November 1918 ... The Armistice
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After resting at St Pol, the furthest the Division had been from the front since first entering France, it was moved back into the fighting line on November 6th west of Bois d'Audregnies. It was placed at the forefront of the XXIInd Corps pursuit of the enemy. The Division advanced forward virtually unopposed except for isolated machine-gun posts and the occasional artillery barrage but these still resulted in casualties. On the eighth the Division captured Witheries. Continuing the pursuit of the Germans some resistance was encountered at St Symphonien before reaching the line of Harmignies-Malplaquet on the evening of tenth. The Division was ordered to continue to advance the following day and, with the 188th and 189th brigades side-by-side, Givry was carried with the Division's machine-guns coming in to the action just fifteen minutes before the hostilities ceased.
After the Armistice the Division remained in Belgium and was due to advance into Germany with the Army of Occupation but this was cancelled on the thirteenth. On the seventeenth the Army of Occupation marched through the line and the Division was withdrawn to Valenciennes on the twenty-sixth. Here it was again inspected by the King on December 5th. Demobilisation of the Division commenced during December with those employed in the key occupation of mining demobilised first and Thomas was sent to the Calais dispersal centre on the thirtieth. On January 11th Thomas was demobilised at Clipstone and paid £26/-/- on the twenty-ninth. A total of almost four thousand men had been demobilised by the end of the month.
Demobilisation continued at a quick pace and the remaining men billeted in South Kensington. In March the Division was re-designated as a Cadre before being fully demobilised in April. After the final demobilisation the War Office asked the Admiralty to reform the Division for service as the Army on the Rhine. The request was declined as it was considered that the Division was not suited to routine tasks.
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On May 5th Thomas was awarded the 1914 Star and the following month, on the sixth, the Division was inspected by the Prince of Wales before being finally disbanded. Thus came about the end of an outstanding fighting unit which had lost a total of 47,953 men killed, wounded or missing during the conflict of which almost five percent were officers. This number is equivalent to approximately three standard Army divisions. Forty percent of the Royal Navy losses for the 1914 to 1918 period were suffered on land rather than at sea. The unique organization of Division had proved itself highly effective during the course of the war on numerous occasions. With supreme leadership of the highly trained men the Division proved readily adaptable to the variety of theatres in which it was placed and played no small part in the overall victory of the Allied nations. Although short lived the Royal Naval Division was a truly unique, remarkable and highly successful unit whose battle honours stand high amongst the very best.
On July 11th Thomas was awarded the British War and Victory medals and his service career was brought to a close on August 28th 1919 when it is recorded on his service record Wills sent to rating.
Although the Royal Naval Division no longer existed its contribution during the Great War was not forgotten and in 1922 the first memorial was dedicated to the Division at Beaucourt-sur-l'Ancre in commemoration of the Division's victory on The Ancre six years earlier.
Three years later a second memorial was dedicated to the Division on Horse Guards Parade and was inscribed with the first stanza from the pre-war poem The Dead by Rupert Brooke:
Blow out, you bugles, over the rich dead
There's none of these so lonely and poor of old
But, dying, has made us rarer gifts than gold
These laid the world away, poured out the red
Sweet wine of youth, gave up the years to be
Of work and joy, and that unhoped serene
That men call age, and those who would have been
Their sons they gave, their immortality.
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Brooke had died on April 23rd 1915 from blood poisoning resulting from a mosquito bite whilst in transit to Gallipoli. In June 1937 the LMS locomotive number 5502 was named Royal Naval Division.
The Horse Guards Parade memorial was originally located next to the Admiralty but was dismantled in 1939 and put into storage to prevent damage whilst construction of the Citadel was undertaken. The memorial was eventually re-erected in 1951 but was relocated to the Royal Naval College at Greenwich. As the college passed out of the Royal Navy's control an appeal was launched to return the memorial to Horse Guards Parade which received full support from HRH Prince Charles, the Prince of Wales. In 2003 the memorial was returned to its former location next to the Admiralty and was rededicated on November 13th.
In 1991 a third memorial was dedicated to the Division at Gavrelle. The unfortunate location of this memorial, being sited at the junction of two main roads, is offset by the nature of its wholly unique construction. The memorial consists of red brick walls, representing the red brick buildings of the village, which surround a ship's anchor, taken from a sunken naval vessel, and bearing plaques displaying the battalion insignia.
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Royal Naval Division Memorials
Beaucourt Sur l'Ancre
Horse Guards Parade
Gavrelle
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A plaque was unveiled on October 26th 2007 at Varlet Farm to commemorate the contribution of the Division at Passchendaele ninety years earlier. The simple text reads:
Varlet Farm, Poelkapelle, Captured by men of the
63rd Royal Naval Division, 26th October 1917.
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The 1914 Star, British War Medal and Victory Medal of Thomas Bashton |
It is fitting to close this narrative on the Royal Naval Division with the words of its founder Sir Winston L. Spencer-Churchill:
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By their conduct in the forefront of the battle, by their character, and by the feats of arms which they performed, they raised themselves into that glorious company of the seven or eight most famous Divisions of the British Army in the Great War. Their reputation was consistently maintained in spite of losses of so awful a character as to sweep away three or four times over the original personnel. The memory is established in history and their contribution will be identified and recognized a hundred years hence from among the enormous crowd of splendid efforts which were forthcoming in this terrible period. Deriving as they did their nomenclature, their ceremonial traditions and their inspiration from the Royal Navy, they in their turn cast back a new lustre on that mighty parent body of which it will ever be proud and for which it must ever be grateful. Long may the record of their achievements be preserved, and long may their memory be respected by
those for whom they fought.
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