Item 04: Memoirs of a Colonial Boy by Robert Joseph Stewart, ca. 1971 - Page 245
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[Page 245]
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and identification of the enemy units opposing us. In the afternoons our supporting artillery (18-pounders and 4.5 hows.) or our trench-mortar batteries, fired a half-hour bombardment of selected targets, and the "Huns", as the Germans were called, usually retaliated with their mortars and light field-guns ("whizzbangs"). Hardly any casualties were caused, as the projectiles plunged deep into the soft sodden earth before exploding: only an almost direct hit could be fatal. Occasionally some of the shells from our own guns would drop short, into our own trenches, and the infantry used to sing a parody of the nursery song "Baa baa black sheep" that ran :
"Baa baa batteries have you any shells?
"Yes sir, yes sir, truck-loads full.
"Some for the Hun, some for the blue,
"Some for our own front parapet too."
Our front line was held in sections with vacant intervals between, though the trench and parapet were continuous. We sometimes fooled the Germans by going out into the gaps at night, making a lot of noise, putting a line of nice new sandbags along the top of the parapet, and lighting a small fire that was still smoking in the early morning. That afternoon we could sit back in safety, watching the enemy artillery and mortars blasting away harmlessly at the unoccupied gaps.
It was the usual routine for a battalion to have one company (about two hundred men) in the front line, one in the support line, and two in the reserve trenches. The companies were changed around every week, and at the end of four weeks the whole battalion was relieved, just before dawn; by its sister unit in the Brigade, and went back, as Brigade Reserve, to billet in deserted residences and commercial buildings in the town, in which there were several derelict spinning mills and textile factories.
Though Armentieres had been severely shelled a few times during the earlier months of the war many civilians were still living there, and plenty of small shops, restaurants and bars were open for business as usual; some within long range rifle-