November 24th 1914 - Flanders - The flow of men back to the aid station has been incessant throughout the day, the doctors and aid workers have been filtering the waiting men, following the guidelines learnt from the French, adopting for the first time a triage. Overnight men from the Leicestershire Regiment have been returned in droves by a constant stream of bearers struggling to bring them across muddy fields, many of the men wounded by splinters from the now wrecked Spinney trench. Already a train has left with over sixty of them aboard, some already missing limbs, others will have legs and arms taken at either Wimereaux or Netley military hospitals; most will arrive home in the next month to an uncertain future, many will die from complications. With snow on the ground the aid station has taken on the appearance of a great red patch amongst the white of the fields. A row, three deep, of brown patches, like the marks of a great counting machine, dot the line of the hedgerow and two groups of local men are digging. Next to them lie stretchers covered in blankets, from the end of each one hang boots, one is missing, exposing a ruddy stump and one just a naked foot. Bandages are in short supply so cloth taken from flour sacks and the sails of a war dismantled windmill are pressed into service. Men from the Indian Division, British and those from the sub-continent are examined in turn and then channelled in three directions: dying, urgent and walking. Germans are in a different line but are seen depending on their injury, as would be expected with typical British sense of fair play. No one knows what made the Bavarian troops rush the Indian Division, maybe a thought that the Jats were no match for them, they soon learnt a lesson. Ghurkas driven once from their trenches almost a month ago where ready this time, cold or not, they fought hard and long, they stayed in the trench. The Scotsmen forming the wings of the Indian Line also hold firm, despite only arriving in France two weeks before. All along the line the men from India fight with the men from Leicestershire and the Scots, along with hurriedly gathered reserves from the roads – fighting together and cementing many a friendship that would last a lifetime. The Germans continue to attack in small waves, their engineers digging shallow saps that lead right up to the British Line, from where troops first lob the potato masher bombs and then charge. It is difficult, if not impossible, to discover where they will attack next. British engineers bemoan a lack of barbed wire in the sector, for no where else do the Hun attack like this. All across the Indian Division one after another probing attacks occur, individual acts of heroism are plenty but one man stands out from the ranks, Naik Darwan Sing Negi. In his village of Kabartir, north of the Pindar River, amid the wild regions of the great Himalayas, often will be told the tale of how he upheld the prestige of his race and gained fame for the regiment in which he served. Each time the Germans attacked he seemed to be at the head of the traverse, pushing and persuading his men to fight to the death. Negi is now sitting quietly in a chair supplied by one of the officers, wounded in arm and shoulder he refuses to to be seen until the line is clear. Next to him lay the bodies of Captain Grant and 2nd Lieutenant Seton-Browne, now covered in brown blankets, the two Leicestershire officers have fought all day with him and he will wait until they are buried before he leaves them for the last time. Others from the shire are beginning to trickle into the aid station, no longer with splinter wounds, but with those from shrapnel, bullet and bayonet they are the men held in reserve and who have just pushed the Germans back to their own lines, breaking the back of the attack. Angered by their witness of the artillery barrage that destroyed the Spinney they had no sympathy for the Germans, there were no prisoners taken in the charge across what is now being known as no-mans land. General Sir James Willcocks finally has time to sit and write, the report will be rushed to headquarters at St Omer...... “I must say how proud I am of my Indian Division, it has fought well, the men from Leicestershire suffering more than most, as you will see from the recommendations for awards. It will not be possible to list all acts of bravery on this day but here are just some. “The 57th Rifles, who held fast to their trenches on the left, did good work though sharing none of the glory. Their commander reported during the fighting : I am trying to improve my trenches, but have no large -sized spades or shovels. A telephone is urgently needed. We want some sand-bags—most urgent. Also a lot of bombs. Without these and the sand-bags it is difficult sometimes. “I add this to the report so you may see the difficulty we face. “As a 57th man said after the fight, we held with our bare hands ; we had nothing else. “Captain Indajit Singh, the medical officer of the battalion, was killed while coolly carrying out his duties behind the firing line. A brother officer, Major P, Atal, I. M.S., in medical charge of the 129th Baluchis, was also killed with him. Both had gained the respect of their Corps by the fearless discharge of their duty to the wounded. “I attach the recommendations for awards, you will see a large number, amongst them is the recommendation of the V.C. for Naik Darwan Sing Negi “There remains one splendid deed to be recorded, again a recommendation is made for the V.C. I hope you will consider it as it is very worthwhile. “Last evening a detachment of the 34th Poona Horse, one of the regiments of the Secunderabad Cavalry Brigade, had been sent up as a reinforcement and was in the trenches of the Ferozepore Brigade. A German sap ran right up to the line and exposed it to fire. Guarding the junction was Lieutenant F. A. de Pass with a small party. One of this party volunteered to move along the sap and reconnoitre it. It was found that at twelve paces away the sap turned and there was a loopholed traverse guarded by Huns. From this point of vantage they continued throughout the day to fling hand-grenades into our trench : there were no grenades to reply with, and de Pass and his men had to stick it out, losing several wounded. He, however, was determined that the Germans should be turned out, and at dawn, with two Sowars, he crawled up the sap, inserted a charge of gun-cotton against a loophole of the traverse, and the explosion which followed wrecked the traverse and laid bare a wide gap, exposing its site to fire from our trenches. A grenade hurled at his small party was fortunately ineffective, and the enemy was quietened. “This morning, now in broad daylight, this gallant soul, accompanied by Private C. Cook of the reserve 7th Dragoon Guards, went out and carried in a wounded sepoy under a heavy fire for a considerable distance. “I am pleased to say we hold the line. Yours Obediently.... .
Posted on: Mon, 24 Nov 2014 16:44:30 +0000
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