CHAPTER VII
October had ended with some exciting episodes in the Indian Corps; November had been ushered in with a fresh attack, and all classes of the troops, British and Indian, were destined to find plenty of work and fighting as the days went on.
On the 5th November a very gallant act was performed by Lieut. G. Brunskill of the 47th Sikhs in front of his trenches. Accompanied by one of his battalion scouts he traversed some 500 yards of “No Man’s Land,” until he found himself not thirty yards from the entrenched Germans. Making a detour he again crept forward, and finding the trench unoccupied, the two got over the parapet and inspected the interior; they then packed up various articles of equipment and papers, made a note of the dug-outs and snipers’ posts, and began their return journey. They were suddenly fired on, but got back safely with their valuable information.
Brunskill made two similar journeys, on the last occasion reaching to within thirty yards of the enemy’s second line, where he was fired on, and this firing brought on a wild fusillade from friend and foe, through which he and his brave companion, Sepoy Tawand Singh, also of the 47th Sikhs, managed to return unscathed. These reconnaissances discovered the line of advance of German supplies and gave other useful information, which enabled us to devote particular attention to the points noted. For his gallant work Brunskill was awarded the Military Cross. Two days later he was severely wounded whilst performing another daring deed during daylight.
One very important fact disclosed, and which stood us in good stead thereafter, was that the enemy at that time used few or no patrols and left his front line practically unoccupied. Thus the brave pay for their daring, and the men behind reap the benefits.
The next troops to be engaged in a difficult operation were the 1st Battalion Connaught Rangers (of the Ferozepore Brigade), commanded by Lieut.-Colonel H. L. S. Ravenshaw. To their front was a trench which had been held by one of their companies and was now in German hands, and it was decided to eject the enemy and fill it in. At midnight on the 14th-15th November the Royal Scots Fusiliers, of the 8th British Brigade, opened a heavy fire under cover of which a company of the Rangers, commanded by Captain C. Hack, with Lieutenants F. George and D. Tulloch, rushed and captured the trench in face of a sharp fusillade.
Captain Payne, the same officer who had behaved so well at Messines in October, at once sent forward the digging party, and these set to work to fill in the trench. But now the rifle-bolts of the attackers began to jam and the men in the party had to take up the fire. Filling in soon became impossible and the casualties were heavy, every officer having been killed, and a retirement was ordered.
The trenches were deep in mud and very slippery, and the enemy was superior in numbers. Payne at once reoccupied his now half filled in trenches and advanced to the attack, but was driven back with loss. A second attempt was also repulsed. The Germans redoubled their fire, and as the Connaughts’ rifles were fast becoming useless, two platoons of the Middlesex of Bowes’ British Brigade came up to relieve them. This caused the trench to become overcrowded, and as some of the Connaughts were leaving, in order to make room, they were caught under a heavy machine-gun fire which caused many casualties, including Lieut. J. Ovens, who was killed. Lieut. George, the adjutant, was severely wounded as he rushed forward, but Lance-Corporal T. Kelly cleared the parapet, and in face of a very heavy fire lifted his officer to carry him to safety; as he was doing so another bullet killed Lieut. George in his arms. This was a splendid act, and from personal descriptions at the time a far finer one than I can describe it, and I should have liked to see him get the Victoria Cross; but as it was he was awarded the D.C.M. and it was never better earned. He died of wounds in January 1916.
Captain Hack was killed in the charge, and Lieut. Tulloch, although wounded early in the attack, bravely carried on till he also was killed. Payne received the D.S.O. for his share in the action.
The Irishmen suffered forty casualties in this affair, and had it not been for their rifles jamming, the trenches would have been rendered untenable for the enemy. At the same time they learned their lesson, not the least valuable part of it being that rifles are delicate weapons and must be looked after. There can be no doubt it was partly want of care that caused the bolts to jam, and the troops of all Corps very soon found that a little extra care, even if grease is not always available, will help to save lives.
