A Shell-Stormed Station

Saturday 24^th July 1915: Corporal Ernest Batterson (Bedfordshire Yeomanry) who belongs to Henlow, and who holds the championship of the local Football league, tells us of a journey back from leave in England to his unit: “On arriving at a certain location, my comrade and I went to have a wash at a tap on the station platform. We were drying ourselves on one towel, he at one end, I at the other, when without the slightest warning a 9 inch shell dropped on the station platform. I don’t suppose you have seen a 9 inch shell burst, so you can’t very well imagine the damage it would do. My pal got his in the head, though not severely, and I was nearly getting it too. We scampered to what, at first, looked a safer place but on second thoughts we decided to give the station a wider berth. Luckily we did, for the next shell came slap into the goods shed, and the wall that we were taking cover under was blown out. Two men were blown to bits in the shed and – well, there was no shed left, but for some considerable time bits kept falling down, I suppose for a radius of nearly a quarter of a mile. We got smothered, but were not hurt, and we hastened to find a healthier spot”.

“When things had quietened down a bit I went back to look after our kits, and after having a look at the damage was just coming off, when bang went another just outside the booking hall. I ducked, and luckily I did, for the office window was blown in and other slight structural alterations were made to the station both inside and out. I slid off, and for three-quarters of an hour was lying down, watching houses from 150 to 200 yards away going skyward and being smothered with bits of brick, etc., from the wreckage. We eventually got away, and after an hour’s tramp, found a station, from which we took a train and a ten hours journey brought us to the district to which our division had moved, and the next day, at 4 p.m., I found my people”.

Source: Bedfordshire Standard 6th August 1915