H.M.T. Dongola - taking the 1st Battalion to Egypt
The 1st Battalion Worcestershire Regiment had passed two pleasant years in Egypt—years of which the most notable events of military importance included minor riots at Alexandria, the organisation and training of successive Camel Corps troops at the Central School in Cairo, and the manoeuvres of the little British Army of Occupation in heat and dust across the desert near the Pyramids.
Besides those events, the tour in Egypt was notable for much hospitality at Alexandria to the visiting warships of many nations, and for the great interest taken in the Battalion by Lord Kitchener who made it clear that he had not forgotten that his father had been an officer in the old Twenty-Ninth.
Below is a unique photo of 1st Battalion Officers who would shortly be fighting in the Great War 1914-18 and 2 of them would be awarded the highest honour of the Victoria Cross.
Lieut.-Colonel A. E. Lascelles
1st Battalion Officers at Cairo (1914)
Second row: Lieut. & Quartermaster C. Henson, Lieut. E. L. G. Lawrence, Lieut. E. O. Underhill, Lieut. C. F. G. Crawford, Lieut. J. F. Leman, Lieut. J. S. Veasey.
Front row: Capt. T. K. Pardoe, Capt. G. W. St. G. Grogan, Major E. C. F. Wodehouse D.S.O., Lieut.-Col. A. E. Lascelles, Major B. K. W. Bacon, Capt. & Adjutant J. F. S. Winnington, Capt. T. Fitzjohn.
YOU CAN CLICK ON ANY OF THE IMAGES BELOW TO VIEW A LARGER PHOTO.
1 & 2 Platoon
3 & 4 Platoons
5 & 6 Platoons
7 & 8 Platoons
9 & 10 Platoons
11 & 12 Platoons
13 & 14 Platoons
15 & 16 Platoons
Corporals
Sergeants
Pioneers
Signallers
Machine Gun Section
Staff
Band
Drums
Football Teams
Battalion on Parade
Troopship "Deseado" taking the 1st Battalion to Liverpool
The following officers embarked with the 1st Battalion:—Lieut.-Colonel A. E. Lascelles (commanding), Major E. C. F. Wodehouse D.S.O. (2nd-in-command), Major G. C. Lambton D.S.O., Major B. K. W. Bacon, Captain T. Fitzjohn, Captain C. Richardson, Captain J. H. M. Arden, Captain F. St. J. Tyrwhitt, Captain J. F. S. Winnington (Adjutant), Captain C. S. Linton, Lieuts. C. F. G. Crawford, J. F. Leman, J. S. Veasey, K. W. Wilkins, L. H. Ruck, J. M. Monk, H. Fitz M. Stacke and E. L. G. Lawrence, 2/Lieuts. F. C. Roberts, R. M. Slater, E. B. Conybeare, L. G. Phillips, M. A. Hamilton-Cox, J. H. Tristram, H. P. Hartnoll, F. Darby, F. W. Young and D. King, Captain and Quartermaster C. Henson.
s.s. Maidan which transported the 1st Battalion to France
On the morning of the 8th November 1914, the 1st Battalion Worcestershire Regiment disembarked and were accommodated in a huge shed at the dock side. Not till 5 p.m. next day (November 9th) did the Battalion entrain for the front. The train slowly journeyed through Abbeville to Berguette, which was reached after dark on the 10th. The Battalion detrained and found billets close to the railway siding.
Next day the Battalion marched twelve miles through Merville to Neuf Berquin. There for three days the Battalion lay in billets while the other units of the Division assembled.
It had been decided that the 8th Division should come into the front line on the left of the Indian Corps. On November 14th the 24th and 25th Brigades of the 8th Division marched forward to the front line and relieved the 8th and 14th Brigades. The 1st Battalion Worcestershire Regiment left their billets at Neuf Berquin and marched through Estaires, Rouge Croix, Croix Barbee and St. Vaast to the trenches facing Neuve Chapelle. There after dark the Battalion relieved the 1st Royal Scots of the 8th Brigade. The relief was made difficult by heavy enemy fire, and not until the dawn was it possible adequately to take stock of the position.
