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Summary
of events
Monday,
24th May 1915
It
was on this day that the battle now known as Bellewarde
Wood began. Around 2am the Germans
opened with a gas attack between Hooge and Turco
Farm backed up by a very heavy
artillery bombardment. The wind was favourable for
such an gas attack, so many officers in the front
line were on the alert and the Germans lost the element
of surprise. Nevertheless, the troops had little
time in which to fit and adjust their primitive respirators
before the gas cloud enveloped them. The German infantry
assault immediately followed the gas, but in only
one part of the line near Mouse Trap Farm did they
succeed in overrunning the British position.
At
the time of the attack the 4th Bn was occupying
dugouts near the Chateau des Trois Tours, Brielen. The CO (Col
Foster) of the 4th Bn, awakened by the noise, was
already dressing when an orderly arrived with orders
for the Bn to be ready to move at a moments notice.
This was quickly followed by another orderly and
another message which requested Col Foster to report
to General Hull (OC 10th Bde) at No2
pontoon bridge. Col Foster,
accompanied by his Adjutant (Capt Cruddas), set
off across the fields in the direction of the bridge
having left orders for Major Gibson to follow on
with the battalion immediately.
We moved
off about 5am, there having been no time for breakfast
and most of us had to go with  our
water bottles empty, as the water carts were not
up, and the water at the farm near at hand had
been condemned' (Lt
Bunbury).
As
the Colonel and Capt Cruddas walked north east towards
the canal the smell and effects of poison gas grew
stronger. By the time they reached 10th Bde HQs near
the canal, the gas was quite dense even though they
were nearly three miles from where the Germans had
released it.
General
Hull gave instructions for the 4th Bn to be held
in reserve on the canal bank and await further orders.
It was not long before the Bn came into sight marching
along the road from Brielen.
The Seaforths, who had been
occupying dugouts on the canal bank, moved forward
to make space for them and left a very welcome supply
of food and water behind. The density of gas in the
canal cutting by this time was quite bad, so Col
Foster ordered his men to lie just below the top
of the bank. They were more exposed to exploding
shells, but the CO considered it the lesser of two
evils. The heavy shelling continued until approximately 7.30am.
At 10am orders
were received to move to the 2nd Divn line
west of the St Jean - Wieltje road.
To try and minimise casualties the Bn crossed the
fields in single file and entered a deep ditch on
one side of the road. Although they all wore their
respirators the gas was affecting many in the Bn.
This
line was full of troops so the Bn advanced again
to the support line at View Farm.
, 'A' & 'D' Coys, under a shower of shells, then
recrossed the road and advanced to some trenches
near Hill Top Farm.
Capt Robinson, already half blinded by the gas, stumbled
into a shell hole and sprained his ankle. Lt Bunbury
assumed command of 'A' Coy, but it was not long before
he was hit in the foot by a machine gun bullet and
had to hand command of the Coy to Lt Turner.
Gas
shells were falling around the fusiliers, so at some
stage during the afternoon half of 'B' and 'C' Coys
were moved out of their trenches and west along the
road. Orders were then received to send a Coy to
Mouse Trap Farm, a short distance
to the north east of the Bn position, to assist the
Dublins. The OC of the 1st
Bn Warwickshire Regt stopped
'C' Coy stating that the Germans had already driven
the Dublins out and captured the farm. 'C' Coy returned
during the afternoon with remnants of the 7th Bn
and East Lancashires.
© Copyright
NStorey 2004 |
Map
1 - 4th Bn Positions - Afternoon
Roads
and tracks - red.
Allied
front and support lines near Wieltje - blue |
 |
At 6pm Col
Foster received a service instruction sheet from the
OC Warwickshires:
"As
soon as it is dusk, please send two Companies into
the support lines to prolong the line now held by
the Seaforth Highlanders. Also please be in command
of the line for the present during my absence, at
the telephone in a house which will be shown you
on arrival here".
The
Bn was then ordered to support a counter-attack by
the Somersets and Monmouths set
for 10pm. However, this was countermanded
because the Germans captured an orderly carrying a
message to the Dublin Fusiliers referring
to the attack. By this time gas shells were falling
heavy and one burst in the trench, killing one man
and wounding another. Although the gas was painful
to the eyes, no further harm was done. Half of 'B'
and 'C' Coys were moved west along the road to avoid
the shelling.
