As Sheriff wrote letters home to both his mother and father on the day after his birthday, the Battle of Messines had already begun. Although he had expected to be involved (and had implied as much in his recent letters), to his relief, it had begun without him. As he told Pips:
‘Circumstances alter so quickly that it almost takes my breath away – I am now lying on a wire bed in a little hut in a camp behind the line – my regiment has gone up the line now and I and several other officers are remaining here as a kind of reserve.’
But there was more, as he explained to his mother:
‘I am staying at the Transport Camp and tomorrow if all goes well I shall be going on a Course at a Sniping School…Until about 2 days before the Regiment went up I fully expected to go too, but my Captain suggested to the Colonel that as I had spent so long out here without leave and as another officer had just rejoined the Regiment who has not been up before – that I should go on this course in place of him and consequently my name was substituted.’
Lt (later Captain) C A Clark MC, as drawn by Private Edward Cole of the 9th East Surreys. By permission of the Surrey History Centre (Ref: ESR/19/2/7/1-15)
Even better, he had been told by the Adjutant [Captain C A (“Nobby”) Clark, whom he admired greatly, and who seems to have been very solicitous of Sherriff] that, if things went well, and the Battalion was out resting by the 18 June (when he was due back from the course), he might get his leave ticket. Of course, he knew, as he told Pips, that there were no certainties in the army:
‘As is always in the case in the army, I feel almost guilty for writing a word suggesting certainty – I say I am going on a course – for all I know before I finish this letter I may receive intimation that it is cancelled. I say I am staying behind as a reserve – for all I know before the sun sets this evening I may be with the Battalion again. I listen to the roar of one of the world’s greatest battles, not knowing when I may be in it – when we may move – or, in short, not knowing where we may be in an hour’s time.’
Although he was happy to be lying on his wire bed in reserve, and was relishing the prospect of being sent on the course, it was clear from an excerpt in his letter to his mother that he was somewhat conflicted about seeing his friends march off toward the sound of the guns:
‘Things are going wonderfully well with our men – hardly any casualties but much gain of ground and thousands of prisoners as you will doubtless read in the papers – the news trickles through gradually and nothing of course can be guessed from the great distant boom of guns – I hope the battle will be so satisfactory that my Battalion will come through with very little loss – I hope so sincerely as I have some of the finest friends I have ever had up there, amongst the officers, and many, many men whom I am interested in and whom I shall be glad to see back safely.’
From his vantage point in camp he could see the German prisoners very clearly, and he expanded to his father on their dishevelled and downtrodden appearance, contrasting it with the smartness of the English soldiers marching in the opposite direction:
‘I have been watching Hun prisoners stream by in hundreds – poor dejected looking men with a quick nervous look who do not seem to wish to meet the eye of anyone – streams and streams of them – some hatless, some with helmets and some little cloth caps – they are unshaved and haggard and bear a look that only men who are subject to incessant bombardment can bear – some old men bent with sheer exhaustion – some bespectacled – some typical “Fritz’s” – all looking very apologetic and beaten. “It isn’t my fault” some seem to be thinking, some have a surly insolent look, others beam amiably while our men stand and watch them go by quite silent – just interestedly.
And all the while Boom Boom go the guns and the troops go on slowly taking what the Huns have had so long and now must lose – bowing to the old saying “Might is Right” which they themselves once used.
From my window I can see a stream of Germans filing along the dusty road between a hop field and a corn field going away from shells and fighting never to return to it – going to a camp somewhere in the quiet where they will work on roads and fields – in the other direction, marching in step and the proper formation come some English troops towards the line – toiling under great loads – but bearing it wonderfully and marching evenly in wonderful contrast to the dragging weary shuffle of the Germans. I wonder who are happier?’
13 years later, as he settled down to write the first few scenes of his sequel to Journey’s End (written for the movie studios, but never published) – in which Stanhope and Trotter are captured and taken back to Germany as prisoners – it may have been these scenes which guided his pencil.
[Next letter: 9 June]