Retreat and Rearguard 1914 by Jerry Murland

Author:Jerry Murland
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781844685899
Publisher: Pen and Sword
Published: 2012-10-24T16:00:00+00:00

After taking a photograph of his luncheon party, Pennyman, as the senior subaltern, led his Borderers on to St Quentin, arriving tired and footsore at 4.00 pm where a less than friendly staff officer sent them onto Ham where, he said, the 5th Division was reported to be assembling. It was dark when they got to Ham only to find yet another staff directive to continue a further 3 miles to Muille and in the darkness they lost Gilbert Amos who had gone off looking for food. Continuing without him, the party marched at long last into Muille where Pennyman calculated they had done 35 miles since leaving Le Cateau.

L Battery had been on the road since 4.30 am and had trekked slowly towards St Quentin. Jack Giffard noted the road was strewn for about 5 miles ‘with howitzer and gun ammunition, small arms ammunition and every description of stores, harnesses etc all abandoned’ all belonging to XXXIV Brigade RFA. It was not a sight which gladdened the eyes of the horse artillery men, rivalry there may be between the horse and field artillery but this visible evidence of destruction was beyond all that. L Battery was covering the retirement of the 5th Division which was ‘just about done in’ and had collected numerous stragglers who were now ensconced on the battery’s horse drawn wagons and limbers. Reaching St Quentin, Giffard noted it was very congested with ‘every description of troops and transport’ and it was with some relief they moved out to positions south of the town to cover any pursuit by the Germans.

The protective screen between St Quentin and the advancing Germans was the responsibility of the remnants of de Lisle’s 2 Cavalry Brigade. The command of this scratch force fell to Major Tom Bridges of 4/Dragoon Guards who had been brought down during the cavalry charge at Audregnies and had only managed to avoid capture by jumping through the window of the cottage in which he had taken refuge. His rearguard was made up of two squadrons of his own regiment and some of 5/Lancers; their orders were to hold off the Germans long enough to allow the British to get clear of the town. As the number of stragglers coming in from the Le Cateau direction dried up, Bridges moved into St Quentin to find there were still a large number of men scattered around the town, sleeping on pavements and in gutters. Captain Arthur Osburn who was riding with Bridges’ rearguard, found the Grand Place, ‘thronged with British infantrymen standing in groups or wandering about in an aimless fashion, most of them without either packs or rifles.’ It soon emerged that two battalion commanders from Brigadier General Aylmer Haldane’s 10 Infantry Brigade, having decided their men – and perhaps themselves as well – were unable to march any further, had attempted unsuccessfully to find a train to get them away by rail.

When this failed and faced with the imminent arrival of the Germans, Lieutenant Colonels

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