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Charles Bernard Morland was born in Canada on the 12th November 1866. His father was Thomas Morland a Manufacturing Engineer in Montreal. Thomas Morland had emigrated to Canada as a young man and played an important part in the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway. A widower, he married Helen Elizabeth Servante a spinster on the 13th August 1863. Charles had three brothers, Henry born in 1864, Thomas Lethbridge Napier born on the 9th August 1865 and Servante born on the 20th June 1869. Helen also died on the 20th June 1869, obviously in childbirth. Thomas Morland himself died on the 26th May 1870.
The four boys were sent to England to live with their Grandparents and
in 1871 all four described as Grandsons were living at 16 St. Lawrence, Portsea, Portsmouth with Lieutenant General Henry Servante (75) Royal Engineers (Retired) and his wife Anne (70) she also being born in Canada. On the 20th April 1870, Lieutenant General Henry Servante had been appointed to be Colonel Commandant of the Corps of the Royal Engineers
In 1881 Charles and Servante (both scholars) were living at 13 Portland Terrace Portsea Hampshire with an uncle Rear Admiral Bridgeman Lethbridge (on the Royal Navy Active List), he being born in New South Wales.
Charles Morland’s elder brother was Thomas Lethbridge Napier Morland who in due course became General Sir Thomas Morland. In the Great War, he first commanded the 47th Division, then the 14th Division and finally the 5th Division. In July 1915 he was appointed to command the 10th Corps., then in August 1916 14th Corps and in April 1918 13th Corps.
Charles Morland was commissioned and joined the Welch Regiment in February 1887. In 1894 he married Elms Alice Maud Abadam. In April 1898 he had attained the rank of Captain. He was on active service during the South African War 1899 – 1902, being appointed Adjutant of his battalion in 1900. In 1901 the Regiment was at Pembroke Dock, Charles was then a Major and with him in barracks were the Commanding Officer of the Battalion, Lieutenant Colonel Charles Young, a Captain L W D Everett, and Lieutenants W H Hole and A G Lyttleton.
He was promoted Lieutenant Colonel in March 1914 and appointed commanding officer of the 2nd Battalion the Welch Regiment. The Battalion was at Aldershot carrying out Brigade training with the 3rd Brigade on the 1st August 1914 but was then ordered back to the Battalion’s peace station, Bordon in East Hampshire. The Battalion was at Bordon on the outbreak of the war and led by Lieutenant Colonel Morland landed at Havre on the 13th August 1914 as part of 3rd Brigade in the 1st Division.
The 1st Division was in 1st Corps and was never seriously engaged in the Battle of Mons. The retreat from Mons began on the 24th August, the 2nd Battalion crossing the Marne River on the 3rd September continuing south to Rozoy, some 10 miles South of Chateau Thierry, reached on the 5th September when the Retreat ended. The advance North East by the British Expeditionary Force began on the 6th September but surprisingly all the bridges over the Marne were intact and the advance continued towards the Aisne River. As the German Army began to withdraw north to the Aisne River, fighting continued the enemy putting up rearguard defences with concealed machine-positions in farm buildings and haystacks in the fields. The German strategy was to permit the Allied armies to pursue them to the Aisne valley, allow a small foothold across the Aisne River and then deliver a decisive counter-attack opening the way to Paris and victory. But the situation which confronted the Allies was by no means clear. Would the enemy dispute the passage of the river and hold the heights beyond or continue the retirement north-east? The Aisne valley runs generally east and west and varies from half a mile to two miles in width with the river following a winding course to the west, at some points near the southern slopes and at others the northern. The river was an average of about 170 feet in width and about 15 feet deep in the centre. Between Soissons on the west and Villlers on the east 11 bridges crossed it, all of which had been destroyed or partially destroyed by the enemy but the crossings were under direct or high angle artillery fire. Running almost parallel to the river but some 3 miles to the North was the Chemin des Dames ridge and jutting south from that ridge were spurs and ridges projecting south towards the river. The Germans were dug in amid the hills and quarries on the north bank and the British divisions fought their way across the river at a number of points east and west of Soissons. The 1st Division crossed at Bourg-et-Comin on the 13th September 1914, the 2nd at Chavonne, the 3rd at Vailly, the 4th at Venizel, the 5th at Missy and the Guards Brigade also at Chavonne and at Pont-Arcy. The troops crossed in boats and rafts, by pontoons, and