Diary of Keith Morton Hickman, 1916-1919 - Part 3

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38

I attempted to leap a ditch and landed

in the middle of sit, up to my waist

in green slimy water, and the smell

of it was awfull. We were on many

occaisions chaised out of our billets.

Summer was now making itself felt

and it was a welcome change after the

long Winter we had experienced.

On May 19^th I was sent to the

second Army Rest camp at Ambleteuse

a nice villiage about eight miles up the

coast from Boulo Bolougne to the

north. I went to Neippe and then

on to Seinwerck where I caught the

train for Bolougne. We arrived at

the camp the same night. For the

next two weeks we had a good

time. Liberal leave was granted to

Bolougne and the rest of our time

was employed either wandering about

the beach or else in Swimming.

We all benifited greatly by our rest.

Our holiday came to an end on 

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June 2^nd when we started on our

return to our different units.

I rejoined my battery in Ploegsteert

wood, on June 3^rd. The place was

a hell on earth. The opening bombardment

had begun two days before and was

in full swing. The Germans too were

very busy. I frankly admidt I did

not expect to reach my destination.

There were some 15 of us together

and several times we were missed

by little more than a hair's bredth.

It was especially bad on the road

between Suicide Corner (Ploegsteert)

and "The Catacoombs" at a place

known as Hyde Park Corner. After

a quarter of an hour's ducking and

dodging we got to our Head quarters

and I reported to our Battery Commander.

When I saw the rest of my mates

I could see the they had been

through hell itself during the past

two days. There was a strong

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odour of gas, everywhere. And one did

not have to move far to find our

brave lads sleeping their long sleep.

On June the 6^th the work of the

trench mortars was finished, and

so we were withdrawn to Neippe.

A large villiage about three miles

back. I was responsible that all our

baggage got safely back. At Neippe

we shifted billets several times. And

on two occaisions made trips to

St Yves on Salvage. We took out

our guns, and on June 10^th we

went to the villiage of Neuf Berquin

for two weeks rest.

On June 10^th I was sent with a

party of 18 men to unload some

Ammunition lorries at Waverly Dump
Ploegsteert. All went well till about

10 o'clock that night. When the

enemy opened a hellish barrage.

We scattered and so did the 100

New Zealanders which were

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helping us. Our work was finished

and we wanted to get away out of

it. But the officer in charge would

not let is get away, but kept us

there under fire for two hours. None 

of our party were hurt, but some six

of the New Zealanders were killed and 

as many more wounded. Finally

we got away shortly after midnight.

We returned to our billets and found

that our mates had been forced to

leave the billets as the fire had become

too hot to remain there safely.

On June 24^th we went to the

villiage of Neuf Berquin for a two

weeks rest. We marched from Neippe. 

The distance was about 16 Kilos.

While we were here we paid several

visits to the town of Merville. The

two weeks went by very quietly and

quickly.

On June 28^th we were taken by

Motor Lorries to Neuve Eglise and were

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reviewed by Generals Monash and

Grimwade.

On July 7^th We left Neuf Berquin and

were conveyed by lorrie to Wheal

Camp at Neuve Eglise in Belgium.

On July 12^th We started laying cable

from the top of Messines Ridge to a

place about three miles in rear. It

had to be put in seven feet deep. We

were on this work every night, starting

as soon as it was dark. On

Saturday July 28^th we had a very

hot time of it. We had just finished

our shift for the night and were

going back to billets. All of a sudden

5.9 inch shells began to fall thick

and fast. We immediately broke up

into parties of five or six and scattered

out, and made our way back with

all possible speed. We only had two

men wounded that night.

Another rough night was August 4^th

we did not do any work that night

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as it was only a matter of suicide to

attempt it. As we were no longer

under observation we finished the

work in daylight.

On August 10^th I was not on duty so

I took a walk to Mt Kimmel. The

higest point in Belgium. It was a

wet day so the view was poor

August 12^th was another free day for

us, so a party of us again went up

Mt Kimmel. It was a glorious day

and we could see the whole of

the battle front spread out in front

of us from Neiuport to as far south

as Lens. Right in front of us lay

the ruined town of Yprés and

in the distant east we could see the

church spires of the city of Lille, while

Armentieres could be plainly seen.

The view was grand but the

devastation one could see from here

was terrible. Thank God Australia

has been spared the horrors of War.

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On August 19^th I heard that the 3^rd

Field Ambulance was billeted at Vieux

Berquin. So I got a bycicle and rode

out to see my cousin Douglas. I found

his billet alright but he was out, so

I returned to Neuve Eglise and got back

about 11.P.M.

