Military History

Charles is listed as being killed in action on 28 Jun 1918. The following description of events comes courtesy of the book "The Birmingham Pals by Terry Carter", a history of the 14th, 15th and 16th Battalions in World War One. Click here to buy it.

‘Operation Borderland’ 15th Royal Warwicks

A week before the attack was launched the 15th Royal Warwicks were out of the line at Tannay. For three days the battalion practised for the attack over a specially laid course. The battalion took over a section of the front line on the evening of 26 June. As soon as the relief was complete, a patrol of twelve men under the command of Second Second Lieutenant J W Streater went out to examine the enemy wire. On their return he reported that the wire would not form much obstacle.

At zero hour 6 a.m., A Coy on the right, D Coy on the left and B Coy in support rose from the assembly trenches and moved through our wire and closed up under the divisional artillery barrage. hammering the German trenches. As soon as the barrage lifted A and D Companies quickly entered the trenches in front of them. Little opposition was offered and, ‘the defenders were bayoneted or otherwise dealt with and a few prisoners sent back to Battalion HQ,’ to quote the War Diary. The attack went according to plan, every time our barrage lifted each objective was reached and cleared, although the battalion did receive some harassing fire from German machine-gun fire on their right flank, south of the River Bourre.

By 08:15 a.m., the 15th Royal Warwicks had reached their final objective and with the help of C Coy who were in reserve, tools and ammunition were brought up to the assaulting companies and a new front line trench was established. To give a good field of fire, crops in front of this new line were cut down with bayonets. A patrol under the command of Lieutenant C S Preston accounted for another ten Germans retreating to the far side of the Plate Becque River. By nightfall all the divisional assaulting battalions had dug in and linked up. Wire entanglements had been erected and patrols were roving around the new front. The casualties for the battalion amounted to 111. Two officers were killed and one died of wounds, whilst the other ranks had twenty-six killed and another six died of their wounds over the following few days.

The officer who died of his wounds was twenty-one year old Captain Arden Coldicott MC, who came from Henley-in-Arden, Warwickshire. He is not mentioned in the War Diary as wounded and missing but is referred to by Captain C A Bill in the battalion history. Presumably Captain Coldicott was wounded and was picked up by a party of retreating Germans. He died of his wounds on 14 August, 1918, and is buried in Cologne Southern Cemetery in Germany.

This also gives me a chance to correct the records concerning the other two officers that were killed. The first was Second Lieutenant Reginald Morris who is listed in casualty lists and the Tannay British Cemetery Register (where he is buried) as being a member of the 8th Royal Warwicks; he was in fact attached to the 15th Battalion. The same goes for the second officer killed on 28 June, Second Lieutenant George Rose, who is buried in Thiennes British Cemetery. He was attached from the 7th Royal Warwicks.

The success on June 28th was the first operation undertaken since the retreat during March, and congratulations poured in from the Top Brass, emanating from Sir Douglas Haig down to Brigade level.

Carter, Terry. Birmingham Pals: 14th, 15th & 16th (Service) Battalions of the Royal Warwickshire Regiment, A History of the Three City Battalions Raised in Birmingham in World War One (pp. 739-740). Pen & Sword Books. Kindle Edition.