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Chapter VIII. Armentières

On the 11th April, 1916, the first units of the New Zealand Division were disembarking at Marseilles, and, after an all too fleeting glimpse of the glowing colour of the Pays Lumière—then in full radiance of Spring—were hurried on by rail through Paris to the cold wet plain of Flanders, concentrating near Hazebrouck, about the 15th, in the Second Army reserve area. Divisional Headquarters were at Bleringhem, between Hazebrouck and Aire; here the A.D.M.S. established his office. Not far away on the road to Hazebrouck the 1st New Zealand Field Ambulance under Lt.-Col. E. O'Neil, D.S.O., opened its first tent sub-division, at the Chateau de Morbecque, on the site of a moated keep of the Flemish warrior, Dennis de Morbecque who had fought with Edward the IIIrd at Crecy, and whose tomb and effigy lay in the village church hard by. At the village of Tannay, Lt.-Col. Hardie Neil, N.Z.M.C., with the 3rd New Zealand Field Ambulance was in billets, his tent subdivision open in the school house at Thiennes, serving the 3rd Brigade, scattered through various farms and hamlets in the vicinity. The 2nd New Zealand Field Ambulance accompanying the 2nd Brigade had arrived later, on the 20th; Lt.-Col. Murray opened at Warne, close to Roquetoire the 2nd Brigade Headquarters. The Division was to be in reserve for a month; two divisions of the Corps, the 1st Australian and the 2nd Australian, were holding the line in front of Armentières and Sailly Sur la Lys. General Birdwood's Headquarters were at La Motte au Bois, on his staff, was the D.D.M.S., Col. Manifold, C.B., I.M.S.

The field ambulances were chiefly engaged, at first, in collecting their new transport and equipment. The transport waggons, horses, and mules, and the Ruston Mark 4 water carts were drawn from the Imperial Ordnance dépot at Abbéville, and were escorted to their respective units by transport officers and A.S.C. attached; the motor ambulances were not supplied until a little later. The new equipment, drawn from the supply depot of medical stores, included two water chlorination cabinets for each ambulance, designed for the purpose of estimating the amount of chlorination required to purify a given sample of page 161water. The Divisional Sanitary Section was distributed in four squads whose duties were to maintain sanitary control over those parts of brigade areas which were not under military control, such as roadways, railway stations, brigade bathing and and disinfesting establishments, and to co-operate with the Divisional Engineers by giving expert advice and supplying plans and specifications for sanitary constructions.

The weather was very wet and cold when the troops arrived, so that an extra blanket was issued by Army authority to the Anzac troops who, coming from Egypt, felt the keenness of the northern spring more than the acclimatised British troops, now on their summer allowance of one blanket only. The New Zealanders, not yet accustomed to the rather ragged billets, in farm yards, barns, lofts and byres, found themselves, at first, rather uncomfortably housed in their novel surroundings. So far, they had no experiences of billet life. Some billets undoubtedly were better than others, but the majority of the farm buildings and out offices were by now dilapidated by the constant passage of troops, through the dearth of labour, and above all, of material. So that the farmers, who profited in revenue by billeting, were apathetic in maintaining their buildings, more especially as claims for compensation were also, at times, an added source of income. The whole question of billeting and requisitions had been legalised in France by the laws of the 3rd of July, 1877, and subsequent laws, and the right of billeting troops in France and Belgium had been accorded to the British Army. In England the powers of the annual Army Act provides authority for billeting troops, only, when the Territorial Force is embodied, in case of grave national emergency; but as France and Belgium have conscripted armies the billeting laws are permanently embodied in the Legislature. The procedure was briefly this:— On arrival in a Commune the billeting officer would, according to French law, apply to the Maire or the Adjoint au Maire (Deputy Mayor) through whom, alone, billets might be obtained. The requirements of units would be stated to the Maire who allotted the billets or cantonments from a list kept for this purpose at the Mairie. Billets de logement, or billeting orders were then issued to be presented by the incoming troops to the proprietors on taking over the cantonments. At the time of vacation the billeting officer handed the proprietor a billeting certificate signed by the O.C. of the unit showing the amount due, by which document the proprietor claimed payment at the Mairie. As a rule claims for dilapidation were settled by mutual agreement; page 162occasionally they had to be referred to arbitration by the divisional claims officer who remained behind to adjust disputes. The legal tariff for billets in France was:—for an officer; one franc per night if supplied with a bed and linen; 20 centimes for N.C.O.'s supplied with a bed; and 1 sou per man in good closed billets.

Under the close billeting system in France, whereby a hundred men or more might be lodged in the outbuildings of a large farm— the lofts, barns, and byres being packed with men—stringent rules dealing with conservancy were very necessary. All refuse, including solid excreta was to be incinerated; where men were distributed over a wide area, the shallow trench latrines were permitted; but in closer aggregations a pail system with incineration, or deep fly-proof latrines, were required, where the subsoil permitted; where the subsoil water was in close proximity to the surface pails were necessary. The principle of segregation of liquid from solid excreta was compulsory where incineration— considered to be method of election—was practised. Much ingenuity and resource were required in devising conservancy appliances and the whole of the arrangements exacted a close supervision by regimental medical officers. Every effort was made by commanding officers to improve their billets and so provide for their men as to make the conditions of living as comfortable as possible. Needless to say the village estaminets became a perpetual source of pleasure and recreation to the Anzecs, always most welcome guests. Indeed the esteem in which the Anzacs were held by the French-Flemings, even from our earliest days in France was conspicuous. And it was not all cupboard love, indubitably there was also some natural love and affection between the parties. However that may be, the estaminet life—with all its faults—had something to recommend it from the point of view of morale—it kept the men amused.

The first anniversary of Anzac day was duly celebrated by the joyous announcement of the opening of the leave season to "Blighty." Many a young New Zealander was now to see "Home" for the first time; the leave allowed was eight days. The allotment to the ambulance personnel was 8 per week, but as the leave season was closed in June, some of the officers and men did not get away until after the Somme operations. The regimental medical personnel had their share of the battalion weekly allotments.

As the Division was ordered to take over the line in front of Armentières at an earlier date than anticipated, the 2nd and 3rd page 163Brigade groups moved into the Anzac Reserve area about Estaires, where Divisional Headquarters were established by the 1st of May. In moving a Division very special precautions with regard to march routes and time tables are necessary so as to avoid dislocation of traffic. The Division moved in brigade groups. A brigade group for march purposes consisted of the Infantry Brigade, a company of Engineers, and a Field Ambulance, less the transport, which as a rule proceeded by other routes. New troops, with inadequate march discipline would no doubt straggle over a wide extent of road space, and during these marches a considerable number of men fell out owing to foot troubles. After the sand of the desert training ground the French paved road was an obdurate surface very damaging to the unhardened feet of the Infantry, the ambulances were temporarily crowded with march casualties in consequence. No. 8 New Zealand Field Ambulance opened in a convent school, "Notre Dame de Lourdes," in Estaires, where it found accommodation for 200 cases; No. 2 Field Ambulance established its Headquarters in an orchard near Doulieu in tents and huts as no buildings were available. The lack of motor transport was a serious handicap in these moves as the cars did not report until the end of the first week in May; some cars were lent, however, by the 22nd M.A.C. During the moves two eases of C.S.M. were notified in the 2nd Brigade, No. 2 Field Ambulance taking the 61 contacts concerned. It was a very strange phenomenon, this sporadic outbreak of C.S.M. during divisional moves, but it was observed from time to time; movement seemed to lead to casualties inevitably; apart from this the general health of the troops at this time was ever so much better than in Egypt, the sick rate being about 6 per 1000 per week.

