18579. Private Percy Wheldon

2nd. Battalion, Coldstream Guards. Born in Loughborough, Leicestershire. Enlisted in Birmingham. Lived in Small Heath. Killed in Action on Friday 30th. November 1917, in a fierce German Counter-Attack, during The Battle of Cambrai. Lost Without Trace. No Known Grave. Known unto God. Commemorated on Panel 2 of The Cambrai Memorial to The Missing, Louverval, Nord, France. Percy was 1 of only 14 Servicemen with the surname “Wheldon” to Fall during The Great War. A staggering total of 59 of Percy’s Comrades from the Battalion also Fell on this day, including:

16025. Private Raymond John Brooks M.M.

9377. Private Jack Long M.M.

together with the following 2 Officers:

Lieutenant Ivan Laing M.C.

Captain Henry Cedric St.John Thompson D.S.O.

The Battle of Cambrai 

20th. November - 7th. December 1917, detailing the events of 30th. November 1917 during which Percy was killed

On the 30th. November, the German counter attack began in earnest. On the right flank, south of the Gouzeaucourt-Bonavis road, the break into British positions was swift. The defending 55 (2/West Lancashire) Division and much of 12 (Eastern) and 20 (Light) Divisions seemed to evaporate, and Snow called for reinforcements as early as 9am. Many artillery batteries soon came within range of advancing German infantry. Both they and units hurriedly ordered to shore up the clearly splintering defence were shocked at what they saw. Not least of them was the Guards Division, still recuperating from a mauling in Fontaine Notre Dame and now heading into what would become a bitter fight to hold the enemy at Gouzeaucourt: "First we had to struggle through the flood of terrified men … nothing seemed to stem the torrent of frightened men with eyes of hunted deer, without rifles or equipment, among them half-dressed officers presumably surprised in their sleep, and gunners who had had the sense and calmness to remove the breech blocks from their guns and were carrying them in their hands. Many were shouting alarming rumours, others yelling “Which is the nearest way to the coast?”

[Norman D. Cliff, To hell and back with the Guards (Braunton, Devon: Merlin Books Limited, 1988) p.85]

The German plan was simply to cut of the neck of the salient by attacking on each side, with the strongest blow to come on the southern side. The blow fell at 7.30am on the 30th November, and was devastatingly fast and effective. By 9am, the Germans had penetrated almost 3 miles towards Havrincourt Wood. Byng's Third Army faced disaster, with the real prospect of several divisions being cut off in the trap. The first attack fell on the 55th (West Lancashire) and 12th (Eastern) Division on the south-eastern side of the salient. The Germans climbed the slope to re-take Lateau Wood, pushed up the complex of shallow ravines south of Banteux, moved through Villers Guislain and past Gouzeaucourt. Amongst the troops defending the artillery positions at Gouzeaucourt were the 11th United States Engineer Company. The direction of the assault was across British divisional boundaries, and the command structure rapidly broke down as the troops became mixed up.

Three German divisions attacked to the north, supported by an intense Phosgene barrage, intending to cut the Bapaume-Cambrai road near Anneux Chapel. They were repulsed by the machine gun barrage of the 47th (London), 2nd and 56th (London) Divisions, who had relieved the 36th and 40th. No Germans reached the road. Fierce fighting continued in the southern area for Gonnelieu, Les Rues Vertes and Masnieres.

Barry Jenkins