To Fight Alongside Friends

by Gerry Harrison

  xviii ‘We had a lecture on gas helmets and then were deliberately “gassed”, the whole battalion passing through a room filled with the strongest possible chlorine mixture, helmets on of course’ (Bland, 24.11.15).

  xix The three training locations before embarkation for France.

  xx ‘This afternoon after work, I have arranged a football match for the platoon, and how they will enjoy it. These Lancashire lads on the plain here in France will play a right hard game of the game they love, with no spectators to cheer – just the artillery roaring its continuous applause’ (Gomersall, 25.11.15).

  xxi Pte Richard Henry Tawney had by now been promoted sergeant. Censorship was mandatory (by the Defence of the Realm Act, 1914) and the responsibility of junior officers. It is remarkable how the letters home of Bland and Tawney have, on occasion, clearly escaped censorship, but in Bland’s case it may have been because he was sometimes the censor. Gomersall was more cautious, and May indicates here that he is a censor. The procedure was that at 8 p.m. the censored mail would be taken by orderly to Brigade HQ, then on the next day to Divisional HQ and then to the GPO in the field before shipment to England. Generally, the uncensored letters from England travelled to France in a shorter length of time, which was sometimes just two days. ‘Censorship is like all things organised by England – a wonderful combination of organised effort and individual fatuity,’ joked Bland (29.6.16).

  xxii Capt. Francis John ‘Frank’ Earles. His departure for France was delayed due to a minor injury, and his position as officer in command of D Coy was taken temporarily by Capt. Charles Mostyn Lloyd.

  xxiii ‘I have my large oilskin, rubber gloves, rubber trench waders which cover my legs right up to the hips, so I am all right and very warm and dry’ (Gomersall, 30.11.15).

  xxiv 2nd Lts Herbert Grimwood and John Patrick Hamilton Wood.

  xxv Lt Arthur Evans Townsend, brother of the battalion adjutant Capt. John Edward Townsend. During bombing practice a sergeant from A Coy, 18th Bn, Manchester Regt, had thrown a grenade which struck the top of a parapet and exploded into a trench. As a result Sgt Perkins and Pte Bagnall were killed and Lt Townsend died of his wounds the next day.

  xxvi ‘Poor Townsend. His brother was very brave and bore the news well, but one could see the pain caused by it. Captain Townsend and I of course are great friends – he is “Towny” to me, not Townsend. Strange to say I was only talking a few hours previous to his brother before he was killed, and knew him quite well’ (Gomersall, 7.12.15).

  xxvii The journey was made in requisitioned London motor omnibuses which had had their advertisements painted out in battleship grey.

  xxviii Mesnil-Martinsart was the base of the 1st Bn, the Hampshire Regt. The village was completely destroyed by the end of the war.

  xxix Englebelmer was the base of the Royal Fusiliers.

  Chapter 2: ‘Mud caked to his eyebrows’

  i Pte Arthur Bunting, Charlie May’s batman, who, with his cook Pte Richard Smith, had been transferred to B Coy.

  ii The East Lancashire Regt, of which one battalion was known as the Accrington Pals.

  iii Lt Wilfred Austin Salt.

  iv The first major engagement of the war, the Battle of Mons was fought in August 1914 and resulted in a retreat of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF). The town was finally liberated by the Canadian Army in 1918.

  v ‘We’ve seen trenches – carefully built up in the autumn – reduced to a horrible mess by 24 hours’ rain. We’ve been up and down in mud two feet deep and water deeper still. We’ve had rifle and machine-gun fire and shrapnel whizzing about our ears, and our own heavier shells shrieking high over our heads. We’ve been turned out at 3.00am. to investigate a report of a German patrol cutting our wire, and I personally have been in a dug-out when a shrapnel shell fell on the roof and burst there. Life in the trenches is just like life in the billets, only much more inconvenient. Fire trenches are wonderfully safe places, and dug-outs simply “dilly”’ (Bland, 2.12.15).

  vi Col. Thomas Stanton Lambert.

  vii The 2nd Bn, Gordon Highlanders.

  viii L/Cpl William George Rodman.

  ix Capt. Edward Woodgate.

  x Château Penau; Double OO – Old Orkney whiskey. Maconochie was beef stew with sliced turnips, carrots and potatoes in a thin soup, tinned and manufactured in Aberdeen.

