SEPTEMBER 14TH AND THREE O’CLOCK on this Friday morning, the platoon is getting ready to move out while Tom sits down to check his kit. Along with his rifle and bayonet is his haversack, in which is filled with mess tins, pouches of ammunition (170 rounds), water bottle, two grenades, shovel and entrenching tool. He closes up his haversack and undoes the top two buttons of his jacket and slips into his inside pocket a small first aid kit. He picks up three empty sandbags and tucks them into the back of his belt.
In the darkness the other men also gather their stuff for the march to their mission; Harry is back. His hand has healed, fortunately he didn’t get very much gas residue. There are some scars on his hand but Tom can see that Harry uses his hand as if nothing had happened. Tom then notices some of the soldiers smearing mud on to their helmets.
“Why are you doing that?” he asks
“It’s to dull the appearance of me ‘at, make it difficult to see in any sort of light” says Bob
With that, Tom also takes his helmet off and smears mud onto his too, with Cecil copying the action. He put on his webbing, hangs his gas mask bag around his neck, slips on his rucksack and picks up his trusty Lee Enfield rifle and joins the platoon. When all the soldiers are lined up, the commanding officer shouts the move out command. Andy complains “what am I doing here?”
The soldiers march away in line with officers Knight, Addiscott and Bennett at the head.
The troops reach their destination, a German pillbox. The enemy is trying a new tactic away from the stalemate of trench warfare, bunkers made out of concrete that can withstand all but a direct hit. The St Julien-Poelcapelle Rd runs along back of German pillboxes. Sergeant Knight’s platoon waits in shell holes and watches the pillbox in front of them. Tom, like the other men, has no idea what they are waiting for. He looks at his pocket watch, they have been here for an hour now and as far as he is aware, the Germans don’t know the platoon is here. The sun is starting to come over the horizon when they hear a strange clanking sound and there down the road that ran behind the pillbox is a contraption of the likes no one have seen before, at least not working. They have seen tanks previously but only parked, and here is one making its way slowly up the road. The Germans are aware by now of its presence but can’t get the machine gun round as it is fixed at the front, from where attacks are expected. They poke their heads out the back door and fire with their rifles at the mechanical beast, but the bullets just bounce off. The tank revolves its side gun on the round, points it towards the door and fire several shots. The bullets ricochet inside the pillbox, smoke pours out causing confusion amongst the Germans and while this is going on Bill creeps up on his own to the pillbox and hurls a mills bomb through the narrow opening of the concrete hideout. An explosion inside immediately sends the Tommies running towards the pillbox to greet the confused Germans who stagger out. The German soldiers that are still alive are rounded up and led away while the tank carries on its journey to the next pillbox.
A small team is sent back to inform command that the area is now secure along with the German prisoners. The pillbox now becomes a command centre away from home, and the officers immediately put the men to work as the entrance of the concrete housing faces towards the enemy and has to be made safe. Sandbags are placed at the entrance; the soldiers know that the enemy are not more than a few hundred metres away in their trench making them feel uneasy. Tom stands holding a sandbag while it is filled up with soggy earth, ties it and walks with it to the pillbox. Before he can get there he hears a recognisable sound, that of missiles. The Germans haven’t wasted time in getting the information back to their headquarters and are shelling the area. The first shell hit the ground missing any soldier and explodes. Tom is standing with a sandbag in his hands when he hears that whistling sound he’d heard so many times before, but it is different this time. It sounds closer. There are no holes nearby to jump into then “PLOP”. He stands there with his sandbag and slowly looks down. There is the shell at his feet, the top hasn’t opened up so he knows it’s not a gas bomb, it is an ordinary shell. It hasn’t exploded and Toms’ mind starts to race “what to do now?” he thinks. The answer comes from the soldiers in the pillbox.
