Monks Kirby Memorial

Monks Kirby is a large village in Warwickshire some 6 miles North West of Rugby.

                                                    The Priory Church of St. Ediths, Monks Kirby

The War Memorial 

The War Memorial takes the form of a Stone Cross in Brockhurst Road, Monks Kirby recording those who laid down their lives in the Great War 1914 – 1918 and the Second World War 1939 - 1945 with a Plaque in St. Edyth's Church.

Marble Plaque in the Church 

Those who laid down their lives in the Great  War 1914 - 1919 and recorded on the War Memorial in Monks Kirby

 Grave of Private Fergus Benson

 Fergus John Benson Private No. 3123 1st/7th Battalion Royal Warwickshire Regiment (Territorial Force). Killed in action 27th November 1916 and buried in Warlencourt British Cemetery Pas de Calais,  3 miles SW of Bapaume on the Albert – Bapaume road.  Records 2,765 UK., 461 Aust., 126 SA., 79 NZ., 4 Can., and 2 French burials and 71 special memorials.

Son of Mr W H Benson of 13 Charles Street, Wolverhampton formerly of Stretton Wharf, Stretton under Fosse, enlisted at Coventry joining the Royal Warwickshire Regiment in 1914.  He had been expected home for Christmas.  His Platoon Officer wrote “He met his death instantaneously by explosion of a shell a splendid soldier a cheerful little hero who they highly esteemed and in whom they had  great confidence.”

1st/7th  Battalion was a Territorial Battalion formed at Coventry on the 4th August 1914 and with the 1st/5th, 1st/6th and 1/8th formed the Warwickshire Brigade part of the South Midland Division.  The Brigade entrained for Southampton crossing the Channel and landing at Le Havre on the 23rd March 1915.  On the 12th April 1915 the Brigade had taken over a sector of the front south of Ypres on the north-east side of Ploegsteert village.

On the 13th May 1915 the formation became the 143rd Brigade of the 48th (South Midland) Division.

Private Benson himself landed in France on the 25th June 1915 as part of a draft of replacements.

In June 1915 General Joffre was proposing two offensives against the German forces; from Champagne northwards and from the Artois plateau eastwards.  The offensive from Artois – as planned at the beginning of June – was to be the main operation and formed a sequel to the expected capture of Vimy ridge with a greatly re-enforced French 10th Army attacking eastwards from about Arras and Lens into and across the Douai plain.  The offensive from Champagne was to be delivered from about Reims northwards along the foothill of the Ardennes following the eastern border of the plain.

On the 4th June General Joffre sent a draft of his scheme to British G.H.Q. with the British being asked to assist in two ways;  by taking over 22 miles of the French line south of Arras from Chaulnes (33 miles south of Arras) across the Somme to Hebuterne (13 miles S.S.W. of Arras) in order to free for the offensive in Champagne the French Second Army the holding that sector of the line and also participating in the French 10th Army offensive by attacking either on its immediate left, north of Lens, or on  its right  across the Somme uplands south of Arras.

In principle Sir John French agreed to these proposals and the newly formed Third Army was to become responsible for the extended front, in fact of 13 miles rather than 22 miles, from Curlu on the Somme River to Hebuterne,

The first units into the trenches were on the 20th July 1915 1/5th Gloucesters, 1/8th Worcesters and 1/4th Oxford and Bucks. from the 48th (South Midland) Division  to hold the area  Fonquevillers to north of Serre.  On the 24th July 1915 1st Kings Own (Royal Lancasters) and 2nd Essex from the 4th Division, Serre to Beaumont-Hamel.  On the 30th July 1915 1/6th Seaforth Highlanders and 1/8th Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders from 51st (Highland) Division, Thiepval to La Boisselle.  On the 2nd August 1915 1st Norfolks and 1st Bedfords from 5th Division,  Becourt to the Somme River. 

Shortly after his joining the Battalion,  the Brigade moved south to Lozinghem about 4 miles west of Bethune and then in July 1915 the Brigade moved further south to relieve the French 42nd Brigade in trenches north and east of Hebuterne, Somme, one of the most peaceful sectors of the British line.  In September 1915 the Brigade moved further north to take over a sector of the front near Fonquevillers north of Hebuterne from the 111th Brigade of the French 56th Division.  Christmas 1915 was celebrated in the line with the observation that strict orders have been given against any fraternizing with the enemy.  Private Benson was sent a Xmas parcel and wrote home to acknowledge receipt stating; “I think we are getting on fine now and the war will not last much longer.  The Germans don’t retaliate as they did a few months ago.  We are turning the tables on them.”

The Somme Offensive was the main Allied attack on the Western Front in 1916.  Planned in late 1915 as a joint Franco-British operation it was concerned with territorial gain but also aimed at the destruction of German manpower reserves.  French troops were expected to bear the main burden of the operation but the German Army’s assault on Verdun in 1916 turned the Somme operation into a large-scale British attack.  After a preliminary bombardment which was expected to completely destroy German forward defences the plan called on the first day for the penetration of the German front line from Serre in the north to Maricourt in the south.  In the second phase it was planned to take the high ground between Bapaume and Guinchy, followed by a breakthrough towards Arras and a general advance in the direction of Cambrai.  Instead on the 1st July 1916 the attacking troops were cut down with insignificant gains by the French and the British right wing units near Montauban being off-set by total failure to the north.  The attacks nonetheless continued  in a series of limited and costly advances  until in mid July the German second line was finally broken around Bazentin Ridge.  On the 20th July a new offensive was launched by the Australians on the ridge at Pozieres and the French well to the south in the region of Foucaucourt but the front remained substantially unaltered throughout August.  In September a renewed British attack the Battle of Flers-Courcelette was launched using tanks for the first time but only a small gain was achieved.  Renewed attacks in September, the Battles of Morval and Thiepval, continued in October with a pattern of limited Allied advances whenever the weather allowed.  British offensives beyond the Flers-Courcelette line, the Battles of Transloy Ridges and the Ancre Heights, were matched by French attacks in the south and the BEF made one last effort on the far east of the salient from 13 November 1916 the Battle of the Ancre (or Beaumont Hamel) before snow on the 19th November 1916 caused the final suspension of the operation.

On the 3rd November 1916 the 48th (South Midland) Division of which the 143rd Brigade was part transferred to Sir William Pulteney’s III Corps and on the 9th the Brigade moved south taking over a part of the front line at Le Sars, on the Albert-Bapaume road.   On the 10th November the Battalion had its first spell in the trenches in the front line just to the East of the village of Le Sars, described as most foul and full of dreadful heaps that had once been a community, with a track through it. The Battalion was in the sector to the right of Le Sars holding the line until relieved by the 1st/8th Royal Warwickshire on the 12th November.  The Battalion provided working parties on the 13th, 14th and 15th November before moving into Bivouacs at Bazentin Le Petit Wood providing working parties on building new Battalion Headquarters from the 19th to the 22nd, then on the 23rd November the Battalion relieved the 1/6th Gloucester in trenches in the right sector at Le Sars.  Over the next four days the Battalion lost 1officer and 1 other rank killed in action and 1 officer and 4 other ranks wounded.  On the 27th November 1916 the Battalion was relieved by the 1/8th Royal Warwickshire Regiment and proceeded into support losing 2 other ranks killed in action, and 5 wounded, all by enemy shell-fire.  Private Fergus Benson was one of the two killed in action, the other being Private No 4537 Ernest William Darvill who is buried in Martinpuich British Cemetery Pas de Calais which is about 2 miles West of Le Sars, with Warlencourt British Cemetery being about 1 mile east of the village.  The 1/8th had 1 officer wounded in the relief and 1 soldier killed, this being Private 5085 George Frederick Baker (the relief being described as very trying commencing at 5 pm and being completed at 11 pm).   Private Baker has no known grave and is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial.

The appalling conditions under which the Army fought in this period were described by Sir Douglas Haig in a report dated 21st November 1916; “The ground, sodden with rain and broken up everywhere by innumerable shell-holes, can only be described as a morass, almost bottomless in places:  between the lines and for many thousands of yards behind them it is almost – and in some localities, quite – impassable.  The supply of food and ammunition is carried out with the greatest difficulty and immense labour, and the men are so much worn out by this and by the maintenance and construction of trenches that frequent reliefs – carried out under exhausting conditions – are unavoidable.”

Between the front and the reserve positions on the reverse slopes of the Bazentin ridge – Ginchy, Guillemont, Longueval, the Bazentins, Pozieres – stretched a sea of mud more than two miles in extent, and the valley of the Ancre was a veritable slough of despond.  Movement across these wastes was by duckboard tracks which, exposed as they were to hostile shell-fire and the disintegrating action of the mud and rain, could only be maintained and extended by arduous and unending labour.  The front line was mud with holes in it.  If the holes were roundish they were called posts; if oblong they were called trenches with names such as Gusty Trench and Spectrum Trench. They connected with nothing except more mud.  The only certainty was that, beyond a certain unidentifiable point you would be shelled continuously from over the bleak horizon.

Private Benson was awarded the bronze Allied Victory Medal, the silver British War Medal and the bronze 1914 – 1915 Star he entering a theatre of war before 31st December 1915.  The qualification for both the Allied Victory Medal and the British War Medal is almost the same and these were awarded to army personnel who entered a theatre of war so an individual who only served on the Home Front was not entitled to either.

Percy Bishop Sergeant No. 70261 Berkshire Yeomanry. Distinguished Conduct Medal. Died of wounds 15th November 1917. Commemorated on Jerusalem Memorial in Jerusalem War Cemetery which records a total of 3366 missing from General Sir Edmund Allenby's victorious campaign against the Turks in the Great War.

Percy Bishop was born 1882 in Monks Kirby the son of Jonathan Bishop of Monks Kirby and brother of Albert Bishop.  In 1891 Percy was living with his Aunt and Uncle Joseph Malui in Mill Street Dunchurch.  He enlisted at Hungerford when resident in London.   In 1901 Alfred Bishop aged 25 and Beatrice Bishop aged 23 were living at 75 Main Street, Monks Kirby.  Alfred Bishop (and his brother Frank Bishop) were step-brothers to Percy and Albert.

In December 1917 Percy Bishop’s brother Albert was the Farrier-Sergeant Major of the Warwickshire Yeomanry. 

The British Army learnt many lessons from the Boer War with the recognition by the War Office of a requirement for mounted soldiers who could shoot well and fight on foot as well as move quickly over long distances.  This was something which the Yeomanry had proved they could do and in the Haldane reforms of 1908 the Yeomanry was incorporated into the Territorial Force and organised into 14 cavalry brigades as the divisional cavalry for 14 infantry divisions, being trained and equipped as mounted infantry rather than as cavalry, with the rifle the main weapon.  By that date the Berkshire Yeomanry regiment was formed into four squadrons based “A” at Windsor, “B” at Reading “C” at Newbury and “D” at Wantage with Regimental Headquarters at Yeomanry House Reading. With the Buckinghamshire Yeomanry and the Oxfordshire Yeomanry, they formed the 2nd South Midland Mounted Brigade.

At the outbreak of the War on the 4th August 1914 part of the mobilization plan was a re-organisation into three squadrons, “C” at Newbury being disbanded and its manpower redistributed within the regiment.  Like many other Yeomanry regiments the Berkshire Yeomanry at first remained in the United Kingdom on home defence duties.  On mobilization the Oxfordshire Yeomanry had joined the British Expeditionary Force in France and Flanders on the 22nd September 1914 as G.H.Q. Troops and their place in the Brigade was taken by the Dorset Yeomanry.

From the outbreak of the War until April 1915 the Brigade was based mainly in the Fakenham area of Norfolk.

On the 5th November 1914 war had been declared between Great Britain and France and Turkey.

The Brigade was sent to Egypt in 1915 Percy Bishop landing with the Berkshire Yeomanry on the 21st April 1915.  The Berkshire Yeomanry remained in Egypt until August 1915 when apart from 135 Berkshire Yeomen who had remained behind with the horses in Cairo, most of the Regiment sailed from Alexandria on the 14th August 1915 landing at Suvla on the Gallipoli peninsula on the morning of the 18th August to take part in the general attack against the Turkish troops entrenched on Hill 70 (Scimitar Hill) the Regiment sustaining severe losses, 5 officers and 164 other ranks.  The Regiment remained in defence on the Peninsula with the other regiments in the Brigade until the 1st November 1915 plagued by heat, disease, lack of shade and water and suffering under the continuous shell and rifle fire of the Turks.

The declaration of war against Turkey made Britain take stock of her vital interests in the Middle East including not only the oil fields of southern Persia but the Suez Canal and Egypt.  Intelligence reports suggested that the canal was vulnerable to attack by the Turkish Army although this could only be launched when sufficient Turkish troops had been concentrated in Ottoman Palestine who would then have to cross the inhospitable Sinai desert with limited water supplies.  Although a barrier in itself the size of the canal made it difficult to defend, connecting the Mediterranean and the Red Sea and running for abut 100 miles from Port Said in the North to Suez in the south whilst on its western side was the Sweet Water Canal which supplied fresh water to the whole area including the main canal towns of Port Said, Ismailia and Suez and which was to become the source of a piped water supply to British troops in the advance in 1916 – 1917.

The decision having been made to protect the whole length of the canal, the strategy involved halting any invading force and preventing any move down towards Cairo and keeping the canal open so the main British defences were located on the West bank of the canal, where trenches were dug between a series of fortified posts, and posts and trenches on the East Bank (Sinai desert side) protected by barbed wire, the systems being linked by bridge and ferry.  The Turco – Egyptian frontier was some 150 miles East of the Canal running from Aqaba at the head of the Gulf of Aqaba to Rafa on the Mediterranean Sea some 30 miles south east of Gaza.  It was also resolved having decided to base the defence of Egypt itself on the east, at the canal, that the Sinai desert could be abandoned to the Turks which happened with the Turkish army advancing into Egyptian territory and occupying Sinai settlements about 30 miles West of the frontier line.

Turkey in the meantime had been making plans for a major invasion of Egypt and by mid January 1915 the force was assembled in the Beersheba area some 50 miles West of the Dead Sea.  The Turkish troops reached the canal in the early hours of the 3rd February 1915 but the attack failed and by the 4th February the Turkish forces had withdrawn back towards Beersheba.  Although plans were made for a further assault these came to nothing.  The British also felt their position exposed and in December 1915 Lieutenant General Sir Henry Horne an Artillery Officer was sent to Egypt to advise on new defensive arrangements in essence to put the canal out of reach of the enemy’s long-range guns.  Defensive lines were placed well to the East of the Canal with tracks and railway lines constructed; however with the appointment of General Sir Archibald Murray to command the Egyptian Expeditionary Force a change in the policy was conceived, a staged advance into Sinai.

In January 1916 the Yeomanry was reorganized.  The 2nd South Midland Mounted Brigade was renumbered the 6th Mounted Brigade comprising the 1/1st Buckinghamshire Yeomanry, 1/1st Berkshire Yeomanry, 1/1st Dorset Yeomanry, 6th Mounted Brigade Signal Troop and 17th Machine Gun squadron.  The Berkshire Battery of the Royal Horse Artillery (a Territorial unit) armed with 4 thirteen pounder guns formed the Brigade Artillery. The Brigade formed part of the Imperial Mounted Division which in June 1917 became the Yeomanry Mounted Division the Artillery being constituted as the 20th Brigade Royal Horse Artillery (Berkshire, Hampshire and Leicestershire Batteries).

In July 1916 the Turkish Army began its second advance into Sinai which ended by the middle of August with their defeat at the Battle of Romani which ended any hope of capturing the Suez Canal.  Over the next few months the Egyptian Expeditionary Force advanced steadily eastwards until early in December 1916 the railway being constructed, a necessary part of the advance, had reached nearly to the important strategic position of El Arish which had been occupied by the Turks for much of the war.  Units of Mounted Divisions entered the town on the 21st December finding it had been abandoned and this resulted in the Turkish army falling back into Palestine in the face of the steady advance of the Expeditionary Force.  Rafa a town actually on the frontier line was strongly defended by no less than three defensive systems but the town was captured by the New Zealand Mounted Brigade in a charge which marked the end of the desert campaign.

There then had to be a pause in the advance of the Expeditionary Force to extend the railway lines and the water supply which were in place by March 1917 when on the 26th March there was the first attempt to capture the heavily defended town of Gaza which failed when misleading information led to the attack being abandoned.  The first battle of Gaza coincided with a decision of the Cabinet to review its strategy in the Middle East to authorize an invasion of Ottoman Palestine and the capture of Jerusalem so making the next attack on Gaza a priority but the Turks had begun to construct a very substantial defensive system extending to the west to the Mediterranean and to the east a series of redoubts with additional Turkish Divisions being used to extend the line further east to Beersheba itself.  The first moves in the Second Battle of Gaza began on the 17th April and the operation was much like a major attack on the Western Front with artillery bombardments and a disappointing use of tanks. The Berkshire Yeomanry with other elements of the Imperial Mounted Division was ordered to mount a diversionary dismounted attack during the course of which the regiment captured a number of the enemy trenches and fought off further Turkish attacks.  In fact, overall the operation was a failure for a number of reasons, being described as a costly total defeat for the British army with a total of 6444 killed, wounded or missing.  The opposing troops then dug in with a stalemate situation lasting for months as the British planners tried to find a feasible way round the obstacle.

On the 27th June 1917 General Sir Edmund Allenby arrived in Egypt to take over command of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force from General Murray.  His arrival was a strong stimulus to the troops.  To study the ground he visited every part of the front, and the vigour of his personality impressed itself on officers and men.  The Commander of the Desert column Lieutenant General Sir Philip Chetwode had prepared for General Allenby an elaborate appreciation of the situation upon which General Allenby based his subsequent plan of operations. The obvious line of advance into Palestine for a force with full command of the sea was along the coast.  It was the most direct; it secured the advantages of naval co-operation; it covered the main line of communication to Egypt; it presented comparatively little difficulty in the matter of water-supply.   But Gaza which barred the coast route, had become a fortress to be taken only by the slow and costly progress of siege. General Allenby described Gaza as a strong modern fortress, heavily entrenched and wired, offering every facility for protracted defence with the remainder of the works down to and covering Beersheba being a series of strong localities.  The centre was strong as well, an open plain dominated by a ridge on which the Turkish defensive works were placed and almost devoid of water.  There remained the Turkish left.  The Turkish main position ended at Hariera some 4 miles west of Beersheba.  Whilst the Turkish garrison at Beersheba would have to be reduced and the water-supply of that place secured, it offered an opportunity to work round an open flank through which a great mass of mounted troops might pass to operate against the Turkish rear. In July 1917 Allenby notified London of his requirements for additional resources, mainly artillery and another infantry division, 5 squadrons of aircraft and additional engineer, signal and medical units.

The plan was simple: to concentrate a superior force against the Turkish left (Beersheba) whilst inducing the enemy that the main attack would be directed against Gaza (Turkish right flank).  The early capture of Beersheba with its water supply was a keystone of the plan but there was no question that the Turks would become aware of preparations for a move against Beersheba but attempts were made, as it turned out successfully, to persuade the enemy that the move against Beersheba was a feint with the main attack being against Gaza.

The operation was postponed from September until the 27th October 1917 and consisted in a crescendo of blows alternating at either end of the Turkish line, over 20 miles apart, and the engagement should properly be called the Gaza-Beersheba battle rather than the Third Battle of Gaza.  First was the heavy bombardment of Gaza by land and sea and then the assault on Beersheba.  Four infantry divisions were placed within striking distances of the main defences to the south and west of the town whilst the Desert Mounted Corps was to ride round to the east of Beersheba by a night march of 25 to 30 miles over stony tracks and enter the town from that side where the defences were comparatively slight.  On the night of 30 – 31 October some 40,000 troops of all arms were on the move taking up positions for the assault on the Beersheba defences next morning.  The main defences some 3 or 4 miles from the town and the wells were captured with small loss by midday on the 31st October and everything then depended on the attack from the East by the Mounted Corps.  A Brigade of Australian Light Horse was ordered to advance straight on Beersheba and the Brigadier though the ground was unknown and the enemy resistance unsubdued determined to make the attack mounted.  In the last hour of daylight the brigade rode over the Turks who still stood between them and Beersheba and entered the town securing the very important wells.  The next object was for the 20th Corps to advance and turn the Turkish flank at Beersheba but that could not happen immediately and so to draw the Turkish attention away from Beersheba, Gaza itself was to be attacked and this was ordered for the night of 1- 2nd November and was made on a front of nearly 3 miles, reaching all objectives and fulfilling its mission of attracting enemy reserves to Gaza although heavy losses were sustained.  The final phase of the operation was postponed until the 6th November when three Divisions broke the Turkish left and forced the hurried retreat of their whole line and on the morning of the 7th November it was found that the Turks had abandoned Gaza with the enemy streaming north along the coastal plain in hasty retreat.

On the 3rd November 1917 the Berkshire Yeomanry moved to Imara some 15 miles East of Gaza to Brigade Reserve remaining there until the early hours of the 5th November when the 6th Mounted Brigade marched out for Beersheba. The Regiment arrived south of the town of Beersheba at 1900 on the 5th November remaining there until at 2200 the Regiment saddled up and marched North to Tel Khuweilfe some 10 miles North East of Beersheba remaining in that area until 0400 on the 6th November when the Regiment was ordered into Reserve but could hear heavy firing from the North East.  At 0630 on the 6th November the Regiment moved into action in support of infantry and was in action all day advancing some 3 to 4 miles and sustaining losses of 1 officer and 1 other rank wounded before digging in for the night.  On the 7th November near Khuweilfe the Regiment was relieved at 0400 by the Australian Light Horse and withdrew to Brigade H.Q. but by 0600 had marched out to the forward Observation Line to hold this line with infantry which was held all day under heavy shelling and rifle fire.  At 1600 on the 7th November the Regiment was relieved by the Lincolnshire Yeomanry when the horses were sent into Beersheba for watering.

At 0630 on the 8th November when the horses returned from Beersheba the Regiment marched North rounding up a party of Turkish snipers with intermittent shelling by the enemy all day and then in the evening went back to Tel el Sheria some 12 miles North West of Beersheba to water the horses and bivouac leaving at 0500 on the 9th November heading East to Huj some 8 miles East of Gaza to bivouac that night some 2 miles South of Simsin about 8 miles North East of Gaza.  The Regiment left Simsin at 0500 on the 10th November reaching Nejile some 20 Miles East of Gaza at 12 noon and having watered the horses again headed North engaging the Turks about 1600 bivouacing for the night south of the Arak – Jibrin road with the Regiment in Brigade Reserve. On the 11th and 12th November the Regiment was steadily moving North East as the Egyptian Expeditionary Force swung round after the retreating Turkish troops heading generally towards Jerusalem..  By the night of the 12th November the general line of the enemy and the general disposition of his troops were becoming clear to the British command.  The Turks were hastily consolidating a line of defence to cover Junction Station some 30 miles North of Gaza and a similar distance West of Jerusalem and in this area the enemy had no great natural strength except for one narrow steep-sided ridge on which stood the village of Maghar some 6 miles from Wadi Sarar or Junction Station.  Whilst Junction Station was the immediate goal Sir Edmund Allenby’ eyes were fixed upon another more distant and politically more important goal.  With the railway junction taken he would have reached a line on the latitude of Jerusalem and close to two roads from Jaffa to that city of which the southern road was the best in Palestine.  The overall plan was for the cavalry to attack Turkish positions to the south of the road from Gaza to Junction Station, the Infantry divisions would advance up the Gaza road towards Junction station whilst the Yeomanry Division were positioned to the left of the infantry.  The main obstacle to further progress was the El Maghar ridge.  It was decided that the Buckinghamshire and Dorset Yeomanry should attack the ridge with the Berkshire in reserve whilst the infantry attacked the defended villages of Qatra and El Maghar. 
 
Having bivouacked overnight, on the 13th November at 1420 the Brigade moved out to support the infantry attack on El Maghar.  The Berkshire Battery R.H.A. unlimbered and came into action against Maghar at a range of 3000 yards.  The Buckinghamshire and Dorset Yeomanry emerged from shelter in a Wadi to attack the ridge and had 4000 yards to cover beginning at once to attract Turkish artillery fire.  After a mile the two regiments broke into a gallop as plunging Turkish machine-gun fire fell.  The Dorsets had the furthest to go and one squadron had to dismount at the foot of the ridge and attacked on foot; the other squadrons and the Buckinghamshire charged on and on reaching the crest of the ridge the Turkish defenders fled.  The Berkshire had moved into the Wadi when the other regiments left and were ordered to assist the infantry in the capture of the village of El Maghar. There remains one controversial point.  On the Yeomanry side it is stated that the Berkshire Regiment took the village on foot, no infantry being in the village until after it was taken whilst the King’s Own Scottish Borderers declare it was they who captured the village whilst the Yeomanry merely took the prisoners.

The Berkshire sent in over 900 prisoners, 2 Krupp 1913 pattern field guns and a number of machine-guns.  The only fatal casualty was 2nd Lieutenant William Victor Ross Sutton aged 20 buried in Ramleh War Cemetery.

On the 14th November the main objective was Junction Station an important rail junction with the railway running North and South and to the East towards Jerusalem itself.  The Yeomanry Division was ordered to continue the advance on Ramleh and Lydda. The Brigade was advancing in an Easterly direction from Qata and El Maghar heading towards Abu Shusheh and Sidon with Junction Station itself being to the south.  Units of the 75th Division supported by armoured cars captured Junction Station on the morning of the 14th November breaking the railway link to Jerusalem leaving only the road north to Ramleh with no other route through the mountains except foot or mule tracks.  One of the main points of entry to the Judean Hills was the ridge above the village of Abu Shusheh held by a Turkish rearguard.  The Divisional Commander was not minded to leave the dominating position of the ridge on the right flank as the move was made towards Ramleh but it was a difficult objective for cavalry being rough faced and studded with great boulders with the village of Abu Shusheh at the northern end and the smaller village of Sidon to the south west.

At 0930 on the 14th November the Regiment moved off as Advanced Guard to the Brigade heading towards Abu Shusheh but after crossing the railway was unable to advance further owing to heavy machine-gun fire.  Sergeant Bishop was mortally wounded and 3 other ranks were wounded.  The regiment held the right outpost line with the horses being watered at Akir during the night it being described as a very wearing and telling day.  At 0945 on the 15th November 1917 the Regiment moved out dismounted to attack Abu Shusheh ridge the attack being completed successfully by 1030.  The Berkshire Battery had been ordered into action against the southern part of the ridge with the Berkshire Yeomanry dismounted to move forward against the highest point of the ridge and when that advance was checked the Buckinghamshire Yeomanry was to advance mounted on the right against the lower southern slopes.  The horses though slipping kept their feet and the Yeomanry swept onto the ridge; the Berkshire after the Turks on its front had fallen back, mounted and followed but the final attack on the crest had to be made on foot with the Turks thoroughly shaken making no great resistance. 350 were captured and at least the same number killed whilst the Berkshire Battery after the capture of the village of Sidon came up to shell the retreating Turks from the ridge.  The total casualties of the Brigade were only 37.  The Regiment lost 2 killed, Privates Harry John William Chislett and Francis George Embling (both buried in Jerusalem War Cemetery), and 1 other ranks slightly wounded.  The Regiment was relieved at 1600 by the East Riding Yeomanry marching to Ramle to bivouac.

The operations in Palestine formed part of the last great cavalry campaign.  Following a period of rest and reorganization the Yeomanry Mounted Division marched into the Judaean Hills when on the 20th November 1917 Lieutenant Richard Frederick Norreys Bertie was killed (buried in Jerusalem War Cemetery).  On the following day the Commanding Officer of the Regiment Lieutenant Colonel Arthur Murray Pirie, D.S.O., 21st (Empress of India’s) Lancers attached Berkshire Yeomanry,  2nd Lieutenant Richard Tuckey Hewer, Privates Charles Henry Pain Courtney and Francis William Goldswain  were killed all in the same action west of the village of Beitunia.  All, with the exception of Private Courtney, are commemorated on the Jerusalem Memorial, but all are buried in Jerusalem War Cemetery.  On the 27th November 1917 the Regiment was in camp at Ramle (less one company) when the Camp was attacked by seven Turkish aeroplanes wounding a number of the soldiers and killing a number of horses and mules whilst later the same day  an outpost at Abu-Zeitoun held by a dismounted Company of  the regiment, 3 officers and 60 men, was bravely defended all afternoon with reinforcements arriving at night but when the order came to withdrawn there remained only 20 soldiers able to fight under Lieutenant L N Sutton.  The Turkish attack was finally beaten off and the greatly reduced 6th Mounted Brigade withdrew from the front line for the last time on the 30th November 1917.

In April 1918 the Berkshire Yeomanry was amalgamated with the Buckinghamshire Yeomanry to form the 101st Machine Gun Corps.     

The Citation for the D.C.M. in the London Gazette is in the following terms:  “For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty.  When an advanced guard came under heavy fire from hidden positions he boldly rode forward to locate the guns, and by drawing their fire he was able to disclose their approximate position.  He showed magnificent courage and determination.”

Percy Bishop was awarded the Victory Medal and British War Medal and the 1915 Star.

George Smith Busby Corporal No. 307750 1st/8th Battalion Royal Warwickshire Regiment (Territorial Force); died of wounds 24th October 1918 aged 34 and buried  in Premont British Cemetery Aisne France,  NE of St Quentin.  Records 521 UK, 7 Aust., 6 Can., 1SA., 1 Ind., and 36 German burials.

George Busby was the son of William and Mary Ann Busby of Brockhurst Monks Kirby; he enlisted at Coventry.   In 1901 William Busby aged 42, an Agricultural Labourer, lived at 1 Main Street Monks Kirby with his wife Mary Ann aged 44 and sons George Smith Busby aged 16 a Gardener and William aged 14 also a Gardener.

A Notice in the Rugby Advertiser dated 16th November 1918 refers to George as their second son and that William and Mary had two other sons fighting, one in Egypt and one in France, suggesting that George had an older brother.

The 1st/8th a Territorial Battalion formed at Aston Manor Birmingham on the 4th August 1914 and as part of 143rd Brigade entrained for Southampton crossing the Channel and landing at Le Havre on the 22nd March 1915.

The Brigade remained on the Western Front fighting in the Trench warfare in Northern France and in the Battle of the Somme and the Third Battle of Ypres until, as part of 48th Division the Brigade went to Italy at the end of November 1917 remaining there until the 14th September 1918.  The Battalion entrained for France on the 14th September 1918 and arrived at Yvrencheux about 9 miles North East of Abbeville on the 19th September 1918.

On the 21st March 1918 the German Army launched a massive offensive on the Western Front in a last desperate attempt to score a decisive victory.  The results were spectacular.  They advanced up to 40 miles, further by far than the British and French had managed in their offensives on the Somme, the Aisne and at Ypres.  The British Fifth Army was crushed, and the Allies suffered 212,000 casualties.  The French suffered a humiliating defeat at Chemin des Dames and plans were made for the evacuation of Paris.  The British were seriously concerned that the French might sue for peace and were uncertain whether they could continue the struggle, and plans were drawn up for the evacuation of the British Army from France if Dunkirk, Calais or Boulogne fell.  The German line before the offensive was about 20 miles East of Noyon, on the western edge of St Quentin, 15 miles East of Peronne, 20miles East of Bapaume, 7 miles East of Arras, 5 miles East of Armentieres, 25 miles East of Bailleul and 12 miles East of Ypres.  Then the offensive gradually lost momentum, the French counterattacked in July, the British in August and the Germans finally lost the initiative.  After the offensive the German Army had reached positions some 15 miles West of Noyon, 45 miles West of St. Quentin, 20 miles West of Peronne, 12 miles West of Bapaume, still 7 miles East of Arras, 28 miles West of Armentieres, 8 miles West of Bailleul and 4 miles East of Ypres.

The Counter-Attack in Champagne by mainly the French Army was from 20th July to 2nd August 1918.

On the 8th August 1918 the Allied forces launched the surprise attack that heralded the end of the First World War.  With skill and daring 21 Divisions breached the German lines, supported by 500 tanks (the largest number to have been seen in any one battle of the war) and 1000 aircraft.  In their wake they left 50,000 dead or wounded German soldiers along a stretch of 11 miles.  On this “black day” for the Germans the Allied forces began to see a glimmer of hope and the dawn of victory that was to come only 100 days later with the Armistice on 11 November 1918.  The Advance to Victory can be divided into 7 phases, The Advance in Picardy 8th August-3rd September, The Advance in Flanders 18th August-6th September, The Breaking of the Hindenburg Line 26th August-12th October,The Pursuit to the Selle 9th-12th October,The Final Advance – Flanders 28th September-11thNovember, The Final Advance – Artois 2nd October-11th November and The Final Advance – Picardy 17th October – 11th November 1918.

