1st Bn King's Royal Rifle Corps

[Greyhound]

One of my relatives was KIA on 10 September 1914.

NAYLOR, HARRY THOMAS

United Kingdom

Private

King's Royal Rifle Corps

"D" Coy. 1st Bn.

Age: 19

Date of Death: 10/09/1914

Service No: 10641

Son of Lt. Col. H. W. and Elizabeth Harriet Naylor, of "Queensway,'' Gerrards Cross, Bucks.

Grave/Memorial Reference: II. C. 1.

Cemetery: MONTREUIL-AUX-LIONS BRITISH CEMETERY

I assume he was killed somewhere in the Meaux/Soissons/Chateau Thierry triangle. Does anyone have any KRRC records which might narrow it down at all?

[stiletto_33853]

Greyhound,

From "British Battalions in France and Belgium 1914"

Moved forward via Rebais, La Bone and La Tretoire to La Noue (8th).

Crossed the Marne at Charly (9th) then to Coupru.

Moved via Marigny to Hautesvesnes (10th). Enemy engaged on Vierley-Chezy road. War Diary records that the Germans surrendered after one and a half hours fighting having lost some 80 killed and wounded. 450 prisoners taken. A report of the action published in the 'Kings Royal Rifle Corps Chronicle records that the Battalion strength was 1150 and that for the enemy, a German rearguard, about 1200 with a battery of field guns. Casualties - 10 other ranks killed, Lieutenants R.H. Woods. A.L. Bonham-Carter, Second Lieutenants H.W. Butler, R.A Banon and 60 other ranks wounded. Bivouacked at Chevillon.

Andy

[BottsGreys]

Greyhound:

I have a copy of The Annals of the KRRC which contains the text of the 'KRRC Chronicle' report on this action referred to in Andy's book. If you are interested...

Chris

[Greyhound]

Thanks, Andy, that's a great help. And the light casualty count helps to explain why his is one of the few identified graves in a wholly 1914 cemetery. It was of course long before they started recording burials.

Chris - yes please! That would be marvellous, if it's not too much trouble.

Thanks guys!

This is Harry.

[BottsGreys]

Greyhound:

Thanks for sharing the pic. Always good to be able to put a face to a name.

Chris

From The Annals of the K.R.R.C. Vol. V (The Great War), by Maj. General Sir Steuart Hare:

Pges. 33-35 (Hautesvesnes).

"On September 10 the 6th Infantry Brigade formed the advanced guard of the 2nd Division when it came upon a German rearguard in position. The fight which followed is best described in the words of Lieut.-Colonel E. Northey, commanding the 1st Battalion as related by him in the 'Chronicle' of 1915:

'This Battalion at that time 1,500 strong, was part of a force which suddenly in the grey morning of September 10 came upon a German rearguard of about 1,200 infantry, with a battery of field guns. The leading battalion of the British Brigade, the Berkshires, was detailed to remain on the north-east side of

the villlage of Hautesvesnes, where it had just arrived, and guard the right flank from another German force

reported in that direction. The 1st Battalion of the 60th, which was the second battalion in the column, was ordered at once to attack the enemy, who had now halted in a very good fire position along a winding, sunken road, about three-quarters of a mile north-west of the village of Hautesvesnes. From behind the

village the Battalion was very quickly deployed; C Company, Captain Willan, was the first.

A battery of artillery was brought into action west of the village, and C Company deployed in front and to the right of the battery, immediately coming under a very heavy rifle and machine-gun fire, as well as getting most of the German shrapnel, aimed at our artillery, but short. The advance had to be made across

open stubble fields with no cover at all, the first platoon (Lieutenant Bonham-Carter's) deployed, losing 4

killed and 11 wounded, including its officer.

At this time the enemy's fire had not been got under at all, but very soon B Company, Captain Maclachlan, DSO, was deployed from a sunken road to the right of C Company, with A Company on the left, under Captain Makins, MVO. After an hour the effect of our fire began to tell, and the three companies advanced

most gallantly from 1,100 yards to 700 yards from the enemy, gaining complete superiority of fire.

