Diary of Harold William Riggall 1916 - Part 9
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At any rate it is some consolation to know that
the battery must be doing good work or else they
would not keep us here. The 8th Bde is staying
also I hear. Ford came up from the wagon line
this morning & Lyne has gone down for three
days. Lloyd really should have gone down but I
am keeping him here as he had a long spell
at the wagon lines while we were in action at
Fleurbaix Laventie & Ploystruk.
Sunday August 6th
Was firing slowly all yesterday until seven o'clock
Opened again in new barrage lines a little to the left
last night about 9 o'clock when the Germans began to
put his .77 cm gun over us. At about 9-45 he began to
fire on us with a six or eight inch gun ^(or perhaps a 5.9) & at 10 o'clock
one shot buried Sergt Major Freeman & Segt Bradshaw who were
standing between Nos. 2 & 3 gun. Sgt Bradshaw was badly cut
about the face & will have to go to hospital as he is suffering
badly from shock & his face is very swollen this morning.
The Sgt Major got off with nothing more than a fright which
when he returned a neat whiskey fixed up. The gun was
firing about one shot a minute & later at about midnight
a shot landed in D sub gun empaulment and threw all the
detachment out of the pit breaking Bdr Weeks collar bone
& badly cutting McCausland about the face so that he will
have to go to hospital. McCracken was slightly cut about
the face. He did no further damage to us but this
morning our position looks awful being full of
shell holes and debris. We were awfully lucky to get
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out of it so lightly. Early this morning just after before
daybreak the drivers brought the wagons up with ammunition
and there were brought up one at a time & unloaded &
galloped back emplly. Lucky no casualties. Bennett & Cotter
did good work last night giving hell to the men who were
wounded & suffering from shock. It was an awful night
but the battery kept firing slowly on it barrage until four
o'clock this morning when everything became quiet again.
D sub gun was knocked forward about four feet & buried
but on being dug out this morning was found to be as
good as ever. Gr Woods has gone to hospital as his face
is swelling badly from a hit he got a few days ago.
Mr Lloyd did valuable work last night being on duty
right through the shelling, during which he showed
his usual coolness, handling the guns extremely well.
12-15 pm. Just received a message on the telephone that
Morgan is seriously wounded & that I must send another
officer up to Pozieres. Morgan was F.O.D. having gone up
last night for 24 hours. I have detailed Ford to go
up. Pray God he may not be hit. Oh Kiddie
darling this is awful. I am as jumpy as a cat
today, my nerve seems to have gone for the time
being. Sgt Major Freeman is ordered away to
hospital suffering from shell shock. If we have
another shelling today the men will collapse.
We must get relieved soon. Have sent to clearing
station to try and hear how Morgan is. 1 p.m. Just
received telephone message that Morgan is being brought
down by the stretcher bearers & is badly wounded in
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the back. Poor old chap a better & cooler man under
fire never walked. 3 p.m. The specialist I sent has
just returned with word that Morgan was hit with a
burst of shrapnel while trying to get to U.G. 1 (the
old German third line that we took the night before last)
He was running across the open from shell hole to shell
hole & was hit in the back & all his arms and legs were
peppered. They thought at first his spine was
injured but when they carried him back to the dressing
station he was able to move his legs so his spine is
not injured. He is suffering a lot from shock.
Thank God it is no worse. I hear our guns
stopped a German counter attack last night which
made the German retaliate so hotly against us.
A few hundred Germans marched across last
night & gave themselves up. But our boys are not
keen on taking prisoners & are giving a lot of them the
cold steel. As they put it "Why should the German kill
such a lot of us & then when we have him cornered he
saves his dirty life by giving himself up." Began
firing this morning on our barrage lines at 11-30 a.m.
