VI. 10th Battalion
The great Allied advance to victory began with our 10th Battalion near St Floris, which is seven miles south of the town of Hazebrouck. This unit and the 74th Division, to which it belonged, was part of the 5th Army, whose area was considerably north of the country in which the 6th and 7th Battalions operated. During the very strenuous and important month of September, however, the division went south to the 4th Army where the others were, and there saw fighting at the Battle of Epehy before it returned to its regular area and wound up its military experiences at Tournai in November.
The advance, as far as the 10th was concerned, commenced on the 6th August, for on that date an attempt was made to push forward. The brigade on the right succeeded, but, owing to considerable opposition, the Buffs were unable to do the same except on their right, where B Company threw out three posts to keep in touch with the 16th Devons. The battalion had one man killed and three wounded. The next day, however, C and D Companies got ahead with but little trouble, and on the 8th a further advance was made. The companies in front were now B and C, and they went forward about one thousand yards and crossed the enemy’s trenches. This progress might perhaps have been continued had other parts of the British line in the neighbourhood been equally successful. Next morning, the other two companies being in front, the advance started again, but A Company was somewhat heavily counter-attacked on its right flank, which drew back to maintain touch with the 229th Brigade on its right, which was stationary. However, at 7 o’clock D and A Companies got on to the west bank of the River Lys and would have crossed had not all the bridges been destroyed. The crossing, in fact, had to be delayed till the Royal Engineers brought up three bridges, which were quickly in place, and then the infantry dug themselves in on the far bank. The Buffs had six killed and Lieut. Atkinson and thirteen wounded.
Patrols, working to the front, soon discovered that the Germans, armed with many machine guns, were prepared to dispute any further progress, so that an effort made at 9.30 p.m. on the 12th to get forward had to be a properly organized one. It was extremely dark and the ground all shell holes and irregularities, so that the attempt to advance was a failure, though it was the means of ascertaining that it was a considerable force to which our people were opposite and not merely a small rear guard, mostly consisting of machine guns. The battalion had three killed and seventeen wounded, one of whom died, and seven missing.
On the 14th the Buffs were relieved and became supports, and two days afterwards occupied a reserve line just outside St Venant and facing east-north-east. Here the men set to work on the reserve trenches and remained at this job for a week. Soon after this the 10th Buffs entrained at Lillers for Heilly, and by the end of the month the 74th Division was down with the 4th Army in the Somme Valley, the Buffs on the 31st August being at Maurepas, near Combles. It will be remembered that this was the day first arranged for the fight round Fregicourt, which was, however, postponed for twenty-four hours; it was in this fight that the 7th Battalion took so prominent a part in cutting off the Germans who tried to defend the Morval position on the 1st September.
It was on the 2nd of the month that the 74th Division made their attack and the scene was just south of Moislains, some four miles from the other battlefield. The 229th Brigade, aided by one battalion of the 230th, made the attack. It failed to reach the objective, the machine-gun fire being too heavy. The Buffs were in reserve in a valley to the south-west of Moislains and were heavily shelled all day with high explosive and gas; two men were killed and Captain Vickery (the doctor) and twelve men wounded.
The enemy’s rapid retreat did not commence till the 5th of the month; in the interval the 10th Buffs had, on the 3rd, moved into the front line, 2nd Lieut. Onions being on that day wounded by gas shell. The battalion had what was called the Midenette trench in front of it, and this was reported to be occupied by Germans; but on the morning of the 5th two platoons of C Company, pushing forward to keep touch with the 47th London Division on the left, captured the trench without much opposition, and at 6 p.m. the battalion advanced, captured another line and tried to get on still further; but the usual machine-gun opposition began to get heavy and the whole line remained for the present along the Peronne-Cambrai road. The next day the advance continued and with rapidity. The battalion started at 8 a.m. with D and A Companies, C in support and B in reserve. At 3.45 p.m., finding that the 47th Division on the left had dropped behind, and having passed through Templeux la Fosse and reached Longavesne, a halt was called, an outpost line arranged and a defensive flank formed for security till the Londoners arrived. Three men were killed and twelve wounded this day.
On the 7th September the 230th Brigade was relieved in the front line and became reserve to the division, in which capacity it remained for a couple of days, taking a forward place again on the 10th of the month and passing, on its way to do so, the village of Villers Faucon. The ensuing little tour of four days before going into reserve again at Longavesnes was more or less uneventful, for heavy and consistent shelling can hardly be termed an event. During this short time Lieut. Mathews and 2nd Lieut. Jackson were wounded, two men killed and sixteen wounded, one of whom died.
