by E. W. Hermon
I much resent my squadron being called a rough lot!! There isn’t as well behaved a crowd in France. They are no trouble at all, they go down with the country folk like hot cakes. Where they won’t have anything to do with other soldiers my men go in & they cook for them, & wherever we go the folk call them ‘bons soldats’.
The lamp has gone out & I am going to have a much needed bath. Haven’t had one for a very long time!! This is a capital place to be in as Buxton calls me every morning at 6.30 and brings me a cup of tea & bread & butter & the previous day’s Daily Mail which I read till 7 a.m. & then get up, breakfast at 7.30 & off to dig 8.30. Home again 4.30 and Dinner 6.30 & to bed 9.30.
Best love to you my darling.
23rd October 1915 – No. 105? – Noeux-les-Mines – marked ‘Opened by Base Censor’
This letter should have been dated 22nd but last night I got no opportunity to write as we had a bit of a concert just to celebrate our six months in France. Some bits were really quite good and it was very good fun.
Yes, in our burying job one has to get all identity discs off & tie up everything in the pockets with the cord of the disc & register the position of the grave & the whole thing has to be most carefully done.
We have got a lot of sort of influenza colds running round here too & Pongo is in bed again which is a nuisance. Barber went home for a week yesterday and I hope by now has rung you up & told you that I am still pretty hale & hearty.
I am just off to go & finish the trenches for our new Bomb School. It is very satisfactory to know that our Division held its gains simply & solely through the sound instruction they had had in the bombing. They did awfully well with their bombs & took the scrub which runs from the chalk pit on Hill 70 by bombing along it.
The boy who is now in command of the Bomb School, because I am only sort of advising & supervising its re-start, got a Military Cross for his work on the Double Crassier6 in the last attack. Shennan, one of my lads of Watford days, got a Mil. Cross too for laying a telephone cable to Loos. Several of my original lads have been killed, I am sorry to say, in the recent fighting. Well I must go now dearie mine.
Love to you all.
25th October 1915 – No. 108 – Noeux-les-Mines
After the awful day we have had today I don’t think I shall come home on leave – it would be too beastly coming back again?!! It really has been a damned day today. It started heavy rain last night about 6 p.m. & has done 24 hours solid with a bitter N.E. wind. The whole country, roads & all, is a vast sea of mud & the horses standing in a pond. Everything wet through & what the poor devils in the trenches are going through must be a thousand times worse. It has been too bad to do anything much.
I walked down to Mazingarbe this afternoon & got covered in mud splashed up half way above my knees. The road had 2 inches of liquid mud on it. I never saw anything like this country – it turns to mud in an instant on the slightest shower. What it will be later on I don’t know.
I am wondering if things have been early this time & that is why there was no letter & I am looking forward to my paper in the morning in case.7
Best of love old darling.
26th October 1915 – No. 109 – Noeux-les-Mines
I got your 188 at breakfast time, & it was written & posted 10 a.m. 24th so it was very quick. Many thanks for sending the socks for the men – they will be much appreciated I find as the wet work in the horse lines makes a change or two very necessary.
No, if they send conscripts out to these men here I fancy they will have a few home truths told them before they settle down. I wish they would shoot a few strikers – it would have a very good effect. It ought to be made impossible for men to strike on a mere quibble of that sort. It is bad enough when they have a genuine grievance but at a time like this it is too much altogether.
I hope it will be Benjamin too, but one must take what Providence gives one these times & be thankful but we will hope for the best. Tell old Mairky to stop barking. I am glad to hear the others are losing their colds.
We are just starting a regular daily, or rather nightly, digging party & old Mac goes off with 20 men at 6 p.m. to dig and I am going to ride up & have a look at them about 9 p.m. I shall not stay long as it is to go on every night for a considerable time and one can’t do it every night & all nights. They dig till midnight & then come home. I am going to take Buxton up tonight as he wants to see the Hun front-line trench & it is a chance for him. It is freezing cold now & there is no doubt that winter has set in tho’ today was beautiful after yesterday’s rain. I was lunching with the staff today & it was lovely in their garden which, tho’ well up among the guns, has its lawns mown like peacetime.
