THE 4th BATTALION   [Battle of Loos]

The 3rd Guards Brigade, under Brigadier-General Heyworth, marched via Lambres, Liéres, and Marles-les-Mines to Haillicourt, where it arrived on Sunday morning the 26th. At Marles-les-Mines it had to halt for six hours to allow a cavalry corps to pass, and as the men never knew when their turn would come to advance, they had to sit down on a muddy road and wait. The battalions were crowded into billets for a short time at Haillicourt, where the violent bombardment of the French attack at Souchez could be distinctly heard. In the afternoon the Brigade moved off, and marched to Vermelles, where it remained for the night.

The officers of the 4th Battalion Grenadier Guards were :
Lieut.-Colonel G.C. Hamilton, D.S.O. ... Commanding Officer.
Major the Hon. C.M.B. Ponsonby, M.V.O. ... Second in Command.
Capt. T.F.J.N. Thorne ... Adjutant.
Lieut. M.G. Williams ... Machine-gun Officer.
Lieut. C.E.M. Ellison ... Machine-gun Officer.
2nd Lieut. E. Ludlow ... Quarterrnaster.
Capt. J.A. Morrison ... No. 1 Company.
Lieut. G. E. Shelley ... No. 1 Company.
2nd Lieut. G.A. Ponsonby ... No. 1 Company.
Captain Sir G. Houstoun-Boswall, Bart. ... No. 2 Company.
Lieut. E. F. Penn ... No. 2 Company.
Lieut. P. Malcolm ... No. 2 Company.
I Capt. E. D. Ridley ... No. 3 Company.
2nd Lieut. M. A. T. Ridley ... No. 3 Company.
2nd Lieut. A. H. Tompson... No. 3 Company.
Capt. H. L. Aubrey Fletcher, M.V.O. No. 41 Company.
Lieut. E. R. D. Hoare ... No. 41 Company.
2nd Lieut. B. C. Layton ... No. 41 Company.
2nd Lieut. M. H. Macmillan ... No. 41 Company.
Lieut. E. Brunton, R.A.M.C. ... Medical Oflicer.
Lieutenant Blundell, Lieutenant Britten, Lieutenant R. Leigh Pemberton, and Lieutenant Tennant were left at Vermelles with the transport.

On the 27th Brigadier- General Heyworth received orders to attack Hill 70. The movements of the 3rd Guards Brigade more or less depended on the success of the 2nd Brigade. Originally it had been decided not to go through Loos, but to leave it on the right and to rendezvous close in rear of the Loos-Hulluch road, but these orders were afterwards cancelled.

Lieutenant-Colonel Hamilton explained to the company officers the general plan of attack, with some more detailed particulars about the part the 4th Battalion was to play, but on being ordered at once to accompany General Heyworth, who was going into Loos, he handed the command of the Battalion to Major Ponsonby, and told him to bring it to a position of deployment in Loos, where he himself would meet them. At the same time Captain Aubrey Fletcher was sent forward to reconnoitre the best route into Loos, and Lieutenant Blundell was ordered to bring
up the Brigade S.A.A. and tool limbers to Fort Galatz.

On nearing Loos the 4th Battalion Grenadiers was ordered to double down the slope and get into a trench which ran through some ruined houses. The German artillery was now directing its attention to Loos, and using a great many gas shells. Major Ponsonby, guided by Captain Aubrey Fletcher, led the Battalion down an old German communication trench immediately north of Fort Galatz. It had already gone some distance along the trench when General Heyworth arrived at full gallop down the road, and ordered Captain Ridley and the men in rear of him who had not yet entered the communication trench to follow him at once. It would seem that

4th Battn.
Sept.
1915

Captain E. Ridley took with him Nos. 6, 7, and 8 platoons from No. 2 Company under Captain Sir George Houstoun-Boswall, No. 10 platoon from No. 3 Company under Lieutenant M. Ridley, with a few men from No. 4 Company, and worked down a trench towards the outskirts of Loos. Here they were again met by General Heyworth, who told them to go through the town and await Lieut.-Colonel Hamilton. Passing through the ruins at a rapid pace, Captain Ridley and his party reached the corner of the church which was being heavily shelled. The noise was deafening; shells were bursting in every direction and houses were falling in. The enemy's snipers were shooting at every place which might shelter a man. Through this hideous pandemonium the platoons came, not yet taking any part in the battle, but simply on their way to the place from which the attack was to start.