On the 16th September the battalion moved into the Faustine Quarries, ready for a further advance. The rain was heavy, and gas and high-explosive shelling were heavier and aeroplane bombing very severe. Having taken its place in the front line on the 17th, the 10th Battalion next day took its share with the 1st, 6th and 7th Battalions of the Buffs in the Battle of Epehy. The 74th Division on the opening day of this fight was more immediately successful than the 12th or 18th, which units, it will be remembered, met with considerable opposition about Epehy and Ronssoy. The 15th Suffolk and 16th Sussex were to lead the way up to the first objective and the whole began to move up very early in the morning, which was an exceedingly wet one. A pitched battle on French soil was a novelty for the 10th Battalion, and the severity of the opening barrage impressed the men considerably. The German opposition in this part does not appear to have been quite as resolute as at most points in front of the Hindenburg Line. At Templeux le Guerard there are some quarries where pits, refuse heaps and holes and corners generally, offer an exceptionally good position for defence, but these were soon given up, as the Suffolk and Sussex, with the Buffs and Somerset in close support, came resolutely on; these quarries were passed and the Hargicourt trench, which was the first objective, taken without a check at 8 o’clock. Here half an hour’s breathing time was given and then the advance resumed; this time with the Buffs in front, the next objective being what were called the Zogda trench and Rifle-pit trench another mile away. Success continued with the division. The artillery barrage was perfect and the infantryman’s confidence in it supreme, which is exactly as it should be. The enemy’s machine guns presented difficulties, and indeed held up the oncoming line for a little while, but at noon, or soon after, the Zogda trench was ours and a short further advance commenced. But now the trouble which was being experienced at Epehy and Ronssoy began to make itself felt; the stoppage of the 18th Division prevented the left brigade of the 74th getting on, so there was a check all along the line, which extended to the Australians on the right of the Yeomanry Division. About 5 p.m. Very lights were put up on the left of the division, which meant that a counter-attack was expected. This drew our own barrage which came down along the line of the second objective. The Buffs, with others, being by now about three hundred yards in front of this, were very much in the way, and an immediate withdrawal into the Zogda and Rifle-pit trenches was the result. An enormous number of prisoners and considerable booty had been taken. Indeed, many Germans seemed most anxious to come in and so end their fighting days. Captain H. L. Allfrey, 2nd Lieut. E. G. Porter and ten men were killed this day, forty-eight wounded and two missing. The Buffs remained in their captured trenches for a couple of days and were under a good deal of shell fire. In fact, eight men were wounded on the 19th.
The next advance was arranged for the 21st, the objective being about 1,200 yards in front of the Zogda trench and up-hill towards Quennemont Farm. At 5.40 a.m. D and C Companies formed in front line, with A in support, and advanced to take the Blue Line. The country to be crossed was like an old-fashioned glacis, very bare of cover and of a more or less regular slope, the summit of which was well protected by wire and full of machine guns. The Australians were on the right, then the 230th Brigade and on the left, but a little in rear, the 231st Brigade. The start was made behind a barrage, almost before it was light, and was successful enough in so far that regular progress was made until the day broke, when the assaulting troops got among thick belts of wire near Zoo trench, which, of course, checked the infantry while the barrage went on. A few men got through the wire, and then the enemy emerged from his dug-outs and commenced a tremendous fire of shells and machine-gun bullets. C and D Companies, which were in front, could do nothing but take cover in shell holes, wait and hope. The supporting A Company was just as badly off as C and D and could not move, and troops on the left fell back before a counter-attack, so that the Germans who made it were, in the nature of things and merely as a result of their success, now threatening the Buffs in rear and the battalion was in a tight place; the telephone was disconnected, no movement was possible, and, though two gallant runners got back with a report of the situation, both men being wounded over their job, no message could come up from behind to the forward companies. The troops on the left took up a new line parallel to the Zogda trench, and when darkness fell the Buffs managed to get back in small parties to this shelter, having lost Captain C. E. Hatfield, M.C., 2nd Lieut. H. A. Oxley and 12 men killed, Lieut. Turnpenny, 2nd Lieut. Hoare and 58 wounded, Lieut. Wilkinson and 6 other ranks “wounded and missing,” also 20 more “missing.”
After this action the battalion, being relieved by the 15th Suffolk on the following day, remained in reserve under intermittent shell fire till the 25th, during which period three more men were killed and four wounded, one of whom died. The authorities now decided that the 74th Division would again be required in its own army, so, after being relieved by American troops, the Buffs entrained at Peronne for Villers Bretonneux, and again on the 27th at Heilly for Lillers, from whence the battalion marched to billets at Allovagne and remained there refitting and so on till the end of the month. The total casualties during the fighting epoch of the month of September were very considerable, namely, 11 officers and 218 men killed, wounded and missing. Previous to his death Captain Hatfield was given the M.C. for his share in the business, and eleven men the M.M., namely, Sgts. Denton and English, Corpl. Dunn, and Ptes. Dennett, Dier (both of whom died), Forscott, Hibbs, Mather, Sidwell, Sutch (R.A.M.C.) and Willis; and Captain Haughton, M.C., was mentioned in despatches.
