Somme

1/5th Gloucesters served in the trenches for 16 months before it participated in its first major battle, during the Somme offensive. On the First day on the Somme (1 July) the battalion was in reserve and did not participate in the division's actions, though suffering a few casualties from shellfire. An attack planned for the next day was cancelled. On 13 July the battalion attempted a raid, but was driven back; it was relieved on 16 July.^{[28][29][41][42][43]} On 19 July it went into the line north-east of Ovillers–la-Boisselle and began 'softening' the German strongpoints in front of the Pozières Ridge by sending out bombing parties. Two such raids went out under heavy fire on 20 July and the battalion lost 4 officers and 110 men. On 23 July the 1/5th Bn went 'over the top' into murderous machine gun fire during the main attack (the Battle of Pozières) and was driven back with the loss of 13 officers and 125 men.^{[28][29][44][45][46][47]}

Private Frederick G. Neale, 13 Platoon, D Company, 1/5th Gloucesters. Reported missing in action during the Battle of Pozières, 16 August 1916, he is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial to the missing of the Somme.

The division was relieved at the end of July, but was back in action on Pozières Ridge on 14–15 August, fighting unsuccessfully to capture and hold 'Skyline Trench'. On 18 August the battalion supported a more successful attack by 143rd (Warwickshire) Brigade, which took 400 prisoners, and on 25 August 1/5th Gloucesters launched two companies against German trenches, which were captured after a fierce fight.^{[28][29][48][49][50]}

The battalion spent the winter on the Ancre Heights, and then on 16 March 1917 the Germans began to retreat to the Hindenburg Line prepared in their rear (Operation Alberich). 1/5th Gloucesters raided La Maisonette next day and despite shellfire they quickly got into the German trenches and pushed patrols through the village, finding the Germans gone – the first unit in III Corps to discover this. Three days later it was in Peronne, fighting fires left by the retreating Germans and clearing the rubble-blocked streets. On 5 April 145th Brigade attacked Lempire and the battalion was through the village in little more than an hour and consolidating on the far side, though at the cost of 56 casualties, 15 of them fatal. The battalion supported another attack on the night of 16/17 April in 'abominable' weather, occupying the ground captured and then sending out a fighting patrol early in the morning. The advance was now called off, having reached the main Hindenburg defences.^{[28][29][51][52][53]}

Ypres

The battlefield of Poelcappelle.

After a period of training 48th (SM) Division moved to the Ypres Salient in July to take part in the Third Ypres Offensive.^[54][55] During the Battle of Langemarck (16–18 August), 1/5th Battalion took part in 145th Brigade's difficult attack on a German strongpoint built into the most northerly house in the village of St Julien. The advance then met a heavy crossfire as the leading wave topped the rise of ground about 200 yards (180 m) east of the Steenbeck. Further attempts to advance only resulted in additional casualties. The battalion dug in and held on against determined counter-attacks. By the end of the action the 1/5th had lost 8 officers and 209 other ranks killed and wounded; only four frontline company officers survived Langemarck.^{[28][29][51][56][57][58]}

As the offensive continued, 1/5th Gloucesters took a small part in the Battle of Polygon Wood (26 September), supplying two companies to support an attack by 175th (2/3rd London) Brigade, then next day it relieved a London battalion in the line and was heavily shelled, with 16 men killed. On 28 September the CO, Lt-Col Adam, was gassed and evacuated. After three days' rest the battalion re-entered the line for an attack on 4 October (the Battle of Broodseinde). It was in reserve, and began its attack late in the afternoon, in heavy rain. Three companies attacked, each with a farm as its objective. Held up by the mud the attackers fell behind the Creeping barrage and were caught by machine guns. After advancing about 300 yards (270 m) all the men could do was dig in; casualties were 131, of whom 25 died. During the Battle of Poelcappelle on 9 October, 1/5th Gloucesters supplied carrying parties and stretcher-bearers to assist 144th (Gloucester & Worcester) Brigade.^{[28][29][51][59][60]}

