The battalion remained in its new line all night, on the extreme right of the Brigade. Troops kept coming back from Armentieres and it was impossible to know whether there was any continuous line in front. Next morning the question was answered, for the Germans were in close touch all along our front and the trenches were subjected to a terrific machine gun fire. A German aeroplane which came over dropping stickbombs was successfully brought down; a few minutes later one of our planes was also brought down close behind the 6th, but luckily the pilot and observer escaped little hurt into the West Riding trenches. The position of the brigade was now a difficult one for the enemy was behind them on either flank—at Neuve Eglise to the north and at Steenwerck to the south—and their line was assuming a horseshoe shape. C company, on the extreme right, found Germans advancing against them up a trench leading into their own. Lieut.-Col. Bateman, D.S.O., who was making one of his frequent tours of inspection, at once gathered a small party of B and C Coy. men with a few machine gunners, and himself led a very successful little charge, accompanied by Captain Ogston, Lieut. Baker and 2nd Lieut. Whitehead. Many Germans were killed and one prisoner was taken. The ⅙th still stuck to their ground and barred the main road, till at 7 p.m. the order came to retire. It was none too soon, for the leading company had to bayonet Germans on the road behind them, and Very lights from either side were falling in their path. Passing through another division which was to take up the task of defence, the battalion moved to La Creche and bivouacked.
At noon next day they were roused by shelling and at once moved out to take up a new line a short distance in front of the town of Bailleul. During this advance A Coy. had to drive off a party of some thirty Germans with machine guns. In their new line they were attacked next day from two sides; the 7th battalion facing down the Armentieres road while the 6th faced south. C company, of the 6th, holding the angle, bore the brunt of the attack and inflicted heavy losses on the baffled enemy, but they suffered a serious loss in the death of the gallant Capt. K. Ogston, who had commanded them for many months.
Early next morning (April 14th) another retirement was ordered and the brigade fell back to a line on the outskirts of Bailleul. The Germans continued their usual programme—a bombardment at 1-30 p.m. followed by an attack from 3 p.m. till dark, and once again were driven off with great loss. During this attack the British right flank was in the air, and a party of Germans getting round it made straight for 6th Battalion headquarters. They were soon driven off with considerable loss by Lieut.-Col. Bateman, Lieut. A. S. Stewart and Regt. Sergeant-Major Richardson, with the officers’ servants and orderly room staff. On this day, too, Sergeant Whiteley, the medical sergeant, cycled to Steenmill, a mile to the south, to fetch dressings from the transport, which had been there the previous day. He found it occupied by Germans and had some difficulty in escaping, leaving his bicycle in their hands.
That night the brigade was relieved by another division and, retiring behind Bailleul, thought that their troubles were ended. But the following day’s attack was too much for the troops in front, who retired, and the 6th Battalion had to dig yet another line. On the 17th a fresh attack by strong forces was repulsed and in a gallant counter-attack A company, under Major Tanner, captured three machine guns and a few prisoners.
The following evening the brigade was relieved and retired slowly to reorganise in Poperinghe.
After three quiet days the battalion passed a disturbed night on the 24th-25th April. Heavy shelling began about teatime, several billets being hit, while all night long the town was bombed with gas bombs by relays of aeroplanes. One fell right on the stores and inflicted serious casualties, and several of the transport were killed and wounded in stables near by. But at mid-day on the 25th, the ⅙th was once more moving forward. Kemmel Hill, lately taken over by the French, had been surprised in the early morning mist and captured, and upon the new line running through Millekruise (which the 147th brigade now took over from the battered 9th division) the safety of Ypres lay. Digging their line under continual shell fire the battalion was not attacked till the 29th, when the Germans made desperate efforts to break the whole line from Dranoutre to Voormezeele. The shelling, mostly from big guns, lasted incessantly from 3 a.m. till 4 p.m. and was the heaviest ever experienced by the battalion. In the attack that followed, the enemy forced their way into the lines of the 7th battalion on the left and had to be driven out by bayonet charges; but the 6th had forward posts commanding the valley in front and with accurate Lewis gun and rifle fire stopped the attackers dead as they descended the lower slopes of Kemmel Hill. The German onslaught had been stemmed, and the ⅙th Duke of Wellington’s, relieved by the 39th French Division, retired to rest at Reninghelst, the village from which it had started on its eventful journey twenty-four days before.
During all these operations the ⅙th had never once been driven back by the enemy. All the retirements were made under orders from the higher command and were carried out without confusion; enormous losses had been inflicted on the enemy; and the whole brigade admitted that Lieut.-Col. Bateman had been the life and soul of the defence. But a sadly heavy toll had been paid for success. Besides Capt. Ogston, the battalion had to mourn many of its best fighters who had come out in the early days. Among these were Lieut. Norman Procter, M.C., who, after a long spell of sterling work as battalion signalling officer, had been promoted to the Brigade staff: Sergt. Bury, D.C.M., M.M., who had signally distinguished himself in many a hard fight: Sergt. Gibson, D.C.M., Sergt. Burrows and Sergt. Stott, of Skipton; Sergt. Harding, M.M. of Keighley, Corporal Tillotson, M.M., of Oxenhope, and Corporal Barton, M.M. of Hellifield, an admirable Lewis gun instructor. D company had also lost their devoted commander, Capt. Buxton, M.C., who was very seriously wounded.
The whole Division was now withdrawn from the line and spent some weeks in the neighbourhood of Proven and St. Jans-ter-biezen, resting, reorganizing, training, and working on reserve lines. It was at this time that the 147th Brigade started its own particular concert party, “The Ducks,” which became very popular. The general manager was Lieut. J. S. Spencer, of Keighley, while Private Morgan, of B company, with his wonderful soprano voice, made up into one of the most attractive “leading ladies” in France.
THE GARRISON OF YPRES.
At the beginning of June the 49th Division once again staked out its claim to the proud title of “Garrison of Ypres” by returning to the line in front of that city. The trenches had now drawn very close to the town and battalion headquarters were often in the ancient ramparts. An attack was confidently expected and the order was that Ypres was to be “held at all costs.” However for some reason the attack never came off. Delayed by an epidemic of influenza, it was probably finally abandoned owing to the need of troops to meet Marshal Foch in the south. Here the battalion remained for the summer. Heavily shelled with gas on its first arrival, its stay on the whole was not an unpleasant one, in spite of shelling both on the front line and back areas, and constant visits from bombing aeroplanes.