GREAT STAND BY THE BUFFS

March 1918

Writing In the "Daily Mail" Mr Hamilton Fyfe writes

Our Soldiers have fought with perfectly magnificent doggedness. Let me give you an illustration :

"There is a place called Vendeuil, on the Ouise, north of La Fere, a Vauban fortress. Early on Thursday the Germans crossed the river at two points, Moy and La Fere, and advanced from two directions upon Vendeuill. The fort was held by a small garrison of The Buffs.

When the enemy approached, he was received with a vigorous fire which drove him off time after time. All through the morning he was kept at a distance. By the early afternoon he had a force of investment several times as large as the number of defenders. At four o'clock the latter were still holding out, though their resistance had become weaker, through lack of numbers. after that nothing more was heard of them.

Weather the remnant were forced to surrender or annihilated is not known, but obstinacy of their struggle adds a fresh page of glory to the records of a Regiment, long famous in history."


The men in the fort consisted of some Royal Engineers and a platoon of  7th Bn The Buffs, under the command of Captain Fine. After hours of resisting wave after wave of enemy attacks, the men in the fort exhausted their ammunition supply and surrendered. This action was on the 21st of March 1918 during the "Kaiser Schlacht" or as we would call it the German March offensive. The fort  Vendeuill was one of a series of Redoubts  along the front , their purpose was to check a German advance should the Front line be broken, This line of redoubts failed to stop the advance in March 1918.