Ralph Bignell Ainsworth - The Story of the 6th Battalion, the Durham Light Infantry: France, April 1915-November 1918

During one of the short periods of training in 1917, it was suggestedthat lectures should be delivered to the troops on the history of theirbattalions in France. Accordingly Capt. G. Kirkhouse, then AssistantAdjutant, set to work to collect material for this purpose. Owing tothere being no officers, and very few men, who had served continuouslywith the Battalion since April, 1915, the task was not easy, and it wasfound impossible to complete the information in time for a lecture beforethe Battalion returned to the line. The material was carefully preserved,however, and was the only portion of the records which survived thedisaster of the 27th May, 1918. As soon as time permitted, the task wascontinued, but owing to there being very few survivors of earlier days,many details have probably escaped notice. Imperfect and incomplete asthe story is, however, it is hoped that the details related will serve torecall other incidents, both pleasant and unpleasant, to those members ofthe Battalion who have been fortunate enough to survive.

It is regretted that it has not been found practicable to include achapter on the inner life of the Battalion which centred round thecharacters of some of its members. So many names occur to one's mind thata chapter would be inadequate to mention all, and the exclusion of anywould have involved an invidious and unjustifiable selection.

R.B.A.

July, 1919.

The end of March, 1915, found the 50th (Northumbrian) Division of theTerritorial Force awaiting orders to proceed overseas. The infantry ofthe Division consisted of the 149th Infantry Brigade (4th, 5th, 6th and7th Battalions Northumberland Fusiliers), the 150th Infantry Brigade (4thBattalion East Yorkshire Regiment, 4th and 5th Battalions YorkshireRegiment, and 5th Battalion The Durham Light Infantry), and the 151stInfantry Brigade (6th, 7th, 8th and 9th Battalions The Durham LightInfantry). Early in April, when the 6th Battalion The Durham LightInfantry were in billets at Gateshead, the orders arrived and on the 10thApril Capt. F. Walton proceeded to Havre to make arrangements for thearrival of the transport section. The first detachment of men to leaveGateshead consisted of the transport and machine-gun sections which,under Major J.E. Hawdon, Second in Command, and Lieut. H.T. Bircham,Transport Officer, entrained at the Cattle Market, Newcastle, on the 17thApril for Southampton, en route for Havre.

Two days later the remainder of the Battalion entrained at the CentralStation, Newcastle, with the following officers: Lieut.-Col. H.C. Watsonin command, Capt. J.W. Jeffreys, Adjutant; Major W.M. Mackay, MedicalOfficer; Capt. A.P. Cummins, commanding A Company; Major S.E. Badcock,commanding B Company; Capt. W.H.D. Devey, commanding C Company; and Capt.J. Townend, commanding D Company. Arriving at Folkestone the same day,the Battalion embarked for Boulogne, where it arrived about midnight andmarched up to Ostrohove Camp.

The following day it entrained at Pont de Briques Station, on the trainwhich brought the transport and machine-gun sections from Havre. Thecomplete battalion detrained at Cassel, and after marching all nightarrived in billets at Hardifort at 5 a.m. on the 21st April.

On the 23rd April orders were received to march at very short notice toSteenvoorde, where the whole of the 151st Infantry Brigade, commanded atthis time by Brig.-General Martin, was assembled in a field at theeastern end of the town. During the remainder of the day the men wereallowed to rest. At dusk two battalions of the Brigade, the 7th and 9thBattalions, marched off in fighting order. The other two Battalions (the6th and 8th) proceeded by 'buses through Poperinghe to Vlamertinghe,where they took over a hut camp recently vacated by the 9th Royal Scots.

It was now evident that the lessons which the Battalion had learnt duringits long period of training were very soon to be put into practice. The24th April was spent in testing rifles and making final preparations foraction, and in the evening an order arrived from the Brigade to get readyto move quickly. This order was given out and within half an hour theBattalion was on the pav road, marching towards Ypres. It entered thetown as night settled on it. At this date the town was not ruined and theresults of the shelling were hardly noticeable. As the Battalion waspassing the Cloth Hall a shell came screaming faintly towards it, and,passing over, burst with a dull roar in the city a quarter of a mileaway. There had been no talking in the ranks nor any sound except thebeat of ammunition boots on the pav, but when this shell screamedoverhead and burst, ejaculation in the good old Durham tongue could beheard passing cheerily up the length of the column. Two or three moreshells passed over, but none burst near the Battalion.

Reaching the top of the hill to the east of the city and leaving thewhite walls of Potijze Chteau on the left, the Battalion turned off theroad and filed into the G.H.Q. line, a Battalion of the Shropshire LightInfantry climbing out to make room. This trench was of the breastworktype, and a novelty to the men whose idea of a trench was a ditch belowthe ground level. The dispositions of the Battalion were as follows: ACompany were on the south side of the Potijze road and the remainder onthe north side, with B Company on the right, D Company in the centre, andC Company on the left. The machine-gun section was with D Company.Transport lines were established just behind the Chteau near to aCanadian Battery. The position was unfortunate, for the section cameunder heavy shell fire and had several men and horses hit.

Sunday, the 25th April, was the first day spent by the Battalion in thetrenches. There was a considerable amount of shelling, but fortunatelythe Battalion in the trenches did not suffer. In the evening, as it gotdark, the Battalion moved out of the trench and, forming up on the roadwhich it had left the previous night, marched in fours for about a mileto Velorenhoek village, which was then almost intact. There the Battalioncame under the orders of the 85th Infantry Brigade, and halted. All ranksslept for some hours on the roadside, or in the fields, gardens orcottages close to the road. Before dawn the Brigadier ordered theBattalion to vacate the village, and the column moved a few hundred yardsup the road to the east. Here the Companies left the road and the menimproved with their entrenching tools the little cover in the form ofditches and trenches which was to be found, and then lay down. Throughoutthis and the succeeding days the men were in marching order with fullpacks. The transport moved back to Potijze Wood, except the rationlimbers, which went back to Poperinghe.