Business as Usual

Sunday 10th November 1918

It was business as usual on the Western Front today. There have been successful attacks in various places. One of these was at Asquillies, about a mile south of Mons. Here 4th Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment took part in an attack by 63rd (Royal Naval) Division, seizing the village at nine o'clock this morning. The battalion then moved to the village of Harveng a mile or so to the east in preparation for a night attack tonight on Harmignies a mile or so to the north-east(1)

Source: X550/5/3

(1) the village would fall about one o'clock on the morning of the 11th, the last offensive action taken by the Bedfordshire Regiment during the war.

The End is in Sight

Saturday 9th November 1918

It seems as if the worries aired in yesterday's piece were unnecessary. The enemy really are finished. Their Kaiser, we understand, abdicated this morning. It is not clear exactly what this means inside Germany but with the despot gone there must be a vacuum at the heart of the state. Clearly Germans themselves believe the war is lost and Willy has paid the price.

In a clearing in the Forest of Compiegne there is a railway car. This morning a German delegation entered this car and heard terms dictated by a delegation of senior allied officers, headed by the allied supreme commander, Marshal Ferdinand Foch. These terms are believed to include complete withdrawal from all occupied territory, including the French provinces of Alsace and Lorraine which they surrendered to Germany after their defeat in 1870. Germany has two days to respond.

At the front today the city of Maubeuge fell to our troops. The 4th Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment again attacked and retook Blaugies and moved on to take Sars-la-Bruyere and Quevy-le-Petit, three miles south-west of Mons, for the loss of four men killed and thirteen wounded.

Source: X550/5/3

Is the Advance Too Fast?

Friday 8th November 1918

Today the advance has continued along a broad front, it is reckoned about three or four miles on average. Some are shaking their heads, worrying that, with the atrocious state of the roads, our armies are outrunning their supplies. Others fear that the enemy is not so beaten as he seems and that he has some secret line of incredible strength from which he will launch a devastating counter-attack.

In truth it is difficult to know precisely what it happening. We have all been conditioned to think along trench lines for so long, where an advance of a hundred yards is cause for celebration, that we cannot quite believe the huge strides we are now making. In some areas today it was, we have been told, hard going, with stiff resistance and counter-attacks. In other places defensive positions of great strength have been left unoccupied. 

 4th Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment, unemployed for what seems a long time, today made their re-appearance on the battlefield. This afternoon, as the light was beginning to fade, they attacked and took a village called Blaugies a few miles north-west of Maubeuge and in Belgium.

Tonight British troops lie about seven miles from Mons.

Source: X550/5/3

Successes All Along the Line

Tuesday 8th October 1918

Today Fourth Army launched attacks in conjunction with Third Army to the north and the French and Americans to the south. The initial attack was by Third Army, which overran the last elements of the Beaurevoir Line in the enemy's hands and achieved an advance of three miles. For the first time since 1914 British troops are within twenty miles of le Cateau, scene of Sir Horace Smith-Dorrien's heroic stand against the triumphant enemy on 26th August of that year.

Fourth Army launches its attack forty minutes after Third Army and all along the line there was early success except that the French failed to take a strongpoint at their junction with our own 6th Division, however, British troops took the position allowing the French to get forward. By this evening there have been advances of up to four miles, with American 30th Division, perhaps, advancing further than anyone else.

4th Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment, part of 63rd (Royal Naval) Division was in support to 188th Brigade which attacked and took the village of Niergnies. It is felt that this will have proved vital in causing the final fall of Cambrai, which is now encircled, Niergnies being south-east of the city. The Division was counter-attacked twice by the enemy with captured British tanks but this was in vain for the Bosches. This evening the division is being relieved and will return to Cantaing.

Source: X550/5/3

4th Battalion Ready to Attack

Monday 7th October 1918

The adjutant of the 4th Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment spoke with me on the blower this afternoon and confirmed that they have moved into positions near Noyelles for an attack tomorrow. The major attacks keep coming, with short intervals in between for planning, reorganisation and registering the guns 

In Palestine yesterday the 1st/5th Battalion drew company cash from Haifa to pay the men. Meanwhile a draft of 68 other ranks arrived to join the battalion, just in time for payday. 