In order to provide accommodation for soldiers who were not seriously ill but required a few days treatment, No. 1 Field Ambulance was instructed to open a divisional rest station at Chateau de Morbeque. Divisional rest stations had now become a recognised establishment on the Western Front, the idea was evolved from the earlier convalescent depots formed in the winter 1914-1915, at first as trench foot hospitals. The Austrian Staff Officer, Ritter von Hoen, whose manual, "The Strategical and Tactical Employment of the Medical Service," translated into English by Surgeon General Macpherson and published in 1909 as an official manual, possibly suggested the principle of keeping soldiers with minor disabilities, including slight wounds, within the Divisional or Corps Areas in a convalescent depot so as page 164to avoid encumbering the lines of communication. Whatever the origin of the idea, it proved eminently practical and useful. It became the recognised work of a field ambulance in reserve to establish a D.R.S. for the reception of from 200 to 400 casualties of the type indicated; the average time for treatment was 10 days, after which the inmate if not fit, was evacuated to casualty clearing station, at which time his name was struck off the divisional strength.

The first medical unit to move into Armentières was the Divisional Sanitary Section who took over the duties of the 17th Divisional Sanitary Section and their quarters at the École Professionelle— the technical school at Armentières. By the 10th May, all moves were complete: at noon, the New Zealand Division had taken over its first sector of defence in France, with divisional headquarters in very handsome houses in the Rue Sadi Carnot, stated by the inhabitants to be the 5th Avenue, the Belgravia of the city. The houses were mostly modern, built in the Flemish style and must have been inhabited by wealthy manufacturers before the War. The A.D.M.S. established his office at the Civil Hospital which still harboured a few patients. No. 2 Field Ambulance relieved the 52nd Field Ambulance at the main dressing station, at a girls' school in the Rue de Messines, near the main road to Bailleul; their advanced dressing station was in a well preserved detached villa in the Rue des Jesuits in the Houplines area to the north-east of the town. The 3rd Field Ambulance took over from the 51st Field Ambulance with a main dressing station at the Cercle St. Joseph, a young men's club, just to the west of the new brick church of Notre Dame, while their advanced dressing station was situated in a brick kiln, on the high road to Lille at Chapelle d'Armentières, to the south side of the town. Each ambulance was serving its corresponding brigade.

The town of Armentières is situated on the right bank of the river Lys on the main road from the coast through Cassel, Baillisul, to Lille, of which city it was a busy, wealthy suburb. Very active and prosperous was Armentières before the war— with its linen bleach works strung out along the banks of the Lys, its thriving textile industry, its busy hum of spinning jennies and its many looms. The old fashioned weaver had a fine Flemish house in his factory grounds; the more modern built showy houses in the Rue Sadi Carnot. There was a good train service to Lille, distant by road, less than twenty minutes run in a car. The industrial centre round Houplines village to the north-east was of recent origin and formed a dense agglomeration of page 165bleach works, linen spinning and weaving factories, sprouting like an asparagus bed with tall brick chimneys, now mostly cold. On the outskirts, spreading towards Lille, rows of workmen's cottages, two storied and rather drab; empty now, each bearing on its shattered roof or walls the seal of war. The old town had clustered about a venerable Gothic church, St. Vaast, dating from 1200, and grew with the progress of the linen industry, once almost a monopoly of the Flanders plain. The water of the Lys, owing to its chemical properties, some say its sewage content, was famous from early times for its bleaching powers and the linen yarn came from Ypres to be bleached there. Before this war Armentières had known war and had stood a siege during the days of Louis XIV.—but never a war like this. Early in September 1914, when it had a population of 27,000 the Germans advanced to occupy it; many of the poor people abandoned their homes, wheeling their chattels on pathetic barrows down the long pave to Baillieul and beyond. But the French and British troops— the 6th Division—had retaken the place and the Germans fell back on prepared positions on the Perenchies ridge covering the Lille Forts. The bulk of the central part of the town was intact when we took over, and had a population of about 10,000, chiefly employed in the linen factories, which continued to work in spite of desultory bombardments. Owing to the proximity of Lille, which had a very large civil population, there were obvious objections to any advance on our part, and as Armentières was turning out a liberal amount of coarse linen fabric for the French Armies it was politic to avoid its destruction. Any unpleasantness on our part such as the shelling of Lille would have been requited by the bombardment of Armentières, and vice-versa, so that by a mute, but clearly understood compact between the opposing armies, Armentières became a quiet sector. The town had many advantages as it afforded superior billeting accommodation to over a Divisional strength. There was an excellent town water supply, the quasi-normal business, the flourishing shops, estaminets, cafes and restaurants and the large cheery French population made it a happy recreation ground for the troops coming back from the trenches only 4000 yards away; and the presence of so many young women and children so close to the front line was & powerful tonic to morale.

As a frontal attack on Lille was an impossibility for us, there could be no thought of an advance from the bridge head at Armentières: defensive tactics were dictated by the nature of the local military situation. The possibility of a German advance was page 166evident; Armentières was in an awkward salient with the river at its back, a difficult place to get out of in a hurry as all traffic must pass through the town to reach the two standing bridges, one at Pont de Nieppe on the road to Baillieul and the other south of it, the railway bridge where the main line crossed the Lys—destroyed by the Germans in their retreat in 1914 but rebuilt by the French shortly after. The trenches were hardly 4,000 yards away from the centre of the town which was within easy range of enemy field guns; yet as a result of the tacit pact Armentières was little damaged, seemingly, in May, 1916. Houplines being much nearer the firing line had suffered a good deal, and was certainly not a health resort; it still afforded some dingy billets to support troops, but was in places practically a part of the defensive position. Our front line lay with its left flank on the Lys to the north and ran southwards to the Lille road in front of Chapelle d'Armentières, where we touched the left flank of the 2nd Australian Division. The principle of defence in depth was observed by having a continuous front line trench held only in certain "localities" somewhat thinly with the minimum number of men so as to avoid casualties by shell fire. The intervals between the localities were very strongly wired and constantly patrolled. From the localities communication trenches zigzagged back to the support line also a continuous trench where the bulk of the front line garrison lived, and in between the two lines were strong points specially constructed to hold out against an invasion overwhelming the front line. Further in rear were the reserve positions in a second line of defence, somewhat similar to the first, duly interspersed with strong points, machine gun positions, and arresting entanglements. The front line system covered, say, 1200 yards in depth and was duplicated by similar trench systems further back supervised by the divisional reserves who were billeted in the vicinity. Two brigades held the line: the 2nd Brigade, in the Houplines sector, the 3rd Brigade south of it. The defensive scheme included a very detailed plan of action in case of an irresistible attack and a retirement behind the line of the Lys.

A very important defensive measure was being closely scrutinised at this time: protection against poison gas—gas defensive measures. The type of attack to be expected was by cloud gas discharged from cylinders in favourable wind conditions; the gas shell had not yet come into use. There had been just recently an attack on the First Army by a discharge of chlorine gas; the mixture of phosgene with chlorine in 50 per cent. pro-page 167portion, the most deadly form of cloud attack, had not yet been devised but. the new P.H. tube helmet, a cowl with talc goggles and an expiratory tube, was dressed with hexamine and was proof against phosgene. Several objections to this type of helmet were manifest. In the "alert" position it had to be worn pinned to the front of the tunic and tucked inside the breast; so that in the warm weather the jacket could not be removed as it carried the helmet, and the collar of the coat was an essential part of the apparatus as it was necessary to button it closely about the open end of the helmet, which needed careful tucking in so as to exclude gas. A further serious objection was the fact that the moisture of the brow bringing the chemicals of the fabric into solution produced irritation or burns—due to the phenyl compound—if the helmet had to be worn for any length of time. On the 17th June the enemy released gas on the Wulverghem sector to our north over an area of 3,500 yards. The Division there had 24 per cent. casualties with a high mortality rate mainly due to imperfections in the P.H. helmets. One of the minor horrors of the contraption was that it was a most unpleasant damp sticky thing to carry about, being hygroscopic it soon gathered moisture which loaded the pouch container; by seepage the phenyl-hexamine compound oozed on to the jacket making the hands most unpleasantly sticky and the garment disreputable.

