6th
(Service)
Battalion,
the Dorsetshire Regiment
From the Battalion Commanding Officer's Report on the counter attack made on 14/19 February 1916 in an attempt to recapture the notorious Bluff position, near Ypres
The
full story of the loss and eventual recapture of the vital
Bluff position is told here.
The 6th Dorsets had just begun to settle down for a period
of rest at Reninghelst when the urgent order came for them
to counter attack. |
 |
The
area where this raid took place lies along the Ypres - Comines
canal, south east of Ypres. Today, the area is a pleasant country
park. Little is left of the fearsome if gentle height called
the
Bluff. |
| 14 February 1916 |
At
5pm on the 14th February the battalion was ordered by wire from
the 50th Brigade to get ready to move at half an hour's notice.
The regimental police were sent into Reninghelst to fetch men
back to camp and within three-quarters of an hour the battalion
was ready to move. Except for the Regimental Bombing Platoon
and Machine-gun Section which had already gone up to the Saint-Eloi trenches
where the Battalion was to have taken over on the night 15th/16th. |
| 15 February 1916 |
At 2am the battalion was ordered to move to Dickebusch. It marched through a blinding snowstorm and arrived at Dickebusch at 4:30am. An advanced party of one officer and one NCO per Company had gone in ahead to take over billets. On arrival at Dickebusch one company (D) was ordered to go straight on to the 53rd Brigade workshops to detonate bombs. The remainder of the Battalion went into billets and had breakfast. At 11am the CO was sent for to go to the 52nd Brigade Headquarters and was informed there that the Germans had taken the British front line trenches from Trench 33 to the Bluff inclusive to Ypres-Comines Canal, and that a counter attack in which the 6th Dorsets would take part was to be made that evening to retake the lost trenches. At 12:30pm the Regimental bombing officer and one officer and one NCO per Company were sent to for to go and reconnoitre the ground near the Bluff. At 3:45pm as staff officer arrived in a car at Battalion Headquarters at Dickebusch to convey the CO, Adjutant and one other officer to the 51st Brigade Headquarters. The party arrived there at 4:45pm. The GOC 51st Brigade [Brigadier-General R.B. Fell] gave the CO a copy of Brigade attack orders. The attack was timed to commence at 9pm so a telegram was sent to the second in command at Dickebusch to take the Battalion to the Left Sector at once. Guides were arranged at Voormezele and Ecluse No. 5. The Battalion left Dickebusch at 5:45pm. The CO, Adjutant and Lieutenant Fitch left 51st Brigade Headquarters at 6:15pm and arrived at Battalion Headquarters of the Lancashire Fusiliers at Spoil Bank at 7pm. At 8:45pm the CO met Major Onslow at the head of the Battalion at Ecluse No. 5. The Battalion that passed up the duckwalk path on the north side of the canal, and the head of the battalion stopped at X [on sketch map]. Here the CO explained the position to Major Hughes-Onslow, Captain Blencow (A Company) Lieutenant Fitch (A Company) and Lieutenant Broad (Regimental Bombing Officer), assembled in an RE dugout. This was at 9 o'clock when the first German barrage commenced. This barrage was just in front of the head of the Battalion and consequently did no damage to us, as the battalion had halted. The CO explained the position and gave orders to other Company commanders as they came past the dugout. |
| Plan of Attack |
| A
Company to attack the Bluff and Crater
Trench. C Company to attack New Year Trench. Both companies to attack in depth of platoons on the front of one platoon. The attacking companies were under command of Major Hughes-Onslow. B Company to maintain supply of bombs. D Company in reserve (afterwards detailed to help with bomb carrying). Two machine guns to follow first platoon of A Company. One machine gun to follow first platoon of C Company. One machine gun in reserve. The Machine-gun Section had joined the Battalion on its way through Voormezele. The regimental bombers were not available having been engaged in the attack on the previous night. |
| Attack |
A Company moved straight on up the trench in file led by a guide of the Lancashire Fusiliers who was to show them where to deploy. A Company deployed in front of work R.11 about 450 yards west of the Bluff under heavy shell fire and suffered many casualties. C Company deployed on the right of A Company with its right on the canal. At this point Major Hughes-Onslow was wounded and Captain Blencow took over command of the two Companies. After this the guides were seen no more. The Companies moved forward very slowly feeling their way. The ground was very difficult: mud and water, large shell craters, small woods, thick undergrowth and wire all obstructed rapid movement. I was given to understand that there was no trench on the Bluff and that should I capture the Bluff, I should bomb down and fire into Crater Trench and render it untenable, and so help the 7th East Yorkshires who were bombing along Crater Trench from the left. The company bombers under Lieutenant Broad were to support the frontal attack of A and C Companies by trying to get in on the flanks. Lieutenant Broad did get into the trench across the Bluff but was wounded in three places. A Company discerned the new trench across the Bluff unexpectedly and was met by machine-gun fire, rapid fire and bombs; they tried to rush the trench but were held up by wire. One party however got into the trench on the left end, which they held until their supply of bombs ran out. The Company suffered at this time from trench mortar fire from over the bluff. C
Company in the meantime advanced on their right, but getting
shelled by our own guns, the OC C Company thought they had
gone too far. A message came through from A Company that they
had
struck a German trench on top of the Bluff. C Company changed
direction half left and came up the Bluff behind A Company
where they came under a murderous fire and returned down the
slope.
