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The Affair at Néry
In 1914 L Battery rode into battle in support of 1st Cavalry Brigade as part of the British Expeditionary Force in the Great War. The greatest exploit in all it's history was to occur during the famous "Retreat from Mons" when the battery took part in an action, referred to as "The Affair at Néry", which was believed by many to be the turning point of that part of the 1st World War. During the action at the village of Néry, about 33 miles north-east of Paris, L Battery suffered heavy losses but fought bravely until the last gun had expended all it's ammunition and held the German 4th Cavalry Division at bay. Three Victoria Crosses were awarded to members of the battery for that action and the battery awarded the battle honor title Néry.
On the evening of 31 August 1914, the 1st Cavalry Brigade and L Battery bivouacked in the village of Néry. The horses were mostly picketed in enclosures inside the village, and those of L Battery, as usual, tied to long ropes stretched between the parked guns and ammunition wagons. Men and horses, tired from the long marches during the retreat from Mons, slept.
It had been intended to continue the retreat at 0430 hrs the next day, but a dense fog had formed during the night, so the move was postponed and units told to be ready at 0530hrs. The interval was used to water and feed the horses in rotation. There was a deep ravine to the east of the village and beyond, a plateau which overlooked the village. Unknown to the British, the German 4th Cavalry Division had spent the night just beyond the plateau, about two miles from Néry. German recce patrols discovered the British at first light. An immediate German attack from both flanks was ordered, to be supported by twelve guns firing from the plateau. A British cavalry patrol had in fact discovered the threat when the fog suddenly lifted and the whole village was swept by the fire of the German guns.
The effect was devastating, men and horses, mostly in the open and closely packed together, were shot down in swathes while the wounded horses broke loose and stampeded. The scene in L Battery lines was even more terrible. Being closest to the enemy on the east side of the village the Battery received the full weight of fire from the twelve guns at a range of eight hundred yards. As the frightened horses plunged in their harnesses, the poles of the limbers embedded themselves in the ground and the horses were pinioned as they were blown to pieces by the enemy fire.
The Battery Commander had been knocked unconscious by one of the first shells in the action. The Battery Captain, Captain EK Bradbury, and the subalterns were standing in a corner of the field when the action began and saw the Battery being shot to pieces in front of their eyes. Shouting for volunteers Bradbury raced for the guns followed by the subalterns, Sergeant D Nelson and some men and between them managed to unlimber three guns. Bradbury commanded one, Lt Gifford another and the third Lts Campbell and Munday took charge of. The ammunition had be brought through constant fire from twenty yards away and casualties began to mount. First Lt Campbell's gun had a direct hit before firing a round then Lt Giffords gun, after a few rounds, was hit with severe casualties and out of action. Bradbury's gun remained in action reinforced by some of the survivors and soon after Battery Sergeant Major GT Dorrell returning from watering the horses. The remain gun bore a charmed life and despite a constant flow of casualties, Bradbury kept in action against three hostile batteries under a thousand yards away. As the numbers dwindled Bradbury was mortally wounded bringing ammunition to the gun leaving a detachment of just BSM Dorrell and Sgt Nelson. As the available ammunition was expended the gun fell silent at last. This action allowed the 1st Cavalry Brigade to launch a counter attack forcing the Germans to retreat in disorder.
Hailed by many as the turning point in the war against the Kaiser, the action at Néry brought honour and recognition to the Battery as Bradbury, Dorrell and Nelson were awarded the Victoria Cross and the title L(Néry) Battery RHA bestowed on the battery. Captain EK Bradbury is buried in the village communal cemetery in Néry in a plot close to other fallen soldiers of the Battery, Sergeant D Nelson, he later achieved the rank of major and was killed in action at Lillers, France, on 8 April 1918 and BSM GT Dorrel died naturally in the UK around January 1971
http://www.1914-1918.net/sacredgroun...lecat/nery.htm
93 Bty had the biggest weapons and the highest incidence of industrial deafness.
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