2nd Battalion Middlesex Regiment

The Battle of Neuve Chapelle. 10th March, 1915.

Four months had passed since the beginning of that first horrible winter of trench warfare ; four months of most agonising conditions in the front-line trenches, now happily but a memory-and in all that time (from 2nd November to the 9th March) the Middlesex Regiment had made no direct assault upon, neither had it been involved in any large attacks by, the enemy. All four Regular Battalions (1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th) were now in France ; the 1/7th and 1/8th Territorial Battalions were due to arrive within the next few days ; the 1/9th and 1/10th were in India ; the 2/7th and 2/8th were at Gibraltar ; the 2/9th, 2/10th and 3/10th were training in England, as were also several Service Battalions contained in Kitchener's First, Second and Third Armies. Truly a record of which the Regiment might well be proud. The 1st and 4th Battalions had become veterans ; theirs the immortal honour of having served throughout the whole War. But the 2nd Battalion was now to show its mettle, to carry high the torch of victory, and to shed yet further lustre on the imperishable glories won by the Die-Hards.

For the story of the Battle of Neuve Chapelle is a tale of heroism unsurpassed by all the heroic episodes which came after. Sir John French stated in his despatch, dated 5th April, 1915, that about the end of February he believed that " a vigorous offensive movement by the Forces under my command should be planned and carried out at the earliest possible moment." The general aspect of the Allied situation, the success of the Russians, the weakening of enemy forces on his front, the desire to assist the Russians by holding as many hostile troops as possible to the Western Front, and the need for fostering the offensive spirit of his troops " after the trying and possibly enervating experiences which they had gone through of a severe winter in the trenches," are given as other reasons. The objective of the attack was the village of Neuve Chapelle, the enemy's positions at that point, and the establishment of the British line as far forward as possible east of the village.

The assault was to be delivered by the 25th (right) and 23rd (left) Infantry Brigades of the 8th Division of the IVth Corps on the German trenches in front of the north-western portion of the village, and by the Garhwal Brigade of the Meerut Division (Indian Corps) on the southern portion. The assaulting battalions of the 23rd Brigade in the first attack were the 2nd Scottish Rifles and the 2nd Middlesex Regiment. The 2nd Devons were to join in the attack on the second objective, and the 2nd West Yorkshires were in Brigade Reserve. The first objectives of the Brigade were : 2nd Scottish Rifles, system of trenches 17-21 inclusive ; 2nd Middlesex Regiment, system of trenches 21-75-77 to 20, " taking special precautions to secure trenches leading to the left." The second objectives were : 2nd Scottish Rifles, trenches 51-22-52 and Posts 12 and 10 ; 2nd Devon Regiment, to co-operate with 2nd Scottish Rifles by taking Points 78 and 22; 2nd Middlesex, locality 6 and extend their left towards the C' Moated Grange." The first assault was timed to begin at 8.35 a.m. and the second at 8.35 a.m. on 10th March. North and south of Neuve Chapelle subsidiary (" holding ") attacks were to be made by the Second and First Armies respectively.

At 11p.m. on the night of the 9th March the 2nd Middlesex marched out of Estaires-" D " Company leading-for the trenches west of Neuve Chapelle, from which the attack was to take place. At Rue du Bacquerot the Battalion halted and a hot meal was served out to the men, the officers congregating in a small house near by. All ranks were confident ~ of success, and Lille was freely mentioned as the final resting place of the Battalion after the attack was over. The march was resumed about z a.m., across country to a line of shallow trenches in an apple orchard ( " E ") near the Rue Tilleloy, where three Companies were ordered to lie down, whilst the Company detailed to make the initial attack crept forward to the assembly trenches at Point 15. 10th March 1915. About 4.30 a.m. Lieut.-Colonel Hayes reported to 23rd Brigade Headquarters that his Battalion was all ready in its assembly positions, all Companies on a four-platoon frontage, one Company at Point 15, three at " E." Two companies of 2nd Scottish Rifles were on the right of the 2nd Middlesex and one Company of West Yorkshires on the left. By 5.30 a.m., the Brigade Diary records, all movement had ceased and " there has apparently been no hitch. Enemy very quiet and appear to have no inkling of our preparations."

