Diary And Letters Of A World War I Fighter Pilot, The (32 page)

In the thick fog of dawn on 21st March, 1918 the Germans launched their last great offensive of the war, against the Fifth Army front, east of St. Quentin, and by the beginning of April had pushed us back to within a dozen miles of Amiens. A short sector of the so-called Line went through the village of Warfusée l‘Abancourt, about a mile east of Villers-Bretonneux, and ran between the Amiens – St. Quentin road and the River Somme. It was held by an assorted collection of 500 kite balloon section men, G.H.Q. clerks and batmen, drivers, Labour Corps men and in fact anyone who could hold a rifle, all raked together by a certain Brigadier-General Carey and thrown into the line. As many squadrons as could be spared, our own among them, were withdrawn and hurried to the Somme, where they operated from any fields big enough to be used as landing grounds, to help to stem the field-grey tide.

On the 4th April the Germans attacked again, in what was to be their penultimate push in that sector and drove us back as far as the aerodrome at Villers-Bretonneux. The battlefield as seen from the air, presented a remarkable spectacle and looked more like a field day than a battle of the First World War. Clouds were at about 1,000 feet and the air between them and the ground was thick with aircraft of all descriptions, Camels, S.E.5's, Dolphins, Bristol Fighters and R.E.8's, but very few of the enemy. The “Line” consisted of men lining a hedge beside a road, while the Germans lined the opposite bank of another road, forking off at an angle. Further on, men lay in extended order across a grass field and, near by, others were furiously digging rifle-pits. Behind this thin khaki line, stretcher-bearers were carrying off the wounded, riderless horses were galloping about, and a few hundred yards in rear, an anti-aircraft battery was firing level over open sights like a field battery. Crashed aircraft lay around in many fields and over all hung a pall of smoke from the burning village of Villers-Bretonneux. The Germans captured the place later and that was about as close as they got to Amiens. It was close enough.

On the evening of the 6th April, I was flying at 2,000 feet and was just crossing the line where it ran across the aerodrome at Villers-Bret, when I felt a blow on the calf of my right leg, as if I had been hit very hard with a cricket stump. Some Boche soldier had let fly with his rifle and by a fluke hit me, but I don't suppose he knew how lucky he had been, for I was able to fly back to my landing ground without difficulty. When I was taken to a Casualty Clearing Station, in pouring rain later that evening, the first person I saw was my sister, who had been out as a nurse since 1915!

Acheson, Lieutenant Commander Leon

“Aladdin”

“Apache Concert”

Aprils

“Arlette”

Armentières

Arques

Auchel

Audrique

Auxi Le Chateau

Bailleul

Baker, 2nd Lieutenant B.E.

Baker, 2nd Lieutenant E.J.

Balfour, Lieutenant B.

“Bat”

Beilangle (‘Bertangles')

“Bella Donna”

Berck (‘Barck')

“Bing Boys”

“Box o' Tricks”

Boyd, Lieutenant J.

Brasserie

Break

Bremridge, Lieutenant G.

“Brig Boy's”

Broadway

Brown, 2nd Lieutenant D.G.

Bruay

Cairn's

Caix

Caley

Callards

Cameron, 2nd Lieutenant J.D.

Cassel

Charing Cross

“Charlie Chaplin”

“Cheep”

“Chin Ling Soo”

“Chu Chin Chow”

Ciro's

Clairmarais (‘Clair Marais')

Claor

Cocks, Captain G.M.,
see
Cox

Coliseum

Comines (‘Commines')

Conteville

Corner House

Corry, Lieutenant F.M.

Cottage Tea Rooms

Cowan, 2nd Lieutenant R.H.

Cox, Captain G.M.

Criterion

Cunningham, Major J.A.

Cutbill, 2nd Lieutenant E.H.

“Daddy Longlegs”

“Dear Brutus”

Dikkebus (‘Dickebush')

Diksmuide (‘Dixmunde')

Droogland (‘Dooglandt', ‘Droglandt')

Drury Lane

Duffus, Major C.

Dyer, 2nd Lieutenant H.A.

Eaton, Lieutenant E.C.

