Any info on 2/4th Bn Hampshire Regiment

[Guest erbojones]

I know a potted history from the long, long trail website and that Great Grandad (42296, Victor Raymond Ford from Bath) got his MM in France which narrows the time frame down to June - November 1918.

Anyone know much else about this period?

Would there be a war diary I could look at that might give some idea of movements / conditions?

Hope you can help

Lesley

[delta]

Marc Thompson has helped me on Hampshire matters - give him a call

[barkalotloudly]

turner donovan have a history of the 2/4th battalion in thier lastest catalogue £85.00 regards john

[Guest erbojones]

Thanks John,

Looks just the job - shame I haven't got 85 quid!!

Doesn't look like it would be in any library either.

[Guest erbojones]

I tell a lie - I've just found it at the British Library.

[jo.36]

I have had some great success in getting hold of Regimental and Bn. histories by applying to my local library through inter-library loans. Costs about 65p to order, and they will search through all UK libraries for a copy and get it for you. I was able to keep the last one on the Middx Regt. for several weeks!

Worth a try if you are not able to get to the British Library.

jo

[Chris_Baker]

The Second Line unit of the 4th Battalion, soon to become 2/4th Battalion, formed on Salisbury Plain in late September 1914. It became part of the 2nd Hampshire Brigade in the 2nd Wessex Division.

The new formation left England for garrison duties in India, with the 2/4th Hampshire sailing from Southampton on 13 December 1914 . It arrived at Karachi on 11 January 1915.

Soon after arrival, the 2nd Wessex Division was broken up, with its constituent units being posted to join the various formations of the Indian Army. The 2/4th Hampshires joined the 11th (2nd Quetta) Brigade of the 4th (Quetta) Division. Headquartered in Quetta and manning stations at Chaman, Fort Sandeman, Jacobabad, Loralai, Manora, Hyderabad and others, the Division remained in the area throughout the war. It mobilised in part for action on the North West Frontier on several occasions during the period of the Great War but took part in no major actions. The Division was part of the Southern Army, later called Southern Command.

On 29 April 1917, the battalion embarked at Karachi and moved to Egypt, landing at Suez shortly afterwards . After a two-week period in the Suez area, it was ordered to join 233rd Brigade in 75th Division, a new formation that was in the process of assembling . This in turn was part of the strengthening of the British forces in Egypt, preparatory to taking the offensive in Palestine under new Commander-in-Chief, Sir Edmund Allenby. The 75th Division came under orders of General Bulfin’s XXI Corps.

The Division took part in a number of actions in the campaign in Palestine.

It played a minor, reserve, role at the Third Battle of Gaza in October-November 1917, which was the battle that broke the Turkish entrenched defences in Palestine and after which the campaign became one of great movement.

The Division moved forward after the Gaza fighting to the line Beit Duras – Esdud, which it reached by the evening of 11 November 1917. Here, forces were assembled to continue the advance and two days later the 75th Division began to move and took Tel el Turmus and Kustineh, before a hard fight at Mesmiyeh. Eventually enemy resistance was overcome and the Division captured the key position of Junction Station. Movement continued to Latron, where the Jaffa-Jerusalem road drops from the Judean hills towards the sea. The country here resembled the north west frontier region that the battalions that had come from India knew well. The advance continued over the next week, with the Division capturing Nabi Samweil and other important points. It was relieved after suffering casualties over a period of some three weeks, on 28 November 1917, just before Jerusalem itself fell to British forces.

After a brief period of rest, 75th Division came into the front line once more as Allenby ordered an advance from Jerusalem aimed at securing the area for the winter of 1917-18. In particular, the enemy was to be kept out of range of Jaffa, one of the few places on the coast that could practically be used for landing supplies – everything otherwise having to come hundreds of miles by rail from Egypt. These operations, on 20 December 1917, succeeded and the troops crossed the River Auja.

Two factors affected the 2/4th Hampshire in the spring of 1918. First, it was decided to “Indianise” the Divisions serving in Palestine by substituting units of the Indian Army for British ones in Palestine. This was principally to shorten the supply lines, which were proving expensive and difficult to operate, men and goods coming from Britain into Egypt before moving up to Palestine. Secondly, the British army suffered a dreadfully heavy blow in France when the Germans opened an offensive on 21 March 1918. The losses were such that reinforcements were urgent, and many of the units released by Indianisation in Palestine moved to the Western Front.

Thus on 26 May 1918, the battalion embarked at Alexandria, sailing to Marseilles where it arrived on 1 June. Within a few days it had joined 186th Brigade in the 62nd (2nd West Riding) Division, a Second Line TF formation with which it then remained.

The enemy launched another offensive in Flanders in May, but the 62nd was not involved. However, when a third huge enemy attack opened in the area held by the thinly-stretched French Army south west of Reims, Sir Douglas Haig agreed to send a British Corps, consisting of 15th (Scottish), 34th, 51st (Highland) and 62nd (2nd West Riding) Divisions, to assist. The 51st and 62nd had several days of very heavy fighting in the Ardre valley, which is now officially known as the Battle of Tardenois, between 20 and 31 July 1918.

The Corps was brought back into the British area in time to assist with the beginning of the series of blows that forced the enemy back over a long distance and was a primary cause of the enemy requesting an Armistice in November 1918. On 25 August, units of the 62nd Division captured Mory – not far from Arras. It was then involved in heavy fighting as the line was pressed forward, and it beat off several determined enemy counter attacks at Vraucourt and Vaulx-Vraucourt.

62nd Division found itself in the Cambrai area for a further advance, where on 12 September it captured – for the second time, the first being in November 1917 – the strongly fortified Havrincourt.

On 11 November 1918, the 2/4th Hampshires were near Maubeuge.

The Division was given the signal honour of being selected to represent the Territorial Force in the choice of Division that would move forward from the Armistice line, across Belgium and into Germany to form the Rhine bridgehead.

It crossed into enemy territory on 15 December 1918. Once in Germany, Highland units replaced the infantry battalions and the Division was renamed in March 1919 the Highland Division of the Army of Occupation. Demobilisation began very soon after the Armistice and by March 1919, the battalion was down to a cadre.

Any good?

This summary history was supplied by Great War Family Research

[Guest erbojones]

You guys are the best!

To Jo - yes, I used the interlibrary loan service a lot for my Masters degree - its an excellent service

To Chris - you are fab in every way - thanks for an excellent site and forum