Since the fierce fighting around Neuve Chapelle at the end of October 1914 the line there had not greatly altered; but fighting had been continuous and had precluded any real consolidation of the position. As a result the position held by the 1st Battalion was both uncomfortable and dangerous: it was one side of a sharp salient of which the apex formed the right of the Battalion's line. The apex of that little salient was at the cross-roads south of Neuve Chapelle which the Royal West Kent had held two weeks before, and there a semi-circular tangle of battered trenches had become known as "Port Arthur." The name was not inapt, for at that point the enemy trenches were within fifty yards, the exchange of fire was constant, and casualties were numerous. Thence to the left the Battalion lined the western side of the main road from La Bassée to Estaires as far as the cross-roads at Pont Logy. The position was peculiar, for on the left half of the line there were no real trenches but only the sloping side of the road embankment, some ten feet high. On the top of that embankment the men lay down to fire. At the foot of the embankment there were already some improvised shelters, but the troops were exposed to enfilade fire from the enemy trenches facing the other arm of the salient, where the trenches of the Indian Corps ran south west ward from "Port Arthur" parallel with the Rue du Bois. On the left of the Battalion a wide gap separated their position from that of the next battalion in the line, whose trenches ran from near Pont Logy north-eastward, facing the German trenches around the village of Neuve Chapelle. At dawn, that morning (November 15th) the enemy's heavy howitzers bombarded the Battalion's line. The bombardment proved trying to the troops new to war; for the straight line
of the main road was a target difficult to miss, and the sloping embankment provided no cover from the great shells. Before nightfall the 1st Battalion had suffered some thirty casualties (7 killed. 1 officer (Lieut. J. F. Leman) and 24 other ranks wounded).
1st Worcestershire men in "Port Arthur" Trenches
officer, 2nd Lieut. R. M. Slater, a very gallant young subaltern, was mortally wounded and died on the 21st November 1914).
Through four days and nights of constant wakefulness the 1st Battalion Worcestershire Regiment had held their line, under intermittent shell-fire and continuous rain. The cold drizzle had told bitterly on the troops, fresh as they were from the dry heat of Egypt. The frost on the fifth night found officers and men alike wearied out and soaked to the skin. After dark on November 19th the Battalion was relieved by the 2nd Sherwood Foresters. The exhausted troops climbed out of their trenches, waited numb and frozen in a snow-covered field while the Battalion assembled and then, in their heavy coats and equipment, staggered back with such pain as may be imagined through a world sheeted white with snow, six long miles to billets at La Gorgue. That march was long remembered in the Battalion (later dubbed "The Retreat from Moscow"), and to many it was the extreme limit of endurance. Not until 2.30 a.m. did the last stragglers crawl in along the slippery roads to their billets. Next day one man in every four was helpless with frost-bitten hands or feet and nearly 150 serious cases were perforce sent down to the base (this was the first appearance of "Trench-Foot"). Of one platoon, only thirteen men were able to stand.
Neuve Chapelle sector (November - December 1914)
Major B. J. W. Bacon (left) & 2nd Lieut. E. B. Conybeare
In the middle of December a series of demonstrations was undertaken along the front of the British forces. Those demonstrations took the form of minor attacks, intended to harass the enemy and to prevent the transfer of reserves to the Russian front.
The first of those local attacks was delivered on December 14th by the 3rd Division against the Messines Ridge.
Four days later attacks were made by the 7th and 8th Divisions on their own front near Neuve Chapelle, and lastly on December 19th the Indian Corps attacked from the Rue du Bois, still further to the southward.
Near Neuve Chapelle the 8th Division's attack was made by the 23rd Brigade. The other troops of the Division stood to arms, and the 1st Worcestershire marched forward from Estaires - to spend the night of December 18th/19th most uncomfortably in wind and rain among the ruined cottages close behind the line (at St. Vaast): but the Battalion was not actually engaged.
On the right flank of the British front the attack of the Indian Corps led to more, serious fighting. That attack was no more successful than those further north, and the enemy followed up the repulse by a fierce counter-stroke against the trenches at Givenchy. The Indian troops were driven back, and the 1st and 2nd Divisions had to be brought up from reserve to restore, the situation.
