War Diary 11th Sept
Sept 1918 - 11th - Bertincourt: On the afternoon of the 11th Sepetember 1918 the Battalion moved forward from Bertincourt and concentrated in Havrincourt Wood, preparatory to taking up assembly positions for an attack upon Trescault Spur. Although Havrincourt Wood was subjected to very heavy shell fire, probably as a result of the attack which was taking place north of our sector our casualties during the concentration were relatively light.
An outpost line running approximately round the edge of the wood on the Battalion front was thrown out by the Reserve Company (A Coy - Capt E.A. Harvey, MC). This company suffered several casualties from shellfire, and, (during the night) was attacked by a strong enemy patrol which bombed on their posts wounding an officer and two men.
In spite of the fact that gas shells continually fell in the Wood, little difficulty was experienced in taking up assembly positions which operation was completed by 4.45am on 12th September.
War Diary 12th Sept
Sept 1918 - 11th - Havrincourt Wood: At 5.25am the barrage opened and was very satisfactory on the whole, but one or two casualties were sustained owing to the proxmimity of the barrage to the assembly positions, which rendered the inevitable percentage of "shorts" more dangerous than ever.
The attack was launched with two companies in the front line B Company on the right (Capt G.H. Fairburn MC) D Company (Capt P.F. Davy MC) on the left, C Copy (Capt E.E. Wood MC) were in support and A Company (Capt E.A. Harvey MC) in Reserve afforded considerable assistance with Lewis Gun fire from the edge of the wood. The advance was momentarily checked by heavy M.G. fire from Strong Points in the Transvaal System. The prompt and skillful manner in which the strong points were silenced was probably the most outstanding feature of the whole action.
At 7am messages were received stating that the Front Companies had reached their first objective and that the Support Company was consolidating in the Transvaal System. About this time the first batch of prisoners passed through.
At 8am the T.M [Trench Mortar] attached to the Battalion went forward to assist in the consolidation. An hour later the Intelligence Officer (2/Lt J.C.H. Mathams MC) returned and reported that all objectives were gained, that companies were in touch on the flanks and that sound liason had been established with the Battalions on the right and left.
At 6.35pm after a relatively quiet day, there was a marked increase in enemy harrassing fire and much enemy movement was seen and almost immediately a determined counter-attack was launched against our left Coy.
At 6.55pm in answer to our S.O.S our artillery put down a good barrage of 15 minutes duration. This effectively cut off the enemy's retreat and contributed largely to the fiasco in which this attack culminated. Although several parties of the enemy succeeded in making their way into our lines they were immediately ejected, leaving behind them a large number of dead. Our captures included six machine guns, one T.M, many boxes of ammunition and a complete telephone outfit.
The rest of the night was normal.
Newspaper Report
Leamington Spa Courier - 27 September 1918
KILLED IN ACTION
Judd -- Killed in action in France on September 12th, 1918, Pte Frank Judd R War R the dearly loved son of Mr & Mrs P Judd, Cubbington.
