Colonel Sir Thomas Bradford D.S.O. D.L. D.C.L.

The account of events has been told by historian Harry Moses who shows us that "the two companies held an extremely dangerous outpost position isolated from the rest of the Battalion back at Boetleer Farm.

It was a situation which called upon all the aggression, enthusiasm, drive and leadership which Thomas Bradford had displayed so often on the playing field and had been instilled into him for most of his life. His large, stolid frame, conspicuous throughout the day as he moved amongst his men, was a source of strength to many. The situation was made much more desperate by the inexperience of the officers and men as they faced an enemy whose strength and ruthlessness were most obvious. They faced their ordeal with an enthusiasm which only their ignorance of what was to come allowed them to have.

Six hundred yards beyond the farm they reached a trench held by the Canadians. Tommie Bradford with "D" Company moved some 200 yards along the Canadians' trench till they came to a flooded communication trench. They moved on through the communication trench for another 200 yards till they reached a second Canadian trench. It had previously been a French trench and there were the bodies of French Colonial soldiers buried in and around it. The bodies had received such a shallow burial that during the day the exploding shells were exposing the buried bodies. The Germans were holding trenches about 150 - 200 yards further on.
The two companies of the Durham Light Infantry had arrived! They were relieving the Canadians and were in a dangerous position, exposed on three sides to superior numbers of German troops and to the overwhelming firepower of enemy guns of many calibres.
It was not long before a German observation plane started making many passes over the DLI trenches. On one of its runs it was seen to be dropping some glittering material just over the DLI trenches. The reason for this 'drop' was not understood until a few moments later there began a heavy and continuous barrage of shells from the German heavy guns which rained death and destruction down upon the inexperienced young soldiers of the DLI, who tragically were without steel helmets and without machine guns. The DLI did have some gunners and some belts of ammunition, but even they were useless because the ammunition was of a different calibre to the machine guns left behind by the Canadians. The British Artillery was all but non-existent and there were no machine guns. The DLI had nothing but their rifles, although fortunately some Canadians had volunteered to stay on in order to provide some urgently needed machine gun support for the two DLI Companies. There was total chaos and destruction everywhere. The noise was deafening. The rapidly diminishing numbers of officers and N.C.Os were for the most part unable to make themselves heard above the ear-splitting explosions and the shrieks of the men being blown apart. The trenches had good breastwork but no parados behind them for protection. In fact the truth was that the position was a hopeless one to defend, and the replaced Canadians were not slow to point this fact out to the DLI replacing them. It has been said that "All they could do was to curse, cry and pray", and await the German infantry attack which they knew must follow.

Harry Moses, the military historian, has written that "this was the day, the moment, when Thomas Bradford was to be truly tested as a leader of men, the ultimate test. Whilst chaos reigned all about him, everything he did, every word he spoke, every command he gave, every movement of his face and eyes, [all of it was] scrutinised by his men as they looked to him to hold them together. Had he shown weakness, fear, uncertainty, disaster would have been complete. He was everywhere rallying his men, encouraging, rapping out precise orders, showing a complete disregard for his own safety as he fought to bring order out of confusion. He rallied the survivors and when the German attack came in it was beaten off. This unsuccessful attack was followed by another enormous barrage of high explosive shells, mixed with shrapnel, as the enemy sought to blast the company out of its positions.

By early afternoon, Captain Bradford was becoming increasingly concerned about his open left flank. Comments were passed that many of the enemy were dressed in blue uniforms instead of the expected German field grey. Captain McLeod, a Canadian officer who had stayed behind to help the Durham's 'settle in' confirmed that the enemy were in fact German Marines. Enfilade fire was coming into the positions from that direction of the left flank. Runners were sent to try to contact Battalion headquarters at Boetleer Farm, but if they got through no message of support was forthcoming. Bradford ordered Lieutenant Wilson to take a party of men and extend his left flank to meet the threat. Wilson and his men took up positions in a field of mustard but were unable to dig in before the enemy guns located them and inflicted heavy losses on the party. Wilson was wounded and many of his men were killed. The Germans made another determined attack and yet again were driven off by rapid rifle fire which exacted a heavy toll on the enemy infantry. These successes raised the spirits of the "D" Company survivors but they must have been quickly lowered by what happened next. Some two miles away three trains drew up on the Ypres-Standen railway, full of German infantry. These forces detrained, formed up and moved towards the Durhams' positions. The Germans attacked once again with their vastly superior forces, but again were driven off with heavy loss. As each attack was driven off the company positions were saturated with heavy enemy artillery fire and many of those who had survived so far became casualties.

It was now late afternoon and the situation was becoming desperate. Bradford had lost almost all of his officers and most of his N.C.O's. His company was down to about 30 fit men out of an original total of about 200. The Germans were actively working around his left flank. Both "D" and "A" Companies - the latter was also under heavy enemy attack and had suffered considerable casualties - had contracted their positions to make defence more manageable with the small number of men available. Ammunition was low. The men were desperately tired. The German guns continued their remorseless hammering of what breastworks remained and casualties continued to rise. About 5 p.m., another German attack was driven off, but it was now clear that a decision would have to be made about retirement. The prospects for getting away were extremely slim. The fields leading back to Boetleer Farm were wide open, completely devoid of cover, and swept by enemy artillery and machine guns. Yet there was no other way out. Bradford and his men, along with those of "A" Company, had done far more than could have been asked of them. At 5.30 p.m. the one remaining machine gun ran out of ammunition. There was now very little left to fight with other than the bayonet and bare hands. The numbers left to fight were pitifully small.