At Neuve Chapelle the front of the 8th Division had been readjusted and on December 19th the 1st Worcestershire had taken over new trenches, to the left of those previously held. Those trenches were better sited and more habitable than the former line and the losses decreased. The first tour in the new line ended on December 22nd (b) , when the Battalion marched back to billets at La Gorgue. Casualties of the 1st Worecestershire, December 19th-22nd, 2 killed, 17 wounded. During December, Lieut-Col. A. E. Lascelles was invalided home, and the command of the 1st Worcestershire passed to Major (afterwards Lieut.-Col.) E. C. F, Wodehouse, D.S.O.
During those last days of 1914 the 1st Battalion experienced an equally severe ordeal in their neighbouring trenches facing Neuvé Chapelle. There also rain and frost had done their work, and the trenches filled with water into which the crumpling parapets collapsed. During the last days of December some pumps were secured and all ranks struggled manfully to reduce the height of the water, which indeed was then a greater danger to the defences than was the fire of the enemy; but in spite of all their efforts the water gained. The communication trenches became impassable, and all ration parties and reliefs had to come up after dark across the open right up to the trench line. The German trenches facing the line held by the Battalion were on slightly higher ground and it was constantly expected that the enemy would attempt some method of draining water from his trenches into the British lines.
The New Year was celebrated by a defiant exchange of fire. The Germans, working by Central European time, opened fire at 11.15 p.m. (their midnight). No reply was made until 12 midnight by Greenwich time when an answering roll of fire broke from the British lines. In this salvo there joined for the first time the only trench-mortar which the British Army had as yet evolved ----an experimental weapon made marvellously from an iron drain pipe. One end of the pipe was soldered up and a touch-hole made above. Then, with match and gunpowder in the manner of the XVIth century, this strange piece of ordnance would eject uncertainly a primitive "bomb-shell," consisting of a jam tin loaded on the shrapnel principle with old nails. Primitive though it was, "Archibald," as the piece was named, played its part during the long Winter in heartening our men, if in no other way than by the amusement its erratic performances created. The mortars of the 24th Brigade were entrusted to a special detachment furnished by the 1st Worcestershire and commanded by 2/Lieut. E. B. Conybeare. In the hands of that very brave young officer they were destined later to play a serious part in battle.
In the first days of January it fell to the lot of the 1st Battalion to gain distinction in a minor affair which may be claimed, apparently, as the first "trench raid" of the war. As such it is perhaps worthy of a detailed description.
At that period the German trenches facing those held by the right flank company of the Battalion, were at a distance of some two hundred yards—two hundred yards of open, gently sloping plough across which ran a ditch lined by small willow trees. The night of January 2nd/3rd was dark and misty.
During the night German parties had been seen and fired at, close to the trenches of the right flank company; and a subaltern of the company who had gone forward into No Man's Land' had encountered fire at close range from several rifles in the open—a strong reconnoitring patrol, as he thought.
Dawn of 3rd January 1915, was heralded by a thick white mist. As the mist slowly lifted the astonished sentries of the right flank company saw before them a new German trench not fifty yards away. The enemy had come forward across "No Man's Land" during the night and had dug in. The fire encountered by the reconnoitring subaltern had been that of the enemy's covering party.
The reason of that action of the enemy was uncertain. Conjectures varied between a jumping-off place for an assault, a desire to get close enough to be safe from our artillery fire, or the expected attempt to drain water into our trenches. One thing alone was certain: the enemy could not be allowed to remain in their new position. It was decided that an attack on the new trench should be made that night.
It was arranged that the attack should be made by a party of one subaltern and twenty-five men. No permanent occupation of the trench was intended: orders being that the party should clear the trench and then return as quickly as possible. Arrangements were made for artillery support against the enemy's main lines. Lieut. F. C. Roberts was selected by Lieut.-Colonel Wodehouse to command the attacking party.
