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Chapter XVIII Of the Winter of 1916-17 when the Snow Lay Round about

—"Good King Wenceslas."

The 1st and 3rd brigades went into the Fleurbaix-Sailly sector which was based on the little town of Estaires, some eight kilometres south of Armentières, while the 2nd Brigade returned to Armentières where they were welcomed with great joy by the madames and mademoiselles, and the piccanins. Here they stayed until the beginning of December and then rejoined the remainder of the division at Sailly.

The French winter set in with grey skies and a steady drizzle sometimes not much heavier than a thick mist, but very constant. During this time everything was very wet and miserable. The trenches were in poor condition and much hard work was necessary to get them into reasonable order. The little streams that ran back across the lines towards the Lys were swollen with the constant rain, and page 182there was much flooding and general discomfort. Our own front line was very thinly held, and the real line of resistance was a series of defended localities, Charred Post, Windy Post, and the rest. The Germans practically abandoned their front line and went back on to the slopes of the Fromelles and Aubers ridges. There was very little activity beyond patrolling and trench-mortar bombardment of the enemy wire, diversified by a few raids. The preoccupation of the majority was not to attack the Germans but to keep out the wet.

At the end of November the drizzle ceased and the snow commenced to fall, and for the next three months the ground was white. The scenery was magnificent. Branches of trees were all delicately outlined with white, the roofs of the houses were white, the wide expanse of level field was white and gleaming, broken here and there by the dark line of a hedge or a trodden road. But it was cold! The inhabitants said that it was the coldest winter that they had had for something like a generation. The New Zealanders were inclined to think that this must indeed be so. Many of them had left after two or three months of summer; had gone to Egypt, where even the winter seemed hot enough; had been scorched at Anzac; had sweated again on the desert sand at Ismailia, and then had enjoyed the pleasant sunshine of the French summer. Their blood had grown thin, and the freezing cold was intensely bitter. Snow has an unfortunate capacity for sopping through boots, and cold feet are almost the limit of torture. Cold wood and cold iron seem al-page 183most to burn in blue and bloodless hands. Shaving when the ice was almost forming on the tin of water was a butcherly performance. Men wrapped themselves up in all the clothes they could possibly lay hands upon: balaclavas, scarves, extra underwear, leather waistcoats, gloves, extra socks, sandbags, overcoats; they sealed up dugouts as hermetically as possible; they salvaged benzine tins and made braziers and burnt therein all that came to hand in the way of fuel. Still they shivered.

Yet despite the cold, this winter was the most sociable one the New Zealanders "enjoyed" during the war. At divisional headquarters at Sailly the N.Z.Y.M.C.A. had re-established its activities. Large huts were opened, and these became the common meeting-place of the men when off duty. Hot cocoa and biscuits could always be obtained at very reasonable rates. Writing material was always available, and much letter-writing was done in the warm and cheerful interiors. Papers, periodicals, illustrated magazines, and even some books were readily obtainable. The warm huts were pleasant places for the unending gossip of good friends who came together to enjoy each other's company, to revive the memories of great days at home, or to solve the major strategical problems of the war. Concerts were frequently held. Sometimes the programmes were provided by the talent available in the division itself, and it was from such beginnings that there sprang the germ of the divisional troupes of later date. Sometimes programmes were given by artists who had placed their services at the disposal of page 184the British Expeditionary Force. Debates were popular—indeed it was fairly easy to get an audience for a serious argument at almost any time among the New Zealanders. The Y.M.C.A. stood very largely for the re-integration of normal life and whenever for three or four months together the division was stationary, and the rapid movement of great battles with their heavy losses and inevitable change in personnel ceased, this process rapidly became effective.

Naturally of course the unofficial religious life tended to centre round the Y.M.C.A. The New Zealand soldier in general was not a very religious person, yet, being of a charitable nature, he was generally prepared to respect and even admire religion in others. He was indeed singularly tolerant on all matters of individual character and conduct. One man's little peculiarity was to get drunk; another's was an absorbing passion for "two-up"— the sport of kings; still another had an alarming fondness for patrolling No Man's Land; while one here and there was religious. But what would you? They were all good fellows and one had to treat these little failings kindly. So from the Y.M.C.A., with its regular home-hour teas and Sunday evening services, there was some revival of services other than the detested official church parades.

