The 2nd Suffolks suffered many casualties simply because their positions were so close to their ‘protective guns’. Maj. E.H. Jones in charge of 37 (H) Battery was wounded just before 07.00 hours. After 10.00 hours 37 (H) Battery along with XVth Brigade began to shell the German infantry who were advancing on the 2nd Suffolks and 2nd Manchesters of the 14th Brigade. The battery inflicted many casualties among the enemy infantry who came forward in small groups and who sometimes used corn-stooks for cover. Later the batteries began to run out of ammunition and although they had been told that they were to fight to the finish, the order was changed at about 13.30 hours to one ‘of retrieving the guns and of leaving the battlefield’. The guns, however, did not withdraw until almost all their ammunition had been used up and they could no longer sustain action. It became quite obvious that it was only a matter of time before the British would be forced to retire. The artillery units were the first to begin to leave the field as the result of a further order from the brigade major. This was at about 13.45 hours when 80 and 37 (H) were still firing. All morning and early afternoon they had behaved in a heroic fashion and one by one the guns were brought out. On the other side of the Reumont road were 52, 123 and 124 Batteries who had been especially close to the front line. It was decided to abandon the guns and to take out their breech-blocks and smash their sights.
Of XVth Brigade’s twenty-four guns fourteen were eventually brought out and the teams of the 80 and 37 (H) were among the last to leave the field having moved forward in order to take away the last five field guns and four Howitzers.
Capt. D. Reynolds of the 37th searched for spare limber teams in order to move two of the Howitzers away before they fell into enemy hands. However no such teams were available so he put the guns out of action and withdrew with his men down the road to Reumont which was about 11⁄2 miles to the south-west. Once there he did find two limbers and promptly asked permission from the CRA to call for volunteers to rescue the remaining Howitzers which had been left behind. He was accompanied by Lt. E.G. Earle, who was already wounded, Lt. W.D. Morgan, Drivers Cobey, Luke and Drain, along with another team. The horses were harnessed in pairs with one driver for each pair.
Capt. Reynolds and the two other officers led the two limbers up the road from Reumont, at first at a slow trot, towards the two remaining Howitzers. As the teams under Earle and Morgan, with Luke as ‘Wheel’, drew near to the positions they were ordered to gallop. The artillerymen stretched themselves forward and with their limbers bouncing moved right up to the astonished German infantry who were moving in on three sides of the position, and in the process overwhelming the 2nd Suffolks on the right flank. The limbers moved through a wall of shrapnel although the CRA gave orders for a brief battery ceasefire for a short time while the guns were rescued. When Driver Luke with great skill was bringing Morgan’s limber out with one of the guns, the centre driver, Ben Cobey, between Luke and Drain was shot dead. Cobey’s whip was flung up into the air but Reynolds galloping alongside managed to catch it and urged the horses on. This left Drain, Luke and Capt. Reynolds along with two other artillerymen on the limber. They charged past the Germans to safety. The British onlookers were incredulous at the sheer speed and audacity of the operation, as the retrieving of the guns appeared to be a hopeless task. The wounded Lt. Earle was not as successful as Morgan; having hooked in with the other gun, he only managed to get 50 yards away before his two centre horses were killed. Earle and Sgt. Bower quickly unhooked the centre and lead horses but by then the two Wheelers were shot and not surprisingly the Howitzer had to be abandoned. Bower helped Earle, who had been wounded again, this time in the eye and forehead, back to safety at Reumont.
Only four of the eighteen officers in the Brigade were left unwounded. Maj. E.H. Jones, commander of 37 (H) Battery was wounded and also taken prisoner on the day. For their heroism Capt. Reynolds, Driver Luke (71787) and Driver Drain were all awarded the VC. Reynolds’ was gazetted on 16 November and that of the two Drivers on 25 November. Driver Cobey, who some thought should have been posthumously awarded with the VC, became the central subject of several artistic reconstructions of the famous incident. Lt. Earle was recommended for the VC but the War Office turned down the claim as he was ‘under the orders of a superior officer’, and instead he received the DSO. Sgt. Bower and Trumpeter S.F.G. Waldron both received the DCM. Throughout the day Waldron (the captain’s trumpeter) had carried on heroic work as the chief link between the battery guns and their limbers and ammunition. The wagon line was about 2,000 yards behind the gun position. Waldron remained at his post with German shells firing all around him and once took a horse up to the firing line through very heavy fire. During the day he was wounded, not surprisingly. Much later 37th (H) Battery was to be given the honorary title of ‘Le Cateau’, which they thoroughly deserved.
