by E. W. Hermon
Another: this bomb doesn’t light till thrown when the spring handle flies off & the striker goes down, fires a cap & the bomb explodes 3 seconds later. The bombs weigh just over 1 lb & up to 2 lbs in some. This is a great favourite as it isn’t alight until after it has been thrown. The others are all alight or dangerous in your hand & explode after 5 seconds. Sounds a short time but it is in reality a very long one.
There has been a bit of a ‘strafe’ tonight down Notre Dame [de Lorette] way & the guns were fairly pumping for 45 minutes, about nine o’clock, the Boche I expect making a bit of an attack on the French.
It looks very much as tho’ the Huns are going to have Warsaw & if they do it will take [Tsar] Nicholas all his time to withdraw without a disaster.18 I am hoping great things from Dardanelles in the near future but don’t exactly know why.
I heard a capital & true story tonight. When we sank the Leipzig some officers & men were saved & they told an officer that up to a certain point the engineer officer in the stokehold had kept the men at work with his revolver & had shot several. Just as she was sinking they sent down from the bridge ‘every man for himself’ & before quitting the stokers seized the officer, opened one of the furnace doors & pitched him in. They mutinied on our ship after rescue & had to be kept under by a show of arms & when asked their grievance they said they wanted to kill one of the rescued officers as he had shot another stoker, who was a general favourite on board, because he came up for some water.
Another boat captured a German Colonel returning from foreign parts who was most truculent & eased his feelings by telling his captors that ‘thank God his son was fighting, and killing twenty English men a day’. He was landed at Gibraltar & marched to the prisoners’ camp & as they marched along the side of a wire fence enclosing it, a young boy ran to the wire shouting ‘Hello! Father,’ so they had all the active members of that family & the twenty per day was no more.
25th July 1915 – bivouac at Champ des Courses, Hesdigneul
Yesterday I handed over the Bomb School & am now able once more to devote myself to my own army. The General was down at the school & thanked me most awfully nicely for all I had done for it & left me saying ‘I shall not forget it’. Now it’s over dearie, I must confess that it has been a most awful strain. Not the fear of an accident to oneself but the responsibility of the whole thing. It even put me off sleeping properly at night & it takes a good deal to do that.
I left the school at 2.30 yesterday and rode home taking Barber with me. At about 6.15 one of my sergeants came back to camp telling me they had had a terrible accident. I went down at once & found that a sergeant in one of the squads, apparently behind the instructor’s back, had taken a bomb out of the box, put a detonator into it, taken the safety pin out & struck it off with his hand before anyone could stop him. It killed him instantly, blowing off both arms and head, another man of the squad died as soon as he got to the Field Ambulance & a third last night & the rest of the squad, an officer and five other men including the instructor were very badly wounded indeed.
Fellows are such fools & will mess with things. The other day three of the gunner officers in the Div. took a large live German shell up to their bedroom & proceeded to pick it to bits (it was an unexploded one), it very naturally went off, killed one on the spot, another has since died, and the third is probably done for life. Four gunner men on the same day found another lying on the ground and began kicking it like a football. It got the whole lot!
The old Baron says the same as you do about the French women. They have war in their blood. There has been fighting in these parts since the days of the Black Prince & it’s bred in them. I am starting tomorrow on my new bomb-throwing machine which I hope will be a greater success than the last. Old Bet’s photos are really top-hole & are quite up to the standard of the Oxford man.
My love my darling.
28th July 1915 – bivouac at Champ des Courses, Hesdigneul
I have been very busy the last two days making ‘Bob’s Boche Buster’ my original weapon ‘Hermon’s Hun Hustler’ having [not] met with approval. The new one is a sort of catapult throwing bombs which I hope will be a great success & I am anxiously awaiting the arrival of the springs.
