The Seventeenth Highland Light Infantry (Glasgow Chamber of Commerce Battalion) Part 4

The Battalion had three men killed and four wounded during enemy retaliation, but any serious effort by the enemy was checked, and on the 24th the unit went into reserve billets at Bouzincourt.

A LULL BEFORE THE STORM.

_Preparations commenced for the Somme offensive--a complimentary shoot with "P" Battery--Divisional, Brigade and Battalion identification marks--happy days at Rubempre._

On 27th April, in brilliant summer weather, the Commanding Officer, Company Commanders, the Intelligence Officer and four N.C.O.s per Company attended a Divisional Exercise at Baizieux, and this was the start of those preparations which were to culminate in the Battle of the Somme on 1st July.

On 3rd May the Colonel returned and took over command from Major Paul, and during the following day, Major Lawder, Commanding "A" Battery, 168th Brigade, R.F.A., entertained those who had taken part in the raid and allowed them to fire the guns which had rendered such fine support during the sortie.

Identification marks had now been issued for some time for major operations pending. The Divisional colours were crimson and the sleeve mark was a red circle for the 97th Brigade. The K.O.Y.L.I. had one bar below the circle; the Border Regiment, two; the 16th H.L.I., three; and the 17th, four bars, worn horizontally and parallel. Runners, bombers, etc., had further identification marks. Prior to this, from November 1915, to April, 1916, no distinctive mark had been worn on the sleeve, but on the centre of the tunic collar at the back there was worn a strip of ribbon coloured yellow, pale blue, and yellow.

During the succeeding period, up to the disbandment of the Battalion, the sleeve marks were used only. While the circle was always red the bars were coloured respectively black for Headquarters; red for "A"

Company; green for "B"; yellow for "C"; and blue for "D" Company. The Divisional sign on flags and limbers, etc., was a red coloured intertwined double 8.

The weather was now very fine, and when not in the line, delightful days were spent at Rubempre, Contay and Warloy, and strenuous days on Divisional exercises at Baizieux in preparation for the Somme. From this it will be seen that the Battalion was not engaged in killing Germans all the time, or being killed by them. At times they had a change. There were periods of rest. The word "rest" is very often the subject of sarcastic humour amongst troops. "Resting" may mean anything. It may be quite a good time or it may be worse than the firing line. Too often it is simply an occasion of smartening up--guards, ceremonial parades, saluting, and "spit and polish"

generally--in fact the things that can be indulged in to excess. And very often a rest simply means preparation for a big stunt. But the 17th will remember occasions when they did have a real rest. This was particularly the case at Rubempre. The weather was good, and they had a comparatively easy time. They had about three hours' training in the forenoons. Thereafter they were free. There were sports and games in the afternoons for the enthusiasts. There were entirely successful concerts and sing-songs in the evenings. It was a change to see and be among civilians--to be welcome in the village houses--and generally to experience peace time conditions again. This may not seem to amount to very much, but it meant a lot then. And it certainly had a fine effect on the morale of the Battalion. It was a sheer relief to be out of sound of the guns, to forget the mud, the exhaustion, mental and physical, the weary night watches, standing to, and working parties.

But such days pa.s.sed quickly, and all too soon they found themselves on the road again, loaded up, silent, thoughtful, on the way back to the firing line.

THE BATTLE OF THE SOMME.

_Spirit of the Battalion prior to the battle--zero and "over the top"--Leipzig Trench carried--flanks exposed--precarious position of the unit--great casualties--protective bombing posts--consolidation--Battalion relieved--Victoria Cross gained by Sergeant Turnbull--Roll Call._

