Summer Times is the Journal of the Old Scarborians Association

line, which was a long white tape laid down
by the intelligence officer. ‘A’ company, in
which I was a platoon commander, and ‘B’
company, commanded by Hedley Verity,
with ‘C’ and ‘D’ companies behind us in
reserve, were to advance behind a creeping
barrage, which every available artillery and
naval gun would supply at a pre‐fixed time.
Although it was cutting it fine, the Colonel
about a mile back sent for all his officers for
a further briefing. This briefing was really
nothing more than the synchronising of
watches, but I had to run as fast as I could
back to my platoon to reach the start line in
time. I was supposed to liaise with the left
hand platoon of ‘B’ company, but when the
time came to move forward over the start
line, they were not to be seen.
The horrific noise of the barrage, the dis‐
charge of shells and the thumps they made
on landing just numbed the ears. We were
supposed to keep within 50 yards of the
barrage at all times as it crept forward, but
some shells landed behind us and killed
several members of ‘C’ and ‘D’ companies.
When the barrage finished, the sky was lit
with German flares and we could see their
positions on the hills clearly. The tracer
bullets from cross fire raked every bit of
ground in front of us. It would have been
suicide to go any further forward, and we
were given orders to withdraw.
We hastened back in good order for about
two miles but, as dawn was now breaking,
we were obviously an easy target, so we had
to hide, about 80 of us, in a ditch. We had
just got our Bren guns in position, ready for
the likely German counter‐attack, when
through the early mist running towards us
came wraith‐like figures. We fired and con‐
tinued to fire until we heard English voices
shouting, ‘Don’t shoot!’ Still we fired – we
had heard of that old German trick! Then
our attackers went to ground, but walking
casually towards us we spotted Reg Bell, ‘B’
company platoon commander. We had been
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shooting at our own men!
From Reg Bell, who was awarded the MC for
his bravery, we learned that at the briefing
meeting with the Colonel, Hedley Verity had
taken off his boots because his feet were
swollen, and when it was time to go he could
not find them in the dark. The few precious
minutes he lost till he found them meant he
did not arrive at the starting line in time, and
missed the creeping barrage. However, he
decided to put in a company attack without
it. His men never had a chance against accu‐
rate German fire. His second‐in command,
Laurie Hesmondalgh, was killed by machine
gun fire. Hedley was shot in the chest. His
batman, Reynoldson, stayed with him – and
both were taken prisoner. Arthur Johnson,
another ‘B’ company platoon commander,
was brought back on a stretcher, laughingly
shouting to us as he was carried past that he
was going back to England to his wife. We
learned two hours later that he had died of
his wounds.
We stayed in that ditch all day, motionless,
burned by the hot sun, our water‐bottles
long since empty. Some were so thirsty, they
drank some of the stagnant water from the
ditch, and soon vomiting added to their
misery. It was not until darkness that we
were able to return to our lines.
In the middle of the next night, all except the
sentries were sleeping exhausted in their slit‐
trenches when the order came that we were
to arouse our men as we had to put in an‐
other attack at dawn. Naturally, there was
grumbling – hadn’t we done enough? – and
only harsh words got them moving into
some kind of order.
At about 4.00 am we were assembled in the
same place as before. While we were wait‐
ing for the signal to move forward to the
starting line, a jeep appeared and out
stepped General Montgomery. Then the
battalion commanders of the three brigade
regiments arrived.