The Final Advance In Picardy

17th October-11th November 1918

The last battles in which the 1st Middlesex were involved were the Battle of the Selle 17th-25th October and The Battle of the Sambre 4th November 1918

The Battle of the Selle

17th-25th October.

The enemy was now hurrying eastwards with all speed, though covering his withdrawal mainly by means of rearguards formed of machine-gun companies, placed in depth, and his artillery. We had reached the line of the Selle River, but our communications, owing to the rapid advance, were naturally somewhat dislocated. By the 17th, however, they had improved on the Le Cateau front, and it was possible to resume operations for the forcing of the Selle positions and attainment of the general line Sambre et Oise Canal-Western edge of the Forest of Mormal-Valenciennes. This advance would bring the important railway junction of Aulnoye (where the main line from Mezieres and Hirson linked up with the main line to Maubeuge, Charleroi and Germany) within the effective range of the British guns.

Operations were then planned to begin on the 17th of October by an attack by the Fourth Army on a front of about ten miles from Le Cateau southwards: the First French Army was to operate west of the Sambre et Oise Canal.

17th - 22nd October 1918

The assault was launched at 5.30 a.m. on the 17th. During the first two days the enemy's resistance was obstinate, but both British and American troops made good progress, and by the evening of the 19th the Germans were driven across the Sambre et Oise Canal at practically all points south of Catillon where the line followed the valley of the Richemont, east and north of Le Cateau. On the 20th the Third and First Armies attacked on the line of the Selle north of Le Cateau, and again the enemy's resistance was strong, nevertheless he could not stay the advance: the high ground north of the Selle was captured and our patrols reached the River Harpies. North of Haspres the First Army made progress on both sides of the Scheldt Canal and occupied Denain.

The capture of the Selle positions was followed almost immediately by operations for the attainment of a general line running from the Sambre Canal along the outskirts of the Forest of Mormal to the neighbourhood of Valenciennes.

The original front of attack stretched from east of Mazinghien to Maison Bleue, north-east of Haussy-a distance of some fourteen miles.

23rd October 1918

The Fourth, Third and First Armies took part in the attack which opened at 1.20 a.m. on the 23rd of October. The Third Army attacked with the Vth, IVth, VIth, and XVIIth Corps, the 33rd and 21st Divisions carrying out the attack of the former Corps. Of the 33rd Division the 98th Brigade was attacking on the right and the 19th Brigade on the left.

In the attack of the 98th Brigade the 1st Middlesex were to lead the assault by capturing the village of Forest, enveloping it on both sides. "C" Company was to be on the right, "A" on the left, "B" Company to "mop up " Forest, and "D" in support. The 4th King's were then to pass through the Middlesex and capture the second and third objectives; this was the second phase. In the third phase the 2nd Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders were to advance through the 4th King's and capture the fourth objective, the 1st Middlesex meanwhile moving up to support the Highlanders. The 100th Brigade was then to advance through the 98th and capture the final objective near Englefontaine.

Zero hour for the attack of the Middlesex had been fixed for 2 am.

The advance began punctually on time, but nothing was heard until 2.45 a.m. when a message was received by Battalion Headquarters from Captain Fate, commanding "B" Company. This said: "On outskirts of Forest. Everything going splendidly. Enemy retiring. Very few casualties." An hour later "A" Company was in Forest, having suffered rather heavy casualties: the remaining companies had already passed the village and had captured their objectives to time. "B" Company estimated that 200 prisoners had been captured in Forest.

At about 6 a.m. the 4th King's passed through the Middlesex, and by 12.45 p.m. had captured their objective, the 19th Infantry Brigade, on the left of the 98th, having been similarly successful. Thus the three companies of 1st Middlesex, who were to have gone forward to support the King's, were not required, and the Battalion was able to move forward to support the 2nd Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders. The general result of the day's fighting was that an advance had been made to about two hundred yards west of the fourth objective.

24th October 1918

At 4 a.m. on the 24th the advance was continued. The 2nd Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders on the right, and 1st Middlesex on the left, formed up on a general line about two hundred yards west of Farm du Bois de Bousies-Paul Jacques road, continuing to the north. The 4th King's were in support. Very heavy machine gun fire met the gallant Die-Hards as they advanced and many were shot down. The Battalion was now getting very weak in numbers and this, combined with exposed flanks, made progress very difficult. At 6.5 a.m. Captain Broad reported that the enemy's machine-gun fire was extremely heavy, but he believed that, although he could not get touch, some of the Battalion were ahead of him, though the enemy also was in front. At 7.25 am. he reported that he had "D" Company with "C" Company-totalling only fifty men. At 8 a.m. "C" Company had reached the cross-roads east of Wagnonville, with the Highlanders on the right and "B" Company on the left: the enemy were about two hundred yards in front. A bridge across the stream, which ran across the Roman road just south of the crossroads, had been destroyed.

The situation, however, changed at about 9.15 a.m. when the 19th Brigade was seen advancing on the left, but by now the 98th Brigade had suffered such serious losses that the 100th Brigade took up the advance and passed through the former: the Middlesex then took shelter on the cross-roads with the 2nd Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders on their right.

In a sunken road the Battalion reorganised. Gallant Battalion. After weeks of hard fighting and marching, such fighting indeed as had never been seen before, because knowing that the enemy was "on the run," every officer and man put forth all his strength. Very little sleep, very little rest, marching, fighting, fighting, marching-it seemed never ending and now here was the Battalion so pitifully weak that it could only muster ninety other ranks, with Captain Tate in command. During the two days fighting Captain F. Broad, Lieut. A. C. T. Kroenig and 2/Lieut. R. E. Hollandhad been killed; Lieut. A. A. T. Harris had been so severely wounded that he died on the 24th. Lieut. F. J. Smith had also been wounded, while 2/Lieut. C. E. Cade was missing.

