Edward Glendinning The Great War Interviews

BBC Four Collections,

specially chosen programmes from the BBC archive.

For this collection, Max Hastings has selected interviews

with Great War veterans, filmed in the 1960s.

More programmes on this theme and other BBC Four Collections

are available on BBC iPlayer.

During a quiet period of the line

in

autumn

1915,

when we were doing a regular

four

days in the line and four days

out -

and of course during the four

days

we were out

there were plenty

of fatigues to be getting on with -

we came out on one occasion

and we were ordered to get -

we were covered in mud as usual -

we were told to get rid of all

this mud,

clean up all our equipment,

because tomorrow we were going to be

inspected by someone pretty high up.

We weren't told who it was.

Well,

we made ourselves fairly presentable

and the next morning we set off.

We marched, I think, 10 or 15 miles

till

we came to a little valley

with

a road running

along the bottom of it.

And we found a lot of other

units

already assembled there

and we took our allotted

places and waited.

Well, of course we waited, I think,

for three or

four hours

before anything happened.

And then, of course, eventually along

came a contingent of staff cars,

and these high-ups

got

out of the car...cars...

and proceeded

to

mount their chargers.

I believe that there was an orderly

flying a miniature Royal Standard behind the King.

Well, he rode along the first three or four ranks

and then crossed the road

and around the other

three or four ranks the other side,

speaking to an officer

here

and there, you know.

Well, our instructions

from the beginning had been

that at the conclusion of the parade

we were to

put the...our caps

on

the

points of our

fixed bayonets

and wave and cheer.

So of course that is what we did.

Hip, hip, hooray!

Well, the King's horse reared

and he fell off.

He seemed to slide off.

And, of course, the second

"hip, hip"

fizzled out.

It was quite a fiasco.

And you should have seen

the confusion

as these other high-ranking

officers hurriedly tried to

dismount

to go to the King's

assistance.

They got him up

and the last we saw

of him

was being hurriedly driven

away in,

I don't know whether it was

a field ambulance or a staff car.

During the night of

24th/25th

September 1915,

the infantry battalion to which

I belonged was moved

up

into reserve trenches almost

opposite the Hohenzollern Redoubt.

As we came up, we had passed through

many squadrons of British

cavalry,

who were assembling,

I suppose, to be able to

exploit

any

breakthrough that we

infantrymen could make the next day.

We didn't get any sleep all night

because even before we got

there

our artillery barrage

was blazing

away,

and we sat there

huddled in this...in this

sort of communication...

reserve

communication trench.

It was a long, dreary,

miserable

night.

Some chaps were crying. Some were praying.

But really, we were all optimists.

We all hoped that

we should

come through.

As soon as it was light, we were

issued out with a big ration of rum.

You could drink as much

as you

wanted of it.

And we were told that were to be

prepared to receive orders

to advance at any moment.

Well, the "any moment"

was quite

a long while coming,

and, of course,

that was a very,

very trying period.

I believe it was actually

two

hours

before we got the actual order to advance.

Just before then,

we were issued out

with two additional bandoliers of ammunition,

although

our pouches were already full,

so we were carrying a pretty heavy

weight of ammunition.

We clambered up out of this trench.

Some of us had ladders and some

just got out as best they could.

And we very soon found ourselves picking our way

over the bodies of men who'd fallen

in the

earlier

attacks that morning,

and wounded

men who were trying

to crawl

into shell holes

to get protection.

The enemy fire wasn't too

bad for the first two or three hundred yards,

but all of a sudden they opened up

on us with terrific machine-gun fire.

A lot of this was coming from

a huge

slagheap on our right.

We went on and on and on, because

we sensed that...

that we were getting fewer and fewer as we went on.

I think about 20 of us

got as far as the German wire.

But that had been very well

knocked about by our artillery

and was hardly any obstacle.

But when we reached the parapet

of

the

German trench,

the trench was in...appeared

to

be in jolly good shape.

It had hardly been knocked about at all

and it was still quite neatly sandbagged.

As we looked down into it,

we saw, I think,

half a dozen Germans

running

backwards

into one

of their communication

trenches,

leading rearwards.

We just managed to get in

a few

parting shots at these chaps

before we jumped

down into the trench.

And the men who were

carrying bombs

went

and dropped them down the holes

of the dugouts at either side.

And I think in about 20 minutes,

we'd

satisfied ourselves

that this

German trench

was

completely

evacuated.

Then we got orders to advance again.

Well, this time there was much

less

intense machine-gun fire.

But I think in less...even less

than a hundred yards

we came to a second German trench.

Now, this trench

had really

been plastered.

It resembled nothing

but a string of shell holes,

although the fact that it had been a trench

you could see by little

bits of the

parapet that

remained here and there.

We jumped down into this,

but

we found it was so shallow

that we

hadn't sufficient cover

to

fire

forward out of it.

We had

to get busy with our

entrenching

tools and make it deeper.

So one man would be digging away

and the next man firing over

the top,

and then sort of changing round.

Well, from that time on,

we received

no further orders.

Whether the attack on our flanks had

been held or not, I couldn't say.

But we were there at least two

hours before anything happened.

And then I think by that time,

the Germans began to

realise

where we were,

because

they started sweeping the parapet,

or what was left of it,

with machine-gun fire.

Then they sent over

a lot of this shrapnel,

but most of that burst behind us

and didn't do any damage.

Then presently they opened up

with their 15-pounder guns,

what we called the whizz-bangs.

That was a thing that made

a crater about a yard across

and about 12-18 inches deep.

But that was the sort of thing

that

so long you were two or three yards away from where that burst,

you were all right

because the blast

all went

up in the air.

But I'm afraid

we lost our platoon sergeant

and a corporal

to direct

hits in the trench.

Well, the hours wore on

and it

became dusk,

and then we heard

a rattling

and rustling behind us

and wondered whatever this could be.

And strong detachments of the guards

managed to get in

and were taking our places.

They... They relieved us

in much greater strength than we'd been all day.

Whereas we'd been about one man

to about ten yards of trench,

they had a man every couple of feet.

Well, word was passed

along

for the Sherwood Foresters to assemble in groups and to withdraw.

Well, of course, as we withdrew

over

the ground

that had been

captured that day...

..the

sight

was incredible.

It was just like a flock of sheep

lying asleep in a field.

And it became evident that

the

regimental stretcher bearers,

who at one time had been bandsmen,

had been unable to cope with

such

a huge number of casualties.

Quite a number of the men

were still alive,

and they were crying out

and begging for water.

They plucked at our legs

as we went by.

One hefty chap did grab me

by...

round both legs and held me,

and I was going to take the cork

out

of my hot water bottle - out of my bottle -

out of my water

bottle to give him a drink,

and I was immediately prodded

on

by...behind by someone saying,

"Get on, get on. We're going to

lose

touch with the column in front.

"We shall get lost."

In the years that have passed,

that

man's pleadings have haunted me.

Yes, it was a dreadful experience,

there's no doubt about that.

Still, those of us who survived

think

ourselves jolly lucky.