These are but a few of the qualities in Colonel Segrave which cause men to speak with genuine pride of the fact that they served under him. Outstanding among his characteristics was his pure unselfishness. All that he did was done for his Regiment. He sought no personal glorification. He indeed “did good by stealth and blushed to find it fame.” But the splendid work he did for the Civil Service Rifles during the hardest year of the war can never be forgotten by those who had the good fortune to serve under Colonel Segrave.
CHAPTER XXIII
THE GREAT ADVANCE
A sensational change came over the military situation on the Divisional front during August, 1918. When the month opened, the front line Brigades were still holding the trenches outside Albert, and were kept in a state of readiness to meet a German attack. It soon became evident, however, that there would be no German attack from that quarter, for it became known on the 3rd of August that the Germans had withdrawn from Albert and the positions around that town, and by the end of the month the troops of the 47th Division, instead of being on the defensive, were in pursuit of a broken enemy several miles east of Albert, and open warfare prevailed once more.
When Colonel Segrave left it was not known who was to be his successor, but in the meantime Major G. G. Bates, M.C., acted as Commanding Officer.
The first indication of the coming advance was a big attack launched by the Allies at 4.0 a.m. on the 8th of August. The Civil Service Rifles were at that time holding front line trenches just outside Albert, on the north side of the Albert-Amiens road. No attack was launched in that area, but there was increased artillery activity throughout the day. On the following day an attack was delivered by the 58th Division immediately south of the 47th Division and an Australian Division further south. Their objectives were the villages of Ville sur Ancre, Dernancourt, Morlancourt, and the German positions in the vicinity. In spite of a ground mist, which made it difficult to follow the operations, the attack was a big success. The Civil Service Rifles were not affected, though the Battalion scouts were sent as spectators to a point of vantage to watch for any developments likely to affect the front held by the 47th Division. It was a curious sight to see a small crowd on a slope on the left flank of the attack, watching the fight at fairly close quarters, like a crowd at a football match.
About this time enemy aeroplanes were active at night, bombing transport lines and billets at Warloy, and the Civil Service Rifles lost their Acting Quartermaster, Second Lieutenant A. L. Mills, and their Assistant Adjutant, Second Lieutenant P. J. Spencer, both of whom were bombed in their billet, which was completely destroyed, the officers being dangerously wounded.
Sketch map to illustrate the movements of the 1st C.S.R. in the 47th Division Attack 22-25 August 1918.
On the 13th of August, after a short stay in support in Baizieux, the Division moved south of the Albert Road and relieved the 58th Division in the neighbourhood of Bray. The Civil Service Rifles relieved the Queen Victoria Rifles in the forward position of the support Brigade. The trenches occupied were the old British and German front lines west of Morlancourt. The Transport Section and Quartermaster’s stores moved to the village of Bonnay, which was visited nightly by enemy bombing planes.
On the night of the 16th of August the Battalion moved up to the front line and relieved the 22nd London Regiment on the right of the Divisional front in the Bois des Tailles, just north of the village of Bray.