World War One - Part 2
Messines - Ypres - Hooge
The Regiment was instructed to make and hold certain trenches just north of Messines on the night of the 30-31st.‘C’ Squadron, under Major Terrot, were entrenched in front of ‘B’ and ‘A’ Squadrons, the latter being on the Ypres-Messines road.About 7 p.m. on October 30th, ‘C’ Squadron (Temporarily under Captain Moncrieff) successfully withstood a strong attack by the enemy. At 5.45 a.m. on the 31st, the enemy strongly attacked against the left flank of ‘C’ Squadron, who had eventually to withdraw by successive troops and take up other positions in the rear. Up to now ‘C’ Squadron had about 30 men wounded, including some men from ‘A’ Squadron. Lieutenant Paul and three troop sergeants were killed, and Lieutenant Milne was wounded. At about 10 a.m. the Bays were ordered to retire from the line of the road. Just as they reached a hedge a hundred yards to the rear, Major Browning was killed, while standing out in the open getting the men to line the hedge and form a firing line. Major Matthew Lannowe assumed command, and led the regiment back to the road under heavy shellfire, where the regiment held the line all day.
Captain Milne of "B" Squadron recalled one incident:
The calm of the evening was disturbed by a German band playing ‘Deutschland Uber Alles’, and then the charge sounded on the German bugles, and the Germans came through the hedge, advancing slowly in almost close formation, kettle-drummers beating their drums as they advanced.Rapid fire was opened on them from the trenches and houses, and great execution was done, the attack breaking up, some of the Bosch retiring and about 50 others taking cover in a barn, the door of which opened into a field.The only door on the roadside of the barn was about 12 feet from the ground, opening into the loft. Efforts were made to burn them out by forking hay, saturated with paraffin and lighted, through this door, but they did not succeed, and eventually Lieutenant Sartorius and Sergeant Wallace each crept round a side of the barn and emptied their revolvers into the crowd.This caused the Bosch to shout ‘Kamerad’, and the whole lot surrendered.Lieutenant E. Walker has one of the Bosch side drums.
This side drum is now in the Regimental Museum.Twenty-four Germans were killed, eighteen wounded and thirty-two taken prisoner in this affair.
The Bays remained in defence of the Messines ridge and around Ypres until 24 November.On 12 November they were at the Château of Hooge on the Menin road, remaining there until the 17th, and relieving the infantry as they came under intense pressure.It was bitterly cold, the area a sea of mud, and the men were subjected to continuous shellfire.The 18th to the 21st provided a short rest, and then the Bays relieved the Scots Greys in the Kemmel trenches, where they stayed until the 24th, when they were withdrawn into Army Reserve and were billeted in farms around the village of Fletre, which lay between Bailleul and Hazebrouck. It was from here that the first home leaves were granted, and ‘We spent our first Christmas in this place, and I think managed to be quite happy.People in England sent out all kinds of clothing, including some very nice things from the Queen and Princess Mary.’There they stayed until 22 February 1915.Of those who had come to France with the regiment, there remained only 6 officers and 299 men.
During the early part of 1914 The King’s Dragoon Guards in India moved to Lucknow, and it was here on 31 August that the regiment received orders to mobilise, which it did by 11 September. On 8 October the KDG, under command of Lieutenant Colonel Bell-Smyth, entrained for Bombay with a strength of 16 officers, 532 men and 512 horses.On the 11 ‘A’ and ‘D’ Squadrons embarked on HT Chilka and the following day ‘B’ and ‘C’ on HT Franz Ferdinand.That day the regiment was brought up to full strength with 17 men and 42 horses from the Inniskilling Dragoons.On 12 and 17 November the KDG disembarked at Marseilles, moving a week later to La Source, Orléans to form part of the Lucknow Cavalry Brigade of the Indian Expeditionary Force.The other regiments of the brigade were the 29th Cavalry and the 36th Jacob’s Horse with ‘U’ Battery RHA in support.
At Orléans the KDG were joined by Major Williams, who became second in command, Captain G.R. Cheape, Lieutenant Crossly, and 2nd Lieutenants Muir, Richardson, Gratton-Holt and Wilson; in addition Captains Thompson, Scinde Horse, Johnson, 28th Cavalry, and Lieutenant Rimington, Indian Army Reserve, were posted to the regiment for duty. On 7 December the KDG moved to billets at Lillère, and on the 21st to Norrent-Fontes, moving further west again on Christmas Day to Lisbourg. During this period two KDG officers died: Lieutenant Hope-Hawkins was killed in action and Lieutenant White died of wounds, when they were serving away from the regiment.
