by E. W. Hermon
We made a bit of an attack yesterday [north of Arras] & I had a most interesting evening as the Div. H.Q. sent for me & I went along to the ‘Fighting Head Qrs’. When I got there, there was great excitement on as there was a ‘Taube’16 just over the house & they were naturally most anxious that it shouldn’t learn that it was Div. H.Q. It was really most interesting as I was right in the middle of things which resembled more the conning tower of a battleship. Telephones to all the fighting troops & messages streaming in & orders going out & the whole fight on the maps on the table with flags.
There was some pretty hard fighting last night. Our division attacked & did very well indeed to start with & if we can hold on to the trenches we took shall have made a nice little bit towards Berlin, but one gets the ground by inches in this war & there is no rushing over the country, the cost being roughly one man per foot gained.
We are now going to have a lesson in bomb throwing which is the chief means of evicting the German. The first rush across the space between the trenches puts one in their front line with luck, then the bombers work along the trenches throwing bombs in front of them & using the bayonet. It’s a pretty busy time.
We set up some cyclist bombers last night & they had a rare time, not all jam by any means as a lot got hit. One poor fellow who was carrying several bombs round his neck got one set off by a bullet & that exploded the lot with the result that can be well imagined. The Germans made us another present this morning just as the squadron was going to exercise & put it just in front of Barber who was taking them & made him jump a bit. I hear now they are threatening to blow Béthune to bits & have produced one of their big guns for the purpose which will be a beastly shame as it is a nice old place. However in another 12 or 18 months we may be in a position to get back some of our own if not before.
I only hope this conscription will come about. Organization of the workers & all the rest fighting. It is the only way to finish the job, more men & still more men. We must have them. No one has any right now to keep a man who is able to fight & whose retention is not an absolute necessity to the fighting troops. Best love old dear.
27th May 1915 – Le Quesnoy
I am sending you another map which as it was used as a wrapper to some other maps cannot be of much use to anyone. On it I have marked the position of the trench line during winter in Green and the advance made during the last three weeks’ fighting in Blue. I cannot, of course, mention the names of any units engaged but from the recent casualty lists published in the papers you will gather the cost of attacking strong positions such as these trench lines are.
A badger sett is about the only equivalent of the German trench system. Their trenches are a complete & complicated underground town & they fairly want some digging out. They are much better than we are at digging and their ammunition supply seems to be inexhaustible. The other night they seemed to be throwing about 10 bombs to our one so far as I can gather.
Tell old Juckes how fearfully sorry I am to hear about Rowland. However ‘C’est la guerre’ & that is the only way one can look at it.
You would have laughed today – we were discussing this bombing business & I was talking about organizing a complete bombing party with its own bayonet men, bomb carriers & throwers when there was open insubordination by the young officers. ‘If I thought I was going bombing I was thoroughly mistaken even if they had to use force’!! so you see I am being well looked after.
Poor Winston,17 he has come a proper cropper hasn’t he? I am very sorry as I am sure he was a good man & I can’t help thinking that he will be missed yet.
Best love dearie mine.
28th May 1915 – Le Quesnoy
Things have been very quiet here today, both sides resting after the attack of this week. You saw no doubt in the paper that a Territorial Division had taken three lines of trenches near Festubert or N.E. of Givenchy. That was our show of the last few days.
All the cyclist bombers who returned were reviewed by the Corps commander today & congratulated on their work. Did you see the Irish Guards casualty list? What they lost was in attacking ‘East Ridge Farm’.
I went over to see the grave of the Graham-Taylor boy who was killed the other day. I wrote to his father about it & I want you to send or take him the two prints, no send them to me as I must mark his grave before I send them. Your old horse looks better than I ever saw him, fat & round as a ball.
My love to the Chugs.
29th May 1915 – Le Quesnoy
Having no mail one day makes the next day more pleasant than ever & today I got two ripping letters from you, 33 & 34 and one from Pa too. As I was lying on my bed in the garden reading them the damned Germans began shelling us again, rather too close for fun & I had to get up & go up to the horse lines as I thought they were right among them.
They have got, as I told you in a previous letter, an infernal balloon just behind my horse lines. Well they made up their mind this afternoon to have him down if possible, and fired like steam at it with shrapnel & they were making real good practice & bursting their shells right over the horses but the splinters were going over us. I was so afraid that they would drop some short ones among the horses but they didn’t. Then a Taube came over & had a real hot time & departed whence he came. The balloon never moved all the time they were shelling in spite of the shells being most awfully close. I must confess I should have hated being in it, it was quite unpleasant enough below!
The Chugs’ letters are fine & I like them awfully. Please thank Meg for hers & the postcard which was lovely.
The washing I get done by the folk on the farms. You will find it hard to believe no doubt, that I am well within range of the German guns as I sit in the house & write here & yet the women & children in the house are just as normal as Mrs Grantham, or Mrs Jones at Capons or Brownings. Their garden is better cultivated & cared for than either. The peas are coming up nicely & at the present minute it is a most glorious evening. Not a gun going & if you were here, & arrived at this moment you wouldn’t know there was anything going on at all.
