XXII The Aftermath of Battle

From the 11th until the 18th the Aucklanders were resting, re-equipping and re-organising. Not the least interesting part of the business were the attempts on the part of numerous section commanders to prove that sundry bomb-carriers and wire-clippers had been "destroyed by shell fire." It is quite possible that the articles in question had been so destroyed—after their tired owners had abandoned them in some convenient shell-hole. "Destroyed by shell fire" was a convenient formula which covered a multitude of sins. On the 12th, 1/Auckland moved to Regina Camp, a short distance from Romarin. Next day Sir Alexander Godley reviewed the 1st Brigade, and complimented them on their work during the battle.

As the war progressed, there were constant improvements in the art of killing. When the New Zealanders first went into the trenches at Armentières there were many alarms and much sounding of Strombos' horns, but no gas. After sweltering a few times in slimy, evil-smelling "P.H. helmets" the alarm of "gas" came to be looked upon as rather a bad joke. On the Somme the infantry had encountered lachrymatory gas, but this, although sometimes a nuisance, had no result, except a temporary irritation of the eyes. Goggles were served out to combat the effect of this gas, and were quite effective, though somewhat clumsy. Nothing occurred during the winter, and nearly everyone grew careless. "Cloud gas" had not been a great success. The cylinders from which it was released were difficult to carry, and were most dangerous things to have about in the line. Even when a cloud had page 154been successfully discharged there was no certainty that a sudden change in the wind might not blow it aside, or even back from whence it came. The evolution of the gas shell changed everything. From being a rather expensive and ineffective novelty, gas immediately became one of the most terrible and deadly weapons of modern war. It could be used safely at all times, concentrated on a particular spot, or spread over a wide area.

At Messines, gas casualties were numerous, and there was a general realisation of the seriousness of the thing. Much greater attention was paid both to the care of helmets and training men in the quickest and best methods of using them. The "small box respirator," issued shortly after the Somme, was an absolutely safe protection against any gas then used. A rubberised mask with eye-pieces, nose clip and expiratory valve fitted over the face. A rubber tube led from the mouthpiece to the tin canister containing chemical preparations which neutralised any harmful gas in the atmosphere. Only pure air passed through. In action the brown canvas haversack containing the apparatus was carried slung on the breast, and at other times slung at the side. At first the S.B.R. was looked upon as rather a mixed blessing. It certainly gave an extra sense of security, but then it made more to carry. Still there were compensations. With a scarf on top it made a most excellent pillow, and the mask compartment of the satchel was useful for the carrying of anything from socks to loveletters. This casual treatment of the soldier's best friend had anything but good results. Valves became choked with dust and dirt. Eye-pieces were neglected, and a man moving through a gas belt found himself blind and in danger of losing touch. Some, through lack of practice, were very slow in adjusting the mask. Gas experts now came into their own, and from this time forward the rank and file suffered many things at their hands. Adjustment of masks by numbers, route marches with the things on, lectures, demonstrations, tests of various sorts, became an utter abomination, especially after the fiftieth repetition of the same old thing. Still it was all necessary, for page 155on the least slackening of the pressure careless human nature reasserted itself, and sooner or later trouble occurred.

The weather was exceedingly fine, and the few days spent out of the line in Regina and Kortypyp were very pleasant ones. After a big battle it is always a satisfactory thing to realise that one is still alive and in possession of the correct number of limbs. "If that big H.E. had not been a dud!!" Such a lot might have happened, such a lot did happen—to others. A "buckshee" was all very well, a neat little hole through the arm or leg, with a trip to "Blighty" at the end of it; but some frightful smash from a jagged chunk of poisonous shell-case was quite another thing. Many a man feared the shattering bone smash, with its inevitable months or years under the surgeon's knife and its prospect of lifelong crippling, more than death itself. In a short while the men who had come out almost in the last stages of collapse were strong and fit once more, and ready for the next move.

