Part 11 (1/2)
Some splendid work was done after the place had caught fire. One officer, in spite of the great risk he ran from bursting sh.e.l.ls, got the ammunition train off safely to the 4th army. Thanks to him, the men up the line were able to carry on as if nothing had happened, till further supplies could be sent from other dumps. It was estimated that four days' worth of sh.e.l.ls from all the factories in England had been destroyed.
An M.T. officer got all the cars and lorries out of the sheds and instructed the drivers to take them as far from the danger zone as possible, while the Captain in charge of the ”Archie” Battery stuck to his guns; and he and his men remained in the middle of that inferno hidden in holes in their dug-out, from which it was impossible to rescue them for two days.
Five days after the explosion Gutsie and I were detailed to go to Audricq for some measles cases, and we reported first to the Camp Commandant, who was sitting in the remains of his office, a sh.e.l.l sticking up in the floor and half his roof blown away.
He gave us permission to see the famous crater, and instructed one of the subalterns to show us round. There were still fires burning and sh.e.l.ls popping in some parts and the scenes of wreckage were almost indescribable.
The young officer was not particularly keen to take us at all and said warningly, ”You come at your own risk--there are nothing but live sh.e.l.ls lying about, liable to go off at any moment. Be careful,” he said to me, ”you're just stepping on one now.” I hopped off with speed, but all the same we were not a whit discouraged, which seemed to disappoint him.
As Gutsie and I stumbled and rolled over 4.2's and hand grenades I quoted to her from the ”Fuse-top collectors”--”You can generally 'ear 'em fizzin' a bit if they're going to go 'orf, 'Erb!” by way of encouragement. Trucks had been lifted bodily by the concussion, and could be seen in adjacent fields; many of the sheds had been half blown away, leaving rows of live sh.e.l.ls lying snugly in neat piles, but as there was no knowing when they might explode it was decided to sc.r.a.p the whole dump when the fires had subsided.
We walked up a small hill literally covered with sh.e.l.ls and empty hand grenades of the round cricket ball type, two of which were given to us to make into match boxes. Every description of sh.e.l.l was there as far as the eye could see, and some were empty and others were not. We reached the summit, walking gingerly over 9.2's (which formed convenient steps) to find ourselves at the edge of the enormous crater already half filled with water. It was incredible to believe a place of that size had been formed in the short s.p.a.ce of one second, and yet on the other hand, when I remembered how the earth had trembled, the wonder was it was not even larger.
It took weeks for that dump to be cleared up. Little by little the live sh.e.l.ls were collected and taken out to sea in barges, and dropped in mid-ocean.
Not long after that the ”Zulu,” a British destroyer, came into port half blown away by a mine. Luckily the engine was intact and still working, but the men, who had had marvellous escapes, lost all their kit and rations. We were not able to supply the former, unfortunately, but we remedied the latter with speed, and also took down cigarettes, which they welcomed more than anything.
We were shown all over the remains, and hearing that the ”Nubia” had just had her engine room blown away, we suggested that the two ends should be joined together and called the ”Nuzu,” but whether the Admiralty thought anything of the idea I have yet to learn!
Before the Captain left he had napkin rings made for each of us out of the copper piping from the s.h.i.+p, in token of his appreciation of the help we had given.
The Colonials were even more surprised to see girls driving in France than our own men had been.
One man, a dear old Australian, was being invalided out altogether and going home to his wife. He told me how during the time he had been away she had become totally blind owing to some special German stuff, that had been formerly injected to keep her sight, being now unprocurable.
”Guess she's done her bit,” he ended; ”and I'm off home to take care of her. She'll be interested to hear how the la.s.sies work over here,” and we parted with a handshake.
Important conferences were always taking place at the Hotel Maritime, and one day as I was down on the quay the French Premier and several other notabilities arrived. ”There's Mr. Asquith,” said an R.T.O. to me.
”That!” said I, in an unintentionally loud voice, eyeing his long hair, ”I thought he was a 'cellist belonging to a Lena Ashwell Concert party!”
