New Armies, Leicesters and The Battle of Bazentin Ridge

On 5 August 1914, the day that he took over as Minister for War, Field Marshal Earl Kitchener of Khartoum issued orders for the expansion of the army. He believed that the war would not be 'over by Christmas' as the popular press (in both Great Britain and Germany) put it. He had been opposed to the creation of the Territorial Force, and did not plan to base the expanded army upon it. Instead, he determined to raise a new army composed of volunteers. Each man would sign up for three years or the duration of the war, whichever was shorter, and would agree to being sent to serve anywhere. On 6th August Parliament sanctioned an increase of 500,000 men of all ranks in the Regular Army.

'Your King and Country need you. A call to arms' was published on 11th August 1914 explaining the conditions of service and calling for 100,000 men to enlist. This figure was achieved within two weeks and designated "K1". On 28th August, Kitchener asked for another 100,000 men to volunteer and Army Order 382, issued on 11th September 1914, which naturally would be called K2. The rate at which men volunteered increased, partly at least due to news from the front that the British regulars were in action and in retreat. A third 100,000 men were called and placed into another six Divisions, called K3. They would be organised on the same basis as K1 and K2, and came under War Office control. All the newly created divisions moved to France from August 1915. The 6th, 7th, 8th and 9th (Service) Battalions of the Leicesters formed part of Kitchener's new army and formed the 110th Brigade initially part of the 37th Division and transferred to the 21st Division on 7th July 1916.

At about 11.30pm on the 30 July 1915 the main body of the 110th Brigade began disembarking at Boulogne after a calm and uneventful crossing from Folkestone. By the 9th August the Brigade were bivouacked at Dranoutre, in the Kemmel district of Belgium, a short distance from the frontline. During this time detachments of the Battalion visited the front line to receive training from the incumbent units. On the 11th August the Brigade suffered its first casualties, Private George Coates of the 6th Battalion was killed by a sniper and Lance Corporal Billings was wounded in the shoulder. At the end of August the Brigade took over a stretch of trenches in the Berles-Au-Bois/Monchy-au-Bois Sector. While the attritional and static nature of trench warfare regularly claimed casualties this area of trenches were considered relatively quiet. On the ill-starred first day of the Somme Offensive, 1 July 1916, the Leicestershire Brigade were still in trenches to the north at Gommecourt and were used to provide diversions to distract German attention away from the main assault. However, because the 63rd Brigade of the 21st Division had been so badly decimated in the offensive it would have to be withdrawn to rebuild. As a consequence the 110th Brigade was transferred to the 21st Division and marched south into the vicinity of Bottom Wood.

On 13 July the Leicestershire Battalions moved back to Fricourt to prepare for their part in the forthcoming attack. The task of the Brigade was to storm German second line positions on Bazentin Ridge, between Mametz Wood and Bazentin-le-Petit Wood.

Map of the German second position facing the Leicesters near Bazentin le Petit, 14 July 1916. The division's start line is in red. The area captured by 9 am is shown by the dashed red line. German trenches are shown with a solid blue line and barbed wire defences in blue.

On the night of 13/14 July the four Leicestershire Battalions moved into position through Mametz Wood onto the eastern edge which was to be the start line. At 3.25am the British artillery barrage opened up on the German positions in Villa Trench, simultaneously subalterns' whistles blew and the the first wave of Leicesters headed over the top. The barrage was supposed to send the Germans into cover and it was then a race against time across no mans land to arrive at the German defences before they were remanned. However, as soon as the Leicesters began advancing they were met with the rattle of machine gun fire. Despite this by late afternoon the Brigade were in control of Forest Trench which was the second objective of the attack and by 7pm the last Germans had been driven out of Bazentin-le-Petit Wood.