On the morning of June 7th the 3/Auckland Battalion had marched from De Seule to Hill 63. For the next three days they were employed making and repairing roads, and then received orders to take over the sector to the right of Le Bizet. The enemy here had the River Lys behind them and Messines almost directly on their right flank. Their position was quite untenable. Accordingly they withdrew the greater part of their garrison to the other side of the Lys, leaving a few posts to cover the retirement and to hold the trenches until such time as the British should make a serious attempt to occupy them. 3/Auckland received orders to establish posts in the enemy front line, and on the night of the 12/13th parties of the 6th and 16th Companies went over and occupied the trench with little opposition beyond some sniping. Captain Ruddock was mortally wounded, but otherwise casualties were slight. At 2.30 a.m. the enemy shelled his old line, and the 6th, after losing several men, were finally compelled to withdraw. An enemy bombing attack on the Waikatos was driven off. Heavy shelling continued all day. Hauraki patrols made further progress, entering the support line, and then at 8 p.m. the three page 156lines of German trenches were seized. On the 15th the Battalion was withdrawn and went back to bivouac at Pont Nieppe. During this spell in the line the enemy artillery fire from the direction of Frelinghien was frequently heavy, and caused a number of casualties.

The New Zealand Division, withdrawn from the sector of Messines, took over the La Basse-Ville-Warneton one, which stretched away from Hyde Park Corner and Ploegsteert Wood over an almost level expanse of torn field to the outskirts of the two villages which were both occupied by enemy troops. On the 18th, 1/Auckland went into the Prowse Point sector, holding the front line from Douve to La Truie Farm, while the 2/Battalion in support occupied the Catacombs. Forward of Prowse Point the newly-won ground was ill-defined and only very roughly organised. Vigorous patrolling was at once commenced and enemy posts discovered at an average distance of four hundred yards. The second night in, strong patrols went out under cover of a barrage, but were only partially successful. Running diagonally across the New Zealand front was an old railway line. Between this track, the Douve and our posts the enemy were holding strongly. It was decided to raid the whole area, destroy their posts and kill or capture the garrisons. Zero hour was 1 a.m. the morning of the 23rd, and the whole of the 16th Company, with two platoons of the 3rd, were detailed for the task. On the right no opposition was met with, but elsewhere the Huns fought well. In the centre they were holding wired shell-holes, and on the left, in the angle by the creek, a cleverly-concealed pill-box caused a lot of trouble. One German, standing in front and alone, coolly shot down man after man. Such a man might well have turned the tide but for "Jimmy" Greenwood, one of the most desperately brave men in the N.Z.E.F., coming at that moment on the spot. For a second the two faced each other, and then with a shout the New Zealander leaped in, the bayonets crossed, and the brave German fell. Single combats were rare in the war of great guns and magazine rifles, and rarer still was a meeting between two men of so splendid a type. Nine page 157prisoners were taken, and very many of the Huns were killed, while Auckland lost 4 killed, 20 missing, and 1 officer and 52 O.R.'s wounded.

The whole area in the vicinity of Hyde Park Corner was heavily shelled at all times, and 2/Auckland, doing working parties from the Catacombs, had continually to run the gauntlet. For two hundred yards all round there was an excellent prospect of being blown out any moment by eleven-inch high explosives. Gas shells rained over, falling on the hillside, in the wood and round the entrances to the dug-out. The atmosphere in the long, stuffy galleries reeked with the pungent odour. Working parties picked up their engineer taskmasters at Hyde Park, and then got away from the danger zone with all speed, going along the Messines road to the Douve, or through Ploegsteert Wood to the forward area. The organisation of the newly-gained ground entailed immense labour, digging trenches, putting down duck-boards and "A-frames," revetting, burying cable, making roads. Frequently the Huns picked up the location of the working parties and shelled heavily, sending everybody helter-skelter to the nearest cover. A bombardment was not a bad excuse sometimes to clear away home, and so escape two or three hours digging in the mud, but it was an intolerable nuisance when it stopped traffic during the return journey, with breakfast and bunk only fifteen minutes away.

On the 23rd, 2/Auckland relieved the 1/Battalion. The newly-dug line ahead of the Potteries was the main line of defence. In front of this was a line of posts connected by a shallow trench, and a couple of hundred yards in front of this again was a recently occupied position, from which the garrison, with the exception of a few observers, was withdrawn during the day. A few hundred yards away were the buildings of Warneton, and close up a tangle of hedges and clumps of trees, behind which were the enemy posts. Their observation was fairly good, and in consequence their artillery was very active, firing on any movement. Lieutenant Stewart, with a platoon of the 15th Company, occupied and consolidated page 158"Stewart's Post," as it was afterwards called, and patrolled out toward the railway.

