Notes
Introduction
1. Goes, Unter dem Stahlhelm, Der Tag X. p. 63.
2. Account by Peirson in CAB 45/193.
3. Wace to Edmonds, CAB 45/193.
Chapter 1
1. Richardson, 39 Months with the Tigers, p. 91
2. Westropp, Sixteenth, Seventeenth, Eighteenth & Nineteenth Battalions The Manchester Regiment 1914–1918, p. 44.
3. Essame, The Battle For Europe 1918, p. 11.
4. Ibid, p. 13.
Chapter 2
1. Anglesey, A History of the British Cavalry, Vol 8, p. 68.
2. Maze, A Frenchman in Khaki, p. 267.
3. Travers, How the War Was Won, p. 57.
4. Ibid, p. 63.
5. Account in CAB 45/192.
6. Liddell Hart Military Archive, LH2P/79/1-3 Claude L Piesse.
7. Diary account of Father Henry Gill, p. 179.
8. Annals of the King’s Royal Rifle Corps: 1918, pp. 285–6.
9. Private Papers of C Miller. IWM Department of Documents, reference 4118.
10. Letter from Mudie to Edmonds in CAB 45/192.
11. Fielding, War Letters to a Wife, pp. 258–7
12. Quoted in, 1918, Year of Victory, p. 42.
13. Private Papers of C Miller. IWM Department of Documents, reference 4118.
14. Ibid, reference 4118.
15. Demolitions, Fifth Army, 1918. RE Journal March 1933, p. 18.
16. Ibid, p. 27
17. Liddell Hart Military Archive, LH2P/79/1-3 Claude L Piesse.
18. Demolitions, Fifth Army, 1918. RE Journal March 1933, pp. 27–8.
19. Passingham, The German Offensives of 1918, p. 22.
20. Durch-Bruchmüller is translated as Breakthrough-Müller.
Chapter 3
1. Lawrence, Echoes of War 1915–1918 (Part 4). South African Journal of Military Studies Vol. 8, No4, 1978.
2. The 2nd London Regiment in the Great War, p. 292.
3. Ibid, p. 293.
4. Private Papers of Captain M L Harper, IWM Dept. of Documents, reference 7670.
5. George Ansell is commemorated on the Pozières Memorial.
6. Grey, The 2nd London Regiment in the Great War, pp. 298–9.
7. Private Papers of Captain M L Harper, IWM Dept. of Documents, reference 7670.
8. London Gazette, 1 July 1919.
9. Grimwade, The War History of the 4th Battalion the London Regiment, pp. 373–4.
Chapter 4
1. The 18th Division in the Great War, p. 259.
2. Nichols, Pushed and the Return Push, p. 16.
3. Cited in The Biscuit Boys pp. 318.3.
4. Ibid, pp. 318.3–4. John Gordon and Norman Williams are both commemorated on the Pozières Memorial.
5. Ibid, p. 318.4. Stanley Harvey and Douglas Tosetti are both commemorated on the Pozières Memorial.
6. Account by Crosthwaite in CAB 45/192.
7. Ibid.
8. Ibid.
9. 23-year-old Captain Harold Thomas Rapson is buried at Sery-les-Mezieres Communal Cemetery.
