A Short History of the 6th Division

A Short History of the 6th
Division, Edited
by Thomas
Owen Marden

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Edited
by Thomas Owen Marden
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Title: A Short History of the 6th Division Aug. 1914-March 1919
Editor: Thomas Owen Marden
Release Date: December 15, 2006 [eBook #20115]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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HISTORY OF THE 6TH DIVISION***
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Transcriber's note:
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Explanations of British/Canadian military abbreviations can be found at
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A SHORT HISTORY OF THE 6th DIVISION
Aug. 1914-March 1919
Edited by
MAJOR-GEN. T. O. MARDEN C.B., C.M.G.

London Hugh Rees, Ltd. 5 & 7 Regent Street, S.W.1 1920

PREFACE

This short history has been compiled mainly from the War Diaries.
My reason for undertaking the task is that there was no one else to do it,
the units composing the Division being scattered far and wide, and
there being no Divisional habitat with local historians as in the case of
Territorial and New Army Divisions. My object is that all who served
with the Division for any period between 1914-1919 may have a record
to show that they belonged to a Division which played no
inconspicuous part in the Great War.
I regret that it has been impossible to tabulate the honours (except
V.C.s) won by officers and men of the Division, and it is also inevitable
that the names of many individuals to whom the success of the Division
in many operations was largely due should go unrecorded. The Infantry
naturally bulk large in the picture, but they would be the first to admit
that their success could not have been obtained without the splendid
co-operation of the Artillery, who are sometimes not even mentioned in
the narrative; and this theme might be elaborated considerably.
My particular thanks are due to Lt.-Col. T. T. Grove, C.M.G., D.S.O.,
R.E., to whom the credit belongs for the form taken by the history and
the more personal portions of the history itself. I also wish to thank
Lt.-Gen. Sir J. Keir, K.C.B., D.S.O., and Major-Gen. C. Ross, C.B.,
D.S.O., as well as several Brigadiers and C.O.s, for so kindly reviewing
the periods of which they had personal knowledge.
In conclusion, I wish to add that every copy sold helps towards the
erection of Battlefield Memorials to be placed in France and Flanders.
T. O. MARDEN, Major-General. April 1920.

CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. MOBILIZATION AND MOVE TO FRANCE 1

II. BATTLE OF THE AISNE 3
III. MOVE TO THE NORTH AND FIRST BATTLE OF YPRES 6
IV. ARMENTIÈRES 10
V. YPRES SALIENT 13
VI. THE SOMME 20
VII. LOOS SALIENT 28
VIII. CAMBRAI 35
IX. GERMAN OFFENSIVE OF MARCH 1918 44
X. YPRES SALIENT AGAIN 53
XI. THE ALLIED OFFENSIVE IN THE SOUTH 58
XII. THE MARCH TO THE RHINE AND OCCUPATION OF
GERMANY 76
APPENDIX
I. BATTLE CASUALTIES 81
II. V.C.s WON BY THE DIVISION 82
III. DIARY 85
IV. ORDERS OF BATTLE ON MOBILIZATION AND ON 11th
NOVEMBER 1918 102
V. CHANGES IN COMMANDS AND STAFFS 109

A SHORT HISTORY OF THE 6th DIVISION

CHAPTER I
MOBILIZATION AND MOVE TO FRANCE
1914
The Division mobilized with its Headquarters at Cork--two brigades in
Ireland, namely, the 16th Infantry Brigade at Fermoy, and the 17th
Infantry Brigade at Cork, and one Infantry Brigade--the 18th--at
Lichfield. Divisional troops mobilized in Ireland. The order for
mobilization was received at 10 p.m. on the 4th August 1914.
On the 15th August units mobilized in Ireland commenced embarkation
at Cork and Queenstown for England, and the Division was
concentrated in camps in the neighbourhood of Cambridge and
Newmarket by the 18th August.
The period from the 18th August to the 7th September was one of hard
training. Those who were with the Division at that time will also
remember, with gratitude, the many kindnesses shown them by the
people of Cambridge; the canteens and recreation rooms instituted for
the men, and the hospitality shown by colleges and individuals to the
officers. They will remember, too, their growing impatience to get out,
and their increasing fear that the