Signs of the coming conflict were everywhere. The tremendous acc.u.mulation of men and material had been going on unceasingly for weeks, and during the long June days clouds of dust hung in the hot, still air above the roads. For the roads all led towards the line, and the tramp of men, and the rumble of wheels were unending. The Battalion had long ago recovered from a hard and monotonous winter of trench warfare. To each man there remained the joy of remembering days and nights that were unpleasant--for it is a joy to remember, in the comfort and happiness of to-day, the discomforts and sorrows of yesterday. Now the sun was shining. Training was going on apace under the pleasantest of conditions. They were a healthy family. Each man felt his potentiality, and unconsciously boasted it in his every action. Such was the feeling in the Battalion when the certainty of conflict came. To everyone it was the "Big Push"--the mighty Armageddon--of which all had thought and spoken during the winter of waiting. There was no doubt as to the issue. Each man went about his duties with an eye to an immediate and definite future. If anything he gave greater care to his rifle. In his feeling the edge and point of his bayonet, there was something of a caress. Now was the look in each eye born of the l.u.s.t of killing. It was the knowledge that on a bright morning--now only a few hours distant--man would be matched against man. "Justice of our cause may have been somewhere in our sub-consciousness. Certainly it was not uppermost. To each man the coming conflict savoured of individual mortal combat. The days of waiting were gone. He was going forward to prove his manhood"--so write two veterans of that fight.

The story of that morning is an epic. For every man it was the first experience of "over the top." In sun-baked trenches everyone longed for the zero hour, while the guns rolled and sh.e.l.ls crashed with ever-increasing intensity. Nothing was real. Men stood and waited as if in a dream. They felt as if they were listening to the overture; that soon the curtain would rise. Even when the guns ceased their roar for a few moments towards the end, and in the death-like stillness was heard the warbling of birds in "no man's land"--the grim reality of it all was felt. With the lifting mist of the morning, the curtain rose....

At 7.23 a.m. the Battalion started moving across "no man's land." When the barrage lifted the men entered the enemy front line and the work of the moppers-up soon began. The advance across the open was splendidly carried out, all ranks behaving magnificently, as was the case throughout the entire action. Leipzig Trench was taken and the leading lines advanced against the Hindenburg Trench. These were mown down and by 8.15 a.m. every Company Officer was a casualty. It now became obvious to Colonel Morton that Leipzig Trench must be held, as without reinforcements, no further advance could be made, both flanks being exposed, as the 8th Division on their right had been driven back. The left was particularly exposed and parties under Sergt.

Macgregor and Sergt. Watt were organised and sent to strengthen the left where "B" and "D" Companies had been almost annihilated. It was now 9 o'clock and the Battalion casualties now amounted to 22 officers and 400 other ranks. The bombers, who had been sent up to replace casualties, were holding the flanks successfully. By 11.15 the entire line was very weak, and still at 2 o'clock in the afternoon the situation was unchanged, 2nd Lieut. Morrison and 2nd Lieut. Marr working and organising the protective flank bombers without the least regard for personal safety. At 4 o'clock the 2nd Manchesters reinforced them with two Companies. Just at this time the line wavered a little in face of the overwhelming bombardment and the appalling casualties, but control was immediately gained. At 5 the shattered unit was ordered to consolidate the ground taken. This was done and two strong enemy counter attacks repulsed. At 9.30 the Battalion started to be relieved by the Manchesters, but the relief was not wholly carried out until near midnight, although several bombing parties had to carry on till well towards mid-day of the following day before being relieved. The 17th concentrated on Campbell Post and held the line in that Sector. In the evening of the next day the Battalion was relieved and returned to dug-outs at Crucifix Corner.

[Ill.u.s.tration: MAP ILl.u.s.tRATING THE OPERATIONS OF 1st JULY, 1916.

Objective of Attack--Mouquet Farm. First German Line attacked and taken, C--D. Trench Line from which the attack was launched, A--B. Second German Line taken and lost, E--F.

Note the Salient C--D and its exposure to German fire and attack on the Flanks.

_To face page 40._]

The first V.C., not only for the Battalion, but of the Division was gained in this battle and was won by Sergeant James Young Turnbull.

The following is the extract from _The London Gazette_, of 25th December, 1916, intimating the award of the Victoria Cross:--

"No. 15888 Sergeant JAMES YOUNG TURNBULL, late Highland Light Infantry.

"For most conspicuous bravery and devotion to duty, when, having with his party captured a post apparently of great importance to the enemy, he was subjected to severe counter attacks, which were continuous throughout the whole day. Although his party was wiped out and replaced several times during the day, Sergeant Turnbull never wavered in his determination to hold the post, the loss of which would have been very serious. Almost single-handed he maintained his position and displayed the highest degree of valour and skill in the performance of his duties.