by using the girders of wrecked bridges. The 2nd Battalion was billeted in Bourg that night and the advance continued at 6 a.m. on the 14th September when the 3rd Brigade was ordered to advance in a north westerly direction from near Moulins, cross the valley to the Beaulne spur and prolong the line of the 1st (Guards) Brigade. However it was soon noticed that a counter-attack by three Battalions of the enemy was developing on the opposite ridge against the 1st (Guards) Brigade and the leading companies of the 2nd Battalion changed direction west to catch the enemy in flank. Whilst the 1st Battalion South Wales Borderers, the other battalion ordered to advance, was much impeded by dense woods, the 2nd Battalion had clear ground before them and pressed their assault with great determination and carrying all before them established themselves firmly on the south-eastern slopes of the Beaulne spur. In the early morning of the 15th September Colonel Morland walked down the line occupied by the Battalion having an encouraging word for all and it was recorded “it was wonderful to see him so cheerful.” During the period 15th to 21st September the Germans made attacks at various points to drive the Allies back across the Aisne but without success. On the night of the 25th September the 2nd Battalion was relieved at Beaulne and brought into reserve at Vendresse The casualties in the Battalion were 5 officers and 50 other ranks killed, 6 officers and 132 other ranks wounded and 28 other ranks missing. Colonel Morland was mentioned in Sir John French’s Despatch of 8th October 1914.
The operation to withdraw the British Expeditionary Force from the Aisne began, with French agreement, on the 3rd October, the B.E.F. heading for their new front line in Flanders. The last units arrived in Belgium on the 19th October, and this included the 2nd Welch Battalion which detrained at Hazebrouck during the day. The Battalion was billeted near Poperinghe on the 20th October 1914.
The I Corps commanded by Sir Douglas Haig comprised the 1st and 2nd Divisions and on the night of the 20th/21st October 1914 the 2nd Division was north-east of Ypres on the line Frezenberg-Wieltje-Pilkem and the 1st Division was north of Ypres on the line Yser Canal-Bixchoote-Koekuit. General HQ orders instructed the Corps to march north-eastwards on the 21st October in the direction of Thourout with the object of capturing Bruges and to attack the enemy wherever met. The only information regarding the Germans given to Sir Douglas Haig was that one corps and no more was within striking distance. In fact in early October the staff of General Erich von Falkenhayn, German Army Chief of Staff since September 1914, proposed the assembling under the command of Duke Albrecht of Wurttemberg of four of the six reserve corps forming up in Germany to form a new Fourth Army which was to include as well III Reserve Corps with its accompanying heavy artillery on the fall of Antwerp. The plan was to force the line of the Yser in strength, brush aside Belgian opposition and then swing south using both the new Fourth Army and the existing German Sixth Army to crush the British and French forces in the St. Omer region.
On the 21st October the British 2nd Division advanced towards Passchendaele and the 1st Division, on the left, moved on Langemarck. The 3rd Brigade which provided the Advanced Guard, captured Langemarck about 9 a.m. with the 1st Queen’s Royal (West Surrey) Regiment and the 1st South Wales Borderers, the 1st Gloucesters being in support and the 2nd Battalion Welch Regiment in reserve. The objective was then the line of the road running north west through Poelcappelle station but as the firing line advanced it came under heavy flank and frontal fire and the Queen’s called for assistance so Colonel Morland sent up first “D” Company then “B” Company who reached the Queen’s position. By then the village and the roads being shelled very heavily heralded the arrival on this front of the new German Fourth Army. Major General S H Lomax, commanding 1st Division, sent 1st (Guards) Brigade to form a defensive flank back to the Ypres Canal and the forward positions held by the Queen’s and the South Wales Borderers were withdrawn, eventually the whole line going back 300 yards to the north-east of Langemarck, the Borderers being on the right, the 2nd Battalion in the centre and the Gloucesters on the left to connect with the 1st (Guards) Brigade, the Queens going into reserve. Far from advancing the Allies were having to maintain a long defensive line without entrenching tools or barbed wire. The 1st Division was strung out on a front of 4 miles in small groups holding shallow trenches which were no protection against shell fire.
7 British Divisions and 5 Allied Cavalry Divisions all weakened by much fighting were opposing 11 German Divisions (8 of whom were fresh) and 8 German Cavalry Divisions on a front of 35-36 miles.
