Site Home
This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this site you agree to accept cookies.
If you enjoy this site please consider making a donation.
Great War Home
Search
Add Stories & Photos
Library
Help & FAQs
Features
Allied Army
Day by Day
RFC & RAF
Prisoners of War
War at Sea
Training for War
The Battles
Those Who Served
Hospitals
Civilian Service
Women at War
The War Effort
Central Powers Army
Central Powers Navy
Imperial Air Service
Library
World War Two
Submissions
Add Stories & Photos
Time Capsule
Information
Help & FAQs
Glossary
Our Facebook Page
Volunteering
News
Events
Contact us
Great War Books
About
205466L/Cpl. Arthur "Buzzer" Marriott
British Army 7th Btn. City of London Regt
from:Leicester
I eventually arrived back at my unit feeling more scared than ever and wondering if I would survive the war.
When I arrived at base I was told my unit was in the Front Line not far from Amiens and I was to join them at night going with the mule train which took up our rations and brought back the dead for burial.
We started off and passed by the heavy Howitzer guns which were firing and scaring the mules to death. After we had gone so far the Sergeant told us we must now go by communication trench up to our Front Line. We were walking through the winding trenches for what seemed ages, so that we arrived at about “stand to†at 6am, and we were detailed to take up positions on the firing step looking out for any possible German attack.
After “stand down†I was back on my old job of inspecting our wire defences making a note of where we had to repair the gaps made by shell fire. To do this when Jerry was only a short distance away I had to use a box periscope, making a note of the gaps.
I would have some breakfast and get in my little dug-out and go to sleep very often to be awakened by a “close oneâ€. Up in the evening again things seemed to be rather quiet, not a very good sign and usually a portent of things to come later on.
My gang was ready for going over with coils of barbed wire and stakes, when the Fighting Patrol Sergeant came and told me that they would be going out and not to mistake them for the enemy. He was a man with a charmed life. He held the Croix de Gare, Belgian Militaire, the Distinguished Conduct Medal and Military Medals (British). A quiet unassuming individual but very efficient. I assured him we would be on the look-out but at the same time not to cause a rumpus out there and get us all killed. “All right, don’t worry,†he replied.
We had finished our job and were creeping in at a given time so that our men in the front trench would not start firing at us or lobbing hand grenades over to us, when suddenly someone grabbed my arm. It was the Patrol Sergeant and he whispered: “Come with me I want to show you something.†I followed him but knowing him I was really scared, “very lights†seemed to increase in number as we went into the unknown, but he was a man who seemed to give one confidence with his quiet manner. He started to go down what seemed like a sunken road and I followed. Suddenly I realised that we were in a tunnel, I could see little pin points of light scurrying about and he said: “Don’t be afraid of the rats.†Then, to my horror, he shone torchlight in front of him. I said: “Put that bloody light out.†But he calmly replied: “You’re all right, they can’t see us in hereâ€. He shone the light all around this German dug-out in the middle of “no man’s landâ€. The dug-out was well fitted out with wire beds in rows and I nearly screamed when I saw every bed was occupied by a German but the stench told me that they were all dead and the rats kept running away from the bodies when we approached the beds.
He took my arm and led me to the end cubicle occupied by the “Kammandant†who had with him female company, a French woman he had smuggled in for a night. The sergeant said that they had been there for months undisturbed only by death from poison gas. The bodies were so decomposed that they were frightful to look at and I was very glad to be out of there in the fresh night air.
The sergeant showed me the way back to our front line. I was expecting him to come with me, but he said he had more work to do. I found out afterwards that he had been in the German front line and brought back a box of oranges and a German prisoner. His method was stealth. By sneaking in on the enemy he would stun him and carry him over his shoulder back to our lines for interrogation, very often the sergeant would be missing for several days and nights.
Related Content:
Can you help us to add to our records?
The names and stories on this website have been submitted by their relatives and friends. If your relations are not listed please add their names so that others can read about them
Did your relative live through the Great War? Do you have any photos, newspaper clippings, postcards or letters from that period? Have you researched the names on your local or war memorial?
If so please let us know.
Do you know the location of a Great War "Roll of Honour?"We are very keen to track down these often forgotten documents and obtain photographs and transcriptions of the names recorded so that they will be available for all to remember.
Help us to build a database of information on those who served both at home and abroad so that future generations may learn of their sacrifice.
Celebrate your own Family History
Celebrate by honouring members of your family who served in the Great War both in the forces and at home. We love to hear about the soldiers, but also remember the many who served in support roles, nurses, doctors, land army, muntions workers etc.
Please use our Family History resources to find out more about your relatives. Then please send in a short article, with a photo if possible, so that they can be remembered on these pages.
The free section of The Wartime Memories Project is run by volunteers.
This website is paid for out of our own pockets, library subscriptions and from donations made by visitors. The popularity of the site means that it is far exceeding available resources and we currently have a huge backlog of submissions.
If you are enjoying the site, please consider making a donation, however small to help with the costs of keeping the site running.
Hosted by:
Copyright MCMXCIX - MMXXIV
- All Rights Reserved -We do not permit the use of any content from this website for the training of LLMs or for use in Generative AI, it also may not be scraped for the purpose of creating other websites.