A Wymington Sergeant's Story

Sergeant Fuller

Wednesday 17th February 1915: Sergeant H. Fuller (New Wymington) of the Bedfords has paid a five days' visit home from the Front. In conversation with a newspaper representative he said "I ought to have hit a few Germans, but it is impossible to say. You see, there is no real fighting being done at present. The snipers are the only chaps very busy with the rifle now. It is impossible to get a move on as things are, on account of the bad condition of the roads. But just recently the weather has been very nice and we haven't hurt a bit. There is plenty of food, including fresh meat, which can now be brought right up to the trenches. Very few of the men seem to be suffering from colds or rheumatism".

"I left my billet which is about two miles from the firing line on Monday night and I arrived home on Tuesday evening. From this fact you will realise how near the Germans are to England, but in my opinion they have got about as near as they ever will get. When I came away, practically all that was taking place in the nature of fighting was artillery fire, and it has been like that for two months past. It has been almost impossible to engage in any other sort of military operations owing to the sodden state of the ground. Out there, there is mud enough and to spare. Before proceeding to the Front, I had seen two years' service in Pretoria, South Africa. I arrived in England about the middle of September and after two weeks in the New Forest, was sent straight to the Front with my Regiment. We landed at Zeebrugge in Belgium, which, as you know, is now in the occupation of the Germans. From Zeebrugge we went to  Bruges and from thence to 'Wipers' (Ypres). We saw this place before the Germans started dropping their shells into it and it was then a fine town but is now, I understand, a mass of ruins".

"The German gunners are destructive devils and will shell anything they see just for the sake of doing it. If they spot a barn they will not rest content until they have set fire to it".

"On one occasion I got the fragments of a shrapnel shell through my pack, which was on my back, and on another occasion a bullet passed through my cartridge belt and shattered five rounds of ammunition which were in the clip ready for insertion into my rifle magazine. Some of the bullets were carved out of the edge of the cartridges and the others were cut clean in two. Fortunately, none of the cartridges exploded, and so far I have come through with a whole skin, although I have seen chaps struck on either side of me".

"The men play football within the range of the enemy's guns. As a matter of fact a league has been formed in my division (the 7th) and league matches are being played. My regimental team has played a couple of matches. The first was a draw and the second was proceeding when I came away, so I shan't know the result until I get back"(1).

Source: Bedfordshire Standard 19th February 1915

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(1) 8420 Sergeant Herbert Fuller of 2nd Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment, was killed in the Battle of Festubert on 16th May 1915 and has no known grave, being commemorated on the le Touret Memorial.