The battery continued the retreat from Mons, marching towards the town of St Quentin. Driver Drain wrote about the continuous marching in the heat which was very harsh for man and horse. This heat often killed the horses, some of whom just dropped down on the road while others became lame and had to be shot. Exhausted men also fell out on the march. They were 20 miles from Paris before the pushing back of the enemy began in early September.
On 9 September, the fourth day of the Battle of the Marne, Capt. Reynolds was at Pisseloup, just north of the River Marne, where he spotted a German battery which was holding up the advance. He ordered 37 (H) Battery to destroy it. This incident was included with his VC citation. A few days later, during the Battle of the Aisne the battery crossed over the River Aisne to the village of Bucy le Long as part of the artillery support to the 5th Division. Drain wrote of being billeted at a farm close to Soissons and on the 14th the guns fired all day. On the next day the battery advanced over the river using a pontoon bridge. The battery was in action for four days between Soissons and Missy and remained there until about 8 October when it went by train to Flanders to the north.
During this period Capt. Reynolds was seriously wounded in the side by shrapnel from a bullet which passed up to his chest and lodged there. After his recovery, Maj. Reynolds, as he had now become, was involved in training a new Howitzer battery which he was later to command. On 13 January he received his VC at Buckingham Palace.
In the First Battle of Ypres a section of 37 Battery was in action near Annequin and again on 24 April 1915, this time with the Canadians near Frezenberg. The Second Battle of Ypres had recently begun. A couple of days later the battery helped destroy the German infantry emerging from the Gravenstafel Ridge.
In December 1915, just before Christmas, the hearts of Reynolds and several of his men were affected by the explosion of an asphyxiating bomb near their positions. They seemed to recover but Reynolds died of septicaemia from gas poisoning on 23 February 1916 at the Duchess of Westminster’s Hospital in Le Touquet. He was buried at Etaples Military Cemetery, grave I, A, 20.
Douglas Reynolds was the son of Lt. Col. H.C. Reynolds and his wife, Eleanor. He was born in Clifton, Bristol on 20 September 1882. His mother was daughter of Wildman Goodwyn of the Indian Civil Service. The family home was Lansdown Road, Cheltenham, in a house named ‘Thorncliff’. Douglas Reynolds went to Cheltenham College as a day boy in September 1892 and later went into the military and civil side of the college. In 1898 he went on to the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich and was gazetted to the Royal Artillery at the end of the following year. Although he volunteered for the Boer War when it began, he did not get to South Africa until a few months before it ended. He served with the mounted infantry which was attached to the artillery. Later he served mainly in India where he was in charge of an ammunition column at Nowshera. He was a keen sportsman and an excellent shot. When war broke out he was in Ireland and immediately left for France with 37th Howitzer Battery. He was mentioned in despatches for gallantry during the operations in the last few days of August and again in 1915.
In January 1916 Reynolds’ son was born, shortly before his father died. Mrs
Reynolds remarried Maj. J.C. Bulteel DSO after the war. Her son joined the army himself in later years. He became a lieutenant but was posted missing in May 1940 during the Second World War.
Reynolds is commemorated at the family grave at St Peter’s church, Leckhampton, near Cheltenham. He is also commemorated at Cheltenham College and Cheltenham War Memorial. His name is also listed on the VC Memorial in the Royal Artillery Chapel, Woolwich.
His medals became part of the collection of Sir John Roper Wright of the Territorial Army. In the early 1940s Sir John presented them to the Royal Artillery.