Brigadier-General Bowes in his report stated that “everything possible was done by the Connaught Rangers to carry out the duty assigned to them.” Within four days this battalion had lost five officers killed and two wounded.
On the 5th November the 8th British Brigade, attached to us, recaptured and filled in the trenches evacuated by the 2nd Gurkhas. On the same day Major E. H. Phillips commanding the 28th Battery, 9th Brigade R.F.A., was killed. He had climbed a haystack to get better observation, when a shell ended his career. He was one of my best friends and comrades in the days when we tramped and fought through the swamps and forests of Ashanti, and later we soldiered together in more peaceful times in India. A splendid gunner and a charming personality, he was a real loss to the service; but he left a perfect battery behind him. What more could a soldier do?
As the days went on both officers and men acquired a knowledge of the novel methods of warfare. The Indians were at last brigaded with their own British battalions; they had behind them their own guns, transport, supplies and hospitals, and they were finding out that the wounded or strayed need only move in one direction to find friends who could understand their language. The chaotic state of affairs when they were mixed up anyhow with absolute strangers was passing away, and a sense of cheerfulness which was bred of this knowledge soon began to manifest itself. But even so it took time, and in some cases a very long time, to obliterate from their minds the memory of their first rough experiences, and in conversation with Indian officers and men I learnt many lessons on how things might have been done. They said plainly, “We were not given a chance; and if we get ‘bud nāāmed’ (a bad name) it is not our fault.” Some of the tales the first arrivals in France brought back from Messines and near Neuve Chapelle were soon spread through the ranks of the new arrivals, and any one who knows India also knows what this means.
One incident at once proved the innate love of fair play inherent in the sepoy. In the German lines a document had been found, directing that mercy was not to be shown to the Indians, and a day later the 15th Sikhs brought back twelve prisoners from a raid. The only comment made by the havildar of the party was, that the Germans might do as they pleased, but he and his men were soldiers not dacoits.
The enemy early began to try the effect of using English when on the prowl near our lines, and one man, dressed exactly like a British officer of Gurkhas, came right up to the trenches, and in good English said the company was to move farther along the trench to make room for another company moving up in support. The British officer in command being suspicious of the accent asked, “Who are you?” and the reply was the same as before. “Answer at once by what ship you came to France,” was our officer’s next query, and the disguised German started to run but was shot dead. Similar ruses were not uncommon, and notwithstanding the difficulty of our men being able to discriminate, the Hun generally got off second best.
Fortunately for us the perfectly idiotic accounts that used to appear in those early days of what the Indians were expected to do, or were doing, seldom reached or interested them. They simply did their duty and cared nothing for daily papers; but more than once Indian officers have told me how surprised they were that our newspapers could lie as they did. In any case such stories did much harm, for when instead of finding that the Indian soldiers were some mythical kind of beings, the British public discovered that they were only ordinary men trying to do their duty under inconceivable difficulties, they grew disappointed; but we did gain one advantage, and that was, we were left more alone, and pictures of charging Lancers and bearded Gurkhas ceased to appear.
The Seaforth Highlanders was the first British battalion of the Meerut Division to come up against the Germans, when on the 7th November they found their right flank assailed; but the Seaforths, the old 72nd, did not on service allow any man through their lines without a pass, and the enemy could not produce that document. One or two of the attacking Huns reached the trench and remained there for good, and the others were driven back faster than they came, leaving many dead and wounded behind them. The enemy on this occasion used a very large and long-range trench mortar, which did much damage, and to which of course we had no reply. Captain R. S. Wilson and sixteen men were killed and 2nd Lieut. I. Macandrew and sixty-three other ranks were wounded. It was a heavy toll for a short affair, but the battalion at once found that a Corps which had won battle honours from Mysore and Sebastopol to South Africa had nothing to fear from the Kaiser’s legions.
During the short time the battalion had been in the trenches it had already, in addition to the above, suffered many casualties, losing four officers wounded, including their splendid Chaplain Rev. McNeill, and one missing, and other ranks suffered in proportion.
