Leicesters in Mesopotamia

At the outbreak of hostilities the 2nd Battalion was based in Raniket, India as part of the Garwhal Brigade in the 7th (Meerut) Indian Division. The Battalion received its mobilization orders at 11am on 9th August 1914. On the 15th and 16th September the Battalion boarded the Devanha and Elephanta in Karachi and reached Marseilles on 12th October. On the 28th October the Battalion relieved the 3rd Worcesters in trenches at Calonne. The first casualty was Captain L.B.C. Tristam on the night of the 28th and when relieved on the 22nd November the Battalion had lost 15 all ranks killed and 75 wounded. by the end of November the Battalion had already won two Distinguished Conduct medals (9139 Private Garton and Sergeant P Foister) plus a DSO for Major H Gordon.

The early months of 1915 were categorised by heavy wind and violent storms which precluded any offensive actions. However, March saw the British Commander in Chief, Sir John French, planning an offensive to exploit an apparent weakening of the Germans on the Western Front caused by operations in the East and French actions in Arras and Champagne. The section of German line selected for the offensive was that covering the village of Neuve Chapelle. On a bitterly cold night in early March the 2nd Leicesters assembled in trenches stretching from Port Arthur along the La Basse road.

British Dispositions at the Battle of Neuve Chapelle

At 7.30am on the 10th March 1915 the artillery bombardment commenced and at 8.05am 'B' and 'C' Companies advanced at the double, by 8.30am the Battalion had reached its objectives. However, the trenches they occupied still held Germans owing to the 1/39 Garwhal Rifles having edged off to the right leaving 200 yards of trenches unmolested. Forced to bomb their way down the trench it was not until 5pm, when the 1 Seaforths advancing from the West, that they finally cleared the trenches. Over the next 4 days the Battalion came under heavy bombardment and continued German counter attacks and it was during this period that 6276 Private William Buckingham earned the VC for rescuing and rendering aid to the wounded whilst exposed to heavy fire. By midnight on the 13th March the Leicesters had been relieved by elements of the Sirhind Brigade.

2nd Battalion Leicestershire Regiment in France

The Battalion was not involved in offensive operations again until it took part in a night attack on the 15th May during the Battle of Festubert. After the battle the Battalion undertook extended periods of duty in the trenches which is testified to by the large number of trench fever victims reported during this period.

At 5.48am on September 25th 1915 a mine containing one ton of gun cotton was detonated under German positions to the East of Ypres forming a crater 92 feet across. The assault was also due to be preceded by smoke and gas but a change in wind precluded the use of gas. At 6am the Battalion went over the top and outstripped the 2/8 Ghurkas on their right and reached the road from Mauquissart to the Duck's Bill having suffered heavy casualties. Unfortunately the objective had been achieved with the loss of a high proportion of the Battalions officers and the right of the attack had failed to breach the German wire. The remnants of the Battalion were ordered back to the British trenches at 4.30pm and relieved at 6.30pm by the Garwhal Rifles. The attack had cost the Battalion 20 officers and 430 other ranks killed, wounded, missing or gassed.

In November Field-Marshal Sir John French sent the following message to the Garwhal Brigade:
"As the Garwhal Brigade is now leaving my command to take part in operations elsewhere, I wish to send it my personal thanks for the service it has rendered to the King-Emperor since reaching France more than a year ago. The behaviour of the Brigade in action and its splendid discipline have been excellent throughout, and it has always maintained its fighting spirit in spite of heavy losses and under the most trying weather conditions."

On November 10th 1915 the Battalion boarded the Clan MacGillivary and SS Orando at Marseille arriving in Alexandria on the 16th November. On the 22nd November orders were received to entrain for Suez and the Battalion embarked on the SS Janus sailing at 3pm on the 23rd November. At 10am on the 6th December the 2 ships reached the mouth of the Tigris and proceeded upstream to Basra, by December 8th the Battalion had been trans-shipped into a river steamer Medjidieh and Barge No 30 and arrived in Ali Gharbi on the morning of the 13th. The weather in December 1915 and January 1916 was characterised by hot, foggy and humid days with temperatures dropping below freezing overnight.

