The baptism of fire for RIR 241 on the 19th of October 1914
Way before the sun broke through the Flanders fog on October the 19th, 1914, at the first cockcrow, the III battalion marched out of Harelbeke. the whole regiment gathered south of lendelede. An enemy plane circled around the sky, dropping spinning, distant arrows. The troops fired at him unsuccessfully, not knowing that he would report everything in no time. today the 25 Jäger marched behind the cavalry’s head. A short rest was made at St. Elooi’s Winkel. Troops from a foreign division crossed the road. In the distance, the cannons thundered, their sound becoming clearer and more serious; some people’s hearts beat faster, but most were almost in a joyful mood. News came that the cavalry and the 25 Jägers had received heavy fire coming from Rollegem kapelle and were in a hard fight. At 9.45 a.m. the regiment received the detachment order to intervene in the battle south of the road between St Elooi Winkel – Rolegem Kapelle – Ledegem, but not to cross the railway line between Roeselare and ledegem under any circumstances, not even with patrols. now III battalion was deployed, following the above-mentioned orders. The 12/241 was at the disposal of the rifle squadron. The 12/241 was at the regiment’s disposal. The attack began, shrapnel burst overhead, farmsteads went up in flames all around, and the fighters, II and III/241 advanced unstoppably. Siegfried Brase describes this first battle:
And finally, at the village of Ledegem, it was time for our battalion to develop,” Werft die Lügenbrut ins meer !!!” the colonel called out to us. Our first platoon swarmed out, the other two followed in support. My platoon, jumping from courtyard to courtyard, when an incendiary grenade burst into our cover. The cattle in the stables roared wildly , but individual cattle avoided the pits, unconcerned about the surprise bullets. Soon one of them, hit, was limping miserably on three legs. The udders of the poor animals were close to the ground, as most of the inhabitants had fled. Only here and there did we find the first dead soldiers who had taken part in the fight. Then the first wounded with bleeding limbs were carried past from the front line by Jägers who were leading the fight. The second wave was formed by the front platoon of our company, which was therefore not allowed to push, although it was only 700 to 800 metres away from the enemy guns. As we walked through a turnip field, the first infantry bullets clapped into the damp leaves in front of the leader and me. They seemed to be coming from a cave barely 100 metres ahead of us, and I was ordered with my squad to search it. We bypassed the farmstead, entered from the rear and searched it thoroughly, but found nothing suspicious. The 40 or so miserable refugees of all ages and sexes who were taken out of the cellar immediately stretched out their arms and were obviously glad that they were not harmed. Near this house lay a handsome English sergeant with a peacefully quiet face, who had been pierced through the heart by a bullet. we found a letter from him to his ‘dear wife’. He wrote that he was well, well looked after and had little work, and had not yet seen a German. This tragic irony also seized us at the enemy. It was clear from the hour that the English had been in this area for 14 days, so they had time to entrench themselves thoroughly and even make beds in their trenches. and this dead man told the young warriors even more: long-serving English troops were fighting here, some of whom had already served their king for many years in India and other colonies. Silently and respectfully they looked at the first dead enemy, and no one dared to take the many English pound notes from the dead man. Ledegem was ours.
Walter Neumann writes about this day: I stay with Colonel Graul in the middle of the village, who is soon joined by von Criegern. We sit on a tree trunk on the village road. Suddenly we receive shots from the nearest houses; soon they are surrounded and the irregulars come out. Crying women and children are sent back along the village street. The six men are unceremoniously put up against the house wall by our colonel and shot. It was a terrible sight. Soon the first wounded of the 25 fighters arrive. Six dead men and one from the 10/241, the first death of the regiment, they were buried in the open field during the evening.
comrade R Anders : a little poodle sat snarling and snarling on the shot chest of a prankster until the funeral the next day, keeping vigil with his master; under the rubble of a house I found the body of a four-year-old girl who had been killed in the collapse; two comrades prepared an early grave for her in the garden.
This information was confirmed in the regiment’s reports: Fight with ‘franktireurs’, six are shot. The enemy is thrown back. The commanded line is reached. Four Englishmen are the regiment’s first prisoners; in the night, which soon falls, the engagement with the enemy is lost. Although the first battles were not difficult, the enemy were only dismounted horsemen and cyclists, it became clear that our young soldiers knew how to fight and that the enemy were not troops scattered from Antwerpen. The accommodation during the night was regulated by the following regimental order, which put the troops back in the actual direction originally planned, because the battle had send them too far to the south.
October the 19th 1914 is known around here as “ schuwe maandag” the German executed several civilians in the area ; In ledegem there were 17 people who lost their live. All different numbers in several sources.
The British shot from the Boonhoek from an ambush towards the Germans and then disappeared , civilians payed the price for this and were called franctireurs what they were not at all.
Sources :Die geschichte des königlich Sächsischen reserve infanterie regiment 241 by Knoppe Paul
Images: map ledegem, memorial fort the victims picture taken by Prof declercq