All they got was a couple of hours before they were sent to assist the Irish Guards who were retiring in the face of a furious bombardment that by 3.00 pm had reduced the battalion to a mere 200 men. It appeared the German effort was now focussed on breaking the line held by the Irish Guards; a hail of very accurate high explosive rained down on their trenches, blowing in the earthworks and knocking out machine-gun positions. With instructions from Cavan to hold a new line in the wood behind them, the Irish Guards, with the French supporting on their right, managed to hold off any further attack and the position was stabilized for the time being.
The situation was once again reaching a critical stage and German infantry were close to breaking through at a number of points along the line. Fortunately the French XI Corps held firm despite the fact that the Irish Guards had withdrawn and exposed the French left flank. But there was to be no time to relax; further to the east close to the Menin Road the relentless probing of the British front line had forced 1/Northants to retire and German infantry were reported to be advancing in numbers through the woods southeast of the Menin Road at Herenthage. Cavan responded quickly by plugging the gap that had developed as a result of the Northamptons’ retirement with 2/Grenadier Guards. Aware that the line to the left of the Northamptons was still held by the Royal Sussex, standing firm under the command of Captain Villiers despite its losses, he ordered the Grenadiers to clear the wood at the point of the bayonet.
‘Off again after a couple of hours, being well shelled on the way, to support the 5th Brigade [sic] further to the east. Arrived with a few losses from high explosives. No. 2 Company was in support: blobbed in sections and lay down in a field. Unfortunately one section thought they were better off under a hedge and had no sooner got there than a high explosive burst almost in them, killing two and wounding four. We waited for an hour or so then got the order to advance in line through a wood and clear it of any Germans we might find.’
The woods around Ypres in 1914 were very similar to English copses, and even today there is a striking similarity with English woodland. Bernard Gordon Lennox does not mention in his account of the action that the woods were full of pheasants and these startled birds rose up ahead of the lines of Grenadiers as they pushed their way though the undergrowth:
‘We advanced in line with fixed bayonets and reached our objective without encountering any [Germans] in the wood actually, but a platoon which emerged on the other side of the wood came under enfilade fire and had to remain under cover of a bank till dark … We then dug ourselves in. It is curious the different ideas one gets out here. Ever since one has been a soldier and sited trenches one has always been given to believe the main object is to get a good field of fire: out here we have never had one, and in this case our field of fire is about 15 to 20 yards in a thick wood.’
The Guards’ advance through the woods had restored confidence along the British line and the Northamptons were able to re-occupy their trenches. They barely had time to repair the damage before the Germans attacked again on the same sector of the line, no doubt hoping for a repeat of their success of the morning. This time the Northamptons withheld their fire until the enemy infantry were within fifty yards of their positions. The war diary tells us that not a single enemy soldier reached the Northamptons’ trenches and over 200 German dead were counted.
General Bulfin’s evacuation after being wounded on 1 November had resulted in Lord Cavan taking command of the whole British front line from the Menin Road to the French left flank. Cavan found himself taking over a composite force of units from the 1st and 2nd Divisions at a decisive point in the battle. Arriving at Bulfin’s head quarters with his Brigade Major, Major Gerry Hore-Ruthven, he was confronted by a disorganized staff unsure of the next move without direction from the now absent Bulfin. German forces were breaking through the line and to make matters worse high explosive shells were bursting all around:
‘Very slowly Lord Cavan drew out his cigar case, and having carefully selected a cigar, proceeded to light it, turning it round to see that it was evenly lighted. This had a wonderful effect on all present, for it not only enabled Lord Cavan himself to concentrate his thoughts upon the problem and to see clearly the pressing needs of the moment, but it also inspired all the officers with confidence. As a staff officer said afterwards, that cigar saved the situation.’4
It was the stuff of story books and Cavan’s response to the urgency of the situation could easily have been plucked straight out of the pages of a John Buchan novel.
