by E. W. Hermon
It’s only when you open certain rooms upstairs that you find that there’s a floor & that the outside wall doesn’t exist. However my room is very comfortable & there’s a bathroom & tho’ one has to carry the water up from the kitchen it’s really a very presentable imitation of a bath.
What I hate seeing is the number of kids that play about in the streets. Perhaps they’re too young to realize but it’s rather awful the kids getting killed, as I’m afraid they too often do. There is no doubt that war has nothing to recommend it at all.
As you say old dear, 300 is an awful number for your letters. How have you managed to keep it going so long? Lass dear, I’m heartily sick of having been away so long too. Let us hope the year won’t close without another meeting. I really think that they will want me out of the country for a bit just to tide over an awkward situation – anyhow I shall have a real good try to get as much leave as I can. Don’t expect more than ten days. I am afraid dearie, it will be very many weary months before we can do things together once more. Things go very well, but the end is not in sight. The beginning of the end has come, but the end is not yet.
I’m awfully sorry to hear that Mary Ann28 kicked the Chugs off but it was undoubtedly due to them both being on her. I do so hope that it won’t have made them lose confidence, but it can’t be helped. I shouldn’t let them take liberties. Even the quietest of mokes may one day resent a liberty & one doesn’t want to frighten them if it can be helped.
ON THE 12TH, a raiding party made up of six officers and a hundred other ranks entered the German front line at the Railway Salient. Artillery had successfully breached the wire on the left and a Bangalore torpedo,29 placed unobserved on the right, had been exploded to make the second breach. Three parties entered the salient, working down both sides. Three dugouts were bombed, killing a number of enemy soldiers and a shoulder strap was brought back for identification. These raids were not accomplished without cost: three officers were wounded, one dying later, two other ranks were killed, eleven wounded and four missing.
14th October 1916 – No. 280 answering 301–3 – billets, Armentières
I shall leave here on Monday night 16th and arrive some time on the 17th. I can only have the 10 days’ leave but even that is something. I’m sorry that I didn’t manage to write to you yesterday, but I had a couple of my lads wounded the previous night & was running round the hospitals seeing them, which took me longer than I expected.
This leave business has thoroughly unsettled me & I don’t feel at all like writing to you my old dear as with actual conversation in view in the very near future it seems to be too futile. I can’t follow the wandering of your very low mind in the Paris reference. I don’t know what you mean at all & should think that Paris was one of those places where a wife was hardly necessary!
My love dearie mine,
Ever your Robert.
ROBERT’S TWO WEEKS in England were spent mainly with his family at Brook Hill, but he and Ethel had their last three nights at the Berkeley Hotel in London together before he returned to France on 25 October.
1 Ralph Juckes.
2 Lt Colonel James.
3 For the Buxton family.
4 Ralph Juckes.
5 Major M. F. Dick.
6 Parsons.
7 27th Battalion, 103rd Brigade, 37th Division, 4th Corps, 1st Army.
8 ‘Father’ refers to Colonel Hermon.
9 The battalion marched to Calonne Ricquart and entrained to La Gorgue then marched to Estaires.
10 The battalion marched to Merville, entrained to Longeau and marched to Allonville.
11 He often teased his wife about her spelling.
12 He is comparing it to a badger sett.
13 The 27th Battalion moved from the third line of defence trenches to the support trenches.
14 His father’s.
15 Dick Hermon was about to go to Sandhurst and was later commissioned into the Coldstream Guards.
16 His father’s boat.
17 Delville Wood.
18 This refers to a mine explosion before the battle began.
19 In the trenches.
20 Forward observation officer.
21 A rented holiday house.
22 The invention of the British tank had been largely at the urging of Winston Churchill, with the idea of lessening the wholesale slaughter on the Western Front. Its effectiveness would not be fully realized until the Second World War, owing to constant mechanical failures and the difficulty of operating in entrenched battlefields, pockmarked with shell craters.
