Bois Grenier and La Vesee
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| Bois Grenier to the south of Armentieres |
The 3rd of January war diary entry records "Communication between A and C companies in fire trench impossible owing to two foot of water and deep mud. Companies worked all day to make trenches habitable, but water continued to gain".
The following day, January 4th, saw Brigadier General Gordon visit the trenches at Bois Grenier. He "went round our trenches and completed his round without boots, having had these sucked off by the mud. This kept occurring to many of the men"
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| Colonel Philip Robertson of the 1st Cameronians in Bois Grenier trenches Jan 1915 |
For the next 9 days the Battalion spent more time fighting Mother Nature than the Germans, as constant rains left the trenches 2 or 3 feet deep in water. The men had run out of places to sleep, so steps had to be cut into the side of the trench walls to create a dryish space to get their heads down. On the 8th January the war diary records "Weather still wet. Men getting very tired".
Rather grimly, on the 12 January whilst making improvements to the trenches "some old graves were met while digging and in A Company some old latrines impeded the work"
Fortunately January 13th saw the arrival of the 1st Cameronians to relieve the 2nd A&SH. Over the next week the men enjoyed baths at Bac St Maur and then relaxed, trained and recovered. The decision was made at Brigadier level that they should "adopt a system of 5 day reliefs". The men would now spend a maximum of 5 days in the frontline at a time before being rotated back behind lines for rest.
This "5 day Relief" system commenced on the 18th January with the 2nd A&SH relieving the 1st Middlesex Regiment in the La Vesee section of the Bois Grenier trenches. The trenches were "in a very bad state". Thankfully the Germans were not actively engaging in the war - "Our left (D Company) was opposite Saxons who never fired, so work proceeded by day". This lack of aggression continued for the remainder of the Battalions stint that month in the La Vesee section until the 23rd when the 1st Middlesex returned to relieve 2nd A&SH.
The five days at billets between Jan 23rd and Jan 28th 1915 were, however, interrupted by intelligence reports that there was a large build up of German forces around the Lille area (under German occupation). January 27th was the Kaiser's birthday and an attack was expected. 2nd A&SH were ordered to "stand to arms" but later, as things remained quiet, they wer dismissed.
5 days had now passed in billets. On January 28th 1915 it was time to go back to the Front and relieve the 1st Middlesex once again.
It is now that we hear from John Minnery again. The following day, January 29th, he put pen to paper and wrote a short letter home from the trench in La Vesee. His letter was published back home in the local Barrhead newspaper :
"In a letter from the front dated 29th January, Sgt John Minnery, of "A" Company, A&SH says: - 'It is now about midnight, and it has been snowing. It is now nice and clear, and the trenches would make a fine picture, everything is so white. We are lying facing the Saxons, and I think they are about fed-up with this war. They have behaved as they are since the Xmas truce. They walk about on top of their trench, and we do likewise. They are only about 200 yards in front of us. They dont snipe us and we dont snipe them, but the Prussians who are on our right, snipe at us pretty constant. The Saxons have a large French flag flying in front of their trench, and I am going to try and get it as a souvenir"
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| Capt Moorhouse, 2nd A&SH, sniping at Bois Grenier |
During the months of February and March the Battalion were in an out of the lines at Bois Grenier.
In that period John distinguished himself on Patrols. For this he was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal, the DCM in June 1915.
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| Distinguished Conduct Medal (DCM) |
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| Distinguished Conduct Medal entry in the Gazette, 1915 |
The Distinguished Conduct Medal (DCM) was (until 1993) an extremely high level award for bravery. It was a second level military decoration awarded to other ranks of the British Army and formerly also to non-commissioned personnel of other Commonwealth countries.
The medal was instituted in 1854, during the Crimean War, to recognise gallantry within the other ranks, for which it was equivalent of the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) awarded for bravery to commissioned officers, but the DCM ranked well below the DSO in precedence. (description from Wikipedia)
What exactly was "Patrol Work" though? The web page "Life In The Trenches" (link) gives the following description:
"The onset of darkness also brought with it the need to patrol no man's land, man listening posts and send out wiring parties. The patrolling was meant to dominate no man's land to prevent the enemy mounting a raid during the night. On occasions a patrol would meet an enemy patrol in the darkness. They would each be faced with the decision of whether to fight or simply let the other pass by. If fighting was the choice this would be hand-to-hand as to fire a weapon would invite a burst from the enemy's machine guns."
April 22nd 1915 saw the first use of Gas up near Ypres. The men of the 2nd Battalion received "Respirators" for the first time on May 2nd 1915. A week later the diary records (whilst in trenches) "Respirator inspection & practising quick adjustment". It wasnt until the 22nd of May that a real "Gas Alarm" was experienced by the men. The diary records no more than that so I assume it was a false alarm.
