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Age-31

85, Longfield Street, Southfields

At the outbreak of war in 1914 there were two machine guns to each battalion which was far from adequate and substantially fewer than the German Army. The need for more of these weapons and the specialised training they required led to the establishment of the Machine Gun Corps in the autumn of 1915 with each infantry brigade being furnished with their own machine gun company, usually taking the same number as the brigade. These companies were equipped with the new Vickers machine gun whilst the individual infantry battalions were supplied with the lighter, hand-held Lewis guns. Machine Gun Battalions were formed in the Divisions in the early months of 1918, by bringing together the four MGC Companies into a single command structure with the Battalions taking the number of their Division. 

The Battle of Cambrai

This was a major British offensive on the Western Front that was launched on 20th November, 1917 and lasted through to the beginning of December. As the name suggests it was an attack towards the city of Cambrai and the important German railhead there, which it was hoped would be captured. The battle was notable for two things: the massed use of tanks for the first time and the success of the first day’s fighting when the formidable Hindenburg Line was breached and gains of five miles were made in places. In celebration the church bells throughout Britain were rung. However this success was short lived. The tanks were not reliable and the German defence stiffened as the fighting progressed and when they counter attacked in force on 30th November, the British came under so much pressure that they were forced to withdraw from many of the positions they had captured earlier on. Both sides suffered around 45,000 casualties during the course of the fighting.

The initial success at Cambrai was short-lived. German resistance stiffened as fresh troops were rushed to the battlefield to help stem the allied advance, the threat from the tanks diminished as many of them broke down and on 30th November came a major offensive by the enemy. 20th Division, which inluded the 61st Company of the Machine Gun Corps, were holding the line from Masnières down to Lateau Wood with 59 Brigade on the right and 61 Brigade on the left. As the morning progressed on 30th November, the shelling increased and between 8 and 8.15 am reports came in that the enemy were attacking, not only from the front but on the right and left as well where they had made breakthroughs in the British line. Those who could fell back on the line held by the support battalion in a ravine but  the withdrawal continued to another trench where reserves steadied the line and where the German advance was finally checked. At some stage during the day Leonard Foley was killed.