General ‘Boy': The Life of Lieutenant General Sir Frederick Browning

by Richard Mead

  During June 1917 the Guards Division returned to Ypres and on 2 July the 2nd Battalion relieved 3rd Battalion Coldstream Guards in the Boesinghe sector north of the town along the Ypres–Yser Canal. Preparations were made for the next great offensive, Haig’s plan to drive forward from the salient, capture the strategic railway which ran north to Ostend and establish the Allies along a line from Courtrai to Bruges and then on to Zeebrugge. This would become known as the Third Battle of Ypres, or more popularly Passchendaele, and was to last for more than three months.

  1 Guards Brigade was now commanded by Jeffreys. Its role was to hold back until the other two brigades in the division had captured the first three objectives and then pass through to take the fourth. The attack began before dark on 31 July and was highly successful. Notwithstanding the driving rain turning the ground into a morass, the first three objectives were taken and 2nd Grenadiers duly passed through with the rest of the brigade to take the fourth objective, some one and three-quarters of a mile from the start point. Resistance intensified and casualties mounted, but the new line was held. Only seventeen out of twenty-eight officers in the battalion participated in this part of the battle and Boy was not among them.1 Two officers were killed and four wounded, a relatively modest casualty list by the standards of the war. On 2 August the battalion was relieved and moved back into reserve.

  The battalion spent much of August training for the next major attack and by the end of the month was employed carrying material up to the front, suffering a number of casualties from shelling. During September it came back into the line again in a notoriously marshy section overlooked by the enemy, before reverting to its tiresome duty of providing human pack animals. At the end September Jeffreys was appointed to command 19 Division and was succeeded by de Crespigny at 1 Guards Brigade. A new Commanding Officer arrived at 2nd Battalion in the shape of Lieutenant Colonel Guy Rasch, who was to take it through to the Armistice. As Adjutant of the 1st Battalion Rasch had fought at First Ypres, from which he had emerged as the only captain alive and unwounded, with one lieutenant, two second lieutenants and one hundred men, who were reconstituted temporarily as a single company. With a DSO and promotion to major he had been posted to the 3rd Battalion as second-in-command in 1916, serving on the Somme and in the first part of Third Ypres, prior to his transfer to the 2nd Battalion.

  The next attack by the Guards Division took it forward along an extension of the same axis of advance from Boesinghe, with the objectives of crossing a marshy stream called the Broembeek and then taking and holding the southern edge of the Houlthurst Forest. This time 1 Guards Brigade shared the lead, with the 2nd Grenadiers in the van and Boy accompanying Rasch as Acting Adjutant. The attack began at 0520 hrs on 9 October. The condition of the Broembeek gave grounds for concern after heavy overnight rain, but patrols found it fordable and it was crossed with less difficulty than anticipated. The Germans were initially taken by surprise and their defences overrun, but the attacking companies were now exposed and heavy shelling caused casualties, although their objective was reached. The advance was deeply unpleasant for the troops because of the nature of the ground, deep in viscous mud after further heavy rain and pitted with shell holes, but it was a successful operation in a battle which advanced the front line by a meagre four miles. A further bulge was created at Passchendaele itself, where the rate of attrition had been appalling, but this did not result in the major breakthrough for which Haig had hoped.

  After its relative success, the Guards Division had a month’s respite and the 2nd Battalion was sent to the area between St Omer and Calais, where it trained extensively. On November 11 the whole division began to move south to join what would be the BEF’s next major operation, a surprise attack towards Cambrai, with the objective of disrupting a major centre of German communications. For the first time, tanks would be used in quantity2. The surprise worked and Sir Julian Byng’s Third Army poured forward on 20 November, the tanks in the van, overrunning the German lines and forcing the enemy back in confusion. Within two days a salient had been created, ten miles wide and six deep, but there was still no decisive breakthrough.

