VII. 1st Battalion

We left the 1st Battalion in the Malin House area in the vicinity of Dickebusch. It did not immediately take part in the great triumphant and final push, and indeed its history up to the middle of September is not so exciting or full of incident either as that of the sister battalions or as certain periods of its own recent history. It remained in the neighbourhood of Dickebusch, taking its turn in trench work, till the 23rd August; during this period two American companies were attached for a few days, which not only gave our men the pleasure of making new and interesting friends, but was a tangible proof that matters were going well and a successful end to a very awful and strenuous existence fairly in sight; during August, too, came the news of honours, which is always pleasant. First Sgt. Hills got the M.M.; then 2nd Lieut. Lister the M.C. The D.C.M. fell to Sgt. Ayres; and on the 19th there was news of the M.M. for Corpl. Swaine, L.-Corpl. Voyle, and Privates Cook, Dockerill, Lovesey, Stapley and Whiskin.

On the 23rd August the 16th Infantry Brigade was relieved by the 106th American Infantry Regiment and withdrew for training into the St Omer area, the training consisting of the practice of open warfare, and on the 1st September a long railway journey, which was completed next day, took the Buffs with the others all the way to Heilly (between Amiens and Albert). The 16th Brigade spent nearly a fortnight in this neighbourhood, first at Bonnay and then at Fouilloy and Aubigny; and so it was not till the 14th, or five weeks after the British offensive had begun, that the first brigade move was made to Montecourt, the Buffs going to Trefcon, a few miles west of St Quentin. On the 17th the battalion moved to St Quentin Wood and into the battle line after dark, Captain Morley being wounded.

The 1st Battalion, like all the other Buffs in France, was now in the 4th Army, which, as we have seen, was busily engaged in pushing on and fighting its way from Albert to the Hindenburg Line. On the 8th September and following days was fought the great and prolonged Battle of Epehy, the limits of which battle area is officially given as extending from St Quentin (exclusive) to Villers Plouich, a distance of nearly twenty miles as the crow flies. Sir Douglas Haig in his despatches makes use of the words: “Next day at 7 a.m. on the 18th September the 4th and 3rd Armies attacked in heavy rain on a front of about seventeen miles from Holnon to Gouzeaucourt, the 1st French Army co-operating south of Holnon”; and a little later on he writes: “On the extreme right and in the left centre about Epehy the enemy’s resistance was very determined, and in these sectors troops of the 6th, 12th, 18th and 58th Divisions had severe fighting.”

The country over which the 16th Brigade and its immediate neighbours were working during the battle of September may briefly be described as follows: Three miles or so west of St Quentin is a large wood called the Holnon, but sometimes described as the St Quentin Wood. St Quentin itself is commanded to the west and south by high ground; the Hindenburg Line ran just outside this town to the canal at Bellenglise. Holnon village lies in a hollow commanded by Round and Manchester Hills, which latter height lies in the area that was allotted to the French. From the east edge of the wood the ground is a bare slope rising to the high ground overlooking St Quentin. At the highest point and opposite where the centre of the 6th Division was to attack was a network of trenches called the Quadrilateral, which could be reinforced unseen from the enemy’s side of the hill. It was expected that the Germans would stand on the heights commanding St Quentin, but they were reported as being much disorganized and that resistance might not be very obstinate.

The 1st and 6th Divisions, in co-operation with the French, were to capture, on the 18th September, a starting-place for the assault of the Hindenburg Line, and to do this the 11th Essex had, on the 16th, after tremendous effort, secured trenches clear of the Holnon Wood for an assembly position, while with the same object the West Yorkshire had endeavoured to secure Holnon village, but had only gained a part, because the French on the right had failed to take the hills. This failure had its effect on the forming-up arrangements of our troops, as had the fact that the Holnon Wood had become almost impassable from gas shells and wet weather, so much so that the 16th and 71st Brigades had to move round to the north and south of it to get to their places. This fatigued the troops and rendered communications difficult. There was not much time for reconnaissance, for the advance had to be timed in accordance with the movement of the troops to the northward. So on the afternoon of the 17th the 16th Brigade concentrated west of St Quentin Wood preparatory to forming up the next morning. The 18th Brigade had attacked at dawn on the 17th in order to capture the starting-place for the later date, but without success. It was at 6 p.m. that the brigadier of the 16th went out with the commanding officers of the Buffs and the York and Lancaster and chose assembly positions.