A huge barn littered with farm implements was the billet for a whole company. Glowing braziers scattered here and there showed groups of men lying around, playing cards, reading, writing. The red light danced fitfully but could not pierce the darkness so far as the high, rough-timbered roof. Outside page 185was the wet and cold. A flicker of light through an open door, the rumble of a distant gun, gave reminder of the fact of war. From the darkness outside a little group of men entered the circle of firelight and announced that they wished to hold a service. Hymn books were given out. A hymn was sung, and for a while the majority went on with their cards and reading. Then one by one they also joined in the singing until the French barn was full of the music of the English hymns. A man standing up on an old cart preached a sermon of wonderful beauty and power. There was a great hush as the service drew to a close, and then after a space the conversation swelled up again; the cards came out again; the letters were finished; but many a man felt better and stronger for the hour of worship.

At this time an important change took place in organization. The 1st Brigade was now composed of the 1st and 2nd Auckland, the 1st and 2nd Wellington battalions, and the 2nd Brigade of the corresponding Canterbury and Otago units.

December passed very quietly. In January the armies were still frost-bound; but with the beginning of February came the thaw and the first rumble of the gathering storm that was to burst in fury ' with the coming of the spring. The New Zealanders were ordered to move on to the Messines sector, but before they left their winter quarters it was decided to round off the numerous small raids with a smashing blow. Second Auckland were chosen for the operation.

The most careful preparations were made. Aero-page 186plane photographs were taken, and from these a model of the German trenches was constructed. Patrols searched every yard of No Man's Land, every shell-hole, every drain, every patch of wire. The duckwalks were muffled with straw and sacking so that in the stillness of the early morning no sound of movement would betray the assembling of the battalion for the assault. Pine lozenges even were served out to prevent coughing.

The men, lightly armed with rifle, bayonet, bandolier and bombs, moved quietly up past Wye Farm through Gunner's Walk and Bay Avenue to the front line. For half an hour they waited quietly, the minutes passing very slowly, until at last, a minute before zero, the first line formed up on the parapet, looking backward for the flash of the signal gun. The circle of flame shot up around the horizon. The first wave were in their own wire before the roar of the discharge shook the air and the German trenches burst into gouts of flame. They floundered across the muddy expanse of No Man's Land and into the broken wire. A brave German sent up an SOS rocket from beneath their very feet and almost at once the barrage fell on the New Zealand line. The storming parties rushed into the enemy front line and then into the supports. There was bombing and shooting and bayoneting in the broken shambles that had been made by the artillery fire. Time was up, and in the darkness the men commenced to withdraw with their prisoners and such of their wounded as could be seen in the poor light. The German artillery fire was heavy in No Man's Land and many fell. page 187As dawn broke clearly our own parapet was reached, but so furious was the German fire that many were hit even after they had dropped back into apparent security.

And now occurred one of those very splendid human happenings that now and again lightened with a rare gleam the sordid background of pitiless killing. The German counter-attack must have swept back into the front line almost on the heels of the New Zealanders, for within a few moments they were sniping heavily across. The stronger light showed wounded lying below our parapet and out in No Man's Land. A man crossed at the risk of his life to one of these. Two or three others followed with nerves tautened, knowing that the Mauser rifles were levelled at heart and brain. But no shot came! A German stood up on his parapet with his hands held high. Up beside him came another and another, and another, until a whole line stood there. Quickly now the stretchers went over and our wounded were brought in. An enemy machine-gun commenced to fire from some distance in the rear. A tall German waved back to the gunners and they ceased firing. When all was clear, a shot was fired in the air. Both sides took cover and the war went on. But the action of those chivalrous Germans is not forgotten in New Zealand. It was a very fine and splendid thing for men to come back into a broken line in which lay two hundred of their dead and then, still in hot blood, to show mercy to those who had slain their friends.