The 93rd Brigade was an infantry formation of the British Army during World War I. It was raised as part of 'Kitchener's Army' and was assigned to the 31st Division. After the original formation was converted into a reserve brigade, the number was transferred to a brigade of 'Pals battalions' from Northern England. The brigade was sent to Egypt at the end of 1915 but was recalled to France shortly afterwards and then served on the Western Front for the rest of the war. The brigade was shattered on the First day on the Somme, but later saw action at Arras, in the German spring offensive of 1918, and the final Hundred Days Offensive.

Original 93rd Brigade

On 6 August 1914, less than 48 hours after Britain's declaration of war, Parliament sanctioned an increase of 500,000 men for the Regular British Army. The newly appointed Secretary of State for War, Earl Kitchener of Khartoum, issued his famous call to arms: 'Your King and Country Need You', urging the first 100,000 volunteers to come forward. This group of six divisions with supporting arms became known as Kitchener's First New Army, or 'K1'.War Office Instructions No 32 (6 August) and No 37 (7 August).Becke, Pt 3a, pp. 2 & 8. The K2 and K3 battalions, brigades and divisions followed soon afterwards. So far, the battalions had all been formed at the depots of their parent regiments, but recruits had also been flooding in to the Special Reserve (SR) battalions (the former Militia). These were deployed at their war stations in coastal defence where they were training and equipping reservists to provide reinforcement drafts to the Regular Army fighting overseas. The SR battalions were soon well above their establishment strength and on 8 October 1914 the War Office (WO) ordered each SR battalion to use the surplus to form a service battalion of the 4th New Army ('K4'). In November K4 battalions were organised into 18 brigades numbered from 89 to 106 and formed into the 30th–35th Divisions.Becke, Pt 3b, Appendix I.James, Appendixes II & III.

Initially, the K4 units remained in the coast defences alongside their parent SR battalions. On 5 November 1914 four K4 battalions in the Thames and Medway Garrison were ordered to be formed into 93rd Brigade in 31st Division:James, pp. 44, 90, 93. 9th (Service) Battalion, Queen's (Royal West Surrey Regiment), formed at Gravesend 9th (Service) Battalion, Queens Own (Royal West Kent Regiment), formed at Chatham 14th (Service) Battalion, Middlesex Regiment, formed at Chatham 15th (Service) Battalion, Middlesex Regiment, formed at Gillingham

On 1 December Brigadier-General W.H.H. Walters was appointed to command the brigade. The units began training for active service, but the lack of uniforms, weapons, equipment and instructors that had been experienced by the K1–K3 units was even greater for those of K4, and by April 1915 their training was still at an elementary stage. On 10 April 1915 the War Office decided to convert the K4 battalions into reserve units, to provide drafts for the K1–K3 battalions in the same way that the SR was doing for the Regular battalions. The K4 divisions were broken up and the brigades were renumbered: 93rd Brigade became 5th Reserve Brigade.War Office Instruction No 96 of 10 April 1915.

New 93rd Brigade

Meanwhile, the K5 units had been forming since late 1914. These were largely raised by local initiative rather than at regimental depots, and were known as 'Pals battalions'. The first six K5 divisions (37–42) and their constituent brigades were given the numbers of the disbanded K4 formations on 27 April 1915. Thus 114th Brigade of 38th Division became the new 93rd Brigade in 31st Division:Becke, Pt 3b, Appendix 2.Becke, Pt 3b, pp. 11–9.31st Division at Long, Long Trail.James, p. 58.James, p. 101.West Yorkshire Regiment at Long, Long Trail.Durham Light Infantry at Long, Long Trail.War Office Instruction No 56 of September 1915, Appendix IX. 15th (Service) Battalion, West Yorkshire Regiment (1st Leeds) – raised by the Lord Mayor and City of Leeds 8 September 1914 16th (Service) Battalion, West Yorkshire Regiment (1st Bradford) – raised by the Lord Mayor and City of Bradford 13 September 1914 18th (Service) Battalion, West Yorkshire Regiment (2nd Bradford) – raised by the Lord Mayor and City of Bradford 22 January 1915 18th (Service) Battalion, Durham Light Infantry (1st County) – raised at Durham by Colonel Rowland Burdon, 10 September 1914

At first the men lived at home and training was carried out at their home towns, hampered by an almost total lack of instructors and equipment. The 'Durham Pals' (18th DLI) were unusual in that the Earl of Durham placed Cockpen Hall at the battalion's disposal for training. On 16 November this battalion was ordered to send two companies to Hartlepool to assist in coast defence. They were manning trenches a month later when German warships carried out a Raid on Scarborough, Hartlepool and Whitby, and suffered casualties of 6 killed and 10 wounded – the first Kitchener battalion to come under enemy fire.

The division concentrated at South Camp, Ripon, in May 1915, soon after it was renumbered. In September it moved to Fovant where it carried out final intensive battle training on Salisbury Plain. On 29 November 1915 the division received warning orders to join the British Expeditionary Force in France, and advance parties set out for the embarkation ports of Folkestone and Southampton. At the last minute, the destination was changed to Egypt, the advance parties were recalled, and on 7 December the troops embarked at Devonport.

The division reached Port Said between 24 December and 23 January 1916 and went into the Suez Canal defences at Qantara. On 26 February orders arrived to reverse the process and on 1 March the division began re-embarking at Port Said. It unloaded at Marseille between 6 and 16 March and then concentrated in the Somme area as part of the BEF. It remained on the Western Front for the rest of the war.

