The
7th Battalion of the Northumberland Fusiliers served in France and Flanders for nearly
three years with their original brigade, the 149th Infantry Brigade of the 50th
(Northumbrian) Division, and afterwards for the last nine months of the war they served in
France with the 42nd (East Lancashire) Division, to whom they were attached as Pioneer
Battalion.
With
the 149th Infantry Brigade they landed in France on the 21st April, 1915, and without any
preliminary war experience, without time even to get the atmosphere of the front, they
were thrust into the second battle of Ypres, to counter-attack on two successive days an
enemy greatly superior in numbers, overwhelmingly superior in artillery, and elated with
the success of a devilish gas attack. Under the circumstances it was a massacre by
the German artillery and machine-guns rather than a man to man fight. But that gallant
advance into the unknown horrors of modern war, did several things. It laid the foundation
of battalion tradition, and it gave the British line, tottering and almost broken, a
breathing space in which to consolidate and re-form. A staff officer of the Regular Army
writes: "No stouter hearts ever existed than those of the original Division, and I
shall never forget my comrades from Yorkshire, Durham and Northumberland. the attack of
the 149th Infantry Brigade on St. Julien on the 25th and 26th April, 1915, was one of the
finest feats of arms I have ever seen."
After
this violent baptism into war, during one of its worst and most critical phases, the lot
of the battalion, or rather its survivors, was by no means a bed of roses. They were back
again in the Salient almost as soon as the mud was cleaned off their equipment; and on and
off for four weeks they held trenches of the worst description between Wieltje and Hooge.
At the latter place, on the 16th June, 1915, they supported an attack in the second battle
of Bellewarde, a very trying and expensive experience. The terrible pressure on the
British army of the salient was then relaxed and the authorities were then able to send
the Division to a quieter part of the line, Wulverghem and Armentieres. The trenches
at Armentieres were always remembered in later days as the battalion's golden age, and
nothing of the same sort ever fell to the lot of the Division again. Then came a
Divisional rest for seven weeks in the Strazeele area. From the 19th December, 1915, to
the 31st March, 1916, the Division held, during a miserable winter, the ill-omened
trenches about Hill 60, a feat of endurance
that won for all ranks well-merited praise. After this the Division was moved out of the
salient to a spot that once had a good reputation, the trenches facing Wychaete Ridge and
covering Kemmel Hill. For a week there was quiet, then a fierce storm of trench warfare
raged almost day and night in the once peaceful Kemmel area. The trenches were shattered
almost unceasingly by artillery and heavy trench mortars, till the battalion began to
compare this inferno unfavourably even with their winter stay in the Salient.
Lieutenant-Colonel H. Liddell, D.S.O., M.C., a competent judge, once said that he thought
these trenches more horrible than any others he had lived in. After a divisional rest of a
month in the Meteren area the battalion returned to the Wychaete Ridge trenches, where the
enemy trench mortars were if anything more active than ever. During the second half
of July the battalion occupied successively near St. Eloi and Wulverghem, both
quieter places. Then came orders for the Division to proceed to the Somme area. On
the 10th August, 1916, the whole brigade moved to the area of Henencourt, where they
trained intensively for a grand assault. This took place on the 15th September, which will be remembered by many
as the day of one of the most determined and successful assaults of the first battle of
the Somme. "All the troops," says a
well-known writer, "were of the best quality, and had a proud record behind them.
More perhaps than any other part of the battle, this was an action of the British corps
d'elite." And for the battalion it was a great day, marred only by the
initial failure of a neighbouring Division to take High Wood, which caused heavy
casualties to the brigade. Further fighting to exploit the victory of the 15th September
took the battalion into the line twice again, the last visit being on the 2nd October to
newly captured trenches near Le Sars. On the 4th October the Division went back to the
rest area, and the battalion stayed till the 23rd October at Millencourt, with a break of
five days (for road-mending) at Albert.
Some lads from the 7th NF. This picture was sent to me by
John Ievers who writes;
I have just come across this picture that
includes my grandfather Pte Edwin Ievers of 1st/7th Bn. He was killed in October 1917 at
Ypres. My guess that this picture was from 1916 - but where??? Edwin is standing third
from right.