With Lord Cavan in command, the front line situation on the morning of Monday, 2 November saw the Northamptons in touch with the 7th Division on the left, 2/Grenadier Guards and the Oxfords in the centre, and the Irish Guards on the right. In addition he had 22 Brigade in reserve. German pressure was maintained by four infantry attacks during the day, each preceded by intense shelling. Bernard Gordon Lennox takes up the story of Number 2 Company:
‘In the same trenches. 450 yards in our front and facing away from us the Germans advanced. Tuffy’s [Lieutenant Carleton Tufnell] machine gun and No. 2 got them in enfilade and killed quite a nice lot. The remainder returned, and a few stopped to dig in. We improved out defences during the day which passed off fairly quietly but a continual sniping on both sides was carried on. At night there was a lot of firing but we could not see anything much although we gave them moral support by sharp bursts of fire: there was a yowl just ahead of us, so some bullet found its mark. Remainder of the night passed off without incident as far as we were concerned, but the Oxfords on our left had a merry fusillade on more than one occasion. Bright moonlight and very cold.’
On the morning of 2 November there was a renewal of the attacks along the Menin Road. This time it was the barricade across the road at Veldhoek that was on the receiving end of a high explosive bombardment. Once the barricade had been demolished German infantry attacked units of 1 Brigade, which after some desperate hand-to-hand fighting eventually had to yield some 300 yards after falling back to the next line of trenches. With Brigadier Landon’s promotion to GOC 1st Division after General Lomax had been injured at Hooge Chateâu on 31 October, command of 3 Brigade fell temporarily to Colonel Lovett of the Gloucesters. Lovett found brigade command almost a step too far and by early November 1914 he was clearly finding the pressure too much. However, by nightfall on 2 November the British line was once again intact and largely occupied the ridge of high ground that runs from the corner of the canal at Hollebeke to Zonnebeke in the north; it was a line that remained in British hands until the end of the battle.
3 November was comparatively quiet, which was just as well as Second Lieutenant John Lee Steere arrived that day at Klein Zillebeke with Lieutenant Hervy Tudway and the draft of men they had brought up from St Nazaire. It had taken five days to reach the battalion, the last few miles being completed on foot from Ypres. For John Lee Steere it was not the first occasion that he had visited Ypres; his arrival in November 1914 at the gates of the shell-torn city would have been in huge contrast to the walled medieval city he had visited with his mother as an 8yearold in August 1903.
The battalion would have been very glad to see them and John was soon sent up to Number 2 Company just in time to receive his first experience of German shelling as both sides began an artillery duel. His first letter home from the trenches of Number 2 Company was dated 4 November and in it he tried hard not to betray any signs of nervousness:
‘Just a hurried note, no time for more. I’ve reached the battalion, I may mention no places. Having my first experience of the horrors of assault shelling, they are giving us pretty fair hell today. Saw Warren yesterday and heard from him the awful tale of the way the 1st Battalion has been cut up. [1/Grenadier Guards was reduced to 4 Officers and 250 men after Gheluvelt on 31 October] You’ve heard of course of poor Phil [Lieutenant Philip Van Neck] being killed. How awful for Aunt Grace and all of them … forgive disjointed letter, but I must confess to being rather jumpy at the moment. Hope it will p
ass off. Don’t know when I shall get this posted as one can’t move from the trenches. There are forward trenches ahead of us, sounds if they are pretty badly hit.’
He had no need to worry about feeling jumpy, even Bernard Gordon Lennox thought it to be a most ‘disagreeable’ day:
‘A German aeroplane came over about 3.00 am and discovered us and shortly after the worst shelling we have had was administered to us: it went on all day unceasingly and we had many casualties. Poor old Mary – Noel’s horse got one in the head and was killed: also 4 or 5 other horses. I had two men killed and 7 wounded, some of them being the draft of 10 who had just joined the company … The shelling subsided at nightfall and we were all thankful to get some relief from the eternal din. It came on to rain just after nightfall and poured in torrents: altogether a most disagreeable ending to a most disagreeable day … but there is a certain amount of satisfaction in knowing things are equally if not more disagreeable for the Dutchmen [Germans].’
John Lee Steere was now positioned at the junction of De Moussy’s French Division and the four battalions commanded by Lord Cavan. Over the next week the full weight of the German attack would fall on that thinly held line.