On the morrow, with the 71st Brigade on the right and the 16th on the left, the 6th Division attacked the Quadrilateral, being the point where the two joined, and the left of the 16th Brigade being on Fresnoy le Petit. Zero hour was at 5 a.m., the barrage started and the York and Lancaster Regiment moved to the attack. The Buffs were at the north edge of the wood and the objective was south of the village of Gricourt. The York and Lancaster were to capture a line east-south-east of Fresnoy le Petit, and then the Buffs and K.S.L.I. to pass through to their objective. Two tanks were taken to assist the attack, but one failed to start, and the other, after being seen going through Fresnoy le Petit, was never heard of again. At 6.40 the York and Lancaster were reported on their objective, and A, B and C Companies of the Buffs, who had already advanced some distance and suffered a little from shell fire, prepared to play their part. At first they lost direction somewhat owing to the darkness and rain, and then discovered that the satisfactory report about the York and Lancaster Regiment was not quite accurate and that the whole of its objective had not been reached; so that the left company of the Buffs had been held up by machine guns from Fresnoy le Petit, and the support company, after reaching the outskirts of the village, had had to withdraw somewhat. All these causes prevented the remainder of the Buffs with the K.S.L.I. from advancing beyond the position gained by their comrades. Nothing could be heard or seen of the 71st Brigade, which should have been on the right, so this flank was exposed and D Company the Buffs had to be placed on guard there. By evening the different events of the day, together with the difficulty of maintaining direction in the early morning, had completely mixed up the units of the 16th Brigade so much so that the immediate unravelling seemed almost impossible, and the senior officers at various points had to collect all troops in their immediate vicinity and take command of them, thus forming temporarily three composite battalions wherewith to carry on. The 1st Buffs lost 6 officers and 150 men killed and wounded on the 18th.

On the 19th the two more forward of the composite battalions were ordered to attack again at dawn, but the Germans evidently anticipated this move, for they opened a very heavy artillery and machine-gun barrage before the attackers had even started. Fighting went on throughout the day, the Buffs having seventeen more casualties; but no success crowned the British effort, and it became evident enough that the Germans were making a real stand and not merely fighting a rear-guard action. Indeed, it was very noticeable all along the line how the opposition to our advance increased the nearer to the Hindenburg Line we penetrated. Everybody had now experienced heavy fighting and some battalions had suffered heavy loss, and so it was determined to remain comparatively quiet for a day or two and to prepare the way for another regular attack by means of a proper artillery preliminary work. About this time the officer commanding received a petition, signed by thirty men, asking that the gallantry of their company commander might be recognized by the authorities. Captain W. T. Johnston was the officer concerned, and he was awarded the Military Cross.

The renewed attack was commenced on the 24th. The 18th Brigade was on the right and the 16th on the left. The 18th failed to take the Quadrilateral, which was its objective. The front of the fighting, as regards the 16th, was allotted this day to the York and Lancaster and K.S.L.I., the Buffs being in support. It was a very gallant affair and all objectives were taken, but the right of the brigade was exposed as it advanced, owing to the Quadrilateral still being in German hands; so bombing operations on that stronghold were commenced by the Buffs and K.S.L.I. and most of the northern face was taken. The 3rd Brigade, assisted by the York and Lancaster, took Gricourt in the afternoon, and at night the Buffs relieved the K.S.L.I. in first line. The battalion had a list of twenty casualties.

On the 25th the 18th Brigade made good the objectives before which they had at first failed. They took the Douai trench, and by midnight the 25th/26th the 16th and 18th, in co-operation, had completed the capture of the Quadrilateral, which the enemy had considered an impossibility. Two German counter-attacks on the 16th Brigade were repulsed, though the enemy managed to rush and to hold one of the forward posts; but the opposition was now obviously dying down and the German spirit sadly broken, and our patrols were able to gain further ground. On the 27th a prisoner was captured, who stated that he was the last patrol covering the withdrawal of the enemy, and this proved correct, for next day our people could by no means get touch of him.