Just after dawn broke (about 5.30 a.m.) a German aeroplane, flying low down, passed from north to south over the British lines. Had the observer discerned the closely packed trenches, which were shallow and very crowded ? Time crept on, and as the hour of attack approached the enemy gave no sign that he expected an attack. In order to give the enemy no clue to the impending battle, the guns had been ordered to continue the usual registration of the hostile trenches until 7.30 a.m. At the latter hour, however, a general bombardment of the enemy's positions (until 8.5 a.m.) and his wire entanglements (until 745 a.m.), especially in front of Point 15, was to begin.

At 7.30 a.m. the tremendous " boom " of a single gun, obviously of large calibre, broke upon the ears of the lines of waiting troops; it was " Granny " the huge 15-inch howitzer-firing (for the first time*) the signal for the artillery bombardment to open. (" Granny " was situated in an apple orchard in Labourse, S. of the La Basse'e Canal, i.e., in G. 29.d.1.3). Immediately there was an ear-splitting roar, shaking the ground and deafening the troops as they stood ready in the front-line trenches to go " over the top," or lay on the ground in their support or reserve positions. For half-an-hour the waiting troops watched the inferno across No Man's Land ; a wall of dust and smoke, from 50 to 100 feet high, had shot up from the German trenches, as the shells fell thick and fast upon the enemy's barbed wire and front line ; it seemed impossible that any living thing could emerge from the wreckage created by that awful tornado of lyddite and shrapnel ; timber and sand-bags, clods of dirt, heads, arms and legs and mangled bodies were flung about in horrible confusion ; the upper half of a German officer, with the cap thrust down over the distorted face, fell in the front-line British trenches. Only with great difficulty could the British officers restrain their men and persuade them to keep their heads down until that dread half-hour ended ; fascinated, though the shells from their guns engaged in wire-cutting passed barely 6 feet above them, they could hardly turn their eyes from the frightful things happening across No Man's Land, where Germans were being driven stark, raving mad from artillery fire such as they had never before experienced.

For five and thirty minutes the 2nd Middlesex, with the Scottish Rifles on their right and one Company of 2nd West Yorkshires on their left, watched and waited for the hour of attack. At five minutes past eight whistles sounded all along the British line and, at the same time, shells began to burst further ahead, for the guns had lengthened their range to the village itself. As if on parade the troops forming the front line rose to their feet and dashed out into No Man's Land towards the German trenches. A sheet of flame flashed from behind the enemy's wire and a murderous machine-gun fire from Points 21 and 76 swept the ranks of the advancing men. Along the front of the Indian Corps, the 25th Brigade and the right Company (" B ") of the Scottish Rifles, the terrible wire entanglement had been well cut by the British guns. But in front of " A " Company of the Scotsmen, and the sector allotted to the 2nd Middlesex, the enemy's wire was practically uncut.

"The front line advanced," said Sergeant Daws, of the 2nd Battalion, watching the advance from the third line, " and as they leave their trenches we shout ' Go on the Middlesex ! Go on the Die-Hards! ' They are met by terrible machine-gun fire." Of the first wave of Middlesex men few reached the German wire, but these tore in vain at the thick entanglements until their hands were torn and bleeding and their uniforms in rags.

The second line was then ordered forward and as the men, led by their officers, sprang over the top into No Man's Land the sight which met them was appalling ; a long lane of dead and dying, lying about in horrible confusion, marked the advance of the first wave right up to the German wire, where a few frantic survivors could still be seen tearing madly at the entanglements. The second line met the same fate as the first, only a few gallant men getting to the German wire, from behind which the enemy's machine guns and rifles were spitting out death.

