The 101st 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 34th Division. After the original formation was converted into a reserve brigade, the number was transferred to a brigade of 'Pals battalions'. The brigade landed in France with 34th Division at the end of 1915 and then served on the Western Front for the rest of the war, seeing action at the Somme – when its battalions were shattered on the First Day – and at Arras and Ypres. Virtually destroyed during the German spring offensive of 1918, the brigade was reconstituted with new units in time to take part in the final battles of the war.

Original 101st 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 defending the Cromarty Firth were ordered to be formed into 101st Brigade in 34th Division:James, pp. 70, 84, 105–5. 12th (Service) Battalion, Scottish Rifles 11th (Service) Battalion, Black Watch 10th (Service) Battalion, Seaforth Highlanders 8th (Service) Battalion, Cameron Highlanders

On 4 December Brigadier-General S.B. Jameson 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: 101st Brigade became 13th Reserve Brigade.War Office Instruction No 96 of 10 April 1915.

New 101st Brigade

In June 1915 a new 101st Brigade was formed and assigned to the former 41st Division, now renumbered 34th Division. It consisted of K5 units that had been forming since late 1914. These were largely raised by local initiative rather than at regimental depots, and were known as 'Pals battalions':Becke, Pt 3b, pp. 41–50.34th Division at Long, Long Trail.Shakespear, pp. 2–3.War Office Instruction No 56 of September 1915, Appendix IX. 15th (Service) Battalion, Royal Scots (1st Edinburgh) – raised by the Lord Provost and City of Edinburgh in September 1914, though about half the men came from Manchester and sometimes known as the Manchester ScottishJames, p. 43.Royal Scots at Long, Long Trail. 16th (Service) Battalion, Royal Scots (2nd Edinburgh) – raised at Edinburgh largely from footballers and football supporters by Lt-Col Sir George McCrae, MP, and known as 'McCrae's Battalion' 10th (Service) Battalion, Lincolnshire Regiment (Grimsby) – raised by the Mayor and Town of Grimsby on 9 September 1914 and known as the 'Grimsby Chums'; transferred from original 115th BdeJames, p. 54.Lincolnshires at Long, Long Trail.Middlebrook, pp. 10–1. 11th (Service) Battalion, Suffolk Regiment (Cambridgeshire) – raised at Cambridge by the Cambridge and Isle of Ely Territorial Force Association on 25 September 1914James, p. 56.Suffolks at Long, Long Trail.Costin, pp. 1–3.

The rest of 34th Division consisted of battalions of the Northumberland Fusiliers (NF), organised as 102nd (Tyneside Scottish) and 103rd (Tyneside Irish) Bdes. 101st Brigade assembled at Fountains Abbey in North Yorkshire with Brigadier-Gen Hugh Fitton transferred from commanding the Tyne Garrison to take command. Training was hampered by the same lack of equipment as the other Kitchener units, but between 28 and 31 August 1915 the 34th Division concentrated on Salisbury Plain for final battle training. On 13 December it was ordered to mobilise for service in Egypt, but these orders were rescinded on 26 December and instead the division embarked for France to join the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) fighting on the Western Front. Entrainment for the embarkation ports began on 7 January 1916 and on 15 January it completed its concentration round La Crosse, near Saint-Omer.Costin, pp. 54–74.Shakespear, pp. 7–13.

Service Brigadier-Gen Fitton was mortally wounded during a reconnaissance of the front line on 18 January, and Col Charles Somerset of 11th Suffolks had to deputise until 28 January, when Lt-Col Robert Gore of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders arrived to take command.Costin, p. 74.Shakespear, pp. 13–4.Fitton at CWGC Records. 34th Division went into reserve behind III Corps. Parties of all arms were then sent into the line with 8th and 23rd Divisions to learn the routines of trench warfare. On 24 February the division took over its own sector of the front line. 207th (Norfolk) Field Company under Major MacMahon was attached to 101st Bde and billeted in Erquinghem.Costin, pp. 75–81.Shakespear, pp. 13–5.

