Ypres a Sorry Sight - Half The Town in Ruins
A Rushden Gunner’s Experiences - “The Bullets Were Like Bees”

“I am still sound and fit,” writes Gunner Tom Clark, son of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Clark, of Irchester-road, Rushden. He adds, however, in a letter to his father and mother, that during the last fortnight he has nearly had his soundness upset a time or two. His battery has been so busy the last week or so that he has not had time for writing. He continues:-

“We were about 300 yards behind the trenches when a German Taube appeared. Of course, we gave her it hot and she turned and flew back to own lines. About half-an-hour afterwards we were ordered to take up another position, and picking up our guns proceeded to do so. We had hardly got 100 yards from the spot when a huge shell hit the very place in which my gun had been standing and blew the place to smithereens.

“Four of us, the other night, were sent to dig a gun-pit under fire, but after ten minutes work we were forced to give up, for it became too hot. The bullets were like bees, and it was only through a volley hitting the parapet on which we were working that made us quit.

“Yesterday I went to Ypres, but what a sorry sight! The beautiful cathedral is in ruins and so is half the town. An aeroplane came over our present billet the other night and dropped several bombs, blowing up several houses and hitting some civilians.”

Gunner Clark is attached to a motor cycle machine gun detachment, and his work includes scouting for hostile aircraft. He has been at the front for about two months, enlisting in September last.

Rushden Soldier on Leave - The Work of The Machine-Gun Section
Prepared for another Winter Campaign

Bombardier (formerly Gunner) Tom Clark, motor machine-gun section, Northants Regiment, son of Mr. and Mrs. Chas Clark, Wellingtonia, Irchester-road, Rushden, is home on leave this week from the front. He arrived at Rushden unexpectedly on Monday morning, just in time to kill a rumour which was quickly spreading, of his own death, and he will leave for active service again on Sunday next. Interviewed by a “Rushden Echo” representative, Bombardier Clark said he went out to France at the beginning of last February. In reply to questions concerning his most exciting adventures, he said:-

“I had two very narrow escapes while in action. Once a big shell dropped within four yards of me, but luckily did not explode, and on another occasion, as I was taking shelter behind a tree, a shell hit the tree and it buried me in its branches.”

Discussing his own particular branch of the fighting Bombardier Clark said:-

“The work of the motor machine-gun section is risky at times but it is useful, especially on the advance and retreat, when the machine-guns can be used to the best advantage. The motor machine-guns go before the advancing troops, and when on the retreat they fight in the rear-guard action. You might let the public know that the ‘Scott’ motor-bicycles are doing well at the front. They are admirably suited for the work they have to be put to.

“I think the war will finish about the end of next June. All the soldiers are prepared for another winter campaign. I do not think the present French artillery activity portrays anything in the nature of a general advance in the near future. In my opinion, the artillery offensive is simply to obtain and consolidate better positions in order to make the winter campaign easier, and is also to relieve Russia by drawing German troops from the east.

“I might say that the men in the trenches are disgusted at the labour troubles at home. If the strikers were put in the trenches for a fortnight they would learn to have some sense. Curiously enough, I have seldom heard conscription discussed in the trenches.

“Poison gas has now been practically abolished by the Germans, for the simple reason that the respirators served out to our men, a grey cloth hood to cover the head, with a celluloid ‘window’ for the eyes, are effective in nullifying the effect produced by the gas. I am sorry to say, however, that there seems to be no effective resistance to liquid fire.

“The war is practically one of artillery, and will be more so in the future. The Germans have gained their advantages so far in the superiority of their artillery. They shell everything, taking no notice of any rules of warfare. But their superiority is quickly diminishing. The British artillery now is quickly over-balancing German artillery as far as the quantity of guns and ammunition go, and our firing is much more accurate than that of the ‘Huns.’

“We have always held a superiority in machine-guns, however, our guns being lighter and more convenient to carry than those of our enemies. Our machine-guns fire more rapidly than do the German guns, too. It may surprise you to know that the Germans in the West are holding most of their trenches by machine-gun fire. They contain comparatively little infantry.

“I was at Ypres while it was bombarded, and it was a sight. Every house had a shell in it. I was passing through one day, being in the side-car of a motor-cycle, and when I was going by a hotel a shell dropped on the building and wrought great havoc, razing it to the ground.

“I do not mind the idea of returning to the front. I think I should be in my element there if the comforts of home life could be included in the programme. I like the excitement in fact, I have grown so accustomed to it that England seems rather dreary after it but I do not like the sanitary arrangements in the trenches. The weather has been good lately, a week’s sunshine been followed by a little rain. The food is good, but sometimes it is very, very plain.

“I cannot say much about the soldiers of our Allies, except that the French are very good in attack. They are perhaps a little slovenly in appearance, but they are very determined and very tenacious when they capture any position. The French railway system is rotten. It took me five hours once to go 42 miles.

“As to the rumour about young men calling ‘mother’ when they are hit, I may say that I have never heard of it. The men call out, of course, and may say something like ‘mother’ but I think chaps, even at the age of 17 or 18, have gone past the nursery.”

Bombardier Clark showed our representative some interesting souvenirs from France, including a sniper’s gun, broken off at the butt, a part of a French “75” shell, a match stand made from parts of a shell, and a clever design made by a Belgian soldier from rifle cartridges.

Bombardier Clark said he had received the “Rushden Echo” regularly while at the front, and was glad to read the home news.