Military History

Edwin is listed as being killed in action on 4th October 1917 and the 14th Battalion's Narrative of Events is transcribed below.

14^th Battalion Royal Warwickshire Regiment – Narrative of Events 4^th to 5^th October [1917]

12mn 3/4^th October: Headquarters for B & D Coys moved forward from Tor Top and Jam Support into assembly positions at Tower Hamlet. B Coy being in line with Pill Boxes, D Coy 100 yards in front.

2am 4^th October: A & C Coys leave Sterling Castle and proceed via Inverness Copse to assembly area in rear of 2 K.O.S.B’s in neighbourhood of Northampton Farm. These two Coys were in position by 3.30am and only sustained one casualty on the way up.

5.30am 4^th October: The enemy put down a very heavy barrage on Front & Support Lines. A good deal of this gun fire came from the Messines Group and enfiladed the line of pill boxes in the neighbourhood of Tower Hamlets

From 5.15am  until 9am the enemy’s gun fire hardly moderated at all . This 16 hours of continuous shelling is, up to present, the longest period the Battalion has experienced. A & C Coy’s sustained about 30 casualties each. 2^nd Lt L.J. Wood being killed. B & D Coys sustained about 25/30 casualties each, 2^nd Lt’s Kaye & Woodcock being wounded by a direct hit on their pill box.

Between 5.30am and 7.30am both 1^st R. West Kents & 2^nd K.O.S.B’s had captured most of their objectives. It transpired however that the 2^nd K.O.S.B’s had been badly held up by Polderhoek Chateau, which they failed to capture after sustaining very severe casualties. 1^st R. West Kent had but little difficultly in getting on to the Blue ojective, although they lost considerably from machine gun fire from a Pill Box just S of the Menin Road, which the Brigade on our right had failed to capture.

At 9.30am 2^nd K.O.S.B’s called upon one Company to go forward and reinforce the front line. C Coy was detailed for this purpose and went up under 2^nd Lt J.E. Clinckett who reported himself in position at 11am.

At 2pm 2^nd Lt J.E. Clinckett was wounded and C Coy was taken over by 2^nd Lt E.E. Reeve.

At 3.50pm, at the request of O.C. 2^nd K.O.S.B’s, A Coy went forward and dug in as Close Support to his right front line Coy. About this time 2 Coy’s 15^th R. War. Regt. were ordered up on my left to form a defensive flank, as at this time the dispositions of the 95^th Infantry Brigade were not known, and the left flank seemed insecure.

At Zero Hour, 5.30am [5^th ?], in response to our barrage the enemy at once replied on the front areas. 2^nd Lt Platt had his right arm blown off by shell fire.

At about 9am, 5^th inst, 1^st R. West Kent R. called upon me for one Coy to move up and reinforce front line. Capt D. Neal was ordered to move up his Coy, B. This Coy got into position at about 10.30pm and remained as Close Support and formed a defensive flank towards the right.

On the early morning of the 6^th October the Battalion withdrew to hutments in Ridge Wood, the last Company arriving at about 5am.

Throughout this operation, both on the march up, which had to be carried out under severe enemy shelling owing to an S.O.S call from Front Line – when moving up to and assembling in the forward positions, and during the actual operation itself, the spirit and behaviour of the troops was everything that could possibly be desired.