10. Account by Crosthwaite in CAB 45/192.
11. MacDonald, To the Last Man, p. 98.
12. Ibid, pp. 98–99.
13. Ibid, pp. 99–100. Lieutenant R M Patterson was taken prisoner and repartriated in December 1918.
14. Ibid, p. 100.
15. The 18th Division in the Great War, p. 268.
16. Farndale, The Royal Artillery 1914–1918, p. 262.
17. Moore, See How They Run, p. 88.
18. Goes, Unter dem Stahlhelm, Der Tag X. p. 63.
19. GHF Nichols, Pushed and the Return Push, p. 20.
20. The Diary of Major H G Paris at http://hampstead-heavies.com/hgpdiary16a.htm.
21. Ibid.
22. Goes, Unter dem Stahlhelm, Der Tag X. p. 64.
23. Nichols, Pushed and the Return Push, p30. Major Wilfred Dennes MC is commemorated on the Pozières Memorial.
24. Middlebrook, The Kaiser’s Battle, p. 327.
25. Letter to Edmonds in CAB 45/193.
26. Captain Reginald Singlehurst is remembered on the Pozières Memorial. He was 36-years-old.
27. Hare, History of the King’s Royal Rifle Corps Vol. 5, pp. 283–4.
28. Ibid, p. 284.
29. Ibid, p. 284.
30. Ibid, account by Major Bowen, p. 282, and letter from Bowen to Edmonds in CAB 45/192.
31. Middlebrook, The Kaiser’s Battle, p. 215.
32. Letter from Birch to Edmonds in CAB 45/192.
33. Ibid.
34. Account by Llewellyn Davies in CAB 45/193.
Chapter 5
1. Private Papers of C Miller. IWM Department of Documents, reference 4118.
2. Adamson in CAB 45/192.
3. Ibid.
4. Ibid.
5. Ibid.
6. Middlebrook, The Kaiser’s Battle, p. 267.
7. Goes, Unter dem Stahlhelm, Der Tag X. p. 55.
8. Ibid p. 56.
9. Fox, The Royal Iniskilling Fusiliers in the World War, pp. 138–9.
10. Ibid, p. 250.
11. Sheperd, The 2nd Battalion Wiltshire Regiment, p. 139.
12. Ibid pp. 139–40.
13. Middlebrook, The Kaiser’s Battle, p. 210.
14. Ibid, p. 140.
15. Captain Arthur Oliver Clayton is commemorated on the Pozières Memorial. He was 23-years-old.
16. Westropp, The Sixteenth, Seventeenth, Eighteenth, Nineteenth Battalions the Manchester Regiment: A Record 1914–1918, p. 52.
17. Asquith, Moments of Memory, p. 314.
18. Ibid, p. 318.
19. Ibid, pp. 320–21.
20. Westropp, The Sixteenth, Seventeenth, Eighteenth, Nineteenth Battalions the Manchester Regiment: A Record 1914–1918, p. 51.
21. H R Hardman, IWM Department of Documents, reference 1847.
22. R F Petschler, IWM Department of Documents, reference 11732.
23. The cottages are marked on the 1918 trench maps in square 4a while the quarry which housed the main defences of the redoubt is in square 4c.
24. The Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry Chronicle 1918, p. 193.
25. Ibid, p. 194.
26. Middlebrook, The Kaiser’s Battle, p. 190.
27. Ibid, pp. 177–8.
28. The Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry Chronicle 1918, p. 194–5.
29. MacDonald, To the Last Man, p. 112.
30. Nicholson, Behind the Lines, pp. 148–9.
31. Letter to Edmonds from Davie in CAB 45/192.
32. Captain Thomas McNaughton Davie MC was awarded the DSO in Deptember 1918.
33. Falls, The Gordon Highlanders in the First World War, p. 177.
Chapter 6
1. Middlebrook, The Kaiser’s Battle, p. 367.
2. Ibid, p. 367.
3. The History of the Eighth Battalion The Queen’s Own Royal West Kent Regiment, pp. 162–3.
4. Rifle Brigade Chronicle 1918, pp. 156–7.
5. The History of the Eighth Battalion The Queen’s Own Royal West Kent Regiment, p. 167.
6. Second Lieutenant John Crawford Buchan is buried at Roisel Communal Cemetery. He was 26-years-old.
7. Lumley, The History of the Eleventh Hussars, p. 316.
8. Ibid, pp322–323 and Letter from Lumley to Edmonds in CAB 45/193.
9. Letter from Peirs to Edmonds in CAB 45/193.
10. Surrey History Centre, reference Z/433/1.
11. Surrey History Centre, reference Z/433/1 and Liddell Hart Military Archive, LH2P/79/1-3. John William Sayer died of wounds on 18 April 1918 and is buried at Le Cateau Military Cemetery.
12. Letter from Peirs to Edmonds in CAB 45/193.
13. Letter from Bond to Edmonds in CAB 45/192.
14. Letter from Baillie-Hamilton to Edmonds in CAB 45192. Captain John Brown is commemorated on the Pozières Memorial. He was 29-years-old.
