23rd Division’s activities

[Tony Lund]

On the 27th October 1918 in Italy, somewhere near the River Parve, one Holmfirth man was killed with the 68th Brigade and another was awarded the Military Medal with the 69th Brigade. I am looking for a general description of the 23rd Division’s activities, although if someone does have information on one of the two battalions on the day I would be most grateful for it.

The men concerned were:

Raymond Tyas Brook, 10th Battalion, Northumberland Fusiliers, was killed in action on Sunday 27th October 1918. 68th Brigade, 23rd Division.

Corporal Brook Heywood who was serving with the 11th Battalion, West Yorkshire Regiment, was awarded a Military Medal for actions on October 27th and 28th, across the Parve. 69th Infantry Brigade, 23rd Division.

Many thanks for any information,

Tony.

[Greenwoodman]

23rd Division were involved in the Battle of Vittoria Veneto, specifically the crossing of the River Piave. The attack was to made across the island of Grave di Papadopoli towards Cimadolmo, with objective on the first day being the E_W road running through Tezze (where the CWG cemetery is). 68th Div on the left, 69th Div on the right, 70th Div in Div reserve. The attack was delayed due to high water, but troops were ferried to the island on 26th. British artillery started firing on night of 26/27 Oct, and Austrian artillery responded 69IB was complete on the island by 0330, and so was 68IB apart from two coys of 10NF, retained on the right bank to deal with possible problems on the left flank.

The northern channel of the Piave was forded on foot, and several troops swept away and drowned. At 0625 27 Oct, the barrage started and the two Bdes moved forward. C Coy 11WY was in the centre of the 69IB attack, gaining their first objective at 0700. Rest of 11WY moved forward from Bde reserve to join them. 68IB kept pace and two Coys 10NF protected the left flank of the attack.

Both Bdes then moved forward to the line of the road mentioned above. In the centre of the 69IB's advance, some trenches and two houses stood either side of the road. Here the Austrian's, opposite C Coy 11WY, stood firm. The WYs soon cleared them out & occupied the buildings. It was now noon.

Around 1300 the buildings (at Borgo Malanotte) were recaptured by the Austrians, but A Coy 11 WY counter-attacked and regained them at 1600.

10NF experienced considerable trouble on the exposed left flank from machine guns, but these were silenced by the evening by 4.5 howitzer battery fire. Italian troops were brought over the river during the night and attacked westward on the morning of the 28th to relieve pressure on the 68IB's left flank.

11WY took over as left battalion in the 69th Bde's front line and continued the advance on 28th Oct. The 23rd Div History says "...the skilful handling of platoons and sections and the initiative of individuals not only prevented the enemy's tactics from delaying the advance, but succeeded in capturing large numbers of his infantry and machine guns before they could be withdrawn.

D Company (Captain Lawson) of the West Yorkshire Regiment captured and cleared Borgo Villa, and later Soffrata, taking many prisoners". These two places are just west of Vazzola.

Casualties this day included Lt Col H H Hudson who was wounded. His place in command of 11WY was taken by Maj C L Armstrong, whose brother Maj. G J Armstrong was called to Bde HQ at the same time to act on the Staff.

I hope all this helps. The details I have extracted from the 23rd Div History. I would recommend getting hold of the battalion war diaries for the period concerned.

[Chris_Baker]

November 1917

On 26 October, GHQ in France received an urgent order from London, directing Sir Douglas Haig to send two Divisions to Italy as quickly as possible. The Italian Army had suffered a shattering reverse when attacked at Caporetto and was in serious danger of collapse. The Supreme Inter-Allied War Council had advised moving some British and French reserve into the Italian theatre. The 23rd and 41st Divisions both about to be relieved, were selected. A further order on 8 November then expanded the force, and the 7th and 48th Divisions also prepared to move. On 14 November the 5th Division was added, making the British force in Italy five Divisions.

The entrainment of the last units of 23rd Division was completed on the 11 November 1917. If ever there was a "tonic for the troops" it was the journey through France, to the Riviera and across in Lombardy, following their harrowing experiences of the Western Front.

Unfortunately the Italian railway system completely broke down under the strain of 5 British Divisions arriving from France, and detrainment and concentration proved somewhat chaotic. The 23rd Division finally concentrated in the Mantua area.

A high command meeting on 14 November decided to move the 23rd and 41st Divisions immediately into the front line in the Vicenza area, as soon as the Italians could provide road and billeting facilities, which would not be before the 19th.

The march to the new front began in cold weather on the 19 November 1917, moving the troops from Mantua towards Legnano. The new front was on the River Brenta. On 28, the two Division were moved again, the 23rd going via Castelfranco and Montebelluna to the front lines of the Montello.

