4/KRRC May 1915 2nd Ypres - Chronicle/Diary?

[menear]

I'm researching my great uncle, Rifleman HENRY FREDERICK SMITH, 6/566, 4th Bn., King's Royal Rifle Corps, who was accepted dead / DoW on 10 May 1915.

From what I've been able to glean it looks as if 4/KRRC was at 2nd Ypres, in the line south of the Patricias near the Menin Road during the Battle of Frezenberg Ridge. He could well have been wounded at the start of the attack on 8 May.

Does anyone have access to war diary / Chronicle or other information about 4/KRRC and its movements in this action?

Thanks

Laurie

[keithfazzani]

The Annals of the KRRC states:

"On May 10th the enemy subjected the front line of the 81st and 80th Brigades, held by the 2nd Cameron Highlanders, 4th KRRC, and 4th Rifle Brigade, to another intense bombardment from 10:30am to 1:30pm.

The front trenches of the KRRC and the Rifle Brigade were destroyed, and the support trenches of those battalions became the line of defence.

The attack which followed was beaten off. The second line then became the first, as far east as Sanctuary Wood, which was still held by the 81st Brigade.

During the three days' fighting 8th-10th, the 4th KRRC had lost 15 officers and 478 other ranks, leaving it with 3 officers and 100 men.

The losses of the 4th Rifle Brigade were almost as heavy. Our 4th Battalion was brought out of the line on the night of the 10th/11th. "

Hope this helps. It was obviously an awful day for the battalion.

[menear]

Many thanks Keith.

Those figures for losses are simply astonishing. I read somewhere in an uncredited document (that seemed to be a history of the Canadian Expeditionary Force) that 4/KRRC and PPLI ('The Patricias') were alongside each other in the line and that they'd suffered such heavy losses by 5 May they were effectively fighting as one composite unit from then until 13 May. Your note on the battalion being withdrawn on the night of 10th/11th is therefore also useful.

[MBrockway]

Laurie,

2nd Ypres did indeed take a heavy toll on 4/KRRC and the nearby units.

The relevant sections from the 1915 KRRC Chronicle for 8-11 May follow below. Sorry in advance for any errors in my typing! I'll add some maps later. The Chronicle editor quotes nearly verbatim from the War Diary.

<transcript begins ...>

On the 8th [of May 1915] began what so far as the Battalion was concerned was its first really serious participation in the second Battle of Ypres. I here quote from the War Diary.

At about 5 a.m. heavy howitzers opened on the front trenches. These continued steadily until 7 a.m., when a furious combined bombardment of field guns and howitzers commenced. This heavy fire was maintained until about 8 a.m., when fuses were lengthened.

At 8.05 a.m. the bombardment slackened considerably, Communication by wire to the trenches had been cut since 7:15 a.m., and almost immediately afterwards the Brigade line also went.

The line to the Rifle Brigade in support held until about 7.45 a.m.

8.20 a.m. – The bombardment increased, especially about the centre of Bellewaarde Wood, where part of C Company were in support and Battalion Headquarters were situated. Heavy rifle fire opened on the front and left. The front line, which had suffered very heavily during the bombardment, was now reinforced, Lieutenants Poole, Antrobus, and Hodgkinson taking up the remainder of C Company. The whole Battalion was now in the firing line. This party took up a supply of ammunition. Lieutenant Poole returned with information that the infantry attack did not appear to be on our front.

8.45 a.m.-The German artillery re-opened, making Bellewaarde Wood a perfect inferno, shelling with every sort of shell. Three orderlies from Rifle Brigade arrived to ask if help was required.

8.50 a.m.-These returned with the request for one Company.

9 a.m.-A lull in the artillery bombardment. A little rifle fire was opened, but was heavier further north.

9.17 a.m.-A message received stated that enemy appeared to be massing in front of right of 28th Division (i.e., left of 80th Brigade).

9.45 a.m.-Captain Dalby came in and reported that the salient at Hill 50 had been shelled until the men holding it were annihilated, and that the Germans had walked into it. Whilst explaining the situation Captain Dalby was wounded. This hill was a weak spot, and was the junction of ourselves and P.P.C.L.I.

At 10.15 a.m. a Company of 4th Rifle Brigade arrived and moved up to the firing line to fill up the gaps.

10.20 a.m.-The situation so far as known: A and B Companies in front line right and centre respectively. D Company almost annihilated, but a few still alive in left of front line. Extreme left in Hill 50 held by enemy. A and B Companies had also been extremely severely punished. One Company of the Rifle Brigade was moving up to reinforce front line, and another Company was in support in Cavalry Lines just west of Bellewaarde Wood.

11 a.m.-All seemed quiet again.

12.15 p.m.-Communication with the Brigade was re-established.

1.30 p.m.-Shelling re-commenced, but not with the former vehemence.