Sources: X550/5/3; X550/6/8

More Small Actions

Tuesday 1st October 1918

Today the 1st battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment has moved back to huts at Neuville. They are still close to the action, however. The transport was heavily shelled resulting in the deaths of three horses, with three others being wounded, as well as one man in each category.

Operations at Vendhuile have continued for 2nd Battalion but they are due a relief tonight and a move back to Ronssoy. 4th Battalion duly took their strongpoint, Faubourg-de-Paris which they consolidated before moving back to Cantaing to become battalion in divisional reserve.

Elsewhere the splendid New Zealanders have taken the village of Crevecoeur and other davisions have taken Rumilly. Four other villages have fallen, but at some cost, particularly to the Canadians. The men from the prairies and mountains now have a clear view into Cambrai where it looks as if the enemy are preparing for a fight.

Sources: X550/2/5; X550/3/wd; X550/5/3

After the Lord Mayor's Show

Monday 30th September

As often happens in this war, following the spectacular success yesterday, today has been a much quieter day, with smaller operations being carried on all the way from Ypres southwards. At the Saint-Quentin Canal, after the stunning success by 46th (North Midland) Division yesterday, the enemy has everywhere retired to the east bank which they are continuing to defend stoutly. To the south the French have attempted a crossing of the canal themselves, without success.

Otherwise the actions of today can be exemplified by the three battalions of the Bedfordshire Regiment remaining on the Western Front. The 1st Battalion, which has been in action at Beaucamps moved forward during the day as the enemy retired. 2nd Battalion were ordered to proceed from Ronssoy to Vendhuile to act as moppers-up for an attack but the attack was unsuccessful so they themselves had to attack and clear the village.

4th Battalion was in action on the outskirts of Cambrai. They are in the two squares marked 26 and 27 on the map below. They have been ordered to take the strongpoint named the Faubourg de Paris.

Sources: X550/2/5; X550/3/wd; X550/5/3

The Fight Goes On

Saturday 28th September 1918

Today the attack by First and Third Armies continued. 57th and 63rd Divisions penetrated the German defences on the line from Marcoing to Cantaing and took the third objective from yesterday. 4th Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment was still in support after its success yesterday and moved forward to a position near Cantaing in the area marked by a cross on the map above. Yesterday's casualties were one officer and twelve other ranks killed, seven officers and 61 other ranks wounded. Pushing on, the divisions crossed the Schelde Canal and captured Marcoing. Further north the Canadian 3rd Division took Fontaine-Notre-Dame and the left wing of First Army is now level with the left wing of Fourth Army. Today the 1st Bedfords found to their delight that the enemy had evacuated the village of Beaucamps and, in common with other units, moved forward through the ruins.

Further north still a major offensive began today in the shellscape around Ypres. The Belgians and our Second Army, as ever the main axis was the road from Ypres to Menin. Amazingly it has taken just one day for the Belgians to seize Passcehndaele and its ridge, which took our armies four months of the summer and autumn last year. British divisions have managed equally impressive advances - up to five miles. Messines and Wytschaete have been abandoned by the enemy, we understand. All this simply underlines how the allied armies continue to learn new tactics whilst the enemy falters.

The Bedfords in Action Again

Friday 27th September 1918

Two of the three battalions of the Bedfordshire Regiment on the Western Front have been in action today as today has been another all-out effort by First and Third Armies. The Canadians, on the left flank have attacked Bourlon on the old Cambrai battlefield from last November and December and word has just reached us that Bourlon has, indeed, fallen. 11th Division and 56th Division have also captured a number of villages. At its greatest extent the advance has been five miles today.

