Posted 07 March 2012 - 08:56 PM
The 4th Battalion was the next to arrive in the Salient. Coming up by train from Doullens 4TH
the Battalion (i) detrained at Hopoutre Siding on the evening of June 27th, and marched to camp
near Proven. Thence, next day, a move was made forward to a bivouac camp in thick woods near
p.271
De Wippe Cabaret: a camp which was flooded out on the following night by torrential rain. Officers
and men alike were soaked through, and in pity the Divisional Staff, who visited the camp next
morning, shifted the Battalion to a hutment camp further east. There Lieut.-Colonel C. S. Linton,
D.S.O., M.C. (a) came to take over command. A fine all-round soldier, with a strong character
and the utmost consideration for his men, he was to prove a splendid Commanding Officer. During
his brief tenure of command he raised the Battalion to the highest pitch of efficiency.
...
On July 7th the
Battalion moved forward to the line, and took over trenches north of
' Ypres ; with two companies in front line and two in support on the. further bank of the Yser Canal.
That waterway presented a strange appearance. In the high embankment on either side of the
canal a long street of dugouts had been burrowed: a street which stretched unbroken for two
miles northwards from Ypres; dugouts of every sort and size, generals' Headquarters, Y.M.CA.
' canteens, bomb stores, .dressing stations, and shelters for the troops, all cheek by jowl, with one
narrow boarded path sheltered by the embankment running past their, doors. Into that-crowded
street the enemy's shells plunged intermittently, often doing damage ; for there was .scarcely a
_ single dugout proof against the " 5.9's." The Adjutant of the Battalion, Capt. R. C. Wynter, was
" gassed while endeavouring to fescue the inmates of a dugout wrecked by a big shell.
On the night of July 8th/9th, the enemy attempted to raid the trenches of the Battalion. At
about 1 a.m. the German artillery put down a very heavy barrage and a raiding party advanced.
But the barrage had not damaged the front line and the Worcestershire lads beat off the attack by
rapid fire. A wounded German who fell outside our trenches was brought in (g). The casualties
of the 4th Worcestershire were 17 wounded. Two days later the Battalion was relieved' and'moved
back to camp near Elverdinghe (h).
{a) Colonel Linton had been Adjutant of the Battalion 1911-1914. He had been on the staff of the Canadian Corps
after recovering from his .wound at Neuve Chapelle (page 60).
(5) Next door to Winnipeg Camp where the 1st Worcestershire had been in bivouac; but before they reached
camp the 1st Battalion had embussed and had commenced their journey to the back areas. i
[c) From the 2nd R. Berkshire. (d) 1 killed, 23 wounded. . ,
[«) 8th L. North Lanes, in front line July 15th—19th. During this time the 3rd Worcestershire 'were in the billets at
the Lille Gate.
July 24th 1 killed, 1 wounded. (g) A Saxon of the 100th Regiment.
p.272 Stacke Worcestershire Regiment in the Great War
0
