The Gloucestershire Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army. Before World War I it comprised two regular battalions, two reserve battalions, and two territorial battalions. During the war an additional 18 battalions were raised. In total 16 battalions of the Gloucestershire Regiment saw active service during World War I; on the Western Front in France and Flanders, Italy, Gallipoli, Egypt, Mesopotamia, Persia, and Salonika.
Background
The Gloucestershire Regiment was formed as a result of the Childers Reforms of 1881 by the amalgamation of the 28th and the 61st Regiments, and was headquartered at Horfield Barracks in Bristol.Daniell pp.186-187 The new regiment comprised two regular and four auxiliary battalions. The regiment was further restructured following the Territorial and Reserve Forces Act 1907 – part of the Haldane Reforms which converted the militia and volunteer auxiliary battalions into the Special Reserve and the Territorial Force – and at the outbreak of the First World War in 1914 the Gloucestershire Regiment comprised: 1st Battalion – assigned to the 3rd Infantry Brigade, 1st Infantry Division, British Expeditionary Force 2nd Battalion – deployed to Tianjin, China 3rd (Reserve) Battalion, Special Reserve – based at the regimental depot in Bristol 4th (City of Bristol) Battalion, Territorial Force – based at Queen's Road in Clifton and subsequently Old Market Street in Bristol 5th Battalion, Territorial Force – based at Brunswick Road in Gloucester (since demolished) 6th Battalion, Territorial Force – based at St Michael's Hill in Bristol (since demolished)Daniell pp201-202
During the course of the war the regiment raised an additional 18 battalions. Each of the Territorial Force battalions volunteered for service overseas and raised a second battalion. The six territorial battalions were numbered 1/4th, 2/4th, 1/5th, 2/5th, 1/6th, and 2/6th. The Territorials also raised a 3rd battalion each in 1915 as home-based reserves, though in 1916 these were merged to form the 4th (City of Bristol) Reserve Battalion.Daniell p.423 Another home-based territorial battalion, the 17th, was raised in 1917. Additionally, as volunteers answered Kitchener's call to arms, ten New Army battalions, the 7th to the 16th, were added to the regiment's establishment between 1914 and 1916. Finally, the 18th battalion was raised in 1918 from a cadre of the 5th Battalion, the Ox & Bucks Light Infantry.Bullock, 2009 Of the 24 Gloucestershire Regiment battalions that existed during the war, 16 were to see active service; on the western front in France and Flanders, Italy, Gallipoli, Egypt, Mesopotamia, Persia, and Salonika.Daniell p203. Daniell refers to Salonika as Macedonia.
Active service battalions and their brigade/division attachments
+ Battalion Brigade Division Theatre Deployed 1st 3rd 1st Western frontLittlewood p1 August 1915Wyrall p6 2nd 81st82nd (November 1916) 27th Western frontSalonika December 1914December 1915Littlewood pp27 & 29 1/4th (City of Bristol) 144th (Gloucester & Worcester) 48th (South Midland) Western frontItaly March 1915November 1917Littlewood pp37 & 41Wyrall p243 1/5th 145th (South Midland)75th (September 1918) 48th (South Midland)25th Western frontItalyWestern Front March 1915November 1917September 1918Littlewood pp59 & 61 1/6th 144th 48th (South Midland) Western frontItaly March 1915November 1917Littlewood pp87 & 90 2/4th (City of Bristol) 183rd (2nd Gloucester & Worcester) 61st (2nd South Midland) Western front May 1916Littlewood p51 2/5th 184th (2nd South Midland) 61st (2nd South Midland) Western front May 1916Littlewood p73 2/6th 183rd 61st (2nd South Midland) Western front May 1916Littlewood p99 7th 39th 13th (Western) GallipoliEgyptMesopotamiaPersia June 1915January 1916March 1916July 1918Littlewood pp107-108 & 110 8th 57th 19th (Western) Western front July 1915Littlewood p117 9th 78th 26th Salonika November 1915Littlewood p133 10th 1st 1st Western front August 1915Littlewood p139 12th (Bristol's Own) 95th 5th Western frontItalyWestern front December 1915December 1917April 1918Littlewood pp147-149 13th (Forest of Dean) Divisional pioneers 39th Western front March 1916Littlewood p159 14th (West of England) 105th 35th (Bantam) Western front January 1916Littlewood p167 18th 49th 16th Western front August 1918Littlewood p175
Western Front
On the Western Front, hostilities commenced 2 August 1914 with the German invasion of Luxembourg and Belgium, designed to envelop Paris in a right sweep that avoided the most heavily defended French territory. The French, whose main effort was directed towards Alsace and Lorraine as a prelude to an invasion of Germany, were thrown onto the defensive on their left flank, which included one cavalry and four infantry divisions of the British Expeditionary Force. At the end of a two-week retreat from Mons the French managed to stop the Germans on the outskirts of Paris in the First Battle of the Marne. German forces retreated to the River Aisne and dug in, the first act of trench warfare that was to dominate the war.Sheffield pp32-37
