Part 12: Accidental Fate

 

 

Not everything can be discovered using direct evidence. Sometimes we must use deductive reasoning to determine the most probable likelihoods and outcomes. My desire to discover to which of the four Companies of 8th Battalion my Great Grandfather belonged has led me back to the period before 8th Bn. even existed.

Extract from the 218th War Diary for 20.1.18 confirming the formation of 8thBn.

The Battalion was formed on 20th January 1918 out of four existing MG Companies. ‘A’ Company was formerly the 23rd Company of the 23rd Brigade, ‘B’ Company was 24th Company: 24th Brigade, ‘C’ was 25th Company: 25th Brigade and ‘D’ Company came out of the 218th Company which was the 8th Division Reserve MG Coy.

The 23rd Coy. had been formed on 15.1.15

The 24th Coy. on 17.2.15

The 25th Coy. on  19.1.16

And the 218th Coy. had not formed until 23.3.17

 

Sleeve patch of 218th Brigade, MGC.

 

The main engagements they were involved in before becoming 8thBn. were: 31.7 – 1.8.1917 Battle of Pilckem Ridge (II Corps/5 Army), 31.7.1917 Attack on Westhoek, 16 – 18.8.1917 Battle of Langemarck, 2.12.1917 Assault on Southern Redoubt, Passchendaele (VIII Corps/2 Army)

All of the above is fact. Beyond this point, there is only educated speculation on my part.

John Harry had reenlisted on the 23rd of February 1917. When a man had been out for over a year, he was rarely returned to his old unit (in John Harry’s case, the East Lancashires), rather, he was sent where he was most needed.

I believe it was at this time that John (probably not by choice) joined the MGC. And the timing suggests that – having completed his minimum five weeks of training at the MG school at Grantham – he would probably have been placed in the most recently created MG unit.

Of the four Companies that would eventually be formed into 8th Battalion MGC, the only one that fits is 218th Company. As stated, they were formed on the 23.3, exactly a month after John reenlisted. That leads me to the inevitable conclusion that John began his period with the MGC in the reserve MG Company of the 8th Division.

 

Sleeve patch of 8th Battalion, MGC.

 

That being the case, I would have to say the most likely candidate for the Coy. that John served with in the 8th Bn. was D Coy (formerly 218th).

Even this is nominal, however. D was the reserve Coy. of the Battalion, which means it was constantly feeding replacements into the other three Coys. as they sustained casualties. And, in the month of March ’18, they sustained a great many casualties. John could well have ended up fighting with any of the other line Coys. but, on paper at least, he was more than likely a member of D Company.

And so, what becomes clear, among all these fragments, is the sequence of random events that led up to John Harry’s death; forced back into the service by an untenable economic situation, being considered of a high enough calibre by the military Bureaucratic machine to be fed into the Machine Gun Corps, sent to the Somme to cover a general retreat, and finally, fatally wounded in an unspecified action.

Even the location of his death and subsequent burial (more than likely at a French rather than British Dressing Station) meant he was not able to be officially identified until some months later; placing undue stress and suffering upon his family.

I doubt his story is unique and many soldiers had it much worse, so may remain unidentified or unlocated, but it still reads like a Kafka novel where the protagonist’s fate is decided by a series of random accidents completely beyond their control.

 

 

 

 

 

Part 5: Speculations

 

 

It’s possible my first thought – that John was wounded on March 25th while fighting in support of the French – is correct. However, that would have put him some 50 miles from his burial site at Conty. That isn’t out of the question but the Battalion certainly fought much closer to Conty in the following days. Perhaps, then, the 25th is a bit of a stretch.

It would certainly help to know which Company John actually fought in.

Perhaps this would be a good time to discuss the organisation of a Machine Gun Battalion. A Battalion consisted of 4 Companies; A through D and each Company contained 16 MGs which were broken down into 4 Sections of four guns each. Total fighting strength of 8th Battalion at the beginning of March 1918 was 37 Officers and 777 other ranks.

The Battalion War Diary lists the remaining strength on March 31st as being 540 “all ranks” having lost an estimated 16 Officers and 300 other ranks.

For at least some part of that time, three of the Companies were fighting attached to different Brigades. On the 22nd, A Company was with the 23rd Brigade at Villers-Carbonnel with four of their guns deployed over on the far side of the Somme Canal from the rest of the Company.

B Company was with the 24th Brigade and C Company was with the 25th. By the following day, B Coy. was covering the bridgeheads at Bethencourt, Voyennes, Courtmanche, and Offoy while C Coy. were deployed at Hallu.

With such a wide spread dispersal, and no way of knowing the Company to which John belonged, it’s daunting if not impossible to pin down which actual actions he took part in.

On the 25th, C Company found itself under heavy attack and, by day’s end (according again to the 8th Bn. War Diary), had only 3 of its original 16 MGs left and no Ammunition belts. They were fighting as a rifle Company when night fell.

Again, if indeed John was in C Company, then this action would certainly be a likely candidate for when he received his wound. The trouble is, the fighting was hot right up to the 31st and beyond.

The British were fighting defensively, only grudgingly giving ground to the advancing Germans. In that kind of fighting, the machine gun units are always in the thick of it.

There is one other possible candidate to consider. On the 31st (the day before John’s death) the entire Battalion were fighting between Castel and Moreuil. This placed the Battalion just 15 miles from Conty on the day before John died of his wounds.

The red shaded areas are my estimations of where C and D Companies were probably deployed. The extract at the bottom of the image is the entry in the Battalion War Diary. It reads:

“The guns of C and D Coys. were in action in the high ground East of CASTEL and in the valley towards MOREUIL station.”

Given its close proximity to Conty, this is certainly a possible contender for John’s last fight. If so, I’d make an educated guess and say he was likely a member of C Company.

Because it’s entirely possible that he “died of wounds” the same day he was hit, here is the diary entry for the 1st of April:

It reads:

CASTEL, 1st

“All the remaining MGs and effectives of the Bn in action W(est) of CASTEL. The guns moved their positions several times during the day in accordance with the tactical situation. The situation was made more comfortable as there was now more artillery support.”

Reading back over this post, I’m inclined to think that March 31st/ April 1st are the most likely days for the events which led to John Harry’s demise.