He looked round, and I faded into s.p.a.ce.
Taking some patients to hospital that afternoon we pa.s.sed some Australians marching along. ”Fine chaps,” said the one sitting on the box to me, ”they're a good emetic of their country, aren't they?” (N.B.
I fancy he meant to say emblem.)
Our concert party still flourished, though the conditions for practising were more difficult than ever. Our Mess tent had been moved again on to a plot of gra.s.s behind the cook-house to leave more s.p.a.ce for the cars to be parked, and though we had a piano there it was somehow not particularly inspiring, nor had we the time to practise. The Guards'
Brigade were down resting at Beau Marais, and we were asked to give them a show. We now called ourselves the ”FANTASTIKS,” and wore a black pierrette kit with yellow bobbles. The rehearsals were mostly conducted in the back of the ambulance on the way there, and the rest of the time was spent feverishly muttering one's lines to oneself and imploring other people not to muddle one. The show was held in a draughty tent, and when it was over the Padre made a short prayer and they all sang a hymn. (Life is one continual paradox out in France.) I shall never forget the way those Guardsmen sang either. It was perfectly splendid.
There they stood, rows of men, the best physique England could produce, and how they sang!
Betty drove us back to camp in the ”Crystal Palace,” so-called from its many windows--a six cylinder Delauney-Belville car used to take the army sisters to and from their billets. We narrowly missed nose-diving into a chalk pit on the way, the so-called road being nothing but a rutty track.
The Fontinettes ambulance train was a special one that was usually reported to arrive at 8 p.m., but never put in an appearance till 10, or, on some occasions, one o'clock. The battle of the Somme was now in progress; and, besides barges and day trains, three of these arrived each week. The whole Convoy turned out for this; and one by one the twenty-five odd cars would set off, keeping an equal distance apart, forming an imposing looking column down from the camp, across the bridge and through the town to the railway siding. The odd makes had been weeded out and the whole lot were now Napiers. The French inhabitants would turn out _en ma.s.se_ to see us pa.s.s, and were rather proud of us on the whole, I think. Arrived at the big railway siding, we all formed up into a straight line to await the train. After many false alarms, and answering groans from the waiting F.A.N.Y.s, it would come slowly creaking along and draw up. The ambulances were then reversed right up to the doors, and the stretcher bearers soon filled them up with four lying cases. At the exit stood Boss and the E.M.O., directing each ambulance which hospital the cases were to go to. Those journeys back were perfect nightmares. Try as one would, it was impossible not to b.u.mp a certain amount over those appalling roads full of holes and cobbles.
It was pathetic when a voice from the interior could be heard asking, ”Is it much farther, Sister?” and knowing how far it was, my heart ached for them. After all they had been through, one felt they should be spared every extra bit of pain that was possible. When I in my turn was in an ambulance, I knew just what it felt like. Sometimes the cases were so bad we feared they would not even last the journey, and there we were all alone, and not able to hurry to hospital owing to the other three on board.
The journey which in the ordinary way, when empty, took fifteen minutes, under these circ.u.mstances lasted anything from three-quarters of an hour to an hour. ”Susan” luckily was an extremely steady 'bus, and in 3rd.
gear on a smooth road there was practically no movement at all. I remember once on getting to the Casino I called out, ”I hope you weren't b.u.mped too much in there?” and was very cheered when a voice replied, ”It was splendid, Sister, you should have seen us up the line, jolting all over the place.” ”Sister,” another one called, ”will you drive us when we leave for Blighty?” I said it was a matter of chance, but whoever did so would be just as careful. ”No,” said the voice decidedly, ”there couldn't be two like you.” (I think he must have been in an Irish Regiment.)
The relief after the strain of this journey was tremendous; and the joy of das.h.i.+ng back through the evening air made one feel as if weights had been taken off and one were flying. It was rather a temptation to test the speed of one's 'bus against another on these occasions; and ”Susan”