It was then found that Lieut.-Colonel Hamilton had been gassed and so placed hors de combat. Captain E. Ridley was told to take his platoons to the south-east corner of the town, but at that moment Major Ponsonby, accompanied by the Adjutant, Captain Thorne, and also Captain Fletcher, arrived and guided them to their destination. Major Ponsonby had been hastily sent for and told by the Brigadier to take command of the Battalion in Colonel Hamilton's place. Finding the Battalion split in two, he at once sent back for what really was the main

Here they were joined by Lieutenant M. Williams and Second Lieutenant Ellison with the machine- guns, who had made their way across country while the limbers went by road. Corporal C. Gould, who brought up the limbers under continual shell-fire, met on the way a runaway horse racing down the road at full gallop with a bomber's wagon behind him, fully loaded with bombs. The driver had been killed, and the horse, terrified by the shells, was making for home. Corporal Gould succeeded in stopping the horse, and put one of his men on the wagon. On arrival at Loos the machine-guns were carried on by hand.

The Welsh Guards now came up under Lieut.-Colonel Murray Threipland, who said that General Heyworth wished the attack to begin at once. Major Ponsonby, however, realised that to attempt an attack with the small force at his disposal was merely to court failure, and sent back word to General Heyworth stating what had happened to his battalion, and adding that he hardly considered the few platoons under his command sufficient to carry out the attack with any prospect of success. Messages, however, take some time to deliver, and every moment might be precious. He therefore consulted Colonel Murray Threipland, who undertook the attack,giving him instructions to join in on the left.

Colonel Murray Threipland sent a message to General Heyworth to warn him that the attack had been launched, but the news had just arrived that the 2nd Guards Brigade had been unable to retain their hold on Puits 14. At this General Heyworth appears at first to have contemplated cancelling the attack, but on receiving orders from Lord Cavan to relieve the pressure on the 2nd Brigade by launching the attack on Hill 70, he destroyed the cancelling order.

So the attack started. Steadily the 4th Battalion Grenadiers and lst Battalion Welsh Guards advanced towards Hill 70. At first they met nothing but rifle-fire, but on reaching the crest of the hill they were greeted by a murderous machine-gun fire, which caused great havoc among the front line. Staggered for a moment, the men hesitated, but Major Ponsonby urged them on, and they got to within twenty-five yards of the German trenches. There had

Explicit orders had been given by General Heyworth to the commanding officers on no account to advance over the crest of the hill; when a line on the reverse slope of the hill had been occupied it was to be consolidated. Owing to Lieut.-Colonel Hamilton having been gassed, the Grenadiers knew nothing of this order, and pushed on, while the Welsh Guards remained just under the crest of the hill. But the Grenadiers' position was quite untenable on account of the machine-guns which were enfilading them, and they withdrew to behind the crest.

Darkness now came down, and the exact position of the front line was not clear to those in rear. It was known that Hill 70 had been taken, and that somewhere on this hill were the Welsh Guards and a portion of the Grenadiers, with isolated parties in front of them. The 2nd Battalion Scots Guards, under Colonel Cator, was being sent up to relieve the front line, while the 1st Battalion Grenadiers remained in reserve in Loos.

During the last part of the advance Major Myles Ponsonby was hit while advancing with his men. Captain Thorne, the Adjutant, remained with him, although they were only twenty-five yards from the Germans, tied up his wounds, and

Captain Thorne was himself wounded in the head, and after leaving Major Ponsonby he tried to get back when it was dark. On the way he came upon two drummers who had been acting as orderlies; one had been killed and the other wounded through the leg. Knowing that if he left the boy where he was, he would probably be killed, he determined to carry him back. He put him on his shoulders and started off, but must have made some noise, for the Germans at once put up a flare and fired at him with machine-guns. He fell forward at once with the drummer - both killed.

Captain Sir George Houstoun-Boswall, who was ·in command of the first line of Grenadiers during this attack, behaved with great gallantry, and was killed as they were nearing the German trenches. Captain Fletcher was badly wounded earlier in the attack, as was Lieutenant M. Ridley: thus all the officers who took part in the attack were either killed or wounded.