Lieutenant Mosley OC C Company although wounded took charge
of operations and skilfully retired what remained of A and
C Companies
and by alternate sections from the right. All the officers of A Company had by this time been killed or
wounded. |
| 16th February 1916 |
At
4am I ordered a retirement, as the men were dead beat. They had
had no sleep for two nights and had been going since 5:45pm of
the evening before. I received
orders to retire from the trenches at 5am and my Battalion was back at Dickebusch
at 9am. My casualties were two officers killed, seven officers wounded, 131
other ranks killed wounded and missing. I should like to add that arrangements
for rationing and feeding worked excellently throughout the period of the
operations. |
The
above is an extract from the Battalion war diary which is held
at the National Archive, in document WO95/2000. |
Notes:
| 46 known casualties: |
| The following men have no known graves, and are commemorated on the Menin Gate Memorial to the Missing at Ypres: |
| 11226 Private George Avery. |
| 11229 Lance Sergeant Edwin Baker, B Company. Aged 26, he was a native of Sherborne. |
| 11243 Lance Sergeant George Bantin. Aged 29, he was a Londoner. |
| 10790 Private Henry Barnden. |
| 13192 Private Thomas Bartlett. Aged 34, he was a native of Sherborne. |
| 13551 Private Arthur Braden. Aged 24, he was a native of Fulham, London. |
| 14427 Private Joseph Bush. Aged 39, he was a native of Dorchester. |
| 14620 Private Charles Cubberley. Aged 33. |
| 10718 Lance Corporal Fred Cutler. A native of Weymouth. |
| 11273 Sergeant Ernest Cutts. A Company. Aged 27, he was a native of Herne Hill. |
| 11282 Private Frank Dibben. Aged 25, he was a native of Shaftesbury. |
| 12415 Private George Faulkner. A native of Birmingham. |
| 12757 Private Albert Gibbon. Aged 22, he was a native of Penrhiwceiber. |
| 12822 Lance Corporal Frederick Gibbs. Aged 38, he was a native of Dorchester. |
| 11925 Private Frederick Kelly. A Company. Aged 21. |
| 11373 Lance Corporal Ernest Kiddle. Aged 28, he was a native of Brockley, Kent. |
| 10794 Private William King. Aged 21, he was a native of Kent. |
| 11412 Private Henry Mustard. Aged 23, he was a native of Rotherhithe. |
| 10682 Private Wilfred Paine. A native of Corfe Castle. |
| 13190 Private Thomas Phillips. Aged 35, he was a native of Bethnal Green. |
| 11449 Private Bert Ray. Aged 20, he was a native of Surrey. |
| 11563 Private Arthur Rogers. |
| 11194 Sergeant George Rosewell. Aged 22, he was a Londoner. |
| 11446 Lance Corporal Robert Ross. A Londoner. |
| 11973 Private Fred Sandford. He was a native of Long Marston, Warwickshire. |
| 11993 Corporal Frank Sedgwick. Born in Shrewsbury. |
| 14237 Lance Corporal Ralph Spooner. A Londoner who lived in Stoke Newington. |
| 12001 Private Samuel Stokes. A native of Birmingham. |
| 11841 Private Thomas Thay. A native of Birmingham. |
| 3/8288 Private Sidney West, 24, a native of Bassaleg, Monmouthshire. |
| 13132 Sergeant Frederick Williams. A native of Birmingham. |
| 11886 Lance Corporal Edward Wood, 32, a native of Rugby. |
| The following men have graves in the Ypres area. |
| 11242 Private Augustus Booth, 24, a native of Camberwell, London. He died on 24 February 1916 and is buried in Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery. |
| Second Lieutenant Robert Cox, 26, a native of Norwood, London. A graduate of New College, Oxford, he is buried in Spoilbank Cemetery. |
| 11598 Private Frederick Culley, 24, a native of Saltley, Birmingham. He died on 17 February 1916 and is buried in Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery. |
| 11915 Private Thomas Elmore. Aged 25, he was a native of Minworth, Warwickshire. He is buried in Bedford House Cemetery. |
| Lieutenant Christopher Fitch, 42, a native of Southsea. He is buried in Spoilbank Cemetery. |
| 12144 Private Francis Flintham. A native of Erdington, Birmingham. He is buried in Bedford House Cemetery. |
| 12861 Lance Corporal Frank Gillingham. A native of Piddlehinton. He is buried in Bedford House Cemetery. |
| 11539 Private Percy Morris. A Londoner. He is buried in Perth (China Wall) Cemetery, Zillebeke. |
| 13197 Lance Corporal James Robinson. A native of Essex. He is buried in Bedford House Cemetery. |
| 11478 Private William Tibbitts, 21, a native of Peckham. He is buried in Bedford House Cemetery. |
| 14579 Private George Tidd. He is buried in Spoilbank Cemetery. |
| 11926 Private Frederick Wells, 21, a native of Daventry. He is buried in Bedford House Cemetery. |
| 13200 Lance Corporal Albert Willsher, 19, a native of Bethnal Green. He has a special memorial at Dickebusch Military Cemetery. |
| The following men have graves further back down the casualty evacuation chain. |
| Lieutenant Alfred Broad MC, 26, a native of Bletchingley. He died of wounds on 2 March 1916 and is buried in Etaples Military Cemetery. |
This
page is dedicated to the memory of 11280 Lance Sergeant Charles
Davis, who lead a bombing party on the Bluff.
A Londoner, he was badly wounded
in the attack and evacuated to hospital in Gosforth, Newcastle-upon-Tyne,
after initial treatment at Remy Siding. Charles was recommended
for
the DCM
but eventually
awarded the MM, and posted to 1st Dorsets when he was fit to return
to service in August 1916. |