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Part II B

During the stay at Bapaume I managed to pay a visit to the Hindenburg Line, which as everybody should know was the scene of very heavy fighting during the last war. It was amazing to see the pillboxes in position, perhaps where our fathers had fought and fallen, the tree stumps torn by the ravages of war, and shell holes in every direction, these scenes gave one food for thought, there was the ‘war to end wars’ but we were out in Flanders once again, would our war be the last one? But that was a question which at the time we could not answer. Albert, another town of fame during the last war, was visited weekly for a hot bath, the Cathedral with its fine tower made an impressive sight but there again we were not on a sight-seeing expedition. Leave was still going on very slowly and men were returning each day and would tell us of England and what they did on leave. One day we were again told that the unit would be on the move, I think the O.C made a habit of this routine as theses moves were getting more frequent. This time we ended up at another small place known as Villers Brettoneux where we understood we should have plenty of bridging….a very pleasant thought for a company of Engineers. However we settled in once again and the mornings then held a new fear for us,..P.T., this definitely came under the heading of “gruesome” but after a short time we took it as a matter of course. Fortunately I did not stay long at Villers, I was informed that I should be going home on leave in the near future, this showed that the wheels of the Army were still grinding…amazing! The journey home on leave must be described to be appreciated. After receiving my large sum of money from the Company Office I was told to be ready to move off late the same evening and to catch the midnight train from Arras. The trip to Arras station was far from pleasant but nevertheless I arrived safely in one piece, a remarkable feat as the truck was driven by an R.E driver. I only had to wait on the station for two hours, then the train arrived and we were bundled in. The journey to Bologne was uninteresting and we managed to snatch a small amount of sleep in a well sprung coach. The train arrived at the coast at six o’clock in the morning, on arrival we were told that the boats were sailing late that day owing to the tides. We were to march to a rest camp for the day, the Army with its usual amount of forethought had placed this camp miles away from the docks so that meant another march before getting to the boat. The rest of the day was spent wandering around the town until the time came to climb the gangway. Some men were searched before going aboard, but my honest face allowed me to miss such a thing. The boat sailed about four in the afternoon and docked late in the evening. There was actually a train waiting to take us all to London which was rather surprising as we all expected at least another long wait at the docks. On arrival in London, the Sussex boys found that the last train for Eastbourne had gone, so decided to take the next train to Brighton which arrived at midnight. All were determined to get home the same evening, enquiries were made about a taxi and after much talking we managed to bribe a driver to take us home arriving about 2am. And so ended another journey, the next one would be the boat back to France. Leave passed very pleasantly, but as most of the boys were away there was little to do. The trip back to France was made without trouble and is not even worth describing. I eventually arrived back with the unit after being lost in a so-called Rest Camp for a few days, they were still at Villers, but I was greeted with the words “we are on the move” so I did not do much unpacking. The whole stay at Villers was fairly pleasant, most of my evenings were taken up in cooking meals for a hungry friend of mine who generally ate more than the rest of us put together! I would like to mention that I did no bridging during this period, I was most upset about that.
New transport arrived just before the move and we were told which trucks we would travel in, again the stores were loaded and the journey commenced. This trip was quite interesting, and comfortable as I was traveling in a Humber snipe all the time. Croix Du Bac was the name of the new location, yet another small village with the usual amusements. The billets however showed a little improvement, with a wonderful view overlooking a cemetery. Most time here was spent in training with blanco and much brass cleaning, one of the finer points of Army life. Our stay at this place was shorter than ever and the same orders came round informing us that we were moving…there must have been a gypsy in the unit somewhere. The next journey proved to be a longer one than usual and terminated on the French-Belgian border at Sameon, this village was very small with about two Estaminets. However we settled in the new billets and made ourselves as comfortable as possible. After a few days there I found that wireless sets could be hired from a certain house in the village, I made enquiries and came away with a fairly modern set under my arm, life was getting bearable.
May the tenth came, and brought with it the beginning of the German advance into Belgium and France. All N.C.O’s were called to a meeting and told the news, and were also told of our destination, this time if was Malaise, fairly well into Belgium. One of the unit D.H’s had been in an air raid on the previous day at Orchies, a village ‘just around the corner’ — we realized that something was going to happen in the near future. A fine day in May, the morning was warm and sunny and war seemed far away from that very peaceful scene. The journey took us over the border and we noticed the well prepared defences in that district, but would they be of any use?. The Belgian roads were lined with girls who threw flowers and kisses to the British Army, that was one site, the other was the streams of evacuees leaving their country with everything they owned, but more will be said about that later. The first night in the new billet passed well, early the following morning we had breakfast and waited in the school playground enjoying a cigarette, actually we had one Craven ‘A’ between four of us but even that was appreciated. During the same morning we moved to another billet, this time it took the shape of a large cattle stall, we cleaned it out as best we could and made ourselves comfortable. Flemish was the language used mostly but we