The 22nd October was fairly quiet except for the shelling of Langemarck by 8 inch howitzers the church catching fire and in 4 hours the village was reduced to ashes. Colonel Morland and Battalion H.Q. eventually had to retire to “D” Company HQ, Battalion HQ being blown out of two houses.
At 8 a.m. on the 23rd October the German 46th Reserve Division attacked again in force the line held by the 1st Coldstream Guards, 1st Gloucestershire and the 2nd Battalion. The strong German force moved from Koekuit (2,000 yards north of Langemarck) covered by very heavy artillery fire to attack the Coldstream Guards and the Gloucestershires holding a trench dug the night of 22nd/23rd across the Kangemarck-Koekuit road and the 2nd Battalion which was to the right of the Gloucestershires. The Coldstreams were forced back a short distance and the enemy got to within 50 yards of the trenches then the 2nd Battalion and the Gloucesters mowed them down with rifle fire inflicting enormous losses. The 2nd Battalion’s machine gun was by a hedge in “D” Company sector and the Company Commander Captain Rees and Colonel Morland stood by the gun for about an hour, saw the Germans forming up for an attack and fire was opened as targets continued to present themselves and it was estimated that this gun alone killed 4/500 of the enemy. One German company formed up to attack on the wrong side of a haystack exposing themselves to this devastating fire. It is a myth that three quarters of the German troops were students or senior school boys, with the outcome of the battles of the new reserve corps being described as Kindermord (Massacre of the Innocents). Volunteers were not in the majority and a majority of the volunteers were not students, most of the reserve corps was established from reservists some of whom were probably students.
Having tried in vain to overwhelm the infantry, at about 1 p.m. the enemy gradually drew off covered by his artillery and by 3.30 p.m., but for hostile shell-fire, there was no further activity on this sector. Some of the troops of the 2nd Battalion were sheltering in a barn which was hit by a shell, killing several, the fire then setting off the ammunition in the men’s pouches.
The enemy attack on the 1st Division had been thrown back so decisively that it was judged that the Division could be relieved by a French Territorial Division and on the night of 23rd-24th October the 1st Division was moved back to the area Ypres-Hooge-Zillebeke to be at hand for a new offensive. The 2nd Battalion Welch Regiment was pulled out on the 24th October, arriving at Ypres during the night of 24th-25th October but on the 26th October the 2nd Battalion with the rest of 1st Division was pushed up to Bellewarde Lake to support the 2nd and 7th Divisions, the 7th Division holding a salient at Kruiseecke village. At 9 a.m. on the 26th Kruiseecke village was subjected to a very heavy bombardment and the village was captured by the Germans. The 2nd Battalion and the 1st Battalion South Wales Borderers were ordered up to counter-attack but the Battalion came under heavy shell-fire. Troops reached Kruiseecke Hill and dug in for the night but were withdrawn the next day into reserve at Hooge, the village of Kruiseecke being evacuated as too far forward. On the 27th October the 2nd Battalion spent a whole morning by Bellewaarde Lake, some of the men finding a punt and gondola in a boathouse at Bellewarde and going for a row on the lake.
Unknown to the Allied Command however on the 27th October General von Fabeck formerly commanding XIII Corps was given command of a newly designated Army Group Fabeck to be inserted between the German Fourth and Sixth Armies. This was a force of considerable offensive power; 5 regular divisions and one of novices but perhaps of equal significance was von Fabeck receiving 262 heavy howitzers and mortars and 484 guns of smaller calibre. The frontage of assault selected for von Fabeck’s group was from Saint Yves (next to Ploegsteert Wood) to Gheluvelt. A break in at any point on this line would offer access to Mont Kemmel along the high ground but within the sector von Fabeck favoured the capture of Messines Ridge. Gheluvelt and the high point of Ypres ridge behind it was not to be underrated, however. Its possession would enhance the capture of Messines and Wytschaete but if still held by the British, their observation posts would see directly across to the rear of the assault against Messines. The early capture of Gheluvelt was therefore most desirable.
On the night of 28th-29th October 1914 the British forces round Ypres were disposed as follows. From Zonnebeke road to Polygon Wood (inclusive) 2nd Division. From Polygon Wood to Menin Road (exclusive) 1st Division. From Menin Road (inclusive) to Zandvoorde 7th Division. Zandvoorde 3rd Cavalry Division.
