Wednesday 29th September 1915: Colonel Monteith, commanding officer of the 2nd Bedfords, tells us more of his experiences at Loos. It seems that the front line is quite a nervous place to be at present, he told us – that units from the King’s Royal Rifle Corps and Worcestershire Regiment are “rather nervy, passing down a lot of silly messages” which he has put a stop to.
He told us that there is: “A lot of shelling going on”. So he went round the trenches and found that A Company had done nothing to improve their firing positions. He could not find the Company Commander, Captain de Buriatte only “Poor little Dyer asleep, woke him and told him what to do”(1).
He came back to find the General Staff Officer of 1st Army- Robinson – with whom he had a run-in yesterday about the defence scheme. He was “in a very panicky state rather inclined to hang me but on learning that I had a line in front and that my proposal was to fire with second line behind parapet he became easier. I saw him out to the front”.
After he got something to eat: “News has come in that French have broken through and are fighting the Huns in the open!(2) I also heard, inadvertently, that Brigade are very pleased with my work. Pip! Pip!”
Source: X550/3/wd
(1) Second Lieutenant E F S Dyer, who joined the Battalion on 13th July 1915 and was to go home wounded on 13th October 1915.
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