D Company, Captain Bradford, was put in to thicken up our line, and with half a battalion of the South Staffords coming up on our left and half the KIng's Liverpool Regiment on the right, the Germans, who had already shown some signs of surrendering, put up white flags all along the line. Colonel Northey ordered the whole line to advance to the assault, and the enemy surrendered. This fight was an extraordinary proof

of the good results of our careful training in fire direction, orders, control, and discipline. Our Riflemen shot

steadily, when and where they were told, with such effective results that we killed or wounded about 150 Germans and captured 550. About 500 others got over the ridge behind, and were taken by another of our columns moving parallel with us.

The co-operation betwen the Riflemen and the Artillery was splended. The senior German officer, when asked why they had surrendered when they still had plenty of ammunition, told us that our fire was so accurate that they could not move up or down the road nor off it, nor could they put up their heads to aim their fire: thus indeed the object of all our training, to keep the enemy's heads down, was achieved with most valuable results.

The losses to the Battalion, who in this fight so well lived up to their glorious traditions, were 4 officers wounded, 10 NCOs and Riflemen killed, and 60 wounded, not a great price to pay for the annihilation

of a whole enemy's battalion.

The fire fight, in which we obtained complete superiority in an hour and a half, was between about equal forces, a battalion and a battery on each side, but our battery had six guns to the Germans' four. The enemy was so pinned to their ground by the accuracy of our fire that when we advanced they were powerless. Such episodes as this went a long way to give our army that feeling of absolute ascendency, arm for arm, over the Germans, whose only advantages over us from the beginning have accrued from their greater numbers and superiority in guns of large caliber.'

(Resume Hare):

The casualties of the Battalion in this action were: killed, 10 other ranks; wounded, 4 officers, Lieutenant and Adjutant R.H. Woods, Lieutenant A.L. Bonham-Carter, 2nd Lieutenants H.W. Butler and R.A. Banon, 60 other ranks; mising, 5 other ranks.

This was a proud day for the 1st Battalion, and a proud day for their Commanding Officer. There is no greater moment in a soldier's life than when what he has learnt, and still more what he has thought out for himself, in peace-time training, is put to the proof and stands the test."

[Greyhound]

This means so much to me.

When I first became aware of Harry’s death, I had been to the Somme/Flanders/Arras areas a few times, and knowing how early in the war he had been killed, I knew that his grave must be far from there. This was back when you needed to write to CWGC for information, and then I didn’t even know his regiment, so they couldn't tell me anything. No one in the extended family could help, as they have all lost touch with Harry’s branch, and all leads to find them failed.

Eventually I rang CWGC, reasoning that there were comparatively few casualties in 1914, and I was lucky with the timing, as they had just computerised the records. And I found an opportunity to visit Harry’s grave.

How unlucky was he to be one of the few killed in this action?

The losses to the Battalion, who in this fight so well lived up to their glorious traditions, were 4 officers wounded, 10 NCOs and Riflemen killed, and 60 wounded, not a great price to pay for the annihilation of a whole enemy's battalion.

That must have been small comfort to Harry's mother, who was my great-aunt. She lived to be 95, and I remember her well from my childhood as being a spry old lady with a mischievous sense of fun. I had no sense of the tragedies she had suffered. (Her two youngest children, little girls of 4 and 6, had died respectively of meningitis and diphtheria, one on the ship en route to India, and one on arrival there.) The loss of Harry so early in the war must have been a bitter blow, coupled with the worry over his brother, who thankfully survived the war.

I never dreamed I would ever know any more about Harry's fate. As a newbie here, I continue to be amazed at the knowledge and kindness on this forum, so freely given. I only wish I could contribute more myself.

I thank you.

[BottsGreys]

I think all here on the Forum would agree that the information you just passed on about your spirited great aunt and your devoted search for Harry is, in fact, quite a contribution.

Chris

[stiletto_33853]

Greyhound,

Glad that Chris and I were able to help you a little in your search. Thanks for the picture and details of your great aunt.

Andy

[Greyhound]

Thank you.

One other thing about Aunt Bess. She donated the War Memorial in the village of her birth in Harry's memory. It is a plaque in the church. As an Army family, they were to some extent "of no fixed abode", and in this way she ensured that he was remembered on a memorial.