Soon after its arrival in France 93rd Brigade was joined by its support troops: 93rd Trench Mortar Battery (TMB) – formed as 93/1 and 93/2 TMBs on 12 April, and combined into a single battery by 12 June 93rd Brigade Machine Gun (MG) Company – formed at Grantham, disembarked at Le Havre on 17 May and joined on 20 May

First day of the Somme 31st Division was part of the concentration of troops in the Somme sector for that summer's 'Big Push' the Battle of the Somme. Despite all the preparation and high hopes, the First day on the Somme (1 July) was a disaster for 31st Division. Its task was to take the village of Serre and form a defensive flank for the rest of Fourth Army. 93rd Brigade was to attack up a re-entrant with 15th West Yorks leading, while 16th West Yorks and D Company of 18th DLI attacked Pendant Copse on the right. The troops left their trenches at 07.20 when the nearby Hawthorn Ridge mine was exploded, 10 minutes before Zero. Thus alerted, the enemy put down a heavy artillery barrage on the British line and their machine gun. teams came out of their dugouts. When the leading waves set off at 07.30, they were almost annihilated by German fire: 15th West Yorks lost nearly all their officers. The survivors of 15th West Yorks were pinned down in No man's land, while 16th West Yorks suffered heavily as they advanced from the support line, even before they crossed the front line. Nevertheless, some of the DLI got into Pendant Copse. 18th West Yorks in support was unable to make any headway across the fire-swept No man's land, and the rest of 18th DLI in reserve was kept back. About 09.00 the enemy opposite 93rd Bde appeared to be concentrating for a counter-attack on the chaotic British jumping-off trenches, and disregarding divisional orders Brig-Gen Ingles brought back the artillery barrage to disperse them. Most of the divisional pioneer battalion, the 12th King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry (Leeds Miners), was brought up to support 93rd Bde. By noon the sector was quiet apart from occasional shelling and sniping at the men pinned down in No man's land; those Germans in front of 93rd Bde came out to clear the 15th West Yorks from their barbed wire. Although a fresh attack was ordered for the afternoon, the divisional commander and commanders of 93rd and 94th Bdes concluded that neither brigade was fit for any further offensive operation. 93rd Brigades's losses had been 598 killed, 1197 wounded and 28 missing, the 15th West Yorks alone losing 528. The men in No man's land slipped back after dark. Next day, as stretcher-bearers worked to remove casualties from No man's land, 18th DLI held the front line. The shattered division was then pulled out and sent north to a quiet sector for rest and refit.Edmonds, 1916, Vol I, pp. 441–4, 448–51, Sketch 23.Bilton, pp. 133–6.Horsfall & Cave, pp. 53–68, 74.Middlebrook, pp. 113, 122–31, 137–8, 150–1, 161–2, 195–7, 216–20, 236–41, Appendix 5.

Ancre The Somme Offensive was still going on at the end of October when 31st Division returned to the sector for the Battle of the Ancre, which was to be the last big operation of the year. The division made another attempt to capture Serre on 13 November, but 93rd Bde was still not fit for active operations. Apart from its MG company, which supported the attack, its role was restricted to standing by to release a smokescreen, but in the event the wind was unfavourable for this.Horsfall & Cave, p. 77.Miles, 1916, Vol II, p. 500.

In late February 1917 the Germans began a withdrawal to the Hindenburg Line (Operation Alberich). They disappeared from the Ancre Front on 24 February and 31st Division was ordered to send out strong patrols next day to regain touch with them. On 26 February the division made the biggest advance in the sector, but next day 93rd Bde was checked at Rossignol Wood. When 16th West Yorks attacked the wood it was held up, those troops who reached the wood being shot down by enfilade machine gun fire. However, a two-man patrol from 18th DLI passed through Gommecourt Park (scene of bitter fighting on 1 July 1916) and found Gommecourt village entirely unoccupied; 93rd Bde handed this over to the neighbouring division. The division completed the capture of Rossignol Wood on 3–4 March.Falls, 1917, Vol I, pp. 96, 100–2, 104.

Oppy Wood

On 8 April 1917, the division left the Ancre and moved to the Arras sector for the Arras Offensive. After a period of training and trench-holding, it moved into assembly trenches opposite Oppy during the night of 2/3 May, under shellfire. The British creeping barrage started at 03.45 and the 92nd and 93rd Brigades set off, in the dark and mist, into severe machine gun fire from Oppy Wood. 15th, 18th and 16th West Yorks (right to left) made good progress at first, some companies reaching their final objective. However, 92nd Bde on their left met with disaster and strong counter-attacks from this flank drove the three battalions back. The enemy even captured Gavrelle Windmill within the British lines, but were driven out by a skilful counter-attack by a company of 18th DLI. The Arras offensive petered out during May, but 18th DLI made a night attack from Gavrelle on 17/18 May. Advancing up the Douai road, the battalion failed to capture the enemy's frontline trench. (The Capture of Oppy Wood was not completed until 28 June, when 94th Bde took part in the operation.)Bilton, pp. 178–91.Edmonds, 1917, Vol II, pp. 113–4.Falls, 1917, Vol I, pp. 446–7, 522.

31st Division was not committed to the Third Ypres Offensive, which culminated in the dreadful Battle of Passchendaele, possibly because it was not considered to have recovered from its ordeal on the Somme a year before.John Lee, 'The British Divisions at Third Ypres', p. 226, in Liddle, Passchendaele in Perspective.

Reorganisation