On the 28th October the 2nd Battalion Welch Regiment was resting in Veldhoek Woods (the Polygon Wood side of the Ypres-Menin Road, towards Ypres from Gheluvelt) when some 200 men gathered to sing old Celtic harmonies, passing officers stopping to listen.
The British had some warning of the impending attack on Gheluvelt on 29th October, a radio message having been intercepted from the German 4th Army to XXVII Reserve Corps on the afternoon of the 28th October ordering an advance at 5.30 a.m. on the 29th. Aerial reconnaissance had also spotted German transport columns moving up. However the message did not reach all units until midnight 28th/29th.
The Ypres-Menin road (the Menin Road) climbs to the crest of a ridge some 4 miles from the centre of Ypres and East of Hooge Chateau just under 2 miles on the west side of Gheluvelt near Clapham Junction, as it was subseauently named, where a number of roads and tracks converge. From this part of the ridge a long flat spur runs east-south-east to Kruiseecke. The Menin Road then runs straight through Veldhoek and through Gheluvelt to Gheluwe 4 miles from Gheluvelt. The road was broad pave (cobbles) down the centre with about 3 yards of poorly metalled road on either side. Veldhoek and Gheluvelt were straggling villages of small brick houses, each village 600 or 700 yards in length with only one or two side streets with houses. In Gheluvelt there was in addition a windmill and a church. In 1914 the Menin Road was still lined with trees, houses and barns, the fields surrounded by thick hedges and deep ditches offering cover to any German advance and restricting the fire of the British infantry. .As the road comes into Gheluvelt, the road climbs not insignificantly to a crest. So as long as Gheluvelt was in Allied hands troops could move fairly safely along the road visible only from the South when the Germans were in possession of Zandvoorde, 3,000 yards away. From the opposite (Gheluwe) side, Gheluvelt stands on the 50 metre mark and then the ground drops away especially noticeable on the Menin Road which in a few hundred yards drops 50 feet to the bottom of a small valley, (the Ghelwe side of Gheluvelt cross roads). The valley is crossed by a causeway some 400 yards in length and about 12 feet above ground level at its lowest point where a stream passes under a culvert so troops entrenched on one side of the road cannot see what is happening on the other side. Gheluvelt was the key of the position for it overlooked all the lower ground for miles and if taken by the enemy would give a covered approach and could be used to co-ordinate the attacks from Zandvoorde, Kruiseecke and Becelaere, the three points of comparatively high ground then in German possession.
It was expected that the attack on the 29th October would be from the area of Kruiseecke about a mile south of the Menin Road and south of that road but in fact the weight of the German attack was directed towards the Gheluvelt cross roads where the road from Poezelhoek to Kruiseecke crosses the Menin Road, the cross roads being about a mile east of the village of Gheluvelt, Poezelhoek being about a mile North of Menin Road and Kruiseecke about a mile to the South.
This crossroad was the junction between the 1st and 7th Divisions, the left flank of 7th Division south of the junction being held by 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards of 20th Brigade and the right flank of 1st Division north of the junction being held by a very weak 1st Battalion Coldstream Guards of 1st (Guards) Brigade. Two companies of the 1st Battalion the Black Watch and a platoon of 1st Gloucesters had been moved up to assist the Coldstream Guards.
The attack began at 5.30 a.m. on the 29th October on both sides of the Menin Road with fog assisting the attackers, any trenches being rudimentary and not continuous with no wire in front of them and the enemy, attacking in great force, was able to get in between the posts and even established machine-guns in the houses in Gheluvelt. By 9.0 a.m. portions of the units of 1st (Guards) Brigade and 20th Brigade had been surrounded and their positions captured. There were no telephone lines to the trenches then and owing to the fog it was not for some time that it was appreciated that the line had been broken.
A counter-attack was organised and delivered, 1st Gloucestershires moving first to attack towards the cross-roads and then about 12 noon orders were issued for the 3rd Brigade to counter-attack through Gheluvelt and recover the lost trenches.
