The Grenadier Guards in the Great War of 1914-1918, Vol. 1 of 3

by Frederick Ponsonby

2nd Lieut. E. R. M. Fryer, No. 3 Company.

Capt. A. de P. Kingsmill, No. 4 Company.

Lieut. J. C. Craigie, No. 4 Company.

2nd Lieut. the Hon. W. A. D. Parnell, No. 4 Company.

2nd Lieut. M. A. Knatchbull-Hugessen, No. 4 Company.

Capt. E. A. Aldridge, R.A.M.C., Medical Officer.

Oct.

In the redistribution of officers after the battle of Loos, Lieutenant F. O. S. Sitwell and Second Lieutenant I. H. Ingleby were transferred to the 4th Battalion, and Second Lieutenant E. R. M. Fryer and Lieutenant L. St. L. Hermon-Hodge to the 3rd Battalion.

On the 3rd the 2nd Battalion returned to the trenches, and took over the section of old British trenches east of Vermelles, where it remained in support of the 2nd and 3rd Battalions Coldstream, who were in the old German trenches south of the Hohenzollern Redoubt. It was hardly in position when the Germans shelled the whole line heavily, and caused some casualties. Two high-explosive shells landed in the trench occupied by No. 1 Company, killing two and wounding five men. Second Lieutenant Sandeman was knocked down, but not seriously hurt, and Lieutenant Craigie was wounded.

This activity on the part of the German artillery was the prelude to a counter-attack, by which the enemy retook the Hohenzollern Redoubt. On the 4th the East Yorkshire Regiment tried to retake this Redoubt, but failed. The 2nd Battalion Grenadiers, still in support, was engaged in digging communication trenches towards the old German trenches which were now our front line. It was an intricate piece of trench line, with the Germans not thirty yards off, and required a great deal of work to make it tenable. On the 5th the 2nd Battalion Grenadiers moved up in the front line, and there was a certain amount of bombing on both sides. For two days the Battalion remained in its trenches, and sniping was reduced to a fine art, as hyposcopic rifles had been provided. On the 7th the Battalion was relieved by the 3rd Battalion Coldstream, and retired to billets at Vermelles, but even here the shells followed it, and fell in and about the village.