Italy

On 11 October the 48th (SM) Division was relieved from the Ypres sector and went to hold the line near Vimy. On 10 November 1917 it received orders to transfer to the Italian Front, and the move began on 21 November. By 30 November the units had finished detraining around Legnago on the Adige and 1/5th Gloucesters was billeted at San Gregorio nelle Alpi, moving to Stroppari by the end of the year.^{[28][29][30][51][61][62][63]} On 1 March 1918 the division relieved 7th Division in the front line of the Montello sector on the Piave Front, and held the line until 16 March, with 1/5th Gloucesters engaging in active patrolling. On 1 April it moved westward into reserve for the middle sector of the Asiago Plateau Front.^{[28][29][30][64][65]}

On 15 June the Austro-Hungarian Army made what proved to be its last attack, known to the British participants as the Battle of Asiago. The 48th (SM) Division had been particularly hard-hit by the Spanish flu epidemic, and the 1/5th Bn was only about 490 strong; the brigadier had hesitated whether it should even take its place in the line. The attacking Austrians got through the weakly-held outposts in the woods and then outflanked the main defences to reach 1/5th Bn's HQ. The battalion HQ staff, cooks, signallers, drivers and batmen made a stand, holding on until one of the companies came round the enemy flank, and were then rescued by the arrival of another brigade. The battalion's casualties amounted to 11 officers and 138 other ranks killed and missing, with nine officers and 64 other ranks wounded; its desperate stand was rewarded with a DSO, two MCs, one DCM and six MMs.^{[28][29][30][51][66][67][68]}

Hundred Days

25th Divisional insignia^[69]

The British force in Italy was now called on to provide battalions to rebuild divisions shattered in the German spring offensive on the Western Front. Thee battalions of 48th (SM) Division, including 1/5th Glosters, returned to the BEF on 11 September 1918 to reconstitute 75th Brigade in 25th Division, though 1/5th Gloucesters only had enough men for three instead of four platoons per company. The division joined the Fourth Army Reserve at the end of the month during the Allied Hundred Days Offensive.^{[28][51][70][71][72][73][74]}

25th Division was gradually moved forward, and began to take over frontline positions on 3/4 October. It was facing the Beaurevoir Line, with the village of Beaurevoir standing on a hill giving complete command over exposed ground in front. The German positions were concealed among farm buildings, houses and the railway embankment and the first attacks failed. 75th Brigade was brought up to renew the attack on 5 October. Zero hour was 18.40, but even before the barrage had lifted, 1/5th Gloucesters left its lines at 18.25, climbed the railway embankment west of Beaurevoir, and cleared away the machine gunners on the other side while they were still taking cover from the barrage. The two leading companies (A on the left, B on the right) then passed through to the village, meeting little opposition except from isolated machine guns and snipers, which were quickly dealt with by the 'moppers-up' of C Company. By nightfall the battalion occupied a line on the far side of the village. Its casualties were 54, of whom 11 died.^{[73][75][76][77]}

The division then participated in the pursuit across open country against weak opposition (the Second Battle of Cambrai), until the line of the River Selle was reached on 10 October. 25th Division was in reserve during the first day of the Battle of the Selle (17 October), but 75th Brigade was tasked with following up the next day's attack. 1/5th Gloucesters was one of the leading battalions, suffering from the German counter-bombardment during the approach march, then passing through the attacking group of 50th (Northumbrian) Division, which had been held up short of the first objective. The battalion was opposed by machine guns from both flanks and by direct fire from field guns at short range, but the gun crews were driven away with Lewis gun fire and the guns captured. The brigade then pushed on to the crest of the ridge overlooking Bazuel. As the Germans could be heard withdrawing during the night 75th Brigade made an early start next morning and completed the capture of the original second objective by 07.30.^[73][78][79]

75th Brigade attacked again on 23 October, although its strength was by now barely that of a battalion. It made the second phase attack about an hour after Zero. 1/5th Gloucesters captured Bazuel and advanced on Pommereuil, on the fringes of the Bois l'Évêque, where it was held up by a line of machine guns in a sunken lane. Private Francis Miles went forward alone under heavy fire, located one of the machine guns, shot the gunner and put it out of action. Seeing another machine gun nearby he advanced again, shot the gunner and rushed the gun position, capturing the team of eight men. He then stood up and beckoned forward the rest of his company, guiding them by signals to work around the rear of the position. The company captured 16 machine guns, one officer and 50 other ranks. Private Miles was awarded the Victoria Cross, his citation stating that 'it was due to the courage, initiative and entire disregard of personal safety shown by this gallant soldier that the company was enabled to advance at a time when any delay would have jeopardised seriously the operation'.^{[51][73][80][81][82]}

