C a m pa i g n s a n d B at t l e s
and harrying the swift moving Boers. The Burma Mounted Infantry, including a Company from the 2nd Battalion of the Duke of Wellington’s Regiment, was in hot pursuit of de Wet’s Commando but he proved too elusive, despite almost being surprised on one or two occasions. The Company’s pet dog, Bully, endured the same privations as the men until ‘deserting’ to another unit, presumably for better rations. The West Yorkshires occupied Block Houses in the western Transvaal, The East Yorkshires were holding lines in the north eastern Cape Colony, the Green Howards were sweltering in their Block Houses in Natal and the Duke of Wellington’s Regiment were strung along the railway between Pretoria and Nylstroom. The Cavalry, Mounted Infantry and, occasionally, dismounted troops carried out sweeps, rounding up the Boer women and children into concentration camps and burning their farms to deny the Commandos any support, whilst harrying and capturing the Boer combatants, including de Wet’s brother. By 2nd July 1902, the Boers, even de Wet, had had enough and the signing of the Treaty of Vereinigung brought the war to an end. The Militia and Volunteers returned home to rapturous welcomes, the nation had taken to its heart the names of Mafeking and Ladysmith and the Regulars returned to the routine of peace time soldiering.
C a m pa i g n s a n d B at t l e s
The Battles for Ypres 1914–1918
During the First World War the antecedent regiments raised a total of 103 battalions, most of which were mobilised for service overseas but some, including third line Territorial training battalions, the Militia, Provisional and Garrison battalions, remained in the UK, the former training reinforcements for the front line units and the latter guarding key areas. The various battalions of the four Regiments served in all the major theatres of the war, France and Flanders, Gallipoli, Italy, and even Egypt, Malta and Macedonia. Some battalions served in India throughout the war but provided reinforcements for the units in France and Flanders and for the campaigns in Mesopotamia and Palestine. The various battalions of the antecedent Regiments were awarded a total of 218 Battle Honours (and two Theatre Honours) although battalions of all four Regiments were in action simultaneously at only 14 of these battles.
The Battles of Ypres (commonly known as Wipers) and the Somme have lived on in the minds of the British public as significant events in the “War to end all Wars.” Ypres was actually a series of battles interrupting the German siege of the last remaining portion of ‘plucky’ Belgium still in Allied hands. The significance of Ypres became far more important than its tactical or even strategic importance and it became a matter of honour to remain in a militarily unimportant salient which could be fired on from three sides by an enemy determined to occupy the town. The first major attempt was between October and November 1914, as both sides were discovering that open warfare in the face of machine guns was impossible and trenches were being dug between the coast and the Swiss frontier. The BEF was pushed back from Roulers but tenaciously held on to a shrinking perimeter before the rain and mud of Flanders brought offensive action to a halt. All the British units in action at that time, which included all the deployed regular battalions from all the antecedent Regiments, the 1st West Yorkshires, 1st and 2nd East Yorkshires, 2nd Green Howards and the 2nd Duke of Wellington’s. In early 1915 the First Line Territorial Force battalions from all the Regiments came out to France and Flanders, some of them, particularly those in 49th (West Riding) Division, in time for the first use of gas. On 22nd April the Germans released chlorine gas against French units on the northern shoulder of the salient and managed to advance four miles closer to Ypres during the confused fighting that followed, but they were finally driven back at St Julien in May which gave the Allies an opportunity to withdraw to a shorter line a mere three miles to the east of Ypres. The Ypres salient, now stabilised, remained relatively quiet, although the Germans took full advantage of the fact that the salient, three miles deep by six miles wide, was supplied by only three main roads and most of the supplies being sent up to the front line would have to pass through or close to ‘Hell Fire Corner’ on the Menin Road. The Territorials of the 49th Division spent the next year working with their backs to the YpresCommines canal and their feet in mud and water. In 1917, the British forces felt strong enough to break through the German line and launched a major offensive at the end July, utilising many
222
223
The Great War