The 6th Division was relieved during the 29th and 30th of September by the 4th French Division, and by this time our posts were round three sides of the village of Fayet, which was ultimately captured by a patrol under Lieut. Lushington, and Manchester Hill was in the hands of our allies. The Buffs went back to camp at Trefcon.

While the fighting recorded above had been in progress on the right of the British Army, the 47th Division, with the 1st protecting its right flank and an American force on its left, had by means of a magnificent attack on the 29th September broken the Hindenburg Line and crossed the canal, together with the 32nd Division, after which these units experienced very severe fighting about Ramicourt and Sequehart. It was therefore necessary that they should rest, and when the 6th Division had had four days in the back areas, which was largely utilized in absorbing reinforcements and generally reorganizing, it was ordered to relieve these others with a view to attacking, on the 8th October, in the direction of the little town of Bohain.

Therefore on the 4th October the Buffs marched, complete with transport and all else, to the Bellenglise area and billeted by the banks of the canal, and on the night of the 5th/6th the 16th Brigade relieved the 3rd Brigade about Preselles Farm, which is between Ramicourt and Sequehart and opposite the position to be attacked. This position was in a country of rolling downs, divided by a valley opening out towards the British and closed at the far end by a ridge on which stood the village of Mericourt. In the valley itself stood Mannikin Wood and other points suitable for hidden machine guns. The 6th Division was to attack up the left spur which bounded the valley, and the French up the right one; but our allies had been delayed in passing through St Quentin and by opposition on the way, and although the whole operation had been postponed for twenty-four hours, namely from the 7th to 8th October, it was pretty obvious that at first, at any rate, the British right flank would be exposed. A battalion of the West Yorkshire Regiment and three whippet tanks had the task of clearing the valley, but, as a matter of fact, the tanks were knocked out almost immediately. The 16th Brigade was on the right next the valley, and the 71st on the left next the Americans.

ST. QUENTIN

On the night of the 7th/8th the Buffs moved up to their forming-up line for the second time, for when the operation was postponed the battalion had gone back to Bellenglise for a day, and the marching and counter-marching had proved a strain on the men. The hour was 5.10 a.m., at which time the Shropshire Light Infantry were to move off and secure the first objective, after which the Buffs, passing through, were to go on to the second, which was in front of Beauregard Farm. The men were not in position till a quarter of an hour before zero, on account of the darkness and the difficulty of guiding, and Lieut. H. H. Carter and his batman were killed on the way; but the attack started in good order, the Buffs having B and D Companies in front line, C and half A in support and the remainder of A in reserve. The first objective was soon in the hands of the Salopians and the Buffs quickly on the move for the second. The shelling was now, however, very heavy both from the other side of the valley, which had not yet been reached by the French, and also from Mannikin Wood, in the valley itself, which kept up fire for some time, in spite of some magnificent work done by the West Yorkshire Regiment. A counter-attack appeared to be likely, and Lieut. Stainforth, with the two reserve platoons, was ordered up to get touch with the front line and reinforce it, if necessary. At 11.45 battalion headquarters, moving forward, found the situation well in hand on the battalion front, though no reorganization was possible, as the slightest movement was observed by the enemy from the right. In fact, A and C Companies were harassed by ·77 guns all day. However, a defensive flank was formed later on. By 3 p.m. the French, too, began to advance and completely changed the situation. The West Yorks pushed up the valley and got touch with them, and so towards evening the companies were reorganized and patrols pushed forward through Beauregard Farm and Copse and the line established east of these. By nightfall Mericourt was taken and the 6th Division had done all it had set out to do. Captains Hamilton and Moss were both wounded early in the day, but remained with their companies until the objective was reached. The latter was again seriously wounded whilst waiting for a stretcher at battalion headquarters.

