The facts of RGLI at Cambrai battle
THERE has been a lot of publicity recently about the story of the Royal Guernsey Light Infantry in the Great War and particularly their participation in the Battle of Cambrai in 1917. As the author of a book on the contribution made by Guernsey in the war, it seems to me that there is some misunderstanding about the number of casualties suffered by the Guernseymen in that battle. I thought therefore it might be valuable to set the record straight. On 20 November 1917, when the battle started, 1,311 soldiers were serving in France with the RGLI, although many of these men were not with the battalion but were at the depot in Rouen. In the immediate aftermath of the battle, the unit's administrative records recorded the following figures:
Killed in action (KIA): two officers (Offrs) and 14 soldiers (ORs). This small number includes only those officially recorded as dead; for instance those buried by their comrades or whose identity discs were collected from their bodies.
Wounded in Action (WIA): eight Offrs and 266 ORs. This number records those who had passed through the army's casualty system and were sufficiently injured not to have already returned to unit. It did not include any wounded included in the next category. But it would of course include those who later died of their wounds (DOW).
Missing in Action (MIA): two Offrs and 214 ORs. This group was those simply unaccounted for. They might have been dead or captured by the Germans. They might even have simply become separated from their unit and not yet found their way back to it.
Once the RGLI's administration was sorted out, and taking into account those KIA while listed as MIA, and those who later DOW, the final death toll for the RGLI at Cambrai was in the region of 125 all ranks. This represents less than half of the total of about 360 men of the RGLI who died in the Great War.
The Battle of Cambrai was without doubt a terrible time for the RGLI and for Guernsey, but it was perhaps far less significant than what happened just five months later in April 1918 when the unit played a vital role in stopping the last great German attack of the war in its tracks at the little town of Doulieu. On that occasion the RGLI went into action with 20 officers and 483 other ranks under the command of Lieutenant Colonel T. L. de Havilland. Three days later, the unit mustered just three officers and 55 other ranks. Forty-seven men later rejoined.
Cambrai was a significant battle, but if the RGLI and their comrades in the 29th Division had broken at Doulieu the war could have been lost.
MAJOR EDWIN PARKS,
30, Main Street,
Hillsborough,
Co. Down.
edwinprks@gmail.com
