The Grenadier Guards in the Great War of 1914-1918, Vol. 1 of 3Ponsonby, Frederick
History
The Grenadier Guards in the Great War of 1914-1918, Vol. 1 of 3
Ponsonby, Frederick
Great Britain. Army. Grenadier Guards; World War, 1914-1918 -- Regimental histories -- Great Britain
Having been placed in Corps Reserve for four days, officers and men of
the Battalion were under the impression that they were going to have a
quiet time for that period, sleeping in peace at night and resting
during the day. But they were mistaken. In reality, they spent three of
the nights marching about the whole time, and each day they were moved
up in support of this or that part of the line, to the invariable
accompaniment of considerable shelling. To begin with, the relief took
most of the first night, and it was not till 5 A.M. that the Welsh
Regiment and Munster Fusiliers finished taking over the trenches. Then
at last the Battalion was able to march over to the dug-outs at
Bellewaardes Farm, north of Hooge.
[Sidenote: Nov. 11.]
The worst of it was that those placed in reserve were at the beck and
call of any General who wanted reinforcements. At one time the Battalion
was placed under four Generals, and received different orders from each,
which came about because the units in front got hopelessly mixed, and
the battalions were constantly changed from one brigade to another. For
instance, when the 2nd Battalion Grenadiers arrived at Bellewaardes,
Lieut.-Colonel Smith rode over to see General Monro, who congratulated
him on the good work his men had done, and said he would come round
later and say a few words to them. By the time Lieut.-Colonel Smith
returned, he found that the Battalion had been ordered to move to a wood
north-east of Hooge Château, in order to be in a position of readiness
to reinforce the line near Polygon Wood, where the Prussian Guard was
reported to have broken through. He sent one company up into the wood,
and scattered the rest about the grounds of the Château. It was chiefly
shrapnel-shelling that they were exposed to during this operation, and
there were few casualties.
In the afternoon orders were received to support an attack which was to
be carried out by the Sussex Regiment, Oxfordshire Light Infantry, and
Gloucester Regiment. They were to retake the trenches which had been
captured by the Prussian Guard in the morning, south-west of Polygon
Wood. The Battalion was severely shelled, as it crossed the open ground
towards the wood east of Hooge in artillery formation, and had thirty to
forty casualties in a few minutes. Then Lieut.-Colonel Smith sent Major
Jeffreys forward to find General FitzClarence, under whose orders the
Battalion had been placed.
The enemy now began to shell this spot with shrapnel, and with every one
underground it was no easy matter to find the General or his Staff.
Major Jeffreys was joined by Lieut.-Colonel Smith; they searched and
searched in vain, and came across Major Corkran, Brigade-Major of the
1st Brigade, who had been engaged on the same fruitless errand. Deciding
to wait, Lieut.-Colonel Smith sent Major Jeffreys back to the Battalion,
where he found Captain Pike, who was almost immediately afterwards
wounded by a shell.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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