, he goes on with a grim zeal, searching out the +new dead, directing the digging of new graves, covering up Germans who +lie so thick. He waved his hand to me as he went up to Loupart Wood, and +I saluted him as a man of fine enthusiasm and good courage in the +abomination of desolation which is our battle-ground. + +The secret of the German retreat is here on this ground. To save +themselves from another such shambles they are falling back to new +lines, where they hope to be safer from our massed artillery. But as I +saw to-day our gun-fire is following them closely and forcing them back +at a harder pace, and killing them as they go. The horror of war is +still close at their heels, and will never end till the war ends, though +that may be long, O Lord! from now. + + + + +IX + +THE AUSTRALIANS ENTER BAPAUME + + +MARCH 17 + +To-day quite early in the morning our Australian troops entered Bapaume. +Achiet-le-Petit and Biefvillers also fell into our hands and the enemy +is in retreat across the plains below the Bapaume Ridge. + +I had the honour of going into Bapaume myself this morning, and the luck +to come out again, and now, sitting down to tell the history of this +day--one of the great days in this war--I feel something of the old +thrill that came to all of us when the enemy fell back from the Marne +and retreated to the Aisne. + +Bapaume is ours after a short, sharp fight with its last rear-guard +post. I don't know how much this will mean to people at home, to whom +the town is just a name, familiar only because of its repetition in +dispatches. To us out here it means enormous things--above all, the +completion or result of a great series of battles, in which many of our +best gave their lives so that our troops could attain the ridge across +which they went to-day, and hold the town which is the gateway to the +plains beyond. For this the Canadians fought through Courcelette, where +many of their poor bodies lie even now in the broken ground. For this +the Australians struggled with most grim heroism on the high plateau of +Pozieres, which bears upon every yard of its soil the signs of the most +frightful strife that mankind has known in all the history of warfare. +For another stage on the road to Bapaume London regiments went up to +Eaucourt-l'Abbaye, and the Gordons stormed the white mound of the Butte +de Warlencourt. For the capture of Bapaume our patrols with machine-guns +and trench-mortars, and our gunners with their batteries, have pushed on +through the day and night during recent weeks, gaining La Barque and +Ligny and Thilloy, not sleeping night after night, not resting, so that +beards have grown on young chins, and the eyes of these men look glazed +and dead except for the fire that lights up in them when there is +another bit of work to do. For this, thousands of British soldiers have +laboured like ants--it is all like a monstrous ant-heap in +commotion--carrying up material of war, building roads over quagmires, +laying down railroads under shell-fire, plugging up shell-craters with +bricks and stone so that the horse transport can follow, and the guns +get forward and the way be made smooth for the fall of Bapaume.... So +Bapaume is ours. Years ago, and months ago, and weeks ago, I have +travelled the road towards Bapaume from Amiens to Albert, from that city +of the Falling Virgin, past the vast mine-crater of La Boisselle to +Pozieres and beyond, and always I and comrades of mine have glanced +sideways and smiled grimly at the milestones which said so many +kilometres to Bapaume--and yet a world of strife to go. Now those stones +will not stare up at us with irony. There is no longer a point on the +road where one has to halt lest one should die. To-day I walked past the +milestones--ten, seven, four, three, one--and then into Bapaume, and did +not die, though to tell the truth death missed me only a yard or two. I +have had many strange and memorable walks in war, but none more +wonderful than this, for really it was a strange way this road to +Bapaume, with all the tragedy and all the courage of this warfare, and +all the ugly spirit of it on every side. I walked through the highway of +our greatest battles up from Pozieres, past Courcelette, with +Martinpuich to the right, past the ruins of Destremont Farm, and into +the ruins of Le Sars. Thence the road struck straight towards Bapaume, +with the grey pyramid of the Butte de Warlencourt on one side and the +frightful turmoil of Warlencourt village on the other. I did not walk +alone along this way through the litter of many battles, through its +muck and stench and corruption under a fair blue sky, with wisps of +white cloud above and the glitter of spring sunshine over all the white +leprous landscape of these fields. Australian soldiers were going the +same way--towards Bapaume. Some of them wore sprigs of shamrock in their +buttonholes, and I remembered it was St. Patrick's Day. Some of them +were gunners, and some were pioneers, and some were Generals and high +officers, and they had the look of victory upon them and were talking +cheerily about the great news of the day. It was in the neighbourhood of +a haunted-looking place called "La Coupe-gueule," which means +Cut-throat, once I imagine a farmstead or estaminet, that the road +became the scene of very recent warfare--a few hours old or a few +minutes. One is very quick to read how old the signs are by the look of +the earth, by smells and sounds, by little, sure, alarming signs. Dead +horses lay about--newly dead. Shell-craters with clean sides pock-marked +the earth ten feet deep. Aeroplanes had crashed down, one of them a few +minutes ago. A car came along and I saw a young pilot lying back +wounded, with another officer smoking a cigarette, grave-eyed and +pallid. Pools of red mud were on either side of the road, or in the +middle of it. Everywhere in neighbouring ground hidden batteries were +firing ceaselessly, the long sixty-pounders making sharp reports that +stunned one's ears, the field-guns firing rapidly with sharp knocks. Up +in the blue sky there was other gunning. Flights of our aeroplanes were +up singing with a loud, deep, humming music as of monstrous bees. Our +"Archies" were strafing a German plane, venturesome over our country. +High up in the blue was the rattle of machine-gun fire. Down from +Bapaume came a procession of stretcher-bearers with wounded comrades +shoulder high, borne like heroes, slowly and with unconscious dignity, +by these tall men in steel helmets. The enemy had ruined the road in +several places with enormous craters, to stop our progress. They were +twenty yards across, and very deep, and fearful pitfalls in the dark. +Past the ruins of La Barque, past the ruins of Ligny-Thilloy and +Thilloy, went the road to Bapaume. Behind me now on the left was Loupart +Wood, the storm-centre of strife when I went up to it a few days ago, +and Grevillers beside it, smashed to death, and then presently and quite +suddenly I came into sight of Bapaume. It was only a few hundred yards +away, and I could see every detail of its streets and houses. A street +along the Bapaume road went straight into the town, and then went +sharply at right angles, so that all the length of Bapaume lay in front +of me. The sun was upon it, shining very bright and clear upon its +houses. It was a sun-picture of destruction. Bapaume was still standing, +but broken and burnt. + +[Illustration: Map of the front from Arras to Soissons] + +In the middle of Bapaume stood the remnant of the old clock-tower, a +tower of brown brick, like the houses about it, but broken off at the +top, only two-thirds of its former height, and without the clock which +used to tell us the time miles away when we gazed through telescopes +from distant observation-posts, when we still had miles to go on the way +to Bapaume. On the right of the old tower the town was burning, not in +flames when I entered, but with volumes of white smoke issuing slowly +from a row of red villas already gutted by fires lighted before the +Germans left. + +A Colonel came riding out of Bapaume. He was carrying a big German +beer-jug, and showed me his trophy, leaning down over his saddle to let +me read the words: + + Zum Feldgrauen Hilfe + +"Is it pretty easy to get into Bapaume?" I asked. + +"Barring the heavy stuff," he said. "They're putting over shells at the +rate of two or three a minute." + +They were, and it was not pleasant, this walk into Bapaume, though very +interesting. + +It was when I came to an old farmhouse and inn--the shell of a place--on +the left of the road (Duhamel-Equarriseur, Telephone No. 30) that I knew +the full menace of this hour was above and about. The enemy was firing a +great number of shells into Bapaume. They came towards us with that +rushing, howling noise which gives one a great fear of instant death, +and burst with crashes among the neighbouring houses. They were high +explosives, but shrapnel was bursting high, with thunderclaps, which +left behind greenish clouds and scattered bullets down. I went through +the outer defences of Bapaume, walking with a General who was on his way +to the town, and who pointed out the strength of the place. Lord! It was +still horribly strong, and would have cost us many lives to take by +assault. Three belts of wire, very thick, stood solid and strong, in a +wide curve all round the town. The enemy had dug trenches quite +recently, so that the earth was fresh and brown, and dug them well and +perfectly. Only here and there had they been broken by our shell-fire, +though some of the dug-outs had been blown in. + +Just outside Bapaume, on the south-east side, is an old citadel built +centuries ago and now overgrown with fir-trees which would have given a +great field of fire to German machine-gunners, and I went afterwards +into snipers' posts, and stood at the entrance of tunnels and +bomb-proof shelters, not going down or touching any of the litter about +because of the danger lurking there in dark entries and in +innocent-looking wires and implements. There was a great litter +everywhere, for the German soldiers had left behind large numbers of +long-handled bombs and thousands of cartridges, and many tools and +implements. + +Before getting into Bapaume I crossed the railway line from Arras, +through Biefvillers, which was now on fire. They had torn up the rails +here, but there was still the track, and the signal-boxes and signs in +German. + + Im Bahnhof + Nur 10 Km. + +That is to say, the speed of trains was to be only 10 kilometres an hour +into the station. + +Another signboard directed the way for "Vieh" and "Pferde" (cattle and +horses), and everywhere there were notice-boards to trenches and +dug-outs: + + Nach 1 Stellung + Fuer zwei Offizieren + +As I entered Bapaume I noticed first, if my memory serves, the Hotel de +Commerce, with "garage" painted on a shell-broken wall, and immediately +facing me an old wooden house with a shoot for flour. Many of the houses +had collapsed as though built of cards, with all their roofs level with +the ground. Others were cut in half, showing all their rooms and +landings, and others were gutted in ways familiar to English people +after Zeppelin raids. Higher up on the right, as I have said, rows of +red-brick villas were burnt out, and smoke was rising in steady volumes +from this quarter of the town. The church, a white stone building, was +also smouldering. There were no Germans in the town, unless men are +still hiding there. The only living inhabitant was a little kitten which +ran across the square and was captured by our patrols, who now have it +as a pet. + +There were other men living early in the morning, but they are now dead. +It was a company of German machine-gunners who held out as the last +rear-guard. They fired heavily at our men, but were quickly overpowered. +The first message that came back from the entering troops was laconic: + + "While entering Bapaume we came across a party the whole of which + was accounted for. The mopping-up of Bapaume is now complete." + +I did not stay very long in the town. It was not a health resort. High +explosives were crumping every part of the town, and the buildings were +falling. Pip-squeaks were flung about horribly, and when I came out with +the General and another officer a flush of them came yelling at us and +burst very close, flinging up the ground only a few yards away. The +roadway of "pave" had been hurled up in huge chumps of stone, and +shrapnel was again breaking to the right of us. I struck across country +eastwards to see the promised land, and on the way to the near ridge +turned and stared back at Bapaume in the glow of the sunset. Ours at +last! + +The fires were still burning in the other villages, and it was such a +scene of war as I saw first when Dixmude was a flaming torch and Pervyse +was alight in the beginning of the world-conflict.... At about half-past +nine that night the enemy fired several quick rounds from his +field-batteries. Then there was a strange silence, unbroken by any +shell-fire. The Germans had fired their last shot in the battles of the +Somme. + + + + +X + +THE RESCUE OF PERONNE + + +MARCH 18 + +To-day at 7 A.M. a battalion of the Royal Warwicks of the 48th Division +entered Peronne. + +Standing alone that statement would be sensational enough. The French +fought for Peronne desperately through more than two years of war, and +now it is the luck of the British troops to enter it, as yesterday we +entered Bapaume, after a short action with the enemy's rear-guards. But +the news does not stand alone. The whole of the old German line south of +Arras, strong as one vast fortress, built by the labour of millions of +men, dug and tunnelled and cemented and timbered, with thousands of +machine-gun redoubts, with an immense maze of trenches, protected by +forests of barbed wire, had slipped away as though by a landslide, and +the enemy is in rapid retreat to new lines some miles away. As he goes +he is laying fire and waste to the countryside. North-east of Bapaume, +into which I went yesterday with our troops, and west of Peronne, scores +of villages are burning. One of them, larger than a village, the town of +Athies, is a flaming torch visible for miles around. Others are +smouldering ruins, from which volumes of smoke are rolling up into the +clear blue sky. Of all this great tract of France, which the enemy has +been forced to abandon to avoid the menace of combined attack, there is +no beauty left, and no homesteads, nor farms, but only black ruins and +devastation everywhere. The enemy is adopting the full cruelty of war's +malignancy. He has fouled the wells in his wake, so that if our +soldiers' horses should drink there they will die. Over the water-ways +he has burnt his bridges. Cross-roads have been mined, opening up +enormous craters like those I saw yesterday outside Bapaume. +High-explosive traps have been placed in the way of our patrols, to +scatter them in fragments if they lack caution. + +It is impossible to give our exact line at the present moment. We have +no exact line. Village after village has fallen into our hands since +midday yesterday. Our cavalry patrols are over the hills and far away. +Our infantry patrols are pushing forward unto new territory, so that +only aeroplanes know the exact whereabouts. As one aviator has reported: + + "Our men are lighting fires and taking their dinners at places off + the map. They are going into pubs which have been burnt out to find + beer which is not there." + +North and east of Bapaume our patrols have gone beyond the villages of +Rocquenes, Bancourt, Favreuil, and Sapignies. Intelligence officers +riding out on bicycles to these places were scared to find themselves so +lonely, and believed that the enemy must be close at hand. But the enemy +was still farther off. Our cavalry, working up past Logeast Wood, +penetrated east of Acheit-le-Grand and turned the German line of +Behagnies-Ytres. + +Much farther south, in the neighbourhood of Nesle, French and British +cavalry patrols came into touch to-day, and one of our aviators reports +that he saw French civilians waving flags and cheering them. + +The Germans have a cavalry screen behind their rear-guards. They were +seen yesterday north of Bapaume and southwards beyond Roye. And some of +them were chased by a British airman at a place called Ennemain. He +swooped low like an albatross, and brought a man off his horse by a +machine-gun bullet. Others stampeded from this terrible bird. + +This morning our troops were through Eterpigny beyond Barleux, and found +the villages of Misery and Marchelepot. There was some fighting last +night and this morning in the neighbourhood of Peronne. The enemy had +snipers and machine-gunners about, and kept some of their batteries back +until the last possible moment, flinging 5.9's and smaller shells over +our side of the lines, and firing heavily until about ten o'clock. Then +the gun-fire ceased, and there was not a shot. His guns were going back +along the dark roads, his rear-guards moved away, leaving behind them +their great defensive works of the Bapaume Ridge, and burning villages. + + * * * * * + +MARCH 19 + +Refusing to give battle, the enemy has retired still farther over open +country east of Bapaume, and our cavalry patrols are in touch with his +mounted rear-guards. The exact location is vague, as the movement +continues, and our cavalry is in small units, moving cautiously between +a large number of burning villages, which are everywhere alight. Small +parties of the enemy were encountered last night in the open near Ytres +and Berthincourt, and some snipers in an omnibus opened fire upon a +cavalry patrol, and were scattered by an aeroplane which swooped low, +sweeping them with machine-gun bullets. + +South of the Somme our cavalry got in touch with German cavalry at Rouy +and with German cyclists at Potte. All the bridges have been destroyed +to cover the enemy's retreat, as at Rouy and Breuil, and all the wells +have been filled with filth and rubbish. + +It is a most extraordinary experience to follow up through this +abandoned country from which the enemy has fled, as I have found to-day +in tramping through the district of Peronne and into that deserted and +destroyed town. A few weeks ago I went a journey to the new lines we had +taken over from the French south of the Somme. Then it was under the +full blast of shell-fire, and not a day passed without the enemy +flinging high explosives into the ruined villages of Herbecourt, +Estrees, Flaucourt, and Biaches. From Mont-St.-Quentin, on the flank of +Peronne, he had the observation of all our ground, so that it was +horrible to see that hill staring down on one, and by daylight in the +open country one moved always under the menace of death. To-day that +menace had gone. The evil spell had lifted, and we moved freely in the +sight of Mont-St.-Quentin, unafraid and with a strange sense of safety. +He had gone from there yesterday morning, and, at the same time, had +crept away from the trenches at Biaches, and across his wooden bridges +to Peronne, and out of this town to the open country, hurrying through +the night to escape from our pursuit. + +I went down into Biaches, a wild chaos of trenches and dug-outs and +ruin, and passed through the front line held by our troops until about +6.30 yesterday morning, and went with difficulty through the German +barbed wire still uncut, so that we were tangled and caught in it. Then +I passed into the old German lines, and went across the wooden causeway +built by them over the marshes down to the bank of the Somme. On the +other side of the river loop I saw for the first time Peronne, taken by +the enemy in the autumn of 1914, and fought for furiously by the French, +who regained it for a while and lost it again. It was dead quiet over +there. No shell burst over it, but a little smoke rolled above its +houses. From that distance, the broad river's width, it did not look +much destroyed. It was only afterwards that I saw how much. Several +wooden bridges spanned the Somme, and I tried two of these to get +across, but there were great gaps which I could not jump. Before leaving +the enemy had broken them and tried to hide the damage from the view of +our airmen by putting up straw screens. All the trees in the marshes had +been slashed by our shell-fire. Empty barrels floated in the water with +broken boats, and the old barge, called Notre Dame d'Amiens, was blown +in half. Snipers' posts had been built, outfacing our lines, and German +ammunition and bombs and coiled wire and a great litter of timber lay +about. + +I managed at last to get into Peronne by a wide curve through the +Faubourg de Paris, over the piled stones of a broken bridge with planks +across the gaps put there by our soldiers so that the enemy could be +followed in pursuit. He had been careful to check us as long as +possible, though it was not very long, for an hour after his going the +Royal Warwicks and some Londoners marched unto the Grande Place. Down +the Faubourg de Paris all the trees had been cut down, so that they had +crashed across the street, making a great barricade. Before going, +firebrands had been at work, setting alight all the houses not already +smashed by shell-fire. They were burning, when I passed them, so +fiercely that the hot breath of the flames was upon my face. Even now it +was possible to see that Peronne had once been a little town of +old-world dignity and charm. Frontages of some of these gutted houses +were richly carved in Renaissance style, among them being the ruins of +the Palais de Justice and the Hotel de Ville and the Maison Municipale. +Here and there along the Rue St.-Fursy and in the Grande Place was an +old French mansion built before the Revolution, now just a skeleton of +broken brickwork and timber. Though many houses were still standing +enough to see they were houses, there was hardly one that had escaped +the wrath of war. It was pitiful to see here and there old signs, +showing the life of the town in peace, such as the "Librairie Nouvelle," +the "Teinturerie Parisienne" belonging to Mme. Poitevineau, the Notary's +house, full of legal books and papers scattered on a charred floor +beneath a gaping roof, a shop for "articles de chasse" kept by one +Monsieur Bourdin. Those signboards, reminding one of Peronne before the +war, were side by side with other signboards showing the way of German +life until 6.30 yesterday morning. At the entrance to the town is a +notice: "Durchgang bei Tage streng Verboten." + +Most houses are labelled, "Keller fuer 60 Mann." At the entrance to a +dug-out below the town hall is the notice, "Verwundete und Kranke" (For +wounded and sick). The only inhabitants of the Grande Place were a big +black cat, looking sick and sorry for itself, and a dummy figure dressed +as a French Zouave, sprawling below the pedestal of a statue to +Catherine de Poix, heroine of the siege of 1870. The statue had been +taken away, like that of Faidherbe in the square of Bapaume. On top of +the pedestal had been laid the dummy figure in French uniform, but our +soldiers removed it. Peronne was a dead town, like Ypres, like Bapaume, +like all those villages in the wake of the German retreat. Over its old +fortifications, built by Vauban, and over its marshes wild duck are +flying. + + + + +PART II + +ON THE TRAIL OF THE ENEMY + + + + +I + +THE MAKING OF NO MAN'S LAND + + +MARCH 21 + +For several days now I have been going with our advancing troops into +towns, villages, and country abandoned by the enemy in his retreat. It +has been a strange adventure, fantastic as a dream, yet with the tragedy +of reality. The fantasy is in crossing over No Man's Land into the +German lines, getting through his wire, and passing through trenches +inhabited by his soldiers until a day or two ago, travelling over roads +and fields down which his guns and transport went, and going into +streets and houses in which there are signs of his recent occupation. He +has ruined all his roads, opening vast craters in them, and broken all +his bridges, but our men have been wonderfully quick in making a way +over these gaps, and this morning I motored over the German trenches at +Roye, zigzagging over this maze of ditches and dug-outs by bridges of +planks before getting to the roads behind his line. + +After passing the area of shell-fire on our side and his, the field of +shell-craters, the smashed barns and houses and churches, the tattered +tree-trunks, the wide belts of barbed wire, one comes to country where +grass grows again, and where the fields are smooth and rolling, and +where the woods will be clothed with foliage when spring comes to the +world again--country strange and beautiful to a man like myself, who has +been wandering through all the filth and frightfulness of the Somme +battlefields. German sentry-boxes still stand at the cross-roads. German +notice-boards stare at one from cottage walls, or where the villages +begin. Thousands of coils of barbed wire lie about in heaps, for the +enemy relied a great deal upon this means of defence, and in many places +are piles of shells which he has not removed. Gun-pits and machine-gun +emplacements, screens to hide his roads from view, observation-posts +built in tall trees, remain as signs of his military life a mile or two +back from his front lines, but behind the trenches are the towns and +villages in which he had his rest billets, and it is in these places +that one sees the spirit and temper of the men whom we are fighting. The +enemy has spared nothing on the way of his retreat. He has destroyed +every village in his abandonment with a systematic and detailed +destruction. Not only in Bapaume and in Peronne has he blown up, or +burnt, all the houses which were untouched by shell-fire, but in scores +of villages he has laid waste the cottages of the peasants, and all +their farms and all their orchards. At Rethonvillers this morning, to +name only one village out of many, I saw how each house was marked with +a white cross before it was gutted with fire. The Cross of Christ was +used to mark the work of the Devil. + +In Bapaume and Peronne, in Roye and Nesle and Liancourt, and all these +places over a wide area, German soldiers not only blew out the fronts of +houses, but with picks and axes smashed mirrors and furniture and +picture-frames. As a friend of mine said, a cheap-jack would not give +fourpence for anything left in Peronne, and that is true, also, of +Bapaume. There is nothing but filth in those two towns; family portraits +have been kicked into the gutters. I saw a picture of three children in +Bapaume, and it was smeared with filth in the writing of a dirty word. +The black bonnets of old women who once lived in those houses lie about +the rubbish-heaps, and by some strange, pitiful freak are almost the +only signs left of the inhabitants who lived here before the Germans +wrecked their houses. The enemy has left nothing that would be good for +dwelling or for food. Into the wells he has pitched filth so that the +people may not drink. + +But that is not the greatest tragedy I have seen. The ruins of houses +are bad to see when done deliberately, even when shell-fire has spared +them in the war zone. But worse than that is the ruin of women and +children and living flesh. I saw that ruin to-day in Roye and Nesle. I +was at first rejoiced to see how the first inhabitants were liberated +after being so long in hostile lines. I approached them with a queer +sense of excitement, eager to speak with them, but instantly when I saw +those women and children in the streets, and staring at me out of +windows, I was struck with a chill of horror. The women's faces were +dead faces, sallow and mask-like, and branded with the memory of great +agonies. The children were white and thin--so thin that their +cheek-bones protruded. Hunger and fear had been with them too long. + +The Mayor of Nesle told me that after the first entry of the Germans on +August 29, 1914, and after the first brutalities, the soldiers had +behaved well, generally speaking. They were well disciplined, and lived +on good terms with the people, as far as possible. Probably he tells the +truth fairly, and I believe him. But the women with whom I spoke were +passionate and hysterical, and told me other stories. I believe them +too. Because these women, who are French, had to live with the men who +were killing their husbands and brothers, and that is a great horror. +They had to submit to the daily moods of men who were sometimes sulky +and sometimes drunk. The officers were often drunk. They had to see +their children go hungry, for though the Germans gave them potatoes, +sometimes they took away the hens, so that there were no eggs, and the +cows, so that there was no milk, and the children suffered and were +thin. On October 5, 1914, the Kaiser came to Nesle with an escort of +five motor-cars, and the soldiers lined the square and cheered him; but +the women and children stared and were silent, and hated those +white-haired men with the spiked hats. During the battles of the Somme +many wounded passed through the town, and others came with awful stories +of slaughter and fierce words against the English. Once twenty men of +the 173rd Regiment came in. They were half mad, weeping and cursing, and +said they were the sole survivors of their regiment. + +Then, quite recently, there came the rumour of a German retreat. On +Thursday, March 15, the German commandant sent for the Mayor and +announced the news. He gave orders for all the inhabitants to leave +their houses at 6.30, and to assemble in the streets, while certain +houses and streets indicated were to be destroyed. The German +commandant, whose name was Herwaardt, said he greatly regretted this +necessity. The work was to be carried out by his Oberleutnant Baarth. +The people wept at the destruction of their homes, though the houses in +the centre of Nesle were spared. But they were comforted by the promise +of liberation. For a week previously the enemy had been withdrawing his +stores. The garrison consisted of about 800 to 1000 men of the 38th +Regiment of Chasseurs and Cyclists. The gunners were the last to leave, +and went away at midnight with the rear-guard of infantry. By half-past +seven in the morning there was not a German soldier left in Nesle, and +at half-past nine a British patrol entered, and the women and children +surrounded our men, laughing and weeping. To-day they were being fed by +British soldiers, and were waiting round the field-kitchens with wistful +eyes. + + + + +II + +THE LETTER OF THE LAW + + +MARCH 23 + +On both sides cavalry patrols are scouting in the woods and villages, +and for a few days at least the situation has been extraordinarily like +those early days of the war in October of 1914, when our cavalry was +operating in Flanders, feeling forward cautiously to test the enemy's +strength. For the first time since those days German Uhlans have again +been seen on the Western Front. They have been seen moving about the +woods and on the skyline. + +Little parties of them are in hiding behind the broken walls of villages +destroyed in the German retreat. Now and again they bump into our +advanced posts and then bolt away, not seeking a fight. These are the +manoeuvres of open warfare not seen on our Front since the trenches +closed us in. Our cavalry patrols are working in the same way. Yesterday +one of them encountered some of the enemy on the road to St.-Quentin and +very close to that town, where fires are still burning. Our mounted men +were suddenly called to a halt by a sharp fusillade of rifle and +machine-gun bullets. The enemy this time was unmounted and entrenched, +and after reconnoitring this position our patrol galloped back. + +It is difficult to know always the exact whereabouts of the enemy's +advanced posts, as they were scattered about the countryside without any +definite trench line, so that officers of corps and divisional staffs +who are going out to examine the lie of the land, with a secret hope of +finding an adventure on the way, are taking out revolvers, which have +long been idle. I found a young staff officer to-day fastening his +holster to his belt before starting out on his morning's expedition, and +he slapped it and laughed, and said, "I haven't done this for over two +years. It is quite like old times." It brings back reminiscences to me +also of old days, when with two comrades I moved about the roads of war +ignorant of the enemy's position and narrowly escaping his +advance-guards. But, after all, it is no joke, and I should hate to get +into the middle of an enemy patrol somewhere in this country of burnt +and abandoned villages, through which I have been wandering with tired +eyes in the sight of all this destruction, so wanton, so brutal, and so +ruthless. + +For the enemy has adopted the letter of the law in that code of cruelty +which governs war, and I can think of nothing more damnable than the +horror which came to some hundreds of poor souls, mostly women and +children and old stricken men in the village of Rouy-le-Petit above the +Somme. + +Many of them had been driven into this hamlet from neighbouring +villages, which the Germans set on fire. Huddled in the streets of Rouy, +they saw the smoke and flames rising from their homesteads, and they +were terrorized and crushed. Presently the last German rear-guard went +out from Rouy, not cheering and singing as they came in August of 1914, +but silent and grim, conscience-stricken also, it seemed, so the French +people have told me, because of the law which made them do the things +they had done. They had been friendly with the villagers before they +smashed their houses, and had been good to the children before breaking +their bedsteads and making them homeless. They said again and again in +self-excuse, "It is war; it is the order of our high officers! We are +bound to do it." + +The German guns rumbled through the street of Rouy, and went away with +gunners and cyclists and infantry. Night came, and all the noise of +distant artillery died down, and there was hardly the sound of a shot +over all the country where for nearly three years there has been the +ceaseless fire of artillery. Early next morning a British patrol entered +the village, and the people crowded round, clasping the soldiers' hands +and thanking God for deliverance, and telling of their hunger, which was +near starving-point. Then the worst happened. Suddenly shells began to +fall over the village, crashing through the roofs and flinging up the +ground in the roadway. They were German shells fired by the German +gunners who had left only a few hours before. They were not meant to +kill the civilians who had been gathered at Rouy, all the women and +children and old, weak men. They were meant to kill the British patrols, +and so were lawful as an act of war. But one could not be done without +the other, and there were civilians who were wounded in Rouy-le-Petit +that day. Weeping and wailing, they rushed down into the cellars and +took refuge there, while flights of shells followed and tore holes in +rooms and walls, and filled the village with smoke and splinters. And +that is the lawfulness of war and the horror of war. + +When the enemy left he blew up all the cross-roads and made many +mine-craters along the way of his retreat. They have scarcely checked us +at all, and a tribute of praise is due to our infantry and our labour +battalions, who have been repairing those roads with quick, untiring +industry. To-day I have met with much traffic of war, French as well as +British traffic, the men in blue marching by the men in brown through +country where both armies meet. The French soldiers were marching with +their bands and colours through the ruined villages, and I never saw +more splendid men even in the early days of the war, when the great +armies of France went forward with a kind of religious passion and flung +back the Germans from the Marne. Our own men had no bands and no +colours. There was not the same sense of drama as they passed, but these +clean-shaven boys of ours, hardened by foul weather, by frost, and +rain-storms, and blizzard, go forward into the great waste, which the +enemy had left behind him, in their usual matter-of-fact way, whistling +a tune or two, passing a whimsical word along the line, settling down to +any old job that comes in a day's work, and finding as much comfort as +they can at the end of a long day's march on the lee side of a +shell-broken wall. + + + + +III + +THE ABANDONED COUNTRY + + +MARCH 24 + +After long days of tiring adventure in the wake of the German +rear-guards, following through places only just evacuated, and tramping +through the great ruin they have left behind them, I have tried to give +some idea of the tragic drama of it all, the uncanny quietude of the +abandoned country, the frightful wreckage of towns and villages +destroyed, not by shell-fire, but by picks and axes and firebrands, the +deep mine-craters blown under roads, the broken bridges across the +Somme, the crowds of starved civilians surrounding our patrols in market +squares where they had been herded while their homes were in flames +around them, the little bodies of British troops advancing through +barbed-wire entanglements into fortress positions like Bapaume and +Peronne, and our cavalry patrols feeling their way forward into unknown +country where the enemy's rear-guards are in hiding. + +That, in a few lines, is the historical picture of this strange new +phase of warfare in which we have been pushing forward during the past +two weeks. But through it all, to me, an onlooker of these things, there +has been one special theme of interest. It is the revelation of the +German way of life behind his lines--these abundant lines--his military +methods of defence and observation and organization, and the domestic +arrangements by which he has tried to make himself comfortable in the +field of war. Along every step of the way by which he has retreated +there are relics which show us exactly how our enemies lived and fought +when they were hidden from us across No Man's Land, and their philosophy +of life in war. All that is worth a little study. + +Everywhere--outside Bapaume and Peronne and Chaulnes, and all those +deserted places near the front lines--one ugly thing stares one in the +face: German barbed wire. It is heavier, stronger stuff than ours or the +French, with great cross-pieces of iron, and he has used amazing +quantities of it in deep wide belts in three lines of defence before his +trench systems, and in all sorts of odd places, by bridges and roads and +villages even far behind the trenches, to prevent any sudden rush of +hostile infantry or to tear our cavalry to pieces should we break his +lines and get through. His trenches were deeply dug, and along the whole +line from which he has now retreated they are provided with great +concreted and timbered dug-outs leading into an elaborate system of +tunnelled galleries perfectly proof from shell-fire, and similar to +those which I have described often enough in the Somme battlefields. As +a builder of dug-outs the German soldier has no equal. But in addition +to these trench systems he made behind his lines a series of strong +posts cunningly concealed and commanding a wide field of fire with +dominating observation over our side of the country. + +I found such a place quite by accident yesterday. My car broke down by a +little wood near Roye looking across to Damery and Bouchoir, and the +woody, wired fields which till a week ago were No Man's Land. When I +strolled into the wood I suddenly looked down an enormous sand-pit +covering an acre or so, and saw that it was a concealed fortress of +extraordinary strength and organization--an underground citadel for a +garrison of at least 3000 men perfectly screened by the wood above. Into +the sand-banks on every side of the vast pit were built hundreds of +chambers leading deeper down into a maze of tunnels which ran right +round the central arena. Before leaving the enemy had busied himself +with an elaborate packing up, and had taken away most of his movable +property, but the "fixtures" still remained, and a litter of mattresses +stuffed with shavings, empty wine-bottles, candles which had burnt down +on the last night in the old home, old socks and old boots and old +clothes no longer good for active service, and just the usual relics +which people leave behind when they change houses. + +The officers' quarters were all timbered and panelled and papered, with +glass windows and fancy curtains. They were furnished with bedsteads +looted from French houses, and with mirrors, cabinets, washhand-stands, +marble-top tables, and easy chairs. The cross-beams of the roofs were +painted with allegorical devices and with legends such as "Gott mitt +uns," "Furchtlos und treu," "In Treue fest." + +Each room had an enamelled or iron stove, so that the place must have +been snug and warm, and I noticed in several of them empty cages from +which singing birds had flown when German officers opened the doors +before their own flitting. + +The men's quarters were hardly less comfortable, and the whole place was +organized as a self-contained garrison, with carpenters' shops and +blacksmiths' sheds, and a quartermaster's stores still crowded with +bombs and aerial torpedoes--thousands of them, which the enemy had left +behind in his hurry--and kitchens with great stoves and boilers, and a +Red Cross establishment for first aid, and concrete bath-houses with +shower-baths and cigar-racks for officers, who smoke before and after +bathing. Outside the artillery officers' headquarters was a board +painted in white letters, with the following couplet: + + Schnell und gut ist unser Schuss + Deutscher Artilleristen Gruss. + + (Quick and good is our shooting + Of the German gunners' greeting.) + +Shell-craters in the open arena showed the French gunners had returned +the greeting, and that the garrison of this citadel had done well to +arrange their life mainly as a subterranean existence. But at times when +the French guns were quiet and when the French sun was shining they had +built alfresco corners with garden seats and tables, round which +enormous stacks of wine-bottles were littered, showing, as I have seen +in all these abandoned places, the enormous quantity of drink consumed +by German officers in their lighter moments. + +This citadel in the wood is only one out of similar strong points all +along the lines now abandoned by the enemy. Peronne, with +Mont-St.-Quentin on its flank, and with the Somme winding around it, and +with forests of barbed wire in the marshes below it, could be called +impregnable if any place may defy great armies. It was wonderfully +fortified with great industry and great skill for over two years, and +walking into these places now, marvelling at their strength, I can only +ask one question, which certainly the enemy will find it hard to answer. +Why has he abandoned such formidable strongholds? It seems to me that +there is only one answer. It is because they had to go and not because +they wanted to go. It was because they have no longer the strength to +hold their old line against the growing gun-power and the growing +man-power of the British Armies, and have been compelled to attempt a +new strategy which will save their reserves and shorten their line. + +Behind the lines the German officers and men lived comfortably in French +billets, and organized amusements for battalions in rest. At Bapaume +they had a little theatre with painted scenery. Two of the wings were +among the few things left in the rubbish-heaps of that poor destroyed +town, burnt and sacked by the Germans before they left, and when I went +in there with our troops some Australian soldiers propped them up +against the walls of a gutted house and inscribed upon them in white +chalk the name "Maison de la Co-ee," inviting their comrades to walk up +and see the finest show on earth. In Nesle the Germans turned the Cafe +de Commerce into their casino, and played military bands, whose music +did not cheer the hearts of wan women whose children were starving. + +Strange fellows! Who knows what to make of them? The French people just +liberated from their rule, which was a reign of terror in the severity +of its official regulations, contradict themselves in expressing their +white-hot hatred of the German character and their liking for the +individual soldiers who were quartered on them. + + "They were kind to the children ... but they burnt our + houses."--"Karl was a nice boy. He cried when he went away.... But + he helped to smash up the neighbours' furniture with an axe."--"The + lieutenant was a good fellow ... but he carried out the orders of + destruction." + +A woman told me, with a quivering rage in her voice, that a German +officer rode his horse into her room one day. Another woman showed me +the cut down her hand and arm which she had received from a German +soldier who tried to force his way into her house at night. Other +stories have been told me by women white with passion.... Yet it is +clear that, on the whole, the Germans behaved in a kindly, disciplined +way until those last nights, when they laid waste so many villages and +all that was in them. + + + + +IV + +THE CURE OF VOYENNES + + +MARCH 25 + +In the village of Voyennes, not far from Ham, and one of the few hamlets +not utterly destroyed, because the people of the district were herded +here while their own houses were being burnt, I went into the ruins of +the church. It was easy to see how the flames had licked about its old +stones, scorching them red, and how the high oak roof had come blazing +down before the walls and pillars had given way. Everything had been +licked down by flame except one figure on an encalcined fragment of +wall. Only one hand of the Christ there had been burned, and the body +hanging on the Cross was unscathed, like so many of those Calvaries +which I have seen in shell-fired places. + +But this place had not been touched by shell-fire, for it had been far +beyond the range of French or British guns; it had been destroyed +wilfully. The village around had been spared because of the large number +of people driven into it from the neighbouring countryside, and when I +called upon the priest who lives opposite the ruin of the church, where +he served God and the people of his little parish, I heard the story of +its burning. + +It was a queer thing to me to sit to-day in that room of the French +presbytery talking to the old Cure. Just a week before, on Sunday, at +the very hour of my visit, which was at midday, that old church outside +the window had become a blazing torch, and this priest, who loved it, +had wept tears as hot as its flames, and in his heart was the fire of a +great agony. He sat before me, a tall old man of the aristocratic type, +with a finely chiselled face, but thin and gaunt, and as sallow as +though he had been raised from the dead. If I could put down his words +as he spoke them to me with passion in his clear, vivid French, with +gestures of those transparent hands which gave a deeper meaning to his +words, it would be a great story, revealing the agony of the French +people behind the German lines. For the story of this village of +Voyennes is just that of all the villages on the enemy's side of the +barbed wire. + +Here in a few little streets about an old church were the bodily +suffering, the spiritual torture, the patient courage, the fight against +despair, the brooding but hidden fears, which have been the life over a +great tract of France since August 1914. "For a year," said M. le Cure +Caron, "my people here have had not a morsel of meat and not a drop of +wine, and only bad water in which the Germans put their filth. They gave +us bread which was disgusting, and bad haricots and potatoes, and +potatoes and haricots, and not enough even, so that the children became +wan and the women weak. The American people sent us some food-stuffs, +but the Germans took the best of them, and in any case we were always +hungry. But those things do not matter, those physical things. It was +the suffering of the spirit that mattered, and, monsieur, we suffered +mentally so much that it almost destroyed our intelligence, it almost +made us silly, so that even now we can hardly think or reason, for you +will understand what it meant to us French people. We were slaves after +the Germans came in and settled down upon us, and said, 'We are at home; +all here is ours.' They ordered our men to work, and punished them with +prison for any slight fault. They were the masters of our women, they +put our young girls among their soldiers, they set themselves out +deliberately at first to crush our spirit, to beat us by terror, to +subdue us to their will by an iron rule. They failed, and they were +astonished. 'We cannot understand you people,' they said; 'you are so +proud, your women are so proud.' And that was true, sir. Some women, not +worthy of the name of French women, were weak--it was inevitable, +alas!--but for the most part they raised their heads and said, 'We are +French, we will never give in to you, not after one year, nor two years, +nor three years, nor four years.' + + "The Germans asked constantly, 'When do you think the war will + end?' We answered, 'Perhaps in five years, but in the end we will + smash you,' and this made them very angry, so our people went about + with their heads up, scornful, refusing to complain against any + severity or any hardship. + + "Secretly among ourselves it was different. We could get no news + for months except lies. We knew nothing of what was happening. + Starvation crept closer upon us. We were surrounded by the fires of + hell. As you see, we are in the outer section of the great Somme + battle line, and very close to it. For fifty hours at a time the + roar of guns swept round us week after week, and month after month, + and the sky blazed around us. We were afraid of the temper of the + German officers after the defeat on the Marne, and after the + battles of the Somme Germany was like a wounded tiger, fierce, + desperate, cruel. Secretly, though our people kept brave faces, + they feared what would happen if the Germans were forced to + retreat. At last that happened, and after all we had endured the + days of terror were hard to bear. From all the villages around, one + by one, people were driven out, young women and men as old as sixty + were taken away to work for Germany, and an orderly destruction + began, which ended with the cutting down of our orchards and ruin + everywhere. The Commandant before that was a good man and a + gentleman, afraid of God and his conscience. He said, 'I do not + approve of these things. The world will have a right to call us + barbarians.' He asked for forgiveness because he had to obey + orders, and I gave it him. An order came to take away all the bells + of the churches and all the metalwork. I had already put my church + bells in a loft, and I showed them to him, and said, 'There they + are.' He was very sorry. This man was the only good German officer + I have met, and it was because he had been fifteen years in America + and had married an American wife and escaped from the spell of his + country's philosophy. Then he went away. Last Sunday, a week ago, + at this very hour when the people were all in their houses under + strict orders, and already the country was on fire with burning + villages, a group of soldiers came outside there with cans of + petroleum, which they put into the church. Then they set fire to + it, and watched my church burn in a great bonfire. At this very + hour a week ago I watched it burn.... That night the Germans went + away through Voyennes, and early in the morning, up in my attic, + looking through a pair of glasses I saw four horsemen ride in. They + were English soldiers, and our people rushed out to them. Soon + afterwards came some Chasseurs d'Afrique, and the Colonel gave me + the news of the outer world to which we now belong after our years + of isolation and misery. Our agony had ended.... The Germans know + they were beaten, monsieur; a Commandant of Ham said, 'We are + lost.' After the battles of the Somme the men groaned and wept when + they were sent off to the Front. 'God,' they cried, 'the horror of + the French and English gun-fire; O Christ, save us!' During the + battles of the Somme the wounded poured back, a thousand or more a + day, and Ham was one great hospital of bleeding flesh. The German + soldiers have bad food and not enough of it, and their people are + starving as we starved. The German officers behaved to their men + with their usual brutality. I have seen them beat the soldiers + about the head while those men stood at attention, not daring to + say a word, but as soon as the officers are out of the way, the men + say, 'We will cut those fellows' throats after the war. We have + been deceived! After the war we will make them pay.'" + +So the Cure talked to me, and I have only given a few of his words, but +what I have given is enough. + + + + +V + +THE CHATEAU OF LIANCOURT + + +MARCH 28 + +Day by day our soldiers push farther forward across the country which +the Germans have laid waste, so that even when peace comes there will be +no dwelling-places where there were once fine chateaux of France, and +thriving little towns and hamlets clustering about old farmsteads, and +great barns; nor any orchards, where for miles there was white blossom +in the Aprils of many centuries, and ruddy fruit in all the autumns of +the past. + +These men of ours take all this desolation in a matter-of-fact way, as +they take everything in this war, and pass almost without thought scenes +more than usually fantastic in piled ruins, and it is only by some such +phrase or two as "Did you ever see the like?" or "They've made a pretty +mess of that!" that they express their astonishment in this wide belt of +death which the enemy has left along his tracks. Secretly I think some +of them are stirred with a sense of the sinister drama of it all, and +are a little staggered by a ruthlessness of war beyond even their own +earlier experience, which covers the battle of the Somme. All this is +something new, something which seems unnecessary, something more +devilish, and our men go poking about among the burnt houses and into +the German underground defences searching among the rubbish and +examining the relics of the old life there, as though to discover the +secret of the men who have gone away, the secret of "Old Fritz" their +enemy. + +Sometimes they find messages written to them by the enemy in good +English, but with dark meanings. In one German dug-out the other day an +officer of ours found a note scribbled on the table. + + "We are going away, Tommy dear, and leave some empty bottles of + Rhein wine. It is the best wine in the world. Take care it is not + the best for you." + + "When are they coming?" was another note. "Enlist at once, Tommy my + boy." + +But those things do not explain. It is difficult to find any clue to the +character of these German soldiers, who have left behind them proofs of +wonderful labour and skill, and proofs of great sentiment and religious +piety, and proofs of an ordered cruelty worse than anything seen in +France since barbarous days. How can one explain? + +Yesterday I went to a village called Liancourt. There is a big chateau +there. Even now at a little distance it seems a place of old romance, +with a strong, round tower and high peaked roofs, and great wings of +dark old brick. In such a place Henri IV lived. It was centuries old +when the Revolution made its heraldic shields meaningless, but until a +year or two ago its walls were still hung with tapestries, and its halls +were filled with Empire furniture, and its great vaulted cellars with +wine. When the Germans came they made it a hospital for their +wounded--their Red Cross is still painted on one of the sloping +roofs--and though it was far behind their lines, surrounded it with +barbed wire which is now red with rust, and built enormous dug-outs in +its grounds in case French guns should ever come near. When the Germans +went a few days ago they left but an empty shell. They stripped the +walls of panelling and tapestry, they took all the clocks and pictures +and furniture and carpets, and I wandered yesterday through scores of +rooms empty of everything so that my footsteps echoed in them. The +Chateau of Liancourt had been looted from attic to cellar. But quite +close to the chateau the Germans have left the bodies of many of their +soldiers, as all over this country, by roadsides and in fields, there +are the graves of German dead. Here there was one of their cemeteries, +strongly walled with heavy blocks of stone, each grave with its big +wooden headpiece, with a stone chapel built for the burial service, and +with a "Denkmal," or monument, in the centre of all these dead. It was a +memorial put up by Hessian troops in July 1915 to the honour of men +taken on the field of honour. + +In this graveyard one sees the deep respect paid by the Germans to the +dead--French dead as well as German dead.... But just a hundred yards +away is another graveyard. It is the cemetery of the little church in +the grounds of the chateau, and is full of vaults and tombs where lay +the dust of French citizens, men, women, and children, who died before +the horror of this war. + +The vaults had been opened by pickaxes. The tombstones were split across +and graves exposed. Into these little houses of the dead--a young girl +had lain in one of them--rubbish had been flung. From one vault the +coffin had been taken away.... The church had been a little gem, with a +tall, pointed spire. Not by shell-fire, but by an explosive charge +placed there the day before the Germans went away the spire had been +flung down and one end of the church blown clean away. The face of its +clock lay upon the rubbish-heap. The sanctuary had been opened and the +reliquaries smashed. The statues of the saints had been overturned, and +the vestments of the priest trampled and torn. + + * * * * * + +I went into the village of Cremery not far away. Here also the graves +had been opened in the churchyard, and in the church the relics of +saints had been looted--a queer kind of loot for German homes--and in +the sacristy fine old books of prayer and music lay tattered on the +floor. + + * * * * * + +I went again yesterday to the great area of destroyed villages which the +enemy left behind him on his retreat to St.-Quentin, and from Holnon +Wood, which our cavalry were the first to enter a few weeks ago, looked +across the open country between our outposts and that old city whose +cathedral rises as a grey mass above the last ridge, so near and so +clear when the sunlight falls upon it that our men can see the tracery +of the windows. It still stands unbroken and beautiful, though houses +have been destroyed around it to clear the enemy's field of fire. +German officers use its towers as observation-posts, and can see every +movement of our men in the fields below. + + "They snipe us with five-point-nines," said a young officer, + smoking a cigarette, with his back to a broken wall in a heap of + ruins. "They scatter 'em about on the off-chance of hitting some + one, and you never can tell where they are likely to drop." + +Some of them came whirring across to the Holnon Wood and down into the +village of Francilly as I stood looking across to Savy Wood, but not +close enough to hurt any one. It is the queerest thing to be in this +part of our Front. Go a little too far down a road, mistake one village +for another--and it is quite easy, for they all look alike in ruin--and +if you are an absent-minded man you can get into the enemy's lines +without realizing your danger. Yesterday only occasional shell-bursts +and short spasms of machine-gun fire from the edge of Savy Wood came to +prove that here masses of men are watching out to kill each other. +Pigeons cooed in the woods. The ground at my feet was spangled with +anemones, and the sunlight chased shadows across the fields of spring +below the city, where soon the streets may be noisy with battle. Our +men, living amidst ruin this side of St.-Quentin, have settled down to +this life of open warfare as though they had known nothing else. Whether +the tragedy of it all sinks into them I do not know, but they whistle +music-hall tunes in the vast rubbish-heaps which were once old chateaux +of France, and sleep and stack their rifles in ancient crypts among the +coffins of French aristocrats who died before, or just a little after, +the French Revolution, and find shelter from wind and rain in poor +little sacristies filled with statues of saints adjoining churches +wrecked by explosive charges before the German soldiers went their way. + +One sees the strangest contrasts of life and death in all this +countryside, as when yesterday I came across a Highlander playing his +pipes in a wild and merry way on an avalanche of old red bricks which +once formed part of the mansion of Caulaincourt, with many terraces +lined with white statues of Greek goddesses now lying maimed and +mutilated among the great rubbish-heaps. + +By the roadside on my way I saw some English soldiers resting, and close +to them was a marble tablet stuck up in a heap of earth. I read the +words carved on the stone, and it told me that here was the heart of +Anne-Josephine Barandier, Marquise de Caulaincourt, who died in Paris on +January 17, 1830. + +Poor dead heart of Madame la Marquise! In a vault near by all the +tablets of her family had been smashed, and the coffins laid bare, but +there was no little niche to show where the lady's heart had been. + +Outside in the churchyard there was a great tomb to the memory of the +French soldiers who fell in 1871, and next to them the graves of German +soldiers killed in this war, and a wooden cross to Second Lieutenant +Nixon, of the Royal Flying Corps, killed here behind the German lines on +July 19, 1915. + + + + +VI + +THE OLD WOMEN OF TINCOURT + + +MARCH 29 + +One scene on the roadside of war will remain sharp in my memory among +all these scenes in the wilderness which the Germans have made behind +them, through which I have been passing. It is because of the courage of +old women who sat there on the way. + +It was beyond Peronne, and through the open country where our cavalry +patrols are working, and in the village of Tincourt. Up beyond +Lagnicourt the guns yesterday were firing heavily, and sharp gusts of +wind blew forward the noise of a greater and farther bombardment, deep +and low. Quite close, the village of Roisel, taken by our troops the day +before, was still smouldering, and all around for miles was the long +black trail of war with hundreds of villages and farmsteads laid low by +fire and dynamite before the Germans left them in retreat. But in +Tincourt only the outer streets and the neighbouring, separate buildings +had been destroyed. The main part of the village was still standing, +though the enemy had shelled it a little the day before. When I came +into it I saw that it was one of the few places left by the Germans, +because it was a concentration camp of civilians driven in from other +villages while they were being smashed. + +The people were gathered about the roadway, about two hundred of them, +sitting or standing among piles of bundles, like refugees in the old +days of the war. There were many old, old women among them in black +dresses and bonnets, and a group of young girls, of fifteen or so, and +small boys and children in arms. They were looking down the road +anxiously, and I found that they were waiting for British lorries and +ambulances to take them away to safer country, beyond the reach of +German shell-fire. They were people who had just been liberated from +hostile rule. The grey tide of the German army had swept back from them, +and they found themselves once again free people of France, with news of +France, and of the world on the other side of the trenches and the wire +which for two years and a half had shut them in with the enemy. + +I spoke with the old women, these brave old grandmothers who were +sitting homeless and houseless on their bundles in the midst of a ruined +countryside, within reach of the guns. They were not weeping but +smiling. They were not afraid but scornful of the perils through which +they had passed. + +They were thin because they had stinted for their grandchildren, and +they had suffered great misery, but they held their old grey heads high, +and said, "For our sons' sake we endured all things." + +They are the grandmothers of the babes who know nothing of all this war, +and one day will be told, and the mothers of men who have fought and +died, and who fight and die with supreme self-sacrifice in the shambles +of this war. They are women worthy of hero sons, themselves heroic. They +were not passionate against the enemy, only contemptuous of him, and of +his rule of them. They liked some of the German soldiers and made no +accusations of individual brutality, but cursed the spirit which had +laid waste their villages, and destroyed their houses and orchards, and +taken away their young girls and all men to the age of fifty. They spoke +with the dispassionate eloquence of people who have been in earthquakes +and shipwrecks and tornadoes. German cruelty was natural, inevitable, +and unarguable, and the soldiers who had done these things were the +slaves of the fate which ordained their acts. + + "I was taken to Roisel from my own village farther back," said one + old lady. "They burnt my house and my neighbours' houses and drove + us forward. Roisel was all in flames when we passed through. The + fires came out of the houses, and the heat of them scorched us. + Then we came to Tincourt, and yesterday they shelled us. The little + ones were afraid. Our young girls were weeping and full of terror. + + "You will understand that it is hard to see one's village + destroyed, and to see one's sisters taken away, and not to know + what is to happen next. For us old women it was not so bad. We are + too old to weep, having wept too much. We thought of our sons who + have died for France. We showed our scorn for the enemy by hiding + our fear." + + "They know they are beaten," said the old ladies. "They ask always + for peace. They are afraid of the punishment which God holds in + store for them for all this wickedness." + + "Yes," said one of the old women, "they will be punished. What we + have suffered they will suffer. All this"--she thrust up a skinny + hand towards the ruined land behind her--"must be paid for." + + "It is William who will pay," said another old woman, "with his + head." + +It was like the talk of the Greek Fates, the three old women who held +the thread and spun the thread and snipped the thread--this talk of the +old women of Tincourt, so passionless, so hard, so fair, so certain. But +I marvelled at their courage, sitting there on their bundles, after +tramping away from their blazing homesteads, waiting for British lorries +to take them away from a place which, even then, was registered by +German guns, with the young girls, and the babies who were born under +hostile rule. + + + + +VII + +THE AGONY OF WAR + + +MARCH 31 + +I am moved to write again of the old men and women and of the young +women and children who have been liberated by our advance, because I +have just been among these people again, seeing their tears, hearing +their pitiful tales, touched by hands which plucked my sleeve so that I +should listen to another story of outrage and misery. + +All they told me, and all I have seen, builds up into a great tragedy. +These young girls, who wept before me, shaken by the terror of their +remembrance, these old brave men, who cried like children, these old +women who did not weep but spoke with strange, smiling eyes as to life's +great ironies, revealed to me in a fuller way the enormous agony of life +behind the German lines now shifted back a little so that these people +have escaped. It is an agony which includes the German soldiers, +themselves enslaved, wretched, disillusionized men, under the great doom +which has killed so many of their brothers, ordered to do the things +many of them loathe to do, brutal by order even when they have gentle +instincts, doing kind things by stealth, afraid of punishment for +charity, stricken both by fear and hunger. + + "Why do you go?" they were asked by one of the women who have been + speaking to me. + + "Because we hope to escape the new British attacks," they answered. + "The English gun-fire smashed us to death on the Somme. The + officers know we cannot stand that horror a second time." + +They spoke as men horribly afraid. + + "I was the bailiff of Mme. la Marquise de Caulaincourt," said an + elderly man, taking off his peaked cap to show me a coronet on the + badge. "When the Germans came first to our village they seized all + the tools, and all the farm-carts, and all the harvesting, and then + they forced us all to work for them, the men at three sous an hour, + the women at two sous an hour, and prison for any who refused to + work. From the chateau they sent back the tapestries, the pictures, + and anything which pleased this Commandant or that, until there was + nothing left. Then in the last days they burnt the chateau to the + ground and all the village and all the orchards." + + "It was the same always," said a woman. "There were processions of + carts covered with linen, and underneath the linen was the + furniture stolen from good houses." + + "Fourteen days ago," said an old man who had tears in his eyes as + he spoke, "I passed the night in the cemetery of Vraignes. There + were one thousand and fifteen of us people from neighbouring + villages, some in the church and some in the cemetery. They + searched us there and took all our money. Some of the women were + stripped and searched. In the cemetery it was a cold night and + dark, but all around the sky was flaming with the fire of our + villages--Poeuilly, Bouvincourt, Marteville, Trefcon, Monchy, + Bernes, Hancourt, and many more. The people with me wept and cried + out loud to see their dear places burning and all this hell. + Terrible explosions came to our ears. There were mines everywhere + under the roads. Then Vraignes was set on fire and burnt around us, + and we were stricken with a great terror. Next day the English came + when the last Uhlans had left. 'The English!' we shouted, and ran + forward to meet them, stumbling, with outstretched hands. Soon + shells began to fall in Vraignes. The enemy was firing upon us, and + some of the shells fell very close to a barn quite full of women + and children. 'Come away,' said your English soldiers, and we fled + farther." + +Russian prisoners were brought to work behind the lines, and some French +prisoners. They were so badly fed that they were too weak to work. + +"Poor devils!" said a young Frenchwoman. "It made my heart ache to see +them." + +She watched a French prisoner one day through her window. He was so +faint that he staggered and dropped his pick. A German sentry knocked +him down with a violent blow on the ear. The young Frenchwoman opened +the window, and the blood rushed to her head. + +"Sale bete!" she cried to the German sentry. + +He spoke French and understood, and came under the window. + +"'Sale bete'? ... For those words you shall go to prison, madame." + +She repeated the words, and called him a monster, and at last the man +spoke in a shamed way and said: + +"Que voulez-vous? C'est la guerre. C'est cruelle, la guerre!" + +This man had kinder comrades. Pitying the Russian prisoners, they gave +them stealthily a little brandy and cigarettes, and some who were caught +did two hours' extra drill each day for a fortnight. + +"My three sisters were taken away when the Germans left," said a young +girl. She spoke her sisters' names, Yvonne, Juliette, and Madeleine, +and said they were eighteen and twenty-two and twenty-seven, and then, +turning away from me, wept very bitterly. + +"They are my daughters," said a middle-aged woman. "When they were taken +away I went a little mad. My pretty girls! And all our neighbours' +daughters have gone, up from sixteen years of age, and all the men-folk +up to fifty. They have gone to slavery, and for the girls it is a great +peril. How can they escape?" + +How can one write of these things? For the women it was always worst. +Many of them had surpassing courage, but some were weak and some were +bad. The bad women preyed on the others in a way so vile that it seems +incredible. There was no distinction of class or sex in the forced +labour of the harvest-fields, and delicate women of good families were +forced to labour on the soil with girls strong and used to this toil. +There were many who died of weakness and pneumonia and under-feeding. + +"Are you not afraid of being called barbarians for ever?" asked a woman +of a German officer who had not been brutal, but, like others, had tried +to soften the hardships of the people. + +"Madame," he said very gravely, "we act under the orders of people +greater than ourselves, and we are bound to obey, because otherwise we +should be shot. But we hate the cruelty of war, and we hate those who +have made it. One day we will make them pay for the vile things we have +had to do." + +What strange little dramas, what tragic stories I have heard in these +recent days! I have told the tale of one old priest. Here is the tale of +another, as he told it to me in the midst of ruin. + +He is the Abbe Barbe, of Muille, near Ham. In the neighbourhood was an +enemy, too, a Frenchman, who was once a Christian brother, and now, +unfrocked, a drunkard and a debauchee. He accused the abbe of having a +telephone in his cellar from which he sent messages to Paris about +German military secrets. One night there came a bang at the door of the +abbe's study. Five soldiers entered with fixed bayonets and arrested the +old priest. He was taken to the fortress of Ham and put into a dark cell +with one small iron grating and a plank bed. Here he was interrogated by +a German officer, who told him of the grave accusation against him. + +"Search my cellars," said the abbe. "If there is a telephone there, +shoot me as a spy. If not, set me free, after your court martial." + +There was no court martial. After four days in the darkness the abbe was +taken away by German soldiers and set down, not at Muille, but at +Voyennes, ten kilometres or so away, and forbidden to go back to his +village or his church. He went back a few days ago, when the Germans +left. When he went into his house he found that it had been sacked. All +the rare old books in his library had been burnt. There was nothing left +to him. + +"Sir," said a sister of charity, "these people whom you see here were +brave but tortured in spirit and in body. Beyond the German lines they +have lived in continual fear and servitude. The tales which they have +told us must make the good God weep at the wickedness of his creatures. +There will be a special place in hell, perhaps, for the Emperor William +and his gang of bandits." + +She spoke the words as a pious aspiration, this little pale woman with +meek and kindly eyes, in her nun's dress. + + + + +VIII + +CAVALRY IN ACTION + + +APRIL 2 + +Our troops have advanced since yesterday on to a line of high ground +overlooking St.-Quentin and sweeping in a curve round the wood of +Holnon, which is the last strong point between us and the trenches +immediately before the cathedral city. This morning our outposts were in +Bihucourt and Villecholles, and advancing to Maissemy, thereby holding +all the roads except one on the western side of the Hindenburg-Siegfried +line between Peronne and St.-Quentin. Our enemy is shelling the villages +from which he has lately retired with long-range guns, and we are now +drawing very close to his new line of trenches and fixed positions. + +Northwards of Peronne and east of Bapaume our troops have taken +Doignies, above the forest of Havrincourt, and hold Neuville and +Ruyaulcourt to the south of it, so that this great wood is encircled +like that of Holnon; and the enemy must escape quickly from the shelter +of the trees or be trapped there. + +Northwards again, above Bapaume, we have made to-day a heavy and +successful attack south-east of Croisilles, where a few days ago there +was sharp fighting and several German counter-attacks, because the +position threatens that sector of the Hindenburg line which is +immediately behind the village striking down at an angle south-eastwards +in front of Queant, from which we are three miles distant. Two small +villages below Croisilles, named Longatte and Ecoust-St.-Mien, have also +fallen to us. + +Our attack to-day was preceded by great gun-fire, and the enemy has +defended himself with desperate courage, acting upon Hindenburg's orders +that the position must be held at all costs. We have brought back over a +hundred prisoners, and have inflicted great losses upon the garrison. + +One of the most interesting and extraordinary features in all the +fighting east of Bapaume has been the work of our cavalry squadrons in +reconnaissance and attack. I confess that, after two and a half years of +trench warfare, I was utterly sceptical of the value of mounted troops, +in spite of the little stunt (as they called it) south of High Wood, +after we took the Bazentins and Longueval in July of last year, when the +Royal Dragoons and Deccan Horse rode out and brought back prisoners. +Conditions have changed since then by a great transformation scene, +owing to the enemy's abandonment of his old fortress positions on the +Somme under our frightful onslaught of gun-fire. The country into which +we have now gone is beyond the great wide belt of shell-craters, which +made the battlefields of the Somme a wild quagmire of deep pits and +ponds. The roads between the ruined villages are wonderfully smooth and +good where they have not been mined, and the fields are as nature and +French husbandry left them after last year's harvest. Then there has +been a glorious absence of heavy shell-fire while the enemy has been +drawing back his guns to emplacements behind the Hindenburg line; and +this to cavalry, as well as to infantry, makes all the difference +between heaven and hell. So the cavalry has had its chance again after +the old far-off days when they rode up the Mont des Cats and chased +Uhlans through Meteren, and scouted along the Messines Ridge in the +autumn of 1914. + +There have been no great sensational episodes, no shock of lance against +lance in dense masses, no cutting up of rear-guards nor slashing into a +routed army, but there has been a great deal of good scouting work +during the past three weeks. Eight villages have been taken by the +Canadian cavalry under General Seely, and they have captured a number of +prisoners and machine-guns. They have liked their hunting. I have seen +the Indian cavalry riding across the fields with their lances high, and +it was a great sight, and as strange as an Arabian Nights tale in this +land of France, to see those streams of brown-bearded men, as handsome +as fairy-book princes, with the wind blowing their khaki turbans. + +Night after night our cavalry have gone out in patrols, the leader ahead +and alone; two men following; behind them a small body keeping in touch. +They ride silently like shadows, with no clatter of stirrup or chink of +bit. They find the gaps in the enemy's wire, creep close to his infantry +outposts, ride very deftly into the charred ruins of abandoned villages, +and come back with their news of the enemy's whereabouts. A week ago one +of their patrols went into the Forest of Holnon, which is still held by +the enemy, and listened to Germans talking. Our men were undiscovered. +They took the villages by sweeping round on both sides in a great +gallop, with their lances down, and the enemy fled at the first sight of +them. + +When the cavalry charged at Equancourt, a body of British infantry, who +had come on to the ground six hours earlier than they need have done, in +order (as they said) not to miss the show, cheered them on with the +wildest enthusiasm. + +"Look at those beggars," shouted one man as the cavalry swept past; +"that's the way to take a village. No blighted bombs for them, and hell +for leather all the way!" + +It was a difficult operation, this taking of Equancourt, and was carried +out in the best cavalry style according to the old traditions. The +village and a little wood in the front of it were held by Germans with +machine-guns, and another village to the right named Sorel was defended +in the same way, and commanded the field of fire before Equancourt. The +cavalry had two spurs of ground in front of them divided by two narrow +gullies, or re-entrants. One gully ran straight to the village of +Equancourt, but was directly in front of the German machine-gun +emplacements. The other gully was to the right, and it was through this +that the cavalry rode, sweeping round in a curve to Equancourt. Before +their charge of two parties, a third party was posted on the left on +rising ground, and swept the wood below Equancourt with machine-gun +fire, and a smaller body of cavalry to the right occupied the attention +of the enemy in Sorel in the same way. Then the two attacking parties +were launched, and rode hard at a pace of twenty-three miles an hour. + +The enemy did not stand. After a few bursts of machine-gun fire, which +only hit a few of our mounted men, they fled behind the shelter of a +railway embankment beyond the village, and most of them escaped. + +All this is an interlude between greater and grimmer things. We have not +yet come to the period of real open warfare, but have only passed over a +wide belt of No Man's Land: and the fantasy of cavalry skirmishes and +wandering Germans and civilians greeting us with outstretched hands from +ruined villages will soon be closed by the wire and walls of the +Hindenburg line, where once again the old fortress and siege warfare +will begin, unless we have the luck to turn it or break through before +the Siegfried divisions have finished their fortifications. + + + + +PART III + +THE BATTLE OF ARRAS + + + + +I + +ARRAS AND THE VIMY RIDGE + + +APRIL 9 + +To-day at dawn our armies began a battle which, if Fate has any kindness +for the world, may be the beginning of the last great battles of the +war. Our troops attacked on a wide front including the Vimy Ridge--that +grim hill which dominates the plain of Douai and the coalfields of +Lens--and the German positions around Arras. In spite of bad fortune in +the weather at the beginning of the day, so bad that there was no +visibility for the airmen, and our men had to struggle forward in a +heavy rain-storm, the first attacks have been successful, and the enemy +has lost much ground, falling back in retreat to strong rear-guard lines +where he is now fighting desperately. + +The line of our attack covers a front of some twelve miles southwards +from Givenchy-en-Gohelle, and is a sledge-hammer blow threatening to +break the northern end of the Hindenburg line, already menaced round +St.-Quentin. As soon as the enemy was forced to retreat from the country +east of Bapaume and Peronne, in order to escape a decisive blow on that +line, he hurried up divisions and guns northwards to counter our attack +there, while he prepared a new line of defence known as the Wotan line, +as the southern part of the Hindenburg line, which joins it, is known as +the Siegfried position, after two great heroes of old German mythology. +He hoped to escape there before our new attack was ready, but we have +been too quick for him, and his own plans were frustrated. So to-day +began another titanic conflict which the world will hold its breath to +watch, because of all that hangs upon it. + +I have seen the fury of this beginning, and all the sky on fire with it, +the most tragic and frightful sight that men have ever seen, with an +infernal splendour beyond words to tell. The bombardment which went +before the infantry assault lasted for several days, and reached a great +height yesterday, when coming from the south I saw it for the first +time. I went up in darkness long before light broke to-day to watch the +opening of the battle. It was very cold, with a sharp wind blowing from +the south-east and rain-squalls. The roads were quiet until I drew near +to Arras, and then onwards there was the traffic of marching men going +up to the fighting-lines, and of their transport columns, and of many +ambulances. In darkness there were hundreds of little red lights, the +glow of cigarette ends. Every now and then one of the men would strike a +match, holding it in the hollow of his hands and bending his head to it, +so that his face was illumined--one of our English faces, clear-cut and +strong. The wind blew sparks from cigarette ends like fireflies. Outside +one camp a battalion was marching away, a regiment of shadow-forms, and +on the bank above them the band was playing them out with fifes and +drums, such a merry little tune, so whimsical and yet so sad also in the +heart of it, as it came trilling out of darkness. On each side of me as +I passed by men were deeply massed, and they were whistling and singing +and calling out to each other. Away before them were the fires of death, +to which they were going very steadily, with a tune on their lips, +carrying their rifles and shovels and iron rations, while the rain +played a tattoo on their steel hats. + +I went to a place a little outside Arras on the west side. It was not +quite dark, because there was a kind of suffused light from the hidden +moon, so that I could see the black mass of the cathedral city, the +storm-centre of this battle, and away behind me to the left the tall, +broken towers of Mont-St.-Eloi, white and ghostly looking, across to the +Vimy Ridge. The bombardment was now in full blast. It was a beautiful +and devilish thing, and the beauty of it and not the evil of it put a +spell upon one's senses. All our batteries, too many to count, were +firing, and thousands of gun-flashes were winking and blinking from the +hollows and hiding-places, and all their shells were rushing through +the sky as though flocks of great birds were in flight, and all were +bursting over German positions, with long flames which rent the darkness +and waved sword-blades of quivering light along the ridges. The earth +opened, and pools of red fire gushed out. Star-shells burst +magnificently, pouring down golden rain. Mines exploded east and west of +Arras, and in a wide sweep from Vimy Ridge to Blangy southwards, and +voluminous clouds, all bright with a glory of infernal fire, rolled up +to the sky. The wind blew strongly across, beating back the noise of +guns, but the air was all filled with the deep roar and the slamming +knocks of single heavies and the drum-fire of field-guns. + +The first attack was at 5.30. Officers were looking at their +wrist-watches as on a day in July last year. The earth lightened. In +rank grass, looking white and old, scrubs of barbed wire were black on +it. A few minutes before 5.30 the guns almost ceased fire, so that there +was a strange, solemn hush. We waited, and pulses beat faster than +second-hands. "They're away," said a voice by my side. The bombardment +broke out again with new and enormous effects of fire and sound. The +enemy was shelling Arras heavily, and black shrapnel and high explosives +came over from his lines. But our gun-fire was twenty times as great. +Around the whole sweep of his lines green lights rose. They were signals +of distress, and his men were calling for help. It was dawn now, but +clouded and storm-swept. A few airmen came out with the wind tearing at +their wings, but they could see nothing in the mist and driven rain. I +went down to the outer ramparts of Arras. The eastern suburb of Blangy +was already in our hands. On the higher ground beyond our men were +fighting forward. I saw two waves of infantry advancing against the +enemy's trenches, preceded by our barrage of field-guns. They went in a +slow, leisurely way, not hurried, though the enemy's shrapnel was +searching for them. + +"Grand fellows," said an officer lying next to me on the wet slope. "Oh, +topping!" + +Fifteen minutes afterwards groups of men came back. They were British +wounded and German prisoners. They were met on the roadside by medical +officers, who patched them up there and then before they were taken to +the field-hospitals in ambulances. From these men, hit by shrapnel and +machine-gun bullets, I heard the first news of progress. They were +bloody and exhausted, but claimed success. + +"We did fine," said one of them. "We were through the fourth lines +before I was knocked out." + +"Not many Germans in the first trenches," said another, "and no real +trenches either, after our shelling. We had knocked their dug-outs out, +and their dead were lying thick, and living ones put their hands up." + +There were Tanks in action. Some of the men had seen them crawling +forward over the open country, and then had lost sight of them. In the +night the enemy had withdrawn all but his rear-guard posts to the +trenches farther back, where he resisted fiercely with incessant +machine-gun fire. The enemy's trench system south of Arras was +enormously strong, but our bombardment had pounded it, and our men went +through to the reserve support trench, and then on to the chain of posts +in front of the Hangest Trench, which was strongly held, and after heavy +fighting with bombs and bayonets to the Observatory Ridge, from which +for two years and a half the enemy has looked down, directing the fire +of his batteries against the French and British positions. Our storm +troops in this part of the line were all men of the old English county +regiments--Norfolks, Suffolks, Essex, Berkshires, Sussex, Middlesex, +Queen's, Buffs, and Royal West Kents of the 12th Division. There was +fierce fighting in Tilloy, to the south of Arras, by the Suffolks, +Shropshire Light Infantry, and Royal Welsh Fusiliers of the 3rd +Division, and afterwards they were held up by machine-gun fire from two +formidable positions called the "Harp" and "Telegraph Hill," the former +being a fortress of trenches shaped like an Irish harp, the latter +rising to a high mound. These were taken by English troops and the Scots +of the 15th Division, with the help of Tanks, which advanced upon them +in their leisurely way, climbed up banks and over parapets, sitting for +a while to rest and then waddling forward again, shaking machine-gun +bullets from steel flanks, and pouring deadly fire into the enemy's +positions, and so mastering the ground. + +North of the Scarpe (north-east of Arras) the whole system of trenches +was taken; and north again, along the Vimy Ridge, the Canadians and +Highlanders of the 51st Division achieved a heroic success by gaining +this high dominating ground, which was the scene of some of the +fiercest French battles in the first part of the war, and which is a +great wall defending Douai. It was reckoned up to noon to-day that over +3000 prisoners had been taken. They are streaming down to prisoners' +camps, and to our men who pass them on the roads they are the best +proofs of a victorious day. + +Those of us who knew what would happen to-day--the beginning of another +series of battles greater perhaps than the struggle of the Somme--found +ourselves yesterday filled with a tense, restless emotion. Some of us +smiled with a kind of tragic irony, because it was Easter Sunday. In +little villages behind the battle lines the bells of French churches +were ringing gladly because the Lord had risen; and on the altar steps +priests were reciting the old words of faith, "Resurrexi et adhuc tecum +sum! Alleluia!" The earth was glad yesterday. For the first time this +year the sun had a touch of warmth in it--though patches of snow still +staved white under the shelter of the banks--and the sky was blue, and +the light glinted on wet tree-trunks and in the furrows of the +new-ploughed earth. As I went up the road to the battle lines I passed a +battalion of our men--the men who are fighting to-day--standing in a +hollow square with bowed heads, while the chaplain conducted the Easter +service. It was Easter Sunday, but no truce of God. I went to a field +outside Arras, and looked into the ruins of the cathedral city. The +cathedral itself stood clear in the sunlight, with a deep black shadow +where its roof and aisles had been. Beyond was a ragged pinnacle of +stone--the once glorious town hall and a French barracks--and all the +broken streets going out to the Cambrai road. It was hell in Arras, +though Easter Sunday. The enemy was flinging high explosives into the +city, and clouds of shrapnel burst above, black and green. All around +the country too, his shells were exploding in a scattered, aimless way, +and from our side there was a heavy bombardment all along the Vimy +Ridge, above Neuville-St.-Vaast, and sweeping round above St.-Nicholas +and Blangy, two suburbs of Arras, and then south-west of the city on the +ridge above the road to Cambrai. It was one continuous roar of death, +and all the batteries were firing steadily. I watched our shells burst, +and some of them were monstrous, raising great lingering clouds above +the German lines. + +There was one figure in this landscape of war who made some officers +about me laugh. He was a French ploughman who upholds the tradition of +war. Zola saw him in 1870, and I have seen him on the edge of the other +battlefields; and here he was again driving a pair of sturdy horses and +his plough across the sloping field--not a furlong away from the town +where the German shells were raising rosy clouds of brick-dust. So he +gave praise to the Lord on Easter morning, and prepared the harvests +which shall be gathered after the war. + +All behind the front of battle was a great traffic, and all that modern +warfare means in the organization and preparation of an enormous +operation was here in movement. I had just come from our outpost lines +down south from the silence of that great desert which the enemy has +left in the wake of his retreat, east of Bapaume and Peronne, and from +that open warfare with village fighting, where small bodies of our +infantry and cavalry have been clearing the countryside of rear-guard +posts. Here, round about Arras, was the concentration for the old form +of battle attack upon entrenched positions, fortified hills and strong +natural fortresses, defended by massed guns as before the battles of the +Somme. For miles on the way to the front were great camps, great stores, +and restless activity everywhere. Supply columns of food for men and +guns moved forward in an endless tide. Transport mules passed in long +trails. Field-batteries went up to add to the mass of metal ready to +pour fire upon the German lines. It was a vast circus of the world's +great war, and everything that belongs to the machinery of killing +streamed on and on. Columns of ambulances for the rescue, and not for +that other side of the business, came in procession, followed by an army +of stretcher-bearers, more than I have ever seen before, marching +cheerily as though in a pageant. In some of the ambulances were Army +nurses, and men marching on the roads waved their hands to them, and +they laughed and waved back. In the fields by the roadsides men were +resting, lying on the wet earth, between two spells of a long march or +encamped in rest, the same kind of men whom I saw on July 1 of last +year, some of them the same men--our boys, clean-shaven, grey-eyed, so +young-looking, so splendid to see. Some of them sat between their +stacked rifles writing letters home. And the tide of traffic passed them +and flowed on to the edge of the battlefields, where to-day they are +fighting. + +[Illustration: LENS, VIMY RIDGE AND ARRAS + +London: W^m. Heinemann _Stanford's Geog^l. Estab^t., London_] + + * * * * * + +APRIL 10 + +The enemy has lost already nearly 10,000 prisoners and more than half a +hundred guns, and in dead and wounded his losses are great. He is in +retreat south of the Vimy Ridge to defensive lines farther back, and as +he goes our guns are smashing him along the roads. During the night the +Canadians gained the last point, called Hill 145, on the Vimy Ridge, +where the Germans held out in a pocket with machine-guns, and this +morning the whole of that high ridge, which dominates the plains to +Douai, is in our hands, so that there is removed from our path the high +barrier for which the French and ourselves have fought through bloody +years. Yesterday before daylight and afterwards I saw this ridge of Vimy +all on fire with the light of great gun-fire. The enemy was there in +strength, and his guns were answering ours with a heavy barrage of high +explosives. This morning the scene was changed as by a miracle. Snow was +falling, blown gustily across the battlefields, and powdering the capes +and helmets of our men as they rode or marched forward to the front. But +presently sunlight broke through the storm-clouds and flooded all the +countryside by Neuville-St.