CHAPTER XVIII
THE STRUGGLE FOR NEANCOURT VILLAGE
"THANK your lucky stars that you fellows aren't in Blighty," was thegreeting Setley and Danvers received on the following morning, whenthey put in an appearance in the building pretentiously styled theMess.
"What's wrong now?" asked Danvers. "Rotten news in the papers?"
"We were referring to your escapade last night," continued thespeaker. "Your efforts are like the padre's egg: good in parts. Wedon't deny that the fellow who was shot by the sentry was a spy, butthe other----"
"What about him?" enquired Ralph impatiently.
"Don't jump down my throat, old chap," was the feigned indignantprotest. "That's the secret of the whole business. You simply leap aterroneous conclusions like a bull at a gate. Sometimes the gate goes,sometimes it doesn't, and then the animal is sorry for itself. Do youremember what Gladstone said in 'sixty-eight?"
"Nothing to do with this spy business, I'll swear," interruptedDanvers, seizing his tormentor by the scruff of the neck. "Now, youprevaricating blighter, out with it! What are you hinting at?"
"I was testing your knowledge of political history beforeenlightening you----"
The young officer had no further opportunity in that direction, forSetley gripped him by the heels and Danvers by the shoulders. Betweenthem they bumped their victim till he yelled for mercy.
"Then straight to the point," declared Danvers, "or we'll strafe youagain."
"I was recalling the Prime Minister's immortal quotation in the yearof grace eighteen hundred and sixty-eight," gurgled the captive,whereat the bumping process proceeded, until the entry of the seniormajor restored things to their normal state.
"Yes," he remarked, when Danvers had informed him of the reason forthe impromptu "rag." "You fellows have made a mess of part of thebusiness. The man in British uniform is a major of the Coalshires. Heis suffering from shell-shock, and is now under the doctor's care.Memory gone, and all that sort of thing. Got out of touch with hisbattalion and wandered into the ruined farmhouse for shelter. Theplan he apparently took from a German prisoner, and although in themajor's present mental state it conveys nothing to him it means a lotof precious information to us. It appears to be an accurate andofficial plan of the system of trenches surrounding the Von der GolzRedoubt and the fortress village of Néancourt."
"That's good, sir," remarked Danvers.
"I agree, and so does the C.O. In any case, the plan will enable theC.O. to communicate accurate information to the Brigade Headquarters,in which event be prepared for the fall of the hitherto impregnableVon der Golz Redoubt."
Outside Ralph encountered Sergeant Alderhame, who was busily engagedin dismantling a machine-gun.
"You might have got me to chip in last night's affair, sir," he saidreproachfully.
"Couldn't be helped," replied Setley. "I would have done so, ifpossible. How do you like your new job?"
"Absolutely top-hole," declared the ex-actor enthusiastically. "I amjust pining to have another slap at the Boches, this time inside oneof these beauties."
And he indicated the array of landships, now quiescent, likeBehemoths resting after a fray.
"You are getting quite vindictive," declared Ralph.
"I came out here with the idea that a German was a human being likeourselves," said Alderhame. "I have altered my opinion since then.Why, only this morning I met one of the Wheatshires back from outthere. The wanton damage those brutes did before evacuating some ofthe villages shows that he is a beast. What puzzles me is that theGerman Staff isn't afraid of the consequences. They must know they'rebeing beaten. I suppose it's a case of:
"Before the curing of a strange disease, Even in the instant of repair and health, The fit is strongest; evils that take leave, On their departure most of all show evil."
"And I hope you're right," said Ralph. "There seems no doubt that theHuns are getting properly whacked. It'll be a tough job for sometime, but they're on the down grade."
"To quote the bard again:
He that stands upon a slippery place Makes nice of no vile hold to stay him up.
You know, Mr. Setley, since I've been out here I firmly believe thatWill Shakespeare must have foreseen this business. How appropriatemany of his quotations are! However, quoting Shakespeare won't getthis blessed machine-gun re-assembled, so here goes.
Before the day was out persistent rumours passed from man to man thatthe Great Push was to attain its culminating point--or, at least, aterrific intensity--on the following Monday. The guns had allowed theenemy no rest. On a front of twenty miles tons and tons of shellswere being pumped into the Hun lines. It was a bombardment thatpresaged an infantry advance on a large scale, and that meant thatthe Tanks were to play a conspicuous part.