The 23rd Division stayed in the Montello sector until March 1918. No major incidents occurred, but there was regular shellfire to endure.

March 1918

The Division received orders on 12 March that a move was imminent. The British were to take over part of the front on the Asiago Plateau. This was a mountainous region with snow, and special preparations in terms of equipment, signalling methods etc were made as far as possible. Relieved on 14 March by Italian units, the Division marched by easy stages to an area east of Vicenza. Moved by lorry, the Divisional infantry took over the line on 27 March from the Italian 12th Division.

The British remained on the Asiago, until September 1918. Trench warfare continued, with its usual attendant dangers. During the intervening period, preparations were made for an offensive but this was cancelled as information was received from deserters of an impending Austrian offensive on the Lower Piave.

June 1918

On the night of 1/2 June, the Battalion raided three houses in front of the Austrian line, killed at least ten of the enemy and took two prisoners.

On 15 June 1918, the Austrians attacked the British force on the Asiago Plateau, with about four and a half Divisions. The British front was being held by the 23rd and 48th Divisions, both well under-strength due to lack of reinforcements and cases of influenza, and each holding 4000 yards of line. For example in the 144th Brigade, where companies should have been 250 strong, they averaged 75. The artillery of the 7th Division, then in reserve, was close to the front too. The 11/NF, at this time with a trench strength of about 500 men, was in position near a trench called the Boscon Switch.

The Armies received good intelligence about the forthcoming attack. At 3am on 15th June, a heavy bombardment including gas opened on the entire British front and battery position. However, the fire was not registered or accurate, but brought trees down and sent large rock splinters flying. Artillery signalling lines were soon out of action. British counter-battery work commenced at 5am and was throughout the day very successful.

The Austrian infantry attack opened at 7am, and the battle soon broke in the mist and wooded country into fragmented local affairs, with hand to hand fighting. The 23rd Division lost a little ground at the flanks but recovered it during the day. The front of the 48th Division was broken at several places but again this was recovered by early on the 16th. British patrols were sent out, in the belief that the Austrians were confused and demoralised, but they ran soon into resistance that suggested otherwise. In one such patrol, a young officer of the 11th NF carried out actions that led to an award of the Victoria Cross . By the time the fighting died down, the Battalion had suffered 104 casualties. This was one fifth of the total of casualties suffered by the whole Division. Severe as the fighting was, it bore no comparison with the experiences of the Western Front.

September 1918

The 23rd Division was moved from the Asiago Plateau, and was billeted in an area north-west of Vicenza before moving by rail to Treviso. It was part of a wider movement with the British Army taking over a wide front on the banks of the River Piave, down stream from its former positions on the Montello. The Piave here is a mighty river indeed: 800 yards or more wide, very fast-flowing in numerous deep channels. A feature facing the British was a flat, narrow, four mile-long island – Papadopoli. This move was part of a broad plan by the Italian Commander-in-Chief General Diaz to make a decisive break through across the Piave, to separate the Austrian forces on this front from those in the Trentino. If a major advance could be secured in this area – the Vittorio Veneto – then the enemy's rail routes for supply would be cut and they would be forced to withdraw their troops from Italian soil. The attack commenced in October 1918.

October 1918

On 27th October 1918, the 7th and 23rd Divisions attacked in the Vittorio Veneto. This followed a successful effort by the 7th Division to cross part of the river and capture Papadopoli Island. The 11th Northumberland Fusiliers were the leftmost Battalion in this attack, and their job was to produce a flank defence as the rest of the Divisions forced a crossing of the river. There was a gap of some 5,000 yards to the next formation, the Italian 58th Division. They were to move across right, to converge with the 23rd Division to form a continuous line. This however, failed as the Italians could not cross the river. The river crossing was indeed arduous, with men crossing by sections, mostly by linking arms and dragging their feet along the bottom; to have lifted a foot in the incredible current would almost certainly mean losing the footing and being swept away. A few men were washed off their feet and drowned. As the barrage lifted off the bank, the whole line rushed forward. Machine-gun fire was heavy, and amongst others Lieut.-Colonel Ashton St.Hill the CO of the Battalion, was killed . The British bombardment had not destroyed much of the wire, but this was thin in places where the men could trample it down, whilst other gaps were cut by hand under covering fire from Lewis guns. Through these gaps platoons passed and then extended, and the bayonet did the rest. It was reported that no Austrian had his bayonet fixed; many surrendered, others ran. In spite of resistance, in which the 11th Battalion lost all its senior officers so that it was soon led only by a Lieutenant, the whole Bund on the front of the 23rd Division was in its possession. The Battalion was relieved by the 10th later in the morning. It was by now weak through losses, and was reorganised as two Companies.