The work of the day had hardly been accomplished when orders came for the 6th Division to take over part of the American front on the left and hand over some of their own to the 46th Division on the right; in fact, to side-step to the left, as it was called. As far as the Buffs were concerned, their reorganization during the night was barely complete when, about 3 a.m., the 4th Battalion of the Leicestershire Regiment arrived in relief with orders that they were at once to move off to a position two miles away to support a new attack, this time on Bohain, timed for 5.30 a.m., which was to be made by the K.S.L.I. and York and Lancaster Battalions of the 16th Brigade. This meant, of course, that a brigade of very tired troops had to move off two miles to a new position, issue all detailed orders, make elaborate arrangements and take up position all in less than three hours in pitch darkness and over unreconnoitred country. It was a most extraordinary performance, but it was done and the 16th Brigade duly advanced at the correct zero hour, though the Buffs themselves were not called upon to take part. Both the 16th and 71st Brigades carried their first objectives successfully, and the whole operation ended during the following night by the capture of Bohain, the release of some four thousand French civilians and the acquisition of considerable war booty.

After returning to Doon Mill, from whence the start on the 9th had been made, coming back to the front line again and having Lieut. Lloyd wounded on the 15th, the Buffs on the 16th October were preparing for another battle. On that date A and C Companies were in billets and bivouacs east of Bohain, and B and D in the outskirts of Becquiguy, the battalion being under the temporary command of Major Lord Teynham. Orders were issued for an attack on the 17th from Vaux Audigny and the Buffs formed up to the north-west of that place. The objective, or Blue Line, was a trench system which included the Bois St Pierre and a level crossing on the railway and was in front of the village of Wassigny. Then the 1st Division was to pass through and take Wassigny. The Buffs attacked on a two-company frontage, A on the left, C with a platoon of B on the right, D in support, and B in reserve.

The morning proved to be one of the foggiest that had been experienced during the war. Nothing could be seen anywhere and direction was naturally extremely difficult to maintain. The Buffs had to pass the village of Vaux Audigny in fours and to deploy outside it. The advance was made by compass bearings, and more than one instance occurred of sergeants taking the compasses from their injured officers and leading their companies on, so that the battalion reached its objective correctly, which was more than all the troops contrived to do. The railway which runs from Vaux Audigny to Vaille Mulatre is not by any means a straight one, but it was of considerable assistance in keeping direction. With the exception of making it so difficult to keep the line, the fog was an advantage to the British advance, because parties of the enemy were come upon unseen and in one or two cases machine guns were outflanked unobserved. Both the leading companies reached their objective about 7.30 a.m. Lieut. Stainforth, who commanded C, found that his flank was exposed, so he at once established a post and pressed into the service of the defence certain stragglers of the 1st Division. He remained here himself for some hours and until a battalion of Cameron Highlanders arrived. Nothing could be found of the 11th Essex which should have been on the Buffs’ right. They had utterly lost their way in the fog, though it was afterwards discovered that the men had resorted to the expedient of attempting to advance arm in arm. Our artillery barrage was excellent and the enemy’s shelling somewhat light after leaving the railway station. The hostile machine guns were very active throughout the fight. At 11.45 a report came that the enemy had a division in reserve for a counter-attack and preparations were made to meet it, but nothing materialized; headquarters moved forward, and the battalion set to work to consolidate. The casualties, considering the nature of the operation, were slight, though four officers were killed and one wounded, five of the men killed and thirty-one were wounded.

On the 19th October battalion headquarters moved back to Vaux Audigny, and next day the whole battalion was billeted there, and the battle surplus, as small bodies kept back from action to reinforce in case of heavy casualties were called, as well as a draft of eighty-eight men, was sent up. On the 21st the complete unit marched to St Souplet and was billeted in that village. Two days later the 71st Brigade was in action again and the Buffs moved up to its support, starting at very short notice. They bivouacked round Baziel, and on the 25th took over the line in Bois L’Eveque from the K.S.L.I.; there were three men killed and fifteen wounded on this date.

Imperial War Museum

Crown Copyright

CAMBRAI ON THE MORNING THE ENEMY WAS DRIVEN OUT

On the 26th the list of Military Medals awarded for gallant conduct at the Battle of St Quentin on the 18th was issued, and no less than twenty came to the Buffs, namely: C.S.M. Bones; Sgts. Carr and Jenkins; Corpl. Millen; L.-Corpls. Cain, Child, Ellis, Hobbs, Hook and Hutchison; Ptes. Blackford, Brown, Carpenter, Colley, Ericksen, Stapley, Walters, Whiddett, Wicken and Wright. On this day battalion headquarters went to Pommereuil.