23 Lt Colonel Swift, 2nd Battalion, Canadian 1st Division, wrote expressing ‘sincere thanks … for assistance rendered us by your Battalion on the 9th inst. It was necessary to have strong support on our right and you certainly gave it to us.’
24 Their eldest son, Bob, had just returned to prep school.
25 Ethel’s widowed mother’s home in Cheshire.
26 Erich von Falkenhayn, Chief of the Imperial German General Staff.
27 51 Cadogan Square, a friend’s house in London.
28 Their donkey.
29 A portable ‘torpedo’ about 1.8 metres long, designed by British forces in India, and used to explode barbed wire entanglements.
CO, 24TH BN, NORTHUMBERLAND FUSILIERS, THE TYNESIDE IRISH
AS WINTER 1916 approached, the two major battles of the Western Front were drawing to a close, their dying moments proving as savage as their beginnings. The Battle of the Somme was brought to an end in mid-November by snow and bad weather, though not before the British had taken Beaumont-Hamel, Beaucourt and St Pierre-Divion on the River Ancre, but with little ground gained to compensate for such terrible losses. Verdun, the longest battle of the war, ended the following month after almost a year, with the French retaking Douaumont and Fort Vaux, denying victory to the Germans, the initiators of the offensive. Allied perseverance had prevented the Central Powers from making a decisive breakthrough.
On 25 October, Robert returned to France, crossing the Channel in the transport ship the Queen. The following night the ship was sunk by an enemy destroyer. Colonel Hermon immediately took command of the 24th Battalion, Northumberland Fusiliers, in front-line trenches at Armentières, close to the Belgian border, resuming once more the onerous responsibilities of an infantry commanding officer.
27th October 1916, 7 p.m. – No. 2, Series 3, Vol. XVI!! – front line, Armentières
My own brave Lassie,
Darling mine, the candle has gone out alright this time & it’s very dark. What a contrast was last night to its predecessor & how I loved your dear sweet note & the thought that prompted it, my love. I am so glad you love your ring dearie mine. I’ve had that ring, exactly as you’ve got it, in my mind for so long now & have often wondered if I should ever have the chance to put it on. Anyhow now you have it & I put it there, & I can hear the censor say ‘Betrothed’!
We had a capital journey down, good breakfast on the train and went straight on board, underway almost at once and in Boulogne hotel at 1 p.m. Had tea in the Brigade office at 4.30 p.m. I then heard that I was to assume command of the 24th Battalion. I had to go & see the Divisional General after tea & get myself to the trenches afterwards & take over command of the Battalion on arrival. I picked up Buxton & some kit, got back to the Brigade office, dined with them & motored up to the trenches, walking the last couple of miles. Fetched up about 10.30 p.m. & took over from my commercial friend ‘well known in the North’ who immediately went on leave.
If he cannot get another job he is to come back to me as second-in-command but he is doing his best to find something. I should be more than glad if he did. The Battalion, so far as I have seen it, I like very much indeed. There is just a chance that I may have to get another Battalion later on, I hope it won’t happen, but I have told the Div. Commander I will do anything he wishes to help.
Have had dinner & am now off to bed. Not a bad little bed – not as good or as nice as one I have known lately.
&n
bsp; My love to you my own darling.
28th October 1916 – No. 3 – subsidiary trenches, Epinette Sector1
I’m pleased to be able to report that your husband’s health is very much improved. All yesterday & the previous evening he felt as tho’ he had a severe attack of typhoid combined with acute dysentery, and with influenza supervening, while his body felt as if it had been run over by a tank. I was certain that my temperature was at least 103 if not 105 & was quite disappointed to find that I could only raise the thermometer to 96!! I am taking a real good pill tonight and hope by tomorrow evening to be completely restored to health.
My love to you my darling & don’t worry as I am now perfectly well & happy. Go & see Mrs Temple one of these days & tell her that her good man is fit & well.
