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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TO THE YPRES SALIENT.
16 APRIL. The first part of the year was spent in training in the Newcastle area and on this day the order was received for the whole of the Northumbrian Division to proceed to the Continent.
17 APRIL. The Battalion left Newcastle at 9 am bound for Folkestone. Around midnight they were taken across the Channel to Boulogne.
18 APRIL. After arriving at Boulogne about 2 am, they spent a very cold night camped on nearby hills.
Leaving Boulogne at 10 pm, they marched to Desveen, from where the French Railways took them to Cassel.
19 APRIL. After arriving at Cassel at 5 in the morning, they marched to Godwaersvelde, where they were billeted in surrounding farm buildings.
21 APRIL. An order came at night to detail 400 men to proceed by bus to an unknown destination, but this was later cancelled.
22 APRIL. The Northumbrian Division had been expecting a period of further training and familiarisation with the situation, which was the usual procedure for new arrivals. |
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At 5 pm on this day, the Germans threw any such plans into disarray by starting an offensive which was to become known as the Second Battle of Ypres.
The Infantry Battalions of the Northumbrian Division had to be thrown straight into battle, within a week of sailing from England.
The Germans began their onslaught with a new sinister weapon.
They released thousands of canisters of chlorine gas along the North East edge of the Ypres Salient
This section was being defended by French Colonial troops.
Many were asphyxiated and others fled in terror.
The Germans attacked, but had only primitive protection and were fearful of the gas themselves. They were not fast enough to prevent the Canadian troops on the right of the French heroically closing in to prevent a complete breakthrough.
It was vital now for all British troops in the sector to be pushed forward to fill dangerous gaps.
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 | The 4th Btn arrived in France on the 18th April 1915 and expected the usual period of training and familiarisation with Trench warfare.
Instead they found themselves in the path of a German offensive
A circumstance that was to repeat throughout the War.
23 APRIL. About 1 pm the whole Battalion was embussed to Poperinghe, from where they marched to huts at Camp "A", between Vlamertinghe and Ypres.
They arrived about 5 pm and stayed the night there.
24 APRIL. At 1 a.m the 150th Brigade set to march to the Yser Canal. The night was black with steady rain. It was their first taste of battle. Marching towards the unknown, past "gaping shell holes, broken-down wagons, limbers and ambulances" must have been an awesome experience for lads who had never been away from home before.
As soon as it was light the German Artillery opened up. All the morning the Battalion were being shelled at intervals and had 5 slight casualties, among whom was 2nd Lt T A Tugwell.
At 4 in the morning the Germans had released more gas and the Canadians in the front line with only wet handkerchiefs and the like for protection held on. At 6.30 a.m there had been a break in the line and they requested support.
The Ypres Salient was of a saucer shape with the Germans, who had a superiority in Artillery commanding the rim. |
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 | The Battalion were transported by French Railways from Boulogne to
Cassel and by bus to Poperinghe.
At mid-day the Btn was ordered to move to the village of St Jean in support of the 3rd Canadian Briage and to concentrate at Wieltje. They crossed the Yser Canal under fire. Lt E W Faber was severely wounded.
They were told that they were being attached to one of the Canadian Brigades. A Canadian Brigadier ordered them into a section of G H Q Trenches outside the Potijze Chateau and sent a guide with them.
On arrival they found the trenches full of troops who were being heavily shelled. They lay down behind the trenches while the CO endeavoured to get orders.
The Brigadier of another Canadian Brigade ordered them and the 4th East Yorks to attack through the village of Fortuin and on to the village of St Julien.
Unknown to them the Germans had already captured St Julien about 3 pm and were moving South.
The two battalions had very little Artillery support.
At that time the British guns were not supplied with a sufficient number of shells.
They proceeded, as the Diary says, with "both flanks up in the air", i.e being fired on by German Artillery from the front and from both sides as well.
When they reached Fortuin they could not find anyone in superior command.
The noise of fighting could be heard from the direction of St Julien and they saw a few men retiring.
They, therefore, "changed front left" and joined in.
Under heavy rifle and machine gun fire, they took up a position about 700 yards South of St Julien and endeavoured to get orders and information as things looked pretty bad.
There seemed to be a fair chance of the Battalion along with the 4th East Yorks being cut off and unable to extricate themselves.
Presently they were joined on the right flank by the Royal Irish Fusiliers and later by some of the Yorks and Lancs Regt.
They passed down the order to hold on till dark and then endeavour to retire. This they did.
It was here they got the name of the "Yorkshire Gurkhas" from the R.I.F. At night they managed to retire to Potijze Chateau, without being attacked. |
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