2.45 p.m.-Increased again, and continued until 5 p.m. About dusk several small parties were re-assembled from different parts. of the wood, and returned to the firing line. So far as could be ascertained, the Battalion had suffered about 300 casualties, together with three officers killed and three wounded.

At 2 a.m. on the 9th information was received of a re-adjustment of our line. This entailed the falling back of the Regiment on our left, until its right rested in the N.W. corner of Bellewaarde Lake. The left of the Battalion was thus in the air and open to enfilade fire from Hill 50 and further west. The Battalion Headquarters were thus in full view of the enemy on the north, and was such that it would be impossible to move. Headquarters were therefore removed to the west of the Lake, where about thirty men had been collected. 3rd Battalion and 4th Rifle Brigade also had Headquarters here.

At 8 a.m. the bombardment opened, but was not nearly so intense as yesterday. This slackened towards 10 a.m. The majority of it seems to have been directed on Hooge (the 2nd Camerons) and over it. This bombardment was followed by a very weak infantry advance, which was easily repulsed. On the front of the Battalion the only infantry advance was against their left from the direction of Hill 50; this was also easily repulsed. At dusk it became quiet, no further movement of the enemy being visible. Shortly after dark four Germans suddenly appeared in our left trench, and for a moment surprised the occupants, who thought that they were our own men. In the subsequent scuffle two of them managed to escape. They proved to be men of the 248th Reserve Infantry Regiment.

Battalion Headquarters were now moved to Hooge Chateau cellar, as being closer to the Battalion and more suitable for the transmission of information.

The all too short night was occupied in repairing trenches, bringing up rations, water, and ammunition.

At 5 a.m. on the l0th the enemy started shelling with heavy howitzers.

Towards 7 a.m. the bombardment increased in intensity.

At 9 a.m. a very hot burst of rifle and machine gun, apparently occasioned by a few men of A Company, wounded, etc., falling back on the support trenches. These men were immediately re-organised in the support trench, and together with some Rifle Brigade re-occupied the front line.

At 10 a.m. Lieutenant Poole left Headquarters, and went up to the support trench in front of the log hut in Bellewaarde Wood, and took Lieutenant Antrobus and about twenty men up into the firing line. The strength of the Battalion now appeared to be about 200 men.

At 10.30 a.m. a heavy battery opened, from the direction of St. Eloi and Hill 60; another from the N.E., and field guns from E. and N.E. A terrific bombardment was kept up until about 1.30 p.m., when the few survivors fell back on the Cavalry lines now held by Rifle Brigade, Camerons, and a Company of 3rd K.R.R.C. The Bellewaarde Wood was now an almost impenetrable abattis, and it was immediately decided to consolidate the Cavalry Line, and hold it with every available man. Though this was bombarded, the fire was not so accurate as it had been on the front line, probably owing to difficulties of communications and observations. The Camerons on our right, by previous arrangement, echeloned their left flank backwards to conform to our new line. The Officer Commanding the Camerons immediately called up two Companies Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders to man the line at Hooge and two more Companies were sent up by 80th Brigade in rear of Hooge Chateau. The situation after mid-day became so serious that the 80th Infantry Brigade were appealed to for strong support.

This resulted in the 1st Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders being sent up to Hooge, arriving between 3 and 4 p.m. The enemy again made no determined attack, but moved forward in small parties and halting or falling back if met with infantry fire.

At 2 p.m. a few of the enemy crept forward towards Cavalry trench, but no attack' was made. From this moment things became quieter and the fight seemed to fizzle out.

The 3rd Battalion from West bank of the Lake obtained good oblique fire on small parties visible in the Wood and checked any further advance. This seemed to mark the limit of the enemy's aspirations for the day as no further serious movements took place. A draft of 150 men under Second Lieutenant Walton came up at about 9.30 p.m., and was taken into the General Headquarters line south of Menin Road to be organised. Meanwhile orders had been received to withdraw the remnants of the Battalion from the trenches and return to the west of Ypres to re-organise. By midnight the Battalion was drawn out to the number of about 100,_which included signallers and stretcher bearers, the C.O. (Major Majendie), Adjutant and Second Lieutenant Antrobus being the sole surviving officers. One machine gun, very much knocked about, was also brought away, the other three being destroyed. Only seven men of the machine gun section remained.

During the fighting of the past few days individual acts of gallantry were very numerous, and it is to be regretted that evidence of the majority is not now available. As a unit the work of the Battalion, both officers and men, was admirable, and many messages of congratulation have been received from the higher Commanders.

The losses in the past three days in killed, wounded and missing amounted to about 15 officers and 478 rank and file.

