Clive Ward - Trench 31

‘Bertie! Bertie!’ There was no reply.

A few weeks later, Charlotte stood on her doorstep looking both fearful and hopeful in equal measure, her face was ghostly white. She had heard about the mine incident and had been told to expect bad news because so many of C Company had been killed or badly injured. She watched as the postman approached the house, praying and hoping he would walk on by, but this time he didn’t. The postman handed the telegram to Charlotte, the same dreaded telegram that he’d delivered more than a hundred times over the last few days.

Charlotte’s hands visibly trembled as she opened the telegram. She tried to read the words but the tears in her eyes blurred her vision. She rubbed furiously at her eyes and began to read the telegram. The telegram slipped through her fingers and fluttered to the ground as her hand covered her mouth. Charlotte dropped to her knees and sobbed uncontrollably. Her mother, who was standing behind her, next to her father in his wheelchair, both shed copious tears when Charlotte relayed the awful news.

David continued to search for his best friend in the devastated Trench 31 but time wasn’t on his side. He knew that there would be an enemy attack at any second, it was inevitable after the firing of a mine. The Germans wanted Trench 31 and the Bluff. David was about to give up his frantic search when he came across a partly buried body.

He knelt down beside the body and brushed the earth from the face. The face that stared back at him with wide open eyes was one he recognised well, but it wasn’t Bertie.

‘Fucking hell Johnno, not you too!’ David cried out.

Sergeant Johnson, father of six children, lay dead. David closed the sergeant’s eyes gently before continuing to search for his friend, but his search was hopeless.

‘Flaming heck, come on Bertie, where are you? What a bloody waste.’

Over the sound of shell fire, David called out his friend’s name one last time as tears streamed down his face, but it was futile. He hurried back to check on Archie.

‘Are you still with us Archie Butler?’ called out David.

‘Yes, I think so. Unless you’re an angel.’

The artillery barrage began to intensify.

‘Did you find Bertie?’ Archie asked, his voice a mere whisper.

David paused before he answered. He didn’t want to distress his brother-in-law further with his concern about Bertram.

‘Yes, he’s alright Archie, the medics have taken him.’

‘That’s good then, I bet he’s giving them hell, eh David.’ Archie’s voice was growing weaker.

David had a decision to make, should he stand and fight, or retreat? He got to his feet, grabbed both his and Archie’s rifles and slung them over his shoulder. He then lifted Archie onto to his back and started to walk towards the support lines.

‘What are you doing David?’ croaked Archie.

David didn’t answer him. He was heading for the support lines, or as near to them as he could. Getting Archie out of immediate danger was his priority. The support trenches for Trench 31 were about three-hundred yards behind the main trench, providing a valuable second line of defence.

Breathing heavily, it wasn’t long before David was too exhausted to go any further and so he laid Archie down and dragged him into a small shell hole.

‘There you go Archie, it’s a bit quieter here.’

‘Pass me my rifle David.’

‘This is not your fight anymore Archie, you’ve done your brave bit and I respect you for it. I don’t want my sister to be a widow and Archie junior to have no dad, so you’re staying here Archie.’

‘David pass me a rifle.’

‘No Archie! And that’s an order. I’m a Lance Corporal, remember?’

‘If you won’t give me my rifle David, please take this.’

Archie held up the broken locket and David took it from him.

‘Your sister will keep you safe, she kept me safe. Charlotte was right, you are a good man David Manning. Give them hell brother.’

David smiled, then reached over and grabbed a large piece of corrugated tin that lay nearby. He kissed his brother-in-law on his forehead and said ‘goodbye Archie, see you down the Bridge Inn when we’re back in Blighty.’ David then covered Archie with the corrugated tin to hide him from the Hun.

David turned back towards Trench 31 to join the few remaining men that were there. ‘Come on you German bastards! What have you got!?’ he shouted out loudly as he advanced.

Soon after the mine explosions, the German infantry attacked again. The British front line was captured by five past six that evening and by six-thirty-two all objectives had been taken. All attempts to counter attack over the next two days failed. The front line and Trench 31 had been lost.

From the 14 thto the 17 thof February, the 17 thDivision lost one thousand two hundred and ninety-four men, including three hundred and eleven who were listed as missing.

Two days later, two stretcher bearers headed back from No Man’s Land in front of the support lines.

‘Come on, let’s head back. This is the last one for today, the rest will have to wait, this fog is starting to lift. We don’t want to join them, do we?’

The two soldiers lifted David’s dead body onto the stretcher and headed for the safety of their own lines, but something made them suddenly stop in their tracks.

‘Did you see that? That piece of tin just moved.’

‘Watch out, it might be a German.’

They approached the piece of corrugated tin cautiously and then lifted it slowly.

‘Eh Fred, we’ve got a live one!’ exclaimed one of the stretcher bearers. ‘Are you alright pal? Just stay still and we’ll get you out of this hell hole.’

Archie was barely alive but he had escaped death.

A note was found in David’s breast pocket along with a picture of his mother and father.

My Dearest Mother,

If this message should ever reach you, you will know by now that I am gone. Look after father and tell my sister and little brother that I love them.

You have been the best mother and father a son could ask for. I love you deeply. Just how much, you will never know.

Archie’s injuries were too serious for him to return to the front and he was de-mobbed. Later that year Archie and Charlotte were reunited and three years later Charlotte gave birth to another baby boy, who they named David Bertram Butler.

David’s younger brother, Michael, joined the newly formed RAF Regiment, on the 10 thof November 1918. The next day the war came to an end with the signing of the armistice.

David Bertram Butler stepped away from his mother, so that his father, Archie, could be with his wife to pay their final respects at the graveside.

He was buried alongside his comrades, sixteen officers and three hundred and thirty-four men from other ranks, all of whom perished in Trench 31.

Charlotte and Archie held each other tightly, united in their grief. They both shed fresh tears when Charlotte opened the precious silver locket, which had, for the last fifty years, held a picture of a brave soldier, her brother, David Manning.

Bertram’s body was never found but his personal documents were returned to his parents via a German soldier, who kindly handed them over to the British Military. Below is a transcript of the letter written by my Great Grandmother, thanking the officers who called on her at home to deliver them.

Hillside

Chaddesden Park Road

Derby

Dear Sir,

I wish to express my very best thanks to you and to your brother for calling on me Tuesday last with news of my son, who has been missing since 1916. The unexpected nature of your visit took me completely by surprise and I am afraid I did not thank you as much as I wish for the trouble you have taken. It is very good of you to do so much, and I wonder if it is possible to get into communication with the German to whom my son handed his papers, etc.