"Later in the day this gallant soldier was killed whilst bombing a counter-attack from the parados of our trench."

Of all the units operating in that ghastly Sector, the 17th H.L.I. was the only Battalion which reached and occupied and held the enemy's trenches from La Boiselle northwards. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, writing of the battle of the Somme in his history of the war, emphasises what this unadorned record of the day's fighting bears out--that there had been no flinching anywhere, and the military virtue shown had been of the highest possible quality; but the losses from the machine guns and from the barrage was so heavy that they deprived the attack of the weight and momentum necessary to win their way through the enemy's position. "In the desperate circ.u.mstances," he says, "it might well be considered a remarkable result that a stretch of the Leipzig Redoubt should be won and permanently held by the Highlanders, especially by the 17th Highland Light Infantry."

Throughout these terrible operations Colonel Morton was present in the most advanced positions encouraging and cheering the men by his personal example and utter disregard for danger. In this work he was gallantly seconded by his Adjutant and his Headquarters' Staff, who were individually forward directing operations when all the Company Officers had been knocked out. It is not too much to say that the resolute spirit and example of the Colonel rallied the Battalion to heights of endurance and endeavour which found their greatest inspiration in his presence in the firing line.

Great work was also done by Captain D.C. Evans, R.A.M.C., who, for over forty-eight hours, without interval or rest, attended to the Battalion wounded. Throughout the action he carried on his task of relieving suffering and saving life quite heedless of the sh.e.l.ling and firing and quite cool in the face of the ever growing number of cases demanding his attention and skill.

At the Battalion parade for Roll Call on the 4th of July, the casualties totalled 22 officers and 447 other ranks.

A DIARY ACCOUNT OF THE BATTLE.

_Extract from the personal diary of the late Lieut. B. Meadows giving a wonderfully realistic picture of the July 1st Battle._

The narrative of the 1st of July Somme Battle as written in the diary of the late 2nd Lieut. B. Meadows, who, before taking his commission, served with the 17th H.L.I., gives such an impressive account of the battle that we include it here almost in entirety. The foregoing chapter gives a general idea of the intensity of the great battle from the impersonal and official viewpoint, with data checked and balanced.

But the following account introduces the personal and human element with poignant effect. Some of the very minor facts are a little inaccurate, but that is inevitable when an individual soldier describes a general action from his own viewpoint. Nevertheless the editors consider that in no other Battalion source is there such a vivid record of experiences to be got which reflect the feelings of all those who took part in the action concerned.

"The last four days before zero," he writes, "were known as 'W,' 'X,'

'Y,' and 'Z' days. By 'W' every enemy observation balloon had been destroyed and so dense a fleet of aircraft patrolled the battle area as to make it impossible for the enemy aircraft to approach the lines.

Thus the enemy was made blind. On the night of 'W' we got orders to move forward. Before leaving the billet we made a large bonfire with boxes from the C.Q.M.'s stores. On this we burned all our letters, and round it we had the last sing-song the old 'Seventeenth' ever had. We then believed it 'Y' night, not 'W' night. The night before we had gone up to the trenches through Aveluy and Authuille with petrol tins full of water. These were stocked in dug-outs and along the trench and formed our reserve water supply. Many of our guns were firing 'gun fire,' yet the enemy made little artillery reply. He retaliated chiefly on the front line defences with trench mortars. Of such a violent nature was this bombardment that the Lonsdales had to call on our 'D' Company for support to make up for their casualties in sh.e.l.l shock, etc. Curiously enough, during the days 'D' Company held the line they suffered no casualties, although the trench was battered out of all recognition. When it was dark on 'W' night we marched to Bouzincourt. Here we spent the night in huts. Before daybreak we were sh.e.l.led and had one man killed. Day showed an extraordinary sight.

Bouzincourt stands on the hill, the battle area stretched out like a map below. Near the Crucifix on the Aveluy road a long naval gun barked. Just behind us was a 15 inch howitzer. Its sh.e.l.ls could easily be watched in their flight overhead. In front were an infinite number of guns all in action. A long line of observation balloons made a crescent round Albert. One could count over twenty, and not one German. The air was thick with our aeroplanes. The German lines looked like long ribbons of white fur. The air was full of shrapnel b.a.l.l.s, especially over the woods, and the villages were burning. The heavy howitzers were causing dreadful eruptions on the German strong points.

