X550/2/5/1808

War Diary for August 1918 1 Aug 1918 - Villorba Camp In VILLORBA Camp in the early morning camp was shelled with gas and H.E. & shrapnel. Casualties 5 OR gassed. Working parties found on Divisional line BEDFORD and CHESHIRE C.T.s also roads & tracks in vicinity of camp. 2 Aug 1918 Enemy artillery fairly active at night and early morning. H.V. guns shelled TANNAY and some fell around ARCADE Camp. No so much gas shells used. The usual working parties found. Raining hard all day. 3 Aug 1918 In camp as above, usual working parties & usual early morning artillery activity around camp. 4 Aug 1918 As above. 3 Companies on working parties. 1 Company on Church Parade in camp (Remembrance Day) Lieut J.P.Kingdon to 5th Army School as Instructor. Capt & Adjt. A.H.O.Riddell & Lieut E.I.F.Nailer to leave in France, usual enemy shelling in vicinity of camp. 5 Aug 1918 As above working parties as usual. Warning Order for relief received & Operation Order for move on following day. 6 Aug 1918 - la Lacque Camp Preparing for move to LA LACQUE Camp. Battalion left VILLORBA Camp at 6.35 p.m. arrived at LA LACQUE at 8.30 p.m. See O.O. 158. 7 Aug 1918 - Blaringhem Marched to BLARINGHEM Area C & billeted. Billets in very poor condition. Battalion employed bathing. See OO 159. 8 Aug 1918 Billetted as above. Battalion Training commenced. Football in the afternoon. 9 Aug 1918 In Billets as above. Brigadier General R.D.F.Oldman inspected the Battalion. 10 Aug 1918 In billets as above. Training continued. 11 Aug 1918 As above. Church Services for all denominations. 12 Aug 1918 Received Warning Order for move at any moment. 13 Aug 1918 As above. D Company moved off to WIZERNES Station to act as loading party. Remainder of Battalion preparing for move see O.O. 160. 14 Aug 1918 - Outrebois Battalion marched to WIZERNES Station & entrained. Detrained at DOULLENS & marched to OUTREBOIS & billeted. 15 Aug 1918 Billetted as above. Battalion allotted Baths. 16 Aug 1918 - Remaisnil In Billets as above. Battalion moved in the afternoon to REMAISNIL & billeted. See OO 161. 17 Aug 1918 Billetted as above. Training carried on. 18 Aug 1918 - Orville In Billets as above received warning order to move at short notice. Battalion marched to ORVILLE & billeted for one night. Dumped Personnel sent back to DOULLENS. 19 Aug 1918 - Sailly-au-Bois Battalion marched to SAILLY au BOIS & billeted in ruined houses for the night. Raining during whole march. 20 Aug 1918 - Bucquoy As above. Bde Operation Order received for move to forward position ready to take part in the attack. Battalion moved up at 8.55 pm to assembly position near BUCQUOY See OO 162. 21 Aug 1918 Battalion moved forward to the attack at 4.45 a.m. meeting with very slight opposition. The objective was about 1500 yards from original German Front Line which had already been taken by the 37th Division. Battalion gained objective which they consolidated, remaining there in support to the 1/Norfolk Regt. who passed through to take the next objective. Casualties Capts G. de C.Millais & H.J.West M.C. wounded (since died of wounds) & 46 O.R.s Killed & wounded etc. 22 Aug 1918 Battalion still in Support. Enemy shelling heavily with gas shells, Casualties Lieut. W.M.Stanton (attd T.M.B.) wounded, 2.Lt.H.Maw Killed. 23 Aug 1918 - Brown Line, Achiet-le-Petit Battalion moved up in front of ACHIET Le Petit & moved forward to the attack at 11 A.M. All objectives taken, Battalion suffered rather heavily from Machine Gun fire. Casualties Lt.Col.H.Courtenay M.C. wounded severely (since died) Lts. G.Abbott H.J.A.Watson E.I.F.Nailer, A.R.C.Eaton, R.H.Arnholz, 2/Lts. F.H.Fox & W.T.Paine Killed. 