Tag Archive for: Croxton

Drummer H G Sewell

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No doubt you will be greatly surprised to hear from me, but being one of the boys from St Neots, and seeing some of their letters in the Advertiser, I thought I would like to write one to you and see if you could get it put in the paper as well for me. I am with P Milton, of Abbotsley, and also E. Brace of Croxton, they are both in the pink of health, also myself. Well, I am a stretcher bearer, and I can assure you we see some awful sites sometimes. I was on the spot when Albert Saywell of Croxton was wounded, but I did not help to carry him out of the trenches, as some of the other stretcher bearers took him while I was tending to some more fellows he got wounded by the same shell. I saw in the paper it was a gunshot, but it wasn’t, it is a shell, as there were three others got hit with the same one. It seems by the papers that they are giving the old Bochers some stick now, on land and sea, so let’s hope the war will soon be finished. I had the pleasure of having a long chat with a fellow from St Neots, he is in the R.A.M.C., the other week, he was in the best of health. Well, we are in a pretty hot quarter now, the Germans continually shelling us all the time, and our Artillery is the same with them. But still I have managed to pull through so far, and hope to till the finish of it; but if I am not able to I shall know I have done my duty as far as I could, and if everybody had stepped forward about twenty months ago as well, my idea is the wall would have been finished long before now. But one thing I can say, and also a lot more boys of the town and surrounding villages, is that they volunteered. Pte J F Jacques of Weald also wishes to be remembered to you all. I think this is about all, so we’ll now draw to a close, trusting these few lines will find you in good health; also wishing the good old Advertiser every success.

Lance Corporal Webb, D company 1st Bedfordshire Regiment

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Once again I am pleased to say I have managed to scrape the great battle of Hill 60 after 28 days in the trenches. It has been nothing more or less than murder. It is impossible to call it war. I had one very narrow escape whilst being relieved by another Regiment. I was coming down the line when one of our enemies’ big shells dropped between the line and there were more than fifty men with me and not one of them was hit. I was knocked down by the explosion, it fell about two yards from me. I got up after I got my breath back and went on with the others, and still the shell kept dropping behind us ; it is a miracle how we all got out alive ; it was heart breaking to see all the poor fellows coming down the line wounded – some with hands off, some with half their heads blown away. And what makes it worse, they sent us some asphyxiating gas to poison us. They cannot beat us with shell and rifle so they are trying to poison us; they are a cowardly lot , they cannot fight fair like men, they drove us from our trenches with gas and charged, and our maxim gun did some deadly work, there were Germans lying all over the ground afterwards. We made a counter attack and drove them back with more heavy losses to them. I got a little gas, but not enough to take effect, as we were told that the gas was coming, so we put our pads over our mouths to stop it a little. I was very busy bandaging a poor fellow up who was wounded and who had run to get away from the gas. There are one or two of our men from the Old Country wounded and dead, some are almost dead with poison. I am sorry to say that my brother was seriously wounded in the same trench as me, he had his arm smashed above the elbow with a shell, one piece in his left thigh, and one in his right. I can tell you it is horrible to see poor fellows dying with wounds. What a blessing it will be when this is all over. I would like to tell you more, but I am not allowed.

Private W Webb Croxton D company 1st Beds

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I am sending you this letter for the Advertiser, hoping you received my last war letter safe. Just a few more lines to let you know that we are still smiling and quite happy and are already proving victorious no matter where we go. Things have been very quiet lately, with the exception of a few Jack Johnsons bursting around us. Jack Johnson is the name of the German shell which gives us a good shaking and sometimes. We have driven the Germans back and have captured their trenches, which were in a very bad condition, they were full of mud and water up to our knees and several of us have caught a severe cold. We are in and out of the trenches now every 48 hours and we are getting some very bad weather. I saw in private chandler’s letter about one of our fellows fighting with the German officer, well that fellow was lance corporal Barlow, I’m quite right to, he did have him buckled up. The boys of the old 14th can hit hard as well as shoot straight and when the Germans know that we are in the trenches they do not forget to keep down. In some places they are no more than 50 yards away, and very often shout across to us.  I have had four narrow escapes. I had a shrapnel bullet go through my cap, just catching my head, which knocked me down for a few minutes, it is taught my half way across the top. The next one I got across the back of my hand, which just cut me, but not serious:  minute the third cut through the peak of my cap and the fourth one hit my rifle just as I was taking a at a few Germans who work exposing themselves too much. The bullet hit my rifle not an eighth of an inch from my little finger on my left hand. If I had moved my hand a bit further down I should be minus two fingers.  I had rather a surprise a few days ago. Whilst all sentry duty in the trenches I saw two Germans knocking on their hands to keep them warm and in a few minutes I had them both. A third man came up I looked across to me through a pair of glasses and I soon having on the ground. What surprised me was they   stood up on  top of their trenches just to see what was going on. I must say that some of them are very brave indeed. That is three more Germans I can put on my list. Please remember me two wall in Croxton not forgetting those who have joined the army, wishing then every success.