Chapter 11: THE OLD PLANK ROAD

My final operations with the Divisional Ammunition Column were right up in the salient, near the town of Poperinge.

My Forward Ammunition dump was in an open field about a hundred yards from a road. Nearly all our ammunition was in wooden boxes that weighed sixty-five to seventy pounds. We were issued with pannier saddles, onto which we strapped two boxes of ammunition.

The plank road up by the Menin Gate on through Hell Fire Corner was constructed of corduroy - ten-foot tree trunks or railway ties laid across the trail. On either side there were endless shell holes, mostly waterlogged, fill of the corpses of horses mules and men.

Our task nearly every night was to load the mules and walk along this plank road in the dark to Hell Fire Corner, taking special care not to be knocked off the road by the mules carrying such a wide load. The infantry met us and each carried away a box.

The Enemy knew that we used this road to supply our front line troops with ammunition and rations and would shell the road every night. The German's would systematically shell the road twice during the hours of darkness. We timed our supply detail to pass over this road on the off shelling times; depositing our load and dashing quickly back to safety. However, once in a while the Germans would shell us at unscheduled times causing even more casualties than usual each night. We dreaded the nights with a full moon.