-Vaast and Thelus and La Folie Farm, up to +the crest of the ridge, where the Canadians and Highlanders of the 51st +Division had just fought their way with such high valour. Our batteries +were firing from many hiding-places, revealed by short, sharp flashes of +light, but few answering shells came back, and the ridge itself, patched +with snowdrift, was quiet as any hill of peace. It was astounding to +think that not a single German stayed up there out of all these who had +held it yesterday, unless some poor wounded devils still cower in the +deep tunnels which pierce the hill-side. It was almost unbelievable to +me, who have known the evil of this high ridge month after month and +year after year, and the deadly menace which lurked about its lower +slopes. Yet I saw proof below, where all Germans who had been there at +dawn yesterday, thousands of them, were down in our lines, drawn up in +battalions, marshalling themselves, grinning at the fate which had come +to them and spared their lives. + +The Canadian attack yesterday was astoundingly successful, and carried +out by high-spirited men, the victors of Courcelette in the battles of +the Somme, who had before the advance an utter and joyous confidence of +victory. On their right were the Highland Brigades of the 51st Division +who fought at Beaumont-Hamel, and who shared the honour of that day with +the Canadians, taking as many prisoners and gaining a great part of the +ridge. They went away at dawn, through the mud and rain which made +scarecrows of them. They followed close and warily to the barrage of our +guns, the most stupendous line of fire ever seen, and by 6.30 they had +taken their first objectives, which included the whole front-line system +of German trenches above Neuville-St.-Vaast, by La Folie Farm and La +Folie Wood, and up by Thelus, where they met with fierce resistance. The +German garrisons were for the most part in long, deep tunnels, pierced +through the hill as assembly ditches. There were hundreds of them in +Prinz Arnault Tunnel, and hundreds more in Great Volker Tunnel, but as +the Canadians and Scots surged up to them with wave after wave of +bayonets German soldiers streamed out and came running forward with +hands up. They were eager to surrender, and their great desire was to +get down from Vimy Ridge and the barrage of their own guns. That barrage +fell heavily and fiercely upon the Turco Trench, but too late to do much +damage to our men, who had already gone beyond it. The Canadian +casualties on the morning of attack were not heavy in comparison with +the expected losses, though, God knows, heavy enough, but the German +prisoners were glad to pay for the gift of life by carrying our wounded +back. The eagerness of these men was pitiful, and now and then +grotesque. At least the Canadian escorts found good laughing matter in +the enormous numbers of men they had to guard and in the way the +prisoners themselves directed the latest comers to barbed-wire +enclosures, and with deep satisfaction acted as masters of the ceremony +to their own captivity. I have never seen such cheerful prisoners, +although for the most part they were without overcoats and in a cold +blizzard of snow. They were joking with each other, and in high good +humour, because life with all its hardships was dear to them, and they +had the luck of life. They were of all sizes and ages and types. I saw +elderly, whiskered men with big spectacles, belonging to the professor +tribe, and young lads who ought to have been in German high schools. +Some of their faces looked very wizened and small beneath their great +shrapnel helmets. Many of them looked ill and starved, but others were +tall, stout, hefty fellows, who should have made good fighting men if +they had any stomach for the job. There were many officers standing +apart. Canadians took over two hundred of them, among whom were several +forward observing officers, very bad tempered with their luck, because +the men had not told them they were going to bolt and had left them in +front positions. All officers were disconcerted because of the +cheerfulness of the men at being taken. I talked with a few of them. +They told me of the horrors of living under our bombardment. Some of +them had been without food for four days, because our gun-fire had boxed +them in. + +"When do you think the war will end?" I asked one of them. + +"When the English are in Berlin," he answered, and I think he meant that +that would be a long time. + +Another officer said, "In two months," and gave no reason for his +certainty. + +"What about America?" I asked one of them. He shrugged his shoulders, +and said, "It is bad for us, very bad; but, after all, America can't +send an army across the ocean." + +At this statement Canadian soldiers standing around laughed loudly, and +said, "Don't you believe it, old sport. We have come along to fight you, +and the Yankees will do the same." + +By three o'clock in the afternoon the Canadians and the Highland +Brigades had gained the whole of the ridge except the high strong post +on the left of Hill 145, captured during the night. Our gun-fire had +helped them by breaking down all the wire, even round Heroes' Wood and +Count's Wood, where it was very thick and strong. Thelus was wiped +utterly off the map. This morning Canadian patrols pushed in a +snow-storm through Farbus Wood, and established outposts on the railway +embankment. Some of the bravest work was done by forward observing +officers, who climbed to the top of Vimy Ridge as soon as it was +captured, and through the heavy fire barrages reported back to the +artillery all the movements seen by them in the country below. + +In spite of the wild day, our flying men were riding the storm and +signalling to the gunners who were rushing up their field-guns. "Our +60-pounders," said a Canadian Officer, "had the day of their lives." +They found many targets. There were trains moving in Vimy village and +they hit them. There were troops massing on sloping ground and they were +shattered. There were guns and limber on the move, and men and horses +were killed. + +Above all the prisoners taken yesterday by the English, Scottish, and +Canadian troops the enemy's losses were frightful, and the scenes behind +his lines must have been hideous in slaughter and terror. On the right +of Arras there was hard and costly fighting in Blangy and Tilloy and +onwards to Feuchy. On this side the Germans fought most fiercely, and +the Shropshires, Suffolks, Royal Fusiliers, and Welsh Fusiliers of the +3rd Division were held up near Feuchy Chapel and other strong points +until our gun-fire knocked out these works and made way for them. +Fifty-four guns were taken here on the east side of Arras, and to-day +the pursuit of the beaten enemy continues. + + + + +II + +LONDONERS THROUGH THE GERMAN LINES + + +The Londoners' attack at dawn was one of the splendid episodes of the +battle. They went through the German lines in long waves, and streamed +forward like a living tide, very quick and very far, taking a thousand +prisoners on their way through Neuville-Vitasse and Mercatel. Later in +the day they were held up in their right flank by enfilade fire, as the +troops on their right were in difficulties against uncut wire and +machine-guns, and from that time onwards the London men of the 56th +Division had perilous hours and hard, costly fighting. They were forced +to extend beyond their line on the left to join up the gap between +themselves and the troops to their north, and to work down with bombing +parties on the right to gain ground in which the Germans were holding +out desperately and inflicting many casualties on our men. In the centre +the 56th Division was ordered to attack fortified villages from which +machine-gun bullets swept the ground and where our assault was checked +by stout belts of wire with unbroken strands. It was in those hours on +April 9 and 10 that many young London men showed the highest qualities +of spirit, risking death, and worse than death, with most desperate +gallantry. + +A young subaltern of the Middlesex Regiment saw those wire traps in the +centre of Neuville-Vitasse, and led the way to them with a party of +bombers and Lewis-gunners, smashed them up, and jumped on the +machine-guns beyond. It opened the gate to all the other +Londoners--Kensingtons, Rangers, and London Scottish--who swept through +this village and beyond. Many officers fell, but there was always some +one to take command and lead the men--a sergeant with a cool head, a +second lieutenant with a flame in his eyes. + +It was a boy of nineteen who took command of one company of the +Middlesex Regiment when he was the only one to lead. He had never been +under fire before, and had never seen all this blood and horror. He was +a slip of a fellow, who had been spelling out fairy-tales ten years ago, +which is not far back in history. Now, he led a company of fighting men, +who followed him as a great captain all through that day's battle, and +from one German line to another, and from one village to another, until +all the ground had been gained according to the first plan. This gallant +boy was afterwards reported missing, and his comrades believe that he +was killed. + +It was a battle of second lieutenants of London, owing to the heavy +casualties of commanding officers. One of them was wounded in the head +early in the day, but led his men until hours later he fell and fainted. +Another young officer went out with three men in the darkness, when the +infantry was held up by serious obstacles, and under heavy fire brought +back information which saved many lives and enabled the whole line to +advance. + +There was a second lieutenant of the London Rangers who behaved with a +quick decision and daring which seemed inspired by something more than +sound judgment. The enemy was holding out in a trench and sweeping men +down with that death-rattle of bullets which is the worst thing in all +this fighting. In front of them was uncut wire, which is always a trap +for men. Our London lieutenant did not go straight ahead. He flung his +platoon round to the flank, smashed through the wire here, and sprang at +the German gun-team with a revolver in one hand and a bomb in the other. +The whole team was destroyed except one man, who fell wounded, and above +those dead bodies the second lieutenant waved his revolver to his men +and said, "Let's get on." + +The London men went on for nine days, which is like ninety years on such +a battlefield. They went on until they were checked and held by the +enemy, who had time to rush up strong reserves and bring up new weight +of guns. But they smashed through the Cojeul Switch and broke the +Hindenburg line at Heninel. + +Shell-fire increased hour by hour. From many hidden places machine-guns +poured bullets across the ground. German snipers lay out in shell-holes +picking off our men. This sniping was intolerable, and a second +lieutenant and sergeant crawled out into No Man's Land to deal with it. +They dragged three snipers out of one hole, and searched others and +helped to check this hidden fire. One London rifleman went forward to +kill a machine-gun with its hideous tat-tat-tat. It was a bolder thing +than St. George's attack on the dragon, which was a harmless beast +compared with this spitfire devil. The rifleman armed himself with a +Lewis gun, carried at his hip, and fired so coolly that he scattered the +German team and captured the gun. + +All through those nine days, and afterwards in a second spell worse than +those, the London men lived under great fire, those that had the luck to +live, and though their nerves were all frayed with the strain of it, and +they suffered great agonies and great losses, they never lost courage +and kept their pride--London Pride. + +One medical officer's orderly never tired of searching for stricken men, +and seemed to have some magic about him, with shells bursting everywhere +round about his steps and bullets spitting on each side of him. He +organized stretcher-bearer parties, gave some of his own magic to them, +and saved many lives. A captain of the R.A.M.C. went out under heavy +fire and dressed the wounds of men lying there in agony and brought them +back alive. A London private remained out looking after the wounded in +an exposed place, and in his spare time saved other men attacked by +small parties of Germans, by killing nine of them and taking one man +prisoner. Another second lieutenant, one of those boys who have poured +out the blood of youth upon these battlefields, took two Vickers guns +with their teams through two barrages--only those who have seen a +barrage can know the meaning of that--and by great skill and cunning +brought his men through without a single casualty, so that the infantry +followed with high hearts. + +Out of a burning billet and out of an exploding ammunition dump, a +transport driver brought out some charges urgently needed for the +battle. A man who entered a cage of tigers to draw their teeth would not +want greater nerve than this. + +When the blinds were drawn across the windows of many little London +houses, when dusk crept into Piccadilly Circus and shadows darkened down +the Strand, when the great old soul of London slept a while in the +night, these boys who had gone out from her streets were fighting, and +are fighting still, in the greatest battle of the world, and as they lie +awake in a ditch, or wounded in a shell-hole, their spirit travels home +again, through the old swirl of traffic, to quiet houses where already, +perhaps, there is the scent of may-blossom. + + + + +III + +THE STRUGGLE ROUND MONCHY + + +APRIL 11 + +This morning our men advanced upon the villages of Monchy-le-Preux and +La Bergere, on each side of the Cambrai road, beyond the ruins of +Tilloy-les-Mofflaines, and occupied them after heavy fighting. British +cavalry were first into Monchy, riding through a storm of shrapnel, and +heavily bombarded in the village so that many of their horses were +killed and many men wounded. + +I saw the whole picture of this fighting to-day, and all the spirit and +drama of it. It was a wonderful scene, not without terror, and our men +passed through it alert and watchful to the menace about them. Going out +beyond Arras through suburbs which were in German hands until Monday +last--they had scribbled their names and regiments on broken walls of +strafed houses, and men of English battalions who captured them had +scrawled their own names above these other signatures--I came to the +German barbed wire which had protected the enemy's lines, and then into +three systems of trenches which had been the objectives of our men on +the morning when the battle of Arras began. Here was Hangest Trench, in +which the enemy had made his chief resistance, and Holt Redoubt and +Horn Redoubt, where his machine-guns had checked us, and a high point on +the road to Tilloy, to which a Tank had crawled after a lone journey out +of Arras to sweep this place with machine-gun fire, so that our men +could get on to the village. It is no wonder that the Germans lost this +ground, and that those who remained alive in their dug-outs surrendered +quickly, as soon as our men were about them. The effect of our +bombardment was ghastly. It had ploughed all this country with great +shell-craters, torn fields of barbed wire to a few tattered strands, and +smashed in all the trenches to shapeless ditches. + +Tilloy still had parts of houses standing, bits of white wall having no +relation to the wild rubbish-heaps around. The Germans had torn up the +rails to make barricades, and had used farm carts, ploughs, and +brick-heaps as cover. But they could have given no protection when the +sky rained fire and thunderbolts. Dead bodies lay about in every shape +and shapelessness of death. I passed into Devil's Wood--well named, +because here there had been hellish torture of men--and so on to +Observatory Ridge and ground from which, not far away, I looked into +Monchy and across the battlefields where our men were fighting then. The +enemy was firing heavy shells. They fell thick about Monchy village and +on the other side of the Cambrai road, roaring horribly as they came and +flinging up volumes of black earth and mud. The enemy's gunners were +scattering other shells about, but in an aimless way, so that they found +no real target, though they were frightening, especially when some of +these crumps spattered one with mud. + +Flights of British aeroplanes were on the wing, and German aeroplanes +tried to fight their way over our lines. I saw several with the swish of +machine-gun bullets and the high whining shells of British "Archies" +about them. I have never before seen so great a conflict in the skies. +It was a battle up there, and as far as I could see we gained a mastery +over the enemy's machines, though some of them were very bold. + +On the earth it was open warfare of the old kind, for we were beyond the +trenches and our men were moving across the fields without cover. Some +of our machine-gunners were serving their weapons from shell-holes, and +the only protection of the headquarters staff of the cavalry was a +shallow ditch in the centre of the battlefield sheltered by a few +planks, quite useless against shell-fire, but keeping off the snow, +which fell in heavy wet flakes. There the officers sat in the ditch, +shoulder to shoulder, studying their maps and directing the action while +reports were called down the funnel of a chimney by an officer who had +been out on reconnaissance. + +"It is villainously unhealthy round here," said this officer, who spoke +to me after he had given his news to the cavalry general. He looked +across to Monchy, and said, "Old Fritz is putting up a stiff fight." At +that moment a German crump fell close, and we did not continue the +conversation. + +Across the battlefield came stretcher-bearers, carrying the wounded +shoulder high, and the lightly wounded men walked back from Monchy and +Guemappe very slowly, with that dragging gait which is bad to see. I +spoke to a wounded officer and asked him how things were going. + +"Pretty hot," he said, and then shivered and said, "but now I feel cold +as ice." + +Snow fell all through the afternoon, covering the litter of battle and +the bodies of all our dead boys, giving a white beauty even to the ugly +ruins of Tilloy and changing the Devil's Wood by enchantment to a kind +of dream-picture. Through this driving snow our guns fired ceaselessly, +and I saw all their flashes through the storm, and their din was +enormous. Away in front of me stretched the road to Cambrai, the high +road of our advance. It seemed so easy to walk down there--but if I had +gone farther I should not have come back. + +In a hundred years not all the details of this battle will be told, for +to each man in all the thousands who are fighting there is a great +adventure, and they are filled with sensations stronger than drink can +give, so that it will seem a wild dream--a dream red as flame and white +as snow. + +For this amazing battle, which is bringing to us tides of prisoners and +many batteries of guns, is being fought on spring days heavy with snow, +as grim as sternest winter except when in odd half-hours the sun breaks +through the storm-clouds and gives a magic beauty to all this whiteness +of the battlefields and to trees furred with bars of ermine and to all +the lacework of twigs ready for green birth. Now as I write there is no +sun, but a darkness through which heavy flakes are falling. Our soldiers +are fighting through it to the east of Arras, and their steel helmets +and tunics and leather jerkins are all white as the country through +which they are forcing back the enemy. + +While the battle was raging on the Vimy heights English and Scottish +troops of the 15th, 12th, and 3rd Divisions were fighting equally +fiercely, with more trouble to meet round about Arras. Beyond the facts +I have already written there are others that must be recorded quickly, +before quick history runs away from them. + +Some day a man must give a great picture of the night in Arras before +the battle, and I know one man who could do so--a great hunter of wild +beasts, with a monocle that quells the human soul and a very "parfit +gentil knight," whose pen is as pointed as his lance. He spent the night +in a tunnel of Arras before getting into a sap in No Man's Land before +the dawn, where he was with a "movie man," an official photographer +(both as gallant as you will find in the Army), and a machine-gunner +ready for action. Thousands of other men spent the night before the +battle in the great tunnels, centuries old, that run out of Arras to the +country beyond, by Blangy and St.-Sauveur. The enemy poured shells into +the city, which I watched that night before the dawn from the ramparts +outside, but in the morning they came up from those subterranean +galleries and for a little while no more shells fell in Arras, for the +German gunners were busy with other work, and were in haste to get away. +The fighting was very fierce round Blangy, the suburb of Arras, where +the enemy was in the broken ruins of the houses and behind garden walls +strongly barricaded with piled sand-bags. But our men smashed their way +through and on. Troops of those old English regiments were checked a +while at strong German works known as the Horn, Holt, Hamel, and Hangest +positions, and at another strong point called the Church Work. It was at +these places that the Tanks did well on a day when they had hard going +because of slime and mud, and after a journey of over three miles from +their starting-point knocked out the German machine-guns, and so let the +infantry get on. Higher north at a point known as Railway Triangle, +east-south-east of Arras, where railway lines join, Gordons, Argylls, +Seaforths, and Camerons of the 15th Division were held back by +machine-gun fire. The enemy's works had not been destroyed by our +bombardment, and our barrage had swept ahead of the troops. News of the +trouble was sent back, and presently back crept the barrage of our +shell-fire, coming perilously close to the Scottish troops, but not too +close. With marvellous accuracy the gunners found the target of the +Triangle and swept it with shell-fire so that its defences were +destroyed. The Scots surged forward, over the chaos of broken timber and +barricades, and struggled forward again to their goal, which brought +them to Feuchy Well, and to-day much farther. A Tank helped them at +Feuchy Chapel, cheered by the Scots as it came into action scorning +machine-gun bullets. The Harp was another strong point of the enemy's +which caused difficulty to King's Own Liverpools, the Shropshire Light +Infantry, Royal Fusiliers, East Yorks, Scottish Fusiliers, and Royal +Scots, as I have already told, on the first day of battle, and another +Tank came up, in its queer, slow way, and the gallant men inside served +their guns like a Dreadnought, and so ended the business on that +oval-shaped stronghold. + +So English and Scottish troops pressed on and gathered up thousands of +prisoners. "So tame," said one of our men, "that they ate out of our +hands." So ready to surrender that a brigadier and his staff who were +captured with them were angry and ashamed of men taken in great numbers +without a single wounded man among them. Fifty-four guns were captured +on this eastern side of Arras, and six were howitzers, and two of these +big beasts were taken by cavalry working with the troops. Some of the +gunners had never left their pits after our bombardment became intense +four days before, and were suffering from hunger and thirst. +Trench-mortars and machine-guns lay everywhere about, in scores, +smashed, buried, flung about by the ferocity of our shell-fire. German +officers wearing Iron Crosses wept when they surrendered. It was their +day of unbelievable tragedy. A queer thing happened to some German +transport men. They were sent out from Douai to Fampoux. They did not +know they were going into the battle zone. They drove along until +suddenly they saw British soldiers swarming about them. Six hours after +their start from Douai they were eating bully-beef on our side of the +lines, and while they munched could not believe their own senses. Our +troops treated them with the greatest good humour, throwing chocolates +and cigarettes into their enclosures and crowding round to speak to men +who knew the English tongue. There seemed no kind of hatred between +these men. There was none after the battle had been fought, for in our +British way we cannot harbour hate for beaten enemies when the +individuals are there, broken and in our hands. Yet a little farther +away the fighting was fierce, and there was no mercy on either side. + + * * * * * + +APRIL 12 + +In spite of the enemy's hard resistance and the abominable weather +conditions which cause our troops great hardships, we are making steady +progress towards the German defensive positions along the Hindenburg +line. + +North of Vimy Ridge this morning his lines were pierced by a new attack, +delivered with great force above Givenchy; and south of the village of +Wancourt, below Monchy-le-Preux, we have seized an important little +hill-top. + +Monchy itself is securely in our hands this morning, after repeated +counter-attacks yesterday and last night. In my last dispatch I +described in the briefest way how I went up towards Monchy yesterday +across the crowded battlefield and looked into that village, where +fierce fighting was in progress. Then the village was still standing, +hardly in ruins, so that I saw roofs still on the houses and unbroken +walls, and the white chateau only a little scarred by shell-fire. Now it +has been almost destroyed by the enemy's guns, and our men held it only +by the most resolute courage. It is a small place that village, but +yesterday, perched high beyond Orange Hill, it was the storm-centre of +all this world-conflict, and the battle of Arras paused till it was +taken. The story of the fight for it should live in history, and is full +of strange and tragic drama. + +Our cavalry--the 10th Hussars, the Essex Yeomanry, and the Blues--helped +in the capture of this high village, behaving with the greatest acts of +sacrifice to the ideals of duty. I saw them going up over Observation +Ridge, and before they reached that point; the dash of splendid bodies +of men riding at the gallop in a snow-storm which had covered them with +white mantles and crowned their steel hats. Afterwards I saw some of +these men being carried back wounded over the battlefield, and the dead +body of their general, on a stretcher, taken by a small party of +troopers through the ruins of another village to his resting-place. Many +gallant horses lay dead, and those which came back were caked with mud, +and walked with drooping heads, exhausted in every limb. The bodies of +dead boys lay all over these fields. + +[Illustration: Map of the Arras front GEORGE PHILIP & SON LTD 32 Fleet +St., E.C.] + +But the cavalry rode into Monchy and captured the north side of the +village, and the enemy fled from them. It is an astounding thing that +two withered old Frenchwomen stayed in this village all through this +fighting. When our troopers rode in these women came running forward, +frightened and crying "Camarades," as though in face of the enemy. When +our men surrounded them they were full of joy, and held up their +withered old faces to be kissed by the troopers, who leaned over their +saddles to give this greeting. Yet the battle was not over, and the +shell-fire was most intense afterwards. + +The women told strange stories of German officers billeted in their +houses. After the battle of Arras began on Monday these officers were +very nervous; but, although the sound of gun-fire swept nearer they did +not believe that the English troops would get near Monchy for some days. +Late on Wednesday night, after preparing for the defence of the village, +they went to bed as usual, looking exhausted and nerve-racked, and told +the women to wake them at six o'clock. They were awakened by another +kind of knocking at the door. English and Scottish soldiers were firing +outside the village, and the German officers escaped in such a hurry +that they had no time to pull down the battalion flag outside their +gate, and our men captured it as a trophy. + +The attack on Monchy was made by English and Scottish troops--the Scots +of the 15th Division--who fought very fiercely to clear the enemy out of +Railway Triangle, where they were held up for three hours. Afterwards +they fought on to Feuchy Redoubt, where they found that the whole of the +German garrison had been buried by our bombardment, so that none escaped +alive. At Feuchy Weir they captured a German electrical company, a +captain and thirteen men, who were unarmed. The enemy shelled Feuchy +village after our troops had passed through and gone far forward, where +they dug in for the night under heavy shelling. Here they stayed all day +on Tuesday close by a deep square pit, where four eight-inch howitzers +had been abandoned to our cavalry. + +Meanwhile English troops of the 37th Division--Warwicks and Bedfords, +East and West Lancashire battalions, and the Yorks and Lanes--were +advancing on the right and linking up for the attack on Monchy in +conjunction with the Jocks. On the left bodies of cavalry assembled for +a combined attack with Hotchkiss and machine guns; and at about five +o'clock yesterday morning they swept upon the village. The cavalry went +full split at a hard pace under heavy shrapnel-fire, and streamed into +the village on the north side. They saw few Germans, for as they went in +the enemy retreated to the southern side, hoping to escape by that way. +Here they found themselves cut off by our infantry, the English +battalions mixed up with Scots before the fight was over. It was hard +fighting. The enemy had many machine-guns, and defended himself from +windows and roofs of houses, firing down upon our men as they swarmed +into the village streets, and fought their way into farmyards and +courtyards. It was a house-to-house hunt, and about two hundred +prisoners were taken, though some of the garrison escaped to the trench +in the valley below, where they had machine-gun redoubts. At about eight +o'clock yesterday morning, twenty Scots and a small party of English +went forward from Monchy with a Tank which had crawled up over heavy +ground and shell-craters, and now trained its guns upon bodies of +Germans moving over the ridge beyond. By this time English troops had a +number of machine-guns in position for the defence of the village +against any counter-attacks that might come. Some of our men had already +explored the dug-outs and found them splendid for shelter under +shell-fire. Under the chateau was a subterranean system furnished +luxuriously and provided with electric light. Half an hour after the +capture of the village some English and Scottish officers were drinking +German beer out of German mugs. + +The peace of Monchy did not last long. At nine o'clock the enemy shelled +the place fiercely, and for a long time, with 5.9 guns, as I saw myself +at midday from Observation Ridge, which was also under fire. + +German airmen, flying above, watched our cavalry and infantry, and +directed fire upon them. They were terrible hours to endure, but our men +held out nobly; and when the enemy made his counter-attacks in the +afternoon and evening, advancing in waves with a most determined spirit, +they were hosed with machine-gun bullets and fell like grass before the +scythe. Our 18-pounders also poured shell into them. This morning our +men are in advance of the village, and the enemy has retreated from the +trench below. The night was dreadful for men and beasts. Snow fell +heavily, and was blown into deep drifts by wind as cold as ice. Wounded +horses fell and died, and men lay in a white bed of snow in an agony of +cold, while shells burst round them. As gallant as the fighting men were +the supply columns, who sent up carriers through blizzard and +shell-fire. At four o'clock in the morning a rum ration was served out, +"And thank God for it," said one of our officers lying out there in a +shell-hole with a shattered arm. Strange and ironical as it seems, the +post came up also at this hour, and men in the middle of the +battlefield, suffering the worst agonies of war, had letters from home +which in darkness they could not read. + +That scene of war this morning might have been in Russia in midwinter, +instead of in France in spring-time. Snow was thick over the fields, +four foot deep where it had drifted against the banks. Tents and huts +behind the lines were covered with snow roofs, and as I went through +Arras this poor, stricken city was all white. Stones and fallen masonry +which have poured down from great buildings of mediaeval times were +overlaid with snow--until, by midday, it was all turned to water. Then +our Army moved through rivers of mud, and all our splendid horses were +pitiful to see. + + + + +IV + +THE OTHER SIDE OF VIMY + + +APRIL 13 + +The enemy's Headquarters Staff is clearly troubled by the successes +gained by our troops during these first days of the battle of Arras, and +all attempts to repair the damage to his defensive positions upon which +his future safety depends have been feeble and irresolute. It is certain +that he desired to make a heavy counter-attack upon the northern edge of +the Vimy Ridge. Prisoners taken yesterday all believed that this would +be done without delay. The 5th Grenadiers of the Prussian Guards Reserve +were hurriedly brought up to relieve or support the Bavarian troops, who +had suffered frightfully, and massed in a wood, called the Bois +d'Hirondelle, or Swallows' Wood, in order to steal through another +little wood called Bois-en-Hache to a hill known by us as the Pimple, +and so on to recapture Hill 145, taken by the Canadians on Monday night +after heavy and costly fighting. This scheme broke down utterly. +Swallows' Wood was heavily bombed by our aeroplanes, so that the massed +Prussians had an ugly time there, and yesterday morning Canadian troops +made a sudden assault upon the Pimple, which is a knoll slightly lower +than Hill 145, to its right, and gained it in spite of fierce +machine-gun fire from the garrison, who defended themselves stubbornly +until they were killed or captured. At the same time Bois-en-Hache, +which stands on rising ground across the little valley of the River +Souchez, was attacked with great courage by the 24th Division, and the +enemy driven out. + +It was difficult work for our infantry and gunners. The ground was a bog +of shell-craters and mud, and there was a blizzard of snowflakes. The +attack was made with a kind of instinct, backed with luck. Our men +stumbled forward in a wake of snow-squalls and shells, fell into +shell-holes, climbed out again, and by some skill of their own kept +their bombs and rifles dry. Machine-gun bullets whipped the ground about +them. Some fell and were buried in snow-drifts; others went on and +reached their goal, and in a white blizzard routed out the enemy and his +machine-guns. It was an hour or two later that German officers, +directing operations at a distance and preparing a counter-attack on the +Vimy Ridge, heard that the Pimple and Bois-en-Hache had both gone--the +only places which gave observation on the south side of Vimy and made +effective any attack. Their curses must have been deep and full when +that message came over the telephone wires. They ordered their batteries +to fire continuously on those two places, but they remain ours, and our +troops have endured intense barrage-fire without losing ground. Now we +have full and absolute observation over Vimy Ridge to the enemy's side +of the country reversing all the past history of this position, and we +are making full and deadly use of it. The enemy still clings to Vimy +village on the other side of the slopes, and to the line of railway on +the eastern side of Farbus, but it is an insecure tenure, and our guns +are making life hideous for the German soldiers in those places, and in +the villages farther back in the direction of Douai, and along the road +which he is using for his transport. In the village of Bailleul down +there are a number of batteries which the enemy has vainly endeavoured +to withdraw. We are smothering them with shell-fire, and he will find it +difficult to get them away, though he can ill afford the loss of more +guns. The enemy has been in great trouble to move his guns away rapidly +enough owing to the dearth of transport horses. Even before the battle +of Arras began the German batteries had to borrow horses from each other +because there were not enough for all, and some of his guns have been +abandoned because of that lack. He cannot claim that he has left us only +broken and useless guns. + +When the Scottish and South African troops of the 9th Division made the +great attack on Monday last the South-Africans were led forward by their +colonels, and took the first German line without a single casualty. +Afterwards they fought against wicked machine-gun fire, but, sweeping +all before them, and gathering in hundreds of prisoners, they seized a +number of guns, including several 5.9 howitzers. A vast amount of +ammunition lay about in dumps, and our men turned the guns about, and +are using them against the enemy. To South-Africans who fought in +Delville Wood--I have told the story of this tragic epic in the battle +of the Somme--this is a triumph that pays back a little for old memories +under German gun-fire. Their revenge is sweet and frightful, and they +call the captured guns, those monstrous five-point-nines, their +trench-mortar battery. + +During this fighting our airmen have flown with extraordinary valour, +and have done great work. They flew in snow-storms, as I saw them and +marvelled, on the east side of Arras, and circled round for hours taking +photographs of the enemy's positions and spotting his batteries so +accurately, in spite of weather which half blinded them, that the German +gunners who are now our prisoners say that they were terrorized by being +made targets for our fire. + +Farther south yesterday and to-day we have made new breaches in the +Hindenburg line by the capture of Wancourt and Heninel, villages south +of Monchy. The fighting here has been most severe, and our men of the +14th and 56th Divisions--London Rangers, Kensingtons, Middlesex, London +Scottish, and King's Royal Rifles--lying out on open slopes in deep snow +and under icy gales at night, swept by machine-gun barrages from +Guemappe and with the sky above them flashing with shrapnel bursts and +high explosives, have had to endure a terrible ordeal. They have done so +with a noble spirit, and young wounded men to whom I spoke yesterday, in +the great crypt to which they had crawled down from the battlefield, all +spoke of their experience as though they would go through as much again +in order to ensure success, without bragging, with a full sense of the +frightful hours, but with unbroken spirit. + +"I am not out here to make a career," said a Canadian; "I am out to +finish an ugly job." + +It is to end this filthy war quickly that our men are fighting so grimly +and with such deadly resolution. So the Londoners have fought their way +into Wancourt and Heninel, and there were great uncut belts of wire +before them--the new wire of the Hindenburg line--and trenches and +strong points from which machine-guns gushed out waves of bullets. One +of the strong points hereabouts is called the Egg, because of its oval +hummock, which was hard to hatch and crack, but as one of our officers +said to-day, the Egg gave forth two hundred prisoners. + +In the fighting for the two villages the Londoners were held up by those +great stretches of wire before them and were menaced most evilly by the +enfilade fire of machine-guns from Guemappe and a high point south. Two +Tanks came to the rescue, and did most daring things. + +"Romped up," said an officer, though I have not seen Tanks romping. + +Anyhow, they came up in their elephantine way, getting the most out of +their engines and most skilfully guided by their young officers and +crews, who were out on a great and perilous adventure. Climbing over +rough ground, cleaving through snow-drifts and mud-banks with their +steel flanks, thrusting their blunt noses above old trenches and +sand-bag barricades, they made straight for the great hedges of barbed +wire, and drove straight through, leaving broad lanes of broken strands. +One cruised into Wancourt, followed from a distance by the shouts and +cheers of the infantry. It wandered up and down the village like a bear +on the prowl for something good to eat. It found human food and trampled +upon machine-gun redoubts, firing into German hiding-places. The second +Tank struck a zigzag course for Heninel, and in that village swept down +numbers of German soldiers, so that they fled from this black monster +against which bombs and rifles were of no avail. For forty hours those +two Tanks--let me be fair to the men inside and say those officers and +crews--did not rest, but went about on their hunting trail, breaking +down wire and searching out German strong points, so that the way would +be easier for our infantry. + +Even then our men had no easy fighting. The enemy defended themselves +stubbornly in places. Their snipers and bombers and machine-gunners did +not yield at the first sight of the bayonets. While some of our troops +bombed their way down trenches towards Wancourt, others worked up from +the south, and at last both parties met exultantly behind this section +of the Hindenburg line, greeting each other with cheers. Nearly two +hundred prisoners were taken hereabout, all Silesian mechanics, like +those I met at Loos in September 1915--rather miserable men, with no +heart in the war, because, as Poles, it is none of their making. + +It is true to say--utterly true--that all the prisoners we have taken +this week, Prussians, Bavarians, Hamburgers, have lost all spirit for +this fighting, hate it, loathe it as a devilish fate from which they +have luckily escaped at last with life. Not one prisoner has said now +that Germany will win on land. Their best hope is that the submarine +campaign will force an early settlement. Their pockets are stuffed with +letters from wives, sisters, and parents telling of starvation at home. +It is not good literature for the spirit of an army. The prisoners +themselves come to us starving. It is not because their rations in the +trenches are insufficient. They are on short commons, but have enough +for bodily strength. It is because our bombardment prevented all +supplies from reaching them for three or four days. In one prisoners' +enclosure, when our escort brought food, the men fought with each other +like wild beasts, ravenous, and had to be separated by force and +threats. The officers in charge of these prisoners' camps are +overwhelmed by the masses of men. In one of them, where 4000 were +gathered, they broke the barriers. A captain and subaltern of ours were +alone to deal with this situation; but their own non-commissioned +officers helped to restore order. + +The position of the enemy now is full of uncertainty for him. It is +possible that he will try to avoid any disaster by falling back farther +to the Drocourt-Queant line, and by slipping away farther north. The +Hindenburg line is pierced, but he has established a series of +switch-lines which will enable him to stand until our guns are ready +again to make those positions untenable. The weather so far is in his +favour, except that his troops are suffering as much as ours from cold +and wet. + + + + +V + +THE WAY TO LENS + + +APRIL 14 + +The capture of the Vimy Ridge by heroic assault of the Canadians and +Scots, and their endurance in holding it under the enemy's heavy fire, +have been followed swiftly by good results. Our troops have pushed +forward to-day through Lievin, the long and straggling suburb of Lens, +clearing street after street of German machine-gunners and rear-guard +posts, and our patrols are on the outskirts of Lens itself, the great +mining town, which is famous in France as the capital and centre of her +northern mine-fields. + +The retaking of this city of mine-shafts and pit-heads, electrical power +stations, and great hive of mining activity, where a population of +something like 40,000 people lived in rows of red-brick cottages, under +a forest of high chimneys and mountainous slag-heaps, would cause a +thrill through all France, and be one of the greatest achievements of +the war--a tremendous feat of arms for the British troops. I looked into +the city to-day, down its silent and deserted streets, and I saw a body +of our men working forward to get closer to it. They attacked the little +wooded hill called the Bois de Riaumont, just to the south of the city, +and with great cunning and courage encircled its lower slopes, and made +their way into the street of houses behind the line of trees which is +the southern way towards Lens. From the western side, up through Lievin, +the other troops were advancing cautiously. The enemy was still there in +machine-gun redoubts, which will be very troublesome to our men. But +they are only rear-guards, for the main body of the enemy has already +retreated. When the Canadians swept over the Vimy Ridge, capturing +thousands of prisoners, and when yesterday our 24th Division and +Canadian troops seized the Bois-en-Hache and the Pimple, two small +ridges or knolls below Hill 145, at the northern end of the Vimy Ridge, +the enemy saw that his last chance of successful counter-attack was +foiled, and at once he was seized with fear and prepared for instant +retreat in wild confusion. Lens and Lievin had been stacked with his +guns. Both towns had been fortified in a most formidable way, and were +strongholds of massed artillery. It is certain that the enemy had at +least 150 guns in that great network of mines and pit-heads. But they +were all threatened by an advance down the northern slopes of Vimy, and +the Canadians were not likely to stay inactive after their great +triumph. They were also threatened by the British advance from the Loos +battlefields by way of that great pair of black slag-hills called the +Double Crassier, famous in this war for close, long, and bloody +fighting, where since September of 1915 our men have been only a few +yards away from their enemy, and where I saw them last a month or two +ago through a chink of wall in a ruined house. German staff officers +knew their peril yesterday, and before. From prisoners we know that wild +scenes took place in Lens, frantic efforts being made to get away the +guns and the stores, to defend the line of retreat by the blowing up of +roads, to carry out the orders for complete destruction by firing +charges down the mine-shafts, flooding the great mine-galleries so that +French property of enormous value should not be left to France, and +withdrawing large bodies of troops down the roads under the fire of our +long-range guns. Up to dawn yesterday the enemy in Lens hoped that the +British pursuit would be held back by the German rear-guards in Vimy and +Petit-Vimy villages. But that hope was flung from them when the +Canadians swept down the ridge and chased the enemy out of those places +on the lower slopes towards Douai. + +To-day, as I went towards Lens over Notre-Dame-de-Lorette and the valley +beyond, I met a number of those men coming back after their victorious +fighting. Amongst them were Nova-Scotians and young lumbermen and +fishermen from the Far West. They came in single file, in a long +procession through a wood--the Bois de Bouvigny--where once, two years +ago, young Frenchmen fought with heroic fury and died in thousands to +gain this ground, so that even now all this hill is strewn with their +relics. + +The boys of Nova Scotia came slowly, dragging one foot after another in +sheer exhaustion, stumbling over loose stones and bits of sand-bags and +strands of old wire. They were caked with clay from head to foot. Even +their faces had masks of clay, and they were spent and done. But through +that whitish mud their eyes were steel-blue and struck fire like steel +when they told me of the good victory they had shared in, and of the +enemy's flight before them--all this without a touch of brag, with a +fine and sweet simplicity, with a manly frankness. They have suffered +tragic hardships in those five days since the battle of Arras began, but +there was no wail in them. When they first emerged from the tunnels on +the morning of the great attack they had been swept by machine-gun fire, +but by good luck escaped heavy casualties, though many fell. + +"Our losses were not nearly so high as we expected," said one lad, "but +it was pretty bad all the same. Old Heine had an ugly habit of keeping +one hand on his machine-gun till we were fifty paces from him, and then +holding up the other hand and shouting 'Mercy! Mercy!' I don't call that +a good way of surrendering." + +The enemy surrendered in hundreds on that day, as I have already +described, and the worst came afterwards for the Canadians. The enemy's +barrage was heavy, but even that was not the worst. It was difficult to +get food up, more difficult to get water. I met lads who had been +without a drop for three days. One of them, a fine, hefty fellow, strong +as a sapling, could hardly speak to me above a whisper. All of them had +swollen tongues and licked their dry lips in a parched way. Some of them +had been lucky enough to find French wine in the German dug-outs. Then a +wild snow-storm came. "I thought I should die," said one man, "when for +hours I had to carry wounded through the snow over ground knee-deep in +mud and all slippery. All my wounded were terribly heavy." + +But, in spite of all this, those brave, weary men went down the Vimy +slopes at dawn yesterday with the same high, grim spirit to clear "Old +Heine," as they call him, out of Vimy and Little Vimy villages. + +"They didn't wait for us," said a young Canadian officer. "One would +think that the war would be over in a month by the way they ran +yesterday." + +"Old Heine was scared out of his wits," said another lad. "He ran +screaming from us. In a dug-out I found two Germans too scared even to +run. They just sat and trembled like poor, cowed beasts. But there was +one fellow we took who got over his fright quick, and spoke in a big +way. He had been a waiter and spoke good English. + +"'When will the war end?' we asked. + +"'Germany will fight five years,' he said, 'and then we will win. + +"'Don't you believe it, old sport,' said we, 'you're done in now, and +it's only the mopping up we have to do.'" + +Down in the Bois-en-Hache one of our English soldiers of the 24th +Division on the Canadians' left had a grim adventure, which he describes +as "a bit of orl rite." His way was barred by a burly German, but not +for long. After a tussle our lad took him inside, and there found the +dead body of a German officer lying by the side of the table, which was +all spread for breakfast. It was our English lad who ate the breakfast, +keeping one eye vigilant on his living prisoner and not worrying about +the dead one. + +There was another soldier of ours, one of the Leinsters, also of the +24th Division, who ate his breakfast in Angres, but he was in jovial +company. He came across a German at the entrance and fought with him, +but in a friendly kind of way. After knocking each other about they came +to an understanding, and sat down together in a dug-out to a meal of +German sausage, cheese, black bread, and French wine. They found a great +deal of human nature in common, and were seen coming out later arm in +arm, and in this way the Irishman brought back his prisoner. + +The colonel of the Leinsters told another queer tale of an Irishman in +the outskirts of Lens. The colonel saw him after the battle of +Bois-en-Hache, which was a terrible affair and a fine feat of arms in +the mud and snow, bringing back a German horse under machine-gun fire +and shrapnel. He was guiding this poor lean beast over frightful ground, +round the edge of monstrous shell-craters, through broken strands of +barbed wire, and across trenches and parapets. "What are you doing with +that poor brute?" asked the commanding officer. "Sure, sir," said the +Irishman, "I'm bringing the horse back for Father Malone to ride." The +horse was in the last stages of starvation, and the padre weighs +nineteen stone, according to the popular estimate of the men, who adore +him, and that is part of the story's humour, though the Irish soldier +was very serious. It is a tribute, anyhow, to the affection of the men +for this Irish padre-a laughing giant of a man--who is always out in No +Man's Land when there are any of his lads out there, going as far as +the German barbed wire to give the last rites to dying men. To-day, when +I called on the Leinster battalion, he was away burying the poor boys +who lie in the mud of the battlefield. There is no humour in that side +of war, though Irish soldiers, and English soldiers too, refuse to be +beaten by the foulest conditions until the last strength is out of them. +In addition to the ordeal of battle they are enduring now a weather so +abominable, when it is in the fields of battle, that men fight for days +wet to the skin, lie out at night frozen stiff, and struggle after the +enemy up to the knees in mud. So it was in this little battle of +Bois-en-Hache, an historic episode in the battle of Arras, because it +broke the enemy's last hope of a counter-attack against Vimy Ridge. +Through the blinding blizzard of snow, the English and Irish troops +attacked this hill above the River Souchez, and had to cross through a +quagmire, so that numbers of them stuck up to the waist and could go +neither forward nor backward, while they were swept by machine-gun and +rifle fire. From that other hill, called the Pimple, to their right, +which was not yet taken by the Canadians, one man came back wounded over +that abominable ground under rifle-fire which spat bullets about him. He +stumbled into shell-holes and crawled out again, and just as he reached +the trench, fell dead across the parapet. Nearly all our men were hit in +the head and body, none in the legs. That was because they were +knee-deep in mud. Our men came back from this fighting like figures of +clay, and so stiff at the joints that they can hardly walk, and with +voices gone so that they speak in whispers. + +All over this lower slope of the Vimy Ridge is a litter of enormous +destruction caused by our gun-fire. German guns and limbers, +machine-guns and trench-mortars lie in fragments and in heaps in +infernal chaos of earth, which is the graveyard of many German dead. The +first hint that the Germans were in retreat from Lievin, near Lens, was +given by the strange adventure of two of our airmen. They had to make a +forced landing near Lens, and one of them was wounded in the leg. Our +observing officers watching through glasses expected them to be made +prisoners, but they were seen afterwards smoking cigarettes and slapping +themselves to keep warm. It now turns out that the German soldiers did +not wait to take them, and finding one man wounded left the other to +look after him. The next sign that the enemy was about to go was when +the fires and explosions went up in Lievin and Lens, and when he began +to shell his own front lines outside those places. All through the night +the sky was aflame with these fires, and this morning I saw that the +enemy was making a merry little hell in Lens and all its suburbs and +dependent villages. I had no need to guess the reason of all this. On +the way I had met two young Alsatian prisoners just captured. They had +been left with orders and charges to blow up mine-shafts, but had been +caught before they had done so. They had no heart in the job anyhow, +being of Alsace, and with their comrades had already petitioned to fight +on the Eastern instead of the Western Front. They described the panic +that reigned in Lens, and the fearful haste to destroy and get away. For +hours to-day I watched that destruction while our troops were working +forward through Lievin to get the better of the nests of machine-gun +redoubts at the entrance to Lens, from which intense fire still came. + +I had an astounding view of all this work in Lens, and it was as +beautiful as a dream-picture and weird as a nightmare. The snows had +melted, and the wind had turned south, and the sun was pouring down +under a blue sky across which white fleece sailed. Below, outspread, was +a wide panorama of battle, from Loos to Vimy, the great panorama of +French mining country, with all its slag-hills casting black shadows +across the sun-swept plain, and thousands of miners' cottages, "corons" +as they are called, all bright and red as the light poured upon them, +all arranged in straight rows and oblong blocks of streets in separate +townships. Not one of these houses was without shell-holes and broken +walls, for the war has swept round them and over them for two years and +more, but they looked strangely new and complete. Between them and +beyond them and all about them tall chimneys stood and enormous steel +girders and gantries of pit-head and power stations. To the left of Lens +the tower of the main waterworks was crowned with a white dome like a +Grecian temple, and to the right was Lens Church, behind a hill where I +saw our men fighting. It was like looking at war in Bolton or Wigan, but +more beautiful than those towns of ours, because the walls were not +black and there was a bright, fine light over all this mining country. +The Double Crassier on the edge of the Loos battlefields was to the +left of where I stood, curiously white and chalky as the sun flung its +rays upon those two close hillocks. Moving forward towards Lens I looked +straight down the streets of that city. If a cat had moved across one of +those roads I should have seen it. If Germans had come out of any of +those houses I should have seen them. But nothing moved up the streets +or down them. All those straight streets were empty. It looked as if +those thousands of red houses were uninhabited. But all the time I +watched enormous explosions rose in Lens and Lievin, sending up volumes +of curly smoke. The enemy was destroying the city and its priceless +mining works. As the mines exploded it looked as if the earth had opened +among all this maze of works and cottages, letting forth turbulent +clouds of fire and smoke. It was mostly smoke with a stab of flame in +the heart of it. Some of these thick, rising clouds were richly coloured +with the red dust of cottages, but others were of absolute black, +spreading out in mushroom shape monstrously. + +The explosions continued all the morning and afternoon, and after seeing +those Alsatian prisoners I could imagine the German pioneers under the +same orders going about with charges in the cellars of the houses and +deep down in the mine-shafts and galleries setting their fuses and +touching them off from a safe distance. It was dirty work. Meanwhile, +our men advancing from Lievin, and through it, were having a hard and +costly task to rout out the machine-gun emplacements, especially in two +terribly strong redoubts known to us as Crook and Crazy Redoubts, +defending the western side of Lens. But though these were strong, +fortified positions, there were machine-guns in many other places among +all those groups of miners' cottages. + +I ought to explain that each group or collection of streets in the +square blocks is called a "cite." In the northern part of Lens there are +the Cite St.-Pierre, the Cite St.-Edouard, the Cite St.-Laurent, the +Cite Ste.-Auguste, and the Cite Ste.-Elisabeth. Westward there are the +Cite Jeanne-d'Arc and the Cite St.-Theodore. South there are the Cite du +Moulin and the Cite de Riaumont. Each one of these places had its own +separate defences of barbed wire and sand-bag barricades, and each a +nest of machine-guns. It is clear that when these guns were served by +rear-guard posts, ordered to hold on to the last, a quick advance +through Lens would have been at great and needless sacrifice of +life. When our men were checked a while by the terrible sweep of +bullets in the northern and western cites our artillery opened heavy +fire and poured in shells, which I watched from ground below +Notre-Dame-de-Lorette. I had walked on from that ridge and was looking +into Lens when I saw a movement of men below an embankment to the right +of the small hill in the south of the city called Bois de Riaumont. +Between the embankment and the hill was a sunken road leading just below +the hill to a long straight street of ruined houses lined with an avenue +of dead trees. There were belts of wire fixed down the hill-side from +the wood on the crest. This ground, swept by sunlight, was the scene of +a grim little drama which I watched with intense interest. At first I +thought our men were about to make a direct assault upon the hill-side. +They came swarming across the open ground in small groups widely +scattered, but in two distinct waves. For a while they took cover under +the embankment, while other groups crept up to them; then, after half an +hour or so, they advanced again, half-left, at the double, led by an +officer well in advance of all his men. They crossed the sunken road and +went up the slope on the south side of the hill; but, instead of +pressing up to the crest, suddenly disappeared into the long, straight +street fringed with trees. No sooner had they gone down that sinister +street then the enemy flung a barrage right along the embankment where +they had first assembled. If they had still been there it would have +been a tragic business, and I felt joyful that they had not waited +longer. Other men crept up from the ground below where I stood, steered +an erratic course, took cover in old German trenches, and then made +short, sharp rushes till they dropped also into the sinister street. +Later in the afternoon the enemy barraged his old line of trenches with +heavy crumps--which is a way he has when he leaves a place--and +presently shells began to fall unpleasantly near to where I stood, +getting closer as time passed. I found it wise to shift three times, but +on scaling the high ridge of Notre-Dame-de-Lorette again I lingered to +look at the great picture of war outspread below--that long seven-mile +stretch of miners' villages crowding densely up to Lens--the great +outbursts of red and black smoke between the slag-heaps and chimneys +away to the battlefield of Loos, across which sunlight and shadows +chased in long bars--and our shell-fire heavy around Lens church and far +beyond where enemy's troops and transport were hurrying in retreat. +Overhead there was the loud droning of many aeroplanes and flights of +invisible shells, shrill-voiced as they travelled with frightful speed. + + * * * * * + +LATER + +The weather has changed again since yesterday, and there is no blue in +the sky to-day and no sunshine, but cold rain-storms, cloaking all the +line of battle in shrouds of mist. Fires are still burning in Lens, the +grey smoke is drifting across the mine-fields, and every hour there are +big explosions, showing that the German pioneers are still busy +destroying all the wealth of machinery in the city and blowing up the +roads before leaving. New prisoners describe all this frankly enough. +Down one mine-shaft they flung 20,000 hand-grenades. They have enormous +stores of explosives of every kind for this purpose, because this mining +district was crammed with German stores. They had to leave Lievin in +such haste that they could neither carry away this ammunition nor +destroy all of it, and vast quantities of bombs, trench-mortars and +shells have fallen into our hands. + +Yesterday the English and Irish troops who had taken Bois-en-Hache with +such fine courage, in spite of the most severe conditions of weather and +ground, worked farther forward through Lievin. Explosions from concealed +charges burst around them, and machine-gun fire from many redoubts swept +down the long, straight streets of miners' cottages; but they worked +their way up under cover, rushed several of the concrete emplacements, +and took heroic risks with a most grim spirit. During the evening the +enemy recovered from his first panic and sent supporting troops back +into Lens to hold the line of trenches and machine-gun forts on the +western side in order to delay our advance on to Lens until he has had +more time to make ready his positions in the Drocourt-Queant line, the +Wotan end of the Hindenburg line, upon which we are forcing him to +withdraw. It makes a difference to a number of poor souls expecting +deliverance. According to prisoners there are about 2000 people, mostly +women, old men, and children, living in the district of Lens, and +waiting to break their way through to our side of the lines. + +I set out to find them this morning, as there were reported rumours that +they had escaped through Lievin. But this is untrue. Owing to the German +rally they are still hemmed in by the enemy's machine-gun redoubts, and +I am told that they are down in the cellars of a neighbouring village, +taking cover from the shell-fire which we are pouring on the hostile +strong points located in their cites. + +Meanwhile our guns are finding human targets for slaughter. The +sufferings of our men are great, their courage is tested by fire; but +the fate of the enemy's soldiers is atrocious beyond all imaginings. I +have seen with my own eyes the effect of our gun-fire during the last +fortnight, and it is annihilating. Owing to our destruction and capture +of many batteries and the necessity of the German retreat to save +further disaster, the enemy's infantry have been in desperate plight and +have suffered torture. We have smashed their trenches, broken their +telephone wires, imprisoned them in barrages through which no food can +come. In captured letters and memoranda we find cries for rescue, +pitiful in their despair. Here is a message from the 3rd Battalion, 51st +Infantry Regiment: + + "Since the telephone connexion is so inadequate it becomes doubly + necessary to call on the artillery by light signals. These are only + of use if attended to. Failing to get artillery reply to the + enemy's fire I sent up red star-shells. The artillery took no + notice. The artillery should be bound to reply to such signals. + + "For our infantry, which since the Somme battles has been on the + defensive, it is, from the point of view of moral, of importance to + count on artillery support with certainty. The infantry that comes + to regard itself morally as a target for the hostile artillery must + in the long run give way." + +Here is an extract from a memorandum sent by a German machine-gunner: + + "The relief of this detachment is earnestly requested. We have + already spent seven days in the greatest tumult. One section of + trench after another gets blown in. The detachment, which now + consists of three men, has eaten nothing since yesterday morning. + To-morrow what remains of the front trenches will probably be + shattered. If the position were not so frightfully serious, I would + not have written this report." + +Yesterday I spent half an hour with one of our own batteries of +60-pounders, those long-nosed beasts which have a range of five miles +and have helped in this great slaughter of the enemy. The commanding +officer, once a judge-advocate of Johannesburg, was a man whose +joviality covered a grim, resolute spirit. + +"My beauties," he said, "fired 1000 high-velocity shells at Old Fritz +before breakfast on Monday morning. We did some very pretty work on the +German lines." + +I saw his store of shells--monstrous brutes--in spite of all this +expenditure; and listened to details of destruction in a wooden hut, +provided with a piano--made by a Paris firm and captured recently in a +German dug-out. + +"Don't your gunners get worn out?" I asked. + +He laughed and said, "They stick it till all's blue, night and day. What +they hate are fatigues and carrying up the shells for other batteries. +They'll work till they drop, serving their own guns." + +He looked over to Lens and said, "We'll soon have old Fritz out of +that." I think they were some of his shells that I saw bursting behind +the Bois de Riaumont. + +All through this battle our airmen have been untiring, too. Two of our +men, a pilot and an observer, were attacked by a squadron of +twenty-eight hostile machines, and the pilot was grievously wounded. He +was badly hit in the leg, and one of his eyes hung only by a thread. +But, with a supreme act of courage, he kept control of his machine and +landed safely. He was dying when he was helped on to a stretcher and +brought home to camp; but he made his report very clearly and calmly +until he was overcome by the last faintness of death. + +Our men have still most bloody fighting before them. The enemy is still +in great strength. We shall have to mourn most tragic and fearful +losses. But the tide of battle seems to be setting in our favour, and +beating back against the walls of the German armies, who must hear the +approach of it with forebodings, because the barriers they built have +broken and there are no impregnable ramparts behind. + + + + +VI + +THE SLAUGHTER AT LAGNICOURT + +APRIL 16 + +What happened at Lagnicourt yesterday is one of the bloodiest episodes +in all this long tale of slaughter. At 4.30, before daybreak, the enemy +made a very heavy attack upon our lines, where we are far beyond the old +system of trenches and for a time in real open warfare of the old style, +which I, for one, never believed would come again. The enemy's lines +were protected with a new belt of barbed wire, without which he can +never stay on any kind of ground; but it was this which proved his +undoing. His massed attack against Australian troops had a brief +success. Battalions of Prussian Guards, charging in waves, broke through +our forward posts, and drove a deep wedge into our positions. Here they +stayed for a time, doing what damage they could, searching round for +prisoners, and waiting, perhaps, for reserves to renew and strengthen +the impetus of their attack. But the Australian staff officers were +swift in preparing and delivering the counter-blow, which fell upon the +enemy at 7.30. Companies of Australians swept forward, and with +irresistible spirit flung themselves upon the Prussians, forcing them to +retreat. They fell back in an oblique line from their way of advance, +forced deliberately that way by the pressure and direction of the +Australian attack. At the same time our batteries opened fire upon them +with shrapnel as they ran, more and more panic-stricken, towards their +old lines. The greatest disaster befell them, for they found themselves +cut off by their own wire, those great broad belts of sharp spiked +strands which they had planted to bar us off. + +What happened then was just appalling slaughter. The Australian infantry +used their rifles as never rifles have been used since the first weeks +of the war, when our old regulars of the first expeditionary force lay +down at Le Cateau on the way of their retreat and fired into the +advancing tide of Germans, so that they fell in lines. + +Yesterday, in that early hour of the morning, the Australian riflemen +fired into the same kind of target of massed men, not far away, so that +each shot found the mark. The Prussians struggled frantically to tear a +way through the wire, to climb over it, crawl under it. They cursed and +screamed, ran up and down like rats in a trap, until they fell dead. +They fell so that dead bodies were piled upon dead bodies in long lines +of mortality before and in the midst of that spiked wire. They fell and +hung across its strands. The cries of the wounded, long tragic wails, +rose high above the roar of rifle-fire and the bursting of shrapnel. And +the Australian soldiers, quiet and grim, shot on and on till each man +had fired a hundred rounds, till more than fifteen hundred German +corpses lay on the field at Lagnicourt. Large numbers of prisoners were +taken, wounded and unwounded, and five Prussian regiments have been +identified. The Prussian Guard has always suffered from British troops +as by some dire fatality. At Ypres, at Contalmaison, in several of the +Somme battles, they were cut to pieces. But this massacre at Lagnicourt +is the worst episode in their history, and it will be remembered by the +German people as a black and fearful thing. + + + + +VII + +THE TERRORS OF THE SCARPE + + +APRIL 23 + +The battle of Arras has entered into its second phase--that is to say, +into a struggle harder than the first days of the battle on April 9, +when by a surprise, following great preparations, we gained great +successes all along the line. + +This morning, shortly before five o'clock, English, Welsh, and Scottish +troops made new and strong assaults east of Arras upon the German line +between Gavrelle, Guemappe, and Fontaine-lez-Croisilles, which is the +last switch-line on this part of the Front between us and the main +Hindenburg line. It has been hard fighting everywhere, for the enemy was +no longer uncertain of the place where we should attack him. As soon as +the battle of Arras started it was clear to him that we should deliver +our next blow when we had moved forward our guns upon this "Oppy" line, +as we call it, which protects the Hindenburg positions north and south +of Vitry-en-Artois. His troops were told to expect our attack at any +moment, and to hold on at all costs of life. To meet our strength the +enemy brought up many new batteries, which he placed in front of the +Hindenburg line, and close behind the Oppy line, and massed large +numbers of machine-guns in the villages, trenches, and emplacements, +from which he could sweep our line of advance by direct and enfilade +fire. These machine-guns were thick in the ruins of Roeux, just north +of the River Scarpe; in Pelves, just south of it, in two small woods +called Bois du Sart and Bois du Vert, immediately facing Monchy, on the +slope of the hill; and in and about the village of Guemappe, which we +had assaulted and entered twice before. Many German snipers, men of good +marksmanship and tried courage, were placed all about in shell-holes +with orders to pick off our officers and men, and the enemy's gunners +had registered all our positions so that they were ready to drop down a +heavy barrage directly our men made a sign of attacking. For some days +after the second day of the battle of Arras they had fired a great many +shells along and behind our front lines in order to shake the nerve of +our troops, and had poured fire into Monchy-on-the-Hill after its +capture by our cavalry and infantry during those deadly hours of +fighting already described. It was only to be expected that this second +phase of the battle of Arras should be extremely hard. For our men it is +a battle to the death. Fighting is in progress at all the points +attained by our troops, and there is an ebb and flow of men--beaten back +for a while by intensity of fire, but attacking again and getting +forward. It is certain that Gavrelle is ours (thus breaking the Oppy +line north of the River Scarpe); that our men are beyond Guemappe, on +the south of the Scarpe, though the enemy is still fighting at this hour +of the afternoon in or about that village; and that on the extreme right +of the attack the enemy has suffered disaster north of Croisilles, and +has lost large numbers of men in killed and prisoners. + +[Illustration: _Line on April 23, 1917_] + +At the outset of the attack the enemy showed himself ready to meet it +with a fierce resistance. Last night was terribly cold, and our troops +lying out in shell-holes or in shallow trenches dug a day or two ago, +suffered from this exposure. The Scottish troops of the 15th Division on +the south of the Scarpe had fought in the first days' battles of Arras, +and, with English troops of the 37th, had gone forward to Monchy and +into the storm-centre of the German fire. Some of the men I met to-day +had been buried by German crumps, and had been dug out again, and as +they lay waiting for the hour of attack shells fell about them and the +sky was aflame with flashes of our bombs. The men craved for something +hot to drink. "I would have given all the money I have for a cup of +tea," said one of them. But they nibbled dry biscuits and waited for the +dawn, and hoped they would not be too numb when the light came to get up +and walk. The light came very pale over the earth, and with it the +signal to attack. Our bombardment had been steady all through the night, +and then broke into hurricane fire. As soon as our men left the trenches +our gunners laid down a barrage in front of them, and made a moving wall +of shells ahead of them--a frightful thing to follow, but the safest if +the men did not go too quick or fail to distinguish between the line of +German shells and our own. It was not easy to distinguish, for our men +had hardly risen from the shell-holes and ditches before the enemy's +barrage started, and all the ground about them was vomiting up fountains +of mud and shell-splinters. At the same time there came above all the +noise of shell-fire a furnace-blast of machine-guns. Machine-gunners in +Roeux and Pelves, in the two small woods in front of Monchy, and in +the ground about Guemappe were slashing all the slopes and roads below +Monchy-on-the-Hill. + +"It was the most awful machine-gun fire I have heard," said a young +Gordon this morning, as he came back with a bullet in his hip. "The +beggars were ready for us, and made it very hot. But we folk went on, +those of us who weren't hit quickly, and made an attack on the village +of Guemappe." + +"The enemy dropped his barrage on to us mighty quick," said a +Worcestershire lad, "but we managed, most of us, to get past his crumps. +It took a lot of dodging in shell-holes, and the worst was his +machine-gun fire, which was terrific." + +Below Monchy the enemy was in trenches defended by enfilade fire from +redoubts along the Cambrai road, and when our English troops swept down +on them the Germans ran at once up their own slope to the cover of a +wood called Bois du Sart. Only one officer and two men remained, and +they were taken prisoner, and I saw them being marched back under +escort. The officer was a young Bavarian without a hat; he bore himself +very jauntily, though his face was white and he was covered with dirt. + +The Worcesters and Hampshires of the 29th Division, farther north and +just south of the Scarpe, were held up for some time by the intensity of +the machine-gun fire, and before getting on had to wait the arrival of a +Tank which was crawling up by way of the lone copse. They were then +fighting heavily about Shrapnel-and-Bayonet Trench, and afterwards made +their way forward again under heavy fire, and passed a number of German +snipers lying in shell-holes to right and left of them. They were swept +by machine-gun fire and heavily counter-attacked. + +To the north of the River Scarpe our progress was quicker, and Scottish +battalions of the 15th Division made their advance towards Roeux by +way of a fortified farm and chemical works, in which machine-guns were +hidden. Round about here the enemy lost very heavily. In trying to +escape from the ruins of the farm many of them were killed and lay in a +row to the left of the place. In the chemical works those who had not +escaped before our men were upon them surrendered at once. The attack +and capture of Gavrelle, which broke the Oppy line, was the best thing +done on the left of the attack. This is important ground for future +operations. + +Guemappe, to the south of the river, is the scene of the most severe +attacks and counter-attacks; and it is clear that the enemy sets a great +price on this heap of bricks, because of its position on the Cambrai +road. Before this morning it has been the scene of fierce encounters; +and to-day the 3rd Bavarian Division (which has taken the place of the +18th Division, at whom they had jeered for losing so many prisoners in +recent battles) is at close quarters with our men; and round about the +village there is deadly hand-to-hand fighting. The trenches here are +full of Germans, and the enemy has sent up supports. + +The 101st Pomeranian Regiment, belonging to the 35th Reserve Division, +surrendered in solid masses to our men in the neighbourhood of +Fontaine-lez-Croisilles. For several days they had suffered under our +bombardment, and it so shook their nerve that as soon as our troops +advanced they came out of their dug-outs in the support trenches--the +front line was not held at all--and gave themselves to our men in blocks +of 500 without any attempt to fight. On this ground between the Cojeul +and Sensee rivers, where our advance was on a curved line following the +shape of the rising ground, we took at least 1200 prisoners and a +battery of field-guns. + +It is fortunate--in counting the high price of the battle--that many of +our wounded are only lightly touched by shrapnel and machine-gun +bullets. I saw these walking wounded coming back; tired, brave men, who +bore their pain with most stoic endurance, so that there was hardly a +groan to be heard among them. Now and again overhead was the shrill +whine of an approaching shell, "Whistling Percy" by name, but they paid +no heed after their great escape from the far greater peril. They formed +up in a long queue outside the dressing-station, where doctors waited +for them, and where there was a hot drink to be had. They were covered +with mud, and were too weary and spent to talk. That long line of +silent, wounded men will always remain in my memory. + +Outside in the sunlight, waiting their turn to enter the +dressing-station, some of the men lay down on the bank in queer, +distorted attitudes very like death, and slept there. Others came +hobbling with each arm round the neck of the stretcher-bearers, or led +forward blind, gropingly. It was the whimper of these blind boys and the +agony on their faces which was most tragic in all this tragedy, those +and the men smashed about the face and head so that only their eyes +stared through white masks. Near by were German prisoners standing +against the sunlit wall, pale, sick, and hungry-looking men, utterly +dejected. A German aeroplane flew overhead on the way behind our lines, +shot at all the way by our anti-aircraft guns, but very bold. Our +kite-balloons, white as snow-clouds in the blue sky, stared over the +battlefield where our men are still fighting in the midst of great +shell-fire. + + * * * * * + +APRIL 25 + +This battle which is still in progress east of Arras is developing +rather like the early days of the Somme battles, when our men fought +stubbornly to gain or regain a few hundred yards of trenches in which +the enemy resisted under the cover of great gun-fire, and to which he +sent up strong bodies of supporting troops to drive our men out by +counter-attacks. In the ground east of Monchy, between the Scarpe and +the Sensee rivers, the situation is exactly like that, and, as I said +yesterday, the line of battle has ebbed to and fro in an astounding way, +British and German troops fighting forwards and backwards over the same +ground with alternating success. + +An attack made by Scottish troops of the 15th Division yesterday +afternoon, and by English troops of the 29th at 3.30 this morning, +re-established our line on this side of the two woods called Bois du +Vert and Bois du Sart, and on the farther side of Guemappe. Parties of +British troops who had been cut off and were believed to be in the hands +of the enemy were recovered yesterday, having held out in a most gallant +way in isolated positions. Among them were some of the Argylls and men +of the Middlesex Regiment. Our barrage preceding an infantry attack +actually swept over them, and they gave themselves up for lost, but +escaped from the British shells and the German shells which burst all +round them and seemed in competition for their lives. + +A similar case happened with a party of Worcester men recovered last +night. They were cut off in a small copse, and lay quiet there for +several days, surrounded by the enemy. They had their iron rations with +them, and lived on these until they were gone. They were then starving +and suffering great agony from lack of water. But still they would not +surrender, and last night were rewarded for their endurance by seeing +the enemy retire before the advancing waves of English troops. + +The enemy is suffering big losses, but is replacing them each time by +fresh battalions. The Fourth Division of the Prussian Guards has now +been brought up against us, among several other new divisions. They +continue to show determination to hold us back from a nearer approach to +the Hindenburg line in spite of the frightful casualties already +suffered. There have been no fewer than eight counter-attacks already +upon the village of Gavrelle, and not one of them has reached our men, +but they have been broken and dispersed. + +In the first counter-attack upon our line opposite Monchy, between 2000 +and 3000 Germans left the Bois du Vert, but after many hundreds had +fallen retired to reorganize. The second attack was in greater numbers +and rolled back our line for a time, but has now been forced to retire +to its old position in the woods, which we keep continually under +intense fire, so that much slaughter must be there. + +Our guns never cease their labouring night and day, and are shelling the +enemy's infantry positions, batteries, lines of communication, +rail-heads, and cross-roads, so that no troops may move except under the +menace of death or mutilation. Nevertheless, faced by great peril to his +main defensive lines, the enemy is massing troops rapidly for battle on +even a bigger scale. Our own men are passing through fiery ordeals with +that courage which is now known to the whole world, so that I need not +labour to describe it--a patient courage in great hardships, +self-sacrifice in the midst of great perils, sane and unbroken in spite +of horrors upon which the imagination dare not dwell. + +From the colonel of the Worcesters of the 29th Division I heard to-day a +narrative which would surely make the angels weep, but though just out +of the infernal ordeal he told it calmly, and his hand only trembled +slightly as he pointed on his trench-map to positions which his men had +taken and where they had most suffered. His story deals with only a +small section of the battle front, and all the fighting which he +directed had for its object certain trenches which would mean nothing if +I gave their names. (They were Strong and Windmill Trench.) + +His battalion headquarters were in a dug-out actually in the front +trench line from which his men attacked, and it was lucky, for after the +troops had gone forward the enemy's barrage fell behind them and +destroyed the ground. The colonel, with his adjutant, his +sergeant-major, and his servant, shared this battle headquarters with +the commanding officer and staff of the Hampshires, but not for long. +Heavy German crumps were smashing round them, and the enemy's +barrage-fire swept up and down searching for human life. The colonel of +the Hampshires was wounded, and two of his officers were killed. The +colonel of the Worcesters, who was left to record this history, could +tell very little of what was happening to his men there in the battle +less than a thousand yards away. A wounded sergeant came back and said +that the left company was holding out against German counter-attacks. +Later two young officers came back to Pick-and-Shrapnel Trench with a +party of men and said they had been ordered to retire by a strange +captain. The colonel rallied the men, and they went back and retook +Windmill Trench near by. Messages came down that men were half mad for +lack of water. The colonel sent up water by a carrying-party, but he +believes that they delivered it to the enemy, who had crept up through +the darkness which had now fallen. All through the day on each side of +this Worcestershire colonel great bodies of troops were fighting forward +under intense shell-fire. He saw the enemy's massed counter-attacks +slashed by our shrapnel and machine-gun fire, and our field-batteries +galloping to forward positions, but he could see nothing of his own men +after they had once gone forward down the sloping ground. His runners +were killed or fell senseless from shell-shock. He himself was buried by +a shell and dug out again by his sergeant-major. In the night he was +left quite alone, surrounded by dead. + +That is one experience in the great battle, and thousands of our men +endured and are enduring dreadful things in the fierce fighting and +under intense fire. Once out of it, they are calm and self-controlled, +as I saw many of them to-day just as they had been relieved, and the +strongest expression they use is, "It is very hot, sir," or "I didn't +think I should come back." + +The wounded are marvellous. The lightly wounded have a long way to walk, +hobbling for miles down unsafe roads. Many of them walked back through +Monchy when it was a flaming torch. Weary and dazed they came to the +casualty clearing-station, not even now beyond the range of shell-fire, +so that men who have escaped from the battlefields, waiting to have +their wounds dressed, hear the old shrill whistle of the approaching +menace, but do not care. It is only by such courage that our men can +gain any ground from the enemy, and it is such courage that beats back +all those heavy counter-attacks which the enemy is now hurling against +us up by Gavrelle and by Monchy-on-the-Hill. + + + + +VIII + +THE BACKGROUND OF BATTLE + + +APRIL 30 + +There has been but little time lately to describe the scene of war or to +chronicle the small human episodes of this great battle between Lens and +St.