On the 1st October 1918 the Battalion was at Combles on the Somme and came into the line on the 5th October.  By that date the Front Line in Fourth Army sector (25th Division being in Fourth Army) was some 5 miles East of the St Quentin Canal and the main Hindenburg defensive system built between the northern and central sectors of the Western Front by the Germans from September 1916 and to which in the and was then assigned to the 75th Brigade in the 25th Division.  Spring of 1917 the Germans in the central sector withdrew.  The Canal had been crossed at the end of September 1918 and the Fourth Army had advanced some 6000 yards towards the Beaurevoir Line, the last German position on this section of the front.  The Battalion was in support in the capture of Guisancourt and Helle Ville Farms, strongpoints on the Beaurevoir Line, on the 6th and 7th October and then in support to the 1/8th Worcestershire Regiment who had captured the village of Beaurevoir.  On the 8th October the village of Premont fell to the American Army and Serrain to the 25th Division.  The advance continued on the 9th October with Maretz being captured  with troops reaching the outskirts of Honnechy and Maurois.  Starting from a point North of Honnechy at 0530 on the 10th October the Battalion advanced after heavy fighting to the outskirts of Le Cateau the advance failing to reach the high ground east of Le Cateau and the Division was held up along the River Selle and in the western outskirts of the town.   From the 12th to the 16th October the division remained in the Serain – Premont – Ellincourt area in corps reserve for a short rest after the strenuous work of the previous days.  At 0520 on the  17th October the 18th and 50th Divisions attacked along the line of the River Selle south of Le Cateau to cross the river between St Benin and Le Cateau early on the morning of the 18th October which was greatly hindered by thick mist and severe shelling west of the railway where most of the bridges had been destroyed. The 75th Brigade had been attached to the 50th Division and the Battalion was in support to the 1/8th Worcesters and 1/5th Gloucesters reaching their objective the line of the Bazuel – Le Cateau road and then the village of Bazuel captured on the 19th October some 3 miles south east of Le Cateau.  On the 20th October the Battalion marched out to St Benn resting there until the evening of the 22nd October.

At a Conference on the 19th October General Sir Henry Rawlinson, Commander of the Fourth Army, had outlined the next phase of the Battle of the Selle, the Army being reduced to two Corps the American II Corps being drawn into G.H.Q. Reserve, its role being to form a defensive flank facing East to protect the main operation of the Third and First Armies.  The 25th Division as part of XIII Corps was to secure the Landrecies – Englefontaine road, some 5 miles distant, on the western side of the Forest of Mormal, taking the village of Pommereuil, the northern part of l’Eveque Wood, Fontaine au Bois, Bousies and Robertsart.  An essential object was to obtain artillery positions from which the railway junction of Aulnoye (8 miles east of Englefontaine, on the eastern side of the Forest of Mormal) could be kept under 6 inch British gun fire.

Zero hour was at 0120 on the 23rd October 1918 with the ground being soft and sticky from rain and though the moon was bright a ground mist prevailed until 0900 limiting visibility to 50 to 60 yards the Battalion forming up along the railway line just behind the Infantry Starting Line with the first objective, the village of Pommereuil some 3000 yards away. 

The Battalion had been attached to the 7th Brigade for this operation and had been employed in clearing up small parties of Germans and in particular Machine Gun posts overrun in the dark by the attacking battalions of the 7th Brigade, 20th and 21st Manchesters and 9th Devons.  By 0600 the battalions were established along the line of their first objective, the village of Pommereuil had been captured and the battalions had begun the arduous task of clearing the northern half of l’Eveque Wood but in spite of hostile resistance and the thick undergrowth this had been successfully accomplished by 0730 and by 2000 that evening the British had advanced beyond Bousies the 4th objective. 

On the 24th October the 74th Brigade continued the attack through the Bois l’Eveque, with the Battalion being ordered to concentrate in the vicinity of Flaquet Brifaut which they completed by 1053 remaining until units of the 7th Brigade passed through when the Battalion marched out to billets in Pommeruil.

During this tour of duty the Battalion had 13 Other Ranks killed, 5 missing and 40 Wounded with 3 officers being wounded as well.  Corporal Busby was almost certainly wounded on the 23rd October when he received a gunshot wound in his side.  On the 23rd October Private Charles Eversden commemorated on the Memorial at Withybrook was killed. Corporal Busby was taken back to the area North East of St Quentin where the 75th, 76th and 77th Field Ambulances were established but he succumbed to his wound, dying on the 24th October 1918.

George Busby was awarded the Victory Medal and the British War Medal.

The Honourable Hugh Cecil Robert Feilding, Lieutenant Commander Royal Navy.  Killed in action on 31st May 1916 aged 29 on HMS Defence at the Battle of Jutland. Hugh Feilding is commemorated on the Plymouth Memorial on the north side of The Hoe Plymouth which lists over 7000 lost at sea in the Great War.

The Hon. Hugh Feilding was the second eldest son of the 9th Earl of Denbigh and Countess of Denbigh (nee the Hon. Cecilia Clifford of Chudleigh, Devon) of Newnham Paddox, Monks Kirby, Rugby, born on the 30th December 1886.   He was educated at the Oratory School Edgbaston Birmingham.

His elder brother Viscount Rudolph Feilding, born on the 12th October 1885, served with the Coldstream Guards transferring to the Battalion from the Special Reserve on the 5th August 1914, was on the Staff from 21st July 1915 to 24th February 1917, then A.A. & Q.M.G. 8th Division from 25th February 1917 to 14th November 1918 and then A.A.G. until the 14th April 1919 as Brevet Lieutenant Colonel.  His youngest brother the Honourable Henry Feilding, born on the 29th June 1894, died of wounds on the 9th October 1917.

The Honourable Hugh Feilding had seven sisters, Lady Mary Alice Clara Feilding born 31st March 1888, Lady Dorothie Mary Evelyn Feilding born 6th October 1889 (who served as an Ambulance Driver in the Great War and was awarded the 1914 Star and the Military Medal), Lady Agnes May Mabel Feilding born 13th September 1891, Lady Marjorie Winifrede Feilding born 4th September 1892, Lady Clare Mary Cecilia Feilding born 23rd November 1896, Lady Elizabeth Mary Feilding born 22nd August 1899 and Lady Victoria Mary Dolores Feilding born 29th March 1901.

Other relatives included Geoffrey P. T. Feilding who commanded the 3rd Battalion Coldstream Guards in 1914 subsequently being promoted to command the 4th and 1st Guards Brigades and then the Guards Division from January 1916 until September 1918 and then until January 1920 Major General G.O.C. H.Q.L.D. and Rowland Feilding who transferred to the Coldstream Guards from the London Yeomanry on the 6th April 1915, commanded the 6th Connaught Rangers from 6th September 1916 to 18th August 1918, then the 1st Civil Service Rifles until his demobilization on the 13th December 1919. 

At outbreak of the War the Honourable Hugh Feilding was Torpedo Lieutenant in Defence which was then the Flagship of the Mediterranean Cruiser Squadron.  He had been torpedo officer of the Defence for 3 ½ years and for the last few months 1st Lieutenant. On leaving the Oratory School Edgbaston he went to the cadet training ship HMS Brittania where he passed as Midshipman and obtained the prize for highest aggregate marks.  He served as Midshipman on the Mediterranean Station in HMS Bacchante and the South African Station in HMS Crescent.  He gained the coveted “six ones” in his examination for Lieutenant as well as the special promotion marks for “meritorious examination” which caused him later on to be antedated in his career considerably, his rank as Lieutenant dated within a few days of his 20th birthday. He was awarded the Beaufort testimonial and the Wharton testimonial with gold medal for highest marks in navigation and pilotage and also the Ronald Megaw prize and sword given to the one obtaining the highest marks in the examination for Lieutenant.  He specialized for torpedo after serving at sea in HMS Queen and also in HMS Cornwall.  He passed very high in the advanced course at Greenwich after which he served in HMS Vernon and was then appointed to the Defence

In 1897 the British Empire comprised one quarter of the land surface of the globe and one quarter of the world’s population.  The Empire was guarded by the fleet of the Royal Navy.  As well more than half the steamships travelling the oceans in 1897 flew the Red Ensign of the British merchant navy.

When Kaiser Wilhelm II became Emperor of Germany in 1888 he became jealous of Great Britain’s imperial position, her empire and her fleet and sought to acquire a navy equal to that of Great Britain when in the 1890s the German navy was little more than a costal defence force.  The Reichstag (the German Parliament) felt it sufficient to maintain the largest and most powerful army in Europe and was adverse to a huge naval expenditure but when the Kaiser appointed Alfred von Tirpitz as Secretary of the Imperial Navy Office in 1897 he was eventually able to convince the Reichstag on the basis of the need to defend Germany rather than the expansionist ideas of Kaiser Wilhelm of the need to build warships and on the 10th April 1898 the Reichstag passed the first Naval Bill which called for the construction of 19 battleships, 8 armoured cruisers and 12 large and 30 light cruisers all to be completed by April 1904.

This proposal would mean a fleet significantly less strong than the British Fleet which was at that time double the strength of the French and Russian Fleets combined, based on the principle that Britain would build ships of war to a two-power standard, that is to match at least the combined forces of whichever two countries possessed the largest navies after its own.

Then in February 1906 HMS Dreadnought was launched undergoing sea trials in October of that year and the novel features, turbine engines, ten 12 inch guns some sited to fire forward, coupled with improvements in naval gunnery (smokeless power and range-finders) made obsolete all existing battleships, including the British fleet.

This was followed in April 1907 with the launch of the Invincible, a new type of armoured cruiser (later reclassified as a battlecruiser) mounting eight 12 inch guns and also turbine powered, capable of a top speed of 25 knots and being so fast and powerful, the Invincible likewise rendered obsolete all existing types.  There was only one flaw: the characteristics of a warship are guns, speed and armour.  If heavy guns and heavy armour were required then speed had to be curtailed and this compromise was built into battleships but if higher speed was demanded, armour had to be sacrificed and this was the position with the Invincible.  Dreadnoughts were fitted with armour plate eleven inches thick, enough to stop a plunging shell but in the Invincible class, the armour over the vital midships spaces was only seven inches thick.

This disturbing news (to the Germans) resulted in a further approach to the Reichstag for funds to build a German equivalent to the Dreadnought (and also broaden and deepen the Kiel canal which allowed the Germans to transfer their fleet between the North Sea and the Baltic).  The first class of German dreadnoughts – the four Nassaus – were laid down in the summer of 1907 but were provided with better and more extensive armour protection by a slight reduction in the guns, for example twelve 11 inch guns, or ten 12 inch guns.

In August 1914 Britain could deploy twenty Dreadnoughts (with twelve more in the course of construction) to the Germans’ thirteen (with seven building), and nine battle cruisers (with one building) to the Germans’ five (with three building).  In addition the royal Navy enjoyed a twofold advantage in pre-Dreadnought battleships and a threefold lead in cruisers.  However Britain had only 42 Destroyers compared to Germany’s 88 but Britain had 55 submarines, almost twice as many as Germany with only 28.

Before the outbreak of the War, the Royal Navy had adopted an operational plan which envisaged a distant blockade of Germany coupled with stationing the Grand Fleet in a position where it could stand on the alert ready to pounce on part or all of the German navy whenever it put to sea.

The British Isles lay like a breakwater across the sea approaches to Germany with two gaps, in the south the English Channel 20 miles across easily guarded by a small naval force of pre-dreadnought battleships, destroyers and cruisers coupled with a mine field which reduced the gap substantially and in the north the gap from the Orkneys to Norway guarded by the Grant Fleet at its base in Scapa Flow with patrolling cruisers out in the North Sea itself.

The Grand Fleet had been gathered together for the review by George V at Spithead on the 17th July 1914 and the ordinary dispersal of the fleet was cancelled and the Fleet was moved to its war stations at Scapa Flow.

Prior to the Battle of Jutland, there had been three clashes between British and German naval forces in 1914 and one in 1915.  On the 28th August 1914 British and German cruisers had clashed at Heligoland Bight, on the 2nd November there was a tip and run raid by German battle cruisers on the East Coast with Yarmouth being bombarded and then on the 15th December German forces crossed the North Sea to bombard Scarborough, Hartlepool and Whitby but the Admiralty had found out about this raid by decoding German naval messages.  On the 26th August 1914 the German light cruiser Magdeburg had run aground in the Gulf of Finland and had been destroyed by two Russian cruisers.  Copies of the German Navy’s cipher signal books and charts had been recovered from a drowned signalman and these were sent to the British Admiralty who had picked up messages from British listening stations.  To intercept the German raiders, the plan was for Battlecruisers, cruisers and the 2nd Battle Squadron to rendezvous off the south east corner of Dogger Bank but in fact the force was so placed to be on a collision course with the German High Seas Fleet.  In December 1914 Admiral Sir David Beatty’s battlecruiser force was moved from Scapa Flow to Rosyth to make interception of German raids on East Coast towns of Great Britain easier.  Warned of a new German raid on the night of 23 – 24th January 1915 by radio intercepts, Beatty’s force made for a rendezvous off the Dogger Bank again, supported by light cruisers from Harwich, armoured cruisers and a squadron of battleships from Rosyth with the Grand Fleet commanded by Sir John Jellicoe moving south.  The light cruisers sighted German units at 7.15 a.m. and the outnumbered Germans turned in flight and in the running fight which followed the faster British battlecruisers failed to overhaul and destroy the German force largely through a series of misunderstood orders although Hipper’s flagship SMS Seydlitz and Beatty’s flagship HMS Lion were both badly damaged and the armoured German cruiser Blucher was sunk.

In January 1916 Admiral Reinhard Scheer became the new commander of the German High Seas Fleet and sought to produce a plan not dissimilar to those of 1914/1915 to lure elements of the British fleet to their doom until the British fleet was outnumbered by the German fleet and this was the basis of the scheme which led to the Battle of Jutland. 

At 2.00 a.m. in the morning of the 31st May Vizeadmiral Franz von Hipper’s battlecruiser force, which had spent the night at anchor in the outer estuary of the Jade River proceeded to sea passing to the west of Heligoland and advancing north towards the Skagerrak.  His force consisted of 5 battlecruisers, 4 light cruisers and 30 destroyers led by another light cruiser and this force was to proceed to Scandinavian waters as if to interfere with the British blockade whilst the main German Battle Fleet led by Admiral Scheer would follow more secretively some distance back.  It was expected that this would bring the Grand Fleet out of its bases in Scotland to be attacked by U-boats who would report British movements and Beatty’s battle cruisers would rush across the North Sea expecting only to meet again Hipper’s battlecruisers but would fall instead under the guns of the German High Seas fleet.

At 3.30 a.m. Admiral Scheer ordered the German High Seas fleet to sea and he had 16 dreadnought type battleships, 5 light cruisers and 31 destroyers with 6 pre-dreadnought battleships which joined the rear of his force at about 5.00 a.m. south west of Heligoland.

However by the morning of the 30th May the British were aware that the High Seas Fleet was assembling in the outer anchorages of the Jade and Sir John Jellicoe was at 12 noon warned that the German Fleet would probably put to sea early on the morning of the 31st May; later in the afternoon through decoding of radio messages a major operation was suspected and at 5.40 p.m. Jellicoe received the order to take his fleet to sea and by late evening his 16 Dreadnoughts had left Scapa Flow.  A similar order had been issued to Sir David Beatty who left Rosyth with 6 battle cruisers and the 4 super dreadnoughts of the 5th Battle Squadron.  The super dreadnoughts were oil fired and armed with eight 15 inch guns.  The concentration was to be east of the Long Forties about 100 miles east of Aberdeen.

By 11.30 p.m. on the 30th May, more than 2 hours before the battlecruisers of Hipper had even left the Jade, all formations of the Grand Fleet were at sea.  From Scapa under Jellicoe were the 1st and 4th Battle Squadrons, the 3rd Battlecruiser Squadron, the 2nd Cruiser Squadron, the 4th Light Cruiser Squadron and the 4th and 12th Destroyer Flotillas with one division from the 11th Flotilla.  From Cromarty under Vice Admiral Jerram were the 2nd Battle Squadron, the 1st Cruiser Squadron and 10 destroyers of the 11th Flotilla.  From Rosyth under Vice-Admiral Beatty were the 1st and 2nd Batlecruiser Squadrons, the 5th Battle Squadron and the 1st, 2nd 3rd Light Cruiser Squadrons plus 27 destroyers.  A total of 151 Royal Navy warships – 28 dreadnought battleships, 9 battlecruisers, 8 armoured cruisers 26 light cruisers, 78 destroyers, a minelayer and a seaplane carrier had put to sea.

HMS Defence was the flagship of Rear Admiral Sir Robert Arbuthnot and with HMS Warrior, HMS Duke of Edinburgh and HMS Black Prince formed the 1st Cruiser Squadron which had sailed from Cromarty.

HMS Defence was a Minotaur-class armoured cruiser built at Pembroke dockyard and launched on the 24th April 1907 and was the last armoured cruiser built for the Royal Navy. She displaced 14,600 tons and had a speed of 22.9 knots.  She was armed with 4 x 9.2 inch guns, 10 x 7.5 inch guns and 16 quick firing 12 pounder 18 cwt guns with 5 submerged 18 inch torpedo tubes.  Speed being a requirement, armour was sacrificed and the belt was only six inches thick, not enough to stop a heavy plunging shell.  Her complement was 54 officers and 849 enlisted men.

HMS Defence served with the 1st Cruiser Squadron from July 1909 and then in early 1913 was on the China station before rejoining the 1st Cruiser Squadron.
In early 1914 she was stationed in the Mediterranean, was involved in the pursuit of the Goeben and Breslau and then spent September outside the Dardenelles.  She was ordered to the South Atlantic to take part in the hunt for Admiral Graf von Spees’ squadron but that squadron was destroyed on the 8th December before she could reach the area and the ship was then diverted to the Cape of Good Hope rejoining the 1st Cruiser Squadron in January 1915.

Jellicoe intended to reach the rendezvous at about 2.30 p.m. on the 31st May but expected Beatty’s force to be some 70 miles to the south, his prime task with his speedier vessels being to locate the enemy which was still expected to be only Hipper’s Battle Cruisers.  If Beatty had not located the enemy he was to turn north to the meet the Grand Fleet.

The German U-boat trap failed but two U-boats were able to sight units of the British fleet and about 8.00 a.m. had sent two wireless messages but this did not enable Scheer to deduce even the fact that the whole of the Grand Fleet had put to sea.  By that time Hipper’s Battle Cruisers had gained the open sea, Scheer’s battlefleet would not reach that point until 10.00 a.m.

Just before 2.30 p.m. Beatty had proceeded due East to about the point where he was to turn North with still no trace the German fleet which equally unaware of Beatty’s force was heading North towards Beatty with Jutland to its East and the Skagerrak to its North East, the High Seas rendezvous being in the mouth of the Skagerrak.    The most easterly ship of Beatty’s screen, the light cruiser HMS Galatea sighted a Danish tramp steamer and went to investigate and this ship had also been spotted by the German light cruiser Elbing which sent two German destroyers to investigate.  The German ships spotted the smoke from the approaching HMS Galatea which had also spotted the German ships, mistaking them for light cruisers sent a wireless message to the British fleet 2 cruisers probably hostile in sight.  Both the Galatea and the Elbing opened fire at about 2.20 p.m. whilst both Jellicoe aboard the Iron Duke and Beatty aboard the Lion altered course appropriately, albeit Jellico still believing the German High Seas Fleet was still not at sea.   Galatea then spotted and reported dense clouds of smoke from the north east indicating a large hostile fleet and Beatty then knew the position of Hipper’s battle cruisers and moved to engage them.

At about 3.20 p.m. Hipper’s force sighted Beatty’s and turned south hoping to draw the British Battle Cruisers onto the guns of Scheer’s High Seas battleships with a long range gunnery duel developing in which at about 5.00 pm the battlecruiser HMS Indefatigable was sunk and at about 5.25 p.m. the battlecruiser HMS Queen Mary was sunk , 57 officers and 960 men going down with Indefatigable and 57 officers and 1,209 men with the Queen Mary.  Shortly before HMS Queen Mary had been sunk by the combined fire of two German battlecruisers, the 5th Battle Squadron consisting of four of the most powerful battleships in the British fleet had caught up and by 5.00 p.m. began fire on the German ships at the rear of Hipper’s force.  About half an hour later the light cruiser Southampton some two miles ahead of the Lion spotted a light cruiser to the south-east, the Rostock ahead of the German battlefleet and then from the Southampton  was sighted the topmasts of a long line of battleships surrounded by destroyers and at 5.38 p.m. a wireless signal was sent to Beatty and Jellicoe that the enemy battle fleet had been sighted, the signal coming as a surprise to Beatty as he was still under the impression that the German battle fleet had not left the Jade anchorage and the message which actually reached the Iron Duke had become garbled leading Jellicoe to believe that he was facing a German force of 18 German dreadnoughts and 10 pre-dreadnoughts rather than the actual 16 German dreadnoughts and 6 pre-dreadnoughts.

Now that the German battleships of Admiral Scheers fleet had been spotted, Beatty’s task changed and his priority was now to bring Scheers battleships into contact with the superior force of Admiral Jellicoe which required his force to turn north, Evan-Thomas’ 5th Battle Squadron bringing up the rear becoming engaged with the leading battleships of Scheers fleet,  the British force being re-inforced by the 3rd Battle Cruiser Sqadron which had been stationed at Scapa Flow and had been sent ahead by Jellicoe to assist Beatty which forced Hippers German battle cruisers back towards Admiral Scheer making them unable to warn Scheer of the great danger forming up over the horizon, the Grand Fleet.

At about 7.00 p.m. the port wing battleships of the Grand Fleet had been sighted about 4 miles north of the Lion and to prevent Hipper from sighting and reporting the intervention of the British battlefleet, Beatty altered course to the east and the range between his ships and Hipper’s decreased subjecting those enemy ships to overwhelming fire without being able to reply.  Derflinger was hit by a heavy shell and began to sink by the head and the Seydlitz was also hit, and Hipper turned his force to the south west and as that turn was being effected Admiral Hood’s 3rd Battlecruiser Squadron passed some 18 miles to the East of Beatty’s force to reach a position some 25 miles south-east of the Grand Fleet without sighting either Beatty’s force or the German forces.  Ahead of Hood’s force were scouting cruisers one of which was HMS Chester which turned towards the outlines of ships believing these to be Beatty’s van when in fact it was a German scouting group stationed some 5 miles north-east of German battlecruisers and she was exposed to gun fire from four German ships including the Wiesbaden.  HMS Chester, damaged and with numerous casualties, turned to the north towards Hood’s squadron which observing the flash of gunfire altered course moving to support the Chester and caught a group of German light cruisers cold with little to fear from their relatively diminutive opponents.  Two of the German ships were badly hit, especially the Wiesbaden which was left with both engines disabled and stationary. 

At that stage whilst two of the British battlecruisers had been sunk by internal explosions, Hipper’s flagship Lutzow was listing heavily and was out of the line, Derflinger had water streaming in through a hole in the bows, Seydlitz was awash up to the middle deck and listing to port, Von de Tann had no gun turrets in action and only the Moltke remained serviceable and to this ship Hipper transferred his flag.

The two main fleets were now rapidly closing, Jellicoe’s fleet being deployed in six columns over a width of some 4 miles.

At about 6.30 p.m. the Grand Fleet was sailing in five columns heading south east with a screen, 4th Light Cruiser Squadron, ahead and then in front of those ships HMS Duke of Edinburgh, HMS Warrior and HMS Defence.  HMS Chester had turned north and was about 10 Nautical Miles ahead to the south east.  By 7.00 p.m. HMS Lion had got to a position in front of Jellicoe’s Grand Fleet, HMS Chester was about 4 nautical miles to the East and about the same distance ahead of Warrior and Defence was the German light cruiser Wiesbaden disabled with no engine power.  The British 3rd and 4th Light Cruiser Squadrons advanced  from behind Defence and Warrior to deliver a torpedo attack on the leading ships of Hipper’s fleet, and one the Falmouth discharged a torpedo at Wiesbaden.  Shortly after 7.00 p.m. the armoured cruisers Defence and Warrior made their way towards the Wiesbaden, crossing the course of the British battlecruisers, so close to the bow of the Lion that the battlecruisers were forced to turn hard to port t avoid the two cruisers.  It remains difficult to understand why Jellicoe had kept these old cruisers some three miles in advance of his battleships, as presumably some form of screen.  Their slowness made them useless as scouts; their armament left them an easy prey to German battle-cruisers.  If Rear Admiral Arbuthnot flying his flag in Defence believed that the destruction of the Weisbaden was to be an easy matter he was quickly disillusioned.  Both Warrior and Defence began to fire their 9 inch guns at Wiesbaden perhaps because he feared she might use her torpedoes against the British Grand Fleet or more likely because he had expressed  the intention that if his Squadron encountered the enemy he would close to the range of his guns and engage the German ships. As the British cruisers opened fire, looming up from the south west of the Defence appeared the huge outlines of the German battlecruisers and the German battleships of III Squadron.  A ship with four funnels was sighted from the Lutzow at first thought to be the German light cruiser Rostock but it was quickly realised that astonishingly it was the old armoured cruiser Defence and the Lutzow and Derfflinger opened fire as did four advancing German Battleships.  Salvo after salvo fell, in a moment the Defence was enveloped in columns of water from exploding shells, then the Defence was struck aft and forward so immense flames gushed from the gun turrets and then an explosion followed, heard by ships from both fleets, followed with a huge sheet of flame 1,000 feet high and smoke gushing forth and at about 7.20 p.m. the Defence sank, wreckage continuing to fall into the water for some time after the explosion. 

54 officers including Admiral Sir Robert Arbuthnot and Lieutenant Commander the Honourable Hugh Feilding and 849 men were killed.

An officer serving on HMS Obedient of 12th Destroyer Flotilla saw the 1st Cruiser Squadron led by Defence emerge out of the mist the ship being heavily engaged with salvoes dropping all around her.  The three salvoes reached the Defence, the first went over the second fell short whilst the third hit near the after turret when a flash of flame appeared and as quickly vanished.  Defence heeled over but quickly righted herself and steamed on and then almost at once came three more salvoes the third hitting Defence between the forecastle turret and the foremost funnel.  At once the ship was lost to sight in an enormous cloud of black smoke with perhaps a funnel twirling into space. When the smoke cleared Defence had gone.

Commander George van Hase was Chief Gunnery Officer on the German Battlecruiser Derflinger.  A colleague spotted a cruiser with four funnels and asked if it was English or German.  He examined the ship through his periscope and concluded it was English.  His gunnery officer asked if he should open fire and was told to fire away.  Just as Lieutenant Commander Hausser was about to order “Fire” the English ship broke up and there was an enormous explosion, black smoke and pieces whirled upwards and flame swept the entire ship which disappeared beneath the waves before their eyes.  There was nothing left but an enormous cloud of smoke.  Commander van Hase believed it was the fire of Lutzow just ahead of Derflinger which had destroyed HMS Defence.  

Warrior following behind Defence was also hit near the bow and set on fire but shrouded in her own smoke was able to make her way to the west and temporary safety but the following day whilst under tow back to England was abandoned and sank.

At about 7.30 p.m. the 3rd Battlecruiser Squadron steering a course parallel to Hipper’s squadron was subjecting the Lutzow and Derflinger to a storm of heavy shells when Invincible  was struck by a salvo  probably from the Lutzow which pierced the ship’s armour  and detonated inside the ship, the explosion tearing the ship in two 1,020 officers and men perishing in the explosion.

It was about this time that an uninterrupted line of gun flashes showed up along the entire horizon ahead of the German Fleet so that Admiral Scheer appreciated for the first time that he had placed the German High Seas Fleet in the same stretch of water as the British Grand Fleet with his 22 German battleships strung out in a line nine miles long while the 24 battleships of the Grand Fleet had deployed in a line some 5 miles long and already firing on Hipper’s battle cruisers.

Admiral Scheer had to break off contact with the British and return to the safety of a German harbour and to achieve the first he ordered each of his vessels to turn 180 degrees so his last battleship became the first in the line and the former first the last, heading south west and away from the German coast. That contact had broken was not at once obvious to Jellicoe, observations hampered by mist, funnel and enemy smoke screens but when it was appreciated Jellicoe set the Grand Fleet on a southerly course to place the fleet between the High Seas Fleet and its base.  Later Admiral Scheer ordered another 180 degree turn and with the battlecruisers again in the vanguard headed for port but again his ships collided with the Grand Fleet, which brought down a heavy fire on the German ships until a German destroyer flotilla launched a torpedo strike which was unsuccessful but led to Admiral Jellico ordering a change of course for the Grand Fleet to the south east, that is away from the High Seas fleet and with nightfall at about 9.00 p.m. Admiral Scheer was able to escape eastward across the rear of the Grand Fleet in the darkness to reach the safety of Wilhelmshaven.

The consequences were that the Royal Navy suffered the more serious losses – three battlecruisers, three armoured cruisers and eight destroyers (111,000 tons) to Germany’s one battleship, five cruisers and five destroyers (62,000 tons) and 6,097 sailors to Germany’s 2,545 but the Grand Fleet despite its losses was ready to put to sea almost immediately whilst the High Seas Fleet would require several weeks before it was in a fit state to leave harbour.  Of more importance the balance of naval power was not remotely affected.  On the 1st June the Grand Fleet was scouring the North Sea seeking its enemy whilst the German fleet was once more at rest in harbour: British and German capital ships would not again exchange fire during the Great War.      

 After the Battle of Jutland in which the Germans inflicted heavier losses but the British retained command of the North Sea, both sides used naval means to cut the other’s supply lines in a war of attrition.  The British instituted an open blockade of the Central Powers which became effective by the end of 1916.  In that year there were 56 food riots in German cities.  In reply the Germans resorted to unrestricted submarine warfare in February 1917 and one out of every four ships leaving British ports was sunk. The assault was only checked by the convoy system first used in May 1917.

Allied shipping losses in the period 1914 – 1918, all in tons, for Britain were 7,800,000 , France 900,000 , Italy 872,000 , United States while neutral 56,000  and while belligerent 397,000, Greece 346,000 and Russia 183,000.

The wreck of the Defence was discovered by a diving team in 2001 and was found to be largely intact, cordite had been hit and this had caused immense smoke and heat, sufficient to melt the hull.  The wreck lies in around 45 metres of water upright and on an even keel.

The Honourable Henry Simon Feilding, Lieutenant (Acting Captain) 2nd Battalion Coldstream Guards died of wounds 11th October 1917 October aged 23. Buried Dozinghem Military Cemetery, Westvleteren, West Flanders. This cemetery was one of three created at the outset of 3rd Ypres, the others being Mendinghem British Cemetery, Proven, West Flanders and Haringhe (Bandaghem) Military Cemetery, Rousbrugge-Haringhe, West Flanders.   Dozinghem Cemetery records 3,021 UK., 61 Can., 34 B.W.I., 19 Newfld., 15 S.A., 14 N.Z., 6 Aust., 1 Unknown 3 Chinese and 65 German burials.

Third and youngest son of Rudolph Robert Feilding  9th Earl of Denbigh and Desmond (1859 – 1939) and Countess Denbigh of Newnham Paddox, Monks Kirby,  Rugby.  The Earl served in Egypt from April 1915 to January 1916 with the 2nd Mounted Division, subsequently Artillery Staff Southern Army Eastern Command in 1916.

His brothers were Rudolph Edmund Viscount Feilding (1885 – 1937), eldest son of the 9th Earl who joined the Army in 1906 and was appointed Lieutenant in 1909 went to France in 1914 and on the 19th December 1914 was a Captain commanding No. 1 Company 3rd Coldstream Guards, and the Honourable Hugh Feilding (1886 – 1916)   a professional Naval Officer killed at the Battle of Jutland on the 31st May 1915.

He had seven sisters born between 1888 and 1901 detailed in the entry for his brother the Honourable Hugh Feilding.
 
Henry Feilding was born on the 29th June 1894 and was educated at the Oratory School Edgbaston and Trinity College Cambridge and held a commission as 2nd Lieutenant with King Edward’s Horse (The King’s Overseas Dominions Regiment)(formed in 1901) part of the Special Reserve joining the regiment on the 7th August 1914 on mobilisation.