The 1/Battalion went back to De Seule on the 28th, and next day were followed by 2/Auckland, both units going under canvas near De Seule.

Once the battle was actually over the British Higher Command commenced to withdraw great numbers of guns and many squadrons of aeroplanes from this part of the front, leaving the Germans with a gradually increasing predominance both in gun-power and in the air. Night bombing was becoming more and more a regular feature of war. Every night now the Hun airmen were over trying for the billets, stables, dumps and rail-heads. The Aucklanders while under canvas had reason to take a particularly keen interest in the new departure. Back from the Y.M.C.A., from the Pierrot show, from the estaminet or from a walk to Bailleul, miles behind the line, and feeling quite unusually secure, men went to sleep in comfort, taking off boots and clothes. It was a most luxurious feeling to realise that the whole night long was for uninterrupted slumber. Lights out, and the only sounds to be heard were a few whispers, coughs, the snores of the musically-minded, and the muffled report of a distant gun. There is a drumming in the upper air—gradually coming nearer, and then the unmistakable beat of a Hun engine. A sleeper awakes, "Hallo, boys, there's a blanky Fritz overhead!"

"Shut up, and go to sleep, you windy beggar!" "Cr-r-r-r-ash-sh," somewhere a mile off. The whole tent is awake now, and speculating.

"The blankety-blank something has dropped an egg!" "Cr-r-r-r-ash-sh," this time only half a mile away, and in a direct line. "The b b's coming nearer; where are my boots?" and a nervy individual makes a bolt outside. Nothing is to be gained by so doing, for he is as likely to run into the danger he is seeking to avoid as to escape it. Now the searchlights are flashing across the sky, and the anti-aircraft guns barking furiously. The converging beams fail to pick the raider up, and the crashes grow nearer. Many find the page 159strain of lying still too much for their nerves, and get out and on the move. Others lie quiet, cursing a little, or just by a concentration of will waiting for whatever the issue may be. No one sleeps' and however successfully anyone may pretend "to care for none of these things," it is only pretence.

"C-r-ash. C-r-r-ash. C-r-r-r-ash-sh," behind, level, and then a big sigh of relief, for the last explosion is clear of the camp and the danger has passed. Perhaps no great material harm has been done, but, nevertheless, it is just this kind of thing that in the long run breaks men's nerves and renders them entirely useless for the moral strain of modern war. The Germans placed much faith in the "loud noise theory," and, undoubtedly, they were very largely right. Frightful, crashing detonations have a most demoralising effect on all except troops of the highest order.

On 30th June the 1st Brigade moved back to the training area, 1/Auckland to Bleu and 2/Auckland to Steentge, for a fortnight's rest and training. The weather was delightful, the billets good, and training easy. As a general rule the afternoons were given up to recreation. Division held athletic and swimming sports and a gymkhana, while a good deal of cricket was played between company teams. One team from 2/Auckland had the immense satisfaction of beating the redoubtable 3/Field Ambulance Eleven. To commence with, the Red Cross people regarded the Infantry in the same light that a crack town team regards an eleven from the backblocks. They were speedily undeceived, and as their wickets crashed one after the other they realised that their opponents could throw other things besides bombs.

Bailleul was quite close, and scores of men walked in during the long evenings to visit the shops, estaminets and restaurants of the quaint old town, and to inspect the trophies of battle which had been collected in the square. Many had pilgrimages to make to the graves of comrades, who, dying of wounds received in the fight, had been buried in the military cemetery on the outskirts of the town. Here General Brown was buried and many another good comrade.

On July 19th the Brigade went back into the line, 1/Auckland going in to the Prowse Point sub-sector, while 2/Auckland moved first to Kortypyp Camp and then to the Catacombs. Shelling was heavy and continuous, and the Huns were making a most liberal use of poison gas. Ploegsteert Wood was literally drenched with the stuff. Hyde Park Corner was commencing to look as brown and torn as parts of the battlefield. On the 30th, 2/Auckland relieved the 1/Battalion, who went back to Hill 63, with Headquarters at Red Lodge.