South of this the battlefield is riven with countless old trenches and gives much better defensive possibilities. Thus 52nd Division has struggled and halted its advance west of Anneux. 63rd (Royal Naval) Division includes the 4th Bedfords. It passed through 52nd Division and attacked Anneux and Graincourt. The Bedfords, like the other attacking troops today had to cross the Canal du Nord (a dry ditch, in effect as the canal was still being built when the war started). They succeeded in this and captured their objective and are now in the position shown above, just west of Graincourt (see the map above) where they are acting as support. The rest of the division finally managed to take the two villages, the second objective, early this evening. 57th Division should now be passing through to attack the third objective, though darkness is falling.

To the south Guards Division, 3rd Division and 62nd Division have all taken ruined villages and have mostly taken their second objectives. 5th Division made an attack south-east of Cambrai towards Villers-Plouich. the 1st Bedfords' objective is shown on the map below and they took it by lunchtime. This afternoon, however, a strong attack caused the battalion to withdraw to the sunken road and evacuate Beaucamps - 2 officers and 19 other ranks have been killed, 6 officers and 96 other ranks wounded, including Captain Riddell, the adjutant. Twenty men are missing tonight.

The only sad note has been the attack by the American 106th Regiment. The Australian general Monash, in command of IX Corps decided to push these troops into a position overlooking the Saint-Quentin Canal but, unfortunately he underestimated the strength of the defences and the Americans could make to headway. So once again, the offensive has not been entirely successful but he who expects all objectives to be gained in this war lives in a fool's paradise and very significant gains have been made, gains which, only three months ago would have been hailed as miraculous. 

Yesterday, well to the south the French and the Americans opened an attack either side of the Argonne Forest. The Americans did well, advancing between two and four miles, though the French did not manage so great an advance progress has been satisfactory and we hear that Montfaucon, at 1,200 feet above sea-level, has fallen to the Americans today. This is very different country to Picardie and Flanders, being hilly and bedecked with thick forest, so any advance is made with great effort.

Almost everywhere on the Western Front the allies are moving forward.

Sources: X550/2/5; X550/5/3

On the Move

Monday 16th September 1918

After the disbandment of three of its battalions earlier this year, the Bedfordshire Regiment has now just three battalions on the Western Front - 1st, 2nd and 4th. Two of these have been on the move today as the generals move their pieces on the board that is the battlefront, preparing for the great assault on the Hindenburg Line.

2nd Battalion boarded a fleet of buses this morning at Leuze Wood on the old Somme battlefield and are this evening in a wood west of Aizecourt-le-Bas, south-west of Cambrai and a mile or two short of the Hindenburg Line. They expect to be in action in a few days.Meanwhile 4th Battalion marched to Saint-Leger south-east of Arras.

Source: X550/3wd; X550/5/3

On the Move

Monday 9th September 1918

Today 4th Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment took the train from Boyelles and have ended the day near the Belgian border at Bailleulmont. In Palestine yesterday the commanding officer and company commanders left for the front line near Mejdel Yaba(1) where they will took over from 1st/5th Battalion, Essex Regiment just before midnight.

Sources: X550/5/3; X550/6/8


(1) Now the Israeli settlement of Rosh HaAyin.

Honours and Sports

Sunday 8th September 1918

The 2nd Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment remains at its camp just east of the ruins of Guillemont, training. Today Military Medals have been awarded to Segreant E T Blake, Private F Dunton and Private F G Ashby, with Sergeant D Fynn receiving a bar to his Military Medal. The 4th Battalion, after a few years days in the front line at Inchy-en-Artois west of Cambrai have gone back to Boyelles. 

In Palestine yesterday the 1st/5th Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment took part in the heats for the Brigade Tournament in the morning and the tournament itself in the afternoon. The battalion was second to 11th Battalion, London Regiment overall and won the following events: the tug of war; the company cross-country race; the relay race and the long jump for officers.

Sources: X550/3/wd; X550/5/3; X550/6/8

4th Battalion in the Front Line

Friday 6th September 1918

For the last three days 4th Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment has been in the front line near Inchy-en-Artois around three miles west of Cambrai. Three other ranks were wounded on Wednesday, two yesterday and thirteen today. Yesterday 42 other ranks arrived as reinforcements. 