-Quentin, with its storm-centre at Arras, where men are fighting in +mass, killing in mass, dying in mass. Some day one of our soldiers now +fighting--some young man with a gift of words--will write for all time +the story of all this: the beauty and the ugliness and the agony of it, +the colour and the smell and the movement of it, with intimate and +passionate remembrance. It is a memorable battle-picture in modern +history, and in the mass of hundreds of thousands of men, obedient to +the high command, which uses them as parts of the great war machine, is +the individual with his own separate experience and initiative, with his +sense of humour and his suffering, and his courage and his fear. + +The scene of battle has changed during these last few days because +spring has come at last, and warm sunshine. It has made a tremendous +difference to the look of things, and to the sense of things. A week ago +our men were marching through rain and sleet, through wild quagmire of +old battlefields which stretch away behind our new front lines, through +miles of shell-craters and dead woods and destroyed villages. They +fought wet and fought cold, and their craving was for hot drink. +Yesterday, after a few days of warmth, our troops on the march were +powdered white with dust, and they fought hot and fought thirsty, and +the wounded cried for water to cool their burning throats. Men going up +to the lines in lorries stared out through masks of dust which made then +look like pierrots. Their steel helmets, upon which rain pattered a week +ago, were like millers' hats. More frightful now, even than in the worst +days of winter, is the way up to the Front. In all that broad stretch of +desolation we have left behind us the shell-craters which were full of +water, red water and green water, are now dried up, and are hard, deep +pits, scooped out of powdered earth, from which all vitality has gone, +so that spring brings no life to it. I thought perhaps some of these +shell-slashed woods would put out new shoots when spring came, and +watched them curiously for any sign of rebirth, but there is no sign, +and their poor, mutilated limbs, their broken and tattered trunks, stand +naked under the blue sky. Everything is dead with a white, ghastly look +in the brilliant sunshine except where here and there in the litter of +timber and brickwork which marks the site of a French village, a little +bush is in bud, or flowers blossom in a scrap-heap which was once a +garden. All this is the background of our present battle, and through +this vast stretch of barren country our battalions move slowly forward +to take their part in the battle when their turn comes, resting a night +or two among the ruins where other men who work always behind the lines, +road-mending, wiring, on supply columns, at ammunition dumps, in +casualty clearing-stations and rail-heads, have made their billets on +the lee side of broken walls or in holes dug deep by the enemy and +reported safe for use. Dead horses lie on the roadsides or in +shell-craters. I passed a row of these poor beasts as though all had +fallen down and died together in a last comradeship. Dead Germans, or +bits of dead Germans, lie in old trenches, and these fields are the +graveyards of Youth. + +Farther forward the earth is green again in strips. The bombardment has +not yet torn it and pitted it, and the shell-craters are scarcer and +their sloping sides are fresh. One gets to know the date of a crater, +and its freshness is a warning sign that the enemy's guns dislike this +patch of ground and anything that may live there. So it is that one gets +close to the present fighting, and now under this first sunshine of the +year there is a strange and terrible beauty in the battle-picture. + +I watched our shelling of the Hindenburg line at Queant from the ground +by Lagnicourt, where the Australians slaughtered the enemy in the recent +counter-attack. White as fleecy clouds in the sky was the smoke of our +shrapnel bursts, and there was the glinting and flashing of shells above +the enemy's trench, which wound like a tape on the slope of the rising +ground above the village of Queant, and through the fringe of trees +below. A storm of shells broke over Bullecourt to the left, and the +enemy was answering back with 5.9's, searching the valley which runs +down from Noreuil, as I watched it while it was under fire. The Germans +were barraging the crest of the hill, with their universal-shell +bursting high with black oily clouds. One of our aeroplanes had fallen, +and the enemy's gunners in the Hindenburg line tried to destroy it by +long-range sniping. Our own guns were firing steadily, so that the sky +was filled with invisible flights of shells, and always there came down +the humming song of our aeroplanes, and their wings were dazzling and +diaphanous as they were caught by the sun's rays. That is the picture +one sees now along any part of our line, but the adventure of the men +inside the smoke-drifts is more human in its aspect. + +It was a queer scene when the Australians went into Lagnicourt. Some +Germans were still hiding in their dug-outs, and the Australian troops +searched for them with fixed bayonets. In some of these hiding-places +they found great stores of German beer, and it was a good find for men +thirsty and glad of a smoke. So this mopping-up battalion, as it is +called, mopped up the beer, which was very light and refreshing, and, +with fat cigars between their teeth, a bottle of beer in one hand and a +bayonet ready in the other, continued their hunt for prisoners. During +the fighting hereabouts 200 German soldiers came across under the white +flag as a sign of surrender, but they were seen by their own +machine-gunners, who shot them down without mercy. So one gets comedy +and tragedy hand-in-hand here, and, indeed, the whole tale of this +fighting on the way to Queant is a mixture of gruesome horror and +fantastic mirth, which makes men laugh grimly when telling the tale of +it. + +I went about three days ago over the battlefield with a young Australian +officer, a gallant man and a quick walker, who was the first to get news +of the enemy's attack. He was at headquarters, awake but sleepy, in the +small hours of morning. + +Presently the telephone bell tinkled. "Hallo," said the Australian +officer, and yawned. A small voice spoke: "The enemy has broken through. +He has got to Lagnicourt." + +"What's that?" said the officer at the 'phone. It seemed a silly joke at +such an hour. The message was repeated, and my friend was very wide +awake, and what happened afterwards was very rapid. + +The Australian Gunner-General gave orders to stop up the gaps in the +German wire through which the enemy had come. They were closed by +shell-fire. The attacking column, having failed in time to destroy the +field-guns, tried to escape, but found their retreat cut off. Three +thousand of them suffered appalling casualties, and I saw some of their +dead bodies lying on the ground three days ago, though most have now +been buried. + +On another part of the line held by the English troops a queer bird was +captured the other day. It was a blue bird in the form of a German +officer wearing a gay uniform, with a big cloak and spurs, brought down +by one of our airmen. He seemed sleepy when caught, and yawned politely +behind a closed hand, and explained the cause of his unfortunate +appearance behind our lines. It appears that the commanding officer of +his air squadron at Cambrai went on leave, and his officers and other +friends consoled themselves by drinking good red wine. In the morning, +after a late night, they decided to go out on reconnaissance; and the +officer in the sky-blue cloak agreed that he also would make a flight, +and so perform his duty to the Fatherland. A pilot took him up; but, +instead of making a reconnaissance, he fell fast asleep and saw nothing +of a British aeroplane swooping upon him from a high cloud. A bullet in +the petrol-tank drove down the German machine, and the officer in the +sky-blue cloak stepped out, saluted, surrendered, and a little later +fell asleep again. + +An air prisoner is always more noticeable than the batches of infantry +who come back to our lines after one of our attacks, but there was +something unusual in the sight of seventy-three Germans led by a young +English soldier from the zone of fire in this latest fighting. Our man +was a young private of Suffolks, chubby-faced and small in body, though +of a high spirit. + +"What are you doing with those men?" asked an officer. "Why isn't there +a proper escort?" + +"They are my prisoners," said the boy; "they have just surrendered to +me, and I'm taking them back to our camp." + +During attacks near Monchy one of our young officers was lying in a +shell-hole with a thin line of men, mostly wounded. Presently a Tank +crawled up, and a voice spoke from it: "That's a hot spot of yours. You +had better come inside for a bit." + +"How shall I get in?" said the young infantry officer. A voice from the +Tank said: "Come round to this side." The young officer climbed in +through a hole, and said "Thanks very much" to the Tank officer, who +drove him close to the enemy's line, enabled him to see the position, +and then brought him back to his shell-hole. + +These things are happening on the field of battle, and there are many of +our officers and men who have such fantastic experiences, and tell them +as though they were normal adventures of life. + + + + +IX + +HOW THE SCOTS TOOK GUEMAPPE + + +MAY 1 + +Birds are singing their spring songs on this May Day in the woods very +close to where men are fighting, and the fields on the edge of the +shell-crater country are yellow with cowslips, so that war seems more +hateful than ever, when the earth is so good, and all the colour and +scent of it. But the work of war goes on whatever the weather. To-day, +as well as yesterday, the enemy's chief targets were Arleux, captured by +the Canadians, and Guemappe, which fell to Scottish troops, both of +which places he has tried to take back by repeated and violent +counter-attacks. He is still in a trench on the east side of Guemappe, +running down to a bit of ruin called Cavalry Farm, where there has been +close fighting for several days since the great battle on April 23, when +Guemappe was taken by the Scots of the 15th Division. + +That battle round Guemappe is a great episode in the history of the +Scottish troops in France. It was fighting which lasted for nearly a +week after the hour of attack in the first daylight of April 23. At that +hour long waves of the Seaforths, Black Watch, and Camerons left the +trenches they had dug under shell-fire, and went forward towards +Guemappe. They were faced at once by blasts of machine-gun fire, and +although our artillery barrage crashed across the field some of the +German strong points were still held in force. At one, about which I +know most, there was a gap between the Seaforths and Camerons owing to +the feeble light of the dawn, in which men could only dimly see, but +this was filled up by some companies of the Black Watch. For nearly +three hours the Scots were held up by the fire of German machine-guns +and artillery, and suffered many casualties, but they fought on, each +little group of men acting with separate initiative, and it is to their +honour as soldiers that they destroyed every machine-gun post in front +of them. One sergeant of the Black Watch fought his way down a bit of +trench alone and knocked out the gun-crew so that the line could +advance. Two hundred prisoners were taken in that first forward sweep, +when the Seaforths advanced in long lines and went through and beyond +the village of Guemappe with loud shouts and cheers. They were checked +again by machine-gun fire from many different directions, and +immediately from the ruin called Cavalry Farm ahead of them. This was +afterwards cleared, and many Germans lie dead there. Then between eleven +and twelve in the morning the enemy developed his first counter-attack. +He massed masses of men in the valley below Guemappe, flung a storm of +shells on to the village, and then sent forward his troops to work round +the spur on which the Highlanders held their line. It was then that the +Camerons and Black Watch showed their fierce and stubborn fighting +spirit. They tore rents in the lines of advancing Bavarians with +Lewis-gun and rifle-grenade fire, and the enemy's losses were great, so +that the supporting troops passed over lines of dead comrades. But the +attack was pressed by strong bodies of men, and the thin lines of the +Scots, exhausted by long hours of fighting, were forced to swing back. + +We now know that first reports were wrong, when it was said that the +enemy retook Guemappe for a time. He never set foot in it again, though +the Scottish line fell back. Little groups of Highland officers and men +refused to retreat. Some of them held the cemetery and defended it +against all attacks. A captain of the Black Watch with seventy men +remained in the north of the village for four hours, though they had no +protection on either flank. One officer and twelve men of the Camerons +at another spot refused to leave during the retirement, and were found +still holding out when their comrades renewed their attack and regained +the ground. Another officer of the Camerons lost all the men of his +machine-gun team, but brought up the gun himself and worked it with +another officer already wounded. Afterwards, to save ammunition, he +sniped the enemy with their own rifles which they had dropped on the +field. Later the village of Guemappe was isolated, for our artillery +bombardment prevented all approach by the enemy. Then another brigade of +Scots streamed round by the north of the village, and the whole line of +Highland troops swept back the enemy. By that time the Bavarian troops +had no more fight in them, and knew they were beaten. They retired in +great disorder, leaving great numbers of dead and wounded. + +For a day and a half the Scots were able to rest a little, though always +under shell-fire; but afterwards there was fierce patrol fighting round +Cavalry Farm and in outposts near by. The enemy's fire was intense, and +he commanded this position from the high ground to the north, but small +parties of Scots held on doggedly outside the ruins of the farm until, +after five days, they were withdrawn. + +I have told all this briefly; but, even so, I hope it may reveal a +little of the stubborn courage with which those men refused to give way, +and when forced back for a few hours after great losses, regained the +ground they had captured with a spirit which belongs to the history of +their fighting clans. + + + + +X + +THE OPPY LINE + + +MAY 2 + +There have been no strong infantry attacks along our front to-day, none +of any kind as far as I know. It has been a day for the guns alone, and +as my ears could bear witness, and every nerve in my body, they have +made the most of it under the blue sky. All our batteries were hard at +work, heavy howitzers with broad blunt snouts, long-muzzled long-ranged +60-pounders, and farther forward, on the landscape of the battlefield, +field-guns drumming out salvos with staccato knocks above the full deep +blasts of the monsters behind them. + +Somehow in this bright sunlight, flooding all the countryside with a +golden haze and painting the fields with vivid colour--yellow where the +new shell-holes had dug deep pits, red-brown where it had lain quiet +since the war, emerald-green where strips of grass grew between the +plots of barbed wire and a tangle of old trenches--on such a day as +this, with a light wind driving fleecy clouds through the sky, and wild +flowers like little stars at one's feet, and larks singing with a high +ecstasy, war and blood and death seemed abominably out of place. Yet +they were there all three, round about Oppy and Gavrelle, and on the +ground below Bailleul, thrust before one's eyes, rising to one's +nostrils, making hideous noises about one. It would have been so much +better in such a May as this to stroll on the way to Oppy, in this first +sunshine of the year, without a thought of what men might be watching. +But when, standing on the crest above, I showed half my body above a bit +of earth, an officer who lives below the earth said, "It's better to +keep down. The blighters can see us all right." + +And to stroll into Oppy one must have many machine-guns with one, and be +preceded by a storm of heavy shells, making a steel wall before one. One +day soon, I suppose, our men will go in again like that, to find a +litter of men's bodies, some living men trembling in cellars, and +another little bit of hell. We were making a hell of it to-day for any +young Germans there. Our guns made good target practice of it, flinging +up rosy clouds of dust from its ruins of red brick. But one house still +stands in Oppy Wood. It is a big white chateau, which is clearly visible +with empty windows and broken roofs through a thin fringe of dead trees. +A sinister ghostly place, even at broad noonday, and no man alive would +sit alone there in its big salon unless he had gone mad with +shell-shock, for that white house is another target for guns, and while +I watched our shells crashed through the trees about it. + +Below Oppy, where our men fought a few days ago, is Gavrelle, which is +ours, above Greenland Hill, where there is a broken village among the +trees, from which we can look down across the River Scarpe. To the left +of Oppy is Arleux-en-Gohelle, recently captured by Canadians, who fought +through its streets, and to the southern side of it is the ruin of a +sugar factory, 500 yards or so from the outskirts of Bailleul, an old +grey place, with broken walls and roofs, and a railway station with a +deep embankment. These places were targets for the German guns, +especially Arleux and Bailleul railway station, and heavy crumps came +whining and then crashing, and flinging up clouds of black smoke--as +black and as big as the evil genii that came from the bottle and played +the devil. + +The enemy's guns were very active to-day, as our communique would say. +But one of our forward observing officers, a young man in a dusty ditch, +with a telescope and a telephone, and a steel hat which is only a faith +cure for heavy shell-fire, was chuckling over this morning's business. + +"It was very funny," he said. "The Boche started counter-battery work, +but we answered back too quick, and knocked out one of his batteries +smack in the eye. That group has kept quiet since then." + +He pointed to some broken things lying about the field outside Oppy, and +said: "The aeroplanes have been dropping about a good deal. There has +been some very hot work in this part of the sky." The sky above us then +was full of the throb and hum of aeroplanes, and to the tune of them +birds went on singing, but other birds, invisible, sang louder than the +larks, with high, shrill, whistling cries which make one feel cold and +crouch low if they sing too close overhead. So the battle of guns went +on, and troops, marching over dusty ground pock-marked with +shell-craters, all white and barren, between belts of rusty wire, paid +no heed to bursting crumps, and in the new-made craters or in old +trenches, or in special holes just dug for shelter, sat down out of the +wind and cooked their food, and slept so much like other bodies who will +never wake, that once or twice I thought they were dead, these single +figures sprawling in the dust, with sand-bags for their pillows. Away on +the skyline were a few dim towers faintly pencilled against the golden +haze, and one taller than the others standing apart. + +"Douai," said a gunner officer. Yes; it was Douai, old in history and +full of ancient buildings, which hold many memories of faith and +scholarship and peace. The tall, lone tower which I saw was the great +belfry of Douai. It seemed very far away, with the German lines on this +side of it; but I remember how I used to see the clock-tower of Bapaume +(no longer standing, alas!) as far and dim as this, so that it seemed as +though we should never fight our way to it. But one day I walked into +Bapaume with the Australian troops, who had entered it that morning. And +so one day we may walk into Douai, if luck is with us. + + + + +XI + +THE BATTLE OF MAY 3 + + +MAY 3 + +Another day of close, fierce, difficult fighting is now in progress, +having begun early this morning in the darkness and going on down a long +front in hot sunshine and dust and the smoke of innumerable shells. + +Among the battalions engaged were the Royal Scots, East Yorks, +Shropshire Light Infantry, the Norfolks, Suffolks, East Kents and West +Kents, Royal Fusiliers, East Surreys, Worcesters, Hampshires, King's Own +Scottish Borderers, East Lancs and South Lancs, Gloucesters, Argylls, +Seaforths and Black Watch, and the Middlesex and London Regiments. They +belonged to the 3rd, 12th, 37th, 29th, 17th, 15th, and 56th Divisions. + +At many points our troops have succeeded in getting forward in spite of +great resistance from fresh German regiments and intense artillery-fire. +The most important gains of the day are in the direction of the village +of Cherisy, where ground has been won by English battalions, and round +Bullecourt by the Australians with Devons and Gordons on their left. + +This thrusts the enemy by Fontaine-lez-Croisilles, where he is still +holding out, into a narrow pointed salient, which should be utterly +untenable. The way to Cherisy was taken rapidly by men of the West Kents +and East Surreys of the 18th Division without any serious check, +although there was savage machine-gun fire. At Fontaine-lez-Croisilles +our men found it very difficult to get forward owing to the strength of +the enemy's defences south of the wood, and an abominable barrage of +heavy shell-fire. They bombed their way down 600 yards of trench, and +established themselves round Fontaine Wood on the north-west side of the +village. + +Farther north fighting carried our line out from Guemappe towards +St.-Rohart Factory, just above Vis-en-Artois, but signal rockets sent up +here by our men may only come from advanced posts ahead of the main +line. + +South of the Scarpe, between Monchy and those two woods of ill repute, +the Bois du Vert and Bois du Sart, the battle has been similar to other +struggles over the same ground, where the enemy stares across to our +lines from good cover and has every inch of earth registered by his +guns, with a clear field of fire for his machine-guns, of which he has +got numbers in enfilade positions. English and Scottish battalions +attacked here this morning, and would not give way under the terrific +fire, but fought forward in small bodies until they gained the line on +the crest of Infantry Hill and 300 yards short of the two woods, now +linked together by the Germans with belts of wire and well-dug trenches. + +North of the River Scarpe there is great fighting round Roeux, +Gavrelle, and Oppy by the Household Battalion, Seaforths, Royal Irish +Fusiliers, Warwicks, South African Scottish of the 4th, 9th, and 6th +Divisions, and other English and Scottish battalions. + +Gavrelle has already been the scene of many attacks and counter-attacks. +It was here that in the fighting last month the enemy advanced time +after time in close waves, only to be scythed down by our machine-guns, +so that heaps of those field-grey dead lie out there on the barren land. +To-day those dead were joined by many comrades. When our men advanced +they were met by masses of Germans, and once more the line of battle had +an ebb and flow, and both sides passed over the dead and wounded in +assault and retirement. Four times an old windmill beyond the village +changed hands. Four times the Germans who had dislodged our men were cut +to pieces and thrust out. Men are fighting here as though these bits of +brick and wood are worth a king's ransom or a world's empire, and in a +way they are worth that, for the windmill of Gavrelle is one point which +will decide a battle or a series of battles upon which the fate of two +Empires is at stake. So it happens in this war that a dust-heap like +that other windmill at Pozieres in the crisis of the Somme battles +becomes for hours or days the prize of victory or the symbol of defeat. + +In Oppy, above Gavrelle, which I described yesterday as I saw it in the +golden haze, the Germans there, whom I could not see, have been very +busy. They knew this attack was coming; it was clear that it must come +to them, and at night they worked hard to protect themselves, fear being +their taskmaster. They made machine-gun emplacements not only in pits +and trenches, but in branches of many trees, and wired themselves in +with many twisted strands. The Second Guards Reserve, newly brought up, +held the village and wood and the white chateau, with its empty windows +and broken roofs, and kept below the ground when our gun-fire stormed +above them. So when our men attacked in that pale darkness of a May +night they found themselves at once in a hail of machine-gun bullets, +and later under shell-fire, which made a fury about them. They +penetrated into Oppy Wood, but owing to the massed German troops, who +counter-attacked fiercely, they did not go far into the wood or lose +themselves in such a death-trap. They were withdrawn to the outskirts of +Oppy, so that our guns could get at the enemy and drive him below ground +again. + +Northwards we stormed and won long trenches running up from Oppy to +Arleux, and most necessary for further progress, linking up with the +Canadians, who made a great and successful attack upon the village of +Fresnoy, just south of Acheville. + +That was certainly a very gallant feat in face of many difficulties of +ground and most savage fire. They completely surrounded the village and +caught its garrison in a trap from which they had no escape. After brief +fighting with bombs and bayonets the survivors surrendered, to the +number of eight officers and about 200 men belonging to the Fifteenth +Reserve Division of Prussians. What made them sick and sorry men is that +two of their battalions had just arrived in high spirits, having troops +in front of them who were weak, they had been told, and they were +ordered to attack Arleux this morning. The Canadians attacked first, and +by six o'clock these Prussians were sadder and wiser men. The prisoners +escaped our shell-fire, but were nearly done to death behind our lines +by their own guns. I saw this incident this morning. They had been put +in an enclosure, next to a Canadian field dressing-station flying the +Red Cross, when suddenly the enemy's guns began to shell the area with +five-point-nines. They burst again and again during half an hour with +tremendous crashes and smoke-clouds. + +"If those Germans are still there," said a Canadian, "there won't be +much left of them." + +When the shelling eased off I went towards their place but found it +empty. As soon as the shelling started their guards hurried them away to +safety farther back behind the lines, and the Canadian wounded were +diverted to another route. One of these Prussian officers was shown his +old lines captured on April 9, and he asked what regiment had done such +gallant work. "The Canadians did it," he was told, "and the same fellows +that captured Fresnoy this morning." The Prussian officer could hardly +believe it, but when he was convinced of its truth he complimented the +Canadian troops who had fought so hard and so far. They were proud young +officers, and when I spoke to one or two they would not admit that they +had been mastered in this war. They seem to have an unbounded faith in +Hindenburg's genius, and in the effects of submarine warfare. + +I found no such spirit among the non-commissioned officers and men. They +spoke as men under an evil spell, hating the war, but seeing no end to +it. "Neither side will win," said one of them, "but who will stop it? +The papers write about the conditions of peace, but one party says one +thing and one party says another, and we don't know what to believe." + +I asked them about the Russian revolution, and whether it had any +influence in the German trenches, but they seemed to have heard of it +only as a vague, far-off event, not affecting their own lives and ideas. +They were more interested about their food, and said their bread ration +had been reduced by one-third. Behind the lines the scene of war to-day +was on white, dusty plains under the glare of the sun, where men waiting +to go into battle slept beside their arms, where mules kicked and rolled +beside heavy batteries and transport. Guns were thundering close, and +hostile shells were bursting among the tents and kinema pavilions, and a +band was playing. No sane man would believe it unless he saw it with his +own eyes and heard it with his own ears, for it was all fantastic as a +nightmare of war, with wounded men hobbling back from the bloody strife +and wending their way through the old trenches, in which other men sat +polishing rifles, or whistling in tune with the band. + + * * * * * + +MAY 21 + +Before darkness, when the shadows were lengthening across the fields and +the glow of the evening sun was warm on the white walls of the French +cottages, I went into an old village to meet some men who have just come +out of the fires of hate. They were the East Kents of the 12th Division, +whom I met last, months ago now, during the battle of the Somme, where +they had hard fighting and tragic losses. In the twilight and dusk and +darkness I heard their tales of battle--the things these men had done +just a little while ago before coming down to this village of +peace--tales of frightful hours, of life in the midst of death, of +English valour put to the most bloody and cruel tests. + +Men of Kent and boys of Kent. There was one boy with black eyes sitting +with his tunic off on the window-sill above a terraced porch who seemed +too young to be one of the King's officers, and is no more than +nineteen, but ninety in the experience of life and death. He told me how +he was sent up with some signallers to keep touch with his company, who +had gone forward in the attack at Monchy in the darkness before daybreak +on the morning of May 3. He lost his way, as other men did, because of +the darkness, and found his men being hit by machine-gun bullets. He put +them into shell-holes, and worked from one hole to the other, dodging +the heavy crumps which flung the earth up about them, and the more +deadly sweep of bullets. When the first glimmer of dawn came he met a +man of his company bringing down two prisoners, and heard that the +objective had been taken. It seemed good news and good evidence. The +young officer pushed on with what men were with him, and presently saw a +body of men ahead of him. Our fellows, he thought, and signalled to +them. He thought it queer that they didn't answer his signals, but waved +their caps in reply. He thought it more queer that they were wearing +overcoats, and he was sure his company had gone forward without coats. +But if those were not his men, where were they? That was where they +ought to be, or farther forward. He went forward a little way, uneasy +and doubtful, until all doubts were solved. Those men waving caps to +him, beckoning him forward, were Germans. The enemy had got behind our +men, who were cut off. It was a narrow escape for this boy of nineteen, +and he had others before he got back with a few men, sniped all the way +by the enemy on the hill-side. It was worse for men who had been +fighting forward there. They had gone over the ground quickly to the +first goal, though many had lost their way in darkness and many had +fallen. Then the enemy had dribbled in from positions on each side of +them and closed up behind them. The East Kents were cut off, like other +men of other regiments fighting alongside. Many officers were picked +off by snipers or hit by shells and machine-gun fire. Second lieutenants +found themselves in command of companies, sergeants and corporals and +privates became leaders of small groups of men. The Buffs were cut off, +but did not surrender. One young officer was the only one left with his +company. He cheered up the men and said it was up to the Buffs to hold +out as long as possible, and they built cover by linking up shell-holes +and making a defensive position. Three times the enemy attacked in heavy +numbers, determined to get their men, but each time they were beaten off +by machine-gun fire and bombs. Fifteen hours passed like this, and then +night came, and with it grave and dreadful anxiety to the officer with +what remained of the company of men who looked to him for leadership. +There were no more bombs. If another attack came, nothing could stop it. + +"We must fight our way back," said the second lieutenant. Between them +and their own lines were two German trenches full of the enemy. It would +not be easy to hack a way through. But the East Kents left their +shell-holes, scrambled up into the open, and, with the second lieutenant +leading, stumbled forward through the darkness as stealthily as possible +to the German lines between them and our old positions. Then they sprang +into the enemy's trench, bayoneting or clubbing the sentries. A German +officer came out of a dug-out with a sword, which is an unusual weapon +in a trench, but before he could use it our second lieutenant shot him +with his revolver. So to the next trench, and so through again to a +great escape. + +There were other officers and men who had to fight desperately for life, +like this. Young Kentish lads behaved with fine and splendid bravery. A +private belonging to a machine-gun team remained alone in a shell-hole +when all his comrades were killed, and stayed there for three days, +keeping his gun in action until relieved by our advancing troops. Three +days had passed when he rejoined his unit, and they, after a brief rest, +were moving forward again to the front line. The escaped man was given +the offer of remaining behind, but he said, "Thanks, but I'll go up +along, with the rest of the chaps," and back he went. + +Another young private saw his company commander fall by his side. The +stretcher-bearers had not yet come up to that spot, though all through +the battle they did most noble work; and this private soldier was +desperate to get help for his officer. He resolved to make the enemy +help him, and went forward to where he saw Germans. By some menace of +death in his eyes, he quelled them--six of them--into surrender, and, +bringing them back as prisoners, made them carry the young officer back +to the dressing-station, so saving his life. I have told the story of +the Buffs, or a brief glimpse of it, and they will forgive me when I add +that what they have done has been done also by other English battalions, +not with greater valour but with as great, in many battles and in these +now being fought. Our English troops, through no fault of mine, get but +little praise or fame though they are the backbone of the Army, and are +in all our great attacks. The boys of England, like those of its garden +county of Kent, have poured out their blood on these fields of France, +and have filled the history of this appalling war with shining deeds. + + + + +XII + +FIELDS OF GOLD + + +MAY 23 + +The beauty of these May days is so intense and wonderful after the cold, +grey weather and sudden rush of spring that men are startled by it, and +find it outrageously cruel that death and blood and pain should be +thrust into such a setting. Once in history two fat kings met in a field +of France, between silken tents and on strips of tapestry laid upon the +grass, so that this scene of glitter and shimmer was called for every +age of schoolboys "The Field of the Cloth of Gold." Out here in France +now there is a field of honour, stretching for more than a hundred +miles, held by British soldiers; and that is a true field of cloth of +gold, for everywhere behind the deep belt of cratered land, so barren +and blasted that no seed of life is left in the soil, there are miles of +ground where gold grows, wonderfully brilliant in the warm sunshine of +these days. It is the gold of densely growing dandelions and of +buttercups in great battalions. They cover the wreckage of old trenches, +and bloom in patches of ground between powdered fragments of brick- and +stone-work which are still called by the names of old villages swept off +the face of the earth by fierce bombardments. + +If you wish to picture our Army out here now, the landscape in which our +men are fighting--and they like to think you want to do so--you must +think of them marching along roads sweet-scented with lilac and +apple-blossom, and over those golden fields to the white edge of the +dead land. They are hot under heavy packs all powdered with dust, so +that they wear white masks like a legion of Pierrots, and on their steel +helmets the sun shines brazenly. But there is a soft breeze blowing, and +as they march through old French villages showers of tiny white petals +are blown upon them from the wayside orchards like confetti at a wedding +feast, though it is for this dance of death called war. And these hot, +dusty soldiers of ours, closed about by guns and mule teams and +transport columns surging ceaselessly along the highways to the Front, +drink in with their eyes cool refreshing shadows of green woods set upon +hill-sides where the sun plays upon the new leaves with a melody of +delicate colour-music, and spreads tapestries of light and shade across +sweeps of grass-land all interwoven with the flowers of France. + +Our soldiers do not walk blindly through this beauty. It calls to them, +these men of Surrey and Kent and Devon, these Shropshire lads and boys +of the Derbyshire dales, and at night in their camps, before turning in +to sleep in the tents, they watch the glow of the western sun and the +fading blue of the sky, and listen to the last song of birds tired with +the joy of the day, and are drugged by the scent of closing flowers and +of green wheat growing so tall, so quickly tall, behind the +battlefields. These tents are themselves like flowers in the darkness +when candlelight gleams through their canvas, and at night the scene of +war is lit up by star-shells and vivid flashes of light as great shells +fall and burst beyond the zone of tents, where British soldiers crouch +in holes and burrow deep into the earth. It is under the blue sky of +these days, and in this splendour of spring-time, that English boys and +young Scots go into the fires of hell, where quite close to them the +birds still sing, as I heard the nightingale amidst the crash of +gun-fire. + +They were Shropshire lads of the King's Shropshire Light Infantry of the +glorious 3rd Division, who helped to turn the tide of battle on one of +these recent days when there was savage fighting through several days +and nights. The officer in command of one of their companies found the +ruined village of Tilloy-les-Mufflaines in front of him still held by +the enemy when our troops assaulted it. They were working their +machine-guns and raking another body of infantry. + +"Come on, Shropshires," shouted the young officer, and his boys followed +him. They worked round the flank of the village, cut off ninety of the +enemy and captured them, and thereby enabled other troops to get +forward. One of these Shropshire officers went out with only a few men +200 yards beyond the front line that night, and took twenty prisoners in +a dug-out there. + +Into that same village of Tilloy cleared by Shropshires an officer of +the King's Own Liverpools, with a lance-corporal, dashed into a ruined +house from which the enemy was sniping in a most deadly way, and brought +out two officers and twenty-eight men as prisoners. It was a subaltern +of the Suffolks who went out in daylight under frightful fire to +reconnoitre the enemy's lines and brought back knowledge which saved +many lives. On the night of May 3, when all the sky was blazing with +fire, it was the Royal Scots of the 3rd Division who held part of the +line against heavy counter-attacks. The men had been fighting against +great odds. Many of them had fallen, and the wounded were suffering +horribly. Thirst tortured them, not only the wounded but also the +unwounded, and there was no chance of water coming up through the +hellish barrage. No chance except for the gallantry of the adjutant of +the Royal Scots away back at battle headquarters near Monchy, where +heavy crumps were bursting. He guessed his men craved for water, and he +risked almost certain death to take it to them, going through all the +fire with a few carriers and by a miracle untouched. This same adjutant +went out again across the battle-ground under heavy fire to reorganize +an advanced signal-station where there were many dead and wounded, and +all the lines were cut. It was a young second lieutenant of the Royal +Fusiliers of the 3rd Division who took command of two companies when all +the other officers had been killed or wounded, and so comforted the men +that under his leadership they dug a line close to the German position +east of Monchy, and all through the day and night of tragic fighting +held it against strong attacks and under infernal shell-fire. Day after +day, night after night, our men are fighting like that. And when for a +little while they are relieved and given a rest they come back across +those fields of the cloth of gold, beyond those barren fields where so +many of their comrades lie, and look around and take deep breaths and +say, "By Jove, what perfect weather!" and become a little drunk with the +beauty of this world of life, and hate the thought of death. + + + + +PART IV + +THE BATTLE OF MESSINES + + + + +I + +WYTSCHAETE AND MESSINES + + +JUNE 7 + +After the battle of Arras and all that fierce fighting which for two +months has followed the capture of Vimy and the breaking of the +Hindenburg line, and the taking of many villages, many prisoners, and +many guns, by the valour and self-sacrifice of British troops, there +began to-day at dawn another battle more audacious than that other one, +because of the vast strength of the enemy's positions, and more stunning +to the imagination because of the colossal material of destructive force +gathered behind our assaulting troops. It is the battle of Messines. + +It is my duty to write the facts of it, and to give the picture of it. +That is not easy to a man who, after seeing the bombardments of many +battles, has seen just now the appalling vision of massed gun-fire +enormously greater in intensity than any of those, whose eyes are still +dazed by a sky full of blinding lights and flames, and who has felt the +tremor of earthquakes shaking the hill-sides, when suddenly, as a +signal, the ground opened and mountains of fire rose into the clouds. +There are no words which will help the imagination here. Neither by +colour nor language nor sound could mortal man reproduce the picture and +the terror and the tumult of this scene. + +Our troops are now fighting forward through smoke and mist--English +regiments, New-Zealanders, Protestant and Catholic Irishmen. Their +Divisions from north to south were the 23rd, 47th (London), 41st, 19th, +16th (Irish), 36th (Ulster), 25th, New Zealand, and 3rd Australian. +They are fighting shoulder to shoulder in an invisible world, from +which they are sending up light signals to show the progress they have +made to the eyes of men flying high above the storm of battle, and to +watchers in the country from which they went just as the faint rays of +dawn flushed a moonlight sky. They have made good progress up the slopes +of Wytschaete and Messines. Prisoners are already coming back with tales +of how our men swept over them and beyond. So far it seems that the day +goes well for us, but it is early in the day, and I must write later of +what happens later on that ridge hidden behind the drifting clouds of +smoke. + +[Illustration: LINE BEFORE THE BATTLE OF MESSINES] + +For two and a half years the Messines Ridge had been a curse to all our +men who have held the Ypres salient--a high barrier against them, behind +which the enemy stacked his guns, shooting at them every kind of +explosive, directed upon these troops of ours in the swamps of the +Douve, in the broken woods of Ploegsteert, in all the flat ground north +and west of Kemmel, by German observing officers very watchful behind +their telescopes on that high ground which rises up from Wytschaete to +Messines. In the early days of the war, before the enemy's grey legions +had swept down through Belgium in a great devastating tide, some of our +artillery and our cavalry rode along the hog's back of the ridge and +held it for a time against the enemy's advanced patrols. On November 1, +1914, some of our guns were parked in the market square of Warneton +beyond the ridge, and on the next day found a good target in German +cavalry attacking from the woods, and held their fire until these +mounted men were within a thousand yards of them, when riders and horses +fell under a merciless storm of shrapnel. Many Germans died that day, +but behind them was the vast army which came on like a rolling sea, +beating back our ten divisions--those first ten wonderful divisions who +fought against overwhelming odds and massed artillery which gave them no +kind of chance. So we lost Wytschaete--Whitesheet, as our men have +always called it--and the Messines Ridge, and not all our efforts could +get it back again. + +It is more than two years ago now--it was in March of 1915--that I saw +an attack on Wytschaete, the first of our British bombardments which I +watched after adventures in Belgium and France. Standing upon the same +ground to-day, looking across the same stretch of battlefield, watching +another attack up those frightful slopes, I thought back to that other +day, upon that early demonstration of our artillery covering an infantry +advance, and the remembrance was amazing in its contrast to this new +battle in the dawn. Then our shrapnel barrage was a pretty ineffective +thing--terrible as it seemed to me at the time. In those two years our +gun-power has been multiplied enormously--by vast numbers of heavy guns +and monstrous howitzers, and great quantities of field-guns--so that at +daybreak this morning, before our men rose from their trenches to go +forward in assault, the enemy's country up there was upheaved by a wild +tornado of shell-fire, and the contours of the land were changed, and +the sky opened and poured down shrieking steel, and the earth was torn +and let forth flame. + +This battle of ours has started with such preparations as to ensure all +but that last certainty of success which belongs to the incalculable +fortune of war. It is not an exaggeration to say that they began a year +ago, when miners began to tunnel under the slopes of Wytschaete and +Messines, and laid enormous charges of ammonal, which at a touch on this +day should blow up the hill-sides and alter the very geography of +France. For a year Sir Herbert Plumer and his staff prepared their plans +for this attack, gathered their material, and studied every detail of +this business of great destruction. While other armies were fighting in +the Somme, and all the world watched their conflict, the Second Army +held the salient quietly, always on the defensive, not asking for more +trouble than they had. They waited for their own offensive, and trained +their own troops for it. A week ago they were ready, with railways, +guns, Tanks, every kind of explosive, every kind of weapon which modern +science has devised for the killing of men in great masses. A week ago +all the guns that had been massing let loose their fire. Night and day +for seven days it has continued with growing violence, working up to the +supreme heights of fury as dawn broke to-day. For five days at least +many Germans were pinned to their tunnels as prisoners of fire. No food +reached them; there was no way out through these zones of death. A new +regiment which tried to come up last night was broken and shattered. A +prisoner says that out of his own company he lost fifty to sixty men +before reaching the line. For a long way behind the line our heavy guns +laid down belts of shell-fire, and many of the enemy's batteries kept +silent. + +Our gunners smothered his batteries whenever he revealed them to the +airmen. Those flying men have been wonderful. A kind of exaltation of +spirits took possession of them, and they dared great risks and searched +out the enemy's squadrons far over his lines. In five days from June 1 +forty-four separate machines were sent crashing down, and this morning, +very early, flocks of aeroplanes went out to blind the enemy's eyes and +report the progress of battle. In the darkness queer monsters moved up +close to our lines, many of them crawling singly over the battlefields +under cover of woods and ruins. They were the Tanks, ready to go into +action on a great day of war, when their pilots and crews have helped by +high courage to victory. + +Last night all was ready. Men knowing the risks of it all--for no plans +are certain in war--had a sense of oppression, strained by poignant +anxiety. Many men's lives were on the hazard of all this. The air was +heavy, as though nature itself were full of tragedy. A summer fog was +thick over Flanders, and the sky was livid. Forked lightning rent the +low clouds, and thunder broke with menacing rumblings. Rain fell +sharply, and on the conservatory of a big Flemish house where officers +bent over their maps and plans the rain-drops beat noisily. But the +storm passed and the night was calm and beautiful. Along the dark roads, +and down the leafy lanes, columns of men were marching, and brass bands +played them through the darkness. Guns and gun-limbers moved forward at +a sharp pace. "Lights out" rang the challenges of the sentries to the +staff cars passing beyond the last village where any gleam was allowed, +and nearer to the lines masses of men lay sleeping or resting in the +fields before getting orders to go forward into the battle zone. All +through the night the sky was filled with vivid flashes of bursting +shells and with steady hammer-strokes of guns, and from an +observation-post looking across the shoulder of Kemmel Hill, straight to +Wytschaete and the Messines Ridge, I watched this bombardment and waited +for that moment when it should rise into a mad fury of gun-fire before +our men lying in these dark fields should stumble forward. During those +hours of waiting in the soft warm air of the night I thought of all I +had heard of the position in front of us. "It's a Gibraltar," said an +officer who was there in the early days of the war. "The enemy will +fight his hardest for the Messines Ridge," said another officer, whose +opinion has weight. "He has stacks of guns against us." Such thoughts +made one shiver, though the night was warm, so warm and moist that wafts +of scent came up from the earth and bushes. A full moon had risen, +veiled by vapours until they drifted by and revealed all her pale light +in a sky that was still faintly blue, with here and there a star. The +moon through all her ages never looked down upon such fires of man-made +hell as those which lashed out when the bombardment quickened. That was +just before three o'clock. For two hours before that fires had been +lighted in the German lines by British shell-fire--big rose-coloured +smoke-clouds with hearts of flame--and all round the salient and the +Messines Ridge our guns flashed redly as they fired, and their +shell-bursts scattered light against which the trees were etched +sharply. I could hear the rattle of gun-wagons along the distant roads, +and the tuff-tuff of an engine driving very close up to the +firing-lines, and above the great loudness of our gun-fire the savage +whine of German shrapnel coming over in quick volleys. The drone of a +night-flying aeroplane passed overhead. The sky lightened a little, and +showed black smudges like ink-blots on blue silk cloth where our +kite-balloons rose in clusters to spy out the first news of the coming +battle. The cocks of Flanders crowed, and two heavy German shells roared +over Kemmel Hill and burst somewhere in our lines. A third came, but +before its explosion could be heard, all the noise there had been, all +these separate sounds of guns and high explosives and shrapnel were +swept up into the tornado of artillery which now began. + +The signal for its beginning was the most terribly beautiful thing, the +most diabolical splendour, I have seen in war. + +Out of the dark ridges of Messines and Wytschaete and that ill-famed +Hill 60, for which many of our best have died, there gushed out and up +enormous volumes of scarlet flame from the exploding mines and of earth +and smoke, all lighted by the flame, spilling over into fountains of +fierce colour, so that all the countryside was illumined by red light. +Where some of us stood watching, aghast and spellbound by this burning +horror, the ground trembled and surged violently to and fro. Truly the +earth quaked. A New Zealand boy who came back wounded spoke to me about +his own sensations. "I felt like being in an open boat on a rough sea. +It rocked up and down this way and that." + +Thousands of British soldiers were rocked like that before they +scrambled up and went forward to the German lines--forward beneath that +tornado of shells which crashed over the enemy's ground with a wild +prolonged tumult just as day broke, with crimson feathers unfolding in +the eastern sky, and flights of airmen following other flights above our +heroes. + +Rockets rose from the German lines--distress signals flung up by men who +still lived in that fire zone--white and red and green. They were +calling to their gunners, warning them that the British were upon them. +Their high lamps were burning as lost hopes in God or man, and then +falling low and burning out. Presently there were no more of them, but +others which were ours in places which had been German. Smoke drifted +across and mingled with the morning mist. One could see nothing but a +bank of fog thrust through with short stars of light. The first definite +news that I had was from German prisoners, who came down in batches, +carrying our wounded when any help was needed for our own +stretcher-bearers. They described how our men came close behind the +barrage, some of them, by a kind of miracle, in advance of the barrage. +The Germans had not expected the attack for another two days, and last +night were endeavouring to relieve some of their exhausted troops by new +divisions, the 3rd Bavarians relieving the 24th Saxons, and the 104th +Infantry Reserve the 23rd Bavarians. They lost heavily on the way up to +the lines by our fire, and were then, after a few hours, attacked by our +waves of infantry. + +The story of this great battle and great victory--for it is really +that--cannot be told in a few lines, and it is too soon yet to give +exact details of the fighting. But from the reports that have now come +in from all parts of the battle front it is good enough to know that +everywhere our men have succeeded with astonishing rapidity, and that +the plan of battle has been fulfilled almost to the letter and to the +time-table. The New-Zealanders reached and captured Messines in an hour +and forty minutes after the moment of attack, in spite of heavy fighting +in German trenches, where many of the enemy were killed. Irish troops, +Nationalists and Ulstermen, not divided in politics on the battlefield, +but vying with each other in courage and self-sacrifice, stormed their +way up to Wytschaete, and after desperate resistance from the enemy +captured all that is left of the famous White Chateau, which for years +our soldiers have watched through hidden glasses as a far high place +like the castle of a dream. By midday our men were well down farther +slopes of the ridge, while our field-batteries rushed up the ridge +behind them to take up new positions. Farther north along the shoulder +of the Ypres salient our English troops of the 19th, 41st, 47th, and +23rd Divisions advanced along a line including Battle Wood, south of +Zillebeke, and now hold all but a small part of it. Meanwhile the +Germans are massing troops at Warneton and its neighbourhood, as though +preparing a heavy counter-attack, and are shelling Messines Ridge with +some violence. For to-day at least, in spite of fierce fighting that +must follow, our men have achieved a victory, with light losses +considering the severity of their task. The evil spell of the Ypres +salient is broken. The salient itself is wiped out, and if we can hold +the Messines Ridge, Ypres and its countryside will no longer exact that +toll of death which for nearly three years has been a curse to us. The +roads and fields are under a glare of sunshine as I write, and down +them, through the dust and the fierce heat, come troops of German +prisoners, exhausted and nerve-broken, but glad of life. And passing +them come the walking wounded who attacked them in their tunnels at dawn +to-day and conquered. The lightly wounded men are happy and proud of +their victory. + +"We New-Zealanders can afford to be a little cocky," said one of these +bronzed fellows with eyes of cornflower blue. "My word, I'm glad we had +the luck." He was wounded in the foot, but the man just hugged the news +of victory. "We shall be no end stuck up," he said, and then he laughed +in a simple way, and said, "I'm glad New Zealand did so well--that's +natural. But they tell me the Irish were splendid, and the Australians +could not be held back. It's good to have done the job, and I hope it +will help on the end." + +That New-Zealander spoke the thought of thousands who have been fighting +in this battle. They have a right to be proud of themselves, for they +have broken the curse of the salient and relieved it of some of its +horror. + + + + +II + +THE SPIRIT OF VICTORY + + +JUNE 8 + +I have never seen the spirit of victory so real and so visible among +great bodies of British troops since this war began. It shines in the +eyes of our officers and men to-day up in the fighting zone and in the +fields and woods below Wytschaete and Messines, where they are resting +and sleeping after the battle, regardless of the great noise of +gun-fire which is still about them. Our men have a sense of great +achievement, something big and definite and complete, in this capture of +Messines Ridge. They knew how formidable it was to attack, and they +count their cost--the price of victory--as extraordinarily light. Many +brave men have fallen, and along the roads come many ambulances where +prone figures lie with their soles up as a reminder that no battle may +be fought without this traffic flowing back; but the proportion of +lightly wounded was high and the number of wounded amazingly low among +most battalions. I met one company of Irish Fusiliers to-day who took +their goal without a single casualty and marched into Wytschaete without +firing a shot. That was a rare episode. But on all sides I hear +astonishment that our losses were so small considering the immensity of +their task. It is this which makes the men glad of victory--not having +it clouded by such heavy sacrifices of life as in the battles of the +Somme. "We got off light," said an Irish boy to-day; "we had the best of +luck." + +All along the way to Wytschaete, where I went through places which two +days ago still lived up to the reputation of evil names--Suicide Corner, +V.C. Walk, Shell Farm--and in woods like the Bois de Rossignol, where +the death-birds came screaming until a moment before yesterday's dawn, +officers and men, generals, brigadiers, sergeants, privates, spoke of +victory with an enthusiasm that made their eyes alight. An officer +reined in his horse and leaned over his saddle to speak to me. "It was a +great day for Ireland," he said. Yesterday another man, with an arm in a +sling, also used the words "a great day," but said, "It's a great day +for New Zealand." And another officer, speaking of the way in which all +our men went forward to victory, English troops advancing with their old +unbroken courage in spite of hard fighting through a year of war, said: +"This is the best thing our armies have ever done, the most complete and +absolute success. It all went like clockwork." + +One great proof of victory is the relief of some of those deadly places +in the salient under direct observation from Messines Ridge--screens of +foliage which I passed to-day are no longer needed, and one may walk +openly in places where German eyes had been watching for men to kill for +two years and a half. And another proof, written in human figures, is +one huge mass after another of German prisoners, a thousand or more in +each assembling place in the fields along the roadsides. They were lying +and standing to-day in the sunshine, with coloured handkerchiefs tied +above their heads, many of them stripped to the waist to air their +shirts, some still wearing their heavy shrapnel helmets with sackcloth +covering, all drowsed with fatigue and the prolonged strain of our +shell-fire, so that they sleep with heads on knees or lying as though +dead in huddled postures. They wake at intervals, asking for water, and +then sleep again. There are such crowds of these field-grey men that +they are astounded by their own numbers, and when questioned speak +gloomily of the doom that is upon their rule. + +"What do you think of it all?" asked an Irish officer of a German +officer whom he captured in Wytschaete village. The man shook his head +and said in good English, "We are done for." Another officer taken by +English troops on the northern sector of the attack was frank in +revealing his tragic thoughts when he heard the mines go up. He thought, +so he says, "Thank Heaven the British are attacking. Now I can +surrender. Yesterday my division had three good regiments, now they do +not exist. This attack ought to end the war." Let us not base too much +optimistic belief on such words by German prisoners. + +In that northern part of the attack by the London battalions of the 47th +and the Yorkshires and other English troops of the 23rd Division, who +started near Triangle Wood, there was bad ground for assembly before the +battle known as the Mud-Patch. There were no trenches there, and our +lads had to lie out all night in the open without any cover from the +shell-fire. It seemed that the Germans saw them, and their commanding +officer was in a fever of anxiety, thinking they were discovered and +would be shelled to death. But, as though expecting a raid from one +point, the enemy only barraged round a group of mine-craters, from which +our men had been withdrawn, because their shafts were packed with +explosives ready to be touched off at dawn. In one mine-crater held by +the Germans a shaft ran underneath called the Berlin Shaft--the way to +Berlin, according to the Australians who dug it months ago. Above it was +a half-company of Germans, and when the mine was blown at dawn not a man +escaped. Beyond was the Damstrasse, where the enemy had deep trenches +and strong emplacements in the hollow, so that our Generals were afraid +of trouble here, but when our men came to it they found nothing but +frightful ruin, obliterating all the trenches and redoubts, and the men +who still lived there shouted: "Don't shoot, don't shoot, Kamerad!" + +The taking of Wytschaete by the Irish Nationalists, with Ulster men next +to them, was one of the great episodes of the battle, vying with the +exploit of the men of New Zealand in carrying Messines Ridge. I went +among them to-day up there by Wytschaete Wood across our old trenches +and by "the great wall of China," built a few months ago as a barrier--a +wonderful place of sand-bag defences and deep dug-outs. Not much is left +of Wytschaete Wood, once 800 yards square, now a pitiful wreckage of +broken stumps and tattered tree-trunks. The slopes of the ridge are all +barren and tortured with shell-fire like the Vimy Ridge, and across it +unceasingly went flights of heavy shells, droning loudly as they passed +over the crest, and with all our heavy howitzers firing with thunderous +ear-stunning strokes. But the Irish soldiers paid no heed to this noise +of gun-fire, for the enemy was answering back hardly at all, and the +battle-line had gone forward. An Irish major was asleep under a little +bit of a copse within a few yards of a 6-in. howitzer, splitting the +heavens with its sharp crack of sound, and he slept in his socks as +sweetly as a babe in the cradle until wakened to speak to me, which made +me sorry, because he had earned his rest. But he sat up smiling, and +glad to talk of his Irish boys, who had done gloriously. Away off near a +sinister little wood, where many men have died in the old days, sat the +brigadier of the Irish troops, the South and West Country Irish who went +through Wytschaete Wood and took the village. "Go and see my boys up in +their trenches," he said; "they will tell you all they have done, and it +was well done. Old Ireland has done great things." + +The boys, as he called them, though some are old soldiers who fought at +Suvla Bay, and the youngest of them are old in war and remember as far +back in history as the days when they stormed through Guillemont and +Ginchy, were sitting with German caps on their heads, and examining +German machine-guns, and sorting all their souvenirs of battle. I talked +with many of them, and they told their adventures of yesterday with a +touch of Irish humour and a sparkle in their eyes. It was the little +things of battle which they remembered most; the rations and soda-water +they found in German dug-outs; the way they groped around for souvenirs +as soon as they gained their ground. But stupendous still in their +imagination was the drum-fire of our guns and the explosion of the +mines. + +[Illustration: THE MESSINES RIDGE AND PASSCHENDAELE + +London: W^m. Heinemann _Stanford's Geog^l. Estab^t., London_] + +"As soon as the barrage began," said an Irish sergeant of the Munsters, +"a mine only a few hundred yards away from us at Maedelstede Farm went +up, and we went down. The ground rocked under us, and fire rushed up to +the sky. The fumes came back on to us and made us dizzy, but we--the +Royal Irish and the Munsters--went on to Petit-Bois Wood, and then to +Wytschaete Wood, and other Irish lads passed through us to the attack on +the village." + +The only trouble was in and about the wood. In the centre of it was a +small body of Germans, with a machine-gun, who held out stubbornly and +swept the Irish with fire. But they were destroyed, and the attack swept +on. There was another post hereabout, in which a party of Germans held +out with rifle-fire. An Irish officer of a famous old family led an +attack on this, and fell dead with a bullet in his brain at five yards +range, but a sergeant with him, whom I met to-day, helped to surround +the enemy, and this hornets' nest was routed out. A German officer had +climbed a tree, and in the coolest possible way signalled with his hand +to his men beyond. An Irishman brought him down, and made him a +prisoner. + +Wytschaete village was a fortress position, with machine-gun +emplacements made for defence on all sides, but the Irish closed round +it and captured it easily. The garrison was demoralized by prolonged +shell-fire, which had made a clean sweep of the hospice ruins and the +church and chateau, and every blade of grass above their tunnels. "I am +an old soldier," said one of their officers, "and I hate to be a +prisoner, but human nature cannot stand the strain of such +bombardments." + +On the right of Irish Nationalists fought the Ulstermen, keeping in +absolute line with their comrades-in-arms, in friendly rivalry with them +to give glory to Ireland. They advanced through Spanbroekmolen, a +fortress position, through Hell Wood, to the top of Wytschaete Ridge, +and it is curious that these two bodies of Irish troops had an almost +identical experience. The South and West Country Irishmen of Dublin and +Munster took 1000 prisoners. So did the Ulstermen. When the Catholic +Irishmen were shaken by the mine explosion a whole company of Germans +was hurled high in its eruption, and this awful fate happened to another +company of Germans in front of the Ulstermen. Without thought of old +strife at home, these men fought side by side and are proud of each +other. Their Irish blood has mingled, and out of it some spirit of +healing and brotherhood should come because of this remembrance. An +Irish soldier poet has made a new version of "The Wearing of the Green," +inspired by the guns that wear green jackets of foliage and cover the +advance of the Irish brigade. I heard some of the verses this morning: + + _They love the old division in the land the boys come from, + And they're proud of what they did at Loos and on the Somme. + If by chance we all advance to Whitesheet and Messines, + They'll know the guns that strafe the Huns were wearing of the green._ + +Wytschaete and Messines are safe in our hands, and our troops are far on +the other side. A party of the enemy is holding out in Battle Wood, but +that will not be for long, and is only a small episode. To-day and +yesterday German troops massed at Warneton, as though for a +counter-attack, but each time were scattered by our guns. From our new +ridge, so long an evil barrier against us, we have observation on them, +and the tables are turned. + + + + +III + +AFTER THE EARTHQUAKE + + +JUNE 9 + +The ground gained by our troops in the great battle of Messines remains +firmly in our hands, and enemy attempts to counter-attack have been +broken by our artillery, in most cases before the German troops have +been able to advance. Last evening shortly before dusk of another day of +brilliant sunshine, almost too hot for our men in shadeless country of +the battlefields, SOS signals all along the line gave warning of German +endeavours to thrust back our new front line far beyond the Messines +Ridge, and away north of St.-Eloi on the old line of the Ypres salient, +now by our victory no longer a salient. + +Our gunners got to work again, in spite of a night-and-day strain for +more than a week, and for several hours there was another tremendous +bombardment from all our heavies and field-guns, watched for miles +around by Flemish peasants sitting outside their windmills and outside +cottage doors, looking at this lightning in the sky, which is a +revelation to them of the mighty growth of that British Army since those +early days when a few divisions and a few guns came to these fields of +Flanders and fought to a thin, ragged line round Ypres. In many cases +the rockets which rose from our lines last night calling for the help of +the gunners were hardly needed, for though the enemy was seen to be +assembling, he did not try to break through our barrage. In many places +massed bodies of his men were caught round Warneton by this new storm of +fire which burst upon them, and the night scenes behind the German lines +must have been full of terror and tragedy for those poor wretches urged +forward along the roads ploughed up by our shells. Only at Klein +Zillebeke, on the northern flank of our battle-line, did they gain a +temporary footing, and many of them lie dead there after the fierce +fighting which is still in progress. + +It is no wonder that, after such experiences of our gun-fire, the German +prisoners show no regret at being in British hands. I saw new batches of +them to-day, mopped up last night as an aftermath of the battle, young +boys and middle-aged men, all very sturdy and strong, and astonishingly +clean after their escape from the tumult of that frightful ground by +Wytschaete and Messines. They stretched themselves in the sunshine, and +took their ease in green fields, drinking quarts of water provided by +their guards. It is not with resignation but with joy that they find +themselves on our side of the lines, away from all that horror of the +fire zone. + +"Now we shall go on leave," they said to one of our officers; "we are +sick of this war." He spoke to two German boys who have been fighting +for a year, and are now only seventeen and look much younger. "You ought +to be spanked and sent home to your mothers," he said. They laughed, and +said: "That is what we should like, sir, if you please." + +All the prisoners are extraordinarily ignorant of the feeling of hatred +they have aroused against them in the world, and expect that they should +be admired for the way they have fought. But they want the war to end +quickly, and the rank and file do not seem to mind very much whether it +ends by a German victory or German defeat, so that it ends somehow. One +human being, shattered in nerves, half senseless, was dragged back after +Hill 60 was mined, and he said that he had seen only two men of his +company after the great explosion. All the others had been hurled +sky-high by the flames and gases, or buried in the fall of earth. + +The work of this mining under the German lines has been carried on for a +year or more by a number of tunnelling companies from Australia, New +Zealand, and our mining districts. It was hard, dangerous toil, for the +enemy was down counter-mining, and there were frightful moments when the +men who heard the working of picks very close to them had to be rushed +out lest they should be blown into the next world. Their own work was +done quickly lest the enemy should discover the secret of these borings +beneath their lines before the ammonal with which they were packed was +detonated on the morning of the battle. It was in darkness that the +miners relieved each other lest enemy aircraft or eyes that always +stared down from the ridges should see and suspect. Some of our English +troops took Hill 60 after this explosion, which flung some of them to +the ground as they rose at the signal of attack. From the craters they +dragged that dazed and terror-stricken officer, who had lost all his +company after that vibration of an electric wire in contact with hellish +forces. + +Just south of these men, astride the Ypres-Comines Canal, a number of +London battalions of the 47th Division were fighting forward to the +ruins of the famous White Chateau, south of the canal, on the west of +Hollebeke. It is the Chateau Matthieu, once a noble mansion, with a park +in which a stream flowed from a lake to the canal, and fine stables +south of the lake, surrounded by woods. For more than a year only ruins +of the chateau stood, and the wood was like all these woods of war, +lopped and torn by shell-fire, with black, dead limbs. Some of the +London men were having a hard fight north of the canal in face of +machine-gun fire sweeping them from two triangular spoil-banks, as they +are called, where earth from the canal sides has been stacked, forming +strong points for the enemy above their tunnelled defences. They took +one of these heaps of earth with eighty prisoners, but fell back from +the other holding the canal bank opposite White Chateau, where their +comrades, London men all, were fighting heavily. The Germans here did +not yield without a desperate resistance. A company and a half of men +held the ruins of the chateau, and flung out bombs to keep our +assaulting troops at bay. A gallant platoon crept round the chateau +walls, and hurled bombs over these bits of brickwork, and after some +time of this fighting the enemy hoisted a white flag of surrender, and +sixty prisoners, survivors of this garrison, were taken. The Londoners +still had a hard way to go across the stream from the lake, twenty feet +broad at points, and past the stables and through the old stumps of the +wood, but they kept to the time-table of the battle and added 450 +prisoners to the great captures of the day. It was an historic day in +the record of the London men of the 47th Division, who have fought with +such glorious valour since they first came out to France. + + * * * * * + +JUNE 10 + +On the right of the London troops were some English county regiments of +the 41st Division--the 60th Rifles (King's Royal Rifles), West Kents, +and others--men who fought a great battle in the Somme fields that day +when a Tank waddled up the high street of Flers with cheering men +behind. + +On the night of June 6 they lay by St.-Eloi, in the salient opposite the +Mound, a famous heap of earth taken over by the glorious old 3rd +Division, and lost when the Canadians were violently attacked a year +ago. This mound had been cratered by deep mines in those bad old days of +fighting, but the enemy did not know that new shafts had been tunnelled +under them, and that explosive forces enormously greater than in the +first mines were about to be touched off. When the metal discs were +fired by tunnelling officers the sound of thousands of our men cheering +with the wild madness of enthusiasm could be heard even above the +deafening uproar of the explosions. Then waves of riflemen ran forward, +round the vast craters that had been flung open and across the first +line of German trenches, frightfully upheaved and shattered. There were +not many living Germans here, and they were dazed by the shock and +terror of the mines and made no kind of fight. Beyond them was a strong +place known as the Damstrasse, a street of concrete houses built of +great blocks six feet thick, and so enormously solid that not even heavy +shell-bursts could do much damage to them. This position had given great +anxiety to our officers, who knew its strength, but as it happened, the +violence of our shell-fire was so amazing that many of these blockhouses +were blown in, and the garrison of Damstrasse was utterly cowed, so that +they were captured by hundreds. + +The King's Royal Rifles pressed forward into the frightful chaos of +country, with charred tree-trunks, upturned trenches, rubbish-heaps +which had been German strong points, and a litter of machine-guns, +twisted wire, bomb stores, and dead bodies. The first check came outside +the ruin of an estaminet, in which a party of Germans, with machine-guns +and rifles, determined to sell their lives dearly. They poured fire into +our men, who suffered a good many casualties here, but would not be +baulked, whatever the cost. They took what cover they could, and used +their rifles to riddle the place with shot. One by one the Germans fell, +and their fire slackened. Then the Rifles charged the ruins and captured +all those who still remained alive. Fresh waves of men came up and went +forward into Ravine Wood, with its tattered trunks and litter of broken +branches. Here there was another fight, very fierce and bloody, between +some of the West Kents and German soldiers of the 35th Division who +attempted a strong counter-attack. The men of Kent had their bayonets +fixed, and at a word from their officers they made a quick, grim dash at +the Germans, advancing upon them through the dead wood with their +bayonets ready also, so that the morning sun gleamed upon all this +steel. The bayonets crossed. The men of Kent went through the enemy +thrusting and stabbing, but though they saw red in that hour they gave +quarter to men who dropped their rifles and cried "Kamerad!" Twenty-five +prisoners were taken in that encounter, and over 800 prisoners were +taken between the Mound and Ravine Wood before the day was done, with a +great store of booty, including eight trench-mortars and nearly thirty +machine-guns, though many more lie buried in this ground, and two +searchlights and sacks of letters from German soldiers to their homes. +The enemy's losses hereabouts were very heavy. An officer taken +prisoner said his own company had been reduced to thirty men before the +battle began owing to our bombardment. Many of their batteries were +knocked out, and the gunners lie dead before them. Several Tanks came up +to share in the fight, and climbed over all this broken ground, but did +not find much work to do as the strong parts had been knocked out. + +The completeness of this victory, the march through of our troops, the +utter despair of the German troops, was due in an overwhelming way to +the guns, and the gunners who served them. It is only right and just +that the highest tribute should be paid to these men, who have worked +day and night for nearly a fortnight, under the intense strain, in an +infernal noise, without sleep enough to relieve the nerve-rack, and +always in danger of death. Gunner officers are hoarse with shouting +under fire. They are hollow-eyed with bodily and mental exhaustion. The +ammunition-carriers worked themselves stiff in order to feed the guns. +They have used up incredible numbers of shells. The gunners of one +division alone fired 180,000 shells with their field-batteries, and over +46,000 with their heavies. On the same scale has been the ammunition +expenditure of all other groups of guns. + +An historic scene took place after our troops had gained the high ground +of Wytschaete and Messines. An order passed along to all the batteries. +Gun horses were standing by. They were harnessed to the guns. The +limbers of the field-batteries lined up. Then half-way through the +battle the old gun positions were abandoned, after two and a half years +of stationary warfare in the salient, searched every day of that time by +German shells fired by direct observation from that ground just taken. +The drivers urged on their horses. They drove at a gallop past old +screens, and out of camouflaged places where men had walked stealthily, +and dashed up the slopes. The infantry stood by to let them pass, and +from thousands of men, these dusty, hot, parched soldiers of ours, who +were waiting to go forward in support of the first waves of assaulting +troops, there rose a great following cheer, which swept along the track +of the gunners, and went with them up the ridge, where they unlimbered +and got into action again for the second phase of the fighting down the +farther slopes. + +As scouts of the gunners, as their watchers and signallers, were the +boys of the Royal Flying Corps. I said yesterday that they were uplifted +with a kind of intoxication of enthusiasm. A youthful madness took +possession of them. Those squadrons which I saw flying overhead while it +was still dark on Thursday morning did daredevil, reckless, almost +incredible things. They flew as men inspired by passion and a fierce joy +of battle. They were hunters seeking their prey. They were Berserkers of +the air, determined to kill though they should be killed, to scatter +death among the enemy, to destroy him in the air and on the earth, to +smite him in his body and in his works and in his soul by a terror of +him. This may seem language of exaggeration, the silly fantasy of a +writing-man careless of the exact truth. It is less than the truth, and +the sober facts are wild things. Early on June 7 they were up and away, +as I described them, passing overhead on that fateful morning before the +crimson feather clouds appeared over the battlefield. They flew above +German railway stations far behind the lines, and dropped tons of +explosives, blowing up rolling stock, smashing rails and bridges. They +attacked German aerodromes, flying low to the level of the sheds and +spattering them with machine-gun bullets so that no German airmen came +out of them that day. One man's flight, told in his own dry words, is +like the wild nightmare of an airman's dream. He flew to a German +aerodrome and circled round. A German machine-gun spat out bullets at +him. The airman saw it, swooped over it, and fired at the gunner. He saw +his bullets hit the gun. The man ceased fire, screamed, and ran for +cover. Then our airman flew off, chased trains and fired into their +windows. He flew over small bodies of troops on the march, swooped, +fired, and scattered them. Afterwards he met a convoy going to Comines, +and he circled over their heads, hardly higher than their heads, and +fired into them. Near Warneton he came upon troops massing for a +counter-attack, and made a new attack, inflicting casualties and making +them run in all directions. + +One of our flying men attacked and silenced four machine-gun teams in a +strong emplacement. Others cleared trenches of German soldiers, who +scuttled like rabbits into their dug-outs. They fired everything they +carried at anything which would kill the enemy or destroy his material. +Having used up all his Lewis-gun ammunition upon marching troops, one +lad fired his Very-lights, his signal-rockets, at the next group of men +he saw. They flew at field-gunners and put them to flight, at heavy guns +crawling along the roads on caterpillar wheels, at transport wagons, +motor-lorries, and one motor-car, whose passengers, if they live, will +never forget that sudden rush of wings four feet overhead, with a spasm +of bullets about them. The aeroplane was so low that the pilot thought +he would crash into the motor-car, but he just planed clear of it as the +driver steered it sharply into a ditch, where it overturned with its +five occupants. The airman went on his journey, scattered 500 infantry +and returned home after a long flight never higher than 500 feet above +the ground. + +Meanwhile during the progress of the battle our air squadrons appointed +for artillery observation work were all over the enemy's batteries, +signalling to our gunners and sending back "O.K." flashes when our +counter-battery work was effective. There were an amazing number of +"O.K.'s." One air squadron alone helped a group of heavies to silence +seventy-two batteries. Everywhere over the battle-ground our air scouts +were out and about, watching the progress of infantry, speaking to them +by signals, picking up their answers, flying back to headquarters with +certain information; so that the direction of the battle was helped +enormously by this quick intelligence. It was a day of triumph for the +Royal Flying Corps, and for all those boys with wings on their breasts, +who, after their day's flight, come down to the French estaminets to +rattle ragtime on untuned pianos, and give glad eyes to any pretty girl +about, and fling themselves into the joy of life which they risk so +lightly. + +In this battle of Messines there was not any body of our men who did not +spend all their strength and take all risks with a kind of passionate +exultation of spirit. The Manchester men dug a six-foot deep trench-line +to our new front on the ridge, beating all records. Flinging off tunics +and shirts so that they were naked to the waist, New-Zealanders who took +Messines dug as inspired diggers, fast and furiously, and before next +day had dawned had two long, deep trenches as secure defences against +German counter-attacks. + +The stretcher-bearers, the water-carriers, the transport men with their +pack-mules went up through shell-fire as I saw them yesterday, and never +tired. The stretcher-bearers were heroic fellows, as in every battle +from which I have seen them coming back with their burdens across the +cratered ground of dreadful fields such as that of Wytschaete and +Messines, still shelled heavily by the enemy, whose fury at losing that +long-held ground is proved by his bombardment of their ruins--the red +brick-heap of Wytschaete Chateau, the black tree-stumps which is all +that is left of Messines. + +Our casualties remain light, as figures of losses go in this war and in +proportion to the greatness of this battle. My own estimates, based upon +what I can hear of the losses of different bodies of troops engaged, +work out at something like 10,000 for the day of battle. It is less than +a fifth of what I should have reckoned to be the cost of this capture of +Messines Ridge, and gives the lie to German claims. It is one of the +greatest and cheapest achievements of British arms throughout this war, +though the loss of so many gallant men is sad enough, God knows, and for +the enemy it is as hard a blow as our taking of the Vimy Ridge two +months ago, when he was staggered by his loss. + + + + +IV + +THE EFFECT OF THE BLOW + + +JUNE 11 + +The effect of our capture of Messines and Wytschaete has been such a +stunning blow on the enemy that he has not as yet made any attempt at +counter-attacking on a big scale. The rapid advance of our men below the +farther slopes of the ridge and the rush forward of our guns made it +impossible for him to rally his supporting troops quickly, and as the +hours pass it becomes more impossible for him to storm his way back. His +early attempts to assemble troops in the Warneton neighbourhood were +annihilated instantly by enormous shell-fire directed by the new +observation we had gained at Messines, and during the past twenty-four +hours, up to the time I write, he shows no further sign of asking for +trouble, but is obviously engaged in reorganizing his forces, +demoralized by defeat, and getting his guns into safer positions. Many +of his guns lie battered and buried about the battlefield, and some of +his batteries, put out of action by our bombardment, remain between our +new lines and his, but so covered by our fire that he has a poor chance +of getting them away. His losses in guns, trench-mortars and +machine-guns must be alarming to him, for I have no doubt at all, after +seeing the frightful effect of our bombardment, that these were +destroyed on a great scale, so that the number of our trophies will not +at all represent his actual loss in weapons and material of war. + +That is the human mechanical side of things. More horrible to the +unfortunate soldiers of the German army is the devilish punishment +inflicted upon them during the past ten days, culminating on that day of +battle when every weapon for the slaughter of men, from the heaviest of +high explosives to boiling oil and gas-shells, was let loose upon them +in one wild tempest of destruction, which blew them out of the earth and +off the earth, and frizzled them and blinded them, and choked them and +mutilated them, and made them mad. + +One German boy, who looked not more than fifteen years of age--a +child--was found yesterday lying in a shell-hole by the side of a dead +man who had been shot through the temple, and he was a gibbering idiot +through fear. Not the only one. German officers say that many of their +men went raving mad under the strain of our bombardment, and tried to +kill their comrades or themselves, or fell into an ague of terror, +clawing their mouths, with all the symptoms of the worst shell-shock. + +Many of our prisoners believe they were betrayed, and were sacrificed +coldly and deliberately by their higher command. Before the battle an +order of the day was issued to them, telling them to hold out if +surrounded and fight their way back with the bayonet, because behind +them would be fresh divisions ready to support immediate +counter-attacks. Those fresh divisions never appeared. We know that they +had no chance of getting near our lines because of our far-reaching +fire, and the work of our aircraft--and the men of Messines and +Wytschaete and all the ground south of St.-Eloi were cut off and +captured, if they did not die. After our first assaults, the enemy, +panic-stricken, were more concerned in getting away their guns than in +protecting their troops, and they were left to our mercy. + +Walking about those monstrous mine-craters which we tore out of the +earth at dawn on June 7, and across the old German lines beyond St.-Eloi +on the left of our attack, southwards by Wytschaete and the lower slopes +of Messines, to-day, as after the morning of battle, I pitied any human +souls who had to suffer what these German soldiers must have suffered in +the agony of fear before death came to many of them. All this wide area +of country is blasted and harrowed and holed with monstrous pits. There +was at least one great shell to every nine yards, and at 200 yards its +flying steel has a killing power. No idea of it all can be conveyed by +many words describing this upheaval of sand-bags and barricades and +trenches and redoubts, and this sieve of earth, pitted by countless +shell-craters. All the woods where the Germans lived--Oaten Wood and +Damstrasse Wood and Ravine Wood, down to Wytschaete Wood and Hell +Wood--are but gaunt stumps sticking out of ash-grey heaps of earth. +German dead lie here and there in batches or in rows as they were shot +down by enfilade fire, but I have seen very few bodies, for the most of +them were buried in the upheaved earth, as one can tell by the foul +vapours which creep out from the smashed trenches, where the deep +dug-outs have collapsed and tunnels have fallen in, so that all this +battle-ground is a graveyard of men, buried as they died or before they +died. + +Three men escaped by some wild freak of chance from a mine-crater under +the Mound by St.-Eloi. I stood on the lip of it to-day, high above its +shelving sides, and find it hard to believe that any living thing could +have escaped from its upheaval. But the Germans had many dug-outs in the +old craters which existed here before this last one was blown, and after +that ferocious fighting a year ago, when we lost this ground. One of +those dug-outs remained firm when our mine was touched off four days +ago, and out of its mouth crept, two days later, three haggard men, +still shaking and dazed, who had been deep in the ground when all about +them was hurled sky-high, with a rush of gas and flame and a monstrous +uproar. They were unscathed, except in their souls, where terror lived. + +By my side to-day, as I looked down into this pit of hell, stood a man +who had worked for a year in the making of it--an Australian officer of +engineers. He stood smoking his pipe on the edge of the shell-crater, +and said in a cheerful way, "It is good to be in the fresh air again." +The fresh air did not seem to me very good there this morning. It was +filled with abominable noise, which is a menace of death--the savage +whine of German shrapnel flung about between the Bluff and St.-Eloi in a +haphazard way, and heavy crumps searching for our batteries in their new +positions, and our shells whistling over in long flights. Hideous sounds +in a ghastly scene which filled me with nausea, so that I wanted not to +linger there. + +But I understood this Australian's craving for open-air life, even such +open air as this, when he told me that he had been working underground +for nearly two years in the dark saps pierced under the German lines, +and running very close to German saps nosing their way, and sometimes +breaking through, to ours, so that the men clawed at each other's +throats in these tunnels and beat each other to death with picks and +shovels, or were blown to bits by mine explosions. It was always a race +for time to blow up the charges, and sometimes the enemy was first, and +sometimes we were, and once the enemy in a great attack against the +Canadians got in and blew up our shafts and sapheads and cut off our +tunnellers. That Australian officer was one of those. For forty-eight +hours he was buried alive, and had to dig his way out. So now after his +job was done he likes the open-air life. + +"No more underground work for me after this war," he said. "I've had +enough of it." + +The German ground hereabouts was taken by those troops of ours whose +fighting across the Damstrasse and in Ravine Wood I described yesterday. +Through them went another body of troops--the troops of the 24th +Division--whose fortunes I have described in other battles, including +some Leinster lads who have a padre for their hero, and English county +troops who knew the look of Vimy Ridge before the Canadians reached the +crest of it. They had to make the final assault to the farthest line of +attack, passing through masses of men who had taken the first lines. All +this was rehearsed in fields behind the battle-ground so thoroughly that +the men could have gone forward blindfold. It all went like clockwork, +and though the enemy fought hard on that last line beyond the Damstrasse +by Rose Wood and Bug Wood, one post holding out with machine-guns, our +men captured it with few casualties. They took 300 prisoners that day, +with six field-guns, and their spirit is high after victory. Next +morning the Irish padre was seen sitting outside a shell-hole with a +clean white collar and white socks with his boots off. "Well done, +boys!" he said, and they were glad to see him there. + +All our men were wonderfully inspired by a belief in the guns, so that +they walked close behind a frightful barrage. Each body of troops vied +with other regiments in a friendly rivalry. There was a race between the +South and North Irish as to whether a green flag or an orange should be +planted first above the ruins of Wytschaete. I don't know which won, but +both flags flew there when the crest had been gained. + + + + +V + +LOOKING BACKWARD + + +JUNE 12 + +"The enemy must not get the Messines Ridge at any price." + +This sentence stands out as an absolute command in the German order +issued to their troops before the battle which they knew was coming. The +words are peremptory, among promises of artillery support and immediate +counter-attacks from divisions behind the first-line troops, which would +be read now as a hollow mockery by those men who are our prisoners, +captured in crowds from their welter of mined and cratered earth. While +half-way through the battle their artillery tried to drag their +field-guns back to something like safety in the wake of heavy guns, +which even before the battle had been withdrawn to the farthest possible +range of action, though forward observing officers tried to conceal this +from the infantry by coming to their usual posts. The battle is over. +Messines Ridge, which was not to be ours at any price, is ours at a +price which our Army thinks very cheap--though many brave men paid for +it with their lives--and our outposts are pushing forward towards +Warneton, far beyond the farther slopes, after an enemy retiring upon +that place. Only our men who have fought in the Ypres salient know the +full meaning of that order. "The enemy must not get the Messines Ridge +at any price." + +The Messines Ridge was our curse, and the loss of it to the enemy means +a great relief to that curse by straightening out the salient south of +Hooge, and robbing the enemy of direct observation over our ground and +forcing his guns farther back. + +From Messines and Wytschaete he had absolute observation of a wide tract +of country in which our men lived and died--how complete an observation +I did not realize until after this battle, when standing in Wytschaete +Wood and on the Mound by St.-Eloi, and on the ground rising up to +Messines, I looked back, and saw every detail of our old territory laid +out like a relief map brightly coloured. "My God," said an officer by my +side, "it's a wonder they allowed us to live at all." He had fought in +the old days in the salient, had lived like a hunted animal there, +hiding in holes from the monstrous birds of prey screeching and roaring +overhead in search of human flesh. Before us now, looking as the Germans +used to look, we saw all this countryside, which is a field of honour, +where our youth has fallen in great numbers, a great graveyard of +gallant boyhood. The enemy could see every movement of our men, unless +they moved underground, or under the cover of foliage on Kemmel Hill and +its leafy lanes, or behind the camouflage screens which run along the +roadways, or between the gaps in the ruined villages. Startlingly clear +were the red roofs of Dickebusch and the gaunt ribs of its broken +houses, into which for two years and a half the enemy has flung big +shells, and the church tower of Kemmel, where the graves are opened by +shell-fire and old bones laid bare. The roads to Voormezeele and +Vierstraat, through which I went yesterday, are still under the old +spell of horror, and all those obscene ruins of decent Flemish hamlets. +Southward one saw Neuve-Eglise, with its rag of a tower, and Plug Street +Wood, where bullets snapped between the branches about Piccadilly Circus +and down the Strand and across to Somerset House, and where at Hyde Park +Corner I first heard the voice of "Percy," a high-velocity fellow, who +kills you with a quick pounce. German eyes staring from Wytschaete and +Messines, making little marks on big maps, talking to their gunners over +telephone wires, and registering roads and cross-roads, field-tracks, +camps, billets, farmhouses tucked into little groups of trees through +which their red roofs gleamed, watching through telescopes for small +parties of British soldiers or single figures in a flowered tapestry of +fields between the winding hummocks of sand-bag parapets, had all this +ground of ours at the mercy of their guns, and that was not merciful. + +Day by day two years ago I used to see Dickebusch in clouds of smoke, +and hated to go through the place. They shelled separate farmhouses and +isolated barns until they became bits of oddly standing brick about +great holes. They shelled the roads down which our transports came at +night, and communication-trenches up which our men moved to the front +lines, and gun-positions revealed by every flash, and dug-outs foolishly +frail against their frightful 5.9's, which in early days we could only +answer with a few pip-squeaks. Yet by some extraordinary freak, not +certainly by any kind of charity, for that does not belong to war, there +were places they failed to shell, though they were clearly +visible--little groups of Flemish cottages with flaming red tiles, a big +old house here or there with pointed roofs rising above a screen of +poplar-trees, fields still cultivated, as I saw them yesterday, by old +Flemish women who bent over the beetroots and hung out washing under +German eyes and German guns, and went up and down with plough-horses +close to our gun-positions, and sold bad beer to English soldiers glad +of any kind of beer in places where death was imminent and where, as +they drank, the glass might be smashed out of their hand by a flying +scythe or a yard of wall. + +"Why do you stay here?" I asked an old woman in Plug Street village a +year and a half ago. Four children played about her, though at the time +shells were whining overhead and crashing but half a field away. "It is +my home," she said, and thought that a good enough answer. + +"How about the children?" I asked, and she said, "It's their home, and +we earn a little money." + +Even when this last battle began those peasants still remained encircled +by our batteries and with German crumps falling about their fields; +blear-eyed old men gazed up to the sky, watched the flame-bursts of the +mines, then turned to their earth again; and the battle itself was +heralded at dawn by the crowing of cocks in little farmsteads somewhere +down by Kemmel. Chanticleer sounded the battle-charge with his clarion +note, as in old dawns when English and French knights were drawn in line +of battle. + +An officer who was with me in Wytschaete Wood, looked down at these old +places where he had lived in the menace of death, and remembered his +escapes; that time when the back of his dug-out was hit by a huge shell +as he sat in his pyjamas, smoking a cigarette; and that other time when +his servant was buried alive quite close to him, and the nights and days +under constant shell-fire. But these little homesteads in or about the +salient are few in their strange escape, and elsewhere there is not a +building which stands unpierced or in more than a fragment of ruin. +Young officers of ours lived within these ruins wondering whether it +would be this day or next, now, as they spoke, or in the silence that +followed, that some beastly shell would burst through and tear down the +Kirchner prints which they had pinned to broken timbers, and smash the +bits of mirror they used for shaving-glasses and lay them out in the +wreckage. When he goes home on leave and sits at his own hearthside +these dream-pictures come back to him with their old horror, as to +thousands of men who have fought in the salient, like those London boys +I met one night in Ypres cooking cocoa under shell-fire, like those +King's Royal Riflemen I saw going up to a counter-attack after the first +attack by "flammenwerfer," and the padre who went up to the canal bank +at night and found five dead men in a Red Cross hut and not a soul alive +about him, and the Canadians who fought through a storm of shells in +Maple Copse. + +The horror of that salient in its old evil days lives in its sinister +place-names: Dead Horse Corner and Dead Cow Farm, and the farm beyond +Plug Street, Dead Dog Farm, and the Moated Grange on the way to +St.