Eighty Third Day of the Third Battle Ypres

Sunday 21st October 1917

The casualties incurred by the army during the present battle have made an impact on 4th Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment. Today fifteen officers and ninety other ranks have been struck off strength as they have been transferred to XVIII Corps Reinforcement Camp to provide reinforcements to the divisions in that corps(1). Second Lieutenant T R G Cooke has also left the Battalion as he has joined the Royal Flying Corps.

Source: X550/5/3

(1) During the Third Battle of Ypres the divisions forming part of XVIII Corps fluctuated but included the following: 9th (Scottish) Division; 11th Division; 18th (Eastern) Division; 39th Division; 48th (South Midland) Division; 51st (Highland) Division; 58th (2nd/1st London) Division and 63rd (Royal Naval) Division.

Contact Aeroplane Scheme

A Royal Flying Corps BE2c

Thursday 5th July 1917

8th Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment has today undertaken another very successful Contact Aeroplane Scheme with 2 Squadron, Royal Flying Corps, as they did on 22nd June. The aeroplane involved plotted the positions of the flares accurately and received the battalion’s messages sent by ground panel and lamp. This afternoon was Battalion Sports, which proved very enjoyable. This evening is a concert given by Divisional "Fancies".

Source: X550/9/1

Sick of Palestine

Friday 1st June 1917

The 1st/5th Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment, are still behind the lines south of Gaza in Palestine. The adjutant sent me this summart of the cases of sickness this month as a reminder that, even without fighting, the desert is a gruelling place to be.

Average daily sick for 1st week - 75 all ranks;

Average daily sick for 2nd week - 110 all ranks;

Average daily sick for 3rd week - 105 all ranks;

Average daily sick for 4th week - 122 all ranks;

Average daily sick MONTH 102 all ranks;

Max number of sick (on 20th May) - 208 all ranks;

Minimum number of sick (on 2nd May) - 56 all ranks.

Given that the Battalion is, on average, around one thousand strong this shows that roughtly one man in every ten is sick at the moment.

The 8th Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment is currently at Fouquières-lès-Béthune, in billets. Today the battalion carried out a Contact Aeroplane Scheme in conjunction with C Flight of No. 2 Squadron, Royal Flying Corps. An observer in the aircraft plotted the position of lighted flares on a sketch map, and both the original position and the advanced line and messages were sent successfully by signalling with a signalling panel to the aeroplane. The benefits of this are obvious - if men in the air can identify where a unit is at all times during an attack as well as take messages from them, such as the need for reinforcement, they can quickly update the necessary general officer of progress and needs - far more quickly than it would take a runner on the ground to get to headquarters with a message. Of course in theory communication between units and headquarters is instantaneous, via telephone, but it is usually found useless in battle as the telephone cables are frequently broken by shelling.

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

A New Use for Flares

Wednesday 2nd May 1917

Your correspondent has been speaking on the blower with the adjutant of the 7th Battalion. It seems they are expecting to go into action early tomorrow morning near the village of Chérisy (between Fontaine-lès-Croisilles and Vis-en-Artois) as part of another major attack on what will be the twenty-fifth day of the Battle of Arras. A Company will be on the right of the attack and D Company on the left, with B Company in support and C Company in reserve.

In this attack every man will carry a flare. This is designed to ensure that the Royal Flying Corps overhead can see how far the attack has progressed. A klaxon horn will sound from battalion headquarters when flares are to be lit by those soldiers in the front line. This is a novel idea, though doubt has been expressed to me by some veterans as to whether it is practical for men engaged in heavy fighting to listen for a klaxon and light a flare as well as attack the enemy and defend themselves against attack.

Source: X550/8/1

Battle in Mid-Air

BE2c

Tuesday 8th February 1916: Lieutenant-Observer J E P Harvey, an officer of the Bedfordshire Yeomanry, attached to the Royal Flying Corps who was recently captured by the Germans, has sent the following description of a battle in mid-air and how he was treated on capture.

“I had had a fight with two German aeroplanes when a shell burst very close to us and I heard a large piece whizz past my head. Then the aeroplane started to come down head first, spinning all the time. We must have dropped about 5,000 feet in about twenty seconds. I looked round at once saw poor -, with a terrible wound in his head, dead. I then realised that the only chance of saving my life was to step over into his seat and sit on his lap, where I could reach the controls(1). I managed to get the machine out of the terrible death-plunge, switched off the engine and made a good landing on terra firma”.

“I shall never forget it as long as I live. The shock was so great that I could hardly remember a single thing of my former life for two days. Now I am getting better and my mind is practically normal again. We were 10,000 feet up when poor – was killed and luckily it was this tremendous height that gave me time to think and to act”.

“I met one of the pilots of the German machines that had attacked us. He could speak English well and we shook hands. I had brought down his machine with my with my machine gun and he had had to land quite close to where I landed. He had a bullet through his radiator and petrol tank but neither he nor his observer was touched. I met two German officers who knew several people I knew and they were most awfully kind to me. They gave me a very good dinner of champagne and oysters etc. and I was treated like an honoured guest”.

(1) The pilot sitting behind the observer suggests it was an aircraft similar to a BE2.

Front Line Troops Fed Too Well

Saturday 23rd October 1915: An officer of the 6th (Service) Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment, writing to a member of our staff says: “How are things at Bedford now? It seems years since I was last there. We are now in our third month our here and still going strong. Our Battalion consists of a splendid lot of men, all very keen on their job. About this time of year I would be thinking of getting out notices for Old Comrades dinners – what happy nights they used to be! Meetings like that ought to go with a boom after this war. This war is quite different from the one I went through in Africa(1). There it was all move; here it is the opposite; of course the power of the modern gun has something to do with that. Then the matter of grub was quite different. The authorities go in to fatten one up, I think: how the devil they manage to obtain and bring the trucks I cannot imagine; but up it comes daily, never a mishap – bread, bacon, cheese, jam and butter thrown in as an extra thrice a week. Personally I think we are fed too well”.

“Reading matter is rather scarce, although we can have the daily London papers, which the proprietors present to the troops up in the trenches by 11 am the day following publication. If your firm present any papers to the troops, please send some to us [This is being done every week – Ed]. I myself get your paper from the wife”.

“Our Battalion are now again in the trenches. Our big guns daily strafe the Germans. Rather interesting to see some of our airmen. Some cool members are in that Corps. Yesterday one of ours kept going to and fro over the enemy’s lines, getting shelled each time, but he didn’t trouble in the least. Today another one, flying rather low, carried on the same business, but instead of getting shelled each time, he had rifle fire, and by the rattle should say about 500 of the bounders were having a go”.

Source: Bedfordshire Times 22nd October 1915

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(1) Presumably with the 2nd Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment in the Second Boer War of 1899-1902.

What to Do If You See a Zeppelin

Sunday 1^st August: The adjutant of the 2nd Battalion tells us that they have received instructions on what to do if they see a Zeppelin. These menaces to civilization have, since January this year, been inflicting terror on innocent women and children all over this country, now, it seems, they are being used over the front line. The Battalion is to report sightings as follows:

(a) Name of individual who saw the airship.

(b) Its general appearance.

(c) Its estimated height and speed.

(d) Whether any noise of engines was heard.

(e) Whether any signal lights were fired.

“The telegraphic report is not to be delayed for inclusion of this information, which should be transmitted by letter to the nearest Squadron Royal Flying Corps with least possible delay”.

Source: X550/3/wd