Frank Churchill Posted 11 August , 2014 Share Posted 11 August , 2014 The following is a transcript of Ch. 37 (Vol III) of Frederick Ponsonby's Grenadier Guards in the Great War which forum members might find informative. CHAPTER XXXVIITHE 7TH (GUARDS) ENTRENCHING BATTALION [Entrenching Battalion 1915-18]"The enormous amount of spade work, required for the long and intricate network of trenches, rendered some measures necessary for supplementing the work, usually done by the fighting forces; and thus entrenching battalions were formed, composed of drafts for the front, await- ing absorption in their respective units; but the system of detaching men from Battalions of Guards and sending them to fill any vacancies that might occur in one of the entrenching battalions was not at all satisfactory. In the first place, to allow men on arrival in France at once to go to an entrenching battalion, where the discipline was more lax, and the habits andcustoms different from those which obtained in the regiments of Guards was a measure hardlycalculated to improve them as fighting men. And in the second place, it was contrary to theregulations for men of the Guards to be commanded by any but their own officers.The idea of forming a Guards Entrenching Battalion seems to have come from certainofficers at the base. Shortly before the arrival of the new battalions of the Guards in France,rumours were afloat that an entrenching battalion for the Guards Division was about to be formed. Captain Viscount Lascelles wrote a letter to the effect that a platoon from the reinforcements ofevery battalion of Guards was to be diverted to an entrenching battalion. The platoon from the 2nd Battalion Grenadiers had already been told off, and was to be commanded by an officer of the Connaught Rangers, while the Battalion itself was to be placed under a cavalry captain.Captain Viscount Lascelles deplored the fact that there was no one of sufficient seniority at thebase, to combat these proposals, and thought the whole matter should be referred to the Lieutenant-Colonel rather than let it lapse, on the judgment of half a dozen ensigns at the base.Nothing, however, appears to have been done until November, when a Guards EntrenchingBattalion was formed, and Major E. C. Ellice, Grenadier Guards, was sent out to take command.He arrived at Chipilly on the Somme, about five miles from Bray, on December 1, 1915, and tookover the Battalion from Major Clutterbuck, who had been temporarily in command. The Bat-talion consisted of 230 Grenadiers, 300 Coldstream, 250 Scots Guards, and 200 Irish Guards, with 40 tunnellers from the Royal Engineers.Major Ellice, having made the acquaintance of his new Battalion, appointed Lieutenant IanBullough, Coldstream Guards, to be Adjutant,while Captain Jones, who had hitherto occupiedthat post, became Quartermaster. The Battalion was divided up into four companies: No. 1 Company Grenadiers under Captain M. Lloyd, No. 2 Coldstream under Lieutenant Viand, No. 3 Scots Battalion. Guards under Lieutenant Maitland, and No. 4 Irish Guards under Lieutenant Hanbury. The billets in which the men lived were not only uncomfortable but also extremely inconvenient, being sometimes over a mile apart, and so cramped were the men for room that pigsties even were made use of to house them: it was therefore with pleasure that Major Ellice received instructions to move the men to Wood Camp, which was no paradise, but still preferable to the pigsties, and much nearer the trenches. An old stone quarry, worked by a gang of twelve quarrymen under a Lieutenant in the Royal Engineers, provided the material for draining the camp and improving the roads. Water carts were obtained to provide sufficient water for cooking parties, and fatigue parties were sent every evening to draw water for other purposes from the Somme.The great advantage of an entrenching battalion was quickly seen by the rest of the Army,since the battalions that came out of the front line were relieved of working during their rest.It had formerly been the custom for resting battalions to dig reserve lines, but now this dutywas taken over by the entrenching battalion. All reserve trenches were made by it; emplace-ments for field-guns, howitzers, and machine-guns constructed, brushwood cut for revetting, roads repaired, carrying parties for all materials necessary for trench warfare supplied.The staff of the Battalion was kept as permanent as possible, but the Battalion itself wasused as a stepping-stone from the base battalion to the Battalions in the front line. The training the officers received was invaluable, as it accustomed them to shell-fire. One or two shellsinvariably fell near the working-parties; sometimes as many as thirty to forty shells wouldexplode in the neighbourhood. This showed the officers that the effect was local, unless the shell happened to strike a hard surface. It gave them confidence, and they gradually became used to unaimed shell-fire.At the end of December 1915 Captain Bullough was ordered to join his Battalion, and CaptainM. K. A. Lloyd, Grenadier Guards, succeeded him as Adjutant.In January 1916 the Entrenching Battalion was employed on the second-line trenches, and inconstructing gun emplacements for the artillery. This latter duty involved technical knowledgeon the part of the officers, who had to work from plans supplied to them by the gunners. Aboutthis time it was found that the Amiens — Somme Canal afforded better means of transport forrations and road-making material than the lorries, which had hitherto been used for that purpose;and it was necessary to make a light railway across some marshy ground between Bray roadand the Canal. The Entrenching Battalion was employed in making 3000 fascines for this purpose,and the men became so expert at their work that there was keen competition between thevarious companies as to which should turn out the most fascines.In April 1916 preparations for the offensive operations on the Somme were begun, and theEntrenching Battalion played a great part during this battle, which lasted six months. The Guards Division was not employed in the initial stages of the battle, and it was therefore not until July that the Entrenching Battalion moved up to the vicinity of Fricourt, to take over the forward roads in the battle area. The constant shelling, combined with the heavy traffic, made it peculiarly difficult to keep the roads in sufficiently good repair for constant use, but in spite of all difficulties the roads were kept open all the time, and this was entirely due to the ability and energy of the officers and the efficiency and discipline of the men. Throughout the year the duties of the Entrenching Battalion were many and various, and at times the work was very heavy, but it was always cheerfully undertaken, because the men prided themselves on being part of the Guards Division, and knew that more than the average amount of work done by the other entrenching battalions was expected from them. In January 1917 the Battalion was employed in strengthening the defences of Ginchy andCombles, and in the successful operations against the Germans early that year it participated in the various works, on which all arms were engaged. In April it was encamped for some months in the neighbourhood of Havrincourt Wood, and was employed in preparations for the offensive in the direction of Cambrai, which, however, did not take place till November. In June the Battalion made a farther move to Roisel, where for some months it was busily employed in digging a line of trenches some nine miles long, from Epeley to within threemiles of St. Quentin. The strength of the Battalion had now risen to over 2000 men. The work on these trenches was very interesting, as it was in sight of the Hindenburg line, and although works of some importance were undertaken, Major Ellice and his Entrenching Battalion were given complete charge of this area.Although the Guards Entrenching Battalion had constantly worked in the forward areas, theother entrenching battalions had been employed mostly in rear on work which could as easily have been done by labour battalions or Chinese, and they had consequently diminished in strength. In September 1917 the attention of the military authorities was directed to these entrenching battalions, with the result that it was decided todisband them. General Feilding asked that the Guards Entrenching Battalion might be maintained, but this was not considered possible. In October the final disbandment took place." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coldstreamer Posted 12 August , 2014 Share Posted 12 August , 2014 rarely do you see any mention of this Btn - I have seen a few medals to Coldsteamers but not many Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank Churchill Posted 13 August , 2014 Author Share Posted 13 August , 2014 my grandfather (2nd Bn GG) was attached to this unit sometime after Oct 1915. I'm hoping to learn more about it. Ponsonby is the only useful reference I've seen so far.Unfortunately Unfortunately their war diaries were among the archives that were destroyed in WWII. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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