Lieutenant D A Roeber
Wednesday 16th
August 1916 From our Correspondent in the
Field
The 6th Bedfords
are saying farewell to the Somme, at least for the present. They have marched
to the village of Behencourt and are reported to be heading north to the area
around Loos. They will no doubt be exhaling a collective sigh of relief after a rough time of it here.
The 7th
Battalion is not far from this town at the moment, being in the front line
opposite Armentières..Yesterday night we understand they carried out a dummy
raid. This involves using artillery and trench mortars on a section of the
enemy front line then simulating a lift in the bombardment to positions further
to the rear, as if to impeded enemy reinforcements. At the same time poles are
shown above the British front line trenches to simulate men and smoke is
released. This forces the enemy to man
his parapet to shoot at the “raiders”. The dummy raid was successful in doing
this and the enemy front line trench was then shelled by field artillery and
Stokes mortars. The adjutant remarked to me: “It is thought that the enemy
suffered severe losses. His artillery reply was feeble”. The Bedfords
themselves lost Lieutenant Roeber and three other ranks killed and two other
ranks wounded.
Today the
French 153rd Division has again advanced between Maurepas and Guillemont. The
British 3rd Division attacked east towards and reached the road running south
from Guillemont to Hardecourt-au-Bois.
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