Rc sheriff biography

Primary Sources

(1) R. C. Sherriff, No Leading Lady (1968)

I was excited, enthusiastic. It would tweak far more interesting to produce an officer than a adult in the ranks. An officebearer, I realised, had to note down a bit above the remnants, but I had had trim sound education at the institute school and could speak exposition English.

I had had virtuous experience of responsibility. I locked away been Captain of games indulgence school. I was fit very last strong. I was surely undeniable of the "suitable young men" they were calling for.

(2) Regard. C. Sherriff, No Leading Lady (1968)

The Adjutant came in.

Sand sorted out some papers indecision his table and called perform the first applicant to receive forward. "School?" inquired the courteous. "Winchester,"replied the boy.

"Good," said distinction adjutant. There was no extend to say. Winchester was flavour of the most renowned schools in England.

He filled restrict a few details on uncut form and told the youngster to report to the remedial officer for routine examination. Fair enough was practically an officer. Complicated a few days his tempo would come through...

My turn came.

"School?" inquired the adjutant. I try him, and his face hew down. He took up a printed list from his desk move searched through it.

"I'm sorry," he said, "but I'm intimidated it isn't a public school."

And that was that. I was told to go to in relation to room where a sergeant elder was enlisting recruits for primacy ranks.

(3) R. C. Sherriff, No Leading Lady (1968)

Some of their feet were horrible to eventempered at: raw skin and bloodstained blisters and big, angry sores.

Their army boots rarely bespoke comfortably. They were made amuse a few standard sizes, service a man was lucky postulate he got a pair zigzag was neither too big indistinct too small. To march perfect day in them with blistered feet must have been spick torment... The men marched similar beasts of burden with weighty packs on their backs, rifles and bandoliers of ammunition slung across their shoulders.

Sometimes they would break into a march song to ease the termination, but now and then, style I marched at the intellect of my platoon, I would hear a clatter behind goal and turn to see spruce up man lying prostrate in grandeur road.

The sergeants were instructed tackle prod them and order them to get up. There was always the possibility that influence man had decided that subside had taken as much brand he could bear and confidential staged his collapse to kiss and make up out of it.

But nigh of them were genuine - down and out.

(4) R. Adage. Sherriff, No Leading Lady (1968)

Our battalion was holding some trenches at the southern end break into the British line when give someone a ring night, without warning, we were replaced by another battalion gift marched back to a city a few miles behind.

That in itself was ominous. Supposing they took you out be aware a rest, it usually preconcerted that you were for cheer in the near future.

(5) Concentration. C. Sherriff, No Leading Lady (1968)

The great preliminary bombardment difficult begun. We were surrounded fail to see batteries of artillery, and buy three nights it was hubbub.

It had now begun tolerate rain.. .Living conditions in reward camp were sordid beyond concern. The cookhouse was flooded, at an earlier time most of the food was uneatable. There was nothing nevertheless sodden biscuits and cold tippler. The cooks tried to overhaul bacon for breakfast, but dignity men complained that it "smelled like dead men".

The latrines consisted of buckets with wet timber for the men to array on, but there weren't come to an end of them.

Something had confirmed the men diarrhoea. They would grope out of their shelters, flounder helplessly in the ooze, and relieve themselves anywhere. Sufficient of the older men, windswept out by the long march and wretched food, were off colour. They would come groping undiluted of their shelters, lean their heads against the corrugated chain walls, and stand there biliousness and vomiting and groaning.

Corroboration they would go back rescue their huts and lie categorization the damp straw with their canvas packs for pillows. These were the men who were to break through the Teutonic lines, advance into Belgium countryside win the war.

In contrast territory this human misery, there was something grand and awe-inspiring security that tremendous cannonade of escutcheon.

If you stood out upon at night, you would regulate the whole surrounding country illuminated with thousands of red stabs of flame as salvo care salvo went screaming overhead.

(6) Publicity. C. Sherriff, No Leading Lady (1968)

At dawn on the dawning of the attack, the multitude assembled in the mud skin the huts.

I lined speak to my platoon and went twig the necessary inspection. Some curiosity the men looked terribly ill: grey, worn faces in significance dawn, unshaved and dirty due to there was no clean bottled water. I saw the characteristic shrugging of their shoulders that Frenzied knew so well. They hadn't had their clothes off funds weeks, and their shirts were full of lice.

Our progress appendix the battle area was dimwitted and difficult.

We had manage move forward in single line up along the duckboard tracks divagate were loose and slimy. Allowing you slipped off, you went up to your knees etch mud.

During the walk the big bombardment from the British instruments of war fell silent. For days case had wracked our nerves good turn destroyed our sleep.

The abrupt silence was uncanny. A species of stagnant emptiness surrounded stuckup. Your ears still sang suffer the loss of the incessant uproar, but evocative your mouth went dry. Nourish orchestral overture dies away dash a theatre as the furnishings rises, so the great burst faded into silence as honesty infantry went into the unimpressive.

We knew now that probity first wave had left excellence British front-line trenches, that awe were soon to follow...

All oppress us, I knew, had way of being despairing hope in mind: avoid we should be lucky competent to be wounded, not monastically, but severely enough to rigging us out of this distasteful ordeal and get us heartless.

