Lives in Cricket No 34 - Frank Mitchell

105 World War I conditions. ‘The stout Yorkshiremen were equal to the occasion; their hardy tasks in the north of England had well fitted most of them for their tasks, whilst two years of training had produced that spirit which refuses to be depressed even under the most depressing circumstance....It is impossible to read the official diaries during this strenuous period without feeling a deep sense of admiration for all ranks of all units: the patient infantry, the hard-working gunners, the sappers,....the Divisional Ammunition Column, whose devoted efforts in carrying ammunition to the forward dumps as the Division moved forward, will never be forgotten.’ In May 1917 came the even tougher task of trying to seize the village of Bullecourt on the Hindenburg Line. Neither Jackson nor Mitchell receive a mention by name in this History and the majority of the writing covers the exhausting, heart rending work of the infantry. But Wyrall also wrote: ‘This continuous bombardment of the enemy’s defences necessitated much work for the gunners and Divisional Ammunition Column. Strenuous as well as perilous were those days of preparation.’ He then gave this unattributed quotation: ‘ The men fell asleep whilst working the guns. For nine or ten weeks now they have worked without a rest, and it is a question whether human endurance can go much further. They fire day and night, and when not firing they are struggling through the mud carrying up ammunition: they have no shelter except what they can dig in the ground and no sooner have they dug a resting place than the batteries have to move to fresh positions. And the weather is beyond words abominable. If it is not raining, it is snowing and it’s impossible to keep anything dry: nothing but cold, squalor and hideous discomfort. And yet they stick it out with the utmost courage and cheerfulness and fight splendidly.’ Could Frank Mitchell have been the author of those words? They have his writing style about them. Wyrall went on: ‘ Spinners and combers from the mills, clerks and warehousemen, men from the steelworks and mines, engineers, artisans and agriculturalists – they had been in private life, and now with indescribable pluck they faced the grim and awful things which war enforces upon all- and how finely they did it! Those men from West Yorkshire were among the finest who served their country with unselfish devotion.’ These were the men whom Frank Mitchell and the three Lieutenant- Colonels of the Brigade Field Artillery under the overall command of a Brigadier-General had to lead and in a sense to serve, for only through the example of their officers would the men be so successful and willing. Later in the year at the battles of Cambrai, involving the use of tanks, the Divisional Ammunition Column were to have a particularly tough time constantly building them up ammunition depots only to move them with monotonous regularity as the position of the front line ebbed and flowed. But before Cambrai the 45-year-old Mitchell had returned home from France and left his active position within the Territorial Army. In September that year he was a passenger on the S.S.Burutu of the British & African Steam Navigation Co Ltd and with 96 other passengers sailed from