2/Lts. H.J.Snashall & F.J.Kelf wounded 129 O.R.s killed & wounded etc. Battalion withdrew to Brown Line in reserve. 24 Aug 1918 In Reserve in Brown Line 25 Aug 1918 - Achiet-le-Petit As above at 9 A.M. Battalion moved forward to trenches two kilometres in front of ACHIET LE PRTTIT [sic] still in reserve. 26-27 Aug 1918 In reserve as above. 28 Aug 1918 - Bapaume As above. Battalion & A & B echelons of Transport moved further forward Transport in front of ACHIET LE PETTIT, Battalion in vicinity of BAPAUME. 62 ORs joined from base Depot. 29 Aug 1918 As above. Battalion standing to, ready to move at moment's notice. 30 Aug 1918 Battalion situated as above. 31 Aug 1918 As above. usual artillery activity OPERATION ORDER No. 158. 1st. Battalion The Bedfordshire Regiment. August 5th. 1918. 1. the Battalion will withdraw to LA LACQUE Camp on the evening of the 6th./7th. August 1918. 2. Order of March: - Headquarters, "D", "C", "B" and "A" Coy. 100 yards between Companies. Head of Column will leave Camp at 6.30 p.m. 3. ROUTE - Along edge of wood to Road at J.20.d.2.2. to main Tannay Road Road at I.29.a.0.5. - Cross Ferry and Railway to La Lacque Camp. Drums will join[?] the Battalion at a point where the Battalion strike the Tannay Road. 4. C.Q.M.Sgts. will report to 2/Lieut.L.J.Hobson at Transport Lines at 8 a.m. on the morning of the 6th. inst. where they will proceed to La Lacque Camp to take over from the 1st. Devonshire Regt. arriving there at 9 a.m. 5. Details at Transport Lines will march independently under 2/Lieut.W.Haynes to La Lacque Camp, arriving there at 7 p.m. 2/Lieut. W.Haynes will provide guides from these details to meet the Battalion at the entrance to La Lacque Camp, and guide them to their Huts. One guide per platoon. 6. Guards at Forest Corner, J.21.central and L'Epinette (J.21.a.6.6.) will be withdrawn by the R.S.M. at 4 p.m. if they are not relieved before. 7. Lewis Guns will be taken from Villorba Camp on L.G.Limbers. Sgt. Faulder will superintend the loading of these. 8. Personnel of Brigade Pioneer Coy. will rejoin Unit at La Lacque Camp. 9. Officers Valises, Mess Boxes, Orderly Room Boxes and Canteen Boxes will be ready for loading at 4.30 p.m. sharp. Transport Officer will arrange for necessary Transport for these to be at the Camp by 5 p.m. 10. Rations will be sent to La Lacque Camp, and will be distributed before breakfast on the morning of the 7th. inst. 11. O.C. Coy's and R.S.M. will report present of otherwise to Battalion Headquarters at La Lacque Camp immediately on arrival. OPERATION ORDER No. 159 1st. Battalion the Bedfordshire Regiment. Aug. 7th. 1918. 1. The Battalion will march to Area "C", North of BLARINGHAM [sic]. 2. Head of column will pass starting point, (Officers Mess) at 2 p.m. Order of march: - Drums, H.Q., "A", "B", "C" and "D" 100 yards between Companies and between Rear Coy. and Transport. 3. ROUTE. Drawbridge at I.32.a.4.5. - AIRE Station - WITTES - BLARINGHAM - RENESCURE ROAD. Strict march discipline will be maintained. 4. The Transport moving direct from TANNAY will join the rear of the column at Drawbridge at I.32.a.4.5. 5. Dinners will be at 11.45 a.m. Teas on arrival. 6. All Companies will be clear of the huts at 1 p.m. to enable the Medical Officer to make an inspection. 7. Officers Valises and Mess Boxes will be loaded by 1.30 p.m. 8. O.C. Coy's and R.S.M. will report Battalion present or otherwise immediately on arrival in the new area. OPERATION ORDER No. 160. 1st. Battalion The Bedfordshire Regiment. Ref. Map - HAZEBROUCK 5A. Edition 2, Scale 1/100,000. August 13th. 1918. 1. The Battalion will move to-morrow the 14th. inst to the Third Army Area by train, marching to WIZERNES Station. 