After forcing the Selle, Fourth Army continued its advance to the Sambre–Oise Canal, where it paused for 10 days to prepare an assault crossing at Landrecies (the Battle of the Sambre, 4 November). 75th Brigade led 25th Division's crossing – which the other brigades did not believe could be achieved – and there was a competition between the battalions as to which could get over first. 1/5th Gloucesters was in the lead, but it was a company of 1/8th Worcestershire Regiment that rushed an undamaged bridge, closely followed by the Glosters, while the rest of the brigade was ferried across the canal on petrol-tin rafts. By 12.45 the Germans were in full retreat, leaving behind many prisoners and guns. The battalion's losses were 65, of which 14 were fatal. The pursuit continued until 75th Brigade's advance was checked at some high ground on 7 November, but advances elsewhere along the line soon outflanked the Germans and 25th Division established a line just beyond Saint-Hilaire-sur-Helpe that evening. The division was then relieved and withdrawn behind the Sambre. It was still resting when the Armistice with Germany came into force on 11 November.^{[70][83][84][85][86]}

25th Division's units were engaged in salvage work in the months after the Armistice. Demobilisation started in January and gradually the units dwindled away. By 28 March 1919 the division was reduced to cadre strength, and 1/5th Gloucesters was disembodied on 5 July 1919.^[4][70] During the war 30 officers and 557 other ranks of the battalion had died.^{[33][lower-alpha 2]}

Fromelles and the Somme

A German concrete strongpoint in the Fromelles salient, July 1916.

Unlike the 48th (SM) Division, which had over a year of trench service before undertaking its first attack, the 61st had only a matter of weeks. After a short tour of duty for each battalion in the front line near Laventie, during which 2/5th Gloucesters carried out an unsuccessful raid, the division was thrown into the Attack at Fromelles on 19 July 1916. In a diversionary action to relieve pressure on the Somme front, the attacking troops were committed to a short advance over flat, waterlogged country against strong defences including concrete machine gun emplacements. The attack was a disaster, the assaulting battalions taking very heavy casualties, but 2/5th Bn in brigade reserve escaped the worst. Afterwards the battalion provided stretcher-bearers and burial parties. 61st (2nd SM) Division was only used for trench-holding for the rest of the year, but this did not preclude active raiding. For example, on the night of 27/28 July the Germans attacked Duck's Bill Crater, situated in No man's land and usually guarded by a small sentry group. As soon as the German barrage came down, A Company promptly moved down the sap into the crater, thereby avoiding the shelling and being in position to repel the attack; a bombing party took the attackers in the flank, and a second attack was also beaten off. The company received two MCs, two DCMs and six MMs. In August C Company carried out a successful raid, for which it had trained for two weeks.^{[90][91][95][96][97]}

At the beginning of November the division moved to the Somme sector, going into the line in front of Grandcourt. Much of January 1917 was spent out of the line, training at Gapennes, and then in February 48th (SM) Division relieved a French formation in the Ablaineville sector. The battalion was out of the line at Guillaucourt on 17 March when news arrived of the German retreat to the Hindenburg Line, and instead of resting it was sent forward to Vermandovillers, and then spent 10 days repairing damaged roads. As the slow pursuit continued, A Company attacked Bihecourt on 2 April with the support of a field artillery battery, catching the defenders by surprise and quickly overrunning the village. On 7 April B and C Companies made a further attack on the enemy's rearguards, a costly operation resulting in 15 other ranks killed and seven officers and 27 other ranks wounded. The division took up positions facing the Hindenburg Line in front of St Quentin. By now the battalion was very tired, and had been reduced to three companies of three platoons each. In May, 2/5th Gloucesters moved to the Arras area for rest and training. Reinforcements permitted D Company to be reformed in July.^{[90][91][98][99]}

