The history of the Twentieth (Light) DivisionInglefield, Valentine Erskine
History
The history of the Twentieth (Light) Division
Inglefield, Valentine Erskine
Great Britain. Army. Division, 20th (Light); World War, 1914-1918 -- Regimental histories -- Great Britain
The 61st Field Ambulance (Lieut.-Colonel W. J. S. Harvey) which was
attached to the 60th Brigade worked extremely well, and all the wounded
were cleared during the day. Lieut. G. A. Maling, R.A.M.C., won the
V.C. for his continuous bravery during these operations. He “worked
incessantly from 6.15 A.M. on the 25th till 8 A.M. on the 26th,
collecting and treating in the open under heavy shell fire more than
300 men. At about 11 A.M. on the 25th he was flung down and temporarily
stunned by the bursting of a large high explosive shell which wounded
his only assistant and killed several of his patients. A second shell
soon after covered him and his instruments with débris, but his high
courage and zeal never failed him, and he continued his gallant work
singlehanded.”[1]
It was expected that there would be a renewal of the fighting the
next day, but no further operations took place. On the contrary, a
demonstration that had been ordered for the 27th was cancelled the
afternoon before, and orders were issued that no gun ammunition of any
kind was to be expended for the time being except to repel attack or
for retaliation.
The casualties of the day’s fighting had materially reduced the
strength of the 60th Brigade, and on the 26th the 11th D.L.I.
(Pioneers) were attached as an extra battalion, and for the next six
weeks took their turn with the other battalions of the brigade in the
front line trenches. The excellent pioneer work that this battalion had
done was marked by letters of appreciation received on the 28th from
the C.E. IIIrd Corps and from the Corps Commander.
As Divisional reserve a brigade of the 23rd Division was attached
to the 20th. This was later reduced to two battalions, but was not
completely dispensed with until the 10th of November.
On the 28th the whole Division side-stepped about a mile to the right.
This brought the right flank to a sunken road about half a mile
north-east of Neuve Chapelle and the left to a point some quarter of
a mile north of Rouge Bancs. The line was held by the three brigades
in the same order as before, each brigade having two battalions in the
front trenches.
The Divisional Artillery was now complete again, the 93rd Brigade
and the sections of the 92nd having returned from Fleurbaix, and was
divided into four groups. On the right was “Tyler’s Group,” which
became “Ricardo’s Group” on the 11th of October, then the La Flinque
and Laventie Groups with the Croix Blanche Group on the left.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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