Thirty Seventh Day of the Third Battle of Ypres

Captain L F Beal [X550/1/82] 

Wednesday 5th September 1917

61st (South Midland) Division made another piecemeal attack on Hill 35 today, the 2nd/6th Battalion, Royal Warwickshire Regiment being selected for the task. They succeeded in capturing an outpost but were unable to hold it.

The adjutant of 6th Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment, tells us that Captain L F Beal MC has joined from the 2nd Battalion. He will be an acting major and act as second-in-command.

Sources: X550/3/wd; X550/7/1

Changes in the 2nd Battalion

Captain Beal [X550/1/81]

Tuesday 3rd July 1917

2nd Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment is currently behind the lines at rest. There have been a number of changes today. Lieutenant-Colonel E S M Poyntz has gone on leave and Major B P Newbolt has gone to the army’s base at Rouen to join 48th Prisoner-of-War Company.

Meanwhile Captain L F Beal has rejoined the Battalion from the School of Instruction at Aldershot. Major C H de St.P Bunbury has joined the Battalion from the 2nd Battalion, Yorkshire Regiment as  temporary commanding officer in Lieutenant-Colonel Poyntz’s absence.

Source: X550/3/WD

All Change

Second Lieutenant Pitts [X550/1/81]

Thursday 5th April 1917 from our correspondent in the field

The acting adjutant of the 2nd Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment has been in contact to say that two of their company commanders, Captains L F Beal MC and P C Cavan have left the battalion temporarily for a Senior Officers Course of instruction at Aldershot. Lieutenant H de Buriatte has taken over command of A Company and Second Lieutenant J P Pitts "D" Company.

Source: X550/3/WD

Day One Hundred and Twenty Two on the Somme

Lieutenant Mudford

Monday 30th October 1916 From our Correspondent in the Field

Today 2nd Bedfords have moved to front line trenches at Berles-au-Bois opposite German-held Monchy north of the Somme. Captain L F Beal is no longer Town Major of Pommier, having been made temporary aide-de-camp to 30th Division commander, Sir John Shea. His replacement is Lieutenant H E Mudford. Meanwhile Captain H A W Pearse has returned from 30th Divisional School and has taken command of A Company.

4th Battalion have left Varennes and are tonight near the front line at Beaumont-Hamel. Their division may go into action here in the near future. 7th Battalion are also preparing for an attack. Their task will be to capture the village of Petit-Miraumont on the River Ancre north of Courcelette and with it, a vital bridge across the Ancre.

On the Thiepval ridge 11th Division have taken the southern half of Stuff Redoubt. the Canadians also helped the division to clear more of Hessian Trench. Meanwhile 55th Brigade of 18th Division has been fighting hard to hold on to its grasp of the Schwaben Redoubt.

23rd Division stormed Destremont Farm during the day whilst 47th (London) Division made progress north-east of Flers.

Sources: X550/3/wd; X550/5/3; X550/8/1

Day One Hundred and Twenty One on the Somme

Captain Pearse

Sunday 29th October 1916 From our Correspondent in the Field

Today we hear from the 2nd Bedfords that they have marched to billets in Pommier, where Captain L F Beal is Town Major. Lieutenant N V Dabell has left the battalion temporarily, as he is going to replace Captain H A W Pearse as adjutant of 30th Divisional School.

33rd Division have again attacked the enemy east of Lesboeufs in heavy rain today. Even heavier enemy fire prevented any advance. 

39th Division took some ground at a point known as the Pope’s Nose on the slope from the River Ancre up to Thiepval, where Mill Lane branches off from Thiepval Road. We have had rain since 25th of this month and the going, bad before, is now worse. The devastation of millions of shells have destroyed all natural drainage and so the ground, in many areas, is effectively waterlogged.

Source: X550/3/wd

Day One Hundred and Twenty on the Somme

Saturday 28th October 1916 From our Correspondent in the Field

We understand that 33rd Division has taken a small step towards the village of Le Transloy having captured Rainy and Dewdrop Trenches east of Lesboeufs early this morning.

The adjutant of the 1st Battalion tells me that Captain Morris has been put in command of a composite company, composed of eighty men from B and D Companies, who are to take part in a raid near Festubert in the near future. All, for the moment, is quiet.

Captain L F Beal

Captain L F Beal of 2nd Battalion has been made Town Major of Pommier, a village just to the north of the Somme battlefield. This means he is in charge of keeping good order in the place. The Battalion has been joined today by Lieutenant H de Buriatte, who has been posted to A Company.