Ypres and Cambrai

Captured German pillbox or 'Mebu' at Ypres

61st (2nd SM) Division moved to Ypres in July, and was put in as a fresh formation at the end of the Battle of Langemarck on 22 August. With 2/5th Gloucesters in close support behind the leading battalions, 184th Brigade made slow progress against the concrete pillboxes and machine-gun nests hidden in the farm buildings on their front. 2/4th Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry (OBLI) failed to take the Pond Farm strongpoint, but two platoons of D Company, 2/5th Gloucesters, and then two platoons of C Company finally succeeded in killing or capturing the whole garrison, at heavy cost to themselves. A German counter-attack temporarily recaptured Pond Farm that night, but it was easily secured next morning. The battalion was relieved for refitting, and did not participate in the division's final attacks.^{[90][91][100][101][102][lower-alpha 3]}

While the Ypres fighting continued, 2/5th Gloucesters moved by train to the Arras sector, where C Company carried out a trench raid on 23 October.^[104] In late November 61st (2nd SM) Division moved south to relieve exhausted British formations after the Battle of Cambrai. By the time it arrived the Germans had launched a heavy counter-offensive. 2/5th Gloucesters spent a day in support behind 3rd Guards Brigade, which had been fighting for eight days, then moved up the following night (2/3 December) to a position behind Welsh Ridge. D Company had just halted in a sunken lane when a German night-bomber hit a nearby ammunition dump: the company lost 16 killed and 53 wounded in the resulting explosion. At dawn a German attack drove 183rd (2nd Gloucester and Worcester) Brigade back from La Vacquerie to the slopes of Welsh Ridge, where 2/5th Gloucesters stabilised the situation. The next few weeks were spent in consolidation.^[105][106]

In January 1918 61st (SM) Division took over a sector from the French in front of St Quentin and began constructing the new system of defences mandated by General Headquarters. These were designed to economise on manpower because the BEF was suffering severe shortages. During February the 2/4th and 2/6th Gloucesters of 183rd Brigade were disbanded, many of their men being drafted to bring 2/5th Bn up to full strength.^{[90][91][107][108][109][110][111]}

Spring Offensive

When the German spring offensive was launched on 21 March 1918, 61st (2nd SM) Division was manning its revised frontline positions. 2/4th OBLI held 184th Brigade's Forward Zone position ('Enghein Redoubt') overlooking Fayet, behind which 2/5th Gloucesters held Holnon Wood 4,000 yards (3,700 m) back in the Battle Zone. After a heavy bombardment the thick morning mist allowed the attackers to close in and penetrate between the Forward Zone redoubts. The remains of 2/4th OBLI held out in Enghein Redoubt until about 16.00; very few managed to cut their way out. A few survivors and stragglers of the battalion attached themselves to 2/5th Gloucesters, which had been fighting since about 13.00. By then the mist had cleared and they had the advantage of a wide field of fire, allowing them to inflict severe losses on the advancing Germans – a vindication of the new defensive tactics. The Germans were unable to get closer than a few hundred yards and 2/5th Gloucesters held their positions all day.^{[112][113][114][115][116]}

A return of the mist next morning allowed German parties to infiltrate behind the battalion's support positions where they began to cause casualties among Battalion HQ and D Company. A bombardment began at 09.00 and several attacks on C Company's position were thrown back. After midday the battalion's position became desperate: the Battle Zone to its left had been lost and it would soon be surrounded. The battalion did not know that the rest of the division had been ordered to retire to the River Somme, and it was not until 15.30 that the order to retire got through. D Company in the support trench covered the retreat of the other companies, and then had to fight a stiff rearguard action while under enfilading machine gun fire. A party of Battalion HQ stayed in position to cover the withdrawal of the rest of HQ: almost all were killed or captured. The battalion got back to the Rear Zone trenches at Beauvois about 17.00, where D Company rejoined later. The Rear Zone trenches were shallow, with little barbed wire, but there was plenty of ammunition. About 18.00 The Germans attacked out of Holnon Wood over the flat ground towards Beauvois accompanied by a sharp barrage, but were held up in the scanty wire. At midnight, warned by the neighbouring 2/4th Royal Berkshire Regiment that it was withdrawing, 2/5th Gloucesters slipped away before daylight on 23 March. The battalion's casualties over the two days are unrecorded but were heavy. Having remained in position all day on 22 March the battalion had acted as an inadvertent rearguard allowing the rest of the division to disengage. The tenacity and determination of D Company was singled out for praise by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in his history of the war.^{[117][118][119]}