-Eloi, Stinking Farm, and Suicide Corner, and Shell-Trap Barn. I +passed by some of these places and felt cold in remembrance of all the +evil of them. Boys of ours have been smashed in all these ill-famed +spots. Every bit of ruin here is the scene of foul tragedy to young +life. To these places women will come to weep when the war is done, and +the stones will be memorials of brave hearts who came here in the +darkness with just a glance at the lights in the sky and a word of +"Carry on, men," before they fell. + + + + +VI + +THE AUSTRALIANS AT MESSINES + + +JUNE 17 + +The sun is fierce and hot over Flanders, giving great splendour to this +June of war, but baking our troops brown and dry. Up in the battle-line +thirst is a cruel demon in that shadowless land of craters, where the +earth itself is parched and cracked, and where there is a white, +blinding glare. + +On the day of the Messines battle water went up quickly, with two lemons +for each man, "to help them through the barrage," according to a young +staff officer with a bright sense of humour at the mess-table. But there +was never too much, and in some places not enough for the wounded men, +whose thirst was like a fire, and yet not greedy, poor chaps, if there +was only a little to go round. + +"Can you spare a drop," said a group of them--all Australian lads--to a +friend of mine who was going up one day with a kerosene-tin full of +water to the front line. "The fellows up in front want it badly," said +my friend, "and I promised to get it there, but if you'll just take a +sip----" + +Those Australians were all in a muck of wounds and sweat. But they just +moistened their lips and passed the water on. One man shook his head and +said, "Take it to the fellows in front." It was the old Philip Sidney +touch by way of Australia, and it is not rare among all our fighting +men--lawless chaps when they are on a loose end, but great-hearted +children at times like this. + +All this pageant of war in France and Flanders is on fire with sun, and +it is wonderful to pass through the panorama of the war zone, as I do +most days, and get a picture of it into one's eyes and soul--columns of +men marching with wet, bronzed faces through clouds of white dust, or +through fields where there is a patchwork tapestry of colour woven of +great stretches of clover drenching the air with its scent, and of +poppies which spill a scarlet flood down the slopes, and of green wheat +and gold-brown earth. Gunners ride in their shirts with sleeves rolled +up. About old barns men work in their billets stripped to the belt. Up +in the "strafed" country of the old salient men sit about ruins between +spells of work on roads and rails on the shady side of shell-broken +walls, dreaming of bottled beer and rivers of cider, and the +New-Zealanders are as brown as gipsies under their high felt hats. + +Talk to any group of men, or go into any officers' mess, and one hears +about new aspects and angles of the recent fighting by our Second Army; +episodes which throw new light on the enemy's losses and our men's +valour, and sufferings--because it wasn't a "walk-over" all the way +round--and incidents, which ought to be historic, but just come out in a +casual way of gossip by men who happened to be there. + +I only heard yesterday about twenty German officers who were dragged out +of one dug-out near Wytschaete. They were all huddled down there in a +black despair, knowing their game was up as far as the Messines Ridge +was concerned. Their men had all gone to the devil, according to their +view of the situation, abandoned by the guns, which might have protected +them. The Second Division of East Prussians had been wiped out. Of a +strength of 3600 we captured over 2000, whilst most of the remainder +must be killed or wounded. In the counter-attack the Germans brought up +a new division and flung them in, and the queer thing is that our men +were not aware of this, but just marched through them to their final +goal, believing they belonged to the original crowd on Messines Ridge, +and not the counter-attacking troops who had just arrived. + +The Australians had some great adventures in this battle, and not enough +has been told about them, because they took a good share of the +fighting, especially in the last phase of it, when they passed through +some of our first-wave troops and held a broad stretch of new front +under violent fire and against the enemy's endeavours to retake the +ground. On the extreme right of our line, forming the pivot of the +attack, was a body of Australian troops who had to get through the +German barrage and fling duck-board bridges over the little Douve river, +and cross to the German support line under machine-gun fire from a +beastly little ruin called Grey Farm. The enemy was sniping from +shell-holes, and bullets were flying about rather badly. A young +Australian officer dealt with Grey Farm, crawling through a hedge with a +small party of men, and setting fire to the ruin, so that it should give +no more cover. Meanwhile, farther to the north, the Germans were still +about in gaps not yet linked up, and in strong points not yet cleared. A +body of them gave trouble in Huns' Walk on the Messines road, where +there was a belt of uncut wire when the Australians arrived. "Hell!" +said the Australians. "What are we going to do about that?" There was +heavy shell-fire and machine-gun fire, and the sight of that wire was +disgusting. + +"Leave it to me," said a young Tank officer. "I guess old Rattle-belly +can roll that down." He and other Tank officers were keen, even at the +most deadly risks, to do good work with their queer beasts alongside the +Australians for reasons that belong to another story. + +They did good work, and this Tank at Huns' Walk crawled along the hedge +of wire and laid it flat, as its tracks there still show. Another Tank +was slouching about under heavy shelling in search of strong posts, with +the Australian boys close up to its flanks with their bayonets fixed. +Suddenly, a burst of flame came from it, and it seemed a doomed thing. +But out of the body of the beast came a very cool young man, who mounted +high with bits of shell whistling by his head. He stamped out the fire, +and did not hear the comments of the Australian lads, who said, "Gosh, +that fellow is pretty game. He's all right." + +Much farther north another Tank came into action, with the Australians +near. A few old remnants of charred wall and timber, where there was a +strong post of Germans in concrete chambers, were causing our troops +loss and worry. "Anything I can do to help you?" asked a Tank officer +very politely through the steel trap-door. "Your machine-guns would be +jolly useful in our trench," said an Australian officer. "We are a bit +under strength here." + +The Tank officer was a friend in distress. He dismantled his +machine-guns, took them into the trench and fought alongside the +Australians until they were relieved. + +Just west of Van Hove Farm, in a gap between the Australians and the +English, the Germans got into a place called Polka Estaminet--don't +imagine it as a neat little inn with a penny-in-the-slot piano in the +front parlour--and they had to be driven out by sharp rifle-fire. Next +morning one of our men walked into a pocket of a hundred Germans, and a +young Australian officer was told off with twenty men to bomb them out. +There was a battle of bombs, which was very hot while it lasted, and +then the Germans bolted off under machine-gun and rifle fire. Australian +patrols went out and brought in forty wounded Germans and counted sixty +to eighty dead. + + + + +VII + +A BATTLE IN A THUNDER-STORM + + +JUNE 29 + +In a violent thunder-storm whose noise and lightning mingled in an +awesome way with the tumult and flame of the great artillery a minor +battle broke out last evening round Lens and southwards beyond Oppy. The +Canadians fought their way into Avion, a southern suburb of Lens, to a +line giving them the larger half of the village, and driving the enemy +back across the swamps to the outer defences of Lens city. Outside Oppy +and south of it troops of old English county regiments seized the +front-line system of German trenches and captured about 200 prisoners +and several guns. West of Lens some Midland troops stormed and gained a +line of trenches which belong to the main defences of the city, and +north of it there was a big raid which caused great loss of life to the +enemy. It was a heavy series of blows falling suddenly upon him, and +giving him no time for a leisurely retirement to his inner line of +defence in Lens. + +I saw the beginning of the battle, and watched the frightful gun-fire +until darkness and dense banks of smoke blotted out this vision of the +mining cities in which men were fighting through bursting shells. That +beginning was a terrifying sight, and a sense of the enormous tragedy of +the world in conflict overwhelmed one's soul, because of the strange +atmospheric effects, and that most weird mingling of storm and +artillery, as though the gods were angry and stirred to reveal the +eternal forces of their own thunderbolts above this human strife. Just +in front of where I crouched in a shell-crater was Swallows' Wood, or +the Bois d'Hirondelle, and beyond that La Coulotte, which the Canadians +had just taken, and a little way farther the long straggle of streets +which is Avion, leading up to Lens, with its square-towered church and +high water-towers and factory chimneys. Straight and long, bordered by +broken trees, went the Arras-Lens road, on which any man may walk to a +certain rendezvous with death if he goes far enough, and I saw how it +crossed the Souchez river by the broken bridge of Leauvette, from which +the Canadians were going to make their new attack. A gleam of sunlight +rested there for a while, and the little river was a blue streak this +side of Avion. But the sky began to darken strangely. The air was still +and hushed. A blue dusk crept across the landscape. The trees of +Hirondelle Wood and the towers of Lens blackened. Far behind Vimy, old +ruins--of Souchez and Ablain-St.-Nazaire--were white and ghostly. + +One of my companions in a shell-hole looked up and said: "Is the 'good +old German God' at work again?" Other powers were at work. Huge shells +from our heavy howitzers, now away behind us, passed overhead with a +noise such as long-tailed comets must have. I watched them burst, +raising volumes of ruddy smoke in Avion and Lens. To the right of Lens +by Sallaumines there was some other kind of explosion, rolling up and up +in big, curly clouds. In the still air there was the drone of many +engines. The darkening sky was full of black specks, which were British +aeroplanes flying out on reconnaissance over Lens and Avion. "O brave +birds!" said a friend by my side, waving up to them. German shrapnel +puffed about their wings, bursting with little glints of flames, but +they flew on. + +It was then just seven o'clock. Our guns had almost ceased fire. There +were strange sinister silences over all the battlefield, broken only by +single gun-shots or the high snarl of German shrapnel or the single thud +of a German crump. It was almost dark. The blue went out of the little +Souchez river. Lens and Avion were in gulfs of blackness. A long rolling +thunderclap shook all the sky, and flashes of lightning zigzagged over +the Vimy Ridge, whitening the edges of its upheaved earth. The sky +opened, and a storm of rain swept down fiercely. + +"Yes, the 'good old German God' is busy again," said my fellow-tenant of +the shell-crater and of the pond that welled up in it. "Just our beastly +luck!" It was ten minutes past seven, and we had heard that the battle +was to begin at seven. Perhaps it had been postponed. + +As the thought was uttered the battle began. It began with one great +roar of guns. Not only behind us but far to our right and left. Flights +of shells passed over our heads as though long-tailed comets of the +spheres had broken loose from the divine order of things. In a wide +sweep round Lens they burst with sharp flashes and lighted fires there. +Outside the Cite du Moulin, at the western edge of Lens, a long chain of +golden fountains rose as though little mines had been blown, and they +were followed by a high bank of white impenetrable smoke. On the right +of Avion another smoke-barrage was discharged, and above it there rose +one of the strangest things I have seen in war. It was the figure of a +woman, colossal, so that her head seemed to reach the heavens. It was +not a fanciful idea, as when men watch the shapes of clouds and say, +"How like Gladstone!" or "There is a camel!" or "A ship!" This woman +figure of white solid smoke was as though carved out of rock, and she +seemed to stare across the battlefield, and stayed there unchanged for +several minutes. The guns continued their fury. Rockets went up out of +Avion, and the German guns answered these signals. There was one wild +tumult of artillery beating down the lines southward to Oppy, and beyond +and above and through and into all this violence of sound there was the +roll and rattle of thunder--heavy claps--and the rattle of the +storm-drums. Lightning flashed above the flashes of our batteries, gave +a livid outline to black trees and chimneys, and pierced the heart of +all this darkness with long light swords. It was bad luck for our men, +as I have heard since from messages which came back out of those +smoke-banks through which no mortal eye could see. The men were drenched +to the skin as soon as they started to attack. The rain beat into their +faces and upon their steel hats. In a few minutes all the shelled ground +across which they had to fight became as slippery as ice, so that many +of them stumbled and fell. In Avion the enemy had already let loose +floods to stop the way to Lens, and by the rain-storm they spread into +big swamps. But the Canadians went ahead straight into the streets of +Avion, leaving little searching-parties on their trail to make sure of +the ruined houses, where machine-guns might be hidden. + +This street fighting is always a nasty business, but in the south and +western streets there was not much trouble from German infantry. Round +Leauvette many of them lay dead. The living rear-guards surrendered in +small parties from cellars and tunnels. The chief trouble of the +Canadians was on the right, by Fosse 4 and a huddle of pit-heads where +the enemy was in strength with many machine-guns, where he fired with a +steady sweep of bullets, which I heard last night above all the other +noise. The Canadians swing to the left a little to avoid that +stronghold, and established themselves on a diagonal line, striking +north-west and south-east through the slums, where they took what cover +they could from the German shell-fire. To the left of Lens our Midland +troops had some hard fighting in front of the Cite du Moulin, and gave a +terrible handling to the Eleventh Reserve Division, who have previously +suffered on the Canadian front, so that they were disgusted to find +themselves near their old enemies again. They relieved the Fifty-sixth +Division, which is down to one-seventh of its strength since fighting +against the Leinsters in the Bois-en-Hache, near Vimy. The raid farther +north inflicted frightful losses on the enemy in his dug-outs. In one +big tunnelled dug-out not a man escaped. + +The attack at Oppy, in the south, was a successful advance by +Warwickshire lads and other English troops, who followed a great barrage +into the enemy's front-trench system and captured all those of the +garrison who were not quick enough to escape. They were men of the Fifth +Bavarian Division, which is one of the best in the German army, and made +up of very tough fellows. + +So the evening ended in our favour, and our losses were not heavy, I am +told. Not heavy, though always the price of victory has to be paid by +that harvest of wounded who came back under the Red Cross down the +country lanes of France. + + + + +VIII + +THE TRAGEDY AT LOMBARTZYDE + + +JULY 13 + +The Germans have claimed a victory near Lombartzyde, and it is true that +by heavy gun-fire they have driven us from our defences in a +wedge-shaped tract of sand-dunes between the sea and the Yser Canal. +This reverse of ours is not a great defeat. It is only a tragic episode +of human suffering such as one must expect in war. But what is +great--great in spiritual value and heroic memory--is the way in which +our men fought against overwhelming odds and under annihilating fire, +and did not try to escape nor talk of surrender, but held this ground +until there was no ground but only a zone of bloody wreckage, and still +fought until most of them were dead or disabled. + +The men who did that were the King's Royal Rifles and Northamptons of +the 1st Division, and this last stand of theirs beyond the Yser Canal +will not be forgotten as long as human valour is remembered by us. It is +wonderful to think that after three years of war the spirit of our men +should still be so high and proud that they will stand to certain death +like this. Those men who came back from the other side of the canal came +back wounded, and had to swim back. They were a remnant of those who +have stayed, lying out there now in the churned-up sand, or have been +carried back to German hospitals. They were soldiers of the Northamptons +and the Sixtieth. Among the King's Royal Rifles there were many London +lads, from the old city which we used to think overcivilized and soft. +Well, it was men like that who have shed their blood upon the +sand-dunes, so that this tract by the sea is consecrated by one of the +most tragic episodes in the history of this war. + +It was on the seashore, when a high wind ruffled the waters on the +morning of July 10, that the enemy began his attack with a deadly fire. +His position was in a network of trenches, tunnels, concrete +emplacements, and breastworks of thick sand-bag walls built down from +the coast to the south of Lombartzyde. Facing him were other trenches +and breastworks which we had recently taken over from the French. Behind +our men was the Yser Canal, with pontoon bridges crossing to Nieuport +and Nieuport-les-Bains. Without these bridges there was no way back or +round for the men holding the lines in the dunes. The enemy began early +in the morning by putting a barrage down on our front-line system of +defences from a large number of batteries of heavy howitzers. Most of +his shells were at least as large as 5.9's, and for one long hour they +swept up and down our front, smashing breastworks and emplacements and +flinging up storms of sand. After that hour the enemy altered his line +of fire. There was a five minutes' pause, five minutes of +breathing-space for men still left alive among many dead, and then the +wall of shells crossed the canal and stayed there for another hour, +churning up the sand with a tornado of steel. The guns then lifted to +the front line again, and for another hour continued their work of +destruction, pausing for one of those short silences which gave men hope +that the bombardment had ceased. It had not ceased. It travelled again +to the support line and stayed smashing there for sixty minutes--then +across the canal again, then back all over again. + +There was one interval of a whole quarter of an hour, and the officers +had time to tell their men that it must be a fight to the death, because +the position must be held until that death. There must have been few of +them who did not know that after that bombardment they would meet the +enemy face to face if they still remained alive. + +The commanding officer of the Sixtieth became convinced by three o'clock +in the afternoon that all this destructive fire was preparatory to a big +attack. He saw that his bridges had gone behind him, so that there was +no way of escape, and he saw that the enemy was trying to cut off all +means of relief and communication. He tried to get messages through, but +without success. Two shells came into his battalion headquarters, +killing and wounding some of the officers and men crowded in this +sand-bag shelter and dug-out in the dune. He took the survivors into a +tunnel bored by the miners along the seashore, and here for a time they +were able to carry on. But it was almost impossible to get out to +reconnoitre the situation, or to give some word of comfort or courage to +men standing to arms amongst the wreckage. Flights of hostile aeroplanes +were overhead, and they flew low and poured machine-gun fire at any +living man who showed. Away behind they were searching for our +batteries. + +At 6.15 all the German batteries broke into drum-fire and flung shells +over the whole of our position for three-quarters of an hour without a +second's pause. After all these previous barrages it reached the utmost +heights of hellishness, destroying what had already been destroyed, +sweeping all this wide tract of sand-dunes right away from the coast to +the south of Lombartzyde with flame and smoke and steel, and reaping +another harvest of death. + +There are many details of this action which may never be known. No man +saw it from other ground, and those who were across that bank of the +Yser could see very little beyond their own neighbourhood of bursting +shells. But a sergeant of the Northamptons, who had an astounding +escape, saw the first three waves of German marines advance with bombing +parties. That was shortly after seven o'clock in the evening. They were +in heavy numbers against a few scattered groups of English soldiers +still left alive after a day of agony and blood. They came forward +bombing in a crescent formation, one horn of the crescent trying to work +round behind the flank of the Rifles on the seashore as the other tried +to outflank the Northamptons on the right. + +A party of German machine-gunners crept along the edge of the sands, +taking advantage of the low tide, and enfiladed the support line, now a +mere mash of sand, in which some wounded and unwounded men held out, and +swept them with bullets. Another party of the marines made straight for +the tunnel, which was now the battalion headquarters of the Sixtieth, +and poured liquid fire down it. Then they passed on, but as if uncertain +of having completed their work, came back after a time and bombed it. +Even then there was at least one man not killed in that tunnel. He +stayed there among the dead till night and then crept out and swam +across the canal. Two platoons of Riflemen fought to the last man, +refusing to surrender. One little group of five lay behind a bank of +sand, and fired with rifles and bombs until they were destroyed. + +Meanwhile the Northamptons, on the right, were fighting desperately. +Seeing that the German marines were trying to get behind them on the +right flank and that they had not the strength to resist this, they got +a message through to some troops farther down in front of Lombartzyde to +form a barrier so that the enemy could not come through, and these +fought their way grimly up, thrusting back the enemy's storm troops, and +then made a defensive block through which the marines could not force +their way. + +The Northamptons fought without any chance of escape, without any hope +except that of a quick finish. The German marines brought up a +machine-gun and fixed it behind the place where the Northampton officers +had established their headquarters, and fired up it. Our machine-guns +were out of action, filled with sand or buried in sand. One gunner +managed to get his weapon into position, but it jammed at once, and with +a curse on it, he flung it into the water of the Yser, and then jumped +in and swam back. Another gunner lay by the side of his machine-gun, +hit twice by shells, so that he could not work it. One of his comrades +wanted to drag him off to the canal bank, in the hope of swimming back +with him. To linger there a minute meant certain death. "Don't mind +about me," said the machine-gunner of the Northamptons. "Smash my gun +and get back." There was no time for both, so the gun was smashed and +the wounded man stayed on the wrong side of the bank. + +The fighting lasted for an hour and a half after the beginning of the +infantry attack. It was over at 8.30. The wounded sergeant of the +Northamptons who swam back saw the last of the struggle. He saw a little +group of his own officers, not more than six of them, surrounded by +marine bombers, fighting to the end with their revolvers. The picture of +these six boys out there in the sand, with their dead lying around them, +refusing to yield and fighting on to a certain death, is one of the +memories of this war that should not be allowed to die. + +Over the Yser Canal men were trying to swim, men dripping with blood and +too weak to swim, and men who could not swim. Some gallant fellow on the +Nieuport side--there is an idea that it was a Lancashire man--swam +across with a rope under heavy fire and fixed it so that men could drag +themselves across. So the few survivors came over, and so we know, at +least in its broad outline, how all this happened. It is a tragic tale, +and there will be tears when it is read. But in the tragedy there is the +splendour of these poor boys, young soldiers all who fought with a +courage as great as any in history, and have raised a cross of sacrifice +beyond the Yser, before which all men of our race will bare their heads. + +The enemy did not reach the canal bank, but stayed some 300 yards away +from it. He was beaten back from the trenches south of Lombartzyde, and +gained no ground there. + + + + +IX + +THE STRUGGLE FOR HELL WOOD + + +JUNE 14 + +Between Wytschaete and Messines is a wood, horribly ravaged by +shell-fire, called on our trench-maps Bois de l'Enfer, or Hell Wood. +North of it was a German strong point, with barbed-wire defences and +heavy blocks of concrete, called l'Enfer--Hell itself--and south of it, +behind a labyrinth of trenches, some broken walls above a nest of +dug-outs, known as Hell Farm. These filthy places were central defences +of great fortified positions held by the enemy just north of Messines, +and just south of Wytschaete, and round them and beyond them was some of +the fiercest fighting which happened on that day of battle when we +gained the Messines Ridge. + +Until now I have left out that part of the battle story--one cannot +write the history of a battle like that in a day or two--but it must be +told, because it was vastly important to the success of the general +action, and the troops engaged in it showed the finest courage. They +were men of the 25th Division, including Cheshires, Irish Rifles, +Lancashire Fusiliers, North Lanes, and Worcesters, and other country +lads who were blooded in battles of the Somme, where once I watched them +surging up the high slopes under a heavy fire and fighting their way +into the German trenches. In this battle of Hell Wood they were so +wonderful in the cool, steady way they fought that when an airman came +down to report their progress he said to their General, "I knew your +fellows, because they advanced in perfect order as though on parade." + +Before the battle, when they lay about Wulverghem, opposite the fortress +positions they had to attack, they did some great digging in the face of +the enemy assembly trenches, as plain as pikestaves to German observers, +and advertising, as did the enormous ammunition dumps, new batteries and +wagon-lines, the awful stroke of attack that was being prepared. + +It was a record night's work of twelve hundred Lancashire lads who went +out into the dead strip between their trenches and the enemy's, and dug +like demons. When at dawn they crept back to their own lines they left +behind them a trench four-feet-six deep and 1050 yards long for a +jump-out line on the day of battle. The enemy officers saw it, and must +have sickened at the sight. They marked it on their maps, which were +captured afterwards. It was frightful ground in front of these troops of +ours, as I have seen it partly for myself from ground about the +mine-craters looking over Hell Wood. + +The first part of our men's advance after the moment of attack was +hardly checked, and they went forward in open order as steadily as +though in the practice fields, through buttercups and daisies. Their +trouble came later, when they found themselves under machine-gun fire +from Hell Wood, on the left of their advance line, and from Hell Farm in +front of them. It was a body of Cheshires who side-slipped to the left +to deal with that fire from the wood. They made a dash for those scarred +tree-trunks, from which a stream of bullets poured, and fought their way +through to the German machine-gun emplacements, though a number of them +fell. As they closed upon the enemy the German gunners ceased fire in a +hurry. Many of them stopped abruptly, with bullets in their brains, and +fifty men surrendered with fourteen machine-guns. Hell Farm was gained +and held, and at the top of Hell Wood the Cheshires routed out another +machine-gun, so that all was clear in this part of the field. + +Meanwhile the main body of assaulting troops--Lancashire Fusiliers, +North Lanes, Irish Rifles, and Worcesters--had passed on to another +system of defences known as October Trench, which was a barrier straight +across their way. Here, as they drew close, they came to a dead halt +against a broad belt of wire uncut by our gun-fire, and hideously +tangled in coils with sharp barbs. Behind, as some of the officers knew, +the enemy had brought up twenty-six machine-guns, enough to sweep down a +whole battalion held by wire like this. Even now the men don't know how +they went over that wire. They knew instantly that they must get across +or die. From October Support Trench, farther back, with another belt of +uncut wire in front of it, heavy fire was coming from Germans who had +their heads up. "Over you go, men," shouted the officers. The men flung +themselves over, scrambled over, rolled over, tearing hands and faces +and bits of flesh on those rusty prongs, but getting over or through +somehow and anyhow. Parties of them raced on to October Support Trench, +flung themselves against that wire and got, bleeding and scratched, to +the other side, unless they were killed first. Some of them fell. It was +the most deadly episode of the day, but the Germans paid a ghastly price +for this resistance, and 300 German dead lie on that ground round the +old ruins of Middle Farm behind the wire. + +Away back when fighting here began was a body of Irish Rifles who had +gone as far as they had been told to go. They saw what was happening, +watched those other men flinging themselves against the barbed hedge. +"To hell with staying here," shouted one of them. "To hell with it," +said others. "We could do a power of good up there." + +"Come on then, boys," said the first men, beginning to run. They ran +fast towards the end of the wire belt, slipped round it, and fell on the +flank of the enemy. It was timely help to the other men, some of whom +owe their lives to it. + +The second phase of the battle began when another body of the same +troops passed through those who had already assaulted and won their +ground, and went forward to a new line beyond. They passed through in +perfect order, which is a most difficult manoeuvre in battle when the +ground is covered with troops who have already been fighting, with +wounded men and stretcher-bearers, and souvenir-hunters and moppers-up +and runners, and all the tumult of new-gained ground. But in long, +unbroken waves the fresh troops lined up beyond these crowds, and made +ready to advance upon the new line of attack. Again, groups of them had +to be separated from the main body in order to seize isolated positions +on the wings, where groups of Germans were holding out and sweeping our +flanks with fire. + +North-east and south-east of Lumm Farm were bits of trench from which +the enemy was routed after sharp bouts of fighting. Beyond were some +holed walls called Nameless Farm, and these were captured before the +call of "cease firing," which was the signal for the party to halt while +our guns began a new bombardment over the new line of attack. + +It was this silence which scared an officer of the Cheshires, who had +led his men away forward to capture a body of Germans trying to escape +from Despagne Farm, right out in the blue this side of Owl Trench, which +was the next position to be attacked, after our guns had dealt with it. +A sergeant and two men of the Cheshires ran right into Despagne Farm and +bayoneted the German machine-gunners who had been spraying bullets on +our men. Then the officer seemed to feel his heart stop. He looked at +his wrist-watch, and was shocked at the time it gave. The realization of +the frightful menace approaching as every second passed made every nerve +in his body tingle. It was our new bombardment. A vast storm of +explosives which was about to sweep over this ground, already pitted +with deep shell-holes, it seemed as though nothing could save this body +of Cheshires, who had gone too far and could not get back before their +own guns killed them. There was only one chance of escape for any of +them, and that was for each man to dive into one of those +eight-feet-deep shell-holes and crouch low, scratching himself into the +shelving sides before the hellish storm of steel broke loose. The +Cheshires did this, flung themselves into the pits, lay quaking there +like toads under a harrow, and hugged the earth as the bombardment burst +out and swept over them. By an amazing freak of fortune it swept over +them quickly, and there were only two casualties among all those men +huddled in holes, expecting certain death. A bit of luck, said the men, +getting up and gasping. Weaker men would have been broken by shell-shock +and terror-stricken. These Cheshires went on, took the next German +defences and many prisoners, and then dug in according to orders and +prepared for anything that might happen in the way of trouble. It was +the German counter-attack which happened. Six hundred men came +debouching out of a gully called Blawepoortbeek, with its mouth opposite +Despagne Farm. The Cheshires had their machine-guns in position and +their rifles ready. They held back their fire until the German column +was within short range. Then they fired volley after volley, and those +600 men found themselves in a valley of death, and few escaped. + + + + +PART V + +THE BATTLES OF FLANDERS + + + + +I + +BREAKING THE SALIENT + + +JULY 31 + +The battle which all the world has been expecting has begun. After weeks +of intense bombardment, not on our side only, causing, as we know, grave +alarm throughout Germany and anxiety in our enemy's command, we launched +a great attack this morning on a front stretching, roughly, from the +River Lys to Boesinghe. We have gained ground everywhere, and with the +help of French troops, who are fighting shoulder to shoulder with our +own men, in the northern part of the line above Boesinghe, we have +captured the enemy's positions across the Yser Canal and thrust him back +from a wide stretch of country between Pilkem and Hollebeke. He is +fighting desperately at various points, with a great weight of artillery +behind him, and has already made strong counter-attacks and flung up his +reserves in order to check this sweeping advance. Many Tanks have gone +forward with our infantry, sometimes in advance and sometimes behind, +according to the plan of action mapped out for them, and have done +better than well against several of the enemy's strong points, where, +for a time, our men were held up by machine-gun fire. + +So far our losses are not heavy, and many of these are lightly wounded, +but it is likely that the enemy's resistance will be stronger as the +hours pass, because he realizes the greatness of our menace, and will, +beyond doubt, bring up all the strength he has to save himself from a +complete disaster. During the past few weeks the correspondents in the +field have not even hinted at the approach of the battle that has opened +to-day, though other people have not been so discreet, and the enemy +himself has sounded the alarm. But we have seen many of the preparations +for this terrific adventure in the north, and have counted the days when +all these men we have seen passing along the roads, all these guns, and +the tidal wave of ammunition which has flowed northwards should be ready +for this new conflict, more formidable than any of the fighting which +raged along the lines since April of this year. + +I am bound to say that as the days have drawn nearer some of us have +shuddered at the frightful thing growing ripe for history as the +harvests of France have ripened. Poring over maps of this northern +front, and looking across the country from the coast-line and newly +taken hills, like those of Wytschaete, the difficulty of the ground +which our men have to attack has been horribly apparent. Those swamps in +the north around Dixmude, the Yser Canal, which must be bridged under +fire, the low flats of our lines around Ypres, like the well of an +amphitheatre, with the enemy above on the Pilkem Ridge, were so full of +peril for attacking troops that optimism itself might be frightened and +downcast. + +As I have written many times lately, the enemy has massed great +gun-power against us, and has poured out fire with unparalleled ferocity +in order to hinder our preparations. Our bombardments were more +terrific, and along the roads were always guns, guns, guns, going up to +increase the relative powers of our own and the German artillery. There +was little doubt that in the long run ours would be overwhelming, but +meanwhile the enemy was strong and destructively inclined. All the time +he was puzzled and nerve-racked, not knowing where our attack would fall +upon him, and he made many raids, mostly unsuccessful, to find out our +plans, while we raided him day and night to see what strength he was +massing to meet us. Russia lured him, and in spite of our threat he has +sent off some six divisions, I believe, to his Eastern theatre of +operations, but at the same time he relieved many of the divisions which +had been broken by our fire in the lines, replacing them by his freshest +and strongest troops. They did not remain fresh, even after only a few +hours, for our guns caught some of them during their reliefs, as late as +two o'clock this morning in the case of the 52nd Reserve Division, so +that they stepped straight into an inferno of fire. + +[Illustration: The Passchendaele ridge] + +The weather was against us, as many times before a battle. Yesterday it +was a day of rain and heavy, sodden clouds, so that observation was +almost impossible for our flying men and kite-balloons, and our +artillery was greatly hampered. The night was dark and moist, but luck +was with us so far that a threatening storm did not break, and our men +kept dry. The darkness was in our favour, and the assaulting troops were +able to form up for attack very close to the enemy's lines--lines of +shell-craters in fields of craters from which our storms of fire had +swept away all trenches, all buildings, and all trees. The enemy held +these forward positions lightly by small groups of men, who knew +themselves to be doomed, and waited for that doom in their pits like +animals in death-traps. In their second-line defences, less damaged, but +awful enough in wreckage of earthworks, the enemy was in greater +strength, and from these positions flares went up all through the +night, giving a blurred white light along the barriers of mist, and +rising high into the cloudy sky. Scores of thousands of our men, lying +on the wet earth in puddles and mud-holes, watched those flares and +hoped they would not be revealed before the second when they would have +to rise and go forward to meet their luck. They lay there silently, +never stirring, nor coughing, nor making any rattle of arms, while +German shells passed over them or smashed among them, killing and +wounding some of those who lay close. Enemy aircraft came out in the +night bolder than by day, since they have been chased and attacked and +destroyed in great numbers by British flying men, determined to get the +mastery of the air, and to blind the enemy's eyes before this battle, +and beyond any doubt successful as far as this day goes. The night-birds +swooped over places where they thought our batteries were hidden and +dropped bombs, but as they could see nothing their aim was bad, and they +did no important damage, if any at all. So the hours of the night crept +by, enormously long to all those men of ours waiting for the call to +rise and go. Our gun-fire had never stopped for weeks in its steady +slogging hammering, but shortly after half-past three this ordinary +noise of artillery quickened and intensified to a monstrous and +overwhelming tumult. It was so loud that twelve miles behind the lines +big houses moved and were shaken with a great trembling. People farther +away than that awakened with fear and went to their windows and stared +out into the darkness, and saw wild fireballs in the sky, and knew that +men were fighting and dying in Flanders in one of the great battles of +the world. This morning I watched the fires of this battle from an +observation-post on the edge of the salient. I knew what I should have +seen if there had been any light, for I saw those places a day or two +ago from the same spot. I should have seen the ghost-city of Ypres, and +the curve of the salient round by Pilkem, St.-Julien, and Zillebeke, and +then Warneton and Houthem below the Messines Ridge. But now there was no +light, but hundreds of sharp red flashes out of deep gulfs of black +smoke and black mist. The red flashes were from our forward batteries +and heavy guns, and over all this battlefield, where hundreds of +thousands of men were at death-grips, the heavy, smoke-laden vapours of +battle and of morning fog swirled and writhed between clumps of trees +and across the familiar places of death round Ypres, hiding everything +and great masses of men. The drum-fire of the guns never slackened for +hours. At nine o'clock in the morning it beat over the countryside with +the same rafale of terror as it had started before four o'clock. +Strangely above this hammering and thundering of two thousand guns or +more of ours, answered by the enemy's barrage, railway whistles screamed +from trains taking up more shells, and always more shells, to the very +edge of the fighting-lines, and in between the massed batteries, using +them as hard as they could be unloaded. + +Over at Warneton and Oostaverne, in the valley below the Messines Ridge, +the enemy was pouring fire along our line, shells of the heaviest +calibre, which burst monstrously, and raised great pillars of white +smoke. It was a valley of death there, and our men were in it, and +fighting for the slopes beyond. + +It is a battle, so far, of English, Scottish, and Welsh troops, with +some of the Anzacs--New-Zealanders as well as Australians--and all along +the line they have fought hard and with good success over ground as +difficult as any that has ever been a battlefield, because of the canal +and the swamps and the hollow cup of the Ypres area, with the enemy on +the rim of it. + +Among the battalions who fought hardest were the Liverpools, the South +and North Lancashires, the Liverpool Scottish and Liverpool Irish, the +Lancashire Fusiliers, Lancashire Regiment, the King's Royal Rifles, West +Kents, Surreys, Durham Light Infantry, the Cheshires, Warwicks, +Staffords, Sussex, Wiltshires and Somersets, the Royal Irish Rifles, the +Black Watch, Camerons, Gordons and Royal Scots, the Welsh battalions, +and the Guards. From north to south the Divisions engaged were the +Guards, the 38th (Welsh), the 51st (Highland), the 39th, the 55th, the +15th (Scottish), the 8th, 30th, 41st, 19th, and Anzacs on the extreme +right. + +One can always tell from the walking wounded whether things are going +ill or well. At least, they know the fire they have had against them, +and the ease or trouble with which they have taken certain ground, and +the measure of their sufferings. So now, with an awful doubt in my mind, +because of the darkness and the anxiety of men conducting the battle +over the signal-lines, and that awful drum-fire beating into one's ears +and soul, I was glad to get first real tidings from long streams of +lightly wounded fellows coming along from the dressing-station. They +were lightly wounded, but pitiful to see, because of the blood that +drenched them--bloody kilts and bloody khaki, and bare arms and chests, +with the cloth cut away from their wounds, and bandaged heads, from +which tired eyes looked out. One would not expect good tidings from men +who had suffered like these, but they spoke of a good day, of good +progress, of many prisoners, and of an enemy routed and surrendering. "A +good day"--that was their first phrase, though for them it meant the +loss of a limb or sharp pain anyhow, and remembrance of the blood and +filth of battle. They were eager to describe their fighting, and I saw +again the pride of men in the courage of their comrades, forgetting +their own, which had been as great. These lads told me how they lay out +in the night, and how the German planes came over, bombing them; how +they rose and went forward in attack. The enemy was quickly turned out +of his front line of shell-craters, and there were not many of him +there. In the second line he was thickly massed, but some of them threw +up their hands at once, crying "Mercy!" + +The Scots came up against a strong emplacement fitted with machine-guns, +and here the German gunners fired rapidly, so that our men were checked. +They rushed the place, and at the last a German hoisted a white flag, +but even then others fired, and I met one young Scot to-day who had a +comrade killed after that sign of surrender. + +Beyond Ypres, on the way to Menin, there was a big tunnel where our +English lads expected trouble, as it could hold hundreds of Germans. But +when they came to the tunnel and ferreted down it they only found +forty-one men, who surrendered at once. Some of the enemy's troops were +quite young boys of the 1918 class, but most of them were older and +tougher men. The success of the day is shared by English troops, +including the Guards, with the Welsh, who fought abreast of them with +equal heroism, and with Scottish and Anzacs. The Welsh have wiped out +the most famous German regiment of the Third Guards Division, known as +the "Cockchafers." + +Fighting with us, the French troops kept pace with their usual +gallantry, carrying all their objectives according to the time-table. +In one great and irresistible assault, these troops of two nations swept +across the enemy lines and have reached heights on the Pilkem Ridge, as +I hope to tell to-morrow in greater detail. For the day, it is enough to +say that our success has been as great as we dared to hope. + + + + +II + +FROM PILKEM RIDGE TO HOLLEBEKE + + +AUGUST 1 + +The weather is still abominable. Heavy rain-storms have water-logged the +battlefields, and there are dense mists over all the countryside. It is +bad for fighting on land, and worse for fighting in the air. But +fighting goes on. Yesterday the enemy made strong counter-attacks at +many points of our new line, and especially to the north of Frezenberg, +west of Zonnebeke, where, at three in the afternoon, his infantry +advanced upon the 15th (Scottish) Division after a violent bombardment. +They were swept down by artillery and machine-gun fire. At five o'clock +they came on again, moving suddenly out of a dense smoke-barrage, and +gained 300 yards of ground. Our guns poured shells on to this ground, +and at nine o'clock last night our men went behind the barrage and +regained this position. The enemy's gun-fire is intense over a great +part of the country taken from him, and his long-range guns are shelling +far behind the lines. Generally the situation is exactly the same as it +stood at the end of the first day of battle, when our advance was firm +and complete at the northern end of the attack, where the Guards and the +Welsh had swept over the Pilkem Ridge without great trouble, and where +farther south the troops who had advanced beyond St.-Julien had to fall +back a little, partly under the pressure of counter-attacks, but chiefly +in order to get into line with their right wing, which had been engaged +in the hardest fighting, and had not reached the same depth of country. +That was in the wooded ground south-east of the salient, where the enemy +had a large number of machine-guns in the cover of Glencorse Copse, +Inverness Wood, and Shrewsbury Forest, and repulsed the very desperate +attacks of the 8th and 30th Divisions. + +Outside one copse there was a very strong position, known to our men as +Stirling Castle. It was once a French chateau, surrounded by a park and +outbuildings, long destroyed but made into a strong point with concrete +emplacements. Rapid machine-gun fire poured out of this place against +our men, but it was captured after several rushes. The trenches in front +of it were also gained by the Royal Scots and Durham Light Infantry of +the 8th Division. Later a counter-attack was launched against them by +the Germans of one of the young classes, and here at least these lads, +who do not seem to have fought very well elsewhere, came on like tiger +cubs and gained some of their trenches back. From all the woods in this +neighbourhood there was an incessant sweep of machine-gun bullets, and, +as I have already said in earlier dispatches, many small counter-attacks +were launched from them, without much success, but strong enough to make +progress difficult to our men, now that the weather had set in badly, so +that our guns were hampered by lack of aeroplane observation. All +through the night and yesterday the enemy's barrage-fire was fiercely +sustained, and our men dug themselves in as best they could, and took +cover in shell-holes. + +Hard fighting had happened that day southward and on the right of our +attack past Hollebeke and the line between Oostaverne and Warneton. +Opposite Hollebeke there were English county troops of the 41st +Division--West Kents, Surreys, Hampshires, Gloucesters, Oxford and +Bucks, and Durham Light Infantry--and they went "over the bags," as they +call it, in almost pitch-darkness, like the men on either side of them. +This was the reason of an accident which was almost a tragedy. As they +went forward over that shell-destroyed ground they left behind them +Germans hidden in shell-pits, who sniped our men in the rear, and picked +off many of them until later in the day they were routed out. Beyond +this open country the ruins of Hollebeke were full of cellars, made into +strong dug-outs, and crowded with Germans who would not come out. They +will never come out. Our men flung bombs down into these underground +places, and passed on to the line where they stay on the east side of +the village. At a little bit of ruin there was some delay because of the +machine-guns there, and for some time it was uncertain whether we held +the place, as a messenger sent down to report its capture was killed on +his journey. Along the line of the railway here there was a row of +concrete dug-outs, and a bomber of the Middlesex went up alone climbed +the embankment, and dropped bombs through their ventilator. So there was +not much trouble from them. + +In some of the dug-outs in this neighbourhood about a score of bottles +of champagne were found, for a feast by German officers. But our +soldiers drank it; indeed, one--a Canadian fellow--drank a whole bottle +to himself, being very thirsty, and after that he found one of the +officers for whom the drink was meant, but for the fortune of war. He +was lying on his truckle bed below ground, hoping, perhaps, to be asleep +when death should come to him out of the tornado of fire which had swept +over him for days. "Come out of that," shouted the Canadian, and then, +having left his arms behind him, dragged him out by the hair. + +South of Hollebeke three little rivers run. One of them is the +Rozebeek, and another is the Wambeek, and the third is the +Blawepoortbeek, and there is a small ridge between each of them, and +a copse between them. Two bodies of English troops of the 19th and 37th +Divisions--Lancashires, Cheshires, Warwicks, Staffords and Wiltshires, +Somersets, Bedfords, South Lancashires, and Royal Fusiliers--attacked +these positions, those on the right making their assault four hours +later than those on the left. They had already pushed out by small raids +and rushes half-way to the copse before the attack, and when the signal +to go forward came they made the rest of the way very quickly, so that +the copse fell. The enemy here fought hard, and had cover in concrete +emplacements, with underground entries. Beyond he held out stoutly under +machine-gun and rifle barrage. Meanwhile, on the extreme right of attack +were the Australians and New-Zealanders in the ground below Warneton. It +was difficult country. The enemy had gone to great trouble to wire his +hedges and camouflage the shell-holes with wire netting, below which he +hid machine-guns and snipers. The village of La Basseville, like all the +places we call villages, a mere huddle of broken bricks, had already +been taken once and lost in a counter-attack. Now it was the +New-Zealanders who took it. The same thing happened as at Hollebeke. The +enemy refused to leave his dug-outs and was bombed to death in them. +"Can't make any use of the cellars," came a message through, "as they +are choked with dead." Not far from La Basseville was the stump of an +old windmill standing lonely on a knoll. Because of its observation it +was important to get, and it was the Australians who captured it after +hard fighting. At 9.30 in the morning the Germans came out in waves +across the Warneton-Gapaard road and so encircled the windmill that the +Australians had to draw back and leave it. But at midnight, after it had +been shelled for several hours, they went back, routed out the garrison, +and now hold it again. At half-past three the same afternoon the +New-Zealanders were counter-attacked at La Basseville, but the Germans +were beaten back. + +So the fortunes of the day were alternating, but at the end of it the +position became clear. We had made and held all the ground that we +intended. Then our men dug in, and the rain, which had begun on the +afternoon of the battle, grew heavier. It has rained ever since. The +ground is all a swamp and the shell-holes are ponds. The Army lies wet, +and all the foulness of Flemish weather in winter is upon them in +August. Through the mist the enemy's shell-fire never ceases, and our +guns reply with long bombardments and steady barrages. The walking +wounded come back over miles of churned-up ground, dodging the shells, +and when they get down to the clearing-stations they are caked with mud +and very weary. War is not a blithe business, even when the sun is +shining. In this gloom and filth it is more miserable. + +The weather has been bad for flying men. Impossible, one would say, +looking up at the low-lying storm-clouds. Yet on the day of battle our +airmen went out and, baulked of artillery work, flew over the enemy's +country and spread terror there. It was a flying terror which, when told +in the barest words of these boys, is stranger than old mythical stories +of flying horses and dragons on the wing. Imagine one of these winged +engines swooping low over one as one walks along a road far from the +lines, and above the roar of its engine the sharp crack of a revolver +with a bullet meant for you. Imagine one of these birds hovering above +one's cottage roof and firing machine-gun bullets down the chimneys, and +then flying round to the front and squirting a stream of lead through +the open door, and, after leaving death inside, soaring up into a +rain-cloud. That, and much more, was done on July 31. These airmen of +ours attacked the German troops on the march and scattered them, dropped +bombs on their camps and aerodromes, flying so low that their wheels +skirted the grass, and were seldom more than a few yards above the +tree-tops. The narrative of one man begins with his flight over the +enemy's country, crossing canals and roads as low as thirty feet, until +he came to a German aerodrome. The men there paid no attention, thinking +this low flier was one of theirs, until a bomb fell on the first shed. +Then they ran in all directions panic-stricken. The English pilot +skimmed round to the other side of the shed and played his machine-gun +through the open doors, then soared a little and gave the second shed a +bomb. He flew round and released a bomb for the third shed, but failed +with the fourth, because the handle did not act quickly enough. So he +spilt his bomb between the shed and a railway train standing still +there. By this time a German machine-gun had got to work upon him, but +he swooped right down upon it, scattering the gunners with a burst of +bullets, and flew across the sheds again, firing into them at twenty +feet. His ammunition drum was exhausted, and he went up to a cloud to +change, and then came down actually to the ground, tripping across the +grass on dancing wheels, and firing into the sheds where the mechanics +were cowering. Then he tired of this aerodrome and flew off, overtaking +two German officers on horses. He dived at them and the horses bolted. +He came upon a column of 200 troops on the march, and swooped above +their heads with a stream of bullets until they ran into hedges and +ditches. He was using a lot of ammunition, and went up into a cloud to +fix another drum. Two German aeroplanes came up to search for him, and +he flew to meet them and drove one down so that it crashed to earth. +German soldiers gathered round it, and our fellow came down to them and +fired into their crowd. A little later he flew over a passenger train +and pattered bullets through its windows, and then, having no more +ammunition, went home. + +There was a boy of eighteen in one of our aerodromes the night before +the battle, and he was very glum because he was not allowed to go across +the German lines next day on account of his age and inexperience. After +many pleadings he came to his squadron commander at night in his pyjamas +and said, "Look here, sir, can't I go?" So he was allowed to go, and set +out in company with another pilot in another machine. But he soon was +alone, because he missed the other man in a rain-storm. His first +adventure was with a German motor-car with two officers. He gave chase, +saw it turn into side roads, and followed. Then he came low and used his +machine-gun. One of the officers fired an automatic pistol at him, so +our boy thought that a good challenge and, leaving go of his +machine-gun, pulled out his own revolver, and there was the strangest +duel between a boy in the air and a man in a car. The aeroplane was +fifty feet high then, but dropped to twenty just as the car pulled up +outside a house. The young pilot shot past, but turned and saw the body +of one officer being dragged indoors. He swooped over the house and +fired his machine-gun into it, and then sent a Very-light into the car, +hoping to set it on fire. Presently he was attacked by a bombardment +from machine-guns, "Archies," and light rockets, so he rose high and +took cover in the clouds. But it was not the last episode of his day +out. He saw some infantry crossing a wooden bridge and dived at them +with rapid bursts of machine-gun fire. They ran like rabbits from a +shot-gun, and when he came round again he saw four or five dead lying on +the bridge. From the ditches men fired at him with rifles, so he stooped +low and strafed them, and then went home quite pleased with himself. + +There were scores of flying men who did these things. The pilots of two +units alone flew an aggregate of 396 hours 25 minutes, and fired 11,258 +rounds of machine-gun bullets at ground targets, to say nothing of +Very-lights. Those machines were not out in France for exhibition +purposes, as gentlemen now abed in England are pleased to think. All +this sounds romantic, and certainly there is the romance of youthful +courage and fearless spirit. But apart from human courage, the ugliness +and foulness of war grow greater month by month, and if anybody speaks +to me of war's romance I will tell him of things I have seen to-day and +yesterday and make his blood run cold. For the sum of human agony is +high. + + + + +III + +THE BEGINNING OF THE RAINS + + +AUGUST 1 + +A violent rain-storm began yesterday afternoon after our advance across +the enemy's lines to the Pilkem Ridge and the northern curve of the +Ypres salient, and it now veils all the battlefield in a dense mist. It +impedes the work of our airmen and makes our artillery co-operation with +the infantry more difficult, and adds to the inevitable hardships of our +men out there in the new lines where the ground has been cratered by our +shell-fire into one wild quagmire of pits. To the enemy it is not +altogether a blessing. His airmen get no observation of our movements, +and his gunners do not find their targets, while his poor, wretched +infantry, lying out in open ground or in woods where they get no cover +from our fire, must be in a frightful condition, unable to get food +because of our barrages behind them, and wet to the skin. + +The enemy's command has been unable to organize any effective +counter-attacks, and so far has sent forward small bodies of storm +troops moving vaguely to uncertain objectives and smashed by our fire +before they have reached our lines. There were many of these attacks +yesterday. Against the Lancashire regiments of the 15th and the Scots of +the 55th Division they were repeated all through the day, beginning at +three o'clock in the afternoon, and coming again at eleven o'clock, +1.45, and 7.15 this morning. + +The Lehr Regiment, whom the Kaiser called his brave Coburgers during the +battles of the Somme, were very severely mauled yesterday and suffered +heavy losses. Both the 235th Division and the Third Guards Division, +engaged by our men on the Steenbeek line, have been shattered. So great +has been the alarm of the enemy at the menace to his line that he has +been rushing up reserves by omnibuses and light railways to the +firing-line over tracks which are shelled by us day and night. The +suffering of all the German troops, huddled together in exposed places, +must be as hideous as anything in the agony of mankind, slashed to bits +by storms of shells and urged forward to counter-attacks which they know +will be their death. + +I saw this morning large numbers of prisoners taken during the past +twenty-four hours and just brought in. They had the look of men who have +been through hell. They were drenched with rain, which poured down their +big steel helmets. Their top-boots were full of water, which squelched +out at every step, and their sunken eyes stared out of ash-grey faces +with the look of sick and hunted animals. Many of them had cramp in the +stomach through long exposure and hunger before being captured, and +they groaned loudly and piteously. Many of them wept while being +interrogated, protesting bitterly that they hated the war and wanted +nothing but peace. They have no hope of victory for their country. An +advance into Russia fills them with no new illusions, but seems to them +only a lengthening of the general misery. They do not hide the +sufferings of their people at home, and say that in the towns there is +bitter want, and only in the rural districts is there enough to eat. In +the field they are filled with gloomy forebodings, and live in terror of +our tremendous gun-fire. The older men, non-commissioned officers who +have come back after wounds, and other soldiers of long training, say +that the boys of the young classes who are now filling up the ranks have +no staying power under shell-fire and no fighting spirit. Among the +prisoners I saw to-day I think about a quarter of them, or perhaps a +little less, were these young boys, anaemic-looking lads, with terror in +their eyes. The others were more hardy-looking men, though pale and +worn. It is certain that they made no great fight yesterday when our men +were near them, except when they still had cover in concrete +emplacements. And it is no wonder that all fight has gone out of them. +Some even of our own men were startled and stunned by the terrific blast +of our gun-fire. Some of these men have told me that when they went +forward to get into line before the attack, they had to pass through +mile after mile of our batteries, the heavy guns behind, and gradually +reaching the lighter batteries forward, until they arrived at the +field-guns, so thickly placed that at some points they were actually +wheel to wheel. The night was dark, but there was no darkness among +these batteries. Their flashes lit up their neighbourhood with lurid +torches, blinding the eyes of the troops on the march, and all about the +air rocked with the blast of their fire and the noise was so great that +men were deafened. As the troops went forward for five or six miles to +the assembly-lines flights of shells passed over their heads in a great +rush through space, and it was terrifying even to men like one of those +I met to-day, who has become familiar with the noise of gun-fire since +the early days of Ypres and the fury of the Somme. But the worst came +when the field-guns began their rapid fire before yesterday's dawn. It +was like the fire of machine-guns in its savage sweep, but instead of +machine-gun bullets they were 18-pounder shells, and each report from +thousands of guns was a sharp, ear-splitting crack. + +An Irish fellow who described his own adventures to me as he lay wounded +and told his tale as vividly as a great orator, because of the perfect +truth and simplicity of each phrase, said that he and all his comrades +hurried to get away from their own lines when the signal of attack came +in order to escape from the awful noise. They preferred the greater +quietude of the enemy's positions. They went across blasted ground. It +had been harrowed by the sweep of fire. Trenches had disappeared, +concrete emplacements had been overturned, breastworks had been flung +like straws to the wind. The only men who lived were those who were +huddled in sections of trench which were between the barrage-lines of +our fire. Our men had no fear of what the enemy could do to them. They +went forward to find creatures eager to escape from this blazing hell. +It was only in redoubts like the Frezenberg Redoubt which had escaped +destruction that the German machine-gunners still fought and gave +trouble. Many of the enemy must have been buried alive with machine-guns +and trench-mortars and bomb stores. But there were other dead not +touched by shell-fire, nor by any bullet. They had been killed by our +gas attack which had gone before the battle. Rows of them lay clasping +their gas-masks, and had not been quick enough before the vapour of +death reached them. But others, with their gas-masks on, were dead. One +of our men tells me that he came across the bodies of a group of German +officers. They belonged to a brigade staff, and they were all masked, +with tin beast-like nozzles, and they were all stone dead. It is the +vengeance of the gods for that gas, foul and damnable, which they used +against us first in the second battle of Ypres and ever since. It is the +worst weapon of modern warfare, and has added the blackest terror to all +this slaughter of men. + +Because there was not great fighting with infantry yesterday, it must +not be thought that our men had an easy time. The enemy was quick to put +down his barrage, and although it was not anything like our annihilating +fire, it was bad enough, as any shell-fire is. I met some young Scots of +the Gordons and Camerons to-day, who had been through an episode of a +thrilling kind, which was horrible while it lasted. When the signal for +attack came yesterday, they were a little mad, like some of their +comrades, because they said they saw the Germans running away on the +other side of our wall of shells. Without waiting for the barrage to +creep forward, these Scots ran forward right among our own shells, and, +by some miracle, many of them escaped being hit, and went forward in +pursuit. A party of about a hundred went right beyond their goal and +found themselves isolated and out of touch with the main body. They were +heavily shelled and attacked by bombing parties. They sent runners back +asking for reinforcements, but none came because of their far-flung +position. They tried to signal for an artillery barrage to protect them, +but this call was not seen. They ran out of ammunition, and saw that +death was coming close to them. It touched some men with great chunks of +hot shell, and they fell dead in their shell-craters. Other men were +buried by the bursts of 5.9's. These boys of the 8/10th Gordons were +proud. They did not want to retire, though they knew they had gone too +far, but at last, when all their officers had been killed but one, the +order was given to this little remnant of men to save their lives and +get back if they could. They went back through heavy fire, and I talked +with two of them this morning, happy to find themselves alive and +bright-eyed fellows still. It is extraordinary what escapes many of them +have had. A group of them in the farthest line of advance lay down in +craters under a rapid sweep of machine-gun fire from a redoubt in front +of them. They watched over the edge of their craters how two Tanks came +up, heaving and lurching over the tossed earth, until they were within +gun-range of the redoubt. Then they opened fire. But the enemy's gunners +had seen them, and tried to get them with direct hits. Most of the +shells fell short all around those English lads hiding in the craters. +Some of these were buried and some killed. But the others held on to +their ground, which is still in our hands. + +The stretcher-bearers were magnificent, and worked all day and night +searching out the wounded and carrying them back under fire. Many of the +German prisoners gladly lent a hand in this work on their way back. At +the dressing-stations to-day I saw them giving pickaback to +men--ours--who were wounded about the legs and feet. They prefer this +work to fighting. + +After yesterday's battle our line includes the whole of the Pilkem +Ridge and the ground in the valley beyond to the line of the Steenbeek +river, and southwards in a curve that slices off the old Ypres salient. +It has been a heavy blow to the enemy. Now it is all rain and mud and +blood and beastliness. + + + + +IV + +PILL-BOXES AND MACHINE-GUNS + + +AUGUST 3 + +The weather is still frightful. It is difficult to believe that we are +in August. Rather it is like the foulest weather of a Flemish winter, +and all the conditions which we knew through so many dreary months +during three winters of war up here in the Ypres salient are with us +again. The fields are quagmires, and in shell-crater land, which is +miles deep round Ypres, the pits have filled with water. The woods loom +vaguely through a wet mist, and road traffic labours through rivers of +slime. It is hard luck for our fighting men. But in spite of repeated +efforts the enemy has not succeeded in his counter-attacks, after our +line withdrew somewhat at the end of the first day south and south-east +of St.-Julien. In my first accounts of the battle I did not give full +measure to the hardness of the fighting in which some of our troops were +engaged, nor to the stubbornness of the enemy's resistance. It is now +certain that, whereas many of the German infantry, terror-stricken by +our bombardment, surrendered easily enough, others made good use of +strong defences not annihilated by our fire, and put up a desperate +defence. Fresh troops, like the 221st Division, were flung in by the +German command in the afternoon of the first day and made repeated +attacks, under cover of the mist, against our men, who were tired after +twenty-four hours in the zone of fire, who in some sectors had suffered +heavily, but who fought still with a courage which defied defeat. A +commanding officer of a Lancashire battalion went to meet some of his +men coming back yesterday. They were wet and caked with mud and unshaven +and dead-beat, and they had lost many comrades, but they had the spirit +to pull themselves up and smile with a light in their eyes when the +commanding officer said he was proud of them, because they had done all +that men could, and one of them called out cheerily, "When shall we go +on again, sir?" An officer who was left last out of his battalion to +hold out in an advanced position said to the padre, who has just visited +him in hospital, "I hope the General was not disappointed with us." The +General, I am sure, was not disappointed with these men of the 55th +Division. No one could think of them without enthusiasm and tenderness, +marvelling at their spirit and at the fight they made in tragic hours. +Because it was a tragedy to them that after gaining ground they had been +asked to take, and not easily nor without losses, they should have to +fall back and fight severe rear-guard actions to cover a necessary +withdrawal. + +These Lancashire men, with many men of the Liverpool battalions, had to +attack from Wieltje through successive systems of trenches. This ground +is just to the right of St.-Julien and to the left of Frezenberg, below +the Gravenstafel Spur, Zonnebeke, and Langemarck. The way lay past a +number of German strong points--Beck House, Plum Farm, Pound Farm, and +Square Farm--once small farmsteads, long blown to bits, but fortified by +concrete strongholds with walls of concrete two yards thick. Our +gun-fire wrecked all the ground about them and toppled over a few of +these places, but left a number untouched, and that was the cause of the +trouble. Each one had to be taken by a separate action led by our young +platoon commanders, and it was a costly series of small +engagements--costly to officers, especially, as always happens at such +times. These young subalterns of ours handled their men not only +gallantly, but skilfully, and the men followed their lead with cunning +as well as pluck, and got round the concrete works by rifle-fire and +bombing until they could rush them at close quarters. In this way two +strongly held farms were taken, while from the right the Lancashire men +were swept by enfilade fire from a third farm until its garrison was +routed out and 160 of them captured. There was hard fighting farther on +for a line of trenches where some of the wire was still uncut, with +machine-gun fire rattling from the left flank. + +But the fiercest fighting came after that against another series of +those concrete forts, among them the Pommern Redoubt, where separate +actions had again to be made by little groups of men under platoon +commanders. The enemy's machine-gunners served their weapons to the +last. In this ground, too were five batteries of German field-guns, who +fired upon our men until they were within 500 yards. The gunners had to +be shot down, and our men streamed past the guns in perfect order just +as they had rehearsed the attack beforehand, sending back reports, +carrying through the whole operation as though on a field-day behind the +lines. Yet by that time their strength had been ebbing away, and many of +them had fallen. They reached the extreme limit of their advance with +outposts at two more fortified farms--Wurst and Aviatik Farms--from +which two days later a delayed report came back from the last remaining +officer of the party that he had reached this high ground in front of +Wurst Farm, and that his battalion was badly depleted. That was an +heroic little message, but a few hours later that ground was no longer +in our hands. The troops of the 39th Division on the left of the +Lancashire men had found some trouble with uncut wire, and the enemy +developed a strong counter-attack from the north, taking advantage of +that exposed flank. They prepared for attack by a heavy artillery +barrage, controlled by low-flying aeroplanes and co-operating with the +infantry. At the same time another counter-attack came down from the +high ground on the right to strike between the Lancashire men of the +55th Division and the Scottish troops of the 15th on their right. It was +decided to withdraw to a better defensive line, and 160 Lancashire +Fusiliers got into Schuler Farm, and held it against heavy odds in order +to cover this movement. They stayed there, using machine-guns and rifles +until only thirty of them were left standing, and all around them were +dead and dying. Their work was done, for they had held out long enough +to protect the withdrawing lines, and the thirty survivors decided to +fight their way back through an enemy fast closing in upon them. So they +left the farm, and of the thirty ten reached the new line. Since then +the enemy has made repeated attacks from the high ground on the right, +and especially against the Pommern Redoubt, but every time he has been +cut up by the fire of our guns and rifles. I hear that this afternoon he +is again massing for another attempt, according to the orders given to +the German troops that they must get back all the ground they have lost, +and at all costs, by August 3, which is to-day. + +I have already told in a general way in previous dispatches how the +Scots of the 15th Division farther south than the Lancashire men fought +their way up to the Frezenberg Redoubt, coming under a blast of +machine-gun fire from a neighbouring farm until they captured its +garrison, and then going on to two other enemy redoubts. They had the +same trouble as the Lancashire men with these concrete forts, but +attacked them with stubborn courage, and put them out of action. One of +my good friends was wounded in front of one of these emplacements in +command of his battalion of 8/1Oth Gordons, and it was by an odd chance +that I saw him as he lay wounded in a casualty clearing-station a few +hours later. "I hear my men have done well," he said. They did as well +as they have always done in many great battles, and not only well, but +wonderfully, and they went as far as they were allowed to go, and held +on in their old grim way when things were at their worst. The whole line +of the Scottish troops below the Langemarck-Zonnebeke road was attacked +at two in the afternoon, or thereabouts, and their advanced line +gradually withdrew under a fierce fire. At six o'clock the enemy +slightly penetrated the advance line, driving the Gordons back a hundred +yards, but the Camerons drove them out and away. This was on a front to +the east of St.-Julien and south of Zonnebeke. + +The general position remains the same. The weather remains the same, and +the mud and the discomfort of men living under incessant rain and +abominable shell-fire do not decrease: nevertheless, they have smashed +up attack after attack, and their spirit is unbreakable. The enemy is +suffering from the same evil conditions, and his only advantage is that +perhaps he has better cover in which to assemble his men, and that, +owing to his defeat, he is nearer to his base, so that they have not so +far to tramp through the swamps in order to get up supplies of food for +guns and men. As usual, we have behind us a wide stretch of shell-broken +ground, which, in foul weather like this, becomes a slough. + + * * * * * + +AUGUST 5 + +For the first time for four days and nights the rain has stopped, and +there is even a pale gleam of sunshine, though the sky is still heavy +with rain-clouds. Oh, foul weather! What a curse it has been to our men! +But the guns have never ceased their fire because of the rain and the +mist, and all last night again and to-day there has been tremendous +gunning. Our gunners have been working at high tension for several +weeks, and the admiration of the infantry goes out to these men who, +though they do not go over the top, are under heavy fire from German +counter-battery work and bombed by German aeroplanes and strained by the +enormous responsibility of protecting the infantry and keeping up +barrage-fire without rest. In this battle the gunners have done +marvellously, to the very limit of human endurance. As for the infantry, +words are not good enough to describe the grit of them all. Apart from +all the inevitable beastliness of battle, they have had to fight in this +filthy weather, and it has made it a thousand times worse. In August men +don't expect to get drowned in shell-holes, nor to get stuck to the +armpits in mud before they reach the first German line. It was not as +bad as that everywhere, but exactly that in parts of the line even +before the heavy rains came on. The men of the 8th and 30th Divisions +who attacked over ground like this east of Zillebeke went through +abominable adventures. It was almost pitch-dark when they went forward, +and the first thing that happened was that battalions became hopelessly +mixed because of the darkness and the nature of the ground; and the +second thing that the barrage went ahead of them so that they had to +struggle behind in the morass unsupported by its fire, and shot at by +Germans on their flanks. + +Two lines of trenches known to our men as Jackdaw Support and Jackdaw +Reserve were captured without much difficulty as far as the enemy was +concerned, about eighty prisoners being taken in them, but with enormous +difficulty on account of the boggy ground. Imagine these men, loaded up +with packs and rifles and sand-bags and shovels, slipping and falling +among the shell-pits, which were full of mud, water, and wire. Fellows +stopped to pull out their comrades and were dragged in after them. It +took them three-quarters of an hour to get over two lines of undefended +trenches, whole platoons getting bogged in them and slipping back when +they tried to climb out. It was a trying time for the officers who saw +the barrage of our guns getting away ahead. Beyond them was high ground, +from which German machine-gun and rifle fire swept them, and not far +away German snipers potted our men, and especially our officers, as they +climbed in and out of shell-craters. Two officers of the Manchesters had +been killed by one of these fellows when a private crept out alone on +his flank, stole round him very quietly, pounced and killed him. It took +two and a half hours to get to Jackdaw Reserve Trench in Sanctuary Wood, +and the enemy's riflemen who had been firing at close range then ran +back, or as our men say, "hopped it." The Menin road from Ypres runs +through the high ground just here, and it was about here that the +hardest time came for the 30th Division, because of the fierce +machine-gun fire. It was here, also, that many gallant deeds were done +by men who had lost their officers, and by the officers who had lost +their men but collected stragglers and groups from mixed units to get on +with the attack. A young private soldier of a machine-gun company +advanced with his Lewis gun and by rapid fire put a German machine-gun +out of action, so that a bombing party could get on. A lance-corporal of +the Manchesters rallied up stragglers, organized groups, and rushed some +of the German strong points. A captain behaved throughout the battle +with the most fearless gallantry, and when his men wavered and fell back +before the blast of machine-gun bullets that drove across the Menin +road, rallied them and gathered up lads from other units, and captured +two strong points with these storming parties. He was wounded in this +action, but paid no heed to that, and continued to lead his men. It was +here that the great tunnel ran across the Menin road, from which +forty-one Germans were taken. To the right of the road this side of +Inverness Copse and the Dumbarton Lakes stood Stirling Castle on the +high ground of a semi-circular ridge surrounded by deep shell-pits. The +"castle" itself was just a heap of broken bricks on this commanding +ground, and behind those bricks were German machine-gunners, who served +their weapons until our men were close to them. Then they "hopped it" +again, but stayed on the other side of the ridge, firing at any men who +showed themselves over the crest. Our men fought round the castle for +hours, heavily shelled as soon as the enemy's gunners knew it was in our +hands, and meeting counter-attacks which developed later. + +A thousand and more acts of courage were done in those hours by men who +knew that their comrades' lives and their own depended upon "getting on +with the job," as they call it. It was necessary to get reports back to +brigade headquarters at all costs, so that supplies and supports might +be sent up, and to get into touch with battalion and company commanders +from the advanced line. It was not easy either to write or to send down +these messages. Wires were cut and runners killed. But it had to be +done. A company sergeant-major, though lightly wounded first and then +badly wounded after leading his men up under a sweep of machine-gun +bullets, sat down in the mud and scribbled out his report. There was a +young Irish private in these Manchesters who did wonderful work as a +runner with these messages. He volunteered whenever there was a +dangerous bit of work to do, exposing himself over and over again, and +gathering up stragglers to fill up gaps in the line of defence. A +sergeant acted as runner when two of his own had been killed, and got +through under intense fire. And one of these runners had a great +adventure all to himself on his journey under fire. This young private +was going up with a message when he saw something move outside a +dug-out. He went forward cautiously, and saw a German soldier disappear +into the dark entry. The Manchester lad was all alone, but he followed +the German into the hole, down a flight of mud stairs and into an +underground cave. He stood face to face with eighteen men. One of them +was a non-commissioned officer. They stared back at him with brooding +eyes, as though wondering whether they should kill him. He shouted at +them, "Now then, come out, and look sharp about it," and made a sign to +the door. They put their hands up and said, "Kamerad." "Well, then, get +out," said the boy. They filed out past him, and he waited till the last +had gone. Then he went up the mud stairs to open ground again, and saw +that the eighteen men had scattered, finding that he was all alone. He +shouted to them and fired his rifle over their heads, so that they +thought twice of escape, and then came back to him meekly. So he formed +them up, and marched behind them down to the prisoners' cage, where he +took his receipt for eighteen prisoners. + +There was now great shelling, and the enemy was massing for a +counter-attack. Through this fire a young Irish officer in the +machine-gun section brought up nine out of his twelve guns in order to +meet the attack, and without that great courage of his the position +would have been very bad. A sergeant of machine-gunners stood in a bit +of a trench with his team when a shell burst, killing two men and +wounding others. He stood there, splashed with blood and in great danger +of death, without losing his nerve or his spirit, and after helping the +wounded he "carried on" and kept his guns in action. + +Meanwhile, down at brigade headquarters the situation was very obscure; +so obscure that the brigadier sent up a young captain, his brigade +major, to find out the situation and report on it. Not a safe and easy +job to do at such a time; but this officer, whom I met to-day, went up +to Stirling Castle, where he found mixed units still under heavy +machine-gun fire, and only one or two officers without knowledge of the +general situation owing to the difficulty of getting communications. The +brigade major reorganized the situation with a cool head and a fine +courage, collected parties of mixed riflemen, and took them to the high +ground, where there was a good field of fire, and then, with his +orderly, moved across the Menin road, which was at that time +unprotected. He organized the support of this, and on the way came +across the entrance to the tunnel under the road. He stopped and +listened. It seemed to him that he could hear movements and voices. He +went into the tunnel, and heard and saw a German there. He covered him +with a revolver, and the man put his hands up. But the German was not +alone. There was a shuffling of feet farther down, and the German said, +"There are four of us farther in the tunnel." The brigade major went +farther down, with his revolver ready, and met the four men and told +them in French and English that he would kill them if they moved a step. +They surrendered, two of them speaking good English, and the brigade +major's orderly took one of their rifles, not being armed himself, and +with that weapon escorted them back. They were men of the 238th +Regiment, and had only been in that line twenty-four hours. It was the +brigade major's report that cleared up the situation from his +headquarters and made it more easy of control. + +Some Scottish troops who fought alongside the Manchesters at Stirling +Castle behaved with equal valour. They endured long and intense +shelling, while through the murk and smoke enemy aeroplanes flew very +low, firing their machine-guns at the troops, batteries, and mule +convoys, with a good imitation of our own air pilots. What I have told +so far covers only a small section of the Front, but I have now given a +broad picture of all the length of battle, and these episodes I have +just described will give a closer idea of the way in which all our +soldiers have been fighting in this country around Ypres, and of all +they have suffered in the foulest weather I have ever seen in summer. + + * * * * * + +AUGUST 4 + +The Tanks have justified themselves again, and won their spurs--spurs as +big as gridirons--in the battle of Flanders. They had plenty of chance +to show what they could do. + +As I described yesterday, the way of our advance was hindered by a +number of little concrete forts built in the ruin of farmsteads which +had withstood our gun-fire. At Plum Farm and Apple Villa, and in +stronger, more elaborate, fortified points, like the Frezenberg and +Pommern Castle and Pommern Redoubt, the enemy's machine-gunners held out +when everything about them was chaos and death, and played a barrage of +bullets on our advancing men. Platoons and half-platoons attacked them +in detail at a great cost of life, and it was in such places that the +Tanks were of most advantage. It was at Pommern Castle, east of +St.-Julien, that one of the Tanks did best. Don't imagine the castle as +a kind of Windsor, with big walls and portcullis and high turrets, but +as slabs of concrete in a huddle of sand-bags above a nest of deep +dug-outs. On the other side of it was Pommern Redoubt, the same in style +of defence. Our men were fighting hard for the castle, and having a bad +time under its fire. The Tank came to help them, and advanced under a +swish of bullets to the German emplacement, lurching up the piled bags +over the heaped-up earth, and squatting on top like a grotesque creature +playing the old game of "I'm the King of the Castle; get down, you dirty +rascals." The dirty rascals, who were German soldiers, unshaven and +covered in wet mud, did not like the look of their visitor, which was +firing with great ferocity. They fled to the cover of Pommern Redoubt +beyond. Then the Tank moved back to let the infantry get on, but as soon +as it had turned its back the Germans, with renewed pluck, took +possession of the castle again. The men who were fighting round about +again gave a signal to the Tank to get busy. So it came back, and with +the infantry on its flanks made another assault, so that the enemy fled +again. Pommern Redoubt was attacked in the same way with good help from +the Tank. + +The Frezenberg Redoubt was another place where the Tanks were helpful, +and they did good work at Westhoek, the remnant of a village to the +right of that. One of them attacked and helped to capture a strong point +west of St.-Julien, from which a good many Germans came out to +surrender, and afterwards some Tanks went through the village, but had +to get out again in a hurry to escape capture in the German +counter-attacks. It was not easy to get back in a hurry, as by that hour +in the afternoon the rain had turned the ground to swamp, and the Tanks +sank deep in it, with wet mud half-way up their flanks, and slipped and +slithered back when they tried to struggle out. Many of the officers and +crews had to get out of their steel forts, risking heavy shelling and +machine-gun fire to dig out their way, and in the neighbourhood of +St.-Julien they worked for two hours in the open to de-bog their Tank +while German gunners tried to destroy them by direct hits. In a farm +somewhere in this neighbourhood no fewer than sixty Germans came out +with their hands up in surrender as soon as the Tank was at close +quarters, and a story is told, though I haven't the exact details, that +in another place the mere threat of a Tank's approach was enough to +decide a party of eight to give in. It is certain beyond all doubt that +the enemy's infantry has a great fear of these machines, and does not +see any kind of humour in them. In this battle there is not a single +case of an attack upon a Tank by infantry, though we know that they have +been given special training behind their lines with dummy Tanks +according to definite rules laid down by the German Command. + +One fight did take place with a Tank, and it is surely the most +fantastic duel that has ever happened in war. It was queer enough, as I +described a day or two ago, when one of our airmen flew over a +motor-car, and engaged in a revolver duel with a German officer, but +even that strange picture is less weird than when a German aeroplane +flew low over a Tank, and tried to put out its eyes by bursts of +machine-gun bullets. Imagine the scene--that muddy monster crawling +through the slime, with sharp stabs of fire coming from its flanks, and +above an engine, with wings, swooping round and about it like an angry +albatross, and spattering its armour with bullets. It was an unequal +fight, for the Tank just ignored that waspish machine-gun fire, and went +on its way with only a scratch or two. The Tanks were in action around +the marshes and woodlands by Shrewsbury Forest. Here, as I have already +said, there was very severe infantry fighting, in which the Leicesters, +Northamptons, and above all the Middlesex Regiment had desperate +engagements, and the enemy made many counter-attacks, so that the +progress of our men was slow and difficult. The Tanks helped them as +best they could. + +So goes the tale of the Tanks on the first day of the battle of +Flanders. It will be seen from what I have written that they gave good +help to the troops. The pilots and crews behaved with splendid +gallantry, and not only took great risks, but endured to the last +extremity of fatigue in that narrow, hot space where they work their +engines and their guns. + + + + +V + +THE SONG OF THE COCKCHAFERS + + +AUGUST 8 + +One of the most bitter blows to Germany, if she has heard the news, must +be the destruction of the famous regiment of "Maikaefer," or +Cockchafers, by our Welsh troops. The Kaiser called them his brave +Coburgers. In Germany the very children sang in the streets about them. +And proud of their own exploits, they had their own soldier poets who +wrote songs about the regiment, to which they marched through Belgium +and France and Galicia. I saw one of these songs yesterday, picked up on +the battlefield near Pilkem. It was written by one Paul Zimmermann of +theirs, and was printed in a leaflet sold at ten pfennigs (a penny). It +tells how the Cockchafers come out in the spring and how the children +sing when they come. They are ready for battle then, wherever it may be. +The call comes for them wherever there is the hardest fighting, so the +Cockchafers swarmed through Belgium, and taught the French a lesson, and +pressed after the wicked English, who--so the lying legend goes--used +dumdum bullets, and swept back the Russians through Galicia. Old +Hindenburg calls for them every time when there are brave deeds to be +done. I have copied out two verses for those who read German: + + _Der Mai der bringt uns Sonnenschein, + Er bringt uns Bluhtenpracht;_ + _Der Mai der bringt uns Kaeferlein + Viel tausend ueber Nacht; + Und von der Kinderlippen klingts: + "Maikaefer, fliege, flieg" + Und durch den Fruehlingesjubel dringts: + "Dein Vater ist im Krieg."