Ypres 1914
Gheluvelt
31st October 1914
Memorial at Geluveld
With one of their companies already supporting the 1st (Guard’s) Brigade the 2nd Bn Worcestershire Regiment could muster just 357 men against the tide of more than two German Divisions — no doubt also reduced in numbers but still a daunting task.
Advancing from the area of Polygon Wood, Major Hankey, commanding the battalion, deployed his men into two lines forty-five metres apart as they reached the area just west of Polderhoek Château.
Up until there they had benefited from some cover from the trees but their final kilometre was going to have to be out in the open. The battlefield was chaotic with discarded equipment lying everywhere alongside the dead and wounded. The German artillery spotted the advance and shelled it. Worcesters began falling but the remainder came on until they eventually collided with the 16 Bavarian Reserve Infantry Regiment and other German units milling about the village.
Catching the enemy completely by surprise the Worcesters managed to force their way through to the almost surrounded party in Geluveld Château grounds.
At about the same time (around 1430 hours) those German units that had pushed through Geluveld had begun attacking the British second line at Veldhoek. Here they were opposed by those of the Welch Regiment under Lt Colonel Morland who had been forced to retire earlier in the day plus the survivors from the Gloucesters, Queen’s, KRRC and Loyals.
Morland was killed during the fighting (He is buried in Ypres Town Cemetery: E1 11) but his party drove off the Germans who were forced back into the village just as the Worcesters struck home.
The village had been retaken and for the moment the German offensive had been wrong footed.
7th Division
Although the Germans now held the higher ground around Zandvoorde, the as yet still wooded countryside helped masked the paucity of British reserves facing them.
Between Zandvoorde and Hollebeke, on its right, the 7th Division had been reinforced by five French battalions under Général Moussy (68e RI and its réserve force, the 268e RI).
As a basic guide : a French regiment of infantry was made up of three active battalions (men undergoing their period of conscription) and a reserve battalion of two battalions (which would be soldiers recalled to service). The numbering was always “Active Regiment + 200” — 68e RI/268e RI.
Sir Douglas Haig, commanding I Corps, had originally wanted the French battalions to counter-attack at 0630 hours (31st October) but the advance was stopped within a few hundred metres by the Germans’ superiority in men and artillery.
On the left, the bombardment which had been opened along the length of the British line in front of Geluveld, had by 1000 hours become so bad that the 2nd Bn Sussex Regiment had to abandon their trenches and pull back into the woods behind them.
There was little sign of German infantry until half noon when they came on in formation. Within thirty minutes the left flank of 7th Division (21st Brigade) had been pushed back as the final defences on the southern side of the Menin Road (1st Division) were swept away.
As the 21st Brigade ceded ground the 22nd Brigade now found themselves exposed to enfilading fire as well. Forced to fall back they were rallied by the Major General Thomas Capper and the Divisional Staff and led forward again with the reserves (Eighty men of 1st Grenadier Guards — all that was left of the battalion).
General Capper would be killed during the Battle of Loos in September 1915. He is buried in Lillers Communal Cemetery (In front of II A).
Whilst this was happening the six battalions on their right (under Major General Bulfin) were faced with the possibility that they would have to retire and at 1500 hours Bulfin issued a warning order to that effect.
The German advance had slowed however and their high casualties, particularly amongst the officers, had resulted in a loss of co-ordination.
Throwing all caution to the wind Bulfin decided upon a last counter-attack. Telling the few hundred men of the 1st Northamptonshire Rifles and 2nd Royal Sussex that help was at hand and that as soon as they heard cheering from behind they were to give the Germans everything they had (the mad minute of rapid fire).
The help at hand was eighty men, including the cooks and transport men, of the 2nd Gordon Highlanders. Charging forward, as the volleys rattled out, they swept up the other two battalions and crashed into the Germans.
As the Germans were pushed back level with the 2nd Oxford and Bucks LI, they too joined in the charge. They were soon assisted by the arrival of the Royal Dragoons (on foot) from the 6th Cavalry Brigade, dispatched by General Haig.
Fearing that his men would be carried away by their own enthusiasm Bulfin managed to call a halt to the advance after about 700 metres. The suddenness of the counter-attack allowed the 7th Division to recover some of its lost ground as well and by nightfall the front had, once more, been stabilised.
The Germans had suffered very high losses but so had the British and they could ill afford them. Over two days of heavy fighting 22nd Brigade is reckoned to have been reduced to about a quarter of its effective strength.
As if to taunt the Allies further, the Germans had been able to operate their heavy artillery observation balloons for the first time (the British would use their first sausage balloon on 20th May 1915).