ON 28 OCTOBER the division received a visit from the King, George V. Because the horse lines had deteriorated into a sea of sticky mud, the troopers selected to line the route for the King were left in their billets to don their uniforms whilst their comrades groomed the horses. They were then ‘piggybacked’ to their horses to keep their riding boots clean. The squadron’s War Diary recorded: ‘Appearance of party highly creditable considering conditions of mud & wet.’
29th October 1915 – No. 110?????!! – Noeux-les-Mines
We left at 8 a.m. & policed the roads from Marles-les-Mines, through Bruay-la-Buissière for [King] George to come & go. He came & saw a few soldiers who had marched in from all points of the compass. He looked worried but was to me much the same as usual. He motored to La Buissière & there got on his horse & rode round the assembled masses. It blew bitter cold & rained like Hades all the time & was just about as unpleasant as you could well imagine.
We got home about 1 p.m. & at 4.30 I rode out with the digging party under even worse climatic conditions than in the morning. Got back about 8.30 p.m. & had dinner, a hot bath in the pig tub & to bed. Today I have done very little really, trying chiefly to keep the horses’ heads above water & mud in the lines.
I see the enclosed in The Times today. The two 85 mm I got out of the chalk pit on the Loos–Lens road & I brought in also the 19th Battalion gun and two others that were in Loos as well as a Maxim.
It’s funny how few letters the Censor has opened & I am glad there was nothing in it to which he could take exception. [The following insert in different handwriting then occurs, possibly written as a joke by one of his ‘young gentlemen’.] NB. The above has been passed for publication, but the censor, while not objecting to its publication, gives no guarantee as to the veracity of the statements contained therein.
ONCE MORE THE squadron was employed for its digging skills – to construct the Lens Redoubt. Each night a party of one officer and thirty other ranks went out when darkness fell until 2 a.m. constructing the redoubt in the old German second line in front of ‘Quality Street’. In full view of the enemy, the position was constantly shelled, but as there was a regular pattern to the shelling, it was possible to avoid casualties. Five battery rounds were fired at fifteen-minute intervals, so work stopped after fourteen minutes while everyone took cover, five rounds were counted then work resumed for the next fourteen minutes. The work was particularly unpleasant as it was the burial ground of many German soldiers.
30th October 1915 – No. 111 – Noeux-les-Mines
After breakfast today I got two nice letters from you old dear. When I got your 190, I was very glad that it was not my ‘grouse’ letter that the censor had opened.
One’s doing nothing now & yet there is a lot to be seen to in odd little ways.
Take this digging I am doing now. I am having no R.E. supervision at all & am constructing a strong ‘redoubt’. Well the C.R.E. [Commander Royal Engineers] just tells me what he wants & I can go and do it & it saves him sending an officer there to superintend. It is all very useful for the Division & they know the work will be well done. We found a gent buried in the trench we were tidying up last night & he had to come out. I wasn’t there myself I am glad to say but I realized he was there alright the night before & old Steve found him & Tulloch had to re-plant hi
m last night.
How funny old Vic8 being near Loos. I heard no tell of the Carabiniers tho’ he may have been near, the only brigades I saw were composed of other Regiments. I am glad to hear you have got old Addie & that all the arrangements are complete. I wish I could be there too dearie, to give you what moral support I could. As you say, it only remains for Benjamin to be Benjamin for all the world to be rosy. I hope the ‘pres’ kept you & Ben warm. I think he will have to be called ‘Ben’ even tho’ it is tempting Providence perhaps!!
Give my love to the Chugs.
31st October 1915 – No. 112 – Noeux-les-Mines
Last night I was round the Hun trenches that they were turned out of and really their dugouts were wonderful.