A system of gas-proofing dugouts was devised by adjusting blankets to double doors so as to make the chamber tight against gas. Gas-proof chambers were installed in the advanced dressing stations: in use, the screens were saturated with hypo solution by means of Vermorel sprayers kept for the purpose; as the doors of the gas proofs were double and gas tight, men could enter or leave the shelter obviating the admission of gas by using the neutralising spray in the air lock. Part of the work of the division was the pushing on with the construction of gas proof ragouts or cellars for the protection of the reserves or for the accommodation of wounded.

During the month of June there were several alarms of gas probably due to the lack of experience of our own troops: but some of the alarms originated in the German lines. The "gas alarm" was given by means of sirens worked by compressed air known as "Strombos" horns, the beating of improvised gongs, such as a length of railway iron, or by firing coloured rockets irom the trenches; church bells in the vicinity were tolled to warn the civilians; the whole dismal chorus of sound very die-page 168quieting—especially as these alarms took place mainly at night. So real was the menace from cloud gas, so heavy were the casualties, that schools of instruction in the use of gas fighting appliances had been for some time established. Each division was to have a special gas officer and a party of N.C.O.'s all trained at the Army School by chemical advisers in order to instruct the division in the use of the appliances; a divisional gas school was part of the trench warfare school of each division. Shortly after our arrival in Prance applications for the post of Gas Officer were called for, ultimately Captain G. Borrie, N.Z.M.C, was appointed. Against this mis-appropriation of a medical officer both the A.D.M.S. and later the D.M.S. protested, as they considered that a medical officer could not be spared for this work which should have been entrusted to a combatant officer; but Captain Borrie proved so efficient an instructor that Army refused to release him.

The protection of the wounded from gas was provided for by allotting extra smoke helmets to the ambulances whose personnel and gas N.C.O. were well trained in the use of the appliances. The treatment of gassed cases consisted in the administration of ammonia from special glass capsules carried by the stretcher bearers; vomiting was encouraged by the use of emetics of salt and water; all gassed cases were to be evacuated from the cloud area as speedily as possible and on stretchers as lying cases. The treatment at the main dressing stations consisted of:—exposure to fresh air, oxygen inhalation and the use of small doses of morphia. The late effects; acute bronchitis, and broncho-pneumonia, were specially feared and were very frequently fatal; hydrœmia of the lung with intense cyanosis, not relieved by oxygen, preceded the end; atropine seemed to have little effect in controlling this condition of suffocation.

The medical scheme of evacuations of wounded from the trench systems required a considerable amount of careful consideration and organisation. Each A.D.M.S. in taking over such a system drafted his own scheme based on existing regulations, sometimes amending them as needs indicated, but generally in this stationary type of warfare there was little left to individual initiative, the various posts and routes of evacuation being permanent and part of the local defensive scheme. The medical arrangements always included provision for a retirement and the evacuation of wounded in conditions of a severe and sustained attack. At Armentières custom and military needs had already prescribed certain stereotyped routes of evacuation. In each of the two sectors the method varied but slightly.

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The old village of Houplines proper was on the road to Commines and distant about two miles from the centre of Armentières. It had a village church of some antiquity and a modern Maine, situated at the south and north poles of the village respectively and connected by a straggling street of small houses in a dilapidated condition from shell fire, and abandoned by the civilians. Our front line trenches were 1200 yards to the east of the village, and the neighbouring village of Frelinghem, only a mile and a half away to the north on the Warneton-Commines road, was well inside German territory. Two regimental aid posts were accommodated in houses at Houplines. One of these was in the basement of an old estaminet, of which the front part, facing the enemy, was much damaged. The ground fell sharply to the river from the road level so that the back part of the house gave on to a garden some 10 or 12 feet below the roadway. The bank afforded some protection to the basement rooms. There was a kitchen with a cooking range, and two other rooms gas-proofed by means of doors and blankets. One was used as a dressing room, the other as a living room for the R.M.O. The situation was pleasant enough—on a quiet day—the garden and the river offered an agreeable outlook; there were meadows beyond the river and much to atone for the brutal ugliness of the broken village above,—at least it seemed a haven of rest for the wounded man from the trenches. The regimental bearers would have bound him up, placed him on a stretcher and carried him down the communicating trench and the avenue shoulder high, till they reached the mouth of the sap by the road into Houplines—a long carry of 1200 yards—over treacherous duck walks and round many an awkward corner where there was barely room to get the stretcher to pass. Down a sloping path from the street, into the garden there was access to the R.A.P. and here the Medical Officer readjusted the dressings, gave what aid he could, morphia if required, entered the particulars of the casualty and tagged him with a special tally—red for serious cases—white for less serious. A wheeled stretcher in charge of one of the bearers of the field ambulance carried the wounded man as far as the Advanced Dressing Station, three-quarters of a mile away, along the main road to Armentières. It was not safe |to bring a car into Houplines in daylight on account of its proximity to the firing line; at night it would have been very dangerous because of the shell holes in the road and enemy machine gun fire. Cars very rarely went into this village during the latter part of our stay in the sector. The advanced dressing page 170station was in a substantial detached villa in the Rue des Jesuits, many ruined houses on each side abandoned by the civilians excepting a few refugees from Houplines or Frelinghem, living like rats in the cellars—women and children, too, amongst them. The A.D.S. had good cellars, well gas-proofed and a pump which, yielded abundant water of fair quality. The ground floor provided a large dressing room and living rooms for the medical staff; there was the usual garden at the back giving on the river— a beautiful garden once, now grown to wilderness—the whole scene flanked by a forest of red brick chimney stacks. Less than half a mile away were two other R.A.P.'s of this sub-sector, both accommodated in a street of small modern cottages much damagèd by shell fire. One of these R.A.P. had a steel cupola inside the best bedroom and sandbagged dug outs for wounded and staff in case of heavy shelling. The distance to the trenches was over 1000 yards along the communication trench. The R.A.P.'s were served by wheeled stretchers from the A.D.S. At the front door of the A.D.S. in the double gated drive a motor ambulance car was always in waiting. Any further attention required by the casualty was given at the A.D.S.; and a short run by motor ambulance through narrow streets, past the old church of St. Vaast completed the journey to the main dressing station at the Rue de Messines.

The Right Sub-sector had a somewhat similar chain of evacuuations. The R.A.P.'s here were in dugouts in the trenches, generally behind the front line or in proximity to Battalion Headquarters. Wounded were carried down the communicating trench to the R.A.P. by the regimental stretcher bearers; in places where it was difficult to handle the ordinary pattern, stretcher, a short trench stretcher came into use. From the R.A.P. the wounded were taken down to the support line, thence across the fields to; the Lille Road where they were met by wheeled stretchers sent forward by the advanced dressing station party. One of the A.D.S.'s was in a brick kiln, the other on the main road in a ruined brewery where there were solid cellars and gas proof accommodation. Cars could come up by daylight unobserved to the brewery, about a mile and a half from the main dressing station at Armentières, through desolate ruined streets, often encumbered with the debris of fallen houses.

