G/24266 Private KENNETH HAMBLIN 10th Bn The Queen's

[peter.hamblin@tiscali.co.u]

G/24266 Private KENNETH HAMBLIN 10th Bn The Queen's

was my Gt Uncle - A soldier during the First World War served with the 10th Bn The Queen's (Royal West Surrey Regt, and was killed in action 20th September 1917 aged 23. His memorial is at TYNE COT MEMORIAL in Belgium, Grave reference Panel 14 to 17 and 162 to 162A

any information on his whereabouts when he was killed would be appreciated

Many thanks

Maritimapete

[sotonmate]

MP

The Battle of the Menin Road 20 Sept 1917. Part of the plan to seize the Gheluveldt Plain.

10 QRWS were part of 124 Brigade of 41 Division of X Corps of the 2nd Army. 18 assault Brigades with 65000 men lined up in the night of the 19th. This from "Passchendaele-the untold story" by Prior and Wilson:

"There was one Division on 20 September (41 Division X Corps) which suffered a different

experience and one unusual enough to warrant close scrutiny. This experience,it should be noted,cannot be reconstructed form the usual array of reports and battle narratives in the War Diaries. For this Division,on that day,none survive. This gap in the narrative can be rectified by the personal Diary of one who participated in the battle. Captain Harry YOXALL was an Intelligence Officer attached to one of the Division's attacking Brigades. At zero hour Yoxall found himself at forward Brigade HQ. There he witnessed the usual arrival of the walking wounded from the first waves of the attack. Satisfactory progress was reported. Then:

" a terrible thing happened. An enormous crowd of 124 Brigade suddenly appeared,retiring in disorder. We formed a battle stop with HQ officers and men...and drove lots of them back. What things we did and what language we used during that hateful half hour I do not remember. We stopped as many as we could but many got around us. A hundred and fifty were collected as far back as Brigade HQ"

What had caused this rout? Apparently the Brigade,at the very beginning of their attack,had run into a line of machine guns which has emerged unscathed from the British bombardment. Their assault immediately collapsed under a welter of casualties. The remainder of the Brigade fled. These constituted the mob which Yoxall encountered. Later attempts to rectify the position only added to the casualty list. Finally an outflanking move by the Brigade to the north enabled the machine guns to be overcome,and the first objective was captured. But the Division was incapable of further effort and in this part of the line the final objective remained in German hands. Three thousand casualties had been suffered and the Brigade finished as a fighting formation".

This state of affairs in spite of a pre-bombardment by our Artillery on a 5000 yard front usingf 575 heavy guns and 720 field guns,firing some 1.65 million shells pre-attack. We now know of the sophistication of the German deep bunkers.

An oft repeated story of this War.

Sotonmate

[peter.hamblin@tiscali.co.u]

MP

The Battle of the Menin Road 20 Sept 1917. Part of the plan to seize the Gheluveldt Plain.

10 QRWS were part of 124 Brigade of 41 Division of X Corps of the 2nd Army. 18 assault Brigades with 65000 men lined up in the night of the 19th. This from "Passchendaele-the untold story" by Prior and Wilson:

"There was one Division on 20 September (41 Division X Corps) which suffered a different

experience and one unusual enough to warrant close scrutiny. This experience,it should be noted,cannot be reconstructed form the usual array of reports and battle narratives in the War Diaries. For this Division,on that day,none survive. This gap in the narrative can be rectified by the personal Diary of one who participated in the battle. Captain Harry YOXALL was an Intelligence Officer attached to one of the Division's attacking Brigades. At zero hour Yoxall found himself at forward Brigade HQ. There he witnessed the usual arrival of the walking wounded from the first waves of the attack. Satisfactory progress was reported. Then:

" a terrible thing happened. An enormous crowd of 124 Brigade suddenly appeared,retiring in disorder. We formed a battle stop with HQ officers and men...and drove lots of them back. What things we did and what language we used during that hateful half hour I do not remember. We stopped as many as we could but many got around us. A hundred and fifty were collected as far back as Brigade HQ"

What had caused this rout? Apparently the Brigade,at the very beginning of their attack,had run into a line of machine guns which has emerged unscathed from the British bombardment. Their assault immediately collapsed under a welter of casualties. The remainder of the Brigade fled. These constituted the mob which Yoxall encountered. Later attempts to rectify the position only added to the casualty list. Finally an outflanking move by the Brigade to the north enabled the machine guns to be overcome,and the first objective was captured. But the Division was incapable of further effort and in this part of the line the final objective remained in German hands. Three thousand casualties had been suffered and the Brigade finished as a fighting formation".

This state of affairs in spite of a pre-bombardment by our Artillery on a 5000 yard front usingf 575 heavy guns and 720 field guns,firing some 1.65 million shells pre-attack. We now know of the sophistication of the German deep bunkers.

An oft repeated story of this War.

Sotonmate

Many thanks for the information

a very sad episode for a lot of men and their families

maritimapete

[Hambo]

Peter

From the Regimental history

The whole area of the attack was subjected to an intense bombardment for several days prior to the attack. The attack went in at 5.40am. the Queen's had hardly advanced 50 yards when they were met with a heavy fire from two machine guns which caught the battalion when it was moving in close formation. The machine guns wrought havoc especially among the officers; Major Andrews commanding the battalion was killed. In spite of the confusion 2nd Lts Hare and Toombs with Sgt Busby were able to get some men together and succeeded in working round the machine gun positions, silencing and capturing them. The Queen's then pushed on and reached both objectives though exposed to heavy machine gun fire. At about 8.30am the reserve brigade the 123rd, came through and completed the morning's work, crossing the valley ot the Basse Ville Beck and storming up the slope of Tower Hamlets, a strong position just south of the Menin Road

Hope this is of interest

Happy to help a fellow Hamblin!!

Best regards John (Hamblin)

[peter.hamblin@tiscali.co.u]

Peter

From the Regimental history

The whole area of the attack was subjected to an intense bombardment for several days prior to the attack. The attack went in at 5.40am. the Queen's had hardly advanced 50 yards when they were met with a heavy fire from two machine guns which caught the battalion when it was moving in close formation. The machine guns wrought havoc especially among the officers; Major Andrews commanding the battalion was killed. In spite of the confusion 2nd Lts Hare and Toombs with Sgt Busby were able to get some men together and succeeded in working round the machine gun positions, silencing and capturing them. The Queen's then pushed on and reached both objectives though exposed to heavy machine gun fire. At about 8.30am the reserve brigade the 123rd, came through and completed the morning's work, crossing the valley ot the Basse Ville Beck and storming up the slope of Tower Hamlets, a strong position just south of the Menin Road

Hope this is of interest

Happy to help a fellow Hamblin!!

Best regards John (Hamblin)

Hi John

many thanks for the information much appreciated - have also large family tree project going on is this also an area you have an interest in - the hamblin name is not that common see Genes Reunited http://www.genesreunited.co.uk/

YOurs sincerely

maritimapete