Two days later, the attack had advanced the front towards the next river crossing: the Monticano. Despite its small size, the Battalion crossed this river successfully and moved ahead, with its right on the little river Cervada. There was considerable resistance from machine-guns hidden in houses and ditches, but the attack was completely successful and by 6.30pm the 11th had cleared the enemy from the whole Brigade front.

The assault across the Piave had succeeded brilliantly, and pursuit turned into rout of the Austrian armies in this area. In addition to the large advance in terms of distance, some 300,000 prisoners were taken; more, in fact, than the entire Allied force attacking on this front. This was in addition to an enormous haul of war material. The British force of the 7th and 23rd Divisions had taken a prominent part, for the loss of just under 1,600 men of the average 78,000 employed between 27th October and 4th November.

On the 4th November 1918, the Austrian-Hungarian Empire signed an Armistice and the fighting ceased on the Italian front. There then followed a period of reorganisation, with much spit and polish as the British troops were reviewed by the King of Italy on 27th November 1918. Reductions of the British force in Italy were gradually carried out, with the very last returning home on 15th April 1920.

[Tony Lund]

Well, I think that just about covers it!

Many thanks for the information, it will also be of interest to the daughter of a man who was there with either the 9th Battalion or the 10th Battalion of the York and Lancaster Regiment, both of which were in the 70th Infantry Brigade in 23rd Division. The only thing her father ever told her was that he did a lot of marching.

Tony.

[Benedictine]

Hi Chris and Tony,

Sorry for resurrecting such an old post, but I have just purchased a Military Medal awarded for actions at Piave 27/28th October 1918 to Sergeant Adam Bromley (18th/2nd Bradford Pals and later 11th Bn WY Regt)

I have found his service records and have built up a nice history from 1888-1920 where he disappears. I have some original paperwork including handwritten notes on his citation from his OC.

I have gathered a list of MMs gazetted on the same day from Italy and corrected for errors:

137-26 Col. Sjt. (and Coy./Q.M.Sjt.) –Boyoer F.J., llth Bn, (Sheffield). (ITALY)

18/1053 Sjt. Bromley, Adam., llth Bn. (Bradford). (ITALY)

41240 Sjt. Hickinson Fred., llth Bn. (Leeds). (ITALY)

14767 Sjt. Peabody, D.C.M., John. Francis., llth Bn. (Castleford). (ITALY)

13601 Sjt. Whitehouse, Henry., llth Bn. (Birmingham). (ITALY)

41187 Cpl. Heywood, Brook., llth Bn. (Huddersfield). (ITALY)

36776 Cpl. Jefferson, Samuel., llth Bn. (Horsforth). (ITALY) Later York & Lancs

14278 Cpl. Oates, John., 10th Bn. (Leeds).

14511 Cpl. Smith, Thomas., llth Bn. (Birmingham). (ITALY)

41113 Pte. (U./C..) Bedford, Harry., llth Bn. (Leeds). ' (ITALY

13107 Pte. (A. /Cpl.) Frankland, Mark., llth Bn. (Leeds). (ITALY)

42763 Pte. Holden, Lawrence., llth Bn.. (Leeds). (ITALY)

37451 Pte. (U./C.) McGeever, Thomas., llth Bn. (Leeds). (ITALY)

26189 Pte. (A. /Cpl.) Newbould, Sydney., lOth Bn. (ITALY)

57495 Pte. Pearce, Ernest. Arthur., llth Bn. (Amersham). (ITALY)

21508 Pte.. (L./C.) Quinlan, James.. llth Bn. .(Leeds). (ITALY)

52695 Pte. (L./C) Wiles, Henry. William., llth Bn. (Barnsbury). . (ITALY)

I tried looking through available service records for these chaps online for clues to no avail.

My question is - is there anything else you could add about his specific action - his MM relates to 2 incidents - one for capturing 6 enemy MGs on the 27thand the next day for finding two enemy lying in a trench and forcing them to lead his section to an enemy position whereupon he captured more of the enemy. Clues as to which company he was serving with would be great.

Have I reached the end of the line?

Many thanks,

Jason

[Guest]

Hi Adam,

I realise this is an old post, but my granddad was also awarded the Military Medal for bravery in action during the battle of the Piave in October 1918. He was originally with the 11th Bn WY Regt but in Dec 1916 was transferred to the Machine Gun Corps (latterly the 23rd Machine Gun Bn). His medal is still in the possession of the family and his award is listed in a supplement to the Edinburgh Gazette of March 31 1919.

I wondered whether you had any more success in obtaining further details of the battle, or potential sources ?

Thanks hopefully

Mike