Still Fighting Fit

Lieutenant Holbrook [X550/1/81]

Monday 11th February 1918

8th Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment may no longer exist as a fighting formation but its men are still fighting fit. A small group, referred to as details, are attached to 16th Brigade Headquarters. Today there was a cross-country run for all units in the Brigade and the 8th Bedfords had five men home in the first six - Sergeant Vivian being the winner in a time of fourteen minutes. Meanwhile Second Lieutenant Oakley and ten other ranks were despatched to join 4th Battalion.

7th Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment is at Salency east of Noyon. Today the reinforcements from the disbanded 8th Battalion arrived. One of them was Second Lieutenant Arthur Pratt who died of wounds this evening. He had the misfortune to be posted to C Company and shortly after entering a billet it received a direct hit by bombs from enemy aircraft. Nine other ranks were killed outright, two more have subsequently also died of wounds and six more are wounded.

2nd Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment is currently at Moyencourt, south-west of Ham. Lieutenant W J Holbrook has been struck off strength whilst on a six month tour of duty in England. Lieutenant W L Carpenter and six other ranks have joined from 8th Battalion. Today the Battalion was transferred from 89th Brigade to 90th Brigade, replacing 17th Battalion, Manchester Regiment which has transferred to 21st Brigade.

Sources: X550/3/wd; X550/8/1; X550/9/1

The Last Men Leave

Saturday 9th February 1918.

The 8th Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment now no longer exists as a fighting force as today another 170 other ranks were despatched to join the 7th Battalion. The officers also joining the 7th Battalion are Captain McBride, Lieutenant Duplock, Second Lieutenant Pratt, Second Lieutenant Hughes, Second Lieutenant Smith and Second Lieutenant Poulter(1)

The details left paraded at 10.30 a.m. and proceeded by march route to Courcelles-Le-Comte via Fremicourt, Bapaume, Bihucourt and Achiet-le-Grand. They arrived in camp about 3 30p.m.and took over billets. The details are under the orders of the Officer Commanding IV Corps Surplus Reinforcements (Lieutenant-Colonel Finch DSO of 13th Battalion, Cheshire Regiment).

Source: X550/9/1

(1) Lieutenant Arthur Pratt would die two days later and would be buried at Noyon New British Cemetery; Captain Andrew Best McBride was killed at Cachy on 24th April and is buried at Longueau British Cemetery; Lieutenant Marten Cave Duplock was killed on 2nd April, has no known grave and is commemorated on the Pozieres Memorial

Fourth Day of the Third Battle of Ypres

Friday 3rd August 1917

Two more divisions have been relieved in the line today, another day of cool drizzle. The 2nd Bedfords have moved back with 30th Division to a place called Micmac Camp, well behind the lines, being relieved by 12th Battalion, Middlesex Regiment, of 54th Brigade, home of the 7th Bedfords. I think the respective Bedford battalions were sorry that one could not have relieved the other, allowing a brief meeting of relatives, friends and fellow countrymen. The adjutant of the 2nd Bedfords tells me by wire that during their stint near the front line they have lost fourteen other rans and one officer killed, and fifty other ranks and one officer (Second Lieutenant T J Pemberton) wounded. Three other ranks are missing, six have shell shock from the enormous bombardment of the opening day and the retaliatory German bombardments and two have been gassed. One of the wounded men rendered a self-inflicted wound and has been arrested pending court martial(1).

Second Lieutenant Pemberton [X550/1/81]

The 7th Bedfords are proceeding slowly towards the front line. After a general kit inspection they are, as I write this, marching to Railway Dugouts in the shadow of the front line.

Meanwhile, the war grinds on in places far-removed from Ypres. I have had a wire from the adjutant of the 1st/5th Bedfords, in far-away Palestine. Yesterday Military Medals were issued to Private W A Beesley, Private H Reeves, Private W Pratt, Sergeant E G Clifford, Private Charger and Private D A J Worrow, for gallantry in connection with the recent raids on Umbrella Hill(2).

Sources: X550/3/wd; X550/6/8; X550/9/1

(1) Self-inflicted wounds could often mean a long prison sentence - 3,894 men from all units being so sentenced during the war.

(2) Private William Arthur Beesley MM would die on 22nd December 1917 and is buried at Ramleh War Cemetery; Sergeant Eustace George Clifford MM would die on 5th October 1917 and is buried at Gaza War Cemetery.

The Fall of Roeux and a regimental Round-Up

Monday 14th May 1917

Readers will remember that yesterday Brigadier-General Cumming of 91st Brigade was relieved of command because his commanding officer did not like his plan of attack on The Red Patch in Bullecourt. An alternative plan was tried by his replacement, which was unsuccessful. Today Cumming’s original plan was used to attack this beastly place. Ironically, it looked for a while as if this plan might actually work. Then a bomb dump being used by the attackers was blown up by an enemy shell and, lacking sufficient ammunition the attacks petered out with nothing achieved.

Our old friends 51st (Highland) Division are in the field again. Having replaced 4th Division in the line, last night they attacked and took Roeux, which had been abandoned by the enemy.

News has reached us from three of the battalions of the Bedfordshire Regiment. Firstly from Palestine: yesterday 1st/5th Battalion remarked on groups of camels seen on the road from Gaza to Beersheba. A nearby brigade of howitzers decided to try their luck, at 6,500 yards range, but their shots fell some 200 yards short.

During the morning a Battalion signaller was mending a line outside a communication trench behind the front line when he was sniped and killed by a Turk some 1,400 yards away(1). At the moment their war seems to be at long range.

The commanding officer of 6th Battalion, Colonel F H Edwards MC has been transferred to Home establishment for three months’ rest. He has been replaced by Lieutenant-Colonel W R Campion, Member of Parliament for Lewes in Sussex(2).

The 8th Battalion, in the front line at Hulluch reports that last night gas was vented along the whole line and sent drifting towards the enemy. Gas bombs were also fired from projectors and then the British artillery bombarded communication trenches to catch men hurrying from the front line with pas poisoning and to the front line expecting an attack. The enemy’s artillery was very feeble in response

Sources: X550/6/8; X550/7/1; X550/9/1

(1) This must have been 200870 Private G Pratt, aged 19, son of Sophia of Pyne Cottages, Chalton near Toddington who is buried at Deir el Belah War Cemetery, twelve miles or so south-west of Gaza.

(2) and later Governor of Western Australia from 1924 to 1931.

Decorations for the Seventh Bedfords

Thursday 30th November 1916 From our Correspondent in the Field

Captain Bridcutt tells me that some offciers and men of the 7th Bedfords have received decorations for their actions on the Somme. The following officers have received the Military Cross:

• Captain L H Keep
• Captain W J W Colley
• Lieut. D S H Keep
• Captain J W Turner of the Royal Army Medical Corps, the Battalion’s Medical Officer
• Second Lieutenant H A Reaney

These men have received the Distinguished Conduct Medal:

• 3/8402 Regimental Sergeant Major F Antliffe
• 16176 Company Sergeant Major R M Brand
• 6466 Company Sergeant Major Charles Hall
• 43340 Sergeant A Wyatt
• 15080 Lance Corporal W Harris
• 16540 Private G Goldhawk

The following men have received the Military Medal:

• 14626 Lance Sergeant A Turville
• 15318 Private A Pratt
• 17423 Private W Crawley

Source: X550/8/1