The 30th of October was the last day of actual fighting that fell to the lot of the 1st Battalion, and its long record, which as far as the Great War is concerned began four years before, closed well and gloriously, for what is termed a minor enterprise was on that date carried out under the command of a subaltern officer, an enterprise which in the old days would have made a field officer’s name for the rest of his service: orders had been received for the relief of the division, and in order to hand over to the relieving troops a satisfactory position for continuing the forward movement on the line of the canal, it was determined to capture on the 30th an important farm and spur which overlooked the waterway. The business was entrusted to Lieut. L. W. Barber, M.B.E., of the Buffs, who had at his disposal B and C Companies and, later on, a platoon of D, also a section of the Machine Gun Battalion and two light trench mortars. Zero was at six, at which hour a creeping barrage opened, heavy artillery bombarding the railway. The attack was made on a platoon frontage, with other platoons on either flank to protect the advance. The attempt on the farm was at first frustrated by our own barrage falling too short and causing casualties in the leading platoon. When it lifted, another was brought up, but at first could not get in by reason of the hostile machine guns, and it was not till 10 o’clock that the farm and another behind it was taken. Meanwhile a separate small body, which had advanced on the high ground, had also attained its object and had captured some machine guns, our barrage here being correct. The enemy now heavily bombarded the farm with medium and light trench mortars and with field artillery, after which a counter-attack was the cause of the withdrawal of Barber’s men, but two sections of Lewis gunners and some riflemen succeeded in preventing the enemy from advancing beyond the buildings. The last reserves were now brought up and the line reorganized and reinforced by a platoon of D Company. Under a well-directed bombardment by our light trench mortars the farm was again attacked and captured at the point of the bayonet. Two heavy and three light machine guns were taken and heavy casualties inflicted, and by evening the village of Happegarbes was practically cleared. Casualties: 2nd Lieuts. Hart, Herrmann and Simpson and twenty-seven men wounded, eight killed and four missing. And so the last fight of the 1st Battalion ended in congratulations, the divisional commander expressing his great appreciation.

The first few days of November were spent at Fresnoy le Grand and at Bohain, to which small town the move was made on the 5th. This early period of the month was brightened by no less than three little batches of honours awarded, and joy, of course, culminated on the 11th November, when the officers dined together to celebrate the occasion, and four days afterwards the battalion commenced its march into Germany.

For their work at St Quentin the following were awarded bars to their M.M.: Sgts. Goodall, Holloway, Stuart and Swaine; Corpl. Dockerill; L.-Corpl. Rainsbury and Pte. Wright. The M.M. was awarded to Sgts. Harris, Lawrence, Morey and Waby; L.-Sgt. Caley; Corpl. Pragnell; L.-Corpls. Kibble and Elsey and Pte. Shackcloth. For Barber’s fight on the 30th the M.M. was given to Corpls. Cotton and Oliver and L.-Corpl. Todman.

The oldest unit of the Buffs was thus the only one to represent the regiment in the enemy’s country. It had been the first to take part in the war, though, of course, the battalion, so far as individual members were concerned, was an entirely different one to that of 1914. However, the unit was the same one that had fought in Flanders over three hundred years before, and, being the oldest representative of the Buffs, it was perhaps fitting that it should have the honour. Therefore Lieut. Milles was despatched to England to fetch the Colours. These have not been carried in war since the Zulu campaign of 1879, as the tactical use of such flags is obsolete; but the Colours were to be planted on German soil, all the same, so Milles went off on his mission. It is not necessary here to describe the march, which was a long one: first of all, the army destined for the Rhine had to be collected and reorganized into brigade groups with divisional troops; there were long halts upon the way until the 2nd December, owing chiefly to the difficulty of feeding the leading troops, because the railways had been destroyed and, as far as the frontier, roads had been cratered and bridges blown up.

This crossing of the frontier was made an impressive function by the Buffs. Colours were uncased, as afterwards they always were on entering a town, drums were beating, bayonets fixed and the men were beautifully groomed and turned out—equipment polished, the harness and saddlery of the mounted men shining, pomp and circumstance of glorious war once more in evidence. Once across the frontier, the roads were excellent and delay only caused by the necessity of closing up now and again, as there was only one road to each division.

