Military History

Herbert is listed as being killed in action on 4 Nov 1918 and the 8th Battalion war diary entry for that day is transcribed below.

4/11/1918 – Epinette Farm: Overnight 3^rd/4^th – The night passed off quietly, except that at 05.30 hrs hostile retaliation for the 3^rd Army barrage fell on C and D Coys causing 4 casualties (2 killed and 2 wounded)

06.15. At this time the barrage for the attack in the first objective opened. The hostile retaliation was weak and scattered and caused no casualties to the Battalion.

07.35. The Battalion with the 10^th Essex on the right moved forward to form up on the Red Dotted Line to attack the Red Line, passing through the 7^th Royal West Kent Regt and the 54^th Brigade. The battalion moved off in the following order – A Coy, B Coy (who had the furthest distance to go) C Coy and D Coy. The Battalion moved in this order until they reached the road junction in Hecq at A.14.b.2.9. At this point A and B Coys were to move to their forming up positions along the north edge of the orchard in  A.14.b, south down the track in A.15.a along track north of the stream in A.15.c to their positions at A.15.d.15.25 while C Coy followed by D Coy were to follow the line of the Route D.Hecq to their positions at A.9.d.50.60.

From the assembly positions to the road junction at Hecq at A.14.b.2.9 the enemy shelling was negligible and the companies were enabled to keep together, thus the difficulties of control of artillery formation were not encountered.

From this point (road junction in Hecq) the operation, as far as this Battalion was concerned, was dividied into two parts – A Coy being ordered to work along South Eastern edge of Mormal Forest up to the right of the Red Line, followed by B Coy who were ordered to form posts at the South ends of the tracks through the wood, C Coy being ordered to work along the north edge of the Forest to the left of the objective followed by D Coy who were ordered to form posts at the North end of the rides through the forest and to keep liaison with the 38^th Division in the left. While this was in progress a heavy barrage (6” and 4.4’s) played in the Forest itself. C Coy followed by D Coy then continued working up from the road junction to their second assembly position which they reached at 08.30hrs. During this process they were subjected to a certain amount of M.G. fire from Machine Guns that had not been mopped up, and from a hostile post which they successfully worked round and put to flight.

09:07. The barrage moved on from the Red Dotted Line at the rate of 100yrds in 6 minutes. C Coy followed along the line of Route D’Hecq behind the 18 pounder barrage of Vth Corps and the 6” and 4.5’s barrage of the XIII Corps, which overlapped along this line. No opposition was met for the first 400 yards when some opposition was met from the left. This was effectively dealt with and the Company moved on until they reached the stream at A.10.a.8.0 when the enemy blew up the bridge and wounded a few men of the leading platoon. On reaching the high ground at about A.10.b.0.3 the company came under point blank range of field guns from the wood on their left front. In spite of this they most gallantly pushed on and reached their final objective at 10.37, after having rushed a strong enemy post by the building at A.10.b.9.2. In rushing this post 2^nd Lt L J Field was killed and five other ranks wounded.

The Company Commander, 2^nd Lt F.J. Powell DCM, MM sent a message back at this juncture to say that he had reached his objective, that both of his flanks were in the air and that he intended to stay where he was. The determination on his part and that of his men very materially assisted the 38^th Division on his left and A Coy on his right to reach their objectives, although it was not until three hours later that his left flank, and five hours later that his right flank was secured.

D Coy had meanwhile followed up and established posts at the north end of the rides at A.9.d.8.7, A.10.c.4.9 and A.10.centra, the last named post eventually obtaining liaison with the 38^th Division on its left as ordered. The casualties of this company were only four men wounded. They succeeded in working into the wood when the barrage lifted and killed or captured the occupants of two hostile posts.

A Coy followed by B Coy came into difficulties almost immediately they left the cross roads at A.14.b.2.9. The 54^th Brigade, whose task was to form up, had partially failed. The result was that A Coy became subjected to machine gun fire from the bank of the stream in A.15.c. As there were still 50 minutes before the barrage moved on from the Red Dotted Line, the O.C. A Coy, Capt T.K. Pickard MC determined to halt his company sent forward a patrol to discover the situation. The situation was found to be that the 2^nd Bedfords and the 10^th Essex were held up by the enemy in the farm at A.21.b.2.7 and in the SW corner of the wood. The enemy had carried out a local and temporarily successful counter-attack. Time being now short, and the barrage being now lost the Company Commander determined to fight his way to his second assembly position (the P in Mon Fre du Preux) and thence onto his final objective on the Red Line. The next three hours (11.00 to 14.00) were spent in working round hostile machine guns, in rushing posts and in neutralising the enemy’s fire, which was considerable. The casualties of A Company during this period were comparatively heavy and the behaviour of the section commanders and individual private soldiers was from every point of view beyond praise.

14.00: By this time A Coy cleared their assembly position and began working up the South Eastern edge of the Forest in conjunction with the 10^th Essex Regt. The fire from the open country on their right flank was such that the company worked up 20 yards in the wood with scouts out in front. At about 14.30 the 7^th Queens were met at the cross track at A.16.b.45.30. They had come diagonally through the Forest. With them A Coy worked its way up, without much opposition to its final objective which it reached at 15.05.

Touch was obtained on the Red Line with C Coy on the left and the 10^th Essex on the right, and the company immediately began to consolidate while the 55^th Brigade went through to the next objective. B Coy had followed behind A Coy but had not been involved in the fighting and established posts at A.16.a.5.8, A.16.b.2.1, A.16.b.4.3 and A.17.a.1.5. Patrols from this company worked through the wood and touch was obtained with all the posts of D Coy North of the wood.

15:05. The situation was C and A Coys on the Red Line in touch on both flanks. The wood was picketed along its north and south sides and declared cleared of the enemy. When it was reported that C Coy had reached its objective and that A Coy was held up, Capt G.W.H. Nicholson MC was immediately sent to A Coy to order it with B Coy to withdraw and take its objective via the Route D’Hecq and the west corner of the wood. When to order arrived however, the situation had cleared and A Company’s progress had been such that it was decided to allow the Company to continue according to plan. Two Vickers Guns of the 18^th Machine Gun Battalion were attached to A and C Coys. These guns proved of the utmost service and their help in  neutralising hostile machine gun fire and in holding the final objective, invaluable.

Three Tanks were to have operated with C Coy and one with A Coy. Unfortunately owing to enemy action these were, without exception, unable to function. Battn HQ moved on two occassions, first at 09:07 from Petit Planty to cellar at about A.8.c.7.7 and thence at 12:00 to cellar at A.8.b.9.0. The 55^th Brigade having through on the evening of 4.11.18 the Battalion remained in the above dispositions until 16:00 on 5/11/1917 when it was withdrawn into billets in the village of Hecq.