B sub gun soon reported out of action the springs &
spring case being badly broken which is only to be
expected as she has fired about 3000 rds in the last
fortnight. 5 p.m. Ford has just received orders to
go forward over the same ground on which Morgan was
hit, hope he will be alright. To explain how
dangerous this ground is the infantry only cross
it at night. No movement takes place over
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it during daylight. Have just been having a
talk with Masters of the 22nd Bty who has just
returned from the Front line & he tells me that last
night the Germans fired on our boys until they were
right on them & then threw down their arms & wanted
to surrender. But our boys had seen their comrades
go down in hundreds & would not take them prisoners
but could not kill them in cold blood so they clubbed
their rifles & smashed the Germans on the balls &
crushed their feet with the stock end. A lot
of Germans were down in their dug outs & those that
were left alive & did not come up when told to do so
died by suffocation as the entrance was filled in
with earth. This may sound brutal dear when
reading it in cold blood but a man could not
trust his life if he went down into a dug out to
fetch up unwounded men, & seeing one's best
friends killed arouses ones blood. The Australian
has shown in this war that he is a brutal coldblooded
fighter when he is roused. Morgans batman has
returned Morgan is fairly bad but will get alright in time
& the doctors do not think his spine is touched. Morgan
has sent a message to me asking me to report on the
bravery shown by norman Gordon G Ferrier (who was
the specialist with him when he was hit) in bringing
him back to safety. Ferrier was himself hit by a
pellet in the back. Thank God Ford has returned
safely at 9 p.m. having gone out to O.G, 1 & done
the work Morgan would have done if he could
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have got across.
Monday August 7th
We began firing on our barrage lines which had
proved so successful last night in stopping the counter
attack & which Ford was out to yesterday & reported
as having killed four or five hundred Germans who are
still lying out there. Well as I was going to say we
began firing at 9 p.m. & finished at 4 a.m. I took
charge last night & the Germans crumped us but did
no damage beyond frightening us all badly. The
night passed very slowly & I was very frightened.
The Germans captured a small trench of ours with a
raid at 4.10 a.m. this morning & captured 50 men
& a machine gun whom they were taking back to their
own lines when a party of men from the 14th Battn cut
in between the Germans & their own lines & attacked
the raiding party with bombs & the bayonet & turned the
tables on them by capturing them & releasing our men.
They brought in about 50 Germans & our recovered
machine gun. Turned in at 4.30 a.m. & slept until
10 o'clock. At 10-30 I got orders to report to Bde Hd
Qrs, & was told that we were being relieved today by
the 22nd F A Bde who are stationed at Delville Wood
& are having a terrible time. Saw them & had explained
things to them when relief cancelled & the 22nd Bde got
orders to stay at the Wood & the Lahore Div Arty were
to relieve us. The Lahore Arty Div are attached to the
4th Aust Div as the 4th Aust Div has been sent
out of the line & away to England for six months
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training. Well dear to cut things short I got
away with my own guns during the afternoon & left
myself at 5 o'clock, for the wagon line & not any too
soon as the Germans were putting over 8 inch just along
side our position & I thought we were going to get one
any minute. The 105th How. Bty got too three men
killed & Pat Hare has his arm blown off just as they
were moving out. They were camped near us. I was
the last to leave as by mistake my groom did not bring
up my mare with Lyne's (the other officers & all the men
I had already sent away as things looked if they
were likely to get hot) & I had to wait about a quarter
of an hour & it really seemed days, but when the mare
came up it did not take me long to get away. I only
trotted but I did not hold the curb hard. Just as I
was leaving a shell fell under the belly of a horse of
the battery who were relieving 22nd, the horse reared up
& luckily the shell did not burst although it knocked the
horse over with the rush of air. We camped at our
wagon lines about 3 or 4 miles back for the night but
I slept very little all my nerves seemed to be on edge.
& the 12 inch & other big guns there kept me awake
Tuesday July 8th
We pulled out from our wagon lines at
8 A.M. having had reveille at 5 o'clock & moved off
through Alberts - Bougincourt - Senlis - Warloy-Baillon
Vadencourt - Toutencourt - Herissart to Val de
Maison which we reached ab 4.15 p.m. & camped
for the night in the open in an orchard when I slept
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like a top will 6 next morning.
Wednesday Augt 9th
We moved off at 8 a.m. & marched through
Ferme de Rosel - Vert - Garland Ferme - Bois de la
Nalure - Havenas - Caraples - Holloy - Termois -
Bertsaucourt to St Ledger which we reached at
2p.m. & are camped here in a paddock & are living
in the open. Heard today that Patterson of the 23rd
Bty has died. Poor boy. Wonder how Morgan is, I
am using his stretcher to sleep on. I am certain he
will not mind. No sooner had we arrived here & I had
got my horse lines down that we were told that Gen
Walker would inspect us tomorrow morning at 10 a.m.