The difficulties of this chain of evacuations would have been enormously increased in the case of severe fighting, owing to the fact that the routes lay through narrow streets which rapidly became impassable if there was much heavy shelling. Alternative page 171routes had to be provided and "avoiding" roads used under these circumstances. Special instructions were issued for the collection of wounded in case of a serious general engagement: a collecting post was to be formed for all lightly wounded, who would be directed there by special sign posts or medical orderlies detailed for the purpose: bearers from the Field Ambulances were to reinforce the A.D.S.'s and at once establish touch with the R.A.P.'s. On the Houplines side an alternative route of evacuation for stretcher cases was defined to run along the tow path of the canal as far as the Abbatoirs so as to avoid the narrow Rue des Jesuits in case of barrage. Special cellars and gas-proofs were provided in factories adjacent to the A.D.S. if evacuation became temporarily impossible. On the right sector the ruins of the lunatic asylum were to be used as a collecting point for wounded. There was less difficulty here as there was open country to the south and an emergency road could be used leading on to the Erquinghem Pave so avoiding the town.

We have seen that there were two main dressing stations, one at the north end in the Rue de Messines on the main road to the bridge at Nieppe, the other, at the south end near the Notre Dame Church. Lieut.-Col. Murray at the Rue de Messines had to take over a small scabies hospital and baths for the treatment of that condition; on the ground floor of the girls' school two dressing rooms were established and a holding ward for wounded. A motor ambulance convoy—22nd M.A.C.—collected wounded and sick from the main dressing stations at a stated hour daily, but urgent cases such as abdominal injuries were sent away by special car at the earliest possible moment. A separate car was used for the transfer of infectious cases despatched to a special hospital or other unit designated for the appropriate type of disease. The general arrangements for the evacuation of sick were very complicated and required close supervision both as regards authorised form of diagnosis and destination. Prisoners of war were treated as our own wounded and were evacuated to C.C.S., if stretcher cases. They were to be searched by the Medical Officer in charge, all documents being retained, and notification was required by the Headquarters of the Division in order that interrogation by a staff officer could, if the condition of the wounded men permitted, be carried out at the M.D.S. The walking wounded prisoners were handed over to the Assistant Provost Marshal; no military escort was required for stretcher cases. At the Cercle St. Joseph, Lieut-Col. Hardie Neil had a very complete operating theatre established under the supervision of page 172Major A. Martin, N.Z.M.C. The appliances had been brought over from New Zealand and had been donated to the Rifle Brigade Field Ambulance prior to embarkation. It was though feasible, at this time, by Major Martin that adequate surgery could be carried out by a field ambulance close to the line—circumstances did at times permit of this and a certain amount of major surgery was performed at our ambulance main dressing stations throughout the war. The Cercle St. Joseph was equipped with beds and head charts and with its white painted theatre and glittering canisters gave some impression of a modern hospital. Its appearance was the subject of most flattering remarks by the D.M.S. of the Second Army, Surgeon General R. Porter, A.M.S., who with the D.D.M.S. of first Anzac, Col. Manifold, I.M.S., and Sir Anthony Bowlby, Consulting Surgeon, to the Second Army, visited and inspected the New Zealand Ambulances shortly after their arrival at Armentières. Colonel Manifold forwarded the following memorandum on the 27th of May. "The D.M.S., 2nd Army, desires me to communicate, through you to the O.'sC. and all ranks of the Field Ambulances in your Division, which he inspected to-day, the great satisfaction he experienced in noting the excellence of the arrangements which had been attained by them in so brief a time. General Porter recognises that this could have been secured only by every one putting their back into the work with a zest of which he cannot speak too highly after seeing the results."

Of the general methods adopted for the treatment of the wounded at this time a full account was given in the memorandum "Treatment of Injured in War," published by the War Office in 1915 and which was now in the hands of all medical officers. The principal points emphasised were these: where amputation was necessary in a field ambulance, patients should be retained after operation for at least 24 hours; haemorrhage was to be arrested by ligature, the use of the tourniquet was condemned, as it had been proved that infection by gas forming organisms was very liable to occur in tissues in which the circulation had been obstructed; abdominal wounds were to be sent on by special car for immediate operation at C.C.S., wounds of the back, loin or buttock with abdominal pain were to be treated as abdominal wounds—they were frequently penetrating wounds of the abdomen; penetrating wounds of the chest were to be plugged and sealed by strapping at the field ambulances so as to close them hermetically; suture of any type of wound was prohibited.

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The Divisional Sanitary Section had taken over a very big job of work: no less than a leading part in the municipalisation of Armentières. With the decrease in population, due to the frontier condition of the town, and the destruction of Houplines and consequent cessation of work in the factories there, the municipal life of Armentières was at a low ebb. A town Major appointed by the British Army was responsible for the allocation of billets and the administration of the "civil" life of the military population which outnumbered the civilian by two to one. With the loss of the electric power which had been provided by Lille prior to the war, street cars ceased to run; there was no electric lighting; and shelling had caused a cessation of street cleaning and road maintenance. The municipal water supply had been taken over by the British Army and was controlled by our Engineers; on that score there was little cause for anxiety save that the pumping plant was liable to be put out of action by shell fire. Alternative plants were provided and maintained in view of this eventuality. The Abbatoirs had been converted to the use of a detention compound; sanitary and veterinary inspections had ceased; the civil hospital was closed with the exception of a casualty ward. The Maire drove in daily in his car from Hazebrouck and functioned in a portion of the civil hospital where a few clerks and civil guards kept up a semblance of municipal administration; the Town Hall and Mairie were no longer inhabited except by the military police. The Division in occupation filled the place of the municipality, providing police, fire brigade, street cleaning, water supply and sanitary work where required. The sanitation of the city was handed over to the army authorities, who by the Divisional Sanitary Sections administered a variety of matters concerned therewith. There was a signed agreement made with the Municipality of Armentières, ratified in turn by Divisions occupying the town, that for the sum of 40 francs a day the "army" would sweep and clean the streets and squares and remove mud from the main drains by all means at their disposal; but in the case of a withdrawal of troops the Army would no longer be responsible to the municipality for these services. An extraordinary document, surely, as in order to carry out this contract it became necessary to employ a very large amount of personnel, mainly bearers of the field ambulances not otherwise engaged, or later, rose measles contacts who were allegedly in quarantine. Horse teams and drivers were used to work the mechanical road sweeping brushes or to draw the dust carts. page 174Renewals of the large roller brushes were very difficult to obtain as there was no authority to purchase; the matter was arranged by a system of hire and compensation for damage, i.e.: renewal of the brushes by medium of the Divisional Claims Department. Dust carts were hired from a civilian contractor. Several large brick incinerators were erected at the Sanitary Section's refuse dump, where all garbage, stable manure and refuse from the streets was destroyed. The Horsefall destructors, previously installed, were found to be unsuitable for the incineration of stable manure, while brick incinerators of "bee hive" shape with long chimneys were found to be more suitable. During the month of May no less than 25 tons of refuse, daily swept up from the streets and billets, were incinerated by our destructor plant. During the month of June, 1,200 tons of refuse were dealt with and the equivalent of 100 miles of street swept and cleaned.