mesopotamia 1916

The battalion was moved to the 28th Infantry Brigade to serve alongside the 51st Sikhs, 53rd Sikhs and the 56th Rifles to form part of the Tigris Corps. On the 4th January 1916 the Battalion moved as part of the advance on Kut el-Amara to relieve General Townshends 9,185 men who were reportedly surrounded by 22,000 Turks. At 2pm on the 6 January the Battalion was given orders to attack Turkish positions at Shaik Saad in a bend of the River Tigris. The attack was met by heavy rifle and machine gun fire and by 3pm enemy calvary was threatening to outflank the battalion. Furthermore the Turkish trenches stretched further south than originally reported thus outflanking the British attack. At 5pm, having reached a point some 500 yards from the Turkish trenches, the Battalion was becoming enveloped and subject to enfilade fire. The Divisional Commander Major-General Sir George Younghusband was unwilling to commit further troops to the attack and so ordered the Battalion to entrench. The assault was renewed at 11.12am on the 7th January but the Leicesters being on the far left of the line did not move until 2pm. By about 3pm the attack appeared to be faltering and General Kemball was on the verge of throwing his reserves into the line when in his own words, "the Leicestershires, and then the 51st, 53rd and 92nd rose and, with a fine assault over the last 300 yards, carried the Turkish front line of trenches." At the end of the day there were over 300 Turkish dead, 600 prisoners, and numerous field pieces captured. Despite the successes of the 28th Division and 92nd Punjabis the attack elsewhere had ground to a stalemate. Later that night the Turkish Commander, Nur-Ud-Din, withdrew his troops a decision which ultimately resulted in his sacking.

The actions at Shaik Saad cost the Battalion dearly with 16 Officers and 298 other ranks falling in the attacks. For the wounded there was little relief with one officer commenting that, "it rained heavily and was freezing cold and the mud was awful. Medical arrangements had completely failed and the sufferings of the wounded were horrible. At times men lay out all night in pitiless, icy rain, dying from exposure. Many were found dead without a mark on them; others were picked up and slowly jolted, petrified and sodden with freezing mud, in springless carts to the dressing station. Later, a man arrived at Amara with wounds which for 8 days had remained unattended-wounds which were putrifying, gangrenous and full of maggots."

There was little respite for the Battalion and on the 12 January 1916 they were moved to the left bank of the Tigris in preparation for the assault on the Wadi. This is where the Turkish had retired to and taken up defensive postions astride the Hanna defile formed by the Suwaikiya marsh and the Tigris river. As they advanced on the 13th the Brigade began to suffer heavy casualties at a distance of 600 yards from the Turkish defences. The ground was destitute of cover and had been marked by the Turkish with sticks at every 100 metres to aid rifle fire. Eventually, after heavy losses the 56th Rifles, 53rd Sikhs and Leicesters were merged into an irregular firing line at a standstill 200 yards from the Wadi. As darkness fell the remnants of the 28th Brigade were forced to withdraw having suffered 648 casualties. Though the attack failed the official history of the Mesopotamia campaign noted that it, "affords a fine testimony to the gallantry and soldierlike behaviour of the Brigade, already much weakened by their heavy losses at Shaikh Saad a week before."

Despite once again having repulsed the attack the Turks retired from their advanced positions and moved further up the defile to much stronger positions. On the 16 January 1916 General Townshend signalled that the garrison at Kut only had 21 days of rations left. Having suffered heavily the 28th Brigade did not take part in the next assault on the Hanna defile. In an attempt to break through the Turkish defences the decision was made to move the point of attack to the Dujaila Redoubt some 5 miles south of the River Tigris. The assault on the redoubt took place on the 7th March 1916 but once again the attack was repulsed. The Leicesters objective for the attack was to the west of the actual redoubt and was not alloted artillery support. Consequently the attack faltered some 500 yards short of the Turkish positions. After the action was called off the Battalion was forced to March 48 miles in 53 hours to regain camp. over the next 18 days numerous attempts were made to break through the Turkish positions but to no avail. In some 4 months of fighting the Tigris Corps had lost 23,000 officers and men including 3,731 men of the 28th Brigade. On the 24th April one final effort was made to reprovision the garrison at Kut by using a heavily laden steamer the Julnar to run the blockade. However, the vessel was sunk by Turkish guns at Fort Magasis 8.5 miles short of Kut.

