32nd (Service) Battalion, Royal Fusiliers (East Ham)
The 32nd Battalion, Royal Fusiliers was an infantry unit recruited as part of 'Kitchener's Army' in World War I. It was raised in the summer of 1915 by the Mayor and Borough of East Ham in the Essex suburbs of London. It served on the Western Front from May 1916, seeing action on the Somme and at Ypres. It was then sent to the Italian Front. On return to the Western Front in early 1918 it was broken up to provide reinforcements for other units.
Recruitment and training
On 6 August 1914, less than 48 hours after Britain's declaration of war, Parliament sanctioned an increase of 500,000 men for the Regular British Army. The newly appointed Secretary of State for War, Earl Kitchener of Khartoum, issued his famous call to arms: 'Your King and Country Need You', urging the first 100,000 volunteers to come forward. Men flooded into the recruiting offices and the 'first hundred thousand' were enlisted within days. This group of six divisions with supporting arms became known as Kitchener's First New Army, or 'K1'. The K2, K3 and K4 battalions, brigades and divisions followed soon afterwards. But the flood of volunteers overwhelmed the ability of the Army to absorb them, and the K5 units were largely raised by local initiative rather than at regimental depots, often from men from particular localities or backgrounds who wished to serve together: these were known as 'Pals battalions'. The 'Pals' phenomenon quickly spread across the country, as local recruiting committees offered complete units to the War Office. Encouraged by this response, in February 1915 Kitchener approached the 28 Metropolitan Borough Councils in the County of London, and the 'Great Metropolitan Recruiting Campaign' went ahead in April, with each mayor asked to raise a unit of local men.One such unit was also raised by the Mayor and Borough of East Ham as the 32nd Battalion, Royal Fusiliers . By then East Ham had already raised several artillery units and the pool of volunteers was running out. The WO accepted the borough's offer of an infantry battalion on 18 October 1915, provided that at least 600 men could be recruited before Christmas. In the first three weeks, Major F. Cannon, the recruiting officer for East Ham and Barking, only secured one recruit, but by the end of November the number had risen to over 500.
At Christmas 1915, under the command of Maj Cannon, the battalion was ordered to Aldershot to join 41st Division, the last 'K' division to be formed. It was assigned to 124th Brigade, serving alongside the 26th Royal Fusiliers, 10th Queen's and 21st King's Royal Rifle Corps. At Aldershot the battalions were equipped with modern rifles, specialists such as Lewis gunners, signallers and 'bombers' were selected and trained, and route marches were carried out in full marching order. Lieutenant-Colonel Robert Key of the York and Lancaster Regiment, who had recently returned from the Gallipoli campaign, took command of the battalion on 1 January 1916. In February the division began its final battle training, for which 124th Bde was based at Stanhope Lines. At the beginning of May the division mobilised for overseas service. On 4 May 32nd RF with 34 officers and 985 other ranks boarded three trains at Farnborough for Southampton Docks. There it embarked on the SS Bellerophon, SS Lydia and SS Mona's Queen, and landed at Le Havre next day to join the British Expeditionary Force on the Western Front. The division completed its disembarkation on 6 May.
27th (Reserve) Battalion
The two reserve companies of the 32nd RF joined 27th Battalion, Royal Fusiliers, which had been formed earlier from the reserve companies of the 17th and 22nd Battalions of the Royal Fusiliers. Since November 1915 this battalion had been at Oxford as part of 24th Reserve Brigade, but in April 1916 the brigade moved to Edinburgh. On 1 September 1916 the Local Reserve battalions were transferred to the Training Reserve and 27th Bn RF became 103rd Training Reserve Battalion, though the training staff retained their Royal Fusiliers badges. The battalion was disbanded on 14 December 1917 at Catterick Camp.Service
By 8 May 1916 41st Division had completed its concentration between Hazebrouck and Bailleul in Second Army's area, with 32nd RF billeted at Wallon-Cappel and later at Méteren. While continuing its training, parties from the new division were sent up to the line for instruction in trench warfare from experienced units. Those from 32nd RF were attached to the 10th Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders of 9th Division in Ploegsteert Wood. 41st Division then relieved 9th Division in the Ploegsteert trenches, 32nd RF taking over 10th A&S Highlanders' camp at Papot. The battalions began the routine of two weeks in the trenches, one in support and one in reserve, with 32nd RF often alternating with 11th Royal West Kents of 122nd Bde. The battalions also had to supply working parties, and began to suffer a trickle of casualties from chance shellfire or random machine gun fire, occasional gas attacks, and during patrols and raids. 32nd RF's bombers carried out a smoke bomb attack on 19 June and the battalion raided the enemy trenches on 9 July and 15 August.Flers–Courcelette
When 41st Division arrived the BEF was preparing for that summer's 'Big Push', the Battle of the Somme, which began on 1 July. On 23 August 26th RF entrained for Pont-Remy, where it undertook three weeks' special training at Eaucourt and Ailly-le-Haut-Clocher near Abbeville before being called upon to participate in the offensive under Fourth Army. The training included night fighting and operating in a wood similar to the notorious Delville Wood on the Somme. On the afternoon of 14 September the brigade was guided to trenches north-east of Delville Wood, where orders were issued for an attack next day. 124th Brigade formed up on the division's right during the night, with 21st KRRC and 10th Queen's in eight waves, the leading waves in No man's land, the others stretching back to 'Brown Trench'. They were supported by 26th and 32nd RF respectively, drawn up behind them in four waves between 'Green Trench' and 'Edge Trench'. 