5088: Fighting at Bourlon Wood

After a brief respite 186th Brigade relieved the units holding positions in Bourlon Wood, a strategic position which the British had still not secured. They were to attack the next morning, 26th November. No account of this action was made by Hartley because his Company found itself in an exposed position at the apex of the British advance and came under heavy fire from German positions in the railway cutting to its north. The 2/7th Battalion suffered heavily - of those who went into action, 6 officers and 200 ORs were casualties, 43 of whom were killed. Harry was one of the wounded officers, shot through the right hand between the 2nd and 3rd metacarpals and was wounded in his right hand and was unable to write. He was evacuated via 2/3 London Field Ambulance, 45 Casualty Clearing Station, 2nd British Red Cross Hospital (Rouen), then to England by steamer on 1st December.