 On the 25th April 1915 Henry Feilding as part of C Squadron of King Edwards Horse arrived in France from England, the Squadron to become the 47th (London) Division’s divisional cavalry. On the 23rd September 1915 he was appointed Aide-de-Camp to Major General Henry Horne General Officer Commanding 2nd Division since January 1st 1915 and went with him to Egypt in January 1916 when General Horne was promoted Lieutenant General commanding the Northern Section of the Suez Canal defences.  General Horne was recalled to France in April 1916 to command XV Corps then in the course of formation as part of the Fourth Army.  Lieutenant Feilding resigned this post of ADC by June 1916 and transferred to the Coldstream Guards on the 11th June 1916 and joined the depot at Windsor.

On the 13th August 1914 the 3rd Battalion Coldstream Guards landed at Havre the CO being Lieutenant Colonel Geoffrey Feilding D.S.O. (cousin of the 9th Earl) subsequently Major General Sir Geoffrey Feilding.

On the 6th April 1915 Captain Rowland Feilding joined the Coldstream Guards from the 2nd Battalion City of London Yeomanry having lobbied his cousin Geoffrey Feilding.  He landed at Harfleur on the 29th April 1915 and on the 3rd May joined the 3rd Battalion Coldstream Guards.  He subsequently transferred to the 1st Battalion and then in September 1916 was transferred to command the 6th Battalion the Connaught Rangers with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel until April 1918;  in August 1918 he was appointed to command the 1/15th (County of London) Battalion of the London Regiment (Prince of Wales’s Own Civil Service Rifles).  He wrote regularly to his wife Edith and his eldest daughter Joan and in 1929 a collection of these letters were published under the title “War Letters to a Wife.”

By the 3rd May Rowland Feilding had reached the village of Le Preol then about 2 miles East of Bethune (now swallowed up in the suburbs of that town) some 3 miles West of the front line.  The 3rd Battalion was billeted there and on the evening of the 4th May Captain Rowland Feilding went into the trenches in the Givenchy sector where the line the Coldstream Guards were holding ran through the village of Givenchy itself of which practically nothing remained.  It was in that sector that on the 6th May 1915 Captain Rudolph Feilding brought his younger brother Henry to see his 2nd cousin Rowland.    The following day, 5th May 1915, Rowland Feilding’s company was moved south of the La Bassee canal, to the Cuinchy sub sector, named after a small village just behind the British lines unique due to the presence of about 30 brickstacks about 16 feet high and about 12 square yards in area some held by the Germans and some by the British. 

Between the 27th September and 10th November 1916 Henry Feilding was one of a number of officers who were posted to the 2nd Battalion Coldstream Guards which on the formation of the Guards Division had on the 20th August 1915 become part of the 1st Guards Brigade.  On the 1st October 1916 the Guards Division had moved from the front line on the Somme to the Amiens area to refit and for training returning to the Guedecourt sector on the 12th November with the trenches in a shocking condition and the ground covered with many unburied bodies in various stages of decomposition and a litter of rifles and stores of every description lying about wasted and smashed.  The place was swept by the enemy’s fire and it was not possible to clear away the debris and the Division left the miserable spectacle of absolute ruin and desolation on the 23rd November  going back to the Meaulte area until returning on the 4th December 1916 to relieve the French at Sailly-Saillisel,  Divisional HQ being south-west of Guillemont but there was little to be feared from the enemy – rain and snow made the activities of the Germans a matter of secondary importance and, bad as were the conditions on the British side of the line, those on the German side were probably worse.  On the front of the Guards Division the line was held as a series of posts, “islands” in the mud, about 20 yards apart and reliefs had to be conducted over the open although in places the enemy’s post were not more than 40 yards distant.  So terrible was the condition of the ground that men often sank up to their thighs in the mud and had to be dug out.  The Division remained in this sector until January 1917 and relief by the 29th Division when they went back to concentrate in the Meaulte-Corbie area for only a few days relieving the 8th Division farther south with Divisional HQ being established at Maurepas.

On the 16th March 1917 the German Army began a withdrawal to the newly constructed and heavily defended Hindenburg line which ran from near Arras, west of Cambrai , close to St. Quentin, past La Fereand onto the Vailly sur Aisne.  The Guard Division were not long engaged in the pursuit reaching a position a few miles beyond Sailly Saillisel before the Division was withdrawn into Army reserve the Battalion being employed in the repair of roads and railways in the Combles sector.  This lasted until the 21st May when the Division was brought back to Corbie mainly for training and drill.  At some point in his service Henry Feilding, during the course of the Battle of the Somme, whilst the Battalion was in the back area was asked by a distinguished General who had been watching the Guards at drill that he was well pleased with all he saw but asked Henry Feilding what was the purpose of slow marching and elementary platoon drill “when we have been fighting trench warfare for two years and shall probably so fight for two years more”.  Feilding replied “Well, Sir, one must remember that this war is only an incident in the life history of the Coldstream Guards!”

On the 30th May 1917 the Guards Division left the Somme area concentrating in the St. Omer area at the end of the month.
 
The Third Battle of Ypres was the major British offensive in Flanders launched on 31 July 1917 and continuing until November 1917.  The ultimate aim was to rob the Germans of command of the high ground surrounding, in a semi circle, the eastern side of Ypres, giving the enemy direct observation over the British front and back areas within the Salient by capturing the immediate ridges, Bixschoote, St. Julien and Pilkem to the north east of Ypres and Gheluvelt to the east of Ypres. and then moving forward to the  Passchendaele - Staden Ridge the last high ground before open country,  thrusting east towards the railway centre of Roulers then swinging north towards the Belgian coast. If Bruges could be taken U-Boat bases on the coast would be effectively destroyed.  The invading Germans had created a U-boat base at Bruges in 1914 with docking areas for destroyers and some 30 submarines which could access the North Sea by canals to Zeebrugge and Ostend.

By the 8th June 1917 the Battalion had moved north to a camp near Poperinghe.  On the 15th June the 2nd Guards Brigade relieved a brigade of the 38th Division which was holding the line east of Boesinghe.  The Boesinghe sector of the line was situated in the low-lying ground which stretched along the bend of the Yser Canal north and south-east of the village of Boesinghe, the canal itself forming a dividing barrier between the British and German trench systems. The canal bed, which had a surface of about 70 feet of soft and tenacious mud into which a man sank like a stone, and a narrow, shallow stream of water flowing down the middle was a formidable obstacle such that neither side had made any serious attempt to cross it during the war. There were no villages in the area behind the German front line in front of the Guards Division, but there was Pilkem (on the frontage of the 38th Division to attack immediately to the south of the Guards Division) and, further to the east, Langemarck situated on the Ypres – Staden railway line, but the area was studded with farm houses, many of which it was known had been put in a state of defence by the Germans, but the extent to which the enemy had been able to construct concrete block houses or pill boxes was conjectural as these had been skillfully sited and camouflaged  so that they defied detection from the air.

On the 29th June the 1st Guards Brigade took over the trenches, the Battalion being in reserve.

During this period of waiting until the offensive was launched many raids were launched mainly to seek identification of the enemy’s formations in their front line, for example on the night of the 8th July 1917 two platoons of No. 2 Company of the Battalion carried out a successful raid killing some of the enemy and obtaining the necessary identifications with only one casualty, one man being wounded.

By the 26th July 1917 Henry Feilding was a Company Officer holding the rank of Acting Captain.

The preliminary bombardment opened on the 16th July was originally intended to last for 9 days with the attack being launched on the 25th but extensions to the artillery programme were requested by General Sir Hubert Gough, commanding the Fifth Army and mainly responsible for the attack, and General Francois Anthoine commander of the French First Army which was to attack on the northern flank of the Fifth Army towards Houthulst Forest and zero hour was set at 3.50 a.m. on the 31st July 1917 to take advantage of the first rays of dawn.

It was appreciated that the actual crossing of the Yser Canal by the Guards Division was going to be a problem but in the early hours of the 27th July two wounded men from the 38th Division were observed on the further bank of the canal and were brought in by an officer and Private from the 3rd Battalion Coldstream Guards and their report with observations from the Royal Flying Corps suggested no signs of the Germans west of the Steenbeck, a river which ran from North West to South East , to the North West of Pilkem Ridge and on the frontages of the Guard, 38th and 51st Divisions.  That evening patrols from the 3rd Battalion, with troops from the 38th and French First Army crossed the canal and took prisoners and began to establish a presence on the east of the canal such that by the night of the 28th – 29th July a British trench system had been constructed and was occupied to the East of the can itself, enabling the battalions of the 2nd and 3rd Guards Brigades which were to carry out the attack on the 31st July were all east of the canal by 1 a.m. that morning.

The general line of advance of the Guards Division on the 31st July 1917 was North Easterly to evict the enemy from Pilkem Ridge, the final objective being the Steenbeck just before the road from Bixschoote through Wildendrift to Langemarck  with the 38th Division next to the south to capture Pilkem village on the black line and with the French First Army to the north attacking towards Houthulst Forest.

The 2nd and 3rd Guards Brigades were to lead the attack with the 1st Brigade in support.  1st Scots Guards and 2nd Irish Guards from the 2nd Brigade advanced to the Blue Line, first objective, with little resistance except from mainly machine-gun fire from strongpoints in Artillery Wood which caused casualties in the Scots Guards but with British artillery support Artillery Wood was captured.  Both battalions moved on to the Black Line, second objective with the Irish coming under heavy fire from German strongpoints in Hey Wood.  1st Grenadier Guards and 1st Welsh Guards from the 3rd Brigade got to the Blue Line without much opposition except for fire from a blockhouse in a wood in front, both battalions continuing to the Black Line.

The attack on the Green Line, which ran from about Fourche Farm at the junction with the French south to Vulcan Crossing and the junction with the 38th Division was taken up by the supporting battalions of the 2nd and 3rd Guards Brigades beginning at 7.15 a.m.   The advance of the 3rd Grenadier Guards was impeded by fire from German blockhouses on the Ypres – Staden railway line which also affected the advance of the 38th Division but the blockhouses were captured by 8 a.m. the enemy was driven back from Vulcan Crossing.  The 1st Coldstreams pushed on to take Fourche and Captain’s Farms whilst the 2nd Scots Guards on the extreme left and in touch with the 201st French Regiment took their objective to the left of Fourches Farm with little difficulty.

The way was now clear for the 1st Guards Brigade (in support) to attack and with the 2nd Grenadier Guards on the right and the 2nd Coldstream Guards on the left, the Brigade set out from the Green line at about 8.50 a.m.  The right companies of the Grenadier Guards came under heavy machine-gun fire from German positions west of the Steenbeck and later from Langemarck village forcing the Guards to dig in 80 yards short of the stream but the leading company on the left captured Signal and Ruisseau Farms and then crossed the Steenbeck digging in 60 yards from the eastern bank by 9.30 a.m.

The 2nd Battalion reached the Yser canal at 6.20 a.m. and advanced to the Black Line where a hostile barrage caused some casualties but the advance was not checked and the Black Line was passed at 7.45 a.m.   Within 1,000 yards of the Green Line the ground was swept by enemy machine-gun fire and artillery fire and losses increased but the troops pressed on closing up to the British barrage near the Green Line at 8.30 a.m.  when the Battalion had to  pivot to attack its portion of the dotted Green Line which ran at an angle away from the Steenbeck.  No. 2 Company on the right maintained touch with the 2nd Grenadier Guards who had secured the crossings over the Steenbeck.  In the afternoon a German aeroplane succeeded in flying over the position at about 100 feet and this resulted in very accurate German artillery fire which caused many casualties.  Despite this and sniping a line was consolidated and held and later about 10.30 p.m. troops pushed forward again to occupy a strong point to the left near to the Guards Division’s boundary with the French.  Total casualties all ranks were 160.  Captain Henry Feilding probably did not take part in this attack, he being one of the officers held back usually in the Transport Lines to avoid the calamity of all officers being killed or wounded in an attack.  Two German lines had been overrun and an advance of some 3,000 yards including the capture of Pilkem Ridge was a substantial achievement.

The Guards Division remained in the front line positions until relieved by the 29th Division on the 7th August, returning to the front on the 28th August to relieve the 29th Division.  On the 21st September the Guards Division was relieved by the 29th Division.

By the 16th August Langemarck had been captured by the 20th Division and an area some 2000 yards at its widest point from the Steenbeck River had been gained by the Fifth Army.  By the end of August 1917 Sir Herbert Plumer’s Second Army had begun to replace the Fifth Army as the “main player” in the Battle but still allowing Gough’s Fifth Army to proceed by a series of steps to capture Passchendaele Ridge and then to exploit any strategic opportunities that presented.  The Germans had somewhat changed the system of defence; the front trenches were held lightly but in sufficient strength only to disorganize an attack whilst the bulk of his forces were kept in close reserve to deliver a rapid counter-attack and therefore the British changed their own dispositions. the objectives being not so far forward with the assaulting troops having less distance to travel, the artillery to be prepared to disperse at once hostile counter-attacks as they developed.

At 12 noon on the 31st July a battalion commander noted that rain had started and during August 1917 there were only three days when no rain at all was recorded.  The main effort being directed towards the north-east, the ground was difficult when dry but became grotesque in its difficulties when it rained the small low-land streams or “beeks” which meandered through it spreading out into broad marshy bottoms.  Rain continued in September and early October and it was manifest that a scheme to drive the Germans out of the Belgian coast had been thwarted in part by the weather.  However the attacks in the Ypres sector had damaged and worn down the enemy’s resources and Sir Douglas Haig resolved to continue the offensives in conjunction with General Anthoine’s forces on the British left on the 9th October which brought the Guards Division back into the line, the 3rd Brigade taking over the front on the 5th October whilst the 1st and 2nd Brigades left the Proven area on the 7th October, the 2nd Battalion Coldstream Guards leaving Plurenden Camp near Bandaghem on the 7th/8th October going via Boesinghe to trenches near Koekuit, heavy rain falling both on the 7th and the 8th swelling most of the numerous small streams into well-nigh impassable obstacles.

The task allotted to the Guards Division in this operation was to advance across the Broembeek and then to push forward to the southern edge of Houthulst Forest working in conjunction with the 29th Division  astride the Ypres – Staden railway on the right and the French on the left.  Major-General Feilding decided to carry out the attack with two brigades in the line – the 1st Guards Brigade on the right to start from Panther and Leopard trenches, cross the Broembeek and advance either side of the Langemarck -  Koekuit road to the final objective, the outskirts of Houthulst Forest, the 2nd Brigade on the left to start from in front of Craonne Farm cross the Broembeek and advance through Ney Wood, capturing the fortified farms at Gruyterszale and Louvois to the minor road which ran westwards from the hamlet of Les Cinq Chemins, the hamlet itself being in 1st Brigades area of operation.

On the 7th October two companies of each of the leading battalions of the 1st and 2nd Guards Brigades relieved the 3rd Brigade to prepare for the attack, the remainder of the assaulting brigades leaving the Proven area in pouring rain in the evening of the 8th, and after much difficulty got into their assembly positions during the night.  It was a very trying mach to all who took part in it, and the men, wet through and chilled to the bone, arrived at their destinations by 2.00 a.m. much exhausted; several of them had even to be dug out of the muddy holes into which they had stumbled in the dark but still all got to their posts in time and formed up in good order ready for zero hour, 5.20 a.m. on the 9th October 1917.

At zero hour under an intense barrage of artillery and covered by trench mortars No.1 Company of the 2nd Battalion (Captain H.C.St.J. Thompson) on the right and No. 3 (Lieutenant P.H.C. Horton-Smith-Hartley) on the left went forward to the Broembeek and dashed through it.  The mats brought up to cross it were of little use and most of the men waded with water up to their waists whilst some got over on fallen trees or the use of temporary bridges.  These companies first objective was 950 yards ahead, centered on the hamlet of Koekuit.

The British barrage had rested for four minutes on the Broembeek and then lifted 100 yards for six minutes and then moved slowly forward at the rate of 100 yards in 6 minutes
Hardly had the men reached the farther bank than some Germans rushed out of their advanced trenches to surrender and this increased the ardour of the men who, forgetting the miseries of the previous night, reformed and advanced in perfect order to seize the first objective shortly after 6 a.m.  The Germans were from the 6th Bavarian Regiment which had only come into the line at 4 a.m. that day, 1 hour 20 minutes before the attack and knew nothing about their front and were surprised by the attack.  After crossing the Broembeek the ground was drier with better going.  There was not much resistance and what there was of it was soon overpowered:  there were no concrete blockhouses to overcome, many of the enemy were killed, some surrendered, the rest ran away. The barrage had dealt successfully with the enemy’s shell hole method of defence but the Guards sustained some casualties from running into the British barrage in their eagerness to get on. The barrage rested on the first objective for 45 minutes to enable the leading companies to dig in on that objective.

At 7 a.m. No. 2 Company (Captain Hon. H.S Feilding) and No. 4 (Lieutenant W.G. Oakman) deployed their leading line and closing up to the barrage commenced their advance to the 2nd objective, the Black Line 1800 yards from the Broembeek.  The companies moved from the assembly area towards the Broembeek, which was about 10 to 15 feet across and 2 feet to 6 feet deep, to cross with a view to passing through the leading companies which were then consolidating the first objective, and moving forward to the second objective.  No 4 Company on the left met with little opposition but No. 2 Company lost all its officers early in the day, Captain Feilding being severely wounded before crossing the Broembeek.

No. 2 Company was confronted by a collection of blockhouses  known as Vee Bend which looked like giving trouble to the advance: preparations were being made to outflank Vee Bend when another officer was wounded leaving the Battalion to continue under N.C.Os until 2nd Lieutenant F H Martin could come up to take command.  Parties worked round the flanks of Vee Bend and the defenders 35 strong surrendered to the two Coldstream sergeants with three machine-guns.  This enabled the Company to continue its advance and the 2nd objective was reached at 8.15 a.m. and the line consolidated under cover of the British barrage.

At 9 a.m. the 3rd Battalion the Coldstream Guards moved on through the line held by the 2nd Battalion towards the 3rd objective with the 1st Battalion Irish Guards on their right and the 3rd Battalion Grenadier Guards on their left.  The 3rd objective was not reached without some heavy fighting mainly from an enemy post which raked the Guards with galling artillery and machine gun fire.  The final objective in front of the Forest was seized and held at 10 a.m.

Later on in the afternoon the Germans launched a counter-attack against this part of the line but it was easily defeated by the Guards and the French Allies.

The next day, the 10th October, was fairly quiet.  Early in the morning a few of the enemy were seen crawling about in shell holes; on opening fire upon them some were killed and the remainder surrendered, two machine-guns being also captured.

The 2nd Battalion sustained casualties, 1 officer being killed and 1 Died of wounds with 4 being wounded.  The Battalion medical officer was wounded early on the 9th October and it proved impossible to replace him.  40 other ranks were killed and 117 wounded with 23 missing.  The Battalion captured 1 officer and about 100 other ranks and took 10 German machine-guns.

Captain Feilding was the officer who died of wounds.  He was carried back to the Casualty Clearing Station where he had every possible care and attention but the case was hopeless from the first.  He recovered slight consciousness in the afternoon and he died peacefully and painlessly at 1030 p.m. on the 11th October 1917.  Father Crisp RC Chaplain to the Forces of Leicester was with him at this period and gave him the last rites of his religion.

The Honourable Henry Feilding was award the Victory Medal, the British War Medal and the 1914 -1915 Star.

Sydney Hammond, Rifleman No. R4004 12th (Service) Battalion Kings Royal Rifle Corps.. Killed in action 2nd April 1918.  Rifleman Hammondis commemorated on the Pozieres Memorial which is the wall surrounding Pozieres British Cemetery Ovillers-La-Boiselle Somme.  The Memorial commemorates 14,690 officers and men from the United Kingdom and South Africa of the Fifth Army, 12,741 who fell in the 16 days of the main retreat from 21 March 1918 to 5 April 1918, the remaining names are from the quieter period when the line was stabilized until 7 August 1918.

Sydney Hammond was born in Ware in Hertfordshire and enlisted in Rugby in September 1914 whilst his residence was in Twyford but at the outbreak of the War it is understood he lived in Street Ashton.  He landed in France on the 23rd July 1915 to join his Battalion.

The Battalion was formed at Winchester on the 21st September 1914 and landed in France on the 22nd July 1915 as part of 60th Brigade in the 20th (Light) Division. 

On the 20th February 1918 the Division left the Ypres sector to travel south to the Somme and following the re-organisation of Brigades, the 60th Brigade was now made up of the 6th King’s Shropshire Light Infantry, 12th Rifle Brigade and 12th King’s Royal Rifle Corps.

At the end of 1917 there was stalemate on the Western Front. The British offensives at Arras, Passchendaele and Cambrai had all generally failed, as the objectives identified at the beginning of these offensives had not been achieved, nor had that of the French in Champagne.  At the end of October a combined German and Austrian force had inflicted on the Italian Army an unexpected defeat at Caporetto.

Tsar Nicholas II had abdicated after the revolution in St. Petersburg in March 1917 although the Russian collapse did not occur until the Riga offensive in September 1917, the armistice between Germany and Russia being signed on the 3rd December 1917 although the Brest-Livovisk Treaty itself was not signed until March 1918.
 
The unrestricted submarine campaign which Germany had begun in February 1917 had not achieved the success looked for, the blockade of Germany producing severe shortages of food, and the losses of men in the offensives in 1917 led to a decline in morale both at home in Germany and at the front.

On the 2nd April 1917 President Woodrow Wilson asked the United States Congress to support his declaration of war by the United States on Germany and on the 28th May 1917 Major-General John Pershing, Commander in Chief of the American Expeditionary Force, sailed for France with a small contingent of officers and men to form his General Staff.

In September 1917 Sir Douglas Haig had been asked by the Right Honourable David Lloyd George, the Prime Minister, to advise what the effect of the Russian armistice was likely to be and Haig’s response was that all forces should be concentrated on the Western Front because only there could Germany be defeated and any commitments in other theatres, such as Salonika, Italy and Palestine should be reduced to a minimum, his divisions on the Western Front should be brought up to strength and the British should not be required to take over any more of the front from the French.

The Riga German Offensive in early September 1917 led to the Russian collapse, hostilities on the Eastern Front formally ending in December 1917 but before then the Germans had begun the process of transferring divisions and artillery from Russia to the Western Front.  It was also appreciated by the Allies that a massive assault upon the Allied line was probable before the arrival of significant American reinforcements.

At a meeting of the War Cabinet on the 11th October 1917,where Sir John French and Sir Henry Wilson were also present, Lloyd George set out four possible strategies (1) to adopt Haig’s proposal of total concentration on the Western Front (2) whilst recognising the main effort should be on the Western Front, to continue operations in the other areas with the existing forces remaining in those theatres (3) to adopt a defensive strategy on all fronts, maintaining the blockade of Germany and await the arrival of American forces at the Front in strength (4) to concentrate all efforts in a theatre other than the Western Front, for example Turkey, to defeat one of Germany’s major allies.

French and Wilson had been invited to submit to the War Cabinet their military advice and French was of the view that strategy (3) was the course to be adopted whilst Wilson thought that only on the Western Front could the defeat of Germany be achieved but both recommended the establishment of a Supreme War Council. This was proposed by Lloyd George to the French Minister for War on 28th October following this meeting.

At an Allied Conference at Rapallo on the 7th November 1917 a Supreme War Council was formally set up, the constitution being the Prime Minister and a Member of the Government of each of the principal allies with three Permanent Military Representatives for France, Great Britain and Italy (later expanded to include the United States).

On the 14th December the Supreme War council decided that the British should take over some 25 miles of the front in the St. Quentin sector from the French to south of the Oise River near Barisis which was completed by the end of January 1918, the area being the responsibility of a newly constituted Fifth Army commanded by General Sir Hubert Gough who had come from the Ypres sector to take command.    

By order of the British War Cabinet a reorganisation of all British divisions in France was effected:  the divisional infantry establishment was reduced from 12 to 9 battalions by removing one battalion from each Brigade.  This resulted inter alia in the disbandment of a number of battalions the personnel being allocated to bring other battalions up to strength. In January 1918 the Supreme War Council ordered Field Marshal Haig to take over from the French a sector of some 28 miles from St. Quentin to south of the Oise River just below the town of Barisis, behind the German line.

By the 1st December 1917 the number of American troops in France had reached a total of 130,000, comprising four divisions all engaged in training except the 1st Division in the line in the Nancy sector.  The general question of future military policy on which the strength and plans of the Allied Armies  in each theatre of war were to be based was still unanswered and so on the 3rd December Sir Douglas Haig assembled his four Army commanders and informed them that for the next few months they would have to adopt a defensive attitude and be prepared to meet a strong and sustained German offensive. 

Instructions on the measures to be taken for organising the defences were issued from G.H.Q. on the 14th December 1917 after the suggestions of the Army commanders had been received and considered.   A front-line defence system was to be regarded as an outpost line, the Forward Zone, held in some degree of strength with redoubts at intervals but such as to require the enemy to commit substantial numbers of troops and a bombardment to pass through to reach the front of the Battle Zone.  This was envisaged as a strong defence system sited in the best possible position, unlike the Forward Zone which was often the place reached at the culmination of an attack and not really suitable for defence anyway.  The Battle Zone was to be sited 2000/3000 yards behind the Forward Zone and some 2000/3000 yards in width.  Only the Forward Zone had to be manned all the time by battalions serving on a rotation basis; for the Battle Zone most of the defenders remained in billets nearby, working on the defences or training but ready to man the Zone if an attack was believed to be imminent.  In so far as the Forward Zone was concerned, the troops could move back to the Battle Zone if necessary but the Battle Zone was to be held at all costs. The Rear Zone on which the defence could fall back if necessary or advisable was to be 4 to 8 miles behind the Battle Zone but in view of the shortage of labour the Rear Zone was only to be reconnoitred and later marked out and if possible wired. There was a somewhat uneven distribution of Divisions of the B.E.F., with Second Army furthest to the North in the Ypres sector having 12 Divisions for a frontage of 23 miles, First Army with 14 Divisions for 33 miles, Third Army 14 Divisions for 28 miles and Fifth Army 12 Infantry and 3 Cavalry Division for 42 miles.

The Allies had little doubt that the Germans would mount an offensive in the west but there was no unanimity of view as to when and where the attack would be made.

Despite the failure on the Yser and before Ypres in October – November 1914, O.H.L. (the German Supreme Command) had never abandoned hope of breaking the Allied front in the West and bringing about a decision there.  OHL had pondered where best to make the attempt, as soon as sufficient troops could be assembled as a striking force, in 1915, 1916 and 1917.

In October 1917 the Operations Section of the Supreme Command put forward proposals for an offensive on the Western Front but it was not until the German and Austrian offensive in Italy was seen to be a success and it became evident that Russia would shortly be out of the war did General Erich von Ludendorff take matters in hand and to discuss plans for 1918 a conference took place on the 11th November 1917 at Mons.  An operation in Flanders in the direction Baiilleul – Hazebrouck was considered but the difficulty was in winter the valley of the Lys was flooded and difficult to cross and the operation could not be carried out before April:  to anticipate an attack from the Allies, the German offensive had to be at the latest by the end of February or beginning of March 1918.  Next an attack against the French was mooted, by converging attacks both sides of Verdun which if successful, the chance of a French – American offensive in the Spring would be prevented and the whole German effort could then be turned against the British.  Finally an attack somewhere south of Flanders, Arras or St. Quentin was suggested.  The conclusion was the situation in Russia and Italy meant the possibility of a blow on the Western Front in 1918, at the end of February beginning of March before the Americans could throw strong forces into the scale and the defeat of the British was paramount.  Ludendorff favoured an operation near St. Quentin – after gaining the line Ham - Peronne, operations could be carried further in a north-westerly direction with the left flank resting on the Somme which could lead to the rolling up of the British front.  Nothing was in fact settled on the 11th November but further ideas were put forward although from the beginning of November the collection of ammunition and other material had begun and the transfer of troops from Italy and from the East to the West continued.  There was a second conference on the 27th December but the final decision was not made until the 21st January 1918 after a tour of the Western Front by Ludendorff and Army Chiefs of Staff.  “George” in the valley of the Lys was too dependent on the weather; “Mars” near Arras with the British in possession of Vimy Ridge was too difficult; “Michael” (on both sides of St. Quentin) would be carried out with the right wing extended to the Scarpe River near Arras.

 “Michael” would take place about the 20th March 1918.  The northern-most sector was that for which the German 17th Army was responsible.   The 17th Army would attack from south of the Scarpe River, which flows from East to West, from south east to north of Arras, heading towards Bapaume and taking the North side of the Flesquieres Salient West of Cambrai, attacking the British Third Army.

The centre sector was the responsibility of the German 2nd Army who would take the South side of the Flesquieres Salient heading towards Hermies (at the northern end) and Peronne (at the south) again opposed by the British Third Army.

The southern-most sector was the responsibility of the German 18th Army which would attack on either side of St. Quentin, in German hands, heading North towards Peronne and South towards Ham to take up a flank position extending along the River Somme (flowing North from Ham to Peronne, then bearing West to the Sea) and the Crozat Canal (which runs from East to West above Ham, then turns to run North to Peronne.  The southern sector boundary was the La Fere sector, the line of the Oise River and the boundary between the British Fifth Army and the French Army.  The 18th German Army was attacking the British Fifth Army.

Depending on the outcome “Mars” would follow, the German advance being from South of Lens in a south westerly direction towards Arras, held by the British First and Third Armies.

“George” would follow in April when it was expected the area of Flanders in the valley of the Lys River south of Armentieres would have dried enough for offensive action.

Having determined that “Michael” would be the major operation and that preparations could not be wholly concealed from the British, O.H.L. sought to mislead the Allies as to the real target, by the use of rumours and false reports and then on the 20th March a heavy artillery bombardment in the Champagne sector and attacks in strength in the Verdun and Reims sectors, that the main attack would be on the French.

By February 1918 there were unmistakable signs that the enemy was planning a major offensive but the problem was to identify upon which sector the blow would fall.  The answer was provided by a chain of unusual circumstances.  In late January 1918 a German pilot was shot down and crashed behind the lines of General Gough’s Fifth Army.  He was buried with full military honours and in accordance with their practice the RFC managed to drop a weighted message bag with his personal effects on the pilot’s base.  His mother received a message of sympathy signed by the pilot’s Army Commander General von Hutier and it was quickly realised that if he was opposing the Fifth Army that was where the blow was likely to fall as he was the architect of the Austrian victory at Caporetto and at Riga on the Eastern Front and he banked on the element of surprise, a hurricane bombardment followed by his troops surging forward behind a rolling barrage  sweeping all opposition aside, bypassing strong-points for mopping up by following formations.   

By the evening of the 20th March 1918 a ground fog had developed steadily over the whole area occupied by the British Fifth and Third Armies which thickened during the night.  Some British Divisions set about manning their battle stations forthwith and from about 3.30 a.m. onwards the artillery began intermittent fire on areas where it was thought the Germans might be assembling.

About 4.40 a.m. on the 21st March 1918 a terrific bombardment opened with a crash on the whole front of the Fifth Army;  on the frontages of V, IV and VI Corps of the Third Army and on the front of the First Army between Fleur-baix (just north of the La Bassee canal) and Armentieres. The bombardment, which included gas shell, at first appeared to be directed chiefly on artillery positions, and on machine-gun posts in the Battle Zone as well as behind that zone.  Initially the shelling of the forward zones was insignificant but from  9.35 a.m.light and heavy trench mortars opened rapid fire on the British front lines.

The British artillery responded to the German bombardment firing on their night lines as unable to see their aiming posts and orders were issued for the troops held in readiness behind the Battle Zones to man battle stations.

At 9.40 a.m. the German bombardment changed to a creeping barrage behind which the specially trained Storm Troops equipped with flamethrowers and light machine-guns advanced:  more than a million German troops had been lined up to attack the fronts of the British Third and Fifth Armies.

On the 23rd February 1918 20th Division’s Headquarters was opened at Ercheu in the Fifth Army area.  Ercheu is about 7 miles south west of Ham.  The Brigades were all billeted in this area and the Division was in G.H.Q. Reserve but was to be placed at the disposal of the XVIII Corps commanded by Lieutenant General Sir Ivor Maxse in the event of a German attack on the Corps front.  During the rest of February and the first three weeks of March all units worked from time to time on the defences behind the battle zone and reconnoitred the positions which they would have to occupy in accordance with the various schemes prepared to meet a German offensive.  On the 20th March 1918 the 12th Battalion was preparing the defences of Offoy, a village on the Somme canal north west of Ham.