The 2nd Battalion Welch Regiment advanced with 1st South Wales Borderers, with 1st Queen’s to their right, the 2nd Battalion having one company to the left and one to the right of the Menin Road and the other two companies in support. As the 2nd Battalion advanced, British troops could be seen retiring from Gheluvelt, the village itself and the Menin Road to the West of the village being heavily shelled by the enemy. The advance was made across open ground in artillery formation to the outskirts of the village when the 2nd Battalion was told by retreating troops that the German infantry were entering the village in force. Platoon Commanders had been given points to make for and “B” Company got to the far side of the village itself and could see German infantry advancing in a dense line. Spotting the advancing Welch, the enemy hesitated, some stopping and opening fire whilst others advanced slowly. The troops from the Company had difficulty in getting into positions where they could use their rifles as anyone showing himself clear of the houses and hedges was exposed to a hail of bullets and the main road had to be avoided as this was swept by fire. A thin line was established and the German advance was halted. “C” Company to the right of “B” was holding its own but it was impossible to see to the left although rifle fire could be heard. In fact Lieutenant G.D. Melville commanding the machine-gun section of the Battalion under heavy fire had established two guns on a mound from which position he was able to enfilade the Germans advancing north of the village forcing them to fall back and taking with them those of the enemy in front of the village itself. Captain C.R. Berkeley commanding “B” Company although wounded in the neck remained with his Company until Colonel Morland arrived with the supporting companies. Lieutenant T.B.S. Marshall then took command of “B” Company and they pushed forward beyond the village to an orchard, but finding themselves isolated the Company withdrew back to a wood slightly to the rear of the orchard where rifle pits were dug round the edge of the wood. Lieutenant W.S.Evans was wounded during the course of the advance but he had sent 2nd Lieutenant W. G. Hewett with two platoons to guard the right flank but the close nature of the country, with hedges and small cottages, resulted in his losing his direction and eventually took up a position 800 yards south of the Menin Road where he joined in with the left of the 7th Division, remaining there until the 31st October 1914.
That night “B” Company in the wood was ordered to evacuate that position and dig a new trench with the right on the Menin Road where two machine guns were also placed. Two platoons from “D” Company were placed to the left rear of “B” Company to guard against an advance from a farm abutting the wood.
The counter-attack on the 29th October was a notable achievement, and showed fine leading and discipline. The advance was made under heavy shrapnel fire, Lieutenant Melville’s initiative in seizing a tactical position for the machine guns was unquestionably the turning point of what might otherwise have ended in deadlock, at the best, instead of victory.
The 2nd Battalion spent the 30th October in digging in and making defences but there was steady German shelling throughout the day from guns of all calibres. A Private who was put on guard over some rations stored in an empty house remained there after the house had been shelled and the roof blown off. The enemy began to bring up field guns to within 1,000 yards and with one of them knocked out one of the machine guns and badly wounded Lieutenant Melville.
“October 31st may be said to have witnessed the supreme effort of the enemy to break through to Ypres. The attack on this day was pressed simultaneously along the whole of the British front from Messines to the Menin Road, and lasted not only throughout the day but during the greater part of the night. This tremendous battle, covering as it did a frontage of 12 miles can only be adequately described in three sections, the fight along the Menin road, the struggle at Klein Zillebeke and the attack on the cavalry corps at Wytschaete and Messines.”
Orders had been given by the enemy for Gheluvelt to be attacked as the capture of Zandvoorde on the 30th October had made it possible to operate against it from the south-east as well as the east. “A decisive victory seemed to be assured as everything pointed to the British being completely exhausted. However the line that stood between the British Empire and ruin was composed of tired, haggard and unshaven men, unwashed, plastered with mud, many in little more than rags. But they had their guns, rifles and bayonets, and, at any rate plenty of rifle ammunition, whilst the artillerymen always managed to have rounds available at the right place at critical moments.”
The night of the 30th/31st October was an uneasy one for the 1st Division. It was moonlight until about 2 a.m., the Germans were in trenches only 2 to 300 yards away and desultory shelling and sniping never ceased. At daylight – just after 6 a.m., when a little rain had fallen and the weather became fine – an infantry attack was made against the whole line of the 1st Division.