  The Guards had been given a follow-up role and it was 23 November before the 2nd Battalion entered the line at the furthest point of the advance near Camaing. Following an abortive advance by 2 Guards Brigade, it was relieved on 28 November and marched back to new billets in the village of Metz. Two days later the Germans launched a major counter-attack, both on the salient and further south. Shortly after 0900 hrs on 30 November Rasch was ordered by de Crespigny to move at short notice with the rest of the brigade towards Gouzeaucourt, south of the salient, which was reported to be in the hands of the Germans. As the guardsmen advanced, their movements were hampered for a while by retreating British soldiers who had given up their positions. The 2nd Battalion acted as the brigade reserve and was not required in an action which saw Gouzeaucourt successfully recaptured, but early on the following morning it was given new orders, to take the strategically important feature of Gauche Wood, south-east of the village.

  The four companies assembled on a sunken track behind a railway embankment on the outskirts of Gouzeaucourt. At 0640 hrs they advanced in two lines of two platoons each, with No. 1 and No. 3 Companies in the van, followed at a distance of 250 yards by No. 2 under Boy and No. 4 under Lieutenant Guy Westmacott. Twenty tanks had been allocated to the brigade, but these failed to appear and the attack went in without them. The plan was simply to rush the wood over the open grassland in front, and in the first minutes it worked well, with enemy machine gun fire largely going overhead. Once the Grenadiers had reached the wood, however, casualties began to mount very fast, largely from snipers concealed amongst the trees. Although the enemy machine-gun positions were captured and the Germans forced back through the wood in hand-to-hand bayonet fighting, one officer was killed and seven wounded, one of whom later died, the casualties including the commanders of the two leading companies. This left Westmacott and Boy responsible for the whole battalion front.

  Westmacott took the right flank, moving out of the wood with his own company and two platoons of No. 2 Company in order to dominate the small valley that lay between it and the village of Villers Guislain and to fend off the German counterattacks which were now mounted from that direction. As the senior officer, Westmacott ordered Boy to reorganize the remainder of the force, which was still in the wood and engaged at close quarters with the Germans. Shortly afterwards another officer was wounded and only three remained of the twelve who set out: Boy on his own in the wood, and Westmacott with Lieutenant Loftus on the flank. Westmacott and Boy then agreed that the latter should take up a position just beyond the forward edge of the wood, which proved a wise move as shortly afterwards the Germans shelled it intensively.

  The two officers got their positions thoroughly dug in, placing seventy men in reserve to strengthen whichever of them required it. During the course of the day the Grenadiers became intermingled with the dismounted cavalry of the 18th Bengal Lancers,3 who had joined the front from the right and were now able to bolster the line of defence alongside the guardsmen, together with some Lewis gunners from the missing tanks, all of which had been knocked out on their way forward. Although the wood itself continued to be heavily shelled, the position was now stable and further reinforcements began to appear during the afternoon in the shape of a company of 2nd Battalion Coldstream Guards, who brought with them extra ammunition, and a detachment from the Canadian cavalry regiment, Lord Strathcona’s Horse. During the night the battalion was eventually relieved by a company of the 3rd Battalion Grenadier Guards and the survivors moved back exhausted to Gouzeaucourt. In addition to the officers, 151 NCOs and other ranks were killed, wounded and missing.

  Gauche Wood was an important engagement for the Grenadiers, generally regarded as a heroic achievement against the odds, the GOC III Corps describing it as a ‘very fine attack … worthy of the highest traditions of the Guards.’ It established a reputation for
Boy within the regiment as a fighting soldier which was to last his entire life. It also earned both him and Westmacott4 the Distinguished Service Order, an unusual, albeit by no means unprecedented, award for those of the rank of lieutenant. Boy’s citation in the London Gazette read:

  For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty. He took command of three companies whose officers had all become casualties, reorganized them, and proceeded to consolidate. Exposing himself to very heavy machine-gun and rifle fire, in two hours he had placed the front line in a strong state of defence. The conduct of this officer, both in the assault and more especially afterwards, was beyond all praise, and the successful handing over of the front to the relieving unit as an entrenched and strongly fortified position was entirely due to his energy and skill.

