The story of the 6th Battalion, the Durham Light Infantry : $b France, April 1915-November 1918
History
The story of the 6th Battalion, the Durham Light Infantry : $b France, April 1915-November 1918
Great Britain. Army. Durham Light Infantry; World War, 1914-1918 -- Regimental histories -- Great Britain
On the night of the 25th May the whole Battalion paraded as a working
party to dig a front line trench to fill a gap caused by the German
attack. The right of this trench was on the railway cutting, the enemy
being on the other side of the cutting. The men worked magnificently and
finished the task in less than two hours. As soon as it was completed the
new trench was occupied by a Battalion of the Buffs. After two more
nights spent on working parties the men were relieved and marched back to
bivouacs in Brielen Wood. On the 2nd June orders were received to move
further back, and they marched through Poperinghe to a field on the south
of the town, where they spent the night and the next day, moving again on
the 4th to bivouacs at Ouderdom.
The organisation of the Battalion was now to undergo a change which did
not meet with universal approval amongst its members. On the 8th June it
was amalgamated with the 8th Durham Light Infantry, the new Battalion
being constituted as follows: Lieut.-Col. J. Turnbull, V.D. (8th D.L.I.)
in command; Capt. G.A. Stevens (Royal Fusiliers), Adjutant; A Company
(8th D.L.I.), Capt. T.A. Bradford; B Company (A and B Companies of 6th
D.L.I.), Lieut. W.P. Gill; C Company (6th D.L.I.), Lieut. T.B. Heslop; D
Company (6th D.L.I.), Capt. F.H. Livesay; Machine-gun section, 2nd Lieut.
R.A. Howe (6th D.L.I.); transport section, Lieut. Ramsay (8th D.L.I.);
Quartermaster, Lieut. W.M. Hope (6th D.L.I.). All supernumerary staff
were sent to the base at Harfleur. At the same time the 7th Battalion
became Divisional Pioneers and the 5th Battalion Loyal North Lancashire
Regiment joined the 151st Brigade.
On the evening of the 11th June the new Battalion marched by Companies to
dug-outs in the grounds of Kruisstraat Chateau, south of Ypres. The
following day the march was resumed _via_ the Lille gate and Maple Copse
to Sanctuary Wood, where the Battalion was lent to the 149th Infantry
Brigade to provide working parties for the improvement of the Hooge
defences. It was during this move that the transport, on the 14th June,
had its worst experience of the famous Hell Fire Corner, where it was
shelled and a water cart was completely destroyed.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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