Not Long To Christmas

I'm back in billets in Le Bixet again chums, yours truly is still alive and kicking.

This week was pretty much like last week, constructing and draining trenches, and the damn Hun sniping on us all the time. Unfortunately some of our boys got hit this time, one poor chap was killed and two got injured. How I hate this sitting in trenches and taking potshots at each other, if only we could get up and at them on an open field with cavalry charges and the like.

Things started out ok, we relieved the Kings Own on the night of the 15th. No sooner had we entered the trenches than we were spectators to a huge fireworks display. Our artillery was shelling Frelinghien. They gave the Hun a good pasting, we just sat back and watched in awe of the spectacle. By the end I was feeling sorry for the poor chaps over there, it must have been carnage and mayhem.

On the 16th it was quiet and we got on with the job of draining the trenches, widening them and shoring them up. The Hun was very quiet, they must have been knocked out by the previous evenings bombardment and were licking their wounds.

On the 17th we were out draining the trenches again and doing construction work when the Hun sniped on us again. This is when one of our chaps got hit and killed, then two more got hit but were only wounded. They were carried back to the field dressing station, there wasn't much we could do for them at the front other than put a small dressing on their wounds. How I felt for the family back home of the poor chap who died. What a Christmas present they were going to get.

On the 18th it was pretty quiet and we got on with the work of draining and constructing. The snipers weren't about so we were untroubled, we kept our heads down though.

On the 19th our artillery opened up again and shelled an area to the north opposite 'Plug Street', this place is actually spelt Ploegsteert but we refer to it by our name. The 11th Brigade was attacking a position known as the Birdcage. They had orders to take it and deny it to the Germans. It was carnage though.

This is a map of the Birdcage

The attack was carried out according to the following plan

The idea was for our artillery to support the attack. The barrage started at 9:00am and was intended to shell the Huns front line and then second and third lines. The bombardment lasted from 9:00 until 2:00pm. The 11th Brigade then moved out of the woods and attacked.

Unfortunately it didn't go well, Lots of our shells fell short and killed or injured our own troops. At 2:30pm the Brigade attacked but was mown down with machine gun fire.Not only that our artillery was still covering their attack and laying down fire but this was also falling short and onto our boys. It was tragic.

To us in the trenches it wasn't known and we cheered the volleys of fire. We couldn't see the battlefield, it was two miles to the north of us but we could hear the shells bursting and the machine guns rattling away. It sounded like a right old dust up. We thought we were giving the Hun a good beating.

The attack stopped at about 6:00pm and the Brigade retreated to the woods, they couldn't break the Hun and they had lost lots of men. News filtered through to us when we got back to the billets, we were absolutely horrified. To think of those poor chaps, to have been killed so close to Christmas and by our own fire as well, it doesn't bear thinking about. We were dejected.

Whilst the support fire had been laid down for the attack on the Birdcage, the Hun returned fire on our Headquarters Building. None were injured at HQ but in the trenches we had been sniped on again and another man was killed and two more wounded. What a war! sat about in trenches being picked off by snipers or going over the top and being blown up by our own artillery or mowed down by enemy machine guns. It wasn't what I thought it would be.

On the 20th we were relieved by the Kings Own. This was becoming regular now, us and the Kings Own swapping places, them spending so many days in the trenches and then us taking over and vice versa. To give them their full name they are the Kings Own Royal Lancaster Regiment.

We have now been in billets for the last two days and mighty glad of it am I. The trenches we have to occupy at the front are in ppor shape and always full of water to some extent. Here's a picture of one. Not good I can tell you, it plays havoc with our feet, always being wet and damp.

By contrast Le Bixet is a grand place as this photo shows. Its relatively unscathed and the locals are most welcoming to us. There's always plenty to do whilst in billets but were glad of the dry land and the roof over our heads

Well chums we've been told we are being inspected by the Brigadier General tomorrow (the 23rd) so were busy getting ready, smartening ourselves up. Shaving, washing, polishing, pressing. We need to look our best.

Were going back into the trenches on the 24th. Christmas Eve! Can you believe it?

Well we'll put that thought behind us and see what the General brings tomorrow. He might give us leave to Blighty, but I doubt it.

So chums once again its goodbye from me. I hope the Hun is quiet over Christmas, I can't bear the thought of anyone being killed or having to kill anyone over the season of goodwill. We'll see what happens.

Goodbye from me, and think on whilst your eating your Christmas pudding because I shan't have none.

Albert x