  Congratulations on the award were received by Freddie and Nancy from many friends and acquaintances and one letter in particular gave a great deal of pleasure. It came from Clive Wigram,5 the Assistant Private Secretary to King George V and a personal friend of both Freddie and his brother Monty:

  York Cottage

  Sandringham

  Norfolk

  3rd January 1918

  My dear Freddie

  In a submission that came to the King this morning, containing the names of Officers who have been given ‘immediate awards’ in the field, is included the name of your son for the DSO.

  His Majesty was delighted to see how well your son had done, and heartily congratulates you and Mrs Browning on his fine achievement, a statement of which I enclose.

  It is a good performance for a Lieutenant in these days to get a DSO, as this decoration is only given to the Junior Ranks for very special services; in fact it would have been a VC in any other campaign.

  I am so glad to see that my Regiment, the 18th Lancers, was with him, I believe that they did very well, two boys in one Squadron were decorated, one with the DSO and one with the Military Cross.

  Yours ever

  Clive Wigram

  For Boy the war continued as before, but he had been profoundly changed by the experience of Gauche Wood. Although he had by that time been on active service for a total of seventeen months and had seen a lot of fighting, this was the first time he had been so exposed at close quarters in such a tense situation, where all depended on him. The confusion and carnage of this battle stayed with him for the rest of his life in the shape of recurrent nightmares, from which he would wake up shouting. For the time being, however, there was nothing for it but to get on with the job.

  Less than a month after Gauche Wood he was promoted to acting captain and confirmed in command of No. 1 Company. Early in the New Year there was a reorganization which resulted in the creation of a fourth Guards brigade to serve outside the Guards Division, with the result that that each existing brigade was reduced to three battalions. A system was established where at any moment one battalion would be in the front line, one in support and one in reserve. 1 Guards Brigade’s frontage was now astride the River Scarpe, with the rear battalion in Arras. Down by the river the trenches were particularly difficult to dig as the water table was encountered after a few feet, making the line itself distinctly unpleasant at that point. Other than the occasional raid, at which Boy was by now an old hand, nothing of great significance happened until the last week of March 1918.

  On 21 March, General Ludendorff launched a massive attack in heavy fog on the British positions on either side of the Somme, with the objective of breaking through to the Channel coast and separating the BEF from the French Armies to the south. Against the twenty-six divisions of Byng’s Third and Sir Hubert Gough’s Fifth Armies he mustered a total of sixty-three divisions. In the face of such unequal odds the line gave way and a retreat began. By 25 March, it seemed that a total collapse was imminent as Bapaume and Peronne fell and by the end of the month Amiens was threatened. Foch was placed in supreme command of the Allied forces, with a mandate to coordinate operations, and French reinforcements were rushed to the front. By 5 April it was clear that Foch’s actions had succeeded in stabilizing the position and that the immediate crisis was at an end. The German offensive petered out, but an enormous amount of territory had been lost.

  Rumours of the German offensive reached the 2nd Battalion on the first day, but it was only three days later that it received orders to move, taking up position south of Arras with the rest of the Guards Division and covering the withdrawal of battalions from 31 Division. The 2nd Battalion was positioned astride the Arras to Albert railway, with Boy’s No. 1 Company and No. 2 Company on the east side and the other two companies on the west. The first German troops appeared on 27 March, advancing in twos and threes rather than their customary close formation, which made them more difficult to pick off. Nevertheless, they were held by steady and accurate rifle and machine-gun fire, with Boy’s company managing to enfilade the advancing troops as they moved across the British front, wreaking significant damage.

  The first attack was thwarted, but the Germans tried again the following day, with the two companies east of the railway being singled out for especially heavy shelling prior to the infantry advance. Once again the defence was solid and the Germans abandoned their efforts in favour of concentrating further south. As the Grenadiers would learn later, they were positioned on the far right flank of the German offensive, with the heaviest fighting taking place twenty or more miles away as the Germans attempted to reach Amiens. On 31 March the 2nd Battalion was relieved and went into reserve.