The general disposition of the 3rd Brigade was 1st Queen’s South of the Menin road, next and North of the road, the 2nd Battalion Welch Regiment, then 1st Battalion South Wales Borderers. To the south, the line was extended by two companies of the 1st Loyal North Lancashire Regiment and the Royal Scots Fusiliers and to the north by the 1st Scots Guards, 1st Cameron Highlanders and 1st Black Watch. “B” Company of the 2nd Battalion Welch Regiment held about 150 yards of trench with its right on the Menin Road. The trench ran at the foot of the slope and, owing to the causeway on which the Menin road runs, the occupants could see nothing of the Queen’s on their right. “D” Company had two platoons in trenches behind a hedge to the rear of “B” Company but invisible to “B” Company, so placed to guard against an advance from a farm. “C” Company had two platoons holding a little wood between “D” Company’s position and the South Wales Borderers with one platoon sent south of the Menin road to connect the Welch with the Queen’s. “A” Company (very weak) was in shelters dug into the hollow part of a road in the village leading to Becelaere just below the position of the Scots Guards. Battalion H.Q. was in a sunken lane about 40 yards long leading to a farm with a platoon of “D” Company. Remaining platoons were at the windmill, the highest point in Gheluvelt, with the remaining machine gun and Major O. B. Pritchard, second in command.
On the 31st October 1914, the weather was warm for the season of the year and fine. Shortly after 6 a.m. the enemy made an infantry attack on the 1st Division which was beaten off everywhere except in an orchard near the position of the 1st Queen’s where they were able to extend a trench towards the Menin Road. About 8 a.m. a bombardment began the like of which had never been experienced before. The whole of the positions held by the 2nd Battalion and the other positions of the 3rd Brigade were deluged by shells of all calibres. “B” Company’s trench was blown to pieces and most of the Company wiped out. A few wounded men managed to get back to Battalion H.Q. in the sunken lane and reported the situation to H.Q. There was no real cover in the sunken lane nor in the shelters in the main road where “A” Company was, so realising that he could not reinforce his firing line and to keep the troops where they were was suicidal, Colonel Morland withdrew his Battalion H.Q. and the platoon from “D” Company to the village and instructed Captain Rees from “A” Company to follow by driblets to re-organise for a counter-attack when they were able. A runner was sent to advise the C.O. of the 1st Queen’s who eventually located a Lieutenant of that Battalion in its support trenches and found the enemy entering the Queen’s trenches at the same time. Colonel Morland went to Gheluvelt Chateau stables (North West of the village itself), the Battalion H.Q. of the 1st Battalion South Wales Borderers to tell their C.O. Lieutenant Colonel H.E.B. Leach that the 2nd Battalion Welch Regiment had been nearly wiped out by shell fire and that his position was desperate. The result of the very violent shell fire was to pin “B” Company and two platoons of “C” Company in their trenches in the wood and split up a now disorganised Battalion now very weak in numbers. Shortly after 10 a.m. the enemy infantry attack began with thirteen German Battalions, six of whom were quite fresh, launched against the King’s Royal Corps, 2nd Battalion Welch regiment, 1st South Wales Borderers and Scots Guards, barely 1,000 men in all. British rapid fire held the enemy up for over an hour but at last numbers told and the few British defenders were overwhelmed, surrounded and captured. For example, having finished all their ammunition all able-bodied men in “B” Company fixed bayonets and waited for the enemy to attack but at about 11.45 a.m. two machine-guns opened fire on the trench from the top of the hill behind and after they had traversed the trench a German officer called out in English that unless the company surrendered firing would continue. There was no choice and the Company Commander Lieutenant T.B.S. Marshall and 37 survivors wounded and unwounded out of 120 were captured. However the Company had blocked the way to a direct advance on the village and prevented its capture for several precious hours.
Gheluvelt had in fact been entered both from the North and the South. The supports of the 2nd Battalion in the north of the village delivered disconnected counter-attacks and Major O.B. Pritchard was badly wounded being hit three separate times and Captain and Adjutant Walter Hughes Ferrar was killed by the barricade. Captain Ferrar is buried in Ypres Town Cemetery.
An officer of the 1st Gloucestershires who was at Gheluvelt reported later “Church, houses and the windmill of Gheluvelt were reduced to ruins and the Welch were practically wiped out where they stood and soon after, dazed and broken men of this Regiment commenced to straggle back through Gheluvelt and Veldhoek. Whole companies were annihilated and the marvel is how anyone remained to break up the infantry attacks which were delivered again and again.”
About 12 noon the reserve company of the 1st Gloucestershires and the remains of “D” Company under Captain H. C. Rees of the 2nd Battalion were ordered forward to retake the village. The group advanced to the outskirts of the village with heavy casualties from shell and machine-gun fire and with only 13 remaining fizzled out. Captain Rees pushing on alone found Colonel Morland on the edge of the village who called him shouting “These ten-men attacks are no good.” He told Captain Rees that the remainder of the Battalion had been wiped out in the fighting and that Captain Ferrar had been killed and Major Pritchard severely wounded. Colonel Morland was of the opinion that the only way to retake the village was to have a fresh properly organised counter-attack, which unknown to him had already been arranged by Major General Lomax commanding 1st Division.