Lieutenant de Buriatte

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

Day One Hundred and Four on the Somme

Thursday 12th October 1916 From our Correspondent in the Field

Lieutenant-Colonel Poyntz

This morning 2nd Bedfords spent preparing for their attack on Bite Trench. Things did not begin well when the commanding officer, Lieutenant-Colonel H S Poyntz was wounded whilst explaining plan of attack to company commanders at 11 a.m. 

Second Lieutenant Fyson

A curious incident occurred about this time - a party of Germans (two officers and about fifty men) appeared in Gird Trench without any arms. They made signs of surrender, but hesitated to come over for fear of being shot, Second Lieutenant H G Fyson, however went out and spoke to the German Officer who got back into the trench, but just as he got in, someone fired a shot at him, and after this, naturally they did not surrender and come over to our lines.

2nd Bedfords' sketch map of the plan of attack

This might have seemed a good omen. The attack commenced just after 2 pm but owing to the Battalion’s trenches not facing the objective the companies on the left had to make a turn across the enemy's front which was only 250 yards away.

The attack was made in four waves, C and D Companies forming the first two waves, C Company under Lieutenant R Hopkins on the right and D under Captain L F Beal on the left. B Company formed the third wave under Captain E S M Poyntz and A Company formed the fourth wave, in support, under Lieutenant W White. The distance between each wave was one hundred yards.

Second Lieutenant (later Captain) Reiss 

At first all went well on the left until the first wave of attackers reached a small ridge about sixty yards in front , when it came under terrific machine gun and rifle fire from the left and front in Gird Trench, causing many casualties. They pushed on and got within fifty yards of Gird Trench, but the fire was so great that they were held up owing to having so many casualties. Second Lieutenant Fyson, the would-be negotiator of the morning, was killed and Second Lieutenant J Reiss wounded in the first five minutes of the attack. Here the attackers had to lie out until nightfall, as the 17th Battalion King’s (Liverpool) Regiment on their left were also held up and could not advance.

Second Lieutenant L H Bird

Further right, however, C and D Companies made better progress and passed over the Southern end of Gird Trench towards Bayonet Trench. They also came under heavy machine gun fire, this time from Gird Support Trench and got held up. At this time, about 3 p.m., Second Lieutenant Bird and Second Lieutenant Walker, who supervised digging of the assembly trenches last night, were killed.

Captain E S M Poyntz

On B Company reinforcing the attack they pushed on again and captured about 200 yards of Bite Trench, which is a shallow communication trench, much blown in. Seeing that Gird Support Trench and Bayonet Trench were very strongly held and being under very heavy enfilade fire from Gird Support Trench, Captain E S M Poyntz and Lieutenant R Hopkins decided it was useless to attempt to get further, so they dug in along the captured portion of Bite Trench. 

Captain R Hopkins

This they did under heavy enfilade fire. This portion of Bite Trench was converted by B and C Companies into a magnificent fire trench and is very important owing to the observation that can be obtained from it. Half of A Company converted the Southern portion of Gird Trench and placed a block about 70 yards up. An attempt was made to cut a trench from here to contact up to D Company who were isolated and digging in about seventy yards to the West of Gird Trench, but this had to be given up owing to the enemy's fire on this point.

Captain L F Beal

All hopes, I have been told, have given up of trying to get in touch with D Company under Captain Beal, who is isolated with about fifty men. Several messages have been sent, but the runners were either killed or wounded. Eventually 2nd Lieutenant J P Pitts got back to Headquarters with a message and he took back orders for Captain Beal to withdraw to his original position after dark. We hope he finds him.

Second Lieutenant J P Pitts

Thus the attack by 30th Division on Gird Trench has had mixed fortunes. Less has been achieved than was hoped but not everything has ended in failure, with some ground having been taken. On the left of the division 9th (Scottish) Division made an attack towards the Butte de Warlencourt but were only able to progress about one hundred yards due to intense fire.

To the left of 30th Division, 9th (Scottish) Division attacked the Butte de Warlencourt and a small stand of trees known as Little Wood. These places were not taken, but an advance of 200 yards was made

To the right of 30th Division, 6th Division, though not 8th Bedfords, made an attack today on Zenith Trench between Lesboeufs and Gueudecourt but were repulsed. The 8th Bedfords are in front line trenches east of Gueudecourt from which they relieved the attacking battalions yesterday. Other attacks by the Division gained some small success. 12th (Eastern) Division made some small gains also. One of the attacking units was the Newfoundland Regiment, temporarily attached from 29th Division. These men from the wild east coast of Canada suffered terrible casualties in unsuccessful attacks on 1st July. Today they enjoyed a bit more success and have suffered many less casualties. Their bravery in July was an exemplar to all in the army and their work today, though slight in its gains was, we understand, carried out with the same gallant determination.