2. ROUTE - WARDRECQUES - BLAMART - LE HOCQUE - BLENDECQUES - WIZERNES 3. REVEILLE. Reveille will be at 6 a.m. Sick parade at 6.30 a.m. Breakfasts at 7 a.m. 4. STARTING POINT. Head of column will pass starting point, (Road Junction immediately south of the first F in NEUF-FOSSE) at 8.30 a.m. Order of march - Headquarters, Drums, C, B and A Coy's. Transport will move off at 8.15 a.m. and will not accompany the Battalion. They will be in advance. The Drums will change to the next Company in rear at each Halt. 5. Officers Kits, Mess Boxes, Orderly Room Boxes, Canteen Boxes, etc., will be ready for loading at 7 a.m. Officers Kits etc., will be stacked outside Coy. Headquarters, and Transport will call for them on the march. 6. DINNERS will be served at WIZERNES Station on arrival, before entrainment, about 11.45 a.m. 7. TENTAGE. All Tents, Bivouac Sheets, etc., will be struck immediately after reveille. These will be collected by the Transport Officer, and handed over to the Area Commandant. Receipts will be obtained. 8. BILLETING PARTY. The Billeting party detailed in this office A.769, dated 13/8/18, will rendezvous at "B" Coy's. Headquarters at 7 a.m. They will proceed to ARQUES Station, arriving there at 6 a.m. They will proceed by train No. 16, leaving at 9.27 a.m. 9. Orderly Officer for to-morrow - 2/Lieut. W.Haynes. OPERATION ORDER No. 161 1st. Battalion The Bedfordshire Regiment. Ref. Map. - LENS 11. Scale 1/100,000. August 16th. 1918. 1. The Battalion will move into billets at REMAISNIL this afternoon the 16th. inst. 2. ROUTE - To Cross Roads immediately south of the ll in Mezerolles, turn to the left to the village of Mezerolles, thence to the Right to Remaisnil. 3. The Battalion will form up in the following order: - H.Q., Drums, "D", "C", "A" and "B", Stretcher Bearers, Transport. Head of column to be on bridge across river by Battalion Orderly Room, facing North, ready to move off by 4 p.m. 4. ADVANCE PARTY. One Sgt. per Coy, and one for H.Q., and one for Q.M's stores and Transport, will report to Orderly Room at 10 a.m. to proceed to take over billets at Remaisnil. 5. Officers Kits, Mess Boxes, Orderly Room Boxes, canteen Boxes, etc., will be stacked outside billets ready to pick up by 2 p.m. 6. Certificates to the effect that billets are left clean will be handed to the Adjutant before moving off by Companies. OPERATION ORDER No. 162 1st. Battalion The Bedfordshire Regiment. Ref. Map - Scale 1/20,000, 57.D. N.E. and 57.C. N. August 20th. 1918. 1. The Third Army has been ordered to press the enemy back towards BAPAUME, and to prevent him from Destroying the railways and communication. The initial attack on the 4th. Corps front will be made by the 37th. Div. whose objective will be the BLUE Line. The 5th. Division, with the 63rd. Division on its left, will pass through and capture the BROWN and RED Lines. The 5th. Division will attack with the 95th. Brigade on the right, and the 15th. Bde. on the left, the 13th. Bde. being in reserve. The 15th. Bde. will attack with the 1st. Bedfords on the right, and the 1st. Norfolks on the left, 16th. Warwicks in rear of 1st. Bedfords, and 1st. Cheshires in rear of 1st. Norfolks. The boundaries and objectives allotted to the Battalion are shown on the Asps already issued to Coy's. 2. ASSEMBLY POSITION. The Battalion will assemble on a line, KEANE and CROSS Trenches, the right boundary being H in KEANE TRENCH, left boundary ESSARTS - BUCQUOY Road, in touch with the 1st. Norfolk Regt. on far side of the road. 3. PLAN OF ATTACK. The Battalion will attack with "C" and "D" Companies in the front line, each Coy. with two platoons in the front wave and two in support. "D" Coy. will be on the right and "C" Coy. on