“Run Tom” they shout, and keep shouting. He doesn’t need any more encouragement, he runs as fast as is possible in the mud. The soldiers give him encouragement as he runs while shells explode all around. He reaches the door of the bunker and turns to look; two more men are behind him and running, it is Archie and Ed. Another shell lands right behind Archie and he is blown to pieces instantly, while Ed falls down screaming.
The soldiers stand by the doorway and look helplessly as Ed lay helplessly on the muddy ground, his face shows a grimace. Every time anyone as much as put their head near the door, a spray of bullets is unloaded by the Germans, which ricochet off the concrete walls.
“Lads, give me cover” says Tom.
Immediately the troops fire their rifles out of the doorway towards the direction of the enemy line. Tom dashes out of the door and runs towards Ed, grabs the loose folds in his jacket and pulls. The bullets make a ‘slop’ sound as they enter the mud. Much to the surprise of all around, the young lad also runs out and helps pull the body back in. The soldier is brought into the pillbox and is laid down on his front. The soldiers can see that the Ed’s back has embedded into it pieces of shrapnel. Tom turns to Cecil “thanks Cecil, you did well”
Cecil raises his height a little with pride.
The men crowd into the bunker with little space to breathe, bullets whizz pass into the space above the men’s’ heads. The shelling stops but the guns are still firing, eventually even the Boche get bored of the continuous noise, and they too stop. The men stand around the edges while those in the middle manage to sit down. Bob stands with his helmet off.
“Put your helmet on” says Tom
“I don’t want to” says Bob “it’s hot and uncomfortable”
“If you get hit, you’ll know about it”
The large man wipes his forehead then drops his helmet. He tries to pick it up but there are too many bodies crammed into the small space that he can’t bend over. He finally gives up and tries to make himself as comfortable as possible.
“Try to get some sleep men” says the sergeant “and we’ll try and get the rest of the sand bags done during the night”
The sun is starting to set while most of the men fall into a light uncomfortable sleep, they wake up at the least sound, then realise what it is and fall asleep again. Individuals take it in turn for sentry while others look after the wounded man who is lying on the floor amongst the legs and boots of the standing men. Ed gives out a moan every so often. Others try to get the sandbags up as quietly as possible and make the area as secure as they can, the odd bullet whizzes past their heads.
The sun starts to rise over the grey horizon, but before it can light up the sky properly, the hate bombardment begins again. The soldiers cower in the pillbox as the shells rain down. A shell hits the side of the bunker with such a force that the whole of the concrete structure moves, hurling men around men inside its walls. Chunks of concrete fly off in various places that hit the men’s bodies. Bob tries desperately to find his helmet but can’t reach down far enough. After the shelling has died down, there are cries of “is everyone alright?” Most suffer bruises on their arms and bodies. However, the large man lay propped up against the wall with a large blood wound on the side of his head. Bob hadn’t heeded Toms’ warning and dies from head injuries. The shelling stops altogether and the sergeant immediately gives the order to finish the sandbag wall. The soldiers carry out their orders while the odd enemy bullet flies past. Eventually the pillbox is made secure.
Ed is checked again but is found to have died from his injuries during the night. The soldiers try to console themselves with a brew but before they can even finish making the first cup of tea, there is a shout from Bill at the door.
“Sarge, the enemy are approaching”
The soldiers look out of the door over the sandbag wall and sure enough, there is a small troop of German soldiers walking their way slowly towards the pillbox. They are Stormtroopers, the elite of the German army.
Sergeant Knight says “alright, men! Formation!”
They wait for the Germans to get closer; they can see that two of the enemy are carrying different looking guns; containers are strapped to their backs. They let off a blast of their weapons that spray a jet of fire five metres long.
Charlie joins the small troop “Sarge, there’s more round the sides approaching”
The sergeant pulls back his lips and says “right, I’ve had enough of this”
With that, he jumps over the sand bag wall and starts firing at the Germans.