15. Middlebrook, The Kaiser’s Battle, p. 230.
16. Letter from Fox to Edmonds in CAB 45/192.
17. Letter from Feetham to Edmonds in CAB 45/192.
18. Ibid.
19. Goes, Unter dem Stahlhelm, Der Tag X.
20. Letter from Cuncliffe to Edmonds in CAB 45/192
21. Potter and Fothergill, The History of the 2/6 Lancashire Fusiliers, p. 115.
22. Ibid, p. 114.
Chapter 7
1. Letter to Edmonds from L C Jackson, GSO 1 of 16th Division, CAB 45/193.
2. Letter from Patman to Edmonds in CAB 45/193 and E A Dixon in CAB 45/193.
3. Letter from Terry to Edmonds in CAB 45/193.
4. Ibid.
5. The War Diary of 2/Royal Irish Regiment, TNA WO 95/1979.
6. Letter from Terry to Edmonds in CAB 45/193.
7. Fielding, War Letters to a Wife, p. 264.
8. Ibid, p. 265.
9. Ibid, p. 266 and 6/Connaught Rangers War Diary, TNA WO 95 1970.
10. Fielding, War Letters to a Wife, p. 267.
11. Letter of OC 94 Artillery Brigade RFA in TNA CAB 45/192. See also the Supplement to the London Gazette, 16 September 1918, No. 30901 p. 10864.
12. Account by Hartigan in CAB 45/192.
13. Ibid, CAB 45/192 and the battalion war diary in TNA WO 95/2837. Lieutenant Patrick Leopold Cahill is buried at Epéhy Wood Farm Cemetery.
14. Account by Peirson in CAB 45/193 and the War Diary of 2/Dublin Fusiliers in TNA WO 95/1974.
15. Account by Hartigan in CAB 45/192.
16. War Diary of 2/Munster Fusilers, TNA WO 95/1974.
17. Account by Hartigan in CAB 45/192.
18. Goes, Unter dem Stahlhelm, Der Tag X, p. 37.
19. Kelly, 39 Months with The Tigers, p. 97 and Cumming, A Brigadier in France, p. 103.
20. Middlebrook, The Kaiser’s Battle, p. 199.
21. Cumming, A Brigadier in France, pp. 104–5.
22. Account by Scarfe in CAB 45/193.
23. Account by Borthwick in CAB 45/193.
24. Simpson, History of the Lincolnshire Regiment, p. 296.
25. Account by White in CAB 45/193.
26. Croft, Three Years with The 9th Division, p. 183.
27. Kelly, 39 Months with The Tigers, p. 99.
28. Ibid p. 99. Lieutenant Colonel William Norman Stewart is commemorated on the Pozières Memorial. He was 44-years-old.
29. Goes, Unter dem Stahlhelm, Der Tag X, p. 39.
30. Bacon, Leicestershire Record Office, 22D63/146.
31. Account by Scarfe in CAB 45/193.
32. Ibid.
33. Roberts, Leicestershire Record Office, P170/4. Lieutenant Stewart Longston Thirlby is commemorated on the Pozières Memorial. He was 25-years-old.
34. Kelly, 39 Months with The Tigers, pp. 100–101. Captain Archibald McLay is commemorated on the Pozières Memorial. He was 31-years-old. 27-year-old Captain Arthur Lawson commanded the 110th Trench Mortar Battery and is buried at Saulcourt Churchyard Extension.