The raid was carried out exactly as planned. Waiting until the moon had been clouded over, Lieut. Roberts led his party over the parapet at 8.45 p.m. On a given signal the little party rushed forward in silence to the German trench. Three sentries of the enemy were taken completely by surprise, and were bayonetted before they could shoot. The trench was found to be full of sleeping Germans ; who were all bayonetted or shot, save some few who broke out of the trench and ran back across the open. Then Lieut. Roberts gave the signal to retire, and his men got back as quickly as was possible. Just as they scrambled back over our parapet the German main line broke out with heavy rifle-fire, bowling over the hapless survivors running towards them, and at the same moment our own artillery opened a sudden bombardment. For some twenty minutes heavy firing lasted. Then the firing died down and it was possible to call the roll. Of Lieut. Robert's party two men had not returned : their bodies were seen next day lying on the German parapet. The German losses were officially estimated at thirty.
That gallant little exploit received prompt recognition. Within twenty-four hours Lieut. Roberts was awarded the D.S.O., Sergeant H. Edwards, Lance-Corporal G. Darby and Private H. Evans were awarded the D.C.M.
One minor sidelight on that brilliant little affair perhaps deserves to be recorded. In the bitter weather conditions of the preceding month, officers and men had been allowed to grow beards; and during the fight and at the preceding conference, Lieut. Roberts had worn a fierce black beard worthy of a hero of the Iliad. On being notified of his decoration he was invited to dinner with the Divisional Commander. For the occasion he shaved off his beard; and the modest young officer who presented himself that evening was not at first recognised as the hero of the raid. The exact locality of the raid is shown on map above marked with an 'x' near Pont Logy.
It is doubtful if that affair was actually the first "trench raid," for similar deeds are claimed by the Gurkhas of the Indian Corps during the previous two months, but it was certainly the first to be widely known. It was described, and indeed somewhat exaggerated, in the "communiqué" of the official "eye-witness," and thus may be said to have added, if possible, to the high repute which the publication of the Commander-in-Chief's dispatch on the Ypres Battles had brought to the Regiment.
Captain C. F. G. Crawford and Sgt. C. Turton
(Breakfast time !)
During January the weather steadily grew worse. The 2nd Battalion in reserve billets at Vieille Chapelle or at Gorre did not experience the worst of the ordeal, but the 1st Battalion still facing Neuve Chapelle suffered severely. By January 13th most of the trenches held by the 8th Division were three feet deep in water, and it was then decided temporarily to abandon the greater part of the trench line and to convert the parados into a breastwork. That was done, and behind the scanty cover afforded by a sandbag breastwork officers and men crouched in the pouring rain. Had the enemy been aggressive, or had their artillery been minded to shell that flimsy cover, the casualties must have been heavy; but the Germans were probably in similar plight and contented themselves with a sniping fire which caused but little loss (January 12th, one killed, 4 wounded. January 13th, three killed, three wounded. January 14th, five killed, six wounded. January 15th, three wounded).
The weather slowly improved. Gradually the trenches were pumped more or less dry, and bit by bit they were reoccupied. Nothing occurred of any noteworthy importance, except perhaps the early morning salute fired at 5 a.m. on the Kaiser's birthday (27th January) when for some five minutes every available gun and rifle in the British line rained shot and shell upon the German trenches. That salute was presumably an unpleasant five minutes for the Germans, but it was not without its disadvantages from the point of view of the Battalion, since a new and raw field battery in their rear bombarded our own trenches as freely as those of the enemy: Luckily no casualties resulted.
CLICK HERE FOR FULL DETAILS OF THE BATTLE OF NEUVE CHAPELLE AND THE 1ST BATTALION WORCESTERSHIRE.
After four days in billets at Sailly, on the banks of the Lys, the 1st Worcestershire (The Battalion had been strengthened on the 27th April 1915, by a draft of 2 officers and 137 other ranks) fell in at 10.50 p.m. on the night of May 8th and marched forward to the assembly positions for the attack. The night was fine and warm with a bright star-light. By 1.30 a.m. of the 9th the units of the 24th Brigade were in their selected positions. The 2nd East Lancashire were in front line and behind them the Sherwood Foresters. To the right rear of the Foresters lay the 1st Worcestershire, half the Battalion close up by the Layes brook and half some four hundred yards to the rear. All three battalions were accommodated in roughly dug assembly trenches. The fourth battalion of the Brigade, the 2nd Northamptonshire, were some distance to the right, their role being to make a subsidiary attack from a small orchard against the German salient to the southward of the main front of attack. Orders were that as soon as the East Lancashire had attacked, the Foresters were to occupy the front-line trenches, their place in turn being taken by the Worcestershire. Then the Foresters would go forward and the Worcestershire would follow.