Part of the 2nd Gurkhas were again employed this day in support of the Seaforths, and during this operation Captain Beauchamp-Duff, son of the Commander-in-Chief in India, was killed. He was a popular officer and a great loss to the regiment.
The description of the fighting by the Army Corps in France is of necessity nothing but a long record, practically of siege warfare, on the same front, relieved occasionally by an attack or defence against the enemy, and it therefore lacks the incidents which furnish the war correspondent with copy for stirring descriptions of battles. Nevertheless, even in this somewhat gloomy atmosphere will be found occasional bursts of flame helping to light up the otherwise sombre picture; and after all what is being recorded is the long and patient sacrifice made of course by our own men who had everything at stake on the final decision, but still more by the loyal soldiers of India who were equally enduring.
From the day of arrival at G.H.Q. I had resolved in my mind how we were to meet the trench mortars and hand-grenades used by the enemy. I had some years previously foreseen that these instruments would assuredly take a foremost place in the next war, and when on short leave home from India, whilst I was in command of the Peshawar Division, I had spent several days examining and seeing the “Hale’s” hand- and rifle-grenades used. After learning their mechanism I had myself thrown and fired these grenades against roughly constructed wooden stockades, and been much impressed by their destructive effects.
It appeared to me that when once troops reached within a certain distance of a position held by an enemy who did not mean to quit it, it became a matter of hand-to-hand fighting, and the one who possessed some weapon other than the rifle alone would gain an immense advantage, which would carry him forward or stop his opponent. With this in view I was determined, to the best of my limited power, to introduce the “Hale’s” grenades into the Indian Army; but, as I shall show, I received little or no encouragement from our conservative administration.
At that time there were in England several officers of the Spanish Army who were testing these grenades with a view to their use in North Africa, and I was present when large numbers were being tried by them. On my return to India from leave I took out a certain number which Mr. Hale kindly placed at my disposal, and reported the fact to Army Headquarters. I instructed squads of Sappers and Miners in my Command in their use, and made a practical demonstration by myself firing several rounds from one of our service rifles. Later I had them tested by squads before the Chief of the General Staff in India, and it was obvious how useful they would prove.
But there the matter ended, and no further notice was taken of the experiment so far as I ever knew. Again, one of the officers who had served with me in Africa, Major A. L. McClintock, R.E., who was then in command of Sappers and Miners in Madras, invented and made grenades of his own pattern, and obtained permission to bring them up to Agra to be used before me and other officers quartered there, but there his experiment ended also.
And now arrived in France I found the Army still practically unprovided with them, except a few rifle-grenades, and I had no difficulty in obtaining the small supply available; but of hand-grenades I could find none. In those days it was a case of “God helps those who help themselves,” and I immediately set the Sappers and Miners to work to manufacture jam-tin hand-grenades, and gas and other pipe trench guns. Black powder was at first used for the latter, but the smoke emitted gave away their position, and later other devices were brought into play.
One of my R.E. officers was sent for by the War Office for consultation, and the Indian Corps was one of the first to capture a German trench mortar, which was at once sent home for examination. The Corps may well claim some credit for helping to initiate the use of these weapons; a fact easily forgotten later on when grenades and trench mortars were perfected and supplied in abundance to all troops as they arrived in France.
Early in November we were able to start work with our primitive weapons, but it gave confidence to the men and made a beginning. The devices used by the Sapper officers were well worth seeing, and ranged from century-old mortars to jam-tins propelled by indiarubber tubing.
On the morning of the 9th November the 2nd Black Watch of the Bareilly Brigade, with the object of getting rid of an enemy machine-gun which was paying them particular attention, organised a small raid, and Captain R. E. Forrester with about twenty men made a surprise attack, killing ten Germans and returning with only two casualties, of which he himself was one, being wounded. This famous Corps was destined to take part in numerous fights, always emerging with honour, and finally strewing the sands of Mesopotamia with its gallant officers and men.
