IV. 1st Battalion
After Cambrai the 1st Battalion, except for a short time near Moreuil, was kept out of the trenches till the 25th January, 1918, on which date it relieved the 9th Battalion of the Norfolks at Demicourt, about half-way between Bapaume and Cambrai. During this interval it had been lent to the 3rd Division and posted at Ervillers, Noreuil and Courcelles, all of which places are fairly close together. Christmas was spent at Courcelles in a quiet and restful manner, and a slight change of scene occurred soon afterwards by a move to Bellacourt, near Riviere, which is somewhat nearer Arras. The arrival in this place was marked by the rejoining of Captain Jones, D.S.O., of the R.A.M.C., who, an old, much respected and greatly beloved medical officer to the battalion, had been over fifteen months absent from his friends.
The New Year brought some honours with it. The late Major Strauss was gazetted to a M.C.; Sgt. Pass got the D.C.M.; and the M.M. came to Ptes. Alexander, Elliott, Wilson and Wright; and Lt.-Colonels Green, D.S.O., and Power, Major Blackall, Lieut. Whitlock, Corpl. Troy and Pte. May were all mentioned in despatches. The 21st January took this unit to Fremicourt, near Bapaume, and into divisional reserve, and the 25th, as has been said, back into the dreary trench work again. Captain Marshall on this date, who had already the M.C., was awarded the D.S.O. The trench tour was quiet enough, for the enemy was nearly a mile away, and the battalion was back at Fremicourt on the 3rd February.
Here, or rather at Le Bucquiere close by, on the 8th, a somewhat startling and apparently an unexpected change of organization took place which affected nearly everybody in the army. It had been decided that infantry brigades would be of more use, or at any rate that certain saving of power would be effected, if, instead of four, they should consist in future of only three battalions. This resulted in the disbanding of many brave and tried units which had repeatedly proved their value. Thus the 16th Brigade lost the 8th Battalion of the Bedfordshire Regiment which had been comrades of the Buffs, York and Lancaster and Shropshire Light Infantry since March, 1915, when they came into the brigade in place of the Leicester Regiment. Of course, the disbanding of these units did not mean that the soldiers composing them went home to their mothers. They merely were transferred to other battalions in the form of huge drafts. Thus our own 8th Battalion of the Buffs, which had so nobly upheld the ancient honour of the regiment on many a stricken field, now ceased to exist in the same way as did the 8th Bedfords, and in consequence the 1st and 6th Buffs became the richer for strong reinforcements of fighting men. Five officers and 250 other ranks arrived at Le Bucquiere from the 8th for the 1st Buffs.
On the 12th February the battalion went into trenches at Lagnicourt, near Queant, and it was at this place when it received the shock of the German great offensive in March. It was in February a quiet and fairly comfortable place, though on the 14th an unlucky shell killed three N.C.O.’s of D Company in a dug-out and blew a fourth clean through the roof. Beugnatre was the rearmost resting-place for Lagnicourt, and each battalion of the brigade of course took its turn there.
Now that the Russians had finally collapsed and so set free the enormous hostile armies which, up till now, they had, at any rate in part, kept occupied, the whole of Central Europe had for some time been crowded with troop trains bringing division after division from east to west; these divisions had been specially trained for open as opposed to trench fighting, and the Kaiser and his staff fondly hoped they would suffice to drive the French to Paris and the English into the sea, more particularly as thousands of Russian guns were now available for German gunners to use on their western foes. It was clear to everybody, from the Commander-in-Chief to the last recruit from England, that a great offensive might commence on any day and we were busily engaged in preparations. Battlefields were made ready for defence, strong points heavily wired and mine fields laid as protection against tanks. This attack was expected in the early morning of the 13th March and the whole British front was covered with a series of listening patrols, special precautions were taken and all ranks exhorted to quit themselves like men. On the 19th the rainless spring weather, which had lasted a fortnight, gave place to mist, with cold showers. On the 20th before midnight orders came to withdraw all working parties, to man all battle and alarm posts before dawn, and to be in readiness for the enemy’s onslaught.