30th October 1916 – No. 5 answering 1 & 2 – subsidiary line, Epinette Sector
Two lovely letters rolled up at lunch time & I was so very glad to see them, old dear. They are, as you say, very poor substitutes for what we have had lately, & yet they are everything now. Lass dear, as you know I was absolutely happy all the lovely time & it was just glorious. I loved the first week with the Chugs, & seeing them ride & old Bobbo’s first shoot was topping but what will always remain with me will be our last three days together when the world held just you & me & I long for the time to come when it will hold you & me only again. You say you enjoyed this honeymoon better than the original & have no qualms. Well I have & it is the only worry I have, however it’s in the lap of the Gods & until such time as one is sure it’s no good worrying!!
My darling you don’t know what a pig I felt at going off and leaving you all the packing up to do as it must have been rather a beastly job after all the fun we had had during the time those selfsame clothes had been in use & I so wished I had done it all myself the night before but the last hours were all too short to be wasted packing a damned bag! The hotel bill was very much cheaper than I expected. Are you sure that the car was included in the bill? I enclose you a cheque as my share of the beano & very cheap at the price.
You ask what I was doing at 9.45 p.m. on the night I returned, well Buckin & I were trudging our weary way along a very wet & slippery communication trench on our way to Battalion H.Q., it was raining & blowing, inky black & about as big a contrast to a stall at Daly’s2 of the same hour the previous night as you can well imagine.
All the love in the world to you, my own.
31st October 1916 – subsidiary line, Epinette Sector
My dear, I do feel very much better for my holiday really & truly & not only for your comfort. It was the Queen that I crossed in, so glad they didn’t come a bit sooner!! You seem to have had a very successful sale indeed. Will you have the bacon sent only once a fortnight instead of once a week, as we are a very small mess at present.
I like my Battalion very much but there is a good deal that wants altering and I shall not want for a job, I’m thinking. It’s apparently never had a regular C.O. in its life, & if it’s true, it is wonderful that it’s as good as it is. I have had a very happy day building a new mess which Temple started & it’s going to be fine when it’s finished.
Thank the Chugs for their nice letters.
1st November 1916 – No. 7 answering 4 – subsidiary line, Armentières
The pheasants & sausages arrived safely & I hope to have some for dinner tomorrow. Very many thanks.
I saw the account of the Salcombe lifeboat accident in the paper, really awfully sad. It is the only time I remember a whole crew going since the St Anne’s boat were all drowned.
Well, well, like Hindenburg3 I wish the damned war was over and done with, but what on earth to do for a job when it is over beats me. I shall have to remain a soldier I think, & become a general.
Goodnight my old dear & I wish you would send me another copy of that little paper book of prayers that was on the Jane stand by your bed.
ON THE NIGHT of the 3rd, in retaliation for the British bombardment, German artillery and Minenwerfer caused considerable damage to a communication trench. The battalion sent out two patrols and located and dispersed an enemy wiring party. During periods in the front line, when patrols went out nightly, losses were inevitable.
4th November 1916, 5.20 p.m. – No. 9 answering 6 & 7 – front line, Epinette Sector
I could only send you a service postcard yesterday as I am in front line again & was very busy. However, I have a few minutes tonight & can answer your lovely letters that I got a few hours ago. You lucky old thing, I expect that you are with old Bobbo now & I do so wish I was too, instead of having a damned German machine gun playing on my dugout. The doctor has just shut the door (½ matchboard) to keep it out!! One is really perfectly safe because the dugout is safe from bullets so it’s not very heroic, but merely annoying. My nice doctor went home yesterday for a spell of leave & I shall be glad when he is back as I have got a very lousy substitute. The proper man is really a topper by name Svensson, a Yorkshireman whose Pa, I think, in some long gone age was a Viking. You would like him I’m sure.
The glasses and air cushion haven’t rolled up yet but will probably come with the transport & rations tonight. I will tell you the truth, the whole truth & nothing but the truth about the air pillow. I AM ABSOLUTELY SURE ABOUT THE MOTH IN MY SUIT!!!! Probably they liked that suit best & concentrated on it.