_ + + _Uns Garde Fusiliere nennt + Maikaefer jeder Mund, + Weil unser stolzes Regiment + Im Mai stets fertig stand._ + +Well, old Hindenburg will call in vain now for his Cockchafers, the +Guard Fusilier Regiment of the 3rd Guards Division, for nearly six +hundred of them are in our hands and others lie dead upon the ground +near Pilkem. They had relieved the 100th Infantry Reserve Regiment on +the night of July 29, and lay three battalions deep in their trench +systems across the Yser Canal north-east of Boesinghe, scattered thinly +in the shell-craters which were all that was left of the trenches in the +front lines, more densely massed in the support lines, and defending a +number of concrete emplacements and dug-outs behind. The 9th Grenadier +Regiment and a battalion of the Lehr Regiment reinforced the Cockchafers +and lay out in the open behind the Langemarck-Gheluvelt line, and in the +support lines a battalion of the Lehr of the 3rd Guards Division had +already relieved a regiment of the 392nd Infantry Reserve Regiment. Some +sections of the 3rd Battalion of the 9th Grenadier Regiment had been +sent forward from Langemarck to act as sniping posts, and two special +machine-gun detachments were also pushed up to check our assault. They +were enough to defend this part of the Pilkem Ridge, and the ground +itself was in their favour as our men lay in the hollow with their backs +to the Yser Canal, across which all their supports and supplies had to +pass. + +What was in the favour of the Welsh was that they knew the ground in +front of them in every detail from air photographs and from night and +day raids, having lived in front of it for several months, digging and +tunnelling so as to get cover from ceaseless fire, and storing up a +great desire to get even with the enemy for all they had suffered. They +had suffered great hardships and great perils, intensified before the +battle because of violent shelling by high explosives and gas-shells, so +that when the hour for attack came they had been hard tried already. It +made no difference to the pace and order of their assault. Our +bombardment had been overwhelming, and the heavy barrage which signalled +the assault was, according to all these Welshmen, perfect. They followed +it very closely, so closely that they were on and over the Cockchafers +before they could organize any kind of defence. Many of the enemy's +machine-guns had been smashed and buried. Those still intact were never +brought into action, as their gunners had no time to get out of the +concrete shelters in which they were huddled to escape from the +annihilating fire. + +It was in these places that most of the prisoners were taken--there and +in a big trench, ten feet wide and twelve deep, on the outskirts of +Pilkem village, where there is no village at all. The Cockchafers came +out dazed, and gave themselves up mostly without a show of fighting. In +some of their concrete shelters, like those at Mackensen Farm--don't +imagine any buildings there--and Gallwitz Farm and Boche House and +Zouave House, there were stores of ammunition, with many shells and +trench-mortars. + +So the Welsh went on in waves, sending back the prisoners on their way, +through Pilkem to the high ground by the iron cross beyond, and then +down the slopes to the Steenbeek stream. On the left were the Royal +Welsh Fusiliers, who took the ground of Pilkem itself. On the right were +men of the Welsh Regiment. In the ground beyond Pilkem they found the +regimental headquarters in finely built dug-outs, but the staff had fled +to save their skins. There was another big dug-out near by used by the +enemy as a dressing-station. It had room enough for a hundred men. There +were fifty men. The Welsh swarmed round it--thirty wounded and twenty +unwounded Germans. The doctor in charge was a good fellow, and, after +surrendering his own men, attended to some of the wounded Welsh. Two +machine-guns and sixteen prisoners were taken out of a place called +Jolie Farm, and thirty prisoners out of Rudolf Farm--concrete kennels in +a chaos of craters--and three officers and forty-seven men came out of +the ruins of a house somewhere near the Iron Cross. All the Welsh troops +behaved with great courage, and a special word is due to the runners, +who carried messages back under fire, and to the stretcher-bearers, who +rescued the wounded utterly regardless of their own risks. Afterwards +the mule drivers and leaders were splendid, bringing up supplies under +heavy barrage fire. Wales did well that day, and the Welsh miners, who +had already proved themselves as great diggers and great tunnellers and +very brave men, showed themselves cool and fearless in the assault. + + * * * * * + +AUGUST 6 + +I am now able to mention more of the troops whose adventures I have +described in previous dispatches, in addition to the Guards and the +Welsh, who in a great assault, hardly checked by the enemy, captured the +heights of Pilkem and went down the slopes beyond to the Steenbeek +stream. + +The Manchesters, with Royal Scots, Royal Irish Rifles, and Durham Light +Infantry of the 8th Division, were amongst those who attacked Stirling +Castle below Inverness Copse, as I narrated in full detail yesterday, +with the incident of the runner who captured eighteen prisoners in a +dug-out and of the young brigade major who reorganized the position and +found five Germans in the great tunnel under the Menin road. + +As I have already said, it was the men of Lancashire with battalions of +the Liverpool Regiment of the 55th Division who went up from Wieltje +against the concrete forts, where they fought in many independent little +actions under platoon commanders, who shot down the gunners of five +German batteries, and went forward as though on the drill-ground, in +spite of heavy losses and great fire, to Wurst Farm and the high ground +below the Gravenstafel, until they were forced to fall back somewhat +under a heavy German counter-attack, when 160 men covered the +withdrawal, and ten alone got back. + +Farther south, they were Scots of the 15th Division who attacked the +Frezenberg--Gordons and Camerons among them--and farther south still on +their right were Sherwood Foresters and others of the 39th Division, who +had some of the hardest fighting of the day, up through Hooge, that +place of old ill-fame, round Bellewaerde Lake and across the Menin road +to the Westhoek Ridge. + +It was these Scots and these English who bore the brunt of the great +German counter-attack on the afternoon of August 1. After fighting their +way forward past the pill-box emplacements or concrete redoubts with a +stiff and separate fight at the ruin of an estaminet on the cross-roads +at Westhoek, where a sergeant and ten or twelve men captured forty of +the enemy, the Sherwood Foresters and their comrades took "cover" during +the night, exposed to fierce shell-fire and drenched in the rain, now +falling steadily, and filling the shell-craters with mud and water, so +that men were up to their waist in them. It was at about 2.30 on the +following afternoon that the enemy developed his counter-attack from the +direction of Bremen Redoubt and the high ground beyond our line, taking +advantage of the mist to assemble and get forward. It was the critical +hour of the battle. + +The enemy's attack was preceded by a heavy artillery barrage, and by an +incessant and wide-stretching blast of machine-gun fire. His assaulting +troops drove first at the Midland men south of the Roulers railway, and +the Sherwoods and Northamptons tried to hold their line by rifle-fire, +Lewis-gun fire, and bombs. When officers fell wounded the +non-commissioned officers and men carried on and fought a soldiers' +battle. One Lewis-gunner drove the enemy back from a gap in the lines +and others held back the enemy's storm troops long enough to give their +comrades time to get into good order as far as was possible in a fight +of this kind. The Germans forced their way forward among the +shell-craters and ruins hoping to surround the Sherwoods and the men of +Nottingham and Derby, who were steadily firing and fighting, so that the +enemy's losses were not light. Meanwhile the Scots of the 15th Division +on the left were meeting the attack and found their flank exposed owing +to these happenings on their right. It became more and more exposed as +the attack proceeded, and just before three o'clock the Gordons, who +were in this perilous position, had to swing back. This movement +uncovered the battalion headquarters, where one of the officers, acting +as adjutant, had turned out his staff, which fought to defend the +position. He then gathered all the Gordons in his neighbourhood and held +on to the station buildings. Meantime the left of the Gordons had been +swung back to form a defensive flank, and with two Vickers guns they +swept the rear lines of the storm troops with deadly fire. The enemy +fell in great numbers, but other waves came on and nearly reached the +top of the crest upon which our men had formed their line. There a young +officer of the Gordons seized the critical moment of the battle and by +his rapid action proved himself a great soldier. With some of the +Camerons he led his men forward down the slopes towards the advancing +enemy, each man firing with his rifle as he advanced, making gaps in the +German wave. The enemy stood up to this for a minute or two, but when +the Highlanders were within fifty yards of them they broke and ran. As +they fled our gunners, who had not seen the first S O S signals owing to +the mist, came into action and inflicted great losses upon the +retreating men. But the day was saved by the action of the Scottish +infantry, who had learned the use of the rifle in open warfare, and who +had been trained for this kind of action in small groups, acting largely +on individual initiative. Many of the enemy were surrounded by fire, and +one officer and seven men gained our line in safety, while the others +were caught in a death-trap. There were moments when, but for the +courage and discipline of our troops, the enemy's counter-attack had a +great chance of success, and the history of this battle might have been +less victorious for us. + + + + +VI + +WOODS OF ILL-FAME + + +AUGUST 12 + +There was violent fighting yesterday. After our successful advance at +dawn across the Westhock Ridge, when more than 200 prisoners were taken, +the right of our attack in Glencorse Wood, or Schloss Park as the +Germans call it, and among the tree-stumps which were once woods south +of that, was heavily engaged with an enemy concealed in the usual +concrete emplacements, and defending himself with well-placed +machine-guns. + +Among our troops who had the hardest struggle were the Irish Rifles, +Cheshires, Lancashire Fusiliers, North Lancashires, and Worcestershires +of the 25th Division against Glencorse Wood, and the Bedfords and +Queen's of the 18th Division against Inverness Copse. + +As on the ridge, the infantry came to close quarters and fought with +bombs and rifles and bayonets, but it was mainly gun-fire again which +decided the issues of the day and caused most losses on both sides. As I +have said many times, since the battle of July 31 the enemy has massed a +great power of artillery against us, and has apparently no immediate +lack of ammunition. For miles the horizon was seething with the smoke +of heavy shells. The enemy's barrage-fire was great. Ours was greater. +Between Glencorse Wood and Inverness Copse, and all about Stirling +Castle and the Frezenberg, he made a hell of fire, and many of our men +had to pass through its fury, and not all passed or came back again. But +afterwards the enemy's turn came, and masses of his men, thick waves of +them, sent forward with orders to counter-attack, were caught under the +fire of our guns and smashed to pieces. + +The enemy attempted five separate counter-attacks yesterday, and in +spite of all his losses renewed his efforts this morning with great +determination, so that, after the exhaustion and ordeal of the night +under continual fire, our men were compelled to give way in Glencorse +Wood. That was necessary, because farther south the enemy had held their +ground, and the copse was a salient exposed to harassing fire from large +numbers of guns in the neighbourhood of Polygon Wood and the country +east. It is a favourite device of the enemy to withdraw his guns on to +the flanks of our advance, as soon as we have penetrated his lines, in +order to check further progress, and he did this as soon as the battle +of July 31 was fought, though he had to leave many of his field-guns in +the mud of No Man's Land, where they still lie. + +This method of defence did not ensure the success of his +counter-attacks, though it had made the progress of our men hard south +of Glencorse Wood. It was at about midday yesterday that our troops, who +had made good their ground along Westhoek Ridge, had to call for further +help from the guns. At the same time aeroplanes, taking advantage of +wonderful visibility after the rains, were above the German lines, and +saw a great gathering of German troops in Nuns' Wood and Polygon Wood. +The calls were answered by large groups of batteries over a stretch of +country miles deep. The heavies, far behind the lines, answered with +15-inch and 12-inch shells. The 9.2's heard the call in the quiet +fields, where wild flowers grow over old shell-holes. Their 8-inch +brothers heard the call and came quick into action. Six-inch and 4.2's +made reply, and from them broke out one great salvo, followed by long +rolls of drum-fire. Among the shell-craters of Nuns' Wood there were +hundreds of men lined up for attack. They had their rifles at the slope, +and they were hung round with bombs and trench-spades and cloth bags +with iron rations, and they began to move forward just as that +bombardment opened upon them. All the shell-fire burst over them and +into them. They were swept by it. They were killed in heaps. Afterwards +one of our airmen flew low over that stricken wood where they had been, +and he came back with his report. Never before, he said, had he seen so +many dead men. The German soldiers were lying there in great numbers. +Other attempts were made to get forward, but it was only on the right, +where there was close fighting, that the enemy made any progress. + +At about six in the evening there was another call on our gunners, and +this time the report came that the enemy was assembling in the valley of +the Hanebeek. Two battalions of them were able to advance into the open +towards our lines before our guns found their target. Then they flung +themselves down under this new storm of fire or tried to escape from it +by running or plunging into shell-craters. There were not many who +escaped. + +One of them who became a prisoner in our hands said that two battalions +were annihilated--he used the phrase "wiped out." Perhaps that was an +exaggeration. There are always some men who slip through, but in this +case whole ranks of men were blown to bits. + +I talked to-day with some of our own wounded who came limping through +the casualty clearing-stations. They were men of the Worcesters and +Bedfords and Queen's, whose battalions I have met before after battles. +One of them told me how he lay out all night waiting for the attack in +the dawn on Glencorse Wood and Inverness Copse. There are only +tree-stumps there in the great white stretch of shell-craters, and the +enemy was holding the place lightly with machine-guns in those pits that +had been made by our fire. Our men were upon them quick after the +barrage, and they were routed out of their holes before they had time to +put up a strong defence. By bad luck, as sometimes happens, owing to the +eagerness of our men to cover as much ground as possible, the Irish +Rifles and the North Lancashires of the 25th Division went at least 200 +yards beyond their goal, and were caught in our barrage, which was +preventing supports coming up to the enemy. As soon as they realized +their deadly error they fell back again, carrying their wounded. + + * * * * * + +LATER + +There was sharp hand-to-hand fighting on the Westhoek Ridge by the +Lancashire Fusiliers, North Lancashires, and Cheshires. Both sides at +last came into the open, the enemy standing about his concrete houses as +our men advanced upon them, and using machine-guns and rifles. Most of +these Germans were men of the 54th Reserve Division, and bold fellows +who did not surrender so easily as I first imagined, in spite of the +intense and prolonged barrage that had swept over them and wrecked their +ground. In a strong point at the south end of the ridge, one of those +concrete blockhouses which shelter machine-guns, they held out for three +hours, and it was only taken when it had been battered by trench-mortars +brought up into action at close range by some gallant men of ours, and +when it was rushed from the flanks while the ground was still being +swept by bullets. After that the ridge was ours on its forward slopes, +at the northern end dropping below the western slopes southwards. + +In Glencorse Wood the Lancashire men were enfiladed by machine-guns when +a large part of the wood was no longer in our hands. It is on high +ground, and with other slopes beyond, like those of Nuns' Wood and +Polygon Wood, forms the barrier guarding the vital centres of the German +position in the north, so that he fights to hold it with the full weight +of his power in men and guns. Both are powerful, and his fire on Friday +and Saturday was the fiercest ever faced by men who have fought through +the Somme and later battles. + +But his counter-attacks have failed against our Westhoek positions, and +everything I have heard shows that his battalions, above all the 27th +Regiment, were massacred by our artillery. Those Germans did not all die +by shell-fire. The Lancashire Fusiliers and the North Lancashires fired +their rifles all through Friday and Saturday at human targets they could +not fail to hit. German reserves hurried up to relieve the shattered +battalions and flung straight into the counter-attacks, wandered about +in the open, ignorant of our men's whereabouts, like lost sheep. They +were in full field kit, and as they came into the open our men shot at +them with deadly effect. The first sign of the first great +counter-attack on Friday was when seventy men or so came forward on the +left and tried to rush an old German gun-emplacement. They were seen by +the Lancashire Fusiliers, and the commanding officer, believing that an +attack was imminent, sent through the call for the guns which led to the +bombardment I have described in my earlier message. + +We also opened a widespread barrage of machine-gun fire, and this caused +heavy slaughter. All the country was aflame throughout the afternoon of +Friday, and it was before the attack, at 6.40 in the evening, that the +enemy's artillery concentrated in full and frightful fury. This +artillery-fire has never ceased since then, though slackening down a +little from time to time, and to-day it was in full blast again. It is a +day of wonderful light, so that every tree and house and field of +standing corn is seen for miles from any height in a stereoscopic +panorama below a fleecy sky with long blue reaches between the cloud +mountains. There was a lot of air fighting this morning because of this +light across the landscape, and wherever I motored to-day there was the +loud drone of the flying engines, and little fat bursts of shrapnel +trying to catch German planes who came over on bombing adventures above +our camps and villages. The enemy is all out, and it seems to me likely +that he wishes to make this battle a decisive one of the war. I do not +see how he can hope to decide it in his own favour after the loss of the +Pilkem and Westhoek Ridges, but he is out to kill regardless of his own +losses. + + + + +VII + +THE BATTLE OF LANGEMARCK + + +AUGUST 16 + +This morning our troops made a general advance beyond the line of our +recent attacks and gained about 1500 yards of ground on a wide front, +which includes the village of Langemarck, and goes southward in the +region of Glencorse Copse and Polygon Wood. From north to south the +divisions engaged were the 29th, 20th, 11th, 48th, 36th (Ulster), 16th +(Irish), 8th, and 56th. + +On the left of our troops the French went forward also, and struck out +into the swampy neck of ground which they call the Peninsula or +Presqu'ile, surrounded on three sides by deep floods. On the right of +our attack the fighting has been most violent, and the enemy has made +strong and repeated counter-attacks over all the high ground which +drops down to Glencorse Wood from the Nuns' Wood to the Hanebeek. His +losses have been high, for although the weather is still stormy, making +the ground bad for our men, there is light for our flying men and +artillery observers, and at various parts of the Front his assembly of +troops has been signalled quickly, so that our guns have smashed up his +formations and caused great slaughter. + +The Germans used to call the battles of the Somme the "blood-bath." +Their diaries and their letters revealed the horror they had of the +shambles into which they were driven. In the early days of this year +they made a strategic retreat, under the guidance of Hindenburg, with +the one object of escaping from our intense artillery-fire, but their +methods of defence have been entirely changed by holding the front lines +lightly by weak troops and scattered machine-gun emplacements, and +concentrating their best troops behind for counter-attacks, in order to +save man-power and lessen the tide of casualties. It is a sound system +of defence, but it is the policy of an army fighting a retreat and +giving up ground at the highest possible cost, never getting back by +counter-attack to quite the same line over which the enemy had flowed. +As a life-saving policy, however, the success has not been great, for it +is certain that the German troops are suffering hideously from our +shell-fire, and their counter-attacks have been costly in blood. + +I suppose these words of mine convey nothing to people who read them. +How could they when for three years we have been talking in superlatives +without exaggerating the facts, but without understanding them, as minds +are numbed by colossal figures? But out here, seeing the flame of +shell-fire night after night stretching away round a great horizon, and +hearing from near and from afar the ceaseless hammer-strokes of great +guns, and watching the starlit sky, as I watched it last night from +quiet cornfields, all red and restless with winking lights leaping up in +tongues and spreading lengthwise in a sullen glare, one does realize a +little the monstrous scale of all this and the destruction that is being +done among the masses of men in the dark and in the hiding-places of the +woods and trenches. + +Experts are wrangling over the numbers of the German reserves. Fantastic +figures are given of the millions of Germans still under arms. Well, +there is no exact data, and all we know with any certainty is that the +enemy is still outwardly strong--strong at least in defence. But the +magnitude of his losses during three years is revealed by the fact of +to-day's fighting and the place in which it happened. It was in the +autumn of 1914, during the first battle of Ypres, that the Germans +attacked our Third Brigade at Langemarck, where our English troops made +a great and victorious assault to-day. Three years ago they were the +German lads of the 1914 class who marched up to our lines, linked arm in +arm to be mowed down by the most deadly rifle-fire in the world, because +those men of our old Army were the finest marksmen. Yesterday at Lens, +or rather at Hill 70, there were boys of the 1919 class who helped to +hold the German lines, and that fact is one great tragedy of German +hopes and the great proof of her defeat. + +Last night our English troops who were going to attack the village of +Langemarck, the old ghost-village which has been wiped out of all but +history, went across the Steenbeek stream and lay there waiting for the +hour of their assault. They were all light-infantry men, the King's, the +Duke of Cornwall's, Somerset, the "Koylies" (King's Own Yorkshire Light +Infantry), the King's Royal Rifles, and the Rifle Brigade of the 20th +Division. + +As we know now from captured orders a German regiment was ordered to +attack our lines at 3.45 this morning. Only forty men of that regiment +were seen advancing and they were annihilated. Our men went forward when +there was light enough. Immediately on their right, in front of them, +was the ruin of an old estaminet called Au Bon Gite, made into a +fortified emplacement and defended by machine-guns. It was a nasty +place, and our men avoided it, and swept both sides of it and beyond, so +that its garrison of gunners had to surrender. Keeping a steady line as +much as possible over bad ground, they went forward, leaving the waves +that followed them to deal with batches of prisoners who had been left +alive after our bombardment of the night, and made their way toward +Langemarck. Here they were in real trouble, but not from the enemy. It +was the state of the ground that threatened them with the worst +disaster. All round Langemarck the floods were out, and the heavy rains +of the week had filled old shell-holes to the brim and made a bog +everywhere. Men sank up to their waists as in the worst days of the +fighting during the winter on the Somme. It was not water but wet mud +that made their cold bath, and they had to use their rifles to keep +themselves from sinking deep, and men on little islands of more solid +ground had to haul out their comrades. All this meant loss of time, so +that our barrage would sweep ahead of them and the German gunners would +be able to do dirty work. + +On the left of Langemarck the men were delayed by these bogs. On the +right they were able to push up with great difficulty, but still to get +on and work up to the village. The enemy ran as soon as they saw that +our men were near. There were some spasmodic bursts of machine-gun fire, +but the defence was feeble, and here, anyhow, the enemy had been +demoralized by our frightful gun-fire. + +A regimental commander, a full colonel, was taken here, and that is a +rare bird to catch, as in most cases German officers of that rank are +well behind the line. He was dejected and nerve-shaken, and spoke freely +of the great losses of his men. They were men of the 79th Reserve +Division who had been holding Langemarck, and they have suffered most +severely, having lost large numbers of men in the previous attacks. +Other prisoners came from the 214th Division, holding the line north of +the Staden Railway--the railway to the ground above Bixschoote. The +regiment which perhaps suffered worst of all was a battalion of the +262nd, which was broken to pieces in the British attack across the +Steenbeek. + +To the right of the attack on Langemarck our light-infantry men were +successful, and in spite of concrete blockhouses and some deadly +machine-gunning, won all the ground they had been asked to get. The men +report that they saw large numbers of German dead, and that little +groups of men fled before them as they advanced. Later in the morning +the enemy rallied, and came back in counter-attacks, one of which seems +to have come within ten yards of our men before it withered away under +rifle and machine-gun fire. + +It was on the right centre of the attack that, as I have said, the +fighting was most uncertain. The Irish Divisions were heavily engaged +here working towards Polygon Wood and the high ground thereabouts. They +had to advance over frightful ground, and against the enemy in his +greatest strength, because he is determined to defend these high slopes +if he loses all else. + + + + +VIII + +CAPTURE OF HILL SEVENTY + + +AUGUST 15 + +This morning, at dawn, the Canadians captured Hill 70, attacked and +gained a maze of streets and trenches forming the mining colonies of +St.-Laurent and St.-Emilie, and are now fighting on the outskirts of +Lens. A fair number of prisoners have been taken--I saw parties of them +marching down under escort an hour or two ago. Some of the enemy's +troops were seen running away from the wreckage of the red houses in the +suburbs of Lens as soon as Hill 70 was taken, but in some parts of the +outer defences north and west of the city the garrison is fighting +fiercely. The Canadians have, at any rate, gained most of the outward +bastions of Lens formed by the separate colonies, or cites, as they are +called, made up of blocks of miners' cottages and works united in one +big mining district. + +Hill 70 is ours again after two years since we took it and lost it. I +don't know whether that will cause a thrill to people at home. I think +it will to those whose men fought there in the September of 1915. One of +my own great memories of the war is of those days in the battle of Loos, +when the Scots of the 15th Division and the Londoners of the 47th, and +afterwards the Guards, went through the village of Loos and gained that +dirty ridge of ground among old slag-heaps under frightful shell-fire. +It was gained in the first great rush of the Londoners and the Scots. +The Londoners played a football up the slopes, and the Scots went up +with their pipes--do you remember?--and for a few hours they had a quiet +time here and collected souvenirs, until later the enemy came back in +fierce counter-attacks, and the Guards and the 1st Division fell back +after heroic fighting and great losses. I saw the Jocks on that first +day coming back with German helmets on their heads, laughing in spite of +their wounds, and for the first time I saw masses of German prisoners +taken by British troops, and in the square of Bethune, through which, in +driving rain, there went a steady tide of men and artillery, there was a +group of German guns as trophies of victory. It seemed a great victory +at first. It was only afterwards we knew how much more might have been +gained. And there was a tragic story to tell. Some of the Jocks went as +far as an outlying northern suburb of Lens, but few of them ever came +back again. Now to-day, after two years less a month, the Canadians have +fought over the same ground, and have gone over and beyond Hill 70 and +linked up many of their former gains in these mining cites on the +outskirts of Lens. + +In describing former fighting round Lens I said it was like a war in +Wigan. The comparison is true. But to-day, when I watched the scene of +the Canadian attack with heavy shell-fire over all these houses and +pit-heads, I thought of another northern town which would look very much +like this if the hell of war came to it. I thought of Bolton and its +suburbs, Entwistle and other straggling little towns on the edge of the +moors, with Doffcocker and rural villages among cornfields, and factory +chimneys on the horizon, and slag-heaps beyond green fields. That will +give an image to English people of the scene of war to-day, except that +Lens and its suburbs were never so black as our English factory towns, +and its walls are still red in spite of their shell-holes. + +Before the attack began at dawn wild flights of shells passed over this +little world of ruin to Hill 70, which is no hill at all, but just a low +hummock of ground criss-crossed with trenches and burrowed with dug-outs +and barren and filthy with relics of death, on the northern side of the +city of Lens. From all the ruins around, separate villages of ruin +joining up with the streets of Lens itself, red flames gushed up when +our batteries fired at a hot pace, and where the shells burst there were +long low flashes spreading across a sky heavy and black with +storm-clouds. Over the German lines and the houses where they held the +cellars the shells burst in a tumult which had a sudden beginning just +before the dawn, and above all their smoke and fire there were fountains +of wonderfully bright light, of burning gold and of running flame all +scarlet and alive. The light was from our smoke-producing rockets, and +the running flame was from drums of boiling oil which we fired into the +enemy's trenches to burn him alive if we caught him there. I saw the far +spread of gun-fire in the early morning after the thin crescent moon had +faded, and when there was a grey, moist light over the city and fields. + +Soon after the Canadians had taken Hill 70 the enemy flung back a great +barrage, so that the ridge was vomiting up columns of black smoke like +scores of factory chimneys on a foggy day. And in all the suburbs of +Lens, those cites of St.-Laurent and St.-Emilie and St.-Pierre, and into +Lievin and Calonne, and Maroc and Grenay, he pitched heavy shells which +came howling across the wilderness of bricks and slag-heaps, and broke +into gruff enormous coughs out of which black demons of smoke rose like +the evil genii out of the bottle, darkening the view. An hour or so +later the sun came brightly through the clouds, and these cites of +strife, girdled by cornfields in which the stooks are standing, and by +green hills across which the tide of slaughter has swept, leaving them +in peace again, were flooded with fresh, glinting light, so that the +scene was rich in colour. There was not a figure to be seen on Hill 70, +not a movement of life among the houses around Lens. The Canadians had +gone across in the smoke, and now they were hidden among the ruins. The +only life was that of shell-fire, and it has a life of its own, though +it is meant for death. + +A little to the left in front of me was one of the fosses which rise +among the broken houses. For some reason the enemy had special spite +against it, and every few minutes a great shell came with a yell and +smashed about it. The German gunners were flinging their stuff about in +a random way, searching for our batteries and hoping to kill collections +of men. They did not have much luck, and they all but caught sixty of +their own men who had just come along as prisoners, and, having escaped +from the barrage-fire, hoped for safety from their own guns. One of +their shells fell within twenty yards of them, but before the next one +came their guards told them to quick march, and they ran hard. They were +wretched-looking men, more miserable in physique than any I have seen +for a long time, and sallow and pinched and gaunt. Some of them were +very young, but not all, and there were none so young as those described +to me by some Canadian soldiers who fought with them to-day. + +"They were children," said one man, "no bigger than schoolboys. I call +it cruel to send such youngsters into the fighting-line." + +Another man told me that he saw boys lying dead who looked no older than +fourteen, and it made him feel sick. They could not all have been like +that, these men of the 155th and 156th Reserve Regiments, regiments from +whom some of the prisoners come, because they are making a very stiff +fight in some parts of their defensive system, and the Canadians have +real men against them. It seems that Hill 70 was held lightly and by the +younger class of soldiers, the best Prussian troops being kept back to +hold the inner defences of Lens, and to make counter-attacks. + +"It was a walk-over," said a Canadian, describing the assault on the +hill. "Our barrage was great, and it had simply smashed the ground to +pulp. I thought it a worse wreck than Vimy, which was some wreck. One +could just see a faint suggestion of trenches, but everything was clean +swept. There were two or three machine-gun emplacements which gave us a +bit of trouble, but not much. We jumped on them and wiped them out. I +can't say I saw many German dead, but just a few boys. I expect the +others were buried and smashed up." These Canadians were wonderful. They +went into the battle with an absolute confidence. "I knew we should do +the trick," said one of them, who came walking back with a wound in his +thigh, "and all my pals were of the same mind." + +He said one amazing thing, lying there waiting for his operation in the +back parlour of a miner's cottage, in one of these mazes into which the +enemy was plugging shells at times: "I enjoyed the show very much," he +said, "it was a fair treat." + +Next to him lay another badly wounded man with a piece of wire plucked +from his own flesh wrapped up in a piece of cotton-wool as a trophy, and +a hole through his leg. He grinned at me and said: "We put it across +them all right. I wouldn't have missed it, but I'm sorry I got this leg +messed up. I didn't come over to get a Blighty wound. I want to see the +end of this war. That's what I want to do. I want to be in at the end." + +The wounded men came back like that unless they came back with only the +soles of their boots showing over the edge of the ambulance. +Fortunately, up to midday at least, there were not many badly wounded +men. The spirit of men who have fought and fought and seen the worst +horrors of war, and suffered its most hideous discomforts, is one of +those miracles which I do not understand. I only record the fact about +these hardy Canadians and the Canadian Scottish. + +Of the same character are the civilian inhabitants of one of these +mining cites on the edge of the battlefields, where they have remained +since the beginning of the war. Nearer even than the edge. They live in +streets where most of the houses have been hit and many of them wrecked. +Death comes about and above them. Many of the people have been killed, +and the children go to school in cellars with gas-masks because of the +poison, that comes on an east wind or a north. They were there again +to-day: old women drinking early morning coffee in little rooms that +have stood between masses of ruin; a widow in black weeds, like a +dowager duchess, walking slowly down a street shelled last night and +to-day; girls with braided hair standing at street corners, among +soldiers in steel helmets, watching shells bursting a little way off, +with no certainty that that is their limit. + +One of these girls came along, and I saw that she had a bandaged head. + +"Wounded?" I asked. She nodded and said, "Yes, a day or two ago." + +"Why do you stay in such a place?" I said. "Aren't you frightened?" + +She laughed. "What can one do? My mamma keeps living here, so how can I +go away? Besides, one gets used to it a little." + +I am bound to say I don't get used to these things, but see them always +with amazement. + + * * * * * + +A FEW DAYS LATER + +Lens itself is now no better than its outer suburbs, a town of battered +houses without roofs and with broken walls leaning against rubbish-heaps +of brickwork and timber. The enemy sent out a wireless message that the +English gunners were destroying French property by bombarding the city, +and then made a deep belt of destruction by blowing up long blocks of +streets. After that our guns have completed the ruin, for there was a +German garrison in every house, and in this kind of warfare there must +be no tenderness of sentiment about bricks and mortar if the enemy is +between the walls. So now in Lens the only cover for Germans and their +only chance of safety is below ground in the tunnels and cellars +reinforced by concrete and built by the forced labour of civilians two +years and more ago when the city was menaced by a French attack. Into +these tunnels the German garrisons of Lens make their way by night, and +in them they live and die. Many die in them it is certain, for a tunnel +is no more than a death-trap when it is blocked at the entrance by the +fall of houses, or when it collapses by the bombardment of heavy shells +which pierce down deep and explode with monstrous effect. That has +happened, as we know, in many parts of the German line, and recently on +the French front whole companies of German soldiers were buried alive in +deep caves. It is happening in Lens now, if the same effect is produced +by the same power of artillery. But death comes to the German soldiers +there in another way, without any noise and quite invisible, and very +horrible in its quietude. Many times lately the Canadians have drenched +the city of Lens with gas that kills, and soaks down heavily into +dug-outs and tunnels, and stifles men in their sleep before they have +time to stretch out a hand for a gas-mask, or makes them die with their +masks on if they fumble a second too long. The enemy, who was first to +use poison-gas, should wish to God he had never betrayed his soul by +such a thing, for it has come back upon him as a frightful retribution, +and in Lens, in those deep, dark cellars below the ruins, German +soldiers must live with terror and be afraid to sleep. + +Yesterday, when I went to that neighbourhood, I saw four German soldiers +who had come out into the open, rather risking death there than by +staying in their dungeon. They appeared for a minute round the corner of +some brick-stacks in the Cite St.-Auguste. I was watching the German +lines there, and staring at the ruined houses and slag-heaps and broken +water-towers of Harnes and Annay, beyond the outer fields of the mining +city. The church towers in both those villages still stand, though a +little damaged, and some of the red roofs are still intact. The German +lines were away beyond a strip of No Man's Land, and here not a soul was +to be seen, no trace of life in all this land of death until suddenly I +saw those four figures come stealthily up behind the brick-stacks. They +stood up quite straight and looked towards our ground, and then after a +second crouched low so that only their heads showed above a little dip +in the ground. A few minutes later I saw two more Germans. They ran at a +jog-trot along a hedge outside the Cite St.-Auguste and made a bolt +through a gap. It was as strange to see them as though they were +visitors from another planet, for, in this district of Lens, no man +shows his body above ground unless he is careless of a quick death, and +one may stare for days at the empty houses and the broken mine-shafts +and the high black slag-heaps without seeing any living thing. + +On our side of the lines, during a long walk yesterday to the crest of +Hill 70, I saw only a few lonely figures above ground, although below +ground there were many, and in one dug-out where I was lucky to go I +found a luncheon-party of officers discussing the psychology of Kerensky +and news of the world one day old, and the chances of three years more +of war or thirty, as men do round a London dinner-table, though there +were loud, unpleasant noises overhead, where German shells were in +flight to a trench which had been recommended to me as a nice safe place +for a Sunday walk. Somehow, I did not believe in the safety of any walk +in this neighbourhood, because there were fresh shell-holes along the +tracks between the ruined houses which could not inspire the simplest +soul with confidence. There is not a house there which has not been +knocked edgewise or upside down, and the little village church I passed +is no longer a place for worship but a nightmare building, inhabited by +the menace of death. The German gunners cannot leave these mining +villages alone, though they are as deserted as the Polar regions, with +no cheerful Tommy's face to be seen through any of the empty +window-frames, or through any of the holed walls or down any of the +sand-bag shelters which used to be the homes of British soldiers when +the fighting was closer this way. + +It is the loneliness which one hates most in these places, especially +when shells come along with a beastly noise which seems a particular +menace to one's own body as there is nobody else to be killed. So I was +glad to fall in with a young officer who was working his way up the +line. He had just brought down a wounded man, and was stopping a while +in a wayside dressing-station, where there was a friendly and lonely +doctor, who offered the hospitality of his sand-bags and steel girders +to any passer-by, and said "Stay a bit longer" when bits of shell could +be heard whining outside. We went along the way together, close to the +grim old muck-heap, the Double Grassier, where Germans and English lived +cheek by jowl for two years until recent weeks, fighting each other with +bombs when they were bored with each other's company, and so past the +village of Loos. + +The way up to Hill 70 is historic ground, and every bit of brickwork, +every stump of a tree, every yard or so of road, is haunted by the +memory of gallant men, who in September just two years ago came this way +under frightful shell-fire and fell here in great numbers. Among them +were the Londoners of the glorious 47th Division and the Scots of the +15th--as I walked by the village of Loos I thought of some friends of +mine in the Gordons who had great adventures there that day amongst +those dreadful little ruins--and Hill 70 was taken and lost again after +heroic fighting and tragic episodes, which are still remembered with a +shudder by men who hate to think of them. + +It is only a few weeks ago that we took the ground beyond in that great +Canadian assault upon Hill 70 which I described at the time, and up +there on the hill-side--it is not much of a hill, but goes up very +gradually to the crest--the trenches are still littered with German +relics, and in the deep dug-outs burnt out and blown out there are still +German bodies lying. The smell of death comes out of these holes, and it +is not a pleasant place. + +Before the Canadian assault English troops of the glorious old 6th +Division captured and held the approaches and raided the Germans in Nash +Alley, which is a famous trench in the history of the Durhams and the +Essex Regiment and of the Buffs and West Yorkshires, and resisted +ferocious German attacks with the most grim courage. Under their +pressure the Germans yielded part of their line one night, withdrawing +to another line of trenches secretly, but these troops of ours followed +them up so quickly that they were in the German dug-outs before the +candles had gone out. The Canadian capture of Hill 70 was a great blow +to the German command, and they tried vainly to get it back by repeated +counter-attacks. They will never get it back now, and Lens, which lies +below it, remains for them a death-trap, which only pride makes them +hold, and where in the cellars men are forced to live hellishly under +our shells and gas in order to uphold that pride in men who do not take +the risks nor suffer the agony of this hidden death. + + + + +IX + +LONDONERS IN GLENCORSE WOOD + + +AUGUST 17 + +The battle of Langemarck yesterday, and all the struggle southward to +the ground about Glencorse Wood and Inverness Copse was one of the most +heroic as well as one of the bloodiest days of fighting in all this war. +The enemy put up a fierce resistance except at points where underfed +boys had been thrust out in shell-holes, as in the neighbourhood of +Langemarck, to check the first onslaught of our men if possible, and if +not to die. Behind them, as storm troops for counter-attack, were some +of the finest troops of the German army. Among them was the 54th +Division, which had already been severely mauled by our gun-fire and was +utterly exhausted. But other divisions, like the 34th, who were in front +of our Londoners, were fresh and strong, only just brought into the +battle-line. Behind the immediate supporting troops were massed reserves +whom the German command held ready to hurry up in wagons and light +railways to any part of the field where their lines were most +threatened, or when instant counter-attacks might inflict most damage on +our men. + +In gun-power the enemy was and is strong. He had prepared a large +concentration of guns south-east of our right flank, and whatever may be +his reserves of ammunition he has gathered up great stores for this +present battle. On the right of our attack he stood on high ground, the +crest of Polygon Wood, and the slopes down from Abraham Heights and the +Gravenstafel Ridge. It is the big door which he must slam in our face at +all costs, because it opens out to his plains beyond; and against it he +has massed all his weight. Our men, it will be seen, were not likely to +have a walk-over. They did not, but took all they gained by hard +fighting. It could in no sense of the word be a walk-over. The ground +was hideous, worse than in the winter on the Somme. That seems strange, +with a hot sun shining overhead and dust rising in clouds along traffic +roads behind the battle-line as I saw it to-day. That is the irony of +things. Where our men were fighting yesterday and to-day there are +hundreds of thousands of shell-holes, some three feet deep and some ten +feet deep, and each shell-hole is at least half full of water, and many +of them are joined so that they form lakes deep enough to drown men and +horses if they fall in. So it was, and is, around the place where +Langemarck village stood, and where the old lake of the chateau that no +longer stands has flooded over into a swamp, and where a double row of +black tree-stumps goes along the track of the broken road where the +people of Langemarck used to walk to church before the devil did in so +many old churches and established little hells of his own on their +rubbish-heaps. So it was yesterday and remains to-day all about, the +stumps of trees sticking up out of a mush of slimy, pitted ground which +go by the romantic names of Glencorse Wood and Inverness Copse, and +Shrewsbury Forest and Polygon Wood. The photographs of our airmen taken +yesterday in low flights over these damned places reveal the full +foulness of them. Seen from this high view, they are long stretches of +white barren earth pock-marked by innumerable craters, where no man or +human body is to be seen, though there are many dead and some living +lying in those holes, and they are all bright and shining, because the +sun is glinting on the water which fills them, except where dense clouds +of smoke from great gun-fire drift across. + +The courage of men who attacked over such ground was great courage. The +grim, stubborn way in which our soldiers made their way through these +bogs and would not be beaten, though they slipped and fell and stuck +deep while the enemy played machine-gun bullets on to their lines and +flung high explosives over the whole stretch of bog-land through which +they had to pass, is one of the splendid and tragic things in our poor +human story. + +I told yesterday how some of our English battalions took Langemarck like +this, leaving many comrades bogged, wounded, and spent, but crawling +round the concrete houses, over the old cellars of the village and +routing out the Germans who held them with machine-guns. At the +blockhouse on the way up, called Au Bon Gite, an oblong fort of concrete +walls ten feet thick, the Germans bolted inside as soon as they saw our +men, slammed down an iron door, and for a time stayed there while our +bombers prowled round like hungry wolves waiting for their prey. Later +they gave themselves up because our line swept past them and they had no +hope. + +In another place of the same kind, called Reitre Farm, from which came a +steady blast of machine-gun fire, our men made several desperate rushes +and at last, when many lay wounded, a machine-gunner of ours got close +and thrust the barrel of his weapon through a slit in the wall and swept +the inner chamber with a flood of bullets. + +There were savage fights in some of the dark cellars of Langemarck +between men who would not surrender and men who would not turn back, and +men who fell heavily against other men and knew that in these +underground holes it must be their life or the other's, and the quicker +the better. They fought their way beyond Langemarck yesterday, and on +the left of our advance we hold to-day all the ground that was taken, +which follows the curve of the Langemarck-Gheluvelt line, dug and wired +by months of labour according to the orders of the German command, +afraid of our coming menace, and now blotted out. The fighting all about +this ground was by groups of English soldiers, in some cases without +officers, and in some cases led by privates with a sense of leadership +and fine, stern courage. They were Royal Fusiliers, Lancashire +Fusiliers, Middlesex, Guernseys, and other battalions of the 29th +Division, the Light Infantry battalions of the 20th Division, the +Yorkshires, Lancashires, South Staffords, Lincolns, and Borderers of the +11th Division, and the Oxfords, Gloucesters, and Berkshires of the 48th +Division. So things happened on the left of the battle. All ground was +gained as it had been planned, and all held, and many hundreds of +prisoners were taken, though that is not the best proof of success. + +On the right it was different. It was on the right that the enemy fought +hardest, counter-attacked most fiercely and most often, and concentrated +the heaviest artillery. There were the Irish Brigades here, and English +county troops of the 8th Division, and London battalions of the 56th. +All this side of the attack become involved at once in desperate +fighting. The ground was damnable--cratered and full of water and +knee-deep in foul mud--and beyond them was high ground, struck through +with gully-like funnels, through which the enemy could pour up his storm +troops for counter-attack; and away in the mud were the same style of +concrete forts as up north, still unbroken by our bombardments and +fortified again with new garrisons of machine-gunners, taking the place +of those who on July 31 were killed or captured when this ground was +stormed and, later, lost. + +The English and the Irish battalions made progress in spite of heavy +fire on them and no light losses; but in the afternoon of yesterday they +had to withdraw from their advanced positions under the pressure of +fierce counter-attacks by fresh troops. They fought these rear-guard +actions stubbornly. Irish as well as English fought sometimes in small +groups in isolated posts, until they were killed or captured. They made +the enemy pay a big price in blood for his old ground, but their own +casualties could not be light in view of the desperate character of this +struggle. + +As yet I know very few details of the Irish side of things. I know more +about the Londoners, for I have been to see them to-day, and they have +told me the facts of yesterday. They are tragic facts, because for +English troops it is always a tragedy to withdraw from any yard of soil +they have taken by hard fighting, and many good London lads will never +come back from that morass. But there is nothing the matter with London +courage, and to me there is something more thrilling in the way these +boys fought to the death, some of them in the bitterness of retreat, +than in the rapid and easy progress of men in successful attack. Lying +out all night in the wet mud under heavy fire, they attacked at dawn up +by Glencorse Wood, in the direction of Polygon Wood. On the right they +and their neighbours at once came under blasts of fire from five +machine-guns in a strong point, and under a hostile barrage-fire that +was frightful in its intensity They could not make much headway. No +mortal men could have advanced under such fire, and so their comrades on +the left were terribly exposed to the scythe of bullets which swept them +also. + +Men of London regiments--the Queen's Westminsters and the old "Vics" and +the Rangers and the Kensingtons--fought forward with a wonderful spirit +which is a white shining light in all this darkness--through Glencorse +Wood and round to the north of Nuns' Wood, avoiding the most deeply +flooded ground here, where there was one big boggy lake. Parties of the +Middlesex went into Polygon Wood, which is a long way forward, and +actually brought prisoners out of that place. At a strong point near the +Hooge-Gheluvelt road they killed thirty-four Germans and captured the +redoubt. But there were Germans still left in other concrete houses +near by, and they were very strong at the Zonnebeke position on the +north-west. + +Very soon counter-attacks developed from the south out of Inverness +Copse, and from the north. The Londoners were exhausted after their +dreadful night and all this fighting over foul ground; they were in +exposed positions, and they were shut in by the most terrible gun-fire. +What happened with the Irish and other troops happened here. Our airmen, +flying low, saw small isolated groups of London boys fighting separate +battles against great odds. The enemy was encircling them, and they were +trying to hold rear-guard positions, so that their comrades could +withdraw in good order. A signalled message that found its way to +headquarters tells one such story. I read to-day the little pink slip +bearing the words as they came in. They are from a Middlesex officer. +"Am in shell-hole before second objective, and two strong points held by +the enemy. Have ten men with me. We are surrounded, and heavy +machine-gun fire is being turned on us. Regret no course but to +surrender. Can't see any of our forces." + +That message was the only one of its kind received, but there were many +small groups of London men, led by young officers, or without officers, +who held on to the last like that, and did not let down the pride of +their great city, so gay, so ignorant yesterday afternoon, with a tide +of traffic swirling down its streets, while out here on the wet barren +earth, under the same sun, these boys of London fought and died, or in +small groups rose from among their dead and wounded and went white-faced +into the circle of the enemy who had surrounded them. + + + + +X + +SOMERSETS AT LANGEMARCK + + +AUGUST 19 + +The enemy, after denying our taking of Langemarck, now admit their loss +of it. Our prisoners who were brought through the place had the German +wireless read out to them and were abashed by the untruth of the +message. It was a German sergeant-major who put up the only excuse. He +laughed and said: "In this war it is only those who win who can afford +to tell the official truth. A reverse is always covered by a lie." + +We are well beyond Langemarck, and to-day I went among the men who got +there first--the 20th Division--fighting their way past machine-gun +blockhouses, which is the new system of German defence, past the deadly +machine-gun fire that came out of them, and through to the village and +its surrounding swamps. These young officers, who have lost many of +their comrades, and these men of theirs belonging to light-infantry +battalions, were sleeping and resting in their tents behind the +fighting-lines, and cleaning themselves up after days in wet mud and the +filth of the battlefield. But they were keen to tell the tale of their +adventures, and if I could put them down just as they were told, one man +adding to another man's story, the excitement of remembrance rousing +them from their weariness, and queer grim laughter breaking out when +they spoke of their greatest dangers, it would be a strange narrative. +They were men who had escaped death by prodigious chance, and officers +and men greeted each other joyfully and with a splendid spirit of +comradeship as brothers-in-arms who were glad to see each other alive +and remembered how they had stuck it together in the worst hours. They +belonged to the Somerset Light Infantry of the 20th Division, and they +came from old towns like Bridgwater and Crewkerne and Yeovil, which seem +a million miles away from such scenes of war. One young officer of the +Somersets knew most of what had happened, and his own adventures that +day would fill a book if told in detail. He took me into his tent and +showed me how his kit had been pierced by bullets and torn by the blast +of shell-fire, and he marvelled that he had no more than a hurt hand cut +against the teeth of a German sniper and a body bruised all over, but +with a whole skin. "A bit of luck," he said. This young man must have +been born under a lucky star, for the things he went through that day +would have frightened a cat relying on nine lives and taking a hundred +chances on the score of them. + +On the way up to Langemarck to the left of that solid blockhouse called +Au Bon Gite, where the enemy held out behind iron doors while our troops +went past them swept by machine-gun fire, there were many German snipers +lying about in shell-holes. They were very brave men, put out into +these holes to check our advance, and knowing that they were bound to +die, because that is the almost certain fate of snipers on such ground. +They lay doggo, pretending to be corpses when any of our men were near +enough to see, but using their rifles with deadly aim when they had any +elbow-room. I heard that one man killed four of our officers, and +another killed fourteen men and wounded eleven before he was shot +through the head. One of these men well behind our advancing waves lay +very still, close to the young officer of the Somersets of whom I spoke, +and who saw the fellow move and raise his rifle. He pounced on him and +struck him across the face with his bare fist and tore his hand open +against the man's teeth. They were bad teeth, and the hand is now +festering. Another sniper gave himself away, and the young officer shot +him through the head with a revolver, which was very busy all that day. +I have already told how these light-infantry men had to struggle through +bogs around Langemarck, how they fell into shell-holes full of water, +and how, under great fire, they made their way into the place where +Langemarck village had once been and attacked the dug-outs and +blockhouses there. Some of the strangest episodes happened between the +village and a point called the Streiboom. There were two more +blockhouses on the Langemarck road girdled by machine-gun fire. The +first one was rushed by twenty men, led by this young officer I have +been telling about, and bombed until thirty Germans tumbled out and +surrendered. But beyond was the other blockhouse, and upon this the +officer of the Somersets advanced with only six men. A machine-gun was +firing from the right of it, and it was a strong place of concrete with +no open door. The seven Somersets went straight for it, and the officer +flung two bombs through the loopholes, but they did not seem to take +effect. Then he hurled two more bombs, which were his last, at the iron +door, but they did not burst. With his bare fists he beat at the door +and shouted out, "Come out, you blighters, come out." Presently, to his +surprise, they came out, not two or three, nor six or seven, but +forty-two stout and hefty men. Among them was an English soldier badly +wounded, who had been taken prisoner three days before. He was a +Yorkshireman, who had lain among the enemy, well treated, but dying. The +Germans could not send him behind their lines because of our +bombardment, which had cut off their supplies, so that they were four +days hungry when they surrendered. In another dug-out was another +Yorkshireman, and he is now safe and well behind our own lines. + +There were eight machine-guns in that last blockhouse, one of which I +saw to-day, and two of them, fitted up with new springs, were used +against the enemy. One of them was worked on a hydraulic lift, so that +it could be got into action very quickly from its underground place. In +the blockhouse from which the forty-two had been taken by this small +body of Somersets was a great store of 5.9 shells. All told this little +group of men took 100 prisoners that day, and their officer himself is +said to have killed sixteen Germans and to have wounded many more. After +the blockhouse affair he chased a number of the enemy running down the +Langemarck road, and, using his revolver in the cowboy fashion, dropping +his wrist from the shoulder, he plugged them as he ran. After that he +went on and held an exposed advanced post with a mixed lot of Somersets +and "Koylies" (King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry) and Rifle Brigade +men. They had next to no ammunition, but they held on all night, hoping +for the best, but not sure of it. And this young officer who was their +leader told me to-day that--great God!--he "enjoyed" himself and was +"fearfully bucked" with his day's work. The excitement of it all was in +his eyes, as he told me, in much more detail than I have given, the +story of the thirty-six hours. + +It is indeed an astounding chapter of courage all this attack on +Langemarck by men who before the attack had been bombarded with gas and +other shells, and who then floundered in deep bogs, where they got stuck +up to the waist, but worked in small parties up and on, fighting all the +way against an enemy who put up a gallant and stubborn resistance and +sold every hundred yards of ground as dearly as he could. The runners +who went back again and again through that slough of despond under +damnable fire were real heroes. The stretcher-bearers who carried down +the wounded all that day and night regardless of their own lives were +beyond words splendid, and the carriers who brought up rations so that +the men in front should have enough to eat and drink were as brave as +those who fought. In the midst of all this turmoil, all this death, all +this mud and blood, men kept their sense of humour and their shrewd wit +in a way which beats me. "Do you speak English?" said a sergeant-major +to a German non-commissioned officer who came out of a dug-out full of +men. "Nein, nein," said the man. "Well, you've got to learn bally +quick," said the sergeant-major, "so go and tell those pals of yours to +come out before something happens to them." And the German learnt enough +English in the sergeant-major's eyes to deliver the command correctly +enough. + +I have spoken only of the Somersets. Other light infantry--the Durhams +and the "Koylies" and the D.C.L.I.--who worked with them and who took +Reitres Farm and other strong points, were not less dogged, and this day +at Langemarck was a glorious revelation of the old spirit of the West +Country, which is still strong and fine. + + * * * * * + +And now I must write again about the Canadians, whose attack towards +Lens I watched the other day among our guns. + +That story is not yet finished, and has been going on ever since that +morning when the Canadians took Hill 70 and the cites of St.-Emile and +St.-Laurent, working forward towards the heart of Lens. It is clear that +the enemy's command issued orders for Hill 70 and the other ground to be +retaken at all costs. There have been no fewer than thirteen +counter-attacks against the Canadian troops, and men of the 4th Guards +Division, and later of the 220th Regiment, have come forward in wave +after wave and hurled themselves with desperate courage against the +Canadian defence. + +Time after time they have been seen assembling by our flying men and +observers, and time after time their ranks have been shattered by our +guns. To the north of Lens there is a chalk quarry, which was not gained +by the Canadians in their first attack, so that they established their +line on the west side of it, and it was against this line that repeated +efforts were made. Each attempt was smashed up, and then the Canadians +advanced into the quarry and captured ninety men of many units and +twenty machine-guns. The prisoners complain that their officers had lost +their heads, and had been utterly demoralized. After violent attacks on +Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, the enemy made a great effort with +every weapon of frightfulness on Friday evening, using poison-gas and +flame-jets and a hurricane of high explosives in order to drive the +Canadians off Hill 70. It failed with great losses to themselves when +the German infantry attacked, and the attacks yesterday have had no +greater success. The Canadians claim that the enemy's losses must be at +least three times as great as their own. There were moments when the +Canadians were hard pressed, and one of them was when a battalion +commander was warned that the Germans were behind him. "I'm all right," +he said cheerily, and then suddenly he said, "Good Lord, so they are." +He was not heard from again for two hours and a half, and in that time +he had organized his clerks and batmen and signallers and driven out a +party of Germans who had worked out round No Man's Land and thrust a +wedge behind him. The fighting has been savage and fierce, and the +Canadians have used the bayonet at close quarters and fought hand to +hand in the dark cellars of the mining cites. This phase of the war is +as bloody as anything that has been done in the history of human strife. + + + + +XI + +THE IRISH IN THE SWAMPS + + +AUGUST 21 + +It is of the Irish now that I will write, though their story is four +days old and not a tale of great victory. It is easier to write of +success than of failure, and of great advances than of grim rear-guard +actions fought by men desperately tried but still heroic. But I want to +tell the story of the Irish who went forward over bad ground on the +morning of August 16, that morning when there was great success at +Langemarck on the left, and something less than success on the right. + +These Irishmen had no luck at all. They gained ground but lost it again. +It is up to the Irish to tell this tale, for they were grand men and +they fought and fell with simple valour. They were the Southern Irish +and the men of Ulster side by side again, as they were at Wytschaete, +where I met them on the morning of the battle and afterwards, glad +because they had taken a great share in one of the finest victories of +the war. Their laughter rang out then as they told me their adventures, +all their young officers keen to say how splendid their men had been, +and the men themselves drawing cheerful comparisons between this day's +luck and that other day at Ginchy, on the Somme, when they gained +another victory, but with thinned ranks, so that when I met them +marching out they had but the remnants of battalions, and their general +called out words of good cheer to them with a break in his voice. After +Wytschaete they were in high spirits. Quick in attack, full of the old +Irish dash, they were the men for a sudden assault, needing an impetuous +advance, while they were fresh and unspoilt. But they had no luck this +time. + +Let me tell first the happenings of the Irish troops on the right, the +Catholic Irish, whose own right was on the Roulers railway, going up to +the Potsdam Redoubt. An hour or so before the attack the enemy, as +though knowing what was about to come, flung down a tremendous and +destructive barrage, answered by our own drum-fire, which gave the +signal for the Irish to advance. The Dublin Fusiliers and the Royal +Irish Rifles went forward on the right and the Inniskillings on the +left. In front of them were numbers of German strong points, the now +famous pill-boxes, or concrete blockhouses, which the enemy has built as +his new means of defence to take the place of trench systems. They were +Beck House, Borry Farm, and the Bremen Redoubt--sinister names which +will never be forgotten in Irish history. There were also odd bits of +trench here and there for the use of snipers and small advanced posts. +As the first wave of the Irish assaulting troops advanced Germans rose +from those ditches and ran back to the shelter of the concrete works, +and immediately from those emplacements and from other machine-gun +positions echeloned in depth behind them swept a fierce enfilade fire of +machine-gun bullets, even through the barrage of our shell-fire, which +went ahead of the Irish line. Many men in the first wave dropped, but +the others kept going, and reached almost as far as they had been asked +to go. The Royal Irish Rifles worked up the Roulers railway to the level +crossing, and captured two German officers and thirty prisoners. The +Dublin Fusiliers, on their left, were held up by machine-guns from the +Bremen Redoubt, and later a message came down from that small party. It +was from a young Irish subaltern. "I am lying out here in a shell-hole. +All officers and men killed or wounded." Other men joined him, but were +cut off and taken prisoners. On the left the Inniskillings, who had +crossed over the Zonnebeke river, made good and rapid progress, +capturing two strong redoubts and seizing an important little hill--Hill +37--which was one of the keys of the position. The success of the day +would have been gained if the centre had been carried, and if the +supporting troops could have come up. But neither of these things +happened. The supporting waves were caught by the cross-fire of +machine-guns, and they could make hardly any headway. The Borry Farm +Redoubt gave most trouble. It contained five machine-guns and a garrison +of sixty expert and determined gunners, and never fell all day. It broke +the centre of the Irish attack, and was the cause of heroic but deadly +efforts by the Irish Rifles, followed by Inniskillings. The Royal Irish +Fusiliers attacked it by direct assault, knowing that everything was +staked on their success. They went for it like tigers, but without +avail. One of the battalion officers, seeing this failure, but knowing +how all depended upon the capture of that fort, thereupon led another +attack by a company of the Royal Irish Rifles. This met the same fate. + +Meanwhile the men of the Ulster Division were fighting just as +desperately. They had ahead of them several of the concrete forts, one +of which, near Pond Farm, was a strong defensive system with deep +dug-outs and overhead cover proof against shell-fire. This and other +strong points had wooden platforms above the concrete walls, on which +the gunners could mount their machines very quickly, firing them behind +two yards thickness of concrete. + +Opposite the Pommern Redoubt stands a small hill which the enemy has +used for a long time as one of his chief observation-posts, as it gives +a complete view of our ground. Beyond that the country rises to a +saddle-back ridge, with double spurs guarded on the lower slope by a +small fort called Gallipoli, and from these spurs he could fling a +machine-gun barrage across the low ground. An ugly position to attack. +It was worse for the Ulster men because of the state of the ground, +which was a thin crust over a bog of mud. On the left some of the +Inniskillings and Irish Rifles rushed forward as far as a network of +trenches and wired defences, which they took in a fierce assault against +a Bavarian garrison, who fought to a finish. Here they recaptured one of +our Lewis guns lost in the fighting on July 31. On the right the Irish +Rifles and the Fusiliers, walking through the fire of many machine-guns, +made a straight attack upon Hill 35, which dominated the centre of the +Ulster attack. Before it were some gun-pits, and the Ulster men, by most +desperate efforts, took and crossed these pits and fought up the slopes +of the hill beyond. But they could not keep the hill nor the pits. So +after many hours of frightful fighting the situation was that some +scattered groups of Dublins and Royal Irish held out on a far goal with +exposed flanks, with some Inniskillings clinging to the slopes of Hill +37, while on the other side of the Zonnebeke river the Ulster men had +been forced off their little hill, and had been unable to get beyond the +German chain of concrete houses. + +The enemy's aeroplanes came over to survey the situation, and, taking a +leaf from our book, flew very low, firing their machine-guns at the +advanced posts of Irish lying in shell-holes and in the hummocky ground. +They were in a desperate position, those advanced posts.... Then the +enemy launched his counter-attack from the direction of Zonnebeke, and +gradually the shattered lines of the Irish fell back, slowly fighting +little rear-guard actions in isolated groups. Many of them were +surrounded and cut off, or had to fight their way back in the night or +the dawn of next day. + +All through the worst hours an Irish padre went about among the dead and +dying, giving absolution to his boys. Once he came back to headquarters, +but he would not take a bite of food or stay, though his friends urged +him. He went back to the field to minister to those who were glad to see +him bending over them in their last agony. Four men were killed by +shell-fire as he knelt beside them, and he was not touched--not touched +until his own turn came. A shell burst close, and the padre fell dead. + +There were many other men who gave up their lives for their friends that +day--stretcher-bearers, who had a long way to go under fire, and +runners, who had to crawl on their stomachs from shell-hole to +shell-hole, and carrying-parties and medical officers. Near the +Frezenberg Redoubt, which was on the right of the Catholic Irish, a +doctor worked, never sleeping for days and nights, but going out of his +dug-out to crawl after wounded men and bandaging up their wounds under +heavy fire. The first man he found was not one of his Irish. Away in +front of the line, in No Man's Land, was a bogged Tank, and Irish +sentries heard a wail from it. The doctor heard of this and crept out to +the Tank and found a Scottish soldier there badly wounded, as he had +crept into this shelter days before. The doctor bandaged him, and, +without calling for help, carried him back on his own shoulders. Another +Scot was found in a shell-hole wounded in both legs. He was one of the +Gordons, and had been lying there since July 31. He is "in a good state +of health," was the report of the Irish patrol, and will be sent home +to-night. + +Before the battle and after it the Bavarians behaved decently about the +wounded, and allowed the stretcher-bearers to work in the open without +being shelled, though some of them were hit in the machine-gun barrage. +It is good to know that, and fair to say it. The Bavarians against the +Irish fought, as I am told by Irishmen, in a clean, straight way, and +their defence was stronger than our attack. The Irish troops had no +luck. It was a day of tragedy. But poor Ireland should be proud of these +sons of hers, who struggled against such odds and fought until their +strength was spent, and even then held on in far posts with a spirit +scornful of the word "surrender." Some very noble young officers gave up +their lives rather than say that word, and all these dear Irish boys +went to the last limit of human endurance before they fell back. Not by +any hair's-breadth did they lose the honour they won at Wytschaete and +Ginchy. + + + + +XII + +THE WAY THROUGH GLENCORSE WOOD + + +AUGUST 22 + +There was severe fighting again to-day eastwards of St.-Julien (3-1/2 +miles north-east of Ypres), extending south across the Zonnebeke, beyond +the Frezenberg Redoubt, while on the right our troops again penetrated +Glencorse Copse (due east of Ypres), and fought on that ugly rising +ground which the enemy is defending in great strength. The Divisions +engaged, from north to south, are the 29th, 38th, 11th, 48th, 18th, +61st, 15th, 19th, 47th, 14th, and 24th. + +On the left progress has been made from the high road of St.-Julien to +the Zonnebeke-Langemarck road, which cuts across it, guarded on the +enemy's side by two strong points with the usual concrete shelters which +the Germans have adopted as their new means of forward defence. Below +them there is another strong position called Winnipeg, about which our +men were heavily engaged in the early hours of this morning, and below +that again the same series of pill-boxes and concrete blockhouses +against which the Irish battalions went forward with such desperate +valour on the 16th of this month, as I described in my message +yesterday. + +Scottish troops of the 15th Division attacked to-day where the Southern +Irish were engaged six days ago. Before them they had those sinister +forts, Beck House and Borry Farm, and Vampire Point guarding the way to +the Bremen Redoubt, which will be remembered always in the history of +the Irish brigades as places of heroic endeavour, just as now this +morning they will take their place in the annals of our Scottish +fighting. To the left of them are other forts, round which the Ulster +men were fighting last week--Pond Farm, Schuler Farm, and others on the +way to the Gallipoli Redoubt. About these places Warwickshires and other +Midland troops of the 61st Division have been fighting, and have met +with the same difficulties, apart from the state of the ground, which +has dried a little. It has not dried much, for our shell-fire has broken +up the gullies and streams with which it was drained, and the country is +water-logged, so that the pools remain until the sun dries them up. The +shell-holes and these ponds are not so full of water as when the Irish +went across, and the surface of the shell-broken earth is hardening. But +it is only a thin crust over a bog, so that the Tanks which went forward +to-day here and there could not get very far without sinking in. One +Tank was taken by a gallant crew almost as far as a German strong point +nearly half a mile beyond our old front line very early in the morning, +and did good work up there. The enemy put down a furious barrage-fire +soon after the attack had started to-day, and kept the Frezenberg +Redoubt under intense bombardment. But as soon as the attack developed +he could not use his artillery against our men at many points, not +knowing what forts and ground were still held by his own troops. He +relied again upon the cross-fire of machine-guns, arranged very +skilfully in depth, for enfilade barrages, and upon the garrisons who +held his concrete redoubts in the advanced positions. In one of the +blockhouses this morning our Warwickshire men captured forty-seven +prisoners, who, when they were surrounded, took refuge in tunnelled +galleries running to the right of the main fort, called Schuler Farm. +Some of our men fought through the enfilade fire of machine-guns as far +as the slopes of Hill 35, and to the right of this the Scots made a +gallant and fierce assault towards Bremen Redoubt. + + * * * * * + +AUGUST 30 + +The sky of Flanders is still full of wind and water, and heavy +rain-storms driven by the gale sweep over the battlefield, flinging down +trees already broken by shell-fire. Behind the lines some of the +hop-fields round Poperinghe and other villages are sadly wrecked. Many +of the hop-poles have fallen, and the long trailing hops lie all tangled +in the mire. Many telephone wires were down also just after the gale, +and the signallers had a rough windy time in getting them up again. But +it is on the field of battle that this weather matters most, and there +in such places as Glencorse Wood and Inverness Copse and Sanctuary Wood +on our side of the lines, the linked shell-craters are ponds. In and +between them is a quagmire. + +I write of Glencorse Wood and Inverness Copse rather than of the ground +farther north, in the valley of the Steenbeek, though that is just as +bad, or a little worse, because yesterday I went to see the troops of +the 14th Division who made the last attack in those sinister woodlands +in the track of the London men who fought there so desperately on July +31. + +The last attack, beginning on August 22, was made by light-infantry +regiments, among whom were the Duke of Cornwall's and the Somerset Light +Infantry. They were fine well-trained men--trained hard and trained long +in the tactics of assault--and though they took ground which they could +not hold, because the enemy was in great strength against them and they +were weakened after hard fighting in frightful ground, they held off +repeated counter-attacks and indicted great loss upon the enemy, and +held their original line intact against most fierce assaults. The +enemy's storm troops advanced against them through Inverness Copse, and +in encircling movements which tried to get round and through their +flanks again and again during two days of violent fighting, they +counter-attacked behind the barrage-fire of many batteries, so that all +the ground held by our men was swept by high explosives and shrapnel +hour after hour, and when these waves of Saxons and Prussians were +broken or repulsed, others came with a sheet of flame before them--from +"flammenwerfer" machines, which project fire like water from a fireman's +hose. Our riflemen and light infantry did not break before this +advancing furnace, but fired into the heart of it, and saw some of the +"flammenwerfer" men go up in their own flame like moths bursting in the +light of a candle with loud reports, "a loud pop" as the men describe +it, so that nothing of them was left but a little smoke and a few +cinders. + +But that was at the end of the battle, and the light-infantry battalions +had fought through terrible hours before they faced that last ordeal. +Before the attack they held a line opposite Glencorse Wood on the left +and running down on the right past Stirling Castle, the old German fort +above a nest of dug-outs, which has become famous in all this fighting. +In front of them lay Inverness Copse, a thousand yards long by 500 deep, +with many concrete blockhouses hidden, or half hidden, among the fallen +trees and tattered stumps and upheaved earth of this blasted wood; and +north-east of that, ruins of an old chateau called Herenthage Castle. + +Facing our left were three lines of battered trenches north of Inverness +Copse, and two blockhouses called L-shaped Farm--on an aeroplane +photograph it looks exactly like the capital letter--and Fitzclarence +Farm. These places were strongly garrisoned, and the German +machine-gunners were safe within their concrete walls from any +shell-splinters. Our barrage swept on to the enemy's lines, flung up the +earth, crashed among the trees, and tore all this belt of land to chaos, +where already it was deeply cratered by the earlier bombardment. Behind +that barrage went over the light-infantry battalions, and immediately +they came under gusts of machine-gun fire from the blockhouses which +still stood intact. It was then 7 o'clock in the morning. They forced +their way into Inverness Copse, followed by some Tanks, and roved round +one of the blockhouses, where thirty Germans sat inside with their steel +doors shut and their machine-guns firing through the loopholes. Some +sappers were sent for, and blew in the doors, and the garrison were +killed fighting. + +The Duke of Cornwall's men were checked for a time by machine-gun fire +from Glencorse Wood, and advance waves were held up round a blockhouse +with a garrison of sixty men north of Inverness Copse, but after fierce +fighting this place fell, and not a man escaped. The Somerset Light +Infantry passed on, and fought their way to the rubbish-heap called +Herenthage Chateau, where a hundred and twenty Germans of the 145th +Infantry Regiment held out in concrete chambers. Only their officer +remained alive after the fighting here, and he was brought in a +prisoner. + +The Somersets established themselves in their goal with posts in front +of Inverness Copse and Herenthage Castle, but on the left the Cornish +lads were held up by machine-gun fire east of "Clapham Junction," where +there was another fortified farm with sixty men and six machine-guns +inside. A Tank came up and sat outside the place, firing point-blank at +its walls, and the Cornwalls followed it and burst the doors in and +fought until again not a single German remained alive, after a terrible +bayonet contest. So the attack had succeeded, but with forces now +heavily reduced. It was now ten o'clock in the morning. The story that +follows is one long series of counter-attacks. It began with a barrage +which came down with a tempest of shells half-way through Inverness +Copse. For miles around the German batteries concentrated their fire on +this ground and raked it. From the east of Inverness Copse, and at the +same time from the south, storming parties of Germans advanced behind +this great gun-fire and, though the first attack was broken and then the +second by rifles and machine-guns, a third developed in greater +strength. A runner came down from the Somersets--one of those brave +runners who all day long and next day worked to and fro through dreadful +barrage-fire until many were killed and other men went out to search for +those dead boys and look for their dispatches, unless they had been +blown to bits. The message from the Somersets reported that they could +not hold on. They were being enclosed on both flanks, and proposed to +fall back half-way through Inverness Copse, and this was done. Some +reserves from light-infantry battalions were thrown in to strengthen the +line, and the Cornwalls threw out a defensive flank with strong points. + +At midday another attack was made on the Somersets, and driven off by +rifles and machine-guns, and at two o'clock they reported that the enemy +was massing in an attempt to turn their left flank, which was then +weak. The artillery answered an urgent call, and the German assembly was +destroyed. So the evening came and the night, and the Light Infantry +held on east of Stirling Castle and partly in Inverness Copse with many +dead and wounded about them, and lines of German dead in front of them, +awaiting riflemen coming to their support. + +In a brigade headquarters a group of officers waited more anxiously for +this help, having more responsibility. They sat with wet towels about +their heads and eyes, in poisonous fumes and dreadful stenches which +crept down from above, where heavy shells burst incessantly, shaking all +the earth and blowing out the candles. The concrete ceiling bulged in. +Runners came in white-faced and shaking, after frightful journeys, and +officers bent to the candlelight to read scribbled messages sent down by +hard-pressed men. Outside were the groans of wounded men. + +At dawn, Tanks went out to attack the strong points north of Inverness +Copse, where the enemy had rallied again, and one of them approached +Fitzclarence Farm and broke up a counter-attacking preparation there. +Some Germans ran into the blockhouse there and shot down the steel doors +and lay doggo. Others came out of a trench to attack the Tank, but fled +before the fire. Later in the morning German aeroplanes came out and +flew very low and played their machine-guns on to our men, but without +doing much harm. + +From 1 A.M. to 3.30 A.M. the enemy kept a terrific barrage over all our +ground, and then flamed out all along the line the signal of a new +counter-attack. It was the "flammenwerfer" attack against the Duke of +Cornwall's Light Infantry, and the whole sky was red with the light of +these advancing fire-jets. For a time, in spite of the enemy's heavy +losses, the Cornwalls had to retire before these far-reaching flames, +but they rallied and went forward again, driving the enemy part of the +way back, where he was swept by our artillery-fire. The enemy kept up a +steady barrage-fire over three wide belts, and an officer who went up to +report the position had the worst hours of his life on that journey +through bursting shells and over the fields of dead. But in spite of a +message that had come down reporting a new withdrawal, it was found that +the line was intact, and that the thin ranks of Light Infantry and +King's Royal Rifles had beaten back all the enemy's assaults, and had +destroyed their spirit for further attacks by most deadly losses. We +could not hold Inverness Copse, but the fighting here was worthy of men +who, during two years of war, have fought with steadfast courage and +have many acts of heroism in their long record. + + + + +XIII + +THE SLAUGHTER-HOUSE OF LENS + + +AUGUST 23 + +One day, when it is possible to get in and around Lens, the veil will be +torn from a human charnel-house, or, rather, from charnel-houses which +none of us may yet enter or see through the drifting smoke. Yesterday I +looked down on Lens and saw its roofless buildings and its gaping walls, +but I could only guess at the scenes which are hidden below ground there +in the tunnels where the Germans assemble for their counter-attacks +against the Canadians, and to which they drag back their dead and +wounded. Those places must reek with the smell of death and corruption, +for the losses of the Prussian Guards during the last few and of other +divisions who have come up against the Canadians, have been, I am told +and believe, enormous. The Canadians tell me that their troops have +never had harder or more prolonged fighting, not even in their old days +of the Ypres salient nor on the Somme. Every hundred yards of the ground +they have taken, and during the last week or so they have taken +thousands of yards of open country and of ruined streets in and about +the mining cites, until they have forced their way into Lens itself, +have been contested by desperate fighting and held against unceasing +counter-attacks delivered by great bodies of picked German troops +supported by monstrous bombardments. Imagination can, if it likes, +picture the slaughter involved in all this to those German assault +troops, because they have not succeeded in gaining their purpose, and +counter-attacks like that, in those numbers and in that strength, are +shattered when they do not succeed. It is a wonderful tribute to the +Canadians and to their grim tenacity that, after all the repeated +counter-attacks against them, and after storms of fire from batteries +which have increased in number every day, they hold their lines round +Lens intact as they stood on August 15 and 16, and have gained an entry +into the streets of Lens and swung up southwards with increasing +pressure. + +Lens is packed tight with German troops. They belong to the 4th Guards +Division, and latterly to the 1st Guards Reserve, the crack division of +the German army, which had a month's rest at Cambrai before being sent +into this slaughter-house. For although that city is tunnelled +throughout, all the cellars being linked up and strengthened with +massive concrete, so that even heavy shells cannot pierce down to them, +men cannot fight in tunnels if they are on the offensive, and must get +out of them to make their counter-attacks. It is at those times that +they suffer more hideously than in any other battle. + +Our aeroplanes are always watching for these assemblies. To take only +one case out of many, they reported a mass of men in a certain square of +Lens the day before yesterday. Our guns turned on to them, not only our +field-guns but our heavies, up to those howitzers which could batter +down a massive fortress after a few rounds. Men under the fire of such +shells as those things send do not escape in great numbers. Most of them +die. The Prussians in the square of Lens were caught by this hurricane +fire, and before they could get into the tunnels many were blown to +bits. + +Yesterday as I looked down on Lens the fire had quietened on both sides, +as though the guns were tired. For several minutes at a time there was a +great quietude over the city of doom, and as the afternoon sun lay warm +upon its red walls, and cast black shadows across its deserted streets, +where no single figure walked, it was hard to believe that a few hours +before swarms of men had been fighting on the edge of those houses, and +that the place was full of new dead and old. The water of the Souchez +river was as blue as the sky, which was deep bright blue above wispy +clouds. A little light glinted from the white church tower which a shell +has smashed off at the top. Perhaps some German officer was there +staring through his glasses, or perhaps it was only a bit of metal +caught by the sun. A smoke-barrage drifted densely across the northern +side of the city, and every now and then there came a sharp vicious +hammering of machine-guns to show that somewhere in those ruins men wore +alive and watchful. Then the guns got busy again, but in a slow, +unhurried way. The enemy had a hate against the outer edge of Lievin, +and every two minutes smote it with a great shell, which burst with big +billowing smoke-clouds, and a flash which was followed by a low, sullen +roar. He flung shells as big as this into Angres and Avion, but seemed +to rely on machine-gun fire to barrage our lines nearest to his own. +Behind me to the right were some of our big howitzers, old friends of +mine, whose voices I prefer at a mile or two's distance. They tuned up +their bass viols and played their dead march. Perhaps it was their +shells I saw smashing on to the German defences. Rosy clouds went up, +and in those clouds the dust of red-brick houses went up, too, leaving +gaps of nothingness where the buildings had once been. There was a +kite-balloon in the sky behind me with the wispy clouds like white +horse-tails all curled about it, and presently there came riding above +it several coveys of aeroplanes, so that the sky was filled with their +loud drone-song. They flew round about Lens, and only a few German +"Archies" tried to strafe them with bursts of shrapnel. They flew not +very high above the mining city, circling round and round like hawks +before swooping to their prey. The guns were loud but shrill; and sweet +and clear above them a bugle sounded from some camp of ours behind the +lines among the cornfields all gold and glowing in the evening light, +with a little shadow sleeping beside each stook; and it blew the evening +retreat. It is the first time I have heard a bugle play that call so +near to the guns, and it stirred one's heart with a queer sense of +emotion, as though its music belonged to the spirit world. The night +closed down on the battlefields but did not bring peace. Below the stars +there were many strange lights and fires and sounds. A tall bank of +clouds was pierced with lightning so like shell-fire, except for a +longer tremor of light, that men looked and wondered what devilry was on +over there in the back areas. The devilry was round about. It was time +for the German raiders to come out under the cover of darkness, and they +came and dropped their bombs over quiet villages and among the +cornfields and the hop-gardens. The explosions came up with sharp +flashes and gruff roars from dark fields between black belts of trees. +From the earth hands of light stretched up, reaching up to the clouds +and touching them with their finger-tips. They felt their way for those +flying raiders, groped about like hands searching in a dark room, and +then clasped each other. In the archway below their long straight arms +shrapnel glinted like confetti. Our anti-aircraft guns had got their +target. Along the lines rockets were rising, giving a second or two of +white steady light to No Man's Land, with fringes of trees etched +blackly against it. Somewhere a dump--ours or the enemy's--had been hit, +and the clouds above it were tipped with scarlet flame. So then the +night scene began as usual, and as it is played out below the stars +every night. And somewhere in Lens the Prussians were preparing for a +new counter-attack, while German doctors in deep tunnels stared down +upon a mass of wounded which was their day's harvest. Into one of the +houses there the night before, where fifteen German soldiers lay in the +cellar after a day of prodigious fighting, a party of Canadian raiders +appeared and dragged them all out to a ditch over the way in the +Canadian lines. Well may the German prisoners say to these men of ours, +"You give us no rest." There is never a night's rest in Lens nor round +about it unless men are put to sleep for ever. Many of them were put to +sleep by thousands of gas-shells fired into the town by our artillery a +night ago as an answer to German gas. Perhaps they were glad of it, for +the wakeful hours in Lens must be hell on earth. + + * * * * * + +AUGUST 24 + +To the south of Lens there is a slag-heap overgrown with weeds called +the Green Crassier. It is clearly visible across the Souchez river +beyond a broken bridge, and I have often seen it from the lower slopes +of Vimy. It was the scene of fierce fighting yesterday, for in the +morning the Canadians, who are showing an indomitable spirit after ten +days of most furious attacks and counter-attacks, launched an assault +upon it and seized the position. Later in the day the enemy came back in +strength and, after violent efforts, succeeded in thrusting the +Canadians off the crest of this old mound of cinders, though they still +cling to the western side. It is another incident in the long series of +fierce and bloody encounters which since the battle of Vimy, on April 9, +have surrounded the city of Lens and given to its streets and suburbs a +sinister but historic fame. The Canadians have fought here with +astounding resolution. They have hurled themselves against fortress +positions, and by sheer courage have smashed their way through streets +entangled with quick-set hedges of steel, through houses alive with +machine-gun fire, through trenches dug between concrete forts, through +tunnels under red-brick ruins, sometimes too strong to be touched by +shell-fire, and through walls loopholed for rifle-fire and hiding +machine-gun emplacements designed to enfilade the Canadian line of +advance. Through the cites of St.