On the evening prior to the longed-for day rumour gave place tocertainty. The advance was definitely fixed. Come storm or sunshine,mud or dust, the khaki-clad infantry were to go over the top at thehour of five-thirty. Every available Tank was to cooperate; once thepositions were won the Tank commanders were to exercise theirdiscretion in pushing on, keeping within the limits and following upthe British artillery barrage.
At the final conference, the officers of the Tank Division pored overtheir maps and listened to elaborate but simply explainedinstructions from the C.O. The principle objective during the firstphase of the advance was the Von der Golz Redoubt. The mostpracticable means of approach was pointed out--a circuitous routethat first meant the occupation of the nest of fortified ruins thatat one time formed the village of Néancourt.
"Gain that, gentlemen," concluded the C.O., "and your _raisond'être_ is achieved. Afterwards you can rely upon your ownjudgment."
Setley, like many others, sat up late that night. There was much tobe done on the eve of the battle. He had done it many times before,but there was always the same sort of ritual to be undertaken in casehe "went West." The frequency with which he got his personalbelongings together, and wrote a farewell letter home, to beforwarded in the event of anything happening, was becomingmonotonous. He dreaded the preliminaries, although he knew that themoment the order for advance was received and the Tank set in motionall fears on that score would be flung to the winds and absorbed bythe exhilaration of the battle.
The morning broke grey and misty. With the first signs of dawn theinfantry stood to arms, clustered as closely as the narrow width ofthe trenches permitted. Overhead the British shells flew as thick ashail, dropping with admirable precision upon the expanse of torturedearth that recently had been the latest word in the system of Germanfield fortifications. Néancourt village remained fairly intact, asfar as observation from the British lines showed, while dominating itwas the strongly held Von der Golz Redoubt, formidable in spite ofthe hammering it had received for the last forty-eight hours.
For good reasons, these two places had not been subjected to abombardment from H.E. shells. So long as they remained free from theattentions of that sort of missile, the Germans kept their garrisonsup to full strength. They held the positions tenaciously, andreckless of loss of life. Since every Hun put out of action meant anirreparable loss to their reserves, it was better for the British toleave a veritable death trap for their foes until the critical momentof the advance than to pulverize the place and thus release Germantroops for work in more extended positions.
"Those fellows will put up a stiff fight," remarked Danvers, as hewalked with Setley towards the waiting Tanks. "Prussian Guard andBavarian infantry: that's what we have in front of us. I hear thatthe Saxons and Badeners have been withdrawn. They surrender toofreely to please old Hinder-beggar."
"Those blighters are obviously fed-up," agreed Ralph. "SergeantAlderhame showed me a card he had picked up in a captured dug-out. Ihave it somewhere--yes, here it is."
He handed Danvers a piece of pasteboard, about four inches by three.On it in German characters was the following:--
"Yield yourself prisoner: any one can who wishes to do so. Clear outof y
our path those who lead you to the slaughter-house--they aloneare your enemies. Think of your dear ones. Do not sacrificeyourselves for princes and the money bags of Prussia. Help yourselvesand God will help you.--Hans von Rippach."
"That shows the way the wind blows in the South Germanprincipalities," commented Danvers. "Imagine our Tommies passinground a thing like that. Hullo, there's the signal! S'long, old chap,and the best of luck."
Five minutes later the array of Tanks ambled leisurely towards thefirst-line trenches. Hardly a hostile shell came near them; the fewthat did were "duds." Not only was the German fire diminished by theBritish artillery, but the few missiles they did send over wereobviously deficient in quality.
Guided by the prearranged signals, the landships made for a part ofthe British trenches that had already been cleared in order to allowthe mastodons to crawl over. As Ralph's Tank ground her way acrossthe deep and narrow trench the subaltern had a momentary glimpse of aclose line of steel-helmeted infantry, standing with one foot on thefire-step and with their bayonets fixed, awaiting the shrill blast ofthe whistles.
