8th Battalion in the Battle of Messines: Difference between revisions

Since the end of the year 1916 and the majority of January 1917 the [[8th Border Regiment]] had been in the area of Ploegsteert where they did not take part in any active operations; whilst they were busy with fatigues it could be said that regarding the fighting that was occurring elsewhere they had quite an inactive few weeks. The Battalion's training was taken seriously and on the [[24 February]] the Battalion, and the entire 25th Division, was moved to the area of St. Omar, which at the time was considered to be an excellent training area. Here they took advantage of "musketry and field-firing practices."<ref name="wylly137">{{Wylly|pageno=137}}</ref> Roughly a month later on the [[21 March]] the Division had been moved to the Merris and Caestre area after it had been transferred to the Anzac Corps. Only a week later the Division had relieved the New Zealand Division in the Wulverghem sector and almost immediately there was work set about for the forthcoming offensive. This included working parties for the important tasks of cable laying, road building and the construction of dug-outs and other various different forms of shelters. For almost two weeks between the [[30 April]] and the [[11 May]] the 25th Division had spent time away from the front line in the Anzac Corps Reserve and then again it found itself relieving the New Zealand Division in the same sector. The 25th Division was actually quite lucky that they were holding a section of line they had spent time preparing. All to often units put in a great deal of labour in preparing lines for coming offensives only to be moved on and not reap the benefits of their hard work, instead, and quite possibly, having to hold a line with poor and inadequate cover. During the rest of May the 8th Borders were at La Crèche, later moving on to Revelsburg on the [[29 May]] and Neuve Eglise, a substantial march, the following day. During this march a German [[shell]] exploded near C Company, which killed 4 men and wounded 6.<ref name="wylly137 /><ref>Four men died 30/5/1917 all buried at Kandahar Farm: Edward Wray (241861 Pte.); William Porter (25718 Pte.); Matthew Irving (17321 Pte.) & John Bostock (33275 L/Sjt.)</ref><ref>One of the wounded men could have been Robert Willock (1501131 L/Cpl.), of Castle Street, Kendal, Westmorland. Born 1890. Clerk. Parents George Harrison Willock & Isabel. Brother of Martha. Buried at Bailleul Cemetery.</ref>

In a bid to gain back the positions the Germans had lost they started to shell the British in their new lines at regular intervals during the day and night. During the the first evening of the successful operation the 8th Border Regiment was relieved and went back into Brigade Reserve near to Neuve Eglise. Considering the amount of fighting that took place the Battalion's casualties were not great in number, however, their losses were 13 [[other ranks]] killed as well as [[Edward Healy|Second-Lieutenant Healy]].

By 6.30pm the [[8th Border Regiment]] had moved up and was ready in Switch Trench; the assembly took place in daylight with the possibility of many casualties. Even though the men moved up in twos and threes behind a row of hedges, which obscured the view for the enemy [[sniping|snipers]], there were few casualties as a result mainly due to the excellent discipline of the men. What might have seemed like minor movement to the enemy was in fact the Battalion readying themselves for the next attack, which was largely undiscovered. In [[Harold Carmichael Wylly|Colonel Wylly]]'s [[The Border Regiment in the Great War (book)|history of the Battalion]], what happened next is stated in his account of their actions:

:{{quote-left}}At 7.30pm the line moved forward under a creeping barrage in conjunction with the Zew Zealand Division on the right; on the left was the 8th Battalion The Border Regiment with “A”Company, Lieutenant Strong, on the right, “B”, Captain Coxon in the centre and “D”, Lieutenant Duggan, on the left, in the front line, and “C” Company under Captain Dawson in support, and the 2nd South Lancashire Regiment on the right. Owing to our standard barrage falling on to the objective practically simultaneously with our advance, the enemy was unable to retreat, and in twenty-five minutes all the line of the Brigade objective – Ferme de la Croix, Les Quatre Rois Cabaret, Gapaerde, Deconinck Farm – had been gained. The enemy was mostly discovered lying in shell holes and improvised trenches[[trench]]es, which were soon cleared; one or two strong wired points gave some trouble but were quickly [[flank|outflanked]], leaving several [[machine guns-gun]]s and some prisoners in our hands. Five minutes later after the line moved forward to attack, the enemy barrage of 4.2's and 5.9's came down on our front line in rear, and again about 9pm the enemy's [[barrage]] fell with great intensity and lasted for about half an hour in rear of our front line, causing some casualties, but during the night the battalions energetically consolidated and wired the line against any counter-attack.{{quote-right}}<ref>{{Wylly|pageno=140}}</ref>

After resting at St. Omer the [[8th Border Regiment]] was on the move again at the beginning of July, this time to Ypres. The 25th Division, minus the 74th Brigade, which remained in the training area for a further two weeks, arrived at Ypres and were positioned at the forward area of the IInd Corps. It was here that the 25th and 8th Divisions alternated in front line duties. Planning for a large-scale attack by the British Fifth Army had been ongoing for some time, this attack that involved many different units needed the greatest attention to detail and those involved had to work closely together to deliver an assault that would smash through the German defences. The Fifth Army, consisting of the IInd, XIXth, XIVth and XVIIIth Corps, along with the Second Army's Xth Corps and the First French Army, made its main and subsidiary attacks from 3.50am on the [[31 July]] 1917. The 25th Division, at the time of the attack, was positioned 2,000 yards behind the main wave of attacking [[troops]]. The intention of this was, when the moment was right, to advance through the 8th Division and take over the advance from them but due to the unforeseen in any battle, the attack was held up and the advance could not continue, therefore the 25th Division was not required. Even though the Division did not get as far as the front line, the 8th Border Regiment still suffered some casualties.