For Love and Courage

by E. W. Hermon

  I started out to my school & it was the last day of the class & we spent the morning throwing fully charged bombs as a wind-up to the course. One damned fool was so frightened of his bomb that the moment he lit it he dropped it at his feet, but fortunately I have a splendid place for throwing, in deep trenches & the man throwing stands in a little room by himself where I can see all he does from a place of absolute safety & from which he can get into safety if anything like this happens – so it was alright, tho’ that bloke did move. It takes 5 seconds for the bomb to explode after ignition which sounds short but is in practice ample time to throw it carefully aimed at a distance of 30 yards before it explodes.

  After lunch I rode over to the Div. H.Q. & made some arrangements about the school, & I then went on to where the bombs are made to see the R.E.5 officer in charge & took advantage of being in a town to buy some cakes for tea, & try & get a ball as we wanted a ball to amuse ourselves in the evening. We had a capital game of stump cricket with a box as a wicket & a pick handle as a bat. I played a faultless first innings of 21 & a second of 16, Henry, I & Izard beating the others handsomely. The pitch was a road & the outfield a bit rough, full of small gravel pits & whin bushes!! We really had great fun tonight.

  Will you send me one of the Daily Mail maps of the Bird’s-eye view of our whole line. Today I saw the most ripping panorama photo of the whole of the German front opposite us. I would have loved to have had it to send to you.

  It is very sad about Cooper. I wish he had been killed outright. We want candles badly dearie, I have only just enough to finish this letter with & it is the last in camp! I must go to bed now dearie as it is nearly midnight.

  22nd June 1915 – bivouac at Champ des Courses, Hesdigneul

  Last night I was naughty & didn’t write to you as I had a lot of other kind of writing to do as well. It was midnight again before I got to bed.

  My business took me near the trenches during the morning and I saw a fine battle between our anti-aircraft guns & a Taube which ended in the Taube thinking discretion the better part of valour & retiring. The enemy’s aircraft have been very active in our sector the last few days & there has been a great deal of shooting at them. So far as one can see & distinguish them they don’t come very far behind our line, mostly getting driven off by gunfire.

  Damn Horsham & its ‘fed-up’ feeling for the soldiers, I shall have to send a Zeppelin to visit them. I think if they were to come & see Vermelles they would think differently. If the Germans came to England every town & village on their line would be the same.

  Old Bob’s pipe doesn’t smoke very well I am afraid but you mustn’t tell him so, dear old boy. I should love to see them all again & I do so miss them. I doubt if I shall be strong enough to say ‘No’ if I get a decent bit of leave offered me.

  I have been down at the Bomb School all day & my new class begins tomorrow so I shall have a very busy week. I wish to goodness I had my workshop out here, I am sure I could produce some very much better engines of frightfulness than they are using in the trenches at present. There never was so much scope for inventive genius as at present. I am hoping to be able to produce something shortly but should like to rope in Percy or someone like that. Izard has gone with his troop to the trenches tonight for 48 hours & the others go in in turn for like periods. They are just going to gain a little experience.

  24th June 1915 – bivouac at Champ des Courses, Hesdigneul

  At about 5.30 p.m. Mac & I started off to visit old ‘Pongo’6 in the trenches. We rode as far as it was healthy to ride & then walked over the open ground to the Batt. H.Q. to which they were attached. The Germans won’t waste shells on small dismounted parties & there was only Mac & I. We got up to the Batt. H.Q. about 400 yds behind the front line when the Boches treated us to some minor frightfulness in the way of ‘Pip squeaks’ which are a small sort of pompom shell only time fused & about 3 lbs as far as we know. They were concentrating on the particular communication trench down which we wanted to go so we had to wait at the Batt. H.Q. till their evening hate was over. Then we went on and saw old Pongo & his troop, all of whom were in the best of health & spirits. We went all along the front-line trench & had a good look at the German trenches.

  They were a bit smelly in places owing to the amount of Frenchmen who still remain unburied between the lines & the flies are very bad. It’s not very pleasant up there but they are really good deep trenches & beautifully kept.

