The 102nd Brigade was an infantry formation of the British Army during World War I. It was raised as part of 'Kitchener's Army' and assigned to the 34th Division. After the original formation was converted into a reserve brigade, the number was transferred to a brigade of 'Tyneside Scottish', four 'Pals battalions' of the Northumberland Fusiliers recruited from men of (mainly) Scottish birth or heritage working on Tyneside. The brigade landed in France at the end of 1915 and then served on the Western Front for the rest of the war. The brigade suffered appalling casualties on the First day of the Battle of the Somme. It recovered to participate in the Battle of Arras in 1917, but was virtually destroyed during the German spring offensive of 1918. It was reconstituted with different units in time to take part in the final battles of the war and the post-war occupation of the Rhineland.
Original 102nd 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 Portland Harbour Garrison were ordered to be formed into 102nd Brigade in 34th Division:James, pp. 43, 69, 81, 96. 14th (Service) Battalion, Royal Scots, formed at Weymouth, Dorset 9th (Service) Battalion, King's Own Scottish Borderers, formed at Portland 7th (Service) Battalion, Dorset Regiment, formed at Weymouth 8th (Service) Battalion, Wiltshire Regiment, formed at Weymouth
On 2 November Brigadier-General R.B. Fell 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 WO 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: 102nd Brigade became 14th Reserve Brigade.War Office Instruction No 96 of 10 April 1915.
102nd (Tyneside Scottish) 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 123rd Brigade of 41st Division became the new 102nd Brigade in 34th Division.Becke, Pt 3b, Appendix 2.Becke, Pt 3b, pp. 41–50.34th Division at Long, Long Trail. This brigade had been raised on Tyneside largely from Scots working in the mines and industry of the area, though many native 'Geordies' also joined. The request to the WO to form the brigade was originally turned down, but after a visit to Newcastle upon Tyne by Lord Haldane on 10 October 1915, permission was granted. The complete Tyneside Scottish Brigade of four battalions was raised by 16 November 1915 by Johnstone Wallace, Lord Mayor of Newcastle upon Tyne and a committee of Scotsmen. Reports of bodies of men and groups of miners marching 10 miles into the city to enlist are common.Middlebrook, Somme, pp. 13–4.Shakespear, p. 3.Simpkin, p. 100. It was numbered as 123rd Bde on 10 DecemberBecke, Pt 3b, Appendix 2. and the battalions were assigned to the local regiment, the Northumberland Fusiliers (NF):James, p. 47.Northumberland Fusiliers at Long, Long Trail.Adam & Innes, p. 512. 20th (Service) Battalion, Northumberland Fusiliers (1st Tyneside Scottish), commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel C.H. Innes Hopkins (formerly of the Scottish Rifles) 21st (Service) Battalion, Northumberland Fusiliers (2nd Tyneside Scottish), commanded by Colonel V.M. Stockley (formerly of the Indian Cavalry) 22nd (Service) Battalion, Northumberland Fusiliers (3rd Tyneside Scottish), commanded by Lt-Col A.P.A. Elphinstone (formerly of the Indian Army) 23rd (Service) Battalion, Northumberland Fusiliers (4th Tyneside Scottish), commanded by Captain J.C. Campbell (5th Royal Irish Rifles (Special Reserve))
(The 29th (Reserve) Bn (Tyneside Scottish) was formed in July 1915 from the depot companies of the brigade to train reinforcements, and was expanded to form 33rd (Reserve) Bn (Tyneside Scottish) in addition in June 1916.)
The brigade was concentrated in hutments at Alnwick by March 1915 under the command of retired Brig-Gen Trevor Ternan brought back from the reserve.Shakespear, p. 110. Training was hampered by the same lack of equipment as the other Kitchener formations, but 34th Division began to form in June 1915. Most of the division trained in North Yorkshire, but 102nd Bde remained at Alnwick until the end of August when the division concentrated on the Salisbury Plain Training Area for final battle training. Although many of the elderly 'dugout' officers were replaced by younger men, Boer War veteran Lt-Col Arthur Elphinstone (a former pupil of Monkton Combe School) continued to command the 3rd Tyneside Scottish. On 13 December the division 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.Shakespear, pp. 7–13.
Active service 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. 208th (Norfolk) Field Company, Royal Engineers (RE), was attached to 102nd Bde, but the REs remained in their places in the line while the infantry brigades were rotated between line holding and reserve.Shakespear, pp. 13–6.
The brigade was joined by its support troops in early 1916:Shakespear, p. 18. 102nd Brigade Machine Gun (MG) Company – formed at Grantham, disembarked at Le Havre on 26 April and joined next day 102nd Trench Mortar Battery (TMB) – formed by 17 June from: A/102 TMB formed by 16 February, redesignated 102/1 TMB on 12 March 102/2 TMB formed by 1 June
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).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 situated on a spur, and then 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. The plan was for 34th Division to attack with 102nd Bde on the left, 101st on the right, each brigade forming two columns. 102nd Brigade's columns were led by the 21st NF south and 20th NF north of the La Boisselle salient; a special force of 'bombers' from each battalion would turn inwards to clear the village itself. The attacking battalions were to be preceded by a creeping barrage. Each battalion was to advance in four waves, with special parties detailed to 'mop up' the captured trenches, and others to carry up supplies. This first line would be followed by the 22nd NF to the south and 23rd NF to the north. 103rd Brigade, starting from behind the British front line, would then pass through to capture the third objective. The infantry commanders had been dissatisfied with the results of the preliminary bombardment, so a special bombardment of La Boisselle village by Stokes mortars had been laid on, and other mortars laid a smoke screen on the village. Over preceding weeks 179th Tunnelling Company, RE, had placed huge mines under the flanking defences of La Boiselle, the Schwabenhöhe or Schwaben redoubt to the south (the Lochnagar mine), and the 'Y Sap' mine to the north. These mines were fired 2 minutes before Zero, at 07.28, obliterating sections of the German defences and creating very large craters.Edmonds, 1916, Vol I, pp. 371–6, Sketch 21.Middlebrook, Somme, pp. 120–1, 141.Shakespear, pp. 33–9.