When the attack started Lieutenant Mervyn Williams was ordered by Major Ponsonby to follow with his machine-guns in case of a counter-attack, and to leave Lieutenant Ellison behind in Loos with the reserve guns. The machine-gun party therefore followed on till it got to the

It is necessary now to return and follow the movements of the other half of the Battalion. It was moving down the German communication trench quite unconscious that General Heyworth had diverted the two last companies to Loos. When Captain Morrison arrived at the spot appointed as a rendezvous, he waited. The attack had clearly begun, as the shelling was very violent, but no orders of any sort came to him, nor did he know what had become of Major Ponsonby, Captain'Fletcher, and Captain Thorne, any one of whom might have been able to explain to him the situation. He accordingly sent off an orderly to the Brigade Headquarters asking for instructions. But it was far from easy to find the Brigadier in the middle of a battle, and as the first orderly did not return he sent a second, and repeated this process until four
orderlies had gone. He had with him No. 1

As no orders came, he formed up the men and determined to take part in the fighting. He had been told that the 3rd Guards Brigade were to attack Hill 70, and that the 4th Battalion Grenadiers were to form part of the attacking force. It was clearly wrong, therefore, for these companies to be doing nothing. But he could see no sign of the rest of his battalion, and efforts to obtain instructions had proved fruitless. At this moment he observed the 2nd Brigade attacking Puits 14, and thereupon decided to take on himself the responsibility of joining in, feeling sure that if he was wanted by the 3rd Brigade to attack Hill 70 he would be in the best position to assist them: rather than remain inactive he thought it best to throw his forces in anywhere.

Captain Morrison's men now extended for attack, and came up on the right of the 1st Battalion Scots Guards just as they were attacking Puits 14. The ground in this part of the line was being fiercely contested, and they found themselves under very severe machine-gun fire. When the Scots Guards retired from Puits 14, this portion of the 4th Battalion Grenadiers found themselves completely isolated. They lay down where they were under heavy fire, and when it was realised that the 2nd Guards Brigade

That evening the 2nd Battalion Scots Guards was sent up to relieve the 4th Battalion Grenadiers, but fifty men of No. 3 Company, who had originally formed part of the attacking force and were now without an oflicer, finding how thinly this line was held, insisted on staying where they were in order to strengthen the line.

Early in the morning the 4th Battalion went to the Loos - Hulluch road, and remained there till the night of the 29th, but it was found that there were still the fifty men of the Battalion already mentioned on Hill 70, in addition to some thirty who had joined the 3rd Battalion in the 2nd Brigade. The machine-gun section, under Lieutenant Williams, also remained out on Hill 70, hoping that the attack would be renewed, when it could join in. Some Engineers had got out to them and erected barbed-wire entanglements partially across their front. Wounded men were continually crawling back to this little oasis in the desert of shell-holes. Painfully and slowly, inch by inch, these maimed men would arrive, often being sniped by the enemy. It was such an exposed spot that,

About 8.30 that night Lieutenant Williams saw a party of Germans crawl out and advance toward some of our wounded who were unable to move. They appeared to be quite unaware of the handful of men in this trench. Feeling sure they intended to take the wounded prisoners, when their injuries would, no doubt, be dressed, he gave orders that no one was to fire. The Germans crept on slowly, but on reaching the wounded, to Lieutenant Williams' horror, they proceeded to bayonet them. It was hardly necessary for Lieutenant Williams to give the order to fire, as the men with the machine-guns had seen this dastardly act, and the two machine-guns soon wiped out the whole party of Germans. Our wounded men were finally rescued by the Scots Guards when they came up, and Lieutenant Williams retired with the machine-guns to Loos.

Meanwhile, Captain Morrison had succeeded in collecting the men who had been scattered in various parts of the line. They had all joined in the attack somewhere, although they received no instructions to do so. That night the Battalion marched back to Vermelles, and went into billets.

The casualties among the officers were : Lieut.-Colonel G. Hamilton and Lieutenant Shelley, gassed; Major the Hon. M. Ponsonby, Captain Thorne, Captain Sir George Houstoun-Boswall, Second Lieutenant A. Tompson, killed; Captain Aubrey Fletcher, Lieutenant P. Malcolm, Second Lieutenant M. Ridley, Lieutenant E. R. D. Hoare, Second Lieutenant Macmillan, wounded. The total casualties in other ranks amounted to 342.

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Part 13
Transcripts:
* 2nd Battalion - Boesinghe
* Diary of War - Aug -Sept.
* 1st Battn. Aug - Sept.
* Guards Divison - Oct. 1917
Crossing the Broembeek
* Diary of War - Oct - Dec.