On arrival in the area troops had been ordered to be ready to move at 24 hours notice, reduced to 12 hours on the 10th March and on the 20th to one hour.  Just after 5 a.m. on the 21st March XVIII Corps issued the order “Man Battle Stations.” XVIII Corps. held a line facing St. Quentin from Urvillers, 2 miles south of St. Quentin curving round the town  to Gricourt about 2 miles north west of the town.  36th Division held the right sector, next the 30th the centre with the 61st Division on the left.  The 20th Division if called upon to support this line was to move forward ready to man the rear zone defences between the Somme and the Omignon river, a line of about 8 miles north to south from a point about 4 miles east of Ham.

By noon the line had been penetrated at various points and at 1 p.m. the infantry of the 20th Division was ordered to concentrate behind the rear zone defences.  At 2.30 p.m. the 12th Battalion went north west via Sancourt to a sunken road north west of the village of  Douchy north east of Ham, Douchy itself being heavily shelled.  By midnight the Battalion was on the extreme left of the 60th Brigade with its right on Fluquiries and its left just south of Vaux, a line some 6 miles north east of Ham.

On the 22nd March news that the Germans had broken through the units holding the forward zones was received and to expect an attack in the afternoon and at 3.50 p.m. a long drawn out bugle call heralded an attack in force.  The enemy penetrated at Vaux and at Fluquieres with “A” Company being practically cut off; a gap in the wire enabled the enemy to try to get through but four attempts were frustrated by Lewis guns pushed out in front but with all officers killed or wounded the position was untenable and the company had to retire about 2 miles to positions dug during the day by a Labour company.   Just before midnight under cover of mist the enemy attacked again and drove a wedge between the two sides forcing a further retirement, with troops being captured by the Germans.  The Battalion went back West to Sancourt (north west of Ham) where with a belt of wire outside the village a new position was taken up when orders from Brigade resulted in a further retirement to the southern bank of the Somme Canal to hold a bridgehead at Offoy.

Offoy was reached at dawn with the bridge across the canal already mined ready to be blown up and the troops crossed the canal to hold a bridgehead from Offoy to Canizy just to the south.  The day passed uneventfully but as soon as darkness fell, there was a great deal of noise and shouting in Offoy the other side of the canal but the use of Vickers and Lewis guns produced quiet!  But it was obvious from the noise of staking and moving of planks that the enemy was preparing to cross the canal however his attempt to cross the Offoy bridge were forestalled by “C” Company of the Battalion.  Some 1200 yards to the East the Germans managed to get over the canal, part of a unit of the Royal Irish Rifles broke in disorder and the flank of the 12th Battalion was exposed until a counter- attack, a charge with the bayonet, had a wonderful effect and the Germans were driven back into Canizy but were too numerous to force back over the canal itself. 

At 3 p.m. on the 24th March the Germans crossed the Somme Canal at Voyennes and the Battalion had then to withdraw to Breuil some 5 miles west of Ham on the Canal du Nord, carried out successfully under heavy shell and machine-gun fire from both flanks with several casualties. The Battalion crossed the Canal du Nord at Breuil and took up a position of about 1000 yards with the 12th Rifle Brigade on the left and 6th King’s Shropshire Light Infantry on the right.  About 10.15 p.m. the enemy opened terrific machine-gun fire from across the canal later bringing up light field guns.

At dawn on the 25th March the British positions were subjected to bombardment at point blank range and then in the afternoon the British bridgeheads at Buverchy to the south and Langevoisin to the north gave and with the Brigade position menaced on both flanks at 7 p.m. the Battalion was ordered back some 2 to 3 miles to hold a new line. Even as the companies were moving out of their posts, the enemy forced his way over the bridge and a German officer dressed in British uniform called upon the troops to halt but he was promptly bayoneted but the German troops surrounded Battalion H.Q. and later it was established that amongst others the C.O. Lieutenant Colonel L G Moore D.S.O. had been wounded and captured with other H.Q. personnel.  The retirement, at first orderly and organised, ended in some disorder as the troops were caught in shell and machine-gun fire as they climbed up slopes. On reaching Cressy (about 3 miles south of Nesle) on the new line, it was found that the French had posts on the outskirts and the Battalion was asked to form a defensive flank on their right until another of their regiments should arrive and the Battalion remained there until about midnight when a further retirement to Roye via Solente was ordered.

The Battalion reached Roye (a march of some 5 miles) at 3 a.m. on the 26th March. The Battalion with other units of the 60th Brigade sat down to rest in a field while in a gutted building adjoining it by the light of electric torches the Brigadier held a conference of Battalion Commanders.  Weak French detachments had taken over the front held by the 20th division but were then retiring and the Division had perforce to leave Roye at 6.45 a.m. with the Germans attacking the town as they left.  The direction of retirement was now north west, the Battalion reaching Le Quesnil (some 4 miles south west of Rosieres) at 1 p.m. where they remained until 7.30 p.m. manning the defences.  A further retirement to Arvillers was ordered which was reached at 9 p.m. and the Battalion then manned a defence line.  About a mile ahead at Erchies units from the 36th and 61st Division held a very good position.

By 11 a.m. on the 27th March those units began to come back through the Brigade lines in great disorder, apparently the 36th Division’s flank had been turned by the advancing enemy.  60th Brigade was ordered to hold Arvillers at all costs, the village being heavily shelled.  Early in the afternoon 2 German officers and orderlies cycled through the Battalion lines, one officer wearing British uniform, the others not disguised at all.  They had taken the wrong road and 3 were killed by Lewis Gun fire.  Later in the evening a German soldier in British uniform was captured again cycling into the village who again had taken the wrong road!

On the 28th March the 59th and 61st Brigades were relieved before dawn, moving south east to Domart but the 60th Brigade and the 12th Battalion were not ordered back until 12 noon as a very heavy German bombardment  had begun at dawn and even then the Battalion had to fall back under shell and machine gun fire heavier than any yet experienced.  The Battalion went back about 2 miles to East of Hangest en Santerre and then through that village to Fresnoy to reach Rifle Wood about 3 p.m. where the Battalion bivouaced for the night which was quiet except German aircraft dropped bombs into the neighbouring woods. Rifle Wood is about 1000 square yards in extent, abuts on its northern edge the Amiens – Roye – Noyon road and is some 1200 yards south of Hangard.

On the 29th March touch was obtained with the French whose line on the right of the 20th Division reached Moreuil on the l’Avre River  4 miles to the west who later in the morning were reported to be falling back; it was then reported that the French were also falling back from Mezieres about 2 miles to the north west and at 11.30 a.m. the Battalion was ordered to advance in artillery formation towards Mezieres to take up a position on the right of 59th Brigade west of the village.  Enemy artillery was active.  At 4 p.m. a counter attack was organized with 59th Brigade to recapture the village and the Battalion on the extreme right took part capturing many prisoners, two heavy trench mortars, two teams of horses with limbers and several machine guns.  However with the enemy advancing in strength to the north of the village, they occupied the woods to the north-west of Mezieres and this caused the Battalion and the other units to retire back to Rifle Wood under considerable machine-gun fire leaving behind the mortars and machine guns which had been put out of action.  53 prisoners between the Battalion and the 12th Rifle Brigade were sent back from Mezieres.  A line was formed in front of and to the left of Little Wood and Rifle Wood where the troops now very mixed up dug in.  Fresh Lewis Gun ammunition was drawn and the cookers came up and the men had a hot meal.

On the 30th March considerable machine gun fire throughout the morning exposed at about 11 a.m. the right of the Rifle Brigade and they fell back.  The 12th Battalion was forced back until about 7 p.m. with the 12th Rifle Brigade and the 12th K.R.R.C. organised into one battalion for a counter attack with some support from the 59th Brigade troops and the French, effected a recovery of the whole of the original line, assisted by a 20 minute British bombardment.  49 prisoners and 9 machine-guns were captured by the two battalions.  Although subjected to an intensive enemy bombardment the Battalion held on to their positions.

On the 31st March the enemy attacked the French at Moreuil, and the 8th Division on the right of the 20th Division; the attack spread northwards and the 20th Division was gradually forced back on to the River Luce (which runs from east to west to join the l’Avre River north of Moreuil).  In the 12th K.R.R.C. area the Germans captured Little Wood attacking and almost annihilating “D” Company.  The Battalion was forced back to Hourges and made one last stand on the slopes from Rifle Wood but the position was unfavourable and the Battalion had to fall back to Domart sur la Luce just over 3 miles south of Villers-Bretonneux.

On the 1st April the 20th Division was holding a series of bridge-head positions and the right flank was secured by a brilliant counter-attack by the 2nd Cavalry Brigade with the support of 100 men from the 59th Brigade. No further attacks were made by the enemy and at about 9 p.m. the Battalion joined the rest of the 60th Brigade on the Domart – Amiens road to march about 3 miles to the embussing point and starting at 5 a.m. on the 2nd April went to the village of Quevauvillers where the men were given a good, hot meal later going into billets in the village of Revelles (both villages some 3 miles south west of Amiens)  The Battalion remained there until the 5th April and then proceeded by route march to Fresnevillle (9 miles north west of Amiens) where a draft of 400 other ranks joined and the Battalion then moved north to Bray sur Somme where another large party of 300 other ranks and two officers helped to bring the Battalion up to strength.

In the period 21st March 1918 to 2nd April 1918 the losses of the 12th Battalion were 6 officers and 37 other ranks killed, 11 officers and 216 other ranks wounded, 6 officers and 6 other ranks wounded and believed prisoners of war,  2 officers and 207 other ranks missing, prisoners of war.

These figures come from the Battalion Diary and the Regimental History but it is likely that a considerable number of those recorded as missing subsequently were found to have been killed and for example 57 casualties are recorded as occurring on the 2nd April 1918 in the Battalion when for most of the day the Battalion was not under enemy attack.

Rifleman Sydney Hammond was one of those members of the Battalion killed in these operations.
 
 He was awarded the British War Medal, the Victory Medal and the 1914 -1915 Star.

William Harris, Private No. 7472 1st Battalion Coldstream Guards; died at Ghelluvelt on or after 29th October 1914. Commemorated on Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial Belgium which records 56,000 missing of the British Empire with no known grave who fell in the Ypres Salient from October 1914 to the night of 15/16 August 1916 when the Battle of Langemarck began.  The total was so vast that the Imperial War Graves Commission ran out of space on the Menin Gate and the remaining 34,888 British men are commemorated on the Memorial Wall at the rear of Tyne Cot Cemetery.

William Harris was born in about 1887 in Wyck Gloucester, the son of Charles Harris.
In 1901 Charles Harris (43) a miner born in Wyck Gloucestershire was living in Ansley near Nuneaton with his wife Emma (42) born Ansley, Charles (16) a miner born Wyck, William (14) (miner, horse driver underground) born Wyck, Thomas (4) born Ansley, Louise (7) and Mabel (5).  By the early 1920s Charles Harris was living at 23 Westbury Road, Stockingford, Nuneaton.

 Private Harris landed in France with the 1st Battalion Coldstream Guards on the 13th August 1914.

The 1st Battalion was based at Blenheim Barracks when it was mobilised on the 4th August 1914.  It was to form part of the British Expeditionary Force under the Supreme Command of Field Marshal Sir John French and was in the 1st Division 1st (Guards) Brigade in 1st Corps. commanded by Lieutenant General Sir Douglas Haig.  The 2nd and 3rd Brigades made up the other elements of the Division.  With the 1st Coldstream in 1st (Guards) Brigade were the 1st Battalion Scots Guards, 1st Battalion The Black Watch (Royal Highlanders) and 2nd Royal Munster Fusiliers until September 1914 when the 1st Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders replaced the 2nd Munsters. The 1st Battalion Coldstream Guards landed at Havre on the 13th August 1914 and Private Harris was in one of the companies.  By the 17th August the Battalion had reached Boue 2 miles from Etreux, where the whole of the 1st (Guards) Brigade was billeted and the Battalion  remained there until the 21st August. when they marched to Cartignies and then over the next day or so through Maubeuge to Vieux Reng on the frontier with Belgium remaining there until the 23rd August.

The Battalion was not directly involved in the Battle of Mons but with the British Expeditionary Force participated in the retreat from Mons, the Battle of the Marne and the advance to the River Aisne.  It was here that the German armies, in retreat from the River Marne, turned to fact their pursuers.  It was an ideal defensive position, high ground north of the River.  The Allies were faced with crossing the River itself to be confronted with German guns in commanding positions on the opposite bank.  Units of the British Expeditionary Force and French 5th Army forced their way across the river on the 12th September but there was no possibility of a breakthrough and both the Allies and the Germans began to extend operations northward by seeking to recover a war of movement by striking around the open flank of the other.  At the end of September Sir John French suggested to General Joseph Joffre the French Commander in chief that the BEF should resume its designated pre-war position, on the extreme left flank of the French armies and on the 3rd October 1914 the cavalry of the BEF began to move north, followed by the 2nd and 3rd Corps with the 1st Corps starting north on the 13th October and the last troops leaving on the 17th.

By the end of August 1914 the remnants of the Belgian forces had taken refuge in Antwerp,

 the great fortress port on the Schelde. At the end of September the Germans began an attack on Antwerp first driving the garrison within the lines and then in early October opened a bombardment on the outer forts.  On the 3rd October a Brigade of Marines from the Royal Naval Division arrived in Antwerp to bolster the defence, two Brigades of amateur sailor volunteers making up the other two Brigades of the Division arriving on the 5th October and these forces held out against German attacks until the 9th October 1914 when the Belgian Army withdrew  to the line of the canalised river Yser where they held out resisting German advances towards Dunkirk eventually opening the sluices of Nieuport and by the end of the month flooding an area stopping the German advance in its tracks.  Some of the Naval Division was able to escape from Antwerp.  The British Government attached enormous importance to preventing the fall of Antwerp and dispatched the 7th Division,  made up of Regular Battalions, which landed at Zeebrugge on the 6th October moving forward to Bruges but then had to return to Ostend to secure the arrival of the 3rd Cavalry Division on the 8th October.  With the fall of Antwerp on the 10th October there was a change of plan, and the 7th Division and the 3rd Cavalry Division moved south heading for Roulers.

On the 3rd October, when the BEF began to move North, a newly established French 10th Army with French cavalry on its left had established a position at the most northerly end of the front just to the south of La Bassee and on the 11th October 1914 Second Corps of the BEF was south of the canal running from Bethune to La Bassee facing North and in touch with the French 10th Army south of La Bassee: on the 12th October the Corps swung North West and then by the 15th was facing East, in a line west of Aubers the intention being an advance to the East for Lille.  By the 19th October units had reached a position west of Lorgies/Violanes.

On the 11th October 1914 Third Corps of the BEF was East of St. Omer and advanced East through Hazebrouck reaching Bailleul on the 14th and by the 19th Fromelles.  By that date considerable reinforcements had arrived to add to the number of troops opposing the Allied forces and on the 22nd October the British withdrew to a new line from Givenchy to Neuve Chapelle when the Lahore Division of the Indian Corps arrived and went into reserve north of Bethune.

Throughout this entire period there was intense fighting with German forces increasing in number and with better artillery support.

North of the Lys River the 1st and 2nd Cavalry Divisions gained contact with the 7th Division and 3rd Cavalry Division moving from Roulers towards Ypres and by the 16th October the 7th Division was holding a line from Zandvoorde through Gheluvelt to Zonnebeke, with the cavalry on the left from Zonnebeke to Langemarck.  The 7th Division was ordered to advance south east to seize Menin but the Germans had assembled four new Corps. some 250,000 men who threatened the flank of the 7th Division and the units retired back to Ypres.

By the 18th October 1914 the British line from the south consisted of the Second Corps and the advance guard of the Indian Corps near La Bassee, the Third Corps in the area of Armentieres, the 1st and 2nd Cavalry Divisions near Messines and Wytschaete, the 7th Division near Gheluvelt and finally the 3rd Cavalry Division on the left of 7th Division joining with the French who carried the line to where the Belgians had reformed on the Yser.

First Corps had arrived from the Aisne and on the night of 18th October was at Vlamertinghe, between Hazebrouck and Poperinghe or detraining near Hazebrouck. Sir John French had already decided that 1st Corps would go to Flanders but he did not intend to commit the Corps to battle immediately. On the evening of 19th October French decided, estimating the enemy strength as about one corps, that First Corps should advance without delay through Ypres and then proceed north east through Thourout, capture Bruges and drive the Germans back to Ghent.  At 10 p.m. on the 20th October 1st Corps. issued operation orders for an advance up to a line Passchendaele-Poelcappelle.  2nd Division was considerably nearer to the front than 1st Division and by 6.30 a.m. on the 21st October with the leading troops on the Zonnebeke-Langemarck road was ready to move north-eastward. In fact intelligence reports of substantial German reserves arriving at Brussels had been ignored and the BEF was advancing towards substantial German forces, in fact a new German Fourth Army mostly led by reservist or retired officers and manned by wartime volunteers with only a few weeks training but unlike the BEF entirely fresh.

At first steady progress was made but the enemy’s fire became ever more heavy and by mid afternoon with the units unable to make further progress and with the 1st Division’s flank exposed when the French Cavalry Corps and Territorials to the left of 1st Division was ordered to retire to the west of the Ypres canal in part because of pressure from the enemy attacking from Houtholst Forest, it was decided to stand fast on a line from north west of Zonnebeke to a point just over a mile east from St. Julien village the line being entrenched at dusk.  The two Divisions of 1st Corps were in fact being attacked by five German divisions sustaining over 900 casualties.

The 1st Battalion Coldstream Guards was released from duty in the Aisne area on the night of 15th – 16th October 1914 reaching Hazebrouck on the 18th October and moving North West to billets in the Cassel/Poperinghe area the next day.  The Battalion left Poperinghe at 5.15 a.m. on the 21st  October reached Elverdinghe at 8.30 and crossed the Ypres canal to reach a position north of Pilkem village some 3 hours later. The 1st Division was to attack in the general direction of Poelcappelle.  The 2nd Division was on its right and was to attack in the general direction of Passchendaele.  The 7th Division was to the right of 2nd Division  and south of Zonnebeke.

The Third Brigade of 1st Division was the leading unit and on arrival at Langemarck began to move forward towards the north of Poelcappelle but had to spread out to seize the village of Koekuit beyond which the enemy was forming up. This was the point at which the French retired and also when the 1st Coldstreams reached the Langemarck area.  Two companies were sent forward to support the 3rd Brigade when Koekuit was recaptured but the village was abandoned at nightfall as it was too far in advance of the general line.   At nightfall the 1st (Guards) Brigade held a front of about 3 miles between the Langemarck-Koekuit and Elverdinghe-Dixmude roads some 10 miles North of Ypres.

The events of the day made it plain to Sir John French that he was opposed by a strong enemy and that north of the Lys River was facing at least five German Corps and also numerous cavalry divisions constituting the German 6th and 4th Armies whose objectives were to crush the Allied flank at Ypres and then wheel to take the ports of Dunkirk and Calais then press south and roll up the Allied line so the projected advance towards Bruges was abandoned and troops were ordered to entrench on the ground they were then holding.

The British defences at Ypres were at best short, disconnected lengths of trenches, 3 feet deep with no wire, dugouts or communication trenches excavated with bayonets, sharpened stakes, spades looted from farms or bare hands.

It had been agreed that the French would take responsibility for the northern defences about Ypres which ran from Broodseinde through Langemarck to Steenstraate and then along the Yser Canal to Dixmude where the Belgian Army joined and with the support of the French 42nd Division continued to the sea.  The relief of 1st Corps began on the afternoon of the 23rd October and was completed, in so far as the 1st Battalion Coldstream Guards were concerned, at dawn on Sunday the 25th October.  The Battalion’s casualties in this period were 31 killed, including Lieutenant F R Pollock, 93 wounded, including Captain G M Paget, and 73 missing from, in so far as the Battalion was concerned a few enemy minor attacks but companies took part in the fighting around Kortekeer Cabaret an Inn on cross roads about a mile north of Pilkem where on the 22nd October 1st Infantry Brigade was attacked in great force by units of the German Army who advanced singing “Die Wacht am Rhein”, the 1st Battalion being involved on the 23rd October. 

When the French Territorials had taken over their trenches, the Battalion moved south reaching Zillebeke at 10 a.m. on the 25th October.  The Battalion, with the other units in 1st Division was in reserve on both the 25th and 26th October, on the 26th East of the village of Hooge.  During the night of the 25th October the enemy got into the village of Kruiseecke in greatly superior numbers and cut off two companies of the Scots Guards but the other companies counter-attacked and fighting from house to house captured nearly 200 prisoners and restored the line. At 9 a.m. on the 26th, German artillery began a heavy bombardment of the trenches of the units defending the village of Kruiseecke followed by an infantry attack about 10 a.m. the village being captured and British forces cut off by 2.30 p.m., the German attacking force being equivalent to 15 battalions.  Nine officers and about 300 other ranks were taken prisoner, including 1 officer and 60 men of the Scots Guards whose trenches had been battered by the accurate fire of an 8 inch German mortar.

On the 27th and 28th October the 1st Division remained in reserve awaiting an expected German attack, described as not a very active day even for those in the front line with some shelling but snipers active enough.  At 3 p.m. on the 28th October British General H.Q. contacted General Haig to advise the receipt of an intercepted German wireless message ordering the 20th Reserve Corps to attack in the direction of Kruiseecke – Gheluvelt at 5.30 a.m. on the 29th October, the postponement of an attack ordered for the 28th.  This information was passed on to the Brigades.

This was in fact a preliminary German attack in essence to seize the high ground near Gheluvelt: the major operation was scheduled for the 30th October and for this the enemy had organised a powerful new striking force including three Bavarian Corps consisting of good quality troops backed by a massive artillery concentration.

The direction of the expected German offensive would bring it on to the junction of the 7th and 1st Divisions near the Gheluvelt cross roads almost 1 mile south-east of the village where the Menin road crosses the Kruiseecke-Poezelhoek road.  The Menin Road itself marked the Divisional boundary with the 1st Division to the north of the road facing east/north-east towards Becelaere and 7th Division to the south facing East with its right Battalion, 1st South Staffordshire, on the village of Zandvoorde.  The left battalion of the 7th Division was the 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards with the 1st Battalion Coldstream Guards next to it, the other side of the road, forming the right of the 1st Division.  Gheluvert had been a straggling typical West Flanders village with houses clustered around the church and reaching out north of the road towards a windmill and a large manor house but in the early hours of a densely foggy 29th October the village was a deserted ruin, with most of the houses and the church demolished and such houses as remained had their fronts removed, with the roadway full of great shell-holes and some carcasses of horses still remaining.

The 1st Battalion Coldstream Guards was very weak – only about 350 strong – too few indeed to hold the front assigned to it, some 1500 yards from the cross roads northward and east of the road to Poezelhoek and Becelaere.  A Company of the 1st Black Watch had been sent up to reinforce the four companies of the 1st Coldstreams to hold the position on their right to the road itself with a second company of the Black Watch posted on the left of the Coldstream and between that Battalion and the 1st Scots Guards. It was a most inadequate trench line; there were no traverses, no communication trenches; one strand of wire slung with tins full of pebbles was stretched in front of them.  The four companies of the Coldstream had a strength of some 350, less than the establishment of two normal infantry companies. Even with the Black Watch there was a gap of some 200 yards covered by thick woods between the Coldstream and the 1st Scots Guards, and all the defending troops were scattered in groups some distance apart and by reason of the buildings, enclosures and woods that then covered the district, their view was obstructed and their posts often out of sight of each other.

Punctually at 5.30 a.m. on Thursday the 29th October 1914 in foggy weather the 6th Bavarian Reserve Division covered by a screen of skirmishers got up to within 50 yards of the British defences without being seen and made a rush upon the trenches of the right half of the 1st Battalion Coldstream Guards as well as upon the company of the Black Watch posted at the cross roads.  The troops of both the Coldstream and the Black Watch opened fire but the momentum of the German advance prevailed.  Two machine-guns sited to command the Kruiseik cross roads east of the village each capable of firing 500 rounds a minute jammed one after the other.  A batch of rifle ammunition had been issued the previous evening to the 1st Corps line where the brass cartridge cases were slightly oversize. The round could be forced into the breech of the rifle but the empty case could only be extracted by lowering the rifle butt to the ground and tugging the bolt back rather than by flicking the bolt with the wrist, to produce the magic 50 rounds a minute rate of fire. So there was no means to arrest the progress of the enemy who took advantage of the gaps in the line to overwhelm the weakest companies nearest to the Menin Road.  At the same time the two companies constituting the left of the front, furthest from the Menin Road, were attacked by units of the German XXVIIth Reserve Corps but three attempts by the Germans failed.  Indeed at one point troops from one of the companies were firing in two directions when the enemy got into one of the British trenches. Seemingly the XXVIIth Reserve Corps thought they had reached only outposts and was still faced with the main defence line and it was not until about 10 a.m. that the enemy appreciated this was not the position and got to the rear of the Coldstream Guards but the men fought on bravely to the end with Sergeant Slade, to encourage them, jumping on the parapet and in full view of friend and foe continuing to fire his rife until he fell back mortally wounded.  But the ranks were thinning fast and those who survived were in deep and narrow trenches where they could not use their bayonets, when reduced to a small number and surrounded on all sides, they were finally overwhelmed.

On the south of the road and on lower ground the 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards, owing to the intervening houses and fog knew nothing of the disaster that had overwhelmed the Coldstream to the north.  At 7.30 a.m. with heavy bombardment the enemy rushed upon the Grenadiers in masses, enveloping their left flank.  But the Grenadier were able to make two counter attacks mainly with the bayonet and in spite of the overwhelming numbers of the enemy were able to hold the ground they had recaptured. 

The 1st Battalion lost all their eleven officers present and at the end of the day only some 60 other ranks were collected by Lieutenant and Quartermaster J Boyd, the sole remaining Officer of the Battalion.  Next day 60 more men joined who had wandered over to the Scots Guards and had fought with them when their own trenches were captured.  Killed in action were the Commanding Officer of the Battalion, Major the Honourable Leslie d’Henin Hamilton, Captain Gordon Hargreaves Brown, Lieutenants Geoffrey Arthur Campbell, Granville Keith Falconer Smith, the Honourable Charles Douglas-Pennant, 2nd Lieutenants the Honourable Vere Douglas Boscawen and C W Williams-Wynn all of whom (with the exception of Lieutenants Douglas-Pennant and Williams-Wynn) have no known grave and are commemorated on the Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial, Lieutenants Douglas-Pennant and Williams-Wynn being buried in Perth Cemetery (China Wall), Zillebeke.  Two officers were wounded one of whom was captured and two more officers were captured.  180 other ranks were killed, wounded or captured.  A distinction is usually drawn between those killed in action, died of wounds or died, the last usually suggesting that the casualty did not die from enemy action but that is not the situation here.  40 soldiers died and are commemorated on the Ypres (Menin Gate ) Memorial,  a further 2 died are buried in Zantvoorde British Cemetery, 3 are buried in Perth Cemetery (China Wall) and 1 in Poelcapelle British Cemetery.  44 were killed in action and are commemorated on the Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial with a further 2 buried in Harlebeke New British Cemetery, 2 in Zantvoorde British Cemetery, 1 in Tyne Cot Cemetery, Passchendaele and 2 in Perth Cemetery (China Wall).  3 soldiers died of wounds on the 29th October 1914 and are buried in Ypres Town Cemetery Extension, Poperinghe Old Military Cemetery and the third has no known grave and is commemorated on the Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial but it is extremely unlikely that these casualties were wounded in the action at Gheluvelt.

Private William Harris was one of the troops of the 1st Coldstream Guards killed in this action at Gheluvelt.

He was awarded  the  British War Medal, the Allied Victory Medal and the 1914 Star as he had served in France or Belgium between 5th August and midnight on 22 – 23 November 1914.

At 6.30 a.m. on the 30th October the German assault began continuing on the 31st October, one of the most critical days fighting of the whole war.  By dusk on the 11 November 1914 the Allies had won the First Battle of Ypres although with the Germans in possession of most of the high ground around it, “The Salient” became really a shell trap for troops defending it.  The losses in the BEF were considerable: on the 1st November, 1st Division, 18,000 men at full strength had been reduced to 92 officers and 3,491 men.  By the 11 November 1st Guards Brigade, full strength 4,000 men, had been reduced to 4 officers and 300 other ranks.

Albert Norman Henderson, Major (Acting Lieutenant Colonel) 10th (Service) Battalion Royal Warwickshire Regiment, M.C,  Killed in action aged 46 years on the 23rd July 1916 and commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial, Somme, France.  Commemorates 72,100 officers and men of the United Kingdom and South African forces who have no known grave who fell in the Somme sector in the period between the arrival of British units in 1915 and the retirement of the Germans in 1917 but the vast majority are of the July to November 1916 battle.

Albert Henderson was the youngest son of the late William Henderson of Irvine Scotland born about 1870 and he married Miss Mary Gertrude Rose eldest daughter of Sir Philip and Lady Rose in February 1895.  He and his wife lived at Street Ashton House, Street Ashton, near Monks Kirby.  He had lived at Street Ashton House since at least 1900 and he was a Justice of the Peace for Warwickshire.

He was well known in the North Warwickshire district as a follower and a liberal supporter of the Atherstone Hounds and he was a first-flight man (a close follower of the hounds).  A benevolent gentleman, for Christmas Day 1915 he provided joints of beef for all his workmen.

 This Service Battalion was at formed Warwick in September 1914.  The Battalion landed at Boulogne on the 18th July 1915 as part of 57th Brigade, 19th (Western) Division.  The three other battalions in the Brigade were the 8th Gloucesters, 10th Worcestershire and 8th North Staffordshire. Captain Albert Henderson commanded one of the four companies, "B" Company.

On arrival in France the Division was concentrated near St. Omer moving to near Merville with the Brigades going into the trenches with the Meerut or Lahore Divisions of the Indian Corps to get experience of the conditions of trench warfare and to learn the geography of the front line which the division would eventually take over.  The 10th Battalion began its period of instructional tour in the front line on the 4th August 1915 platoons or companies each going into the trenches for 48 hours.  This method of gaining an insight into the life in the forward trenches occupied the Brigade for about a month and was followed when on the 28th August the Division took over from the 2nd and 7th Divisions the front north of Givenchy.

The Division remained in this area from late August 1915 until the Spring of 1916, a long period of some 9 months during which the front line troops carried out trench warfare of a more or less vigorous nature.  The Battle of Loos was the only major battle in this period but only the 58th Brigade was involved.  On the 9th November 1915 Captain Henderson went on leave to England returning on the 17th November. On the 23rd December he was admitted to hospital rejoining the Battalion on the 6th January 1916.

In May 1916 the Division moved south to the Somme sector the 57th Brigade’s training area being at Vignacourt before moving to St. Riquier.  By the 1st June 1916 the whole area behind the British front line from Maricourt to Hebuterne had assumed the appearance of a vast armed camp.  Behind the front lines large parties of troops were hard at work on the communications, dug-outs, the formation of dumps and all the necessary duties connected with the staging of a great battle.  In these preparations the 19th Division took an active part as well as continuing the training of all units.  from the 13th to the 20th of June four parties of officers and N.C.O.s from the 57th and 58th Brigades visited the trenches for a two–days tour being attached to the 8th and 34th Divisions.

In June 1916 Captain Henderson was promoted Major and 2nd in command of the Battalion and in the same month his award of the Military Cross was gazetted.

The training and the preparatory work was for the Battle of the Somme, the attempt by Anglo-French forces to break though the German lines by a massive infantry assault preceded by a long artillery bombardment to try and secure conditions in which the cavalry would then move forward to exploit the breakthrough and force the enemy to retire.  However during a period of almost two years the Germans had made their position on the high ground from Gommecourt in the north to Montauban in the south, in the British sector,  almost impregnable with vast under-ground dug-outs in fortified villages protected by formidable belts of barbed-wire entanglements mostly sited on rising ground from which the defenders could overlook the British forward positions.

With the 8th and 34th Divisions, the 19th Division formed the III Corps under the command of Lieut.-General Sir W.P. Pulteney the Corps taking over the front near Ovillers la Boiselle.

On the 1st July 1916 III Corps was to attack with the 8th Division to the north of the Albert – Bapaume Road heading for Ovillers la Boisselle and the 34th Division to the south of that road heading for La Boisselle, that Division’s attack being assisted by the explosion of a mine at Y Sap just north of La Boisselle and at Lochnager just to the south..  19th Division was the Corps Reserve Division.

