2nd Bedfords at Geluveld

Friday 23rd October 1914: Private T. Farmer of 2nd Bedfords' transport has been wounded and tells us that he had got a chicken from a nearby farm the previous evening and had eaten well: "I retired with the other drivers to sleep in a house about 8 pm, and about 10 pm a shell struck the wall and exploded in the room we were sleeping in; 16 men including myself, out of twenty, were wounded, I was hit in the foot and rather badly in the hip. After being carried into the road I was left until the ambulance came along. Carts were passing all night, and I had to keep shouting to let them know I was lying in the road, so as not to get run over. When I was put on the ambulance, shrapnel burst all around, four shells being fired at us. The driver's seat was blown into the cart at the side of me, and then the horses bolted. The other man, a Bedford chap too, fell out of the cart which ran for about two miles, when the reign caught in the wheel and stopped the horses. Eventually I arrived at a convent in Ypres where I was attended to".

We contacted the adjutant and discovered that things have been happening. The battalion were in reserve trenches supporting 22nd Brigade, though overnight C Company had been ordered up to the front line to take up a position on the right flank of the 2nd Battalion, Royal Scots Fusiliers (of 21st Brigade), where it dug a trench. Early this morning it advanced and filled a gap which had developed between the Royal Scots Fusiliers and the 2nd Battalion, Yorkshire Regiment (also of 21st Brigade). The company got as far as a bend in the road when it came under heavy rifle and machine gun fire and had to fall back.

Later in the day the battalion was again ordered to fill the gap. This time B Company was despatched and, moving via the west end of Geluveld under heavy shell fire reached the edge of a wood behind the left flank of the Yorkshires and dug in. Altogether three men were killed during the day and a large number wounded.

Sources: Bedfordshire Times 13th November 1914; X5590/3/wd

First Casualties for the 2nd Bedfords

Geluveld church

Sunday 18th October 1914: Private T. Farmer of 2nd Bedfords tells us that the battalion has left Geluveld in a hurry: "I never had time to collect washing that I had drying, or draw rations". We spoke with the adjutant who informed us that the Battalion formed up on the Menin Road between the villages of Geluveld and Geluwe further to the south-east and advanced on the latter village.

On coming over a rise they were hit by rifle fire. As they went on they also came under shrapnel fire from artillery. Twenty one other ranks were wounded and two were killed – Private Sidney Dickens from Upper Dean and Private Leonard Livett from Little Staughton. Two other ranks are missing. The order came for the battalion to draw back a little and entrench on the left flank of 20th Brigade.

Sources: X550/3/wd

2nd Bedfords at Ypres

Ypres Cloth Hall on fire

Thursday 15th October 1914: The 2nd Bedfords have reached Ypres and the front line for the first time in this war. Private T. Farmer tells us that the unit has seen local people going into Ypres from the outlying areas with their belongings, which was "a pitiful sight". The battalion has taken up a position on the Menin Road three kilometres outside the town, where it relieved the 80th French Regiment.

The 1st Battalion are still just west of Givenchy-lès-la-Bassée. Our contact tells us: “Nothing much doing today except a good bit of heavy shell fire all round us and sniping. A cow and her calf just by us were hit so I finished them off”.

A little later he reported: “The farm, our headquarters, where all our mules are has been very badly shelled. I went back to see if any damage had been done and found chaos. The civilian, who had given us so much trouble, in spite of our warnings, walked across his yard to get his horse away and on his way back, when a short distance from us, a shell killed his horse and wounded him severely in the knee. He refused to let them touch him and crawled away to a crucifix which he clung to. After much persuasion I got him into a barrow and got his friend to wheel him to the hospital and he made me promise to look after his house and farm before he went”.

Source: X550/2/5; X550/2/7; X550/3/wd