I am just off to be President of a court of inquiry on the accident at the Bomb School I told you about, and hope to be able to write you a better letter tonight when I have got yours to answer. I am sending old Bob a book of aeroplanes which should interest him & a few uniform pictures. It is a grand day today – bright sun and a strong fresh wind, such a sailing day, but alas no water and no boat.
When the war is over I am coming over here to buy some tools. I have been working these last two days in a carpenter’s shop & am simply delighted with their saws. They have a grafter which is the best tool I ever saw.
My love to you all.
29th July 1915 – bivouac at Champ des Courses, Hesdigneul
At last a perfect orgy of letters, no less than 93, 4 & 5 turning up together today. I am now quite happy once more. I am on tenterhooks about the springs as from your letter if they don’t send me what I asked for viz the pigeon trap spring, I shall be done as it is for quite a different kind of thing to my original idea which I told you, I think, had met with no approval. I want these springs to pull out & the one in the first idea was a press-in spring.
I have been prospecting for water all afternoon & found plenty which I hope will be a help. The files arrived yesterday, many thanks.
30th July 1915 – bivouac at Champ des Courses, Hesdigneul
I have been digging all day making a dam across a creek so that we can water our horses in the camp without having to go at least a mile to a river which will be a very great help.
I sent old Betsy a little ring tonight which the French soldiers amuse themselves in making in the trenches out of a portion of the nose of one of the German shells. The Germans have been firing shells made in July 1915 which failed to explode on landing which causes much joy. I believe now that the percentage of their unexploded shells has risen to 32. Asquith’s speech in yesterday’s papers looks like business & I hope they get things going soon. We ought to have a crack at them soon before the weather gets bad again.
I want you to make me a mosquito net. If it is 6 feet long that is enough with a wide skirt. The mosquitoes have kept me awake at night & are very bad tho’ they don’t seem to bite much.
Today while I was waiting for breakfast I heard a funny little noise & looking up there was a mummy weasel with two little ones just running through the sort of shelter we have rigged up. She didn’t seem to notice me & took them into a bush & after a few mins she left them & came back & ran off towards the kitchen. The two little ones played about & presently she came back with two more & then the whole party went off together. They were so awfully jolly. I must go to bed now dearie as I was up early today for a wonder.
1st August 1915 – bivouac at Champ des Courses, Hesdigneul
I know you don’t approve of La Vie but the enclosed I think is rather nice, especially as the French army are being given leave for four days for the express purpose of seeing that there shall be no lack of recruits in the year 1935.
I am sure you are glad to be back old dear & I wish I was too. I am very tired of this life apart. I too have one thing that is missing oh so badly at times & I long to have a glimpse – only a long look for preference. The sleep has come back alright now dearie. This is quite true.
My love to you all my darling,
Ever your Robert.
1 His sister.
2 His mother, Fanny.
3 On the 10th Robert turned thirty-seven.
4 A type of boiled sweet.
5 Royal Engineers.
6 Nickname for Lieutenant Izard.
7 Parsons, formerly the groom at Cowfold.
8 The Russians had suffered a defeat in Galicia and been driven out of Austria. On the Polish front the Germans, using gas, had also driven them back, causing heavy casualties. Russia
n territory itself was at risk of invasion by the German army. It was feared that the Germans might withdraw troops from the Russian front to increase their capability in the West.
9 Robert had earlier sent Ethel a shopping list of items to buy to enable him to make a mortar.
10 Hodgson.
11 Lieutenant Colonel Sandeman, CO, K.E.H., obviously did not relish spending the night in a bivouac made of sheep’s hurdles with a canvas cover.
12 The watch given to Henry Feilding is still in existence. When he was killed in 1917 it was among his effects returned to the family. In 2005 it was given as a christening present to his great-nephew Peregrine, son of the present Lord and Lady Denbigh.
13 The family were enjoying a seaside holiday at their rented holiday home near Worthing.
14 Kitchener’s visit would have entailed a great deal of ‘spit and polish’ to get the squadron and its horses up to ‘parade’ standard, so it is understandable that Robert was irritated that ‘K’ passed by in a flash with ‘three hearty cheers’ echoing fruitlessly on the wind.