Eventually what remained of the 1st Gloucesters and the 2nd Battalion Welch Regiment were forced back to the line of the 54th Battery where stragglers were collected and some sort of order restored and a new line taken up, the sight of the guns in action acting as a rallying point to the disorganised infantry falling back.. The Battery was about 800 yards from the Westerly edge of Gheluvelt village, just to the North of the Menin Road. Captain W.A.G.Moore, Captain Rees and Lieutenant Colonel Morland were standing in the shallow trench discussing the situation when a shrapnel shell burst in front killing Captain Moore and mortally wounding Colonel Morland. Captain Rees wrote later “I never saw him the slightest degree upset by anything that happened. He remained to the very end cool and collected as if he was on parade at home.”
Colonel Morland was carried off on a door to the 1st Division’s dressing station outside Ypres on the Menin Road where he died and was buried in Ypres Town Cemetery. Captain Moore has no known grave.
Shortly after that Captain Rees, now commanding the 2nd Battalion, received a message appointing Colonel Morland to command 3rd Brigade. A shell had fallen on the chateau at Hooge mortally wounding General Lomax commanding 1st Division. Brigadier General Landon was to take his place and Colonel Morland that of Brigadier General Landon. For the circumstances, please see the record under the entry for Colonel Arthur Percival under Ypres Town Cemetery Extension.
By that time, about 2 p.m., only Captain Rees and 2nd Lieutenant H.G.A.Corder were the only two officers who had survived the fighting at Gheluvelt and they had about 25 men of the Battalion with them.
The survivors from the 1st South Wales Borderers had delivered a counter-attack and taking the Germans by surprise had regained the line of the road from the village to the chateau inflicting on the enemy many casualties. Before being wounded Major General Lomax had instructed Brigadier General Charles Fitzclarence V.C. commanding 1st (Guards) Brigade to carry out a pre-arranged counter attack from near Polderhoek Wood north-east of the village. Every reserve of I Corps had been used up already except the 2nd Battalion Worcester Regiment. Major Hankey commanding the 2nd Worcesteshires deployed the Battalion in two lines at 50 yards distance and in spite of tremendous enemy artillery fire which caused about 100 casualties, the gallant Worcesters swept on over 1,000 yards of ground without cover and surprising by their audacity the enemy who, deeming the battle won, were mostly resting in groups or searching for water. Driving on, the Worcesters reached the northern end of the village and took up a position in the sunken lane leading to the chateau where they met the survivors of the South Wales Borderers.
About 5 p.m. the remnants of the 1st Queen’s consisting of 1 officer and 21 men were placed under the command of Captain Rees and at 11 p.m. Lieutenant Hewett reported himself in. The 2nd Battalion and the Queen’s then dug in slightly to the north of the Menin Road, the strength of the Battalion at the end of the day being 3 officers and about 50 men out of about 12 officers and 600 men on the previous night.
At about 6 p.m. on the 31st October 1915 Brigadier General Fitzclarence withdrew the defensive line from the forward slope at the ridge at Gheluvelt to a new position further back at Veldhoek where trenches were sheltered from direct observation of German artillery. Whilst lost to the enemy, the momentum of the German advance at Gheluvelt had been broken.
In summary three officers were killed on the 31st October 1914, Lieutenant Colonel Charles Morland being buried in Ypres Town Cemetery (plot E1.11) and Captain Walter Ferrar being buried near to him in Ypres Town Cemetery (plot E1.14). Captain Waldo Alington Gwennap Moore has no known grave and is commemorated on the Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial.
It is established that 49 Other Ranks were also killed in action, 48 of whom have no known grave and also are commemorated on the Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial. Three died of wounds on the 31st October of whom two are also commemorated on the Menin Gate Memorial and the third is buried in Ypres Town Cemetery Extension. Please see the entry for Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial under Memorials Belgium for the details.
Lieutenant Colonel Charles Morland was awarded the 1914 Star, the Victory and General Service Medals and was twice mentioned in Despatches.
He is also commemorated on the village War Memorial at Llangendeirne, County Carmarthen.
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