At Ypres With Best-Dunkley - free ebook by Thomas Hope Floyd

AT YPRES WITH BEST-DUNKLEY

LONDON: JOHN LANE THE BODLEY HEAD NEW YORK: JOHN LANE COMPANY MCMXX Garden City Press, Letchworth, Herts....

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On the Thirty-First of July, 1917 I Dedicate this Book

"... Henceforth These are our saints. These that we touched, and kissed, And frowned upon; These that were frail, yet died because the good Was overthrown. That they in one dread hour Were terrible Stains not their sainthood, nor is heaven less sure That they knew hell. How beautiful they are, How bright their eyes. Their hands have grasped the key Of Paradise! They hold it out to us, Our men, our sons ... To us The lonely ones." — Thomas Moult . [1] No doubt it will be thought that some apology

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OFF TO THE FRONT

I had been to France before—in 1916, during the Battle of the Somme—but not as an officer; in 1916 I was a private in the Royal Fusiliers, and I had received orders to return to "Blighty" in order to proceed to an officer cadet battalion at Gailes, in Ayrshire, before I had been able to see what a front-line trench was like. So this, then, was my first experience of war—my "baptism of fire." I had seen and heard those magnificent bombardments up the line in 1916, and had gazed with awestruck adm

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THE PRISON

It has already been observed that the 55th (West Lancashire) Division, after a hot time on the Somme, particularly at Guillemont and Ginchy, had come up the Salient in October, 1916. So when I joined the Division it was in the 8th Corps, commanded by Sir Aylmer Hunter-Weston ("Hunter-Bunter," as I remember Best-Dunkley calling him), in Sir Herbert Plumer's Second Army. The 55th Division was responsible for the sector between Wieltje and the south of Railway Wood. The 55th Division was commanded

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ENTER BEST-DUNKLEY

The following letter, written on June 12, at Millain, recounts my first impressions of the colonel whose name figures on the title-page of this book: "We are now in rest billets a long way behind the line. I write to narrate to you the journey. "On Sunday (June 10) I went to bed about 10 p.m., and had only been in bed half an hour when a very intense battle appeared to have broken out on our right. A violent artillery duel was in progress, with the usual accompaniments. The thunder of the guns c

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MILLAIN

It was at Millain that I had my first personal interview with Colonel Best-Dunkley. That interview is recounted in the following letter, dated June 13: " ... The weather continues to be glorious: too hot to do anything. I am Orderly Officer to-day. One of my duties as such is to inspect the billets. They are scattered on all sides of the village, so quite an appreciable walk is entailed. The Orderly Sergeant and I had a drink of milk at one farm. We felt a little refreshed after that. I mounted

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THE MARCH

I now come to one of the most remarkable, and in some respects certainly the most comical, of all the episodes in which Colonel Best-Dunkley figured—the memorable march from Millain to Westbecourt. The following lengthy epistle which I wrote in my billet in the Vale of Acquin at Westbecourt the following day draws a perfectly accurate picture of what happened: "You will be interested to learn that we have moved again. We are now billeted in a pretty little village in the heart of north-eastern F

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THE GENERAL'S SPEECH

This chapter will be a very short one; but, despite its brevity, it seems to me that the event narrated in it should form the subject of a single chapter. General Stockwell's speech at Westbecourt, on Waterloo day, 1917, was a very remarkable speech; it was the most striking speech I have ever heard—and I have listened to a good many famous public speakers in my time—and it produced a very profound impression upon all who heard it. I only wish there had been a reporter present to take it down ve

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THE VALE OF ACQUIN

We now commenced that early rising and continuous training with which we soon became heartily "fed up." "June 19th. "I rose at 3.30 this morning, made a hurried breakfast, and went on parade at 4.15. We marched about three miles to the training area. Our dress on this occasion was without tunics, but Sam Brown and other articles of equipment over our shirts; shirt-sleeves rolled up. When we reached very open country, high up on the moorland, a thunder-storm came on and we were drenched! It was s

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BACK TO THE SALIENT

We returned to Ypres on July 1. Everybody was thinking and talking about the great Battle on the Somme of which this was the first anniversary; but before the day was over we ourselves had cause to remember the first of July. My diary contains a brief synopsis of the journey: "July 1st. "Up 4 a.m. Breakfast 4.40. Marched off from Westbecourt at 6.15. Marched to Lumbres. The place full of Portuguese. Entrained there. Train left Lumbres at 10 a.m. Went through St. Omer, Hazebrouck, and Poperinghe.