15 General Botha, the President of the Union of South Africa, had pledged his support for the Allied cause; on 9 July his forces had received the surrender of the German colony of South West Africa, now Namibia.
16 At the outbreak of the war men had volunteered in their thousands to join ‘Kitchener’s Army’. Many would later lose their lives on the Somme.
17 Robert was worried that his younger brother, Dick, who was still at Eton, would dishonour the family name by not joining up.
18 Hermon’s prediction about Warsaw came true two weeks later, on 5 August, when the German army entered the city, and Russia lost control of the Polish capital.
DIVISIONAL HORSE SHOW
DURING AUGUST 1915 the adverse news from both the Eastern Front and the Gallipoli Peninsula continued to be of considerable concern to the Allies. The Russian army was retreating in disarray from Poland and Austria, and the Allied attacks on Suvla Bay in Gallipoli on the 15th and 21st resulted in defeat. France was experiencing a period of relative calm as there had not been a major attack since Aubers Ridge; however, Kitchener visited the First Army Headquarters in France on 18 August and told General Sir Douglas Haig that Britain and France must assist the Russians by launching an attack against the Germans on the Western Front in order to draw their troops from the East.
The attack was planned for late September at Loos, a mining area close to the town of Lens. August was therefore a period of preparation and waiting and ‘C’ Squadron were employed digging trenches, manning the observation posts on the Clarence River crossings, and taking part in the Divisional Sports held at Allouagne.
2nd August 1915 – camp at Bois des Dames
I have been very busy these last two days arranging a new camp & have had little or no time to write. Our new camp will be about a couple of miles away. It is right in the middle of a wood & we have been very busy indeed making waterworks. It is a lovely place & the kids would simply love it. The wood is full of birds and the old woodpecker’s note can be heard all day.
The springs will do fine; they rolled up alright yesterday but the Boche Buster has been in abeyance these last few days as I have had other things to do.
I was awfully amused over poor old Nancy’s brother-in-law, but I do think it is a fairly good idea to give him leave for the duration of the war. It is all very well, he may be alright but you cannot get over the fact that his father is Krupps & he might correspond with him. Even if he only wrote the most innocent things he might mention things better left unsaid. We don’t want alien enemies fighting for us & even with the very best of intentions on their part it is likely to instil mistrust in the minds of others. I don’t like your damn Germans, & the less they are connected with the army the better. If he is fighting at all, he has German blood in his veins, he ought to my mind to be on the other side.
I am afraid they won’t get much sympathy for him out here, not because he mayn’t be all that he should be but when you find a senior N.C.O. crucified & nailed to a door, & a British officer bound and strangled with his own muffler it doesn’t make anyone very keen about folk with genuine German names! However I have no doubt that really he is alright, but I think for the sake of his health a sea voyage lasting 18 months would just put him on his legs again. Well dearie I must stop now and go and pull down the mess shelter.
5th August 1915 – camp at Bois des Dames
I am glad you liked the La Vie cutting. I thought it was very good. You know though some of the pictures are decidedly risky & some of the subjects too. They are so beautifully drawn that half the moderate part is taken away. It is very high temperature & it is extraordinary how this nation’s thoughts travel in that direction. We always chaff our dear old Baron about it & tell him it is the National Sport!
We are ‘resting’ now, the infantry having been in the trenches for over three months need a rest & are out for a spell. No shells or horribilities for them for a bit which I am sure that they will appreciate.
My love to you all my darling.