J.H.C. DRAIN
Le Cateau, France, 26 August
Job Henry Charles Drain was born on 15 October 1895 and attended a Church of England school in Barking. He enlisted in Stratford on 27 August 1912 in order to escape unemployment. He served for seven years with the colours and five with the reserve. Two weeks into the war, on 17 August 1914, Drain sailed from Dublin with his battery, arriving at Le Havre on the 19th, where they rested for two days. Caught up in the retreat from Mons, the battery retired to Le Cateau where they camped at 2 a.m. the next morning before going into action at 3 a.m. on the 26th. It was during this period that the battery gained its Victoria Crosses. The retirement then continued in the afternoon. Drain and Luke were both decorated by the King in the field at Locon, France on 1 December 1914. His VC was announced on 25 November (LG). He was welcomed back to his home town of Barking and presented with a purse of gold, an illuminated address and a watch. The ceremonies took place at the municipal buildings and local park.
Drain went through the war without being wounded and became demobilized with the rank of sergeant on 28 August 1924. His father also served in the First World War.
Drain junior found employment difficult in civilian life and was a Whitehall messenger, then a fish porter at Billingsgate and later a London bus driver. In 1926 he went to court charged with a driving obstruction offence but the case was dismissed. On 5 October 1931 he was a special guest at Barking’s Charter Day Celebrations and was presented to Prince George, the Duke of Kent. He was wearing his bus driver’s uniform.
On 7 July 1956 he was photographed for The Sphere with F. Luke; both men wore civilian clothes and a long row of medals. They were described as ‘Old Contemptibles’ and had recently attended the VC Centenary Service at Westminster Abbey on 25 June.
Drain was a keen gardener and in time became a local celebrity, and Luke and Drain remained the best of friends. In 1983 Drain’s career was featured in an exhibition mounted by local library services on holders of the VC from Essex. The exhibition was a great success.
Drain died at home at 42 Greatfields Road, Barking, on 26 July 1975 at the age of seventy-nine and was buried in Ripplesdale Cemetery, plot U, grave 158. His widow Patricia was four years younger than her husband and had married him in 1919. The couple had two children. Apart from a headstone on his grave, Drain is commemorated in a number of ways: his name is included on the Royal Artillery Memorial in the chapel in Woolwich, he is remembered with a plaque on his last home, and also with a bronze statue on the Broadway in Barking, which was unveiled on 10 November 2009. His VC and medals are owned by Lord Ashcroft.
F. LUKE
Le Cateau, France, 26 August
Frederick Luke was the third man from 37th (H) Battery to win the Victoria Cross on 26 August. He was born on 29 September 1895 at Lockerley, near West Tytherley, Romsey, Hampshire. His father William Luke was a mill worker at Elwood Mill and his mother was named Kete. The family consisted of five brothers and eight sisters. Two of the sisters died in infancy. The Luke family lived at Top Green and Frederick went to Lockerley school. He was later employed as a farm worker at East Dean Farm and enlisted, when he was seventeen and under age, at Winchester in January 1913. He was only eighteen when he won the VC, which was announced on 25 September 1914 in The London Gazette. He served for the rest of the war, but was wounded and spent some time in hospital at Todmorden, where he met Jenny Husband, his future wife. After leaving hospital he was then transferred to D180 Battery RFA of 16th Division.
After the war he married Jenny on 4 April 1919 and they were to have one daughter and three sons. He later became a school janitor at the Glasgow High School for Boys. He was discharged from the army reserve in 1929. In the Second World War he joined up with the RAF regiment as a ground gunner. After the war he became a gauge and tool storeman with Weirs of Cathcart, Glasgow, and remained there until about 1960. His address in Glasgow was No. 208, Allison Road, G42.