La Boisselle, believed impregnable, was a concentrated h.e.l.l. The Germans were putting shrapnel into the woods that lie in the triangle between Hamel, Bouzincourt and Aveluy. Here our guns were ma.s.sed. And now and then a mushroom of smoke would spring up in unexpected places. The noise was so terrific that it became monotonous. We were served out with cotton wool for our ears, but in spite of this the concussion on the 1st of July was so great that we all became stone deaf, and for days after almost without the use of our voices. We prepared for 'battle order.' All our belongings we packed into our valises, and these were stored in an empty house in Bouzincourt. We wore steel helmets, at that time they were without sandbag coverings, and in strong sunlight reflected almost as brilliantly as polished steel. I noticed on the 1st July, looking back from the advanced line to the German original front line, how the helmets of our reserves holding that line shone up and made their wearers clear targets. We wore the haversack on our back containing mess tin, small kit, two days' rations, 'iron rations,' pair of socks and waterproof sheet. We carried four sandbags just below. Then we had the usual equipment, pouches containing 120 rounds, bayonet, water bottle and entrenching tool. Another 100 rounds in bandoliers, and I had extra an ap.r.o.n containing 12 Mill's bombs and b.u.t.terfly wirecutters. The whole formed fairly heavy equipment. In the late afternoon when we were all lined up prepared to march off, orders came to cancel all orders. We stood by for two days. On 'X' night the 16th H.L.I. sent a platoon over to find out the condition of the enemy defences. Owing to an accident they were almost entirely wiped out. On the following morning while playing a football match the Sixteenth again suffered casualties from a 5.9 which burst between the goal posts. In the evening of 'Z' day, the 30th of June, we marched off by platoons. The thunder of the heavy guns as we pa.s.sed through their belt was almost unbearable, and nearer the lines long lines of eighteen-pounders were giving 'battery fire'

down long rows of twenty batteries, sometimes all speaking at once. We entered 'Oban Avenue' at the right end of the village of Authuille. It was the 'up' trench for the advance and 'Campbell Avenue' the 'down.'

Both trenches had been deepened, in some places, to twelve feet, and were fairly safe from shrapnel. The line in which we were to spend the night had been blown almost completely out of existence and it was difficult to find sufficient cover for the men. I and the bomber who was next to me in the line found a corner and there slept for the night. We were once disturbed by the enemy destroying a trench mortar store situated close to where we slept. Daybreak came and still there was no word of 'zero.' We made some breakfast, and about half-past five word was pa.s.sed along that zero was 7.30, and to move into battle positions. We moved to the right until we were in contact with the next Company. At 6.25 a.m. the final bombardment commenced. Every gun was firing 'gunfire' and the rush of metal overhead was extraordinary.

The reply was feeble. At 7.25 we left the trench and walked over to within 60 yards of the barrage. At 7.30 the barrage lifted and we rushed the front line defences, destroying the garrison, in and out of dug-outs. I have few definite memories from the time we first saw the Germans to the time the machine gun swept us down outside the Liepzig Redoubt. It became evident that we, who were working up between two communication trenches, after two or three rushes, that further advancing was impossible without support. We waited for our own reserve waves and the Lonsdales who should have come on behind. But no reserves reached us and we saw our only hope lay in the fact that they had rushed one of the communication trenches and might manage to bomb out the machine gun. But the bombers were checked out of range of the gun. We began to work towards the communication trench, but owing to the lie of the ground we were badly exposed and I at length found myself the only living occupant of that corner. About twelve o'clock I managed to leap the parapet without being hit. I found my platoon officer, Lieut. MacBrayne, lying shot through the head. Of the others of my platoon I could get no news, except those I saw lying dead or wounded. Tom Train had completely disappeared. An order came up the trench, '17th H.L.I. move to the left and prepare to support the Dorsets.' The communication trench was at this time chiefly manned by K.O.Y.L.I. (who should have supported the 16th H.L.I. who had been held up by the German wire and cut up before able to take the first line of defences. Those left were forced to retire to their own line).