Source: X550/5/3

Longueval Falls

Wednesday 28th August 1918

For the last two days 12th (Eastern) Division has seen hard fighting in a area made infamous at the end of July 1916 - Hardecourt and Maltz Horn Farm south of Guillemont. Today their efforts have been crowned with the capture of Hardecourt. This evening we have heard the good news that with great dash the Welshmen of 38th Division have cleared not only the mess that is Delville Wood but the pathetic ruins of what was once the village of Longueval, a place which took two months to capture in 1916.

In the north the twin villages of Thilloy and Ligny-Thilloy have been heavily bombarded all day. 42nd Division has been brought in to replace 63rd (Royal Naval) Division and the 4th Bedfords have gone to rest up at Miraumont. The 1st Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment, part of 5th Division is now in the vicinity of Bapaume though not in action. A group of 62 reinforcements joined the battalion today.

Sources: X550/2/5; X550/5/3

Those Blasted Woods Again

Tuesday 27th March 1918

Today has seen a number of attacks along the front. In the south 18th (Eastern) Division of Fourth Army has been renewing its acquaintance with Trones Wood, where it fought so long in 1916. and Bernafay Wood between Montauban and Ginchy. The enemy still held the village of Longueval at the start of the attack and 8th Battalion, Royal Berkshire Regiment suffered many casualties as they struggled to get forward and were eventually pushed from Trones Wood to Bernafay Wood to the west. A few moments ago, however, a counter-attack has once more pushed the enemy from the wood, hopefully for good. The 38th (Welsh) Division has obtained a firm lodging now in the western remains of Longueval. 

Further north 63rd (Royal Naval) Division has once more been attacking Thilloy and Ligny-Thilloy to help the New Zealand complete its encirclement of Bapaume to the south. The 4th Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment has been to the fore in today's unsuccessful efforts at Thilloy and Ligny-Thilloy. Your correspondent has just heard from the adjutant with details of the attack, which began about eleven o'clock. The Bedfords were then in a sunken road variously called Chalk Cut or Red Cut as shown on the map above. Preceded by a rolling barrage then men went over the top but not before shells fell into the assembly positions which were thought to come from our own guns firing short. On leaving the sunken road heavy machine gun fire was encountered from the front and the left and especially from the right flank. It had been arranged that 21st Division would attack on the Bedfords' right, but their attack was cancelled at the last moment and so the right flank was exposed to extremely heavy machine gun fire from the high ground.

The line was held up and the positions occupied were then roughly as shown on the map above. No further advance was possible as machine gun fire from Thilloy and the ridges on the right was so heavy. Snipers were very active and claimed many victims.
An hour ago, at six o'clock after an hour's bombardment by heavy artillery and preceded by an 18 pounder barrage the advance was continued again. Just previous to zero a heavy shell fell in the midst of the centre company and did much damage. Despite this, some of C Company on the left entered Thilloy and went right through, with their right on the cross roads shown on the map by an X. The left of the centre company was met again by very heavy machine gun fire from the right and was unable to make much progress and the right company was unable to advance at all owing to the same reason. The enemy had a perfect defensive position which commanded the approach from in front and on the right flank.  

As regards those elements of the left company which passed through Thilloy, the situation is difficult to ascertain. No Officer by this time appears to have been left with the company. The enemy appear to have been surrounding them on the right flank and eventually they withdrew through the village, and back to the sunken road from which the attack had started, which they reached a few moments ago.  

Owing to the formation of the ground the only possible defensive line was then indeed the sunken road from which the battalion had started this morning, with posts pushed out to the edge of la Barque. The line joins up with the 7th Royal Fusiliers on the left. The Battalion hopes to be relieved tonight.  