It seems a pity that Christmas Day could not be adequately kept by the Buffs in 1918, but the wherewithal, in the way of extra provisions and so on, failed to arrive from England in time. However, perhaps the general joy and triumph which reigned in every heart, even if the extraordinary reserve of Englishmen failed to show or advertise the same, compensated for the lack of extra cheer. It was a notable Christmas, in any case, and could be nothing else. On the 30th December the battalion was quartered in the little village of Vettweiss, strength 43 officers, 786 other ranks, and demobilization soon commenced. During the march into Germany notification of the following honours was received: M.C. for Captains Barber, M.B.E., Johnston and Stainforth; Lieuts. Milles and Piper; 2nd Lieuts. Chater and Hendin, and a bar to the same for Captain G. F. Hamilton; the D.C.M. for C.S.M. Poole, Sgt. France, M.M., L.-Sgt. Souster and L.-Corpl. J. Smith, M.M. (since killed in action); and the M.M. to L.-Sgt. Waby.

CHAPTER XVI
CONCLUSION

Except in certain remote places and in India, war ended on the 11th November, 1918, and, though the said remote spots still found work for a small number of our English warriors, the demobilization of the great majority was immediately put in hand. Of course, the old standing battalions of the Buffs were to remain in being, but most of the individuals forming them were entitled to discharge, while in the cases of the 6th, 7th and 10th Battalions, those units which had sprung into being at the call of duty and patriotism, had done their work and were now to disappear altogether from the Army List, as the 8th had already done.

Those men most required in England to carry on her civil business and trade went back to their accustomed life almost at once, and resumed old occupations much as if nothing had happened; but the men have been through experiences undreamt of by even the old regular soldier and which can never be effaced from memory. The men not belonging to what were called key industries had to remain with their war battalions for some months, for the returning to civil life of a vast army is by no means a light or easy matter to arrange. In the case of the 6th Battalion demobilization may be said to have commenced more or less seriously in January, 1919. On the 4th February the King’s Colour was presented to the battalion, the ceremony being performed by no less a personage than H.R.H. The Prince of Wales. In March a move was made from Auberchicourt to Bruille, owing to the return of the civil population to the former place. The sending home of batches of men continued pretty steadily all the time and, at the beginning of May, the battalion consisted of Captain Page, M.C., in command; Captain Turk, M.C., adjutant; Captain Linwood, quartermaster; Lieut. Hickmott in charge of the Colours, and thirty-two rank and file. This party returned in June to Sandling Camp, handed their Colours to the Dean of Canterbury at a parade which will be referred to later, and was finally disbanded at the Crystal Palace. The 6th had always been a fighting unit, and its total casualties numbered 4,864, of which 56 officers and 702 men had actually been killed in action.

The first stages of demobilization in the case of the 7th Buffs were carried out at Montigny. Somewhat slow at the start, the work took a turn for the better in January, 1919, and large bodies began to leave for their dispersal stations. The cadre strength, as laid down in Army Orders, was reached in April, and all similar parties of the 18th Division were billeted in Ligny en Cambresis. In early July orders were received for the sending home and dispersal of the slender relics of the 7th Queen’s, 7th Buffs and 8th East Surrey; but there was a good deal of delay at the railhead at Caudry, at Dunkerque, where equipment was handed in to the Ordnance, and at Boulogne; but, on the last day of July, Folkestone was reached and the Colour party went on to Canterbury, where it was billeted till arrangements were made with the Dean and Chapter to deposit its charge in the great cathedral.

The following extract from the Kentish Express of the 9th August, 1919, describes the last act of the famous fighting 7th Battalion, which throughout its career had added so much to the reputation of the Buffs: “The King’s Colour of the 7th Battalion the Buffs was deposited at Canterbury Cathedral on Thursday morning for safe custody by two officers and three other ranks, representing the cadre of the battalion. Major Peake was in command and Lieut. C. H. Rowe bore the Colours, while a detachment from the Buffs’ depot, under Major J. Crookenden, D.S.O. (commanding the depot), formed a guard of honour. The band of the 1st Battalion, under Mr. Elvin, took up its position on the nave steps, as did the Cathedral choir, while Dean Wace was accompanied by Dr. Bickersteth and Canon Gardiner.

