Book-Before Action_Before Action 18/11/2014 13:27 Page 1
prologue: the last Morning the Somme, Saturday, 1 July 1916. In the early hours of what promises to be a fine summer morning, three officers of the 9th Battalion, the Devonshire regiment, are standing on the firestep of their assembly trench, scanning the horizon. But this is no ordinary morning. As they watch the bombardment of Mametz village on the hill facing their position, the noise level is beyond imagining. the air around them screams and vibrates from the shells passing overhead, and the ground throbs beneath their feet. enemy shells are falling too in retaliation, but the three are safe for the moment. the incoming shells are ranged precisely on their front line, some 250 yards from where they now stand, every sense tuned to the trenches across the valley. If the bombardment does its work they might stand a chance. If not, in less than an hour’s time they must advance at walking pace across open ground swept by enemy machine guns from two, maybe three sides. less than an hour. they have anticipated this moment for weeks. two days ago lieutenant William Noel Hodgson’s acceptance of his own imminent death was voiced in a poem, ‘Before Action’, published in Cecil Chesterton’s weekly paper The New Witness. He used a pen name, but those close to him at home will know that the words are his. And Captain Duncan Martin beside him on the firestep, scanning the German trenches through field glasses, knows every hill and fold and danger point as only a man can know who has shaped the landscape in plasticene with his hands, making a relief model to be used in preparation for the battle. For the last week all the officers of 7th Division have pored over the model at Brigade Headquarters. Now Martin can only hope he was wrong in predicting that his own battalion will have to cross no man’s land at its most dangerous point. too late now, though, to worry. time to lead. So he and Hodgson and Second lieutenant Freeland jump back into the trench and sit on the firestep eating the sandwiches they were issued with last night. It will encourage the men to see them look so unconcerned. they are still there, talking and laughing, when a runner comes from headquarters: the Co has sent for Mr Hodgson. So he leaves his friends and makes his way up the crowded trench. Before long the others also make a move. time is ticking on now and there are things they must do. He will see rowan Freeland once more after he leaves headquarters. He asks him for help when he finds that the rum ration has been handed out and his bombing sections have missed it. Have Freeland’s platoon any to spare? No, their ration was short, but Freeland goes round the other platoons in his