The commanding officer then came on the blower to make his views known, saying: "I attribute the failure of the attack to the fact that the right flank was exposed as the Division on our right did not advance. It is possible that the first attack would have been held up in any case from machine gun fire from Thilloy, but I feel certain that if other troops had been pressing on our right and so engaging the machine guns on the ridges and neighbourhood, my right company would have been able to get forward at the second attempt. If the request for tanks to co-operate had been granted the task would have been easy and could have been accomplished by one Battalion instead of two".

Source: X550/5/3

The Fall of Montauban

Monday 26th August 2018

On 1st July 1916 the village of Montauban-de-Picardie was captured by the men from Manchester and Liverpool of 30th Division. A few hundred yards to the west the 18th Division took all its objectives. Today the 18th Division, of Fourth Army, has been in action here again, when 7th Battalion, East Kent Regiment (The Buffs) assisted by 11th Battalion, Royal Fusiliers took the village. The main differences in today's attack were that two years ago the division was attacking south to north whereas today it has been moving west to east. Back then, although successful, roughly one man in ten was killed. mercifully, today's tally of the gallant fallen is nowhere remotely near that number.

Then it was the 7th Battalion of the Bedfordshire Regiment in action. Today it was 2nd Battalion, which was part of 30th Division two years ago, and held in reserve in case the attack by the northern battalions, whose first major action this was, faltered. In the event the Bedfords were not needed then, nor were they today, simply holding the line in case of a counter-attack which did not materialise.

Further north First Army today undertook an attack around Arras. Between the First and Fourth Armies, Third Army continues to undertake operations around Bapaume. The line has gone forward by another thousand yards during the day. The gallant New Zealanders have now encircled the north of the town, though to the south of the ruins the fighting has been severe where 63rd (Royal Naval) Division has been up against the strongpoint of Thilloy. The 4th Bedfords were to take part in the second wave of the attack on Thilloy and Ligny-Thilloy but never came into action as the initial attack could make no headway. Enemy resistance seems very patchy - in some places the troops are facing the tenacious German army of old, elsewhere the defenders seem to put up little fight. 

Meanwhile 5th Division has taken a troublesome hamlet north-east of Bapaume. There thus seems, despite the problems with Thilloy, every hope that the remains of the town may soon be in allied hands.

Sources: X550/3/wd; X550/5/3

Back at Mametz

Sunday 25th August 1916

Today the New Zealand Division planned to begin the task of taking the town of Bapaume, with 63rd (Royal Naval) Division advancing in protection of its right flank to the south and 37th Division doing the same job in the north on the left flank. Nothing less than the envelopment of the town was the aim in the hope that the Germans would see all was lost and give up the prize without street fighting, than which there is no worse battlefield for an attacker because the defender has the benefit of cover from houses, interlocking fields of fire and the ability to lay booby traps in ruins.

The attack began at first light  under cover of a thick fog. Good progress has been made and the town is partially encircled. More might, perhaps, have been achieved but 63rd Division ran into the hamlet of Thilloy which the enemy has turned into a strongpoint from which he can pour a deadly fire into attacking troops.

Part of the actions of 63rd Division was 4th Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment which began the advance in support to 1st Battalion, Artists Rifles who themselves followed 189th Brigade. The division was given the job of taking Thilloy and Riencourt. The battalion bypassed Loupart Wood to the south and reached the main road from Albert to Bapaume. Ahead of them la Barque had been penetrated but the division was held up my machine gun fire from the right flank. The divisional commander decided to made a defensive flank against this machine gun fire so the Bedfords, forming part of this flank ended the day facing south-west. A few enemy attacks on the division were made this evening but have, so far, been beaten off.

The New Zealanders flowing round the north side of Bapaume also encountered stronger opposition than their comrades to the south. Tonight the town is not completely encircled but  the troops are in good shape and surround a good portion of it and a heavy German counter-attack north of the town has just been defeated by the 37th Division and the New Zealanders there. Four hundred prisoners have been taken along with machine guns and artillery pieces and continued determined action tomorrow and, if necessary, in future days should result in the fall of the town. 

Further south Mametz and Fricourt, famous names from the first day of the great 1916 offensive on the Somme, have been taken by 18th (Eastern) Division, coincidentally one of the divisions in action in this area on that now long ago July day. 12th and 38th Divisions have also advanced further today.