the left. "B" Coy. will be in support, holding two platoons to support each of the front line Coy's. "A" Coy. will be in reserve. At Zero hour, the Battalion will leave its assembly position and advance to the Eastern side of BUCQUOY to about line L.9.b.3.8. to L.3.d.9.8. The formation during this move will be in Artillery formation with platoons in file. Here they will re-assemble with the two leading Coy's. in Artillery formation, of blobs of sections in file. Support and reserve Coy's. will remain in original formation, unless enemy shelling is heavy, when they will break up in section blobs at the discretion of Coy. Commanders. During the move between these two assembly positions, the left leading platoon of "D" Coy. will guide. Great care must be taken to keep in touch with this platoon, as the ground through the village is broken and enclosed. At Zero plus 85 minutes, the Battalion will advance, and cross the BLUE objective at zero plus 90 minutes. This advance will be covered by Tanks. The leading Companies will keep as close to the Tanks as possible. Rate of advance - 100 yards in 4 minutes. The distance between the leading Companies and the Support Coy. will be 100 yards. At zero plus 162 minutes, the 16th. R.Warwicks will pass through the Battalion and advance to their final dotted RED Line objective. When touch has been obtained with troops on both flanks, and the 16th. Warwicks and 1st. Cheshires have passed over the BROWN Line, the Battn. will side slip and take over the whole of the BROWN Line with C & D Coys, the 1st. Norfolks being withdrawn. Consolidation will then be immediately started on the BROWN Line. MACHINE GUNS. One section of "C" Coy. 5th. M.G.Battalion is allotted to the Battalion and will advance with the support Coy. On arrival at the BROWN objective, O.C. of the section will select position to cover this line while it is being consolidated. He must also be prepared to support the attacking Companies during the advance of the necessity arises. STOKES GUNS. Two Stokes Guns will also be attached to the Battalion, and will move forward during the attack with the Support Coy. ARTILLERY. The advance from the BLUE to the BROWN objective will be covered by a creeping barrage of Field Artillery, which will cease at zero plus 162 minutes. TANKS. In the capture the BROWN Line, 6 Mark IV Tanks are allotted to the Brigade. One of these will move up between the two parallel trench lines running along our right boundary. TANK SIGNALS. Tanks to Infantry. White and Green Flag - Come to me. Red and Yellow Flag - Am out of action. Go on without me. RED, White and Blue Flag - Am withdrawing, Don't shoot. INFANTRY TO TANKS. Helmet waved on rifle - Come to me. 4. ORDER OF MARCH. Headquarters, "C", "D", "B" and "A" Coy's. Headquarters will move off at 8.55 p.m. Interval between Companies - 100 yards. 5. GUIDES. Guides of the New Zealand Division at the rate of 3 per Coy. and 3 for Battalion Headquarters will be picked up at SAILLY-au-BOIS Church. These guides will take Companies as far as the South corner of RETTEMOY Farm, and on from there to the assemble area, guides of the 37th. Div. will lead Companies. 6. LEWIS GUN LIMBERS. The L.G.Limbers will march in the rear of each Coy. Lewis Guns will be taken off the limbers on arriving just East of GOMMECOURT. 7. CONTACT PLANES. A Contact Plane will fly over the attacking Infantry and call for flares. At zero plus 3 hours "C" and "D" Coy's. light flares. AT zero plus 5 hours Battalion will not light flares. At zero plus 7 hours Anyone lights flares. The Signal from the Plane to denote assembly of hostile counter attack will be the dropping of a RED Smoke Bomb. 8. LIAISON. Close touch must be kept with the troops on either flank. 