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.