  xi In Greek mythology, Morpheus was the God of Dreams.

  xii The division was moving east and south to take a position on the left of the French Sixth Army.

  xiii The horses had been brought to France on the same boat and train as the men.

  xiv ‘We came here yesterday, Tuesday … for a few days’ wood-cutting. Encore de picnic … A pleasant march of four miles to a pleasant village teeming with friendly folk. Sunshine and laughter – a holiday, in fact, under the greenwood tree. France is full of little woods, carefully preserved, and they are being most carefully cut; there is, of course, a tremendous demand for wood in the trenches. The need for it was more than obvious. And, as it happens, the stuff our lads are busy with is going to the very part of the line we were in. Nevertheless the powers that be most jealously guard their wood. It is the one commodity that love nor money cannot buy. The villagers simply will not either give or sell what they have. And so, if we need fires we have to burn our ration boxes. Most of our cooking is done with wood, eked out with an occasional spoonful of coal or coke. Here, however, we have struck homely little cottages where all are only too happy to do us any service. They make coffee at odd times; we use their stoves for our own cooking, they pass round sweets; we share our cigarettes. C’est une véritable entente cordiale’ (Bland, 8.12.15).

  xv This re-allocation of battalions took place on 20.12.15.

  xvi ‘I had to be up early to come to this forest with my men, wood-cutting. All around me is the continuous noise of the hammers, long and short saws, the felling axes and short axes, etc., and the men are not half-enjoying this change of work, which is like a picnic and a fine rest for them. A party of about ten are clearing undergrowth – which is very dense – one mass of young trees entwined in it, and then in the clearing others are sawing trees, others lopping the branches of those fallen, others sawing up trees into yard lengths. We cannot wander in the wood as there are a large number of bears about, and in any case we could not on account of the undergrowth. I have a large fire going, on which I burn all the small brushwood … The men have an hour off from 12.0 to 1.0, and it was quite a merry party all around the fire yesterday. We stop work at 4.0 after starting at 8.0 in the morning, and march back to our village with rifles, axes, saws and everything. Here the men thoroughly enjoy a good dinner which awaits them’ (Gomersall, 16.12.15).

  xvii Those who volunteered for the Pals battalions often came from the worlds of business, law, academia, education, and from the Officer Training Corps of Public Schools and Universities. May believed they tended to be better educated than soldiers in the Regular battalions.

  xviii Capt. Gordon Openshaw Ramsbottom.

  xix ‘I have been in the forest again to-day, and had another most enjoyable time, and finished up with a visit from a Captain, a Colonel and a General, who were all jolly nice to me, especially the General, who was a regular sport and very chatty. The Captain had tea with me (made by my cook on the roaring fire we have had all day). We have had a splendid report from the Regulars we were attached to, and the result is crowds better than other battalions in the whole Division, certainly in the Brigade. We were put down as a long way above the average officers, NCOs and men – well disciplined, and much better than ever expected, than other units. The report on the officers was – “Well above the average, and exceptionally keen”. So you can imagine we feel very proud of our Battalion and the splendid men we have’ (Gomersall, 17.12.15).

  xx Maj. Gen. Sir Thompson Capper, who had gained a reputation for being a bold and decisive leader, took command of 7th Div in 1914. It landed in Belgium when the German armies were pushing forward to th
e sea. It resisted the advance during the 1st Battle of Ypres, but lost 10,000 men. In April, Capper had been seriously wounded behind the lines where improvised explosives were being demonstrated to him. He returned in July and led the division forward at the Battle of Loos, but was wounded by enemy gunfire and died the next day. A rumour later persisted that he had been killed while charging on horseback against the enemy. This, and his early death, may have contributed to May’s estimation of him.

  xxi May’s bête noire, shared with Bland and now possibly with Ramsbottom, seems to have been Maj. Merriman, who later had a successful career as an MP.

