A Short History of the 6th Division | Page 4

Corps near Aubers. The advance from
Hazebrouck to the ridge had occupied six days, and cost the Division
some 750 casualties.
On the morning of the 20th October the Germans attacked very heavily
on the whole front. Fighting on a very extended front (five miles) and
with very little in hand, the Division was soon in difficulties,
particularly on the exposed left flank, where the Leinsters had their
three left companies quickly driven in, and the situation at midday was
critical. One company with the machine-guns was able to hold on until
the afternoon at Mont de Prémesques, and to withdraw under cover of
darkness, having inflicted heavy loss on the enemy. Meanwhile units of
other brigades were putting up a gallant fight against great odds, each
unit generally with one or both flanks unsupported. At Ennetières,
which formed rather a salient, the Sherwood Foresters held out all day,
but were attacked at dusk by three battalions and practically annihilated
or captured, only the CO., Adjutant, Q.M. and 250 other ranks
remaining the next day.
The Buffs, after a splendid fight, were driven out of Radinghem, and by
night the Division was practically back on the line which it was to hold
for the next few months, and on which the German offensive of 1918
still found the British. Continuous unsuccessful attempts to break
through occurred till 31st October, when trench warfare set in. Notable
among these was the attack on the K.S.L.I. and Y. and L. on the 23rd
October, when 300 enemy dead were left in front of our trenches; on
the 18th Infantry Brigade on the night of the 27/28th October, when the
enemy captured the line, but was driven out by a counter-attack, in
which the East Yorks specially distinguished themselves; and on the
night of the 29/30th October, when the 19th Infantry Brigade lost some
trenches, but counter-attacked successfully, and counted 200 German
dead. The incident of Cpl. Forward, 1st The Buffs, is typical of the
fierce fighting. On 30th October, when the O.C. machine-guns of The
Buffs and all the team had been killed or wounded, this gallant N.C.O.
continued to fire his gun until eventually wounded in five places, when

he crawled back to report the situation. He was rewarded with the
D.C.M. During the whole period, 20th to 30th October, the guns were
woefully short of ammunition, and consequently a greater strain was
thrown on the infantry.
CHAPTER IV
ARMENTIÈRES
1914-15
Active fighting now died away on this front, but its place was taken by
constant shelling and the deadly sniping which claimed so many
victims at this time. The weather during November and December was
truly appalling. All trenches were knee-deep and more in mud and
water, and it is on record that the B.G.C., 19th Infantry Brigade, had his
boots sucked off by the mud and went round trenches without them.
Parapets would not stand and were so flimsy that many men were shot
through them. But the weather eventually improved, material for
revetment began to appear, and by the commencement of 1915 it was
possible to move in the trenches in comparative safety.
The next few months were uneventful ones, the only incidents worthy
of remark being a visit from the King on the 2nd December; a minor
operation by the North Staffordshire Regiment on the 12th March,
resulting in the inclusion in our line of the unsavoury Epinette Salient;
the sudden move of the 16th Infantry Brigade to Vlamertinghe at the
time of the enemy's attack at St. Eloi in the middle of March, and a
little mining and counter-mining on the Frelinghien and Le Touquet
fronts in May. The minor operation at l'Epinette was a very
well-planned night affair, whereby the 17th Infantry Brigade advanced
their line 200-300 yards on a frontage of half a mile. It was carried out
by the 1st Battalion North Staffordshire Regiment and 12th Field
Company, and Sir H. Smith-Dorrien (Army Commander), in
congratulating the regiment, mentioned particularly Lieuts. Pope and
Gordon for fine leading. But if there was no heavy fighting, the trench
casualties from sniping and enemy shell-fire were quite considerable

(see Appendix). We had practically no artillery ammunition with which
to worry the enemy, as the following extract from the Divisional War
Diary shows:--
24th April 1915.--"In view of the fighting in progress in the north
(Second Battle of Ypres) the Corps Commander allots an extra ten
rounds of shrapnel per gun for 18-pounders with a view to making a
demonstration by fire to hold the enemy in front of us." Amusing
reading in 1919!
The Division continued to hold a quiet but very extended front till the
end of May, receiving a succession of units from new Divisions to
serve their apprenticeship to trench warfare.
Amongst our visitors, during this