Source: X550/5/3

Day Three of Attacks on the Somme

Friday 23rd August 1918

Again today the business of war has been transacted by IV Corps in the north, around Achiet-le-Grand V Corps in the centre around Aveluy and Saint-Pierre-Divion and III Corps in the south near Albert and Meaulte. 42nd Division of IV Corps succeeded in taking a position known as the Dovecot near Achiet-le-Petit which was initially captured on 21st and lost to counterattack yesterday. 5th Division took the village of Irles and then attacked Loupart Wood and Grevillers, which, sadly, they were unable to take, whilst 37th Division seized the village of Bihucourt, moving through the line established by 63rd (Royal Naval) Division and 4th Bedfords who are being withdrawn this evening, their task, for the moment, over.

1st Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment, part of 5th Division, moved up in front of the village of Achiet-le-Petit and went into the attack at eleven o'clock this morning. It secured all its objectives although it suffered quite heavily from machine gun fire. The commanding officer, Lieutenant-Colonel H Courtenay MC has been badly wounded(1), Lieutenants G Abbott, H J A Watson, E I F Nailer, A R C Eaton and R H Arnholz, Second Lieutanants F H Fox and W T Paine have all been killed and two other officers wounded. Altogether the battalion has lost 129 other ranks killed and wounded, a heavier "butcher's bill" than it has had for some time. This evening the battalion will withdraw into the reserve, its job emphatically done. 

The result of these three days of action by IV Corps is to have established the front line east of the railway line between Albert and Arras and almost all the high ground south and west of Bapaume has been taken. Only a ridge running from Loupart Wood through Grevillers to Biefvillers remains in enemy hands. It is reckoned that over two thousand prisoners have been taken along with twenty five pieces of artillery. Readers will be familiar with names such as Bihucourt and Achiet-le-Grand and Petit from the actions of 18th Division in the Spring of 1917 as it is here that Private Christopher Augustus Cox of the 7th Bedfords won the Victoria Cross. To those of us who have been with the armies since 1915 so many of the names of places where actions are currently being fought are horribly familiar.

Last night some soldiers from 38th (Welsh) Division finally managed to cross the marshy River Ancre north of Thiepval Wood. They managed to establish themselves near Saint-Pierre-Divion and, despite enemy counter-attacks have clung on. This morning the rest of the Welsh Division, deployed between the Albert to Bapaume Road and the Ancre attacked and seized Usna Hill meaning they now look towards the pathetic heaps of ruins that mark the sites of the twin villages of Ovillers and la Boisselle.

18th Division has pushed on another thousand yards, in the face of stiff opposition and 3rd Australian Division, again in the teeth of strong opposition has managed a short advance on the north bank of the River Somme towards the south end of Bray-sur-Somme. 2nd Bedfords remain in their positions, having taken no part in today's attack.

Sources: X550/2/5; X550/3/wd; X550/5/3

(1) He died later on that evening and is buried at Bagneux British Cemetery, Gezaincourt. He was just thirty years old.

Albert Retaken

Thursday 22nd August 1918

Today the attacks have continued and to the immense pride of the army our old base at Albert has fallen once more into our hands. V Corps, bogged down in the quagmire around the Ancre to the north of the Somme has made no attack today but it was felt that conditions were suitable for 18th (Eastern) and 38th Divisions to make their attacks. 18th Division began south-west of Albert and 38th Division north-west. 

Overall III Corps began the day astride a piece of high ground known as the Morlancourt Ridge and was tasked with advancing two miles on a four mile front with 18th (Eastern) Division on the left and 3rd Australian Division on the right and in the centre 47th (London) and 12th (Eastern) Divisions. A good deal of softening up of the enemy was undertaken by bombing from the air by the Royal Air Force. 