Knight fires his rifle into the group while his troops watch in both fascination and horror. Tom rolls his eyes upwards and says “crikey, he’s keen”.
The soldiers get up and fire their guns. Sergeant Knight unfortunately falls into a shell hole full of mud, which isn’t as dangerous as some he has come across but he still starts to sink and his rifle is out of his reach. He can get himself out of this one but some Germans have realised he is there and proceed to fire upon him. Knight withdraws his revolver and starts to fire upon the marauding German soldiers, killing several of them. In the meantime, his regiment are also firing upon the enemy. Tom has his rifle poised and fires shots upon Germans, killing several.
The sergeant uses all the bullets in his revolver; there is no time to work himself out of the hole as he has sunk further making it more difficult to get out, he has to reload. He pulls his bullets out of his pocket and opens the chamber. Just as he slams shut the chamber he looks up and there is a German soldier that looks down on him. The two men are at least five metres apart but the German has a clear shot and takes it. Sergeant Knight recoils in pain and slumps. The German is about to take a second shot when Tom, who is standing at least twenty or so metres away, can see what is happening. He raises his rifle and thinks back to his sharpshooting days at Hayling Island. He fires and the German soldier falls to the floor like a rag doll. He then charges and bayonets two soldiers. The Germans are on the run.
The Tommies shout at the fleeing enemy, rejoicing in their victory, unaware of what has happened to Sergeant Knight. Tom slowly walks to the shell hole and peers in, fearing the worst.
“Well, don’t just stand there, help me out soldier!” the sergeant bellows
Tom holds his hand out to Sergeant Knight and helps haul him out of the shell hole. But he has difficulty in pulling the man out; Andy and Bill come over and help. Slowly, the sergeant is pulled out of the mud. The sergeant stands up and brushes as much mud off while the two soldiers return to their duties.
“But Sarge, I saw you take a direct hit” stammers Tom
The sergeant brushes the mud off his revolver and replaces it in its holster. He then reaches inside his jacket, pulls out a silver cigarette case and throws it to Tom then walks off. Tom watches the sergeant walk off in disbelief; the man has just been shot and behaves as if nothing happened. He looks down at the cigarette case in his hand, he gives a quick laugh. Embedded into the case is a bullet.
A cry from Bill gives the realisation that the Germans weren’t running at all; they just went to get a few extra men. The battle ensues but Tom is caught unaware as he is still holding the cigarette case, with his rifle on the floor. He turns round to see an enemy soldier with his container strapped to his back. The German is ready to let loose his fire of death; the men look at each other briefly but the neither see the young lad creeping up who fires his rifle at the German but misses. However the bullet pierces the cylinder the soldier is carrying that burst into flames. The man screams as he is engulfed in fire. Tom then picks up his gun and runs into the battle.
Finally, after much fighting, the Stormtroopers are finally beaten and their bodies lay strewn across the mud. Sergeant Knight tells the soldiers to wait around in a state of alertness while the support troops turn up. Tom and his young friend are given the duty of collecting the bodies of his comrades, so they first dig out the shell holes so that they form one long trench. The bodies are dragged to the edge of the trench and lay there. Tom goes from body to body and pulls off one of the dog tags, go through pockets and find personal effects to send back to family. He sees the huge body of Bob lying lifeless on the muddy floor; he pulls out a photograph of a young woman, presumably the wife or girlfriend. Tom thinks for a moment that Bob never mentioned he had anyone back home, but then the man rarely spoke unless he was addressed. The young lad holds a sandbag while Tom put in the personal effects, the bag is then labelled. The boots are taken off and kept for re-use, the bodies then rolled into the trench. Tom gives an extra thought for Archie who has no body to bury. With the soldiers buried, their rifles are pushed into the ground with the butt facing upwards, the helmets are placed on the butt and a label added to denote who the soldiers were. Tom stands there silent for a moment saying a silent prayer to his fallen comrades as the sun sets over the horizon and the relief troops turn up.