Tuesday 27th August 1918

Support positions in the Lemerle Switch line

In the morning the Battalion was relieved by 12DLI and marched to the Brigade reserve camp near Cavalletto.

Pte. Robert Clarke (see 26^th August), who had been wounded the previous day, died at the Advanced Operating Centre at 24^th Casualty Clearing Station; he would be buried at the nearby Cavalletto British Cemetery.

Following the casualties of the previous day, there was a round of promotions.

Sgt. Albert Blackburn (see 26^th August) was promoted Acting Company Sergeant Major.

Cpl. Harold Best (see 26^th August) was promoted Acting Lance Sergeant.

Cpls. Abel Roberts (see 26^th August) and Thomas Anthony Swale (see 16^th July) were promoted Acting Lance Sergeant.

L.Cpl. Stanley Arthur Bones (see 26^th August) was promoted Corporal.

L.Cpls. Bertie Thurling (see 18^th August), who was on leave in England, and Frederick James Lynch (see 1st July), John Wright Pollard (see 5^th January) and Frank Revell (see 14^th July) and Pte. Alfred Bradbury (see 27^th March) were all appointed Acting Corporal.

L.Cpls. Alfred Hanson (see 6^th June), Fred Oldroyd (see 13^th August) and William Robinson (see 13^th August) began to be paid according to their rank, having previously held the post unpaid.

Pte. William Dennison (see 26^th August) was appointed Lance Corporal.

Pte. Noah Davis (see 29^th October 1917) was admitted via 69^th Field Ambulance to 9^th Casualty Clearing Station, he was suffering from pneumonia and jaundice.

Reflecting on the events of the previous night, Maj. Edward Borrow DSO (see 26^th August), wrote home to his wife (I am very grateful to Dr. Bendor Grosvenor for lowing me access to Maj. Borrow's letters), 

“Tired, dusty and dirty I got back to our new camp and thankful to be there. For once more the Dukes had done it … After ten days of practice and reconnaissance almost the whole Battalion went over the top in a raid. Raids have been very frequent on this front and the Austrian, who will stand almost anything if he is not asked to come to close grips, was getting very tired of being raided. Our front is fairly limited which made the choice of the objective only too simple and we found that he had been expecting us for two days. Machine guns he had placed to fire down all important places and in addition he prepared a barrage for us which was as big and as uncomfortably accurate as anything he has turned upon us yet.

So imagine some 350 men stealing out through the woods to their assembly positions in the dark some fifty minutes before the attack was scheduled to begin, crossing a valley enveloped in white mist and silently climbing the slopes of two hills on the other side of which lay the Bosch trenches and the Bosch wire. And as time went on you might have seen your hubby going from party to party wishing them ‘good luck’ in a whisper and then disappearing in the mist, just as the moon rose, in the direction of Battalion Headquarters. For my part, last night was no risky job, simply to kick my heels around HQ! Then on came our barrage, bursting on and behind the enemy trenches; machine guns rattled away, pouring stream after stream of bullets down our flanks. ‘Very lights’ shot into the sky from enemy front and support lines and the raid was on in earnest. But the Bosch knew we were coming. His machine guns rattled out their streams of lead; his guns put up, though rather late, two barrage lines, one of which crossed our Battalion battle headquarters so that life there was, to say the least, uncomfortable. His machine guns met our advancing men and a rare fight he put up. But the Dukes had been properly coached for this show and they took on anything in the way of fighting that they were faced with. Presently prisoners began to accumulate at headquarters. A few wounded drifted in, to at once have a dressing applied and find themselves tucked away in a corner for safety. For 3 hours the Bosch kept up their shelling and for 3 hours it wasn’t safe to send any wounded down the valley. But when finally the shelling died down and one could go away we found that we had over 60 prisoners, amongst whom were 5 officers. And today we’ve received the congratulations of everybody from the Commander in Chief down. We’ve established another record for the Division and the C.O. is very proud!”

Maj. Edward Borrow DSO

Pte. Willie Holmes (see 11^th August), who was home on leave, was admitted to the War Hospital in Dewsbury; he was suffering from carbuncles.

Ptes. Gilbert Bell (see 26^th March) and Thomas Walter Mellin (see 15^th May), serving with 9DWR in France, were both wounded in action; Bell suffered wounds to his left arm and Mellin suffered shrapnel wounds to his back. Both would be admitted via 34^th Casualty Clearing Station to 2^nd Canadian General Hospital at Le Treport. Mellin would undergo an operation at the CCS before being transferred; the report on the operation stated, “10^th rib excised; large quantity of blood-stained fluid evacuated; no clots felt in chest; foreign body not found; drainage tubes stitched in”.

Pte. Fred Smith (15149) (see 6^th July), serving with 3DWR at North Shields, was appointed (unpaid) Lance Corporal.

Following ten days’ treatment for malaria, Pte. James Wilson (see 16^th August), serving with 728^th Employment Company, based at Hitchin, Herts., was discharged from hospital and returned to duty. However, just four days later, he would be admitted to hospital in Cambridge suffering from a recurrence of his symptoms.

The Infantry Records Office in York wrote to Leeds City Police, requesting their assistance in locating Pte. James Robert Ingleson (see 3^rd August 1917), who had been absent without leave from Beckett Park Hospital, Leeds for the previous three weeks. The Police would reply that having, “made careful enquiries for the above named at all places in this city frequented by soldiers, I have not been able to find any trace of his being now in Leeds”. In actual fact Ingleson had, at 7.30pm the same day, reported back at the hospital. He would be fined 20 days’ pay and have his pass stopped for ten days.

The family of Pte. Herbert Newton (see 22^nd July), who had been reported missing in action five weeks’ previously while serving in France with 5DWR, wrote to the War Office informing them of a change of their home address and asking, “if you hear anything further about him will you kindly send straight here and greatly oblige his sorrowing mother”.