8th August 1915 – camp at Bois des Dames
Alas no letter again today, it is a damned nuisance how badly the posts have been working lately, but no doubt I shall get two tomorrow. You might order me another pair of heavy shooting boots from Moykopf,1 exactly the same as the last he made me with iron toes & heels. Then I want you to get for me & send out the new fly bait that I have read about in the Daily Mail. The stuff you mix & let stand for 24 hours before it becomes attractive to the fly & which has been proved so successful by the ‘Fly Farm’ somewhere north of London. The flies are fearfully bad now and one must do something to prevent them getting at one’s food as far as possible.
Tomorrow we have a jumping competition, having been asked by the 7th R.A. Brigade to compete with them. I am going to ride your old horse, he is a rotten jumper I know, but it is a little hard for risking Saxon. We’ve had it rather cloudy & damp this last week but it blew hard last night & has cleared things up a good bit.
It is a glorious evening tonight and after tea I expect we shall go for a bit of a walk & look for some more water, not that we want it but it is always a good thing to know where it is.
Give my love to the Chugs.
9th August 1915 – camp at Bois des Dames
I got the two expected letters alright today & was delighted that yesterday’s hadn’t gone astray with its nice little prayer which I like awfully dearie mine & will take it into use right away.
I long to come and see you dearie something awful sometimes that I almost give way & try & get leave & I should love to see the dear little Chugs so much, but I am so frightened that there might be a ‘strafe’ while I was away & I couldn’t let the squadron go into action without me – it would be awful & I would worry like anything all the time I was away.
I think the men, too, would hate my going unless there was a special need. I know they didn’t like my bombing very much & being away as much as I was. They are so splendid & so awfully soldierly & well-behaved. I have only had to punish two men since I have been out, one for saucing a sergeant & the other for a very minor breach of squadron orders. They are all so willing & ready to do anything & it was rather nice the other night when I read in a letter of one of the men who had come in a draft that ‘it is so nice in this squadron, there is no grousing which is wonderful for us’.
I can’t tell you about the shells, but I think they are a fair sample all along the line. Germany certainly is on top now but it is temporary only. This huge army of theirs in Russia will not be able to fight on this side this year I don’t think & when winter comes the Russians will beat them I am sure. I am certain this time next year should see the closing stages.
Best love my own Lassie & I hope you are not feeling too worried. I was so glad that little Bet liked her ring. I am just going to say your new little prayer dearie.
11 p.m. 9th Aug.
11th August 1915 – camp at Bois des Dames
<
br /> Today I was asked to judge at the 1st Div. Horse Show & really it was one of the most top-hole shows you ever saw. The turnout of the guns & teams better than I ever saw before & we had a rare old time judging. We were hard at it, except for half an hour for lunch when old Haking2 motored me to his château & fed me, from 10.30 to 6 p.m. It really was the greatest fun & the jumping, especially the men’s, was excellent. I enclose you the programme which is literally true as I went with old Harry Rawlinson3 to have some tea & we stood & watched a Taube being shelled like anything just over our heads. Every general you can think of rolled up. Douglas Haig, Haking, Harry Rawlinson, two or three French generals & several local ladies, one of whom presented the prizes!! and all within range of the German guns. It seemed incredible that there could be a war on at all. A top-hole band played all afternoon & it was ripping. A glorious day & the show was run most awfully well by Campbell who is Div. Cav. to 1st Div. (Northumberland Yeo). I wish you could have been there, you would have loved it.
I also enclose you one of your naked lady pictures just to show you that the really beautiful drawing takes away what, if portrayed by an Englishman, would probably be coarse & offensive. I found two nice letters from you my darling when I got in tonight 107 & 8. I could very soon find Addie something that would make her hair curl, but I couldn’t send them to her! But I like this one I enclose very much tho’ of course it is mild to some, one finds.
Yes, I saw the announcement of Cooper’s death in The Times, but it really was for the best, but poor boy, he suffered terribly I am afraid.
14th August 1915, 9.30 a.m. – camp at Bois des Dames
I am not quite the thing this morning owing to an over-indulgence in honey in the honeycomb, of which I am as you know, particularly fond, but it is fatal.