  The old French really are wonderful round Souchez, they never let the Boche rest a minute, their guns have been going night & day ever since we came here & are hard at it now. I can’t help thinking they are going to make a job of it round Souchez very shortly. This damned censorship is a bore, tho’ essential, as I could tell you many more interesting things.

  Pongo & his troop come out of the trenches tonight & Henry went off for his turn some hours ago. I hope they will come back before I go to bed as one of our men went out on patrol between the lines & I am rather anxious to hear how he got on. You would be astonished to see how our men stand out among these London Regts composed of men working in offices. They can’t get their men to use their bayonets, they don’t like pushing them in at all & my blokes would revel in it if I could only get them the chance.

  I wish you could see Harry7 now, he is doing simply top-hole, has smartened up beyond recognition & is awfully popular with the men. I found that he was messing with the Sgt Major & about half a doz others the other day, but I had to put a stopper on that & make them have a proper Sgts Mess for the sake of discipline.

  We are not short of shell from a defensive point of view, we haven’t enough to attack with at present. No doubt very shortly they will stream over & then we shall be alright. We don’t hold our advances, simply because we are bombed out of the trenches we have taken. The Germans are better bombers than we are, but we are learning fast & when we next meet I think things will be better. You see in an attack our guns bash their trenches so that when we arrive they are such very poor protection, & the Germans start on them with shrapnel and it is very hard for our fellows to stay in them, casualties in consequence being heavy. We shall very shortly be better at the Bomb-throwing business & then we shall see. The Germans don’t seem to mind dosing their men with their own shrapnel a bit & having settled both our men & theirs in their front-line trenches they just fill them up again with their reserves. I must to bed now dearie.

  25th June 1915 – bivouac at Champ des Courses, Hesdigneul

  I had a topping letter from you again today. It has rained like Hades all day & been beastly. Have been bombing all day but could do very little. Would you arrange for us to have some good big tins of cocoa sent out as we always have cocoa at nights and can’t get it locally very well. The heat tonight is awful, so close that tho’ it is 9 p.m. I am sitting in my waistcoat sweating, beg pardon ‘all of a glow’! My troop came out of the trenches with a very poor opinion of the Regt to which they were attached. Thought nothing of them at all.

  The poor old Russians seem by all accounts to be having a very thin time & it seems to be the weight of artillery the Germans are bringing against them.8 In this connection I had a very interesting paper sent me tonight, a copy of a secret document captured from a German.

  It is impossible to lay down any figures for an authorised daily expenditure, but the Army is prepared to place eventually at the disposal of an Army Corps, on a reasonable demand, the following amounts of ammunition.

  Our daily allowance for Field Guns used to be 6 rounds per diem!!! Of course the above ‘reasonable demand’ means when the Corps has a really good target or preparing for an attack. Our guns fired as much as double this some time ago, but as a special effort which had been carefully prepared for, but this refers to a daily allowance per gun. I don’t believe even if they do transfer men from the East that they will break our line should they attack but no doubt it will be a hot time.

  Many thanks for your trouble about the cannon!9 Don’t know if it will be a
success or not but it is worth trying. I am thinking also of sending a drawing to old Arthur10 of a spring gun & try and get him to get it made for me. I want a child’s ordinary spring cannon that will throw a 3 lb weight 200 yds. Tell him to think it out. A spring piston in a tube 95 mm diameter. Just a piece of drain pipe. If I only had the run of a real good workshop for a few days I am sure I could turn out something far better than we are at present using. The barrel must not be much more than 3 feet. I am quite sure it is a possibility & I will try & get out some drawings for it when I have considered it a bit more. Anyhow it couldn’t be rottener than what we have got at present.

  With regard to the engine I shouldn’t worry at present as long as it is doing its job. Just have the vaporizer acetylene welded & let it go on even if it does knock a bit. If it knocks too much try reducing the compression by a change of some of the compression plates behind the big end bearing. [Here he has drawn a diagram.]