On the right flank of the British Army on the Somme, 4th Division attacked alongside the French and managed to get five hundred yards forward. Attacks on Rainy, Dewdrop and Spectrum trenches have met with failure, however.

Source: X550/3/wd

Day Eleven on the Somme

Tuesday 11th July 1916 From our Correspondent in the Field

The 2nd Bedfords have taken their first truly active part in the Battle of the Somme today – its eleventh day. As I write this despatch the battalion is still in Trônes Wood where it has been since early this morning. The men were drawn up at 1.30 am and began their advance on the south-west portion of the wood at 3.10 when the first pre-dawn light was beginning to suffuse the sky. They advanced in columns of half-companies, A Company leading the way, and spread out, five yards between each man and his neighbour. They were about a quarter of a mile from the wood when the German machine-guns opened up. This was soon followed by artillery and the battalion suffered many casualties before it entered the wood.

By 3.45 every surviving man was inside the wood, at its southern end. Wounded men returning from the fight told me that the undergrowth is luxuriant, unaffected by shellfire, and makes it difficult to see more than about four yards ahead. They also say the wood is full of enemy trenches and dug-outs which one does not see until one is right upon them. As soon as they entered the wood Lieutenant R B Gibson was killed and Second Lieutenant F E Plummer was wounded.

Second Lieutenant Plummer

After a lot of fighting, A and B Companies dug themselves in on the south-east side of the wood with C and D Companies digging in on the south-west edge. By 4.20 am Captain L F Beal, commander of C Company had led 27 men of D Company and 13 men of B Company under their commander Lieutenant H A Chamen up to the north-east edge of the wood where they dug-in. Sadly no other reinforcements came up and a large number of Germans were seen advancing south from the village of Longueval, causing these 42 men to abandon their position and withdraw south in order to avoid being surrounded. They eventually reached C Company’s position in the south-east corner the wood about 5 pm.

Lieutenant Fox

Around 8 am Lieutenant L H Fox led a patrol into the interior which has not returned. I understand they are believed to have been captured(1). At 11.30 a third patrol followed those of Captain Beal and Lieutenant Fox. This was led by Captain C G Tyler along with Second Lieutenant L H Walker and Second Lieutenant D P Cross with about forty men. They worked north up the eastern edge of the wood but encountered a strong-point where a track from the village of Guillemont enters the wood. Captain Tyler was badly wounded and ordered the party back to their starting position. Distressingly the captain had to be left where he was(2). The men, now back in their trench fought off several German counter-attacks. From the above it is clear that the fighting in the stifling conditions of this wood was even more confused than normal for this war.

Captain Tyler

As I write this A, B, C and half of D Company are believed to be dug-in at the southern part of the wood. Every company is reported as having suffered many casualties. Patrols have been sent into the middle of the wood to find stragglers and to bomb and the enemy out of their trenches there. Thus the 2nd Battalion’s first day, whilst not as clear-cut as that of the 7th Battalion has been satisfactory and ground has been gained.

Fighting continues in Mametz Wood. The Welshmen of 38th Division have captured more of it today.

Sources: X550/3/wd

(1) In fact Lieutenant Leslie Herbert Fox had been killed and he is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial.

(2) Captain Cornelius George Tyler either died of his wounds that day or was subsequently killed by the enemy. Again he is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial.

New Officers for the 2nd Battalion

Friday 26th March 1915: We have just heard that five officers have joined 2nd Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment to replace casualties received at Neuve Chapelle. The Battalion is currently in reserve trenches at Fauquissart.

Each of the officers has been transferred from another Regiment. From 4th Battalion, North Staffordshire Regiment comes Second Lieutenant E. S. S. Taylor and from 28th Battalion, London Regiment (commonly known as Artists Rifles) come Second Lieutenants: L. F. Beal; R. H. Boys; R. S. Lardner and W. Ramsey(1).

Source: X550/2/5

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(1) Lieutenant E. S. S. Taylor died with 4th Battalion, North Staffordshire Regiment on 9th June 1916 and is buried in Fryerning Cemetery and Lieutenant Richard Harvey Boys was killed in action on 13th November 1916 with 4th Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment and is buried in Knightsbridge Cemetery, Mesnil-Martinsart.