Military History

Ernest is listed as being killed in action on 7th June 1917 in the attack on White House and Foret Farm during the Battle of Messines. The following description of the events of the 6th to 9th June are taken from the book The History of the 7th (City of London) Battalion the London Regiment by C. Digby Planck which can be found on the Internet Archive.

On the night of June 6th 1917, 2nd Lieut. C. D. Metcalf, Sergt. H. Monck, D.C.M., M.M. and 18 other ranks, went out on a wire-cutting expedition, and the news spread that the attack would be at dawn on the following morning.

At 11pm that night, the 7th moved forward D & B Companies to occupy the front line, and A & C the newly dug assembly trenches in the rear of the front line, a slow journey owing to the congested state of the trenches. The night had been fine and fairly quiet, but about 2.30 a.m. the enemy sent over a few rifle grenades, which resulted in Ptes. Smith, Lansom and Pennell being wounded.

Promptly at 3.10 a.m. on June 7th, the great attack commenced 19 mines were fired, and the artillery in the area opened up along the whole of the front simultaneously. Over went the 7th amidst the greatest din ever heard, our artillery kept up a rapid rate of fire, some creating a creeping barrage and others silencing enemy batteries. The front line and immediate supports were captured with the greatest ease; those of the enemy found still alive were quite dazed and only too willing to be taken prisoner, but here and there a few stubborn defenders were speedily dealt with. In the half light of breaking dawn and the storm clouds of dust created by the shelling it was difficult to retain a sense of direction, and not all immediately made the half-right change for the attack on the White Chateau. A Coy moppers-up dealt very faithfully early on with the small dug-outs which lined the Damstrasse.

Early on, less than 12 men of A Coy had reached the area of the Chateau, which loomed up like a large mound about 30 feet high. From the angle of this mound a sniper caught several of our men, and at one time over a dozen casualties were laid out, at various intervals on a line from the angle of the Chateau back to the Damstrasse.

Capt. A. R. Wallis of A was seriously wounded on his way over and took no further part in the attack. Lieut. J. Preston arrived at the Chateau, and led a frontal attack, some of our men throwing bombs from the top of the mound down on the other side, while the enemy were returning stick grenades. In addition to the sniper, the enemy had a machine-gun post to one side, and although the initial attack was carried out with great dash, our numbers were insufficient to capture the Chateau.

The 7th dug in in front of the Chateau in three or four groups, and from these positions A Coy bombers fired Mills bombs from their rifles so that they dropped on the far side of the mound. The contact plane [assigned to monitor exact location of the advance] roared over at a very low altitude, and signalled for the troops to give their positions, flares were lit and the plane circled the Chateau and raced away; in less than two minutes, our artillery opened up, obtaining many direct hits on the Chateau.

A platoon of the 6th London, led by Capt. Collins, arrived, and with the 7th made a brave but unsuccessful attack to scale the mound, and the 6th then moved off to make a wide detour to the right. By now many more of the 7th had arrived, and Lieut. J. Preston organised an attack at each side, finally rushing in from the rear, covering all exits from the Chateau and killing all the enemy outside. Smoke bombs were thrown inside one of the entrances, and with this the White Chateau was captured, and out came the occupants with their hands up, 80 of them.

Lieut.-Col. C. J. S. Green, D.S.O., M.C., who was on his way up to organise an attack on the Chateau, arrived as the Germans surrendered. The men were ordered to dig in and a shell landed about thirty feet ahead causing casualties, including the writer, who received a small piece of shrapnel just to the side of the right eye. The 7th dug in and consolidated their positions, and during the day the battalion area of the battlefield was cleared of casualties.

On the following morning [8^th June], from 8.40 to 9.30 a.m. artillery of both sides went at each other wholesale. A counter-attack on our night was beaten off, and D Coy moved forward to the new front line between Oak Avenue and South Oak Alley and, while here, beat off two determined counter-attacks.

For the next two days the battalion was very heavily shelled, particularly between 9.30 p.m. and midnight.

The casualties incurred were: one officer, Lieut. P. W. Roots, killed, and 12 wounded, 63 N.C.O.’s and men killed and 13 reported missing; the wounded numbered 263.