  Pa wrote me tonight that he had sent the lacrosse bats off. Many thanks for the telescope too. My love to you darling mine.

  27th June 1915 – bivouac at Champ des Courses, Hesdigneul

  The C.O. comes to visit us tomorrow but he is only stopping a very short time I am glad to say. He didn’t fancy the night in the open much, I don’t think, so he is motoring over. I got the pamphlet about leave tonight & it says: ‘Leave is only granted in very special cases where it is absolutely necessary & in the interest of the Forces in the Field, the object being to give a short rest to those who have earned it by their exertions in the field’ – and one must have been out at least 3 months. We have had no exertions, in fact the most restful existence I ever had & can hardly put forward our claims at present, tho’ no doubt there will be lots get it who have really done no more.

  Somehow I feel tonight dearie as tho’ I want you more than I have done since I have been out & would give worlds for an evening at home. I shall be damned glad when this blasted war is over & we are all back again but alas I can see no grounds for hoping for an early conclusion.

  28th June 1915 – bivouac at Champ des Courses, Hesdigneul

  My dear old girl, I am thankful that you have acted with what the C.O. termed today ‘exceptional business capability’, as the gun was only an experiment & since ordering it I have had time to consider & am now delighted that I can’t get it. On going into the question more carefully I find that the trench mortars burst not because the mortar is too weak to stand the charge but because the charge is so weak that the slightest damp in the mortar makes such an impression on it that it fails to drive the bomb out of the barrel and is sufficient to light the fuse in the bomb with the result that it explodes in your own trench & blows mortar & crew to blazes.

  My new spring mortar ought to be cheap to make and more reliable, anyhow I will guarantee that it doesn’t stick in the barrel.

  The C.O. arrived at 12 o’clock, had a hurried talk & at 12.35 had gone back again, just passed the time of day. Had no news & just wanted to see us & was off.11

  My love to you all dearie mine.

  30th June 1915 – bivouac at Champ des Courses, Hesdigneul

  I am sorry to say I had a nasty accident at my bomb school today. I had just started my first lecture with the officers, & I always have some perfectly harmless dummy bombs made up for demonstrations. Somehow one bomb made up with a detonator had been put in my demonstration box with the result when showing the class how it was lit it exploded in my hand.

  Part of it flew into a box of detonators, 20 of them, & exploded the lot with the result that I and three out of the five composing my squad were in varying degrees wounded. I had a marvellous escape & why I wasn’t blinded I don’t know. When I lit the bomb it was in my hand & not 12 inches in front of my face & bar a slight cut on the bridge of my nose, a small bit in the centre of my forehead & in my left ear, and a piece of detonator through my lip which I got hold of with my teeth & by pulling my lip with my fingers, got out from inside, I have nothing wrong at all. I didn’t even want to go & have it dressed but an old colonel sent me to the hospital & I had it dressed & was back with my class again in half an hour. Henry, who was on my left, I am sorry to say got it a good deal worse & his wrist was rather badly bruised but his wristwatch was badly damaged & this saved him from having the tendons of his hand cut I am glad to say. His face too was a bit cut & he went to hospital & two others as well. One had his eye hurt a bit which I didn’t like but I don’t think it is injured.

  It was awful bad luck as I have done everything that is humanly possible to eliminate accidents & then to be sold a pup by one of one’s own instructors like that was cruel bad luck. The blow to my pride is far worse than the trifling skin rub I have on my nose. You needn’t worry about me in the least, I have had far worse scratches from a ‘lawyers humble’ out hunting. I have told you the absolute truth & am keeping back nothing for your sake so you need not think I am only telling you half.

  I want you to buy me a really good silver wristwatch, which must have luminous hands or figures, as I want to give it to Henry. Have his initials put on it. H.S.F. from E.W.H. June 1915 & I will pay up to £5 for it.12 His watch looked as if a steam roller had run over it.