25th October 1918

On the 25th the 100th Brigade was ordered to capture Englefontaine during the night of the 25th/26th October.

The 1st Middlesex were not, however, in this attack, for the Battalion was still reorganising and on this day was formed into one company. It is indeed of historic importance to record this reorganisation, for the Battalion had no Lieut.-Colonel, no Major, and no Captain, and was commanded by a subaltern. The entry in the Battalion Diary states that: "The Battalion was reorganised as a company under the following officers-Lieut. Tatham (commanding), Lieut. Dobbs and 2/Lieut. Jarvis. The strength of the company was as follows: "A" Company, 1 officer and 30 men; "B" Company, 2 officers and 30 men; "C" Company, 1 officer and 42 men, and "D" Company, 2 officers and 40 men."

(The Battle of the Selle officially ends on the night of the 25th of October, but it will be seen that fighting continued on the 26th.)

At 1 a.m. on the 26th the 4th King's made an enveloping attack on Englefontaine from the south, whilst the 1st Queen's made a similar attack from the north, the 1st Middlesex meanwhile establishing themselves south-east of Brasserie. The attack was successful, but the right flank was not secure, and the Die Hards had to occupy a line of posts south-east of Englefontaine, linking up with the 18th Division on the right.

That night the 38th Division took over the line of the 33rd Division, but the Middlesex were only partially relieved, the remainder withdrawing without relief. The Battalion then moved back to Montay and there went into billets.

It was through Montay that the original 1st Battalion marched into Le Cateau on the night of the 25th of August, 1914, where, tired and worn out (they had marched nineteen miles that day), the Die-Hards, with other units of the 19th Brigade, bivouacked in the square and goods station.

The Battle of the Sambre

4th - 8th November 1918

A decisive blow was launched on the 4th of November, the front of attack extending from the Sambre River, north of Qisy, to Valenciennes, a front of about thirty miles.

Six battalions of the Regiment were in this final attack, either in the front line, in support, or in reserve: they were the 1st, 4th, 1/7th, 1/8th, 13th and 18th Middlesex.

This attack was a difficult operation, for along the southern area of attack the Sambre had to be crossed: in the centre lay the great Forêt de Mormal, and north was the fortified town of Le Quesnoy: the enemy, therefore, had great facilities for defence. But to troops, confident of victory and assured of their own superiority, these obstacles were not likely to stay the advance.

At dawn on the 4th, after an intense bombardment of the enemy's positions, our troops advanced to the attack. On the right the Fourth Army (with the First French Army on its right), after stiff fighting crossed the Sambre and captured La Folie and Landrecies, and at nightfall its left had advanced to about the centre of the Forêt de Mormal. In the centre of the attack the Third Army pressed forward on the right of the Fourth and similarly reached the centre of the Forest, capturing Le Quesnoy, with its left pushed well forward towards the Grand Honelle River.

At 11.30 a.m. on the 4th the 1st Middlesex paraded and marched to Englefontaine where orders were received respecting the attack to be made at 9.30 a.m. the next morning. The Battalion billeted in Englefontaine for the night, but at 4.15 a.m. fresh orders arrived advancing the hour of the attack and the Battalion was immediately paraded and marched with the rest of the Brigade to Carrefour de la Tourelle (in the Forêt de Mormal) which was reached at 12.30 p.m. Here Lewis-gun limbers, etc., were unloaded and the Battalion, in artillery formation, advanced through the Forest. No Germans were, however, encountered and the Middlesex reached Berlaimont at 4 p.m. where the 98th Brigade had been ordered to rendezvous.

At 5 p.m. the Die-Hards were ordered to attempt the crossing of the Sambre "with the local materials available." "B" Company carried out this work and about midnight, with "A" and "D" Companies, crossed the river in the face of opposition from the enemy's machine-guns. "C" Company remained on the near side covering the crossings, but at 2 p.m. on the 6th with Battalion Headquarters, crossed the river and the whole Battalion was assembled in the area of the Aulnoye station, the men resting for the remainder of the day. At 6 a.m. on the 7th the Brigade paraded and advanced along the road to Pot de Vin. The head of the column, however, met with opposition from machine-gun fire and was temporarily held up. The Middlesex then turned off the main road and endeavoured to work round Pot de Yin from the south. The movement progressed though under shell fire, one shell killing Lieut. W. L. Hudspith and 2 other ranks and wounding 2/Lieut. E. F. Johnson who had rejoined the Battalion from hospital only that morning, and who died of his wounds on the ioth of November.

The Battalion eventually reached its objective, a series of posts behind the Maubeuge-Avesnes road, by dusk. The enemy's machine-gunners were still putting up a vigorous fight and, what with heavy rain and darkness, further progress was impossible. At 8 p.m. orders were received that the 98th Brigade would be relieved by units of the 38th Division.

The 1st Middlesex withdrew at 4 a.m. on the 8th, after relief, to Aulnoye station area, marching thence at 10a.m. to Sassegnies where the remainder of the day was spent in resting.

For the 1st Battalion also the War had ended, for three days were spent at Sassegnies, resting and re-fitting, and it was there that news came through that Germany had signed the Armistice at 11a.m. on the 11th of November.

The 1st Middlesex from Sassegnies marched to Sarbarras on the 12th of November to Vendegies on the 15th, and Caullery on the 16th, where billets were occupied until the 10th of December. Then came a series of moves which eventually brought the Battalion to Avesnes until the end of 1918. The records do not go beyond 1918, but several battalions of the Middlesex Regiment eventually served on the Rhine as part of the Army of Occupation; others returned to England in 1919 and were disbanded.

The 1st Battalion had fought a long hard war, suffered very heavy losses, now it was over. Most just wanted to forget...but could not.

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