BRIGADIER-GENERAL FITZCLARENCE,
V.C.
The Ypres Times.
9
It is good to pick out bits of our Great Day and think of them and those chiefly
connected with them whom we so delight to honour. Last year at the Armistice, for the
first time since the War, the flags were not drooping at half mast, and so when we write
of Brigadier-General FitzClarence and the glorious Battalion of the 2nd Worcesters, our
first thoughts are feelings of joy and pride in his achievements, rather than grief at our
loss.
On October 31, 1914, between 2 and 3 o'clock in the afternoon, all that could be said
of those of the old Army astride the Menin Road, was that they were hanging on with
brave determination. The writer desires to bring into prominence the superb courage
of the man who regardless of danger rode up to Gheluvelt, saw with his own eyes what
was required, and acted on his own responsibility. Think what it meant for him in this
awful confusion to coolly persuade a commanding officer of a battalion, not under his
command, that it was his duty to carry out the desperate assault for the common good,
resulting in the almost certain annihilation of his battalion, possibly a vital reserve of the
second division. It should be said at once that Major Hankey, as soon as he saw the
necessity, never hesitated, and earned for his battalion a name which will live for ever.
It must be remembered that though large forces had been engaged for some days
on our side, the pressure of the far more numerous German masses of infantry and guns,
who had the advantage of continual fresh reserves, had been so severe, that by mid-day
on October 31st, a British battalion in reserve had the value of an Arm}- Corps. The
Germans had gradually discovered about 2 o'clock that there was no serious opposition
to them along the sunken road north east of Gheluvelt, held by the survivors of the South
Wales Borderers, who had been practically destroyed. They began to pour through
this gap and very soon, but for timely intervention, the flood would have become irresistible,
impossible to stem, and nothing could have prevented the Germans from occupying the
Channel ports.
It is recorded that General FitzClarence explained the situation to Major Hankey,
commanding the 2nd Worcesters, gave him an order to attack through Gheluvelt, and that
Major Hankey at once saw the necessity for prompt action and took his Battalion off.
The whole world knows what the Battalion did. It would seem that though the Germans
must have known that we could have no strong forces against them, there was some
thing in the undaunted spirit of the few survivors in the trenches, backed up by the reserve
of cooks and transport men, which stopped them from advancing further. Once they
were stoppedthey were held. During all that day everyone of the fighting troops
knew that it was to be a fight to a finish. It was well kpown that the Kaiser was deter
mined to occupy Ypres, and was actually present. Everyone knew there were no reserves,
so the fight was fought by an army at bay prepared to fight to the last man.
A few lines taken from Blackwood's Magazine, August, 1917, are very interesting
Lord French has himself unequivocally named General FitzClarence as the author of the order
to the Worcesters. In a letter setting the facts on record, from which the writer is allowed to quote,
he says During the first Battle of Ypres, at the crisis of the fight on the 31st of October, the situation
was saved by the Worcesters. For many weeks and months afterwards I tried to ascertain who was
responsible for this attack, upon which so much depended. It was only late in 1915 that I obtained
absolute proof that it was Brigadier-General C. FitzClarence, V.C., who rallied the troops and directed
the successful onslaught."
The next witness shall be the General himself. Here is the entry in his diary under
date October 31st, 1914 Enemy shelled the Welsh and the Queens out of their
trenches. I sent Worcesters with Thorne ordering them to counter-attack and retake
village and trenches. Worcesters did very well." G. T. B.
b