Chapter 8
The Fire Brigade
For the moment we must leave John Lee Steere and the Grenadier Guards at Klein Zillebeke and return to the whereabouts of Regy Wyndham and 7 Cavalry Brigade. Sir Henry Rawlinson and IV Corps began arriving in the Ypres area on 11 October 1914 and were quickly deployed on the offensive by Sir John French. The 7th Division’s orders were to advance east to occupy a line from Zonnebeke, through Kruiseke and down to Zandvoorde. The 3rd Cavalry Division was initially deployed to screen the infantry and gather intelligence before being withdrawn to the northeast side of Ypres where they filled the gap between the 7th Division and the French cavalry to the north. But before we follow the part played by 7 Cavalry Brigade, the background to exactly why IV Corps was at Ypres in 1914 requires some explanation.
Under the initial mobilization plan in August 1914 a composite regiment composed of a headquarters squadron and one squadron from each of the three regiments of the Household Brigade had been in France and Belgium with the BEF since 16 August. Commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Edwin Cook of 1/Life Guards, the composite regiment fought with 4 Cavalry Brigade at Mons and had taken part in the retreat and subsequent advance to the Aisne before arriving at Kemmel on 17 October. Up until 11 November, when the regiment was broken up and absorbed back into their parent units, they fought in the desperate battle for the Messines Ridge. It was a battle in which the British cavalry, outnumbered and outgunned, held their positions resolutely until 31 October when they were forced to retire. Sadly their casualties were heavy; Colonel Cook died on 4 November1914 of wounds received on 22 October, his place being taken by Lord Henry Crichton who himself was killed in action on 31 October.1
The composite regiment’s departure for France in August 1914 was witnessed with some gloom by those remaining behind. The campaign was expected to be short and as the politicians were predicting, would be over in a matter of months. The 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 5th Infantry Divisions that left England with the first wave of the BEF were shortly reinforced by the 4th Division which arrived just in time to take part in the Battle of Le Cateau on 26 August 1914. Although the 6th Division followed before too long to join up with the BEF as they advanced across the Aisne, it was becoming apparent to some observers that perhaps the initial estimate that the war would be over by Christmas, might have been a little on the optimistic side.
Even so, preparations were underway for the formation of two further divisions, one of infantry and a second of cavalry. As early as 17 August the three commanding officers of the Household Cavalry regiments, the Duke of Teck (1/Life Guards), Lieutenant Colonel Algernon Ferguson (2/Life Guards), and Lieutenant Colonel Gordon Wilson (Royal Horse Guards or the Blues as they were more commonly called) were summoned to the War Office to discuss the Household Cavalry’s deployment as 7 Cavalry Brigade should it be required.2 6 Cavalry Brigade under the command of Brigadier General Ernest Makins, had already been put together on paper and consisted of three regiments, the 3rd Dragoon Guards (3/Dragoon Guards) from the home establishment and two regiments that had been summoned from South Africa, the 10th Hussars (10/Hussars) and the Royal Dragoons (Royals). By late September 7 Cavalry Brigade had assembled at Ludgershall and was almost up to war strength despite the initial shortage of junior officers, but 6 Cavalry Brigade lacked 10/Hussars and the Royals who were still at sea and would not arrive until 4 October.
Events in Belgium now forced the pace. As the Allied and German Armies began the ‘race to the sea’ in an attempt to outflank each other, the position of the Belgian Army at Antwerp became more and more precarious. German artillery began its bombardment of Antwerp on 28 September, a bombardment so fierce that preparations for a retreat to Ostend by the Belgian government were communicated to the British and French governments. This prompted an undertaking on 1 October by the British War Cabinet to send 7 Infantry Division providing the French contributed to the proposed relief force.
On 2 October, after the Belgian government evacuated from Antwerp, Kitchener wrote to Sir John French advising him of the situation at Antwerp and the impact that the fall of the city would have on the Allied war effort in respect to the Channel ports. What appeared to be a degree of panic prompted the British government to send immediate reinforcements in the form of two naval brigades and a marine battalion to Antwerp, a decision that saw Winston Churchill offering to resign as First Sea Lord and take personal command of the British forces at Antwerp! The Antwerp affair served only to highlight the fate that befalls ill-equipped and hastily conceived expeditionary forces. Fortunately the naval brigades were spared annihilation and for many of them their war ended with surrender and internment.
