World War I Roll of Honour - The Clove Club Hackney Downs School

WITH THE ARMOURED CARS IN ACTION (86/15)
FROM PETTY OFFICER C.W.WALLIS, R.N.A.S.
At 12 o’clock midnight on May 9th we crawled out of our hiding place, the armoured car in
front, and I with the ammunition, fifty yards behind it. We had no lights, so you can guess we went
dead slow. We had a good distance to and it was just getting light when we arrived at the trenches
(reserve). It was a lovely morning but very cold. One would never credit that fighting was to be
done in a few hours, for it was as quiet as anywhere a hundred miles away from the firing line. The
singing of the birds was the only sound which broke the silence of that May morning. Presently a
Taube appeared; it was fired on and driven back, and all was still again. The attack was planned to
commence at six o’clock, and, as it was three o’clock when we arrived, we got very cold waiting there
three hours.
At a quarter to six we moved up the road towards the main trenches, and I took up my position
in an old ruined convent which had been blown almost to pieces by shells. The armoured car went
about 100 yards farther up the road. A few minutes after 6 o’clock a gun was fired. This seemed
to be the signal for the attack, as in a few minutes the air was filled with the bang and scream of shells,
for we had our artillery behind us. It was one continual roar, and it was very difficult to hear each
other speak, for the air quivered with the noise of explosions. From where I was I could see the
German shells bursting over our trenches. Black, white, brown and green were the colours of the
smoke, and huge trees were flung high in the air, as a “Jack Johnson” exploded near. Presently rifle
shots began to hit the old convent we were in, and we got under cover and poked our rifles through
any small space convenient, but we could not see who was firing so we merely awaited our fate - and
smoked.
After about half an hour the armoured car returned, and at first I thought our officer was
severely wounded, for he looked very bad. As we helped him out of the car he explained that he had
been hit in the leg by an explosive bullet. We soon got him into a dug-out where his leg was bound
up. It was during this time that I got my slight wound in the leg, but it proved nothing serious.
When we returned to the car the gun was very hot for they had fired 96 shells in a very short time.
I took the empty shell cases away and they filled up with fresh ammunition. We had no sooner done
this than a fresh hail of bullets came whizzing round and a shell fell not thirty yards away, so we
started down the road again, I following the armoured car as before. I had to duck down under the
armour for fear of being hit in the head, for snipers were after us.
We had not got two hundred yards when the armoured car in front suddenly swerved off the
road and stuck fast in a ditch in about six inches of mud, and considering it weighed nearly ten tons
it was impossible to get it out again under two hours’ hard work. It had to be dug out, and a fresh
road made for it; this we started to do, but when a shell fell and covered us with earth and grass our
officer took us away from it, and so we left the car to be a target for the German guns.
We went back to the nearest village, and had breakfast (going in my lorry). After
breakfast the officer decided to have another shot at getting the stranded car out again, so we went
back. She was still all right and had not been hit, for the German artillery had slackened down a bit,
although our guns were still letting it rip. There was a battery of guns just behind us, and when they
fired, the noise made us deaf for a moment, but we worked on and after about two hours’ work we
got a rope attached to the back of my lorry and on to the front of the armoured car, and as we had
made a road for it, we pulled it out, much to our relief. After this we got along all right, and got
back to the place from which we started.
This was my first time in action, and as you can guess we had a fairly hot time of it. And
so ended that lovely May morning for us, but not for our gunners, for we could still hear them going
it strong up till eight o’clock in the evening.
After that I knew nothing, for I was very tired, and soon fell asleep in spite of the noise. Our
officer said afterwards that we behaved and worked well under such trying conditions and that we
had been in a very hot attack - and so thought I!