This query was soon answered satisfactorily as Yate’s VC was confirmed in the second batch of the war. Out of twenty-nine awards of a VC proposed by Sir John French in the early months of the war, twenty-four were later confirmed. With hindsight it seems that the recommendation of the award for Maj. Yate should have been one of those rejected, as his reckless actions at Le Cateau achieved absolutely nothing.
A branch of the Yate family moved from Berkshire to Madeley Hall, Madeley, Telford, Shropshire in the middle of the eighteenth century.
Charles Allix Lavington Yate was the son of the vicar of Madeley, Prebendary, George Edward Yate and his wife Louise and was born at Ludwigolust on 14 March 1872. He was to be known as Cal throughout his life, this being an abbreviation of his initials.
Yate went to school at Weymouth College, where he remained until December 1890. In 1891 he went to the Royal Military College at Sandhurst and passed out in the ninth position of 1,100 candidates. After his two-year course, Yate was commissioned on 13 August 1892 and joined the 2nd King’s Own Light Infantry, then stationed in Bombay. Yate saw active service for the first time in the Tirah Expedition of 1897–8 on the North-West Frontier and was subsequently awarded a Medal with clasp. By this time he was a lieutenant and was made up to captain in 1899. Yate then moved to Mauritius where he studied for entrance to the Staff College. Almost as soon as he had achieved this qualification the Boer War began and the KOYLI were picked up in Mauritius and taken by ship to Cape Town in South Africa, where they were in the vanguard of British troops. During the war Yate was badly wounded in the Battle of Graspan on 25 November 1899 and he took little active part thereafter. Nevertheless, he was one of the deputation sent to General Botha in order to arrange the start of peace negotiations. He was awarded the Queen’s Medal with four clasps for his service in South Africa.
Yate graduated at Staff College and married Florence Helena Brigg of Greenhead Hall, in the Yorkshire West Riding. The ceremony took place at St George’s, Hanover Square, London on 17 September 1903. There were no children of the marriage. Shortly after his marriage Yate went to Japan as a member of a British Army Mission. Later he reported on military tactics used by the Japanese during their war with Russia. He was one of the first men to enter Port Arthur with the Japanese at the end of 1904. Yate was presented with two medals by the Japanese Emperor, one of which was later to cause some amusement to his colleagues. It was called the Order of the Sacred Treasure, 4th Class. The second was the Japanese War Medal for Manchuria (Port Arthur). Yate returned from Japan, arriving at Liverpool on 22 March 1906 and later went back to South Africa for two years, serving as captain of General Staff, in the Cape Colony District. He then returned to London and was seconded to work on the staff of the War Office between 1908 and March 1914. He had been promoted to major in 1912 and when he left the War Office he re-joined the 2nd KOYLI and sailed with them to France in August 1914 with the BEF. He turned down an offer to work on General Joffre’s staff, preferring to take the more active role of company commander.
Four years after the war ended a memorial to the memory of nine British officers was unveiled by the then Prince of Wales at St Andrew’s church, Shiba, Tokyo on 14 April 1922. Yate’s name was at the head of the list but the memorial was subsequently destroyed in the Second World War. An article by Yate was posthumously published in Blackwoods Magazine in September 1914 entitled ‘Moral Qualities in War’.
In his spare time Yate had been fond of riding and from an early age had hunted with the Albrighton hounds. He was also a fine polo player and a good skier, as well as an accomplished linguist.
He is commemorated at St Michael’s church, Madeley, Telford, Shropshire, and his name is on a screen at St Adhelm’s church, Weymouth, Dorset. His medals are owned by his regiment and are on display at the King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry Regimental Museum at Doncaster, South Yorkshire. In 2004, in a visit to the former East Germany, the Queen laid a wreath at Yate’s grave at Berlin South Western Cemetery, Stahsdorf (plot II, row G, grave 8).
F.W. HOLMES
Le Cateau, France, 26 August
The second man from the 2nd King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry Battalion to gain the Victoria Cross on 26 August 1914 was 9376 L. Cpl. F.W. Holmes, a member of A Company. At about 02.00 hours on the morning of the 26th A Company’s positions were south of the Le Cateau–Cambrai road in a right angle formed by this road together with the one running south-west towards Reumont.