The town water supply was ample and of excellent quality, it was drawn from a deep well sunk to 300 feet close to the canal. The Siemens de Frise method of purification by aeration and ozonisation which existed before the war, and which was both modern and efficient, could not be used by us as the plant had been badly damaged by shell fire, but as the bacterial content of the water varied between 3 to the c.c. at the Power-house and 15 to the c.c. at the outermost reticulations, and B. Coli was never present, there could be no doubts as to purity. As chlorination was an army order it was enforced in the Division and all carts filling at stand pipes in the town received the regulation 30 grammes of bleaching powder, producing 1 part in a million of free chlorine. Constant watch was kept on all regimental water carts by the Sanitary Section and surprise samples of their contents were taken at intervals for bacteriological examination by the 5th Canadian Mobile Laboratory of which Colonel Nasmyth, C.A.M.C. was the chief and Captain Ellis, C.A.M.C., the second in command. Both these Canadian officers helped the New Zealand Division to their utmost, and the well known laboratory at Baillieul furnished bacteriological reports on the town water supply every week, at least, while the New Zealand Division was acting as the municipal health authority. This frequent examination was considered necessary as the supply was intermittent. Furthermore, adequate supervision of the regimental water carts by other authorities than the R.M.O. were enjoined by Second Army Orders issued by the D.M.S. It had been found that in many instances surprise visits made to regimental carts showed that chlorination was not being page 175sufficiently provided for, but the sanitary authorities of the New Zealand Division did not consider the test quite a fair one as water which had been chlorinated some hours previously might not show any chlorine content by using the Horrocks' testing cabinet at the time when the sample was examined. Bacteriological tests were considered much more satisfactory. Colonel Nasmyth himself, the originator of commercial chlorination of water supplies at Ontario, was sympathetic to this requirement of the New Zealand Division as, the bacterial content of the town supply being known, bacteriological examination of the water provided by a given cart was the fairest test of the work of the N.Z.M.C. attached to its service. Reports from the laboratory revealed an extraordinary diversity in the flora of various samples: of five water carts sampled in July, three had evidently not been chlorinated; of these, one contained 14,000 organisms to the c.c.; another 2,500, with B. Coli. present; and the third 3,600 bacteria to the c.c. Of the two chlorinated carts, one showed five organisms to the c.c. the other a virgin water. As regards water supplies in general the Second Army had provided regulations which now applied to the Corps and were communicated to the Division in due course. Shallow wells were the main source of supply outside the Armentières town area. The water, which was obtained from a stratum of sand underlying the surface clay, found at no great depth—say 10 to 17 feet—was never safe to drink without previous chlorination or boiling. In the summer months, owing to the very large number of troops using them the shallow wells tended to run dry. In order to conserve and protect supplies a sub-committee was formed in each divisional area consisting of one R.E. and one medical officer whose work was to be co-ordinated by a Corps Water Board. The water supplies for troops in the firing line were to be provided by wells some 500 yards apart with pipe lines where possible to take the water direct to the trenches by pumping. In all brigade areas the Brigadier was to organise "water patrols" to conserve and supervise all wells, ponds and other sources of water. In most cases the source of supply was closely inspected—wells with pumps in use especially—the bacterial content was examined and a large wooden notice board was attached to the well showing its quality, whether fit for drinking or for washing only, and bearing in large characters the number of scoops of bleaching powder required for chlorination. The Divisional Water Sub-Committee was engaged in locating wells suitable for the supply of the trench line. In connection with the trench water supplies page 176the A.D.M.S. issued instructions to R.M.O.'s whereby they were required to furnish a weekly report, giving the map reference of their water supplies and a certificate that all necessary regulations as regards water purification had been complied with.

One of the most important sanitary considerations was the supervision of the divisional baths and laundry and disinfesting plant established at Pont, de Nieppe in a disused bleach works on the banks of the Lys facing Armentières and just north of the bridge. For the use of the bleach works the British Army paid a rental, and the plant was very suitable for the purposes both of baths and laundry: the huge vats used pre war for bleaching linen yarn with Eau de Javel, the substantial hydraulic presses and the copious supply of hot water from the large boilers were appliances adequate to all purposes. The Pont de Nieppe baths were well known on the English front as the first large institution of the kind to be established—by the 6th Division who were quartered in Armentières in the winter of 1914-1915. The large vats made surprising tubs for the men to bathe in; the hydro-extractors, rotary driers, the hydraulic presses and the extensive drying rooms, all used in the linen industry, were quite suited to the purposes of a laundry, so that several of these "blanchisseries" became operable as laundries at various points on the Lys in 1915. A large personnel partly military, partly civilian was employed at Pont de Nieppe: 1 officer, 2 sergeants and 65 O.R. N.Z.M.C. were supplied by No. 1 New Zealand Field Ambulance; the washing, ironing and mending staff comprised 185 women under a forewoman; the general control and direction was the duty of the Medical Officer in charge. Roughly, some 1200 men could bathe, be disinfested, and have their washing done in one day. Apart from the comfort which the hot bath provided the chief object in view was disinfestation of the clothing, which was attained by ironing with hot irons and brushing with special steel brushes—in the case of the outer clothing—the women being instructed in the method of searching for and destroying the lice ova, mainly hidden in the inner seams of the trousers or pantaloons. The under clothing was subjected to boiling in disinfectants, washed, dried and subsequently repaired. The wool of condemned socks was unravelled and used by highly expert darners in the mending of those that could be made serviceable.

Pediculosis—infestation by lice—had now become almost universal in the British Armies and presented a very real and constant menace of typhus fever, a disease known to be lice-borne and which had already devastated the Serbian and Austrian page 177troops in 1915. The condition had existed since the inception of the war, introduced probably with recruits from the slums of the great cities, undetected in the somewhat perfunctory inspections of the early days of 1914, and allowed to attain to a degree of general infestation by propinquity during the heavy fighting of late '14 and the long period of dreary trench warfare under miserable winter conditions in early '15. Pediculosis was found to be present even in the New Zealand Reinforcements arriving from Egypt at the Base at Étaples in May, June and July, 1916. A lack of knowledge of the life history and breeding habits of the parasite was the cause of much hasty and ill advised instruction addressed to prevention (see Shipley's "Minor Horrors of War"). Every effort was being made in 1916 to push on with the anti-louse campaign now directed by the best entomolygists and scientists in England; notably, Bacot of the Lister Institute who devoted his life to this work and ultimately was to give his life in the cause. Shortly after the arrival of the Division the Entomolygist of the Second Army, then L-Sgt. Peacock, R.A.M.C., (T). late professor of Zoology at Durham University, was sent to advise us as regards pediculosis. The expert found from the examination of 110 shirts belonging to men of a New Zealand Battalion, just out of the trenches, that the degree of infestation averaged 3 per shirt and varied between 0 and 25; the pest was therefore under control, and the preventive measures in use should suffice to maintain this fortunate condition. Men had been frequently found on the western front to be infested to the degree of having many hundreds of living lice on their garments: a shirt handed in to our laundry in May was estimated to harbour 10,253 eggs besides 10,438 living lice. This shirt of Nessus was duly framed and shown with pardonable pride by the Medical Officer in charge of the baths to visiting Brigadiers who were visibly impressed. It was to such horrible examples, men who were by long use not susceptible to irritation from the bites and who were grossly careless of their personal cleanliness, that the plague was spread. As two cases of relapsing fever in New Zealanders had been reported shortly after our arrival in France, the Second Army was insistent in urging complete disinfestation of the Division.

The work done by the baths in the last fortnight of May was considerable: 446 officers, 21,675 men bathed; 13,779 shirts and 13,746 pairs of socks washed, with a corresponding tally of under-clothing; the total number of pieces washed; 99,066. The consumption of coal was from 30 to 35 tons a week; soap 1½ tons; page 178soda 1 ton; buttons, 200 gross. In the month of June, 36,483 bathers attended the baths, the average daily number of bathers was 1,300; nearly a quarter of a million pieces were washed. Besides these special bathing establishments the municipal swimming baths were reopened by us and used during June and July, Medical details taking over the management, and aquatic sports were organised in August.