The 1st and 2nd Battalions of the 39th Garhwal Rifles of the Garhwal Brigade, a regiment which was doing its first service in the field, were the next to try their hand, this time not in defence, but in a small raid on the German trenches. On the night of the 9th November Major G. H. Taylor of the 2nd Battalion organised the affair and carried it through, and considering it was a first attempt it may be described as very useful, and certainly encouraged officers and men to further similar enterprises. A trench only fifty yards distant was occupied and partly filled in, with slight casualties, and then seeing he could not complete the work in time Taylor retired, his party bringing back with him six prisoners. The enemy kept up a hot fire, but our men had been into a German trench and seen them run for dear life, and this in itself was worth much on their first attempt. They had learned that if they kept low and used their own tactics they could outwit the Hun. Jemadar Khushal Singh Danu of the 2nd Battalion was specially commended by Taylor. Rifleman Ganesh Singh Sajwan had on the same morning won the Indian Order of Merit for a very gallant act whilst acting as scout.
The two battalions of the 39th were commanded respectively by Colonels Swiney and Drake-Brockman. Swiney, after being severely wounded at Neuve Chapelle in March 1915, was drowned in the P. & O. Persia when that passenger vessel was torpedoed by our “gallant” enemies in the Mediterranean.
The Garhwalis are best described as more or less related to the Gurkhas of Nepal; there were only these two battalions in the Army, and as a Corps they were an untried element. From first to last they did splendid work, proving themselves to be really gallant soldiers, and their very heavy casualties attest to the fact that they bore a lion’s share in Flanders.
Whilst I have described in detail some of the scraps which went on uninterruptedly, it must be borne in mind that the whole Corps was engaged all along our front, and the daily task was one which took heavy toll from all arms in proportion. On referring to the rolls, for instance on the date up to which I have brought the narrative, the Indian Corps and the battalions still attached to it to fill the gap caused by the absence of the Sirhind Brigade in Egypt had suffered casualties amongst all ranks amounting to 3880 or on an average of 190 daily. It does not need much imagination to discover that losses at this rate could hardly be replaced in the Indian ranks by reinforcements of ten per cent per month, which is what the Indian authorities had arranged to send to France. Moreover, the time was not far distant when the numbers would jump up, first by 1200 casualties in a single night, and by many times more in two days’ fighting a month later on.
And later still the day arrived when, at a parade of an Indian battalion in rest which attended to witness the promotion of a Naik to the rank of Jemadar for gallant conduct, the total muster that could be collected after detailing necessary billet duties was under 200 men. Not for a long time did we receive any but small additions towards replacing officers and men of the British battalions, which in the Corps numbered at war strength only 850 of all ranks, though after November, in the case of these battalions, the deficiencies were better met.
At this stage it is of interest to explain briefly the methods of supply by which the Indian troops were fed and clothed, and the wonderful arrangements made for the care of sick and wounded; arrangements in both cases so good as to astonish us all by the simplicity of their working and the celerity of execution. Indeed in these, as in all branches of general Administrative Staff work, India was ages behind the Home Army. Staff work in India was only beginning to emerge from the bow and arrow days; the Indian Staff College and improved status of Departmental officers had in recent years given a good start to the new organisations, but economy had kept them in leash, and there had not been time or the experience of active service or really big concentrations to put them to the test. Where ten motor lorries or fifty motor-cars had been available at English manœuvres, in India we had to put up with ten prehistoric bullock carts, and perhaps a few obsolete hired motors. It was thought extravagant to waste money on telephones, and luxurious even to mention wireless. It was not long, therefore, before we learned the difference between campaigns as conducted on economical Indian principles and the more up-to-date methods of the Home Army.