35. Account by MacMahon in CAB 45/194.
36. Kelly, 39 Months with The Tigers, p. 103.
Chapter 8
1. Churchill, The World Crisis 1911–1918, p. 768.
2. Goes, Unter dem Stahlhelm, Der Tag X, p. 38.
3. Ibid, p. 38.
4. Both men are commemorated on the Pozières Memorial.
5. Account by Dawson in WO 95/1779.
6. Ibid.
7. Accounts by Gater and Fisher in CAB 45/192.
8. Letter from Congreve to Edmonds in CAB 45/192.
9. Gough, The Fifth Army, pp. 270–1.
10. Cited in Macdonald, To the Last Man, p. 197.
11. Croft, Three Years with the 9th Division. p. 136.
12. Gillion, The KOSB in the Great War, p. 365.
13. Account by Ritson in CAB 45/193.
14. Account by Dawson in WO 95/1779.
15. Ibid.
16. Lawrence, Echoes of War 1915–1918 (Part4). South African Journal of Military Studies Vol. 8, No4, 1978.
17. Letter from Ormiston to Tanner, CAB 45/193
18. Account by Dawson in WO 95/1779.
19. Ibid.
20. Ibid.
21. Ibid.
22. Binding, A Fatalist at War, p. 207.
Chapter 9
1. Grimwade, The War History of the 4th Battalion, The London Regiment, p. 379.
2. Grey, The 2nd London Regiment in the Great War, p. 303.
3. Grimwade, The War History of the 4th Battalion The London Regiment, pp. 380–1.
4. London Gazette23 July 1918.
5. Nichols, Pushed, and the Return Push, p. 12.
6. Account by Snell in CAB 45/193.
7. Ibid, p. 52.
8. Account by Snell in CAB 45/193.
9. Banks and Chell, With the 10th Essex in France, p. 360.
10. Account by Chell quoted by Macdonald in, To the Last Man, p. 187.
11. Ernst Lange, Hauptmann Willy Lange, Verlag Schwert und Schild, Diesdorf 1935.
12. War Diary TNA WO 95/2038.
13. Account by Chell cited by Macdonald in, To the Last Man, p. 187.
14. Account by Brookling in CAB 45/192.
15. Account by Batten-Pooll in CAB 45/192.
16. Cited by Mcdonald in, To the Last Man, p178.
17. Letter from Birch to Edmonds in CAB 45/192.
18. Ibid.
19. Cited by Macdonald in, To the Last Man, p. 179.
20. Account by Brookling in CAB 45/192.
21. Account by Snell in CAB 45/193.
22. From the personal statement made by Alfred Herring, Royal Logistics Corps Archive.
23. Gough, The Fifth Army, p. 267.
24. Account by Ling in CAB 45/193.
25. 40-year-old Lieutenant Colonel James Knox was killed on 23 September 1918 and is buried at Granezza British Cemetery near Asiago. His brother, 33-year-old Second Lieutenant Andrew Knox, was killed on 12 December 1915 and is buried at Albert Communal Cemetery Extension.
26. The Diary of TLB Westerdale, IWM Department of Documents, reference 14137.
27. Ibid.
28. Ibid.
29. Private papers of G D J McMurtrie, IWM Department of Documents, reference 6796.
30. The Diary of TLB Westerdale, IWM Department of Documents, reference 14137.
31. Account by Allum in CAB 45/192.
32. Private papers of G D J McMurtrie, IWM Department of Documents, reference 6796.
Lieutenant Colonel Burges-Short was wounded and taken prisoner later on 24 March near Villeselve.
Chapter 10
1. Account by Ling in CAB 45/193.
2. Account by Lacey in CAB 45/193.
3. Account by Cousland, Liddell Hart Military Achives, reference GB0099 Cousland.
4. Whether the attack began at 6.00pm is debatable as Lacey tells us he was still in position further east on the Flavy road at 6.30pm before he retired.
5. Account by Wilkins in CAB 45/193. Everard Wyrall in his history of the King’s Regiment states that 12/King’s held the eastern and north eastern defences of Cugny on the night of 23/24 March. The 61 Brigade War Diary also notes that at 4.00pm on 23 March their brigade major found the 12/King’s on the eastern outskirts of Cugny. This does not appear to be corroborated by Wilkins and we can only assume that 12/King’s had withdrawn by the evening.
6. Account by Wilkins in CAB 45/193.
7. The account of 2/RIF at Cugny has been partly drawn from accounts contained in the service records held at the National Archives: Strohm WO 339/69183, Thompson WO 399/40568 and Moore WO 339/13908.
8. Ibid.
9. Ibid.
10. Diary account of Father H Gill, p. 189.
11. Bickersteth, History of the 6th Cavalry Brigade 1914–1918, p. 84.
12. Quoted in Cusack & Herbert, Scarlet Fever, A Lifetime with Horses, p. 74.
13. Ibid.
14. Ibid.
15. William Cubitt is buried at Noyon New British Cemetery and his brother, Alick Cubitt is commemorated on the Cambrai Memorial at Louveral.
