Current Information:

Age-29

Naves Communal Cemetery, France

October 1918 was a month which saw the Allies pushing the Germans back all along the Western Front and liberating towns, villages and whole areas, which had been under German occupation for four long years.  At 5.10am on 8 October, 1918, the British launched an offensive on a 20 mile front between St Quentin and Cambrai when three British Armies, backed by 82 tanks, advanced 3 miles and captured 10,000 prisoners and 150 guns. After 24 hours of fighting the Hindenburg Line was overrun in its entirety and the enemy were in full retreat.

On 8th October, 37th Division with some of the 12th Tank Battalion attached, attacked on the the Third Army front pushing eastwards from a position about six miles south of Cambrai. Zero hour was at 4.30am at which time 111 Brigade advanced behind an artillery barrage along the divisional front towards their first objective, the Beaurevoir Line. Starting at 4.30am and after some hard fighting this objective had been achieved by 6am at which time 112 Brigade passed through and resumed the offensive. As they moved up from their overnight positions, the 13th Royal Fusiliers and 1st Essex battalions suffered some casualties from machine–guns that had been overlooked in the dark. This caused a degree of disruption as a result of which they lost the protective artillery barrage as they passed through 111 Brigade. Nevertheless the advance continued with forward rushes covered by infantry and with the assistance of a tank a strongpoint north of Hurtebise Farm was captured. By 7.30am they had reached their second objective. At this stage the third battalion of the brigade, 1st Hertfordshire passed through and went on to capture Briseux Wood. The thickness of the undergrowth delayed their progress but by 10.20am they had established a line on the eastern edge of the wood. It had been a successful operation for 37th Division but there was a price to pay in casualties, one of whom was Gordon Reid of 1st Essex.