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BILGE TRENCH

When I got to Bilge Trench I found that the facilities for letter-writing were not quite what they had been before. But there was plenty to write about. Every hour one was confronted with some new aspect of modern warfare. I had an interesting taste of it in Bilge Trench and its vicinity! On July 5 I began a letter home in the following tone: "Letter-writing of the proper kind is becoming quite a problem. I am quite behind-hand, but fortunately I am keeping lengthy diary notes in pencil; so, if

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THE RAMPARTS

My diary of July 9 tells how we once again got back to the cosy dug-outs in the Ramparts, those ramparts from whence was continually stretched out before our ken, in sunshine and in moonlight, the heart of the dead city. When I arrived at Potijze "Allen had gone to the Ramparts to take over, as B Company proceeds there to-night. D Company are going to Goldfish Château, the other side of Ypres. I had dinner at Potijze. Things were quite peaceful at that time; we stood outside after dinner and adm

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MUSTARD OIL

"On the night of July 12th we were treated to a new form of gas, 'mustard oil.' The two Companies billeted in Ypres suffered heavily, the casualties numbering 3 officers and 114 other ranks." Thus the Lancashire Fusiliers' Annual . The following letter, which I wrote in the Ramparts, on July 13, after alluding to the working party recorded at the end of the last chapter, describes that great bombardment of Ypres: "On Wednesday evening (July 11) I had had a working party, with Sergeant Clews, in

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THE CITY AND THE TRENCHES

After the bombardment of Ypres there still remained seven more days before our memorable nineteen days' sojourn in the ghastly Salient was to end. And memorable those days certainly were. Nearly every day brought with it some fresh adventure. For any boy who, like this boy, craved for excitement, and, while hating war theoretically and disliking it temperamentally, was not blind to the romance and grand drama of it all, there was ample satisfaction in the Great War; and perhaps on no other secto

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RELIEF

My diary of July 20 goes on to state how our relief was effected: "We were relieved by a company of the 1/5th South Lancashires of General Lewis' 166 Brigade at 8.45 p.m. So I set off with my platoon at 9 p.m.... We went round Salvation Corner and across various tracks—a very roundabout way; but Sergeant Baldwin, Sergeant Dawson and I between us managed to find our way to Vlamertinghe somehow. Then we went along the road to Brandhoek Cross Roads and thence into our destination, B Camp, on the ri

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WATOU

The time we spent at Valley Camp, Watou, is duly chronicled in my diary. "July 21st. "We got here at 12. Lunch at 2.... My servant Johnson reported sick with gas and departed for hospital; so I asked Sergeant Baldwin to suggest another. He took me to M'Connon. I endorsed the selection. Allen's servant, Parkinson, has also gone to hospital with gas to-day! To bed 10 p.m." "July 22nd (Sunday). "Breakfast in bed. Up 9.30. The Colonel had a conference of all officers re training and man-power. Then

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THE DAYS BEFORE

On the evening of July 25 the 164 Brigade marched back from the Watou area to the camps behind Ypres; we went to Query Camp. In my tent at Query Camp on July 27 I wrote my last letter home before going into action. It ran as follows: "I have received all letters up to date: I got father's letter of July 23 this morning. I am still very busy, but have found time this afternoon to send a reply to 'Bumjo's' insolent letter to the Middleton Guardian and to write this. "We left the last camp at 9.30

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THE BATTLE OF YPRES

(July 31st, 1917) "'Tis Zero! Full of all the thoughts of years! A moment pregnant with a life-time's fears That rise to jeer and laugh, and mock awhile The vaunted courage of the human frame, Till Duty calls, till Love and beck'ning Fame Lead forth the heroes to that frenzied line. The creeping death that, searching, never stays; To brave the rattling, hissing streams of lead, The bursting shrapnel and the million ways That war entices death; when dying, dead And living, mingle in the ghastly g

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APPENDIX I. MURRAY AND ALLENBY

In view of my comments upon the appointment of Sir Edmund Allenby to succeed Sir Archibald Murray, the following extract from the Manchester Guardian of September 17, 1919, is of interest: The Victor and His Predecessor. When Field-Marshal Allenby stepped off the train at Victoria to-day one of the first men whom he greeted was General Sir Archibald Murray, his predecessor in the East. The meeting must have been a pregnant one to them both. Sir Edmund Allenby came home victor of our most success

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THE INFANTRY AT MINDEN

The six Infantry Regiments engaged at Minden, on August 1, 1759, were: 12th Foot—Suffolk Regiment. 20th Foot—Lancashire Fusiliers. 23rd Foot—Royal Welsh Fusiliers. 25th Foot—King's Own Scottish Borderers. 37th Foot—Hampshire Regiment. 51st Foot—King's Own (Yorkshire Light Infantry). Tradition tells that in the course of the operations at Minden, the 20th were passing through flower gardens and, while doing so, the men plucked some of the roses and wore them in their coats. This story was the ori

