Tom Clark

Rushden Motor Cyclist – Strafing the Enemy
Brigade Football Match - The Pitch Bombed by German Aeroplane
When will the War End? - Corporal Tom Clark’s Answer
Corporal Tom Clark, of the Motor Machine Gun Service, son of Mr and Mrs Chas Clark, of Wellingtonia, Irchester-road, Rushden, is spending a further eight days’ leave at home after 16 months on the Western Front.

Interviewed by a representative of the “Rushden Echo” he said:-
“There is not a great deal to relate this time as things have been rather quiet all winter, and with the exception of a few minor attacks and counter attacks there has been nothing much doing. The winter has not been very severe. We have had plenty of rain but not much very cold weather. We had nothing to be compared with the blizzard you had in England judging by the photographs in the ‘Rushden Echo’ which I receive each week.

“For the past six months our work has consisted of practically all night work, that is to say we are posted with our guns a short distance behind our first fire trenches, and from this position we play upon the enemy’s communication trenches and working parties. Of course, for this.

Purpose, guns are sighted before dark, and at night the guns are fired at irregular intervals in the hopes of catching a ration party or working party.

“About a couple of months ago I took part in a small strafe of the enemy. The Germans had strongly fortified a row of houses just behind their lines, and their hiding places have been discovered, our artillery proceeded to demolish them. As the Germans rushed out of the houses for safety they found us waiting with our machine guns. Of course, they soon took cover, but not before we had done some considerable damage to them.

“Besides serious incidents we sometimes get such as cause us amusement. One such has happened within the past three weeks, during which we have been resting. One afternoon we were to play the brigade snipers at football but during the morning an enemy aeroplane dropped a bomb right in the middle of the pitch. As a consequence we had to send out a fatigue party with picks and shovels and fill up the hole before we could play. They soon did the job, and the match ended in the snipers being beaten by three to nothing.

“Ever since I got home this time I have been pestered with enquiries as to when the big move is to begin, or as to when the war is going to be ended. I can’t satisfactorily answer either question for we buy English papers to know what is going on on the English front, for all we know is just what is taking place just in our part of the line. The people at home know as much as the boys in the trenches.

“The general opinion of the boys at the front is that there are still plenty of slackers left in England, and they are rather pleased that the Government are introducing compulsion all round”.

Since his last visit home Corpl. Clark has been promoted from Bombardier to his present rank. His battery went to France 64 strong, and at the present time only 28 of the original men remain.