The brigade was joined by its support troops in early 1916:Shakespear, p. 18. 101st Brigade Machine Gun (MG) Company – formed at Grantham on 21 February 1916, disembarked at Le Havre on 26 March and joined next day 101st Trench Mortar Battery (TMB) – formed by 6 July from: A/101 TMB formed by 18 February, redesignated 101/1 TMB on 10 March 101/2 TMB formed by 10 April

The TMBs were manned by troops drawn from the infantry battalions.

On 7 April 34th Division was relieved in the line and went to the Second Army training area behind St Omer. Early in May it proceeded by route march and train to Albert in the Somme sector, where it rejoined III Corps, which had moved south to prepare for the forthcoming 'Big Push' (the Battle of the Somme).Costin, p. 81.Shakespear, pp. 20–2.

First day on the Somme

The First day on the Somme was the first offensive operation for 34th Division. Attacking on the right of III Corps, its objectives (recognised as being ambitious) were the Capture of La Boisselle and an advance of almost to Contalmaison, crossing six successive trench lines. The bombardment began on 25 June but bad weather hindered artillery observation so the bombardment was extended by two days and the attack was postponed until 1 July. The battalions moved into their assembly trenches between 05.00 and 07.00 as the artillery began their final bombardment. 34th Division was to attack with 102nd Bde on the left, 101st on the right, each brigade forming two columns. 101st Brigade's left hand column consisted of the 10th Lincolns in the first wave, followed by the 11th Suffolks to pass through and capture the second objective, ahead, then 24th NF (1st Tyneside Irish) of 103rd Bde to go on to the final objective. The right column was led by 15th Royal Scots (RS), followed by 16th RS then 27th NF (4th Tyneside Irish) of 103rd Bde. The brigade's line of attack ran up 'Sausage Valley', overlooked to the north by the Schwabenhöhe fortification outside La Boisselle and to the south by the Heligoland strongpoint (known as 'Sausage Redoubt' to the British) projecting into No man's land, with 'Scots Redoubt' on the Fricourt Ridge behind it. However, the 179th Tunnelling Company, Royal Engineers (RE), had placed a huge mine under the Schwabenhöhe (the Lochnagar mine), which was fired at 07.28, 2 minutes before Zero. This obliterated a section of the German defences and created a very large crater. All three waves of the attacking columns went 'over the top' on time, at 07.30 for 101st Bde's right hand column, at 07.35 for the left column to allow the mine debris to settle (a few casualties were suffered from falling blocks of chalk).Costin, pp. 87–102.Edmonds, 1916, Vol I, pp. 371–7, Sketch 21.Middlebrook, pp. 97, 120–1.Murphy, pp. 154, 172–3.Shakespear, pp. 33–9.

The attack of the left column was a disaster. The German defences had not been suppressed by the long bombardment, and although some of the 10th Lincolns were able to rush forward and occupy Lochnagar crater before the Germans, they and the 11th Suffolks following them up Sausage Valley were shot down by German machine gun teams who came out of their deep dugouts as soon as the British barrage lifted. Many of the following waves suffered heavy casualties before they had even crossed the British front line. The 11th Suffolks was also hit by a weak counter-barrage that the Germans put down on the British front line. The 10th Lincolns and 11th Suffolks had of open ground to cross before they reached the main German line, and the waves were soon reduced to small groups of men. The Official History estimated that the leading battalions lost 80 per cent of their men in the first 10 minutes. The survivors took what cover they could on the open fire-swept zone, which the Germans worked over systematically with shellfire and machine guns, as they did with the new crater. The carrying parties with ammunition and bombs were unable to cross. The following 1st Tyneside Irish were ordered to halt once they reached the old British line rather than be thrown away in the same way.Costin, pp. 102–10.Edmonds, 1916, Vol I, pp. 375–7, 380–1.Middlebrook, pp. 135, 191, 218–9, 338.Murphy, pp. 173–7.Shakespear, pp. 41–2.