Both of the attacks by 8th Division and 34th Division totally failed.  In 8th Division’s area the heavy artillery lifted from the German front line to the rear support line near Pozieres at 7 a.m. 30 minutes before zero.  Likewise in 34th Division’s area all units would advance at zero, that is no reserves, like 8th Division the heavy artillery would lift from the German front line leaving just field guns to fire on the German trench system and the fortified villages: the actual village of La Boisselle was not to be attacked but was to be screened by candle smoke to prevent the German defenders from seeing the advancing troops.  When the 34th Division units attacked the wind was not blowing in the right direction so the assault battalions had to cross no mans land of 800 yards in full view of the German defenders in the village and surrounding trenches.

Until La Boisselle was taken no progress could be made and in late afternoon the order to attack and capture the village was received by 19th Division and at 7.14 p.m. it was ordered that the 57th and 58th Brigades would attack that night, the dividing line being the La Boisselle – Contalmaison road.  However this was an impossible order as the whole of the area was held still by 34th Division with communication trenches blocked with stretcher bearers and slightly wounded men and parties going to and from the front line so that when dawn broke on the 2nd July the 57th Brigade was in the front line opposite the northern end of the La Boisselle salient when orders were received that the attack would start at 2.15 a.m. on the 3rd July, the Battalion to be in Brigade reserve.
At 2.15 a.m. the 8th North Staffs started to clear up the village of La Boisselle with the 10th Worcesters attacking the German front line.  At 8 a.m. two companies of the Battalion went up to support the 8th Gloucesters then in reserve and the other two companies went forward to take over a part of the front line to enable another battalion, the 7th South Lancashire from the 56th Brigade to advance.  By 2.30 p.m. the South Lancashire was reporting that with the exception of two streets at the eastern end La Boisselle was clear of the enemy. The Battalion was then consolidating the line with British Artillery support when at 3 p.m. the C.O. Lieut. Colonel R M Heath was wounded.  Major Henderson came up at 8.30 p.m. to take over command.  At 9.15 a.m. on the 4th July the South Lancashire made a bombing attack with the Battalion in support and the object of the attack, a group of four houses with a trench alongside held by Germans with machine-guns was captured.  By 3 p.m. on the 4th July the whole of La Boisselle was in the hands of the 19th Division and the rest of the day was spent in cosolidating a line to be held at all coast. 

The Battalion was relieved in the morning of the 5th July by the 2nd Battalion of the Notts and Derby Regiment and by the evening was marching back to billets at Albert.

By the 10th July the whole of the 19th Division was in the Milllencourt area about 2 miles west of Albert where it remained until the 19th July 1916.  On the afternoon of the 19th July orders were issued for the 56th Brigade to relieve the 98th Brigade in 33rd Division in the line in front of Bazentin le Petit; the 57th Brigade was to move to a bivouac area just west of Fricourt in the old British line and then to move forward to take over a front line sector; the 58th Brigade was to move to Becourt Wood near Albert..  On completion of these reliefs the 57th Brigade on the right and the 56th on the left would hold a line from the windmill east of Bazentin le Petit to the railway line running north from Bazentin le Petit to Martinpuich.  About 1000 yards ahead of their position was the German Switch Line, which extended from the German trench system east of Pozieres (below the Albert – Bapaume road) to the Flers defences via the top section of High Wood, the nearest point of which to the position of 57th Brigade was about 1000 yards to the north east.

The 57th Brigade moved up on the night of the 19th/20th July to occupy a line running along a sunken road which runs from the north east of Bazentin le Petit towards the north west corner of High Wood but the rudimentary trenches were difficult to find and the 10th Royal Wariwckshire was not in position until 1.20 a.m. on the 20th July.  During the day the 19th Division had been ordered in conjunction with the 51st Division on the right and 1st Division on the left to attack the German Switch Line on the night of 22nd / 23rd July 1916.

By way of background on the 16th July 1916 General Sir Henry Rawlinson, Fourth Army Commander, had announced that an organised attack on a broad front was necessary to commence on the 18th July (48 hours ahead)  on the grounds that the French would co-operate by attacking both to the north and the south of the Somme River. The attack was to be by units from III, XV and XIII Corps but the zero hour for the various Divisions was to be different, so from left to right 1st and 19th Division was at 12.30 a.m.,  51st Division at 1.30 a.m., on the 23rd July, 5th Division at 10 p.m. on the 22nd July to capture Wood Lane and then to attack the Switch Line at 1.30 a.m, on the 23rd July, 3rd and 30th Divisions at 3.40 a.m. on the 23rd July with the French attack also being timed to begin at 3.40 a.m.  The preliminary bombardment began at 7 p.m. on the evening of the 22nd July but at 2 p.m. the French announced that they would not be ready to attack until the 24th July so General Rawlinson decided against any further postponement.

Up to the morning of Saturday the 22nd July fog had shrouded the whole position in the area of the German switch line preventing aerial reconnaissance but that morning the crew of a B.E.2e from 34 Squadron dived clear of the mist north of Bazentin le Petit and came upon a new trench which had been thrown up several hundred yards in advance of the Switch line, roughly parallel to the British positions between Bazentin le Petit and High Wood and this intermediate line ( which became its name) was seen to be strongly manned by the enemy.  This information completely altered the tactical situation in this sector and the crew was sent straight to III Corps on landing.  The orders for III Corps were in consequence amended to make the new trench instead of the Switch Line the first objective of the 19th Division and the 51st Division to be captured as a preliminary operation at 12.30 a.m. on the 23rd July after which these divisions should proceed to attack the Switch Line at the prearranged time of 1.30 a.m.   Problems were compounded by the fact that 51st Division never received the information that Intermediate Trench had been discovered across its line of advance and that this was to be attacked at 12.30 a.m.!  So what had been intended as a concerted major attack had become a series of uncoordinated minor attacks with four different zero hours, the first attack at 10 p.m. on the 22nd July clearly alerting the Germans to an operation in this sector.

By 8.45p.m. on Thursday the 20th July the 10th Battalion had moved up into the trenches finally getting into position about 1.20 a.m. on the 21st July.  The 10th Worcesters and 8th North Staffordshire were in the front line and there were two casualties in the 10th Warwickshire from enemy shelling.  In the early hours of the 22nd July the 10th Worcestershires, forward of the 10th Warwickshires, were seeking to capture a German machine-gun which had been pushed forward to an advanced post on the sunken road. Nothing was heard of the attacking party (48 hours later the 2 survivors got back to the British line) and so another attack on the German post was organised but no orders authorizing the attack with artillery support arrived, although one company of the Worcestershires mistakenly advanced without support and were driven back by a storm of fire. 

On the morning of the 22nd July working parties from the 10th Warwickshire were organised to dig a trench for a fall back position if the attackers were unable to hold the German line to be assaulted.  In the evening of the 22nd July orders were received by the 10th Worcestershire and the 8th Gloucestershire to attack the newly discovered Intermediate Trench and the 10th Worcestershire began preparations with zero hour after midnight when at 1120 p.m. counter orders came directing that 10th Warwickshire would replace the Worcestershires inevitably causing confusion.

The orders came to the 10th Warwickshire at 8.20 p.m. that due to unforeseen circumstances they were to relieve the 10th Worcestershires in the line and participate in the attack by the whole of III Corps at 12.30 a.m. on the 23rd July, the Warwickshires to attack the strong German line running behind High Wood, ie. the Switch Line.  Owing to the Worcesters’ guides not knowing the way and also to the heavy shelling the Warwickshre were not in position until just after 1 a.m. by which time the supporting British barrage had lifted.  The companies all went over but owing to the heavy machine-gun fire were forced to withdraw to their original trench. This trench the Battalion was ordered to hold at all costs.  The front line was held by two companies, with the other two in the reserve line.  At 5 a.m. and againat 7 a.m. flares were burnt to showtheir position.  The enemy was shelling the trenches heavily causing many casualties and at 9.45 a.m. on Sunday 23rd July 1916 Lieutenant Colonel Henderson was killed.  During the day the Battalion sought to strengthen the position and a Regular Officer Captain Dakeyne had been sent for on Arthur Henderson’s death and he arrived at 1.15 p.m.  At 9 p.m. the Battalion was ordered to send out a patrol to take a German strong point but whilst the German strong point was being shelled the Battalion was relieved by the 9th Battalion Royal Welsh Fusiliers who remained in this position until the 23rd July.

On relief the 10th Battalion Royal Warwickshire marched back to Becourt Wood, a mile east of Albert, where the companies bivouacked remaining until the 27th July when companies marched back to Albert for baths.

As well as Lieutenant Colonel Henderson, 2nd Lieutenants George Clarke and Albert Rainbow were killed, and Lieutenant Westwood, and 2nd Lieutenants Marston, Horton, Jackson, Bowyer and Pownall wounded. Nineteen other ranks: John Albrighton, Benjamin Bourne, Walter Collett, Edward Ford, Albert Gibbs, Robert Green, Herbert Ingram, George Jones, John Lomas, William Moss, George Pinson, William Ricketts, George Sparks, Isaac Swift, William Tandy, Benjamin Terry, Walter Tonks, Stanley Wareing, and William Yates, were killed, 81 wounded and 31 missing.

None of the three officers and none of the nineteen other ranks killed have any known grave and all are commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial.

The Memorial Plaque in St. Edith’s Church Monks Kirby ends with the inscription “Until the day break, and the shadows flee away,” from the Song of Solomon, an inscription commonly found on the headstones of graves in the British cemeteries in France and Belgium.

Lieutenant Colonel Henderson was awarded the Victory Medal and the British War Medal and the 1915 Star, his widow Mrs. M G Henderson applying for the issue to her of his medals in January 1921.

Grave of Private Clifford Izzard

Clifford Izzard Private No. 4450 2nd Battalion Royal Warwickshire Regiment: killed in action 8th June 1916. and buried Citadel New Military Cemetery Fricourt Somme France.  2 Miles S of Fricourt.  Records 379 UK burials.

In 1901 Clifford Izzard aged 19 and born in Northampton, a Carter, was living at 114 Pailton Pastures with his wife Alice aged 21, born Kilsby. He enlisted in Rugby whilst resident in Monks Kirby.  Before enlistment he had been employed at the Cement Works at Rugby and by Mr H Lewis of Pailton. 

He landed in France on the 27th May 1915.

At the date of his death his wife was left a widow with 7 children ranging in age from 13 years to 8 months.

On the 4th August 1914 the 2nd Battalion Royal Warwickshire was based in Malta but returned to England on the 19th September 1914 to join the 22nd Brigade part of 7th Division landing at Zeebrugge on the 6th October 1914.  The Battalion went by train to Ghent in Belgium and then by the middle of the month had gone back to the Ypres sector being involved in heavy fighting in the Zonnebeke area, an enemy attack on the 21st October supported by heavy German shelling causing many casualties.  By the end of October the battalion strength had reduced to just over 100.  The Battalion was relieved on the 4th November and went back to Ypres but two days later was involved in a counter-attack north-west of Klein Zillebeke.  By the 14th December 1914 the Battalion had been relieved and moved south to the Fleurbaix sector and again was involved in heavy fighting and on the 18th December sustained heavy casualties in another attack on the German trenches.

In January – February 1915 the Battalion carried out tours of duty in the trenches near Tourquet, in March – April the Battalion took over the front line on the 5th March but was in Divisional reserve for the Battle of Neuve Chapelle, sustaining 80 casualties on the 13th March on moving to reinforce the forward trenches.  In May 1915 the Battalion remained in this sector taking part in the Battle of Festubert between the 15th and 25th May 1915, companies advancing with great dash and quickness and arrived at the objectives but forced to withdraw due to enfilade fire.  Casualties amounted to 207 killed, wounded and missing.  In June 1915 the Battalion remained in the area north of Givenchy and that was when Private Izzard joined the Battalion.  In September 1915 the Battalion moved south of the La Bassee Canal with the other units in the 7th Division to participate in the Battle of Loos from the 25th September to the 8th October 1915.  On the 25th September 915 the 7th Division held a frontage of 1,400 yards up to the Vemelles – Hulluch road and the objectives were to capture Quarry and Breslau Trenches, including the Pope’s Nose redoubt and the to go on to seize The Quarries and Gun Trench before the leading troops went through the German second line between Hulluch and Cite St. Elie.  The 22nd Infantry Brigade was responsible for a frontage of some 600 yards and the preliminary bombardment and gas support in this area appeared to have had very little effect, most of the German wire appearing to be uncut although the first part of the advance of the 1st South Staffordshire and the 2nd Royal Warwickshire was through a gas and smoke cloud but the last 50 yards or so to the German wire was free of gas and smoke.  The German wire was a very thick and virtually uncut belt and the leading waves of both battalions attempted to cut gaps in it but suffered very heavy casualties traversing what was described as a fire zone of about 500 yards exposed to heavy-gun, machine-gun and rifle fire. The two battalions forced their way through the barbed wire belt and entered the German front line trenches, then supported by the 1st Royal Welch Fusiliers went on to capture the German Support Trench.  Of the 17 officers and 650 other ranks of the 2nd Royal Warwickshire, no officer and only 140 other ranks escaped unwounded. In this action during a bayonet charge Private Izzard was one of those wounded.  He was evacuated to England and sent to Aberdeen Hospital returning to the 2nd Battalion in December 1915.

By the 7th December 1915 the 7th Division had moved south on transfer to the Third Army ready to take over the line East of Albert, the 22nd Brigade being in the area of Molliens, north east of Amiens.  The next two months was taken up by assimilating the large drafts which had poured in after Loos, changes in the higher commands and junior ranks of officers and the transfer into the older Divisions of whole brigades from the “New Army” Divisions which were then arriving in France.  So, in the 7th Division, the 21st Brigade was transferred on the 20th December 1915 to the 30th Division, the 91st Brigade consisting of the 20th, 21st, 22nd and 24th Battalions of the Manchester Regiment coming into the 7th Division in its place.  The Division remained in this back area until early February 1916 when it returned to the line on the frontage opposite Mametz and Fricourt on relieving the 18th Division.  With 2nd Royal Warwickshire in the 22nd Brigade were the 2nd Royal Irish Regiment, the 1st Royal Welsh Fusiliers and the 20th Manchester Regiment.

The British line in this sector followed the lower slopes of the high ground sloping gradually up from the right bank of the Somme River to a height in some places of 500 feet above sea-level, the British trenches being some 200 feet lower on the Mametz – Fricourt line so giving the enemy a considerable tactical advantage.  Opposite Fricourt the lines which had been running East to West for over 7,000 yards turned abruptly to the North, Fricourt village marking a sharp salient.  The German line had been developed into a veritable fortress, bristling with redoubts and strong points, a most formidable front system containing several lines of trenches being backed by an almost equally strong second system a mile or so in the rear and higher up the slope.

On the British side, trenches had to be maintained frequently having to be rebuilt after destruction by German artillery and trench-mortars, machine gun emplacements and dug-outs built and wiring introduced or maintained.  Offensive patrols and raids on the German lines were frequent and mining and counter mining constant especially to the West of Fricourt village.

On the 1st May 1916 two companies of the Battalion were in billets in Morlancourt with the other two in the front line trenches and Kingston Road Support Trench.  This situation remained until the 10th May when the Battalion went back to Bois des Tailles, a wood East of Bray-sur- Somme, in Brigade Reserve.  Also in this wood were a number of Artillery batteries.  On the 21st May the Battalion relieved 20th Manchesters in the front line Kingston Avenue remaining until the 27th May and on relief went back  to billets in Bois des Tailles.  However in the period from 28th to 30th May troops from the Battalion were digging in the trenches, casualties being 1 other rank killed and 2 wounded.

The sector for which the 7th Division was responsible ran from the boundary on the left, being the line held by the 21st Division running from about 1 mile south east of Meaulte to reach the British Front Line about 400 yards from the south west corner of Fricourt village and on the right XV/XIII Corps Boundary which reached the British front line to the west of Carnoy, a village in British hands.

On the 1st June at Bois des Tailles the Battalion had a strength of 41 officers and 914 other ranks and the next day, the 2nd June, proceeded to the Trenches to relieve 2nd Royal Irish Regiment.  On the right was the 20th Manchesters, also in 22nd Brigade whilst on the left in 21st Division’s sector was the 15th Battalion Durham Light Infantry (64th Brigade).  “B” Company was in the front line trench, “C” in Kingston Road Support Trench, “A” in the Reserve trench and “D” went to Morlancourt into Brigade Reserve.  The Battalion remained in the trenches on the 3rd June (when a draft of 17 other ranks joined from Base) until the 6th June, sustaining casualties of 3 officers wounded, 1 other rank killed and 14 other ranks wounded.

On the 6th June there was a change in the Battalions holding the adjacent sectors, 1st Royal Welsh Fusiliers replacing 20th Manchesters whilst on the left the 9th Battalion of the King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry replaced 15th Durham Light Infantry in 64th Brigade.

That was the situation on the 7th June 1916.  On the night of the 7th/8th June 1916 a wiring party was out in front of the 2nd Battalion’s front fixing the protective wiring in front of the British line, Private Clifford Izzard was a member of that party when he was accidentally shot through the heart by a soldier from the 9th Battalion King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry.  Another soldier was wounded on the 7th June.  On the 8th June the Battalion was relieved by the 2nd Royal Irish Regiment and proceeded back to hutments in the Bois des Tailles, two other ranks were wounded and when back in the wood “D” Company re-joined from Brigade Reserve in Morlancourt.

The Battalion remained in Hutments in Bois des Tailles until the 11th June. On the 1st July 1916, the opening day of the Battle of the Somme, the Battalion took part in the operations at Mametz moving forward in the afternoon towards Shrine Alley, a German trench running from the German front line up to the southern edge of Mametz village.   

An Officer wrote to his widow deploring the loss of a good comrade and a very brave soldier, very popular with his colleagues, who met his death unflinchingly in the performance of a very dangerous but necessary duty.

Private Izzard was awarded the Allied Victory Medal, the British War Medal and the 1914 – 1915 Star.

Roland Isaac Kenney, Sergeant No. 2096 1st/7th Battalion Royal Warwickshire Regiment (Territorial Force); killed in action 14th July 1916 and  buried Pozieres British Cemetery Ovillers-Ia-Boiselle Somme France.  4 miles NE of Albert , SW of the village on the Bapaume road.  Records 1,809 UK., 690 Aust., 218 Can., 16 Unknown, 1 German and 22 special memorials.

Sergeant Kenney was the son of Thomas and Jane Kenney of Stretton-under-Fosse, native of and resident in Brinklow, Warwickshire; he enlisted at Coventry.  In 1901 Thomas Kenny (aged 48), Canal Foreman and his wife Jane (43) were living at 63 High Street Brinklow with children Emily 20, Ethel 10 & Roland 7 all born in Brinklow and Kathleen grand daughter 5.

Grave of Sergeant Roland Kenney 

Roland Kenney joined the Territorials just prior to the war and like many others volunteered for service abroad.  He was of a particularly lively nature and was always a prominent figure in all the outdoor sports of the village.  He undoubtedly made a good soldier and was accordingly promoted to the rank of Sergeant.

The 1st/7th Battalion was one of the four Warwickshire Battalions which formed the Warwickshire Infantry Brigade, the others being the 1st/5th, 1st/6th and 1st/8th battalions of the Warwickshire Regiment.  On Saturday the 1st August 1914 the four battalions of the Brigade entrained for their annual camp at Rhyl in North Wales.  On the Sunday afternoon, following the German invasion of Luxembourg and Belgium that morning, all Territorial Force annual camps were cancelled by the War Office and the Brigade returned to Warwickshire.  On the 4th August 1914 the 1st/7th mobilised at Coventry with the other battalions at Thorp Street and Aston Manor in Birmingham.

The Brigade, as part of the South Midland Division, moved later in the month to the Chelmsford area of Essex where on the 28th August the four battalions were asked to volunteer for foreign service with an almost unanimous response.  The Brigade spent the winter in Essex, field firing, digging trenches for the outer defence of London as trench warfare had not yet evolved and route marches.

In March 1915 the Brigade entrained for France the 1st/7th Battalion landing at Havre on the 22nd March 1915.  The Brigade then moved by train to Cassel until on the 28th March the Brigade marched as a single unit to Bailleul, a distance of some 20 kilometres, moving on the 1st April to Armentieres when for the next fortnight all units of the brigade were temporarily attached to the infantry brigades of the 4th Division serving in the line to learn the rigours of trench warfare, patrolling No Man’s Land, conducting wiring parties, setting up listening posts, hand over and relief of trenches.

On the 12th April the brigade took over a sector of the front south of Ypres, on the north-east side of Ploegsteert village with the 5th and 7th in trenches at Douve and Steenbecque whilst the 6th and 8th remained as brigade and divisional reserve.

On the 12th May 1915 the old divisional and brigade titles were replaced, the 1st South Midland Division becoming the 48th (South Midland) Division and the Warwickshire Infantry Brigade becoming the 143rd Infantry Brigade, the other Brigades in the Division being the 144th (Gloucestershire and Worcestershire) and 145th (South Midland) Brigades.

In July 1915 the 48th Division joined the Third Army which led to the Brigade entraining to move south to relieve the French 42nd Brigade in trenches north and east of Hebuterne in the Somme region.  In September the Brigade moved to take over trenches near Fonquevillers remaining in this sector until April 1916 then moving to take over a section of the line opposite the Germans in Gommecourt.

The German position, naturally very strong, had been strengthened by every sort of military device.  Established along the higher ground it gave the enemy excellent observation over the Allied lines and the preparations for the 1916 attack.  Numerous and extremely well-made dugouts had been built throughout the German front-line system for the protection and comfort of the German troops and for the protection of the machine guns and their detachments during bombardment.  The German line consisted of a strong front line system, with firing, support and reserve trenches.  These made a perfect labyrinth of fortifications, connected up by well-built communication trenches and often with long underground tunnels leading to small manholes where snipers would be concealed.  Behind a less strong intermediate line covering the field batteries and still further behind a third strongly-wired and fortified defensive position.  From front to rear the three systems covered in depth 6 to 7 miles of country; in addition there were many fortified villages, woods and strong points dotted about in commanding positions, which offered the most determined resistance to any advance, and were only captured after the heaviest fighting.

On the 8th May 1916 the Battalion moved back to Couin and then on the 10th May to Gezaincourt to begin training for the Somme offensive.  On the 25th June the Brigade published an Operation Order outlining the role of the Brigade which as part of the 48th Division would form part of the Reserve with the 5th and 7th Royal Warwicks holding the front line and the other half, (6th and 8th Royal Warwicks) being attached to 11th Brigade, 4th Division one of the attacking formations.

At 0730 on the 1st July 1916 the 56th Division (on the left of the Brigade) attacking Gommecourt and the 31st Division (on the right) attacking Serre assaulted the German trenches.  The role of the 5th and 7th Royal Warwicks was to discharge smoke from their lines just before zero.  It was a fine day.  The 1st/7th Battalion role was to hold trenches to the left of the 4th Army attack being on their right and to let off smoke and phosphorus bombs to mask fire of the enemy opposite.  The British troops met with success at first.  The British trenches were shelled heavily from 0730 to about 0830 but after that only to intermittent shelling.  Many phosphorous bombs were set alight by a shell. There were no casualties among the bomb throwers.  A carrying party of 65 other ranks o carry ammunition for 44 inch Stokes guns was not needed as no consolidation of gains took place.  “No Man’s Land “to the right (the scene of 31st Division’s attack on Serre) was strewn with bodies after the attack.  Many wounded trying to crawl back were sniped at by the Germans opposite.

The Battalion remained in the trenches on the 2nd and 3rd July , on the 2nd July there was intermittent shelling on the trenches during the day with 2 killed and 2 slightly wounded.  Many wounded seen in “No Man’s Land” making efforts to get back to the British trenches. 

On the 4th July the Battalion was relieved by the 1st/4th Oxford and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry going back to bivouacs between Couin and St. Leger where they remained until the 12th July with route marches and company training.

 On the 12th July, rainy and cold, the Battalion found working parties to work on the Hebuterne trenches and then with a change in the weather to fine and warm at 1330 on the 13th July the Battalion moved by motor lorries to just outside Bouzincourt (North East of Albert) and from there moved in fighting order to Albert where they lay down in a field until midnight under orders to be involved in an attack North East of La Boisselle at 0730 on the 14th July in a further attempt to capture the village of Ovillers.

 For the purposes of this operation the Brigade had been temporarily attached to the 25th Division.  The British front line ran in a North-Westerly direction from Contalmaison, then mainly in Allied hands, to the South of the village of Ovillers running in a Westerly direction for some distance before turning North to run to the East of Authuille Wood.  In operations between the 7th and 10th July units of the 12th Division had made some progress into the ruins of Ovillers but the major part of the village itself and the German trenches to the North of the village were still strongly held by the enemy.

On the 13th July the 8th Battalion of the Border Regiment had captured two lines of trenches on the South side of Ovillers

On the night of the 13th/14th July the 3rd Worcestershire had occupied an important trench junction on the Albert- Bapaume road and began to extend down a communication trench leading to the eastern outskirts of Ovillers which enabled the British to sweep with fire the rearward exits of the village.  Also that night came the news that the Fourth Army further to the right would make an attack against Bazentin Ridge and the troops of the Reserve Army would do their best to hold the enemy on their front and prevent the movement of German reserves and accordingly orders were issued to press on with the investment of Ovillers.

On the morning of the 14th July the 8th Border Regiment advanced from the recently captured trench but were met by exceedingly heavy and accurate machine-gun fire.  Two Companies managed to get to within 50 yards of the enemy’ new trench but were forced eventually to retire but the old German line was held. 

On the 14th July 1916 the 1st/7th Royal Warwickshire moved towards La Boiselle by which date nothing remained standing.  “Roads had disappeared, there was nothing to show that there had been houses and of the church the stones had fallen as debris, had been blown up again and mixed with those of the nearer houses and then covered with earth and fragments from incessant explosions.  Only a few dozen iron grave-crosses remained to mark the spot as La Boiselle.  Across the wreckage was a fearsome tangle of German barbed wire, some of it on its criss-cross supports or in loose coils.  The Battalion entered the village by the cemetery which was identified by the twisted and bent iron- grave-crosses amongst the wreckage.”

There are two different accounts of the actual operations that morning.  The Brigade history refers to the adoption of a different plan of attack.  Half of the Battalion and two machine guns were to creep into No Man’s Land at 0400 and consolidate and at 0700 would be joined by the remainder.  They would then attack the German position.  There was to be no artillery bombardment but at 0400 it was already light and the attackers were seen, fired on and forced to withdraw.  When at 0700 the second wave moved over the top to an already alerted enemy the three leading platoons suffered 47 casualties out of the 120 involved before leaving the parapet.  Any further movement over the top was cancelled and troops headed towards the enemy by shallow trenches which soon became crowded.  Enfiladed by machine gun fire at 1330 the Battalion was forced to withdraw with 118 casualties including the C.O. Lieutenant Colonel J M Knox who was wounded. Support for this account comes from an account by an N.C.O. serving in the Battalion: “I took part in an attack which failed in its opening stages and had to be broken off…………There was a trench, very badly knocked about, which led towards Ovillers, branching off the main communication trench. Its regular twists and turns indicated that once it had been a fire trench with bays but it had lost all semblance save that.  In places it was completely laid open by shell fire and open to enfilade from the direction of Ovillers.  It ended in No-Man’s Land in an uncertain petering-out. From what I could gather we had to attack from this trench either by going over the top or by filing from the open end and then fanning out……..our objective if we made a frontal attack seemed fairly clear for there was a line of shovelled out chalk indicating a trench of some kind parallel with ours perhaps a 100 yards away or more………..shelling had already begun and soon it became apparent that the movement had been observed and the shelling intensified.  A machine gun unexpectedly near opened fire enfilading the trench taking toll at unprotected corners which had already been laid open by shell fire…………..the machine gun fire was now augmented by whizz-bangs and we were reduced to a slow crawl making a dash at every exposed spot…………..meanwhile a lieutenant (Farmer I think) led an assault from the end of the trench, upon God knows what!  He actually got some 50 yards out possibly because a German machine gunner was too surprised to fire at first but then the officer fell and disappeared………………it was obvious that nothing could survive above ground in a local attack without artillery support.  By day there could be no surprise………….an order came from the rear to retire.”

The Battalion diary records on the 14th July moved into trenches and were heavily shelled going into La Boisselle.  At 0730 after artillery preparation “A” and “B” Companies proceeded to assault.  They reached their objective.  Many casualties resulted chiefly from machine guns – the following officers being killed 2nd Lieutenant Henry Bullock, and attached from the Dorsetshire Regiment 2nd Lieutenants John Jones, Walter Baker and Francis Forman.  We held the trench for seven hours when we had to evacuate it on account of the enemy’s extremely heavy enfilade fire both shell and machine guns.  Lieutenant Colonel Knox who lead the attack and who had shown the greatest bravery throughout was wounded later.  Major Hanson then took command of the Battalion.  Our casualties estimated at 150 of whom 68 were reported killed.  One of those killed in action that day was Sergeant Kenney.  The four named officers have no known grave and are commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial.

On the 15th July at 1230 a.m. a party from the Battalion left the British trench to try and capture or put out of action a German machine gun situated south west of Pozieres but were driven back by German bombers.  In the afternoon two platoons were ordered to attack and take an enemy position on the opposite ridge but had scarcely left the British trench when heavy fire from German machine guns was opened on the attackers, so terrific that only the first leading men were able to leave the trench and were promptly mown down.  Later that night the Battalion was relieved going back to bivouacs in a field near Albert.

At 0100 on the 16th July 1916 the 1st/5th Royal Warwickshire Regiment closed in from the North East to capture Ovillers.  Fighting continued during the day units from the 74th and 144th Brigades pressing in from the east and the south.  In the evening the remaining German garrison of some 126 unwounded soldiers surrendered and the village of Ovillers was finally reported clear of Germans.

Roland Kenney’s Service Record has not survived (which is not unusual) but nor is there any trace of a Medal Index Card.  He would certainly have been awarded at least the Victory and British War Medals.

Edward Crofts Lea, Private No. 21121 16th (Service) Battalion Royal Warwickshire Regiment; killed in action 30th July 1917. Commemorated Memorial to the Missing Arras recording 35928 with no known grave who fell in Battles of Arras, Vimy Ridge, the Scarpe, Arleux, Bullecourt and Hill 70 1917 between Spring 1916 and 7 August 1918.

Edward Lea was born in Harborough Magna. His parents were James E Lea and Catherine Lea.  In 1901 James E Lea a Farmer was living at 47 Main Street Monks Kirby with his wife Catherine (47) and children Frances (19), Kathleen (18), James (13), Mabel (11), John (9) and Charles (8). Edward Lea enlisted in Rugby and was resident then in Monks Kirby.

 Private Lea joined the Army in August 1916. Two of his brothers also served in the Army. His father James Lea had been the tenant of the Denbigh Arms Public House in Monks Kirby and an adjoining farm of 150 acres for 35 years before his death in November 1917 aged 61 years in a Rugby Nursing Home following an operation.  His wife Catherine died in about 1906.

The 16th (Service) Battalion was the 3rd Birmingham Battalion (the others being the 14th (1st   Birmingham) and 15th (2nd Birmingham)) raised at Birmingham by the Lord Mayor and a local committee in September 1914, the 16th Battalion landing in France on the 21st November 1915 as part of 95th Brigade, 32nd Division.  The 32nd Division was a New Army formation and brigades from these divisions were being directed to an older division so on the 26th December 1915 the Battalion became part of the 15th Brigade, 5th Division, the 14th Brigade of the 5th Division going to the 32nd Division.

The 16th Battalion had in fact already begun its trench training attached to the 15th Infantry Brigade occupying sectors in front of Carnoy in the Somme sector.  The 5th Division remained in the Somme sector until February 1916 when the Division moved North to relieve the French from a line from the River Scarpe north and east of Arras south to Roclincourt, a relief completed by the 4th March 1916.  The Division remained in this sector until on the 14th July 1916 Orders came resulting in the 5th Division moving south to the Somme sector with the Battalion taking part in operations in the Battle of the Somme until the Division left for the La Bassee sector in October 1916. 

The Division remained in this area until the Spring of 1917 when a large scale assault had been planned upon a 15 miles section of the Arras Front to begin on Easter Monday, 9th April 1917.

On the 16th March 1917 the Germans effected a withdrawal from the front line in the area from the South of Arras to the River Aisne to the powerfully fortified rear line (the Siegfried Line - known to the allies as the Hindenberg Line). This withdrawal restricted the British attacks in 1917 to the flanks of the abandoned area and the main role fell to the 3rd Army so that if they could break through the German defences the troops could outflank the new German position.