16. Carnock, The History of the 15th The King’s Hussars 1914–1922, pp. 162–3.
17. Ibid.
18. Letter from Major L W Kentish in CAB 45/193.
19. Letter from Rees to Edmonds in CAB 45/193.
20. Gough, The Fifth Army, pp. 253–4.
21. Raimes, The 5th Battalion The Durham Light Infantry, p. 119.
22. Private Papers of Lieutenant J F Fleming-Bernard, IWM Department of Documents, reference 13793.
23. Raimes, The 5th Battalion The Durham Light Infantry, p. 121.
24. War Diaries of 4/Yorkshire Regiment, WO 95/2583 and 5/ and 6/DLI, WO 95/2840. Bernard Charleton is buried at Roisel Communal Cemetery Extension and James Bainbridge is commemorated on the Pozières Memorial.
25. In a letter to Edmonds in CAB 45/193, Watts suggests that the crucial decision taken by the 50th Division on 22 March as to which line the division should retire to was taken by Brigadier General Rees in consultation with the other brigade commanders. There seems to be some suggestion that Stockley had not fully grasped the mantle of divisional command at that point.
26. Raimes, The 5th Battalion The Durham Light Infantry, p. 123.
27. Ibid, p. 124.
28. Ainsworth, The Story of The 6th Battalion The Durham Light Infantry, p. 45.
29. Letter to Edmonds from Rees in CAB 45/193.
30. The 39th Division was placed at the disposal of Congreve’s VII Corps at noon on 21 March. Congreve immediately allotted 116 Infantry Brigade and 174 and 186 ArtilleryBrigades to support the 16th Division.
31. Fielding, War Letters to a Wife, p. 273.
Chapter 11
1. Letter from Brooke in CAB 45/192.
2. Stanley, The History of the 89th Brigade, pp. 257–8.
3. Ibid, p. 259. The officer referred to by Stanley was Lieutenant John McHale aged 29. He is buried at Ham British Cemetery.
4. R F Petschler, IWM Department of Documents, reference 11732.
5. Asquith, Moments of Memory, pp. 327–8.
6. R F Petschler, IWM Department of Documents, reference 11732.
7. Ibid.
8. Letter from Duncan to Edmonds in CAB 45/192.
9. War Diary of 11/South Lancashire Regiment, TNA WO 95/2323.
10. Ibid.
11. Private Papers of J T Davies, IWM Department of Documents, reference 17153.
12. Reymann, Das Infantrie-Regiment von Alvensleben Nr. 52 1914–1918, p. 190.
13. Account by Evans-Lombe in CAB 45/192.
14. Buckland, Demolitions Fifth Army, 1918, Royal Engineers Journal, June 1933, p. 204. Lieutenant George Baylay is buried at Pargny British Cemetery.
15. War Diary of 1/Worcestershire Regiment, TNA WO 95/1723.
16. Ibid.
17. Liddell Hart Military Archive, GB0099 KCLMA Jacobs-Larkcom.
18. Atkinson, The Devonshire Regiment 1914–1918, Volume 1, pp. 330–1. Lieutenant James Huntingford was commissioned from the ranks on 31 July 1917 and, like Maunder, survived the war.
19. Burne, Q Battery in the Great War, p. 28.
20. Private Papers of F R Curtis, IWM Department of Documents, reference 1391.
21. War diary of 2/Middlesex Regiment, TNA WO 95/1713. Captain Hugh Neville Wegg was killed in action on 25 March 1918. He was 36-years-old and is commemorated on the Pozières Memorial.
22. War Diary of 2/Middlesex Regiment, TNA WO 95/1713. Second Lieutenant Alexander Frederick Liversedge was killed in action on 25 March 1918 and is commemorated on the Pozières Memorial.