Shortly after daylight on the 11th the Battalion arrived in a temporary bivouac near Vlamertinghe, and later in the day moved to the transport at Busseboom where the weary remnant lay down and slept the clock round. Those who had been through from the beginning had been twenty-six days in the trenches, during a great part of which period they had been actively engaged. It can well be imagined with what feelings we looked forward to a full night's rest. But one could not keep one's thoughts from going back to all those good fellows whom we had left behind in the Ypres salient.

<... transcript ends>

Cheers,

Mark

[MBrockway]

Laurie,

Here's the accompanying map from the 1915 KRRC Chronicle:

It's actually in the 3/KRRC War Record, rather than the 4/KRRC.

Cheers,

Mark

[menear]

Many thanks, Mark. I'll take a moment to digest that. The map is most useful.

[MBrockway]

Many thanks Keith.

Those figures for losses are simply astonishing. I read somewhere in an uncredited document (that seemed to be a history of the Canadian Expeditionary Force) that 4/KRRC and PPLI ('The Patricias') were alongside each other in the line and that they'd suffered such heavy losses by 5 May they were effectively fighting as one composite unit from then until 13 May. Your note on the battalion being withdrawn on the night of 10th/11th is therefore also useful.

Laurie,

The Princess Pats, 3/KRRC, 4/KRRC, 4/RB and the 2/KSLI were all in 80th Brigade together, so undoubtedly there would have been a degree of "blending" when severely pressed during the heaviest of the German assaults.

4/KRRC and the PPCLI held adjacent sections of the line during the fighting at Hill 50 described in my transcript above. Both battalions had heavy losses, so it is probable that ad hoc units from both were formed to hold the line during the thickest fighting.

The 3/KRRC War Record in the 1915 KRRC Chronicle on the night of 8/9 May has the battalion relieving the PPCLI "who had been very badly knocked about" who then went to the rear to re-organise.

As you'll see in my transcript above, 4/KRRC stayed in the line until the night of 10/11 May, so they were certainly not a composite unit at that stage.

However, the KRRC Chronicle goes on to say that 4/KRRC and the PPCLI were formed into a composite battalion on 14th May and relieved 4/RB in the front line where they stayed for three days "without any desperate happenings"

It's not clear from the Chronicle how long this continued, but on 24th May the PPCLI is left out of a Brigade attack because they "numbered only 200 rifles, and had been left behind in reserve."

There's no mention in the 1915 nor 1916 KRRC Chronicle 4/KRRC War Records of when the PPCLI were able to re-establish themselves as a distinct battalion, but it was probably not very long. They certainly were a whole unit again by November 1915 as they did not follow 80th Brigade to Salonika but instead joined the CEF and remained on the Western Front.

Cheers,

Mark

[MBrockway]

Many thanks, Mark. I'll take a moment to digest that. The map is most useful.

Laurie,

This one is probably even more useful, but I got a bit carried away digging into that 4/KRRC-PPCLI composite battalion query ...

It covers the topography much better than the KRRC Chronicle's sketch map. I assume Hill 50 is Bellwaarde Ridge directly to the E of the lake. You can also see Hooge Chateau very clearly.

Ignore the coloured lines - they relate to a different stage of the War!

Cheers,

Mark

[MBrockway]

Laurie,

Last but not least ... a very big welcome to the Rifles Family here on the Forum!

Cheers,

Mark

[menear]

Cheers for that. You can blame the 1911 census for triggering all this off... after a great deal of putting two and two together I finally found out that my great uncle was actually called Henry Smith (tracked down because CWGC names his widow). Family folklore knew him as Bob Smith, so I'd been drawing a blank for many many years hopelessly searching for variants of Robert Smith!

Everything seems to be tying together. Unless I'm reading it wrong, on the previous map you posted there's no marked position for the 4th Bn on 10 May, which makes sense given how decimated they were.

The references to PPCLI I have are from http://www.censol.ca/research/worldwarone/...olson/88_90.pdf , which states: "For the last few days of the Battle of Frezenberg Ridge (which ended on 13 May) they formed a composite unit with the 4th King's Royal Rifles, which had shared their valiant stand on Bellewaarde Ridge." This makes sense if, as you say, Bellewaarde Ridge is Hill 50.

[delta]

Forgive me for highjacking this thread but.......

I have just purchased a small Maltese Cross brooch, engraved with the word Winchester - the badge is that of St Cross Hospital.

which is to the south of the city which was the home of the KRRC Depot; St Cross also being the site of the Depot cricket ground.

The cross was accompnied by a newspaper cutting entitled "Roll of Honour" in memory of Daniel Morton. He was also killed on 10th May and served with 4th KRRC; he was a subaltern - having previously been the Orderly Room Sgt when the medal card was opened. A regular soldier, he had been awarded the Delhi Medal 1911 - at this point he was also a sergeant but not in the orderly room. He was declared as wounded and missing on 10th May - and subsequently confirmed as KIA.

Stephen