Fifty--a hundred yards ahead the Tanks went, greeted by a fierce yetineffectual fire from scores of machine-guns. Despite the heavybombardment, the Huns had again managed to keep a large proportion ofthese deadly weapons intact. Against infantry their scythe-like hailof bullets would be terribly effective. The Tanks, drawing the fire,made it possible for the men to charge without excessive losses.
Straight towards Néancourt village the squadron of landshipsadvanced, but only to a certain point. Then, amid the yells of theexasperated Prussians, who had been hoping that the mammothsteel-clad machines would blunder into a series of pitfalls, theTanks turned abruptly to the right and parallel to the hostile lines.Thanks to the plan that Danvers and Setley had taken from thesupposed spy, the landships were able to attack effectively andwithout danger of being "bogged."
Within the confined space of the Tank the noise of the motors andrapid bark of the quickfirers and the metallic rattle of the maximsmuffled all other sounds from without; yet Ralph caught the suddenroar of the inimitable British cheer as the Tommies swarmed over thetop.
It was a case of concentrating all his attention on the enemy. Everyhostile machine-gun put out of action meant greater security to theBritish infantry, and nobly Setley went about his task. Following theTank next ahead he kept within fifty yards of the enemy lines, thenearest that the Tanks could approach without toppling over intocunningly concealed pitfalls. As hard as the gunners could open andsnap to the metal breech-blocks, as rapidly as the maxims could useup their belts of ammunition, the Tank, like her consorts, pouredshot and shell into every possible spot that might be a Germanmachine-gun emplacement.
The Huns stood their ground. The terror that had seized them whenfirst they had seen what they took to be supernatural monsters was nolonger manifest. They knew what Tanks were, what damage they coulddo, and that, like other engines of war, they were vulnerable. Thefact that a long, deep, covered pit lay between them and the oncominglandships gave them confidence--a confidence that was to be shatteredwhen they realized that somehow the British had learned the secret ofthe hidden anti-Tank defences.
Again turning abruptly, this time to the left, the array of landshipslurched and sidled over the partly flattened-out trench, almostsimultaneously with the leading platoon of the charging infantry.
Although the foremost line was thinly held the Huns fought with adesperate and ferocious courage. They were Prussians, steeped in thebelief that they are the finest troops in the world, and taught todespise the amateur army that had, Phoenix-like, arisen from theashes of the "contemptible" little British expeditionary force that,outgunned and outnumbered, ought to have been wiped out by the Germanlegions on the glorious retirement from Mons. Yet it had not. ThePrussian military machine had not reckoned upon one thing--thedauntless bravery and stolid tenacity of the individual Britishsoldier.
With bomb, rifle and bayonet, the Huns sought to defend themselvesagainst the irresistible khaki-clad boys. Hardly once was therecreant cry of "Kamerad" raised. In five minutes the British troopswere in indisputable possession of the first-line trenches. Here theypaused for a well-needed "breather," while the Tanks cleared a pathto the outskirts of Néancourt.
Three landships undertook this part of the operations. Others wereexecuting a "turning movement" against the Von der Golz Redoubt. Twowere already out of action--one receiving a direct hit from a 5-inchshell, the other toppling over into a concealed pit.
Fierce as had been the struggle for the Hun front trench the fightfor Néancourt excelled it in savagery and tenacity. Setley soon hadevidences of the desperate courage of the Prussian Guard, for onapproaching the barricade at the outskirts of the village scores ofGermans boldly quitted shelter and attacked the Tank with bombs. Itwas a futile, inane act, but characteristic of the temper of theBoches. In a trice the roof of the Tank was swarming with men whoendeavoured to find a vulnerable joint in the massive armour. Theyeven rained blows on the muzzles of the quickfirers and tried to jamthe tractor-bands by means of crowbars and wedges, while in their madexcitement many were killed and injured by bombs hurled by theircompatriots.
Ralph gave orders for the motors to be reversed. With the suddenchange of motion the Huns on the roof rolled off like ninepins. Manywere caught and crushed under the broad-flanged tractor-bands, othersformed an easy mark for machine-guns; while the Tank, shaking herselfclear, like a retriever emerging from the water, forged ahead againfor the barrier thrown across the street.
