Letters From the Trenches: A Soldier of the Great War (20 page)
Read Letters From the Trenches: A Soldier of the Great War Online
Authors: Bill Lamin
Tags: #World War I, #Autobiography, #Personal Memoirs
Harry’s reference to ‘a Y.M.’ means, of course, the YMCA, which during that war provided canteen and other facilities – including writing paper –
for troops at the front. I have been unable to discover whether the book Harry received from Jack was about the Lewis gun, or about military procedure. It is clear from his letter, too, that,
unlike in Flanders, civilian life in Italy, even close to the front line, seems to go on around the troops.
The first days of June were spent in quite intensive training before the battalion moved into the line once more.
11th
[June]
The Battalion relieved the 8th battalion, K.O.Y.L.I. in the left sector, Right Brigade front: relief was complete at 8 am. Very heavy rainfall during
the day and night. By night, the outpost line was held by patrols
[positions in advance of the front line, manned in order to provide warning of enemy activity, especially an attack].
12th The front line trenches and support positions were improved.
Already under strength, the battalion was also weakened by the influenza attacks. The enemy, however, with extra divisions available from the Eastern Front following
Russia’s withdrawal from the war in March 1918, recognized that a decisive offensive in Italy had every chance of proving successful. The plan was to attack on both the Asiago Plateau and the
Piave front at the same time. Harry’s battalion found itself in the line at Asiago as the activity increased, duly recorded by the war diary:
13th Considerable improvement in weather conditions. At night, our defensive patrol was engaged by hostile rifle fire, bombs and mortars from the vicinity of S. AVE, one
casualty being sustained.
14th Increase in reciprocal artillery fire [i.e. shelling by both sides] throughout the day. By night the outpost line was held by patrols.
A really helpful sketch map is included in the war diary of the 11th Sherwood Foresters (Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regiment), another of the battalions in 70 Brigade, giving an
excellent view of dispositions as the Austro-Hungarians attacked on the morning of 15 June (see
here
). The 9th York and Lancasters hold the positions to the left. According to the
battalion’s own war diary, some effort had been made to improve the defensive positions.
As the artillery activity increased, the defenders would be aware that an attack was certainly imminent. The action started before dawn on the 15th with a bombardment,
including gas shells. The battalion’s forward patrol, as reported in the war diary entry below, seems to have been overrun by the advancing Austro-Hungarian troops as the attack
developed.
15th 3am Enemy opened bombardment on our front system, lachrymatory
[tear]
gas being used. Our patrol of one officer and twenty other ranks was surprised by the
enemy, only two men escaping to our lines.
5.30am to 7.30 am Enemy advanced to the attack, but only succeeded in getting within 100 yards of our wire, where he was disorganised and checked, enemy bombardment was
continued.
8.30am Enemy in artillery formation
[i.e. advancing in small groups rather than extended line to minimize casulties from shellfire]
advanced between S.W.of ASIAGO
and EDELWEISS SPUR forming up in line on reverse slope
[the side of a hill away from the enemy]
of GUARDINALTI ridge. M.G’s
[machine
guns]
were pushed well forward and
opened rapid fire at intervals.
10.30am Situation became normal. Reciprocal artillery fire was maintained. Enemy casualties were apparently heavy, stretcher bearers carrying back their wounded during
the day.
The sketch map of the action on the Asiago Plateau, 15 June 1918, from the war diary of the 11th Battalion, the Sherwood Foresters, and showing Harry’s battalion on the
left flank.
The morning dawned damp and foggy, and the tear gas would have added to the defenders’ problems. The attack was, with some difficulty, beaten off; the near total loss of
the battalion’s forward patrol would have been a blow (as they were ‘surprised’ by the enemy, with luck most of them were captured). The war diary states that machine guns were
pushed well forward. The sketch map (above) indicates that these were probably Vickers machine guns rather than the lighter battalion Lewis guns. The diary entry is somewhat ambiguous, however,
as there are other references to the Austro-Hungarian forces pushing machine guns forward of the main assault.
While the Austro-Hungarian Army succeeded in breaking through the front line in several places, the 9th Battalion beat them off in their sector of the line. On their right, the 11th Sherwood
Foresters temporarily lost the forward line of trenches but counter-attacked and recovered them during the day. The defensive tactics at this stage of the war had evolved to produce successive
lines of (relatively) lightly defended trenches rather than a single substantial front-line trench. If the first line of trenches was successfully attacked, then the second became the new front
line, and so on.
It was still light in the early evening when the enemy attacked again. The war diary records what happened in understated terms:
6pm Enemy, numbering more than one thousand, advanced in artillery formation between RODIGHIERI and OBA, forming up under cover between ASIAGO and SILVEGNAR.
9pm Approximately 200 enemy retired in scattered parties from GUARDINALTI ridge.