On 23 March the remnants of 184th Brigade were pulled back into reserve. From then on, retreat was continuous: on 24 March 2/5th Gloucesters marched to Voyennes and then to Languevoisin, where they were fed. The battalion moved on to Billancourt but then back to Languevoisin where it spent the night. Next day it was ordered to cover the crossings of the Canal du Nord at Buverchy. C Company crossed the canal and was advancing in open order to take up a flank position when it was caught in enfilade by a machine gun and Germans appeared in large numbers. C Company was withdrawn and the battalion lined the canal bank and trenches in rear of the village. On 25 March the Germans put down an hour-long bombardment of the canal bank and village, and attempted to cross, but were driven back by rifle and machine-gun fire. An attempt to mass troops in dead ground for a second attack was broken up by Lewis gun fire from a tall building in Buverchy. About 16.00 French troops on the right gave way and the enemy began crossing the canal and working round 2/5th Gloucesters' flank. The battalion put out a flank guard and retired to Crécy. At midnight it was ordered back to Roye and then down the Roye–Amiens road to Mézières, which it reached at 11.00 on 26 March and then rested. Late in the day it took up positions near Le Quesnel where it spent a quiet night.^[120][121]

The battalion was taken by motor bus from Le Quesnel to take part in 61st (2nd SM) Division's projected counter-attack at Lamotte-Warfusée on 28 March. This was a disaster: beginning about 12.00, with A Company on the right, D Company on the left and C Company in support (B Company not yet having arrived) and with no covering artillery barrage, the battalion advanced across open rising ground until massed enemy machine guns opened fire. Lying flat under murderous fire the men did what they could to dig themselves in. The division's doomed attack failed, and the battalion was withdrawn to a railway cutting at Marcelcave, having suffered 200 casualties. It was driven out of Marcelcave later in the day and dug in 1,000 yards (910 m) back at the airfield next to the Marcelcave–Villers-Bretonneux railway. There were barely 150 men in the line, with nothing behind them, but the Germans had shot their bolt, and did not attack. The battalion remained in position under shellfire until relief arrived on 31 March. The battalion had lost 20 officers and 550 men in 10 days' fighting.^{[122][123][124][125]}

On 4 April 2/5th Gloucesters moved to Warlus, near Arras, where the battalion rested and absorbed reinforcements, but this period was broken by the second phase of the German offensive (the Battle of the Lys). On 12 April the battalion was brought up by train and went into the line, near St Venant. holding off a German attack next day (part of the Battle of Hazebrouck). German troops continuously tried to infiltrate the position. On the night of 17/18 April (during the Battle of Béthune) they took Bacquerolles Farm, but were thrown out by a platoon of A Company led by Sergeant White, who was awarded the DCM. On 23 April the battalion carried out a successful local attack to straighten the line near Bacquerolles Farm, though it lost 100 casualties during the German counter-bombardment. The CO, Lt-Col Lawson, won a Bar to his DSO for this attack. The unit held the line until 24 June when it was relieved for an intensive rest; Lt-Col Lawson was killed on the last morning before relief, while carrying out a personal reconnaissance.^{[90][124][126][127][128]}

Hundred Days

The battalion was out of the line for over a month, during which it suffered badly during the Spanish flu outbreak. While the Allies launched their final Hundred Days Offensive on 8 August 1918 with the Battle of Amiens, 2/5th Gloucesters were in the line further north. On the night of 10/11 August the battalion carried out a minor attack, attempting to cross the Plate Becque steam using portable bridges. The operation was a complete failure, resulting in numerous casualties, but one DCM and two MMs were awarded to a Section that established itself across the stream and maintained its position all day before skilfully withdrawing. In late August the battalion did another tour of duty at the Plate Becque, but on 31 August it began to advance, following the now-retreating Germans.^[129][130]