At 5 a.m. on a fine clear morning the British artillery opened fire. In a few minutes it became clear that neither the accuracy of the bombardment nor its effectiveness was at all comparable to that at Neuve Chapelle. British shells faultily timed struck around the assembly positions of the British assaulting battalions, whilst a continuous fire of machine-guns and musketry from the enemy positions showed that the German defences were not dominated.
At 5.40 a.m. the bombardment died down and the leading battalions advanced to the assault. The 1st Battalion Foresters moved forward to the front line and the two leading companies of the Worcestershire ("B" and "D") began to file into their vacated trenches, ready to follow them up. At the same time the rear half battalion ("A" and "C" Companies) advanced by rushes across the open to the forward trenches.
Aubers Ridge (9th May 1915)
Messages were sent back, and at 9 a.m. the British artillery again opened a bombardment, no more accurate or effective than before. The three battalions of the 24th Brigade struggled to reform and move forward, but the trenches were choked with wounded and it was impossible to pass along them.
Efforts were made to get out of the trenches and to rush forward across the open. Several brave officers and N.C.O's. led such attempts. But all were shot down. The trenches in which the attacking troops were crowded formed a sort of salient, and were swept by fire not only from the front but also from the left flank.
For three hours the intermixed battalions struggled in the crowded trenches. Hour by hour the German artillery fire increased in intensity; for the real point of attack had at first been concealed by simultaneous demonstrations elsewhere along the front: as no attack developed at those other threatened points the more distant guns switched their fire on to the actual battle front.
Midday passed and the German gun-fire rose to intensity. Meanwhile preparations had been made for another attack and •at 12.50 p.m. Lieut.-Colonel Grogan received orders that at 1.30 p.m. his Battalion, supported by the Foresters, should assault the German lines.
Colonel Grogan made such preparations as were possible to carry out his orders. At the same time he reported that he considered it impossible for the assault to succeed. The intermixture and confusion of battalions prevented any concerted and sudden advance over the parapet and the enemy's defence was only too clearly unbroken. As he wrote down that report the British artillery again opened fire and once again our own shells struck around our own trenches, inflicting heavy loss and ruining the last hopes of launching a successful attack. Ten minutes later (at 1.15 p.m.) the enemy's artillery, as if forewarned of the plan, redoubled their fire, especially from the left flank, where the attack of the 25th Brigade had similarly failed. After considering the situation Colonel Grogan took upon himself the responsibility of countermanding the assault : an action which higher authority subsequently approved. Later in the afternoon the East Lancashire, partially reorganised, were moved along the front-line breastworks towards the orchard, whence the 2nd Northamptonshire had attacked gallantly but had been virtually annihilated. It then became possible for the Worcestershire at last to reach the front breastworks.
Throughout the afternoon the situation remained unchanged. The stretch of open ground in rear made it impossible to withdraw the troops from the forward trenches, and they remained crowded amid the dead and wounded under a continuous bombardment - C.G. 24th Brigade Diary.—"At intervals during the afternoon, reports were received, from our infantry and artillery observing officers as well, that our shells were dropping short. Re-organisation of battalions took place as far as was possible under the continuous shell-fire."
At last darkness came on and the remnants of the 24th Brigade were withdrawn, except the 1st Worcestershire, which alone of the four battalions remained in good order. The Battalion was left to hold the defensive line and all night long worked hard, rebuilding the battered parapets and succouring the wounded who crowded the trenches. The attack, so boldly planned, had completely failed.