10pm Up to this hour, forty of the enemy were brought in to our lines. Desultory artillery fire throughout the night.
For the battalion, it had been a nerve-racking, but successful, evening with some enemy prisoners to show for it. The attack was important to the Austro-Hungarian forces,
making it almost inevitable that the first day’s lack of success should be followed by a second attempt to break through on 16 May. The day began quietly enough, however:
16th 6am Two hostile light field guns were brought in to our lines from the vicinity of GUARDINALTI. Later four machine guns, three flammenwerfer, one case of gas shells,
ammunition etc, were brought in by our small reconnoitring parties. Situation quiet throughout the day.
This time the main attack came in the evening.
9.45pm Enemy S.O.S.
[signal flare, in this case indicating the start of the assault]
followed by artillery barrage on our lines. At the same time, hostile
M.G.’s in advanced positions opened fire on our lines.
10pm Small parties of the enemy getting within 100 yards of our wire in centre of Battalion front fired rifle grenades and Very lights in large numbers, into our
trenches. Cheering was heard from ‘no man’s land’.
[A rifle grenade was equipped with a metal rod to fit inside a rifle barrel; fired using a blank cartridge, they
travelled further than hand-thrown grenades. Very lights were signal flares fired from a flare pistol, which burned with intense heat and light and were difficult to extinguish.]
10.15pm Battalion on our left fired S.O.S.
[to call for artillery support]
artillery barrage opening on line POSLEN – GUARDINALTI – VLA DAL
BRUN.
11.30pm Situation became quieter; hostile Very lights in large numbers, showed enemy parties retiring between MORAR and AVE.
It must have been something of a relief to the defenders as it became clear that the attack had failed. The large numbers of flares put up were probably to provide illumination
for enemy troops trying to find their way back to their lines from no man’s land.
17th Prisoners, wounded and otherwise, were brought in during the day, making a total of three officers and ninety-one other ranks. Relieved by the 10th Battalion Duke of
Wellington Regiment. Relief was completed by 5pm. Battalion marched to hutments in GRANEZZA.
A couple of days later, safely out of the front line, Harry sends Jack quite a striking account of the attack.
June 19/1918
32507/ 9th Batt., York & Lancs Regt.,
C Coy 12 platoon, L.G.S., I.E.F.
Dear Jack
I hope you are getting on alright. I have received the book and was very pleased with it. I have not received a letter for a long time. things have been a bit rough out
here just lately something unusual after beening so quiet. Our Coy was in close support about 200 yards behind front line we were not wanted in the front line so we did not have to fire. I can
tell you support line is worst than the front. The fight started about 3 oclock in the morning and Johnny Austrian started to come over about
7
o clock. Well he did get a reception I can
tell you, them in the front line simply mowed them down and he got no farther than the wire. I went in the front line during the day to have a look when things had quietened down. The prisoners
are the poorest lot I have seen and told us they thought that they were going to meet the Italians and where surprised to see our lads in the trenches. it was a big attack and he meant breaking
through if he could. The prisoners had plenty of money, all notes and was pleased to be made prisoners, well the biggest part of them. They were a mixed lot Austrians, Hungarians and a large
number of Rumanians. there objective was to get on to the plain but I can tell you he got a good beating especially on our divisional front. I shall be glad to see you all again and I hope you
are both keeping in good health. I shall be able to tell you more when I see you. I hope this year sees the finish of the war, but I think that the enemy is more fed up than what we are. I have
had a letter from home and pleased to say they are keeping well. Write as often as you can.
With Love to you both
Harry
(P.S.) I am putting an Austrian note in I hope you get it.
The successful defence of the Asiago Plateau must have been a great boost to the defenders’ morale. A couple of sentences in Harry’s letter show how positive he must have felt:
‘The prisoners are the poorest lot I have seen and told us they thought that they were going to meet the Italians and where [
sic
] surprised to see our lads in the trenches.’
‘I think that the enemy is more fed up than what we are,’ he adds, reflecting on a possible end to the war. (The Austro-Hungarian banknote, sent in a separate envelope with the letter,
survived in excellent condition.)
The Austro-Hungarian banknote that Harry sent home.
Astonishingly, he went into the front line after the action ‘to have a look’. By now, of course, he was a veteran infantryman, confident of his battalion’s ability to beat off
any attacks. In Flanders, a non-essential visit to the front-line trench simply wouldn’t have been considered. It was not a place for sightseeing.
Between the war diary and Harry’s letter we get a good picture of the two days’ fighting. The offensive was a disaster for the Austro-Hungarian forces, which suffered heavy
casualties and made no progress. Even at the start of the battles the attacking troops were ill-equipped and in poor condition after a winter in the mountains (as is confirmed by Harry’s
account).