  In early April Ludendorff switched his attention to Flanders, with an initially successful attack south of Armentières, some way from the Guards Division’s position in the new line of trenches which had been formed between Arras and Compiègne. The pressure off, a routine was established for the individual battalions of five days in the front line and two in reserve. Intensive shelling continued, but no further attacks were mounted by the Germans, although they were expected every day. By 6 June,6 the situation had relaxed sufficiently for the battalion to leave the line completely for three weeks training, during which Rasch instituted a platoon competition in activities such as grenade throwing, bayonet fighting and musketry and there was even time for a divisional horse show on 22 June, at which the battalion won the cup.

  On 29 June Boy took a party of men in buses to Hesdin, the HQ of Third Army, where they mounted a Guard of Honour for their Colonel, the Duke of Connaught, on the following day. Boy’s own standards were by now extremely high and the onlookers refused to believe that the soldiers had just come out of the line and had not been brought over from England specifically for the purpose. General Byng sent a message that their turnout, bearing, marching and handling of arms were beyond all criticism. For the Grenadiers, this was an indication of things to come from the young officer.

  In early July the 2nd Battalion returned to the same area of the line. The only change to the normal routine was the arrival of a number of American officers and men, who were attached to obtain experience, prior to moving on to join their country’s forces in the Meuse-Argonne sector. At the end of August the battalion participated in one of a number of actions which had begun earlier that month on what Ludendorff described as ‘the Black Day of the German Army’, when the outer defence line of Amiens was retaken for the first time since early April. This was a prelude to the series of operations which began in late September and which were to bring an end to the war. Boy was to be intimately involved, but at a level far removed from that of an infantry company.

  From June 1915 to August 1939, Boy spent his entire career on regimental duty with the Grenadiers, with only two postings away from the regiment. The second and longer of these was the four years at Sandhurst in the 1920s. The first and much shorter was from September to November 1918, when he was detached to act as ADC to the GOC-in-C Fourth Army, Sir Henry Rawlinson. Rawlinson had experienced mixed fortunes during the war. He commanded IV Corps at the First Battle of Ypres in 1914 and then at Neuve Chapelle and Loos in 1915. Never on good
terms with Sir John French, he was pleased when the latter was replaced by Haig, a move which saw Rawlinson placed in command of Fourth Army for the Somme battle. The disaster there, however, did his standing no good and he was sidelined for nearly eighteen months.

  At the end of March 1918 Rawlinson was brought back in haste to organize the reinforcements which were assembled to prevent Ludendorff’s breakthrough at Amiens. His role in stopping the German advance rehabilitated his reputation and it was the attack by his Fourth Army on 8 August which caused Ludendorff’s ‘Black Day’. For the rest of August and throughout September he kept pressing, making some ground every time he attacked, but saving his main strength for the concerted Allied offensive which would be mounted at the end of the month. This involved four major operations, which kicked off on consecutive days. On 26 September the US First Army and French Fourth Army attacked in the Meuse-Argonne sector. On 27 September the British First and Third Armies began their push between Epéhy and Lens, south of Arras. On 28 September the British Second Army, the French Sixth Army and the Belgian Army launched their divisions along the front from Armentières to the sea. Finally on 29 September the French First Army and Rawlinson’s Fourth Army, reinforced by two American divisions, drove forward from the Somme.

  Boy reported to Rawlinson on 12 September, remaining with him until 4 November, by which time it was abundantly clear that the war was won. Quite why he had been selected for the role is not known, but it may be significant that Rawlinson was both an Old Etonian and a former Guards officer, having transferred to the Coldstream from the King’s Royal Rifle Corps in 1889. He had also been a protégé of Roberts, on whose staff he had served in South Africa and may have known Freddie. Like most field commanders, he preferred ADCs who had seen action and Boy, whose background was similar to his own and who by this time was already showing a capacity for organization, would probably have suited him very well. It was a very short term appointment, however, and Boy was more than likely filling in for another officer who was sick or wounded. He wrote to Grace: ‘My new job is very comfortable, but no use for a soldier, but its doing me good to be away from things for a bit.’7