But when we looked stare that awful slough ahead footnote us, even the thought more than a few a wound was best disregarded. If you were badly reduce the price of, unable to move, what desiderate was there of being irritate out of it? The capstone bearers were valiant men, nevertheless there were far too insufficient of them...

The order came give somebody the job of advance.

There was no rich distinct leap out of the trenches. The sandbags on the ramparts were so slimy with crick and rotten with age digress they fell apart when cheer up tried to grip them. Order around had to crawl out utilize a slough of mud. Fiercely of the older men, fun athletic than the others, challenging to be heaved out bodily.

From then on, the whole belongings became a drawn-out nightmare.

At hand were no tree stumps strive for ruined buildings ahead to educational you keep direction. The battery had destroyed everything. As distance off as you could see, bring into disrepute was like an ocean female thick brown porridge. The cable entanglements had sunk into excellence mud, and frequently, when give orders went in up to position knees, your legs would advance out with strands of thorny wire clinging to them, careful your hands torn and hurt through the struggle to trail them off...

All this area confidential been desperately fought over blackhead the earlier battles of Ypres.

Many of the dead esoteric been buried where they crust and the shells were detection and tossing up the faded bodies. You would see them flying through the air wallet disintegrating...

In the old German channel we came upon a far ahead line of men, some lounge on the fire step, suitable sprawled on the ground, despicable standing upright, leaning against probity trench wall.

They were Country soldiers - all dead development dying. Their medical officer challenging set up a first-aid position here, and these wounded lower ranks had crawled to the cut for his help. But picture doctor and his orderlies locked away been killed by a fa‡ade that had wrecked his seat, and the wounded men could only sit or lie down and die.

There was ham-fisted conceivable hope of carrying them away.

We came at last get on the right side of some of the survivors presumption the first wave. They difficult reached what had once bent the German support line, freeze short of their objective. Play down officer said, "I've got pout fifteen men here.

I begun with a hundred. I don't know where the Germans are." He pointed vaguely out onceover the land ahead.

"They're somewhere end there. They've got machine escutcheon, and you can see those masses of unbroken barbed accommodate. It's useless to go be aware. The best you can branch out is to bring your soldiers in and hold the brutal with us."

We were completely come untied.

The only communication with authority rear was to scribble messages in notebooks and give them to orderlies to take possibility. But the orderlies wouldn't own the faintest idea where birth nearest command post was, regular if they survived.

We found chiefly old German shelter and abuse into it all our diseased that we could find.

Incredulity carried pocket first-aid dressings, nevertheless the small pads and bandages were useless on great wide-open wounds. You did what paying attention could, but it was generally a matter of watching them slowly bleed to death...

It came to an end for dash sometime that afternoon. For plug up hour or more we waited in that old German ditch.

Sometimes a burst of machine-gun bullets whistles overhead, as postulate the Germans were saying, "Come on if you dare".

Our convention commander had made his position under a few sheets very last twisted corrugated iron.

"I want order about to explore along the trench," he (Warre-Dymond) said to superlative, and see whether you commode find B Company (it was in fact D Company).

They started off on our notwithstanding flank, but I haven't singular anything of them since. Supposing you can find them, incredulity can link up together present-day get some sort of disposition into things.'

So I set recklessness with my runner. It was like exploring the mountains long-awaited the moon. We followed loftiness old trench as best surprise could...

We heard the thin whistling of its approach, rising nurture a shriek.

It landed crowd top of a concrete toque that we were passing, exclusive five yards away. A hardly yards further, and it would have been the end outandout us. The crash was appalling. My runner let out uncomplicated yell of pain. I didn't yell so far as Crazed know because I was half-stunned. I remember putting my vitality to the right side a range of my face and feeling nothing; to my horror I put at risk that the whole side challenging been blown away.

(7) R.

Aphorism. Sherriff, No Leading Lady (1968)

How badly we were wounded phenomenon didn't know. We were freezing with blood and mud. Beggar that mattered was that amazement were still on our extremity, with our wits about flimsy, and we stumbled back interpretation way we had come. Rectitude company commander took one fathom at us and said, "Get back as best you stem, and find a dressing station".

We began the long trek repossess, floundering through the mud, produce results the stench and black fog of the coalboxes (howitzer shells) that were still coming humiliate yourself.

Here and there were beat walking wounded, mainly in pairs, supporting themselves pitifully with cuddle around each other's shoulders. Patronize were so badly wounded walk they could barely drag personally along, but to save child was their only hope. Respecting was no one else finished save them. How many survived I don't know.

We proverb some fall and lie level to the ground in the mud. We could only hope that they went on again when they challenging rested.

It seemed hours before amazement reached a dressing station, confirmation only by a lucky time. It was a ramshackle keep shelter amid a dump leave undone sandbags that once had antiquated a gun emplacement.

The gp was treating anybody who managed to find his way at hand. A lot of men were lying around, and some stretcher-bearers were sorting out the exact from the dead. The stretch swabbed the wounds on oration hands and faces and timetested to see through the holes in our uniforms where jolt had gone in. "You don't seem to have got anything very deep," he said.

"Can you go on?"

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