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| Gas Masks at Bois Grenier 1915 (IWM) |
The trenches seem to have improved - or perhaps a better way of looking at it is that the weather improved. In May and June the diary is no longer filled with the travails of rising flood waters. By now the men must have known this section very well.
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| 2nd A&SH making bombs from tin cans (Photo by Lt Bankier 2 A&SH) |
Wounded Again
The article below was published in the Barrhead News in July 1915 to record the award of the DCM to John. The article states however that John was now recovering in a French Hospital having been wounded for a second time in the war.
John was wounded on the 6th June 1915. His left hand being injured.
"No. 905 Sgt Minnery of 2nd
A&S Hgrs was
accidentally wounded on left hand by a detonator exploding in his hand whilst
in the trenches on 5th June 1915. He was on duty at the time of the
accident. The accident was not of a
serious nature and will not interfere with his future efficiency as a soldier"
I have no evidence to confirm this but the detonator that went off in John's hand was perhaps from a Mk1 Mills Grenade.
The grenades and their detonators were issued separately and had to be assembled by the soldiers prior to combat. But this is pure conjecture on my part.
John was out of action for three weeks returning to the Battalion at the start of July 1915.
The men of the 2nd Battalion A&SH were visited by Lieutenant General Sir WP Pulteney KCB in July 1915. His speech is recorded in the War Diary as follows:
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| Lieutenant General Sir WP Pulteney KCB speech to 2nd A&SH |
New Trenches
July 23rd, 1915 saw the Battalion head slightly further south to Neuve Chapelle.
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| Further south on the British Sector of the Western Front |
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| Picantin is in the top right quadrant of the map |
For the next month the Battalion were billeted, at various times, in Laventie or Bethune or Essars or Beuvry. In between billets the men saw action in
- the Picantin trench (3km north east of Neuve Chapelle - see above map)
- Orchard Redoubt (3 km south east of Neuve Chapelle
The Battle Of Loos
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| Loos, north of ARRAS (bottom of map). The billets at Bethune are 10 miles to the north-west of Loos |
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| 2nd A&SH were part of I Corps, 2 Division. Their position is in the top left quadrant of this map |
At the start of September the Battalion moved further south to Cambrin and took over trenches there. The diary records the capture of two "German deserters of the 16th Prussian Regiment" who "gave valuable information about the enemies position".
The battalion were preparing to take part in the 1915 Battle of Loos. This battle involved six Divisions and was referred to at the time as "The Big Push". It would also be the first time the British used poison gas as a weapon (the Germans having used it earlier in April 1915). The battle was planned to be a joint offensive of the French and British forces on a 20-mile front between Arras and La Bassée. To the south the French would launch seventeen infantry Divisions supported by 420 heavy guns. The northern sector of the attack would be launched by six infantry Divisions supported by 70 heavy guns. In addition the French and the British would use Cavalry divisions. The objective of the assault was planned to have the cavalry push 50 miles into German held territory, specifically Mons in Belgium.
Ahead of the infantry attack the plan required four days of artillery bombardment to soften to the Germans. The guns started firing on September 21st 1915 and continued to do so for the next 96 hours.
The war diary of John's Battalion has an entry on September 21st (whilst the battalion were in Bethune at billets) stating simply "In Billets. Heavy Bombardment on our front by British". They remained in billets until the morning of the 23rd September when they advanced to the trenches at Cambrin. There they remained waiting for the designated "zero hour" of 6.30am of September 25th. The following is the account of that day recorded in the 2nd A&SH War Diary.....
"Attack on September 25th 1915, near Cambrin.
The ground
between our trenches and the Germans’ was flat except where a series of mines
had been exploded which made craters with sides 8 to 9 feet high completely
screening the German trenches except for a gap of about 60 yards; one crater
known as “Etna” touched our lines, one side of whichhad been held by us and the other by the Germans for some
months. The wire in the gap had been
previously cut by our artillery and the assault had to pass through this gap to
reach the German trenches – This distance across was about 80 yards. The previous night was mild and damp. During the night the wire in front of the
parapet in front of our “jumping off” trenches was removed and bridges laid
across the front trench for the attack to get over the parapet which was
encumbered with chlorine gas cylinders.
Two jumping off trenches had been dug some days previously about 30 to
40 yards in the rear of the fire trench.
Two companies had two platoons formed up in these “jumping off”
trenches, one platoon standing at the ladders the other standing beside the
ladders, the two other platoons of these companies were formed up in the support
trench known as “High Street”. The
orders for the advance were for the platoons at the ladders to lead, followed
by the other platoon waiting at the ladders as soon as the leading platoons had
cleared the fire trenc, followed by the two platoons in High Street in
succession.