The Gloucestershire Regiment suffered its first casualties of the war on 26 August 1914 during the retreat from Mons, when 1st Battalion fought a rearguard action in the vicinity of Landrecies, southwest of Mons, losing 5 killed and 30 wounded before retiring with the rest of the 1st Division. By the time that the retreat ended the battalion had covered 200 miles in just 13 days. As the Germans fell back to the Aisne, the Anglo-French forces went over to the offensive, and on 13 September 1st Division began crossing the river, their objective being the Chemin des Dames ridge in the area of Cerny and Courtecon. The next day a German attack pushed back the division's 2nd Brigade, and the Glosters' B and C Companies covered the retreat of the now exposed 1st Brigade. For their actions, 2nd Lieutenant Watkins of C Company was awarded the Military Cross (MC), and Privates Orr and Law of D Company were awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal (DCM), the first such awards to the regiment in the war.Littlewood pp1-2. Privates Orr and Law crossed 100 yards of open ground under fire to rescue a wounded scout By the time the BEF moved to Ypres in mid-October, total casualties to the battalion in the fighting along the river Aisne had risen to 150 officers and men.Daniell pp204-205
First Battle of Ypres Battalions involved: 1st
With stalemate on the Aisne, the opposing armies attempted to outflank each other in the Race to the Sea, which ended 8 October with the French Tenth Army facing the German Sixth Army close to the coast in the area of St. Omer. Between 11 and 18 October the BEF moved from the Aisne and slotted into the allied left flank in the area between St. Omer and Bethune, on the right of the French Tenth Army.Wyrall pp56-58 The allies planned to attack northeast on a line between Ypres and Nieuport, drive the weakened German III Corps against the coast, and wheel right to take the rest of the German Sixth Army in the flank and rear. They had not discovered, however, that behind III Corps the Germans had assembled the Fourth Army, consisting of four fresh corps, and were themselves planning to attack, and the opposing forces clashed in the First Battle of Ypres (19 October - 22 November 1914).Wyrall pp61-62
On 21 October, during the Battle of Langemarck, the opening engagement of the First Battle of Ypres, 1st Battalion occupied a salient around the village of Langemarck, nearly north of Ypres. Elements of C Company commanded by Lieutenant Wetherall, defending the tip of the salient at the hamlet of Koekuit, were particularly hard pressed, beating back repeated attacks until ordered to withdraw after dark. For his stubborn defence Wetherall was awarded the MC.Daniell p205Wyrall pp64-68
Two days later three platoons led by Captain Rising conducted a "...stout defence..." against a "...determined attack by the enemy..." on the northern outskirts of Langemarck. Their situation had become critical when the 1st Battalion Coldstream Guards was forced back, exposing the Glosters' left flank. Two of the three platoon leaders were killed and the third wounded, and with 51 casualties amongst the other ranks, Rising's group came close to being overwhelmed.Wyrall pp68-69 For their actions Captain Rising was awarded the Distinguished Service Order (DSO), Lieutenant Baxter (4 Platoon commander) was awarded the MC, and four men were awarded the DCM.Wyrall pp69-70 The DCM recipients were Sergeants Eddy and Knight, both of A Company, Private Crossman, also A Company, and Private Wilson, D Company. 1st Division was relieved overnight on 24–25 October, and 1st Glosters marched into reserve positions behind the lines near Gheluvelt, some east of Ypres early on the 25th.Wyrall p71
On 28 October 1st Battalion was notified that it may be called on as a reserve by 1st Brigade. Accordingly, a platoon and Lt. Duncan's machine-gun section went into the line alongside the Coldstream Guards at the Kruiseecke crossroads on the Menin road south east of Gheluvelt. At 06:30 the next day Lt.Duncan appeared at battalion HQ to report the loss of his guns; a large German force had emerged from the early morning mist and practically annihilated the Guards battalions. A counter-attack towards Gheluvelt by 1st Battalion broke down into a series of disconnected company actions. C Company advanced into the chateau northeast of the village, but took several casualties early on and ceased to exist as a company when the few officers remaining became separated. A Company advanced close behind C Company and linked up with the remnants of the Black Watch and Scots Guards, but a mixed group of 120 Glosters and Guards were outflanked and forced to surrender. D Company advanced to within of the original front line on the Kruiseecke road, where they helped rally the remnants of the Guards there, but found themselves otherwise alone facing enemy both to the north and east. Outnumbered, they nevertheless stood their ground until the remainder of A Company arrived to their rear, allowing them to fall back . B Company had followed behind D, then turned right to advance on Kruiseecke, but were stopped east of Gheluvelt. In the afternoon 3rd Brigade came up and relieved the surviving Glosters, though a party of some 50 or 60 men under B Company commander Captain Blunt remained in positions in front of the line until the evening. The battalion had lost 7 officers and 160 other ranks.Wyrall pp71-75
As the battle raged on around Ypres the Glosters were repeatedly called upon to participate in costly counter-attacks: on 31 October and 2 November around Gheluvelt; on 6 November towards Zwarteleen some southeast of Ypres; and on 11 November in the Battle of Nonne Bosschen. Casualties had at one stage reduced the battalion to 200 – 300 all ranks, around a quarter of its original strength. Other units fared little better, with 3rd Brigade having been reduced to little more than battalion strength. By mid-November the German attempt to capture Ypres exhausted itself, and 1st Battalion was taken out of the line to be rested and brought back up to strength. The Glosters had a month previously marched towards Langemarck with 25 officers and 970 other ranks. Of that number, just 2 officers and not more than 100 men had survived the First Battle of Ypres.Wyrall pp77-88
Winter 1914-1915