It was a formidable obstacle. Trees had been felled so that theirtrunks--some of which were two feet in diameter--lay athwart theroad. Before and behind these were piled sand-bags, stopped with averitable forest of criss-crossed barbed wire. Between thetree-trunks were two studded-linked steel chains, which had beengiven plenty of "slack" so that they would "give," to a certainextent, under the initial impact of the assailing Tank. Machine-gunsin plenty were behind the barricade; others were showing their snoutsthrough the glazeless windows of the houses, while nearly a thousandpicked German troops held the village.
With a dull thud the blunt nose of the Tank encountered the massiveobstruction. Ralph had avoided making for the centre of thebarricade, and had steered his command towards the right-hand side ofthe road. The tree-trunks were levered aside under the irresistiblepressure of the ponderous mass of moving steel, sand-bags flew in alldirections, while the chains, pinned down under the tractor-bands,failed utterly to justify the confidence that the Huns had placedupon them.
Thousands of machine-gun bullets splayed upon the Tank's sides, bombsburst all around her; yet scorning such trivialities the Tank bumpedover the debris of the demolished barricade, her guns spitting leadwith terrific effect upon the field-grey clad troops.
The first house in the street attracted Setley's attention. Save fora few shell-holes in the walls and that it was roofless the buildingwas otherwise almost intact. From an upper window projected thenozzle of a _Flammenwerfer_ apparatus. Although the weapon was notbrought into use against the Tank, Ralph guessed that it was beingkept inactive for a purpose. Should the British troops force anentrance into the street, the diabolical contrivance would then bebrought to bear upon the dense crowd of khaki-clad Tommies.
Setley's command held on as if with the intention of traversing thevillage street, until with a sharp turn it bore down upon the housein which the liquid-fire party waited to do their barbarous work.
Striking the front wall obliquely the Tank smashed her way into thebuilding. Stones and bricks were flung asunder, beams began to crashfrom the upper floors. The Huns, uttering yells of terror, eithertumbled headlong upon the roof of the Tank and thence rolled off andwere crushed between her sides and the tottering brickwork, or elsethey clung desperately to the remaining walls and beams. Theliquid-fire apparatus fell with the men, the cylinder bursting anddischarging its contents all over the Tank and the surroundingdebris. Had any of the Boches seized the opportunity a
nd applied alight to the inflammable fluid it would have resulted in Ralph andhis men being roasted alive in their steel cage; but, fortunately forthem, the disaster did not take place.
It had been Ralph's intention to force his Tank completely throughthe building, but this task was beyond the powers of themotor-propelled fortress. Vainly the tractor-bands revolved, grindingto powder the brick rubble, yet without gaining another inch.
Failing to forge ahead the Tank endeavoured to back out of the blindalley in which she found herself. With the reversing of her motorsthe landship jerked back a couple of feet or more and then sankperpendicularly for a distance of seven or eight feet, so that itsroof projected only a couple of feet above the level of the street.
For a few seconds the sickening thud knocked the stuffing out of theTank's crew. Used to bumps and jars though they were they had neverbefore experienced the effect of falling with a hideous thud for avertical distance of nearly three yards. They were in total darkness,for so dense were the clouds of dust and smoke that the daylight wascompletely obscured.
When the dust had subsided sufficiently to allow the murky light topenetrate, Ralph took stock of the position. Through the gap in theouter wall that the Tank had made he could see a considerable extentof the village street. Crowds of Germans were rushing up to reinforcethe men at the partly demolished barricade, from which Ralphconcluded that the British infantry had begun to make the attempt torush the village.
"If only we had a gun able to bear upon that mob, sir," exclaimedSergeant Alderhame, "we could enfilade the whole crowd."
It was a vain wish, for in falling the muzzles of the quickfirers hadbeen held up by the brickwork, with the result that they had beenwrenched from their mountings, while the mound of rubble was a fewinches too high to enable the maxims to be depressed sufficiently tobear upon the Huns in the street.
None of the enemy paid any attention to the stranded Tank. Perhapsthe imminent danger of the attacking infantry exercised the priorclaim. At any rate, the crew of the landship were passive spectatorsof the combat, unable to bring a gun to bear upon their foes yet in aposition to see most of what was taking place at the commencement ofthe village street.