all managed to make ourselves understood in French. A small Estaminet at the corner of the road was given to several of us as the owners were going to a safer place, we had several drinks there and took quite a lot back to the billets. By this time the Infantry had gone forward to contact the Germans and we were all waiting for something to happen. Another night passed without anything for us, but we awoke the following morning to the cries of ‘Parachutes’, everyone dashed outside on various states of undress with rifle and bandoliers and there hanging to a parachute was a man of some description, I believe every man opened fire, but the parachute still came down… the first shots in action had been a failure and only meant that the rifles had to be cleaned again. The following day however brought work in the shape of a bridge demolition, by that piece of news we knew that the infantry were withdrawing to other positions known afterwards as a ‘strategic withdrawal’ for reporters to put in the papers. The men were sent off to the jobs, all sections were out on bridges, except me, I was busy doing something else at the time so could not go, I had my turn later however. The empty trucks returned but some had to go back with rations for the works party, as I had nothing else to do I went with an old friend by the name of Chandler. We set off and had quite a good journey with the exception of one air attack. On arrival at one site I was asked if I would stay and help do a bridge guard for the night, I was a kind-hearted chap in those days and stayed. The bridge was made ready for demolition, wires laid and the main works party went back to the billets, that left the bridge guard for the night. It began to get cold, more evacuees began to pass over the bridge, these had to be questioned, so some nice chap suggested to the Officer that I should do the job, it passed the night, and helped to keep me warm. Dawn broke and we were told that the bridge would be blown when Jerry was on it, quite a thrilling prospect for the people who were going to blow it. Breakfast was another problem, we found a deserted house and put the end of a rifle through the window, which enabled us to walk in. the table had been set for a meal but the occupants did not have time to finish it, this made us realize that we were at war and not on an exercise. For breakfast we managed to find some beer and biscuits which were enjoyable because we had nothing else to eat. Orders came to blow the bridge, during the previous night the Infantry and tanks had passed over so we knew that there were no more to come. Mr Bateman was the Officer in charge and told us what he was going to do. A truck was made ready for us to get in when the bridge had gone up, - the bridge went up, a really marvelous sight for an Engineering unit. The previous night had been a strange experience for us, gun flashes filled the sky, and many people came to us with sad stories but we could not interest ourselves with their affairs, they were already proving a hindrance to us as an Army.
A few days had passed when suddenly one morning the boys came rushing in with the news that we had to move immediately as Jerry was pushing hard, trucks were loaded without care, the dogs which had made their home with us were thrown in with the stores and we moved off once again. We moved as fast as we could along the roads, evacuees were moving as well with all their belongings and blocked the road for the Army vehicles, a tragic sight but we could not bother with them or their troubles. We drove into a large wood, the name of the exact location I cannot remember, Racing Stables were to be the billets, the horses had been turned out into the wood to fare for themselves, they were fine animals but could not be kept. I decided to take a short walk to see what could be found, walking down one road I met a woman who asked me if I would like a glass of milk, I naturally said “yes please”. Whilst drinking this strong liquor a small man rushed into the room and said “Whatcher me old cock sparrow”, I was rather surprised, but found out later that he had stayed in Belgium after the last war to breed race horses. On arriving back to the unit I found out that another party had gone out to do a bridge, they had been chased off by Jerry and were forced to leave the compressor behind, this was bad because this particular truck was the most expensive piece of our equipment, this however was retrieved a few days later. The next piece of work was to lay a minefield to try and stop the advancing Germans….what a hope, our modern equipment would never stand up to the task. The mine party left the location and waited all night for the mines which failed to turn up, that party returned and went to bed for a few hours sleep. While the first party was resting, another set out to do the same job, the mines arrived and the field was laid, it was here that we had our first death in the unit and it brought the war even nearer to us. The minefield had to be laid in the light which made it easy for Jerry to observe what we were doing so he sent his first present to the unit in the way of shells. Again we moved to another farmhouse and we looked for some clean clothes s our were getting rather dirty by this time, we were lucky and found what we wanted, had a wash and changed into our stolen garments, I remember that my pants had a dainty lace frill around the bottom, but who cared at a time like that? The next task was to go back to Sameon to collect some stores for wiring, the party set off in charge of an Officer, he managed to get lost several times before arriving at the proper location but the stores were loaded and the men returned to the unit. By this time the German troops were pushing hard, their Air Force had also taken their toll of the hapless evacuees, some roads were running with blood, women and children lay in the gutters torn to pieces by machine gun fire, and the great British Army still retreated…..we have laughed at the Home Guard with their pikes, but when one looks at the position of the B.E.F., they must realize that they were not much better equipped. And so the Army passed through Hal, Ath, Tourney and many other large towns completely demolished by bombs and flames, our large Air Force was helpless, it could do nothing to help ward off the German planes which ruled the skies over France and Belgium, and so the Nazi pilots carried on their ruthless war against an ill-equipped enemy.

Continued in Part II C

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