The attack by 47th Division was over by eight o'clock this morning and achieved little. 12th Division, however, achieved the capture of the town of Meaulte, in happier times, an industrial suburb just south of Albert. The honour of retaking Albert fell to that splendid formation, 18th Division, 54th Brigade to the south, 55th Brigade to the north and the attack was greatly assisted by patrols last evening pushing across the River Ancre and establishing themselves on the road between Albert and Meaulte. Tonight the division is consolidating a line well to the east of the ruined town.

The 2nd Bedfords were in reserve for the attack by 54th Brigade. Colonel Percival is temporarily in command of 54th Brigade so the battalion was led today by Captain W E Aylwin MC. Altogether the battalion reports that it has lost one officer (Second Lieutenant W Whitbourn) and six other ranks killed, Lieutenant G B Reed and 48 other ranks wounded and two other ranks missing.

Like V Corps to the south of it, IV Corps has undertaken little in the way of offensive action today as it consolidates before once more taking up the advance. 1st Bedfords are still in support behind the new front line, where they stopped yesterday and have suffered a heavy bombardment by gas shells in which Lieutenant W M Stanton was wounded and Second Lieutenant H Maw has been killed. Part of the corps has been attacked by the enemy who made initial progress near Achiet-le-Petit but were then driven off.

About 5.30 this morning sentries of the 4th Bedfords noticed about a hundred of the enemy leave huts and advance in a south-westerly direction to attack one of the posts on the left of the battalion's position. Once observed C Company fired on them and reckoned to have killed nine of them. About thirty minutes later another party of the enemy approached a post in front of the battalion's centre held by A Company. they, too, were driven back, though sadly, Second Lieutenant Flory, who was in charge of the post was killed in the firefight. Later in the day strong attacks were made against 7th Battalion, Royal Fusiliers on the Bedfords' flank but were repulsed.

So ends a satisfactory day, with the remains of Albert once more in our hands. It is also a day in which all three of the regiment's remaining battalions on active service in France have been in action.

Sources: X550/2/5; X550/3/wd; X550/5/3

The Attack on the Somme Begins

Wednesday 21st August 1918

The great attack by Third Army got underway early this morning. Two corps have been involved. IV and V. IV Corps have been in action in the northern part of the old Somme battlefield. New Zealand Division, eager not to let their cousins from across the Tasman have all the glory supported the attack by 37th Division. The village of Puisieux quickly fell and the division finally ended its advance a good thousand yards beyond. It was then the turn of 5th Division to the south of Bucquoy. This formation advanced two miles during the day and well to the fore was 1st Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment

The Battalion went forward at 4.45 in a misty morning. It encountered but slight opposition and the objective was quickly achieved and consolidated as the 1st Battalion, Norfolk Regiment passed through to attack the next objective. Total casualties - killed and wounded were just 46.

The position of the 1st Battalion tonight

63rd (Royal Naval) Division attacked to the north of Bucquoy and the 4th Bedfords were in support to the attack. First, however, they had to get to their attack positions. The adjutant informed me via the telephone that they had considerable difficulty in getting into position near Foncquevillers as the road was blocked by lorries and a tank but they were all in position by 4.15. The attack was made by 189th Brigade and as the Bedfords followed them up the fog made it difficult to see, meaning they became somewhat disorganised. They then followed five tanks to the central part of the railway between Achiet-le-Grand and Miraumont at which point 189th Brigade dug, the Bedfords consolidating the line shown below just west of Achiet-le-Grand

The position of the 4th Bedfords tonight

Further south V Corps were tasked with crossing the River Ancre, of evil memory from the autumn of 1916. 21st Division were around Grandcourt, 17th (Northern) Division at Hamel and 38th (Welsh) Division around Aveluy. The Ancre, it is reported is as much of a swamp today as it was towards the end of 1916. During the day Beaucourt has been taken by 21st Division but the rest of the attack has been unable to make headway because of the marshy nature of the ground, so the Ancre retains its evil name with the army.

Despite this frustration around the Ancre good progress has been made during the day and there is the hope of more steady progress tomorrow.

Sources: X550/2/5; X550/5/3