The cause of the failure had been underestimation of the strength of the German defensive line (profiting by the lesson of Neuve Chapelle, the Germans had greatly strengthened their parapets, and their defensive wire. Throughout the day their rifle and machine-gun fire was never quenched) and of the weight of artillery fire necessary to breach it. The result was an appalling casualty roll. The four battalions of the 24th Brigade lost more than 1,600 officers and men : the losses of the 1st Worcestershire were over 200 -- One officer (Captain R. J. Ford) and 31 other ranks killed. Four officers (Lieut. R. C. Wynter, 2/Lieuts. L. Garratt, C. B. Phillips and A. F. Birch-Jones) and 185 other ranks wounded, 8 reported missing.
During the ensuing twenty-four hours the 1st Worcestershire remained in the front line under , continuous shell-fire, labouring to repair the defences.
In front of the parapets the open ground was thickly strewn with dead and wounded of the East Lancashire and Sherwood Foresters. The wounded were in desperate plight, for the heavy firing which continued until nightfall on May 9th made it impossible for any help to reach them, and even after dark the work of the rescue parties was difficult. The enemy were on the alert against any renewal of the attack and bursts of fire continued intermittently throughout the hours of darkness. Many of the wounded were brought in before dawn but the daylight of May 10th showed many more still lying out between the trenches, signalling pitifully for help. Volunteers made their way out from the trenches and dragged back such as they could reach. Corporal E. Frazier and Private J. Williams showed the utmost bravery, going out again and again into the open under heavy fire. Between them they brought eleven wounded men into safety. Later in the day Corporal Frazier and Private Williams worked forward again across the open to reconnoitre an abandoned saphead into which they thought some wounded might have made their way. They: found the saphead packed with wounded, who had dragged themselves there for safety. With the aid of Lance-Corporal H. Johnston and others they succeeded in getting back into safety no fewer than 80 disabled men (Pte. Williams were awarded the D.C.M. and Corpl. Frazier a bar to his D.C.M.).
After dark on 11th May 1915 the 1st Worcestershire were relieved by the Scottish Rifles and Middlesex of the 23rd Brigade, and withdrew from the trenches without further loss to rejoin the 24th Brigade in billets at Laventie. A big draft (92 N.C.O's and men) arrived to replace the casualties and on May 13th the Battalion diary recorded that "all deficiences were made up and the Battalion ready for action again." Failure had not affected the spirit of the Regiment.
The 1st Battalion played a comparatively passive role after the 9th of May. The limited supply of ammunition available made it impossible for the British forces to continue the attack north of Neuve Chapelle as well as that in the Festubert area; and the troops of the 8th Division had to content themselves with holding their own front and listening to the thunder of the guns further south.
On the evening of May 15th the 24th Brigade moved forward from their billets at Laventie and relieved the 146th Brigade at Neuve Chapelle. The line taken over was the identical position held by the 24th Brigade at the close of the battle on March 13th. It was now known as "C" Lines, the principal tactical feature being the ruined house around which the Sherwood Foresters and Captain Arden's company had fought. That heap of ruins, some 150 yards in front of the general line and connected to it by a communication trench formed a curious little salient known by that time as "The Duck's Bill." Around that salient sniping and bombing were almost continuous, but the rest of the new line was fairly quiet. Towards the southward the bombardment around Festubert could clearly be heard, but at Neuve Chapelle itself there was little activity beyond continuous shelling by the heavy artillery of both sides.
Thenceforward till the middle of June 1915 the 1st Worcestershire remained in trenches at Neuve Chapelle or in billets behind that sector of the front. Apart from a steady toll of casualties there were few notable incidents.
Casualties 1st Worcestershire :—May 15th-20th, 4 killed, 14 wounded. May 31st—June 17th, 3 killed, 22 wounded, in addition on June 12th three officers (Lieut. E. B. Conybeare, 2/Lieut. T. G. Stokes and 2/Lieut. F. Faulkner Lee) were wounded by a "minenwerfer " which burst outside their dugout. From May 20th till May 31st the Battalion lay in reserve at Laventie and La Gorgue. After that date the Battalion took over trenches on the right of those previously held between Neuve Chapelle village and the Bois du Biez, and held those trenches till June.