|
|
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.
Site Home
Help & FAQs
Features
Submissions
Information
Advertisements
World War 1 One ww1 wwII greatwar great 1914 1918 first battalion regiment
Pte. John Scott
British Army 18th Btn. Durham Light Infantry
"‘Twas easy enough at Gezancourt – thirty kilometres from the line –
To bray the enemy from the Somme and drive him back to the Rhine.
For there with the line of our advance mapped out on the level ground,
Day after day, “D†Company was reg’larly mucked around
“Over there’s supposed to be Gommecourt (them trees with the feathery tops).
Yonder’s Serre Wood, and over here our objective-Pendant Copse!â€
And every day we signallers on Pendant Copse would stand,
Signalling back to GHQ “Objectives gained as planned!â€But “D†Company knew they had something on – them and 18th West Yorks –
When the big push started on the Somme to give old Fritz the works.
Aye, every night, and all night long, while the regiment lay at Courcelles,
Lorries in convoy came rolling through bringing up loads of shells
Through that dark village street with clanking of chains over the bumpy ground
Where in billets we’re snatching uneasy sleep, with the rats a-scuttling around!Then a night or two before the attack (in Bus Woods then we stayed)
Some of us met behind our shack and under the trees we prayed!
Back home they said ‘twas a righteous cause! That King and Country claimed;
And we, who took it seriously, were scarcely to be blamed.Don’t ask me what we prayed about; since then I’ve often prayed;
“No, not for safety Lord, but help me not to be afraid!â€
So we take the road for Colincamps one night as the sun goes down.
Scouting “Taubes†fly overhead – the warning whistle’s blown!
Hedges afford scant cover, where we crouch with anxious eye,
Convinced that not a move escapes that watcher in the sky!Darkness! From earth and sandbags comes the now familiar stench,
As we grope and stumble down the long communication trench.
Then it’s “Pass the word to mind the wire!†“Loose board here!†“Lift your feet!â€
And it’s “Watch your step!†(on them coggly stones going down Sackville Street)
Now scrambling over awkward spots where the trench has been smashed in.
With a shudder, at what might come to ‘us’ before the day begin.â€Pte John Scott, 18th DLI writing shortly after the 1st of July 1916.
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:
The Wartime Memories Project Website
is archived for preservation by the British Library
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.
