United States or Guernsey ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
It was during the first tour at Wailly that Major C.G. Bradley, D.S.O., assumed command on the 29th February. After having done a month in the Wailly sector, the Battalion was taken on the 14th March for a week in Brigade Reserve.
Each man received a shirt, muffler, socks and chocolate, the produce of a fund most energetically collected from Berkshire by Mrs. Serocold and Mrs. Hedges. The officers spent an equally happy evening at the château, whose owner, Madame De Wailly, kindly provided a room and all other requisites.
In the light of later experience the time spent in Wailly was very comfortable indeed, and during the next two months many wished they could return. About the 20th July the Battalion left Gouy-en-Artois for the scene of battle. To begin with this meant a three days' march to the entraining locality. The first day the Battalion got to Sus St.
While in the front line the routine was practically the same as at Wailly, but the conditions were different. In the Salient it was not possible to dig deep trenches as the land was so low lying that water was met on reaching a depth of about two feet. Trenches were not feasible, so it was a case of breast-works.
Wailly Keep was a fortified farm on the fringe of the village, with loop-holed walls and the adjacent roads barricaded. It was a relic of the French defence scheme and was sound. The strictest precautions were taken against a gas attack. Each man had two P.H. helmets which he had to keep with him at all times.
As the summer advanced the front became more active. Shell fire increased, and the British artillery, having a more liberal supply of ammunition, expended it more lavishly than had been formerly the case. In July the Battalion left the sector immediately in front of Wailly and took over that in front of Blaireville Wood, which was held by the enemy.
The companies were trained to take shelter in the dugouts in the event of a heavy bombardment and immediately on its cessation to re-man the front line. In the village when the Battalion was in support it held three centres of resistance known from right to left as Petit Moulin, Wailly Keep, and Petit Chateau.
Before that moment arrived, the more agile of the two plaintiffs, Adolf, succeeded in eluding surveillance and escaping from the camp at Wailly. He made his way successfully to Namur disguised as a Franciscan monk. Then, at the ferry, he gave a florin when a penny would have sufficed.
Having sent an advance party to General Xardel's headquarters at Beaumetz to effect liaison, and to meet French guides, the Battalion paraded towards evening, left Monchiet, picked up the guides en route and marched to Wailly. The day had been one of blizzards and the night of the relief was black and wet.
The architects Ledoux, Olivier and Wailly were erecting pretty houses in that district, and in three months the land had trebled in value.
Word Of The Day