“Major Peake asked the Dean to receive the Colours into safe custody. Dean Wace, in accepting them, said he did so with pleasure on behalf of the Dean and Chapter, and they would be placed in the Warriors’ Chapel, the chapel of the regiment.”

Lt.-Colonel Charles Ponsonby in his book, West Kent (Q.O.) Yeomanry and 10th (Yeomanry) Battalion the Buffs, describes the last days of his unit, and with his permission the following few extracts from his work are reproduced in this place:—

“On the 15th December we marched to Fresnes, and from there, after a night at Deux Acren, arrived at Thollembeek and Vollezeel, two villages about thirty-five miles from Brussels.

“Though many of the railways and roads in the neighbourhood had been destroyed before the enemy retired, this part of the country had not been in the fighting area at any time during the war. But the population had suffered much from four years of occupation. They had had little food; they had received no money for troops billeted on them; they had had their men taken from them to work behind the line or in Germany.... The release from such an existence, combined with a very real desire to express their thanks to the English nation, not only for its great share in winning the war and rescuing their country from oppression, but also for having provided a haven of rest for so many of their fellow-countrymen in England, incited the inhabitants of Thollembeek and Vollezeel to stretch their hospitality to its utmost limits. They made every effort to make us comfortable in our billets during the long and rather tedious period of waiting for demobilization.... Towards the end of January the battalion was selected to represent the division, and incidentally the British Army, in a royal review at Brussels by the King of the Belgians. After a week of preparation we went by motor bus to Anderlecht, a suburb of Brussels, where we were billeted for the night. The following day the review took place, and after two days’ holiday we returned to our Belgian villages.... On the 27th February the battalion moved to Grammont, a town of about thirteen thousand inhabitants, and a few days later all the remaining men (about one hundred and twenty) who joined the Army after the 1st January, 1916, went off to the 1st Battalion The Queen’s (Royal West Surrey Regiment). The battalion was now reduced practically to cadre strength of four officers and forty-six men. During the month of March a cordial and appreciative Order was issued by Major-General E. S. Girdwood on relinquishing the command of the 74th Division.... On the termination of hostilities Captain G. H. Peckham received the M.C., and C.S.M.’s P. Faulkner and L. Salt and Sgts. H. J. Smith and S. F. Sparrow received the M.S.M.... The act of placing their colours in Canterbury Cathedral marked the end of the 10th (Yeomanry) Battalion the Buffs. In the short period of its existence it had fully played its part in the war. Formed on the 1st February, 1917, it ceased to exist on the 21st June, 1919. It fought in Palestine and France. Its casualties numbered 8 officers and 134 men killed, and 24 officers and 486 men wounded.”

The 4th and 5th Battalions had, of course, quite a different status to those alluded to above. They had been for some time and still are[34] permanent portions of the regiment, and so when war was over they could not be disbanded, but merely disembodied in the same way that they were each year after the annual training. As has already been noticed, circumstances postponed this desirable rest from soldiering for a very long time. The unrest and continued wars in India and her frontiers kept the 4th abroad, and the necessity of maintaining white troops in Mesopotamia had similar results in the case of the 5th. The former did not embark for home till November, 1919, a full year after the armistice, and the battalion was disembodied the same month. The cadre of the 5th Battalion, still under Lt.-Colonel Body, D.S.O., O.B.E., a very tiny remnant of those who embarked in 1914, reached home in January, 1920, and were also, of course, disembodied. The story of the 3rd or Special Reserve Battalion after the 11th November, 1918, is as follows: the unit was still quartered in the Citadel at Dover and was about 1,400 strong, many of the men awaiting demobilization, and of the officers orders to proceed to India, for which duty they had volunteered. Towards the end of the month several companies had to proceed to Folkestone for police duty owing to trouble with certain leave-expired soldiers, who could not see the necessity of returning to their units in France. In February, 1919, came orders to move to the south of Ireland in relief of the 3rd Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, who had been in that country a considerable time. After a short period in Kinsale, the 3rd Buffs were quartered in Victoria Barracks, Cork, and there remained during the summer of 1919, except that, owing to certain troubles, a tour of duty at Limerick for a fortnight or so had to be undertaken.