They have a completely boarded tunnel with steps leading down from the trench to dugouts as much as 30 feet below the ground level, the ceiling and walls being shored up with 1 ft boarding & pit props used to give extra strength. I found one tunnel that was 80 feet long but had no time to explore but hope to go down it one of these nights. The trenches had had a rare old hammering and in places were fairly bashed in. I am sending you a sample of their barbed wire which will open your eyes a bit. I don’t know if it is the normal wire of peacetime or a special wire for war, I should think the latter.
1st November 1915 – No. 113 – Noeux-les-Mines
Time’s nearly up & I do so hope you won’t have to wait that extra fortnight. My dear old thing, I would love to be with you if I could but it was no good risking it. We could have so much nicer a time a bit later when we could be more alone together. My leaves start on a Friday & one is back the following Sat. morning at daybreak. The trains get into Victoria about 3 a.m.!! It’s an awful hour.
I got another lovely letter from you today & I unpacked two boxes of socks, about 50 pairs; these will be much appreciated.
We are fearfully pleased with ourselves as tonight we got a water cart which had been strafed by the Huns. We have been badly in need of one ever since we came out & this one belonged to the party of ‘German guns’ that I sent you the Daily Mail photo of. It was left on the road & is, I hope, going to be very useful to us. It’s got a shrapnel hole or two in the tank but I can get that fixed up alright here.9
Best love old dear.
2nd November 1915 – No. 114 – Noeux-les-Mines
Your 194 to cheer me on the most damnable of damnable days. It seems to have rained for the last week without stopping for a minute & the state of the land is simply awful. The horse lines simply beggar description. We have dug a certain number of drains through them but the ground is more like the mud bank in Bembridge Harbour than anything else.
It is bad luck about the King. His horse came over backwards with him & I heard he had a rib broken but am not sure. I was standing in the road as he left the first parade on the way to the second & he passed me quite close & then I went to a corner where I had some men & was just getting them mounted when to my horror I saw the Royal Car coming towards me as hard as it could go. I’d got some damned fellow in a car just turning round & right in the way, but I got him out in time. I thought H.M. was lying back very far in his car & I knew he couldn’t have fulfilled his programme but I thought it was perhaps the wet that had stopped things & being so wet & cold myself made off for home the moment I could, & I did not hear until later in the day that he had had an accident.10
I think getting £400 at the [charity] sale was marvellous. I am so glad the Chugs did so well with their part.
3rd November 1915 – No. 114 – Noeux-les-Mines
I got your most stimulating epistle, No. 195, today & if it has done nothing else it has driven the rain away. No! H.M.’s accident happened about 10 mins after he had left my piece. He motored from his Hd Qrs to La Buissière & then rode onto parade & then on to the next parade & towards Hesdigneul where it happened.
Poor old Pongo has been sent to England, but it is a blessing that I could spare him the best of the lot tho’ I fear it would break his heart if he read this. The rain has taken up I am glad to say and tho’ we have had intermittent showers all day it is now a glorious starlight night.
We heard a very good story against the Staff the other day. A Turkish sniper was caught & interrogated & he told them that he got 3d for every man he shot, 6d for every N.C.O. & on a sliding scale. Then they said ‘What do you get for a Staff Officer?’ & he said ‘28 days confinement to Barracks’!! It’s very easy to criticize a huntsman but the poor old Staff do come in for a good deal of criticism. In certain cases it is merited.
Now the French, whose horsemanship we laugh at, have all their horses roofed over & on dry standings. Nothing at all has been done for ours, they stand in the open up to their bellies in mud & shiver. Now I am ordered to make standings for them by laying bricks on the ground with no foundations at all & after the first shower of rain these same bricks will be 3 feet down in the mud. They have waited to make even this until the ground is absolutely soaked with water & you can’t get to the hard under about 2 feet digging!! Do you know that not a single water trough for horses, hardly, has been put up in this area. That thousands of horses water daily at a trough where four can drink at a time!