The Third Battle of Ypres—the bloodiest, most terrible fight of the war—commenced on the 31st July, when the British and French attacked from Dixmude to La Basse Ville. The New Zealand Division, on the extreme flank, had the task of storming the latter village and of advancing its line in conformity with the forward thrust of the Army. 2/Wellington and 1st and 2/Auckland were detailed for the purpose. Wellington had La Basse Ville itself as their objective, while the Aucklanders on their left were to push forward and establish a new outpost line.

For three weeks Captain Coates had been training the 1/15th Company in readiness for an offensive operation against the enemy position in the Warneton sector. They arrived in the line during the night of the 29/30th, and were in readiness to carry out their raid, when, with little warning, the German barrage came down. It was heavy and destructive. The men lying round in the shell-holes and shallow trenches suffered severely. After some hours of heavy shelling, the German infantry came on the heels of their barrage, and, penetrating the gap between two of the outposts, got right in amongst the 15th. There was a confused and very bloody fight in the darkness. The North Aucklanders, maddened by their losses, and glad of the opportunity to get amongst the enemy, fought savagely. There was little opportunity for direction or cooperation. Every man fought as best he could. Revolver, bayonet and bomb were busy. Very few of the Germans returned to their own line. Almost the whole of their party were page break

Lieutenant-Colonel R. C. Allen, D.S.O.

page break page 161killed. The 15th lost heavily, but there were still enough of them left to go over on the morning of the 31st. Some ninety strong they raided in the triangle between the railway, the Douve and our own front line. They swept through the enemy shell-hole system, killing many and taking prisoners. The line was pushed well forward. Parties of the 2/6th Company moved up immediately and established three posts to the left and in line with Stewart's Post, which until this time had been dangerously isolated, only fifty yards from the Huns, but two hundred and fifty from our own front line. When these posts had been established, the 15th Company were withdrawn. They had done excellent work, and had had a very rough time. Throughout the operations Captain Coates had displayed great powers of leadership, and had set a fine example. Lieutenant Lang had been conspicuous for his coolness and bravery, and also Sergeant Rogers.

At daybreak Sergeant Cusack, in charge of one party of the 6th Company, discovered that somehow or another a party of twenty-two Huns had been missed by the assaulting troops and were still holding their position a few yards only from his own post. Sergeant Cusack, although he had only ten men with him, attacked and killed the whole of the enemy party, with the exception of one man taken prisoner, captured a machine-gun, and then transferred the enemy wire to the front of his own post. The whole operation had been quite successful. Wellington had taken La Basse Ville, and the new line was everywhere established.

Conditions for the forward troops were miserable in the extreme. Heavy shell fire caused numerous casualties. Rain turned the whole battlefield into a quagmire. The posts filled with water and mud. Men were wet, chilled to the bone, and unable to rest or sleep. Even when parties carried hot food up through smashed trenches where the duck-boards were swimming on top of three feet of water or sunk out of sight under a like depth of mud, the food was wasted because "dixies" were lost in the slime or so coated with filth as to render them utterly useless. A man stood in a narrow ditch page 162facing the front, his feet buried deep in the slush, at first numbed, then hot and burning as the first symptoms of "trench foot" made their appearance; his clothes were wet through and stiff with clay; his fingers frozen and useless; his rifle, breech and barrel choked with mud, had slipped from the nerveless grasp. So he stood and waited, in imminent deadly danger, without food, without sleep, while the Hun artillery shelled heavily. "Whizz-bang! Zutt!" and a man rolled slowly over badly wounded. If the wound were merciful he relapsed at once into a blessed unconsciousness of all his misery, but if not, he suffered the tortures of the damned. Under cover of darkness the stretcher-bearers came, and after hours of heartbreaking effort got him out to the light tram line, and so on a jolting journey to Hyde Park and the motor ambulance. Even in the naked, sordid horror of such an experience as this there is a touch of glory. Flashes of chivalry and self-sacrifice run like a thread of gold through the dark welter of agony, weariness and misery, and in some measure redeem the wickedness of it all. Victor French gave his overcoat to a wounded German, and for three days endured without complaint the terrible rigour of the cold and wet.