After the extremely hazardous fighting in the morning and early afternoon the order to retire was given by Gen. Sir H. Smith-Dorrien in mid-afternoon. Not all the units received this order but A Company did. To carry it out, however, was going to be a very dangerous business. After about 16.00 hours each man from the Company attempted to run across the zone of land to safety, under the close fire of the enemy.
The following is based on Holmes’ version of what happened: When it was his turn to escape he heard someone call out, ‘For God’s sake, Freddie, save me!’ On looking around he saw Bugler H.N. Woodcock who was lying close to the path with both of his legs broken at the knee. Without considering his own safety Holmes quickly picked up the injured man and giving him a fireman’s lift made off as quickly as he could. Woodcock cried out in pain and after about a hundred yards Holmes was finding it very difficult to carry a 12 stone man as well as his own equipment. He therefore took off his equipment and put the injured man over his shoulder. Finally Holmes came across some stretcher bearers in a small village about two miles from the trenches and handed over his burden to them. Holmes then ran back towards his previous lines, all the time dodging the German shells. He came across a scene of carnage where an unattended British 18-pounder gun with six horses was standing idle surrounded by dead and dying artillerymen. However on seeing him one of the men, a young Trumpeter, began to crawl towards him (on all fours). The wounded man asked Holmes whether he could ride a horse as the gun team had to be got away and all the drivers were dead. Holmes placed the young man on one of the horses and mounted the leading horse himself. At this same moment the enemy was beginning to close in on all sides and according to Holmes he used his bayonet to good effect. He desperately urged his horses on to the gallop and described what happened next in one of several articles written by him that were published in the popular magazine Tit-Bits.
It is impossible to describe exactly what took place; all that I can picture is flying along the roads and making terrible patterns when turning corners, bumping over hedges and ditches, and hearing the noise the gun made every time it flopped down on to the road from the hedge sides. I looked back once to see if the young trumpeter was all right, but failed to see him. I have no idea how long this was after we had started, but it was nearly dark when I looked back.
After travelling about three miles they were finally out of the range of the German shelling when it began to rain. The artillery team came to a stream where the horse stopped to drink. By this time Holmes had absolutely no idea where he was. It was not until the following evening that the horses finally brought him into the rearguard of a retiring artillery column. At first the artillery major was suspicious but after a while Holmes’ story was verified and he became an honoured guest of the battery. On the 30th he was directed to a certain crossroads where he was told that his battalion would soon be passing, which they did, and Holmes met up with some of his old friends once more.
Six days later Holmes’ unit reached Coulomniers. The next day, 7 September, they received orders that the retreat was over and that they were now to press forward and advance against the enemy. Holmes recorded that their position was south of the River Aisne for thirteen days, where they were exposed to German artillery. Then on the 28th they finally moved across the river and reached the village of Missy where they were to remain for four days. Here they were not safe either, for there were German snipers just outside the village.
On 2 October the Battalion re-crossed the Aisne and by a devious route eventually ended up i
n St Pol close to Arras on 8 October. The BEF was in the process of transferring to the left of the line. II Corps marched to the area of Compiègne where it entrained for Abbeville and from there advanced towards Béthune.
At about 17.45 hours on 14 October the KOYLI heard the sounds of rapid firing on the left in the positions of the KOSB. Cpl. Holmes was ordered to investigate. He returned quickly having seen a party of Germans charge in their direction. The KOYLI Maxims were brought into action quickly which slowed the Germans down and they promptly fell to the ground. The KOYLI decided to rush the enemy in a bayonet charge. In the first moments of this scrap Holmes was hit in the left ankle preventing him from walking. He crawled away and taking a rifle from a dead colleague began to fire in the dark in the direction of the German rifle flashes. After a while he became unconscious.
