By Mike Barden
Spring Offensive 2009. A second call for volunteers was issued by our C.O. the intrepid Bernie Tompkins and 24 stalwarts answered the call.
The 1951 but ‘New’ Kings Ash Flyer (pictured in its new livery, reupholstered)
unarmoured troop carrier was loaded up and departed The Lee 26th March at
08:00 hours bound for the Western Front. Seen off by Quartermaster Jim Spence
who was in charge of planning, routing, maps, stores and, not to say, windscreen
cleaning (together with a few grateful wives and girlfriends), the 7½-ton
bus charged along at a stately 45 mph, to follow a very detailed itinerary.The battalion was self-contained with a doctor and dentist (Yanker) onboard if walking wounded needed help (hangovers excluded). In the near freezing and driving rain, thirst was a real problem, but the C.O. thoughtfully negotiated with The Marlow Brewery (established 1993) for some cases of IPA.
Driving was shared between Rick Brockett and Chris Nevill who were great volunteers to the task. The battalion mechanic, Ward Jones, only had to deal with a ‘refusal to start’ in Peronne. Local (French) saboteurs had shut the master fuel valve!
Our campaign went first to Vimy Ridge (Canadian) and overnighted in Arras. Next day a tour of the Wellington Quarries (chalk tunnelling from ancient times, hugely expanded by the New Zealanders to hide 11,000 Brits before the Battle of Arras). Then on to the Somme where on 1st July 1916 the British intended walk-over cost nearly 60,000 casualties on the first day. Many Pals Battalions were lost on the killing fields of Serre, which decimated many small UK communities.
A full series of other stops is not for this narrative, but a special mention should be made of our stop at Fromelles where at Pheasant Wood a previously unidentified German mass grave of Aussies and Brits is about to be excavated. Check at the web site set up by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission www.cwgc.org/fromelles for details and progress.
At each location Mike Senior gave excellent explanations of the WW1 scenarios so it was easy to understand what we were looking at in the geographical and war aims setting. Today, the memorials and cemeteries, excellently maintained by our own British and Commonwealth War Graves Commission, are a sombre reminder of the slaughter which occurred 90 years ago.
An enormous ‘thanks’ is due to all those named above for making the trip so educational and such fun. We shall draw a discreet veil over the Mess Sergeant’s (a.k.a. Bernie) efforts with Les Belles des Boulangerie whereby filled baguettes for 24 were purchased daily for the volunteers. Likewise the ever-present threat of another film finally evaporated when it was announced by the C.O. at the mess dinner that the DVD had gone awol.
A much-relieved squad thereupon attended the Ypres Last Post and then dispersed to hostelries around a very picturesque town.
More volunteers will be sought for the next campaign once the current battle fatigue has subsided.