The first portion of the battalion, consisting of the Transport and
Machine Gun section, left Doncaster on the night of April 12th, 1915,
and crossed from Southampton to Havre on the night of 13/14th April.
The remainder of the battalion crossed by a more direct route to
Boulogne on the following day, and after a long and weary march joined
the same train at Hesdigneul on the 15th. The re-united battalion
travelled on by the sleepy little branch line through Lumbres to St.
Omer and then forward to Merville where they detrained at 11-30 p.m.
After unloading horses, mules and waggons, the whole battalion set off
on a three-mile march to Neuf Berquin. What with the darkness and the
unfamiliar language, the task of billeting was no easy one, but all the
men were got under shelter before dawn and enjoyed a well-earned repose
in their first French billets.
The names of the officers who went overseas with the battalion, noting
the casualties which occurred among them, may be given here as some
indication of the severe fighting through which the battalion passed.
Many of the officers given as wounded were hit more than once: and the
casualties among the other ranks were in much the same proportion:--
Lieut.-Col. J. Birkbeck, of Settle, commanding officer; Major C.
P. Cass, of Keighley, second in command; Adjutant, Capt. S. F.
Marriner. Company commanders--Major C. M. Bateman (wounded) (A),
Capt. A. B. Clarkson (wounded) (B) Capt. N. B. Chaffers (C) and
Capt. T. K. Wright (D), with Capt. H. Dixon, Capt. C. H. Sarsby
(wounded), Capt. E. G. Whittaker and Capt. K. Nicholson as their
respective seconds-in-command. The platoon officers were Lieuts.
M. Law (killed), Supple (killed), H. Knowles (killed), C. H. Petty
(wounded), C. Horsfall (killed), 2nd Lieuts. F. L. Smith (wounded),
K. Ogston (killed), V. W. Greaves, T. S. Whitaker (killed), L. Jaques
(wounded), N. Geldard (wounded), R. C. Barrett, T. Brayshaw (wounded)
and Stuck (wounded). The quarter-master was Lieut. J. Churchman, D.C.M;
Signalling officer, Lieut. A. Slingsby (killed); Transport officer,
Lieut. S. H. Clough (wounded); Machine Gun officer, 2nd Lieut. R. M.
Robinson, and Medical Officer, Lieut. A. C. Haddow (wounded).
2nd Lieut. G. Buxton (wounded) and 2nd Lieut. Coulthurst (killed), who
were on the sick list at the time, followed the battalion a few weeks
later, and Capt. M. Wright, who was left behind to organize a nucleus
company to provide reinforcements, himself came out with a draft during
the early autumn.
Major General Baldock was in command of the Division and Brig.-General
E. F. Brereton of the brigade.
Arrived at Neuf Berquin the 6th Duke’s was not allowed to remain idle.
After three days’ rest the battalion was taken up by detachments for
trial trips to the trenches and on April 26th the brigade took over
from the London Regiment a portion of the line in front of Fleurbaix.
It was at this time that the First West Riding Division became the
49th; the 2nd West Riding Brigade, consisting of the 4th, 5th, 6th and
7th Duke of Wellington’s Regiments, became the 147th Infantry Brigade,
the whole being attached to the Indian Corps in the First Army.
In after days men commonly looked back on the Fleurbaix era as a time
of peace and plenty. It is true that the weather was good and the life
not too strenuous. But the sniping was unusually severe. Few reliefs
took place without a casualty and the shelling of billets was a far
from comfortable novelty. The way the battalion settled down to work in
its new surroundings augured well for the future.
On May 9th the men were spectators of one of those early attacks
which cost so much and gained so little. The limit of the main attack
was the right of the 6th Battalion; and if it had been successful
the battalion was also to advance and take a part. But backed by
insufficient artillery and faced by relentless machine gun fire, the
attack failed to reach the foot of the Aubers Ridge, and the battalion
was ordered to stand fast in its trenches. It was a day of tense
anxiety and the battalion was lucky to have so few casualties. The
signallers especially distinguished themselves, mending the lines back
to the brigade as soon as they were cut by shellfire; and few will
forget the picture of Lieut. Anthony Slingsby striding upright across
the open, while he sternly commanded some diminutive signaller beside
him to “keep his head down.”
Quieter days followed, and on June 26th the brigade left those
trenches for the last time, handing them over to their gallant
fellow-territorials of the 51st Division. The battalion was no longer
raw: it had seen its dead. One officer (Lieut. Knowles) had been killed
in a bombing accident, and two (Lieut. Petty and Capt. Sarsby) had been
severely wounded. About twenty other ranks were among the casualties.
And the old grey walls of the ruined abbey, with its little fishpond
and the stately remnants of its tower, will always be remembered by
those who helped to defend it.