I am following your injunction to take care of myself & yesterday when we were practising throwing live bombs and one of them fell short of where it was intended to go & rolled back amongst us, I was among the first to clear out!! Best love to you old dear.
30th May 1915 – Le Quesnoy
I have been in luck today as I went out for a walk & met Hubert Gough18 who recognized me at once & was most pleasant, & we talked for quite a long time, quite like old times. He was in his usual high spirits & most pleasant. So different from Sir D.H.!! I was so awfully pleased to see him.
Tonight the three of us walked right up to the trenches at Festubert & we stood just behind the line & it was most interesting. The Germans were shelling the breastworks in front of us about 150 yards off & we could see a good bit of the country & our shells bursting just in their lines. Our own guns were shooting over us & the German shells going over us too, searching for our guns.
I saw a ‘Jack Johnson’19 hole as well & you never saw such a hole. It was without any exaggeration just the size & shape of the pond in the front field. I haven’t seen one actually burst yet & I don’t want to if it is at all close. The absolute ruin of all the houses near the line is awful, both sides the same, as far as one could see there wasn’t a tile on a roof anywhere, absolute devastation everywhere.
Your Hamel20 story was most interesting and funnily [enough] I had an R.N.V.R. fellow to tea & I told him this and he told me that two of our seaplanes chased a German at the mouth of the Thames at Xmas. They had to start in an awful hurry and had no time to get in their leather clo’! They got alongside the Taube & were so numbed with cold they couldn’t shoot but one of the men knew Hamel well & they were close to the Taube & he swears it was Hamel in it.
I’ve had to give up my feather bed, there was no air in my room at all & I now sleep in a little arbour in the garden, but it is rather cold but I don’t wake up quite such a boiled owl as I used to.
Love to the kids.
ON 1 JUNE the squadron moved to Vaudricourt Château, on the southern outskirts of Béthune, where the horses were quartered in the park, and Robert and his squadron ‘in a very poor farm in the village … not half as comfy as we were in our last place’. They remained at a state of readiness in anticipation of a German counter-attack on this part of the front, which did not materialize. No major attack was launched by the British in June; only small-scale raids, and occasional bombardments. French troops, however, were fighting in Artois and on the Meuse–Argonne front. Although they suffered heavy casualties, they repulsed the German attack. During the month there was constant fighting by the French at Notre Dame de Lorette and they made some gains in the Souchez area.
1st June 1915 – Vaudricourt
The French on our right took 1200 prisoners today at St Nazaire which is fine. We can see the German lines from here tho’ I think it is almost too far for them to shell, certainly with any accuracy.
Last night those damned Germans started shelling us just after I had got into bed but they only sent three I am glad to say & as they weren’t very close I went to sleep & trusted they wouldn’t go on at their games, which I am glad to say they didn’t. Vermelles21 is the most perfect example of a ruined village you can see. There isn’t a whole house in it. Everything is destroyed & not a bird or a cat or sign of life of any kind.
My dear old girl I would give worlds for another jaunt in the old boat with little Bet. I couldn’t help thinking under what different auspices it was that I left Southampton six weeks ago. It is difficult to prophesy when it will occur again.
Yesterday I had my first experience of the German gas but under the best possible auspices as we had a cove round showing us how effective the preventative measures were. It’s awful! You never smelt anything to touch it, it gets in your throat & you cough & cough & without mask or respirator it is impossible to stay in it. The bloke had a very large cylinder of it & let it into a trench & then with his preventatives, walked about in it. It is a thick yellow sulphur-looking stuff & it simply kills the grass the moment it touches it! Foul isn’t it.
2nd June 1915 – Vaudricourt
The mail was very late tonight but when it did come I got some awfully nice letters, your 38 and old Bet’s letter with the dog ‘locks’ in it which pleased me awfully as also did your photos, but old Bet had shaken the camera. Teach her to put it on a chair. Always rest the camera if you can.
Where the Germans are now is all chalk & you can see the straight line of white running all along the front which makes it rather interesting. In the far distance we can just see Notre Dame de Lorette where the French have done so well lately. We heard in a roundabout way that a Zeppelin had dropped 82 bombs on London yesterday. I wonder if it is true?22 We shall see in the paper tomorrow. You can buy the current day’s Daily Mail in Béthune on normal days at 5 p.m.!! Rather good.
Best love old girl.
3rd June 1915 – on pages from a field notebook – Vaudricourt
I thought the enclosed map might be of interest to you as it shows the system of German trenches in our front & gives you a very clear idea of what it means turning them out even when you have taken their first line. You get in the trenches which are more than 6 feet in most places and it means working up the passages until you drive them out & you can imagine how likely one is to get lost & how companies get split up. This map is made by aeroplane reconnaissance so far as the trenches and wire is concerned.