The Canadian Corps under Lieutenant General Sir Julian Byng, which consisted of the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th Canadian Divisions had the task of attacking the seemingly impregnable Vimy Ridge, the most northerly section of the Front to be assaulted.  On leaving the La Bassee sector the 5th Division came under the command of the Canadian Corps with the 13th Infantry Brigade being attached to the Canadian 2nd Division.  The 16th Battalion was not directly involved until the 14th April 1917 when the 15th and 95th Brigades with the 3rd Canadian Battalion began to push the Germans back towards Lens until held up by strong resistance about 2 miles south of Lens.  By 1st May 1917 the 5th Division had left the Canadian Corps and had come under the control of the British XIII Corps and for the next four months operated in the vicinity of Arleux, Oppy and Fresnoy (about 6 miles North East of the northern edge of Arras)  5th Division’s Headquarters was at Roclincourt (3 miles North of Arras).  The other Divisions in the Corps were the 2nd, 31st and 63rd (Royal Naval).

The villages of Willerval, Arleux and Fresnoy had been captured in the Canadian attack on Vimy Ridge.  Fresnoy formed a bulge in the line and on the 8th May 1917 the Germans delivered a strong attack on the village including an intense artillery bombardment and despite British counter-attacks the village was lost.  For the remainder of the month of May and for most of June the enemy confined his activities to the shelling of both the front trenches and the back areas and during one week in May nearly a quarter of the guns were knocked out by German shell fire.

The outstanding feature of the 5th Division’s stay on this front was the very successful attack on Oppy Wood on the 28th June combined with an attack of the 31st Division on the trenches south of the wood itself.  Although only about an acre or so in extent, the wood held a number of German observation posts, machine guns and trench mortars.   The 15th Brigade carried out the operation with the 16th Royal Warwicks on the right, then the 1st Cheshires and the 1st Norfolks with the 1st Bedfords on the left.  The preliminary task of the Artillery was to destroy the German wire but not to blot out the trenches; this was successfully carried out.  Keeping close to the barrage the British troops advanced and carried the German front line by 7.15 p.m. before the enemy had time to man his machine-guns.  Although strongly held, only on the left was there any real opposition so by 9 p.m. all Battalions were busy digging in and consolidating the line.  Two German officers and 141 other ranks were captured with a number of machine-guns and trench-mortars.  British losses in killed and wounded were 10 officers and 342 other ranks.

From the 1st July 1917 the 16th Battalion was out of the line although parties were out on work each night mainly on Tired Trench and the Arleux Loop.  On the 26th July Operation Orders were received that on the 28th July the 16th Battalion would relieve the 1st Battalion of the Devonshire Regiment in the front line, the relief being completed at 8.15 p.m. on the 28th.

The Battalion was holding front line trenches in Oppy Wood and Marquis Trench from the late evening of the 28th July.  On neither the 29th nor the 30th was any attacks mounted by either the British or the Germans but the German artillery continued to shell the Oppy Wood area.

From 3.30 p.m. to 3.50 p.m. on the 31st July the enemy bombarded the front line trenches obtaining several direct hits on trenches but fortunately there were no casualties.

In the period from July 1st to the 31st,  the 16th Battalion lost five soldiers killed or dying from wounds.  On the 1st July 1917 Private Harry Partridge died of wounds and is buried in Duisans British Cemetery, Etrun, Pas de Calais.  It is likely he was mortally wounded during the attack on Oppy Wood on the 28th June.  On the 2nd July Privates Joseph Conyers and John Henry Haynes were both killed in action whilst attached to 15th Trench Mortar Battery and are both buried in Roclincourt Military Cemetery.  On the 30th July, as well as Private Edward Lea, Sergeant Thomas George Watts was killed in action and like Private Lea, Sergeant Watts has no known grave and is commemorated on the Arras Memorial.

The Battalion remained in the front line until the 3rd August 1917 when it was relieved by the 1st Battalion the Norfolk Regiment.

In a letter to his father his platoon officer speaks of Private Lea very highly as being a brave and determined soldier.
 
He was awarded the Allied Victory Medal and the British War Medal. 

George John Plant, Lance Corporal 20724 2nd Battalion Coldstream Guards, Military Medal.  Died of Wounds 27th August 1918 aged 25 and buried in St Hilaire Cemetery Extension, Frevent, Pas de Calais, France. Frevent was a place of importance on the Line of Communication and this cemetery was used from March to August 1918.  It records 266 UK., 24 Canadian, 9 Australian, 3 New Zealand and 2 British West Indian.

George Plant was the son of Daniel Lewis Plant and Anne Plant of Burton- on- Trent, and the husband of Margery Ellen Plant of Pailton, Rugby. He was born at Harborough Main, Warwick and enlisted at Warwick

The Battalion landed at Havre on the 14th August 1914, remaining on the Western Front throughout the War.  The Guards Division was formed in France in August 1915 by concentrating the 8 Guards battalions already in France (including the 2nd Coldstreams) and bringing out from the UK 4 more including the recently formed Welsh Guards plus a Pioneer battalion (4th Coldstream).  On the 20th August 1915 the Battalion was transferred to 1st Guards Brigade.
 
On the 21st March 1918 the German Army launched a massive offensive on the Western Front in a last desperate attempt to score a decisive victory.  The results were spectacular.  They advanced up to 40 miles, further by far than the British and French had managed in their offensives on the Somme, the Aisne and at Ypres.  The British Fifth Army was crushed, and the Allies suffered 212,000 casualties.  The French suffered a humiliating defeat at Chemin des Dames and plans were made for the evacuation of Paris.  The British were seriously concerned that the French might sue for peace and were uncertain whether they could continue the struggle, and plans were drawn up for the evacuation of the British Army from France if Dunkirk, Calais or Boulogne fell.  The German line before the offensive was about 20 miles East of Noyon, on the western edge of St Quentin, 15 miles East of Peronne, 20miles East of Bapaume, 7 miles East of Arras, 5 miles East of Armentieres, 25 miles East of Bailleul and 12 miles East of Ypres.  Then the offensive gradually lost momentum, the French counterattacked in July, the British in August and the Germans finally lost the initiative.  After the offensive the German Army had reached positions some 15 miles West of Noyon, 45 miles West of St. Quentin, 20 miles West of Peronne, 12 miles West of Bapaume, still 7 miles East of Arras, 28 miles West of Armentieres, 8 miles West of Bailleul and 4 miles East of Ypres.
The Counter-Attack in Champagne by mainly the French Army was from 20th July to 2nd August 1918.

On the 8th August 1918 the Allied forces launched the surprise attack that heralded the end of the First World War.  With skill and daring 21 Divisions breached the German lines, supported by 500 tanks (the largest number to have been seen in any one battle of the war) and 1000 aircraft.  In their wake they left 50,000 dead or wounded German soldiers along a stretch of 11 miles.  On this “black day” for the Germans the Allied forces began to see a glimmer of hope and the dawn of victory that was to come only 100 days later with the Armistice on 11 November 1918.  The Advance to Victory can be divided into 7 phases, The Advance in Picardy 8th August-3rd September, The Advance in Flanders 18th August-6th September, The Breaking of the Hindenburg Line 26th August-12th October,The Pursuit to the Selle 9th-12th October,The Final Advance – Flanders 28th September-11thNovember, The Final Advance – Artois 2nd October-11th November and The Final Advance – Picardy 17th October – 11th November 1918.

The Guards Division, with the 59th and 2nd Divisions formed VI Corps part of the Third Army and the opening of the offensive on the Front of the Third Army began on the 21st August 1918 but the 1st Guards Brigade did not become involved until the evening of the 25th August when the Brigade relieved the 3rd Guards Brigade, and the Battalion took over the front line trenches at St Leger about 3 miles North of Bapaume.  In the evening of the 26th August orders were issued from divisional headquarters for the attack to be renewed the following morning, the objectives being the high ground north and south of Longatte and Ecoust, but the advance was not to be pressed if the enemy’s resistance proved obstinate.  The 62nd Division was to advance on the right and the 56th Division on the left of the1st Guards Brigade, zero hour being 0700 and the line from which the attack was to be launched ran from Camouflage Copse to the Crucifix and then bent north-eastward through St Leger Wood at the northern extremity of which the line of the 56th Division began.  At 0500 the 1st Guards Brigade HQ was informed that the attack by the 56th Division was being postponed to 0930 as it was thought, having captured some prisoners on the 56th Division Front, the Germans may have established the exact time of the attack but it was impossible for the Brigade to change the time of their planned attack as the attacking battalions were in their starting positions and it was impossible to get in touch with them all quickly enough to prevent some of them at any rate from advancing at the original time.  On the right the 2nd Battalion Grenadier Guards were to attack, the Coldstreams on the left with the 1st Battalion Irish Guards in reserve.  The Coldstreams had No 4 Company in front, No 2 and No 3 in left and right support and No 1 in reserve.  As soon as the British field gun barrage came down at 0700 the leading company advanced, followed by the supports at 200 yards distance and by the reserve company 400 yards in rear of the supports.  The enemy was expecting the attack and immediately opened upon the men a very heavy fire.  The postponement of the attack by the 56th Division enabled the Germans in the village of Croiselles, which commanded the left and centre of the advance, to concentrate on the Coldstreams.  In a short time the right was held up, by machine-gun fire from Banks trench which appeared to have been little damaged by the British shell fire; the centre got somewhat further forward, gaining the crest line beyond St Leger reserve trench when it was also checked; the extreme left made most progress and captured many prisoners on the sunken roads running south from Croiselles.  Bunhill trench was gained and consolidated under heavy fire which came from Croiselles, east of that village and also from Bunhill reserve trench.  One company of the Coldstreams reached the final objective, but without sufficient support and being counter-attacked on its exposed flank had to withdraw.  The situation could not be restored by companies in support or reserve who were soon absorbed into the fighting line while the Germans, moving up machine-guns under cover of their trenches, swept the ground and brought the attack to a standstill. Withdrawal from this untenable position was safely accomplished, but not before severe losses were inflicted on the enemy both in prisoners taken and men killed.  A heavy bombardment was maintained upon the British line throughout the morning and the position was becoming critical as some of the Coldstream groups were taken in the flank by hostile fire.  Two platoons of No 2 Company were reduced to 18 men; another of  No 1 Company was enfiladed from both flanks;  most of the officers were casualties and the whole Battalion now barely mustered 140 all ranks.  In these circumstances the left and centre were withdrawn to St Leger reserve, which was close to and joined Banks Trench, and which was then occupied by a company of the Irish Guards, though still partly held by the enemy.  For the rest of the morning the British heavy guns put down a concentration on the sunken roads and did great execution among the enemy.  Owing to the heavy casualties suffered by the Coldstreams, two companies of the Irish Guards were ordered up to make good the line of St Leger reserve, reinforcing the British right group and protecting that flank.  The 2nd Battalion of the Grenadier Guards on the right of the Coldstreams had an equally heavy task to perform and also found themselves engaged in very severe fighting.   However the check which the Brigade sustained during the day did not last very long and the determined resistance of a few brave Germans armed with machine-guns and concealed under cover was overcome in the evening.  At 1900 an intense barrage was put down on the hostile position for ten minutes and the moment it lifted the Irish Guards and the Coldstreams on the right rushed in and immediately captured it.  The garrison, consisting of one German officer and 93 other ranks, surrendered with their machine-guns.  During the night and the next day, the 28th, the enemy retired pursued for nearly a mile by the Brigade who then halted and consolidated the positions gained.  The losses in the Battalion were 3 officers killed in action, 7 officers wounded and 111 other ranks killed in action, 189 wounded.  It was in this action that Lance Corporal Plant was wounded and subsequently died.

George Plant is also commemorated on the Memorials at Easenhall and Pailton.

He was awarded the Victory Medal and the British War Medal.


 

John William Southam Private No 41765 8th (Service) Battalion Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers.   Killed in action 16th August 1917 aged 19. Commemorated on Tyne Cot Memorial Passchendaele West Flanders

Born 1898 at Monks Kirby Warwickshire.  Son of Thomas and Harriet Southam.  In 1901 Thomas Southam (43) living in Main Street Monks Kirby with Harriet (30) and John, aged 3 years.  In 1891 Thomas Southam was a widower with no children living with him.

John Southam enlisted at  Warwick.  Resident Butterworth, Lancashire.  Brother of Mr. Wilfred Southam of Monks Kirby.

On the 11th September 1914 the War Office issued an order authorising the creation of six divisions numbered from 15th to 20th to form the 2nd New Army.  During September the formation of the 16th (Irish) Division began and Lieutenant General Sir Lawrence Parsons was appointed to command on the 23rd September 1914.  The four Brigades were the 47th Brigade:  6th Royal Irish Regiment, 6th Connaught Rangers, 7th Leinster Regiment and 7th Royal Irish Rifles. The 48th Brigade:  8th Royal Munster Fusiliers, 9th Royal Munster Fusiliers, 8th Royal Dublin Fusiliers and 9th Royal Dublin Fusiliers.  49th Brigade:  7th Royal Iniskilling Fusiliers, 8th Royal Iniskilling Fusiliers, 7th Royal Irish Fusiliers and 8th Royal Irish Fusiliers.

The 49th Brigade was formed on 1st October 1914 with Brig.–Gen. R. D. Longe appointed to its command with headquarters established in Tipperary Barracks.  In September 1915 the Division moved to the Woking area  for intensive training; before going to England, the 49th Brigade had received no trench warfare training.  On the 5th December 1915 Sir Lawrence Parsons, aged 66, was replaced by Major-General William Bernard Hickie and on the 17th December 1915 the Division, except the 49th Brigade, sailed from Southampton landing at Le Havre on the 18th.  Brig.-Gen. Longe departed and was replaced by Brig.-Gen. Philip Leveson-Gower and then, finally up to strength, the 49th Brigade sailed from Southampton on the 17th February 1916, landing at Le Havre on the 18th February with the 8th Royal Iniskilling Fusiliers going into billets West of Bethune on the 26th February 1916.

The Division had been despatched to the Loos Sector of First Army where units of the Division were attached to battalions serving at Givenchy and Festubert on the Western Front, for example those of the 15th (Scottish) Division, for initiation to front-line duty.  On the 24th March 1916 the Division began to take over the line from the 15th (Scottish) Division in the Hulluch Sector, East of Loos and in front of Hulluch.

The first real test of the Division was on the 27th April 1916 when the Germans launched a large scale attack under cover of gas in the Hulluch sector, the attack falling upon the 48th and 49th Infantry Brigades and particularly heavily on the 8th Royal Irish Fusiliers, 8th Royal Dublin Fusiliers and 7th Iniskillings.  Two days later, on the morning of the 29th, the Germans lauched another attack under cover of a heavy gas release from 3,600 cylinders on the Hulluch front.  A vast amount of work was being done on a daily basis to repair, strengthen and tidy the division’s defences on this sector, the trenches having been fought over and shelled many times, and dug in very flat, low-lying and waterlogged terrain.

1916 was the year of the Battle of the Somme.  The 16th Division arrived in the Somme sector on the 29th August 1916 and on the 3rd September the 47th Brigade of the Division was brought up to replace the 60th Brigade in the attack on the Northern part of the village of Guillemont.  The units involved were the 6th Connaughts, 7th Leinsters, 8th Royal Munsters and 6th Royal Irish.  “The men of Munster, Leinster and Connaught broke through the intricate defences of the enemy as a torrent sweeps down rubble.  The place was one of the strongest of all the many fortified villages in the German line and its capture was the most important since the taking of Pozieres.”

Guillemont fell to the 20th (Light) Division and the 47th Brigade of the 16th Division.  There is next to the church in the village the 16th (Irish) Division Memorial.

The 8th Battalion of the Iniskillings was on the 5th September in the frontline at Leuze Wood, suffering heavy casualties under a heavy bombardment on the 6th September whilst digging a forward trench in preparation for the attempt to capture the fortress village of Ginchy just south of which was the German strongpoint known as the Quadrilateral, a loop trench bristling with machine-guns and covered by wide belts of barbed wire, some 60 yards wide, in dead ground covered by long grass and weeds and so concealed from observation. 

Units of the 7th Division had initially captured Ginchy on the 3rd September but by late afternoon the Germans had re-occupied the village.  On the 5th September the 16th Division had assaulted the village again but failed to take it and also could not capture the Quadilateral.

Another attempt was made on the 9th September 1916 the left of the attack to capture Ginchy to be delivered by the 16th Division already weakened by the previous fighting.  48th Brigade moved off at 1645 and on its right was 47th Brigade soon stopped by machine-gunfire when 7th Royal Iniskillings were brought up as reinforcements.  8th Royal Munsters pressed on beyond Guillemont, 7th Royal Irish Rifles and 8th Royal Dublin Fusiliers began to clear the village when the 8th Battalion of the Royal Iniskillings came up to complete the capture of the village.  A few Germans surrendered and some fled towards Flers and Lesboeufs.  However 47th Brigade was checked in front of the Quadrilateral which did not fall until the 18th September 1916 when it was captured by the 6th Division.

The total casualties of the 16th (Irish) Division in the period 3rd to 9th September 1916 was 224 officers and 4090 other ranks.

On the 19th September 1916 the Division moved by rail to the sector south of Ypres serving with the Second Army responsible for that part of the line centred around Spanbroek, Vierstraat and Wytschaete, with divisional headquarters at Locre.  In the period up to the Spring of 1917 all the infantry battalions received heavy reinforcements after the losses on the Somme and the Division contained many young and inexperienced troops and many fresh young officers.  Whilst speculative it is likely that Private John Southam joined the Battalion at that time.

The Third Battle of Ypres was the major British offensive in Flanders launched on 31 July 1917 and continued until November.  The ultimate aim was to rob the Germans of command of the high ground surrounding the salient by capturing the immediate ridges, and Passchendaele Ridge and Klerken Ridge beyond that and thrust north-east to Roulers and Thourout and then swing due north towards the Belgian coast to destroy the German submarine bases on the coast but until Messines Ridge was in British hands any such advance was deemed impossible because of German observation over the area between Ypres itself and the Passchendaele Ridge.
 

Messines Ridge runs from the village of St. Eloi about 2 miles South of Ypres through the villages of Wytschaete and Messines and down to the Douve River about 1 mile South of Messines.  Nowhere is it higher than 200 feet but it dominates the surrounding countryside, had been held by the Germans since November 1914, and was an important part of the enemy’s defensive positions on this sector.  The German front line was on the lower slopes of the Western side of the Ridge and consisted of shallow trenches with reinforced concrete machine-gun posts.  It incorporated Maedelstade and Peckham Farms, Spanbroekmolen, Ontaria and Petit Douve Farms before heading in a South Easterly direction towards Ploegsteert.  The Second line was on the crest of the Ridge running just to the West of the fortified albeit ruined villages of Wytschaete and Messines, with bunkers, concrete gun emplacements and reinforced cellars beneath the remains of the villages themselves.  Between the First and Second lines was a network of trenches the main one having machine gun posts and shell proof concrete shelters.  On the Eastern slope of the Ridge was the German Third or Support line passing through the village of Oosttaverne and to the East of Bethlehem Farm and through la Potterie Farm.

Planning for the offensive to capture Messines Ridge  began in January 1916 but the Battle of the Somme resulted in the scheme being postponed until the Summer of 1917.  The surprise factor in the offensive was to be the detonation of a number of mines placed beneath the German lines, the tunnelling work for these having begun as early as August 1915.  24 mines were completed running from Hill 60 North of the Ridge itself down to four at the Birdcage to the East of Ploegsteert Wood. The increase in British activity in the early part of 1917 alerted the Germans who increased their counter-mining operations by the use of camouflets (small charges designed to cause the collapse of British tunnels) or where appropriate boring down and channelling water into the subterranean workings: by this method the British mine under Petite Douve Farm was flooded and was in fact the only mine that was totally lost.  The Germans believed that they had destroyed most of the British workings and advised that a British attack preceded by mine explosions was not going to occur.

Zero hour for the attack was set at 0310 in the morning of the 7th June 1917.  On the 21st May the British artillery began bombarding the German positions, 800 heavy guns and 1,500 field pieces and howitzers had been assembled.  The 16th Division’s sector lay between Maedelstede Farm and the Vierstraat-Wytschaete Road and the Division would assault with the 47th and 49th Brigade, each Brigade would have two battalions in the first wave and two to follow up.  The 47th would have 7th Leinsters and 6th Royal Irish Regiment in the first wave with 1st Munsters and 6th Connaughts to follow up.  The 49th would have 7th Iniskillings and 7/8th Royal Irish Fusiliers in the first wave with 2nd Royal Irish Regiment and 8th Iniskillings to follow up.  A brigade of the 11th Division was available as reserves to the 16th Division.  Nine Divisions were to participate in total; the front to be attacked ran from Mount Sorrell in the North to St. Yves in the South and from the North southwards the attacking Divisions were the 23rd, 47th 41st, 19th, 16th, 36th , 25th, New Zealand and 3rd Australian.   So the Nationalist 16th (Irish) Division were to attack alongside the Unionist 36th (Ulster) Division.

During the weeks before the 7th June the infantry also were playing a part in wearing down the German defenders by for example by trench raids, the 16th Division almost every night on its sector.  On the 27th May a raid by 12 officers, 300 men of the 2nd Dublin Fusiliers from 48th Brigade with 12 Royal Engineers led to the capture of 30 Germans with 50 being killed and valuable paperwork was seized.  At 1025 p.m. on the 5th June the 8th Battalion Royal Iniskillings carried out a raid and reported that the German Front Line hardly existed, in one area there was no sign of occupation, a number of dugouts showed no sign of occupation and in some cases were water logged, there was practically no wire.  In Nail Switch however the trench was in better order, with dug outs still intact although the wire had all but disappeared.  A number of prisoners were taken, 9 from one dugout.

At 0310 in the morning of the 7th June 19 mines erupted in sheets of flame throwing clouds of dust, smoke, earth and bodies into the air;  a total of 933,200 lb of ammonal had been blown up and taken thousands of hapless German soldiers with it.  There had not been a single failure, 4 mines laid East of Ploegsteert Wood had not been used.  The shock of the explosions were felt in London.  At the same time the artillery with 700 machine guns began a massed bombardment of the German communication centres and gun batteries coupled with creeping barrage to cover the advancing infantry.  There were three mines in the sector to be attacked by the 16th Division,  that at Maedestreele Farm in front of the 47th Brigade and two in the Petit Bois salient before the 49th Brigade. These were fired some 12 seconds late and as the troops in the 49th Brigade had already left the front line some casualties were caused by the falling debris and the smoke and dust caused problems with some of the men putting on respirators.  The biggest crater, some 430 feet in diameter, was at Spanbroekmolen in front of the 36th Division.   The 16th Division met no opposition at first advancing under the creeping barrage to find the German wire smashed to pieces, the 7th Iniskillings taking their first objectives within 20 minutes and with only a few Germans alive dazed by the mine explosions and the shelling.  The 7th Battalion Royal Iniskillings were on the left of the 49th Brigade’s attack with the 7/8th Battalion Irish Fusiliers on the right with the 8th Battalion Iniskillings following in the second wave to mop up, a task refreshed by stores of beer and cigarettes left behind by the enemy in the dug outs.
 
In the attack the troops captured the villages of Messines and Wytschaete and the enemy’s defence system including many strongly-organised woods and defended localities on a front of over 9 miles.  Later in the day the troops moved forward to carry the village of Oosttaverne and the enemy’s rearward defence system east of the village.  A counter-attack was completely broken up by British artillery fire.  The Germans sustained heavy casualties with over 5,000 prisoners passing through the collecting stations by 430 pm with the losses as well of guns, trench mortars and machine-guns.

The 16th Division had 9 officers killed and 56 wounded and 125 men killed and 844 wounded and 149 missing.

The capture of the Ridge could well be regarded as a triumph for the Allies.  It was to be followed by the tragedy of the Third Battle of Ypres.

After the capture of the Ridge and subsequent operations ending on the 14th June 1917 there followed an extended pause while Sir Duglas Haig introduced into the Ypres sector the inexperienced Sir Hubert Gough to command the main campaign.  Haig’s action caused operations to lose momentum and gave the Germans further time to strengthen their defences in the salient.  From early 1917 in addition to the German front line, there were three trench systems although between these lines ran the Steenbeck, a river which on account of constant shelling had by June become an extended bog.  Because of the terrain few deep dugouts had been constructed and instead the Germans had erected hundreds of mutually supporting pillboxes, low concrete shelters built up several feet above the ground and covered with turf and soil to house machine-gun nests or garrisons of men supplemented by the fortification of the many stone farmhouses characteristic of that area of Flanders.  The pill boxes could only be knocked out by the largest shells since they made small targets and were difficult to see.

On the 9th June the 16th Division on its relief from the Messines sector moved North to the Ypres sector again with the month of July given over mainly to training and reorganising for the offensive at Ypres.   With the 15th, 36th and 55th Divisions the 16th Division formed XIX Corps.and two of its divisions were to be used in the opening phase of the campaign, keeping two in support for subsequent operations.

The offensive opened on 31st July 1917 with an attack by the 8th, 15th and 55th Divisions supported by the 25th, 16th and 36th Divisions.  Although gains were made, not all of the objectives were taken and the attack was to be renewed the next day.  However that evening heavy rain fell and the attack was eventually postponed.  It was decided that the operation against the Gheluvelt plateau would begin on the 9th August with the main operation to begin on the 13th but on the 8th August a violent thunderstorm accompanied by heavy rain again turned the sodden battlefield into a quagmire and both operations were postponed for 24 hours.  The rain continued for about a month which contributed to the failure of the British plan, creating appalling battlefield conditions with shell-cratering through which the heavily laden troops would have to drag themselves to come to grips with the German strongpoints in the shape of the pill boxes.

Until the 4th August 1917 the 16th Division was kept in XIX Corps. Reserve.  However during the afternoon of the 31st July reinforcements were called for by the 15th (Scottish) Division having regard to the casualties that Division had sustained leading to two Battalions from the 48th Brigade going into the original British front line which in the afternoon of the 1st August were replaced by two Battalions from the 47th Brigade of the 16th Division.

In early August 1917 the 15th (Scottish) Division was relieved by the 16th (Irish) Division.  The preparation had begun on the night of the 1st/2nd August when the leading elements of the 16th Division went forward across the moon-like landscape pock-marked with linked shell-holes filled with water with every trench knee-deep in watery mud.  At about the same time the 36th (Ulster) Division was relieving the 55th (West Lancashire) Division.

The 16th (Irish) and 36th (Ulster) Divisions were selected from XIX Corps. to lead the attack to capture what had been the original German Third Line on the 31st July, on the Anzac and Zonnebeke spurs which in essence involved crossing a mile of open ground chequered with pillboxes and strongpoints but neither Division could be described as in a fit state for such a task.  Whilst in Corps Reserve having taken over the line on the 4th August, at least half their infantry, 1000 men each day, had been continuously employed in the forward area as carrying parties and on other duties, digging trenches, repairing tracks and burying telephone cables, since the last week in July;  they had lived and worked throughout a most trying fortnight in the quagmire of the Hanebeck and Steenbeck valleys, the ground being in a state that defied description, men becoming caked with mud to their eyes, horses were up to their breasts in mud, what passed for trenches were completely underwater, weapons especially Lewis guns were clogged up with mud and unable thus to fire, overlooked by German machine-gunners and artillery observers on the opposite spurs and subjected to intense shelling at its worst being as heavy as experienced at any moment of the war, so that with casualties and sickness, troops suffering from “trench feet” foot rot caused by standing too long in water for which amputation was sometimes the only remedy the battle strength of the two Divisions was reduced to one third with some battalions being down to half of their establishment.  For example the 16th Division had suffered over 2000 casualties and attacked with a strength of 330 men per battalion instead of the regulation 750.  Facing these understrength divisions was the impressive array of fortified farmhouses and pill boxes which the Corps artillery had failed to eliminate, continuous direct hits from 5.9 inch guns had no effect on the pill boxes their thick walls being reinforced with iron bars.

On the 16th August the 16th Division was to attack with two brigades, the 48th and the 49th, with each brigade assaulting with two battalions and a third in support. Whilst the 47th Brigade was in reserve, three of its battalions had been detached to each of the attacking brigades and the third on carrying duties. In the 49th Brigade the front battalions were the 7th and 8th Royal Inniskillings with the 7th/8th Royal Irish Fusiliers in reserve, the 7th Iniskillings on the left with the 8th on the right.  The attacking battalions were in position on the night of the 15th August even though it was not until 11 p.m. on the 15th August that some of the troops in the 49th Brigade were informed of zero hour, 0445 on the 16th August.  The position was aggravated further by the fact that a German gas bombardment on the evening of the 15th August struck the Brigade Headquarters of 49th Brigade with Brigadier Leveson-Gower and most of his staff being gassed and evacuated so that Lt.-Col. K C Wheldon of 7th/8th Irish Fusiliers had to assume command of the Brigade.

Zero hour was at 0445 on the 16th August 1917 when the 48th Brigade attacked on the right of the Divisional sector and the 49th Brigade on the left; the 8th Battalion of the Iniskillings were on the right of the 49th Brigade sector with the 7th Battalion on the left.  Both Battalions moved off promptly and so escaped the German barrage which fell on the British front line.  Met with a withering blast of machine gun fire nonetheless the 7th Iniskillings stormed the main German strong point Beck House and then took the strongpoints Iberian Farm and  overran Delva Farm but had not cleared out all the enemy who were firing from “pill boxes” in the rear of the troops who were then checked about 400 yards from their objective Hill 37.

The 8th Battalion was heading for the strong point of Borry Farm, a concrete block house impervious to gun fire which dominated the area and the Battalion was well nigh annihilated by the resolute German Company with three machine-guns in the fortified Borry Farm.  On the left of the 7th Iniskillings a unit of the 36th Division had been unable to advance and this flank was open so subjecting the Iniskillings to enfilade fire and their position became untenable.  Heavy loss of officers and lack of communication, by runners who were being killed or wounded, led to supporting troops being misdirected or being badly used or misused and the fragmented battalions clingong on to their positions to face the German counter-attack.  The 8th Iniskillings reported that Borry Farm had not been mopped up and they were being sniped from their.

 At about 0900 waves of fresh German infantry streamed over the crest of the Zonnebeke spur preceded by an intense crushing German artillery barrage, a German concentration undetected by air observation and whilst a few of the Division were captured the majority must have been blotted out by the bombardments.

  The 7th Iniskillings held on resolutely to the position captured in the area of Iberian and Delva farms until their position also became untenable forcing their withdrawal to the original line held by the 2nd Royal Irish who until relief by the 6th Connaught Rangers held the entire 49th Brigade sector with 1st Munsters performing a similar role on the 48th Brigade sector on relieving the 2nd Dublins.  Then began the work of evacuating the hundreds of wounded to the Regimental Aid Posts on the reverse of Frezenburg Ridge.  The stretcher parties were in full view of the enemy until they crossed the ridge. performing there task in terrible conditions of knee-deep mud and under heavy and unrelenting shell-fire.

The tattered and scant remnants of 48th and 49th Brigades trudged slowly back to Vlamertinghe where they bivouacked until 18th August when they were joined by units from 47th Brigade, when the division embussed from Vlamertinge for the Watou area.

In the period between 1st and 20th August 1917 the 16th Division lost 221 officers and 4,064 men; 2,167 casualties occurring between 16th and 18th August.  The recovered dead numbered 280, but another 718 were missing, many of them killed:  blown into nothing by shells, drowned in the water-filled crates or dead behind German lines. 

The casualties of the 7th and 8th Royal Inniskillings were so severe that they could not be recruited up to strength again and were amalgamated to form the 7/8th (S) Battalion, Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers.

Private John Southam was awarded the Victory Medal and the British War Medal.

 Both the Memorial in Brockhurst Road Monks Kirby and the plaque in St. Edith’s Church record John Southam as serving in the Royal Warwickshire Regiment but his name is not in the Warwickshire Regiment Roll of Honour for 1914 – 1919.  All sources refer to his service as being with the Royal Iniskilling Fusiliers although his Army Service Record has seemingly not survived, 60% of Other Ranks Records being totally destroyed in a bombing raid in 1940.

It is probable that his initial service was with a Warwickshire Regiment Training Reserve Battalion first established in September 1916 following the losses in the Battle of the Somme.

At the age of 19, such recruits were able to go abroad on active service.  On reaching a main Army base such as that at Etaples it was not unusual for batches to be sent to another infantry battalion, for example following its losses on the 1st July 1916 the 22nd Battalion of the Manchester Regiment received 434 reinforcements, of whom 105 came from the Manchester Regiment but 121 came from the Middlesex Regiment, 119 from the Royal West Kent Regiment, 77 from the Royal Sussex Regiment, 10 from the Royal Fusiliers and 2 from the Border Regiment.