  Chapter 3: ‘Our past glorious Xmastides together’

  i The 21st and 22nd Bns of the Manchester Regt, while remaining in the 91st Bde, were formally re-allocated from the 30th Div to the 7th Div. The intention was to mix both Service and Regular battalions within the division, which became known as a hybrid division. The 91st Bde also included the 2nd Bn of the Queen’s Royal West Surrey Regt and the 1st Bn, South Staffordshire Regt.

  ii ‘I had charge of the battn sick [who usually marched at the rear], and to the surprise of all, raced the battn. with them, and got in before them, though several were almost dead before starting, and two had a boot on one foot and a shoe on the other, and all had bad feet. The Colonel was delighted, and most surprised, I don’t think he expected us till midnight – instead of that, we raced him and won by a head’ (Gomersall, 21.12.15).

  iii ‘We are at present in a little Barn, quite happy & natty, but no stairs to climb to bed & and no feathers to lie on, but putting all jokes on one side Dear, I don’t think in all the British Army there are a pluckier & more contented lot of men existing. You would have screamed when we were in the trenches at the songs they are making up & singing & kidding one another. For e.g. “It’s your turn to have a look at the Phil Harmans [Germans] this time, but don’t look too high or you might get your hair parted in the middle & get home for your Christmas Dinner.” You dare not bob your head in the same place twice. The latest joke was one of our men said he picked up a paper that one of the Germans threw down in the trenches saying they were going to “down Arms” on the 29th of this month as they were sick & tired & that we could have the B....y Kaiser & the trenches as well. Naturally we are all anxiously waiting for the 29th’ (Bunting, 17.12.15).

  iv ‘Since we came here, we have, by Captain’s orders, established a sergeants’ mess in an empty house, where we sleep and eat. I am not sure that I think the idea a very good one, as I rather felt that on active service the sergeants ought to live with the men. Of course it means that one has rather more room and comfort (though not any more quiet, for the sergeants are, if anything, more noisy than the men). As I am supposed to know French, the begging of articles of furniture, and the getting of supplies has devolved upon me. Yesterday I was commissioned to buy 2 turkeys for Xmas, not altogether an easy task in a village like this, but I managed it and they are now hanging up in the mess’ (Tawney, 22.12.15).

  v Pte Richard Smith.

  vi Lt Eric Oldham, who had transferred from A to B Coy.

  vii ‘I had a splendid Christmas Day yesterday, and the men had a fine singsong outside the platoon billet last night which I went to, and stayed over an hour. Some sang solos, but chiefly choruses and carols. It was very jolly and I gave every man a packet of Woodbines’ (Gomersall, 26.12.15). ‘Our Xmas festivities were not a great success. Nearly every one in the mess got drunk too early, and were put to bed by myself and the Quartermaster Sergt., a man whom I like and respect’ (Tawney, 26.12.15).

  viii Company Quartermaster Sgt Robert Taylor Garside.

  ix ‘A friend of mine has found me a fine billet, a palace in comparison to everything I ever had – a beautiful, large room, fine bed, oil paintings on the wall, carpeted floor, wash-stand & wardrobe etc., a fine table with cloth on, a set of easy chairs, a fireplace, a large mirror on the wall, and all to myself, too, with a fine place for my servant in an outhouse adjoining’ (Gomersall, 1.1.16).

  x 2nd Bn, the Queen’s Royal West Surrey Regt; the lamb is the emblem on its regimental badge.

  xi ‘We have quite a change today, for the divisional band, 37 strong, came in, and livened up the whole village. We have been lucky to get in such a splendid division, as we get the benefit of all their past experiences and the things they have organised during the year. The band was a fine one, and played in the square just outside the house where I live and the music carried one far from here. Our division runs a Football League, and yesterday we played our first game against the team of a regular battalion and won, 2–0. We have a church service every Sunday, and the good old C. of E. service always makes Sunday a real Sunday’ (Gomersall, 2.1.16).

  xii Lt Col. Paul W. Whetham.

  xiii ‘The baths are fine – hot water and shower baths are up. After washing, the men are issued clean underclothing and the old clothes collected for washing or renewal. It is a fine scheme. The things are taken from the baths next day to a neighbouring town where they are freed from anything which may show great attachment, such as lice, and then sent to a large town not far away where they are thoroughly cleaned at French laundries. At the next bath but one the men will again receive perfectly clean underclothing, that is, once a fortnight, for they are taken to the baths weekly. It just shows the advantage of coming to such a fine division and benefiting from their arrangements’ (Gomersall, 12.1.16).

  xiv The historic town of Vignacourt was a rail centre and training area.

