The 23rd (Service) Battalion Royal Fusiliers (First Sportsman's): A Record of its Services in the Great War, 1914-1919Ward, Fred W.
History
The 23rd (Service) Battalion Royal Fusiliers (First Sportsman's): A Record of its Services in the Great War, 1914-1919
Ward, Fred W.
Great Britain. Army. 23rd Royal Fusiliers; World War, 1914-1918 -- Regimental histories -- Great Britain
On one tank, indeed, getting close to our line an officer, Lieutenant
Anderson, armed with a rifle, and accompanied by his batman, got out
of the trench, went forward under heavy fire, reached the oncoming
tank, hammered at its side with his rifle-butt, and called on it to
surrender. The iron door opened, and out came the crew, to be escorted
back in triumph as prisoners!
On the early morning of the 9th the Guards' Brigade "leap-frogged" the
Battalion and continued the attack, the Battalion moving back to
bivouac at Flesquieres. Remaining there for a few days, a move was
made on the 13th to keep in touch with the general advance, Wambaix
being reached after a long march.
Training was carried out here until the 19th, when the Battalion
marched to Boussieres. At midnight on October 22, under the command of
Major H.P. Rogers, it moved up to St. Python, and on the 23rd to
Escarmain, taking over the front line from the 52nd Light Infantry. At
dawn on the 24th it attacked and captured Ruesnes, and established a
line of outposts on the railway beyond. This was the last actual
fighting done by the Battalion. Relieved on the 26th by the 7th King's
Shropshire Light Infantry, it moved back into reserve.
With the signing of the Armistice came a welcome change. Duty was
relaxed so far as was possible, and the Battalion employed the rest of
the year in fitting itself out, and getting back into something
approaching its old condition, and marching into Germany, a distance
of 200 miles.
1919.
January found the Battalion in billets at Niederaussem, forming part
of the British Army of Occupation in Germany. Training was still being
carried on, however, but sport was not lost sight of. There were
platoon football matches, whist drives, paper-chases, and so on, while
there was also voluntary educational training in such things as
English, French, and shorthand.
On January 24 came the presentation of the King's Colour to the
Battalion by Major-General Pereira. Later, on the reorganization of
Divisions taking place, the Battalion on February 27 left the 99th
Brigade, 2nd Division, in which it had served so long, proceeded by
rail through Cologne to Ehreshoven, joined the London Division, and
took over the outposts of the Occupied Zone at Lindlar on March 18.
On April 15, the Battalion then being back in Cologne, the command was
taken over by Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel L.F. Ashburner, M.V.O.,
D.S.O., Lieutenant-Colonel Winter being appointed to the command of
the British Camp at Antwerp. On May 6 the Battalion was inspected and
complimented by General Sir William Robertson, G.C.B., K.C.V.O.,
D.S.O., Commander-in-Chief British Army of the Rhine.
In the event of the non-acceptance of the Peace Terms by Germany,
preparations were made between June 8 and June 19 for an advance, but
the orders on June 20 were held in abeyance and subsequently
cancelled.
[Illustration: PRESENTATION OF COLOURS: NIEDERAUSSEM, GERMANY,
JUNE 24TH, 1919.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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