It seems almost incredible that one duty performed by the Sanitary Section should have been an anti-malarial campaign; yet such was the case, malaria was endemic about Nieppe. The fevers of the low countries, known in the days of Marlborough, were in part malaria, which wrecked a British Expeditionary Force in 1807 on the Island of Walchern, and still persisted in the Lys Valley. There were known carriers in the Nieppe area where cases occurred annually. The larvae of Anopheles were first identified by us in July, all pools and ditches where they were found were duly oiled. One case of malaria was notified as occurring in a soldier of one of the field ambulances.

Control of the licensed brothels and filles publiques did not come officially under our sanitary authority, but was administered by the civilians—a local doctor carrying out the bi-weekly inspections; our police, however, kept a watchful eye on the matter. Infected women were segregated, and treated at our special hospital until removed by the tardy operations of the French Army authorities. Our venereal incidence was not high; infections mainly originated in England during leave.

Shortly after the arrival of the Division in France the long marches on the pavé roads brought to light a great deal of foot trouble and in the case of some Battalions the numbers of men falling out through lameness was considered very discreditable. It appeared clear that commanding officers were not carrying out the usual and necessary foot inspections and that there was a need of closer attention in this matter. The Division had no trained chiropodists although every Battalion in the Regular Army had specially trained men and came into the field with a Battalion Chiropodist and a regulation box of instruments. This matter had not been overlooked in New Zealand, as at the time of the 8th Reinforcements a professional was employed at Trentham Camp in training Army Chiropodists and pouches of instruments were given to such of the pupils as had qualified. One of these, a sergeant, at the instance of the Brigadier, who recognised the value of the work, had been appointed a whole-time chiropodist to the 2nd Brigade and partly in consequence of the page 179representations made by the Brigadier it was decided to open a school of chiropody so as to train one chiropodist for each Battalion. Capt. Neil Guthrie, M.C., N.Z.M.C., of the 3rd Field Ambulance was selected to act as instructor with Sergt. Seymour, referred to above, as assistant. The chemical laboratory at the technical school was available; men were sent from each battalion to the school, the course lasting the prescribed three weeks as laid down by King's Regulations. In all, 18 men attended the school, where an attempt was made by the officer in charge to impart elementary principles of antisepsis and surgical cleanliness, in the first instance, and some elementary knowledge of the various deformities of the feet that lead to bad marching, and the modification in the boot necessary to relieve such conditions as flat foot, metalarsalgia and other deformities. Associated with the school was a boot mending and cobbling establishment and a clinic at which some 400 cases were treated and which afforded ample teaching material. 14 out of the 18 candidates satisfied the examiner; at the end of the course they were provided with the regulation pattern chiropodist's box of instruments, returned to their Battalions and did some good work during the marches to the Somme. The school emphasised the importance of regular foot inspections and the duty of company officers in caring for their men's feet. The art of chiropody as taught in the New Zealand Divisional schools was not purely a matter of first aid to blisters corns and ingrowing toe nails, it was, in reality, an elementary knowledge of the orthopoedics of the foot—and as such a peculiarly interesting study. In a future mobilisation the provision of trained chiropodists should be considered if excessive march casualties are to be avoided: the importance of the matter is well recognised in all armies.

A Dental Hospital was established in May at 42 Rue Nationale under the control of Lieut-Col. Murray, of the No. 2 Field Ambulance and in charge of Captain Tymona, N.Z.M.C., Senior Dental Officer, with two other officers, at which prosthetic work only was executed. All cases requiring mechanical work were drafted there by the dental officers working at the field ambulances who attended to extractions, fillings and other dental operations, the mechanics being transferred with the vulcanising and other required apparatus to the Dental Hospital. But at No. 1 Field Ambulance in charge of the Divisional Rest Station, the Dental Section remained intact so that all classes of work surgical, prophylatic and prosthetic could be performed there. Every effort was being made by medical officers to put the teeth of the page 180Division into a satisfactory condition. Tooth and nail was now to be the order of the day; in every way possible—physical, mental and medical—the Division was being prepared to take its place in the great Somme Offensive.

Early in the spring of 1916, there had been a very marked increase of activity along the whole of the British front which now extended from Boesinghe on the Yser to Curlu on the Somme. The 10th French Army had been withdrawn into the General French Reserve by reason of the Verdun Battle which still raged in June, and British troops had replaced it in the trenches of the Loos-Arras sector. Some 40 British Divisions, with abundant ammunition were, as the summer advanced, becoming more and more active in demonstrating, by raids, cutting out expeditions, bombardments and aggressive tactics against the opposing trenches. The policy was in part directed to reanimating a combative spirit in the troops long tied to stagnant warfare and to train them for future offensive operations. The New Zealand Division, when it took its place in the line, was committed to this general scheme of local fightfulness, an important and essential prelude to the larger operations. Therefore, the quiet of the Armentières sector was to be rudely disturbed; our orders were to continue the raiding policy without giving the enemy any rest whatever, and to give back shell for shell—retaliation heaped upon retaliation—to which purpose our artillery found itself supplied with undreamed of stores of ammunition. The busy trench fighting and aggressive tactics of the Anzac troops may have seemed at times a useless waste of life, and activity ill applied, especially to those who lived in luxurious billets in Armentières, but it was all part of a concerted scheme, calculated to complete the training of the New Armies, and served the purpose of pinning the enemy to his lines and preventing him from employing troops elsewhere. Germany was at the moment deeply committed to the Verdun operations which held out little prospect now of final victory, but the very opposition set up by the devoted patriotism of France was itself a loadstone that drew the Germans on to further lavish expenditure of lives squandered in what had now become a national obsession. By June, the battle was at its fiercest phase, and had lasted 130 days during which the enemy had advanced five miles. The great Russian drive in the Bukovina was now overwhelming the Austrians in Gallicia where, by June the 16th, Kaledin had advanced at least 50 miles, taking an incredible number of prisoners. To meet this invasion, German Divisions had to be withdrawn from France. But England was page 181now ready with 70 Divisions, while the failures of the Central Powers, at Verdun, in the Trentino, and in Gallicia, had put them on the defensive. The Somme area had been well and secretly prepared with an overweaning mass of guns and ammunition, the opposing front lines mined with gigantic charges of amonal, and the bombardment flung upon the forefield on the 24th of June exceeded in violence and weight even the early bombardments of Verdun. There was the heaviest fighting on all fronts possible and the trench activity at Armentières a reflex of this universal turmoil. But the raids were grisly affairs: as severe a test of the skill, endurance, and fighting qualities of the troops as any greater venture in the world contest.

On the 16th June our first raid was made. In the evening a secret order to O.C. No. 2 Field Ambulance advised him to prepare to receive casualties at about 11 p.m.: extra bearers and stretchers were sent up to the Advanced Dressing Station. Our guns opened an intense bombardment at 11 p.m. our raiders with blackened hands and faces and carrying strange weapons entered the "breakwater" trench in front of Houplines at 11.35; little of importance was found except a few German dead, but identification was obtained. After midnight the Germans released gas on the 41st Division on our left, but, although the gas was felt at villages in our rear, the Division was not affected. By 2.30 a.m. all wounded were in: 4 officers, 14 O.R., including raiders. Everything was in readiness for their reception and immediate despatch to C.C.S. in our motor ambulances. Over a third of the wounds were head wounds caused by shrapnel; the majority were severe, all due to the counter bombardment on our trenches during the raid. On the 22nd the 2nd Australian Division raided, bringing retaliation on Arnentières; one of the shells thrown into the town just missed the sick officers' ward in No. 3 Field Ambulance; a gas alarm helped to intensify the animation of the scene which, as usual, was at its brightest about midnight. On the 23rd we shelled Perenchies Church, the enemy replied by bombarding Houplines, wounding several civilians who were received by No. 2 Field Ambluance. Bombardments and retaliation continued until it became necessary to evacuate all sick from the No. 2 Field Ambulance: it was not considered safe to keep them there, as civilians were being killed and wounded in the immediate neighbourhood.