I don’t think the Commercial4 will come back as I hear he has been given extra leave until Div. Commander has settled what to do with him, but I expect he will become Town Major somewhere. The thing is that he has a very strong ‘hail-fellow-well-met’ sort of personality, an unlimited capacity for whisky, and isn’t altogether an asset in a Battalion. I hope that they will find him something & I am sure the Div. Commander will do all in his power.
Your remarks re my memory I treat with scorn! I am top-hole, the pill I had was a real nailer & has fairly screwed me up. Never felt better in my life.
Love to the Chugs.
ENCLOSED WITH HIS letter of the 4th was a newspaper cutting about the wife of the Mayor of Quebec giving birth to her twenty-eighth child. Underneath Robert had written in red pencil: ‘Why, you’re only just beginning!!?’
5th November 1916 – No. 10 – front line, Epinette Sector
We got a couple of prisoners this morning, very tame Huns of the 17 Bavarian Inf. Regt. They had been out on patrol and I think got lost & being glad of the excuse, surrendered at once, as soon as they were found.
Getting two letters today, I expect I shall have to go without tomorrow. I simply hate the letterless days & am heartily sick of the damned war.
My love to you all my darlings.
8th November 1916 – No. 12 answering 11 & 12 – front line, Epinette Sector
We have had a wretched time these last few days & the water is awful.5 There are two streams running over the mess floor as I write, flowing gallons to the minute. I have just got up to bid Buckin ‘Bon Voyage’ & he starts for home tomorrow. I have given him a cheque for his ‘amusements’ so there is no need for you to do anything for them in the way of trips to London or the like. Have them into the house or anything of that sort if you like. He is going to get us some Mess things which you might pay for, if you will. I think my leave has made me want another more than ever & I do fairly envy old Buckin. Thank old Bet & Mairky for their nice letters, but I haven’t time to answer them I am afraid. Tell the Chugs they must write to me out of school. I don’t like their copybook letters, they’re too neat & formal.
We’ve got a stove in the dugout & the temperature is about 100 and together with an acetylene lamp with a hole in it the fug is priceless!
10th November 1916 – No. 13 answering 13 & 14 – Armentières
Last night I slept between sheets for the first time since an ever-memorable night at the Berkeley!! I hope to have a bath tonight. I have no time to write more now as I have a fearful lot of work to do and have to meet the general & discuss some things with him. One comes out of the trenches for a rest & one certainly
gets one’s nights in bed & the relaxation from anxiety & responsibility is great, but the work has got to be done all the same & as it accumulates a bit in the trenches one has to do it now. It is a miracle!!6
10th November 1916, 11 p.m. – No. 14 (second effort) – Armentières
We have had two top-hole days lately old dear, & it makes things so much nicer. The only consolation however, is that the old Boche’s trenches are much wetter than ours, you see them hopping out and running along the top & it’s better fun than rabbit shooting. The other morning I was down in the front line just before daylight & the men were having a fine old shoot.
I was watching an old Hun plodding about in the mud through my telescope & you could see him so plainly. It’s rather amusing seeing them hating the water like poison. I’m sure they are jolly wet. I was looking at an air photo tonight & it shows a deuce of a lot of water in their trenches.
12th November 1916 – No. 15 – on pages from a notebook – Armentières
I hear that I am to be confirmed in my rank which means that I get the Battalion permanently. Anyhow, if I was to be wounded or go sick I should come back to this Battalion. I was interviewing candidates for commissions today & asked one what he was in civil life. ‘Ladies & gents hairdresser Sir’!! It was so very funny, I nearly burst out laughing.
I am thoroughly Berkeley sick but one month has gone dearie & it probably won’t take long now to get through the other two. I should love to have a few hours with you tonight. I’ve no fellow spirit here & I’m a bit disappointed at old Mac not coming as he would have had a fine influence on the Battalion & I want someone with his soldierly ideas most awfully badly. However, I mean to make the show go, I’ve got good men & good N.C.O.s & two or three really good officers but the rest are no class at all. I shall have to do something rather drastic I expect shortly.