On November 2 the Germans managed to pierce our lines west of Neuve Chapelle, where the 2nd Gurkhas held the trenches. A fine charge, led by Colonel Norie, their battalion commander, prevented the situation from becoming serious, and all that the Germans achieved was that our line was slightly bent back.
For several months to come Rouges Bancs to Givenchy was to be the Indians’ line. Autumn crept by with drenching rain, and then, on November 4, a spell of hard frost set in and lasted until the 25th. On November 23 the 112th Regiment of the XIVth German Corps managed to sap its way close up to the trenches held by the 34th Sikh Pioneers and the 9th Bhopals. A determined attack put the enemy in possession of these trenches over a front of several hundred yards. That evening, however, a series of counter-attacks on our part drove the Germans back with great slaughter. The 39th Garhwalis, stout little hillmen resembling the Gurkhas in features, but of rather heavier build, played a very fine part, and one of their number, Darwan Singh Negi, won the Victoria Cross.
On November 25 the weather broke. The frost vanished and gave place to torrential rain. For three weeks it rained almost incessantly. The trenches soon became rivers of water, with two or three feet of mud at the bottom. In some places the men stood waist-deep in filth. Not alone the Indians were exposed to these trying climatic conditions. The British Regulars brigaded with them had to face the same ordeal, but the Indian, peculiarly sensible to damp cold, undoubtedly suffered more severely.
Frost-bite and chills and very long spells in the front line—some battalions were from twenty-one to twenty-five days on end in the trenches—increased the difficulties of the Indian troops. In mid December the success of General Maud’huy’s forces on our right in capturing the village of Vermelles created a favourable opportunity for an offensive on our part. By this time the Sirhind Brigade, the brigade which the Lahore Division had left behind in Egypt, had arrived.
On December 19 the Lahore Division started the attack with the Highland Light Infantry and the 4th Gurkha Rifles. On the left, battalions of the Meerut Division assaulted. Some trenches were won, but could not be held, and our troops fell back before counter-attacks.
Underwood & Underwood phot.
Indian Infantry on the march.
On the following day the Germans started a general offensive. Opposite Festubert they blew up ten mines under the trenches of the Highland Light Infantry and the 4th Gurkhas, and, supported by a heavy bombardment with high-explosive shells and minenwerfer bombs, attacked. The Sirhind Brigade was driven back and the Germans captured Givenchy, but the Manchesters and Suffolks, attacking with splendid heroism, retook the village. They failed, however, to make further progress. A counter-attack, delivered from the direction of the Rue de Marais by the Secunderabad Cavalry Brigade with the 47th Sikhs and 8th Gurkhas, was likewise unable to get on. To the north the Meerut Division was in difficulties owing to the German wedge at Givenchy, and the retreat of a battalion of the 2nd Gurkhas at a place known as the Orchard dangerously threatened our position. The arrival of a brigade of the 1st Division, and, finally, of the whole Division, enabled the Indian Corps to be withdrawn at Christmas for a much-needed rest.
In his despatch on the winter fighting in Flanders (dated General Headquarters, February 2, 1915) the Commander-in-Chief said:
“The Indian troops have fought with the utmost steadiness and gallantry whenever they have been called upon.... It was some three weeks after the events recorded in paragraph 4 (the fighting at Givenchy) that I made my inspection of the Indian Corps, under Sir James Willcocks. The appearance they presented was most satisfactory, and fully confirmed my first opinion that the Indian troops only required rest, and a little acclimatizing, to bring out all their fine inherent fighting qualities.”