2/5th Gloucesters were out of the line from 2 to 27 September, then began training for an operation near Estaires. During the night and morning of 29/30 September it carried out a battalion attack to secure Junction Post, the capture of which allowed the brigade to resume the advance. The battalion was then moved by rail to the Cambrai sector.^[131][132] On 24 October, during the Battle of the Selle, 61st (2nd SM) Division attacked behind a barrage with 184th Brigade in support. The brigade was then ordered to follow through at 16.00 and make a converging attack on Vendegies-sur-Écaillon. There was little time to prepare, but two companies of 2/5th Gloucesters formed the north-east arm of the attack with their own barrage. The brigade's attack was held up for 75 minutes by enemy shelling, but opposition was slight, and the north-west attack found the village unoccupied, with the two Gloucester companies (which had lost touch in the growing darkness) entering the north-east corner. Next day the brigade advanced again, with 2/5th Gloucesters in support.^{[90][133][134][135]}

After the pause before the Selle (see above), 61st (2nd SM) Division attacked again on 1 November (the Battle of Valenciennes), but was held up by a German counter-attack. 184th renewed the attack at 19.30 after several postponements, with 2/5th Gloucesters advancing under a barrage, but the battalion was checked by machine gun fire. Next morning the 2/5th Gloucesters and 2/4th OBLI led the advance of 61st (2nd SM) Division, pushing 1,000 yards (910 m) beyond the objective. The two battalions captured two tanks and 620 prisoners. The division was relieved that night, and was near Valenciennes when the Armistice came into force.^{[90][136][137]}

2/5th Gloucesters spent the following weeks on railway repair and battlefield clearance. Demobilisation began in January 1919, but the battalion continued to do duty at the base ports. By the end of June many of the division's units had been reduced to equipment guards, while men with less service were drafted to Egypt and the Black Sea. The last battalions were reduced to cadres and went home before the end of July.^[90][138] The cadre of 2/5th Gloucesters was disbanded on 11 October 1919 at Catterick Garrison.^[4] During the war over 548 men of the battalion had died.^[139]

Defence of Ledringhem

Dunkirk had been identified as the port for partial evacuation of the BEF, but by the evening of 26 May full evacuation (Operation Dynamo) was ordered. On 26 May 5th Gloucesters dug in at Ledringhem and Arnèke, covering the Bergues–Wormhoudt–Cassel–Hazebrouck road. Next day the German attack developed against 48th (SM) Division's widely spaced units. 5th Gloucesters held its positions for the whole day, though a German column penetrated for some distance between it and the 2nd Gloucesters in Cassel, and another was working round Wormhoudt. Next day the Germans continued to attack all the division's increasingly isolated strongpoints and the road became unusable. 144th Brigade was ordered to withdraw after nightfall, but 5th Gloucesters were surrounded in Ledringhem and did not receive the order for some time. They 'thinned out' their all-round defences, but the enemy had closed in such that bayonet charges were needed to dislodge German posts. The battalion was unable to disengage until midnight when the remaining 13 officers and 130 men made the way across country with their wounded CO and some prisoners to rejoin the brigade on the Yser early in the morning of 29 May. The rest of the wounded were left under the care of two medical orderlies to be taken prisoner.^{[158][159][160][161]} Sir Arthur Bryant described the Gloucesters' action at Ledringhem as 'worthy of a place among the great epics of British military valour in adversity'.^[162] The troops on the Yser continued to act as western flank guard for the shrinking Dunkirk pocket, fighting off determined attacks by German motorised formations. 5th Gloucesters was ordered into Dunkirk at midnight on 30 May, reaching Bray-Dunes the following morning after a hard march. After joining up with members of the battalion who had been separated, they waited on the beach until they were taken off by small boats and evacuated back to various ports in England on 31 May.^{[145][163][164]}

The units evacuated from Dunkirk were slowly re-equipped from the scanty resources available and took their places in the anti-invasion defences. 5th Gloucesters reformed about 400 strong in Herefordshire and went down to Cornwall for training. It remained in 144th Bde until 21 May 1941.^{[145][163][165][166]} 5th Gloucesters became the reconnaissance battalion of 48th (SM) Division on 12 July 1941 and was redesignated 48th Battalion, Reconnaissance Corps, on 14 October.^{[4][143][165][167]}

Cap badge of the Reconnaissance Corps, 1941.