On the 7th September the whole of the men were handed over to Lt.-Colonel R. McDouall, C.B., C.M.G., D.S.O., who had just been appointed to command the 1st Battalion of the Buffs; and as there now hardly existed such a unit, as far as the necessary soldiers went, the members of the 3rd were simply handed altogether over to the 1st.

This 1st Battalion had been, in January, 1919, at Vettweiss, in Germany, about fifteen miles from Cologne, and demobilization was in progress till the 15th March, on which date eighteen officers and three hundred men, under Major Lord Teynham, the second in command, were transferred in one body to the 6th Battalion Royal West Kent Regiment. This left but a strength of forty-six men, but the regular officers, of course, still remained, as these had cast in their lot with the Buffs for the greater part of their professional lives, and not for emergency times only, so every two private soldiers had an officer to look after them. The ranks, however, were somewhat swollen by the arrival of the band from England. The cadre was now quartered at Sinzenich and remained there till the middle of May, occupied in amusements and recreation and generally having a happy time of relaxation after all that had been gone through.

On the 22nd May the 1st Battalion landed at Tilbury, having travelled by Antwerp, and, on the 26th of the month, it was received, welcomed and entertained by the mayor and officials of the good old city of Canterbury. It was at last in very truth home again, but the cadre now consisted of only about twenty men.

With these twenty Lt.-Colonel McDouall, accompanied by his own adjutant and quartermaster, proceeded in September to Cork and, as we have seen, took over there the 3rd Battalion in a body. In fact, only the Permanent Staff of the latter remained to return to Kent. Soon afterwards the 1st Battalion was again quartered at Fermoy, the garrison it had left for war five years before. Of the nine hundred soldiers or thereabouts who marched out of the little Irish town under Colonel Hill in 1914, five officers and thirty-five other ranks returned; but these, of course, had not been with their unit during the whole of the interval.

The names of these forty soldiers are appended:—

The 2nd Battalion came home to England from the Bosphorus in April, 1919, and was quartered in Connaught Barracks, Dover, where it remained till November of the same year, when, under the command of Lt.-Colonel Trevor, D.S.O., it embarked at Southampton for India, where it had been when the war commenced. Multan, in the Punjaub, was the new station into which the 2nd Battalion of the Buffs settled down to take up the threads again of routine garrison life in the East. The following are the names of officers and other ranks who left India in 1914 and returned there in 1919:—

Officers.

Other Ranks.

On the 21st June Canterbury Cathedral was once again, as it had been many times before, the scene of an impressive military ceremony in connection with the Buffs. It was a great memorial service at which every battalion was represented, the grand old church being crowded with soldiers and their relatives. On this occasion the 2nd Battalion received back its Colours which had during the long war been in the safe keeping of the Dean and Chapter. The Colours of the 6th and 10th were solemnly placed in the custody of the same Church dignitaries, to be hung upon the walls together with those under which our sires and grandsires fought. Captain J. C. Page, M.C., who had served so long as its adjutant, was in charge of the party of the 6th, and Lt.-Colonel Ponsonby of the brave Yeomen. It was an occasion that those present will never forget.

The real conclusion of the Buffs’ great war history, however, was another and still more solemn ceremony and service in the same church: this was the unveiling of the memorial to our glorious dead, whose names will be found not only in the Warriors’ Chapel, but in an Appendix to this book, numbering nearly six thousand. Space will not permit of a description of this touching service. The unveiling was performed by Lord Horne, General Officer Commanding-in-Chief Eastern Command, and a full description is to be found in the regimental paper, The Dragon, for September, 1921.

We have merely to note that the celebrated general who unveiled the memorial, after giving a short account of the doings of the regiment in the war, made use of the words:—

“There is a record! one and all, Regulars, Territorials, and those who fought with the Service battalions, all serving, all nobly maintaining the discipline and traditions of their regiment, all inspired by the spirit of the Buffs.”

Veteri frondescit honore.

APPENDIX I[35]

Nominal roll of Officers who were killed in action, or died of wounds or disease in the Great War, 1914–1919:—

MAJOR-GENERAL

BRIGADIER-GENERAL

COLONEL

LIEUTENANT-COLONELS

MAJORS

CAPTAINS

LIEUTENANTS

2ND LIEUTENANTS