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GENERAL RAWLINSON AND OSTEND

Field-Marshal French did not definitely state in his fourth dispatch that General Rawlinson landed at Ostend, but he devoted a number of paragraphs to the subject of "the forces operating in the neighbourhood of Ghent and Antwerp under Lieutenant-General Sir Henry Rawlinson, as the action of his force about this period exercised, in my opinion, a great influence on the course of the subsequent operations." However, in "1914" Lord French has written (page 200): "I returned to Abbeville that eveni

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EDWARD III AND THE ORDER OF THE GARTER

Colonel Best-Dunkley's question on this subject can best be answered by quoting in full the first paragraph of Chapter XVI of David Hume's History of England , Vol. I: "The prudent conduct and great success of Edward in his foreign wars had excited a strong emulation and a military genius among the English nobility; and these turbulent barons, overawed by the crown, gave now a more useful direction to their ambition, and attached themselves to a prince who led them to the acquisition of riches a

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GOLDFISH CHÂTEAU

The following note about Goldfish Château, contained in the Manchester Guardian of September 8, 1919, is relevant to the text: All the men who had any part in the tragic epic of Ypres will be interested in the news that the Church Army has taken over "Goldfish Château" as a hostel for pilgrims to the illimitable graveyards in the dreadful salient. For some reason (writes a correspondent who was in it) we christened the place "Goldfish Château." It was a somewhat pretentious mansion, in Continent

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THE ROAD TO EN-DOR

With Illustrations by C. W. Hill , Lt., R.A.F. Fourth Edition. 8s. 6d. net. This book, besides telling an extraordinary story, will appeal to everyone who is interested in spiritualism. The book reads like a wild romance, but is authenticated in every detail by fellow-officers and official documents. Times. —"Astounding ... of great value." Daily Telegraph. —"This is one of the most realistic, grimmest, and at the same time most entertaining books ever given to the public.... The Road to En

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THE SILENCE OF COLONEL BRAMBLE

Translated from the French. Second Edition. With Portrait. 5s. net. Westminster Gazette .—" The Silence of Colonel Bramble is the best composite character sketch I have seen to show France what the English gentleman at war is like ... much delightful humour.... It is full of good stories.... The translator appears to have done his work wonderfully well." Daily Telegraph .—"This book has enjoyed a great success in France, and it will be an extraordinary thing if it is not equally successful

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A KUT PRISONER

This book is the remarkable story of the first three British officers to escape from a Turkish prison camp. It contains a description of the siege and the march of 1,700 miles to Kastamuni; of their capture, escape and dramatic rescue, and finally the voyage in an open boat to Alupka, in the Crimea....

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SONNETS FROM A PRISON CAMP

Crown 8vo. 5s. net. This book falls naturally in two parts; the first is a sonnet sequence describing the author's capture with his battalion in the great March Offensive, his weary tramp as a prisoner, and internment in a German camp; the second consists of a series of meditative sonnets on these inevitably suggested by close confinement. The poems show great promise, their intense sincerity being foremost among their merits. Morning Post .—"Mr. Bowman's rich and dignified sonnets." Scotsm

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SAPPER

The Only English Woman Soldier Late Royal Engineers, 51st Division, 179th Tunnelling Coy. B.E.F. With Portraits. Crown 8vo. 5s. net. Daily Mail .—"Her very astonishing tale ... an extraordinary performance." Daily Chronicle .—"Miss Lawrence's book is interesting and well done." Scotsman .—"Her exploit supplies the materials for a fine tale of adventure, and she tells her story uncommonly well."...

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A Last Diary of the Great Warr

With a coloured Frontispiece and eight Black-and-White Illustrations by John Kettelwell . Uniform with "A Diary of the Great Warr" and "A Second Diary of the Great Warr." 6s. net. Punch .—"This admirable book.... I would certainly recommend intending historians to lay in these three volumes as an epitome in a brilliant shorthand of the facts and moods of the war—packed with shrewd comment and happy strokes of irony.... As a literary and dramatic tour de force I should judge it to be unsurpa

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The Hohenzollerns in America

Author of "Literary Lapses," "Nonsense Novels," etc. 5s. net. Daily Chronicle .—"Equal in gay humour and deft satire to any of its predecessors, and no holiday will be so gay but this volume will make it gayer.... It is a book of rollicking good humour that will keep you chuckling long past summertime."...

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Temporary Crusaders

Author of "Temporary Heroes." 4s. net. Morning Post .—"A cheery, chatty chronicle.... The author has a keen eye for the humour of circumstance and a most beguiling way." Scotsman .—"Bright and exhilarating.... It is sure to be read widely." Liverpool Courier .—"Even more hearty and sincere than the successful Temporary Heroes ."...

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