Trench Warfare 1915 to the Battles of the Somme, 1916

Between the actions of the Hohenzollern Redoubt, which officially ended on the 19th October, 1915, and the Somme Battles 1916, which began on the 1st July of that year, no Battalion of the Middlesex Regiment in France or Flanders was involved in any attack of sufficient importance to be claimed as a Battle Honour. And yet the struggle was never-ceasing. By day and by night, trench warfare, with all its beastliness and ghastliness, went on, through the mud and filth of winter, to the coming of Spring and the early days of Summer. Nine months, so far as the Middlesex Regiment was concerned "nine months of watching and waiting and preparation, during which the sniper's bullet or the enemy's shells took toll of the gallant fellows who through every imaginable agony and horror maintained the line, dealing blow for blow, taking life for a life." That extraordinary period of minor activity is aptly described in Sir Douglas Haig's first despatch after he had taken over command of the British Forces in France and Flanders from Sir John French.

"Artillery and snipers," said the Commander-in-Chief, "are practically never silent, patrols are out in front of the lines every night, and heavy bombardments by the artillery of one or both sides takes place daily in various parts of the line. Below ground there is continual mining and counter-mining, which by the everpresent threat of sudden explosions and the uncertainty as to when and where it will take place, causes perhaps a more constant strain than any other form of warfare. In the air there is seldom a day, however bad the weather, when aircraft are not busy reconnoitering, photographing and observing fire. All this is taking place constantly at every hour of the day or night and in every part of the line."

By the time the fierce and bloody struggle for the possession of the Hohenzollern Redoubt in the middle of October had quieted down there were in France and Flanders no less than nine Battalions of the Middlesex Regiment, i.e., 1st. 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 7th, 8th, 11th, 12th and 13th; three more Battalions-16th, 17th and 18th-were under orders to leave England, landing in France during November, whilst before the Somme Battles opened the 19th, 20th, 21st and 23rd Battalions had also arrived on the Western Front.

1st October -31st December 1915

The first concern of the 1st Middlesex (19th Infantry Brigade, and Division) on coming out of the line after the Battle of Loos as to regain its strength, for (as already stated) the Battalion had lost no less than 17 officers and 455 other ranks during the operations. Wet and tired, but cheerful, with that wonderful cheeriness which has always been a peculiar attribute of the British soldier, the Middlesex men on relief from the trenches moved back to S. of Vermelles, where they had spent a few hours, then marched to billets in Sailly, arriving at 9.30 p.m. on the 1st October. On the and the Battalion moved to fresh billets in Vendin-lez-Béthune, and here drafts (150 other ranks on 3rd, 248 on 4th and 43 on 6th) arrived, which brought the strength of the Battalion up to somewhere near the number before the Battle opened. The 16th saw the Battalion, now nearly its former strength, back in the trenches in front of Cambrin, and for the next three days the words "enemy very quiet" appear in the Diary. On the 19th October, however, the words "but massing further south" are added: the actions of the Hohenzollern were in progress. Thereafter, until the 27th November there is nothing of interest in the Battalion Diary; but on that date there is a statement that "The Battalion from to-day forms part of the 98th Brigade, 33rd Division." The 19th Infantry Brigade had again been transferred from its Division (2nd) to another, though this was to be the last occasion, for it remained with the 33rd to the close of the war. The 1st Middlesex then marched to the 33rd Division area. On the last day of 1915 the Battalion was in advanced billets, North Annequin, supplying working parties.

1 January 1916 - 13th July 1916.

Only four local operations (three in the Ypres salient and one on Vimy Ridge) disturbed the comparative quietude of the first half of 1916, and from the general standpoint of military history that period is uninteresting. But from a regimental point of view six months of the War cannot be dismissed lightly or without details (brief though they may be) of what was happening to Battalions during the preparations for the grim and sanguinary battles which began on the 1st July.

On the 1st January, 1916, the 1st Middlesex (Lieut.-Colonel F.Rowley) when in the front line held trenches between the La Bassée Canal and Loos, and when "resting" were billeted in Beuvry, Annequin Fosse, or other villages in the neighbourhood. The word "resting " is here used in its comparative sense, for often work in the back areas was just as strenuous as in the front line, though the Battalion was relieved from the constant danger and vigilance of life in the latter. Cuinchy was the sector in which the 1st Battalion spent most of its time when in the front line, and from the Diaries it is obvious that the early months of the year were quiet and without incidents of a startling nature. January and February were particularly uneventful months; March was enlivened by one or two bombing raids on the enemy. One officer-2nd Lieut. J.L. Hidding-died of wounds on the 28th. In April "A" Company carried out a very successful raid at 10 p.m. on the night of the 25th. The point selected for the raid was the crater at Mad Point. After an artillery bombardment lasting five minutes, two parties (commanded respectively by 2nd Lieuts. Birdwood and J. Coughian) entered the German trenches, bombed several dug-outs, bayoneted two of the enemy and took three unwounded prisoners, as well as arms and equipment. Identifications were thus secured, and as the policy of G.H.Q. just then was to know exactly how the German forces were disposed, the taking of prisoners was looked upon with great favour by the higher command. On the 10th May the C.O., Colonel Rowley, had a narrow escape. He was conducting Lieut.-Colonel C. A. Madge, of the South African Forces, round the trenches when a Minnie "plomped" into the trench, killing Colonel Madge but without even injuring the C.O. of the 1st Middlesex. Shell-fire on both sides was becoming more intense and regular, and by the end of the month fifty casualties in the Middlesex had been reported. On the 10th June, to the great regret of the Battalion, Colonel Rowley left to take over command of the 56th Infantry Brigade, Major Bagley assuming temporary command until Major H. Lloyd, Welsh Regiment, arrived on the 24th June. The Battalion was then in billets in Béthune (from 1st June 1916).

Here is an extract of the 1st Middlesex War Diary for July 1916

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