A YANKEE

IN THE TRENCHES

R. DERBY HOLMES

CORPORAL OF THE 22D LONDON BATTALION OF THE
QUEEN'S ROYAL WEST SURREY REGIMENT

ILLUSTRATED FROM PHOTOGRAPHS

BOSTON
LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY
1918

Dedication

TO MARION A. PUTTEE, SOUTHALL, MIDDLESEX, ENGLAND, I DEDICATE THIS BOOK AS A TOKEN OF APPRECIATION FOR ALL THE LOVING THOUGHTS AND DEEDS BESTOWED UPON ME WHEN I WAS A STRANGER IN A STRANGE LAND

FOREWORD

I have tried as an American in writing this book to give the public a complete view of the trenches and life on the Western Front as it appeared to me, and also my impression of conditions and men as I found them. It has been a pleasure to write it, and now that I have finished I am genuinely sorry that I cannot go further. On the lecture tour I find that people ask me questions, and I have tried in this book to give in detail many things about the quieter side of war that to an audience would seem too tame. I feel that the public want to know how the soldiers live when not in the trenches, for all the time out there is not spent in killing and carnage. As in the case of all men in the trenches, I heard things and stories that especially impressed me, so I have written them as hearsay, not taking to myself credit as their originator. I trust that the reader will find as much joy in the cockney character as I did and which I have tried to show the public; let me say now that no finer body of men than those Bermondsey boys of my battalion could be found.

I think it fair to say that in compiling the trench terms at the end of this book I have not copied any war book, but I have given in each case my own version of the words, though I will confess that the idea and necessity of having such a list sprang from reading Sergeant Empey's "Over the Top." It would be impossible to write a book that the people would understand without the aid of such a glossary.

It is my sincere wish that after reading this book the reader may have a clearer conception of what this great world war means and what our soldiers are contending with, and that it may awaken the American people to the danger of Prussianism so that when in the future there is a call for funds for Liberty Loans, Red Cross work, or Y.M.C.A., there will be no slacking, for they form the real triangular sign to a successful termination of this terrible conflict.

R. DERBY HOLMES.

CONTENTS

FOREWORD

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

I   JOINING THE BRITISH ARMY

II   GOING IN

III   A TRENCH RAID

IV   A FEW DAYS' REST IN BILLETS

V   FEEDING THE TOMMIES

VI   HIKING TO VIMY RIDGE

VII   FASCINATION OF PATROL WORK

VIII   ON THE GO

IX   FIRST SIGHT OF THE TANKS

X   FOLLOWING THE TANKS INTO BATTLE

XI   PRISONERS

XII   I BECOME A BOMBER

XIII   BACK ON THE SOMME AGAIN

XIV   THE LAST TIME OVER THE TOP

XV   BITS OF BLIGHTY

XVI   SUGGESTIONS FOR "SAMMY"

GLOSSARY OF ARMY SLANG

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Corporal Holmes in the Uniform of the 22nd London Battalion, Queen's Royal West Surrey Regiment, H.M. Imperial Army  Frontispiece

Reduced Facsimile of Discharge Certificate of Character

A Heavy Howitzer, Under Camouflage

Over the Top on a Raid

Cooking Under Difficulties

Head-on View of a British Tank