The other
two companies to take these positions as they became vacated. The two leading companies were “D” on the
left, Captain H.de.B Purves, “B” on the right Lieut H.A. Campbell, “A” Company,
3rd Company Captain JG Aitken – “C” Company Captain Wardlaw Ramsay
in Reserve. At 5.45 am the artillery
opened fire and 5.50 the gas was turned on for 40 minutes, the last 5 minutes
combined with smoke. At 6.30am the
assault started, the morning being very still, the gas hung about and was
inclined to come back which hampered the leading platoons. No 16 platoon “D” Company Lieut Bullough, and
No 5 Platoon “B” Company 2nd Lieut Gillespie advanced and succeeded
in reaching the German front trench, on the appearance of the assaulting
parties the Germans opened a heavy machine gun and shrapnel fir, 1 more Platoon
of “B” Company succeeded in crossing the fire trench but were unable to reach
the German trenches and support the leading Platoon; owing to the heaviness of
the fire the remaining platoons were unable to cross the fire trench, “A”
Company endeavoured to cross but were also unable to make any headway.
The machine
guns came into action under Lieut Macpherson to support the advance, but could
make no impression on the enemy fire.
The Supporting Batteries fired rapid shrapnel but were hampered by the
closeness of the 2 lines. As no advance
was possible the platoon in front returned to our lines and further attempt was
abandoned. Of the two Platoons that
reached the German trench 11 returned in the evening.
Lieut
Bullough was seen to fall on the German wire and 2nd Lieut Gillespie
on the German parapet. Sergt McClure
and about 10 men of 5 Platoon were seen to jump into the German trenches, the
remainder of these 2 Platoons were 'wiped out'. "
The diary
goes on to record the fatalities of 15 Officers and a further 315 casualties of
Other Ranks.
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British infantry of the 47th (2nd London) Division advance through the gas cloud on 25 September 1915 (IWM HU63277B)
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The diary for the month of September 1915 closes with the following note of a single act of bravery by one of the 2nd A&SH's Sergeants:
"Conspicuous deed of gallantry - No 7844 Sergeant A Kiddie showed conspicuous bravery in the attack. When a machine gun team which had been pushed forward to assist the assault had been 'knocked out' he went out from the fire trench under heavy machine gun fire, brought the gun back and brought it into action. He again went out and brought in 2 wounded men of the team. He was wounded later in the day"
An inspiring story from the same battle involves a piper of the 7th Battalion Kings Own Scottish Borderers (KOSB). Daniel Laidlaw was a 40 year old reservist soldier who had re-enlisted in 1915 as a Piper with the 7th KOSB.
"On 25 September 1915 during the Battle of Loos at Hill 70, prior to an assault on enemy trenches and during the worst of the bombardment, Piper Laidlaw, seeing that his company was shaken with the effects of gas, with complete disregard for danger, mounted the parapet and, marching up and down, played his company out of the trench. The effect of his splendid example was immediate and the company dashed to the assault. Piper Laidlaw continued playing his pipes even after he was wounded and until the position was won"
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| Sergeant Piper Laidlaw inspiring his KOSB comrades over the parapet. |
Piper Laidlaw was awarded the VC for his actions and made it through the remainder of the war. He died in 1950, aged 74. For a more detailed telling of the story, please click here
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| Sergeant Piper Laidlaw in the 1930s |
The remainder of 1915
The month of October 1915 was, relative to the Battle of Loos, a quiet month with reinforcements arriving, the Battalion in and out of the trenches at Cambrin and billets at Bethune, Gonnehem and Annequin.November saw a rise in hostilities again. The diary records "Enemy prolific in the use of Hand grenades, rifle grenades and trench mortars"
The 15th of November had seen "12 men attached to the Royal Engineers 251st Company (Tunnelling)" . The RE 251st Co had taken over from the RE 170th Company in October. The 170th had been responsible for mining under the German lines prior to the Battle of Loos culminating in the blowing of two mines under the Hohenzollern Redoubt at the start of the Battle Of Loos. On the morning of November 22nd the diary states "Mine blown up by the 180th Company RE between the trenches of the opposing troops about 30 yards from our fire trench. The crater formed was occupied by Grenadiers and men of the Battalion and held against the enemy". Five men of the Battalion were recorded as fatalities, with a further sixteen wounded. The full details of the action, below, were included as an appendix to the month of November entry in the war diary.
December 1915 and the Battalion were billeted in Le Touret approximately 10 km to the northeast of Bethune. They took over the trenches now in the Festubert area which were "full of water and sticky mud, Troops wading to waist in water and mud." The remainder of their first five day stint in the Festubert trenches was given over to bailing water and trying to improve the trenches.
Christmas Eve this year was spent in billets at the tiny village of Busnettes drilling and training. Christmas Day in the diary warranted only the following entry "In Billets (xmas day) Divine Service". Quite the contrast to just 12 months earlier.
On the 29th the 2nd A&SH marched back to the trenches at Cuinchy where they would bring in the new year of 1916.
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