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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MAY 1915. THE BATTLE OF BELLEWAARDE.
14 MAY.
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3020 Pte Barry Albert. Home at Oakhill in Bath, Durham. Born Bishop Middleham, Co Durham. Enlisted Northallerton, N Yorks. Died of wounds. Buried at Boulogne Eastern [Hospital] Cemetery.
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2315 Pte Scott Norman. Home at Middleton Tyas Yorks. Enlisted at Barton. Killed in action. Age 21. Menin Gate Memorial Ypres.
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19 MAY.
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1946 Pte Hartas Thomas Henry. Home at West Tce, Stokesley, N Yorks, place of enlistment. Born at Ampleforth, N Yorks. Died of wounds. . Age 28. Buried at Stokesley Church Burial Ground.
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23 MAY.
The 50th Division was temporarily split up and attached to various others.
The York and Durham Brigade was placed with the Cavalry Corps who were defending the line to the West of Bellewarde Lake.
The 4th Yorks Bn section of this was with the 9th Lancers defending the position astride the Menin Road at Hooge.
The danger from German howitzers [guns that fire big shells in a looping trajectory] was constant. |
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 | Ruins of Ypres.
Picture courtesy of Photos of the Great War.
The march through Ypres at night is described as:-
"an awe inspiring sight. One long street we passed through going towards Cloth Hall was on fire on both sides of the road."
During the course of the War, Ypres was reduced to rubble and many troops hit while moving to and from the Front.
24 MAY
Whit-Monday. At dawn the Germans opened up with Artillery, machine guns and rifles.
[History of the 50th Division -"Ten months of the War had passed and still trench warfare was in its infancy. The enemy better prepared for static warfare, was well provided with trench mortars, hand and rifle grenades and rifles with telescopic sights for sniping. Our trench weapons were woefully inadequate. The trench mortars we were using were either hastily improvised weapons or centuries old. Some were of iron, other of brass; all at first more dangerous to the firers than to the enemy. Hand grenades were similarly primitive and of the several improvised patterns the "jam-pot", "Battye Bomb" and "hairbrush" were most generally favoured. Recipe for "jam-pot" bomb. "Take a jam pot. Fill it with shredded gun-cotton and ten penny nails, mixed according taste
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The Battle of Bellewaarde 24th/25th May 1915.
Insert a No 8 detonator and short length of Bickford's fuze. Clamp up the lid. Light with a match, pipe, cigar or cigarette and throw for all you are worth". The "Battye Bomb" consisted of a cast-iron cylinder about four inches in length and two inches in diameter, filled with an explosive, generally ammonal, and closed by a wooden plug through a central hole in which a detonator and fuze were inserted. The "hairbrush" was made by making fast a slab of gun cotton to a flat piece of wood of hairbrush shape, It was ignited in the same way as the "jam-pot".]
Once more the Germans released their new weapon, chlorine gas that formed great clouds forty feet high and these drifted with the wind onto the British lines.
It was said the gas was experienced some 20 miles behind the front and, as the Divisional History says, what the effect was on those immediately opposite the release cannot be imagined.
Many were overcome by the fumes before they could fit their primitive respirators, but when the Germans attacked they were met with a hail of rifle and machine gun fire that drove them back.
The bombardment continued until 7.30 am, but the line held.
The Battalion Diary recorded:- |
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The Site where the Menin Gate Memorial was built after the War, with the ruins of Cloth Hall in the background.
Lt H.W. Cummins and 2Lt E.F. Hutchinson were killed.
CSM Myers again distinguished himself.
CSM Bainbridge was splendid.
Privates Perry and Ekins also deserve mention. One man got into the machine-gun emplacement of one of the Hussar regiments, where he found only the officer,working the gun with him.
He stayed until he [the man] was killed.
During the day Major H G Scott drove round and round in the commandeered ambulance car picking up wounded and gassed men who were straggling back to dressing stations.
At night the remainder of the garrison of our trenches were relieved and straggled back"
Casualties were 5 officers and 198 other ranks.
The following 19 men of the Battalion were killed in action on the 24th and are commemorated on the Menin Gate Memorial.
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2163 Pte Andrew James. Born and address in Middlesbrough, N Yorks. Enlisted at Northallerton. Age 19.
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The 50th Division Memorial.
Situated near Wieltje, a village to the North East of Ypres. See map above.
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1040 Pte Ryder Robert. Home at 10 Rose St, Middlesbrough, N Yorks, place of birth and enlistment. Age 25.
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1502 Pte Stant George Ernest. Home at Aran, Catterick, N Yorks, place of enlistment, Born at Liverpool. Age 19.
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2414 Pte Stewart Jack. Home at 47 Corporation Rd, Darlington, Enlisted at Northallerton. Age 22. W" Company.
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996 Cpl Wallinger Richard George. Home at Urlay Nook, Yarm, N Yorks. Born at Seaton Carew and enlisted at Yarm. Age 34.
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1313 Pte Webb George William. Home at 8 Pearson St, Middlesbrough, N Yorks, place of birth and enlistment. Age 21. A" Company.
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1230 Pte Vaughan Edward. Home at South Bank, Middlesbrough, N Yorks. Born at Maryport, Cumberland and enlisted at Eston, N Yorks. Bedford House Cemetery.
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