After a short rest at Naves and Hordain the Battalion found itself
again in the battle line on the night of Oct. 28th-29th, when it took
over the front near Famars, south of Valenciennes. The floods to the
west and north of Valenciennes prevented a direct attack upon that
city; and the task set the 49th Division with Canadians on their left
and the 4th Division on their right, was to break through the strong
series of defences on the hills and valleys to the south and so render
the city untenable.
The 49th Division attacked on a two battalion front. To the ⅙th Duke
of Wellington’s was assigned the honour of leading the attack on the
right, with the 7th Duke’s in support and the 4th Duke’s in reserve.
The 146th (West Yorks.) Brigade attacked on the left in similar
formation, and the 148th was held in reserve for a further push
northwards the following day. Within the ⅙th Batt. A and B companies
had to attack first; their task was to rush the German first line and
the posts in front of it, descend into the valley, cross the river
Rhonelle and ascend the opposite slope as far as a deeply sunken road
on the next ridge. C and D companies were then to push through them
and if possible reach the line of the Preseau-Marly road some 800
yards beyond. The whole arrangements were most carefully worked out
and explained by Lieut.-Col. Clarkson, M.C., and a splendid supporting
barrage was organized by Colonel Duncan, of Otley, who was in command
of the artillery brigade covering the ⅙th front and had one 18-pounder
gun for every twelve and a half yards of frontage, without counting
those of heavier calibre behind.
The attack, which opened at 5-15 a.m. was a most successful one. The
men were delighted to start a clean show of their own, planned by their
own officers, instead of their usual task of going in to retrieve
the fortunes of a day of failure: though they numbered little over
320, they captured about 600 unwounded prisoners (including twelve
officers), a great store of machine guns and trench mortars, and left
many hundred German dead upon the field.
A company on the left, under Capt. Farrar, M.C., went off with a rare
dash and rushed a number of hidden machine gun posts found unexpectedly
near their line; crossing the Rhonelle river by fallen trees and by
footbridges placed in position by parties of the 19th Lancashire
Fusiliers, they accomplished their task in spite of severe casualties,
and came unexpectedly upon the sunken road, which was found full of
surrendering Germans and of pack-horses which had just come up with
their rations. B company on the right had an even stiffer time; all
their officers had been put out of action within five minutes of the
start, and flanking machine gun fire raked them all the way. Company
Sergt.-Major T. Limmer, D.C.M., at once took charge and led the company
with the greatest skill and gallantry to its objective, thus winning
the only M.C. awarded to a Company Sergeant.-Major of the battalion
during the campaign.
After a short pause C company, under Lieut. W. Spratt, M.C., who had
taken command in place of Capt. Willink, wounded, moved forward from
the sunken road and after stubborn fighting reached their furthest
objective. D company under Capt. Hart, M.C., attacked on their right
but soon suffered very heavy casualties, for the 4th Division, on their
right again, had met with a severe check and had been driven back from
Preseau. At the critical moment Capt. Hart and practically all his
head-quarters staff were killed by a burst of machine gun fire, and
the company was forced to dig in a few hundred yards short of their
objective. As the West Yorks. were also unable to get quite to their
objective, this isolated Lieut. Spratt, who was still holding his
ground with Sergt. Woodhead, M.M., Sergt. Burns, M.M., Corporal Maude,
M.M., and a handful of other stalwarts; and Lieut.-Col. Clarkson, who
managed to visit the whole front line during the hottest fighting,
ordered him to retire a short distance to make the line more secure.
But the high ridge had been won and the enemy was forced to retire from
his cunningly constructed defences. The 7th Battalion advanced next day
with very little opposition and Valenciennes was restored to France.
The battalion had lost a big proportion of its small numbers. Besides
Capt. Hart, M.C., 2nd Lieuts. Cartwright and Oughton had been killed
and Capt. Willink succumbed to his wounds a few days later. Sergts.
Upton and Davies and Corporal Maude, M.M., all of whom had done gallant
work, were also among the fallen. Lieut. Claridge had been wounded
shortly before the battle, and Sergt. Fredericksen, M.M., commanded the
signallers most successfully throughout the attack.
On the night of November 2nd, the Battalion moved out of the line for
what proved to be the last time. Taken in motor ‘buses back to the
mining village of Auby, near Douai, they were engaged in reorganizing
and training new drafts when news of the Armistice arrived. There was
little material for any form of feasting, but a most successful concert
was held and the Battalion store of S.O.S. rockets and flares was found
to be lamentably deficient next morning.
There was plenty of good fare for the Christmas dinner, for which four
live pigs were obtained, regardless of expense, from the other side
of Arras. And shortly after, while football and education became main
topics of interest, the battalion began to dwindle. Demobilized men
began to go home and retainable men and volunteers were transferred to
the 13th Battalion Duke of Wellington’s Regt. at Dunkirk. The numbers
were already very small when the battalion moved into the city of
Douai, on March 20th, and on June 7th, the cadre, consisting of four
officers and twenty-three other ranks, left for Dunkirk, with colours
and stores, on its homeward way.
On June 16th, Lieut.-Col. Bateman, D.S.O., who had returned to the
Battalion early in the year, crossed the Channel with his small party,
and on June 19th the cadre enjoyed a civic reception from the town of
Skipton, before depositing in the ancient parish church the regimental
colours, which had been taken to France after the Armistice. Later in
the day the cadre, with Lieut.-Col. Birkbeck, Major Clarkson, D.S.O.,
M.C., and a number of other returned officers, was entertained at a
late luncheon by the Skipton Urban District Council, with Councillor
John Walker in the chair.