On 9 January 1915 The King’s Dragoon Guards, leaving their horses, travelled in buses to Béthune and then marched to Festubert, where they took over trenches from the 17th Lancers.‘A’ and ‘B’ Squadrons occupied the forward trenches with the German front-line trenches between 70 and 150 yards away.‘C’ and ‘D’ Squadrons stayed in reserve in the village of Festubert.Five men were wounded on moving in, and these were evacuated during the night.The following day the squadrons in reserve relieved the forward squadrons.Conditions were deteriorating as the water level in the trenches rose until it was above the waists of the men; by 10 January the men were up to their armpits in water, with the level still rising.On the 11th the regiment was ordered to abandon the flooded front line and take up position in the support trenches.A certain amount of sniping went on, causing two casualties, but the Germans made no attempt to occupy the abandoned trenches, and were, indeed, fully engaged in baling out their own.On the evening of the 11th the KDG, being relieved by the Inniskillings of the Mhow Brigade, returned to their billets at Lisbourg.Of the seven men wounded, one died from his wounds, but two officers and eighty men had to be evacuated sick, nearly all with frostbitten feet.
During the remainder of January 1915 and throughout February, March, April and May, The King’s Dragoon Guards were in billets at Lisbourg, Flechin, Oxelaere, and Rincq.At the end of January the Regimental Sergeant Major, Mr A. Jacques, and SQMS Farthing were gazetted as 2nd Lieutenants. On 8 February 2nd Lieutenants Murray Johnson and Waggett joined the regiment, together with forty-five NCOs and men, and nineteen horses.On the 13th 2nd Lieutenants Burton and Rimington joined, to be followed on the 26th by a further reinforcement of twenty-seven NCOs and men. At the end of March Major Hunt and Captain Renton rejoined and took over command respectively of ‘B’ and ‘C’ squadrons. At the beginning of April strong parties of 200 men and 12 officers were engaged in digging third line trenches at Robecque. On 13 May Captain Denny was killed in action. During this long period mostly out of the line, it was decided in London that the Emperor Franz Josef of Austria could no longer remain as colonel in chief of the regiment, Britain being at war with Austria. At the same time the cap badge was ordered to be altered from the Austrian double-headed eagle, which the regiment had proudly worn since 1897, to the badge carried on the regimental buttons of the Star and Garter surmounted by the crown, with the initials KDG in the centre.
On 31 May 1915 this long period behind the lines ended, and the KDG were ordered to take over the front line trenches from the 3rd Dragoon Guards at the château of Hooge near Ypres.The relief was carried out by 11 p.m. As the château was found to be free of Germans, it was occupied, together with the stables and annexe, which were sandbagged and loopholed.The trenches towards Belwarde Lake were wired and prepared for all-round defence, and communication trenches to connect with the 3rd Dragoon Guards’ positions were prepared and occupied.Major Hunt took a hit in Zouave Wood on the way in and Lieutenant Ward took over command of ‘B’ Squadron. Each night rations were brought up to Zouave Wood, where they had to be collected by the front line troops, invariably under shellfire.Throughout 1 and 2 June the Germans shelled the Château heavily with high explosive, shrapnel and minenwerfers.During the bombardment the men took what cover they could in the cellars of the château and nearby fort, dashing out during lulls to repair and improve the trenches.Lieutenant Colonel Bell Smyth was put in command of the sub-sector, Major Turner taking over command of the regiment.
At 5 p.m. on 2 June the shelling lifted and the Germans attacked from the north and east. On the right the attack from the east was driven back, but the thrust against the château succeeded.Of the two troops holding the position, the only survivors were Captain Cooper, who was wounded, and three men, two of whom were wounded. The Germans bombed out this small party and occupied the annexe, while the four survivors retreated through the remains of the stables to one of the trenches. The enemy then occupied the stables, but were counter-attacked by a party from ‘A’ Squadron on the left under Captain Cheape, and the stables were retaken and occupied.
On the left two squadrons occupied the fort and buildings of Hooge north of the Menin road.As the enemy attacked, the Maxim gun came into action against thirty to forty Germans at a range of 300 Yards; it also drove in German working parties near the Belwarde Lake. KDG snipers posted in the roof of the fort and buildings found plenty of targets. Having taken part in the counter-attack on the stables, these two squadrons and the survivors at the stables were relieved by the Lincolnshire Regiment, the regiment withdrawing to Zouave Wood, then marching back through Ypres to huts at Vlamertinghe.
