At 5.30pm the Battalion left Rue Marle, where there billets
were taken over by 2nd Battalion East Lancs Regiment, who were “to
instruct Battalions of this Brigade in trench duties”. 10DWR marched four miles
to Fort Rompu, where they remained overnight.
Before leaving Rue Marle Pte. William Knox (see 19th October) again wrote to his wife, Ethel. (I am most grateful to Rachael Broadhead and family for allowing me access to William’s letters). He would be less than complimentary about some of the other men of 10DWR.
“… My toothache is a lot better. It is an abscess and it burst during the night so it is much easier. Well Dear I am out of the trenches again for six or seven days and thank God I came out quite safe and well. We did not have many casualties. About 4 killed and 8 wounded. I saw one chap shot (Pte. Bob Maunders (see 18th October). He was on sentry during the day and caught sight of a working party of Germans mending their trenches up and he called eight or nine men to let go at them, but old Fritz had got his eye on him and put a bullet in his neck and it came out of his cheek against his ear. He fell just as though he was dead but we gave him some rum and he came round again. So we dressed it with our field dressing and took him to the Doctor and he is going on very nicely I am pleased to say. We had it jolly hot for over four hours on Tuesday afternoon, the same day as I wrote your last letter, and we did not half let them have it. So they started shelling our trenches but we never got any in the trench where I was, but D Company copped out I can tell you. It was just like hell let loose but once our artillery got going they soon quietened down. It is alright being out here if we could get more sleep. We only got six hours altogether out of four days. I was that tired I walked back to our billet nearly asleep. They are a very chicken-hearted lot of men. They are very frightened when the Germans start shelling us. They crouch down in their dugouts every time they hear one coming and more often than not they are shelling a town two or three miles away. I think they thought they were going to frighten us to death. They were telling us all sorts of things to make us nervous. So I told them to wait and see until we got under fire and then we should see who were the most afraid and we showed them that we were made of the right sort of stuff. They were regular flabbergasted at us so our Sergeant asked us if we had been out before and when we told him it was our first time under fire he said we had surprised him. We are far ahead of this Battalion. They know practically nothing at all. You would have laughed on Sunday night. I was on sentry just about nine o’clock and I was looking through a loophole and saw a flash from a rifle. It was a sniper in a tree about 150 yards away so I let him have five rounds rapid fire and you should have seen them. They started playing the Devil with me. They said you will be having them put their machine guns on us. So I said serve you right if you can’t stand a joke without laughing. … You asked me to tell you what I wanted that stuff for (see Knox’s letter of 10th October). Well Dear it was for to make some ointment to prevent me getting scabies again and the Harrison Pomade is to keep me clear from getting chatty (meaning infested with lice) as there is such a lot like that here. You can see them hunting all day long but more than them there are so many rats and mice running about. When you get a chance to sleep it is a ten to one chance that they run all over you and they don’t half give you a shock. … You can send me just what you like Dear. Something to eat but do not forget to put some chocolate in but I don’t want you to send me ever such a lot as it will cost you ever so much. I would sooner have a small one very week. You ought to see some of the big parcels some of the men receive. I was the first one of our draft to receive a letter. … You put in one of your letters that you could not put in what you like as others see them before I got it but they do not look at them at all. It is only ours that they censor but this letter may perhaps get through without it being censored with it being in an official envelope. We are allowed one every week, so you may look out for one long letter every week, so long as I am alright. I saw Jim McMath (Pte. James McMath, see 19th October) this morning. I told him you were going to send him some cigarettes so he says you are the best old lass he knows. We are in the same billets. He is in my Company, only in a different Platoon. It is a great big barn where we are now just at present but we are going about three miles further on this afternoon to a proper rest camp, right away from the firing line”.
Before leaving Rue Marle Pte. William Knox (see 19th October) again wrote to his wife, Ethel. (I am most grateful to Rachael Broadhead and family for allowing me access to William’s letters). He would be less than complimentary about some of the other men of 10DWR.
“… My toothache is a lot better. It is an abscess and it burst during the night so it is much easier. Well Dear I am out of the trenches again for six or seven days and thank God I came out quite safe and well. We did not have many casualties. About 4 killed and 8 wounded. I saw one chap shot (Pte. Bob Maunders (see 18th October). He was on sentry during the day and caught sight of a working party of Germans mending their trenches up and he called eight or nine men to let go at them, but old Fritz had got his eye on him and put a bullet in his neck and it came out of his cheek against his ear. He fell just as though he was dead but we gave him some rum and he came round again. So we dressed it with our field dressing and took him to the Doctor and he is going on very nicely I am pleased to say. We had it jolly hot for over four hours on Tuesday afternoon, the same day as I wrote your last letter, and we did not half let them have it. So they started shelling our trenches but we never got any in the trench where I was, but D Company copped out I can tell you. It was just like hell let loose but once our artillery got going they soon quietened down. It is alright being out here if we could get more sleep. We only got six hours altogether out of four days. I was that tired I walked back to our billet nearly asleep. They are a very chicken-hearted lot of men. They are very frightened when the Germans start shelling us. They crouch down in their dugouts every time they hear one coming and more often than not they are shelling a town two or three miles away. I think they thought they were going to frighten us to death. They were telling us all sorts of things to make us nervous. So I told them to wait and see until we got under fire and then we should see who were the most afraid and we showed them that we were made of the right sort of stuff. They were regular flabbergasted at us so our Sergeant asked us if we had been out before and when we told him it was our first time under fire he said we had surprised him. We are far ahead of this Battalion. They know practically nothing at all. You would have laughed on Sunday night. I was on sentry just about nine o’clock and I was looking through a loophole and saw a flash from a rifle. It was a sniper in a tree about 150 yards away so I let him have five rounds rapid fire and you should have seen them. They started playing the Devil with me. They said you will be having them put their machine guns on us. So I said serve you right if you can’t stand a joke without laughing. … You asked me to tell you what I wanted that stuff for (see Knox’s letter of 10th October). Well Dear it was for to make some ointment to prevent me getting scabies again and the Harrison Pomade is to keep me clear from getting chatty (meaning infested with lice) as there is such a lot like that here. You can see them hunting all day long but more than them there are so many rats and mice running about. When you get a chance to sleep it is a ten to one chance that they run all over you and they don’t half give you a shock. … You can send me just what you like Dear. Something to eat but do not forget to put some chocolate in but I don’t want you to send me ever such a lot as it will cost you ever so much. I would sooner have a small one very week. You ought to see some of the big parcels some of the men receive. I was the first one of our draft to receive a letter. … You put in one of your letters that you could not put in what you like as others see them before I got it but they do not look at them at all. It is only ours that they censor but this letter may perhaps get through without it being censored with it being in an official envelope. We are allowed one every week, so you may look out for one long letter every week, so long as I am alright. I saw Jim McMath (Pte. James McMath, see 19th October) this morning. I told him you were going to send him some cigarettes so he says you are the best old lass he knows. We are in the same billets. He is in my Company, only in a different Platoon. It is a great big barn where we are now just at present but we are going about three miles further on this afternoon to a proper rest camp, right away from the firing line”.
Pte. Willie Marsden (see 4th October)
was admitted to 1st Field Ambulance, suffering from eczema; he would
be transferred to 23rd Division Rest Station the following day and
would be treated there until being discharged to duty on 27th
October.
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