British War Medal (24376 PTE. W.FOX. OXF. & BUCKS. L.I.); Victory Medal (24376 PTE. W.FOX. OXF. & BUCKS. L.I.); Memorial Plaque (WILLIAM FOX)
24376/45632 Pte. W. Fox Born Brize Norton Oxon. Farm Labourer 8th Bn Oxf & Bucks L.I. Missing presumed dead 26.10.1918
Initially with the 6th Bn Oxford & Bucks Light Infantry, Fox was transferred to the 8th Bn Royal Berkshire Regiment. In the early hours of 26 October 1918 the 8/Berks were to attack a position on the Western Front known as Mount Carmel, the following account outlines the attack:
"Orders were received for 53 Brigade to cooperate with 33rd Division in a forthcoming attack on Mount Carmel, just to the west of the Forest of Mormal. Mount Carmel, some 1200 yards from the British line, was in fact no more than an undulating field slightly higher than the surrounding countryside. The German s held the eastern edge of the field with a line of posts on a road connecting the villages of Hecq and Preux-aux-Bois. For the attack the 10th Essex were on the right, the 8th Royal Berks and two companies of the 7th Royal West Kents on the left.
At midnight on 25/26 October the men moved to their assembly positions and the advance began at 01h00. Enemy machine gun fire made progress slow and strong opposition was encountered on the road from Englefontaine to Robersart, to the west of Mount Carmel. Here the right of the attack was held up , although the left continued to make progress. By 1.40 a.m. two platoons of B Company had reached their objective, but heavy casualties caused at daybreak by enemy artillery and machine gun fire forced them to fall back to a sunken road immediately to the east of the Robersart road. The final line occupied and consolidated was 400 yards short of Mount Carmel but it was considered to be a more defensible position than the original objective.
Fox was one of those killed during the attack, his body was never recovered and he is remembered on the Vis-En-Artois Memorial.