On 24th June, the No. 1 Field Ambulance marehed into Armentières to relieve No. 3; they had marched the 19¾ miles from Morbecque, in 7½ hours marching time, with a halt of one hour at page 1827.30 p.m. included. The 3rd Field Ambulance starting after midnight completed the journey in 8½ hours, which included a halt of one hour. Four kilometres per hour was considered to be the average pace of field ambulances on long marches without transport, or say 2½ miles per hour including halts.

Raid succeeded raid until the end of June when a much greater activity became necessary, in consonance with the great Somme offensive, now fully engaged. By this time very few sick were being treated in the field ambulances, and the lightly wounded were evacuated as soon as dressed. On July the 1st No. 1 New Zealand Field Ambulance had a very narrow escape, a 5.9 inch naval gun opened fire on the big church of Notre Dame, the Main Dressing Station, being in the direct line of fire received nearly all the overs. The patients, fortunately few in number, were removed to cellars at both ends of the building. Much damage was done to the buildings and later, during the bombardment, it was found necessary to shift the patients from the east to the west cellar; this was safely accomplished in the intervals between shells. The "hospital" by now had six or seven shells into it—the roof had gone at one end and the whole place, including the operating theatre, was a litter of debris, plaster, wood and rafters—the end and side walls were breached. Luckily, there were very few patients; two main body sergeants, Campbell and Greenwood, who were on duty, helped the patients out of the wards and cellars so that through their efforts no casualties occurred. The No. 1 Field Ambulance took up fresh quarters in the Institute St. Jude, Rue Dennis Papin; our stock of churches was rapidly dwindling, they had to be content with the school chapel for the main dressing station; a small crypt below accommodated a few wounded, while the staff were billeted in the College dormitories. The same night 1st Wellington raided at the junction of the 24th and 50th Saxon Divisions; they lost their Adjutant, Captain McColl, killed and had 1 man killed, 8 wounded, and by 3 a.m. on the 2nd. 18 wounded of ours and 2 German wounded were received by No. 1 Field Ambulance. The following night the Wellington Regiment sent out a party of 4 officers, 104 O.R., which found no enemy in the trenches raided, but suffered heavy casualties: one officer, and 2 O.R. killed; 4 missing; 35 wounded. The town was shelled about midnight and by 2 a.m. on the 3rd, the wounded were coming into the M.D.S. of No. 2 Field Ambulance: they were wet through and covered with mud, which in many instances was plastered into their wounds; most of the injuries were severe due to bombs or machine gun fire at close quarters; when dressed and warmed up they were page 183evacuated in our own cars to the C.C.S. at Bailleul The motor ambulance convoy could be summoned if necessary at any time by telephone but in minor operations our own cars were sufficient to deal with the casualties if not in excess of the total car capacity, say 60 to 70 stretcher cases or double that number of sitters, if all our cars were utilised, each ambulance having five heavy cars, Siddley-Deasy, and two Ford cars. We had stirred the Saxons up pretty considerably, and at 10.30 p.m. on the night of the 3rd July, they opened a very heavy bombardment on our Epinette salient, copiously sprinkling the town with shells of calibre up to 21 cm., using some incendiary shells which caused fires in several quarters. During the confusion thus created, a party estimated at 30 German raiders attempted to enter our trenches in the wrecked salient. Many severe casualties were suffered by the civilian population early in the bombardment; they were received by the 1st Field Ambulance whose wounded were now sheltering in the prepared cellars. Towards the close of the bombardment a heavy shell exploded on the Headquarters of the 4th Battalion of the N.Z.R.B.: the house, a large substantial building, was completely wrecked; the second in command and the R.M.O., Captain Errol Guthrie, N.Z.M.C., were killed instantly.

In the trenches we had many casualties: a party in one of our bombing posts in front of the wire was missing; one wounded Saxon remained in our wrecked trenches. Both field ambulances were fully occupied, extra officers and bearers were sent up from each to assist in evacuating the wounded from the Epinette. The motor ambulance drivers did good work steering their cars through the town in the height of the bombardment, houses crashing to the ground in every street during the two hours the action covered. The new billets occupied by the 1st Field Ambulance were badly damaged by a heavy shell which just missed the flimsy chapel; many of our men were killed or injured in the town billets. By 1.30 a.m. on the 4th the wounded were coming down to both Main Dressing Stations; great difficulty was experienced in getting the stretcher cases out owing to blockage of the communication trenches by shell fire and the debris in the streets of the town which the cars had to avoid as best they could. Most of the wounds were severe, chiefly compound fractures of the arms or legs; there were several cases of men suffering from shell shock due to being half buried in the trenches By 8 a.m. 72 wounded had been evacuated to C.C.S. by No. 2 Field Ambulance and No. 1 had dealt with a smaller number (32) as their sector was not affected. The casualties in the 1st Auckland Battalion who held the Epinette on the night of the page 1843/4th were: killed, 35 O.R.: wounded, 3 officers, 60 O.R. with. 4 missing.

Capt. Thomas Errol Guthrie, N.Z.M.C. the only son of Dr. Thomas Orr Guthrie, M.D. of Feilding, who graduated at Edinburgh in 1909, had been an officer in the special reserve R.A.M.C. Prior to the war he had practised at Feilding and was on the staff of the Palmerston North Hospital—a young surgeon of promise— he joined the Rifle Brigade Field Ambulance in New Zealand and went to his battalion shortly after arrival in France. His body was buried with military honours in the soldiers' cemetery in Armentières.

The 5th of July was a very quiet day: certain changes in our dispositions were taking place, we were assuming a wider front, relieving Australian troops on our right in preparation for what proved to be the most costly and disastrous raid attempted by the Anzacs in this sector. The Second Anzac Corps with General Godley in command had arrived at Baillieul early in June, having left Egypt with the 4th and 5th Australian Divisions. The New Zealand and 5th Australian Division were to form IInd Anzac Corps; the 4th Australian Division going to 1st Anzac. The D.D.M.S. of IInd Anzac was then Colonel Reuter Roth, A.M.C., and the D.A.D.M.S. Major Butler, D.S.O., a trusty R.M.O. at Anzac where he won his decoration. On the 5th of July the 2nd Australian Division was being relieved partly by New Zealanders; General Birdwood and 1st Anzac were going south to the Somme— we were now under command of General Godley. The 1st Field Ambulance took over the brewery on the Lille road of which mention has been made and which had good cellar accommodation. "C" Section of No. 3 Field Ambulance relieved the same Australian Unit at the M.D.S. at Erquinghem, some 2½ kilometres south of Armentières on the main road to Estaires, Bethune, and Arras. They took over the communal school which was provided with an "elephant" dugout inside one of the class rooms used as the dressing station, and an advanced dressing station at Bois Grenier. As our front, now held by three brigades, had been so much extended—from the Lys to Bois Grenier—it required three main dressing stations and five advanced dressing stations, and at the instance of the D.D.M.S. the New Zealand Divisional rest station was moved up to L'Estrade near Steenwerck. The No. 1 Field Ambulance found better quarters at the Maternité in rear of the civil hospital, using the Institute St. Jude for billeting the personnel; the Maternité had an operating theatre with tiled floor very suitable for a dressing room, and through this newly page 185established station, some 120 wounded, all of Canterbury Regiment, passed on the night of the 8th of July, as the result of a very determined enemy raid at the "Mushroom." The work of evacuation was not completed until noon the following day.