On August 22^nd we left Neuve Eglise

and marched to Baileul where we

entrained (In cattle trucks) for a spell

out of the line. We detrained at

Wiserenes about 4 P.M. and were

conveyed by motor lorrie to the

villiage of Thiembrone. Here we were

billeted in barns and pretty rough

billets they were too. It rained

very heavily during our stay here

which was however short. There were,

here, any quantities of ripe blackberries

and so with some cream purchased

from the French peasants, we lived

quite high for a time.

We only remained here till August

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28^th when we marched in a pouring

rain, to the villiage of Forrestell which

was about 3½ miles distant. Our billets

here were even worse than those at

Thiembronne. Here we remained for the

next ten days. We were excused parades

so that we could help the peasants

gather their harvest. Our help was

greatly appreciated, and they tried in 

their way to show their gratitude, by

filling us up with Beer & Wine. I

don't know what quantity of these

drinks it would take to make one

drunk, but I should immagine a very

great ammount.

On Sept 9^th Two of my mates. (Sid

Powell & Earnest Havard) and I went on

a day's leave to the town of St Omer

which was about eleven fifteen

miles away. It is a fairly large place

and we had quite a deacent time.

and returned to our billets tired

out.

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On September 9^th We packed up and

started out by motor lorrie for

Belgium. During our trip we

passed through the following towns

and villiages. From Forrestell we went

to Ouvre then on through Lumbres, to

St Omer where we stopped for dinner.

Continuing we passed through Arcques,

Renniscure, Hazebrook, Boir, Prattles

Strazelle, Bailleul, Locre and 

Renninghelst, and camped halfway

between Renninghelst and Ouddedorie

The entire journey taking from 10.A.M.

to 6.P.M. The distance was about 60 miles

Here we remained as an Artillery Reserve

for some time.

On Sept 18^th a party of us were sent up

to carry some T.M. ammunition up to

Westhoek Ridge for the 1^st Aust T.M.B. we

were conveyed by motor lorrie as far as

Ypréss, passing through Dickiebusch

on the way. We then walked along

the Mennin Road, past "Hell Fire" corner

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corner. Then we took the sleeper track

past the Zilleheke lake and then on to

Westhoek Ridge. It was a pretty rough

night but none of us got hurt. The

smell of the dead men and animals

which were still unburied was awfull.

As it was dark we could not see

very much, and perhaps it was just

as well, for in this part of the front a

man was lucky if he got a grave.

I will not dwell at any length on

scenes and happenings of the next

month for it would only make anyone

who happened to read this record sick.

On Sept 21^st I was sent up to the

7^th Brigade with a party of men to

assist the men of the field gun batteries

dig their gunpits and approaches to

the guns to bring ammunition along.

either from the light railways, which

were laid as fast as our troops pushed

forward, or else to allow the pack

mules to get up to the guns.

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We were working at the eastern end

of the Zillebeke lake. The mud was

rather bad and the shell fire rather

hot. Every time we went up on these

working parties we came back one or

two men short sometimes more. My

own narrow escapes would fill several

volumes should I choose to write them.

This part of Belgium had once, before

the war, been very pretty. But now of

the lovely town of Yprés only a heape

of ruins now remains The same

applies to every villiage or home. All

the trees were are now only shattered

stumps and that is all that was is

left to mark where lovely woods and

parks had once been. Every square
yard had been turned and re-turned

by shell fire till it resembled a

brown pulp with huge holes all

over it. Here men had to live and

die. The hardships incured by the

mud and hostile fire will live in

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the memories of us all till our last

days. Words of mine fail to describe

the hell of it all.

The next Stunt I was in was on Sept

27^th when an Officer (a windy one too)

and 22 men and myself were sent

to do some work at the 25^th Battery

position. This officer did not tell me

or any of the men the locality of the

battery. We were taken in motor lorrie

to Yprés and we set out in fi

single file with the officer in the

lead, along the Menin Road. Just

past Hell Fire corner a column of some

fifty (50) motor lorries was unloading

ammunition and engineers stores. All at once

a big explosion occured just as we

were passing them and one lorrie

went sky high, another, and another

followed and needless to say we   

lost no time in taking cover. It was

a fleet of nine Gothas ( the largest Hun

aeroplane) dropping bombs. When the

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danger had passed I looked round

and got ten of the men together, and

found that we had lost sight of the

officer and the rest of the party. Being

senior N.C.O. I took charge of these men

and pushed on to try to overtake the

others. We got off the road onto the

sleeper track about 200 yards to the

left of the main road. It was just as

well wes did for the enemy opened a

hellish barrage onto the road, and

the rest of the lorries that had not

got clear, were caught in it. I counted

seventeen (17) blazing on about two

hundred yards of road. The shells were

falling thick and fast. We continued

along and in a few minutes found 

ourselves under machine gun fire

from a couple German aeroplanes and

again we sought cover and got off scott

free. We continued on for two hours

longer, and ran into another barrage

and one of our party got severe shell 

shock

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and had to be taken to the Aid Post 

from where he was sent to hospital.

