The Battles of Festubert and Ypres End

Saturday 29th May 1915: News from France is that the Battle of Festubert is at an end. General Rawlinson, commanding IV Corps, has called a halt to further attacks and is well pleased to have advanced by about a mile and a half and to have taken the village and held all gains in the course of the fortnight’s fighting. German counter-attacks now seem to have ended and so, presumably, the line will solidify at this point for the foreseeable future.

We understand from a source in high command that casualties have been severe, but an inevitable cost for such a victory. We understand that they break down as follows:

·       - 2nd Division (which includes 1st East Anglian Field Company, Royal Engineers): 582 killed; 3,845 wounded; 1,018 missing – total 5,445

·       - 7th Division (which includes 2nd Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment): 731 killed; 2,726 wounded; 666 missing – total 4,123

·     -  Meerut Division: 224 killed; 2,037 wounded; 260 missing – total 2,527

·     -  47th (2nd London) Division: 233 killed; 1,535 wounded; 597 missing – total 2,365

·     -  Canadian Division: 381 killed; 1,606 wounded; 217 missing – total 2,204

This gives a combined total of 2,151 killed, 11,749 wounded and 2,758 missing or 16,658 casualties in full. It is thought that the enemy have lost about 5,000 men including 800 prisoners-of-war.

The struggle around Ypres also seems to have ended. We have had our eyes fixed on Hill 60 where the 1st Bedfords fought so bravely but there have been German attacks in many places. Our forces hold a large salient, essentially a bulge like the mirror image of the letter C around the city of Ypres and the enemy has succeeded in pushing our lines back in places but nowhere have they achieved the coveted breakthrough. We seem to have suffered just under 60,000 casualties, our French allies about 18,000 and the Canadian troops, who then went on to fight at Festubert, around 6,000. It is believed that the enemy lost around 35,000 men(1).

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(1) Private Edward Warner of the 1st Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment, would receive a posthumous Victoria Cross. Nine other VCs were awarded: Lance Sergeant D. W. Belcher (London Rifle Brigade); Captain E. D. Bellew (7th Battalion, British Columbia Regiment); Jemadar Mir Dast (55th Rifles, attached 57th Rifles, Ferozepore Brigade); Lance Corporal F. Fisher (13th Battalion, Royal Highlanders of Canada); Company Sergeant Major F. W. Hall (8th Battalion, Winnipeg Rifles); Private J. Lynn (2nd Battalion, Lancashire Fusiliers); 2nd Lieutenant W. B. Rhodes-Moorhouse (2nd Squadron, Royal Flying Corps); Captain F. A. C. Scrimger (Canadian Army Medical Service and 14th Battalion, Royal Montreal Regiment) and Corporal I. Smith (1st Battalion, Manchester Regiment).