Moves

Friday 15th February 1918

6th Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment marched this morning to Ebblinghem  west of Hazebrouck and then bordered a train to Dickebusch. On arrival they marched to Malplaquet Camp.

7th Battalion has moved north-east to Remigny south of Saint-Quentin. While there it will find working parties for the front line as well as undertaking training. This training will consist of rifle and clothing inspections; drill in advancing in extended order; practice by platoon in attacking strong-points

Sources: X550/7/1; X550/8/1

The Perils of Instruction

Lieutenant Hart [X550/1/81]

Tuesday 26th June 1917

The adjutant of 2nd Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment mentioned to me on the telephone that they have had particularly unfortunate casualties. They are at Dickebusch, behind the lines near Ypres, and have been practising various military arts. Earlier today three other ranks were wounded when a rifle grenade exploded prematurely during one of these practice sessions. Lieutenant W E Hart has also been sent to hospital, but this is as a result of sickness rather than an accident.

Source: X550/3/WD

8th Battalion Caught Napping

Friday 22nd June 1917

The adjutant of the 8th Battalion, in the front line near Hulluch, spoke to me on the blower today, admitting that they had been caught unawares by a German patrol. At three o’clock this morning the enemy opened up with concentrated intense mortar fire on B and C Companies in the front line. At 3.10 am an 'S.O.S.' signal flare was observed to go up from the front line which was repeated at Battalion Headquarters and sent through by the Brigade Headquarters by telephone to the artillery.

It transpired later that a small party of one officer and fifteen German other ranks had managed to enter the front line between two of the Battalion’s posts under cover of smoke and darkness. They surprised the inhabitants of the front line trench and are believed to have captured nine of the Battalion’s men. As if that was not enough a patrol of one non-commissioned officer and two men who were in No Man's Land when the bombardment commenced are missing. In their defence, the adjutant stressed that the enemy only managed to enter the front line for a few minutes, although he kept up his intense barrage unil 3.45 a.m.

Second Lieutenant Haywood [X550/1/81]

The 2nd Battalion, in camp at Dickebusch near Ypres, reports that Second Lieutenant C.Haywood has been wounded whilst on a reconnaissance of infantry tracks leading to the trenches.

Sources: X550/3/WD; X550/9/1

A Meeting of the Battalions

Friday 6th November 1914: The 2nd Battalion have finally been relieved from their front line position near Zandvoorde. They have travelled seventeen miles to a place called Loker or Locre. The adjutant tells us: “The men found the march very tiring both on account of their physical condition from being eighteen days in the trenches and on account of the mud on the cobbles”. It seems they will have another march this afternoon as their destination is a town on the French side of the border – a place called Bailleul.

It may have done their morale good to know that they are leaving the danger of the front line behind. It may also have done them good to meet their companions in adversity in the 1st Battalion on the way. Our contact with the 1st Battalion, themselves on the move from Festubert, tells us: “We got the men into buses (35 to a bus) and we all got into another and at 7 am started off for our still unknown destination. We went through Lestrem – Éstaires -  Bailleul -  Locre – Dickebusch. The roads were awful and we were at times up to our axles in mud and very nearly in the ditch several times”.

“At Dickebusch we had a halt at 2 pm and then got orders to push on to Ypres. Here the roads got worse and we skidded all over the place, into ditches, trees and sometimes nearly turning right over or getting our heads taken off by telegraph wires stretched across the road”.

“On the Dickebusch – Ypres road we suddenly came across the remnants of the 2nd Battalion. We hardly knew that they were in Flanders and had only vaguely heard that they had left South Africa”.

“They are in the 7th Division and we knew that they had left South Africa a very fine Battalion, 29 Officers and about 1,100 men strong and we now found them after having landed in Belgium 18 days, 2 Officers (Captain Foss and Lieutenant Mills) and about 220 men strong”.

“We stopped the buses and heard all about the Battle of Ypres. We heard that Majors Traill, Stares etc. had been killed and most of the men found that their brothers etc. had also mostly been killed. The whole show was most pathetic and put guts into our fellows as we will be going into action amongst the 2nd Battalion graves”.

It is one of the ironies of war that, with only two battalions at the front one should be more or less relieving the other which is in a different division; although in fact the 1st Battalion have taken over the line from the Yorkshire Regiment which had been on the flank of the 2nd Battalion.

Sources: X550/2/7; X550/3/wd