History of the 1/4th Battalion Duke of Wellington's (West Riding) Regiment, 1914-1919.Bales, P. G.
History
History of the 1/4th Battalion Duke of Wellington's (West Riding) Regiment, 1914-1919.
Bales, P. G.
Great Britain. Army. Duke of Wellington's (West Riding) Regiment; World War, 1914-1918 -- Regimental histories -- Great Britain
On the afternoon of June 3rd the Battalion moved by light railway
to near Vlamertinghe Chateau, where it detrained. As soon as it was
getting dusk, the men marched off to carry out the relief. That
night the enemy artillery was extremely active; in fact, it was the
“liveliest” night the Battalion had near Ypres the whole summer. Rome
Farm was being very heavily shelled as the men went past towards the
Menin Road, and when they reached Kruisstraat they passed into an area
thick with mustard gas. A heavy bombardment of Warrington Road and the
vicinity of the Lille Gate, with 8-inch gas shells, was in progress.
This greatly hampered the relief, as respirators had to be worn for
considerable distances; but, luckily, the Battalion got in with
practically no casualties.
The front line was about a line in length and was held by three
companies, disposed as follows:--
Right: B Company, from Zillebeke Lake to the Warrington Road.
Only one platoon occupied the front line posts, the remainder
living in the dugouts along the western edge of the Lake.
Centre: D Company, from the Warrington Road to a point
north-west of Moated Grange.
Left: A Company, from the flank of D Company to the
Ypres-Roulers Railway, about 300 yards west of Hellfire Corner.
C Company was in reserve in a line about 500 yards in rear of the front
line.
Battalion H.Q. was in the Ramparts of Ypres, not far from the Lille
Gate. Never had such a commodious place been occupied before. When
preparations were in progress for the Third Battle of Ypres in 1917,
two divisional H.Q. had been constructed in the Ramparts, one near
the Lille Gate and one near the Menin Gate. Now that the line had
been withdrawn so far, these had come into use for battalions. There
were rooms and to spare, lit up with electric light and comfortably
furnished. Every H.Q. officer had his separate room, and there were
also a fine large mess and a good office.
The front line was not very satisfactory. On the left it was continuous
and good, but on the right posts were completely isolated. It was
fortunate too that the weather was fine, for the ground was very low
and would quickly have become water-logged. The dugouts on the west
side of Zillebeke Lake provided any amount of good accommodation for B
Company, but the other companies were not nearly so well off in that
respect. The reserve line occupied by C Company was also inferior.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account