In
compliance with the Service Instruction issued earlier,
B' Company moved forward at dusk to the first line
trench to the east of the St Jean-Wieltje road and
200 yards south of Wieltje village, 'A' & half
of 'C' Company occupied a trench on the left flank
between the road and the Seaforths position . Half
of 'D' Coy were placed in support behind them, west
of road. The other half of 'C' Coy were placed behind
them (map 2). The other half of
'D Coy had been missing since the morning.
At 11.30pm an
Orderly arrived with instructions for all available
men to be redeployed to the right of the roadway, and
for Col Foster to report to General Hull in the village
of St Jean. It was a bright moonlit night and the German
machine guns were very active, so Col Foster had a
lively walk back, guided by the Orderly. Col Poole
of the Warwicks was there when he arrived. Col Foster
was instructed to dig in to the right of the road and
as far east as a small clump of trees. He was also
instructed
" to stick it at all costs".
© Copyright NStorey
2004 |
Map
2 - 4th Bn positions - Night
Roads
and tracks - red.
Allied front and support lines near Wieltje
- blue |
 |
Tuesday,
25th May 1915
Col
Foster returned to the Bn positions in the support
trench to discover that only 'B' Coy were still
there. Lts Bradley and Cranage were dispatched
to try and locate the missing half of 'D' Coy.
Bradley returned to report that they had been commandeered
by another Brigadier, attached to the East
Lancashires and were now
filling a gap at Turco Farm. Lt Cranage failed
to return because he had been severely wounded
shortly after setting off, but fortunately he was
spotted by the Bn stretcher bearers and taken to
a casualty clearing station.
Trench
digging commenced, but with so few men available
little progress was made before daybreak when exposed
work of this nature had to stop anyway.
The
remaining half of 'C' reached 'A' Coy at 2am.
The
half of 'D' Coy manning the support trench to the
west of the road were hit by half a dozen artillery
shells at 2am, some containing gas.
A cloud of gas rolled down into the trench but no
one was harmed. By 6am this half
of 'D' Company were in the support trench east of
road. Barricade of support trench on road and house
in rear crumped. 'B' & 'C' Companies dug in all
night and all day. Shrapnel hit some men from 'B'
Company.
The
day broke in brilliant sunshine. The fusiliers were
awakened by a tremendous boom to the west of Ypres,
followed by a sound like an express train drawing
near and then passing overhead. Those who peered
over the parapet witnessed a 'Grannie' shell score
a direct hit on the German occupied Shell Trap Farm.
Flames,
red dust and dark masses of debris flung themselves
into the sky, followed by volumes of dense black
smoke.
About
six smaller shells of 9.2 or 6 inch calibre subsequently
fell in the same area.
The
men were greatly cheered by this episode, feeling
a little compensated for the vile gassing of
yesterday and the loss of their trench. But the
Monmouths celebrated the event a trifle too enthusiastically
by lighting fires in front of their dug-outs,
against their officers’
orders, of course, and the smoke attracted the enemy’s
fire at once (Col
A.J Foster).
British
artillery shelled the trenches Bellewarde
Farm all afternoon.
Throughout
the 24th of May the 4th Bn, along with several other
Bns, were moved in response to orders and counter-orders
to try and stem the advance of German troops. Although
not directly involved in front line fighting, the
constant shelling and exposure to gas resulted in
6 men killed, 27 wounded and 1 missing.
© Copyright
NStorey 2004 |
Letter
from Pte J Moody (‘A’ Coy) published
in the Hexham
Courant - 17th of June 1915.
On
Sunday night a terrific bombardment started,
and early on Monday morning we got the order
to leave our dugouts and advance. The Germans
were using those gases so we had to use our respirators.
I do not know how we could have come on without
them, and we passed a lot of unfortunate soldiers
making their way back, some of them badly gassed.
The effects of the gas are to awful for words.
The sweat was teeming down the men’s faces
and they were gasping and choking for breath.
Thanks to my respirator I was able to go on although
I thought my head was going to split. Once, as
we advanced towards some trenches a German machine
gun started to play on us and Lt Bunbury, one
of our officers was wounded. Whenever we crossed
a field it was ploughed up by ‘Jack
Johnsons’
They
were bursting all over, and how we got so far up
with so few casualties is little short of a miracle.
