Home. Origins of the Battalion.
Page 1. Start of the First World War.
Page 2. To the Ypres Salient.
Page 3. Ypres. The Battle of St Julien.
Page 4. April 1915. Ypres. Gas.
Page 5. Battle of St Julien losses.
Page 6. New Division Name.
Page 7. The Battle of Bellewaarde.
Page 8. Bellewaarde Losses. Sanctuary Wood.
Page 9. Neuve Eglise, Kemmel Sector.
Page 10. August 1915. To Armentieres.
Page 11. Sep/Oct 1915. Armentieres.
Page 12. October 1915. Armentieres.
Page 13. Oct/Nov 1915. Armentieres.
Page 14. Nov/Dec 1915. To Merris.
Page 15. Back to the Ypres Salient.
Page 16. Jan 1916. Armagh Wood.
Page 17. Feb 1916. Hill 60.
Page 18. Mine Explosion.
Page 19. Feb 1916. Ypres. Hill 60.
Page 20. Armagh Wood. CO Killed.
Page 21. Mar/Apr 1916. Kemmel.
Page 22. Apr/May 1916. Fletre. Kemmel.
Page 23. June 1916. Friendly Fire Kemmel.
Page 24. Jun/Jul 1916. Kemmel.
Page 25. July 1916. Kemmel.
Page 26. Aug 1916. To the Somme.
Page 27. Battle of Flers Courcelette.
Page 28. Sep 1916. Flers-Courcelette.
Page 29. The Thiepval Memorial.
Page 30. Flers-Courcelette. Losses.
Page 31. Flers-Courcelette. Attack repelled.
Page 32.Training. Martinpuich.
Page 33. In the Line near Flers.
Page 34. Nov 1916. Martinpuich. Flers.
Page 35. Flers. To Belloy.
Page 36. Feb/Mar 1917. Belloy.
Page 37. April 1917. To Arras.
Page 38. Capt D.P. Hirsch. V.C.
Page 39. The Arras Memorial.
Page 40. The Arras Memorial.
Page 41. Arras Burial Sites.
Page 42. Arras. Famechon.
Page 43. May 1917. Famechon. Bayencourt.
Page 44. June 1917 Back in the Line. Arras.
Page 45. Sep 1917. Arras. Wancourt.
Page 46. Oct 1917. Back to Ypres.
Page 47. Nov 1917. Passchendaele.
Page 48. Jan 1918. Ypres.
Page 49. Feb 1918. Last of Ypres.
Page 50. The Battle of St Quentin.
Page 51. German Offensive. Michael.
Page 52. German Advance. Pozieres Memorial.
Page 53. Losses on both sides.
Page 54. From the Somme to the Lys.
Page 55. April 1918. Battle of Estaires.
Page 56. Ploegsteert Memorial.
Page 57. From the Lys to the Aisne.
Page 58. German Offensive. Blucher-Yorck.
Page 59. May 1918. 150th Brigade decimated.
Page 60. End of the 4th Yorks.
Page 61. Last Weeks of War.
Page 62. Prisoners of War.
Page 63. Prisoners of War.
Page 64. Prisoners of War.
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DECEMBER 1915. BACK TO THE YPRES SALIENT.
4th DECEMBER. Ptes Duffield, Wilkin, Wilson and Cavanagh proceeded to Base unfit for Service and Pte Ledgard as under age.
Company Sergeant Major Bainbridge was granted a Commission in this Bn.
6th to 15th DECEMBER. Football - 4th Yorks 2 - Durham Light Infantry 2.
4th Yorks 3 - 50th Div Cyclists 2.
Pts Rodler and Airey proceeded to Base as unfit for Service.
28 washerwomen were mobilized under 2nd Lt Beresford Pierse for the purpose of washing the underclothing of the Battalion.
Headquarters supplied bathing facilities for 20 men per hour and made arrangements to wash clothes also.
On the 15th the Bn held a Sports day with 10 francs being awarded to the winner of each event and lesser amounts to the placed men.
18th DECEMBER. The Battalion assembled in Outtersteene at 10 a.m and marched to Bailleul.
From there, they were taken by train to Poperinghe.
From Poperinghe, they marched to Dickebusch huts, arriving at 5.30 p.m.
The state of the ground was awful, deep mud everywhere, but the weather was fine.
Diary reports - "We were all very sorry to leave our comfortable farmhouses, where we had been for 5 weeks." |
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On the 18th December the Bn marched to Bailleul, travelled by train to Poperinghe, then marched to huts at Dickebusch.
19th DECEMBER. At 5.30 a.m the Germans gassed the Northern Sector of the Ypres salient.
The gas penetrated as far South as Bailleul and the Bn stood to, wearing their "Tube Helmets" as it was "uncomfortably strong".
The Artillery bombarded the German lines very heavily from early morning, all day and night.
At 3.15 the Btn marched to the Railway dugouts near Zillebeke for one night and settled in there about 6 p.m.
They "witnessed an exciting plane duel, in which the Hun was driven back to his line."
20th DECEMBER. The Battalion relieved the 6th Bn Kings Own Scottish Borderers, Centre Brigade in trenches A3 to A6 in Armagh Wood.
Y Company was left behind in Railway dugouts, as full Bn strength not required.
"X" Company were given the important support strong post R1 in Armagh Wood.
The trenches were in a terrible, dilapidated state.
The unit on the right was the 4th East Yorks and on the left the Durham Brigade.
21st DECEMBER. It rained all day. Endeavours were made to drain the trenches and dry all Trench Boots, which were handed over very wet.
[To combat the many cases of Trench Foot that had occurred during the Winter of 1914-1915, Trench Boots were issued where conditions were extreme. These were something like a fisherman's waders.] |
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On the 19th December 1915, the 4th Bn moved to Railway Dugouts, which were shelters dug into the side of the railway embankment.
On the 20th they went into the trenches in Armagh Wood.
Telephonic communications to the various Companies were established.
Work was got in hand by the Engineers on rebuilding the trenches.
The enemy were quiet all day, but one man, Cpl Brown of W Coy was hit by a bullet through the chest while on duty in the trench.
22nd DECEMBER. It rained from 11 a.m to 7 p.m. Work was continued on the Trenches and dugouts were commenced for HQ servants.
Under Dr Condy's supervision all the boots and socks were dried and mens' feet were washed and some massaged.
The Trenches were infested with rats.
Captain Maughan was admitted to Hospital with water on the heel. |
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The 4th Battalion Diary reports trenches infested with rats.
In the insanitary conditions of the trenches rats rapidly multiplied.
Their only food supply in a landscape blasted by shells was discarded food, the contents of the latrines [which were a hole in the ground] and the dead.
Horror stories of their bloated size and lack of fear abound.
23nd DECEMBER.
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3749 Pte Farrow Ernest. Enlisted at Middlesbrough, N Yorks. Killed in action. Commemorated on the Menin Gate Memorial, Ypres.
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5 men were sent on Police duty at Ypres.
The Bn was relieved by the 5th Bn DLI in the trenches and proceeded to Bde Reserve in Railway Dugouts.
24th DECEMBER. The Bn got to work to dry themselves after 4 very trying days in the trenches.
25th DECEMBER. More rain. Major Scott set to work with a gang of men to reconstruct the fallen in dugouts and a place was prepared to bath the Bn in Transport Farm. |
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