  I am off bombing again in the morning. I should keep the main portion of this to yourself, old dear, unless by any chance my name gets in the casualty bit which I hope it won’t. Anyhow, for your information I am perfectly fit and well, was at duty again half an hour after the accident happened & am as cheery & well as if nothing had happened tho’ awfully sorry about Henry. I love that boy now, he is a real good lad. Thank old Bet for her letter & love to you darling.

  1st July 1915 – bivouac at Champ des Courses, Hesdigneul

  My very superficial ‘wounds’ are healing grandly & I am perfectly fit & well as also are the other three boys. So all is well I am glad to say. Henry Feilding has bucked up & is doing well, but it was Harry Parsons that I meant. He has done top-hole and all my three horses are a sight worth looking at. Your old horse is twice as fat as ever he was with Bellew at any period of the year & never looked so well before. He is getting very naughty & shies at everything! And when he shies he is very wilful in spite of his tender mouth. I am only going to write you a scrap tonight as I have been bombing all day & winding up my monthly pay accounts as well.

  Love to you darling.

  2nd July 1915 – bivouac at Champ des Courses, Hesdigneul

  I am in the best of spirits tonight because I have had a very uphill fight with my bomb school owing to the fact that they wouldn’t give me a proper staff or materials. The G.O.C. came down to see me today & I managed to impress on him my wants and he is now as keen as I am that the school should be a success. He says ‘Hermon, anything you want you can have, but don’t mind the staff, I’ll order it and then it will be done!!’

  I think the school will soon be a great success, it has started at just the right time & now I can have what I want, should go like hot cakes. I am very pleased with it so far, I want to organize it, get it a thorough-going concern and hand it over to someone else, as I want to devote more of my time to the squadron.

  We have got a portion of the Mil. Wing of the Flying Corps next to us & it is really awfully interesting seeing them start off & especially land. Tonight as I rode home one came down within a few yards of me & it really was ripping and looked most awfully jolly though I must say I prefer the bombing [school].

  I am glad that old Bet liked my message about the lighter, and I use it always. Of course the two small ‘Snippets’ are too young to realise what is going on and it is just as well really, but I am glad that the other two miss one. I have nothing more to tell you dearie, and all the lads are talking 20 to the dozen.

  3rd July 1915 – bivouac at Champ des Courses, Hesdigneul

  You say (69) that I had written you a particularly nice letter but it has also inspired a particularly nice one in return. I have been very busy today bombing all day and then a visit to H.Q.

  My patent spring
gun has gone on to the Army Experiments Committee & I am very anxious to hear how they deal with it. I hope they will approve of it. There are one or two points I could improve in it even now but it will have to stand its chance.

  I am afraid nothing political can possibly stop the War. The forcing of the Dardanelles if it can be accomplished before the end of the month will be a very great help, but I am very much afraid this Russian reverse will put the war back a long time. I hear we have shell contracts out up to well into 1917.

  Thank old Bet for her letter and with my love to you dearie mine.

  ROBERT ENCLOSED WITH his letter of 4th July the following telegram sent by Ethel; it read:

  WAR OFFICE WIRES ACCIDENTALLY WOUNDED BUT REMAINING DUTY WIRE ME NEWS OF YOURSELF ETHEL

  4th July 1915 – bivouac at Champ des Courses, Hesdigneul

  My darling old girl,

  I have been awfully distressed tonight getting your telegram. It has on it no date or time of dispatch and so I don’t know when it was sent off, and I feel now you have had several of my letters and it is no good my wiring you. All private wires go by dispatch rider to Army H.Q. & lie about there until there is a quiet moment on the wires & then take their turn.

  I received the enclosed at 9 p.m. on Sunday, i.e. this evening & you must have had my letters telling you all about the accident long before this. Anyhow dearie I am absolutely well & never was better in my life. I have a very small bump on my forehead and a gash across my nose which is for the moment detracting from my beauty but in a week will not be noticeable under the closest scrutiny. There is an order which says that ‘Officers however slightly wounded are to be reported’ & I had to do it but I was under the impression that it went no further than the Division.