We have a lot to learn yet & what’s more the French can teach us. I used to laugh at them when I first came out but the more I see of them the more impressed I am. They waste no time on ‘show’, everything they do has a really sound reason & they do little that isn’t thoroughly sound. I’m a little fed up tonight but I had a pill last night & shall be alright tomorrow!!
Thank old Bet for her nice letter.
Ever your Robert.
1 Major General Fredrick Wing.
2 The inspecting officer for the divisional parade on the 9th was General Sir Henry Rawlinson, GOC, 4th Corps.
3 At Loos.
4 With the war going badly the British government were preparing for a long fight and needed a continuous supply of shells. The new Minister of Munitions, Lloyd George, was urging women to work in the munitions factories to keep up with the demand while so many of the male labour force were on active service.
5 Early in October the British Foreign Secretary, Sir Edward Grey, stated that the situation in the Balkans was of the utmost gravity. On the 15th Britain declared war on Bulgaria, as did France the following day.
6 A twin-peaked slag heap near Loos.
7 Newspapers arrived in France only a day late, so Robert was hoping to read the announcement of the birth of their baby in The Times before a telegram or a letter reached him.
8 Victor Hermon, Ethel’s brother.
9 The water cart made the work of watering the horses far easier; it remained with the regiment until the Armistice.
10 King George’s horse had taken fright at a sudden burst of cheering, reared up and fallen backwards on top of the King, resulting in his suffering a broken pelvis.
HOME LEAVE
LATE AUTUMN 1915 was a time of continuing setbacks for the Allies. French troops were involved in fierce fighting in Champagne, where several villages were totally destroyed. Both Serbia and Montenegro had fallen to the Austro-German alliance, and the whole of Russian Poland was now under German control. Allied forces in Gallipoli were facing defeat and the serious possibility of evacuation.
On the Western Front there was no major British attack, but constant shelling and night raids continued on both sides. Relentless wet weather contributed to the general discomfort of the troops and conditions in the trenches were now appalling.
For Robert personally, it was an anxious time waiting for the birth of his fifth child, although this was tempered by the anticipation of his forthcoming leave after seven long months in France.
4th November 1915 – No. 115 – Noeux-les-Mines
Your 196 duly to hand today. Go on with you about my numbers – they’re hot stuff!!
I hoped the Chugs liked their time in town & saw the guns?
I am much happier tonight as I have at last persuaded the Staff of the fact that t
o lay bricks on soft mud for horses to stand on is the act of an idiot & have managed to get out of making them for the present & hope later on to be able to make some cover for them which is what is wanted, as if you can keep the wet from the standings you can keep the horses fairly dry.
This afternoon was very fine & nice & I went up to see my redoubt1 in daylight. I had the most wonderful view of the fight I have yet had since I have been out & saw the whole German & our lines from Hohenzollern Redoubt right round to W. of Maroc & it was really a splendid sight as one could watch the shells of both sides bursting all along the lines.
I heard tonight that the Germans had shouted across from their line ‘If you fellows can hold out for two months more you have us cold!’ I don’t know how much truth there is in it but Mac heard it while I was out and he had gone up to dig before I got back as I was taking a dish of tea off the General.
Asquith’s speech seemed to be to be rather ‘a collection of enterprises badly bungled & half-heartedly begun’.2 However we shall muddle on no doubt & muddle to a successful conclusion as we have muddled to the end before.
6th November 1915 – No. 117 – Noeux-les-Mines
For once old darling you are quite wrong. I never was in better health in my life & have been up-to-date ever since I was out & hope to continue in that same.
I am addressing the parcels tonight & they will go tomorrow. I have put in another unloaded bomb known as the ball bomb & used extensively in the last battle. I will unload some more & send you them as soon as I can, as an example of the various kinds would no doubt interest folk very much. Your letters have turned up alright recently. How much longer are you going to keep me on tenterhooks!
