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Transcriber's note:
Obvious printer's errors have been corrected.
The original spelling has been retained.
Page 76: Two instances of AAA left by the printer have
been replaced by dots.
Explanations of British/Canadian military abbreviations
can be found at
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and
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A SHORT HISTORY OF THE 6th DIVISION
Aug. 1914-March 1919
Edited by
MAJOR-GEN. T. O. MARDEN
C.B., C.M.G.
London
Hugh Rees, Ltd.
5 & 7 Regent Street, S.W.1
1920
PREFACE
This short history has been compiled mainly from the War Diaries.
My reason for undertaking the task is that there was no one else to do
it, the units composing the Division being scattered far and wide, and
there being no Divisional habitat with local historians as in the case
of Territorial and New Army Divisions. My object is that all who
served with the Division for any period between 1914-1919 may have a
record to show that they belonged to a Division which played no
inconspicuous part in the Great War.
I regret that it has been impossible to tabulate the honours (except
V.C.s) won by officers and men of the Division, and it is also
inevitable that the names of many individuals to whom the success of
the Division in many operations was largely due should go unrecorded.
The Infantry naturally bulk large in the picture, but they would be
the first to admit that their success could not have been obtained
without the splendid co-operation of the Artillery, who are sometimes
not even mentioned in the narrative; and this theme might be
elaborated considerably.
My particular thanks are due to Lt.-Col. T. T. Grove, C.M.G., D.S.O.,
R.E., to whom the credit belongs for the form taken by the history and
the more personal portions of the history itself. I also wish to
thank Lt.-Gen. Sir J. Keir, K.C.B., D.S.O., and Major-Gen. C. Ross, C.B.,
D.S.O., as well as several Brigadiers and C.O.s, for so kindly
reviewing the periods of which they had personal knowledge.
In conclusion, I wish to add that every copy sold helps towards the
erection of Battlefield Memorials to be placed in France and Flanders.
T. O. MARDEN,
_Major-General._
_April 1920._
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. MOBILIZATION AND MOVE TO FRANCE 1
II. BATTLE OF THE AISNE 3
III. MOVE TO THE NORTH AND FIRST BATTLE
OF YPRES 6
IV. ARMENTIERES 10
V. YPRES SALIENT 13
VI. THE SOMME 20
VII. LOOS SALIENT 28
VIII. CAMBRAI 35
IX. GERMAN OFFENSIVE OF MARCH 1918 44
X. YPRES SALIENT AGAIN 53
XI. THE ALLIED OFFENSIVE IN THE SOUTH 58
XII. THE MARCH TO THE RHINE AND OCCUPATION
OF GERMANY 76
APPENDIX
I. BATTLE CASUALTIES 81
II. V.C.s WON BY THE DIVISION 82
III. DIARY 85
IV. ORDERS OF BATTLE ON MOBILIZATION AND ON
11th NOVEMBER 1918 102
V. CHANGES IN COMMANDS AND STAFFS 109
A SHORT HISTORY OF THE 6th DIVISION
CHAPTER I
MOBILIZATION AND MOVE TO FRANCE
1914
The Division mobilized with its Headquarters at Cork--two brigades in
Ireland, namely, the 16th Infantry Brigade at Fermoy, and the 17th
Infantry Brigade at Cork, and one Infantry Brigade--the 18th--at
Lichfield. Divisional troops mobilized in Ireland. The order for
mobilization was received at 10 p.m. on the 4th August 1914.
On the 15th August units mobilized in Ireland commenced embarkation at
Cork and Queenstown for England, and the Division was concentrated in
camps in the neighbourhood of Cambridge and Newmarket by the 18th
August.
The period from the 18th August to the 7th September was one of hard
training. Those who were with the Division at that time will also
remember, with gratitude, the many kindnesses shown them by the people
of Cambridge; the canteens and recreation rooms instituted for the
men, and the hospitality shown by colleges and individuals to the
officers. They will remember, too, their growing impatience to get
out, and their increasing fear that the Division would arrive too
late.
On the 7th September, however, entrainment for Southampton commenced,
and on the 9th the first troops of the Division disembarked at St.
Nazaire.
From St. Nazaire a long train journey, which the novelty of the
experience robbed of its tediousness, took the Division a short
distance east of Paris, where it concentrated in billets in the area
Coulommiers--Mortcerf--Marles--Chaume by the 12th September.