A few Lonsdales (the 11th Borderers had been cut up coming up through 'Blighty Wood,' Colonel and Adjutant killed and all officers casualties) were able to give us practically no support, and a Company of Manchesters, sent from Divisional Reserve. I moved to the left. An officer suddenly jumped the parapet and shouted 'Come on, the 17th!' I followed him along with about twenty others. But we found the barbed wire impossible to cut through and he gave us the order 'Every man for himself.'

[Ill.u.s.tration: VIEW FROM BOUZINCOURT LOOKING TOWARDS THE LINE.

(_Sketch from Lieut. Meadow's Diary_).

_To face page 44._]

"Making my way back to the trench I rested in a sh.e.l.l hole occupied by a Sergeant wounded in the leg. Whilst talking to him we both fell asleep and slept until about 5 p.m., when the Germans counter-attacked.

Their artillery became violent and they attempted to come over the open. We ran for the communication trench and found it disorganised.

Orders got mixed and some seemed anxious to retire. Fortunately the 17th H.L.I. bombers, who were in the advanced position, held their ground, driving the enemy back with their own bombs, and the attack over the open was checked by our brigade machine guns which had been ma.s.sed in the German front line. During the whole action we lost no ground that had previously been gained. By this time our Battalion had been badly hit. 'B' Company on our left had been caught in the wire and cut to pieces by machine gun fire. My own Company, 'A,' was down to low numbers. My Captain and my Platoon Officer were both killed, all the platoon's N.C.O.s were killed or wounded, two Sergeants outright, and all the L.-Corpls. dead. We had 17 officers killed and were working the Battalion with two officers. The Colonel, who had been well forward all day, was without a scratch. It was a remarkably clear day, very hot. We were on the ridge that formed the defence on that side of Thiepval.

From here we could see the whole battlefield. I saw the huge eruption at La Boisselle, when the six mines went up, and I remember watching long lines of Highlanders charging along the opposite slope of the valley. The aeroplanes followed every movement, flying low overhead and directing the artillery by dropping flares. The Germans counter-attacked in a half-hearted way through the night. We had casualties from our own artillery and mortar batteries, otherwise the night was quieter than we had expected. We managed to carry away a number of our wounded in waterproof sheets. The battalions on both flanks were unsuccessful in storming the enemy's front line defences, thus our flanks were exposed and blockades had to be formed at the front line and all lines forward to our advanced positions, which developed into a series of bombing posts. Local fights went on at their posts all through the day and night, and it was while chasing each other round corners at the head of the communication trench in the afternoon that we lost Sergeant Turnbull, V.C., who had done wonderful work all day. The nature of the Leipzig defences, a maze of trenches and underground saps, made advancing into the salient extremely hard.

One was continually attacked in the rear. What seemed dug-outs were bombed, and when pa.s.sed numbers of the enemy rush from them, they being really underground communications with their rear defences. The whole fighting was of a cold, deliberate, merciless nature. No quarter was given or taken. One of the battalions opposing us was similar to our own, a students' battalion from Bavaria. The enemy used explosive and dum-dum bullets, and sniped off any of our wounded lying exposed in the open. They were helped in their work by an arrangement we had come to regarding wounded. It was not permitted to stop to take back prisoners or to stop to dress a wounded chum; but it was permitted to stick the bayonet of the wounded man's rifle in the ground and thus to mark the spot where he lay. The Germans observed this and watched for any movement in the heap beside the standing rifle. Men coolly fired at each other at point blank range, and sniping became the chief cause of casualties. It resembled a duel between two men who had had a deadly quarrel--so intensely deliberate. On the morning of the 2nd of July we handed over the front line of attack to Divisional Reserves and went into support. At sunset we were relieved by the Cheshires, and moved back to the dug-outs at Crucifix Corner. We had a number of casualties coming out of action. We were given tea, food and rum, and went off into a heavy sleep."

HULLUCH AND THEREABOUTS.

_Senlis--last parade under Col. Morton--Bombing raid north of Ovillers--Move to Bethune--1st Army Area--inspection by General Munro--depleted ranks--trench warfare about Hulluch--Cambrin Sector._