I decided it was useless to continue on

so I returned to the rendezvous and

found the rest of our party waiting

there for us. We returned to billets,

three men short, after accomplishing

nothing, and having some mighty nasty

experiences.

On October 3^rd I visited the town

of Poperinche with Harry Crouch a mate

from N.S.W.
On October 6^th I was sent up to

report for duty with the 7^th Field Artillery

brigade. The first job we were set

to do was to prepare some captured

German concrete dugouts for occupation

by B.H.Q. It was a rotten job

When we had pumped out several

hundred gallons of black water with

a mighty high odour, and shifted out

a quantity of rubbish we found to our

disgust that there were a number

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of dead Huns to be removed. These we

shifted out in pieces and buried in

a shell hole outside. And after we

had finished we were all heartilly sick.

We were on this work for two days and

on Oct 8^th we were set to construct

a tempory piece of road behind a row

of Guns. This was on the Yprés -

Roulles road near Zonnebeke. We completed

this just before sundown and then we

were allowed to go back to billets

for a bath etc. At this time I think

I can say from what I actually saw

that the air supremacy was in the

enemy's hands. German planes came

over us day and night, especially at

night, and gave us a liberal issue

of bombs. Every night just after

dark we would hear his engines

and immediately the long arms of

our search lights would be seen

stretching up into the sky in search

of them. They were usually flying

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low at night and were quite easily picked

up. When they were caught in the

searchlights ray they resembled a huge

silver moth. Immediately our Anti

Air craft guns would open fire and

every machine gun for miles

round would open on ins a barrage

on them. Some times one would be

shot down but invariably they would

drop their bombs and steer for the

Fatherland at top speed. About

this time I saw some very fine

Air battles. The two sides were

about evenly matched on several

occausions but our men usually

came off top dog. I once had the

pleasure of seeing an enemy machine

shot down by a direct hit from our

"Archies" from a height of about 8,000

feet. It can be better immagined

than described. It was a very

common occurance to see a

machine or captive balloons come

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down to the earth in Flames and

the sight is one that once seen will

never be forgotten.

On Oct 9^th I ran across Rufus Bonniwell

and went to see the 1^st Division

Perriot show that night at Vlamentinge

On October 10^th I was sent up for

duty on the guns with the 107^th 4.5"

Howitzer Battery. The operations against

Passench Passchendahle were in full

swing and the mud and the

stench from unburied men and

animals was awfull. The battery

position was on the road side

and just behind Zonnebeke. That

night I was in charge of No 1 gun

and at 5.30P.M. we were going all we

knew in answer to an S.O.S signal

from our troops in front. The firing

died down in about half an hour. The

attack had been nipped in the bud by

our Artillery fire.

The heaviest concentration of Artillery

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I have ever seen was here. The field guns

were practicly wheel to wheel and 

very nearly in rows a hundred or so

yards apart. Behind them came the

6" howitzers and guns of heavier

calibre just as thick many in numbers as

the small field guns. What the

number of guns was I don't know, but

it must have ran into a good many

thousands. The row when these got

buisy to which was add the noise

of the bursting German shells cannot

be immagined. Only those who heard

it can form any idea of it all. A

man did not know moment to another

when his time would come, to fall.

Men went down like ninepins all

over the place.

On October 12^th our troops made

another attack on Paschendalle. at

a little after daylight. Our barrage

opened at 5.45 A.M. and the fight

lasted on till well into the afternoon

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Our boys took the villiage but were

driven out again, and the whole

advance after a heavy fight was only

a few houndred hundred yards, Our

losses were heavy but the enemy's were

far worse. This was the commencement

of hell itsself till we pulled out on

Oct 22^nd. We got H.E. shells and

shrapnell all day to which was added

gas at night. Of course it was by

no means one sided. We sent far 

more shells over than we got back.

On Oct 15^th we got wind that

an attack was comming on our sector,

and we were ordered to stand to our

guns ready for action. Well this was

about an hour before sun down.

We only got on the guns in time, for

after waiting for about two minutes

we got the S.O.S. rocket in about

four different places at once.

Immediately along a front of 

about three miles every gun

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gun opened fire. There was one

blinding flash and a terrific roar

and every artillery man was doing his

utmost to stop the enemy reaching our

front line. Our efforts were rewarded

because the Germans did not get half

way across no-man's land before they

abandoned the attack. After about

an hour and a half the front became

normal again.

It was an every day occurance to

see several guns blown out of action

& columns of pack mules broken up in

disorder. As I said before Hell is no

word for it. We lost our meals at

least twice a day and during the

five days from Oct 15 to 20^th we

carried out five seven cooks wounded

We ^107^th lost about one man in every three

and strange to say they were all

wounded and none died from their 

wounds. We were lucky to get out

of it so light.