23. London Gazette, 8 May 1918.
24. Raimes, The 5th Battalion The Durham Light Infantry, pp. 131–2.
25. Sheffield & Bourne, Douglas Haig, War Diaries and Letters 1914–1918, pp. 390–1.
26. Ibid.
27. Travers, How the War Was Won, pp. 66–70.
28. Cooper, letter to Edmonds in CAB 45/184.
29. Philpott, Bloody Victory, p. 505.
30. Gough, The Fifth Army, p. 306.
Chapter 12
1. The Kings Royal Rifle Corps Chronicle 1918, p. 304.
2. The Diary of TLB Westerdale, IWM Department of Documents, reference 14137.
3. War Diary of 61 Infantry Brigade Headquarters, TNA WO 95/2125.
4. The Diary of TLB Westerdale, IWM Department of Documents, reference 14137.
5. Account in TNA WO/339/115633.
6. Account in TNA WO 339/2036.
7. ‘To the Last Man and the Last Round’, Queen’s Royal Surrey Regiment Newsletter, May 1972, pp. 11–12. Stanley Grant is commemorated on the Pozières Memorial.
8. Gruter et al, Das 2. Badische Grenadier-Regiment Kaiser Wilhelm I. p. 229. Godfrey Warre-Dymond MC was a man born for war. He survived his period of captivity and died of a heart attack in 1955 aged 64. The young R C Sherriff served under him during his time as a subaltern with 9/East Surreys and many believe Warre-Dymond was the original template for ‘Stanhope’ in Sherriff ’s famous play Journey’s End.
9. McCance, History of the Royal Munster Fusiliers, Vol II, p. 153.
10. Ibid, p. 154.
11. War Diary of 11/Hampshires, TNA WO 95/1495.
12. An unknown officer’s account cited in, Wyrall, The History of the 50th Division, p. 290.
13. Atkinson, The Devonshire Regiment 1914–1918,Vol. I, p. 334.
14. Lieutenant Colonel Cecil Morgan is buried at St Sever Extension Cemetery, Rouen and his son, Second Lieutenant Basil Morgan, is commemorated on the Arras Memorial, Bay 6.
15. Raimes, The 5th Battalion The Durham Light Infantry, pp. 137–8.
16. Liddell Hart Military Archive, GB0099 KCLMA Jacobs-Larkcom. The 5.9s mentioned by Jacobs-Larkcom was a reference to the shells fired by the 15cm German field howitzer.
17. Goes, Unter dem Stahlhelm, Der Tag X.
18. From the unpublished diary of Edward Riddell, quoted by Raimes in The 5th Battalion The Durham Light Infantry, pp. 142–3.
19. Rose, The Story of the 2/4 Oxford and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, pp. 108–9.
20. Goes, Unter dem Stahlhelm, Der Tag X.
21. The Kings Royal Rifle Corps Chronicle 1918, p. 308.
22. Private Papers of F Warren, IWM Department of Documents, reference 11467.
Chapter 13
1. Gough, The Fifth Army, p. 317.
2. Ibid, pp. 317–8.
3. Goes, Unter dem Stahlhelm, Der Tag X. p. 169.
4. Windsor Royal Archives RAS/PS/GV/Q 832/302 Gough to Wigram 4 April 1918.
5. Account by Sandilands in CAB 45/193.
6. Maze, A Frenchman in Khaki, p. 310.
7. Pitman, The Operations of the Second Cavalry Division in the Defence of Amiens. The Cavalry Journal Volume XIII 1923, pp. 360–70.
8. Seely, Adventure, p. 299.
9. Ibid, p. 300.
10. Connolly, The Action of the Canadian Cavalry Brigade at Moreuil and Rifle Wood – March and April 1918. Canadian Defence Quarterly, Vol. III October 1925, p. 12.
11. Quoted by Grodzinski, The Battle of Moreuil Wood, pp. 6–7.
12. Seely, Adventure, p. 302.
13. Grodzinski, The Battle of Moreuil Wood, p. 8.
14. Goes, Unter dem Stahlhelm, Der Tag X. p. 171.
15. Lunt, Charge To Glory! A Garland of Cavalry Exploits, p. 237.
16. John Evelyn Carmichael Darley is buried at Moreuil Communal Cemetery Allied Extension. He was 38 years old.
17. Pitman, The Operations of the Second Cavalry Division in the Defence of Amiens. The Cavalry Journal Vol. XIII 1923, p. 370.
18. From the diary account of Child-Villiers quoted in, The Oxfordshire Hussars in the Great War, p. 284.