As calm was beginning to fall across the battlefield the Leicesters had successfully taken all of their objectives, but for the battalions the Battle of Bazentin Ridge was a disaster. The casualty lists were appalling with all four battalions suffering in the region of one hundred men killed in action and around two hundred more wounded. The 8th Battalion also lost its Commanding Officer Lieutenant-Colonel Jepson George Mignon. The Battle of Bazentin starkly demonstrated the downside of what became effectively Pals Battalions in Kitchener's New Army, the numbing weight of casualties that affected individual communities.

At Bazentin Ridge the casualty list for Whitwick included:
15718 Private Norman Burrell, 7th Battalion - Killed in Action.
21913 Private Joseph Albert Carter, 6th Battalion - Killed in Action.
15231 Private Charles Ernest Stanford, 7th Battalion - Killed in Action.
10328 Private Edward Walton, 6th Battalion - Died of Wounds.
10388 Private Lawrence Whitemore, 6th Battalion - Died of Wounds.
26381 Private Charles Wilson, 8th Battalion - Killed in Action.
15776 Private Archibald Percival Hickin, 7th Battalion - Wounded.
17469 Private James Tookey, 7th Battalion - Wounded.

Even more starkly the residents of Margaret Street in Coalville were informed of the following casualties after the Battle of Bazentin Ridge:
15926 Lance Corporal E Batho, 7th Battalion - Killed in Action Aged 24.
Private Wilfred Maddock - Wounded.
Private Herbert Fern - Wounded.

At 2am on the 1st April 1917 144 & 143 Brigade (7/Worcester, 6/Gloucester & 6/Warwick) assaulted the village of Epehy and by 7.30am the village was in British hands. In December 1917 the Leicesters moved into the area to garrison the captured village. On the 17th March 1918 a raid on Lark Spur by the 6th Battalion resulted in the capture of one man which confirmed that the Germans were planning a major assault on the village. All the understrength Leicesters could do was improve the defences and wait.

Map of Trenches to the North of Epehy around Peiziere.

Around Piezieres the 7th Leicesters plan of defence for the village was to quickly evacuate the front line and fall back onto Fir Support trench to engage the enemy in a so called "Battle Zone". Further South the 8th Battalion were defending the actual village of Epehy. At 2.30am on the 21 March the German bombardment of the village opened up and at dawn as the mist lifted the German storm troopers could be seen across the countryside as far as the defenders could see. By late afternoon the 7th Leicesters were forced to fall back on the Prince Support trench. Although the defences were breached on a number of occasions the counter attack company with two tanks in support managed to drive the enemy back out of the village. Meanwhile further South the 8th Battalion had held the German advance but disconcertingly Irish Troops from the 16th Division were appearing in the Leicesters trenches. The Irish brought stories of deep penetration which left the Leicesters flank in the air. At this point it was hoped that the 6th Battalion which had been held in reserve could be used to protect the flank. However, the 6th Battalion had borne the brunt of the German artillery and was unable to provide a defensive flank.

Map of Trenches around Epehy.

Overnight the Germans used the area gained from the 16th Division to bring up more artillery to bear on the beleagured Leicesters who had fallen back on the village. Furthermore to the North the Germans had also penetrated the British defences leaving the Leicesters out on a limb. At 1130am on the 22nd March after many hours bitter fighting in the streets of Epehy the Leicesters were ordered to conduct a fighting withdrawal to Longavesnes.

Despite being forced to retire the Leicesters had shown what a brigade could achieve by lightly but resolutely holding forward trenches to delay and disorganise. Then falling back on well stocked redoubts protected with wire allowed the Leicesters to break up repeated attacks. When the battle for Epehy was effectively over and its defence had cost the Leicesters 31 Officers and 1200 other ranks although there is no doubt that the defence of Epehy was one of the stoutest and longest defences of the war.

Great War Battalion Casualty Figures:

6th Battalion Officers - 16
6th Battalion Other Ranks - 768

7th Battalion Officers - 25
7th Battalion Other Ranks - 889

8th Battalion Officers - 22
8th Battalion Other Ranks - 780

9th Battalion Officers - 26
9th Battalion Other Ranks - 491