The Government of India had, however, been very wise in two things, and these were, in always insisting on the Indian troops being rationed strictly on Indian lines, and scrupulously observing every detail relating to their religious customs, especially in as far as their food was concerned. To some it may appear difficult to understand how it was possible in the heart of Europe to observe these matters to the letter, but we had with us officers who knew exactly what to do and how to do it, and the names of Colonels R. H. Ewart, Hennessy, Moore, Lindsay, Vaughan, to say nothing of many excellent junior officers, were a guarantee all would go well with the Supply and Transport; whilst in the Indian Medical Services we had Colonels Grayfoot, Bowle-Evans, Wall, Hamilton, White, Moorhead, and Browse, who with their thorough knowledge of Indian troops were prepared to look after the interests of the men, and ably second the splendid work done by the Royal Army Medical Corps officers, to whom (though here we are now dealing with Indians alone) the Indian Corps owes a great debt of gratitude, and on whom fell the main responsibilities in this European War.
There were days when the ordinary chappati could not be kneaded or the meat cooked with the ingredients dear to the sepoy’s heart, and there were times when perhaps men were glad to eat their flour wetted and mixed with gur (Indian sugar), but this was seldom, and as time went on hardly ever; and after all when the enemy is only thirty, and never more than two or three hundred yards away, and a lively tune is singing overhead, the beginner at the game is not too squeamish whether his dinner is served hot or cold nor whether it is up to Savoy standard. These are the natural accompaniments of rough war, and the Indians are the easiest soldiers in the world to feed when they understand it is part of the game.
The rations consisted of meat for those who ate it, several days in the week according to the circumstances of the time; for non meat-eaters extra gur (sugar), dall (lentils), ghee (clarified butter), potatoes, tea, atta (flour), and five kinds of tasty ingredients; in addition dried fruits such as raisins, etc., and various kinds of vegetables as procurable. But this did not end their rations, for mixed sweetmeats were frequently supplied by friends and retired British officers; cigarettes in abundance for such classes as smoked them; European and Indian tobacco and chillums (native clay pipes) were sent by some of the Indian Princes. Rum was issued to those who were not prohibited from taking alcohol, and extra tea to those who could not indulge in the former. Goats were purchased from Southern Europe in large numbers; slaughtered at fixed stations on the line of communications by men of the various units; labelled with distinctive tapes and conveyed to destination by men of the different denominations. Nothing could have been more considerate than the details carried out to observe the customs of the sepoy; and Indian officers and men have said to me over and over again, “The British Government is wonderful; here in the midst of the Mahabharat (great war) they even label our meat. Truly the Badshah (King) is a Rustam and a Hatim (a hero and a just man).”
As for clothing and necessaries; beginning with somewhat scanty garments, the sepoys were gradually supplied with an outfit which it became an impossibility to move; vests, balaclava caps, warm coats, goatskin overcoats, extra flannel shirts, socks, drawers, woollen mufflers, and gloves poured into their wardrobes or kit-bags until a man could neither put on nor even stagger under the burden, but the cry was, “Still they come.” Kindly ladies in England and Regimental Committees continued to send gifts for the Indian soldiers, and I was obliged at last to cry a halt and find storage room for all that could not be moved forward from rest billets.
There were occasional complaints of shortage of warm clothing from units, chiefly Departmental ones; but though this may have been the case during the first month or so in France, the exact contrary was the case later on.
It is impossible in writing of the Supply and Transport to omit mention of the personnel. The British portion of the work was done with the thoroughness which characterises the A.S.C., but the Indian rank and file are a hardworking, patient body of men who do much and say little about it. In every campaign in which they have served the Transport driver is acknowledged as a very loyal servant of the State. Most of the Indian Transport was transferred to Gallipoli early in the war and did good work there.