Despite having failed to break the Turkish defences and lift the siege of Kut the Tigris Corps remained in contact with the Turkish for the remainder of 1916. Neither side in a position to mount offensive operations and Consequently the remainder of 1916 was characterised by tours of duty in the trenches. During this period the environment was as much a danger as the Turks with the thermometer reaching 120 degrees Fahrenheit in June and rations severely limited. An officer who joined the Battalion in June stated that there were only 5 effective officers and between 150 and 200 other ranks.

Offensive operations against the Turkish defences recommenced on the 13th December 1916. Over the following months the British made inroads into the Turkish defences trench by trench. The fighting was often bloody and desperate in difficult conditions. On the 23rd February 1917 a gunboat flotilla was able to anchor off Kut and raise the Union Flag over the deserted town the following day. The withdrawal of the Turkish troops now became more of a stampede and by the 27th February they had reached Azizieh, 50 miles from Kut. On the 4th March the Battalion began moving towards Baghdad and on the 8th they crossed onto the right bank of the Tigris. At 6am on the 9th the Battalion halted at Shawa Ruins and it was from here the Battalion were ordered to support cavalry in the final assault on Baghdad. On 11th March the Battalion entered Baghdad and was bivouacked near the railway station where the station bell was taken as a Battalion prize. At this point it is worth quoting from the preface of Beyond Baghdad with the Leicestershires by E J Thompson M.C;

"Mr. Candler has written, bitterly enough, of the way the Censorship impeded him in his work as official 'Eye-witness.' His was a thankless task ; as he well knows, few of us, though we were all his friends, have not groused at his reports of our operations. No unit groused more on this head than my own division. We usually had a campaign and a bank of the Tigris to ourselves. 'Eyewitness' rightly chose to be with the other divisions across the river. Inevitably the 7th Meerut Division got the meagrest show in such meagre dispatches as the Censors allowed him to send home. The 2nd Leicestershires, an old and proud battalion, with the greatest of reputations on the field of action, remained unknown to the Press and public. Our other two British battalions, the 1st Seaforths and the 2nd Black Watch, could be referred to, even the Censors allowed this, as 'Highlanders'; and those who were interested knew that the reference lay between these two regiments and the Highland Light Infantry. But who was going to connect the rare reference to 'Midlanders' with the Leicestershires?

The British campaign in April between Baghdad and Samarra was an 80 mile stretch of railroad, the only completed portion, south of Mosul, of the Berlin-Baghdad Railway. If this was captured the Turkish would have to supply their troops from Mosul by the treacherous and shallow Tigris. I Corps, consisting of two Indian divisions, the 3rd and the 7th, was designated to operate against the railheads whilst III Corps, consisting of the 13th Division, the only all-British division in Mesopotamia, and the 14th Indian Division, were to fight their way up the left bank. For the campaign a mobile column was formed, under Brigadier-General Davies, as the spearhead of the 7th Division's thrust. It consisted of the 28th Infantry Brigade (2nd Leicestershires, 51st and 53rd Sikhs, 56th Rifles, and 136th Machine-Gun Company), the 9th Brigade, R.F.A. (less one battery), one section of the 524th Battery, R.F.A., a Light-Armoured Motor-Battery, the 32nd Lancers (less two squadrons), and a half-company of Sappers and Miners; an ammunition column and ambulances.

On the 28th March 1917 the mobile column moved out via Kermeah and Syndia to Sumaika with orders to occupy Beled Station. At 5am on the 8th April the column marched from Sumaika with the 53rd Sikhs at the van and the Leicesters on the left flank. At a distance of 5,000 yards from Beled the column came under hostile gun fire. E J Thompson describes the action as follows:

There were frequent halts, while our few cavalry reconnoitred. Then we passed into a deep broad nulla between two ancient earth-walls. All this terrain had been a network of canals and cultivation. Shrapnel was bursting in our front. We filed out, at the left, on to a plain. Half a mile ahead was the nearer curve of a hilly ground. The main range ran in a Carpathian-like sweep across our front, from west to east; turned, and went across our front again. Beyond this was Beled Station, lying at the point of a wide fork of hills, the left prong a good mile away, but the right bending almost up to it. From the forking to the station was a broken plain of two thousand yards. This plain had to be overcome, with such assistance as the hills gave. The hills were pretty uniform in height, and nowhere above thirty feet. The railway cut directly through the main range, giving the enemy a field of fire for his machine-guns. The range, with its double fold across our front, gave the artillery cover, and enabled us to conceal the smallness of our force; and on both sides of the station it broke into a wilderness of little knobs and hollows, by which we might creep up.

The shrapnel was uncomfortably close as we crossed to the first sweep of hilly ground. But it was bursting high, and no casualties occurred. We halted behind the hills, and the artillery left their wagons, taking their guns into position where the range curved north-westerly. Here two four-gun batteries put up a slow and not heavy bombardment on the station. We waited and watched the shrapnel bursting five hundred yards to our right. About noon the Leicestershires were ordered to support the 53rd and 51st Sikhs in an attack on the station. D Company was to move on the left of the railway as a flank-guard, and went forward under Captain Creagh.

Sketch Map of the Action at Beled Station

Behind D Company moved Charles Copeman, O.C. bombers, and a section of machine-gunners under Lieutenant Service. The rest of the machine-gunners followed up along the railway.

We who remained crossed the ridge and advanced in artillery formation up the right side of the railway. The Sikhs slipped away into the hills to our right.

Meanwhile D Company found the hills on our left strongly held. Every slope was sown with shallow trenches, earth-scars which held six or seven Turks, and snipers caused us casualties. Lieutenant-Colonel Knatchbull, learning this, on his own initiative swung round B and C Companies across the railway to support D Company.

B and C Companies, crossing the railway, pushed up a long narrow nulla to the hills where D were engaged.

The attack had now developed along two distinct lines, and on the railway itself we had no troops. The enemy presently put down a barrage of shrapnel all the right length of the line, where he had seen our men cross, of which barrage every shell during two hours was wasted. The Leicestershires' attack was held up in the hills. They asked for support, but none was available. They were told to advance as far as they could, and then hold their line till help could come. The hills were thick with excellent positions. Every fold and dip was utilized by a scattered and numerous foe, to whom the ragged ground was like a cloak of invisibility. No artillery help could be given. We could only seize the ground's advantage and make it serve as help to the attack as well as to the defence. And now it would have meant a bloody advance for A and B Companies against those trenches in the open. But the Turks, held by the Leicestershires' strong steady attack, had given insufficient attention to the movement threatening their left. The two Sikh regiments, though checked and held from time to time by rifle and machine-gun fire, used the broken ground with extraordinary skill. Their experience on the Afghan frontier had trained them for just such work as this. Rising ground was used as positions for covering fire, and every knoll and hummock became a shoulder to lift the force along. Their supporting battery had located the enemy's gun-positions, and kept down his fire. One gun-team bolted, and the crew were seen getting the gun away by hand and losing in the effort. The Sikhs rushed a low hill, which had long checked them, and its garrison of one officer and twenty-five men surrendered. The enemy's resistance crumbled rapidly. A breach had been made in his defence, and the Sikhs poured through. They made two thousand yards, and did a swift left-turn. The enemy on their right slipped off, but the Turks in the trenches covering the station had left things too late. The 51st drove the foe before them to the north of the station, and the 53rd rushed the station itself, capturing eight officers and a hundred and thirty-five men, with two machine-guns. This was about 3 p.m.

Over the middle period of April the Turkish opposition on the left bank of the Tigris was completely overcome. On the right bank the Turkish held positions at Istabult which was to be the next objective. The attack on these positions occurred in two distinct phases of which the Leicesters saw action in what is known as the Battle of Istabult Mounds.

