The Story of the 9th Kings in France | Page 9

into evidence. Leave opened, and the
prospect of a trip to England was cheering to those who expected one.
The rest at Lillers was pleasantly spent and it was a long time before
the men enjoyed a similar holiday.
On the 15th November the Battalion paraded on the Church Square and
then marched to Houchin, a particularly dirty little village, where a
week was spent. From there it went to Brigade Reserve in the mining
village of Philosophe, in which, though very close to the line, a few
civilians still remained. Butter, milk and other articles of food could be
obtained from the French shop-keepers, and English newspapers could
be bought in the streets the day after publication. It was a fairly quiet
place, though one's hours were punctuated by the intermittent firing of
a battery of 4·7 guns in the colliery in rear, which fired over the billets.
One of the Regular battalions of the 3rd Infantry Brigade was too weak
in numbers to do trench duty, and the 9th had the honour of replacing it,
and on the 26th November the Battalion found itself once more in the
front line and in exactly the same position as the one in which it had so
signally distinguished itself on the 8th October.
Snow was lying on the ground and it was freezing hard. Henceforth the
men were to know the hardships of a winter campaign. There were no
deep dugouts and there were not sufficient shelters for the men to sleep
in. During the course of the winter, exposure alone killed some. Ever
since the battle the Loos sector had been very active, especially on
Sundays, and the trenches and alleys which led up to them were in a
very wet condition. The numbers lost in the recent fighting had not
been made up, and "C" Company, the weakest, had a trench strength all
told of only 67 officers and men.
The relief from the front line on the night of the 29th November was
particularly severe. Following the frost came rain on that particular day,
and the relief was carried out on a very black night in a steady
downpour, and everyone was quickly wet through. The trenches filled
with water and the men had first to wade through deep sludge and then
over rain-sodden ground ankle-deep in mud. The men's clothes became
caked with the mud from the sides of the trench, which increased the

weight to be carried.
During the tours of duty in this sector the paucity of the numbers and
the length of the communication trenches made the difficulties of food
supply very great. Behind the front line in the Loos sector was a
devastated region extending backwards for over two miles. There
seemed a big gap between the front line and any form of civilisation.
Usable roads were wanting, so that the transport could not approach
near to the Battalion. Consequently each company had to detail its own
ration party of twenty to twenty-five men, and these would assemble
just after dusk and wander along Posen or Hay Alley back to the
vicinity of Lone Tree, and there pick up the rations and water from the
transport wagons. The communication trenches contained a lot of water
and caused great hardship to those men who were not fortunate enough
to possess gum boots. These ration fatigues lasted from three to five
hours, after which the men had to continue their trench duties. Each
man cooked his rations as best he could, in his own mess tin; this meant
that he did not get a hot meal which was so badly needed in the
intensely cold weather.
In this sector there was a great shortage of water. Washing and shaving
were impossible, and at times there was not enough to drink. On one
occasion a man was known to have scraped the hoar frost off the
sandbags to assuage his thirst, and some drank the dirty water that was
to be found in shell craters.
At this time there was a great danger of a gas attack, and it was
customary to have a bugler on duty in the front line to sound the alarm
when gas was seen coming over--a scheme which was scarcely likely to
be efficacious, for in a few moments he would have been gassed
himself. Each man had two anti-gas helmets--one with a mica window,
and the other with glass eyepieces and a tube through which to breathe
out, and which was known later as a P.H. helmet. There were Vermorel
Sprayers here and there in the trench, which were entrusted to the care
of the sanitary men. Instruction was given from time to time in anti-gas
precautions, but viewed from a subsequent standpoint these defensive
measures were not good.

Steel helmets