The
next episode is one which is still painful even to think of, the assault on Hook Sap and the Gird Line on the 14th November,
1916. Prior to this for over 2 weeks the battalion wallowed in the mud and misery of the
forward battle area, now holding the line, now carrying stretchers and working, till
everyone was weary almost to death. They were given then the task of assaulting one of the
outlying defences of the Butte de Warlencourt. It could only have been regarded as a
forlorn hope at the best, a means of drawing artillery fire away from a more hopeful
attack on the west side of the German salient (at Beaucourt). The battalion
took its objective, but the assaulting troops were practically wiped out on the objective
before supports, before even a message, could be sent to them. Of all the
battalion's experiences surely this was the most bitter and heart-breaking. You will
find no account of this affair in official histories, but there are those who will not
forget the brave men who perished gloriously but fruitlessly on the Ancre heights. The
survivors of the battalion went back into divisional rest at Bresle, and Christmas Day was
spent out of the line. On the 1st January, 1917, the battalion was back holding the
ill-omened trenches south-east of the Butte; and after two spells in the line the
battalion was taken out with the rest of the Division, and having stayed for a short rest
at Dernancourt went south to a French area near Estrees. This visit which lasted
about a month, provided an opportunity of studying the French soldier at home in his own
trenches, and also of experiencing the terrifying effects of a really good thaw on
unrevetted trenches. It was not a rough part of the line; the Division was then taken out
for training as a corps de Chasse for the next offensive. The battalion
stayed for three weeks at Warfusee, and then on the 30th March, 1917, started a march by
stages to the Arras area. The Division arrived there just as the first battle of Arras opened. In exploiting the successful
operations of the first two days there was a return (against all hopes) to the old
trench-to-trench fighting of the Somme. On the 17th April, 1917, the battalion assaulted
and recaptured with few casualties the important position known as Wancourt Tower; an operation executed in a dashing and workmanlike
fashion, which gained for the battalion the congratulations of the Corps. Then followed a
rest of four days at Pommera, and a move forward on 1st May to reserve positions at
Mercatel, to await the results of the unfortunate battle of the 3rd May. A return to
Pommera for about two weeks and then a short spell in the line near Croiselles.
After this the battalion went back again into divisional rest, enjoying a delightful stay
in the Monchy-au-Bois area. On the 24th June, 1917, the battalion returned to the
forward area, and the Division now held the Vis-Cherisy front till the beginning of
October, 1917; the trenches were good, reliefs could generally be carried out in daylight,
and it was now a quiet part of the line. The battalion had two weeks' rest at
Courcelles-le-Comte; and then the Division moved off to the Ypres salient, to take part in
the battle raging furiously for the possession of Passchendaele Ridge.
The
battalion moved on the 18th October, first towards the Proven area, and then on the 23rd
October forward towards the battle area south of the Houthulst Forest. It proved to be an attack across a swamp against a strong line
of unbroken pill-boxes, and the rain came down unceasingly. As a result the brigade lost
over 1,000 casualties without being able to retain any of the ground that they gained. As
to the battalion, all the officers (save one) and over 100 men of those who took part in
the assault were killed-facts-showing the determined manner in which the attack was
pressed.
The
Division then had a long rest out of the line in the Watten area, the battalion being
quartered first at serques and afterwards at Nortleulingham. On the 11th December, 1917,
the Division returned to the line, holding the "trenches" covering
Passchendaele. These trenches consisted of a line of posts, and the front line was held by
each battalion only for a short spell at a time. But the vast amount of work was also done
by the supporting troops in the forward area, which was still badly shelled. Another
divisional rest, commencing on the 3rd January, 1918, was spent by the battalion, at first
between Abeele and Steenvoorde, and afterwards at St. Martin-au-Laert. On the 27th January
the Division returned to the same forward area, but about the 1st February, 1918, the
battalion was moved back to Alnwick Camp at Potijze, preparatory to leaving the 50th
Division. Under the general army scheme of reorganizing Brigades, the battalion was
transferred as Pioneer Battalion to the 42nd (East Lancashire Division. On the 12th
February, 1918, the battalion moved to the Bethune area to join their new Division. Five
weeks were then spent in digging trenches, etc., in the neighbourhood of Loos, in
preparation for the expected German offensive. On the 23rd March, 1918, the whole of the
42nd Division was hurried south to reinforce the 3rd Army covering Arras. Then followed
for the battalion, as for most units in the battle area, a period of intense strain and
continual marching and sleeplessness. After being moved from one point to another to dig
and hold trenches, on the 25th March the battalion moved forward under heavy gun-fire to
hold a gap in the line at Achiet-le-Grand. More ceaseless movement and they were holding
the front line trenches covering Bucquoy. Two days' "rest" and they were back
again holding the same trenches for three days. After the 5th April, 1918, the pressure on
this part of the front eased off, and the battalion was able to settle down to its routine
duties as Pioneer Battalion. After this a great deal of work was done to the reserve
defences and strongpoints behind Gommecourt, Hebuterne and Mailly-Mallet. This went on
till the middle of August, 1918, when the British advance began. Thenceforward till the
armistice the battalion went forward rapidly, mending roads and bridges in the wake of the
advancing line. Their way forward lay through Miraumont, Bapaume, Villers-au-Flos,
Fremicourt, Havrincourt Wood, Villers Plouich, Lesdains, Beauvois, Viesly, Solesmes, Le
Quesnoy, Le carnoy, Petit Bavay till the armistice on the 11th November, 1918, found them
quartered at Hautmont. Here the battalion remained till the 14th December, 1918,
when a march forward was started towards Charleroi. the latter town was reached on the
18th December, and here the battalion stayed until its return. Demobilization started on
the 23rd December, and proceeding rapidly practically closed at the beginning of March,
1919. The battalion, now reduced to cadre strength, waited on in patience till the
11th April, 1919, when it left Charleroi for Antwerp. The cadre sailed for the
United Kingdom on the 14th April, 1919.
Captain
Francis Buckley