In 1962 he was present at Le Cateau for a ceremony and service to mark the 48th anniversary of the Battle of Le Cateau. He was accompanied by Brig. Earle who received the DSO in 1914 in the same battle. Luke also received the Freedom of Le Cateau and was back in the French town two years later for the fiftieth anniversary along with the battery which had replaced the 37th (H) Battery. It had been re-named the 93 (Le Cateau) Battery as an honour and two troops had been named after Drain and Luke. Eventually Luke became the oldest man living to hold the VC. At a dinner held at Buckingham Palace for surviving VC winners it was Luke’s duty to present the First World War veterans to the Queen, and he regularly attended the various VC ceremonies. At the age of seventy-two in 1967 Luke resumed work for a short while, this time as a petrol-pump attendant. In an interview with the Scottish Newspaper in 1976 Luke said that when he and Drain were fighting together in the trenches near Bethune on 1 December 1914, a field officer informed them that the King wanted to see them. With no time to clean up they were pushed into the King’s inspection line in Locon. It was there that they were informed they were to receive the VC. The King told Luke not to lose his medal in the mud but to give it to his commanding officer to send it home. At a garden party in 1920 the King remembered Luke and recalled the incident.
In February 1981 Luke was invited to spend a week with the Le Cateau battery at Paderborn in Germany. The unit had become a part of 25th Field Regiment, Royal Artillery, and was commanded by Maj. Gen. Gerry Middleton. Luke was escorted by Sgt. Inglis who had been at Le Cateau in 1964. He fetched the elderly veteran from his Glasgow home and returned him there at the end of the week. During the visit a champagne lunch was laid on in Luke’s honour at Le Cateau, and at Paderborn he took the salute at a special parade in his honour. He was also introduced to the GOC of the 4th Division, Maj. Gen. Richard Vickers, who expressed the hope that ‘We would never have to go to war again.’ Luke’s reply was ‘Well, if you do and you need any help, just give me a call.’ During his stay with the battery Luke was entertained and also interviewed on Forces’ Radio. He participated in numerous photographic sessions and answered hundreds of questions. In the officers’ mess he was pictured under a dramatic painting reconstructing the famous deed at Le Cateau, painted by Terence Cuneo. Luke was described as a ‘bird like’ figure.
Frederick Luke died at his Glasgow home at No. 597 Castlemilk Road, Croftfoot, on 12 March 1983 at the age of eighty-seven. He was cremated at Linm Crematorium, Glasgow, on the 15th and his ashes scattered the next day in the crematorium garden. He had held the VC for a record breaking sixty-nine years. In 1969 a duplicate medal had been put into circulation by a fraudulent dealer. In September 1983 his VC Trio medals were listed by the London Stamp Exchange for £12,450. His VC and medals are in the collection of Lord Ashcroft. His name is commemorated on the VC memorial in the Royal Artillery Chapel in Woolwich. His medals are kept in the Imperial War Museum.
One has the distinct impression that Luke basked in the fame that his heroic action had brought him and that he had been spared to enjoy it all, unlike so many of his colleagues among the 1914 VC holders.
E.K. BRADBURY, G.T. DORRELL AND D. NELSON
Néry, 1 September
Capt. Bradbury
BSM Dorrell
Sgt. Nelson
After a short action at Mons the Allies retreated. The British were so exhausted when they reached Le Cateau that Gen. Sir H.L. Smith-Dorrien, commanding II Corps decided to stand and
fight. Douglas Haig, General Officer Commanding I Corps, believed the British should have pushed on and saved both men and equipment. But Smith-Dorrien knew his troops were exhausted and he also wanted to open up a gap between his troops and the German enemy which he was subsequently able to achieve. However, on 31 August, five days later, the gap was once more closing. After Le Cateau the BEF retreated towards the Marne and Paris. The 1st, 2nd and 4th Cavalry Brigades were acting as rearguard, and as left flank, to Smith-Dorrien’s II Corps.
On 1 September, a curious incident took place which is always described as the Affair of Néry.
On the afternoon of 31 August the cavalry division under Gen. Allenby was to the south-west of the forest of Compiègne and west of the town of Soissons, at a village called Verberies. Allenby himself was at the village of St Vaast to the north-west of the small village of Néry in which units of the 1st Cavalry Brigade were to billet, having journeyed from Choisy au Bac near Compiègne. It was reported that a large body of German cavalry was getting close but their division had moved further southwards. The French cavalry was retiring through the Compiègne Forest with the idea of billeting on the line of the River Autonne. Later they were ordered to move closer up to their Allies.
VCs of the First World War 1914 Page 9