-Laurent, St.-Theodore, and St.-Emilie, +to the north and west of Lens, they have fought past high slag-heaps and +pit-heads, along railway embankments, and down sunken roads, until they +have broken a route through frightful defences to the western streets of +the inner city. + +Every day, and sometimes many times a day, they have been +counter-attacked by swarms of Germans coming up out of their tunnels, +and between these attacks they have been under terrific gun-fire from a +wide semicircle of heavy batteries. In the early days of the war the +French fought like this through the streets of Vermelles, smashing their +way from one wall to another, from one house to another, and over +trenches dug across the streets. That fighting in Vermelles stands as +one of the most frightful episodes of the war, and when I first went +there I stood aghast at the relics of this bloody struggle. But +Vermelles is hardly more than a village, and the mining district of +Lens, with all its suburbs, covers several square miles of ground, so +that the Canadians have had a longer and a harder task. Six German +divisions have attacked them in turn, and have been shattered against +them. These are the 7th and 8th, the 4th Guards Division, the 11th +Reserve, the 220th, and the 1st Guards Reserve Division. In addition to +these six divisions, some portions, at any rate, of the 185th Division +and of the 36th Reserve Division have been engaged. The total German +strength used at Lens must well exceed fifty battalions, and the German +losses may perhaps be estimated at between 12,000 to 15,000 men. + +The Canadians themselves have been hard pressed at times, but have +endured the exhaustion of a savage struggle with amazing strength of +spirit, grimly and fiercely resolved to hold their gains, unless +overwhelmed by numbers in their advanced positions, as it has sometimes +happened to them. But it is no wonder that some of the men whom I met +yesterday coming out of that city of blood and death looked like men who +had suffered to the last limit of mental and bodily resistance. Their +faces were haggard and drawn. Their eyes were heavy. Their skin was grey +as burnt ash. Some of them walked like drunken men, drunk with sheer +fatigue, and as soon as they had reached their journey's end some of +them sat under the walls of a mining village with their chalky helmets +tilted back, drugged by the need of sleep, but too tired even for that. +They were men of the battalions who three days ago came face to face +with the enemy in No Man's Land, a stretch of barren cratered earth +between St.-Emilie and the northern streets of Lens, and fought him +there until many dead lay strewn on both sides, and their ammunition was +exhausted. An officer of one of these battalions came out of a miner's +cottage to talk to me. He was a very young man with a thin, clean-shaven +face, which gave him a boyish look. He was too weary to stand straight +and too weary to talk more than a few jerky words. He leaned up against +the wall of the miner's cottage, and passed a hand over his face and +eyes, and said: + +"I'm darned tired. It was the hell of a fight. We fought to a finish, +and when we had no more bombs of our own we picked up Heine's bombs and +used those." [The Canadians call their enemy Heine and not Fritz.] +"Heine was at least three times as strong as us, and we gave him hell. +It was hand-to-hand fighting--rifles, bombs, bayonets, butt-ends, any +old way of killing a man, and we killed a lot. But he broke our left +flank, and things were bloody in the centre. He had one of his strong +points there, and swept us with machine-gun fire. My fellows went +straight for it, and a lot of them got wiped out. But we got on top of +it and through the wire, and held the trench beyond until Heine came +down with swarms of bombers." + +This young Canadian officer was stricken by the loss of many of his men. +"The best crowd that any fellow could command," and he had been through +indescribable things under enormous shell-fire, and he had had no sleep +for days and nights, and could not sleep now for thinking of things. But +he smiled grimly once or twice when he reckoned up the enemy's losses. +The remembrance of the German dead he had seen seemed like strong wine +to his soul. "We made them pay," was his summing up of the battle. The +nightmare of it all was still heavy on him, and he spoke with a quiet +fierceness about the enemy's losses and the things he had endured in a +way which would scare poor, simple souls who think that war is a fine +picturesque business. + +A senior officer of a battalion on the flank of his was a different type +of man--a very tall, strong-featured man of middle age, like an English +squire of the old style, with a fine smiling light in his eyes, in spite +of all he had been through, and with a vivid way of speech that would +not come fast enough to say splendid things about his men, to describe +the marvellous way in which they had fought in frightful conditions, to +praise first one and then another for the things they had done when +things were at their worst. He had been addressing some of the survivors +of this battle when I came upon him, and I saw them march away, +straightening themselves up before this officer of theirs, and proud +because he was pleased with them. He thanked them for one thing above +all, and that was for the gallant way in which, after all their +fighting, they had gone out to fetch in their dead and wounded, so that +not one wounded man lay out there to die or to be taken prisoner, and +the dead were brought back for burial. He said a word, too, for Heine, +as they call him. The Germans had not sniped or machine-gunned the +stretcher-bearers, but had sent their own men out on the same mission +too. That was after the battle, and there was no surrendering while the +fighting was on. + +This officer's story was as wonderful as anything I have heard in this +war. And the man himself was wonderful, for he had had no sleep for six +days and nights, and had suffered the fearful strain of his +responsibility for many men's lives; yet now, when I met him straight +from all that, he was bright-eyed and his mind was as clear as a bell, +and the emotion that surged through him was well controlled. He +described the things I have attempted to describe before--the fortified +streets and houses of Lens, which make it one great fortress, tunnelled +from end to end with exits into concrete forts two yards thick in +cement, in the ruined cottages. On the morning of our attack the enemy +was expecting it, and within a minute and a half of our barrage put down +his own barrage with terrific intensity. So there were the Canadians +between two walls of high explosives, and it was between that inferno +that they fought in the great death struggle. For the Canadians had +already advanced towards the enemy's line, and in greater numbers--three +times as great--he had advanced to ours, and the two forces met on the +barren stretch of earth crossed by twisted trenches, which for a time +had been No Man's Land. + +While the battalion on the left was heavily engaged fighting with rifles +and bombs until their ammunition gave out, and then with bayonets and +butt-ends, the battalion on the right was working southward and eastward +to the northern outskirts of Lens. They came up at once against the +fortress houses from which machine-gun and rifle fire poured out. The +Canadians in small parties tried to surround these places, but many were +swept down. Some of them rushed close to the walls of one house, which +was a bastion of the northern defences of Lens, and were so close that +the machine-guns, through slits in the walls, could not fire at them. +They even established a post behind it and beyond it, quite isolated +from the rest of their men, but clinging to their post all day. The +enemy dropped bombs upon them through the loopholes and sand-bagged +windows, fired rifle-grenades at them, and tried to get machine-guns at +them, but there were always a few men left to hold the post, until at +last, when the line withdrew elsewhere, they were recalled. One house +near here, into which a party of Canadians forced their way, was a big +arsenal. Its cellars were crammed with shells and piled boxes of bombs. +In other cellars were dead bodies, and the stench of corruption mingled +with the stale vapour of gas. Down in one of these vaults a young +Canadian soldier stayed with his officer, who was badly wounded, and +could not leave him, but waited until night, when he carried the officer +back to safety. + +Before that night came there were great German counter-attacks. Masses +of men carrying nothing but stick-bombs, which they had slung around +them, advanced down the communication-trenches and flung these things at +the Canadians of the left battalion, who were fighting out in the open, +and in another communication-trench with the right battalion. The enemy +walked over the piled corpses of his own dead before he could drive back +the Canadians, but by repeated storming parties he did at last force +them to give way and retreat down the trench to gain the support of +their comrades of the other battalion, which had not been so hard +pressed. These came to the rescue, and for a long time held the German +grenadiers at bay. The fighting was fierce and savage on both sides. + +At last, weakened by their losses and with failing stores of ammunition, +these two battalions were given the order to retire to a trench farther +back, and the survivors of the most desperate action in Canadian +history withdrew, still fighting, and established blocks in the +communication-trenches down which the enemy was bombing, so that they +could not pass those points to the line upon which here on the north of +Lens the Canadians had fallen back. Southward there had been no +withdrawal, and other battalions had forced their way forward a good +distance, shutting up that entrance to the city and getting down into +the deep tunnels, over which there howled the unceasing fire of the +German heavies. Our own guns were hard at work, and I have already told +how the Prussians were destroyed in the square of Lens by 12-inch shells +and shrapnel. + +I could write more, but I have written enough. The Canadians never had +fighting so hard as this, but the losses they have inflicted upon the +enemy have made Lens a Prussian tomb, so that its tunnels are death +vaults. The heart of the city is still a fortress, and the new garrison +is still strong there, so that, like Thiepval, which held out for many +weeks after it was enclosed on three sides, Lens will not fall in a +night. But as a dwelling-place for German troops it is a city of +abomination and dreadfulness. + + + + +XIV + +THE AGONY OF ARMENTIERES + + +SEPTEMBER 15 + +The harvests of France and Flanders have been gathered in, and already +the plough, driven by men too old to fight or boys too small and young, +or by peasant women whose men are somewhere near St.-Quentin or Verdun, +is turning up the stubble in the fields and making a brown landscape +where three weeks ago it was all gold and bronze. + +The trees are turning brown also, deepening to a reddish tint in all the +woods between Boulogne and the battlefields, where there are only dead +trees. Round about Poperinghe the trailing hops have been pulled down +from their poles, already stripped in places by last month's gale, and +the sticks are all bare. Outside the wooden huts built on the edge of +war by refugees from Ypres and shell-broken villages, Flemish women sit +with the hops in their laps and in great baskets beside them, and +British soldiers on the march with dry throats exchange remarks about +the good beer which they may never have the luck to drink. White +cloud-mountains which turn black and threaten a deluge between bursts of +sunshine are banked up above the russet foliage and the brown earth and +the old black windmills which wave their arms across the landscape, and +in the wind there is a smell of moisture and mist, and the first faint +sniff of rotting leaves. It is the autumn touch--the autumn touch of a +war in which some of us have seen four harvests gathered into French +barns and four winters come. It makes one feel a bit sad, that thought. +It puts an autumn touch for a second or two into the souls of men coming +back from leave as I came back with some of them two days ago. + +By day the sky out here is full of interest, for one cannot go anywhere +near the lines without seeing that aerial activity which has become +intense and fierce lately. Yesterday I saw a great flight of our +aeroplanes over the dead town of Armentieres. There were between twenty +and thirty of them making their way over the German lines, and the enemy +hated the sight of them. His anti-aircraft guns got to work savagely and +bursts of black shrapnel filled the sky all about those steady wings, +but did not bring them down. He hated other aircraft watching over his +lines--a long line of kite-balloons, "clustered like grapes," as some +one described them, in our side of the sky. They were as white as snow +when the sun touched them, and made tempting targets for long-range +guns. Some German gunners registered on one of them nearest to +Armentieres, and I saw a terrific burst of yellow smoke, so close to it +that it seemed like a hit. But the smoke cleared, and the kite balloon +stayed calmly on its wire, and there was no parachute demonstration by +our observers in the basket. The drone of our aeroplanes and the reports +of German anti-aircraft guns made the only noise in Armentieres--that +and the sound of two men's footsteps as I and another walked through the +streets of that town which is dead. + +It is a queer thing to walk through a big town out of which all life has +gone, and queer to me especially in Armentieres, because I knew it not +long ago when there were many women and girls about its streets, and +when one could take one's choice of tea-shops--though only eighteen +hundred yards away from the German line--and get an excellent little +dinner in more than one restaurant. One could have one's hair cut and a +shampoo to the musical accompaniment of field-batteries outside the +town, and buy most of the things a man wants in the simple life of war +(except peace) in shops kept by brave Frenchwomen--women too brave and +too rash because they lived within 1800 yards of the enemy's line as +though it were eighteen miles. Armentieres was a modern little +manufacturing town for lace and thread, with neat red-brick houses kept +by well-to-do people who liked good comfortable furniture, and put a +piano into their front parlour and a little marble Venus and other +knick-knacks of art on the drawing-room table as a proof of good taste +above the mere sordid interest of money-making. + +For a long time in the war that town has been known to British soldiers +who have passed it on their way to Plug Street as "Armentears." They +made friends with some of the girls in the tea-shops, and said "Hallo, +granny! Tray bong!" to old ladies who sold them picture post cards. Now +it is a town of tears to any people who once lived there. The tea-shops +have been smashed to bits and the women and the girls have gone, unless +their bodies lie in the cellars beneath the ruins. The agony of +Armentieres began at the end of June, when the enemy first began to +bombard it with systematic violence, and though there is no life left in +it the broken houses are still battered by more shells when the enemy's +gunners have nothing else to do. When I walked through its streets +yesterday I was the witness of the horror that had passed. The German +bombardment began quite suddenly one night, and the old women and the +girls and the children were in their beds. They rushed down into their +cellars, not for the first time, because during nearly three years of +war stray shells had often come into the town. But never like this. +These were not random shells, scattered here and there. They came with a +steady and frightful violence into every part of the town, sweeping down +street after street, blowing houses to dust, knocking the fronts off the +shops, playing fantastic, horrible tricks of choosing and leaving, as +shell-fire does in any town of this size. There were gas-shells among +the high explosives, and their poison filtered down into the cellars. A +fire broke out in one of the squares beyond the old church of St.-Vaast, +and the houses were gutted by flames, which licked high above their +roofless walls. + +The fires were out when I walked there yesterday, and the church of +St.-Vaast was surrounded by its own ruins--great blocks of masonry +hurled from its dome and buttresses amidst a mass of broken glass. +Inside there is a tragic ruin, and rows of cane chairs lie in wild chaos +among the broken pillars and the piled stones. The pipes of the great +organ have been flung out of their framework, but curiously the side +altars, with the figures of apostles and saints, and the central figure +of the Sacred Heart, are hardly touched, and stand unscathed amidst this +great destruction. There is nothing new in all this. For three years I +have been walking through destroyed towns and villages, but it has the +grim interest of recent history, and Armentieres is the scene of a +tragedy to its civilian population which makes one's heart ache with a +new revolt against this monstrous cruelty of war upon the innocent and +the helpless. + +It was easy to see what had happened during those days and nights of +terror some weeks ago. I looked into the blown-out fronts of little +shops and houses, and saw how everything had been abandoned in that rush +of women and children to the cellars. In spite of the wreckage of the +upper stories and of the walls about them, some of the rooms were +intact. Here were the remains of an estaminet, with its cash-box on the +bar counter, and games such as soldiers love--dominoes and darts, and +quoits and bagatelle, set out as though for an evening's entertainment. +Here was a chemist's shop, with many bottles unbroken on the shelves, +though most of the house was blown across the street. I looked through a +hole in the wall to a drawing-room, with a piano, standing amid a litter +of broken furniture, as though some madman had wreaked his fury on the +sofa and chairs. + +But it was in the cellars that the pitiful drama had been--in those +cellars down which I peered wondering whether any poor bodies lay there +still. The shells had pierced down to some of the women hiding in them. +Poison-gas came to choke some of them. Rescue parties of our R.A.M.C. +went into Armentieres immediately to get the poor creatures away, and +risked their lives a score of times on each journey they made. It is an +amazing thing that even then, in spite of their terror and their agony +and their wounds, many of the old women could hardly be made to leave +the town, and clung desperately to their homes, though these had fallen +down on top of them. + +Outside Armentieres yesterday I met one of the R.A.M.C. lads who had +helped in this rescue work--he has been given a Military Medal for +it--and he told me of his trouble with two old ladies when things were +at their worst. Neither had a rag of clothing on except the blankets he +wrapped round them as they lay on stretchers; but when his attention +wandered from them, owing to shells which burst close to the ambulance, +one of these old dames scrambled up and ran off naked down the street. +He went after her, and on his return found that the other old lady had +given him the slip. + +He had astounding experiences, this Wessex boy who is an expert in +bandaging wounds, and through many days of dreadfulness and many nights +he worked in Armentieres under heavy fire, and did not turn a hair. He +was such a Mark Tapley that when everything was falling about him and +Hell was let loose he became more and more cheerful and refused to take +things seriously. + +"I don't think I ever laughed so much," he told me yesterday. "I don't +know how it was, but I couldn't help seeing the comical side of it all, +in spite of the ghastly sights." I suppose this boy's sense of humour +was touched by the monstrous idiocy of the shell-fire, which produced +effects like those on a music-hall stage when the funny man breaks all +the crockery and brings the roof down over his head. He laughed like +anything when he was shelled out of his makeshift dressing-station on +one side of the street, and had to establish his quarters on the other +side of another street. + +"How's it going, my lad!" asked his officer, who came to visit the aid +post. + +"Well, sir," he answered, "it's rather hotter than the last place, +except for direct hits." + +He laughed "like anything" again when a shell came through the kitchen +and smashed up the stove, and failed to kill an old lady, already +covered with bruises but very talkative. He laughed again when they had +to pack up traps in a hurry, with the stiff body of a small dead child +on the top of the kit and a barrage down the street. + +"This is the funniest old show I ever did see," was the comment of the +boy from Wessex, and certainly, when one comes to think of it, it is a +funny thing that such things should happen in this civilized world of +ours and in this Christian age. But the boy from Wessex, and others like +him, did not let their sense of humour get the better of their pity or +their work of rescue. They crawled out and dragged in the bodies of +dead or wounded people. + +Down below in the cellars was a crowd of poor people, mostly women and +girls, and when the shell-fire was at its height their wailing and their +prayers were rather troublesome to the Wessex boy and his comrades +upstairs bandaging the wounded. The R.A.M.C. men, at most deadly risk to +themselves, managed to clear most of the cellars, carrying out the +people on shutters, and taking them away in ambulances to hospitals. To +one of these casualty clearing-stations was brought a boy of nineteen, +who had been gassed. He was a life-long paralytic and wizened like an +old man, and deaf and dumb. Nobody knew where he had come from or to +whom he belonged, but he had one creature faithful to him. It was a +small dog, who came on the stretcher with him, sitting on his chest. It +watched close to him when he lay in the hospital, and went away with +him, sitting on his chest again, when he was sent farther away to +another clearing-station. This dog's fidelity to the paralysed boy, who +was deaf and dumb and gassed, seems to men who have seen many sights of +war and this agony in Armentieres the most pitiful thing they know. + +Yesterday, apart from the knocking of anti-aircraft guns and the drone +of our planes, it was all quiet there, and I walked through the silent +streets over the broken bricks and glass, and was startled by the utter +death of the town. For this quietude and ruin of a place that one has +seen full of life gives one a sinister sensation, and one is frightened +by one's loneliness. + + + + +XV + +THE BATTLE OF MENIN ROAD + + +SEPTEMBER 20 + +Our troops attacked this morning before six o'clock on a wide front +north and south of the Ypres-Menin road, and have gained important +ground all along the line. It is ground from which during the past six +weeks there has been that heroic and desperate fighting which I have +described as best I could in my daily messages, giving even at the best +only a vague idea of the difficulties encountered by those men of ours +who made great sacrifices in great endeavours. It is the ground which +in the centre rises up through the sinister woodlands of Glencorse Copse +and Inverness Wood to the high ground of Polygon Wood and the spurs of +the Passchendaele Ridge, which form the enemy's long defensive barrier +to the east of the Ypres salient. Until that high land was taken +progress was difficult for our troops on the left across the Steenbeek, +as the enemy's guns could still hold commanding positions. The ground +over which our men have swept this morning had been assaulted again and +again by troops who ignored their losses, and attacked with a most +desperate and glorious courage, yet failed to hold what they gained for +a time, because their final goal was attained with weakened forces after +most fierce and bloody fighting. The Empire knows who those men +were--the old English county regiments, who never fought more gallantly; +the Scots, who only let go of their forward positions under overwhelming +pressure and annihilating fire; the Irish divisions, who suffered the +most supreme ordeal, and earned new and undying honour by the way they +endured the fire of many guns for many days. As long as history lasts, +the name of these woods, from which most of the trees have been swept, +and of these bogs and marshes which lie about them, will be linked with +the memory of those brave battalions who fought through them again and +again. They are not less to be honoured than those who with the same +courage, just as splendid, attacked once more, over the same tracks, +past the same death-traps, and achieved success. By different methods, +by learning from what the first men had suffered, this last attack has +not as yet been high in cost, and we hold what the enemy has used all +his strength and cunning to prevent us getting. He used much cunning and +poured up great reserves of men and guns to smash our assaulting lines. +For the first time on July 31 we came up against his new and fully +prepared system of defence, and discovered the power of it. Abandoning +the old trench system which we could knock to pieces with artillery, he +made his forward positions without any definite line, and built a large +number of concrete blockhouses, so arranged in depth that they defended +each other by enfilade fire, and so strong that nothing but a direct hit +from one of our heavier shells would damage it. And a direct hit is very +difficult on a small mark like one of those concrete houses, holding +about ten to twenty men at a minimum, and fifty to sixty in their +largest. These little garrisons were mostly machine-gunners and picked +men specially trained for outpost work, and they could inflict severe +damage on an advancing battalion, so that the forward lines passing +through and beyond them would be spent and weak. Then behind in reserve +lay the German "Stosstruppen," specially trained also for +counter-attacks, which were launched in strong striking forces against +our advanced lines after all their struggle and loss. Those blockhouses +proved formidable things--hard nuts to crack, as the soldiers said who +came up against them. There are scores of them whose names will be +remembered through a lifetime by men of many battalions, and they cost +the lives of many brave men. Beck House and Borry Farm belong to Irish +history. Wurst Farm and Winnipeg, Bremen Redoubt and Gallipoli, Iberian +and Delva Farm, are strongholds round which many desperate little +battles, led by young subalterns or sergeants, have taken place on the +last day of July and on many days since. English and Scots have taken +turns in attacking and defending such places as Fitzclarence Farm, +Northampton Farm, and Black Watch Corner in the dreadful region of +Inverness Copse and Glencorse Wood. To-day the hard nut of the concrete +blockhouse has been cracked by a new method of attack and by a new +assault, planned with great forethought, and achieved so far with high +success. + +Among the troops engaged on the 2nd Army front were the Australians and +South-Africans, Welsh and Scottish battalions, and many of the old +English regiments, including the Cheshires, Warwicks, Worcesters, +Staffords, Wiltshires, Gloucesters, Berkshires, Oxford and Bucks, York +and Lancashires, Sherwood Foresters, and Rifle Brigade. The Divisions to +which they belonged were, from north to south, the 2nd Australians, 1st +Australians, the 23rd and 41st (with the 21st and 23rd in reserve), the +39th, the 19th, the 30th, 14th, and 8th. + +I should like to give the full details of the preparations which have +made this success possible and the methods by which some at least of the +terrors of the blockhouse have been laid low, but it cannot yet be done, +and it is enough now that good results have been attained. One thing was +against us as usual last night. After several fine days the weather +turned bad again, and last night many men must have looked up at the +sky, groaned, and said, "Just our luck." At half-past ten it began to +rain heavily, and all through the night there was a steady drizzle. It +was awful to think of that ground about the woodlands, already full of +water-holes and bogs, becoming more and more of a quagmire as the time +drew near when our men have to rise from the mud and follow the barrage +across the craters. All through the night our heavy guns were slogging, +and through the dark wet mist there was the blurred light of their +flashes. Before the dawn a high wind was raging at thirty miles an hour +across Flanders, and heavy water-logged clouds were only 400 feet above +the earth. How could our airmen see? When the attack began they could +not see even when they flew as low as 200 feet. They could see nothing +but smoke, which clung low to the battlefields, and they could only +guess the whereabouts of German batteries. Later, when some progress had +been made at most points of the attacking line, the sky cleared a +little, blue spaces showed through the black storm-clouds, and there +were gleams of sun striking aslant the mists. + +This sky on the salient was a strange vision, and I have seen nothing +like it since the war began. It was filled with little black specks like +midges, but each midge was a British aeroplane flying over the enemy's +lines. The enemy tried to clear the air of them, and his anti-aircraft +guns were firing wildly, so that all about them were puffs of black +shrapnel. Behind, closely clustered, were our kite-balloons, like +snow-clouds where they were caught by the light, staring down over the +battle, and in wide semicircles about the salient our heavy guns were +firing ceaselessly with dull, enormous hammer-strokes, followed by the +shrill cry of travelling shells making the barrage before our men, and +having blockhouses for their targets and building walls of flying steel +between the enemy and our attacking troops. In the near distance were +the strafed woods of old battle-grounds like the Wytschaete Ridge and +Messines, with their naked gallows-trees all blurred in the mist. + +Our men had lain out all night in the rain before the attack at +something before six. They were wet through to the skin, but it is +curious that some of them whom I saw to-day were surprised to hear it +had been raining hard. They had other things to think about. But some of +them did not think at all. Tired out in mind and body under the big +nervous strain which is there, though they may be unconscious of it, +they slept. "I was wakened by a friend just before we went over," said +one of them. The anxiety of the officers was intense for the hours to +pass before the enemy should get a hint of the movement. It seemed that +in one part of the line he did guess that something was in the wind and +in the mist. This was on the line facing Glencorse Wood. An hour or two +before the attack he put over a heavy barrage, but most of it missed the +heads of the battalions. There were many casualties, but the men stood +firm, never budging, and making no sound. They all thought that some of +their comrades must have been badly caught, but, as far as I can find, +it did not do great damage. + +All along the line the experience of the fighting was broadly the same. +Apart from local details and difficulties, the ground was not quite so +bad as had been expected, though bad enough, being greasy and boggy +after the rain, but not impassable. The shell-holes were water-logged, +and they were dangerously deep for badly wounded men who might fall in, +but for the others there was generally a way round over ground which +would hold, and our assaulting waves who led the advance were lightly +clad, and could go at a fair pace after the barrage. "I saw wounded men +fall in the shell-holes," said a Warwickshire lad to-day, "and God knows +how they got out again, unless the stretcher-bearers came up quick, as +most of them did; but as for me, I had lain in a shell-hole all night up +to the waist in mud, and I was careful to keep out of them." The barrage +ahead of them was terrific--the most appalling fence of shells that has +ever been placed before advancing troops in this war. All our men +describe it as wonderful. "Beautiful" is the word they use, because they +know what it means in safety to them. + +In the direction of Polygon Wood the plan of attack seems to have worked +like clockwork. The Australians moved forward behind the barrage stage +by stage, through Westhoek and Nonne Boschen, and across the Hanebeek +stream on their left, with hardly a check, in spite of the German +blockhouses scattered over this country. In those blockhouses the small +garrisons of picked troops had been demoralized, as any human beings +would be, by the enormous shell-fire which had been flung around them. +Some, but not all, it seems, of the blockhouses had been smashed, and in +those still standing the German machine-gunners got their weapons to +work with a burst or two of fire, but then, seeing our troops upon them, +were seized with fear, and made signs of surrender. At nine o'clock this +morning the good news came back that the Australians were right through +Glencorse Wood. Later messages showed that our troops were fighting +their way into Polygon Wood. They swept over the strong points at Black +Watch Corner, Northampton Farm, and Carlisle Farm. There was stiff +fighting round a blockhouse called Anzac Corner, east of the Hanebeek +stream, and it was necessary to organize two flank attacks and work +round it before the enemy machine-gun fire could be silenced by bombs. +In another case near here the enemy came out of a blockhouse ready to +attack, but when they saw our men swarming up, they lost heart and held +up their hands. It is difficult to know how many prisoners were taken +here in these woods and strong points. The men's estimates vary +enormously, some speaking of scores and others of hundreds. + +All this time the enemy's artillery reply was not exceptionally heavy, +and, though it was prompt to come after the first SOS signals went up +from his lines, it was erratic and varied very much in the success of +our counter-battery work, which all through the night and for days past +has been smothering his guns. South of the attack in Glencorse Copse and +Polygon Wood the assault in Inverness Copse and Shrewsbury Forest, +across the bog-lands round the Dumbarton Lakes, was made by English +battalions, including the Queen's, the East and West Kents, the +Northumberland Fusiliers, Sherwood Foresters, the King's Royal Rifles, +and the West Riding battalions. It was the vilest ground, low-lying and +flooded, and strewn with broken trees and choked with undergrowth, but +the troops here kept up a good pace, and flung themselves upon the +blockhouses which stood in their way. At an early hour our men were +reported to be on a ridge south-east of Inverness Copse and going strong +towards Veldhoek. The enemy's barrage came down too late, and one +officer, who was wounded by a shell-splinter, led his men, 160 of them, +to their first position with only nine casualties. + +Most of our losses to-day were from machine-gun fire out of the +blockhouses, and that varied very much at different parts of the line. +There was some trouble at Het Pappotje Farm in this way, where a party +of German machine-gunners put up a desperate resistance, shutting +themselves in behind steel doors before they were routed out by a +bombing fight. Southward from a strong point called Groenenburg, or +"Green Bug" Farm, to Opaque Wood by the Ypres-Comines Canal, the attack +by the Cheshires, Wiltshires, Warwicks, Staffords, and Gloucesters was +successful, though the enemy still holds out up to the time I write in +Hessian Wood, where he is defending himself in a group of blockhouses +against the Welsh Regiment and Royal Welsh Fusiliers. + +I have dealt so far with the centre of the attack, and I know very +little as to the fighting on the north by the 5th Army, except that the +Highlanders, London Territorials, Lancashire and Liverpool battalions, +and Scots and South-Africans have swept past a whole system of +blockhouses, like Beck House and Borry Farm, running up through +Gallipoli, Kansas Cross, and Wurst Farm, across the Langemarck-Zonnebeke +road. All through the morning our lightly wounded men came filtering +down to the safer places in the Ypres salient and then to the quiet +fields behind, and they were in grand spirits in spite of the mud which +caked them and the smart of their wounds. Some of them were brought down +on the trolley trains, which go almost as far as the battle-line, and +some in open buses, and some by German prisoners, but there were many +Germans among the wounded--some of them with very ghastly wounds, and +these took their place with ours and mingled with them in the +dressing-stations, and were given the same treatment. Our wounded told +some strange tales of their experiences, but there was no moan among +them, whatever they had suffered. + +One man of the Cheshires described to me how he saw a German officer run +out of a dug-out, which had been a blockhouse blown in at each end by +our heavy shell-fire, and make for another one which still stood intact. +With some of his comrades, our man chased him, and there was a great +fight in the second blockhouse before the survivors surrendered, among +them the officer, who gave to my friend a big china pipe and a case full +of cigars as souvenirs. He was killed afterwards by one of his own men, +who sniped him as he was walking back to our lines. In another strong +point there was a great and terrible fight. The Prussian garrison +refused to surrender, and a party of ours fought them until they were +destroyed. "It was more lively than Wytschaete," said a man who was in +this fight. "It was less tame-like, and the Fritzes put up a better +show." They fought hard round Prince's House and Jarrock's Farm and +Pioneer House, not far from Hollebeke Chateau. + +The prisoners I saw to-day were shaken men. Most of them were young +fellows of twenty-one, belonging to the 1916 class, and there were none +of the youngest boys among them. But they were white-faced and haggard, +and looked like men who had passed through a great terror, which indeed +was their fate. They belonged mostly to the 207th Prussian Division, and +had suffered before the battle from our great shell-fire, which had +caused many casualties among their reliefs and ration parties. Many +other prisoners belonged to the 121st Division. I can only give this +glimpse or two of the crowded scenes and the many details of to-day's +battle. To-morrow there will be time perhaps to write more, giving a +deeper insight into this day of good success, which is cheering after so +much desperate fighting--over the same fields, although never to so far +a goal. + + * * * * * + +SEPTEMBER 21 + +In spite of many German counter-attacks yesterday and many vain and +costly attempts to counter-attack to-day, we hold all the ground gained +by our men yesterday, except at one or two strong points, after their +victorious progress. This morning when I went again among the men who +have been fighting--there was a blue sky over the rags and tatters of +the City of Ypres, and behind the tall, solitary tree-stumps on the +ridge that goes up to Polygon Wood by way of Glencorse Copse, and all +the air was filled with the song of many aeroplanes--all that I learned +yesterday about the battle was made more certain by the narratives of +these young soldiers, who are proud and glad of what they call a real +good show. The wounded men walking down over the wide stretch of fields, +which are still under gun-fire, weak with loss of blood, suffering the +first pain of their wounds, and shaken by their experiences under shells +and machine-gun fire, spoke with a quiet enthusiasm of the day's +success, and said "It was easy" behind such a colossal barrage as our +guns rolled in front of them. Some of them in their eagerness went too +fast for the barrage in order to chase the enemy, and I have met +Australians here and there and some men of the Welsh Regiment, who +fought farther south, wounded because they ran in front of the +barrage-lines, and were caught in our shell-splinters. But that was a +rare episode, and along the whole line of attack the men followed the +moving walls of shells, vast shells that fling up masses of earth like +suburban villas, and the smaller shells that fell like confetti, all +glinting in the wet mist, and felt sure that the enemy in front of them, +would have lost all his fight when they reached his hiding-places, if +any lived. Many Germans died on that ground, so that the shell-holes +between the blockhouses are wet graves in which their bodies lie, and +many of the blockhouses which resisted so long in former attacks are +smashed, or at least so battered that the garrisons inside were dazed +and demoralized by the fearful hammering at their walls. + +There was a broad belt of death across that mile deep of woods and +ridges and barren fields, but here and there, as I have already told, +men stayed alive in the concrete houses and fought with their +machine-guns to the last, and even kept sniping from shell-holes in +which they had escaped, up to the time our troops reached them. They +were brave men, most of them, for it needs great courage to show any +fighting spirit after such a fury of gun-fire, and 50 per cent. of our +prisoners are wounded, as I have seen myself, and the others are haggard +and spent after their frightful adventure. An hour or two ago I met a +column of them on the road, marching down slowly through a ruined +village, and staring hollow-eyed at all the movement of our troops, at +all the transport behind our lines, at all our whistling, busy Tommies, +who glance back at them without any malice now that the battle is over. +In a dressing-station a young wounded German sprang to his feet as I +came in, and said, "Good day, sir," very politely, but the pallor of his +face was that of a dead man. The German officers who are prisoners show +the same kind of eagerness to salute, which is a rare thing for them, +and I hear that they do not disguise that yesterday was a day of great +defeat for themselves, and of great victory for us. The completeness and +quickness of it staggered them, and they speak of our barrage-fire as an +awful phenomenon that has undone all their plans and destroyed the new +method of defence which they believed could save them to the end. As +wounded men or prisoners they see things darkly, and we should be deep +in folly if we believed that all the enemy's strength of resistance is +destroyed. But at least this is clear after yesterday, that the new +German method of holding his lines lightly by small garrisons in +blockhouses, with reserves behind for counter-attacks, has broken down, +and by reverting to the old system of strong front lines he would suffer +again as he suffered in the Somme under the ferocity of our artillery. + +The German officers have hard words to say about their Higher Command +which has led them into this tragedy, and their own pride is broken. +Yesterday the reserve divisions, which were brought up in buses and then +assembled in places near our new front, to be flung against our advanced +lines, had a dreadful time, and must have suffered great losses. After +the rain of the night and the mist of the morning, the weather cleared +in time for our airmen to go out reconnoitring, as I saw them in swarms +in yesterday's sky, and they were quick to report the massing of the +enemy. Our guns were quick to fire at these human targets. These +counter-attacks developed several times against the English and Highland +troops, who were fighting across the Zonnebeke-Langemarck road, +north-west of the Gravenstafel and Abraham Heights, at a place called +the Schreiboom, north of Langemarck. Some of the Rifle Brigade and +King's Royal Rifles, with other light-infantry troops, failed at first +to get a certain trench, and very hard fighting took place during the +day in a pocket with desperate courage. At the same time the Highlanders +south of them were fighting very hard also round about the blockhouses +by Rose House, Pheasant Farm, and Quebec Farm beyond the Pilkem Ridge, +into which I looked a week or two ago, when things were quiet on the +line. The Highlanders were driven back for a while, and the enemy's +counter-attacks were made in strong force at about ten o'clock in the +morning, and several times later. But they were broken up each time by +the rifle-fire of the Scottish troops, and by our field-batteries. + +Large numbers of the enemy were killed here in our first attack and +afterwards. Besides the artillery, a heavy bombardment was made before +the men went out by trench-mortars, which raked a small area of +shell-holes so thoroughly that the German snipers in them were +destroyed, and an important trench was taken by the Scots with hardly +any casualties. A good deal more than 100,000 rounds of shells must have +gone over from the guns before the battle, and afterwards the German +storm troops who tried to recover the ground were smothered with fire. +Six times they came on with much determination, and six times their +waves were broken up. Some London Territorials had to repel part of the +assaulting waves, after a gallant struggle for their objectives, and one +young officer among them earned special honour by gathering a company of +men together and leading them against the advancing enemy, whom they +scattered with bombs and rifles. + +Most of the Germans here in this district round Wurst Farm, east of +Winnipeg, were men of the 36th and 208th Divisions, and were a mixture +of Prussians and Poles, who seem to have been stout-hearted fellows. +Their local reserves were quickly exhausted, and in the afternoon, when +they threw in further reserves, these were broken up in the same way. A +frightful fate met a German division which was brought up in the +afternoon near Roulers to be hurled against the Londoners and +Highlanders. Our guns broke up their columns, and when they rallied and +re-formed, broke them again. Our aeroplanes flew low over them, strafing +them with machine-gun fire, and at intervals gas clouded about them, so +that they had to put on their masks, if they had time to put them on +before they fell, and marched blindly forward to another doom, for some +of those who came within range were shot down by the London men, little +fellows, some of them, with the Cockney accent which makes me homesick +for the Fulham Road when I hear it along the roads of Flanders, but with +big, brave hearts. Three of the German battalions deployed and drove +against the Highlanders at Delva Farm and Rose House, and fought so hard +that they could only be driven back when the Highlanders rallied, and at +eight o'clock in the evening swept them out and away. Strong +counter-attacks were made between six and seven in the evening in the +neighbourhood of Hill 37 and the country round Bremen Redoubt, against +the King's Liverpools, where the South-African Scots held their line. + +There were a great many blockhouses in this district, some of them +damaged and some still intact, and in those undamaged forts little +parties of men, who fired their machine-guns to the last moment before +death or surrender. Hill 37 was a hard place to attack, as the Irish +found it, and here Lancashire men fought their way up and round in spite +of the waves of machine-gun bullets that swept the ground about them. +The Bremen Redoubt, which had been so costly to the Irishmen on July 31, +was carried by the South-Africans in a fine assault, while Scottish +troops were gaining other strong points and drawing tight nets round any +blockhouse from which came any fire. Out of these places, in all that +part of the line, many prisoners were taken, and they made their way +down anxiously through their own shell-fire, which was barraging these +fields. A great party of Germans, white-faced and afraid, were found in +the long galleries running out of a fortified place called Schuler Farm. + +South of all this the Australians were fighting in the centre of +yesterday's great attack where the ground rises to the foul heights of +Polygon Wood. The Australian lads were in their most perfect form. They +had had some rest since the hard, bad days at Bullecourt and in the +dreadful valley of Noreuil, where I went to see them outside the +Queant-Drocourt line. Since then I had seen them in the harvest-fields +of France, in the market squares of Flemish towns, along the dusty roads +which lead up to the Front. Always I felt it good to see those +easy-going fellows in their flap hats, so lithe, so clean-cut, so fresh. +It was an honour to get a salute from them now and then, for they are +not great at that sort of thing, and one could see with half an eye that +they have not lost any of their quality since some of them fought their +great epic at Helles and Suvla Bay, and afterwards at Pozieres gained +and held their ground under months of great shell-fire, and then at +Bullecourt fought with the grim endurance of men who will not yield to +any kind of hammering if their pride is in the job. They are boys, many +of them, and simple-looking fellows who were not cut to the model of +barrack-room soldiers. They have a wildish gipsy look when one sees them +camped in the fields, and free-and-easy manners in the village +estaminets. When I heard they were going to attack Polygon Wood I knew +that we should get it, if human courage could have the say, for the +Australians are not easily denied if they set their mind on a thing, and +for all their boyishness--though they have middle-aged follows among +them too--they have a grim passion in them at such times. Yet they are +free-and-easy always, even on the battlefield, and a bit impatient of +checks and restraints. Knowing them, and the heart and soul of them, one +of their commanding officers arranged a method of preventing them from +getting bored with the long strain of a two hours' wait, which was +ordered when they should have gained their first objective. He sent up +to them by the carrying parties bundles of the previous day's papers, +all the picture papers especially, and large quantities of cigarettes. +The idea worked beautifully, and it was the strangest thing that has +happened in any great battle. The Australian lads got at the papers, and +on the ground which they had just captured spread them out and studied +the news of the day and smoked their cigarettes with quiet enjoyment, +while ahead of them rolled a stupendous barrage, with thousands of heavy +shells that came screaming over their heads from our guns behind them, +answered by other shells that came the other way, and burst farther back +on the battlefield. So they were seen by one of our airmen, who was +surprised by what he saw. + +The going had been pretty bad before then, as I was told to-day by some +of the men whom I met slightly wounded along the Menin road. The enemy +seemed to smell danger in the night and put over a heavy barrage just +before the attack started. It was on the tail of the Australians, and +might have demoralized them if they had not been so high in heart. They +got away in good order, and kept going to keep pace with the travelling +storm of shells which broke before them. One queer thing happened near +Clapham Junction. The enemy had apparently planned a raid with +"flammenwerfer," or flame-jets as we call these devilish engines, at the +very time of the attack and they were met by the Australian shock of +assault, and fell before it. While some of the Australians worked round +Glencorse Copse and Nonne Boschen or Nuns' Wood, others fought up by +Westhoek across the Hanebeek towards the post called by a curious +coincidence Anzac Corner. After heavy fighting for a little while at one +of the blockhouses the Australian flag was planted at Anzac Corner and +waves there still. In Nonne Boschen the ground was marshy and encumbered +with fallen trees, but the boys struggled through somehow, and then +started for the Polygon Wood, where there is no wood, as there seldom is +in these places when our artillery has done its work, but only some +blasted trunks and stakes. In Glencorse Wood and round about it there +were a good many Germans, and they fought hard. Fifty of them were +killed in hand-to-hand fighting, or fighting at close quarters, and a +blockhouse on the north-west of the wood, where the garrison would not +surrender, but kept his machine-guns going, was taken by a bombing +attack. So after a two hours' wait at the end of the first lap the +Australians flung away their cigarettes and the assaulting waves passed +on to the ridge of Polygon Wood. They could not take all the line they +had been asked to take in the first attempt, and were checked on the +right by machine-gun fire. So they dug in on a crescent, which had its +right ear somewhere by Carlisle Farm to the north of Black Watch Corner, +until supports came up to make good their losses on the way, and they +were able to go forward and straighten out. After that the +counter-attacks began. All of them were broken up by artillery-fire, and +when one of the German divisions was flung in, the only men who reached +our lines were those who tried to escape from the barrage which our guns +put over their assembly position. I should like to give a fuller history +than I did yesterday about the taking of Inverness Copse and the bogs of +the Dumbarton Lakes, and the tangled ground of Shrewsbury Forest, but I +have no time, as the wires wait, except to pay a tribute to the men who +fought there over most difficult country, crowded with blockhouses, and +under severe fire from the enemy's guns. Men from Surrey and Kent, from +the Midlands, from Wales, from the North, the battalions of the 8th and +14th Divisions, all fought and won with equal courage and success. + + * * * * * + +SEPTEMBER 23 + +The enthusiasm of the troops who fought in Thursday's battle of the +Menin road is good enough proof that they achieved success that morning +without those great losses which take the heart out of victory. All the +men I have seen are convinced that the enemy's losses are heavy. Not so +much in the actual attack, where he held his blockhouse system with +small garrisons, as afterwards, when he tried to counter-attack. + +I have already put on record some of the attempts he made to regain +ground on the afternoon of the battle. Yesterday and to-day he has +continued his efforts with even more disastrous results to his unhappy +troops. About midday yesterday a German regiment was sent up in +motor-omnibuses to a point behind the enemy's lines to make a new +assault upon our positions in Polygon Wood. The three battalions then +took to the road, and were seen very quickly by our observers. The +artillery made that road a way of fire, and the German soldiers were +caught in it and dispersed. Odd companies of them worked their way +forward by other tracks, but lost themselves in the chaos of +shell-craters, where other heavy shells burst among them. They were no +longer battalions or companies, but a terror-stricken collection of +individual soldiers, taking cover in holes and without guidance or +command. An officer collected fifty of them and led them back to +reorganize. He had no notion of what had happened to the rest of the +regiment, except that it was broken and ineffective, in this wild +turmoil of crater earth. He went forward again on reconnaissance, and +walked into a body of Australians, who took him prisoner. + +So it happened with another column at Zandvoorde. One of our aerial +observers watched the long trail of men marching up the road and sent a +message to the guns. They were the heavy guns which found the target +with 9.2 shells and with twelve-inchers, which are monstrous and +annihilating. Down there at Zandvoorde it must have been hell. We can +only guess how many men were blown to pieces, and it is not a picture on +which the imagination should care to linger. It was a bloody shambles. + +Along the Menin road later in the day came another long column of +marching men. They were men of the Sixteenth Bavarian Division, who had +been sent up in urgent haste without knowledge of the ground, without +maps, and with officers who seem to have had no definite instructions +except to fling their men in an attack somehow and anyhow. Over their +heads in the darkness under the stars flew a British aeroplane with a +bomb of the heaviest kind. When our airman saw these hostile troops +advancing, flying low like a great black bat he dropped his frightful +thing on the head of the column. It burst with a deafening roar and +scattered the leading company. Flying in the same sky-space as the big +aeroplane was a number of other night raiders of ours. They also flew +low above the marching troops, and all down the road dropped their +explosives. Our guns added their help, and they fired many rounds down +the Menin road, bracketing the ditches. It is a dreadful thing to walk +along a road which is being "bracketed," and with those birds of prey +above them the Bavarians must have suffered the worst kind of horror. +They did not get near to our lines with any counter-attack. + +None of these counter-attacks has reached our lines near Polygon Ridge, +which is the ground most wanted by the enemy, and the nearest seems to +have been yesterday afternoon, when some of the Australian boys with +whom I talked to-day saw the movement of men and the glint of bayonets +in a little wood on an opposite spur. They saw the movement of men for a +minute of two, and after that a fury of shells which fell into the wood +and filled it with flame and smoke. + +"I don't know how a mortal man could have lived through that," said one +of these lads. "If any Fritz got out of that without being cracked he +must have had the luck of Old Harry." + +There were many of these Australian boys among whom I went to-day before +they had cleaned themselves of the dirt of battle, and while they were +still on fire with the emotion of their amazing adventure. Some of them +had escaped only by enormous luck. I talked with one stretcher-bearer, a +fine, big, bullet-headed fellow with an unshaven chin and a merry smile, +who was astounded to find himself alive. He had spent the day and night +bandaging wounded, and, with his mates, carrying them down to the +dressing-station, a mile and more back. All the time he walked and +worked with bursting shells about him. They knocked out several of his +mates, but left him untouched. They killed two or three of the wounded +on his stretchers going down, but did not scratch him. They blew up +dug-outs just as he had gone out of them, and trenches through which he +made his way. He was buried in earth flung up by heavy shells, and he +fell many times into deep craters, and men dropped all round him, but +to-day he still had a whole skin and a queer, lingering smile, in which +there is a look of wonderment because of his escape. + +An Australian officer, who was through the Dardanelles and the Somme and +Bullecourt, a slim, small-sized Australian, with a delicate, clean-cut +face, thoughtful and grave, with a fine light in his eyes, was helping a +wounded lad on to a stretcher when a shell came over his head, killed +the boy, but left the officer unscathed. It was this officer, this +slight, delicate-looking man, who captured, with three lads, sixty men +and a German battalion staff in their headquarter dug-outs below Polygon +Wood. + +"Where is your revolver?" he said to the captain. The German hesitated, +and said: "You will shoot me if I fetch it." "I will shoot you if you +don't," said the little Australian. And he meant what he said, as I +could see by the set of his lips when he told me the tale. But the +German captain handed over his revolver quietly, and his maps, which +were very useful. + +It was a wonderful scene to-day among all these Australian lads, who had +just been relieved and were talking over the scenes of yesterday's +history in small groups while they scraped off the mud and shaved before +bits of broken mirror, and polished up German rifles and machine-guns +and handled their souvenirs, found in the dug-outs and blockhouses. Many +of them were stripped to the waist, some of them wore German caps, some +of them slept like drugged men in spite of all the noise about them. +After taking the first objective they had to wait for two hours before +they went on, and there were queer scenes about the blockhouses and in +the felled woods. They had found the German rations, and besides the +sausages and bread and gallons of cold coffee in petrol-tins, which the +boys shared among themselves, quantities of long, fat, and excellent +cigars. Hundreds of Australians smoked these cigars while they waited +for the barrage to lift, and when they went on again hundreds of them +were still puffing them as they trudged on to Polygon Wood. They had a +good day. I have met some of them, who said they enjoyed it, and would +not have missed it for worlds. The excitement of it all kept them going. +The battlefield was a wild pandemonium of men, and the imagination of +people who have never seen war will hardly visualize such scenes, with +lads laughing and smoking while others lay dead, with groups fighting +and falling round blockhouses while others were eating German sausages +and joking in captured emplacements, with stretcher-bearers carrying men +back under heavy shell-fire and German prisoners dodging their own +barrage-fire on their way to our lines. An Australian doctor had his arm +smashed, but stayed among the boys, regardless of his own hurt. A V.C. +officer of the Dardanelles was killed as he went back wounded on a +stretcher. German wounded lay crying for help, and our men rescued them. +So about Glencorse Wood and Polygon Wood human agony and the wild +spirits of Australian youth, death, and the vitality of boyhood in the +passion of a great adventure were queerly mixed, and one side of this +picture of war would be hopelessly untrue if it left out the other side. + +One enthusiasm of the Australians was about the English soldiers who +fought on their right, the Yorkshire boys and others who went through +Inverness Copse. Again and again yesterday I heard them loud in praise +of the Tommies. + +"By gosh, they'll do for me! They went ahead in grand style. They +couldn't be stopped anyhow, though they came up against a durned lot of +machine-gun fire. They were just fine." + +Far north of all this, above the Zonnebeke, were the Londoners of the +58th Division and the Highlanders of the 51st Division, and, as I have +already written in previous messages, they had severe fighting and had +to bear the brunt of great counter-attacks. The ground in front of the +London Territorials was bad and difficult--bad because it was +intersected with swamps and cut up by weeks of shell-fire, and horribly +difficult because of a ridge rising up on the left to the German strong +point of Wurst Farm. + +The London boys swung left in order to attack Wurst Farm, and, avoiding +a frontal assault, worked left-handed all the time till they reached the +ridge, and then rushed the blockhouse from the rear. The garrison was +surprised and caught. They fought desperately, but the Londoners +overpowered them. The surviving Germans complained bitterly, and said it +was impossible to use their machine-guns on every side at once. "It is +not a fair way of fighting," said a German officer, and the Londoners +laughed and said, "Not half!" and "I don't think!" and other ironical +words. + +In a big dressing-station up there they captured two doctors and sixty +men, of whom many were wounded. The German doctors said, "Have you any +wounded we can help? We are not fighting men." And they made themselves +useful, and were good fellows. + +Down in the valley the Londoners came face to face with a party of +Germans who showed fight, but the Londoners--little fellows some of +them--walked through them and over dead bodies who had fallen before +their rifle-fire. There was a lot of musketry both then and afterwards +when the enemy counter-attacked, and they fired like sharpshooters. Down +below them and almost behind them the line dropped away to the fort of +Schuler Farm, where the enemy still held out. "There are a lot of Boches +down there," said an officer on the brigade staff of the London +Territorials. "No," said the brigade major, and then: "Yes, and, by the +Lord, there's a German officer staring at me. The blighter is telling +one of his men to take a pot at me. See!" The brigade major ducked down +his head as a bullet flattened against the blockhouse wall. + +It was an awkward situation for the Londoners, but they formed a +defensive flank and sent some lads to help the troops who were attacking +the position. "Domine dirige nos" is the London motto, and there were +many London boys who had it in their hearts that day, and said with the +dear old Cockney accent, "Gord 'elp us." That was when the German +counter-attacks developed, but were smashed by gun-fire. + +In all this fighting, as far as I can find, the Highland Territorials of +the 51st Division upon the left had the bloodiest fighting. They gained +their ground with difficulty, because a battalion of the Royal Scots was +badly held up by wire and bogs and machine-gun fire at a stream called +the Lekkerbolerbeek. They had to fall back, reorganize, and attack +again, which they did with splendid gallantry, and held their ground +only by most grim endurance, because the enemy counter-attacked them +violently all day long after the objectives had been gained. + +The enemy's losses were certainly appalling to him. Officers in this +fighting, who have been through many of our great battles, tell me that +they have never seen before so many dead as lie upon this ground. In one +section of Pheasant Trench a hundred yards long there are nearly a +hundred dead. Before the attack our barrage rolled forward slowly, like +a devouring fire. Instantly all along the German line green lights rose +as SOS signals, but as the barrage swept on, followed by the Scots, the +lights went out. They rose again from the farther lines, and then those +ceased as the shells reached them. Only in the blockhouses and the +dug-outs down by the Lekkerbolerbeek were any Germans left alive. + +The blockhouses were dealt with by small parties of Highlanders, who had +been in training to meet them, and went like wolves about them, firing +their machine-guns and rifles through the loopholes if the garrisons +would not come out. So they swept on to their final goal, which was at +Rose House and the cemetery beyond Pheasant Farm. These men had some +terrible hours to face. By ill-luck their left flank was utterly +exposed, and hostile aeroplanes, flying very low, saw this and flew back +with the news. The enemy was already developing a series of +counter-attacks by his "Stosstruppen," or storm troops, of the 234th +Division, which from three o'clock in the afternoon till seven o'clock +that evening made repeated thrusts against the Highlanders' front, and +the heaviest weight of two and a half battalions was sent forward +against this flank. It was preceded by the heaviest German barrage ever +seen by these Scots, who have had many experiences of barrage-fire. +Officers watching from a little distance were horrified by that +monstrous belt of fire, and the garrison of Gordons seemed lost to them +for ever. It was not so bad as that. Eventually this flank fell back +from Rose House to Pheasant Farm Cemetery and other ground, where they +were rallied by a battalion commander, one of the youngest men of his +rank in the British Army, who supplied them with fresh ammunition and +directed them to hold up the German infantry advancing under cover of +their bombardment. In spite of their losses our men fought their way +back and regained part of the ground by desperate valour. Our guns wiped +out the other counter-attacks one by one, inflicting frightful losses on +the enemy. They were caught most horribly as they came along the road. +Thirty machine-guns played a barrage-fire on his lines where German +soldiers tried to escape across the shell-craters. The Highlanders used +their rifles effectively, one man firing over 500 rounds. And a gun was +brought into action from a Tank which had come up as far as an advanced +blockhouse, in spite of the boggy ground. + +There was great slaughter among the enemy that day. Since then the +slaughter has gone on, for his counter-attacks have not ceased. His guns +have been very active, bombarding parts of our line intensely, and in +the air his scouts and raiders have been flying over our lines in the +endeavour to observe and destroy our troops and batteries, flying low +with great audacity, and using machine-guns as well as bombs. But we +hold all the important ground gained last Thursday. + + + + +XVI + +THE WAY TO PASSCHENDAELE + + +SEPTEMBER 26 + +During the past forty-eight hours there has been hard and prolonged +fighting north and south of the Menin road, and in spite of formidable +counter-attacks by the enemy which began early yesterday morning and +still continue, our troops have made a successful advance in the +neighbourhood of Zonnebeke and southward beyond the Polygon Wood +racecourse, which now belongs to the Australians. + +It is south of that, by Cameron House and the rivulet called the +Reutelbeek, that the enemy's pressure has been greatest, and where the +battalions of the 33rd and 39th Divisions on the right of the +Australians, including the Queen's, have had the hardest time under +incessant fire and attack since dawn yesterday, but on their right +Sherwood Foresters and Rifle Brigade men, also severely tried, have +swept across the Tower Hamlets Ridge in the direction of Gheluvelt. + +It was fully expected that any new endeavour of ours to advance beyond +the ground gained in the battle of September 20 would be met by the +fiercest opposition. The capture of Polygon Wood and Westhoek seriously +lessened the value of Passchendaele Ridge, which strikes northward and +forms the enemy's great defensive barrier, and it was certain that in +spite of the heavy losses he has already suffered in trying to get back +that high ground above Inverness Copse he would bring up all his +available reserves to hinder our further progress at all costs. + +For two days before yesterday he made no sign of movement in his lines, +and was kept quiet by the breakdown of all his previous counter-attacks, +which our men repulsed with most bloody losses to the enemy, so that +their divisions were shattered and demoralized. The German Command used +that time to drag the broken units out of the line and to replace them +or hurry up to their support the reserves who had been waiting in the +rest areas behind. These men were rushed up by motor-omnibus and +railways to points where it was necessary to take to the roads and march +to the assembly positions ready for immediate counter-attacks. Those +were in the Zandvoorde and Kruiseik neighbourhood, south-east of +Gheluvelt, ready to strike up to the Tower Hamlets Ridge while others +could be assembled behind the Passchendaele Ridge. + +No doubt our attack for this morning did not leave out of account the +strength of resistance likely to be offered. The enemy showed signs of +desperate anxiety to check us on the Polygon Wood line, and the ground +going south of it to the Gheluvelt Spur, and he made a great effort by +massed artillery to smash up the organization behind our lines, and by a +series of thrusts to break our front. On Monday afternoon, increasing to +great intensity yesterday, he flung down his barrage-fire in Glencorse +Wood and Inverness Copse, fired large numbers of heavy long-range shells +over Westhoek Ridge, Observatory Ridge, Hooge, and other old spots of +ill-fame, and concentrated most fiercely on the ground about Cameron +House, Black Watch Corner, and the Tower Hamlets. + +At six o'clock yesterday morning, supported by this terrific fire, he +launched his first attack on the Surreys, Scottish Rifles, Middlesex +Regiment, and other troops around the Tower Hamlets, and owing to their +losses they were obliged to fall back some little way in order to +reorganize for an assault to recapture their position. These fought +through some awful hours, and several of their units did heroic things +to safeguard their lines, which for a time were threatened. + +While they were fighting in this way the 4th and 5th Australians, on the +high ground this side of Polygon Wood racecourse and the mound which is +called the Butte, also had to repel some fierce attacks which opened on +them shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. The enemy was unable to +pierce their line, and fell back from this first attempt with great +losses in dead and wounded. It was followed by a second thrust at midday +and met the same fate. At two o'clock in the afternoon the Australians +sent some of their men to help the Surreys and the English troops on +their right, who were passing through a greater ordeal owing to the +storm of fire over them and the continued pressure of the enemy's storm +troops, who were persistent through the afternoon in spite of the trails +of dead left in their tracks. It was a serious anxiety on the eve of a +new battle, but it failed to frustrate our attack. All the area through +which the enemy was trying to bring up his troops was made hideous by +artillery-fire and the work of the Royal Flying Corps. + +It was a clear moonlight night, with hardly a breath of air blowing, and +all the countryside was made visible by the moon's rays, which silvered +the roofs of all the villages and made every road like a white tape. Our +planes went out over the enemy's lines laden with bombs, and patrolled +up and down the tracks and made some thirty attacks upon the German +transport and his marching columns. All his lines of approach were kept +under continual fire by our guns of heavy calibre, and for miles around +shells swept the points which marching men would have to pass, so that +their way was hellish. Our aircraft went out and flew very low, and +dropped bombs wherever they saw men moving through the luminous mists of +the night. Behind our own lines air patrols guarded the countryside. +They carried lights, and as they flew in the starlit sky they themselves +looked like shooting stars until they dropped low, when their planes +were diaphanous as butterfly's wings in sunlight. On the battlefield +then was no unusual gun-fire for several hours after dark. Guns on both +sides kept up the usual night bombardment in slow sullen strokes, but at +least on the Australian front it was not until about 4.45 in the morning +that the enemy opened a heavy barrage in Glencorse Wood. The Australian +troops were already massed beyond that ground for the attack which was +shortly due. On the north, up by Wurst Farm, on the lower slopes of the +Gravenstafel, our London Territorials were also waiting to go "over the +bags," as they call it. Against them the German guns put over a heavy +barrage, but that line of explosives failed to stop or check the +assault. + +It was almost dark when our London lads went forward through a thick +ground mist, which was wet and clammy about them. Our artillery had +opened before them the same monstrous line of barrage-fire which they +had followed on the 20th. and they went after it at a slow trudge, which +gave them time to avoid shell-craters and get over difficult ground +without lagging behind that protecting storm. That violence of fire was +as deadly and terrifying this morning as on that other day. Through the +mist our men saw the Germans running and falling, and many of them did +not stay in the blockhouses, though it was almost certain death to come +out into the open before the barrage passed. There were dead men in many +shell-craters before our men reached them, and others afterwards, as +they passed through clumps of ruin which had once been hamlets and +farms. There was such a mess of brickwork and masonry at Aviatik Farm, +where Germans hiding in concrete walls fired machine-guns and rifles for +a time until the British troops closed on them. + +Something like 150 prisoners were taken in this section of the attack, +and one of them was a queer bird who belonged to the sea. That is to +say, he had been a sailor on the _Dresden_ and was in the battle of +Falkland Island and off Coronel, where he was picked up by a Swedish +boat and taken back to Germany. To his disgust he was put in the 10th +Ersatz Division, and now, after his soldier life, wants to work in a +British shipyard. He was surprised at the food given to him, and thought +it was a bribe to get information from him, believing that England is +agonizing with hunger. + +About a hundred and fifty prisoners were taken also, by the troops on +the right of this section, belonging mostly to the 23rd Reserve +Division, with some of the 3rd Guards. Our men who attacked in the +direction of Zonnebeke village were Leicesters, Notts and Derbys, East +Yorks, Royal Scots, Gordons, and King's Own, and they had some stiff +fighting on the way to the Windmill Cabaret and Hill Forty, which seems +to be the key to the position. Here they came against some of the +blockhouses at Toronto Farm and Van Isackere Farm, but did not meet +great trouble there. Some of them had been so badly knocked by +shell-fire that the garrisons inside were killed, by concussion, and +from others men came out to surrender as soon as our men were near them. +Near the village of Zonnebeke the fight was more serious against the +Royal Scots and East Yorks, and the enemy's gun-fire, which had not been +very heavy on the other ground of attack, smashed along the line of the +railway embankment. + +The Australian advance across the racecourse of Polygon Wood and +northward across the spur to below Zonnebeke Chateau was steady and +successful. There was a regular chain of blockhouses on the way, but +there again the old black magic of the pill-box failed. The men rallied +inside them, many of them being Poles of the 49th Regiment, who hate the +Prussians in a fierce way and ask us to kill as many as possible for +their sake. Most of them were quick and glad to surrender. A platoon of +them were taken in some wooden dug-outs below the high mound of Polygon +Wood, that old Butte which is supposed to be the burial-place of a +prehistoric chief, though by the Australians it is believed to be the +observation-post of Sir Douglas Haig in 1914. + +The enemy's gun-fire was heavy over part of the ground, and there was a +nest of machine-guns along a road which gave some trouble, but in the +main attack the losses of the Australians were not heavy up to the time +they gained the last objective. It was our aircraft which brought back +the first news of the Anzacs on the racecourse in Polygon Wood, and +later they had reached the farthest goal, where prisoners were +surrendering freely. On the left of their front the Australians were +quite satisfied with their position. On the right they had great anxiety +because of the check to the troops below them. At one time it was found +advisable for the Australians to swing back their flank a little in +order to avoid its exposure. But the Australians are full of confidence +and are sure that they can handle any counter-attack which may be +launched against them. It has been a hard day for all our men, +especially for those who bore the brunt of the enemy's fire, and I +believe will be counted as one of the biggest days of fighting in this +war. Its decision is of vital importance to the enemy and to ourselves, +and so far it is in our favour. + + + + +XVII + +THE BATTLE OF POLYGON WOOD + +SEPTEMBER 27 + +The battle which began yesterday morning, after a whole day of +counter-attacking by the enemy, in great numbers and by great gun-fire, +lasted until nightfall, and, as I told yesterday, did not pass without +anxious hours for those in command, and trying hours for some of our +fighting men. + +From the left above Zonnebeke down to the Australian front on the +heights of the Polygon Wood Racecourse the advance was made with fair +ease through the blockhouse system and without severe losses, as they +are reckoned in modern warfare, in spite of difficult bits of ground and +the usual snags, as our men call them, in the way of unexpected +machine-gun fire, odd bits of trench to which small groups of Germans +clung stubbornly, dirty swamps which some of our men could not cross +quickly enough to keep up with the barrage, and danger zones upon which +the enemy heaped his explosives. + +There were incidents enough for individual men to be remembered for a +lifetime, hairbreadth escapes, tight corners in which men died after +acts of fine heroism, and strong points like Hill 40, on the left of the +ruins of Zonnebeke, around which some of our troops struggled with +fortune. + +[Illustration: The Ypres salient] + +Apart from local vicissitudes here and there during those first hours of +the battle it became clear by midday, or before, that from the extreme +left of the attack down to the vicinity of Cameron House, on the right +of the Australians, the general success of the day was good. The +critical situation was on the right of the 4th and 5th Australians, and +involving their right because of the enemy's violent pressure on +British troops there during the previous day, and again when our new +attack started, so that their line had been somewhat forced back and the +Australian right flank was exposed. + +Hour after hour reports coming from this part of the field were read +with some anxiety when it was known how heavily some of our battalions +were engaged. This menace to our right wing was averted by the courage +of men of the Middlesex and Surrey Regiments of the 33rd Division, with +Argylls and Sutherlands and Scottish Rifles, and by the quick, skillful, +and generous help of the Australian troops on their left. It is an +episode of the battle which will one day be an historic memory when all +the details are told. I can only tell them briefly and in outline. + +After terrific shelling, on Tuesday last, the enemy launched an attack +at six o'clock against our line by Carlisle Farm and Black Watch Corner, +south of Polygon Wood, and forced some of our English troops to fall +back towards Lone House and the dirty little swamp of the Reutelbeek. +These boys of Middlesex and Surrey suffered severely. For some time it +was all they could do to hold out, and the enemy was still pressing. A +body of Scottish Rifles was sent up to support them, and by a most brave +counter-thrust under great gun-fire restored part of the line, so that +it was strong enough to keep back any advancing wave of Germans by rifle +and machine-gun fire. + +Another body of men, the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, held out on +exposed ground, isolated from the main line, and threatened with being +cut off by the enemy's assault troops. Sir Douglas Haig has mentioned +them specially in his message yesterday, and they deserve great honour +for the heroic way in which they held on to this ground for many hours +that day and night under harassing fire from coal-boxes, or 5.9's, which +threatened to wipe out their whole strength. Yesterday they had strength +and spirit left to renew the attack, and to make another attempt to get +back the lost ground into which the enemy had driven a wedge. + +At the same time the Australians had realized the dangerous situation +which exposed their right flank, and they directed a body of their own +troops to strike southward in order to thrust back the German outposts. +Those Australian troops shared the peril of their comrades on the +right, and withstood the same tornado of shelling which was flung over +all the ground here; but in spite of heroic sacrifice did not at first +wholly relieve the position of the Australian right, which remained +exposed. After the great attack by the Anzacs in the morning their line +was thrust right out beyond Cameron House, but the English and Scottish +troops of the 33rd Division, who had also gone forward in the new attack +south of them, were again met by a most deadly barrage-fire and checked +at a critical time. I was with some of the Australians yesterday when +all this was happening, and when there was cause for worry. They were +unruffled, and did not lose confidence for a moment. + +"Give us two hours," said one of them who had a right to speak, "and we +will make everything as sound as a bell." In those two hours they drew +back their flank to get into line on a curve going back towards Lone +House, and established defensive posts which would hold off any attack +likely to be launched against them. + +"It is hard luck on the English boys down there," said the Australians, +"but they have had a bad gruelling, and they will come along in spite of +it. There is not an Australian in France who doesn't know how the +Tommy-Boys fought on the 20th, and that will do for us." + +The "Tommy-Boys," as the Australians call them, fought as they have +fought in three years of great battles, and in spite of the ordeal +through which they had passed--and it was not a light one--they saved +the situation on that ground below Polygon Wood, and made it too +dangerous and too costly for the enemy to stay. Early this morning the +survivors of the Germans who had thrust a wedge between our lines past +Cameron House crawled out again and our line was straightened. + +How the Australians established themselves on Polygon Wood Racecourse +and beyond the big mound called the Butte I told in my message +yesterday. Farther north the Leicesters, Notts and Derbys, Royal Scots, +Gordons, and King's Own of the 59th and 3rd Divisions had attacked north +of the Ypres-Roulers railway, running at right angles to the +Langemarck-Zonnebeke road. On that road, barring the way, was the +station of Zonnebeke, now a mass of wreckage, fortified with +machine-gun redoubts, and farther south the ruins of Zonnebeke church +and village. Across the road was the Windmill Cabaret, an old inn which +has been blown off the map on the high ground of Hill 40, which rises +gradually to a hump a hundred yards or so north of the station. It was +bad ground to attack, and strewn with little blockhouses of the new +type, though they are still called pill-boxes after an older and smaller +type. The blockhouses did not give much trouble. Our new form of +barrage, the most frightful combination of high explosives and shrapnel +that has yet appeared in war, rolled backwards and forwards about them, +so that the garrisons huddled inside until our men nipped behind them +and thrust rifles or bombs through the machine-gun loopholes, if they +had not previously escaped to shell-craters around where they might have +more chance of escape. + +And here I might say in passing that the enemy has already modified his +methods of holding the blockhouses, and while only a few men remain +inside, distributes the rest of the garrison in shell-holes on either +side, with their machine-guns in the organized craters. Some of them +were found by our men, and though many of them had been killed by our +gun-fire, others remained shooting and sniping until they were routed +out. + +The worst part of the ground on this line of attack was around a +blockhouse called Bostin Farm, where there was a dismal, stinking swamp +so impassable that the Royal Scots, Scottish Fusiliers, and East Yorks +of the 3rd Division who tried to make their way through it lost touch +with the barrage, which rolled ahead of them, and had to work round and +up towards Hill 40. Here they came under machine-gun fire, and although +some men forced their way up the slope of the knoll on which the +Windmill Cabaret stood, they did not quite reach the crest. + +Meanwhile men of the Gordons, Suffolks, and Welsh Fusiliers were +attacking round about Zonnebeke, where the ground was swept by +machine-gun bullets, and seized the ruin of the church and the outskirts +of the station yard. There was heavy shelling from the enemy all day, +which caused the line to fall back a little, and at six o'clock +yesterday evening the enemy launched two counter-attacks from Zonnebeke +and another around Hill 40. Half an hour later the Royal Scots and +Royal Scottish Fusiliers moved forward to thrust the enemy back, and at +exactly the same time another counter-attack of his advanced in their +direction. Each body of men were protected by barrage-lines of heavy +shell-fire, and our shells and the German shells mingled and burst +together in a wide belt of fury, and sometimes neither side could cross +it. + +Farther north South Midland men did well. They advanced from Zevenkote +on the right and Schuler Farm on the left to Van Isackere Farm and Dochy +Farm and other blockhouses on each side of the high road between +Langemarck and Zonnebeke with hardly a check. They found many of the +blockhouses badly damaged after the heavy fire that had been poured on +each one of them, and if they were not damaged the men inside were so +nerve-shaken that they were eager to surrender. Apparently they had not +expected the attack to follow the hurricane bombardment, because there +had been other shoots of this kind before, and they made no real attempt +to get their machine-guns into action. It was from the slopes of the +Gravenstafel and the Abraham Heights beyond that machine-gun fire fell +upon the Midland men, and the enemy's guns were shooting down the +gullies between these ridges. But the ground in this part of our attack +yesterday was taken without grave trouble and without great losses. + +Most of the prisoners taken on this ground were Saxons, and those I have +seen marching down to a captivity which they prefer to the field of +battle are men of a good physique, and smart, soldierly look. It is +astonishing how quickly they recover from the effect of bombardment and +the great horror of battle as soon as they get beyond the range of +shell-fire. But they are gloomy and disheartened. The officers +especially acknowledge that things are going badly for Germany, and say +that there is, for the time at least until the new class is ready, a +dearth of men of fighting age, so that the drafts they get are miserable +and unfit. They are overwhelmed with the thought of the monstrous +gun-power which we have brought against them to counteract their own +artillery, which once had the mastery, and they are struck by the +audacity of our air service. + +Certainly our flying men have been doing all in their power to make life +intolerable on the German side of the lines. I have already described +how they went out on Tuesday night and broke up the columns of men +marching to attack us. One of these birds found a different kind of +prey. It was opposite the Australian front where a team of German +gunners were getting a gun away. Our airman flew low over the heads of +the gunners and played his machine-gun on to them and dropped bombs. He +smashed up the gun-limber and laid out the gunners, and the gun remains +there still, with the bodies of men and horses around it. To-day out +beyond Ypres I saw flights of our men going out again beyond the German +lines for that battle in the air which has never ceased since the battle +of Flanders two months ago. + +The weather is still in our favour, and there is a blue sky to-day and a +soft, golden light over all this Flemish countryside where our troops go +marching up to the lines with their bands playing, or lie resting in the +hop-fields on the way. That old place of horror, the Yser Canal, +reflected the blue above, and in the air there was that sense of peace +which belongs to the golden days of autumn. But the guns were loud, and +the flight of their shells went crying through the sky. + + * * * * * + +OCTOBER 2 + +Through the haze which lies low over Flanders, though above there is +still a blue sky, the noise of great gun-fire goes on, rising and +falling in gusts, and, like the beat of surf to people who live by the +sea, it is the constant sound in men's ears, not disturbing their work +unless they are close enough to suffer from the power behind the +thunder-strokes. The trees are yellowing into crinkled gold, and there +is the touch and smell of autumn in the night air, and the orchards of +France are heavy with fruit. Wonderful weather, the soldiers say. The +artillery battle is endless, and on both sides is intense and +widespread. It was followed yesterday by five German counter-attacks, +which did not reach our lines. In a very desperate way the enemy is +trying to push us back from positions which are essential to the +strength of his defence. All his guns are at work. Is it the last phase +of the war? Does the enemy know that he must win or lose all? Our men +have that hope in their hearts, and fight more