2/Auckland were relieved, and with the 1/Battalion, went back to Canteen Corner, where they remained until August 17th, re-equipping and doing working parties. Enemy aeroplanes were extremely active, and bombed stables and billets with great regularity. About this time the Germans brought into action a long-range, high-velocity naval gun, firing heavy armour-piercing shells. They used this weapon for the purpose of shelling back areas. Prospective victims were certainly not held long in suspense as the first report of the discharge and the arrival of the shell seemed almost simultaneous. On the other hand, there was little opportunity of carrying out that manoeuvre so popular with all ranks of "ducking for cover."

On August 17th the two battalions moved from Canteen Corner, 1/Auckland to the hutment camp at Romarin and 2/Auckland to the line in front of La Basse Ville. The new page 163trenches were in fair condition, and a continuous front line had been established on the near side of the Lys. Shell-holes full of mud, water and mosquitoes, and covered over with camouflage netting formed the outpost line. The mosquitoes were of an enormous size, and of a most voracious appetite. Hun aeroplanes hovered just overhead, taking photographs and dropping bombs. Control of the air seemed to have passed entirely to them. At dawn heavy barrages went down on the front and support lines, and men stood-to in expectation of a raid or an attack. On the 22nd, 2/Auckland were relieved, going back to Regina Camp, while the 1/Battalion took over the Prowse Point sector. A few miles to the north the battle for the ridges was proceeding with increasing fury and varying success. The Germans were apprehensive of a further blow in the very delicate sector before Messines, and so strengthened themselves with more guns. They made a prodigal use of gas. All the woods, the hollows, the roads, tracks and camps in the forward areas were systematically deluged with phosgene and chlorine. Men returning from a working party would be caught in the middle of Ploegsteert Wood. Gas helmets were immediately adjusted, and the file sat down on the duck-boards to wait for better times. Shrapnel commenced to burst freely. There was no shelter, and so the only thing to do was to stumble on, perspiring and half-suffocated. The road was reached, and after various halts behind sheltering banks the party straggled into camp, and tired out lay down at once on the wire bunks. But the rest was a short one. A poisoned breeze was blowing through the camp. A few tried to sleep with the masks on, but without much success, and after a little while nearly everyone streamed out of the camp away down the road to Romarin. So the night passed in alarm and discomfort.

From July 1st to 7th, 3/Auckland were at Brune Gaye, supplying working parties for the front line, and then took over the Le Toquet sector, facing Frelinghien. Much work was put in on Long Avenue, despite heavy enemy artillery fire. Patrol work was carried out, and on one occasion a sharp page 164brush occurred with an enemy party in the midst of No-Man'sLand. Heavy artillery exchanges took place daily. After eight days in, the Battalion was relieved, and went back on working parties until the last day of the month, when the Warnave sector was taken over from 3/Canterbury. Here there was no definite touch with the enemy, and, in consequence, a great deal of patrolling was undertaken. Lieutenant "Andy" Thompson was killed on July 4th. He was a great loss to the whole Regiment. Four days later the Battalion went back to Brune Gaye, where they remained for a week training, until on the 16th they once more took over the Warnave sector. Much work still remained to be done, digging and wiring the new front line. Shell fire was again heavy, and many patrols were out on both sides. One party of Germans strayed right on to an Auckland outpost, which immediately fired on them, wounding one, at least. The next relief saw the Battalion go back first to Brune Gaye and then to Bulford Camp.

By this time the Division was heartily sick of the whole area from De Seule and Canteen Corner to Messines, Warneton. La Basse Ville and Ploegsteert. There had been one tremendous day of moving excitement, and then months of hard work and miserable conditions, heavy shelling, gassing, bombing, and a continual heavy drain of killed and wounded. Orders for the Divisional relief were eagerly looked forward to. and when at last they actually came there was much joy expressed by all. On the 25th the 1st and 2/Auckland Battalions proceeded by motor-lorry to the Csestre area, from whence they entrained four days later for Wizernes. 3/Auckland entrained at Steenwerck on September 2nd, and proceeded by train and motor-lorry to Le Waast.