The 14th and 15th Ambulances of the 5th Australian Division were settling down at Bac St. Maur, Fort Rompu, Sailly sur la Lys, and at Nouveau Monde, where they had established an officers' rest house,—a Corps unit. The 14th Australian Field Ambulance was at Sailly. and their D.R.S., with ours, at L'Estrade. A very serious operation was in preparation by the 11th Corps on our right, a feint attack on the Aubers ridge south-west of Lille— a raid on unusual lines and in very considerable strength. The 5th Australians, on our immediate right, temporarily attached to the 11th Corps for the purpose, were to participate. As the operations of the 5th Australian Division were to be on a large scale—and the probable casualties estimated at 2,500—the D.D.M.S. IInd Ansac had requested the A.D.M.S. of the New Zealand Division to take over part of the line. The M.D.S. party at Erquinghem, under Major Neil Guthrie, M.C., was reinforced by 1 officer. 3 wheeled stretchers, and 1 motor cyclist of the 3rd Field Ambulance and by 1 bearer sub-division and 7 motor ambulance cars of the 61st Field Ambulance of the 20th Division, one Brigade of which was now under our command and was covering Fleurbaix. On the 18th the New Zealand bearer subdivisions were relieved from the baths and the street cleaning squads and "A" section bearers of the 3rd Field Ambulance went to Erquinghem, one officer with a tent sub-division and 60 convalescents from the D.R.S. at L'Estrade took over the baths, so relieving the whole of the bearer personnel. Major Guthrie now had the strength of a full field ambulance; from his M.D.S. at Erquinghem he had established two advanced dressing stations: one at Bois Grenier for the New Zealand Rifle Brigade; one at Croix de Rome, Fleurbaix, for the 60th—also a rifle brigade—of the 20th Division; all his cars were parked at Waterlands in the vicinity of Erquinghem but across the Lys.

Meanwhile the activities of the New Zealand Division were to be increased: raids followed in rapid succession, gas, smoke and shells were floated or hurled towards the enemy's lines; he, not to be outdone in animosity returned in kind. There were heavy losses on both sides. A condition of quasi-open warfare culminated on the 19th at 6 p.m. when the 11th Corps with two divisions, the 5th Australian, and the 61st assaulted the Aubers Ridge, carrying out Sir Douglas Haig's intention—a threat to page 186Lille. That night at Armentières a heavy bombardment was heard by us at about 8 p.m. Two raids of ours went out and a simultaneous raid was made by the enemy on our Rifle Brigade sector. There was hand to hand fighting. Our artillery cooperated vigorously by firing 12,000 rounds into enemy billets, communications and battery positions. A lively night on our front, but a disastrous one for the 5th Australians who, having penetrated the Bavarian front trenches, stuck to their gains and were left to bear the full violence of the German counter attacks. New troops, only partly trained but full of the Anzac spirit, they suffered casualties to the extent of over 5000 officers and men, of these 3,326 wounded—much of this possibly avoidable. At 2.30 a.m. on the 20th the New Zealand bearers, already warned to assist if required, moved out in their cars to help the 5th Australian Medical units. There was a very considerable congestion of wounded at Rouge de Bout opposite Sailly sur la Lys, and at 9 a.m. on the 20th there were many Australian wounded still in the trenches and out in no-mans'-land, so that further detachments were despatched by the 2nd New Zealand Field Ambulance under Captains Kemp and Crawford, N.Z.M.C., who, with 40 bearers and complete field equipment went on by motor ambulances to La Croix Lescornex. Arriving there at 11 a.m. they proceeded to "Eaton Hall," which was an advanced dressing station and officers and bearers set to work clearing wounded from the trenches about La Cordonnerie. After a complete tour of the trenches in the sector at 5.30 p.m. they satisfied themselves that all wounded had been cleared. Half of our bearers remained and worked through the night, relieving the exhausted bearers of the Australian Ambulances. On the 21st a few wounded were still coming in from no-mans'-land in front of the 5th Australian Division.

In acknowledgment of our bearers' work the Corps D.D.M.S. sent the following commendatory message to New Zealand Divisional Headquarters: "The Corps Commander has expressed his admiration of the good work done by the A.D.M.S., officers and O.R. of the Medical Service of your Division in collecting and evacuating wounded on the 20th and 21st of July, 1916. Please convey this message to all medical personnel concerned; it gives me great pleasure to publish this high praise."The A.D.M.S. of the 5th Australian Division, Col. Hardy, A.M.C., wrote to Colonel Begg as follows:—"I cannot tell you how much I appreciate your assistance. Every man was working and a sudden call for aid made me feel desperate. Your help came at page 187a moment when it was badly needed. How well your officers worked and so did the men. The C.O.'s were grateful and spoke about the way your units worked. With many thanks."

In spite of all this turmoil and bombardments, ever increasing in intensity, the soldier's round of social pleasures went on undisturbed. In June there was an Axeman's Carnival in the Forest of La Motte at which our Maori Pioneers triumphed over lumbermen from Canada, bushmen from Tasmania, and bucherons of France. The Division organised swimming sports at the baths in August and held a great horse show on the banks of the Lys over against Erquinghem. There was a picture theatre in the Éeole Professionelle and an occasional concert party, both playing to crowded houses. Institutes and canteens were opened by the Y.M.C.A.; many shops remained where clothing, groceries and even luxuries could be obtained; restaurants, cafés and estaminets were daily and nightly crowded. Above all the many brave men and women of Armentières who remained, at work, or because of their work people, helped to cheer and entertain the soldier and make his life in the town pleasant. These hardy Flemings had a great love of home and a strong faith in the British soldier who would one day surely drive the enemy away and give peace to their beloved town—our people—we their Defenders, brothers of their own Poilus!—and to this day they speak well of the "Brav Néo Zélandais"—they remember our doings and the little lads who sold their papers in the trenches are now themselves soldiers, and they, too, remember the days when Armentières was in the jaws of war. Of the dangers cheerfully faced by these industrious people, our records speak quite plainly. Their wounded were evacuated with our wounded: men, women and little children: in the month of July alone 397 men, 208 women and 78 children, the majority of these wounded by shell fire, were evacuated by our ambulances. A certain number died in our dressing stations, including one French soldier, on leave to his home at Le Bizet Francais—heavily shelled on the 8th of June. Of our own dead we recall how they lie in brotherly ranks marked by service crosses, hard by a factory where the girls were used to closing up their ranks when a shell fell and blotted out a spinning jenny and its workers.

But the Division was going south to test its mettle in the Somme battles. We were leaving Armentières for a while, our blue-eyed fair haired Saxon "cousins" across the border whom we had baited if not cowed—they were of the same stubborn breed—were also on their way south. We were to meet again. 2nd Auckland raided on the 12th of August finding the 11th Division of the 6th Reserve page 188Corps in relief of the 24th Saxon Division who had previously faced us at Armentières. Every Division was having its share in the great fight and was withdrawn only when it had lost a third of its effectives. Orders were received on the 10th of August that the New Zealand Division would be relieved by the 51st, a Highland Territorial Division. The Rifle Brigade and the 2nd Field Ambulance were on the move by the 14th; the sick at the D.R.S. had been disposed of to C.C.S. The 1st Brigade with the 1st Field Ambulance moved the following day. The enemy shot the belfry from the Civil Hospital as we were leaving, and by the 18th the last of the Division, now 19,000 strong, cleared Armentières, entraining to the neighbourhood of their old concentration ground The Headquarters billeted in the ancient chateau at Renescure, once the home of our stout old ally Dennis de Morbecque.