He was picked up and taken to a dressing station where the doctors wanted to amputate his left leg. But Holmes refused. He was sent back to England to hospital at Weybridge in Surrey and was then taken to Aldershot where he began to recover from his wounds, although he was unable to walk properly for a long time. It was during this period that he was to receive the French Médaille Militaire and then on or about 25 November he was brought news of his VC, which had just been gazetted. He then went to convalesce at Millbank in London where he could be visited by his wife. On 13 January 1915, three months after being wounded, he went to Buckingham Palace to receive his VC from the King.
Frederick William Holmes, the son of T.G. Holmes, was born in Abbey Street, Bermondsey, in south-east London in September 1891. He went to school at the London Board School. On 28 September 1907 he joined the army at the age of eighteen and served for seven years. He then joined the reserve but two weeks later he was called up for active service in August 1914.
His VC was mentioned in The London Gazette on 25 November 1914, and after he had received the decoration from the King he was invited by the Mayor of Bermondsey to a reception for their ‘Bermondsey VC’. A procession was organized through the streets from Warner Street via Abbey Street, Holmes’ home, to the town hall. Holmes was presented with an illuminated address and also with a purse of gold. In addition, a sum of money, which had been raised by public subscription, was held on his behalf by the town hall for his future use – perhaps to start up a business.
In his reply Holmes made a short speech: ‘Ladies, gentlemen and comrades. I only did my duty at the best. If Bermondsey is proud of me, I am proud of Bermondsey.’ He was wearing his new VC and the French Médaille Militaire with its yellow, green-edged ribbon.
In the VC files at the Imperial War Museum there is a short note about Holmes’ VC written by a Maj. H.E. Trevor of D Coy. 2nd KOYLI, who wrote in a letter to his wife dated 4 April 1915: ‘I regret recommending the VC as Holmes had been inaccurate in his account and had “caused a nuisance in Bermondsey and others did equal work”.’ It is not entirely clear just what he meant. Maybe Holmes had been a bit of a line shooter and Trevor did not approve of the account of the deed being written up in such a journal as Tit-Bits. We shall never know, nor shall we ever know what the trouble in Bermondsey was.
On 6 October 1915 Holmes joined the 1st Green Howards and was promoted to sergeant on the 10th. In December he left for India where they were to be stationed. He was commissioned on 14 March 1917 as a second lieutenant with the Green Howards and attached to the 9th Worcesters. He went to Mesopotamia in July 1917. There he had a serious accident in which he fractured his skull and as a result was sent home in January 1918. He was promoted to full lieutenant on 14 September 1918 and was employed in the Infantry Record Office from October 1918. In addition to the VC and the French Médaille Militaire, Holmes was also awarded the 1914 Star with clasp, the BWM, and the VM.
Harry Norman Woodcock, the man who had cried out to Holmes for help on 26 August 1914, survived for nearly another four years after Le Cateau but was killed in action on 19 August 1918. He was still serving with the 2nd KOYLI, then part of 32nd Division on the Somme.
After the war Holmes served in Ireland during the rebellion and eventually left the army on 20 August 1921, having resigned his commission owing to ill health. In February 1954 Holmes wrote to the Daily Mail from an address in Watford Road, Croxley Green, Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire about the meagre size of the special pension awarded to holders of the VC.
A few years later he left Britain to live in Port Augusta, South Australia. In the early 1960s he broke one of his legs and just when it healed he fell again breaking the other. In 1968 he wrote to his regiment: ‘I have been through the hoop for the past two years all due to a brain injury in Mespot in 1918 which has only begun to work its tricks since I came out to Australia. I am practically a cripple and have not left the house for a year and a half and can only hobble a dozen yards.’
Holmes died in Port Augusta on 22 October 1969 and was cremated at the Stirling North Garden Cemetery. His ashes are buried in section 2, row E, grave 6. His VC was sold at auction for £80,000 by Morton and Eden on 13 November 2002.
D. REYNOLDS
Le Cateau, France, 26 August
No fewer than five Victoria Crosses were awarded for heroism in the battle of Le Cateau on 26 August. The experiences of two infantrymen from the 2nd King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry, namely Maj. Yate and L. Cpl. Holmes, have been written about in a previous chapter. It is now the turn of the men from an artillery unit, the 37th Howitzer (H) Battery.