When night fell we went forward again and took
our place in the firing line. Things were pretty
quiet just then, only a few stray bullets flying
about, but we had to keep a sharp lookout as the
German trenches were only some 500 yards in front
of us. We were only in the front line two days
and are now back in some reserve trenches not far
behind the front line. I expect we will be going
further back for a rest shortly and will give you
further news then'. |
Casualties
Records
show that at least 6 fusiliers from the 4th Bn
were killed in action or died of wounds during
the Battle of Bellewarde. For information on 4th
Bn burial and memorial sites for
casualties sustained in this battle, select the
link.
©
Copyright NStorey 2004 |
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Bellewarde
- Glossary
Jack
Johnson -
An Afro-American boxer who was heavyweight champion
of the world until 5 April 1915. Jack Johnson
became the slang name for a heavy German artillery
shell that gave off a lot of black smoke when
it exploded. Typically
the 21cm mortar and 15cm howitzer shell.
Lt -
Rank of Lieutenant.
CO -
Commanding Officer. 
Coy -
Company. 234 men in full strength Coy. 4 Coys in
a Bn.
Divn -
Division. Approximately 20,00 men in a full strength
Division.
OC -
Officer Commanding.
OR -
Other Ranks.
Regt -
Regiment.
©
Copyright NStorey 2004
|
Bellewarde
- Locations
Bellewarde
Farm -Farm to
the north of Hooge village on the Ypres to Menin
road.
Brielen - Village
to the north west of Ypres
General
Hull's Headquarters -
A battered cottage by the Yser canal.
Hill
Top Farm - North of
the village of St Jean near Hill Top Farm (see
Map 1 &
2).
Hooge -
Village on the Ypres to Menin road, south east of
Ypres.
La
Brique -
Village (see Map 1 & 2).
No2
Pontoon - One of several
pontoon bridges erected over the Yser canal, to
the north of Ypres, in an effort to relieve congestion
in the ruined town.
Mouse
Trap Farm -
The farm at this time was actually better known
as Shell Trap Farm. It was situated north of Wieltje
(see Map 1 & 2).
St
Jean - Village on
the road to St Julien, north east of Ypres (see
Map 1 &
2).
Turco
Farm - On the 24th
May 1915 this ruined farm formed was close to where
the left flank of the British front line met the
right flank of the French line, due north of Ypres.
This was a over a mile from the 4th Bn position
south of Wieltje (see Map 1 & 2).
View
Farm - North of the
village of St Jean., near Hill Top Farm (see Map
1 & 2).
Wieltje -
Village on the road to St Julien, north east of Ypres
(see Map 1 & 2).
Ypres -
Medieval Flemish town around which the salient formed
in 1914. Known as Ieper in the Flemish language (see
Map 1 & 2).
©
Copyright NStorey 2004
|
Bellewarde
- Military Units
2nd
Division -
The 4th
Bde - Comprised
of the 2nd Bn - Grenadier Guards, 2nd & 3rd
Bn - Coldstream Guards, 1st Bn - Irish Guards
and 1/1st - Hertfordshire Regt.
The 5th
Bde - Comprised
of the 2nd Bn - Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers,
2nd Bn - Worcestershire Regt, 2nd Bn - Oxfordshire
and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, 2nd Bn
- Highland Light Infantry and 1/9th Bn -
Highland Light Infantry.
The 6th
Bde - Comprised
of the 1st, 1/5th & 1/7th Bn - King’s,
2nd Bn - South Staffordshire Regt, 1st Bn
- Royal Berkshire Regt and 1st Bn - King’s
Royal Rifle Corps.
The 149th
(Northumberland) Bde -
Comprised of the 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th Bn
Northumberland Fusiliers.
The 150th
(York and Durham) Bde -
Comprised 4th Bn East Yorkshires, 4th Bn
Green Howards, 5th Bn Green Howards and 5th
Bn Durham Light Infantry.
The 151st
(Durham Light Infantry (DLI)) Bde -
Comprised the 6th, 7th, 8th and 9th Bns DLI.
Select link to find out more about this Division.
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