What do the Powers that Be think men are? I formed
the battery up & after telling them that they were the
best battery I had ever seen (which they are) & how
awfully proud I was of them I told them about
the inspection & turned them in to stables. They
worked so well that I had to go out again &
stop them. Really Kiddie dear the men are
physically knocked up & require quite two days
absolute rest. The infantry that I passed on
the road today looked terribly done & their eyes
had that fearful shell shock look in them, but
although the English Tommy is taken everywhere in
large motors the poor Australian has always had
to march in & out of action. Kiddie my heart
bled for them some of them actually dropped
down from exhaustion while I was passing them.
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I saw Rupert Matthews today at the head of his
men marching back to the firing line. He is a
Captain now & looked very well, I had a yarn with
him. The 1st & 2nd Bdres Arty & the 1st & 2nd & 3rd
Bdres Infy are going back today & tomorrow after
only ten days out & not up to strength after their
losses at Pozieres. Kiddie darling it may be a
big compliment to Australia's 1st Div. but also cruel
on the men. Where are England's boasted millions
that she must push us back to the firing line before
they have even had time to fill up their casualties
with reinforcements? Kiddie darling I am
proud of the Battery, it is as even Lloyd — who
was a Sergt in the 5th Bty - told me today, "a lot
better than the old 5th" But really Kiddie it
seems to improve every day if improvement so
far as gunnery is concerned is possible. If the
battery ever makes a mistake now it will be my
fault not the mens. Sergt Major Freeman
came back today from hospital but he still looks
very ill & shaken. We are camped in the open &
all sleeping outside, which will be alright if the rain
keeps off. Received a large bundle of papers & my
socks & two tins of tobacco (very much appreciated)
from you today.
Thursday August 10th
Woke up this morning after a beautiful sleep
to find it raining. Gen. Walker inspected us & the
3rd Bde Mounted & we marched past him &
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afterwards he made the usual speech telling us what
fine fellows were &c. Moved camp in the afternoon
to new horse lines & I have got the men into billets &
have got a magnificent one for myself. Gen. Hobbs had
a chat with us in the afternoon & told us the usual —
i.e. that the 1st Div Arty had made a name for themselves
& incidentally himself that would never die &c &c.
Friday August 11th
Had a lovely bath last night in the creek & went
to bed & slept like a log until 8 am this morning on a
spring bed. I am writing this in my sitting room
which command a beautiful view across the valley.
I have a day off for the men & have set them to
clean harness & the vehicles. I spoke to them yesterday
& told them how proud I was to command them &
what a splendid battery the 24th was &c. Got the Anzac
Book you sent me. Have sent off a cable to you to
say I am alright. I have been going into my office
work all the morning but am now going to sit in
my easy chair light my pipe and read the papers you
sent me. Got another letter from Commander Shrubb
& one from Ada & one from Meiklejohn. Will write
to you today sweetheart. Bought some fruit
yesterday — two rockmelons tomatoes & some grapes.
Saturday August 12th
Had a quiet day today - Laying practice
this morning & gave the horse a run lose in a
nice grass meadow this afternoon. Turned all
the drivers & gunners on to an extra two hours
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work tonight to clean harness & vehicles. Got
another batch of newspapers today. Had a yarn
with Harold Cohen this afternoon. I have got a new
batman named Russell who was batman to Morgan & have
allowed Bennett to go to a gun for which he has been
wanting to do for some time. I think I am right in
getting separated from him as we have not been getting
on well together for some time. Received new trench
maps of Longuval today which looks if we are going
to be put in there in a few days. I am not looking
forward to returning to the firing line as I think we
will get a pretty hot time there because the Germans
are certain to have brought up more guns. Heard
that the Lahore Division who took over from us
at Pozieres have lost a large number of officers
& men at the guns.
Sunday August 13th
A beautiful day. Went for a ride this morning to
Domert Village about two miles away where English
troops are camped & bought some writing blocks.
On returning promulgated McCannon's sentence of
Court Martial "60 days F.P.No 1". Driving drill in
the afternoon.
Monday August 14th
Dull today & slight drizzle. Received orders
that we are to return to the firing line tomorrow.
A subaltern named Lord has reported to me to take the
vacancy caused through Morgan going away. I
got a letter from Morgan today written from the
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