John Southam probably went to France in the Spring of 1917 so would not have fought on the Somme but probably was involved in the action at Messines Ridge.

William Edward Waspe, Corporal of Horse No. 2960 1st Life Guards; killed in action 19th May 1918 aged 25, buried Etaples Military Cemetery Pas de Calais France.  .

Corporal of Horse Waspe was born West Ham, London in late 1892 and enlisted at London.  In 1901 he was living with his father, William Waspe (36), a Police Constable at 89 Amity Road, West Ham, his mother Jane (33) and his brothers James aged 7 and Herbert 4.  By the end of the War/early 1920s his father William B. Waspe was living in Stretton under Fosse, near Monks Kirby in Warwickshire

 Etaples was the site of immense British reinforcement camps and hospitals being remote from attack except by air-craft.  Records 8,767 UK., 1,122 Can., 461 Aust., 261 NZ., 67 SA., 28 B.W.I., 18 Newfld., 5 Ind., 1 USA., 2 Belg., 47 Port., 1 Chin., 655 German burials and 11 special memorials.

The creation of a British Expeditionary Force was conceived in 1907 and envisaged the organisation of a mobile force from Regular Army sources in the United Kingdom organised in six Infantry Divisions (72 Infantry Battalions), and one Cavalry Division (14 Cavalry Regiments).

The Force was to be in three Corps, 1st Corps comprising 1st and 2nd Divisions, 2nd Corps 3rd and 5th Divisions and 3rd Corps 4th and 6th Divisions.  On mobilisation, Field Marshal Sir John French was appointed the Commander in Chief.  A fear of a German invasion resulted in only the 1st and 2nd Corps going to France landing at Le Havre, Rouen and Boulogne from about the 9th August to the 17th August 1914.  Elements of 3rd Corps were in France by the end of August 1914.

There was no permanent Cavalry Division in the British Army but on mobilisation the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th Cavalry Brigades were grouped to form a Cavalry Division landing also in early August 1914.  1st and 2nd Corps and the Cavalry Division from about the 14th August 1914 began to move by train to the area of concentration between Maubeuge and Le Cateau.

Cavalry Regiments had three squadrons, Regiments were commanded by a Lieutenant Colonel with a Major 2 i/c, each squadron was commanded by a Captain with about 225 troopers and a Machine Gun section commanded by a Lieutenant with about 25 troopers.  However the Household Cavalry Regiments had four squadrons, but the other provisions applied.
 
The Household Cavalry consisted of the 1st and 2nd Life Guards and the Royal Horse Guards. On the 4th August 1914 the 1st Life Guards was at Hyde Park Barracks, the 2nd Life Guards at Regent’s Park and the Royal Horse Guards at Windsor and on mobilisation one squadron from each of these Regiments was formed into the Household Cavalry Composite Regiment becoming, with the 6th Dragoon Guards (Carabiniers) and 3rd (King’s Own) Hussars, the 4th Cavalry Brigade.  The 4th Cavalry Brigade was under the command of Brigadier-General the Hon. C E Bingham. 

The Squadron of the 1st Life Guards to join the Composite Regiment left Hyde Park Barracks on the 15th August 1914 to join with the Squadrons from the 2nd Life Guards and the Royal Horse Guards at Southampton, the Household Cavalry Composite Regiment being under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Edwin Berkeley Cook M.V.O. 1st Life Guards.  The Regiment embarked on S.S. “Thespi” leaving Southampton at 5.30 a.m. on the 16th August and began disembarkation at Havre about 3.30 p.m. that afternoon.  Trooper William Waspe disembarked on the 16th August 1914, a member of the Squadron of 1st Life Guards forming a part of the Composite Regiment.

On the 18th August the Composite Regiment left Havre by train and travelling via Amiens arrived at Hautmont just to the south of Maubeuge at 2.30 a.m. on the 19th August and after a rest period 1st Life Guards crossed the frontier into Belgium at Jeumont  East of Maubeuge on the 21st August.

The BEF had concentrated in the area of Maubeuge by the 20th August 1914 and was on the left of Lanrezac’s French Fifth Army.  The Germans having occupied Luxembourg on the 2nd August, invaded Belgian on the 4th and generally advancing East.  Neither the French nor the British had real knowledge of the size or location of the German forces opposing them but by the 20th August the German First and Second Armies were advancing towards the concentration area from the North and the Third German Army from the East.

The main role of the Cavalry at that stage of the war was reconnaissance,to gain information of the direction and forces of the enemy and to capture prisoners if possible.  In that role the first shots of the war by the British Army were fired on the 22nd August by Corporal Thomas of “C” Squadron, 4th Royal Irish Dragoon Guards, 2nd Cavalry Brigade when at Casteau, a village about 3 miles North East of Mons the “contact” squadron of the Royal Irish attacked a troop of German dragoons. 

The Composite Regiment on the 22nd August was heading in an Easterly direction south of Mons towards Valenciennes and by the 23rd August units of the 4th Cavalry Brigade were in the area of Quievrain about 12 miles West of Mons, some 3 miles South of the Mons-Conde Canal.  By 6 a.m. the first German cavalry had reached the Mons area, two German Army Corps and the 9th German Cavalry Division were advancing on the two divisions of General Sir Horace Smith-Dorrien’s II Corps.

The rearguard action at Mons and the retreat began on the 24th August, the 1st Life Guards having moved south to Saultain, now on the Eastern edge of Valenciennes, digging trenches on the evening of the 23rd August with the 6th Dragoon Guards in the village of Curgies just to the East.  On the 25th August German infantry attacked Saultain and the 1st Life Guards had to evacuate the village leaving entrenching tools and some maps and were subjected to enemy shelling.  On the 26th August the Germans attacked at dawn along the whole British front but at Le Cateau II Corps elected to make a stand, in the event probably saving the whole BEF, and until 10 a.m. the 4th Cavalry Brigade was south of Ligny (about 6 miles West of Le Cateau) being subsequently rearguard to Major-General T. d’O. Snow’s 4th Division elements of which had been detraining and coming forward to link up with the retreating battalions of the BEF from the 24th August.

On the 27th August the 1st Life Guards were engaged in a rearguard action at Vendhuile, about 10 miles North of St. Quentin with 6 troops of 3rd  (King’s Own) Hussars and 6th Dragoon Guards, the last being badly hit by shell fire losing 6 of their officers.  That night the Retreat continued, the 1st Life Guards reaching Ham finally going into billets on the 28th August at Moyencourt some 6 miles West of Ham.   From there the retreat continued in a southerly direction,  and by the 30th August the 1st Life Guards were some 30 miles South of Compiegne, on the 31st August they were scouting to the West stopping the night at Verberie south of the Foret de Compiegne  on the Oise River.  Just to the East was St. Vaast and further East Nery.  at 5.30 a.m. leading troops of the German 4th Cavalry Division arrived at Nery and from the western heights looking down could see the 1st British Cavalry Brigade and “L” Battery Royal Horse Artillery watering their horses and having breakfast; whilst a patrol of the 11th Hussars dashed back with news, the German rifles, machine-guns and twelve artillery pieces opened fire, effectively the 1st Cavalry Brigade and “L” Battery were holding off the entire German 4th Cavalry Division.  Three of the British guns were manouvered into position to open fire on the enemy but quickly two of the three were hit and troopers attempted to find and mount horses.  The sole surviving gun continued to fire until ammunition ran out but this was sufficient for “I” Battery R.H.A. and the units from the 4th Cavalry Brigade to come over from St. Vaast to reinforce them, the 11th Hussars, backed by infantry from the 1st Middlesex, charged the German guns and chased the enemy for more than a mile bringing back 78 prisoners.  By the 3rd September the 1st Life Guards had crossed the Marne and were at Lognes, now on the Eastern edge of Paris.

On the 5th September Maunoury’s French Sixth Army attacked the German Army of von Kluck along the River Ourcy between Senlis and Reims and so began the Battle of the Marne and the German advance had ended and their retreat to the North began.

On the 7th September the 1st Life Guards were holding the Grand Morin river line between St. Simeon and St. Remy East of Meaux, the following day covering the crossing of the Petit Morin River and by the 9th September the 1st Life Guards crossed the River Marne at Azy continuing to advance Northwards to cross the river Ourcq on the 11th September and by the 12th September the 1st Life Guards were East of Soissons with the British 1st and 2nd Divisions to their right at Courcelles and Paars to the south of the River Aisne.

On the night of 12th/13th September 1914 the German First and Second Armies crossed the River Aisne and began to dig in on the high ground to the North of the River so ending the war of movement and initiating the beginning of trench warfare.  Between the 13th and 15th September the struggle by the Allies to cross the river and take the Chemin des Dames ridge began, by 7 a.m. on the 14th September the head of 1st (Guards) Brigade had reached Vendresse with the 4th Cavalry Brigade at Paissy keeping observation (both some 20 miles East of Soisonns).  1st Life Guards were at Pargnan, about a mile south of Paissy, with the guns and Reserves of 1st Division; the Germans made two attempts to drive the British out on a very wet day.  The 15th September the 1st Life Guards were back at Pargnan relieving the Infantry in trenching.  They remained in this area until the 19th September spending the 17th September in the trenches and subjected to heavy artillery fire, 5 men being wounded and 2 horses killed and 3 wounded. On the 20th September the 1st Life Guards moved south to the village of Vauxcere near the small town of Fismes for a period of rest to the 3rd October, the first since leaving Maubeuge, albeit this was interrupted on the 21st when the 1st Life Guards went back to Paissy and were shelled, 8 gun horses and 1 from the Life Guards being killed. 

On the 1st October Sir John French told General Joffre that he wished to move the BEF  from the Aisne to a new position north of La Bassee mainly to be in a position to defend the Channel ports and be in a better position to concert combined action and co-operation with the Royal Navy.  This was acceptable as the Allied front north-west of La Bassee was held only by French cavalry and Territorial troops and on the night of 1/2nd October 1914 the BEF began to move north. The 2nd Cavalry Division left first but Sir Douglas Haig’s I Corps was the last to leave and the 1st Life Guards remained in this general area, latterly at Braine, a large village some 10 miles East of Soissons.

Whilst the 1st Life Guards Squadron of the Composite Regiment was on the Aisne, far to the North the other 3 Squadrons forming the 1st Life Guards Regiment had landed in Belgium, HQ and D Squadron at Zeebrugge on the 8th October and A and C  at Ostend on the 7th  October 1914  as part of the 7th Cavalry Brigade, meeting up on the 9th October.

1st Life Guards left Braine on the afternoon of the 15th October by train arriving at Amiens at 4 p.m. on the 16th October and then going on via Boulogne and Calais to arrive at their destination Hazebrouck at 8 a.m. on the 17th October.  Their fresh orders sent the 1st Life Guards to Kemmel and then to Messines, the 4th Cavalry Brigade then becoming part of the 2nd Cavalry Division commanded by Major-General H de la P Gough.

Messines Ridge is to the south of Ypres and the Ypres – Armentieres road runs along its crest  from the village of St. Eloi at the Northern end through Wytschaete to Messines village itself; the land slopes gently down to the East, beyond Houthem and Hollebeke to the unused Comines Canal with the railway on a parallel embankment.  To the West side of the Ridge the land drops sharply with the Douve River at the southern end.

When the 4th Cavalry Brigade arrived in the area, the British held the ground well to the East of the Ridge, the 1st Cavalry Division fighting as Infantry on the eastern slopes from the south of Messines village towards St. Yves (HQ at Dranoutre between Kemmel and the Ridge) and the 2nd Cavalry Division in the area from Deulemont (south of Warneton and East of Ploegsteert Wood) in a semi circle East of Messines and Wytschaete near the village of Oostaverne bending East passing south of Hollebeke to the Ypres Canal about a mile north of the village of Houthem when the line was taken up by the 3rd Cavalry Division the line heading East to below the village of Zandvoorde where responsibility became that of the 7th Infantry Division.

1st Life Guards marched into Messines at 10 a.m. on the 18th October the Squadrons being billeted in farms and at 5.30 a.m. on the 19th October moved to hold trenches well to the left of the British front line and quite near the Canal and railway, a position near Halte.  The Regiment dug itself in as best it could and was there overnight subjected to a good deal of German shelling.  On the 21st October a German attack was expected from the Warneton direction, to the south east, and the attack developed rapidly with heavy shelling and enfilade fire which affected the 1st Life Guards left flank.  One officer was killed, five officers and 45 N.C.O.’s and men wounded.  On the 22nd October the Regiment was again digging in when in the early afternoon Lieutenant Colonel Cook and Captain Astor and three others were hit by shrapnel, Colonel Cook receiving a serious wound to his leg and Captain Astor to his hand.  Colonel Cook’s wounds were serious enough to require admission to Bailleul hospital and on the 22nd October Colonel Cook was evacuated from France on the hospital ship “Carisbrooke Castle” and he died from wounds on the 4th November 1914 and is buried in East Peckham (St. Michael’s Churchyard).

By the end of October the attack on the Messines position by the German XXIV and II Bavarian Corps had forced the British back almost onto the ridge itself.  On the 30th October in trenches just to the East of Messines itself were the 1st and 2nd Cavalry Brigades whilst the 1st Life Guards had been called out in support and went into trenches on the East side of the village of Wytschaete, the machine gun holding the extreme left flank of their position being at the cross roads in the village leading to the East to Oostaverne. 

Wytschaete and the area around it was heavily bombarded all through the 31st October and then at midnight a very strong attack was launched south of the cross roads against Wilde’s Rifles and the Carabiniers, both of the Carabiniers machine guns jammed and one troop was never seen again.  At 2 am on the 1st November 3 columns of German infantry attacked the position held by the Composite Regiment and a company of Wilde’s Rifles,  which held an advanced position near Oostaverne Wood and was wiped out.  The Composite Regiment was gradually forced back, fighting hard.  The 1st Life Guards’ Squadron bore the brunt of the attack and suffered heavily.  Both of its machine guns were put out of action and when ammunition ran out, the troops continued the fight using the bayonet stubbornly contesting every yard of ground but the enemy was in too great a strength and by mid day on the 1st November the British had been forced off the Ridge the Composite Regiment going into billets near La Clyte on the evening of the 1st November.

From the 7th November the 7th Cavalry Brigade, including the 3 Squadrons of the 1st Life Guards, had been in billets at Verloren Hoek; on the 11th November the Composite Squadrons of the Household Cavalry were ordered to re-join their respective regiments and at 3 pm on the 11th, the 1st Life Guards Squadron moved to Verloren Hoek becoming “B” Squadron of 1st Life Guards, 7th Cavalry Brigade, 3rd Cavalry Division.

Trooper William Waspe had fought with the Composite Squadron throughout this period and continued to serve with the 1st Life Guards from mid November 1914 until May 1918.  1st Life Guards, as part of 7th Cavalry Brigade, remained in the Ypres sector until July 1915, the 1st Life Guards serving dismounted in the trenches East of Ypres in February 1915, as part of a mobile Reserve for 1st Army’s attack at Neuve Chapelle in March.  In May 1915 the 1st Life Guards were serving in the trenches again during the 2nd Battle of Ypres.  On the 12th May the 1st Life Guards were on Frezenburg Ridge, 1st and 3rd Cavalry Divisions occupying the front line from Bellewaarde Lake to the area of Wieltje.   After four hours of shelling, the Germans made an advance which carried them into the trenches of 7th Cavalry Brigade which had been lightly held being on a long and gentle slope.  The battle continued on the 13th May troopers of the 1st Life Guards being in the trenches on both days retiring to Potijze on the evening of the 13th May, losses 23 killed in action, 59 wounded and 11 missing.  From then until the end of July troopers formed working parties mainly in the Elverdinghe area.

Until the changed conditions of the very last days in 1918, cavalry were brought up behind the offensive front to exploit any success but the conditions on the Western Front were such that cavalry were quite incapable of performing this function.  For the Battle of Loos in September 1915 3rd Cavalry Division was held to exploit any penetration of the German front line:  no penetration occurred.  In the Battle of the Somme in 1916, Haig in the planning stage seems to have thought that the enemy could be ejected from their trench systems and then pursued with cavalry.  In the planning of the Bazentin Ridge attack 2nd to 13th July, it was ordered that if the initial attack on the Ridge was successful 2nd Indian Cavalry Division was to attack High Wood and the German Switch Line trench.  In the evening of the 14th July two squadrons of the Indian Cavalry did get into action between High Wood and Delville Wood killing or capturing perhaps 100 Germans for the loss of 8 of their men.   In the Spring of 1917 came the Battle of Arras and the 2nd and 3rd Cavalry Divisions were put at the disposal of 3rd Army commander who prematurely committed 2nd and 3rd Divisions to get through north and south of Monchy le Preux but intense German machine gun fire prevented this with the loss of many horses though relatively few men.  For the 3rd Battle of Ypres in July 1917 a minor role was assigned to cavalry: they were “on notice” that in the event of a comprehensive German collapse they were to exploit success but there was no collapse.  There followed in November 1917 the Battle of Cambrai and here a role for the cavalry was envisaged, to isolate Cambrai and then to seize the bridges over the Sensee River to the north of Cambrai itself but the 3rd Cavalry Division was to remain in reserve.  On the eve of the German offensive in March 1918, the Household Cavalry had been allotted as Army Troops to the 5th Army becoming a unit under the direct command of 5th Army HQ.

On the 10th March 1918 the three Regiments which formed the Household Cavalry, 1st and 2nd Life Guards and Royal Horse Guards, had retired to Abbeville and were in the process of being dismounted and despatching a large draft of horses to the Egyptian Expeditionary Force when the German Spring Offensive, “Michael” began on the 25th March. (For the details see the entry above for Sydney Hammond).

On the night of the 26th March 1918 lorry-loads of infantry equipment arrived and the officers and men of the Household Cavalry set off with packs to march North East to St. Pol to join the 10th Corps.  On the 4th April the Life Guards and the Horse Guards left the St. Pol area to travel west by train to Etaples on the channel coast, outside which town they were to be encamped for six weeks for their conversion into battalions of machine gunners.  Officers and N.C.O.’s went to the nearby School of Machine Gunnery at Camiers whilst the troopers were handed over to specially selected Machine Gun Corps personnel most of whom had come from the School of Machine Gunnery at Grantham.

The intensive training lasted for about 6 weeks and by mid May the Household Cavalry had been organised into Battalions of a HQ and four companies designated as No. 1 (First Life Guards), No. 2 (Second Life Guards) and No. 3(Royal Horse Guards (Blues)) Battalions of the Guards Machine Gun Regiment.  There was also a Fourth Battalion of Machine Guns which served the Guards Division and a Fifth Reserve Battalion in England.  The strength of a battalion was fixed at 747 officers, 787 other ranks and 64 Vickers guns. By mid May  the machine-gun organisation was complete, a draft of 128 men having arrived from Cherbourg on the 18th May.

On the 9th April 1918 the Second German offensive code named Georgette was launched against the British line south of Armentieres within striking distance of the Channel ports and also endangering the railway system. In May 1918 German shell fire culminated in the major railway line from St. Just (north west of Paris) via Amiens to Hazebrouck having to be abandoned leaving only the line through Abbeville and Boulogne which crossed the estuary of the River Canche at Etaples.  The Germans knew the importance of destroying, and the British of protecting, this line of communication with every bridge from Dunkirk to Abbeville considered.  There were two vital bridges, that at Wimereux north of Boulogne and that at Etaples.

The Etaples bridge carried about 100 military trains a day and was a long masonry viaduct.  When the German advance enhanced the military importance of this line, already great, it was decided to construct an alternative line about a mile above the existing bridge and here ensued a race against time which the German air force came near to winning.

During the night of the 19th/20th May 1918 fifteen German bombers attacked the Etaples bridge.  Only one bomb fell close and this did little damage: most of them exploded in neighbouring hospitals and camps with terrible effect for the killed numbered 182 and the wounded 643.  One of the German bombers was shot down and the captured crew insisted that they did not know that hospitals were situated near the railway and were surprised that large hospitals should be placed close to air targets of first rate military importance, a view supported by a subsequent War Office inquiry which stressed that there was no right to have military reinforcement camps and hospitals close to main railways and important bombing objectives.  Railway stations were the subject of attacks by the Royal Flying Corps: Sergeant Thomas Mottershead (subsequently awarded the V.C.) was awarded the D.C.M. for his part in the attack on the railway station at Somain in 1916.

At about 10 pm on the 19th May enemy aircraft began an attack on the bridge and town of Etaples dropping bombs on the town and several of the hospitals on the Etaples – Camiers Road were hit, the whole countryside being illuminated by the flames.  A party of the Royal Horse Guards whose camp was close by went to the rescue and themselves suffered casualties with a Lieutenant and 12 troopers being wounded and one trooper killed.

The 2nd Life Guards withdrew from their camp, which was alongside the railway lines.

No great anxiety was felt in the camp of the 1st Life Guards until at about 11 pm an aeroplane was heard directly overhead.  There was a moment’s dead silence as the German aircraft swooped down with its engine switched off; then followed a rushing sound and two flashing explosions and the tents of “D” and “A” Companies seemed to vanish into space.  The wreckage was indescribable and 37 troopers were killed, 10 died of wounds on the 20th May 1918 and a further 2 on the 21st May 1918.  Probably another 70 at least were wounded.  All of those killed in the air raid or died of wounds sustained in the raid are buried in Etaples Military Cemetery.

The whole of the horse transport drivers were called in as gunners, their places being taken by any handy man in Etaples until a draft could arrive from England.

Corporal of Horse William Waspe was one of five troopers from the 1st Life Guards amongst the total of 37 who were killed in action who had served with the Regiment and had gone to France on the 16th August 1914 as a member of the 1st Life Guards Squadron which was a part of the Household Cavalry Composite Regiment, the other four being No.3014 Trooper George Samuel Moody, No.3032 Trooper Henry Taylor, No. 3371 Trooper Walter Hobday and No. 3396 Trooper Robert Douglas.  Of the twelve troopers who died of wounds, three also went to France on the 16th August, namely Troopers No. 3082 George Samuel Vye, No. 3089 Ernest Mariner and No. 3278 Harry Ogbourne

William Waspe, Walter Hobday and Henry Taylor are amongst the six buried alongside each other in Plot LXVIII B in Etaples Military Cemetery, whilst Robert Douglas and  George Moody are with the others killed that night from 1st Life Guards in Plot LXVI C. George Vye and Ernest Mariner are buried in Plot LXV C and Harry Ogbourne in Plot LXV III.

William Waspe was awarded the Victory and British War Medals and the 1914 Star with Bar, signified by a silver heraldic rose on the medal ribbon, awarded to those who had actually served under fire of the enemy in the period 5th August 1914 to 22nd November 1914.

At 3 a.m. on the 31st May French troop movements began using the alternative bridge at Etaples and at 10 p.m. that evening traffic resumed on the repaired original Etaples bridge  when later that night the German bombers attacked again cutting a part of the line and setting fire to a hospital train with 27 being killed and 79 wounded.  By 8 p.m. on the 1st June the line was fit for traffic once more but whilst there were a number of further attacks on the Etaples bridge with the line being broken on the 30th June and the 24th July the introduction of a system of advance warning of German air attacks on railway stations played a part in the reduction of casualties and serious damage.

On the 10th May 1918 1st and 2nd Life Guards, the Royal Horse Guards and the 4th Battalion Machine Gun Guards were redesignated 1, 2, 3 and 4 Battalions of the Guards Machine Gun Regiment and were engaged in the Battles of 1918 commencing with the Battle of Albert from the 21st to the 23rd August 1918 and crossed the German Frontier on the 11th December 1918.  On the 15th February 1919 orders were received for the conversion of the three Household Cavalry Battalions of the Regiment to their original status.

George Henry Watkins, Private No. 2321 10th (Service) Battalion Royal Warwickshire Regiment; killed in action 25th September 1918.

Commemorated on the Loos Memorial to the Missing in Dud Comer Cemetery Loos which records 20693 missing with no known grave who fell in the Battle of Loos September - October 1915 and Lys, Estaires and Bethune April 1918 and to the armistice who died in the area from the River Lys to the old southern boundary of the 1st Army east and west of Grenay.

George Henry Watkins was born in the Spring/early Summer of 1897 in Flecknoe in the Civil Parish of Wolfhamcote to the west of Rugby.  He was the son of William George Watkins, born in 1876 in Hellidon, Northamptonshire, and his wife Sarah Ann Watkins, born in 1875 in Ravenstone Buckinghamshire.  In 1901 he was living with his parents and sister Amy Rose, born in 1899 in Grandborough, in Kites Hardwick, Warwickshire.  His father was employed as a Groom/Gardener in a domestic situation.

By 1911 the whole family had moved to Stretton under Fosse, a hamlet just over a mile from Monks Kirby, his father working then as a Groom and his parents remained in the hamlet at least until 1923.

On the 15th October 1915 he married at St. Edith’s Parish Church Fanny Elizabeth Shepherd.  He was aged 19 and a Bachelor and Labourer and she was aged 37 and a Spinster.  In 1891 Fanny was living with her parents William and Fanny with her siblings Thomas, Charley, William, Amy, Frederick and Charles in Upper Radbourn, Warwickshire.  Fanny had been born in Tyso Warwickshire in about 1878.  Whilst in 1901 the family was living in The Doles, Priors Marston, Elizabeth (as she now preferred) was employed as a domestic servant by Walter Lacey, the Moravian Minister, and his mother Mary Lacey, of independent means, at Shuckburgh Road, Priors Marston.  There had been a Moravian Chapel at Priors Marston since 1806.  Whilst in 1911 the Watkins family was in Stretton under Fosse, Fanny Eliza Shepherd was at 239 Clifton Road Rugby as a working housekeeper for Beatrice Jones a teacher of singing and music.

George Watkins enlisted at Warwick when resident in Long Lawford.

In the 19th October 1918 issue of the Rugby Advertiser the widow inserted an obituary notice in the following terms: “In ever loving memory of my dear husband who was killed in action September 25th.  Ever in the thoughts of his loving wife Lizzie.”

The 10th (Service) Battalion was formed at Warwick in September 1914 and on 17th July 1915 landed in France as part of 57th Brigade, 19th Division.  For the early history of the Battalion see the entry for Albert Norman Henderson above.

The 19th Division left the Ypres sector on the 6th December 1917 to travel south to the 3rd Army area in the Somme region.

The Division participated in the German Offensives in Picardy between 21st March and 5th April 1918 and in Flanders in April 1918.

For the general background to the German offensives see the entry for Rifleman Sydney Hammond above.

A final German attempt to cut off the British Second Army led at the end of April 1918 to savage fighting around Kemmel south east of Ypres in Belgium.  By noon on the 26th April Kemmel Hill and village had been taken by the enemy from the French but counter attacks led to the German Army discontinuing operations at 2200 on the 29th April 1918.   The 19th Division remained in the Kemmel area until 11th/12th May and then on the 15th May was ordered to entrain to travel south to the French front near Chalons sur Marne in the Champagne area.  The 19th Division was one of a number of battle worn British divisions sent to the quiet sector north of the Aisne between Reims and Soissons in return for French reinforcements which had gone north to aid the British in Flanders.

The British Divisions were allotted to Lieutenant General Sir A Hamilton Gordon’s IX Corps attached to General Denis Duchesne’s Sixth French Army.

By the 19th May 1918 the Division had reached their destination, Divisional Headquarters and billets being in villages south east of the town of Chalons.  The heavy fighting through which the Division had passed on the Somme and the Lys necessitated a prolonged period of rest, training and reorganization for the Division was now composed almost entirely of new drafts from England and Wales, many of whom were totally inexperienced and others not fully trained.

The central backbone of the Aisne defences was formed by the Chemin-des-Dames ridge north of the Aisne River with the front curving round to run south to Reims.  Soon after their arrival in the area British Divisions were directed by the French Army Commander to take over a sector of the front line, the eastern half of the front on the Ridge, on the representation that the front was so quiet that rest and training could still be continued.  The 50th Division was on the left, the actual front line being North of the ridge itself, next came the 8th Division and then in the low ground from Berry-au-Bac the 21st Division joining up with the 45th French Division covering Reims, the infantry of the 25th Division being in reserve.

There was some uneasiness amongst the British commanders, shared by certain of their French neighbours, but discounted by the French Army headquarters.  General Duchesne had also not followed General Henri-Philippe Petain (French Commander in Chief since May 1917) instructions for a deep and elastic system of defence but had adopted the wasteful system of massing the infantry of the defence in the forward positions.  On the 14th May the head of the American Battle Order section gave as his opinion that the next German attack would be between the 25th and 30th May against the Chemin-des-Dames sector, this sector being the only one where surprise was a key factor, that it was regarded by the Allies as secure and a resting ground for tired divisions and the feasible frontage corresponded with the limited German resources available.  The warning was given no credence by French General Headquarters.

However at 1 am on the 27th May 1918 the German offensive in the Champagne area was launched with more than 4000 artillery and mortar pieces firing 2 million shells against a 30 mile frontage from Crecy-au-Mont in the West to Berry-au-Bac to the East, including the length of the Chemin des Dames ridge some 50 miles North West of Chalons and north of the Aisne River. 

After a two hour bombardment the German infantry advanced first crossing the Ailette River by use of specially constructed footbridges and within 45 minutes had reached the crest of the ridge in the centre near Ailles.  This exposed the flank of the 50th Division forcing its survivors to fall back down the slope of the ridge.  Next to it the 8th Division had also to give way although two of its Brigades held stubbornly for a time on the north bank of the Aisne.  On the British right the attack on the 21st Division developed later, the Division’s position being somewhat awkward with the swampy Aisne and the Marne canal running through the centre of its sector but most of the division was successfully extricated and withdrew west of the canal.  By mid-day the Germans had reached and crossed at most points the River Aisne from Berry-au-Bac to Vailly:  by mid afternoon in the centre at the junction of the French and British wings, the Germans had penetrated 12 miles and got as far as the River Vesle.  At 4 p.m. on the 27th May 19th Divisional H.Q. received information of the enemy attack and was ordered to be in readiness to proceed west.

By the 29th May the enemy had crossed the Ourcq River at Fere-en-Tardenois in the centre and had captured Soissons to the west, and on the 30th had reached the Marne some 10 miles south of Fere-en-Tardenois.

In the early hours of the 29th May, units of the 19th Division had reached the area south east of Fismes.  Over the following days several temporary changes in commands of units took place with Battalions going to other Divisions and Battalions from the 8th and 50th Divisions coming under the command of 19th Division.  The Division remained in this area until the 6th/7th June when various reliefs were carried out and throughout the entire period by its fine resistance to German attacks had completely frustrated the enemy’s plans to advance up the valley of the Ardre River to envelop Reims from the south west with very serious consequences to the Allies.  On the 1st June Petain had changed the French tactics so that the French reserves instead of being thrown into the battle as they arrived were ordered to form effectively a dam in the rear of the German line of advance which would stop its momentum:  at the same time the 1st and 2nd American Divisions had arrived, the 1st Division moving to hold the Marne crossing at Chateau-Thierry whilst the 2nd Division took over the Bealleau Wood sector from the French checking the advance there and then after three weeks of desperate hand to hand fighting and 9000 casualties Belleau Wood was cleared and Vaux (to the west of Chateau-Thierry) recaptured.

All units of the 19th Division were worn out with incessant fighting and reduced in numbers.  Between the 7th and 19th June no further operations on a large scale were undertaken by the enemy or by the 19th Division although persistent heavy German shelling, in which a large proportion of gas was used, continued.

On the 19th June the 19th Division was relieved by the 8th Italian Division and withdrawn to an area south of Epernay to rest and refit, troops temporarily attached were returned to their own divisions and new drafts, a majority being young, inexperienced soldiers, only partially trained, were incorporated into the battalions. 

On the 30th June and 1st July the Division moved by train north to the area of Fauquembergues, about 14 miles south west of St. Omer remaining in this area engaged mainly in training.  By that date the constitution of the three Brigades had changed, 56th Brigade being made up of 9th Cheshires, 1/4th Kings Shropshire Light Infantry, and 8th North Staffords; 57th Brigade 10th Royal Warwicks, 8th Gloucesters and 3rd Worcesters and 58th Brigade 8th Royal Welch Fusiliers, 9th Welsh Regiment and 6th Wiltshires.