An order ran down the third line- "Get ready ! Advance! "We ran as fast as the spongy ground would allow us," said Sergeant Daws, continuing his story, " and reached an old trench of ours which was full of Devons. (The 2nd Devons were on the right of the third Company of 2nd Middlesex at E.) We then ran up the trench, and ' here I saw poor Lieut. MacFarlane, the tallest and most popular 2 officer of ours, killed. He led the bomb-throwers and made too B good a target.

"Now we join up in the trench facing the enemy when our machine gun jams. For God's sake pass down to the Devons to bring their machine gun here quick ! The lock of our gun was examined and rectified, and just as the Devons came with their gun we got ours into action. The Devons were led by a colour-sergeant, who was bowled over as soon as he sighted the gun. All their men went down. The Germans could not find ours, and we had found out where they were situated. Then they got a peppering!"

Apparently up to this time the third line had remained in the old front line, but soon these men also received orders to go forward. " A whistle sounds, and over the parapet we go. Go on Die-Hards ! . . . The sight which met our eyes almost staggered us, our poor first and second lines lying in all positions. Then we saw red : we reached the barbed wire, trampled on it, cut and hacked it, the barbs cutting us in all places. We were beaten back."

Thus three attempts, made unflinchingly in the face of a murderous fire, had failed-and why ? The preliminary bom-bardment had failed to cut the barbed wire in front of the left sector of trenches from which the attack was made. A further bombardment was necessary, and Colonel Hayes was fortunate in getting a message back asking for additional artillery bombardment.

At 11.45 a.m. the guns again plastered the enemy's wire entanglements and forward trenches. This was followed by another attempt by the Middlesex to secure the German trenches " This time we won-the trenches were ours !

Bombing parties immediately moved along the trench in the direction of Point 60. At the cross roads, just before reaching Point 60, a party of Germans who had been sniping signified their desire to surrender. But on seeing that the foremost party of Middlesex bombers numbered only one officer and six men, the Germans ducked down in the trench again and re-opened fire. Without hesitation the Middlesex bombers pushed on, pelting the enemy with bombs, eventually driving the Germans out into the open, where they were caught by a machine gun and shot down.

The Middlesex men pressed forward to their objective-a large orchard north of the village (Point 6), where serious resistance was anticipated. But the Devons had already secured the position. With the Devonshire men the remnants of the 2nd Middlesex consolidated Point 6, helping the Royal Engineers to put the place in a state of defence. The time was now about 5 p.m.

The whole of Neuve Chapelle had fallen, but at what a cost Eight officers killed (Captains A. H. Cooper and H. L. Homan, Captain and Adjutant J. Dixon, Lieut. I. D. Waucope, and Lieuts. 0. A. Cook, W. B. MacFarlane, E. A. A. Hare.)and eight wounded , (Captain F. A. H. Castberg) one of whom one died of his wounds three days later ; 70 other ranks killed, 299 wounded and 89 missing were the losses of the 2nd Middlesex. " A," " B and " C " Companies were almost entirely wiped out. 13th. March 1915.

The Battalion diary states that Point 6 (the Orchard) was held throughout the night 10/11th March and till 12.15 a.m. on the 13th, when the remnants of the 2nd Die-Hards moved forward to a position of readiness in front of Points 88 and 87, in order to take part in a projected attack on the enemy. But whether the Middlesex took part in the attack is not clear, for there are no details in the diary, and the Brigade diary has only the following reference to the operations : " 1.30 a.m. 2nd Devons and a few others, including 2nd Scottish Rifles, made an attack, but could not get at enemy, who were in strength and covered by blackthorn hedge and wire." A second attack was prepared, but at 1.50 a.m. orders were received from 8th Divisional Headquarters to stop the assault.

At 3 p.m. the 2nd Middlesex took over trenches occupied by the Northampton Regiment, but on 14th, at 7.30 p.m., the Battalion was relieved and marched back to billets at Rouge Croix. A few days later, addressing the 2nd Battalion, Sir John French said : " I am proud of you, 2nd Middlesex ! No regiment has upheld its traditions better than you, and I know that if called upon to repeat what you have done you would not hesitate."