The War Service of the 1/4 Royal Berkshire Regiment (T. F.) | Page 9

flares and the distant rifle
shots. Towards midnight we had a long check at Merville, a placid little
town with tree-planted boulevards along the banks of the Lys, while
Canadian guns and transport passed us going north from their second
great fight at Festubert and Givenchy. Day had broken and the sun was
climbing an eastern sky ribbed with red and gold, when we reached our
destination, the village of Gonnehem, which boasts an ancient and
beautiful church decorated with a quiet simplicity not often found in
these parts. No enemy had entered here since the beginning of the war.
It stands at the southern limit of the great plain; beyond are the low
wooded hills of Artois, and away to the west the great slag heaps of
Marles-les-Mines loomed through the thunder clouds like pyramids.
That Sunday evening we completed our last stage of 4 miles by
daylight, moving south-west again to the large industrial village of
Lapugnoy, with a station on the St. Pol railway 5 miles west of Béthune,
lying in a valley overlooked on either side by densely-timbered hills.
Here, withdrawn 10 miles behind the line and comfortably housed, we
spent 17 days in a succession of drills, route marches and wood
fighting. We were now in the 1st Army and behind the southern
extremity of the then British line. From the calvary above the village
the eye rested on many famous landmarks: the great cathedral of
Béthune, untouched by the Hun, the church of Givenchy, the slag heaps
of La Bassée, and the low ridge of Aubers, which barred the road to
Lille, a dim frame in the background. We visited Béthune, a gracious
little city girdled about with poplars, limes and chestnuts, where most
things could be bought, including the latest English novels. The Guards
had their Headquarters in the town, and impressed everyone with their
physical fitness and splendid discipline. We consumed a morning
waiting on the Lillers-Béthune road to see Lord Kitchener drive past in
a motor; we watched the Indians going up to the trenches in motor

'buses, and a motley crew of picturesque French Colonials going by
train to Souchez: Zouaves, turbaned and bearded, Algerians, with
thick-lipped niggers from Congo and Senegal, who ran along the open
trucks shouting and gesticulating. On July 11th a memorable meeting
took place between the 1st and 4th Battalions in a field near
Fouquières-lès-Béthune, where they spent the day together. This
momentary gathering of so many brothers, relatives and friends on
active service gave the greatest pleasure to all. In the improvised sports
which ensued the men of the 1st Battalion beat the 4th at a tug-of-war,
while in the officers' tug the result was reversed. The 1st Battalion were
at this time commanded by Captain Bird, as their late C.O., Major Hill,
had been killed not many days before by a shell which demolished the
Headquarters' mess at Cuinchy.
The next evening found the brigade on the move again, through the
mining villages of Marles-les-Mines and Bruay, to a wretched hamlet
called Houchin, where the only accommodation provided for the
battalion was a field of standing rye ripe for the scythe. When day
broke we found ourselves in a desolate country with the high naked
ridge of Notre Dame de Lorette shutting out the southern horizon. Here
in shelter of boughs and waterproof sheets we spent three days of great
discomfort under pouring rain and wind, employed day and night in
digging a reserve line some 4 miles away. As we worked near
Sailly-Labourse we gazed with curiosity at an arid gentle slope some 2
miles away, pitted by trenches and crowned by an elaborate iron
structure with two towers. This ground was the scene of the main
British attack on Loos two months later, and the building was the
famous Tower Bridge. The squalid little town between Houchin and
Sailly, at whose busy coal-mine the enemy intermittently threw shells,
was Noeux-les-Mines, where Lord French had his forward headquarters
during the fighting. But even then there was an abundance of the sound
of battle, for on the second evening a furious cannonade burst out to the
south-east, which signalled the recapture by the enemy of Souchez
Cemetery: the last scene in that terrific fight which had endured almost
incessantly since May 9th.
The day on which we went on the trek again (July 16th) was long

remembered. We had expected in due course to go into the trenches
somewhere near Grenay, but it suddenly became known that the
brigade was to march back to the neighbourhood of Lillers preparatory
to entraining for an unknown destination. Half the battalion that day
had done their daily trip to Sailly and came back about 4 p.m., after
marching 8 miles and digging for four hours. At 9 p.m.