The J. R. R. Tolkien Companion and Guide: Volume 1: Chronology. Christina Scull

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СКАЧАТЬ will be made from Hessian Trench, which faces Regina Trench and is separated from it by a space varying from two hundred to five hundred yards. Every effort is made to obtain as much information about the terrain and enemy positions as possible. A map issued to Tolkien shows ‘information obtained from prisoners [and] Trenches corrected from air photos taken 17-10-16’; at some point he adds to it the position of a ‘phone’ and ‘WF’, code letters for the 11th Lancashire Fusiliers (a reproduction of the map appears in Life and Legend, p. 32).

      18 October 1916 The 11th Battalion receives Operation Order No. T26 (see note) and spends the day preparing for battle. At 10.30 p.m. the men march towards the front line. A patrol consisting of a captain and a second lieutenant examines the enemy wire. Tolkien will note in his diary that he spent that night at Battalion headquarters near ‘Lancs Trench’ (Zollern Trench).

      19 October 1916 The 11th Battalion reaches Hessian Trench at 4.00 a.m. The attack is meant to take place this day, but constant heavy rain has damaged the trenches, the saturated ground makes movement difficult, the lines of communication between Brigade and Division headquarters have gone down during the night, and the rain, together with mist, makes visual signals impossible. The assault postponed for forty-eight hours, the battalion returns to Ovillers Post, where Tolkien spends the night at Battalion headquarters.

      20 October 1916 In the afternoon, the 11th Battalion is drawn up at Ovillers Post, organized into groups to proceed up the narrow trenches, and issued bombs, sandbags, and other stores from ‘K’ Dump at Ovillers on the way to Hessian Trench. 74th Infantry Brigade Signals will complain that Battalion Signalling Officers did not keep them informed about the progress of units moving into the front line. Tolkien spends the night at Battalion headquarters, again near ‘Lancs Trench’.

      21 October 1916 The last members of the 11th Battalion reach their position in Hessian Trench at about 3.00 a.m. The men spend the rest of the night improving the trenches and the means of leaving them quickly at the start of the attack. The Brigade signal report centre has been set up unusually close to the front line, and the various battalion headquarters are in dugouts in the front line of Hessian Trench. Tolkien is presumably stationed at 11th Battalion headquarters, at the position he marked as ‘WF’ on his map; he will record in his diary that on the nights of 21 and 22 October he was in action in Hessian Trench. The 11th Lancashire Fusiliers have been set the task of taking a five hundred-yard section of Regina Trench where it is at its closest to Hessian Trench. Just after noon the British artillery begin heavy firing, and three waves of assault troops go over the top at short intervals, trying to synchronize their movements with the barrage. When men of the 11th Battalion rush into Regina Trench they find the enemy unprepared, though there is resistance at one or two points, and they manage to link up with other regiments to their left and right. The 25th Division Engineers will report that communications throughout the attack were very satisfactory, though information did not always get back to Division headquarters as well as might have been expected. The 11th Battalion achieves its objective by 12.50 p.m. News of its success is sent to Division headquarters by carrier pigeon. But the battalion has paid heavily for its success with 15 killed, 26 missing, and 117 wounded. See further, note. The survivors spend the rest of the day consolidating their position in Regina Trench, digging connecting trenches back to Hessian Trench, laying communication lines, and destroying the German communication trenches to Regina Trench.

      22 October 1916 The Germans shell Regina Trench heavily. At 4.00 p.m. the 11th Battalion is relieved by the 7th Queen’s Royal West Surrey Regiment. When the battalion reaches Ovillers Post the men are given hot soup and then marched to a camp north of the Albert-Bouzincourt road. Tolkien will note in his diary having slept this night at a camp ‘near Albert’.

      23 October 1916 The 11th Battalion is inspected by Brigadier-General Bethell, commander of the 74th Brigade. The men then travel to Vadencourt Wood by motor-bus, where they are inspected by Major-General Bainbridge, commanding the 25th Division. Tolkien spends the night in hutments at Vadencourt.

      24 October 1916 The 11th Battalion marches in the rain to Beauval. The men spend the rest of day cleaning up. Tolkien will note in his diary that he spent the nights of 24 to 27 October in a billet at Rue de L’Epinette, Beauval.

      25 October 1916 The 11th Battalion is inspected by General Sir Hubert Gough, commanding the 5th Army, who compliments the men on their work. During the day, Tolkien begins to feel ill.

      26 October 1916 In the morning, the men of the 11th Battalion have baths. In the afternoon, they are inspected by Field-Marshal Sir Douglas Haig, the Commander-in-Chief. In the evening there is a concert in Beauval Mairie.

      27 October 1916 Tolkien reports sick with a temperature of 103 degrees. Nevertheless he spends the night in his billet at Beauval.

      28 October 1916 By evening at the latest, Tolkien is in the Officers’ Hospital at Gézaincourt. He is suffering from ‘trench fever’, a highly infectious disease carried by lice. The crowded and squalid conditions in the trenches mean that some 97 per cent of the soldiers are infested by lice, and trench fever is common. The sickness usually begins with a headache, giddiness, and muscular pain especially in the shins, and lasts a few days, followed by a remission and then a relapse, or often a series of relapses and remissions. It is only after the war ends that the louse will be found to be the carrier.

      29 October 1916 Tolkien is put on the sick train at Candas and travels via Étaples to Le Touquet. He is admitted to No. 1 British Red Cross Hospital, also known as the Duchess of Westminster’s Hospital.

      30 October–7 November 1916 Tolkien remains in hospital in Le Touquet. He writes to his Commanding Officer, Lieutenant-Colonel Bird, apparently expressing his regret at leaving the 11th Battalion and his hope that when he returns to the front it will be to the same battalion. – He also writes a poem, Morning Tea. Although its manuscript includes the (later?) note ‘Duch[ess] of Westminster’s Hospital Le Touquet Nov[ember] 8 1916’, it must have been composed no later than the morning of the 7th, if in fact it was written in hospital at Le Touquet.

      7 November 1916 Tolkien travels by train via Étaples to Le Havre, spending the night en route.

      8 November 1916 At Le Havre Tolkien embarks on the hospital ship HMHS Asturias. Later he will note in his diary that the Asturias was torpedoed by the Germans the following year (20 March 1917), but although badly damaged, she was not sunk.

      9 November 1916 The Asturias leaves Le Havre, possibly during the night, and arrives at Southampton on the same day. Tolkien then travels by train to Birmingham and is admitted to the 1st Southern General Hospital, set up in the grand arched halls and corridors of the University of Birmingham at Edgbaston. See note. – Captain E. Munday, Adjutant of the 11th Lancashire Fusiliers, replies to Tolkien’s letter to Lieutenant-Colonel Bird. The Commanding Officer cannot ensure that Tolkien will be posted to the same battalion when he returns to the front, but suggests that he write at once when he is posted to a battalion depot, and the 11th Battalion will request him. He encloses a separate letter dated 9 November (the letter to Tolkien is dated 8 November) which Tolkien should submit to the authorities as soon as he is passed fit to return to duty. This letter requests that Tolkien be returned to the 11th Battalion as soon as possible. Lieutenant-Colonel Bird ‘values the services of Lt. Tolkien very highly’; in his absence his signallers are under a non-commissioned officer, and his services are badly needed. The battalion is very short of officers. The envelope in which these letters are sent is postmarked ‘Field Post Office, 10 Nov. 1916’ and addressed to Tolkien at ‘D. Ward, No. 1 Red Cross Hospital, Le Touquet’, but the address is struck through and the envelope redirected to Great Haywood.

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