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  The Lonsdale Battalion...On This Day

Lonsdale Battalion on this day... is a daily listing of movements, actions, events and political involvements of the Lonsdale Battalion that took place this day between 1914–1918. (This information refreshes daily.)

On this day in history (21 June)

1916 (Wednesday)

sketch map showing route of attack for 1 July

• Battalion situated at Contay involved in Divisional exercise.
• One other rank is wounded (self inflicted).
• Brigade Orders (some extracts given in Appendix C) for the attack are issued. Four days are to be devoted to a heavy bombardment.
• The part of the enemy's line which the 32nd Division is to attack (with the Lonsdales in the 97th Brigade on the right) is the large salient, reaching from the north of Thiepval village to a point 1,800 yards due east of Authuille (see sketch map). The chord of this salient is about 1,900 yards long, and the portion of the front German trenches, allotted as the first objective of the 97th Brigade, is about 850 yards long from north to south, including the formidable Leipzig Redoubt (K on sketch map), near the southern point of the Salient; besides this, the trenches leading thence due east are to be captured by a company of the leading right battalion of the Highland Light Infantry.
• The attack of the 97th Brigade is to be carried out by the two H.L.I. Battalions in the front line, each on a front of two platoons (i.e., about 300 yards per battalion). The King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry is to be in support, and the Londales in reserve, echeloned to the right rear of the right H.L.I. Battalion.
• When the third first line of enemy’s trenches is captured, the K.O.Y.L.I. and the Lonsdales are to pass through the H.L.I. and capture the 4th line, including Mouquet Farm. Z day, i.e., the day of the attack, is subsequently fixed for the 29 June; but owing to various causes it is deferred to the 1 July.

1917 (Thursday)

• Ooste-Dunkerque: Battalion training under the Company Commanders followed by recreation.

Sources: Various sources contemporary to the war have been used to compile the Lonsdale Battalion on this day... (hover to read more)

Various sources contemporary to the war have been used to compile The Lonsdale Battalion On This Day. The majority of the events shown on this day (Borderman/Main page), including any supplementary notes, enlistments and statistical data etc., have been primarily sourced from the Lonsdale Battalion War Diary (November 1915 to June 1918), Record of the XIth (Service) Battalion (Lonsdale) and abridged material from Timeline and Chronology of the Lonsdale Battalion (September 1914 - May 1915), which are sourced from the original DLONS/L/13/13 Lowther Estate Archives. Events from that chronology are reproduced here with kind permission of Jim Lowther (2016). They are identified and referenced separately by their unique DLONS numbers. Please do not publish these events without prior permission from the Lowther Estate. All casualty names, numbers, ranks, date of deaths and places of burial/commemoration have been sourced from Soldiers Died in the Great War 1914-19, Volume 39, The Border Regiment and the Commonwealth War Graves Commission database respectively.

  Featured Images

Battalion Headquarters

The grandstand at Blackhall Racecourse

Taking Aim

Aiming drill

Digging to Survive

Learning how to dig entrenchments

Inspection Time

Inspection by Lord Lonsdale

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