On the 18th July 1918 the French counter-attack took place well south on the Aisne.  The French 10th Army dispensing with a preliminary bombardment advanced from the cover of the forest of Villers-Cotterets behind a creeping barrage and preceded by an armada of light tanks.  The Germans were taken completely by surprise and the French broke through the German defences between Soissons and Chateau-Thierry with American Divisions advancing 6 miles from their start line to capture Vierzy.  The result was the evacuation by the Germans of the Marne bridgehead.  The news of that success, coupled with the advance of the British 4th Army and Australian and Canadian Corps eastward from Amiens on the 8th August 1918 breaking through the German lines at Cerisy and Villers Bretonneaux and driving the enemy back several miles taking 13,000 prisoners and over 300 guns, heartened the hearts of the young soldiers and suggested a weakening of the enemy’s morale.

It was known that the French counter-stroke further south had forced the enemy to send reinforcements from the Flanders front and it was surmised that the German leaders might conceivably economize on troops by shortening their line in the valley of the Lys River.  A withdrawal by the enemy was judged likely and as Battalions came up into the line they were ordered to keep close watch for signs of any German retreat.

On the 5th August 1918 the enemy began a small withdrawal from the head of the salient won in the April Lys offensive between Bethune and Bailleul continuing the movement during the 6th and 7th to a depth of nearly a mile over a distance of about 10 miles.

On the night of the 6th/7th August 1918 the 19th Division relieved the 3rd Division in the British line which ran from about a mile west of Bailleul in the north, south west to some 2 miles west of Merville where, crossing the River Lys, the line ran south to the La Bassee canal turning east to Festubert.  The 19th Division’s sector was that part of the line which ran just south of Locon, a village about 3 miles north of Bethune.  On the morning of the 7th, the enemy began to withdraw troops from his line south of Locon and patrols were at one pushed out to keep contact with the enemy with orders to continually harass the enemy with the Divisional Artillery keeping the opposing lines of trenches and back areas under heavy and constant bombardment.  A slow advance continued up to the 10th August when the Wiltshires carried out an attack near Verbois Farm killing 10 Germans and capturing two.  On the 13th August a patrol of the 1/4th Shropshires rushed a hostile post killing several of the enemy and capturing four.  On the 15th August a fighting patrol of the 10th Royal Warwicks raided the enemy’s posts, killing eight of them and capturing two machine-guns. 

On the 18th August units of the 9th and 29th Divisions attacked and captured Outtersteene Ridge from the enemy: the ridge is about 3 miles south west of Bailleul and whilst of no great height was of great tactical importance giving observation over a considerable distance and as expected the enemy than began a general withdrawal from the western end of the Lys valley, confirmed by numerous explosions around Merville caused by blowing up ammunition dumps.  On the 27th August the Royal Air Force was reporting fires and explosions at Laventie, Armentieres, La Bassee, Aubers and Fromelles.  On the 29th August the Germans fired Estaires shortly after dark and patrols from the Royal Welch Fusiliers reached the banks of the River Lawe just under 2 miles south west of that town.  By the end of the month the enemy had begun extensive retirements, to the north Bailleul was found unoccupied and taken by the 25th Division on the 30th August.  In the 19th Division’s sector, British patrols entered the deserted ruins of Veille Chapelle about 2 miles north east of Locon on the same day  but a further advance was met by the machine-guns of a line of strong posts held by the enemy from Estaires south to Richebourg St. Vaast, about 2 miles to the east.  The hostile resistance on that line was so well organised that a properly planned attack supported by artillery was necessary if the advance was to be continued which was arranged for the 3rd September.

The objectives were the village of Richebourg St. Vaast, Lansdowne Post beyond it and Hindenburg Post to the south.  The 10th Royal Warwicks and the 3rd Worcesters from the 57th Brigade were to attack with the 58th Brigade units continuing the line of the attack on the left of the Royal Warwicks.  The 10th Royal Warwicks were to clear the northern outskirts of the village, the 3rd Worcesters would storm the village itself and the post beyond and on the flank troops of the 46th (North Midland) Division would sieze Hindenburg Post.

The attack began at 5.30 a.m. when, under cover of an intense artillery and machine-gun barrage, the 57th and 58th Brigades advanced and gained all their objectives.  Fighting patrols were at once pushed forward to the Estaires – La Bassee road, crossing this to occupy Pont Logy about 1000 yards west of the old British Line in front of Neuve Chapelle. About 170 prisoners and 15 machine-guns were captured.  The 46th Division had not advanced far that day but when the attack continued on the 4th September the 46th Division advanced and the 3rd Worcesters pushed forward, continued to cross the main road into Neuve Chapelle village which the enemy had vacated, falling back to their old front line beyond the village.  Brigades in the front line were now ordered to adopt a policy of deliberately establishing themselves in salients in the enemy’s outpost screen to compel him to fall back to avoid being cut off and until the 20th September “nibbling” tactics were adopted.

On the 16th September 1918, the 10th Royal Warwicks moved forward from reserve and relieved the 9th Cheshire Regiment in the front line.  The 17th September was described as a quiet day.  On the 18th, the enemy raided a post of “C” Company killing 1, wounding 2 and capturing 2 other ranks. One German was killed.  The 19th was again a quiet day but orders for an attack on Shepherds Redoubt on the 20th were received.

About 1000 yards to the south of Neuve Chapelle was the La Tourelle cross roads where British patrols had been able to push forward to within close range of a strong fortification known as Shepherds Redoubt supported by a second fortification constructed in the ruins of a large Distillery on the main road which together formed a twin fortification of great strength.  On the right, the 10th Royal Warwicks actually faced this fortification with the 3rd Worcestershire on the left extending the line about 1500 yards towards Port Arthur.  In preparation artillery and trench mortars began wire cutting.

At 6.30 a.m. on the 20th September two companies of the 10th Royal Warwicks attacked, advancing from Du Bois Farm behind a strong barrage and captured the two fortifications in splendid style.  79 Germans were taken prisoner with several machine guns.  On their left a company of 3rd Worcesters advanced their front to the main road without difficulty.  Consolidation had started and the troops were busy digging and wiring under heavy German fire when at about 11 a.m. the enemy made a strong counter attack making excellent use of his knowledge of the ground and cover (bushes, crops and drains), causing heavy casualties particularly in officers and Sergeants and compelling the 10th Royal Warwickshire to evacuate most of the captured positions.  The company of the 3rd Worcestershire managed to hold its captured ground until 1.30 p.m. and also then had to withdraw.  The only permanent gain was the capture of a ruined house known as “Seven Sisters.”  Both Battalions were relieve that night, 10th Royal Warwicks by 8th Gloucesters.

The 10th Royal Warwicks remained in support on the 21st, 22nd and 23rd, German artillery shelling in the vicinity of Battalion H.Q. causing casualties on the 21st.  Orders were soon prepared for a second attack on Shepherds Redoubt, the plan was the same in essentials but on this occasion the main attack was to be made by 3rd Worcesters with 10th Royal Warwicks carrying out the subsidiary role on the left.

On the 23rd September the 10th Royal Warwicks relieved the 3rd Worcesters on the left of the Brigade front, the 3rd Worcesters moving back into support.  On the 24th Orders for the renewed attack were received and after dark on the 24th the 3rd Worcesters moved forward and relieved the 8th Gloucesters in the trenches south of Du Bois Farm the relief being completed at 3 a.m. on the 25th September.

At 8 a.m. on the 25th September 1918 the British artillery opened fire and the 3rd Worcestershire attacked.  The 10th Royal Warwicks attacked at 8.30 a.m.  Although the enemy had hastily strengthened the defences, one company of the 3rd Worcesters was led skillfully forward to the Distillery whilst on its flank a swift encircling movement was carried out which outflanked the German defences.  Then the attacking platoons charged in with bomb and bayonet, getting into the enemy’s trench. Much heavy fighting took place but by 9.30 a.m. the Redoubt and the Distillery had both been stormed, over 80 prisoners and 10 machine-guns had been taken and the entrenchment of the new positions was begun.

The “B” Company of the Royal Warwicks met a slight repulse but carried its objective of taking the line forward across the Estaires – La Bassee Road.  “D” Company moved up in close support, followed by “C” Company.  “B” Company in particular sustained heavy casualties and the line some 200 yards East of the Road was finally established later that day.  15 Germans were captured.

The enemy’s artillery and machine-guns kept up an intermittent fire during the day but otherwise all was quiet until 6.0 p.m. when behind a sudden fierce barrage the expected German counter attack came on from the east across the open ground.  However to avoid the barrage on the captured positions, the 3rd Worcesters had pushed forward into the open to meet the enemy who at the sight of the oncoming bayonets wavered and stopped.  At that moment the British artillery opened a heavy fire and after a fight at short range the enemy fell back in disorder.  Both the lines of the 3rd Worcesters and the 10th Royal Warwicks remained intact.  The night was quiet until after 3 a.m. on the 26th when once again the German infantry attempted a counter- attack easily repulsed by fire.  German artillery bombarded the Distillery but made no further attempt to regain it and the position was then secured.

The 10th Royal Warwicks lost 2/Lieutenant Clive Marston Beaufoy, killed, and Captain L R Swinhoe and 2/Lieutenant A R Harrison were wounded. Private Watkins was one of eight other ranks killed in action on the 25th September, Lance Corporal Samuel Alder, Private Henry Allbrighton and Private Harold Martin Roberts having like Private George Watkins no known grave and are commemorated on the Loos Memorial.  Private Albert Edward Buckingham is buried in Le Touret Military Cemetery, Richebourg-L’Avoue, 4 miles north of Bethune; Sergeant Albert Edward Luckett is buried in Rue-des-Berceaux Military Cemetery, Richebourg l’Avoue, 6 miles north of Bethune and Private Leonard Rumsey is buried in Cabaret-Rouge British Cemetery, Souchez, 7 miles north of Arras and about 18 miles south of Bethune. This cemetery was considerably enlarged after the Armistice and contains graves of soldiers recovered often from single plots from inter alia the Bethune sector.  2nd/Lieutenant Clive Beaufoy is buried in Vieille-Chapelle New Military Cemetery, Vieille-Chapelle being about 6 miles north of Bethune.

The 26th September was quiet with Enemy patrols being repulsed.  On the night of 26th/27th September the 3rd Worcesters were relieved by 8th Gloucesteshire, moving back into support.  The 10th Royal Warwicks remained in the line on the 27th, being relieved on the 28th September by 9th Welsh Regiment from 58th Brigade when the whole of the 57th Brigade was relieved by the 58th Brigade, the 3rd Worcestershire marching back to reserve at Hinges and the 10th Royal Warwicks to Divisional Reserve at Locon.

The 19th Division made a final attack in this area on the 30th September when the line was advanced further to the East and more prisoners and machine-guns were taken.  On the 1st and 2nd October 1918 the 19th Division was relieved by the 74th Division but during the course of the relief the enemy retired and the 56th Brigade (which on the 2nd Otober was still in the line) pushed forward and occupied Aubers and the high ground south-east of it, Aubers Ridge, where a halt was made so that a defensive line could be handed over to the 74th Division that night. 

Private George Watkins was awarded the Victory and British War Medal.  He therefore went to France at some time after 1st January 1916. In the absence of his Service Record it is speculative when he joined the Battalion.  The Derby Scheme for voluntary registration for service ended on the 15th December 1915.  Conscription was effected by February 1916 and in January 1917 30,000 men engaged in agriculture were to be made available for military service.  He was not in the Army when he married and may therefore have gone overseas in 1917 or possibly post the Spring offensive in 1918.

 Grave of Private Thomas Truelove Wright

 
Thomas Truelove Wright,  Private No. 4500 1st Battalion Royal Warwickshire Regiment; killed in Action 2nd August 1915 aged 24 buried Sucrerie Military Cemetery Colincamps Somme France, 7 miles N of Albert.  Records 827 UK., 65 N.Z., 2 Can., burials and 7 special memorials.

Thomas Wright was the second son of John and Mary Elizabeth Wright of Manor Farm, Monks Kirby.

In 1901  John Wright (43) a Farmer was living at Manor Farm Monks Kirby with his wife Mary (45) and their children John (15), Catherine (12), Thomas (10), Benjamin (6) and Albert Victor( 4).

Thomas Wright enlisted at Rugby in September 1914 and landed in France on the 29th July 1915.  Just before, he had had a short period of leave spent with his family in Monks Kirby.

The 1st Battalion Royal Warwickshire mobilised at Shorncliffe on the 4th August 1914 and as part of the 10th Brigade, 4th Division left from Southampton to land at Boulogne on the 22nd August 1914.

In June 1915 General Joffre was proposing two offensives against the German forces; from Champagne northwards and from the Artois plateau eastwards.  The offensive from Artois – as planned at the beginning of June – was to be the main operation and formed a sequel to the expected capture of Vimy ridge with a greatly re-enforced French 10th Army attacking eastwards from about Arras and Lens into and across the Douai plain.  The offensive from Champagne was to be delivered from about Reims northwards along the foothill of the Ardennes following the eastern border of the plain.

On the 4th June General Joffre sent a draft of his scheme to British G.H.Q. with the British being asked to assist in two ways;  by taking over 22 miles of the French line south of Arras from Chaulnes (33 miles south of Arras) across the Somme to Hebuterne (13 miles S.S.W. of Arras) in order to free for the offensive in Champagne the French Second Army the holding that sector of the line and also participating in the French 10th Army offensive by attacking either on its immediate left, north of Lens, or on  its right  across the Somme uplands south of Arras.

In principle Sir John French agreed to these proposals and the Third Army (formed on the 3rd July 1915 under General Sir Charles Monro) was to become responsible for the extended front, in fact of 13 miles rather than 22 miles, from Curlu on the Somme River to Berles-au-Bois north of Hebuterne,

The first units into the trenches were on the 20th July 1915 1/5th Gloucesters, 1/8th Worcesters and 1/4th Oxford and Bucks from the 48th (South Midland) Division to hold the area  Fonquevillers (about 10 miles North of Albert) south to north of Serre. Following on the 24th July 1915 1st Kings Own (Royal Lancasters) and 2nd Essex from the 4th Division, to hold Serre to Beaumont-Hamel.  On the 30th July 1915 1/6th Seaforth Highlanders and 1/8th Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders from 51st (Highland) Division, to hold the river Ancre south to Fricourt.  On the 2nd August 1915 1st Norfolks and 1st Bedfords from 5th Division, to hold the Bray sector, Fricourt to the Somme River West of Curlu.  Early September 1915 6th – 9th Leicestershire Regiment from 37th Division to hold the area from Berles-au-Bois in the north, south to Fonquevillers. 

On the 22nd July 1915 the Battalion left the Ypres Sector to travel south, the 4th Division leaving the Second Army commanded by General Sir Herbert Plumer to join General Sir Charles Monro’s newly formed Third Army in the Somme sector.  The Battalion arrived by train at Doullens at 10 pm to march some 2 miles to Freschervillers to bivouac in a field in pouring rain.  The next day in showery weather the Battalion marched 10 miles south to Bertrancourt and was inspected on the 24th by General Monro.

At 4 am on the 25th July 1915 HQ and Company Commanders went up to visit the French held trenches near the Sucrerie (a sugar beet factory) which were to become the Battalion’s responsibility.  In June 1915 the French Second Army had attempted to capture the fortified village of Serre.  Whilst that had not succeeded, the French had pushed the Germans back so that the German line which had originally run about 2000 yards west of Serre village, (Toutvent Farm and copses subsequently named John, Luke, Mark and Matthew being well within German lines), now ran some 1000 yards west of the village with the copses being on or just behind the French and later British front line.

At 8 pm that evening the Battalion moved up to take over the trenches from the French 64th Infanterie Regiment the operation being completed at about midnight. The sector was the line south of the village of Serre with the German line running North to South, south of Serre and on Redan Ridge and the British line being opposite.

The sector to the immediate left was held by 143rd Brigade of the 48th Division.  Two companies from the 1st Royal Warwicks were in the front line, one in support and one in reserve.   The trenches were described as a maze with communication being difficult.  The French did not believe their trenches were to have any degree of permanence so that seemingly when they fell into disrepair by bombardment or adverse weather conditions they were abandoned and new ones dug, parts of their lines becoming a rabbit warren of short trenches going off in all directions, some becoming cul de sacs and in which it was only too easy for the unwary to get lost.  

On the 26th July the Battalion remained in the trenches.  Arrangements were made for a trench store dump in “D” Company area to be established for work to begin on improvement of the trenches.  A French liaison officer remained with the companies to show the troops the layout of the trenches.  Whilst described as a quiet day, at 7 am 2nd Lieutenant F. D. Elkington was wounded in the neck by a German sniper and two other ranks were also wounded that day.  Privates No.9846 William Swainston, No. 10167 William Tarver and No. 3717 Edward Williams were all killed in action.

The 27th July was again described as very quiet with a few “Little Willies” coming over but retaliation from French 75’s soon ended any trouble from the enemy.  It rained a little in the evening.  There was one casualty, Private No. 4432 Thomas Harris who died of wounds that day and is buried in Boulogne Eastern Cemetery. almost certainly one of those wounded on the 26th July.  “Little Willies” were the mortar shells from the light 76 mm German Minenwerfer: the French 75 was the 75 mm quick firing French field gun

The 28th July was a very quiet night and day.  Work commenced in the trenches with a good deal to be done.  A draft of four officers and 106 other ranks arrived.  Weather described as fine.  One soldier was wounded.

The 29th July was another quiet night and day.  The British artillery was able to take over responsibility for the sector from the French.  Work continued particularly on the trench parapets.  The draft which had arrived in the Transport lines the day before came up to the front line trenches at about 11 pm. The weather was fine and there were no casualties.

The 30th July was another quiet day with some German shelling particularly on “A” Company’s line but without damage.  Again, weather fine and no casualties.

The 31st July a quiet night and day again, a draft of 115 other ranks and four officers joined.  Private Wright was certainly part of that draft.   Privates 9919 Albert Harris and 3226 James Mills were killed in action.

Lieutenant Colonel A. J. Poole, the C.O., recorded that up to 31st July 1915 93 officers had served with the Battalion, of whom 20 had been killed, 23 wounded and 9 missing and prisoners of war.  Approximately 3638 N.C.O’s. and men had served with the Battalion with 324 being killed in action, 1060 wounded and 381 missing and prisoners of war.

On the 1st August the 115 other ranks and 3 of the officers who had joined the Battalion on the previous day came up to the trenches, “A” Company’s trenches were shelled during the night but there were no casualties.  Weather fine and it was noted that 126th Battery of the Royal Field Artillery covered the Warwickshire’s front.

The 2nd August was described as a quiet night and day, a few German shells fell during the day on the support trenches and it is probable that the only casualty of that shelling was Private Thomas Wright who was killed.  Heavy rain at 6 o’clock reduced the trenches to a very bad state and the troops had of course to get to work on them.

There were no further casualties until the 6th August when two Privates were killed.

On the 3rd August there were heavy storms all day, the trenches were in a very bad state, a few German shells came over but caused no damage.  On the 4th the weather was better but the trenches were in a very bad state.  German Field Guns fired more than usual but otherwise very quiet with very little German sniping.  On the 5th, the weather changed to fine and warm and the trenches began to dry up a bit.  But still a lot of work was still required.  During the morning the British 6 inch howitzers registered on enemy targets.

On the 6th August again there was more rain. Officers of the Royal Dublin Fusiliers, the Battalion to relieve the Royal Warwickshire, came round to look over the trenches at about 11 am.  The German filed guns were more active than usual.  The night was described as quiet when a patrol went out to reconnoitre a German sap.  Privates No. 1723 Charles Beacham and No. 11353 George Carter were killed in action

The 7th August was again a very quiet night and day albeit stormy weather.  Work continued on the trenches.  At 10 am Major General H. F. M. Wilson commanding the 4th Division went round the trench lines.

At 9.30 pm on the 8th August 1915 the Battalion was relieved by the Royal Dublin Fusiliers the relief being completed by 11.30 pm.  During this period the enemy fired a few shells.  The weather remained fine and the Battalion marched about 6 miles to billets in Lealvillers arriving at about 3 am in the early hours of the 9th August the day being spent in cleaning up.

Privates Swainston, Tarver, Williams, Albert Harris, Mills, Thomas Wright and Carter who were all killed in action in the period from 26th July to 6th August are all buried in Sucrerie Military Cemetery;  Private Charles Beacham killed in action on the 6th August is buried in Bertrancourt Military Cemetery.

The 2nd Battalion Royal Dublin Fusiliers had one casualty on the 8th August 1915, Private Patrick Kiernan who is also buried in Sucrerie Military Cemetery. This young man landed in France on the 29th July 1915, joined the Battalion on the 31st, went into the trenches on the 1st August and was killed on the 2nd August 1915.

Private Thomas Truelove Wright was awarded the Victory and British War Medal and the 1914 – 1915 Star.



Those commemorated and buried in The Priory Churchyard of St. Ediths, Monks Kirby, Warwickshire

Grave of George Dean

Grave of George Dean No M/11786 Engine Room Artificer 4th Class Royal Navy died 15th March 1919.

At about 0200 on Thursday the 15th March 1919 the mutilated body of a sailor aged about 40 years was found near the side of the fast line in Stretton under Fosse.  On arrival of the train at Rugby from Preston the door of a 3rd Class Compartment was found open with a sailors cap on the luggage rack.  His identity was later established and he was travelling from Liverpool to presumably London, returning to his unit H.M.S. Victory H.M. Naval Base at Portsmouth. He had been serving on H.M.S. Eaglet, the shore based Royal Naval Reserve Training Centre in Liverpool and accidentally fell from the train.

The interment took place on Saturday the 17th March his coffin being carried by a party of soldiers in the area.

Grave of Mary Grace Smyth.

Grave of Mary Grace Smyth Assistant Administrator Queen Mary’s Army Auxiliary Corps died in Queen Mary’s Army Auxiliary Hospital Isleworth aged 26 years on the 22nd February 1919 and is buried in St. Edith’s Churchyard, Monks Kirby, Warwickshire.  The cause of death was certified as (i) Meningitis (2 days) (ii) Pneumonia.  She was transferred direct to Isleworth from Boulogne having been taken seriously ill in France a few days before her death.

The Headstone in the form of a cross has the inscription “Death is swallowed up by Victory” at the head and at the foot   “In loving memory of Mary G Smyth who died at QMAAC Hospital Isleworth February 22nd 1919 aged 26 years.”

In a side chapel in St. Edith’s Church is a brass plaque inscribed “In Loving Memory of Mary Grace Smyth.  Died 22nd February 1919 aged 26.  This tablet has been placed here by the members of unit 1 Boulogne to whom she endeared herself by her gently and unselfish disposition.”  In the bottom left hand corner is inscribed QMAAC and in the right corner BEF.

Mary Smyth was born in the late Spring/early Summer of 1892 at Southwick near Trowbridge in Wiltshire the daughter of the Reverend Arthur Worsley Smyth and his wife Marie.  Her father held a living in Weston super Mare from 1887 to 1891 and then from 1892 to 1903 was the Vicar at Great and Little Abington in Cambridgeshire.

In 1901 the family was living at St. Mary’s Vicarage in Little Abington. the Reverend Arthur Smyth aged 41 and his wife Marie (31), Mary (8), Dorothy (6) Arthur (4) and Frances (3 months) with a German Governess, a Domestic Nurse, Cook and Housemaid. 

Her parents moved to Warwickshire when her father was appointed the Vicar of Monks Kirby in 1915 and they lived initially in Pailton. In 1917 the family moved to the Vicarage, Millers Lane, Monks Kirby.  The Reverend Arthur Smyth almost certainly selected the inscription at the top of the cross based on a passage in the First Letter of Paul to the Corinthians.  He conducted her funeral on the 6th February 1919 and he remained as the Vicar at Monks Kirby until 1923.

The formation of the Women’s Auxiliary Army Corps had its origins in the heavy losses in the fighting in 1916, particularly in the Battle of the Somme, and the establishment of the Lloyd George Coalition Government in December 1916 marking a stage towards direct State control of all aspects of the war effort replacing the mixture of Government and voluntary action.  On the 8th December 1916 the War Office instructed Lieutenant-General Sir Henry Lawson to report on the number and physical categories of men employed out of the fighting area in France.  His report recommended employing women to replace men carrying out certain administrative jobs in Britain and France so that the men could then be sent to fight at the front. Sir Douglas Haig gave his views to the War Office on the 11th March 1917 that, despite a long list of supposed difficulties, the principle of employing women in France was acceptable.  Selection Boards were set up, applicants had to have two references and go before a Medical Board with all the doctors on the Board being women.  Army Council instruction, recognising that the employment of women at the Base and on the Lines of Communication abroad, appeared on the 28th March 1917 when recruitment had already begun with the formal basis of the Corps being Army Council Instruction No. 1069 which appeared on the 7th July 1917.  The Corps was organised in four sections: motor transport, clerical, household and mechanical miscellaneous, denoted by differently coloured shoulder straps.  Women in the Corps were not given full military status, enrolling rather than enlisting and were subject to civil courts rather than military courts.  There were no military ranks in the Corps but Grades.  Instead of officers, there were controllers and administrators “other ranks” became workers, forewomen replacing NCOs.  The members or workers had brief training before being sent to Folkestone for inoculations and embarkation. Official trained for 3 weeks followed by a 14 day probationary period before going to France.

In February 1917 Mrs Mary Chalmers Watson, a distinguished Scottish doctor, was gazetted Chief Controller in overall charge of the newly formed Corps serving as such until February 1918 when she was succeeded by Mrs Burleigh Leach.  Mrs (later Dame) Helen Gwynne-Vaughan, a botanist before the war, was appointed Chief Controller Overseas in 1917 and her Deputy was Miss Violet Long until Miss Long was drowned  in the Channel on the 3rd August 1918.

Six base camps for the Corps were initially set up at Etaples, Calais, Abbeville, Le Havre, Boulogne and Rouen; later base camps were formed at St. Omer and Dieppe.  For each of these areas there was an Area Controller and a Deputy and the Area Controller for Boulogne was Miss A Low who arrived in France on the 23rd July 1917.

In 1917 there were Units I, II and III in the Boulogne area; by February 1918 Unit IV was established as the billet for women chauffeurs.  For each of these units there was a Unit Controller and her Deputy and a number of Administrators and Assistant Administrators.  A number of Workers were attached to each Unit and a draft received in the Boulogne area in 1917 contained Assistant Cooks, Head Waitress, Assistant Waitresses and Waitresses, Housemaids, Hostel Forewoman, Gardeners, Shorthand Typist, Forewoman Clerk, General Clerks, Ledger Clerk, Typists, Motor driver, Scrubber, Orderly, Pantry Maids, Forewoman Cook, Postal Workers and Sorter and Vegetable Maid.  The women worked long hours being allowed one day off and a half-day off, on alternate weeks.

The uniform consisted of a wide brimmed felt hat, khaki jacket and skirt and a calf length coat.  All had to do physical exercise every day to maintain fitness and between January 1917 and the Armistice over 57,000 women served in the Corps.  On the 9th April 1918 the Corps was renamed the Queen Mary’s Army Auxiliary Corps, with Queen Mary becoming Commander in Chief, mainly in recognition of the sterling conduct of the Corps during the German Spring Offensive in March 1918.

Although not on combat duties, women in the Corps like all military personnel were subjected to German shelling from Heavy artillery and bombing raids by German aircraft.  Abbeville was an important Base, a centre of communications, supply and transport with several hospitals and training areas in the vicinity.  The main British base was outside the town with many wooden huts erected to house the troops.  In 1918 the town and the surrounding area was subjected to frequent air raids and in a raid on the 30th May 1918 a bomb struck a trench in which members of the Corps were sheltering.  Eight workers were killed outright, one died of wounds and a further six were wounded.  The nine workers who died are buried in Abbeville Communal Cemetery Extension.  These were 31503 Worker Mary Mclachlan Blaikley:  31673 Worker Beatrice Campbell aged 20:  15703 Worker Margaret Selina Caswell aged 22:  34767 Worker Catherine Connor: 31918 Worker Jeannie McKerral Grant aged 22:  15695 Worker Annie Elizabeth Moores aged 27:  9048 Worker Ethel Frances Mary Parker aged 21:  35588 Worker Alice Thomasson and 34864 Worker Jeanie Watson aged 25.  All are buried together in Plot 4 Row C.  Nine artillery wagons carried the coffins, draped in Union Jacks, to the cemetery, pilots from the Royal Flying Corps circled the cemetery during the service and the route was line by soldiers who saluted the coffins as the wagons passed.

Eight officials died during the War, Margery Martin, Assistant Administrator 17th May 1918, buried in Edinburgh (Warriston) Cemetery:  Violet Long, Deputy Chief Controller on the 3rd August 1918 at sea from enemy action, when HM Hospital Ship Warilda was torpedoed by UC 49 between Le Havre and Southampton, commemorated on the Hollybrook Memorial at Southampton recording 1900 who have no known grave and were lost in Home Waters:   Margaret Gibson Unit Administrator on the 17th September 1918, buried in Mont Huon Military Cemetery, Le Treport, Northern France:   Mary Westwell Assistant Administrator on the 10th October 1918 at sea from enemy action, buried in Grangegorman Military Cemetery, County Dublin, Ireland:  Marie Stiebel Assistant Administrator 1st December 1918, buried in Manchester Southern Cemetery:  Anna Whall Assistant Administrator on the 6th December 1918, buried in Ste. Maria Cemetery, Le Havre, Northern France:  Eleanor Russell Assistant Administrator 21st February 1919, buried in Leicester (Welford Road) Cemetery and Mary Smyth the next day, the 22nd February 1919.

A total of 75 Workers or Forewomen in the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps died whilst serving of whom 14 died on the Western Front, 9 of whom were killed in action in the same incident referred to above on the 30th May 1918.  The remaining 5 were 30438 Worker Dorothy Aspden, died 21st July 1918 and is buried in St. Marie Cemetery, Le Havre, Northern France; 1923 Forewoman Rose Mabel Holborow died 5th October 1918 and is buried in St.Sever Cemetery Extension Rouen;   36156 Worker Margaret Ann Barrow, died 3rd November 1918 aged 24 and is buried in Terlincthun British Cemetery, Wimille, Pas de Calais;  2108 Worker Clara Gosling died 7th November 1918 and is buried in St. Sever Cemetery Extension, Rouen, 1667 Worker Mary Ann Spittle died 12th February 1919 aged 26 also buried in Terlincthun British Cemetery.

The remaining 61 Workers or Forewomen died at Home and are buried in Cemeteries in the United Kingdom.

There are no surviving records of service of female officials of the Corps.

Assistant Administrator Smyth was awarded the British War Medal and the Victory Medal.  The War Medal is in silver and was awarded to army personnel who “either entered a theatre of war on duty, or who left places of residence and rendered approved service overseas other than the waters dividing the different parts of the United Kingdom” between 5th August 1914 and 11th November 1918.

The Victory Medal is in bronze, with the winged figure of Victory and the reverse is “The Great War for Civilisation 1914 – 1919 within a wreath and the eligibility qualifications are almost identical to those for the War Medal.

 Mary Smyth served for probably most of her time with the Corps in Unit 1 at the Base Camp at Boulogne.

The signing of the Peace Treaty triggered the beginning of the end of the Corps on 1st January 1920, demobilisation having begun immediately the war ended, and by February 1920 there remained some 280 staff at Corps Headquarters in London with 60 women involved in grave registration remaining in France.  On the 30th April 1920 all members, apart from those serving at St. Pol in the grave Registration Unit were demobilised the women at St. Pol remaining until September when the numbers had dwindled to 34.  The Corps ceased to exist on the 27th September 1921.

Those who laid down their lives in the Second World  War 1939 - 1945 and recorded on the War Memorial in Monks Kirby 

Reginald Colin Gunner No. 1786770 Royal Artillery (9 Coast Regiment).  Died 17th December 1942.  Commemorated Singapore Memorial.  .

Ian Hillman Dick Warrant Officer (Obs.) No. 1167736 Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve.  Died 25th May 1944.  Buried Massicault War Cemetery. Massicault War Cemetery is about 25 kilometres south-west of Tunis in Tunisia.

Thomas G V Foxon Lance Corporal No. T/213710 Royal Army Service Corps.  Died 9th October 1943.  Buried Tripoli War Cemetery.Tripoli War Cemetery is in the Mansura district of Tripoli. 

Arthur John Haytree Lance Corporal No. 5729108 2nd Battalion Dorsetshire Regiment.  Died 27th April 1944.  Buried Kohima War Cemetery.   Kohima War Cemetery is close to the centre of Kohima, the capital city of Nagaland State, India. 

John Henry Walker Corporal No. 3966750 4th Battalion Welch Regiment.  Died 3rd August 1944.  Buried Brouay War Cemetery.  Brouay is a village in Normandy about 2 kilometres south of the main road from Bayeux to Caen and roughly midway between these two towns.