Elysee Palace

“Fair and Warmer”

Frascatis

“General Post”

Gilmour, Captain J. ‘Jack'

“Going Up”

“Goodbye-e-e”

Gordon, Lieutenant E.G.S.

Gorringe, Lieutenant F.C.

Grand

Greasley, 2nd Lieutenant J.R.

Grosvenor Hotel

“Guiffon”

Hall, Lieutenant W.H.

Hancock, 2nd Lieutenant J.M.

Harrison, Lieutenant W.L.

Hauberge

Hazebrouck (‘Hazebruck')

Hemming, 2nd Lieutenant W.H.

Higgins, Captain W.W.

Hollebeke

Hotel de France

Houplines

Houtem (‘Houltem')

Houthulst Forest

Howes, Major

Jenkins

Jewkes, 2nd Lieutenant J.L.

Jones, 2nd Lieutenant L.S.R.

“Jubilee Hall”

Keller, Lieutenant C.F.

Kelsey

Kemmel

Kennedy, 2nd Lieutenant J.G.

King's Cross

King-Clark, Alexander ‘King'

King-Clark, Elspeth

King-Clark, Lieutenant Commander Robert

Kings Head

Knocker, Eileen Agnes ‘Eily'

Knocker, Gladwys Mainwaring ‘Gal' or ‘Gally'

Knocker, Katherine Margaret Elizabeth Mainwaring ‘Elsie'

Knocker, Mary Ethel ‘May'

Knocker, Winifred Victoria ‘Gin' or ‘Ginny'

La Bassee

La Gorgue

Lamotte-Warfuseé (‘Warfuseé)

Landon, Captain G. de L.

Le Commerce

Ledegem

Leitch, Captain A.A.

Les Gobelins

“Les Invalides”

Lonsdales

Lovie (‘Lovée')

Mackie's

“Maid of the Mountains”

Maison Lyons

Maricourt Wood

Marquise

Marshall, 2nd Lieutenant L.,

Matthews, 2nd Lieutenant C.D.

McCudden, Captain J.

McElroy, Captain G.E.H.

McKinnon, 2nd Lieutenant J.F.

McLeod Innes, 2nd Lieutenant P.

Miles, Major

Mont Rouge

Moore, Captain G.B.

Moorslede

Morrison, Captain K.S.

“Naughty Wife”

Nethersole, Major N.H.B.

Neuve Eglise

Northwood

“Nothing but the Truth”

Pavilion

Peacock, Captain E.F.

“Peg of my Heart”

Peronne

Pilcher, 2nd Lieutenant T.F.

Pitt, Lieutenant G.H.

Polderhoek Chateau (‘Poldernock Ridge')

Polygon Wood

Poperinghe

Proven

Queens

Quesnoy Sur Deule

“Razzle Dazzle”

Reeves, Captain H.G.

Richthofen, Captain Baron von

Robb, 2nd Lieutenant R.E.

Roeselare (‘Roulers')

“Romance”

Rosenthal, 2nd Lieutenant A.,

Rouen

“Roxana”

Sage, 2nd Lieutenant D.M.

Savoy

Scholer

Scott, Lieutenant D.H.

Serny

Severin

Shanks, Lieutenant D.

Skundles

“Soldier Boy”

Spreadbury, Lieutenant H.J.

Ste Marie Cappel

Steenvoorde

Surcamps (‘Sur Camps')

Swifts

Sydall, Captain C.B.

Symons, Captain H.L.

“Tabs”

“Tails Up”

“The 13th Chair”

“The Aristocrats”

“The Boy”

The Bull

“The Lilac Domino”

“The Live Wire”

“The Optimists”

The Red Lion

Thezy-Gilmout (‘Thezy')

“Three Cheers”

Tipperary

Tiptaft, 2nd Lieutenant C.P.

Towne, Lieutenant L.N.F.,

Troc

Trollope, Captain J.L.

Vert Fallon

Villers Bretonneux (‘Villers Bret')

Vlamertinghe

Weedon, Captain L.S.

“When Knights were Bold”

Wigg, Lieutenant V.

Williams, Lieutenant T.M.

Withington, Captain T.E.

Wylie, 2nd Lieutenant A.E.

“Yes Uncle”

YMCA Club

“Zig Zag”