grimly and with higher +spirit because of it. The success of the last two battles has deepened +the hope, and men come back from the line, back to the rest-billets, +with the old conviction newly revived that at last they have the enemy +down and under and very near hopelessness. In the rest-billets are the +men who come back. They come marching back along the dusty roads from +the fire-swept zone, first across ground pitted with new-made +shell-holes, with the howl of shells overhead, and then through broken +villages on the edge of the battlefields, and then through standing +villages where only a gap or two shows where a haphazard shell has gone, +and then at last to the clean, sweet country which no high explosives +reach, unless a hostile airman comes over with his bombs. + +In any old billet in Flanders one hears the tale of battle told by men +who were there, and it is worth while, as yesterday, when I sat down at +table with the officers of a battalion of Suffolks in a Flemish +farmhouse. The men were camped outside, and as I passed I liked the look +of these lads, who had just come out of one of the stiffest fights of +the war. They looked amazingly fresh after one night's rest, and they +stood in groups telling their yarns in the good old dialect of their +county, laughing as though it had all been a joke, though it was more +than a joke with death on the prowl. + +"Your men look fit," I said to the colonel of the Suffolks, and he +smiled as though he liked my words, and said, "You couldn't get their +tails down with a crowbar. It was a good show, and that makes all the +difference. They have been telling the Australian boys that you have +only got to make a face at the Hun and he puts his hands up. They +knocked the stuffing out of the enemy." + +Inside the farmhouse there was the battalion mess, at one long table and +one short, because it was felt better for all the officers to be +together instead of splitting up into company messes. I looked down the +rows of faces, these clean-cut English faces, and was glad of the luck +which had brought so many of these young officers back again. They told +the tale of the battle, and each of them had some detail to add, because +that was his part of the show, and it was his platoon, and they had left +the fighting-line the night before. They spoke as though all the things +had happened long ago, and they laughed loudly at episodes of gruesome +interest and belonging to those humours of war which are not to be +written. + +There was a thick mist when they went away at dawn, so dense that they +could not see the line of our barrage ahead, though it was a deep belt +of bursting shells. They had been told to follow close, and they were +eager to get on. They went too fast, some of them almost incredibly +fast, over the shell-craters, and round them, and into them, and out of +them again, stumbling, running, scrambling, not turning to look when any +comrade fell. + +"I was on the last position three-quarters of an hour before the barrage +passed," said a young officer of the Suffolks. He spoke the words as if +telling something rather commonplace, but he knew that I knew the +meaning of what he said, a frightful and extraordinary thing, for with +his platoon he had gone ahead of our storm of fire and had to wait until +it reached and then passed them. Some of their losses were because of +that, and yet they might have been greater if they had been slower +because the enemy was caught before they could guess that our men were +near. They put up no fight in the pill-boxes, those little houses of +concrete which stank horribly because of the filth in them, and from the +shell-craters where snipers and machine-gunners lay men rose in terror +at the sight of the brown men about them, and ran this way and that like +poor frightened beasts, or stood shaking in an ague of fear. Some ran +towards their own lines with their hands up, shouting "Kamerad," +believing they were running our way. They were so unready for attack +that the snipers had the safety-clip on their rifle-barrels, and others +were without ammunition. + +In one shell-hole was an English-speaking German. "I saved him," said +one of the young Suffolk officers. "He was a downhearted fellow, and +said he was fed up with the war and wanted nothing but peace." + +Near another shell-hole was a German who looked dead. He looked as if he +had been dead for a long time, but an English corporal who passed close +to this body saw a hand stretch out for a bayonet within reach, and the +man raised himself to strike. Like a man who sees a snake with his fangs +out, the corporal whipped round, grabbed the German's bayonet and ran +him through. The way to the last objective was easy on the whole, and +the enemy was on the run with our men after them until they were ordered +to stop and dig in. The hardest time came afterwards, as it nearly +always comes when the ground gained had to be held for three more days +and nights without the excitement of attack and under heavy fire. That +is when the courage of men is most tried, as this battalion found. The +enemy had time to pull themselves together. The German gunners adapted +their range to the new positions and shelled fiercely across the ways of +approach, and scattered 5.9's everywhere. It was rifle-fire for the +Suffolk men all the time. They had not troubled to bring up a great many +bombs, for the rifle has come into its own again, now that the old +trench warfare is gone for a time, or all time, and with rifle-fire and +machine-gun fire they broke down the German counter-attacks and caught +parties of Germans who showed themselves on the slopes of the +Passchendaele Ridge, and sniped incessantly. They used a prodigious +quantity of small-arms ammunition, and the carriers risked their lives +every step of the way to get it up to them. They fired 30,000 rounds and +then 16,000 more. There was one officer who spent all his time sniping +from a little patch of ground that had once been a garden. He lay behind +a heaped ruin and used his field-glasses to watch the slopes of rising +ground on his left, where human ants were crawling. Every now and then +he fired and picked off an ant until his score reached fifty. German +planes came flying over our troops to get their line, flying very low, +so that their wings were not a tree's height above the shell-craters, +and our boys lay doggo not to give themselves away. Some of the hostile +planes were red-bellied, and others which came searching the ground were +big, porpoise-like planes. They dropped signal-lights and directed the +fire of the 5.9's. A private of the Suffolks, lying low but watchful, +saw a light rise from the ground as one of these machines came over, and +it was answered from the aeroplane. "That's queer," he thought; "dirty +work in that shell-hole." He crept out to the shell-hole from which the +signal had come, and found three German soldiers there with rockets. +They tried to kill him, but it was they who died, and our man brought +back their rifles and kit as souvenirs. + +More rifle ammunition was wanted as the time passed, and the carriers +took frightful risks to bring it. The drums of the Suffolks did well +that day as carriers and stretcher-bearers, passing up and down through +the barrage-fire, and there was a private who guided a party with +small-arms ammunition--ten thousand rounds of it--to the forward troops, +with big shells bursting over the ground. Twice he was buried by +shell-bursts, which flung the earth over him, but on the way back he +helped to carry a wounded man 800 yards to the regimental aid post under +hot fire. He was a cool-headed and gallant-hearted fellow, and went up +again as a volunteer to the forward positions, and on the same night +crawled out on a patrol with a young lieutenant to reconnoitre a +position on the left which was still in German hands. From farther left, +on rising ground, the Germans sprinkled machine-gun fire over the +battalion support lines, and the earth was spitting with those bullets. +But in their own lines the German soldiers were moving about with Red +Cross flags picking up their wounded, and they did not fire at our +stretcher-bearers, apart from the barrage-fire of 5.9's through which +they had to make their way. Only once did they play a bad trick. Under +the Red Cross flag some stretcher-bearers went into a pill-box which had +been abandoned, and shortly after machine-gun fire came from it. That is +the kind of thing which makes men see red. + + + + +XVIII + +ABRAHAM HEIGHTS AND BEYOND + + +OCTOBER 4 + +Another great battle has opened to-day, and in a wide attack from the +ground we captured on September 26, north and south of the Polygon Wood +crest, our troops have advanced upon the Passchendaele Ridge, and have +reached the Gravenstafel and Abraham Heights, which crown a western spur +of the ridge, and Broodseinde, which is the high point and keystone of +the enemy's defence lines beyond Zonnebeke. South of that they are +fighting between Cameron House and Becelaere, across the Reutelbeek and +its swampy ground, and down beyond Polderhoek to the south end of the +Menin road. The divisions engaged, from north to south, were the 29th, +4th, 11th, 48th, New Zealand, 3rd, 2nd, and 1st Australians. + +This morning I saw hundreds of prisoners trailing back across the +battlefield, and crowds of them within the barbed-wire enclosures set +apart for them behind our lines. Our lightly wounded men coming down the +tracks for walking wounded speak, in spite of their blood and bandages, +of a smashing blow dealt against the enemy and of complete victory. "We +have him beat," say the men, and they are sure of this, sure of his +enormous losses and of his broken spirit, although the fighting has been +bloody because of the great gun-fire through which our men have had to +pass. It has been a strange and terrible battle--terrible, I mean, in +its great conflict of guns and men--and the enemy, if all goes well with +us, may have to remember it as a turning-point in the history of this +war, the point that has turned against him with a sharp and deadly edge. +For, realizing his great peril if we strengthened our hold on the +Passchendaele Ridge, and knowing that we intended that--all signs showed +him that, and all our pressure on these positions--he prepared an attack +against us in great strength in order to regain the ground he lost on +September 26, or, if not that, then so to damage us that our advance +would be checked until the weather choked us in the mud again. His small +counter-attacks, or rather his local counter-attacks, for they were not +weak, had failed. Even his persistent hammering at the right wing by +Cameron House, below Polygon Wood, had failed to bite deeply into our +line, though for a time on September 25 it had been a cause of grave +anxiety to us and made the battle next day more difficult and critical. +But these attacks had failed in their purpose, and now the German High +Command decided for a big blow, and it was to be delivered at seven +o'clock this morning. It was a day and an hour too late. Our battle was +fixed for an hour before his. + +And so it happened that our men had to pass through a German barrage to +follow their own, a barrage which fell upon them before they leapt up to +the assault, and it happened also most terribly for the enemy that our +men were not stopped, but went through that zone of shells, and on the +other side behind our barrage swept over the German assault troops and +annihilated their plan of attack.... They did not attack. Their defence +even was broken. As our lines of fire crept forward they reached and +broke the second and third waves of the men who had been meant to +attack, caught them in their support and reserve positions, and we can +only guess what the slaughter has been. It is a slaughter in which five +German divisions are involved. + +This battle of ours, which looks like one of the greatest victories we +have had in the war, was being prepared on a big scale as soon as the +last was fought and won. No words of mine can give more than a hint of +what those preparations meant in the scene of war. For several days past +the roads to the Front have been choked with columns of men marching +forward, column after column of glorious men, hard and fit, and +hammering a rhythm on the roads with the beat of their feet, and +whistling and singing, in tune and out of tune, with the fifes and drums +far ahead of them. Always, night and day, there was the sound of this +music, always in the stillness of these moonlight nights the thud, thud +of those tramping feet, always, along any track that led towards the +salient, the vision of these battalions led forward by young officers +with their trench sticks swinging and a look of pride in their eyes +because of the fellows behind them. Their steel helmets flashed blue in +the sun so that a column of them seen from a distance was like a blue +stream winding between the hop-fields, or the broken ruins of old +villages, or the litter of captured ground. With them and alongside of +them went the tide of transport--lorries, wagons, London buses, +pack-mules, guns and limbers, and the black old cookers with their +trailing smoke. Everywhere there has been a fever of work, Tommies, +"Chinkies," coloured men piling up mountains of ammunition to feed the +guns. Under shell-fire, bracketing the roads on which they worked, +pioneers carried on the tracks, put down new lengths of duck-board, laid +new rails. The enemy's artillery came howling over to search out all +this work, which had been seen by aeroplanes, and at night flocks of +planes came out in the light of the moon to drop bombs on the men and +the work. Now and again they made lucky hits--got a dump and sent it +flaming up in a great torch, killed horses in the wagon-lines or +labouring up with the transport, laid out groups of men, smashed a train +or a truck; but the work went on, never checked, never stopping in its +steady flow of energy up to the lines, and the valour of all these +labourers was great and steady in preparing for to-day. Knowing the +purpose of it all, the deadly purpose, the scene of activity by any +siding filled one with a kind of fear. It was so prodigious, so vastly +schemed. I passed a dump yesterday, and again to-day, in the waste +ground on the old battlefield near Ypres and saw the shells for our +field-batteries being unloaded. There were thousands of shells, +brand-new from the factories at home, all bright and glistening and +laid out in piles. The guns were greedy. Here was food for a monstrous +appetite. We watched all this--the faces of the men going up so +bright-eyed, so splendid in their youth, so gay, and all these shells +and guns and materials of war, and all this movement which surged about +us and caught us up like straws in its tide, and then we looked at the +sky and smelt the wind, and studied a milky ring which formed about the +moon. Rain was coming. If only it would come lightly or hold another day +or two--one night at least. + +Rain fell a little yesterday. The ground was sticky when I went up +beyond Wieltje to look at the Passchendaele Ridge to see some boys +getting ready for the "show" to-day, and to watch the beginning of the +great bombardment.... Curse the rain! It would make all the difference +to our fighting men, the difference perhaps between great success and +half a failure, and the difference between life and death to many of +those boys who looked steadily towards the German lines which they were +asked to take. What damnable luck it would be if the rain fell heavily! +Last night the moon was hidden and rain fell, but not very hard, though +the wind went howling across the flats of Flanders. And this morning, +when our men rose from shell-holes and battered trenches and fields of +upheaved earth to make this great attack, the rain fell still but +softly, so that the ground was only sticky and sludgy, but not a bog. +The rain was glistening on their steel helmets, and the faces of our +fighting men were wet when they went forward. They had passed already +through a fiery ordeal, and some of them could not rise to go with their +comrades, and lay dead on the ground. Along the lines of men, these +thousands of men, the stretcher-bearers were already busy in the dark, +because the enemy had put over a heavy barrage at 5.30, and elsewhere +later, the prelude to the attack he had planned. His old methods of +defence and counter-attack had broken down in two battles. The spell of +the pill-box, which had worked well for a time, was broken, so that +those concrete blockhouses were feared as death-traps by the men who had +to hold them. The German High Command hurried to prepare a new plan, +guessing ours, and moved the guns to be ready for our next attack, +registered on their own trenches, which they knew they might lose, and +assembled the best divisions, or the next best, ready for a heavy blow +to wind us before we started and to smash our lines, so that the advance +would be a thousand times harder. The barrage which the Germans sent +over was the beginning of the new plan. It failed because of the fine +courage of our troops first of all, and because the German infantry +attack was timed an hour too late. If it had come two hours earlier it +might have led to our undoing--might at least have prevented anything +like real victory to-day. But the fortune of war was on our side, and +the wheel turned round to crush the enemy. + +The main force of his attack, which was to be made by the Fourth Guards +Division, with two others, I am told, in support, was ready to assault +the centre of our battle-front in the direction of Polygon Wood and down +from the Broodseinde cross-roads. It was our men who fought the German +assault divisions at the Broodseinde cross-roads, and took many +prisoners from them before they had time to advance very far. The +enemy's shelling had been heavy about the ground of Inverness Copse and +Glencorse Wood, where a week or so ago I saw the frightful heaps of +German dead, and spread over a wide area of our line of battle along the +Polygon Wood heights and the low ground in front of Zonnebeke. The men +tell me that it did not do them as much harm as they expected. The +shells plunged deep into the soft ground, bursting upwards in tall +columns, as I saw them this morning on the field, and their killing +effect was not widespread. Many of them also missed our waves +altogether. So, half an hour later, our men went away behind our own +barrage, which was enormous and annihilating. The wet mist lay heavily +over the fields, and it was almost dark except for a pale glamour behind +the rain-clouds, which brightened as each quarter of an hour passed, +with our men tramping forward slowly to their first objective. + +The shell-craters on the German side were linked together here and there +to form a kind of trench system, but many of these had been blown out by +other shell-bursts, and German soldiers lay dead in them. From others, +men and boys, many boys of eighteen, rose with their arms upstretched, +as white in the face as dead men, but living, and afraid. Across these +frightful fields men came running towards our soldiers. They did not +come to fight, but to escape from the shell-fire, which tossed up the +earth about them, and to surrender. Many of them were streaming with +blood, wounded about the head and face, or with broken and bleeding +arms. So I saw them early this morning when they came down the tracks +which led away from that long line of flaming gun-fire. + +The scene of the battle in those early hours was a great and terrible +picture. It will be etched as long as life lasts in the minds of men who +saw it. The ruins of Ypres were vague and blurred in the mist as I +passed them on the way up, but as moment passed moment the jagged stump +of the Cloth Hall, and the wild wreckage of the asylum, and the fretted +outline of all this chaos of masonry which was so fair a city once, +leapt out in light which flashed redly and passed. So it was all along +the way to the old German lines. Bits of villages still stand, enough to +show that buildings were there, and where isolated ruins of barns and +farmhouses lie in heaps of timber and brickwork about great piles of +greenish sand-bags and battered earthworks. Through shell-holes in +fragments of walls red light stabbed like a flame, and out of the +darkness of the mist they shone for a second with an unearthly +brightness. It was the light of our gun-fire. Our guns were everywhere +in the low concealing mist, so that one could not walk anywhere to avoid +the blast of their fire. They made a fury of fire. Flashes leapt from +them with only the pause of a second or two while they were reloaded. +There was never a moment within my own range of vision when hundreds of +great guns were not firing together. They were eating up shells which I +had seen going up to them, and the roads and fields across which I +walked were littered with shells. The wet mist was like one great damp +fire, with ten miles or more of smoke rising in a white vapour, through +which the tongues of flames leapt up, stirred by some fierce wind. The +noise was terrifying in its violence. Passing one of those big-bellied +howitzers was to me an agony. It rose like a beast stretching out its +neck, and there came from it a roar which clouted one's ear-drums and +shook one's body with a long tremor of concussion. These things were all +firing at the hardest pace, and the earth was shaken with their blasts +of fire. The enemy was answering back. His shells came whining and +howling through all this greater noise, and burst with a crash on either +side of mule tracks and over bits of ruin near by, and in the fields on +each side of the paths down which German prisoners came staggering with +their wounded. Fresh shell-holes, enormously deep and thickly grouped, +showed that he had plastered this ground fiercely, but now, later in the +morning, his shelling eased off, and his guns had other work to do over +there where our infantry was advancing. Other work, unless the guns lay +smashed, with their teams lying dead around them, killed by our +counter-battery work with high explosives and gas; for in the night we +smothered them with gas and tried to keep them quiet for this battle and +all others. + +I went eastward and mounted a pile of rubbish and timber, all blown into +shapelessness and reeking with foul odours, and from that shelter looked +across to the Passchendaele Ridge and Hill 40 on the west of Zonnebeke +and the line of the ridge that goes round to Polygon Wood. It was all +blurred, so that I could not see the white ruins of Zonnebeke as I saw +them the other day in the sunlight, nor the broken church tower of +Passchendaele. It was all veiled in smoke and mist, through which the +ridge loomed darkly with a black hump where Broodseinde stands. But +clearly through the gloom were the white and yellow cloud-bursts of our +shell-fire and the flame of their shell-bursts. It was the most terrible +bombardment I have seen, and I saw the fire of the Somme, and of Vimy, +and Arras, and Messines. Those were not like this, great as they were in +frightfulness. The whole of the Passchendaele Crest was like a series of +volcanoes belching up pillars of earth and fire. "It seemed to us," said +soldier after soldier who came down from those slopes, "as if no mortal +man could live in it, yet there were many who lived despite all the +dead." + +I saw the living men. Below the big pile of timber and muck on which I +stood was a winding path, and other tracks on each side of it between +the deep shell-craters, and down these ways came batches of prisoners +and the trail of our walking wounded. It was a tragic sight in spite of +its proof of victory, and the valour of our men and the spirit of these +wounded of ours, who bore their pain with stoic patience and said, when +I spoke to them, "It's been a good day; we're doing fine, I think." The +Germans were haggard and white-faced men, thin and worn and weary and +frightened. Many of them, a large number of them, were wounded. Some of +them had masks of dry blood on their faces, and some of them wet blood +all down their tunics. They held broken arms from which the sleeves had +been cut away, and hobbled painfully on wounded legs. The worst were no +worse than some of our own men who came down with them and among them. + +It has been a bad defeat for them, and they do not hide their despair. +They did not fight stubbornly for the most part, but ran one way or the +other as soon as our barrage passed and revealed our men. Our gun-fire +had overwhelmed them. In the blockhouses were groups of men who gasped +out words of surrender. Here and there they refused to come out till +bombs burst outside their steel doors. And here and there they got their +machine-guns to work and checked our advance for a time, as at Joist +Farm, on the right of our attack, and at a chateau near Polderhoek, +where there has been severe fighting. There was heavy machine-gun fire +from a fortified farm ruin to the north of Broodseinde, and again from +Kronprinz Farm on the extreme left. The enemy also put down a heavy +machine-gun barrage from positions around Passchendaele, but nothing has +stopped our men seriously so far. + +The New-Zealanders and Australians swept up and beyond the Gravenstafel +and Abraham Heights, went through and past the ruins of Zonnebeke +village, and with great heroism gained the high ground about +Broodseinde, a dominating position giving observation of all the enemy's +side of the country. It has been a wonderful battle in the success that +surmounted all difficulty, and if we can keep what we have gained it +will be a victorious achievement. The weather is bad now and the rain is +heavier, with a savage wind blowing. But that is not good for the +enemy's plans, and may be in our favour now that the day has gone well. +Our English troops share the honour of the day with the Anzacs, and all +were splendid. + + * * * * * + +OCTOBER 5 + +The men who were fighting in the great battle yesterday, and after the +capture of many strong positions held their ground last night in spite +of many German counter-attacks and heavy fire, tell grim tales, which +all go to build up the general picture of the most smashing defeat we +have inflicted on the enemy. + +On one section of the Front, where the Warwicks, Sherwoods, Lancashire +Fusiliers and other county troops of the 48th and 11th Divisions fought +up to Poelcappelle and its surrounding blockhouses, six enemy battalions +in the front line were either taken or killed. The men themselves do +not know those figures. They only know that they passed over large +numbers of dead and that they took many prisoners. + +The New-Zealanders and the Australians on their right, fighting up the +Abraham Heights, took over 2000 prisoners, and say that they have never +seen so many dead as those who lay shapeless in their tracks. Other +Australians fighting for the Broodseinde cross-roads have counted 960 +dead Germans on their way. The full figure of the German dead will never +be counted by us. They lie on this battle-ground buried and half-buried +in the water of shell-holes, in blockhouses blown on top of them, and in +dug-outs that have become their tombs. They fought bravely in some +places with despairing courage in or about some of the blockhouses which +still gave them a chance of resistance, and sometimes worked their +machine-guns to the last. Men lying in shell-craters still alive among +all their dead used their rifles and sniped our men, knowing that they +would have to pay for their shots with their lives. That is courage, and +New-Zealanders I met to-day, and English lads, were fair to their enemy, +and said Fritz showed great pluck when he had a dog's chance, though +many of them ran when we got close to them behind the barrage. It was +the barrage that made them break. The Fourth Guards Division seems to +have fought well on the line of our first objective, though after that +they would not stand firm, and ran or surrendered like the others. + +Owing to the coincidence of the simultaneous attack from both sides +yesterday morning, and the complete overthrow of the German assault +divisions who were about to advance on us, there seems no doubt that +some confusion prevailed behind the German lines and on the left and +centre of our attack. All their attempts at counter-thrusts were badly +planned, and led to further disaster. They did not advance in orderly +formation, but straggled up from local reserves and supports, and were +smashed in detail by our artillery. So it happened with two battalions +who came down the road to Poelcappelle, but withered away. The +Lancashire Fusiliers of the 11th Division in that region say the thing +was laughable, though it is the comedy of war, and not mirthful in the +usual sense. Small groups of Germans wandered up in an aimless way, and +were shot down by machine-gun and rifle fire. On the right of the +battle-front the enemy's attacks have been more serious and thrust home +with grim persistence against the "Koylies," Lincolns, West Kents, and +Scottish Borderers of the 5th Division. + +It was after the advance of our men on Polderhoek and its chateau by the +Gheluvelt spur of the Passchendaele Ridge. Some of the Surreys, Devons, +and Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry swung round the stream and +marshlands of the Reutel and accounted for many of the enemy in close +and fierce fighting. The Devons were astride the stream and, working +north of it, attacked a slope called Juniper Spur. + +In Polderhoek was a nest of machine-guns, which fired out of the ruins +of the chateau, and for some time our men had difficult and deadly work. +This was worst against the Scottish Borderers, who were facing the +chateau grounds, but they dug in and made some cover, while behind the +prisoners, about 500 of them, were getting back to the safety of our +lines. + +It was at three o'clock in the afternoon that the enemy sent a very +strong counter-attack down the slopes of the Gheluvelt Spur against the +5th and 7th Divisions. Six times through the afternoon masses of men +appeared and tried to force their way forward, but each time they were +caught under rifle-fire and machine-guns and artillery. + +It was at seven o'clock that the heaviest attack came, under cover of +savage shelling, and our men had to fall back on the ground beyond +Cameron House, which is the scene of the enemy's fierce attacks on +September 25, when they were for some little time a serious menace to +us. This morning the enemy had driven a wedge into our line in this +neighbourhood, and it is quite possible that he will deliver other blows +in the same direction. Last night he made no great endeavour to get back +ground. It was a dirty night for our men, who had been fighting all day. +The rain fell heavily, filling the shell-holes and turning all the +broken ground of battle to the same old bog which made so much misery in +Inverness Copse and Glencorse Wood and other positions attacked on July +31 and afterwards. + +"I lay up to my waist in water," said one of the Devons who came down +wounded this morning; "it was bitter cold, and Fritz was putting over +his 5.9's; he was also putting over a lot of machine-gun fire, and the +bullets came over the heads of our men like the cracking of whips." It +was bad for the wounded and the stretcher-bearers--the splendid +stretcher-bearers, who worked all through the night up and down through +fierce barrage-fire. Most of them got through with their burdens by +that queer miracle of luck which is often theirs. But one little party +came down when the fire was fiercest, and took cover in a shell-hole +close beside some Warwickshire boys who were crouching in another hole +until the storm of shells had passed. Suddenly they heard the howl of a +monstrous shell--an eight-inch or even a twelve-inch by the noise if it. +It fell and burst right inside the shell-crater where the +stretcher-bearers were huddled with their wounded men, and they were +blown out of it yards high, so that their bodies were tossed like straws +in a fierce wind.... I met many men who worked their way down under fire +like that, and some who had been wounded already were wounded again, and +some of the comrades who trudged with them were killed. + +The Warwickshire battalions of the 48th Division on the left of the +New-Zealanders had some very hard fighting, lasting all through the day, +which concluded with an attack on a position called Terrier Farm, above +the pill-boxes of Wellington House and Winchester House, which they had +captured after some bad quarters of an hour. + +The Warwicks had started with great luck. In spite of the German +shelling they had got away to their first objective with only three +casualties. They went through the first line of blockhouses without much +trouble, picking up prisoners on the way in most of them. Their first +trouble came from one of these concrete places called Wellington House. +Machine-gun fire came crackling from it, and bullets were also sweeping +the ground from hidden emplacements. After twenty minutes' struggle +Wellington House fell, and the flanks on either side closed up and went +forward, the Warwicks helped on the right by a body of New Zealand men. +In the centre the machine-gun fire from those concrete walls ahead +caused a check and a gap, and although they tried many times with great +gallantry under brave officers, to silence that fire and work round the +blockhouses, they could not do this without greater loss, and decided to +link up with their flanks by digging a loop-line in front of those +positions, which make a small wedge, or pocket, in our line there. + +The attack against Terrier Farm was done by other Warwickshire lads, who +were very game after a long day under fire, but for all their spirit +tired and cold. They stood almost knee-deep in mud, and they were wet +to the skin, as it was now raining steadily, so a Tank came up to help +them, and drew close enough to Terrier Farm to fire broadsides at its +concrete and machine-gun its loophole. A white rag thrust through a hole +in the wall was the sign of the enemy's surrender. But the conditions +were too bad for any greater progress, and the men dug in for the night, +while brother Tank crawled back. + +All the Tanks used in the battle did well, in spite of the bad going, +and helped to reduce several of the blockhouses. They had only two +casualties among their crews, and most of them got back to their +hiding-places without damage from German shells. + +It is astounding that the German counter-attacks were so quickly +signalled to the guns, for the light all day was bad, and the weather +was dead against the work of the flying men. They did their best by +flying low and risking the enemy's fire. There was one pilot who is the +talk of the Australians to-day. They watched that English child doing +the most amazing "stunts" over the fighting-lines. He was out all day, +swooping low, so that his plane seemed just to skim over the craters. +The Germans tried to get him by any manner of means. They turned their +"Archies" on to him and their machine-guns, and then tried to bring him +down with rifle-fire, and that failing, though they pierced his wings +many times, they called up the heavies and tried to snipe him with +5.9's, which are mighty big and beastly things. But he went on flying +till many of his wires were cut and his struts splintered, and his +aeroplane was a rag round an engine. He was bruised and dazed when he +came to earth, making a bad landing in our own lines, but not killing +either himself or the observer, who shares the honour and the marvel of +this exploit. + +It was a great day for the Australians and the New-Zealanders, their +greatest and most glorious day. I saw them going up--these lithe, +loose-limbed, hatchet-faced fellows, who look so free and fine in their +slouch hats and so hard and grim in their steel helmets. There were many +thousands of them on the roads or camped beside the roads, and Flanders +for a time seemed to have become a little province of Australia. + +Then the New-Zealanders came along, a type half-way between the English +of the old country and the Australian boys--not so lean and wiry, with +more colour in the cheeks, and a squarer, fuller build. It was good to +see them--as fine a set of boys as one could see in the whole world, so +that it was hard to think of them in the furnace fires up there, and to +know that some of them would come back maimed and broken. In a dug-out +on the battlefield I talked with some of them, and they were cheery +lads, full of confidence in the coming battle. They wanted to go as far +as the Australians, to do as well, and among the Australians also there +was a friendly rivalry, the new men wanting to show their mettle to +those who are already old in war, one battalion keen to earn the honour +which belongs by right of valour to another which had fought before. It +was certain they would get to the Broodseinde cross-roads if human +courage could get there against high explosives, and they were there +without a check, over every obstacle, regardless of the enemy's fire, +too fast some of them behind their own. So the New-Zealanders went up to +Abraham Heights and carried all before them. The hardest time was last +night in the mud and the cold, under heavy fire now and then, but they +have stuck it out, as our English boys have stuck it through many foul +days and in harder times than these, and that is good enough. + +The German prisoners do not hide their astonishment at the spirit of our +men, and they know now that our troops are terrible in attack, and +arrive upon them with a strange, fearful suddenness behind the barrage. +One man, a German professor of broad intelligence and a frank way of +facing ugly facts, said that our artillery was too terrific for words. +They got harassed all the way up to the front line, and lost many men. +When they got there they had to lie flat in the bottom of shell-holes, +and the next thing they knew was when they were surrounded by masses of +English soldiers. He described our men as gallant and chivalrous. This +professor thinks it will not be long before Germany makes a great bid +for peace by offering to give up Belgium. By midwinter she will yield +Alsace-Lorraine, Russia will remain as before the war, except for an +autonomous Poland; Italy will have what she has captured; and Germany +will get back some of her colonies, he thinks. He laughed when an +indemnity was mentioned, and said "Germany is bankrupt." He describes +the German Emperor as a broken man and all for peace, the Crown Prince +posing as the head of the military party but being unpopular. If the +German people knew that the submarine threat had failed they would +demand that the war should stop at once. That is the opinion of one +educated German who has suffered the full horror of war and his words +are interesting if they represent no more than his own views. + + + + +XIX + +SCENES OF BATTLE + + +OCTOBER 7 + +The scene of war since Thursday, when our troops went away in the wet +mist for the great battle up the slopes of the Passchendaele Ridge, has +been dark and grim and overcast with a brooding sky, where storm-clouds +are blown into wild and fantastic shapes. Yesterday over the country +round Ypres, which still in its ruins holds the soul of all the +monstrous tragedy hereabouts, white cloud-mountains were piled up +against black, sullen peaks and were shot through with a greenish light, +very ghastly in its revelation of the litter and the wreckage of the +great arena of human slaughter. Etched sharply against this queer +luminance were the lopped trunks of shell-slashed trees and bits of +ruined buildings with tooth-like jags above heaps of fallen masonry. +Rain fell heavily for most of the day, as nearly all the night, and as +it rains to-day, and a wet fog rose from the ground where the +shell-craters were already ponds brimming over into swamps of mud. +Through the murk our guns fired incessantly, almost as intense as the +drum-fire which precedes an attack, though there was no attack from our +side or the enemy's, and it was a strange, uncanny thing to hear all +that crashing of gun-fire and the wail of great shells in flight to the +German lines through this midday darkness. + +I marvelled at the gunners, who have gone on so long--so long through +the days and nights--feeding those monsters. The infantry have a hard +time. It is they who fight with flesh and blood against the machinery of +slaughter which is set against them. It is they who go out across the +fields on that wild adventure into the unknown. But the gunners, +standing by the heavies and the 18-pounders in the sodden fields, with +piles of shells about them and great dumps near by, have no easy, +pleasant time. On the morning of the last battle I saw the enemy's +shells searching for them, flinging up the earth about their batteries, +ploughing deep holes on either side of them. They worked in the close +neighbourhood of death, and at any moment, between one round and +another, a battery and its gun teams might be blown up by one of those +howling beasts which seem to gather strength and ferocity at the end of +their flight before the final roar of destruction. Now and again a lucky +shell of the enemy's gets an ammunition dump, and a high torch rises to +the dark sky, and in its flames there are wild explosions as the shells +are touched off. But the gunners go on with their work in all the tumult +of their own batteries, deafening and ear-splitting and +nerve-destroying, and our young gunner officers, muddy, unshaven, +unwashed, with sleep-drawn eyes, pace up and down the line of guns +saying, "Are you ready, Number One?--Number One, fire!" with no sign of +the strain that keeps them on the rack when a big battle is in progress. +For them the battle lasts longer than for the infantry. It begins before +the infantry advance, it lulls a little and then breaks out into new +fury when the German counter-attacks begin. It does not end when the SOS +signals have been answered by hours of bombardment, but goes on again to +keep German roads under fire, to smother their back areas, to batter +their gun positions. + +So yesterday, when the German guns were getting back behind the +Passchendaele, hauled back out of the mud to take up new emplacements +from which they can pour explosives on the ground we have captured, our +gunners could not rest, but made this work hideous for the enemy and +followed his guns along their tracks. The British gunners in these +frightful battles have worked with a courage and endurance to the limit +of human nature, and the infantry are the first to praise them and to +marvel at them. The infantry go marching in the rain and trudging in the +mud, and stumbling over the water-logged craters, and out on the +battlefield standing knee-deep in pools and bogs that have been made by +shell-fire, cutting up the beds of the Flemish brooks, like the Hanebeek +and the Stroombeek and the Reutelbeek, and by the heavy downpour on the +upheaved earth. Winter conditions have come upon us, too. They were the +old winter pictures of war that I saw yesterday round about the old +Ypres salient, when wet men gathered under the lee side of old dug-outs +with cold rain sweeping upon them, so that their waterproof capes +stream with water, and pattering upon their steel hats with a sharp +metallic tinkling sound. Along the roads Australian and New Zealand +horsemen go riding hard, with their horses' flanks splashed with heavy +gobs of mud. Gun-wagons and transports pass, flinging mud from their +wheels. Ambulances, with their red crosses spattered with slime, go +threading their way to the clearing-stations, with four pairs of muddy +boots upturned beneath the blankets which show through the flap behind, +and a dozen "sitting cases" huddled together, with their steel hats +clashing and their tired eyes looking out on the traffic of war which +they are leaving for a time. They come down cold and wet from the line, +but in an hour or two they are warm, inside the dressing-stations, +between sand-bagged walls built up inside ruined houses, still within +range of shell-fire, but safer than the fields from which these men have +come. + +"If any man feels cold," said a medical officer yesterday, "give him a +hot-water bottle." To a man who had been lying in cold mud until an hour +or two before it was like offering him a place by the fireside at home. + +The Y.M.C.A. is busy in another tent or another dug-out. It has a cheery +way of producing hot cocoa on the edge of a battlefield and of thrusting +little packets of chocolate, biscuits, cigarettes, and matches into the +hands of lightly wounded men as soon as they have trudged down the long +trail for walking wounded and reached the first dressing-station, where +there is a little group of men waiting to bandage their wounds, to say, +"Well done, laddy; you did grandly this morning," and to fix them up +with strange and wonderful speed for the journey to the base hospital, +where there are beds with white sheets--sheets again, ye gods!--and rest +and peace and warmth. + +There are queer little groups between the sand-bags of those forward +dressing-stations. On one bench I saw a tall New-Zealander and some +Warwick boys--the Warwicks of the 48th Division did famously in this +battle--and a farmer's lad from the West Country, who said "It seems to +Oi," and spoke with a fine simple gravity of the things he had seen and +done; and a thin-faced Lancashire boy, who still wanted to kill more +Germans and put them to a nasty kind of death; and a fellow of the +Lincolns, who said, "Our lads went over grand." + +Near by was a wounded German soldier who had clotted blood over his face +and a bloody bandage round his head. A friendly voice spoke to him and +said, "Wie gehts mit Ihnen?" ("How are you getting on?") And he looked +up in a dazed way and said, "Besser hier als am Kampfe" ("Better here +than on the battlefield.") + +The tall New-Zealander said: "Fritz fought all right. His +machine-gunners fired till we were all round them." + +"'Twas a bit of a five-point-nine that hit Oi in the arm," said the +farmer's lad. "He put over a terrible big barrage, and Oi was a-laying +up till the waist in a shell-hole all filled with mud, and Oi was +starved with cold." + +"They're all cowards, them Fritzes," said the Lancashire boy. "They ran +so hard I couldn't catch them with my bayonet. Then a bullet came and +went slick through my head." The bullet failed to kill the Lancashire +boy by the smallest fraction of an inch, and had furrowed his skull. + +The Warwickshire lads told queer tales of the battle, and they bear out +what I have heard from their officers elsewhere. There were numbers of +German soldiers who lay about in shell-holes after our barrage had +passed over their lines and their blockhouses, and sniped our officers +and men as they swarmed forward, though they knew that by not +surrendering they were bound to die. It was the last supreme courage of +the human beast at bay. There was one of these who lay under the +wreckage of an aeroplane, and from that cover he shot some of our men at +close range; but because there were many bullets flying about, and +shells bursting, and all the excitement of a battle-ground, he was not +discovered for some time. It was a sergeant of the Warwicks who saw him +first, and just in time. The German had his rifle raised at ten yards +range, but the sergeant whipped round and shot him before he could turn. +Some of these men were discovered after the general fighting was over, +and a nasty shock was given to a young A.D.C. who went with his +Divisional General to see the captured ground next day. The General, who +is a quick walker, went ahead over the shell-craters, and the A.D.C. +suddenly saw two Germans wearing their steel helmets rise before the +General from one of the deep holes. + +"Now there's trouble," thought the young officer, feeling for his +revolver. But when he came up he heard the General telling two wounded +Germans that the English had won a very great victory, and that if they +were good boys he would send up stretcher-bearers to carry them down. + +All over the battlefield there were queer little human episodes thrust +for a minute or two into the great grim drama of this advance by British +and Overseas troops up the heights of the Passchendaele Ridge, where +thousands of German soldiers who had been waiting to attack them were +caught by the rolling storm of shells which smashed the earth about them +and mingled them with its clods. One tragic glimpse like this was on the +Australian way up to the Broodseinde cross-roads, the key of the whole +position, after a body of those Australians had marched many miles +through the night over appalling ground under scattered shell-fire, and +were only in their place of attack half an hour before it started. The +story of that night march is in itself a little epic, but that is not +the episode I mean. The Australians drew close to one of the +blockhouses, and the sound of their cheering must have been heard by the +Germans inside those concrete walls. The barrage had just passed and its +line of fire, volcanic in its look and fury, went travelling ahead. +Suddenly, out of the blockhouses, a dozen men or so came running, and +the Australians shortened their bayonets. From the centre of the group a +voice shouted out in English, "I am a Middlesex man, don't shoot. I am +an Englishman." The man who called had his hands up, in sign of +surrender, like the German soldiers. + +"It's a spy," said an Australian. "Kill the blighter." The English voice +again rang out: "I'm English." And English he was. It was a man of the +Middlesex Regiment who had been captured on patrol some days before. The +Germans had taken him into their blockhouse, and because of our gun-fire +they could not get out of it, and kept him there. He was well treated, +and his captors shared their food with him, but the awful moment came to +him when the drum-fire passed and he knew that unless he held his hands +high he would be killed by our own troops. + +The New-Zealanders had many fights on the way up to the Gravenstafel and +Abraham Heights, and one thing that surprised them was the number of +pill-boxes and blockhouses inhabited by the enemy close to their own +lines. They believed that the foremost ones had been deserted. But it +must not be forgotten that running all through the narrative of this +battle is the thwarted plan of the enemy to attack us in strength the +same morning and at nearly the same hour. For that reason he had thrust +little groups of men into advanced posts and into these most forward +blockhouses with orders to hold them at all costs until the attacking +divisions should reach and pass them. And for that reason, as we know, +the enemy's guns laid down a heavy barrage over our lines half an hour +before our attack started. + +The New-Zealanders did not escape this shelling, and their brigadiers +were under the strain of intense anxiety, not knowing in their dug-outs, +over which the enemy's fire passed, whether their boys were so cut up +that a successful assault would be impossible. As it happened, the +New-Zealanders were not seriously hurt nor thrown into disorder. When +the moment came they went away in waves, with the spirit of a pack of +hounds on a good hunting morning. As fierce as that and as wild as that. +They had not gone more than a few yards before they had fifty prisoners. +This was at a blockhouse just outside the New Zealand assembly line. +There was no fight there, but the garrison surrendered as soon as our +men were round their shelter. The Hanebeek stream flows this way, but it +was no longer within its bounds. Our gun-fire had smashed up its track, +and all about was a swamp made deeper by the rains. + +The New Zealand lads had a devil of a time in getting across and +through. Some of them stuck up to the knees and others fell into +shell-holes, deep in mud, as far as their belts. "Give us a hand, Jack," +came a shout from one man, and the answer was, "Hang on to my rifle, +Tom." Men with the solid ground under their feet hauled out others in +the slough, and all that was a great risk of time while the barrage was +travelling slowly on with its protecting screen of shells. + +The only chance of life in these battles is to keep close to the +barrage, risking the shorts, for if it once passes and leaves any enemy +there with a machine-gun, there is certain death for many men. The New +Zealand boys nearly lost that wall of shells because of the mud, but +somehow or other managed to scramble on over 800 yards in time enough to +catch it up. Many blockhouses yielded up their batches of prisoners, who +were told to get back and give no trouble. The first fight for a +blockhouse took place at Van Meulen Farm, just outside the +New-Zealanders' first objective. The barrage went ahead and sat down--as +one of the officers put it, though the sitting down of a barrage is a +queer simile for that monstrous eruption of explosive force. From Van +Meulen Farm came the swish of machine-gun bullets, and New Zealand boys +began to drop. They were held up for half an hour until the "leap-frog" +battalions--that is to say, the men who were to pass through the first +waves to the next objective--came up to help. + +It was a New Zealand captain, beloved by all his men for his gallantry +and generous-hearted ways, who led the rush of Lewis-gunners and bombers +and riflemen. He fell dead with a machine-gun bullet in his heart, but +with a cry of rage because of this great loss the other men ran on each +side of the blockhouse and stormed it. + +On the left of the New-Zealanders' line, one of their battalions could +see Germans firing from concrete houses on the slopes of the +Gravenstafel, and although they had to lose the barrage, which was +sweeping ahead again, they covered that ground and went straight for +those places under sharp fire. Some of them worked round the concrete +walls and hauled out more prisoners. "Get back, there," they shouted, +but there was hardly a New-Zealander who would go back with them to act +as escort. So it happened that a brigadier, getting out of his dug-out +to see what was happening to his men away there over the slopes, +received the first news of success from batches of Germans who came +marching in company formation under the command of their own officers, +and without escort. That was how I saw many of them coming back on +another part of the field. From the Abraham Heights there was a steady +stream of machine-gun fire until the New-Zealanders had climbed them and +routed out the enemy from their dug-outs, which were not screened by our +barrage so that they were able to fire. Only the great gallantry of +high-spirited young men could have done that, and it is an episode which +proved the quality of New Zealand troops on that morning of the battle, +so keen to do well, so reckless of the cost. On Abraham Heights a lot of +prisoners were taken and joined the long trail that hurried back through +miles of scattered shell-fire from their own guns. + +The next resistance was at the blockhouse called Berlin, and the +New-Zealanders are proud of having taken that place, because of its +name, which they will write on their scroll of honour. It is not an +Imperial place. It is a row of dirty concrete pill-boxes above a deep +cave, on the pattern of the old type of dug-outs. But it was a strong +fortress for German machine-gunners, and they defended it stubbornly. It +was a five minutes' job. Stokes mortars were brought up and fired thirty +rounds in two minutes, and then, with a yell, the New-Zealanders rushed +the position on both sides and flung pea-bombs through the back door, +until part of the garrison streamed out shouting their word of +surrender. The other men were dead inside. A battalion commander and his +staff were taken prisoners in another farm, and the New-Zealanders drank +soda-water and smoked high-class cigarettes which they found in this +place, where the German officers were well provided. After that +refreshment they went on to Berlin Wood, where there were several +pill-boxes hidden among the fallen trees and mud-heaps. They had to make +their way through a machine-gun barrage, and platoon commanders +assembled their Lewis-gunners and riflemen to attack the house in +detail. From one of them a German officer directed the fire, and when +the gun was silenced inside came out with another and fired round the +corner of the wall until our men rushed upon him. Even then he raised +his revolver as though to shoot a sergeant, who was closest to him, but +he was killed by a bayonet-thrust. + +At other parts of the line our English boys were fighting hard and with +equal courage, and some of them against greater fire. It was on the +right that the enemy's gun-fire was most fierce, and our old English +county regiments of the 5th and 7th Divisions--Devons and Staffords, +Surreys and Kents, Lincolns with Scottish Borderers, Northumberland +Fusiliers, and Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry--opposite Gheluvelt and +Polderhoek and the Reutelbeek had to endure some bad hours. I have +already mentioned in earlier messages how the enemy made ceaseless +thrusts against this right flank of our attacking front, driving a wedge +in for a time, so that our men had to fall back a little and form a +decisive flank. It is known now that they were misled somewhat by some +isolated groups of the enemy who held out in pill-boxes behind Cameron +House. When these were cleared out our line swept forward again and +established itself on the far side of that wood. Our men hold the outer +houses of Gheluvelt. + +The whole of the fighting here was made very difficult by the swamps of +the Reutelbeek, worse even than those of the Hanebeek, through which the +New-Zealanders crossed, and our English boys were bogged as they tried +to cross. But they fought forward doggedly, and by sheer valour +safeguarded our right wing in the hardest part of the battle. Meanwhile, +far on the north in the district of the Sehreiboom astride the Thourout +railway, Scottish and Irish troops were fighting on a small front but on +an heroic scale. It was the Dublin Fusiliers who fought most recklessly. +They had begged to go first into this battle, and they went all out with +a wild and exultant spirit. The ground in front of them was a mud-pit, +and they had to swing round to get beyond it. They did not wait for the +barrage. They did not halt on their final objective, but still went away +into the blue, chasing the enemy and uplifted with a strange fierce +enthusiasm until they were called back to the line we wanted to hold. +They excelled themselves that morning, and could not be held back after +the word "Go!" + + + + +XX + +THE SLOUGH OF DESPOND + + +OCTOBER 9 + +Another battle was fought and another advance was made by our troops +to-day with the French, in a great assault on their left. Our Allies +gained about 1200 yards of ground in two strides, captured some hundreds +of prisoners and many machine-guns and two field-guns, and killed large +numbers of the enemy in this attack, and in the bombardments which have +preceded it. The Allied troops are within a few hundred yards of that +forest of which Marlborough spoke when he said, "Whoever holds Houthulst +Forest holds Flanders," and have gone forward about 1500 yards in depth +along a line beyond Poelcappelle across the Ypres-Gheluvelt road. The +enemy has suffered big losses again. Two new divisions just brought into +the line--the 227th straight from Rheims only getting into the line at +three o'clock this morning, and the 195th arrived from Russia--have +received a fearful baptism of fire, and at least three other +divisions--the 16th, 233rd, and 45th Reserve Division--have been hard +hit and are now bleeding from many wounds and have given many prisoners +from their ranks into our hands. + +How was this thing done? How did we have any success to-day when even +the most optimistic men were preyed upon last night by horrid doubts? +Our troops, we know, are wonderful. There is nothing they could be asked +to do which they would not try to do, and struggle to the death to do. +But last night's attack might have seemed hopeless in the morning except +to men who had weighed all the chances, who had all the evidence in +their hands--evidence, I mean, of the measure of the enemy's strength +and spirit--and who took the terrific responsibility of saying "Go!" to +the start of this new battle. + +It was a black and dreadful night, raining more heavily after heavy +rains. The wind howled and raged across Flanders with long, sinister +wailings as it gathered speed and raced over the fields. Heavy +storm-clouds hiding the moon and the stars broke, and a deluge came +down, drenching all our soldiers who marched along the roads and tracks, +making ponds about them where they stood. And it was cold, with a +coldness cutting men with the sharp sword of the wind, and there was no +glimmer of light in the darkness. To those of us who know the +crater-land of the battlefields, who with light kit or no kit have gone +stumbling through it, picking their way between the shell-holes in +daylight, taking hours to travel a mile or two, it might have seemed +impossible that great bodies of troops could go forward in assault over +such country and win any kind of success in such conditions. That they +did so is a proof, one more proof to add to a thousand others, that our +troops have in them an heroic spirit which is above the normal laws of +life, and that, whatever the conditions may be, they will face them and +grapple with them, and, if the spirit and flesh of man can do it, +overcome the impossible itself. This battle seems to me as wonderful as +anything we have done since the Highlanders and the Naval Division +captured Beaumont-Hamel in the mud and the fog. More wonderful even than +that, because on a greater scale and in more foul weather. + +This morning I have been among the Lancashire and West Riding men of the +66th and 49th Divisions who lay out last night before the attack, which +followed the first gleams of dawn to-day, and who marched up--no, they +did not march, but staggered and stumbled up to take part in the attack. +These men I met had come back wounded. Only in the worst days of the +Somme have I seen such figures. They were plastered from head to foot in +wet mud. Their hands and faces were covered with clay, like the hands +and faces of dead men. They had tied bits of sacking round their legs, +and this was stuck on them with clots of mud. Their belts and tunics +were covered with a thick, wet slime. They were soaked to the skin, and +their hair was stiff with clay. They looked to me like men who had been +buried alive and dug up again, and when I spoke to them I found that +some of them had been buried alive and unburied while they still had +life. They told me this simply, as if it were a normal thing. "A shell +burst close," said a Lancashire fellow, "and I was buried up to the +neck." "Do you mean up to the neck?" I asked, and he said, "Yes, up to +the neck." There were many like that, and others, without being flung +down by a shell-burst or buried in its crater, fell up to their waists +in shell-holes and up to their armpits, and sank in water and mud. + +A long column of men whom I knew had to make their way up at night to +join in the attack at the dawn. I had seen them the day before, with +rain slashing down on their steel hats and their shiny capes, and I +thought they were as grand a set of lads as ever I have seen in France. +They were men of the Lancashire battalions in the 66th Division. + +It was at dusk that they set out on their way up to the battle-line, and +it was only a few miles they had to go. But it took them eleven hours to +go that distance, and they did not get to the journey's end until half +an hour before they had to attack. It was not a march. It was a long +struggle against the demons of a foul night on the battlefield. The wind +blew a gale against them, slapping their faces with wet canes, so that +their flesh stung as at the slash of whips. It buffeted them against +each other and clutched at their rifles and tried to wrench their packs +off their backs. And the rain poured down upon them in fierce gusts +until they were only dry where their belts crossed, and their boots were +filled with water. It was pitch-dark at the beginning of the night, and +afterwards there was only the light of the stars. They could not see a +yard before them, but only the dark figure of the man ahead. Often that +figure ahead fell suddenly with a shout. It had fallen into a deep +shell-hole and disappeared. + +"Where are you. Bill?" shouted one man to another. "I'm bogged. For +God's sake give me a hand, old lad." + +There was not a man who did not fall. "I fell a hundred times," said one +of them. "It was nigh impossible to keep on one's feet for more than a +yard or two." + +So that little party of men went stumbling and staggering along, trying +to work across the shell-holes. + +"My pal Bert," said one man, "fell in deep, and then sank farther in. +'Charlie,' he cried. Two of us, and then four, tried to drag him out, +but we slipped down the bank of the crater and rolled into the slime +with him. I thought we should never get out. Some men were cursing and +some were laughing in a wild way, and some were near crying with the +cold. But somehow we got on." + +Somehow they got on, and that is the wonder of it. They got on to the +line of the attack half an hour before the guns were to start their +drum-fire, and they joined the thousands of other men who had been lying +out in the shell-holes all night, and were numbed with cold and +waist-high in water. + +Not all of them got there. The German guns had been busy most of the +night, and big shells were coming over. Thirty men were killed or +wounded with one shell, and others were hit and fell into the +water-pools, and lay there till the stretcher-bearers--the splendid +stretcher-bearers--came up to search for them. + +The Lancashires, who had travelled eleven hours, had had no food all +that time. "I would have given my left arm for a drop of hot drink," +said one of them, "I was fair perished with cold." + +Some of them had rum served out to them. They were the lucky ones, for +it gave them a little warmth. But others could not get a drop. + +One man, who was shaking with an ague when I met him this morning, had a +pitiful tragedy happen to him. "I had a jar of rum in my pack," he said, +"and the boys said to me, 'Keep it for us till we get over to the first +objective. We'll want it most then.' But when I went over I dropped my +pack. 'Oh, Christ!' I said, 'I've lost the rum!'" + +They went over to the attack, these troops who were cold and hungry and +exhausted after a dreadful night, and they gained their objective and +routed the enemy, and sent back many prisoners. I marvel at them, and +will salute them if ever I meet them in the world when the war is done. + +There were a number of German blockhouses in front of them, beyond +Abraham Heights and the Gravenstafel. These were Yetta House and +Augustus House and Heine House on the way to Tober Copse and Friesland +Copse just outside their line of assault. On their left there was a +blockhouse called Peter Pan, though no little mother Wendy would tell +stories to her boys there, and instead of Peter Pan's cockcrow there was +the wail of a wounded man. Beyond that little house of death were Wolfe +Copse and Wolfe Farm, from which the fire of German machine-guns came +swishing in streams of bullets. There was no yard of ground without a +shell-hole. They were linked together like the holes in a honeycomb, and +the German troops, very thick because of their new method of +defence--very dense in the support lines though the front line was more +lightly held--were scattered about in these craters. Large numbers were +killed and wounded when our barrage stormed over them, but numbers +crouching in old craters were left alive, and as the barrage passed they +rose and came streaming over in small batches, with their hands +high--came to meet our men, hoping for mercy. Many prisoners were made +before the first objective was reached, and after that by harder +fighting. Some of the men in shell-holes, wet like our men and cold like +our men, decided to keep fighting, and fired their rifles as our lads +struggled forward. The boy who lost his rum-jar met three of these men +in a shell-hole, and he threw a bomb at them, and said, "This is to pay +back for the gas you gave me a month ago." + +A little farther on there was another German in a shell-hole. He was a +boy of sixteen or so, and he raised his rifle at the lad of the rum-jar, +who flung the bayonet on one side by a sudden blow, but not quick enough +to escape a wound in the arm. "I couldn't kill him," said the Lancashire +lad; "he looked such a kid, like my young brother, so I took him +prisoner and sent him down." + +Not all the prisoners who were taken came down behind our lines. The +enemy was barraging the ground heavily, and many of their own men were +killed, and some of our stretcher-bearers, as they came down with the +wounded. Up in the leafless and shattered trees on the battlefield were +Germans with machine-guns, and German riflemen who sniped our men as +they passed. Many of these were shot up in the trees and came crashing +down. Up on the left of the attack, where our troops were in liaison +with the French, the enemy were taken prisoners in great numbers, +officers as well as men, and the hostile bombardment was not so heavy as +on the right, so that the casualties seem to have been light there. In +spite of the frightful ground all the objectives were taken, so that our +line has drawn close to Houthulst Forest. + +There was heavy fighting by the Worcesters of the 29th Division at a +place called Pascal Farm, and a lot of concrete dug-outs on the +Langemarck-Houthulst road gave trouble with their machine-guns. Adler +Farm, just outside our old line, somewhat south of that, also held out a +while, but was mastered, and opened the way to the second objective, +which on the right carried the attack through Poelcappelle. Here there +was hard fighting, by the Lancashire Fusiliers, South Staffords, and +Yorkshires of the 11th, and the German garrison put up a desperate +resistance in the brewery of Poelcappelle. On the right there has been +grim fighting again in the old neighbourhood of Polderhoek Chateau, but +on either side of it our troops of the 5th Division have made good +progress, in spite of intense and concentrated fire from many heavy +batteries. The enemy has again had a great blow, and has lost large +numbers of men--dead, wounded, and captured. That our troops could do +this after such a night and over such foul ground must seem to the +German High Command like some black art. + + * * * * * + +OCTOBER 10 + +In my message yesterday I described the appalling condition of the +ground and of the weather through which our men floundered in their +assault towards Houthulst Forest and Passchendaele. That is the theme of +this battle, as it is told by all the men who have been through its +swamps and fire, and it is a marvel that any success could have been +gained. Where we succeeded--and we took a great deal of ground and many +prisoners--it was due to the sheer courage of the men, who refused to be +beaten by even the most desperate conditions of exhaustion and +difficulty; and where we failed, or at least did not succeed, in making +full progress or holding all the first gains, it was because courage +itself was of no avail against the powers of nature, which were in +league that night with the enemy's guns. + +The brunt of the fighting fell yesterday in the centre upon the troops +of North-country England, the hard, tough men of Lancashire and +Yorkshire, and it was Lancashire's day especially, because of those +third-line Territorial battalions of Manchesters and East Lancashires +and Lancashire Fusiliers, with other comrades of the 66th Division. +There were some amongst them who went "over the bags," as they call it, +for the first time, and who fought in one of the hardest battles that +has ever been faced by British troops, with most stubborn and gallant +hearts. I know by hearing from their own lips, to-day and yesterday, the +narrative of the sufferings they endured, of the fight they made, and of +the wounds they bear without a moan. + +The night march of some of these men who went up to attack at dawn seems +to me, who have written many records of brave acts during three years of +war, one of the most heroic episodes in all this time. It was a march +which in dry, fine weather would have been done easily enough in less +than three hours by men so good as these. But it took eleven hours for +these Lancashire men to get up to their support line, and then, worn out +by fatigue that was a physical pain, wet to the skin, cold as death, +hungry, and all clotted about with mud, they lay in the water of +shell-holes for a little while until their officers said, "Our turn, +boys," and they went forward through heavy fire and over the same kind +of ground, and fought the enemy with his machine-guns and beat +him--until they lay outside their last objective and kept off +counter-attacks by a few machine-guns that still remained unclogged, and +rifles that somehow they had kept dry. Nothing better than that has been +done, and Lancashire should thrill to the tale of it, because their sons +were its heroes. Dirty, blood-stained, scarecrow heroes, as I met some +of them to-day, lightly wounded, but hardly able to walk after the long +trail back from the line. It was eleven hours' walking on the way up, +and then, after the wild day and half a night under shell-fire and +machine-gun fire, eleven hours down again, in shell-holes and out of +them, falling every few yards, crawling on hands and knees through slimy +trenches, staggering up by the help of a comrade's arm and going on +again with set jaws, and the cry of "No surrender!" in their soul.... +Gallant men. They had no complaint against the fate that had thrust them +into this morass, nor any whimper against their hard luck. They told of +the hard time they had had simply and gravely, without exaggeration and +without self-pity, but as men who had been through a frightful ordeal +with many thousands of others whose luck was no better than theirs and +whose duty was the same. They came under severe machine-gun fire from +some of the German blockhouses, especially on their flanks. Our +barrage-fire had gone travelling beyond them, and because of the swamps +and pools it was impossible to keep pace with it. Men were lugging each +other out of the bogs, rescuing each other free from the rain-filled +shell-pits. So they lost the only protection there is from machine-guns, +the screen of great belts of gun-fire, and the Germans had time to get +out of the concrete houses and to get up from the shell-holes and fire +at our advancing groups of muddy men. Many Germans were sniping from +these holes, and others were up broken trees with machine-guns on small +wooden platforms. I met one man to-day who had eleven comrades struck +down in his own group by one of the snipers. A party was detached to +search for the German rifleman, but they could not find him. They got +ahead through Peter Pan House and then they had to face another blast of +machine-gun fire. The German garrison, in a place called Yetta House, +gave trouble in the same way, and there was a nest of machine-guns ahead +at Bellevue. Some Yorkshire lads of the 49th Division went up there to +rout them out, but what happened is not yet known. + +All through the day and last night the Lancashire men were under the +streaming bullets of a machine-gun barrage, which whipped the ground +about them as fast as falling hailstones, so that no man could put his +head above a shell-hole without getting a bullet through his steel hat. +I have seen many of those steel hats punctured clean through, but with +the men who wore them still alive and able to smile grimly enough when +they pointed to these holes. At night the lightly wounded men who tried +to get back had a desperate time trying to find their way. Some of them +walked away to the German lines and were up to the barbed wire before +they found out their mistake. It was difficult to get any sense of +direction in the darkness, but the German flares helped them. They rose +with a very bright light, flooding the swamps of No Man's Land with a +white glare, revealing the tragedy of the battlefield, where many +bodies lay still in the bogs, for many men had been killed. Before the +darkness German aeroplanes came over, as it were, in dense flocks. One +Lancashire boy declared he counted thirty-seven as he lay looking up to +the sky from a shell-hole, and they flew low to see where our men had +made their line. Our stretcher-bearers worked through the day and night, +but it was hard going even with empty stretchers, and they fell and got +bogged like the fighting men, and many were hit by shell-fire and +machine-gun bullets. With full stretchers they made their way back +slowly, and each journey took many hours, and on the way they stuck many +times in bogs and slipped many times waist-deep in shell-holes. The +transport and the carriers struggled with equal courage through the +slough of despond, trying to get up rations to their cold and hungry +comrades and ammunition wanted by riflemen and machine-gunners. Even in +water beyond their belts the men tried to clean their rifles and their +belts from the mud which had fouled them, knowing that later on their +lives might depend on this. And it is a wonderful thing that some +counter-attacks were actually repulsed by rifle-fire and by +machine-guns, which jam if any speck of dirt gets in their mechanism. +That was on the left, when the Coldstream, Irish, and Welsh Guards and +some old county regiments of England--Middlesex, Worcesters, Hampshires, +Essex--and a gallant little body of Newfoundlanders in the 29th Division +had fought forward a long way with rapid success. + +The losses of the Guards in going over to the first objective were not +heavy. They preceded the attack by a tremendous trench-mortar +bombardment, which so frightened the enemy and caused such loss among +them that before the infantry advanced many of them came rushing over to +our lines to surrender. On the second objective there was heavy fighting +at a strong place called Strode House, which was surrounded with uncut +wire and defended by heavy machine-gun fire. The Guards, after being +checked, rushed it from all sides and captured it with all its garrison. +There was more fighting of the same kind farther south, at ruins close +to Houthulst Forest, on the edge of the swamps, which seem to be a No +Man's Land, because the ground is too wet for the Germans to live there. +Very quickly after the attack the enemy countered heavily on the Guards' +left, but the Guards held firm and beat it off. + +Farther south the Middlesex, Royal Fusiliers, and the Newfoundlanders of +the 29th Division went straight through to their objective as far as +Cinq Chemins Farm (the Farm of the Five Roads), and they had to resist a +series of counter-attacks, starting before half-past eight in the +morning. The first of these was shattered by rifle-fire, and the second +by artillery-fire, but afterwards, owing no doubt to heavy shelling, our +line withdrew a little in front of the Poelcappelle road. + +On the left centre of our attack our progress was not maintained. The +ground here was deplorable, as the two streams of the Lekkerbolerbeek +and the Stroombeek had been cut through by shell-fire, so that their +boundaries were lost in broad floods. Mortal men could not pass through +quick enough to keep up with a barrage, and after desperate struggles +they were forced to withdraw from the forward positions beyond Adler +Farm and Burns House. + +Round the village of Poelcappelle, now no more than a dust-heap of ruin, +there was fierce fighting, and the enemy held out in the brewery, from +which he swept the ground with machine-gun bullets so that all approach +was deadly. The Yorkshire men of the 11th Division here made repeated +rushes, but without much success, it seems. + +Meanwhile, on the extreme right of the attack some very grim and +desperate work was being done by English troops of famous old regiments +round about Reutel and Polderhoek. At Polderhoek the enemy had a nest of +dug-outs and machine-gun emplacements behind the chateau, and in spite +of the assaults of Warwicks and Norfolks held them by unceasing fire. + +On the north of Polderhoek success was complete in the attack on Reutel, +though the village was defended by machine-guns in a cemetery beyond +Reutel, and several defended blockhouses. These were attacked and taken +by the H.A.C., Warwicks, and Devons, and our line of objectives was made +good beyond Reutel and Judge Copse, which have been thorns in our +side--spear-heads rather--for many days. + +Splendid and chivalrous work was done on this part of the ground by the +stretcher-bearers. Out of two hundred and fifty labouring in these +fields over a hundred were hit, and all of them took the utmost risk to +rescue their fallen comrades in the fighting-lines. The sappers and the +pioneers, the transport and the runners, fought not against the enemy +from Germany, but against an enemy more difficult to defeat, and that +was the mud. + + + + +XXI + +THE ASSAULTS ON PASSCHENDAELE + + +OCTOBER 12 + +OUR troops went forward again to-day farther up the slopes of the +Passchendaele Ridge, striking north-east towards the village of +Passchendaele itself, which I saw this morning looming through the mist +and the white smoke of shell-fire, with its ruins like the battlements +of a mediaeval castle perched high on the crest. + +It has been a day of very heavy fighting, and the supreme success will +only be gained by the spirit of men resolute to win in the face of +continual blasts of machine-gun bullets, heavy shelling, and weather +which has made the ground as bad as ever a battlefield has been. The +enemy, if we may believe what his prisoners say, expected the attack, +and that they did expect it is borne out by the quickness with which +they dropped down their defensive barrage, the violent way in which they +shelled our back areas during the night, and by other unmistakable signs +of readiness. Perhaps the last attack two days ago through the wild gale +and the mud warned them that not even the elements would safeguard them +against us, and that our troops, who had already achieved something that +was next to impossible, would attempt another and greater adventure. + +To me these blows through the mud seem the most daring endeavours ever +made by great bodies of men. The strength of the enemy--and he is very +strong still--and the courage of the enemy, which is high among his best +troops, are not the greatest powers which our men are called upon to +overcome in this latest fighting. Given a good barrage, and they are +ready to attack his pill-boxes now that we have broken the first evil +spell of them. But this mud of Flanders, these swamps which lie in the +way, these nights of darkness and rain in the quagmires--those are the +real terrors which are hardest to win through. Yet our men were +confident of their fate to-day, and backed each other with astounding +courage to take the ground they were asked to take; and that pledge +which they made between their battalions was after that night, now three +nights ago, when the Lancashire and Yorkshire men made their march +through the mud which I have described in other messages--eleven hours' +going before they reached their starting-line after frightful +tribulations in the darkness and before they went into the battle, late +for their barrage and exhausted in body, but still with the pluck to +fight through machine-gun fire to their objectives. They did not go as +far as had been hoped, but they did far more than any one might dare +expect in such conditions, and the men in to-day's battle depended for +success upon the starting-line gained for them by those comrades of +North-country England. + +The New-Zealanders who went over to-day swore that with any luck, or +even without luck, they would plant their flag high, and among those men +there was a grim, smouldering fire of some purpose which boded ill for +the enemy they should find against them. These are not words of +rhetoric, to give a little colour to the dark picture of war, but the +sober truth of what was in those New Zealand boys' minds yesterday when +they made ready for this new battle. + +It was difficult to get the men anywhere near the line of attack, owing +to the foulness of the ground. Those who were in their positions the +night before--that is, on Wednesday night--found that they were not +utterly comfortless in the sodden fields. By a fine stroke of daring and +by the great effort of carriers and transport officers, who risked their +lives in the task, bivouacs were taken up and pegged out in the darkness +under the very nose of the enemy, so that the men should not lie out in +the pouring rain, and before dawn came they were taken away, in order +not to reveal these assemblies. There was food also, and hot drink close +to the fighting-lines, and some of the coldness and horrors of the night +were relieved. A clear line was made for the barrage which would be +fired by our guns this morning. But some troops had still to go up, and +some men had to march through the night as those Lancashire men had +marched up three nights before. They had the same grim adventure. They, +too, fell into shell-holes, groped their way forward blindly in a wild +downpour of rain, lugged each other out of the bogs, floundered through +mud and shell-fire from five in the evening until a few minutes only +before it was time to attack. The enemy was busy with his guns all night +to catch any of our men who might be on the move. He flung down a heavy +barrage round about Zonnebeke, but by good chance it missed one group of +men thereabouts, and scarcely touched any of the others in that +neighbourhood. But his heavy shells were scattered over a wide area, and +came bowling through the darkness and exploding with great upheavals of +the wet earth. Small parties of men dodged them as best they could, and +pitched into shell-holes five feet deep in water when they threatened +instant death. Then gas-shells came whining, with their queer little +puffs, unlike the exploding roar of bigger shells, and the wet wind was +filled with poisonous vapour smarting to the eyes and skin, so that our +men had to put on their gas-masks and walk like that in a worse +darkness. These things, and this way up to battle, might have shaken the +nerves of most men, might even have unmanned them and weakened them by +the fainting sickness of fear. But it only made the New-Zealanders +angry. It made them angry to the point of wild rage. + +"To Hell with them," said some of them. "We won't spare them when we go +over. We will make them pay for this night." They used savage and +flaming words, cursing the enemy and the weather and the shell-fire and +the foulness of it all. + +I know the state of the ground, for I went over its crater-land this +morning to look at this flame of fire below the Passchendaele spur. I +had no heavy kit like the fighting men, but fell on the greasy +duck-boards as they fell, and rolled into the slime as they had rolled. +The rain beat a tattoo on one's steel helmet. Every shell-hole was +brimful of brown or greenish water; moisture rose from the earth in a +fog. Our guns were firing everywhere through the mist and thrust sharp +little swords of flame through its darkness, and all the battlefields +bellowed with the noise of these guns. I walked through the battery +positions, past enormous howitzers which at twenty paces distance shook +one's bones with the concussion of their blasts, past long muzzled high +velocities, whose shells after the first sharp hammer-stroke went +whinnying away with a high fluttering note of death, past the +big-bellied nine-point-twos and monsters firing lyddite shells in clouds +of yellow smoke. Before me stretching away round the Houthulst Forest, +big and dark and grim, with its close-growing trees, was the +Passchendaele Ridge, the long, hummocky slopes for which our men were +fighting, and our barrage-fire crept up it, and infernal shell-fire, +rising in white columns, was on the top of it, hiding the broken houses +there until later in the morning, when the rain ceased a little, and the +sky was streaked with blue, and out of the wet gloom Passchendaele +appeared, with its houses still standing, though all in ruins. There +were queer effects when the sun broke through. Its rays ran down the wet +trunks and the forked naked branches of dead trees with a curious, +dazzling whiteness, and all the swamps were glinting with light on their +foul waters, and the pack-mules winding along the tracks, slithering and +staggering through the slime, had four golden bars on either side of +them when the sun shone on their 18-pounder shells. There was something +more ghastly in this flood of white light over the dead ground of the +battlefields, revealing all the litter of human conflict round the +captured German pill-boxes, than when it was all under black +storm-clouds. + +It was at the side of a pill-box famous in the recent fighting that I +watched the progress of our barrage up the slopes of Passchendaele, and +it was only by that fire and by the answering fire of the German guns +with blacker shell-bursts that one could tell the progress of our men. + +"How's it going?" asked a friend of two officers of the Guards who came +down the duck-boards from Poelcappelle way. + +"Pretty well," was the answer. "We have cut off four Boche guns with our +barrage, though we only had a little way to go--on the left, you know." + +"Big fellows?" + +"No, pip-squeak. The usual seventy-seven." + +It seemed that there had been a check on the left. Our men had come up +against abominable machine-gun fire. On the right things were doing +better. Our line was being pushed up close to Passchendaele, within a +few hundred yards or so. Some prisoners were coming down--there had been +a lot of bayonet fighting, and a lot of killing. The wounded are getting +back already, most of them with machine-gun wounds, the worst of them +with shell wounds. The New-Zealanders had hardly gone over before German +flares rose to call on the guns. The guns did not answer for some little +while; but instantly there was the chattering fire of many machine-guns; +and from places above the Ypres-Roulers railway, and all the length of +the Goudberg spur of the Passchendaele, where there were many +blockhouses and concrete streets, there was poured out a sweeping +barrage of bullets. + +Our men, advancing on all sides of the Passchendaele Ridge and right up +to the edge of Houthulst Forest, were everywhere checked a while by the +swampy ground. The streams, or beeks, that intersect this country, like +the Lekkerbolerbeek and the Ravelbeek, had lost all kind of bounds, and +by the effect of shell-fire had flowed out into wide bogs. Here and +there the men crossed more easily, and that led to some parts of the +line getting farther forward then others and so to being enfiladed on +the right or left. It is on the left that we have had most difficulty, +round about Wolfe Copse and Marsh Bottom. On the right it is reported +that some of the Anzacs have been seen going up across the slopes of +Crest Farm, which is some 500 yards from Passchendaele village, on the +heights of the ridge. At the present time it is impossible to tell more +about this battle than to say it is being fought desperately. Our airmen +are unable to bring back exact news owing to the darkness which has +again descended, and all that is known so far is that our men are making +progress in spite of the deadly machine-gun fire against them, and that +they are resolute to go on. The enemy is fighting hard, and his Jaegers, +with green bands round their caps, and the men of the 223rd Reserve +Division, have not surrendered easily, though many of them are now our +prisoners. It is raining again heavily, and the mists have deepened. + + + + +XXII + +ROUND POELCAPPELLE + + +OCTOBER 14 + +To-day there was a fine spell, though yesterday, after Friday's battle, +it was still raining, and looked as if it might rain until next April or +March. Our soldiers cursed the weather, cursed it with deep and lurid +oaths, cursed it wet and cursed it cold, by day and by night, by +duck-boards and mule-tracks, by shell-holes and swamps, by Ravelbeek and +Broenbeek and Lekkerbolerbeek. For it was weather which robbed them of +victory on Friday and made them suffer the worst miseries of winter +warfare, and held them in the mud when they had set their hearts upon +the heights. It was the mud which beat them. Man after man has said that +to me on the day of battle and yesterday. + +"Fritz couldn't have stopped us," said an Australian boy, warming his +hands and body by a brazier after a night in the cold slime, which was +still plastered about him. "It was the mud which gave him a life +chance." + +"It was the mud that did us in," said an officer of the Berkshires, +sitting up on a stretcher and speaking wearily. "We got bogged and +couldn't keep up with the barrage. That gave the German machine-gunners +time to get to work on us. It was their luck." + +A young Scottish Borderer, shivering so that his teeth chattered, spoke +hoarsely, and there was no warmth in him except the fire in his eyes. +"We had a fearful time," he said, "but it was the spate of mud that kept +us back, and the Germans took advantage of it." + +"Whenever we got near to Fritz he surrendered or ran," said a young +sergeant of the East Surreys. "We should have had him beat with solid +ground beneath us, but we all got stuck in the bog, and he came out of +his blockhouses and machine-gunned us as we tried to get across the +shell-holes, all filled like young ponds, and sniped us when we could +not drag one leg after the other." + +No proof is needed of the valour of our men. It is idle to speak of it, +because for three years they have shown the height of human courage in +the most damnable and deadly places. But I have known nothing finer in +this war than the quality of the talk I have heard among the men who +fought all Friday after a night exposure in wild rain, and lay out all +that night in water-pools under gun-fire, and came back again yesterday +wounded, spent, bloody and muddy, cramped and stiff, cold to the +marrow-bones, and tired after the agony of the long trail back across +the barren fields. They did not despair because they had not gained all +they had hoped to gain. "We'll get it all right next time," said man +after man among them. They all stated the reasons for their bad luck. + +"If you step off a duck-board you go squelch up to the knees, and +handling them big shells is no joke. All that means delay in getting up +ammunition." This was from a young soldier who had been flung 50 yards +and senseless away from a group of comrades who were all killed by a +big shell-burst. His senses had come back, and a quiet, shrewd judgment +of all he had seen and his old faith that our men can win through every +time if they have equal chances with the enemy. That faith, that +confidence in their own fighting quality, was not dimmed because on +Friday they did not go far. The fire of it, the beauty of it, the +simplicity of it shone in the eyes of these men, who were racked by +aches and shot through with pain, all befouled by the mud, which was in +the very pores of their skin, and seared by remembrances of tragic +things. To command soldiers like that should be the supreme joy of their +officers, and indeed there is not one of our officers who does not think +so, and is not proud of them with a pride that is full of comradeship +for his good company. Napoleon's Old Guard was not of better stuff than +these boys from English farms and factories, Scottish homesteads, +Australian and New Zealand sheep-farm runs. + +In these recent battles home troops and overseas troops have been mixed +together in the mud of battlefields, and they come down together out of +the shell-fire to field dressing-stations, waiting to have their wounds +dressed and telling their tales of the fighting. There is no difference +there between them. They are all figures carved out of the same clay, +with faces and hands of the tint of clay, like men risen out of wet +graves. A moist steam rises from them as they group round the braziers, +and they know each other--Australian and English lad, Scot and Welsh, +Irish, New-Zealander--as comrades who have taken the same risks, +suffered the same things, escaped from death by the same kind of +miracle. They talk in low voices. There is no bragging among them; no +wailing; no excited talk. Quietly they tell each other of the things +that happened to them and of the things they saw, and it is the naked +truth, idle sometimes as truth itself. So when they say, as I heard them +say yesterday, "It is all right, it was only the mud that checked us," +one knows that this is truth in the hearts of brave men, the truth of +the fine faith that is in them. + +I told in my last message how the enemy was ready for attack and tried +to prevent it, before it started, by violent shelling over our back +areas, all through Thursday night, mixing his high explosives with +gas-shells and trying to catch our men on the move and our batteries +deep in the mud. It is certain that his aeroplanes, flying low through +mists, saw great traffic behind the lines and the work of thousands of +men laying down new tracks and getting forward with supplies. That could +not be hidden from them. We did not try to hide it, but worked in the +daylight under the eyes of their observers in Passchendaele and in Crest +Farm below it, and on the high ground above Poelcappelle, so that they +could see the tide of all this energy when the gunners, pioneers, +engineers, transports drivers, mule leaders, and the long winding +columns of troops surged up the arteries of the battlefields and choked +them about the Piccadilly Circus of the crater-land. + +It was a supreme defiance of the enemy's power, a challenge louder than +any herald's trumpet announcing the beginning of a new battle. The enemy +accepted the challenge, though not, as we know, with any gladness of +heart. Behind his lines there was disorder and dismay, and his +organization had been horribly strained by the rapid series of blows +which had fallen on him and by his great losses. His local reserves had +been flung together anyhow, to meet the pressure we had put upon him. +Remnants of battalions were mixed up with other remnants, and our +prisoners are from many units. These divisions of his which have +withstood the brunt of this recent fighting, like the 195th and the 16th +and the 227th, were horribly mauled and broken, and other divisions +coming up to relieve them were caught by our long-range guns far back +from the lines, and lost their way in the swamps which are on their side +of the battlefield as well as on ours, and struggled forward in the +darkness and shell-fire to positions hard to find by troops new to this +ground. Their High Command issued new orders hurriedly, and made +desperate efforts to strengthen their lines. They put up new apron-wire +defences around their blockhouses. All the heavy machine-guns of the +supporting troops were sent forward to the front lines to reinforce +those already in position in their blockhouses and organized shell-holes +between the blockhouses and the narrow streets of concrete. Never before +did the enemy mass so many machine-guns on his front for continuous +barrage over a wide region, and to defend the last spurs of +Passchendaele. He had machine-guns up trees as well as on the ground, +and he scattered his riflemen among the shell-craters with orders to +shoot until they were killed or captured. + +It is fair to these men to say that they obeyed their orders and fought +on Friday with most fierce courage. It was only here and there that +small bodies of German troops, caught in our barrage and nerve-broken by +the long agony of lying in water under a ceaseless shell-fire, ran +forward to our men as soon as the first brown lines appeared out of the +mud and surrendered. The men behind the machine-guns opened fire at the +moment of attack, and it was the noise of this light artillery, the +long-drawn swish of its bullets whipping the ground, and a devil's +tattoo of groups of machine-guns hidden up the slopes, that broke upon +our men as soon as they began to make their way through the mud. + +I have already told how many of our men had spent the night. Large +bodies of them had lain out since Wednesday. Of these some had been +luckier than others, getting hot drink and food and shelter under +tarpaulin tents which did not keep them dry, but kept off the full force +of the beating rains. Others, not so lucky, had to lie in shell-holes +half full, or quite full, of ice-cold water, and rations had gone +astray, as many ration parties could not get up through the hostile +barrage or were bogged somewhere down below; and for some men at least +there was not the usual drop of rum to warm the "cockles of their +hearts" and to bring back a little glow of life to their poor numbed +limbs. Other men had spent the night in marching, spurred on by the +hateful fear of being too late to take their place in the battle-line, +so that their comrades would not have their help, but spurred to no +quickness because every yard of ground had its obstacle and its ditch, +and it was a crawl all the way, with many slips and falls and shouts for +help. + +It was pitch-dark, and the rain beat against these men, driven by the +savage wind, plucking at their capes, buffeting their steel helmets, +straining at the straps of their packs, slashing them across the face. +Their boots squelched deep in the mud and made a queer, sucking noise as +these single files of dark figures went shuffling across along slimy +duck-boards, a queer noise which I heard when I went up with some of +them on the morning of the battle over duck-board tracks. Some of them +lost the duck-boards and went knee-deep into bogs, and waist-deep into +shell-holes, and neck-deep into swamps. In spite of all the +frightfulness of the night, the coldness, the weariness, and the +beastliness of this floundering in mud and shell-fire, they went forward +into the battle with grim, set faces, and attacked the places from which +the machine-gun fire came in blasts. The New-Zealanders attacked many +blockhouses and strong points immediately in front of their first +objective on the left above the Ypres-Roulers railway, and on the way to +the marsh bottom and rising slope of the Goudberg spur, where at +Bellevue the enemy's machine-guns were thickly clustered. + +Below that, by Heine House and Augustus, the Australian troops were +trying to work their way forward to the hummock of Crest Farm, barring +the way to Passchendaele, and up on the left centre, from the +cross-roads and cemetery of Poelcappelle, the Scottish and English +battalions--Berkshires, East Surreys, West Kents, and others--assaulted +the brewery, which has been captured twice and twice lost, and a row of +buildings in heaps of ruin on the Poelcappelle road, which the Germans +use as cover for their machine-gunners. Many of these outposts were +captured by groups. Our men worked round then and rushed them, in spite +of the streams of bullets which pattered around them so that many fell +in the first attempts. Here and there the enemy fought fiercely to the +last, and fell under the bayonets of our men. Here and there, in the +open ground to the right of Poelcappelle and on the ground below +Passchendaele, batches of German soldiers made little fight, but came +rushing out of their holes with their hands up, terror-stricken. + +But machine-gun fire never ceased from the higher ground, from tall +masts of branchless trees, from shell-craters beyond the reach of our +men. Our barrage travelled ahead, and slow as it was I saw it creeping +up the lower slopes of the Passchendaele ridge for the second objective +on Friday morning--our men could not keep pace with it. They were stuck +in the swamps at Marsh Bottom in the Lekkerbolerbeek below Poelcappelle +and in the bogs below Crest Farm. They plunged into these bogs, fiercely +cursing them, struggling to get through them to the enemy, but the men +could do nothing with their legs held fast in such slime, nothing but +shout to comrades to drag them out. While they struggled German snipers +shot at them with a cool aim, and the machine-gun bullets of the deadly +barrage lashed across the shell-craters. + +Australian troops on the right made good and reached the edge of the +hummock called Crest Farm. Some of them swarmed up it and fought and +killed the garrison there, but beyond was another knoll with +machine-gunners and riflemen, and as our men came up to the top of Crest +Farm they were under close and deadly fire. They would have held their +ground here if they could have been supported on the left, but the +New-Zealanders were having a terrible time in Marsh Bottom and Bellevue, +and could not make much headway because of the deadly fire which came +down from the spur on which Bellevue is perched. All this time it was +raining hard, making the ground worse than before, and the wet mists +deepened, preventing all visibility for our machines working with the +guns. Orders were given not to continue the second stage of the attack, +because the weather was too bad, and the Australians on the right centre +withdrew their line in order not to have an exposed flank. In the +afternoon the enemy's heavy artillery, which had been very hesitating +and uncertain during the first stages of the attack, began to barrage +the ground intensely, and continued this fire all the night. + +Meanwhile close and fierce fighting was all about Poelcappelle. English +and Scottish troops entered the ruins of the village, in spite of the +waves of machine-gun bullets which girdled it, drove the Germans out of +the brewery buildings for a time, fought their way among the brick-heaps +and ruined houses, killed many men who held out there, and with bayonet +and rifle defended themselves against counter-attacks which came down +the Poelcappelle road. It was as savage and desperate fighting as any +episode in this war at close quarters, without mercy on either side, one +man's life for another's. Our men were reckless and fierce. They fought +in small parties, with or without officers. Ground was gained and lost +by yards, and men fought like wild beasts across the broken walls and +ditches and shell-craters which go by the name of Poelcappelle. It was +five o'clock in the evening that another strong counter-attack by the +enemy came down Poelcappelle road and drove in our advanced posts. The +brewery then became a sort of No Man's Land--an empty shell between +opposing sides. Our men were spent after all that night and day in the +mud and all this fighting, and now dusk was creeping down, and it was +hard to see who was friend and who was enemy among the figures that +crawled about in the slime. + +It was the turn for stretcher-bearers, those men who work behind the +fighting-lines and then come to gather up the human wreckage off it. +With great heroism they had worked all day under heavy fire, and now +went on working without thought of self. They were visible to the enemy, +and their Red Cross armlets showed their mission. Away on the slopes of +Passchendaele his stretcher-bearers could be seen working too. One body +of 200 men came out, waving the Red Cross flag, with stretchers and +ambulances, and went gleaning in these harvest-fields, and no shot of +ours went over to them. But on our side shots from German snipers were +still flying and our stretcher-bearers were hit. Three of them carrying +one stretcher were killed, and the officer with them directing this work +near Poelcappelle was fired with a flame of anger. He seized a Red Cross +flag and made his way very quickly over the shell-holes towards the +enemy's position, and standing there, this officer of the R.A.M.C. +shouted out a speech which rang high above the noise of gun-fire and all +the murmur of the battlefield. + +Perhaps what he said was quite incoherent and wild. Perhaps no man who +heard him could understand a word of what he said, but there in the +shell-holes hidden from him in the mud were listening men with loaded +rifles, and they may have raised their heads to look at that single +figure with the flag. They understood what he meant. His accusing figure +was a message to them. After that there was no deliberate sniping of +stretcher-bearers, though they still had to go through shell-fire. It +was hard on the wounded that night. The lightly wounded made their way +back as best they could, and it was a long way back, and a dark way back +over that awful ground. God knows how they managed it, these men with +holes in their legs and mangled arms and bloody heads. They do not know. + +"I thought I should never get back," said many of them yesterday. "It +was bad enough going up, when we were strong and fit. At the end of the +journey we could hardly drag our limbs along to get near the enemy. But +coming down was worse." + +They fell not once but many times, they crawled through the slime and +then fell into deep pits of water with slippery sides, so that they +could hardly get out. They lay down in the mud and believed they must +die, but some spark of vitality kept alive in them, and a great desire +for life goaded them to make another effort to go another hundred yards. +They cried out incoherently, and heard other cries around them, but +were alone in some mud-track of these battlefields with a great +loneliness of the soul. One man told me of his night like that, told me +with strange smiling eyes that lightened up the mud mask of his face +under a steel hat that was like an earthenware pot on his head. All the +time he opened and shut his hands very slowly and carefully, and looked +at them as things separate from himself. They had become quite dead and +white in the night, and were now getting back to life and touch from the +warmth of a brazier over which he crouched. + +"I crawled a thousand yards or so," he said, "and thought I was +finished. I had no more strength than a baby, and my head was all queer +and dizzy-like, so that I had uncommon strange thoughts and saw things +that weren't there. The shells kept coming near me, and the noise of +them shook inside my head so that it went funny. For a long time while I +lay there I thought I had my chums all round me, and that made me feel a +kind of comfortable. I thought I could see them lying in the mud all +round with just their shoulders showing humped up and the tops of their +packs covered in mud. I spoke to them sometimes and said, 'Is that you, +Alf?' or 'Come a bit nearer, mate.' It didn't worry me at first because +they didn't answer. I thought they were tired. But presently something +told me I was all wrong. Those were mud-heaps, not men. Then I felt +frightened because I was alone. It was a great, queer kind of fear that +got hold of me, and I sat up and then began to crawl again just to get +into touch with company, and I went on till daylight came and I saw +other men crawling out of shell-holes and some of them walking and +holding on to each other. So we got back together." + +They came back to the field dressing-stations, where there was warmth +for them and hot drinks, and clean bandages for their wounds; and groups +of men, who had fought with the same courage, and now, in spite of all +they had endured, spoke brave words, and said it was not the enemy that +had checked them but only the mud. Their spirit had not been beaten, for +no hardships in the world will ever break that. + +But while I was talking with these men a figure came and sat on a bench +among them speechless, because no one understood his tongue. It was a +wounded German prisoner, and I saw from his shoulder-strap that he +belonged to the 233rd Regiment of the 119th Division. Among all these +men of ours who spoke with a fine hopefulness of what they would do next +time he was hopeless. "We are lost," he said. "My division is ended. My +friends are all killed." When asked what his officers thought, he made a +queer gesture of derision, with one finger under his nose when he says +"Zut." "They think we are 'kaput' too; they only look to the end of the +war." + +"And when do they think that will come?" He said, "God willing, before +the year ends." + +In civilian life he was a worker in an ammunition factory at Thuringen, +by the Black Forest. He had seen many English there, and never thought +he should fight against them one day. His father, who is forty-seven, is +in the war. He himself looked a man of that age--old and worn, with a +week's beard on his chin; but when I asked him his age he replied, "I am +twenty-one. Last night I was twenty-one, when I lay after three days in +a shell-hole--['ein granatenloch']--and your men helped me out because I +was wounded." + +"What do you think of our men?" he was asked, and he said, "They are +good. Your artillery is good. It is very bad for us. We are 'kaput.'" + +On one side of the fire were the men who think they are winning, +whatever checks they may have, and who always attack with that faith in +their hearts. On the other side was the man who said "We are finished," +and sat huddled up in despair. All of them had suffered the same things. + +To-day the sky is clear again, and the pale gold of autumn sunlight lies +over the fields, and all the woods behind the lines are clothed in +russet foliage. It is two days late, this quiet of the sky, and if +Friday had been like this there would have been a flag of ours on the +northern heights of Passchendaele Ridge. But still the gunners go on +with their toil, those wonderful gunners of ours, who get very little +sleep and very little rest and go down for an hour or two into a hole in +the earth in those sodden fields where all day long and all night there +is the tumult of bombardment. Piles of shells lie on the ground, heaps +around them, and behind men are labouring to bring up more; and across +the battlefields, strangely close to the actual fighting-line, black +trains go steaming along rails which hundreds of men have risked their +lives to lay a hundred yards, so that the guns shall be fed and the +gunners have no respite. On the left of the line there is blue among +the brown of our armies, and on the morning of the battle I saw French +limbers and transport wagons using the same tracks as our own, and heard +the rattle of the "soixante-quinze" again below Houthulst Forest, where +there are still leaves on the trees and the beauty of a dense yellowing +foliage is there beyond all those other woods where there are only fangs +and stumps of trees in the fields where our men have fought. + + * * * * * + +OCTOBER 23 + +The fighting yesterday east of Poelcappelle and on the right of the +French by Houthulst Forest across the Ypres-Staden railway showed a +curious inequality in the strength and determination of the German +defence. The French themselves had easy going, swinging up from Jean +Bart House across some trench works and through a cluster of +blockhouses. The German artillery-fire was slight against them, so that +their losses are very few--though they were held a while in the centre +by machine-gun fire--and it seems likely that the French gas-shells, +fired over the enemy's batteries before the attack, had had a paralysing +effect on some of the German gunners. Whatever the cause, there was a +strange absence of high explosives, and the line was not thickly held by +the men of the 40th Division, who have lately come from Russia. One +officer and a score of men were captured, and a number of dead lie about +the blockhouses, killed by the French bombardment. The others fled into +the forest. Behind them they left two field-guns. + +East of Poelcappelle and on the right of our attack the German infantry +were also weak in their resistance, and our men of the Norfolk and Essex +Regiments who advanced hereabouts did not have much trouble with them at +close quarters. What trouble there was came from a machine-gun barrage +farther back, which whipped over the shell-craters and whistled about +the ears of our assaulting troops. The heavy gunning that we have put +over this ground for more than a week, with special concentration on +strong points like the ruined brewery outside the scrap-heap village of +Poelcappelle and the other blockhouses, had made this area a most +unhealthy neighbourhood for German garrisons, and they had withdrawn +some of their strength to safer lines, leaving small outposts, with +orders to hold out at all costs--orders easy to give and hard to obey in +the case of men dejected and shaken by a long course of concussion and +fear. + +A Bavarian division, the Fifth Bavarian Reserve, had been living in +those pill-boxes and shell-holes until two nights ago, and whatever the +German equivalent may be of "fed up" they were that to the very neck. +Some of our Suffolk and Berkshire boys had taken prisoners among these +Bavarians on days and nights before the attack, and these men made no +disguise of their disgust at their conditions of life. Like other +Bavarians taken elsewhere, they complained that they were being made +catspaws of the Prussians, and put into the hottest parts of the line to +save Prussian skins. Some of the Bavarian battalions have had an +epidemic of desertion to the back areas, in the spirit of "I want to go +home." A fortnight ago there was a case of thirteen men who set off for +home. A few of them actually reached Nuremberg, and others were arrested +at Ghent. + +One strange and gruesome sign of trouble behind the German firing-line +was found by one of our Cameronians the other day after an advance. It +was a German officer bound and shot. Opposite Poelcappelle the German +Command thought it well to pull out the 5th Bavarian Reserve and replace +them two nights ago by Marines of the 3rd Naval Division, who are stout +fellows, whatever their political opinions may be after the recent +mutiny at Wilhelmshaven, from which some of them have come. On our left +centre yesterday they fought hard and well, with quick counter-attacks, +but opposite Poelcappelle they did not resist in the same way and did +not come back yesterday to regain the ground taken by our men of the +Eastern Counties. + +The Norfolk and Essex battalions had to make their way over bad ground. +In spite of a spell of dry weather one night of rain had been enough to +turn it all to sludge again and to fill and overflow the shell-holes, +which had never dried up. The Lekkerbolerbeek has become a marsh +waist-deep for men, not so much by rain-storms as by shell-storms which +have torn up its banks and slopped its water over the plain. Before the +attack yesterday morning our air photographs taken in very low flights +showed the sort of ground our men would have to cross. Everywhere the +shell-craters show up shinily in the aerial photographs, with their +water reflecting the light like silver mirrors. Higher up there are +floods about Houthulst Forest extending to the place where the enemy +keeps his guns behind the protection of the water, and no lack of +rain-filled shell-holes on each side of the Ypres-Staden railway. + +Bad going; but our battalions went well, keeping close to their +whirlwind barrage of fire and keeping out of the water-pits as best they +could, and scrambling up again when they fell over the slimy ground. +Manchesters and Lancashire Fusiliers, Cheshires, Gloucesters, and Royal +Scots; Northumberland Fusiliers, Suffolks and Norfolks, Essex and +Berkshires--how good it is to give those good old names--went forward +yesterday morning in the thick white mist, and took all the ground they +had been asked to take whether it was hard or easy. It was hardest to +take, and hardest to hold, on the right of Houthulst Forest and on the +left of the Ypres-Staden railway. Here the enemy held his line in +strength, and protected it with a fierce machine-gun barrage and +enfilade fire from many batteries which were quick to get into action. + +Houthulst Forest, in spite of all the gas that has soaked it, was full +of German troops of the 26th Reserve Division, under stern orders to +defend it to the death, with another division in support, and the +Marines on their right. They had many concrete emplacements in the cover +of the forest, from which they were able to get their machine-guns into +play, and along the Staden railway there were blockhouses not yet +destroyed by our bombardment, which were strongholds from which they +were not easily routed. There was hard fighting by the Royal Scots for +some huts along the railway, and after holding them they had to withdraw +in the face of a heavy counter-attack, which the enemy at once sent down +the line. Elsewhere the Manchesters had a similar experience, coming +under heavy cross-fire and then meeting the thrust of German storm +troops. They and the Lancashire Fusiliers behaved with their usual fine +courage, and were slow to give ground at one or two points, where they +were forced to draw back two hundred yards or so. The Cheshires and the +Gloucesters were severely tried, but the Gloucesters especially held out +yesterday in an advanced position, with the most resolute spirit against +fierce attacks and great odds, and still hold their ground. At daybreak +to-day, after all the exhaustion of yesterday and a cold wet night and +heavy fire over them, they met another attack, shattered it, and took +twenty prisoners. That is a feat of courage which only men out here who +have gone through such a day and night--and there are many thousands of +them--can properly understand and admire. It is the courage of men tried +to the last limit of human will-power and sustained by some burning +fire of the spirit in their coldness and their weariness. The +Northumberland Fusiliers, at another part of the line, and the Cheshires +and Lancashire Fusiliers dug in round an old blockhouse, using their +rifles to break up the bodies of Germans who tried to force through. At +night, or rather at eight o'clock last evening, when it was quite dark, +the enemy regained a post, but could do no more than that, and it was a +small gain. On the whole the progress made yesterday was good, and +considering the state of the ground, still our greatest trouble, was a +splendid feat of arms by those men of the old county regiments who are +given the honour they deserve by public mention. + +The enemy losses were heavy. All last week they were heavy, owing to the +ceaseless fire of our guns, and the dead that lie about the ground of +this new advance, to a thousand yards in depth, show that his men have +suffered. + + + + +XXIII + +THE CANADIANS COME NORTH + + +OCTOBER 26 + +Once again our troops, English and Canadians, have attacked in rain and +mud and mist. It is the worst of all combinations for attack, and during +the last three months, even on the dreadful days in August never to be +forgotten by Irish battalions and Scots, they have known that +combination of hostile forces not once but many times, when victory more +complete than the fortune of war has given us yet, though we have had +victories of real greatness, hung upon the moisture in the clouds and +the difference between a few hours of sunshine and the next storm. + +To-day our men of the 5th Division have again attacked Polderhoek +Chateau, the scene of many fights before, and taken many prisoners from +that 400 men of four German companies who were its garrison, holding the +high ruins which looked down into swamps through which our men had to +wade. They have fought their way to the vicinity of Gheluvelt. This +ground is sacred to the memory of the British soldiers who fought and +died there three years ago. One of our airmen, flying low through the +mist and rain-squalls, is reported to have seen Germans running out of +Gheluvelt Chateau, a huddle of broken walls now after this three years' +war, and escaping down the Menin road. Nothing is very definite as I +write from that part of the line, as nothing can be seen through the +darkness of the storm and few messages come back out of the mud and +mist. + +Northwards the Canadians have taken many "pill-boxes" and an uncounted +number of prisoners--not easily, not without tragic difficulties to +overcome in the valleys of those miserable beeks, which have been spilt +into swamps, and up the slopes of the Passchendaele spur, such as +Bellevue, with its concrete houses which guard the way to the crest. + +North still, beyond Poelcappelle, where the Broenbeek and the +Watervlietbeek intermingle their filthy waters below two spurs, which +are thrust out from the main ridge like the horns of a bull, south of +Houthulst Forest, battalions of the London Regiment with Artists Rifles +and Bedfords have attacked the enemy in his stone forts through his +machine-gun barrages and have sent back some of their garrisons and +struggled forward up the slopes of mud in desperate endeavour. And on +the left of us this morning the French made an advance where all advance +seemed fantastic except for amphibious animals, through swamps +thigh-deep for tall men. This was west of a place falsely named +Draeibank, and surrounded by deeper floods, which would have made the +most stalwart "Poilus" sink up to their necks, and, with their packs on, +drown. It was no good going into that, though on the right edge of the +deep waters some French companies waded through and took a blockhouse, +with a batch of prisoners and machine-guns. + +West of Draeibank there were several blockhouses, but their concrete had +been smashed under the French bombardments, and those Germans who had +not been killed fled behind the shelter of the waters. Their barrage of +gun-fire fell heavily soon after the attack began by the French, but for +the most part into the floods which our "Poilu" friends did not try to +cross, so that they jeered at these water-spouts ahead of them. + +Our troops had a longer way to go and a worse way, and it has been a day +of hard fighting in most miserable conditions. Their glory is that they +have done these things I have named on such a day. The marvel is to me +that they were able to make any kind of attack over such ground as this. +In those vast miles of slime there has been from six o'clock this +morning enough human heroism, suffering, and sacrifice to fill an epic +poem and the eyes of the world with tears. It is wonderful what these +men of ours will do. But in telling their tale they smile a little +grimly in remembrance, or say just simply: "It was hell!" + +There is more in a battle than fighting. What goes before it to make +ready for the hour of attack is as vital, and demands as much, perhaps a +little more, courage of soul. Before this battle there was much to be +done, and it was hard to do. Guns had to be moved, not far, but moved, +and out of one bog into another bog--those monsters of enormous weight, +which settle deeply into the slime. To be in time for this morning's +barrage, gunners, already worn, craving sleep and silence, dog-weary of +mud and noise after weeks and months of great battles, had to work like +Trojans divinely inspired to win another day's victory, and they spurred +themselves harder than their horses in this endeavour. They were often +under shell-fire. Not only the gunners, but all the transport men, all +the pioneers and working parties have done their utmost. Battalions of +fighting men, busy not with their rifles but with shovels and +duck-boards, worked in the mud--mud baulking all labour, swallowing up +logs, boards, gun-wheels, shells, spades, and the legs of men, the slime +and filthy water slopping over all the material of war urgently wanted +for this morning's "show." The enemy tried to harass the winding teams +of pack-mules staggering forward under a burden of ammunition boxes, +rations, every old thing that men want if they must fight. Those mule +leaders and transport men do not take a lower place than the infantry +who went away to-day. They took as many risks, and squared their jaws to +the ordeal of it all like those other men. The fighting troops went +marching up or driving up in the rain. Far behind the Front the roads +were filled with dense surging traffic, which we out here will always +see and hear in our dreams after peace has come, the great never-ending +tide of human life going forward or coming back, as one body of men +relieve those who have gone before. Rain washed their faces, so that +they were red with the smart of it. It slashed down their mackintosh +capes and beat a tattoo on their steel helmets. On the tops of London +buses, the old black buses which once went pouring up Piccadilly before +they came out to these dirty roads of war, all the steel helmets were +tilted sideways as the wind struck aslant the muddy brown men with +upturned collars on their way up to the fighting-lines. + +But last night was fine. The sky cleared and the stars were very +shining. Orion's Belt was studded with bright gems. It was like a night +of frost, when the stars have a sharper gleam. Away above the trees +there was a flash of gun-fire, red spreading lights, and sudden quick +stabs of fire. The guns were getting busy again. "A great night for +bombing," said an officer; "and good luck for to-morrow." Our night +patrols were already out. In the garden where that officer spoke there +was a white milky radiance, so that all the trees seemed insubstantial +as in a fairy grove where Titania might lie sleeping. Far off beyond the +trees was a white house, and the moonlight lay upon it, and gave it a +magic look. Perhaps the work being done inside was the black magic of +war, and men may have been bending over maps strangely marked, and full +of mystery, unless one knows the code which deals with the winning of +battles. "For once we may have luck with the weather," said another +officer. About midnight there was a change. Great clouds gathered across +the moon. It began to rain gustily, and then settled down to a steady, +slogging downpour. + +Our luck with the weather went out with the stars, and this morning when +our men went away the ground was more hideous than it has ever been this +year, and that would seem a wild exaggeration to men who tried to get +through Inverness Copse and Glencorse Wood on the wet days of August. +They went into swamps everywhere, into the zone of shell-craters newly +brimmed with water, and along tracks without duck-boards, where men went +ankle-deep, if not knee-deep or waist-deep. + +The enemy was expecting them. There seems no doubt of that. An hour or +so before the attack he began to barrage the ground in some parts, and +in their blockhouses the German machine-gunners got ready to sweep the +advancing battalions. Our own barrage thundered out shortly before six +from all the guns which had got to their places after the great struggle +in the mud. On the right the ground about Polderhoek Chateau was flooded +down in the hollow below that ruin, which is perched up on a rise. Our +men of the 5th Division--Devons, Scottish Borderers, Duke of Cornwall's +Light Infantry--were not far away from it, a few hundred yards, but it +was a difficult place to attack. The enemy had built concrete defences +inside and blockhouses on either side of it and in the wood behind. But +our men went very gallantly through the morass, in spite of the +machine-gun fire that swept over them, and worked on either side of the +chateau, closing round the blockhouse, while from the centre they made a +direct attack on the chateau ruins. In spite of the foul weather, with a +high wind blowing and a thick, wet mist, our airmen went out all along +the line and flew very low, peering down at our men. One of them +reported quite early that our boys were all round Polderhoek Chateau, +hauling out the Huns, while bombing fights were in progress on either +side of it. Later messages confirmed this. Sixty prisoners were seen +coming back down the Menin road. A wounded German officer said the +garrison of the chateau was 400 men, of four companies. It seems that +they must all have been taken or killed, for later it was established +that all the blockhouses and the chateau had been cleared, and our men +were fighting beyond Polderhoek Wood. + +Farther south there was fighting round about Gheluvelt, by Devons and +Staffords of the 7th Division, and an observer reported that he had seen +Germans running out of that chateau down the high road east of it, but +it seems that there were a number of dug-outs in Gheluvelt Wood where +the garrisons held out after our advance attack had passed, and this was +a great menace to our men, so that they may have had to withdraw in +order to avoid that trap, or to keep in touch with the troops on their +right, who were held up at a couple of redoubts in the morning. + +Meanwhile the fiercest battle was being fought by the Canadians near the +centre of the attack, up the slopes of Bellevue below Goudberg (which is +just west of Passchendaele), where the enemy had long and elaborate +defences of concrete, and to the right and left of that from Vienna +House, below Crest Farm on the right, to the ground on the left beyond +Wolfe Copse. It was from the direction of Peter Pan House and Wolfe +Copse that the Canadians succeeded in getting a grasp of the Bellevue +slopes, attacking a row of concrete huts in a sunken road which were +strongly held by German machine-gunners. The enemy counter-attacked +strongly and sharply down the northern end of the spur, and from the +direction of Passchendaele, and drove our men for a time down the +slopes, though only for a time. Farther left there was heavy fighting +round the pill-boxes. Two of them, Moray House and Varlet House, yielded +a score or more of prisoners each, but the ground all about the left of +our attack by the Broenbeek and the Watervlietbeek was one great deep +marsh, through which the men had the utmost difficulty in struggling. + +The German wounded are in a terrible condition, covered in mud and +blood, and shaking as men with ague. They are full of despair, and their +officers say that Germany is only holding out in the hope of a U-boat +victory. The German people, they say, will suffer badly this winter from +lack of food. Our own wounded are men who seem to have come out of +watery graves, and are plastered from head to foot in a whitish slime. +In the field dressing-stations they are as patient as after all these +battles, and if in some places they had ill luck they blame the weather +for it. No words are too bad for that, but in spite of it our men did +wonders to-day. + + * * * * * + +OCTOBER 28 + +The most important position in the attack yesterday was given to the +Canadians to carry, and the story of their capture of the Bellevue spur +is fine and thrilling as an act of persistent courage by bodies of men +struggling against great hardships and under great fire. Nothing that +they did at Courcelette and Vimy and round about Lens was finer than the +way in which on Friday they fought their way up the Bellevue spur, were +beaten back by an intense destructive fire, and then, reorganizing, went +back through the wounded and scaled the slope again and drove the German +machine-gunners out of their blockhouses. + +I have seen those Germans as prisoners of the Canadians. They are men of +the 11th Bavarian Division, which includes the 3rd Bavarian Infantry +Regiment and two reserve infantry regiments. The other day I wrote about +undersized, half-witted fellows who were caught by our men, and said the +German man-power must be wearing thin if they sent recruits like this. +These Bavarian soldiers are not undersized, but tall, proper men, and +stout fellows who fought hard. They carried their mud with a certain +swagger, not as men who had surrendered easily, and were not utterly +dejected, like so many of our prisoners. They had been picked to hold +Bellevue because of their good moral, and they were full of confidence +in their defensive position. They were perched up above the swamps +through which our men had to wade to get at them. They had plenty of +concrete houses for their shelter, and their machine-guns. The weather +was in their favour. They guessed that the British would try to attack +them again, but they looked at the floods and rain-clouds, and felt +safe, or pretty safe. For some reason of psychology--which is greatly +influenced by shell-fire--these men of the 11th Bavarian Division were +not mutinous against discipline like other Bavarians, who are cursing +the Prussians because of too much fighting, and malingering, and jeering +at the officers, or refusing to go into the forward positions, like 800 +men of the 99th Reserve Infantry Regiment, who, according to a prisoner, +revolted against going into the line at Lens. + +"They were all sent to prison," says the man, "and seem to have been +very pleased with the change." + +A look at a contour map explains the reason why the 11th Bavarians were +satisfied with their defensive position at Bellevue, on Goudberg or +Meetscheele spur, which strikes out westwards from the main +Passchendaele Ridge. The deep gully of the Ravelbeek rims below the +slopes on which Bellevue is raised, and down there there is one filthy +swamp of mud and water. On the other side of the gully is a hill which +rises to Passchendaele, and the separate hummock of Crest Farm, +south-east of that high pile of ruin, which commands the long, wide view +of the plains beyond. Bellevue on one side and Crest Farm and +Passchendaele on the other support each other from attack, and from +their blockhouses they are able to sweep machine-gun fire upon any +bodies of men advancing up either slope. So the Australians found in the +great attack on October 12, when they had to fall back, when +Passchendaele itself was almost in their grip, because of the enfilade +fire from the ground about Bellevue, while other Australians, trying to +work up those slopes on the west side of the Ravelbeek, were terribly +scourged by the machine-gun barrage. The Canadians knew all that. They, +too, had the black luck of that terrible twelfth of October, when +English and New Zealand and Australian troops advanced into bogs, +struggled through a sea of mud, and failed to gain a victory not by lack +of valour, for the courage of them all was almost super-human, or +rather human as we know it in this war, but by the sheer impossibility +of getting one leg after the other in the slime that covered all this +ground. + +It was as bad on Friday morning--worse. The rain had poured down all +night and the shell-craters brimmed over, and every track was so +slippery that men with packs and rifles fell at every few steps. Beyond +the duck-board tracks there were no tracks for 1500 yards, and there was +a morass knee-deep and sticky, so that men had to haul each other to get +unstuck. In the darkness and pouring rain and shell-fire it was hard +going--a nightmare of reality worse than a black dream. But the men got +to their places and lay in the mud, and hoped they were not seen. As I +said in my last message, some of them seem to have been seen by hostile +aircraft coming out before the moon went down, and the enemy's guns +ravaged the ground searching for them. + +The right body of Canadian troops worked up towards Crest Farm along the +main Passchendaele Ridge--that is to say, on the right of the Ravelbeek +gully. Their ground here was very bad, but nothing like that on the left +below Bellevue. They got close to Duck Wood, where there are a few +stumps of trees to give a meaning to the name, and on their right other +troops pushed forward towards Decline Copse, which protected their +flank. Heavy machine-gun fire came at them out of Duck Wood, from +shell-craters and "pill-boxes," and the enemy shelled very fiercely all +around with high explosives and a great number of whiz-bangs from +field-batteries very close to them just below Passchendaele. All the +Canadian soldiers speak of these whiz-bangs, directed, after the ground +was taken, by low-flying aeroplanes, who signalled with flash-lamps or +with a round or two of machine-gun fire when they saw any group of men. +The signals were answered rapidly by a flight of the small shells. + +But from a tactical point of view, apart from the hardships and perils +of the men, the situation on the Canadian right was good. They had their +ground, and would have found it easier to hold if all had been well on +the other side of the Ravelbeek up by Bellevue. All was not well there +at that time. The Canadian troops on the left were having the same +tragic adventure as befell the Australians in the same place two weeks +before. In trying to work up beyond Peter Pan House they were caught in +the clutch of the mud, and moving slowly behind their barrage came under +the fire of many machine-guns worked by those 11th Bavarians from a row +of blockhouses along the road running across the crest of the ridge, and +from other strong points above and below that line. The Canadian Brigade +made most desperate attempts to get as far as those damnable little +forts, and small parties of grim, resolute fellows did get a footing on +the higher slopes, scrambling and stumbling and falling, with the deadly +swish of bullets about them, and those Bavarians waiting for them with +their thumbs on the triggers of their weapons behind the walls. + +Behind, it was difficult to get news of that heroic Canadian Brigade. +Foul mists and smoke lay low over them; no signals or messages came +back. An airman, who flew along the line to work in contact with the +guns, could see nothing at two thousand feet, nothing when he risked his +wings at a thousand feet, nothing still on another journey at half that +height. The Canadian rockets were all wet, and no light answered the +airman's signals. Ten times he flew along the line, twice at last within +two hundred yards of the ground, when he did see the infantry struggling +through the enemy's lash of bullets. A bit of shrapnel or shell casing +smashed through the airman's engine, and his wings were pierced. He flew +in a staggering way on our side of the lines and crashed down and got +back with his report. + +The next news was not good. It looked like a tragedy. Under the +continued fire the Canadian Brigade had to fall back from Bellevue +almost to their original line. It was then that officers and men of this +Canadian Brigade showed what stuff they were made of--stuff of spirit +and of body. Imagine them, these muddy, wet men, with their ranks +thinned out by losses up those hellish slopes of Bellevue, and with all +their efforts gone to nothing as they gathered together in the mist in +the low ground again. It was enough to take the heart out of these men. +Strengthened by a small body of Canadian comrades they re-formed and +attacked again. That was great and splendid of them. The barrage was +brought back and the lines of its shell-fire moved slowly before them +again as when they had first started. So they began all over again the +struggle through which they had already been, and went out again into +its abomination. Even now I do not know how they gained success where +they had failed. I doubt whether they know. The enemy was still up the +slopes and on the slopes, still protected in his concrete, and with his +machine-guns undamaged. But these Canadians worked their way forward in +small packs, and each man among them must have been inspired by a kind +of rage to get close to the blockhouses and have done with them. They +went through those who had fallen in the first attack, and others fell, +but there was enough to close round the concrete forts and put them out +of action. The garrisons of these places, thirty in the largest of them, +fifteen to twenty in the smaller kind, had been told to hold them until +they were killed or captured. They obeyed their orders, but preferred +capture when the Canadians swarmed about them and gave them the choice. +There were about 400 prisoners brought down from Bellevue, and nearly +all of them were taken from the blockhouses on the way up to the crest +and from a row of them along the road which goes across the crest. + +It was a few hours before the enemy behind launched his counter-attacks, +after a heavy shelling of Bellevue, which he now knew was lost to him--a +bitter surprise to his regimental and divisional commanders. It is +uncertain what delayed his counter-attacks, but the mud had something to +do with it, for on the German side as well as on ours there are swamps +in which tall men sink to their necks, and bogs in which they are stuck +to their knees, so badly that some of our prisoners lost their boots in +getting free of this grip. + +It was at about four o'clock in the afternoon that the first German +column tried to advance upon Bellevue from the northern end of the spur. +They were caught in our barrage and shattered. Half an hour later +another heavy attack was delivered against the Canadians on the main +Passchendaele Ridge, and this was repulsed after close and fierce +fighting, in which fifty prisoners were taken by our side. + +All through the night, after those vain efforts to get back their +ground, the enemy shelled the Canadian positions heavily, but on the +left, by Bellevue, the men of that brigade, which had done such heroic +things, not only held their ground, but went farther forward to Bellevue +cross-roads, where there was another row of blockhouses. They were +abandoned by the enemy, who had fled hurriedly, leaving behind their +machine-guns and ammunition--eighteen machine-guns on 300 yards of +road, which shows how strongly this position was held by machine-gun +defence. Yesterday there were more counter-attacks, but they had no +success, and many lie on the ground. + +The price of victory for the Canadians was heavy in physical suffering, +and unwounded men as well as wounded had to endure agonies of wetness +and coldness and thirst and exhaustion. It was only their hardness which +enabled them to endure. They lay in cold slime, and a drop of rum would +have been elixir vitae to them. Away behind, carrying parties were stuck +in bogs as the fighting men had been stuck. Pack-mules were floundering +in shell-craters. Men were rescuing their comrades out of pits and then +sinking themselves and crying for help. At ten yards distance no shout +was heard because of the roar of gun-fire and the howling of shells and +the high wailing of the wind. + +"I saw some fellows in front of me," said a wounded lad of the Devons, +"and I halloed to them because I wanted company and a bit of help. But +they didn't hear all my halloing, and they went faster than I could, and +I could not catch up with them because my leg was bad." + +"It was water we wanted most," said a young Canadian, "and some of us +were four days thirsty in the front line. No blame to anybody. It was +the state of the ground." + +"I had a poisoned finger," said a young field-gunner, "and my arm +swelled up, but I couldn't leave the battery before the show, as they +were short-handed." + +Sitting round after the battle these men out of the slime, these muddy, +bloody men, spoke quietly and soberly about things they had seen and +suffered, and the tales they told would freeze the blood of gentle souls +who do not know even now, after three years of war, what war means to +the fighting men. But as they listened to each other they nodded, as +though to say, "Yes, that's how it was," and there was no consciousness +among them of extraordinary adventures, and neither self-glory nor +self-pity. They had just done their job, as when their wounds heal they +will do it again, if fate so wills. + +What I have written about the Canadians is true of all English +battalions who were fighting on each side of them, and to whom I devoted +most of my message on the day of the battle. Those London Territorials, +Lancashire troops, Artists Rifles, Bedfords, and the old county +regiments of the 5th and 7th Divisions who were fighting around +Polderhoek Chateau and on the way to Gheluvelt had the same sufferings, +the same difficulties in bad ground, the same ordeal of shell-fire, +machine-gun fire, and German counter-attacks. They showed the same +courage, neither more nor less, and although the capture of Bellevue +spur was the most important gain of the day, it was only possible +because the English battalions on either side kept the enemy hotly +engaged, and assaulted his lines of blockhouses with repeated efforts. +The fighting of the Artists Rifles and Bedfords of the 63rd Division was +typical of all the history of this day in hardship and valour. Even the +German officers taken prisoners by them expressed their wonderment and +admiration. "Your men are magnificent," they said. "They have achieved +the impossible. We did not think any troops could cross such ground." +That belief was reasonable. The stream of the Paddebeek had become a +wide flood, like all the other beeks in the fighting ground. It seemed +unfordable and impassable, and on the other side of it was the old +German trench system with machine-gun emplacements. The 63rd plunged in, +wading up to their waists, and horribly hampered while machine-gun +bullets whipped the surface of the water. There was fierce fighting for +Varlet House, a strong blockhouse, and the Artists and Bedfords, Royal +Fusiliers and Shropshires swarmed round it, and finally routed the +garrison. Desperate attempts were made against other strong points, and +the men of the 63rd Division gained some of them, and captured about 140 +prisoners. + +Meanwhile on the left of our line, around the flooded areas to the west +of Houthulst Forest, the French have made great progress on Friday and +Saturday. The Belgians have made a dash too, and there was a gallant +episode, not without a gleam of humour, when a small party of Belgian +soldiers crossed the marshes in a punt, found the ground deserted by the +enemy, and went forward at a hot pace to join up with the French in the +freshly captured village of Merckem. The French themselves have cleared +a wide tract of marsh-land during these two days' operations, cleared it +of men and cleared it of guns, which the enemy had just time to drag +away round a spit of land on the edge of the floods. These floods are +very deep and broad above Bixschoote and below Dixmude, where the +St.-Jansbeek slopes over by Langewaade and swirls round a peninsula of +mud. + +On Friday the French routed out the German outposts who guarded that +mud-bank, several thousands yards in length, and yesterday made a bigger +attack above St.-Jansbeek and Draeibank. Before their gallant infantry +advanced through these bogs, for it is all a bog, the French gunners +were in full orchestra, and played a terrible symphony on the 75's and +120's. Over 160,000 shells were fired by the "soixante-quinze" batteries +at the German positions in the marshes and on the west side of Houthulst +Forest. Then under cover of this fury of the fire the French infantry +advanced in waves. In spite of the ground they went very fast and very +far, and spread out in a fan-shaped phalanx between Merckem and Aschoop. +Their field-guns are now able to enfilade Houthulst Forest on the +western side, and the German guns north of that must be making their +escape. It is an important tactical success, which will make Houthulst +Forest less tenable by the enemy. + + * * * * * + +OCTOBER 30 + +Following up the heroic capture of Bellevue spur, on October 26, the +Canadians attacked again this morning on both sides of the Ravelbeek, +working up from Bellevue to the top of Meetscheele spur on the left, and +gaining Crest Farm on the right, up the main ridge of Passchendaele. If +this ground can be held--and the taking is sometimes not so hard as the +holding--almost the last heights of the Passchendaele Ridge are within +our grasp, and all the desperate fighting of the last three months or +more, the great assaults on the ridges by English, Scottish, Irish, +Australian, New Zealand, and Canadian troops, through bogs and marshes +in the low ground, against concrete blockhouses and great numbers of +machine-guns, against masses of the finest German troops fighting every +yard of the way, and against incredibly bad luck with the weather, even +as far back as August, will have given us the dominating ground in +Flanders overlooking the plains beyond. + +Crest Farm, on a knoll below the village of Passchendaele, is the outer +fort of Passchendaele itself, and its capture exposes the greater +fortress under the ragged ruins which stick up like fangs on the skyline +of the ridge. + +Without Crest Farm Passchendaele was unapproachable, and the capture of +this hummock is of historical importance. But in order to take or hold +it, as the Australians found, it was necessary that Bellevue and +Meetscheele should also be ours. Both heights were taken this morning by +the Canadians. + +It was not a great battle in numbers of men, and the longest distance to +go was not more than a thousand yards, but it was a hard battle, not won +lightly, because of the desperate resistance of the enemy, the +difficulty of the ground, the badness of the weather, and the physical +hardships endured by the men. The enemy had relieved his troops who met +the Canadians' attack on Bellevue on Friday last--the 11th Bavarian +Division, who are now said to be on their way to Italy--although I saw +one of their non-commissioned officers this morning, taken prisoner a +few hours before, after he had been lying in a shell-hole for three +days. He knew nothing about his division and nothing about the German +thrust in Italy. Nor did he care what had happened over there, but was +only glad to be out of the shell-fire with the hope that the war would +end soon, somehow and anyhow. His division had apparently been replaced +by the 238th, a strong and well-disciplined crowd of men, who knew the +value of the Passchendaele Ridge, and fought hard this morning until the +Canadians had forced their blockhouse when the rest of them ran back +into Passchendaele. + +The German Command probably expected an attack this morning. As usual, +yesterday he shelled heavily over the neighbourhood of our tracks and +back areas of the battle zone in order to hinder the getting up of +supplies, and in the night he sent out his air squadrons to bomb the +country about Ypres and try to play hell generally behind our lines. Our +airmen were about in the night too. It was the night of the full moon, +wonderfully clear and beautiful in this part of Flanders, and many tons +of explosives were dropped over enemy dumps and batteries and routes of +march. The weatherwise, who have been gloomy souls for some weeks, and +no wonder, predicted heavy rain before the night was out, and a rising +gale of wind. They were right about the wind. It came howling across the +sea and the flats from somewhere in the west of Ireland, but it veered +to the east later in the night and the rain held off until after midday. +By that time our attack had gone away and gained the ground; and it is +in their new positions that the Canadians and other British troops are +now suffering the foul storm, with a cold rain slashing upon them. The +night was cold for them, and they lay out in shell-holes, getting +numbed and cramped and longing for the first gleam of light, when they +could get on the move and do this fighting. It is the waiting which is +always worst, and it was waiting under the heavy fire of big shells and +shrapnel and whiz-bangs and gas-shells and machine-gun bursts scattered +over the sodden fields in this wet darkness without aim, but sinister in +its blind search for men. The carriers trudged through all this, +stubborn in spirit, to get up ammunition and supplies. There was rum for +the fighting men, and they thanked God for it, because it gave them a +little warmth of body and soul in the cold quarter of an hour before an +attack at dawn, when the vitality of men is low. + +Some of the Canadians say that the enemy started to barrage before our +own artillery gave the signal of attack by combined fire. Five minutes +before the start, they say, hostile shell-fire burst over them. Men get +this fancy sometimes when there is no truth in it, but it may have been +true. They all agree that the German SOS flared up instantly the attack +was begun, and that the enemy's gunners answered it without a second's +pause. At the same time many machine-guns began their sharp tattoo from +the blockhouses on the slopes above and from many hiding-places. In +front of the Princess Patricia's Light Infantry there was a number of +fanged tree-stumps called by the sylvan name of Friesland Copse. They +expected one or two machine-guns there, but found a nest of them. It was +a hornets' nest, not easily routed out. The German machine-gunners kept +up a steady stream of bullets across their field of fire, and the +Princess Pat's suffered in trying to rush the place. Small parties of +them assaulted it with grim courage, and when they fell, or took cover +in shell-craters, others made their way forward, trying to get round the +flanks of the position. It was in that way finally that they made the +last close dash upon the emplacements and destroyed them. Some of the +German gunners surrendered here, but not many. Hard and fierce was the +fighting at close quarters. + +The Canadian troops pushed on to Meetscheele village--no village at all, +as you may guess, but just a tract of shell-craters and a few mounds of +broken brick about a few concrete chambers, with dead bodies of German +soldiers lying huddled outside the walls. That is a village in the +battlefields. The blockhouses gave trouble, for there were living men +inside with the usual weapon which spat out bullets. So there was +another struggle here, very fierce and bloody, and the place was only +taken by groups of men who crawled round it in the mud, sprang at it out +of shell-craters, and acted with individual cunning and courage. That at +least is how some of these men described it this morning, when they came +away with wounds. Beyond Meetscheele was another row of blockhouses on a +road, and another fight, desperate and exhausting and bloody. But it was +from that neighbourhood that the Germans began to run, and when they +were seen running the Canadians knew that the objectives had been won. +All that was on the left of the Ravelbeek stream, which is a No Man's +Land of slime between the slopes. + +On the right, which is the main Passchendaele Ridge, another Canadian +Brigade was fighting up to Crest Farm. They, too, had to assault some +"pill-boxes" and had to fight hard for their ground, but they captured +Crest Farm and the farmer's boys, who were stalwart young Germans, and a +number of machines with which they plough the fields for the harvest of +death. These machine-guns and their ammunition store were used against +the enemy by the Canadians, and helped to smash up the counter-attacks, +which assaulted the new positions very quickly after their capture. On +the extreme right of the Canadians the enemy opened a very heavy +bombardment from the Keifburg spur, and it was so violent that special +artillery action was called for, and a number of Australian heavies took +measures to silence these guns. The first counter-attack developed at +about eight o'clock, from the direction of Mosselmarkt, but this was +dealt with by our guns, and did not reach the Canadian lines. Our +airmen, flying in the gale, reported groups of men retreating in a +disorderly way and the German stretcher-bearers were busy. At about 9.30 +hostile infantry in extended order were seen advancing towards the +front, and our guns again got busy. Meanwhile the Artists, Bedfords, +Royal Fusiliers, and Shropshires of the 63rd Division, and London men of +the 58th Division were fighting in the low swampy ground to the north of +the Canadians. They have had a very hard time on both sides of the +Paddebeek and in other swamps, where little isolated garrisons of the +enemy hold their "pill-boxes" in a girdle of the machine-gun fire. The +rain is now heavy, and a thick, dank mist lies over the fields, and +what was bad ground is now worse ground. There is no aeroplane +observation this afternoon, and the Canadians, who are holding the +captured positions, can no longer be seen by the hostile air squadrons. +This morning they flew very low over the infantry in places, dropping +bombs and firing their machine-guns at groups of men. The battle is one +of those called "a minor operation," but the ground taken by heroic +effort is the gateway to Passchendaele. + + + + +XXIV + +LONDON MEN AND ARTISTS + + +OCTOBER 31 + +We still hold the high ground about Crest Farm and the Meetscheele Spur, +from which Passchendaele is only 400 or 500 yards distant, and the +Canadians have consolidated their positions there, and with the help of +the guns have beaten off the enemy's counter-attacks. Up there the +ground is dry, and the Canadian soldiers are on sandy soil above the +hideous swamps of the valleys and beeks. The enemy's batteries are +shelling our new lines with intense fire, and are attempting as usual to +harass our tracks and artillery. To-day, after the battle, the weather +is clear and beautiful again, as it was on the day after the last +battle--a tragic irony which makes our men rather bitter with their +luck--and in the sunshine and fleecy clouds there are many hostile +aeroplanes overhead and many air combats between their fighting-planes +and ours. I saw the beginning of one over Ypres this morning before the +chase of the enemy machine passed out of sight with a burst of +machine-gun fire, and all through the morning our anti-aircraft guns +were busy flinging white shrapnel at these birds, who came with prying +eyes over our camps, their wings all shining in the sunlight and looking +no bigger than butterflies at the height they flew. Yesterday, during +the battle, it was almost impossible to fly, owing to the strength of +the gale, and impossible to see unless a pilot almost brushed the earth +with his wings. One of our airmen did fly as low as that, as I have +told, and went ten times on his business up and down the Canadian lines. +But elsewhere, above the dreadful swamps of the Paddebeek and the +Lekkerbolerbeek, the airmen had an almost hopeless task. + +It was partly owing to this that it was very difficult to get any news +of the London Territorials of the 58th Division and the Artists, +Bedfords, and others of the 63rd who went away at the same time as the +Canadians in the low ground instead of on high ground. Even their +battalion commanders, not far behind, could see nothing of the men when +the attack had started, and could get no exact knowledge of them for +many hours. The wounded came back to give vague hints of what was +happening, but as a rule wounded men know nothing more than their own +adventures in their own track of shell-craters. Some of them have never +come back. No man knows yet what has become of them out there. Little +groups may still be holding on to advanced posts out there in the +swamps. + +It is idle for me to try to describe this ground again, the ground over +which the London men and the Artists had to attack. Nothing that I can +write will convey remotely the look of such ground and the horror of it. +Unless one has seen vast fields of barren earth, blasted for miles by +shell-fire, pitted by deep craters so close that they are like holes in +a sieve, and so deep that the tallest men can drown in them when they +are filled with water, as they are now filled, imagination cannot +conceive the picture of this slough of despond into which our modern +Christians plunge with packs on their backs and faith in their hearts to +face dragons of fire a thousand times more frightful than those +encountered in the "Pilgrim's Progress." The shell-craters yesterday +were overbrimmed with water, and along the way of the beeks, flung out +of bounds by great gun-fire, these were not ponds and pools, but broad +deep lakes in which the litter and corruption of the battlefield +floated. + +The London Territorials had in front of them a number of blockhouses +held by the enemy's machine-gunners on each side of the road which runs +from Poelcappelle to Spriet. Far out in front of their line was a place +called Whitechapel--a curious coincidence that Londoners should attack +in its neighbourhood--and nearer to them, scattered about in enfilade +positions, were other "pill-boxes." On hard ground in decent weather +these places could have been assaulted and--if courage counts, as it +does--taken by these splendid London lads of ours, whose spirit was high +before the battle, and who have proved their quality, not only before in +this Flanders battle, but also at Bullecourt and other places in the +line. But yesterday luck was dead against them. Archangels would have +needed their wings to get across such ground, and the London men had no +divine help help in that way, and had to wade and haul out one leg after +the other from this deep sucking bog, and could hardly do that. Hundreds +of them were held in the bog as though in glue, and sank above their +waists. Our artillery barrage, which was very heavy and wide, moved +forward at a slow crawling pace, but it could not easily be followed. It +took many men an hour and a half to come back a hundred and fifty yards. +A rescue party led by a sergeant-major could not haul out men breast +high in the bog until they had surrounded them with duck-boards and +fastened ropes to them. Our barrage went ahead and the enemy's barrage +came down, and from the German blockhouses came a chattering fire of +machine-guns, and in the great stretch of swamp the London men +struggled. + +And not far away from them, but invisible in their own trouble among the +pits, the Artists Rifles, Bedfords, and Shropshires were trying to get +forward to other blockhouses on the way to the rising ground beyond the +Paddebeek. The Artists and their comrades were more severely tried by +shell-fire than the Londoners. No doubt the enemy had been standing at +his guns through the night, ready to fire at the first streak of dawn, +which might bring an English attack, or the first rocket as a call to +them from the garrisons of the blockhouses. A light went up, and +instantly there roared out a great sweep of fire from heavy batteries +and field-guns; 4.2's and 5.9's fell densely and in depth, and this +bombardment did not slacken for hours. It was a tragic time for our +valiant men, struggling in the slime with their feet dragged down. They +suffered, but did not retreat. No man fell back, but either fell under +the shell-fire or went on. Some groups of London lads were seen going +over a little rise in the ground far ahead, but no more has been heard +of them. Some of them got as far as the blockhouses, assaulted them +without any protective fire from our artillery, because the barrage was +ahead, and captured them. By this wonderful courage in the worst and +foulest conditions that may be known by fighting men they took Noble's +Farm and Tracas Farm. + +It was by this latter farm that an heroic act was done by a young London +lieutenant--one of those boys of ours who heard the call to the colours +and went quickly round to the nearest recruiting office, not knowing +what war was, but eager to offer his youth. He knew the full meaning of +war yesterday by the concrete blockhouse on the Tracas road. He had a +group of men with him, his own men from his own platoon, and he asked +them to stick it out with him. They stuck it out until all were killed +or wounded, and the last of them still standing was this lieutenant. I +do not know if even he was standing at the end, for he had been wounded. +He had been wounded not once only, but eight times, and still he asked +his men to stick it out with him, and at last fell among them, and so +was picked up by the stretcher-bearers when they came searching round +this place under heavy fire, and found all the men lying there. + +There was a queer kind of road going nowhere and coming from nowhere +east of Papa House. For some time before the battle Germans were seen +coming out of it, remarkably clean, and not like men who have been +living in mud-holes. It is a concrete street tunnelled and apertured for +machine-guns, and bullets poured from it yesterday, and the London lads +had a hard time in front of it. The London Regiment and the Royal +Fusiliers who fought this battle, and not far from them were the Artists +Rifles--the dear old "Artists" who in the old Volunteer days looked so +dandy in their grey and silver across the lawns of Wimbledon. They +suffered yesterday in hellish fire, and made heavy sacrifices to prove +their quality. It was a fight against the elements, in league with the +German explosives, and it was a frightful combination for the boys of +London and the clean-shaven fellows of the Naval Brigade, who looked so +splendid on the roads before they went into this mud. They did not gain +all their objectives yesterday, but what glory there is in human courage +in the most fiery ordeal they gained eternally. + +The gunners were great too. They were in the mud like the infantry in +some places. They were heavily shelled, and the transport men and +gun-layers and gunner officers had to get a barrage down when it was +difficult to stand steady in the bogs. They have done this not for one +day and night but for many days and nights, and the strain upon them has +been nerve-racking. After the last battle, when the Londoners were +relieved and marched down past the guns, they cheered those gunners who +had answered their signals and given them great bombardment and worked +under heavy fire. I think the cheers of those mud- and blood-stained +men to the London gunners ring out in an heroic way above the noise and +tragedy of battle. + + + + +XXV + +THE CAPTURE OF PASSCHENDAELE + + +NOVEMBER 6 + +It is with thankfulness that one can record to-day the capture of +Passchendaele, the crown and crest of the ridge which made a great +barrier round the salient of Ypres and hemmed us in the flats and +swamps. After an heroic attack by the Canadians this morning they fought +their way over the ruins of Passchendaele and into ground beyond it. If +their gains be held the seal is set upon the most terrific achievement +of war ever attempted and carried through by British arms. + +Only we out here who have known the full and intimate details of that +fighting, the valour and the sacrifice which have carried our waves of +men up those slopes, starting at Messines and Wyschaete at the lower end +of the range in June last, crossing the Pilkem Ridge in the north, and +then storming the central heights from Westhoek to Polygon Wood through +Inverness Copse and Glencorse Wood, from Zonnebeke to Broodseinde, from +the Gavenstafel to Abraham Heights, from Langemarck to Poelcappelle, can +understand the meaning of to-day's battle and the thrill at the heart +which has come to all of us to-day because of the victory. For at and +around Passchendaele is the highest ground on the ridge, looking down +across the sweep of the plains into which the enemy has been thrust, +where he has his camps and his dumps, where from this time hence, if we +are able to keep the place, we shall see all his roads winding like +tapes below us and his men marching up them like ants, and the flash and +fire of his guns and all the secrets of his life, as for three years he +looked down on us and gave us hell. + +What is Passchendaele? As I saw it this morning through the smoke of +gun-fire and a wet mist it was less than I had seen before, a week or +two ago, with just one ruin there--the ruin of its church--a black mass +of slaughtered masonry and nothing else, not a house left standing, not +a huddle of brick on that shell-swept height. But because of its +position as the crown of the ridge that crest has seemed to many men +like a prize for which all these battles of Flanders have been fought, +and to get to this place and the slopes and ridges on the way to it, not +only for its own sake but for what it would bring with it, great numbers +of our most gallant men have given their blood, and thousands--scores of +thousands--of British soldiers of our own home stock and from overseas +have gone through fire and water, the fire of frightful bombardments, +the water of the swamps, of the beeks and shell-holes, in which they +have plunged and waded and stuck and sometimes drowned. To defend this +ridge and Passchendaele, the crest of it, the enemy has massed great +numbers of guns and incredible numbers of machine-guns and many of his +finest divisions. To check our progress he devised new systems of +defence and built his concrete blockhouses in echelon formation, and at +every cross-road, and in every bit of village or farmstead, and our men +had to attack that chain of forts through its girdles of machine-gun +fire, and, after a great price of life, mastered it. The weather fought +for the enemy again and again on the days of our attacks, and the +horrors of the mud and bogs in this great desolation of crater-land +miles deep--eight miles deep--over a wide sweep of country, belongs to +the grimmest remembrances of every soldier who has fought in this battle +of Flanders. The enemy may brush aside our capture of Passchendaele as +the taking of a mud-patch, but to resist it he has at one time or +another put nearly a hundred divisions into the arena of blood, and the +defence has cost him a vast sum of loss in dead and wounded. I saw his +dead in Inverness Copse and Glencorse Wood, and over all this ground +where the young manhood of Germany lies black and in corruption. It was +not for worthless ground that so many of them died and suffered great +agonies, and fought desperately and came back again and again in massed +counter-attacks, swept to pieces by our guns and our rifle-fire. +Passchendaele is but a pinprick on a fair-sized map, but so that we +should not take it the enemy had spent much of his man-power and his +gun-power without stint, and there have flowed up to his guns tides of +shells almost as great as the tides that flowed up to our guns, and +throughout these months he has never ceased, by day or night, to pour +out hurricanes of fire over all these fields, in the hope of smashing up +our progress. A few days ago orders were issued to his troops. They were +given in the name of Hindenburg. Passchendaele must be held at all +costs, and, if lost, must be recaptured at all costs. Passchendaele has +been lost to the enemy to-day, and if we have any fortune in war, it +will not be retaken. + +The Canadians have had more luck than the English, New Zealand and +Australian troops who fought the battles on the way up with most heroic +endeavour, and not a man in the Army will begrudge them the honour which +they have gained, not easily, not without the usual price of victory, +which is some men's death and many men's pain. For several days the +enemy has endeavoured to thrust us back from the positions held round +Crest Farm and on the left beyond the Paddebeek, where all the ground is +a morass. The Artists and Bedfords who fought there on the left on the +last days of last month had a very hard and tragic time, but it was +their grim stoicism in holding on to exposed outposts--small groups of +men under great shell-fire--which enabled the Canadians this morning to +attack from a good position. A special tribute is due to two companies +of Shropshires who, with Canadian guides, worked through a woodland +plantation, drove a wedge into enemy territory, and held it against all +attempts to dislodge them. + +Heavy German counter-attacks were made during the past few days to drive +us off Crest Farm and the Meetscheele spur, but they only made a slight +lodgment near Crest Farm and were thrust back with great loss to +themselves. Meanwhile there was the usual vast activity on our side in +making tracks and carrying railroads a few hundred yards nearer, and +hauling forward heavy guns out of the slough in which they were deeply +sunk, and carrying up stores of ammunition and supplies for men and +guns, and all this work by pioneers and engineers and transport men and +infantry was done under infernal fire and in deep mud and filth. Last +night the enemy increased his fire as though he guessed his time was at +hand, and all night he flung down harassing barrages and scattered +shells from his heavies and used gas-shells to search and dope our +batteries, and tried hard by every devilish thing in war to prevent the +assembly of troops. The Canadians assembled--lying out in shell-craters +and in the deep slime of the mud, and under this fire, and though there +were anxious hours and a great strain upon officers and men, and many +casualties, the spirit of the men was not broken, and in a wonderful way +they escaped great losses. It was a moist, soft night, with a stiff wind +blowing. The weather prophets in the evening had shaken their heads +gloomily and said, "It will rain, beyond all doubt." But luck was with +our troops for once, and the sun rose in a clear sky. There was a great +beauty in the sky at daybreak, and I thought of the sun of Austerlitz +and hoped it might presage victory for our men to-day. Beneath the banks +of clouds, all dove-grey, like the wings of birds, the sun rose in a +lake of gold, and all the edges of the clouds were wonderfully gleaming. +The woods in their russet foliage were touched with ruddy fires, so that +every crinkled leaf was a little flame. The leaves were being caught up +by the wind and torn from their twigs and scattered across the fields, +and the wet ditches were deep with leaves that had fallen and reddened +in last week's rain. But it was the light of the dawn that gave a +strange spiritual value to every scene on the way to the battlefield, +putting a glamour upon the walls of broken houses and shining mistily in +the pools of the Yser Canal and upon its mud-banks, and the strange +little earth dwellings which our men once used to inhabit along its line +of dead trees, with their trunks wet and bright. When I went up over the +old battlefields this glory gradually faded out of the sky, and the +clouds gathered and darkened in heavy grey masses and there was a wet +smell in the wind which told one that the prophets were not wrong about +the coming of rain. But the duck-boards were still dry and it made +walking easier, though any false step would drop one into a shell-crater +filled to the brim with water of vivid metallic colours, or into broad +stretching bogs churned up by recent shell-fire and churned again by +shells that came over now, bursting with a loud roar after their long +high scream, and flinging up water-spouts after their pitch into the +mud. The German long-range guns were scattering shells about with blind +eyes, doing guesswork as to the whereabouts of our batteries, or firing +from aeroplane photographs to tape out the windings of our duck-board +tracks and the long straight roads of our railway lines. For miles along +and around the same track where I walked, single files of men were +plodding along, their grey figures silhouetted where they tramped on the +skyline, with capes blowing and steel hats shining. Every minute a big +shell burst near one of these files, and it seemed as if some men must +have been wiped out, but always when the smoke cleared the line was +closed up and did not halt on its way. The wind was blowing, but all +this grey sky overhead was threaded through with aeroplanes--our birds +going out to the battle. They flew high, in flights of six, or singly at +a swift pace, and beneath their planes our shells were in flight from +heavy howitzers and long-muzzled guns whose fire swept our with blasts +of air and smashed against one's ears. Out of the wild wide waste of +these battlefields with their dead tree-stumps and their old upheaved +trenches, and litter of battle, and endless craters out of which the +muddy water slopped, there rose a queer big beast, monstrous and +ungainly as a mammoth in the beginning of the world's slime. It was one +of our "sausage" balloons getting up for the morning's work. Its big +air-pockets flapped like ears, and as it rose its body heaved and +swelled. + +It was beyond the line of German "pill-boxes" captured in the fighting +on the way to the Steenbeek, and now all flooded and stinking in its +concrete rooms, that I saw Passchendaele this morning. The long ridge to +which the village gives its name curved round black and grim below the +clouds, right round to Polygon Wood and the heights of Broodseinde, a +long formidable barrier, a great rampart against which during these four +months of fighting our men flung themselves, until by massed courage, in +which individual deeds are swallowed up so that the world will never +know what each man did, they gained those rolling slopes and the +hummocks on them and the valleys in between, and all their hidden forts. +Below the ridge all our field-guns were firing, and the light of their +flashes ran up and down like Jack o' Lanterns with flaming torches. Far +behind me were our heavy guns, and their shells travelled overhead with +a great beating of the wind. In the sky around was the savage whine of +German shells, and all below the Passchendaele Ridge monstrous shells +were flinging up masses of earth and water, and now and then fires were +lighted and blazed and then went out in wet smoke. + +The Canadians had been fighting in and beyond Passchendaele. They had +been fighting around the village of Mosselmarkt, on the Goudberg spur. +It was reported they had carried all their objectives and were +consolidating their defences for the counter-attacks which were sure to +come. The enemy had put a new division into the line before our attack, +a division up from the Champagne, and, judging from the prisoners taken +to-day, a smart, strong, and well-disciplined crowd of men. But they did +not fight much as soon as the Canadians were close up on them. The +Canadian fighting was chiefly through shell-fire which came down heavily +a minute or so after our drum-fire began, and against machine-gun fire +which came out of the blockhouses in and around Passchendaele, from the +cellars there, and other cellars at Mosselmarkt. + +The Canadians on the right were first to get to Passchendaele Church. +Wounded men say they saw the Germans running away as they worked round +the church. On the left the Canadians had farther to go, but wave after +wave of them closed in and got into touch with their right wing. The +enemy's machine-gun fire was very severe, especially from a long-range +barrage, but there was little hand-to-hand fighting in Passchendaele, +and the men who did not escape surrendered and begged for mercy. Up to +the time I write I have no knowledge of any counter-attack, but it was +reported quite early in the morning that there were masses of Germans +packed into shell-holes on the right of the village, and others have +been seen assembling on the roads to the north of Passchendaele. The +Canadians believe they will hold their gains. If they do, their victory +will be a fine climax to these long battles in Flanders, which have +virtually given us the great ridge, all but some outlying spurs of it, +and the command of the plains beyond. + + * * * * * + +NOVEMBER 7 + +Hindenburg's command that Passchendaele must be held at all costs, or if +lost retaken at all costs, has not so far been fulfilled by the Eleventh +Prussian Division which garrisoned the crest of the great ridge. +Passchendaele and the high ground about it is firmly ours, and as yet +there have been only a few feeble attempts at counter-attacks by the +enemy. Why there was no strong and well-organized counter-attack is a +mystery to the German officers and men taken prisoner by us, and +especially to two battalion commanders whom I saw marching down to-day +behind our lines at the head of a small party of Prussian soldiers. + +One of the German colonels was the commander of the support battalion. +He had apparently come up to Passchendaele the night before to confer +with the commander of the front line. Now from six o'clock yesterday +morning until four o'clock in the afternoon he sat, with his +brother-officer and four or five men, in that little stone house which +was already their prison and might be their tomb. For some queer reason +this pill-box of theirs, or dose-box as the Canadians call it, was +overlooked by the assaulting troops. As no machine-gun fire came from +it, it was passed by, perhaps as an empty house, and the moppers-up did +not trouble about it. The commander of the support line, a tall, +bearded man, very handsome and soldierly as I saw him to-day, urged the +other commanding officer, a younger, weaker-looking man, to stay quiet +and await the counter-attack. "Our men are sure to come," he said, "and +then we shall be rescued." + +But hour after hour passed following the British attack at dawn, and +there was no sign of advancing Germans or of retreating Canadians. +Imagine the nervous strain of those two men, and of the soldiers who sat +watching them and listening to their conversation, as it could be heard +through the crashing of shells outside. At four o'clock neither of these +battalion commanders could endure the situation longer. + +"If we stay here they will kill us when they find us," said the tall, +bearded man. "It is better to give ourselves up now," they decided. So +they have told their own story, and at four o'clock they went outside +and crossed a few yards of ground, until they were seen by some of the +Canadians, and raised their hands as a sign of surrender. + +It may have been that the absence of the commander of the support line +was the reason for the poor effort made to counter-attack yesterday +after the Canadian assault had swept through Passchendaele and on the +right and on the left had fought along the crest of the Goudberg spur +through Meetscheele and Mosselmarkt. I think there must have been other +reasons, but whether or no it is certain that no big attack developed. +Groups of men were seen assembling yesterday at various places to the +north of Passchendaele, but these were scattered by our gun-fire. Other +groups were seen to the north of Mosselmarkt on the left, but these were +also broken up and did not draw near. One officer tried to get up his +men, but when he saw there was no support, and that our shell-fire was +heavy, he retired, and a few of his men were taken prisoners. After +fierce gun-fire yesterday afternoon all along the crest of the ridge, +the enemy's bombardment slackened off, and the night was quieter than +the Canadians had expected, though Passchendaele and its neighbourhood +could not be called a really quiet spot. + +I have told already in my message yesterday the general outline of the +Canadian attack, which has won ground for which so many thousands of our +men have been fighting, up the slopes and through the valleys along the +spurs, and since the beginning of the battle of Flanders, until only +this crown at the northern end of the ridge remained to be dragged from +the enemy's grasp. In Passchendaele itself the Prussian garrison did +not fight very stubbornly, but fled, if the men had any chance, as soon +as the Canadians were sighted at close quarters. In spite of the severe +machine-gun fire the Canadian advance on that right wing was rapid and +complete, and they sent back about 230 prisoners from the blockhouses +and cellars and shell-craters during the morning. The action was more +difficult on the left, up from Meetscheele to Mosselmarkt and Goudberg, +a distance of more than a thousand yards, and a farther objective than +that of their comrades on the right. The Canadians here on the left were +confronted with a difficult problem, owing to the nature of the ground. +Below the Goudberg spur on its western side was the horrible swamp into +which the Artists, Bedfords, and others had plunged when they made their +desperate attack in the last days of October. The enemy had outposts in +these marshes at Vine Cottage--a sweet, pitiful name for such a +place--and Vanity Farm. For a time they had thrust a wedge into our line +here on the left of the Canadians between Source Trench and Source Farm, +but, as I have already told, an heroic little attack by English and +Canadian troops drove them out before yesterday's battle, and these +small groups of men held on grimly under great difficulties, quite +isolated in their bog. It was necessary to capture Vine Cottage in order +to defend the Canadian left flank in this last attack, and for that +purpose a small body of Canadians were sent off the night before last to +seize it and hold it, while the main assault of the Canadian left wing, +avoiding the swamp altogether there, was to attack along the Goudberg +spur. This plan of action was carried out, but not without hard fighting +round Vine Cottage in the swamp. All day yesterday there was very little +news of that fight, for a long time no news. The headquarters of the +brigade was having a hard time under intense shell-fire, and had lost +many signallers and runners. The men in the swamp had no communication +with the rest of the battle-front, and fought their fight alone and +unseen. It was a hard and bloody little action. The German garrison of +Vine Cottage fought with great courage and desperately, not making any +sign of surrender, and using their machine-guns savagely. By working +through the swamp and getting on short rushes to close quarters, the +Canadians were able at last to close round this blockhouse and storm it. +The survivors of the garrison then surrendered, and they numbered forty +men. Meanwhile on the high road of Goudberg the main left wing of the +Canadian troops took the ground that was once Meetscheele village in +their first wave of assault, and afterwards closed round Mosselmarkt. +Here in the desert of shell-craters and wreckage there were some +concrete cellars and forts, one of them being used as a battalion +headquarters and another as a field dressing-station. Over a hundred +prisoners were gathered in from this neighbourhood, not in big batches, +but scattered about the ground in shell-craters and cellars. Three +German field-guns were captured, with other trophies, including stores +of ammunition. It will never be known how many prisoners were taken +yesterday. Many of them never reached our lines, and never will. They +were killed by their own barrage-fire, which swept over all this +territory when the enemy knew that he had lost it. Rain fell in the +afternoon, and more heavily to-day, in sudden storms which are broken +through at times by bursts of sunshine gleaming over all the wet fields, +so that there is far visibility until the next storm comes and all the +landscape of war is veiled in mist. It is a dreary and tragic landscape, +and though I have seen four autumns of war and the long, wet winters of +this Flemish country, the misery of it and the squalor of it struck me +anew to-day, as though I saw it with fresh eyes. In all this country +round Ypres, still the capital of the battlefields, holding in +its poor, stricken bones the soul of all this tragedy, and still +shelled--yesterday very heavily--by an enemy who even now will not let +its dust alone, there is nothing but destruction and the engines of +destruction. The trees are smashed, and the ground is littered with +broken things, and the earth is ploughed into deep pits and furrows by +three years of shell-fire, and it is all oozy and liquid and slimy. + +Our Army is like an upturned ant-heap in all this mud, and in the old +battle-grounds they have dug themselves in and built little homes for +themselves and settled down to a life of industry between one +shell-crater and another, and one swamp and another, for the long spell +of winter warfare which has now enveloped them, and while they are +waiting for another year of war, unless Peace comes with the Spring. + + + PRINTED AT THE COMPLETE PRESS + WEST NORWOOD LONDON + + + * * * * * + + +Transcriber's Notes + +Obvious punctuation errors repaired. + +In the captions, a caret (^) denotes that the following letter +is a superscript. + +Thought breaks have been used consistently before a section that starts +with a new date. + +Captions have been added to "Illustrations" where they +are lacking. + +Hyphens added: battle-ground (p. 174), pock-marked (p. 243), bog-land +(p. 243), hop-fields (page 257), water-spouts (p. 379). + +Hyphens removed: skyline (p. 141), blockhouse (p. 243), armpits (p. +331). + +Page 58: "wooded" changed to "wooden" (his wooden bridges). + +Page 62: "Oberlieutenant" changed to "Oberleutnant". + +Page 82: "penumonia" changed to "pneumonia" (died of weakness and +pneumonia). + +Page 150: "Tilloy-les-Mufflains" changed to "Tilloy-les-Mufflaines". + +Page 160: "highly" changed to "lightly" (proportion of highly wounded). + +Page 163: "Spanbeckmolen" changed to "Spanbroekmolen". + +Page 203: "Blaupoortbeek" changed to "Blawepoortbeek". + +Page 222: "bueer" changed to "ueber" (Viel tausend ueber Nacht) and "durich +den Fruehlinges jubel" changed to "durch den Fruehlingesjubel". + +Page 246: "deadful" changed to "dreadful" (their dreadful night). + +Page 269: "Thiepval" changed to "Thiepval". + +Page 323: "matellic" changed to "metallic" (metallic tinkling sound). + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of From Bapaume to Passchendaele, 1917, by +Philip Gibbs + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FROM BAPAUME TO *** + +***** This file should be named 35403.txt or 35403.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/5/4/0/35403/ + +Produced by Moti Ben-Ari and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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