Despite machine-gun fire and an incessant fusillade of bombs thestorming party gained the gap in the barricade. Two companies ofdifferent regiments were the first to get to grips with the enemy.One was a Highland battalion, the other was comprised of men ofRalph's old regiment--the redoubtable Wheatshires.
Both the Jocks and the Tommies were yelling furiously. Amid the babelof voices could be heard the ominous shout of "No Quarter!" The menwere up against the Prussian Guard, and there were old scores to payoff. Both the Wheatshires and the Highlanders had cause to remember acertain incident earlier in the war, when under pressure ofoverwhelming numbers the men had to give ground. Every wounded Britonleft on the field was mercilessly bombed or bayoneted, and theperpetrators of this cruel and unnecessary act were Huns of thePrussian Guard. No wonder, then, that it was now a case of _tequoque_.
Magnificently the khaki-clad men came on. Numbers fell, but still theforward movement was maintained. Up and over they swarmed. Bombs metbombs, bayonet crossed bayonet, rifle-butts descended with sickeningthuds on heads. Men badly wounded grappled madly on the ground,regardless of those who trampled on them, their one object being to"do in" their immediate antagonists. Shells from German light fieldguns were dropping into the pack of friend and foe, till the airrained blood.
In the fury of the fight the combatants were scornful of the dangers.To Ralph, temporarily a mere onlooker, the ghastliness of the wholebusiness was apparent. The hollow mockery of modern civilizationstood unmasked. Was it merely to satisfy the insensate craving forglory on the part of that megalomaniac Emperor that millions of Hunsand their vassals poured out their blood like water, and more equalnumbers of Britons and their Allies freely risked their lives tothwart the sanguinary ambitions of militant Prussianism?
The Kaiser had sown the wind and was now reaping the whirlwind.Whether the present war would be the last, and the sword finallybeaten into a ploughshare, still remained to be proved. In calmermoments would the Great Powers grasp the full significance of thedevastating and murderous effect of modern war, or is the primevalinstinct so deeply rooted in mankind that as long as the world existsinternational disputes must be settled by the arbitrament of thesword?
The sight of the frenzied mob of hale, active men, most of whom haduntil a few months before been engaged in eminently peacefulcommercial and agricultural pursuits and had been almost entirelyignorant of the use of the rifle, seemed to prove otherwise. Beneaththe veneer of civilization the fighting instinct, controlled bycenturies of law-governed authority, there still remained thepugnacious instinct. And now, to quote a well-known critic, "the lidof hell was off," with a vengeance.
For a futile ten minutes pandemonium reigned. Mingled with the rattleof machine-guns, the sharp reports of rifle-shots, and the crash ofsteel, were shouts of vengeful triumph and the cries of the wounded.Through the eddying clouds of dust and smoke tiles and bricks fromthe shelled houses flew in showers. Occasionally whole buildingswould collapse like a pack of cards, burying the German machinegunners in the ruins. Fires, too, were breaking out to add to thehorrors of the scene, while with typical indifference the Germanartillery were dropping shrapnel and gas-shells in the midst of thepack of swaying and struggling combatants.
Beyond the barricade the advance came to a standstill. For a fewmoments the tide swayed erratically, until the opposing troops werehampered by the dead and wounded. Masses of Germans were hurriedlyrushed up through a gap in the otherwise faultless British artillerybarrage, and hurled themselves into the fray.
The situation looked critical until a brawny Highlander sprang uponthe captured barricade and, holding unsupported a ponderous Lewisgun, pumped in a tray of ammunition over the heads of his comrades.Then, with renewed shouts of "Scotland for Ever!" on the part of theJocks, and the dogged "Stick it, the Wheatshires!" the British sweptforward with an irresistible rush. The majority of the Prussiansthrew down their arms and fled, to find their retreat cut off byother British battalions, who, assisted by the Tanks, had completedthe turning movement. Some of the Huns dashed precipitately to theirunderground retreats, with parties of British bombers hard at theirheels to rout them out of their deep dug-outs.
The fortress village of Néancourt had fallen, but it was a mereincident in the vast field of operations in connection with theGreater Push. Until the Von der Golz Redoubt was in British hands theday's objective could not be considered as achieved.