The Medical establishments from India soon fell into the routine of trench warfare. The requirements of Frontier expeditions were of a nature so different from anything in France that it practically meant a fresh start as far as the transport and interior arrangements were concerned. There is no need to go into the details of removing the wounded from the firing-line to the Regimental Aid Posts and thence on to the Field Ambulances, with their bearer and tent divisions, the dressing stations and finally the clearing hospitals from which they are conveyed by ambulance trains to the base. These things have become familiar to all during the past war years; but the friends and relations of the Indian soldier may rest assured that nothing was left undone by the authorities to make the removal of the sick and wounded as easy as it was possible to make it.
The Indians received in due course a complement of the best ambulances, and at all times every attention that was their due. The buildings appropriated at St. Venant, Merville, etc., for their hospitals were fitted with every comfort that could be expected on service; the French authorities went out of their way to do all in their power to help “les Hindous” as they always called them, and the Medical officers of both Services worked with a devotion which can never be forgotten by the men. From France they were speedily removed to the special hospitals in England, and those for India left later for that country or Egypt, according to orders. At Marseilles also, which was the great Indian Base in France, the hospital arrangements were excellent, and when in July 1915 I visited that seaport I found a most perfect open-air hospital, with large tents, known as E.P. or European Privates in India, containing several hundred beds for patients, located on cliffs overlooking the Mediterranean. I asked an Indian officer recovering from a serious illness how he liked it and he said, “If there be a bhist (paradise) before death it is this.”
The Red Cross Association too, with all its million activities, was blessed by none more than by the men who came from the far-off mountains and plains of India. Indeed nothing made a more lasting impression on them than the medical arrangements of the entire Army.
Their Majesties’ gifts and thoughtfulness for their Eastern subjects were appreciated in a manner difficult for Britishers who know not the East to understand. One sepoy had wrapped up a small metal tobacco box given him by a British soldier and showed it to me with much pride. “General Sahib,” he said, “this once belonged to the King, and I am going to carry it about as a charm; I shall get back safely enough to my home.”
Another man, very severely wounded, whom I was seeing off in the ambulance, asked me for a “nishan” (souvenir) of the war, and I gave him a handkerchief with blue edges, a part of one of Her Majesty’s gifts to the Staff; he asked me to tie it round his arm as it would be a passport at Bombay, and with a touch of humour he added, “When they see it the Customs officers will not dare to examine my baggage.” This consisted of a German helmet which he had tied on to his haversack.
And whilst all these and other signs were not wanting to show the interest taken by our people at home in the Indian soldiers, there had started in England an association which has since rendered signal service to the Indian Army in many theatres of war. The “Indian Soldiers’ Fund” was inaugurated in October 1914 under the Chairmanship of Sir John Hewett, late Lieutenant-Governor of the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh. Many ladies and gentlemen connected with India became members, and Lord Curzon of Kedleston very kindly lent his London residence as a Headquarters. Sir C. McLeod, with whom I had played many a game of polo when quartered with my battalion in Calcutta, was the Chairman of the City Committee. He paid me a visit in France and very generously gave some handsome prizes for competition amongst Indian soldiers of all corps.
Money and gifts of clothing, necessaries, and all kinds of comforts were liberally supplied. Lady Sydenham, assisted by many others, including my wife, helped to deal with the gifts, etc., and no one can appreciate or understand better than myself the immense benefits the Indians derived during the early days of the war from the gratuitous labours of all those who so ungrudgingly gave their services. It was then a different task from what it became afterwards when experience had perfected the machine.
It is not too much to say, that as far as the soldiers of India were concerned, for nothing that was done for them were they more grateful than the work of the “Indian Soldiers’ Fund.”
Through Mrs. Morant the hospital at Brockenhurst Park was started and named after the late Lady Hardinge of Penshurst.
The Fund also assisted with gifts towards other smaller but similar institutions and hospital ships, in England and abroad. Prisoners of war were not forgotten, and indeed little that could at that time be done was left undone. In the trenches, the billets, the hospitals, the India-bound hospital ships, and lastly the homes of the brave men who had come to share in the toils and glory of the Great War, there could be but one opinion, viz. that the Fund so generously contributed and so sympathetically administered would long be remembered with gratitude.