Page 143 - The Royal Lancers Chapka 2018

REGIMENTAL JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL LANCERS (QUEEN ELIZABETHS’ OWN) 141
The medals of Arthur Morton Grenfell. As well as his DSO he was twice Mentioned in Despatches in 1916, the first for a period commanding the 9th Lancers dismounted company in the trenches near Loos in early 1916 and the second for his work on the Somme up to 15 September (Regimental Headquarters, Royal Lancers)
they had had an order to retire, that they had lost their officers and been heavily shelled by our artillery.
I sent back to the Cavalry to post 50 men on the left flank about the Guillemont-Ginchy road with orders to arrest the retirement and I did the same on the right flank. I went forward and could not see any movement to justify the retirement. I therefore decided to take the situ- ation in hand. I went down the line and told the infantry I had posted the Cavalry in their rear with orders to shoot the first men who retired from the trench. I had just heard that Flers had been taken and was afraid the Guards might find their situation compromised. They seemed to have edged off a bit to the left. It took about 20 mins to get the line reorganised. I put part of the line under a Sergeant of the Buffs another under Lieut Ainslie and another under Private Wates 9L. About 1315 I intercepted a message from Brigadier 71st Brigade as enclosed. I sent him back word by his orderly that I would advance the line at 1.30. Lieutenant Gisborne and I went forward and the men followed well. The left flank advanced along the railway. I led the centre half right so as to get in touch with the right. The enemy’s barrage was not very severe and we got through to a forward line of trenches about 450 yds. I got in touch with the Shropshires on my right and could see what I took to be Guards patrols on my left. As I did not know the objectives and did not know where to find the 71st Brigade – I had stupidly sent back their orderly – I could not communicate my position to them and get our barrage lifted. We could have got on except for this. I decided that to make sure of the Guards right I posted a machine gun detach- ment I had picked up on our left. I estimated we moved forward with about 400 men but spread over a large front. My own force had dwin- dled down to 32 men. I went forward to reconnoitre and found some wounded officers and men in shell holes. I attended to several of these and promised them I would try and get them in that night. I came back and collected some food and took it out to them.
I was rather bothered by a sniper and I regret that whilst I was taking out a stretcher bearer party to bring in an officer the sniper got me. The stretcher bearers behaved extremely well and insisted on carrying me out though the stretcher was hit as I was put onto it. I am afraid we didn’t do much good but I had no means of finding out what the infan- try scheme was or communicating with either the GOC Brigade or the aeroplanes and I thought my immediate job was to protect the ground between us and the Guards.
I should like to bring before your notice the gallant way in which Lieu- tenant Gisborne behaved. He kept absolutely cool, appreciated the posi- tion quickly and showed an utter disregard for danger ... I had to send him down the line several times and his conduct did much to reassure the infantry. Lieut Ainslie IV Hussars also behaved extremely well and Private Wates of the 9L. This man has splendid courage and is a good leader in the field ... he would make a good officer and after his behav- iour on Friday I would gladly have him in my squadron as such. I am afraid my leg is badly shattered. The bone is not broken but the devil evidently had a flat nosed bullet and it is paralysed for the moment. I should like in conclusion to thank you for your many kindnesses and I hope I may soon recover and serve under you again.
Grenfell’s earlier reports show that he had gone forward to ob- serve a British attempt to capture Ginchy on 6th September, when the Germans had counter-attacked several times. That must have been in his mind when he made the decision to commit his men to action. In the event the Germans did not counter-attack on the afternoon of the 15th, but had they done so the fears expressed in his report might have been realised. By deploying the cavalry as he did and providing leadership for the infantry, Grenfell ensured that they did not fall back beyond their start line and were in a better defensive position.
In a letter to his wife, also on the 17th, Grenfell wrote ‘I had to proceed back along the road I had been busy making and the men were awfully nice (and) much upset at my being knocked out.’ He spent many months recovering and never returned to France. Five other men of the 9th Lancers were wounded that day and one was killed, Private Charles Edward Ridges, aged 22, who is listed on the Thiepval Memorial. Of the other men mentioned, Lieutenant C.B. Ainslie and Private F.H Wates were gazetted MC and MM respectively in December 1916, and Wates was eventually commissioned into the regiment.
The Quadrilateral was finally taken on 18th September, when nine machine guns were captured. By then the possibility of a cavalry breakthrough in that part of the front had faded, and attention shifted to the west where the dismounted party was again present during an assault, near Courcelette on 21st – 2nd October. By the time my grandfather returned to the mounted regiment in November the 1st Cavalry Division Dismounted Party had suffered over 100 casualties, and earned high praise. As this account suggests, their contribution to the battle of the Somme was considerable and deserves wider recognition.
I am very grateful to Angela Tarnowski of the 9th/12th Royal Lancers Museum; to Stephanie Rolt and Nicola Wood of Queen Mary, Uni- versity of London Archives; to my mother Ann Verrinder Gibbins, her brother David Verrinder and their cousin Irene Joan Parker, respective- ly the daughter and son of Tom and the daughter of Edgar Verrinder; and to Lieutenant Colonel Patrick Lort-Phillips, Arthur Morton Grenfell’s grandson. The war diaries quoted here are in the National Archives, and Basil Henriques’ accounts are in his memoir The Indis- cretions of a Warden (1937) and in a manuscript in the University of Southampton Special Collections (MS 132 AJ 195/3/9).
DJLG
Panoramic view of the battlefield between Ginchy (left) and Leuze Wood (right), taken from the line of the railway track
in the area where Major Grenfell was wounded. The site of the Quadrilateral lies under the arrow some 600 yards away