A Short History of the 6th Division: Aug. 1914-March 1919 — John Shaqi
A Short History of the 6th Division: Aug. 1914-March 1919
History
A Short History of the 6th Division: Aug. 1914-March 1919
Great Britain. Army. Division, 6th; World War, 1914-1918 -- Campaigns -- Western Front; World War, 1914-1918 -- Regimental histories -- Great Britain
During this period the four brigades each received a fifth Territorial
Battalion--the Queen's Westminsters joining on the 11th November and
being allotted to the 18th Infantry Brigade; the 5th Scottish Rifles,
who went to the 19th Infantry Brigade, joining on the 19th November;
the 2nd Battalion London Regiment joining the 17th Infantry Brigade in
February, and the 5th Battalion Loyal North Lancashire Regiment the
16th Infantry Brigade on the 15th of that month. The 38th Field
Company left the Division on the 9th April, and on the 21st December
1914 the 1st London Field Company, later the 509th, began its long
connection with the 6th Division. The Division lost its squadron of
the 19th Hussars, receiving in its place "C" squadron of the
Northamptonshire Yeomanry.
It was during the sojourn in Armentieres that the "Fancies,"
without mention of whom no history of the Division would be complete,
came into being. With the "Follies," the 4th Division troupe, formed a
few weeks before them, also in Armentieres, they were the forerunners
of the Divisional theatrical troupes which subsequently became
universal.
At Armentieres also took place the first 6th Divisional Horse Show, a
highly successful two-day show--the first of its kind held in the
B.E.F.
On the 27th May 1915 began the relief of the Division by the 27th
Division, and on the following days its move northwards to join the
newly formed VI Corps. Major-Gen. Sir John Keir left on the 27th to
take up command of the new corps, taking with him--as B.G.,
R.A.--Brig.-Gen. W. H. L. Paget.
Major-Gen. W. N. Congreve, V.C., from the 18th Infantry Brigade,
succeeded Sir John Keir in command of the Division; Brig.-Gen.
Humphreys taking the appointment of C.R.A.
CHAPTER V
YPRES SALIENT
1915-16
On the night of the 31st May/1st June the Division took over its new
front in the Ypres Salient, commencing its long tour in that unsavoury
region, and trench casualties almost doubled immediately. It continued
in the Salient up to the end of July 1916, with three periods of rest,
each of about a month's duration: the first spent in the neighbourhood
of Houtkerque and Poperinghe, in November and December 1915; the
second in the Houtkerque-Wormhoudt area, with one brigade at a time
back at Calais from mid-March to mid-April 1916; and the third again
in the Houtkerque-Wormhoudt area from mid-June to mid-July 1916. The
nature of these rests has been humorously but not untruthfully
portrayed in the columns of _Punch_; the author of "At the Front" in
that paper having been an officer in the K.S.L.I.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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