AND OTHER PLACES
Reading edition
RECOLLECTIONS OF 1916, 1917, 1918
BY FRANCIS BUCKLEY
LONDON SPOTTISWOODE, BALLANTYNE & CO. LTD. 1 New-Street Square, E.C. 4 1920
INTRODUCTION
In the following pages I have tried to set down as faithfully as I can some of the impressions which remain to me now of three years' service in France and Flanders.
I have naturally suppressed much of the grim and ghastly horrors that were shared by all in the fighting area. A narrative must be written from some point of view, and I have had to select my own. I regret that so much personal and trivial incident should appear. Perhaps some will be able to see through the gross egotistical covering and get a glimpse, however faint, of the deeds of deathless heroism performed by my beloved comrades—the officers and men of the 7th Northumberland Fusiliers, the officers and men of the 149th Infantry Brigade, the officers and men of the 50th Division.
The climax of the story is the battle on the Somme where so many dear friends have perished. The name is taken from a spot where a small party of the 7th N.F. did something long afterwards to avenge their fallen comrades.
Finally no criticism of the Higher Command is intended by anything that has been written. If such can be read between the lines, it is unintentional and a matter for sincere regret.
CONTENTS
PAGE
I. When it began 1
II. The Men of the North Country 7
III. Alnwick 12
IV. The Journey Out 17
V. Hill 60 22
VI. Mount Sorrel and Canny Hill 31
VII. Kemmel 41
VIII. Divisional Rest 48
IX. Brigade Head-quarters 52
X. The Brigade Bombing School 59
XI. St. Eloi and Neuve Eglise 64
XII. The Somme 68
XIII. Hénencourt 72
XIV. Mametz Wood 76
XV. The 15th September, 1916 80
XVI. Millencourt 87
XVII. Hook Sap 90
XVIII. Second Leave—Bresle 97
XIX. Butte of Warlencourt—Trench Warfare 102
XX. France and the French 107
XXI. South of the Somme 115
XXII. The Battle of Arras 122
XXIII. Wancourt Tower—Croisilles 125
XXIV. Monchy-au-Bois 139
XXV. Trench Warfare—Vis-Cherisy Front 143
XXVI. The Houthulst Forest 153
XXVII. Divisional Rest Near St. Omer 161
XXVIII. The Passchendaele Ridge 165
XXIX. Good-bye to the 50th Division 173
XXX. Digging Trenches About Loos 176
XXXI. The German Offensive 1918—Second Battle of Arras 182
XXXII. Trench Warfare—Hébuterne 203
XXXIII. Trench Warfare—the Colincamps Ridge 207
XXXIV. The British Offensive 1918—Bapaume Retaken 219
XXXV. The Storming of the Hindenburg Line near Trescault 224
XXXVI. The Germans' Last Stand 230
XXXVII. The Final Rush Forward 234
XXXVIII. The End of it all 238
NOTE
The following abbreviations are used:
B.H.Q. = Brigade Head-quarters.
C.C.S. = Casualty Clearing Station.
C.O. = Commanding Officer.
C.T. = Communication Trench.
D.A.Q.M.G. = Deputy-Assistant-Quartermaster-General.
D.H.Q. = Divisional Head-quarters.
F.A. = Field Ambulance.
H.Q. = Head-quarters.
L.-C. = Lance-Corporal.
N.C.O. = Non-commissioned Officer.
O.C. = Officer Commanding.
O.P. = Observation Post.
O.T.C. = Officers' Training Corps.
Q.M. = Quartermaster.
R.T.O. = Railway Transport Officer.
Y.M.C.A. = Young Men's Christian Association.