  xv Maj. Gen. Sir William Fry had been commander, 30th Div, before the appointment of Gen. Sir John Stuart Mackenzie Shea; Lt Gen. Sir Walter Norris Congreve, VC.

  xvi The Battle of Loos, an assault on the German defences in Artois and Champagne, was part of a larger Anglo-French offensive. With considerable losses, the British 1st Army captured the town, but the reduced support of artillery and from Reserves meant that this victory could not be exploited. When battle resumed, the Germans, now reinforced, frustrated the Allied advance: its twelve attacking battalions suffered 8,000 casualties in four hours. As a result of the failure to win the battle conclusively, General French, the British Commander-in-Chief, was replaced by General Haig. British casualties totalled over 59,000.

  xvii Lt Gen. Sir Herbert Edward Watts, CO 7th Div.

  xviii ‘It is amusing to read in the [English] papers on the strong resolve of K[itchener]’s soldiers. The men’s favourite song – chanted to a melancholy tune – is: “I want to go home/I want to go home/I don’t want to go in the trenches no more/Where the Jack Johnsons they fall by the score, /Take me over the sea/Where I never will roam,/Oh my!/I don’t want to die,/ I want to go home”’ (Tawney, 9.12.15).

  xix 2nd Bn, Gordon Highlanders.

  xx Capt. Charles Mostyn Lloyd; Lt William Boston Cushion.

  xxi Pte Harold Cecil Finch.

  xxii ‘Magnifique, mais ce n’est pas la guerre … c’est de la folie’ is attributed to Gen. Pierre Bosquet at the time of the Charge of the Light Brigade in 1854.

  xxiii 2nd Lt Vivian Burchill.

  xxiv ‘This morning we went to a ravine about a mile away where we could safely practise shooting with ammunition (ball). We got a whole crowd of tins on wooden stands, after the style of a coco-nut stall, in the ground at the foot of one side of the ravine, and then got one hundred yards away and shot ball ammunition and tried to imagine we were shooting some Huns. The company thoroughly enjoyed the novelty and it was quite an agreeable change. I did some revolver shooting as well as rifle shooting at them [the tins!] This afternoon, for the purpose of smartness and discipline we had a very strenuous afternoon’s drill from 2.0 to 4.0’ (Gomersall, 10.1.16).

  xxv Sgt Maj. Frederick Charles Knowles.

  xxvi This was a military exercise.

  xxvii There were some football stars in the battalion, including Pte Joseph Lamb of B Coy, a former footballer with Newton Heath Lancashire FC (renamed Manchester United FC in 1902), who lost a leg at Second Ypres in late 1917.
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  xxviii Meaning J. M. Barrie, the author of Peter Pan.

  Chapter 4: ‘It is the wire that is the trouble’

  i ‘It had been rather a hard manoeuvre, as it was practically all wood fighting, and the forest we fought our way through was very thick in undergrowth … It was fine to see them tearing up a hill to take up a position and the horses mad with excitement as they tore along in between us – it made it quite realistic. There were about a dozen large guns and over a 100 horses, and it was fine to see the guns tear over an obstacle, such as a bank, up and then over, and the horses madly tearing away in front, while we rushed up with our rifles to make our way through the forest to take up our position, and all the while the continual bang-bang-bang of the machine guns firing from their positions’ (Gomersall, 14.1.16).

  ii Chaplin’s films to this date included: Kid Auto Races at Venice, Caught in a Cabaret, Caught in the Rain, A Night Out and Shanghaied.

  iii Capt. F. T. Taylor.

  iv Lt F. G. Ross; Capt. Richard Standeford Pullen.

  v ‘I wonder whether you resent my cheerfulness ever … Why? Because I am in France, where the war is and I know I ought to be here. And I don’t loathe the war, I love 95% of it, and hate the thought of it being ended too soon. And I don’t yearn hourly for my final return, although I am very much pleasantly excited by the possibility of 9 days leave in March, which indeed we haven’t earned by any means so far’ (Bland, 14.1.16).

  vi Pte James Herbert Beck.

  vii The Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders.

  viii Maj. Arthur Kenneth Grant.

  ix The Playfair cipher used a manual symmetric encryption technique, which encrypted pairs of letters or digraphs, instead of single letters as in a simple substitution cipher. It was harder to break, because the frequency analysis for simple substitution ciphers does not work with it.