Sketch Map of the Istabulat Mounds Action

At midnight on April 21st 1917 the 28th Brigade was given orders to move forward to the left bank of the Dujail Canal. On arrival the Turkish trenches were found to have been evacuated and the order was given to, pursue the enemy vigorously." E J Thompson describes the ensuing action as follows:

At 4 p.m. we put down a concentrated bombardment of twenty minutes. The Leicestershires, a forlorn and depleted hope, moved swiftly up to within assaulting distance, C Company in reserve behind the right. The 51st Sikhs supported the attack. The 56th Rifles put down the heaviest fire they could, of rifles and all the efficient machine-guns with the Brigade. At 4.20 the guns lifted one hundred yards, and the Leicestershires rushed in. Hasted, watchful behind with C Company, pushed up rapidly to assist the front line. A long line of Turks rose from the ground. All these, and the enemy's second line also, were taken prisoners. Dug-outs were cleared, and many officers were taken, where lofty cliffs overhang the Tigris. These prisoners were sent back with ridiculously weak escorts. They were dazed, their spirits broken. G.A., wounded and falling back in search of the aid-post, came on a large body, wandering sheep without a shepherd. These he annexed, and his orderly led them; he himself, using the famous stick as a crook, coaxed them forward. Prisoners came, ten and twenty in charge of one man. When night had fallen, they sat round us and curiously watched us. Altogether the 'Tigers'—hardly two hundred strong by now—took over eight hundred prisoners. Many of these escaped by reason of the poverty of escort.

But I will not speak of prisoners now. Whilst our scanty stock of ammunition was being fired at the Turks, retiring rapidly, the Leicestershires were pushing far out of reach of telephone communication. 'Limited objectives were not known in the open fighting. To Captain Diggins fell an amazing success. Suddenly there were flashes almost in his face. 'Guns,' he shouted, and rushed forward. On and on he rushed, till he reached the enemy's guns, he and three of the men of A Company, which he commanded. These guns were in nullas by the river-bank. Their crews were sitting round them. Diggins beckoned to them to surrender, which they did. He was so blown with running that he felt sick and faint. Nevertheless he recovered, and rose to the occasion. To us, away in the aid-posts, came epic stories of 'Digguens,' with the ease and magnificence of Sir Francis Drake receiving an admiral's sword, shaking hands with the battery commander. He is a singularly great man in action, is Fred Diggins. In all, from several positions, Diggins took seven fourteen-pounders and two 5.9's. They were badly hit, some of them. The horses were in a wretched condition, none of them unwounded. Several were shot by us almost immediately. Diggins sent his prisoners back, battery commanders and all, in charge of Corporal Williamson and one private. On his way back, after delivering up his prisoners, Williamson was killed.

The handful at the guns waited. A large barrel of water had been put there for the Turkish gunners. This was drained to the last drop. The guns were curiously examined. 'Besides the intricate mechanism and beautifully finished gear, there were some German sextants and range-finders, compasses like those on a ship's binnacle, and other instruments on a lavish scale,' says Hasted. But this inspection was cut short, for now came the counter-attack. The Turks began to shell the captured gun-position. Then, from the railway-embankment, nearly a mile to the Leicestershires' left front, several lines of Turks emerged, in extended formation, a distance of fifty yards between each line. At least two thousand were heading for the fifty Leicestershires holding the guns. 'It was like a crowd at a football-match,' a spectator told me. Diggins sent word to Lowther, commanding B Company, a little to his left rear, 'The Turks are counter-attacking.' Lowther replied that he was falling back. Diggins and Hasted fell back in conformity. Hasted was asking his men how many rounds of ammunition they had left. None had more than five rounds, so perforce we ceased fire. The 51st Sikhs, with the exception of Subahdar Aryan Singh and two sepoys, had not appeared. The Leicestershires damaged the guns as they might for half a dozen fevered, not to say crowded, minutes of glorious life. Hasted, who was one of those who enjoyed this destruction, complains that they did not know much about what to do; they burred the breech-block threads and smashed the sights with pickaxes. The Mills bombs put in the bores did not explode satisfactorily. Then they fell back. One of the sergeants was hit in the chest, Sergeant Tivey, a Canadian; he was put on one of the Turkish garrons and led along. 'From the attention he received from the enemy's guns, they must have thought him a Field-Marshal.' The Turks, for all their force, crept up timidly. After securing the guns, they raced to Tekrit, thirty miles away. But they sent a large body in pursut of the retreating 'Tigers.'

