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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FEBRUARY/MARCH 1917. IN THE LINE AT BELLOY.
The following 5 men were killed in action and are all buried at Assevillers New British Cemetery.
13th FEBRUARY.
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201885 Pte Addison Joseph. Born at Sowerby, N Yorks. Enlisted at Thirsk.
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201542 Pte Bell Robert, William. Enlisted at Middlesbrough.
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14th FEBRUARY.
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203195 Pte Finn Thomas. Born at Kirton Lindsay, Lincs and enlisted at Scarborough, N Yorks.
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200608 Pte Harris James, Ryder. Home at - 13 Colville St, Middlesbrough, N Yorks, place of enlistment. Age 24.
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202964 Pte Thompson Thomas, Clark. Home at Hetton le Hole, Co Durham. Born Easington Lane and enlisted at Houghton Le Spring.
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2055 L/Cpl Etherington Richard. Home at - Howden Le Wear Durham. Enlisted at Stokesley, N Yorks. Died. Buried at Bois Guillaume Communal Cemetery
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3882 Cpl King David, W. Home at - Bedale N Yorks. Enlisted at Northallerton, N Yorks. Died. Buried at St Sever [Hospital] Cemetery Extension, Rouen.
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Between the end of January and the 10th February the 4th Battalion left the Flers sector and moved South to a position near Foucaucourt on the edge of the French Sector.
At the end of February the Germans surprised the Allies by starting a withdrawal some 40 miles back to the well prepared Hindenburg Line.
This gave them a shorter and more strongly defended Front.
Everything in the area they left was destroyed.
15th FEBRUARY. Btn moved to Brigade Reserve at Foucaucourt and supplied working parties for the line.
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3273 Pte Christon Robert. Home at - 33 Railway Tce, Brotton, N Yorks. Enlisted at Skelton in Cleveland, N Yorks. Died of wounds. Buried at Bray Military Cemetery
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19th FEBRUARY. Moved to Proyart for a week and on the 24th they were inspected by the Divisional General
Lt Coates sang 5 songs at a Regimental concert.
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201407 Pte Davis George, William. Home at 6 Hicks Yard, William St, Scarborough N Yorks. Enlisted at Middlesbrough N Yorks. Died on the 22nd. Age 24. Buried at Bray Military Cemetery.
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26th FEBRUARY.
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201965 Pte Farndale Richard. Home at - 6 High St, Coatham, Redcar, N Yorks, town of enlistment. Died. Age 19. Buried at La Neuville Communal Cemetery, Corbie
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The Btn moved to Triangle Wood, Belloy and at night relieved the 6th Btn Northumberland Fusiliers in the Front line left subsector, left Bde.
Diary -The frost had broken in the middle of the month and the trenches were in an appalling condition, which recalled the Snej and Hexham Rd in the earlier months of the Winter.
During February the Btn spent 6 days in the Front line and had few casualties.
Companies were working with an average strenght of 120 and 2 to 3 Officers.
There were no cases of Trench Feet and an appreciable decline in sickness.
Diary is signed off by Lt Col F.F. Deakin. |
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Cpl Herbert Cook.
Died of wounds on the 15th January, age 37. Buried at Dernancourt Communal Cemetery Extension.
He had been awarded the Military Medal for some unknown action in 1916.
[Photo Website owner's Grandfather.]
1st to 4th MARCH. Holding the line at Belloy. On the whole quiet except for Fish tail Bombs and Machine guns.
The trenches were in a very bad state, so that Posts had to be established.
These had to be visited over the top as all the communication trenches were too deep to use. In spite of the mud and water the Btn had no cases of Trench feet - largely through extra socks and the new powder, which the men liked and gave excellent results.Much patrolling at night. 2 and sometimes 3 patrols went out to see if the Bosch had gone, but in each case his line was strongly held.
This patrolling, except for the moon, was an excellent way of training some of our "young entry". Very little shelling at night - plenty of shell holes - and the occasional Bosch patrols to enliven things up. The Division were rather hard to convince that the Bosch were still there.
5th to 9th MARCH. The Btn was relieved by the 5th Btn Durham Light Infantry and took over support trenches. They completely wired the Reserve line and cleared all the communication trenches. By day they had to lie up owing to shelling. |
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Ruins of the village of Foucaucourt.
9th - 29th MARCH. The Btn were relieved by the 4th Leicesters and spent the night at Foucaucourt before making a 10k march next day to the village of Bayon Villers for training.
There is no doubt the men have come on a lot with about 100 of each extra Lewis gunners, bombers and rifle grenadiers.
Musketry has improved especially of backward men. New formations have been practiced and kit etc made up.
A good deal of football and boxing has been done.
An Aldershot gymnast has shown us how to bayonet a Bosche - we were doing it all wrong apparently - but of course he has had more practice.
Most of the Signallers have been away on a course and runners and scouts have been well trained by day and night.
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203068 Pte Armitt Clarence. Born and enlisted in Darlington, Co Durham. Died of wounds on the 23rd. Age 19. Buried at Cerisy Gailly Military Cemetery.
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