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Part IV
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[i]OPERATION ORDER No.140 1st. Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment. Map Ref.36.a. N.E. 1/20,000. April 26th. 1918
1. Battalion will be relieved on the night of the 26th/27th. as under: - Right Coy. "A". From K.21.a.15.05. to Road K.21.a.80.90. exclusive, to be relieved by a Coy. of the D.C.L.I. Centre Coy. "C". From Road K.21.a.80.90. inclusive to Canal at K.15.d.2.8. by a Coy. of the K.O.S.B. "D" Coy. Left Coy. "D" Coy. From Canal to corner of enclosure K.15.b.1.9. by a Coy. of the K.O.S.B. "B" Coy. Support Coy. "B". at K.15.c. central will be relieved by a Coy. of the K.O.S.B. ("A" Coy.) 2/Lieut. V.E.Farr will hand over all these trenches to this Coy. of K.O.S.B. They will not relieve the two platoons of "B" Coy. in Front of LES LAURIES [sic].
2. RECONNAISANCE. One Officer per Coy. and one N.C.O. per platoon of D.C.L.I. and K.O.S.B. will report at Battalion Headquarters at 8.30 p.m. whence they will be guided to their respective Coy Fronts, and stay there the night 26/27th.
3. GUIDES. on scale of One O.R. per platoon, and one O.R. for H.Q. (Coy) will meet relieving Units at Bn. H.Q. (Faggot Stack) at 8.45 p.m. on the 27th. inst. Guides will report to the Intelligence Officer. They will each be in possession of a slip of paper shewing which platoon and Coy. of relieving Unit they are to guide. Two guides from 2/Lieut. Farr's platoon "B" Coy. will be sufficient for support Coy.
4. ALL WORK in progress and proposed, all trench stores, S.O.S. rockets, V.P.A., etc. will be handed over, also tools. The two extra bandoliers per man will be collected in platoon or section dumps and kept dry and handed over. Lists of all trench stores etc., to be handed over will be sent to Battalion Headquarters by daybreak 27/4/18 by runner.
5. The greatest care must be taken in handing over forward posts, so that no ground is lost.
6. On completion of relief Coy's. will withdraw by complete platoons to bivouacs at J.20.b. Q.M. will arrange for one guide per platoon and one for Coy. H.Q., and two for Battalion Headquarters to be at Battalion Headquarters by 10.30 p.m. to guide Coy's. back to bivouacs.
7. T.O. will arrange for limbers to collect spare Lewis Gun Magazines at Bn. H.Q. also Lewis Guns and magazines of Coy's. Sgt. Faulder will supervise loading.
8. RELIEF COMPLETE will be reported by wire using following code message: - "BARBEDWIRE". O.C. Coy's. will also report at Bn. H.Q. on their way out.
[Headq]uarters, 15th. Infantry Brigade
The enemy attacked our right coy. this morning at about [tear in document] a.m. behind a heavy barrage. About 200 enemy advanced to within [tear in document] yards under cover of their barrage and the mist. Our M.G., L.G. and [tear in document] fire broke up the attack. The S.O.S. was not sent up on our front. It is reported that we are still in touch with the 12th. [Glouc]ester Regt. The Coy. has had about 15 casualties, caused by shell fire. [tear in document] W.W.White, Commanding this Coy. front line has been wounded. [Ti]me - 7.48 a.m. [27]/4/18.
To PILLOW. The following is a continuation of report about the enemy counter attack in the early morning of the 27th. April 1918: -
The barrage was put down chiefly on our part of the line, running through enclosure and going up thence to the 12th. Gloucesters. There is no doubt that the enemy suffered considerable casualties. Opposite the centre of our line, some of the enemy were seen to throw away their arms and equipment, and turn tail. Our Lewis Gun on the right, which was at K.21.a.05.15, was enabled to enfilade the attack, and greatly assisted. Touch was maintained during the action with the 12th. Gloucesters. Our patrols which were out on the night of the 27th. to cover the relief, report finding number of enemy dead. 28/4/18.
And what the regimental chronic from IR 49 says about 25 April 1918:
April 25th, at 10:30 (German time) drum fire started on the whole regimental area of responsibility. Soon the green star shells were fired to request artillery barrage. The enemy attacked. The left wing of 6./49 was forced back.
26 April 1918:
The positions in the forefront at I.Bn and II.Bn/49 were lost as well. The reserve companies from III.Bn were brought forward immediately. A further Bn from IR 14 was allocated (to IR 49). In the evening the old positions were all restored. The forefront to include the Vert Bois were recaptured.
27 April 1918:
In combination with IR 140 the regiment conducted the raids "Helene" against Vert Bois and furthermore an own raid "Vergeltung" against the houses 200m s/e of Les Lauriers (comment: this is indeed "Bedford Farm").Commander of the raid "Helene" was Lt.d.R. Freyer, commander of "Vergeltung" was Lt.d.R. Marienfeld (comment: Lt Marienfeld was Grandfather's CO, he also wrote the 3 May letter of condolence to Grandmother as seen here)
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