While all this was taking place, 7 Infantry Division and 3 Cavalry Division were landing at Zeebrugge and Ostend. By 8 October Antwerp had fallen to the Germans and with it the primary objective of Rawlinson’s IV Corps. It would be another two days before the news became official but Regy Wyndham, now with D Squadron of 1/Life Guards, had advance warning of the fate that had befallen the city:
‘About midday they ordered us to move, and we marched to Bernen. On the way we met a lot of Belgian artillery at Oostcamp returning, they came from Antwerp and Ghent. They said Antwerp had fallen and was in flames. They looked very tired and said they had been fighting 5 days hard and wanted rest’
On 10 October they were told officially that Antwerp had fallen and 3 Cavalry Division would be retiring to cover the retreat of the Belgian Army. Rather surprisingly rumour still abounded that the war was practically won and their stay in Belgium would be a short one. Nevertheless, William Petersen serving with 2/Life Guards had finally got his wish to be part of the great adventure, as had Alexis de Gunzburg who was now on the strength of the Royal Horse Guards. Serving with 1/Life Guards was 19-year-old Second Lieutenant Howard St George, who, at half the age of Regy Wyndham, must have been one of the youngest officers in his regiment.
1/Life Guards clattered through Ypres on Tuesday 13 October 1914 having bivouacked the previous night on the racecourse at Rumbeke. Both regiments of Life Guards pressed on down the Menin Road; 2/Life Guards actually getting into the outskirts of Menin before encountering German forces. In the early days before the two sides clashed, cavalry patrols were being deployed to gather intelligence and on occasions it was sometimes difficult to differentiate between friend and foe immediately. Ordered to retire at dusk on 13 October, 1/Life Guards stumbled upon 6 Cavalry Brigade. Regy Wyndham’s diary recorded the confusion that followed:
‘While retiring we mistook the Royals and the 10th [Hussars] for enemy, which created much confusion. Teck [Lieutenant Colonel The Duke of Teck] recalled Sutton’s [Captain Sir R Sutton] troop at a gallop, drew swords, and prepared to charge. Clowes [Captain St George Clowes] and self with my troop were coming in from the left, a
nd thought everyone had gone mad. Kearsley [10/Hussars] restored order and we marched … to Iseghem where we arrived about 9.30pm.’
This episode of mistaken identity served to illustrate the situation east of Ypres at the time. Marauding patrols of British and German cavalry were clashing frequently as the German Fourth Army began their advance to contact with the British. In the fading light of the day the men of 6 Cavalry Brigade could easily have been Uhlans but fortunately the error was recognised before any casualties occurred.
The Brigade returned to Ypres on 14 October but not before there had been reports of several more exchanges with German cavalry:
‘Met Roxburgh [Lieutenant the Duke of Roxburgh, RHG] near Gheluvelt, he was flank guard, and while waiting by the road an Uhlan patrol came up to them. They killed one and captured another … Hugh Grosvenor [Captain Lord Hugh Grosvenor] came up and told me that on flank patrol he had surprised about 16 Uhlans in Gheluwe. They had come from Menin by the light railway. They surprised the Germans, killed three, captured one and wounded several, but were afraid to hunt them out of the houses in case they managed to fire at his horses.’
On 16 October the Brigade began running into the outer fringe of German infantry that Regy Wyndham felt were ‘marching northwest to Dunkirk.’ One of the squadrons of 2/Life Guards, commanded by Captain Hon Arthur O’Neill, came under fire from a farm southwest of Oostnieuwkerke that was strongly held by German infantry and Lieutenant Sir Robin Duff was killed as the squadron approached the farm buildings. Finding themselves being shot at from three directions, O’Neill waited until his squadron was reinforced by Captain Lord Belper’s squadron before attacking in force and reportedly killing twenty of the enemy, including the man who had killed Robin Duff.
Aristocrats Go to War: Uncovering the Zillebeke Cemetery Page 16