The Ypre? Times.
57
THE NINTH LANCERS AT HOOGE
1915.
By SIR HENRY NEWBOLT.
Two days afterwards De Lisle came round to inspect the regiment. Francis Grenfell
had put together a squadron of sorts some walking cases and a few newly arrived details
from home. The General seemed specially glad to see him probably he was one of the
few officers remaining that he knew by sight.
I have to congratulate your squadron as usual," he said to Francis. I hope you
will tell the men how very grateful I am, and proud of the way they helped me to hold
the line."
Thank you, sir," Francis replied. He did not add that most of them were no
longer there to be told.
After this visit the regiment expected to be moved up again, and they were. They
had two days' rest and five days in support. Then they took over two sections of the
front line at Hooge. A Squadron had the right section, with some Yorkshires and
Durhams. Francis had the left, with the two machine-guns and two hundred Yorkshires.
That was Sunday, May 23. The weather was beautifully fine with a light breeze
from the north-eastexactly right for a gas attack. The Ninth had never seen gas yet,
but at three o'clock that morning they saw what they'd often heard describeda sort of
wall of greenish-yellow stuff, thirty feet high, rolling down the little ridge in front of them.
The sickening smell warned them what was coming, but there was no time to think about
it the gas was right upon them in less than half a minute. Some got their respirators
on in time and some didn't. They were not very good respiratorspigs' snouts
the men called themand they were not all equally handy at putting them on. Still,
when Tom went down the trench he found that things were as well as could be expected,
and the gas seemed on the whole better than the asphyxiating shells which had been
dropping about just before. The German guns were busy for the present putting a barrage
behind our line to stop reinforcements. But as time went on he began to think that
nothing could be worse than the gas itself. The cloud came pouring on for more than
four hours. It was impossible to eat or drink or smoke or talk, and the feeling of sickness
was very depressing.
About eight o'clock the gas began to clear off, and then came a furious bombardment
on the trenches, and then at last an infantry attack. The Ninth could hear the rifles
and machine-guns rattling on both sides of them, and there were plenty of bullets coming
over them, but for a long time they had no target themselves. Then some of the infantry
on the left ran in and said the Germans were in their trenches a few minutes afterwards
enfilading fire started and the squadron began to lose men. Francis saw in a moment
what to do. He had a communication trench running back at an angle to the line he
took a troop into it and ordered them to make it into a fire-trench as best they could.
The dangerous part of the business was making a parapet it had mostly to be done
by digging outside in front. Francis got out first and looked after the digging himself.
He moved slowly about, shouting to his men to cheer them, so loudly that his voice could
be heard clearly above all the infernal rattle. Suddenly Tom saw that what he feared had
happened then he saw also that it was inevitable, and wondered why he had not known
that. He got down the trench and raised himself on to the parapet. He was too late
the sergeant came down towards him holding up his hand.
Don't come up, sir," he said, it's no use the captain's gone." He jumped down
into the trench.
He was quite himself, sir," the man said, just for a moment or two. He said I
was to tell the squadron that he died happy, loving them all. That's what he would say."
*From "The Book of the Grenvilles."