32nd RF's waves comprised one platoon from each company, the first wave being accompanied by four Vickers gun teams from the brigade machine gun company with carrying parties of fusiliers bringing up their ammunition. A half section from 237th Field Company, Royal Engineers was attached to the battalion to help build strongpoints in the captured trenches. The division had four objectives and the brigade was intended to take them in succession with the battalions in this formation, until they were beyond the village of Gueudecourt. For this its first attack, 41st Division had support from tanks, also making their first ever appearance on a battlefield. Ten Mark I tanks of D Company, Heavy Section, Machine Gun Corps, were assigned to the division, formed up behind the infantry.The brigade moved forward at 06.20, following a Creeping barrage. Seven tanks managed to cross the start line, and there was little resistance in the first two German trenches – 'Tea Support Trench' and 'Switch Trench' – which had been shattered by the 3-day British bombardment. Many of the surviving Germans ran from the tanks, though several machine gun teams stuck to their task and caused heavy casualties to the leading battalions. 32nd RF left its fourth wave as planned to consolidate Switch Trench, but by now the three leading waves were mixed up with the survivors of the 10th Queen's, men of the 26th RF who had lost direction from the left, and even some of the neighbouring 14th Division from the right. Captain Henry Robinson pushed on beyond Flers with a mixed party about 80 strong, capturing 45 prisoners and three field guns. A second party under Lieutenant W.V. Aston occupied a position near 'Sunken Road' but was pinned down by machine guns and snipers until a tank arrived and silenced them. Aston's party and the tank then advanced beyond Flers and began to dig in until ordered back to Sunken Road; a second attempt to advance was also stopped by machine gun fire. Communications back to battalion HQ were difficult, casualties among the runners being high, and HQ itself being forced to shift three times by heavy shellfire. The battalion's casualties had been 28 ORs killed, 87 missing, and 10 officers and 168 ORs wounded. About 160 survivors of the attacking companies reorganised and held Switch Trench, while the rest of the battalion was in Tea Support Trench. It was relieved in the evening of 17 September and returned to a muddy camp at 'Edgehill Station', where it spent the rest of the month reorganising and training. The CO and adjutant were ordered to rest by the brigadier and the second-in-command, Maj William Clark, took temporary command.
Transloy Ridges
On 2 October 32nd RF made an exhausting march on muddy roads in heavy rain to bivouac at 'Pommiers Redoubt' before going back into the trenches the following evening when 41st Division relieved the New Zealand Division, which had launched the Battle of the Transloy Ridges. 32nd RF was in support in 'Sunken Road' with Maj Clark in command, where they spent two days under heavy shellfire before moving forward on the evening of 6 October to the recently captured Gird Support and Advance Trenches. Three companies were in the strongpoint line, C Company in support, Battalion HQ in the front line in a scooped out temporary shelter. The battalion spent all night digging a new trench that the REs had failed to do the night before, only to find that 26th RF had not dug their part of it. Next morning 122nd and 124th Bdes continued the operation. This time the two Royal Fusiliers battalions led 124th Bde's attack. As they crossed a steep bank halfway to their objective of 'Bayonet Trench' they were hit by unsuppressed machine guns. They were forced to stop and dig in, linking up a line of shell holes, where 21st KRRC and D Company of 10th Queen's reinforced them. The whole brigade in the front line mustered only the equivalent of a single battalion. They were harassed by enemy snipers, but no German counter-attack appeared. By dawn the divisional pioneer battalion had dug a communication trench forward to them from the old British front line. Next day Maj Clark was sent to take temporary command of 10th Queen's and Lt-Col Key resumed command of 32nd RF, with Battalion HQ in an old German dugout in Gird Trench. On 9 October both sides went out into No man's land under Red Cross flags and recovered almost all the dead and wounded.32nd RF was relieved on the night of 10/11 October and moved back to Mametz Wood. The following night it was moved further back to Bécordel Camp, where it received a reinforcement draft. Then after a series of train journeys it arrived at 'Ridge Wood' on 22 October, where it went into huts. Here 41st Division took over a quiet sector of the front on the southern edge of the Ypres Salient under Second Army once more. 32nd RF established a trench routine of alternating with 10th Queen's: six days in the line at Vierstraat, six in support at Ridge Wood, six more in the line, and then six in the muddy 'Murrumbidgee Camp' at La Clytte, where it trained and provided working parties. The area was so waterlogged that only shallow trenches could be used, with built-up parapets that required constant maintenance during the harsh winter. There was active raiding by both sides, 32nd RF carrying out one on 2/3 December with 4 officers and 90 ORs. The raiders laid a telephone cable as they advanced over No man's land behind a shrapnel barrage, so Lt-Col Key was able to monitor progress in real time. The raiders went in at 12.35 and began destroying dugouts; the recall rockets were fired at 12.53, the raiders returning with a number of prisoners and information on the state of the enemy trenches. The raiders found an enemy mineshaft or saphead saphead and men of an RE Tunnelling Company placed an explosive charge in it that was detonated later, at 01.15. The casualties were 8 wounded, one of whom had to be left behind. On the evening of 14 December, 32nd RF was the recipient of a German artillery attack in the form of a Box barrage to isolate D Company, but the British artillery responded promptly to the 'SOS' signal and there was no sign of a raid on the company's position; casualties and damage were light. Both side's artillery, trench mortars and spotter aircraft were active in the Ridge Wood sector throughout the winter. Lieutenant-Col Key left for England on 25 January 1917 and Maj William Clark was promoted to the permanent command.