Military History

Harold is listed as dying of wounds at the 12th Casualty Clearing Station, Tincourt on 8th October 1918. We have not been able to identify on which day Harold was originally wounded. We do know that he was one of 171 men wounded during the month of October. The 1st/8th Battalion war diary entries for the period 1st to 8th October 1918 are transcribed below. 

Springbok Valley - 1 Oct 1918: Battalion (Bn) out of the line in trenches in Springbok Valley 1000 yards north of Canal Crossing at Bellenglise. Reorganisation carried out as far as possible.

Springbok Valley - 2 Oct 1918:  The Bn prepare to move to form a defensive flank for the 32^nd Division (Div) in the neighbourhood of Swiss Cottage. Orders for this operation were cancelled and at 11.30pm the unit left Springbok Valley to take in a major operation the following morning.

Ramicourt - 3 Oct 1918: The 139^th Brigade (Bde) attacked Ramicourt & Monutbrehain on the morning of Oct 3^rd at 6.50am. The 137^th Bde co-operated on the right and the Australians on our left. During this attack the prisoners captured by this Bn amounted to nearly 1000 together with many machine guns.

Magny La Fosse - 4 & 5 Oct 1918: For these two days the Bn was at Magny La Fosse in Bivouacs for rest & re-organisation. During this time 85 reinforcements arrived.

Sequehart - 6 Oct 1918: On the night of 5/6 Oct orders were received for the 139^th Inf Bde to take over the Sequehart front from the 97^th Bde who had suffered badly if the capture of the village. The 8^th Sherwoods took over the front held by 14^th Bde consisting of Dorsets, H.L.I and Royal Scots.

The Bn dispositions were: C Coy on the right, D Coy on the left, B Coy in close support, A Coy in Battalion Reserve. During this tour the Bn was the right of the British line establishing an International post with our allies the French.

Sequehart - 7 Oct 1918: The Bn occupied this sector till the evening of the 7^th when it was relieved by the Monmouth Pioneer Bn. This short tour was remarkable of the intense enemy artillery fire during the whole of the time.

Le Haucourt – 8 Oct 1918: On relief the Bn moved to Le Haucourt where the day was spent in reorganisation & cleaning up.