The KDG casualties at Hooge were Captain Renton killed, and Major Hunt, Captain Cooper, Lieutenants Alexander, Carleton-Smith, Murray, and Johnson wounded; with 23 men killed and 44 wounded of whom 4 later died of their wounds, whilst 6 men were missing, all of whom were later discovered to be killed. For this action Lieutenant Colonel Bell Smyth was awarded the CMG, Major Turner the DSO, Captain R. Cheape the Military Cross, Lance Corporal Carpentier the DCM, and Sergeant Davis and Corporal Waterman the French Croix de Guerre.
The Queen’s Bays spent the whole of January 1915 in billets at Fletre, and on 8 February the regiment was inspected by King Albert of the Belgians.On 22 February there came sudden orders to leave Fletre; the regiment paraded dismounted and was carried in buses to Ypres, where after a night in billets it took over some trenches from the 16th Lancers near Zillebeke.The Germans had exploded a mine under the Lancers’ trenches and had captured a part of an advanced trench, so that only some fifteen yards separated the two sides.During the relief there was shelling with trench mortars and minnenwerfers, which caused nine casualties among the men, whilst Major Ing was slightly wounded. On the 24th some bombing was carried out, and Trooper Rowan was killed.The 25th brought cold weather and snow, with Trooper Caine killed and another man wounded.On the 26th the Bays were sniped all day, and they carried out some retaliatory bombing of the German trenches.Two men were wounded. By the 27th the Bays had established a superiority over the German snipers, but two more men were wounded.The 28 was a quiet day and the Bays, with the exception of ‘B’ Squadron and the machine guns, were relieved by the 18th Hussars that evening, and returned to billets.
‘B’ Squadron, under Captain Sloane, had been left in the line to cooperate in a combined operation with the French on their immediate left, using their knowledge of the locality.The plan was for two mines, one French and one British, to be exploded simultaneously under a crater which the Germans had rushed and seized on the 21st; the Bays would attack from the right, and the French from the left, recapturing the crater and joining hands in the centre.On a dark night in steady rain there was a delay because the French were not ready; then at 10.30 p.m. the British mine was exploded and the Bays stormed the crater to find no resistance.The advance was stopped by a steep eight-foot bank topped by sandbags, and voices were heard above it.Thinking these were the French, the interpreter was given a leg up and over, only to land in the midst of a somewhat shaken group of Germans.The interpreter managed to scramble back and then it became clear that the French had not started, as their mine was still not ready.The Bays now tried a bombing attack, but this failed because of the unreliability of the bombs.The venture was then abandoned and ‘B’ Squadron returned to the rest of the regiment, having had eight men wounded.
The Bays remained about Fletre for the whole of March 1915, then moved to billets around Thieusbroek until 23rd April, when, following the first German gas attack, the Second Battle of Ypres started and the cavalry were needed to support the line against German pressure.The Bays were ordered to defend the village of Woesten and, on arrival, found it held by two battalions of French Territorials.They remained in and around the village, in support, until the 28th, when they returned to their billets.Colonel Lawson of the Royal Scots Greys assumed command of the Bays.The regiment remained in billets until 9 May, when it was ordered into reserve trenches south of Potijze, relieving the 9th Lancers.On the 12th the Bays moved into the front-line trenches, taking over from the 19th Hussars.These trenches were in a very bad condition, being shallow and straight, and as the men improved them at night they were digging through decomposing corpses. The noise, too, attracted some sniper fire, when the RSM, Mr Turner, was killed by a bullet through his neck.
On 13 May the Germans opened a heavy bombardment and the trenches of ‘B’ Squadron on the left were largely destroyed. One Troop on the extreme left had only Sergeant Isles and one trooper left, second lieutenant Heron being killed and all other of his men killed or wounded, some of them buried in the wreckage of the trench. Even so a mouth-organ concert was improvised during the continuing bombardment. At 10 a.m. the barrage lifted and the Germans could be seen advancing and were immediately engaged.On the right of the Bays the line was broken.Major Ing dashed out of the trench, rallied the retreating men and shepherded them back to reinforce the Bays line.The colonel sent the adjutant, Captain Kingstone, to brigade for reinforcements, which arrived in the form of the 10th Hussars, who were slowly able to re-establish the situation.The medical officer, Lieutenant Chapman, was killed, but on the evening of 14 May the Oxfordshire Yeomanry relieved the Bays, who returned to billets.The casualties had been severe, two officers killed and one wounded (lieutenant Misa), 28 other ranks killed and 32 wounded, and this out of only 175 men in the line. Major Ing was awarded the DSO and Corporal Clarke the DCM.