Talking of wire I heard that one of our flying fellows came down when reconnoitring ‘East Ridge Farm’ to a height of 600 feet to see if the wire was cut by the guns & returned unhurt. A day or two after, flying at a height of 6000 feet he was hit by a shell & smashed to pieces.
I filled in the necessary papers before leaving Bishop’s Stortford & named you as my next of kin so all is in order if I get hit & you should get to know before anyone. Hope you won’t have occasion to be notified but judging by the casualty reports the betting seems to be all the other way. My rifle turned up today and I am delighted with it. You were most successful old girl.
I see poor Francis Grenfell was killed but he has been asking for it for some time. Julian23 also was killed too – do you remember him cutting his hand so badly at Norwich out in the motor boat? Love to the Chugs & I will try & answer Bet’s letter tomorrow.
5th June 1915 – Vaudricourt
Very many thanks for all your nice letters which are the joy of my life at present. The only thing I miss is not seeing you and the kids. Otherwise life is absolutely charming. We live in the best of conditions of peacetime. We have a very nice little mess room here. The weather absolutely beggars description & is too glorious for words. We are out of range of the ordinary shells & have nothing to worry us at all. Life is one delightful picnic under the best conditions all day long. I am not merely gassing in order to cheer you up, everything I tell you is the truth & nothing but the truth. And the gooseberry tart we had last night with cream the best in the world.
The rest of the tackle is first-chop, especially the tinned peas. Last night for dinner we had soup, fried fish, joint, potatoes & green peas, fresh gooseberry tart, cheese & butter, white & red wine, Perrier, raisins & almonds & cigars. Not bad for active service!!
I was awfully interested in all your war news so don’t stop sending it. I am glad to hear that Pike is going & I think the White House folk ought to give all their eligible men notice that they could move off in a month unless they enlisted previously.24 I am so glad that the shell fuse & the 75 case turned up alright, the latter makes a capital gong for meal times.
Bell sent me the same kind of mask as you but they are not good. The only thing is a thick flannel bag that completely envelops the head & has a mica front. It is soaked in chemicals & you tuck it inside your coat & it is perfectly effective but Oh! so hot!! The Govt supply them and we are to get ours at once. We have other masks too which are equally effective & I have seen both used in the gas where without them one couldn’t have lived. We are ordered to have them always on us & have to have frequent inspections & drills to see that the men put them on right. We have no gas plant opposite us tho’ they have fired a few gas shells but of course that is nothing like the plant. They have pipes laid up at Ypres just like a town lighting supply & the gas is really awful!
Well yesterday I had quite an interesting day making myself acquainted with the new area & I went down to Vermelles. There wasn’t a single roof left, all the upper floors are down on the ground, not a window, not a thing, except the few soldiers billeted in it. It is just the place to take a party of the strikers to see, it would make them buck up. It has been the scene of very heavy fighting, first occupied by French, then by Germans & retaken by French. Some of the hottest fighting of the war has taken place there & it looks like it. We climbed up onto the church tower without showing ourselves & looked down over the trenches which run between it & Loos, the latter being German.
We stayed there a couple of hours & had a bit of lunch & then rode home again & passing through Sailly-Labourse we saw the Germans bombarding the eastern slopes of the Notre Dame de Lorette spur. I never saw anything like it. They were evidently heavy howitzer shells (Jack Johnsons) & for a quarter of an hour they put an average 15 shells a minute on a piece of ground of about 6 acres. The result was a cloud of dust over 100 feet high & as thick as night & the state of the ground must have been awful. How anything could live through it I don’t know. I am very glad I wasn’t there. We could see & hear every shell burst & it was a most wonderful sight. There has been most awful heavy fighting there lately & it still goes on without either side gaining very much.
We are all delighted over L. George’s speech today & hope he will manage to get something done.25 Everything now depends on England producing shells faster than the guns can use them. What L. George says is quite true & had we had the ammunition in unlimited quantities we could have advanced very much farther than has been done up to date.
Oh I wrote & asked you to send me some flypapers & fly strings, did you ever send them because they haven’t rolled up?
Best love to you all.
Sunday 6th June 1915 – Vaudricourt
I had a nice letter from the old Govnr27 today & was very disappointed when yours did not roll up at lunchtime, but when I came in from tea not only had your 42 arrived but 27 was with him too.
The photo is not at all bad dearie & I like it very much. You have got a new hat I see & still wear the ‘pres’ & the earrings. I loved old Bet’s photos but it is so difficult to carry a special one especially as one is moving hurriedly & changing clo’ and it gets forgotten & I should hate anyone else looking at it somehow. I’d want it to be mine & mine only. Very stupid, but it would be just you to me dearie & I don’t want to share you with anyone else. I do like the photo, old dear, very much, but what I call a weekday & not a Sunday expression!