At 02.00 hours on 26 August Brig. Gen. Sir H. Smith-Dorrien conferred with Maj. Gen. Hubert Hamilton (3rd Division) and Maj. Gen. Allenby of the Cavalry Division at his headquarters at Bertry. Allenby advised that his men and horses were widely scattered and that both were pretty well played out. Hamilton stated that he could not possibly get his Division away until 09.00 hours and Smith-Dorrien realized that it would taken even longer to extricate 5th Division from its congested positions to the south-west of Le Cateau. These were the main reasons for Smith-Dorrien’s decision to stage ‘a stopping blow, under cover of which we could retire’. In making this decision he was assuming that he would have the assistance of Sir Douglas Haig’s I Corps and it was not until 05.30 hours that he heard of Haig’s decision to leave Landrecies and to continue the retreat. By this time it was too late to change the plan.
The main British units that took part in the battle were from right to left: the 5th, 3rd and 4th Divisions, all of II Corps. This force totalled about fifty thousand men. Opposing them from right to left were the German 5th, 7th, 8th and the 4th and 9th Cavalry Divisions of their IV Corps. Each side had the full support of their respective artilleries, and the Germans used about 600 guns to the British 225.
Undoubtedly the ‘hottest spot’ was in the slightly sloping land to the south-west of Le Cateau, divided by the main road leading to the village of Reumont, headquarters of the 5th Division. To the east was the river valley of La Selle.
After serving at Mons the 37 (H) Battery later withdrew with the rest of the 5th Division along the hot dusty roads towards Bavai where briefly the battery acted as a covering rearguard, to the north-east of Le Cateau. The Division arrived at Le Cateau in the evening of the 25th. The instructions to the artillery of the 5th Division were to reinforce the right of the Division, on a gently sloping ridge. The plan for the guns was to place an artillery brigade with each infantry brigade. The artillery was to be as close up to the infantry positions as possible, to give them maximum support. The proximity of the guns to the infantry made it even harder for them in their exposed positions, as the enemy guns sought them out for destruction.
The batteries supporting 14th Infantry Brigade were from XV Brigade and a Howitzer Battery from VIII Howitzer Brigade. In line they were from right to left: the 11th, 80th, 37th (H) and the 52nd. Together they made up a group of twenty-four guns. The four batteries were positioned between the 2nd Suffolks who were in the front line to the north-east and their supporting infantry on a forward slope.
At first 37th (H) Battery was astride a road
which led to the main road to Reumont and was camouflaged in a covered position. They dug entrenchments as well as they could in the short time available in soft ground where corn had recently been harvested. Close by there was a small stream and beyond that was part of B Coy. of the 2nd KOYLI (13th Brig.) with two machine guns. The Observation Post for the XVth Artillery Brigade was on the top of a small rise from which there was a good view.
The Germans, who had been chasing the British for three days, occupied the high ground to the west of Le Cateau, and could use the valley of the La Selle river as an approach along the eastern edge of the battlefield. They had entered the town before 06.00 hours. This left the British right flank to the east of the high ground at Le Cateau in German hands.
At 06.00 hours the enemy guns began firing from close to a forest at a position 3 miles north-east of the town. Their main targets were the positions of the 5th Division, to the west of the town. The guns of XV Brigade with 37th (H) had some success in silencing the enemy batteries, by firing at the enemy gun flashes. The Howitzer Battery in particular quickly silenced two guns. They soon discovered, however, that it was very difficult to carry out counter-battery work when the guns were so close to the infantry.
Driver J.H.C. Drain (69960) kept a diary of 37 (H) Battery and to paraphrase his words he wrote:
There was little cover or hiding place and when the battle began there were 18-pounder batteries on either side, with a siege battery to the rear of them and hundreds of infantrymen were going up to meet up with the enemy. Terrible shells came over in sixes and were bursting all over the place and over the tops of our guns and wagon lines with plenty of bullets flying about. Man after man was becoming wounded and horses were being killed and batteries were being smashed to pieces. I just don’t think there was a man on the field who did not say his prayers for a general retirement to be ordered.
VCs of the First World War 1914 Page 8
