Part 4 (1/2)
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 s.h.i.+ning. 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.”