The Leicestershires fell back rapidly, the enemy pressing hard. The 51st Sikhs were found, hidden by the hollows of the ground; they had been a buttress to the left flank of that handful of adventurous infantry in their forward sweep into the heart of the Turkish position. It was now that Graham and the 56th Rifles checked the counter-attack, which threatened to drive a wedge between the Leicestershires and the river. The whole front was now connected up, and, in face of an attacking army, British and Indians dug themselves in. The 51st sent along some ammunition. The sun was setting, and in the falling light the last scene of this hard-fought day took place. Turkish officers could be seen beating their men with the flat of their swords. The enemy came, rushing and halting. The sun, being behind them, threw a clear field of observation before them; but over them it flung a glamour and dimness, in which they moved, a shadow-army, silhouettes that made a difficult mark. And our men were down to their last rounds of ammunition. Our guns opened again, but too late, and did not find their target. But the Leicestershires' bombers, sixty men in all, were thrown forward, bringing ammunition which saved the day. Thirty of the sixty fell in that rush. The Turks were now within two hundred and fifty yards; but here they wavered. For half an hour they kept up a heavy rifle-fire. Then, at six o'clock, the 19th Brigade poured in, and the thin lines filled up with Gurkhas, Punjabis, and Seaforths. Moreover, the new-comers had abundance of ammunition. Darkness fell, and our line pushed forward. For over two hours we could hear the Turks man-handling their guns away. But there were strong covering-parties, and our patrols were driven back with loss. Our guns put down a spasmodic and ineffectual fire. Then all became quiet. All along the enemy's line of retreat and far up the river were flares and bonfires. Away in Samarra buildings were in flames, and down the Tigris floated two burning barges, of which more hereafter.

The months after the action at Istalbult mounds were characterised by hot weather which made campaigning impracticable and the Battalion spent the time in and around Samarah. It was October 1917 before the next action when the Brigade routed the Turkish force at Daur. For the final assault on Tikrit in November the 28th Brigade was in Divisional Reserve. Having returned to Samarah the Battalion received orders on the 7th December 1917 for their removal to Egypt. On January 1st 1918 the Battalion embarked in the Bandra, Rossetti and Hyperia at Maqil. Having transhipped into the Minnetonka and Mutlah the Battalion reached Port Suez at 7am on 22nd January 1918. The Battalion would only remain in Egypt for 8 months and saw limited action in trenches near Tel el-Mukhmar. The summer months went by with considerable activity but the wastage from wounds and sickness was nothing like that experienced in Mesopotamia. By August General Allenby was developing plans to defeat the Turkish forces west of the Jordan in Palestine. To this end the 7th Division was moved from Egypt to Palestine.

At 4.30am on the 9th September 1918 four hundred British guns opened an intense fire on Turkish positions astride the Jerusalem to Nablus road. The objectives of the 7th Division were Turkish defences west of Tabsor after which they were to swing right and make for Et Taiyibeh.

For the initial assault the Battalion was held in divisional reserve but at midday they were directed to advance upon Taiyibeh. Despite stout resistance the Taiyibeh was in the Battalions hands by 6pm. To achieve the objective the Division had fought and marched for 48 hours covering 34 miles over rocky and difficult terrain. The rapidity of the advance soon spread through the ranks of the Turkish forces who fearing they were trapped launched into a wholesale retreat. As an example in a 5 mile stretch of road theyy abandoned 897 motor lorries and 87 guns.

After the success west of the Jordan, General Allenby turned his attention to Beirut and the Leicesters were hastily ordered to Haifa which was reached at 6.30am on 28th September 1918. On 29th September the Division was ordered North up the coast road towards Beirut. On 9th October the Battalion marched into Beirut where the inhabitants handed over 660 Turkish prisoners. On the 21st October the Division once again headed North and reached Tripoli on the 26th. The Battalion bivouacked at Shaikh Bedaur and it was here, on the 31st October, they heard that the Turkish had sued for peace.

Great War Battalion Casualty Figures:

2nd Battalion Officers - 19
2nd Battalion Other Ranks - 1030