1st East Yorkshire Regiment

[David_Blanchard]

I am currently looking at the role of the 64th Brigade (part of 21st Div) in the battle of the Aisne, May 1918.

I have come across a contentious issue with respect of the 1st East Yorks in this battle. On 27th May the battalion was holding the frontline when the Colonel, Alexander, on being attacked, took the decision to withdraw the battalion to reserve positions for a number of reasons, possibly due to mixed messages received from brigade and the battalion to the right the 9th KOYLI's.

Headlam, the Brigadier of 64th Brigade was I suspect furious with this decision he wrote later:

‘The 1st East Yorks were not withdrawn by my order…The moment I heard of this withdrawal I sent my Brigade Major (Captain Spicer) to tell East Yorks to go back and form a defensive flank on its left. The battalion started back, but it was then too late for it to act as I had ordered. The C O left for England a few days later.’

My two main points in respect of this are:

1. To what extent did battalion commanders have the right to make unilateral decisions of this kind, or did they always have to defer to Brigade first?

2. I would also like to see if I could find a response from Colonel Alexander. As he was dismissed from command would he have been expected to have put his case before a disciplinary board? If so, could anyone point me towards where I could find this documentation at the PRO ?

The outcome of the affair for the 1st East Yorks was disasterous as the Regimental History points out that, as it was ordered back to its original position:

'In a few minutes the already depleted battalion lost half of its strength and only 100 other ranks returned to the line near Hermonville after this attempt'

[joseph]

David,

As this never had a response originally thought I would bring it back to the top with a quote from the History of the 1st Battalion East Yorkshire Regiment, this is one of the sources for Wyrall’s EYR 1914-1918.

Regards Charles

[David_Blanchard]

Thanks Charles for a little bit more information with regard to Col Alexander.

Interesting 'rest cure' for the RSM Grieve, never heard of any soldiers being sent to the South of France before.

David