On the 1st October the Buffs relieved the 9th Royal Welch Fusiliers in the Richebourg sector, advancing to the front line just west of Lillers next day. This was the commencement of a slow but certain push eastward on the part of the 74th Division, and indeed of the army to which it belonged. There were many delays. The roads and bridges were destroyed by the retreating foe, and a delay caused to one unit on account of either these reasons or by a hostile rear guard meant a check to the whole movement, for the German resistance was not so wholly broken down as to render it wise or safe for the pursuers to break their line by pushing one body of troops in front of another. Sainghin was reached on the 3rd October and there ensued a halt for some days, chiefly because the 55th Division on the right was stayed by the La Bassee Canal. The enemy refused to allow this halt to be a quiet one, and the troops were shelled pertinaciously and thoroughly. The Buffs took their turn in front line and in support and, when in the former, sent out many patrols; in fact, patrolling at this time was kept up both by day and by night, as it was of the utmost importance to keep in touch with the enemy. These parties were able to discover some of the hostile machine-gun nests, and on the 9th of the month our artillery was able to deal with several of these which had been located.
On the 15th the forward move was resumed and the patrols pushed through Rosoir. On the 17th, the Suffolks leading and the Buffs following, Emmerin was reached at 12.10, and the Buffs, passing through, pushed onward in the afternoon towards the road east of Faches, for the division was to pass to the southward of the great town of Lille. Owing to the darkness, progress after leaving the Suffolk was slow and the road was not reached till 6.30 a.m., after which posts were established slightly to the east of the roadway. This country had been for four years in the possession of the Germans, and it is impossible to describe the joy manifested by the French inhabitants at their release at last from their horrible servitude. The Buffs never experienced, nor are they likely to again, such exuberant tokens of welcome and gratitude as they met with in the neighbourhood of Lille. The Frenchman feels very deeply indeed, and he is a demonstrative man. The march continued, every day adding a few miles to the completed journey, and on the 24th the Buffs were at Marquain, only three miles west of the city of Tournai. Here it became pretty evident that the enemy intended making a stand. The shelling, both gas and high explosive, became very severe; night patrols met with heavy machine-gun fire and in every detail resistance was stiffening on the line held by the Germans between our front and the city. Hertain, Marquain and Orcq are all villages just outside the western edge of Tournai, and all these were occupied by the English during the last few days of October, and up till the 7th November the Buffs were first in one and then in the other, according to the nature of their duty as front-line troops or reserve. The brigadier-general commanding inspected the 10th Battalion of the Buffs on the 4th November just as if they had all been at Aldershot, and he took that opportunity of presenting the M.M. ribband to Ptes. Mather and Sidwell. The battalion made a very smart appearance on parade, for the men were ready to enter Tournai and this was not to be done in a slovenly, untidy manner. On the 8th came news that the enemy had withdrawn, and the Buffs, moving up at 11.15 a.m., made a grand entry into the Faubourg de Lille well groomed and turned out and with the band playing triumphantly. All went very well up to a certain point, and then machine-gun fire from the town itself commenced. The German was not so far off, after all, so the march was stayed and all was war again in so far that street fighting continued during the night. The British intelligence might have been somewhat at fault when the Faubourg de Lille was entered in parade style, but it was only a little premature. The German rear guard quitted the place next day, but, of course, blew up all the bridges over the Scheldt. The Germans evacuated the city of Tournai only on the 9th November, and the very next day it was entered by the good King Albert of the Belgians, who was accompanied by his Queen. They came to congratulate their faithful people on their release from German thraldom which had oppressed them for so long.
The next day was the 11th November and at eleven o’clock in the morning there was no more war in France nor Flanders, and the Yeoman of Kent had done his work even if it was not done on horseback. The 10th Battalion was, on receipt of the great news, in the Faubourg de Lille. At 11.45 it marched through Tournai and moved away to the eastward, halting at Montreuil au Bois and Herquecies till, on the 14th of the month, it reached Barry, where it remained for nearly a month. During the operations which culminated in the capture of Tournai and which ended in the armistice, the Military Cross was awarded to Captain J. I. H. Friend and the Military Medal to Sgt. Rudman and to Pte. Hale. The casualties were 2 officers and 18 men killed, 2 officers and 71 men wounded.
On the 7th December a visit was received from His Majesty King George. It was, at his own request, a very informal affair. The men were drawn up on each side of the Tournai-Leuze road just outside Barry, and the King walked quietly down between them, but the welcome he received was one which it is pretty safe to believe was pleasing to our monarch.
The demobilization of such of the men as were miners commenced on the 10th December; but the total dispersal to their homes of an army the size of the British one at this period is a long and tedious job.