9. BATTALION HEADQUARTERS. Battn H.Q. during the assembly will be at the junction of RETTEMOY Avenue and CROSS TRENCH. When the Battalion moves forward to second assembly position, East of BUCQUOY, Battn. H.Q., will be established in the trench about L.4.c.1.1. When the attacking troops reach the BROWN Objective, Battn. H.Q. will be established in the trench about L11.d.6.7. 10. MOPPING UP. "A" Coy. will systematically mop up the system of trenches running parallel to the line of our advance up to the BROWN Line. "B" Coy. will keep a sharp lookout for any pockets that may be missed during the advance of the leading Coy's. and mop these up. 11. SYNCHRONISATION. Watches will be synchronised at Battalion Headquarters at 7.30 p.m. Zero hour will be notified later. 12. SIGNALS (a) One Very light will be fired by order of Coy. Commander on the capture of BROWN objective, and two in succession on the capture of the RED. (b) The S.O.S. Signal will [be] RED over GREEN over RED. 13. DUMPS. Tools for the consolidation of the BROWN Line will be dumped at a point on the BUCQUOY - ACHIET-LE-PETIT Road where the BROWN Line crosses it. In addition to this, arrangements have been made for the Tanks to bring up as many shovels as possible and to dump those on the BROWN Line, but it is not expected that more than 50 shovels will be brought up by Tanks. 14. DRESS. Dress will be fighting order. 15. RATIONS. Rations for the 21st. and the 22nd. will be carried in addition to the Iron Rations. Each man will also carry one tin of solidified alcohol. 16. EXPLOSIVES & TRENCH STORES. Each man will carry two sandbags and one extra bandolier of S.A.A. Very Lights, Flares and S.O.S. Signals will be distributed to Companies as available. 17 RUM. Rum will be issued at Zero minus one hour. 18. DRESSING STATION will be established at Battn. H.Q. in each position.

1-31 Aug 1918

From: 1918 To: 1918

item

Kingdon, J.P.,
Riddell, A.H.O.,
Nailer, Edgar Ivan Fitzroy,
Oldman, Richard Deare Furley,
Millais, Geoffrey de Carteret,
West, Herbert John,
Stanton, W.M.,
Maw, Harry,
Courtenay, Hugh,
Abbott, George,
Watson, Henry James Arthur,
Eaton, Alexander Robert Charles,
Arnholz, Ronald Henry,
Fox, Frank Herbert,
Paine, William Thomas,
Snashall, H.J.,
Kelf, F.J.,
Hobson, L.J.,
Haynes, W,
Faulder, A.

1st Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, land weaponry, weather, church services, peace and battles celebrations/commemorations, 5th Army, baths, football, Wizernes Station, trains, 15th Infantry Brigade, 37th Division, 1st Battalion Norfolk Regiment, deaths, 15th Trench Mortar Battery, maps, 1st Battalion Devonshire Regiment, 1st/6th Battalion Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders, Aire-sur-la-Lys Station, 3rd Army, Arques Station, IV Corps, 5th Division, 63rd (Royal Naval) Division, 95th Infantry Brigade, 13th Infantry Brigade, 16th Battalion Royal Warwickshire Regiment, 1st Battalion Cheshire Regiment, town & local roads, 5th Battalion Machine Gun Corps, New Zealand Division, aerial action overseas, military aircraft, food & drink, Villorba Camp [Bois de Nieppe], Bedford Communication Trench [Bois de Nieppe], Cheshire Communication Trench [Bois de Nieppe], Tannay, Arcade Camp [Bois de Nieppe], la Lacque Camp [Bois de Nieppe], Blaringhem, Wizernes, Doullens, Outrebois, Remaisnil, Orville, Sailly-au-Bois, Bucquoy, Achiet-le-Petit, Bapaume, l'Epinette, Forest Corner [Bois de Nieppe], Aire-sur-la-Lys, Wittes, Wardrecques, Blendecques, Blamart, le Hocque, Neuf-Fosse, Arques, Mezerolles, Keane Trench [Somme], Cross Trench [Somme], Rettemoy Farm [Somme], Gommecourt, Rettemoy Avenue [Somme]