A PERSONAL ACCOUNT OF ALL THE ENGAGEMENTS IN WHICH THE 1ST DIVISION 1ST CORPS TOOK PART, VIZ.: MONS (INCLUDING THE RETIREMENT), THE MARNE, THE AISNE, FIRST BATTLE OF YPRES, NEUVE CHAPELLE, FESTUBERT, AND LOOS BY F. A. BOLWELL WITH SIX SKETCH MAPS BY THE AUTHOR LONDON: GEORGE ROUTLEDGE & SONS, LTD. NEW YORK: E. P. DUTTON & CO. TO THE LATE COLONEL KNIGHT AND OFFICERS OF THE LOYAL NORTH LANCASHIRE...

Being a Reservist, I was naturally called to the colours on the outbreak of war between England and Germany on August 4th, 1914, so I downed tools; and, although a married man with two children, I was only too pleased to be able to leave a more or less monotonous existence for something more exciting and adventurous. Being an old soldier, war was of course more or less ingrained into my nature, and during those few days before the final declaration I was at fever heat and longing to be away. As

At Le Havre we were met by two men of the French Army, who to our unaccustomed eyes appeared very strange in their red trousers and blue coats. We promptly dubbed them "The Pantomime Army." They were to act as our interpreters, and came forward with their credentials to the C.O. After disembarking our transport, etc., we were marched, through the docks, on to the dock road, there to hang about all day long, amusing ourselves as best we could. A sentry was posted to stop any man from going into t

The following morning we left Bernay behind, and, going out the opposite side of the town from which we had entered, we marched two miles along the road until we came to a hill on the left of the road about five hundred yards off. There we advanced to the cover of the hill and were ordered to lie down. We were then informed that a four-days' battle was expected, and that a force of 40,000 Germans was on our front. Nothing, however, came of it that day; so we advanced a few more miles, and took r

I will make a humble attempt to relate the Battle of the Marne as it was fought by the 1st Division. Our worst day—the one on which we did the most fighting—was the tenth of September. On the morning of that day we marched off particularly early, and we must have done close on ten miles, as we were halted for rest on two occasions. On breasting a hill about two miles from the last halt, we were again called to the halt, and the Artillery, brought up from behind, opened out on each side of the ro

We were roused next morning with kicks from the platoon commanders, and, after much struggling and putting on of wrong equipments, we marched out, but not before each man had received two ounces of Gold Flake tobacco, the first English tobacco we had seen since leaving home. It was the fourteenth day of September, and raining. Leaving the village, we marched down a road for about five hundred yards, bordered on each side by high banks. There a halt was called. On our right we could hear the soun

From the Aisne we travelled in the usual fashion, thirty-six to forty in a horse-box, viâ St. Denis to Boulogne, where we stopped until 3 p.m. on the Sunday afternoon of October the eighteenth. As usual, many rumours were afloat, the strongest being that we were going on garrison duty to some quiet little place, to pick up strength once more. That quiet little place turned out to be Ypres! The reason of our stoppage in Boulogne was that a train in front of us, also a troop train, had met with an

We were, I believe, sent up in reserve to the 1st Brigade. Whether that is correct or not, it is not for me to state—all I know is that we formed up well behind the front line, two companies taking the first line in extended order and two companies the second line in the same order. Thus we advanced about a mile over flat open country to the front line. We went up in short rushes, and a word of praise is due to the men who took part in it. I never even on the Barrack Square or drill-ground saw a

Next day, Boxing Day, December the twenty-sixth, 1914, we once more packed our traps, and, marching viâ Beuvry and Annequin, entered Cambrin. The first four days we were billeted in houses and shops, which had been shelled to pieces, and set to work digging ways through the walls of cellars for means to get out should the house be hit again by a shell during a bombardment. That night a night-attack by the enemy was expected and the usual precautions were taken; it came to nothing. Although this

The signal for the bombardment was given by a big gun at 5.30 a.m., when all the guns commenced to blaze off. It was just as if all hell were let loose! The German trenches, like ours, were built up of sandbags; and within five minutes they represented the waves of the sea beating against the rocks. Débris was flying in all directions, and we men stood on the tops of our trenches to see the fun; but were very soon down again, as the enemy during the whole of that bombardment repeatedly sniped at

The 1st Division took the centre, with the 15th Scottish Division on the right and the 9th Division on the left. The 1st Division faced a part of the line known as "Lone Tree," named after a tree between the two lines and the only one there. The Division had battle Headquarters at Larutwar Farm, and Brigade Headquarters in a part of the trenches known as "Daly's Keep." At 6.40 a.m. on the morning of the twenty-fifth of September the attack was to be launched, first by the Royal Engineers letting