My grandfather went from the 6th to the 2nd and then to the 10th Battalion, before going again to the 2nd when the 10th was disbanded in February 1918.  The 10th was involved in a number of actions in France including Loos in 1915, the Somme offensive in 1916, The Battle of The Ancre in November 1916 and Arras in 1917, also known as the Battle of the Scarpe.

The 10th at The Somme Map of Fricourt Farm area Attack from Battalion History Map showing attack position Disbandment of the 10th 2nd July

On 13th February 1917 the 37th Division was moved to I Corps in the Loos area, but then at the end of February, beginning of March the Division was relieved by the 6th Division (containing our 2nd Battalion).  I believe this is the most likely point at which my grandfather moved from the 2nd to the 10th Battalion.

The Battle of Loos took place in September 1915 and the 10th Battalion moved directly from England to the battle, they were very raw troops and were part of the General Reserve. It was something of a baptism of fire for the battalion and they, like all the other units, suffered heavy losses. There would be some 60,000 British casualties at Loos. My grandfather was not involved in this action as he had just joined the 6th Battalion and would start his service in Gallipoli.

Although my Grandfather was not in the battalion at the time, it is appropriate to make some mention of the fact that the 10th were involved in the Battle of The Somme, 1st July 1916.  63rd brigade, 21st Division, Xv Corps, Fourth Army. I have used extracts from Robin Neillands’ book (The Great War Generals) as well as the battalion history. It is also worth pointing out that the Regiment as a whole had a lot of involvement in the battle, as well as the 10th there were also the 1/4th & 1/5th Battalions, the 8th & 9th as well as the 12th (Sheffield City Battalion), the 13th (1st Barnsley Pals) and the 14th (2nd Barnsley Pals). Yorkshire would lose a lot of its menfolk at the Somme.  These last three battalions were all involved at Serre with the Accrington Pals; for an excellent description of this see Andrew Jackson’s site, http://www.pals.org.uk/

“...XV Corps had to attack the hinge of the German line at the Fricourt salient. The German positions here, between the villages of Fricourt and Mametz, were particularly strong, a 1,200-yard-deep maze of trenches, wire and fortified houses, with strong bastions at Fricourt and Mametz.  On the other hand, the enemy did not have enough troops to man this position properly, just six battalions of the 28th reserve Division in the front-line and support trenches, while the German artillery covering this section of the front had been largely destroyed by the bombardment.  The defence therefore depended chiefly on machine-gun and mortar fire and the tenacious, hard-fighting qualities of the German infantry soldier.” [Neillands] The attack here was also supported by the explosion of three mines, and by the use of the ‘creeping’ barrage which the Corps Commander, Lt. Gen. Horne, a Gunner, referred to as ‘drifting the fire forward’. It was supposed to ‘drift’ at the rate of 50 yards a minute in this sector, but with poor communications there was no way to properly control this if the infantry failed to keep up with the move of the barrage.  In these circumstances, if the infantry got too far behind the barrage, then the German machine-gunners would be up at their post and gunning down the approaching British troops.

The map below is from the IWM Trench Map CD.  Fricourt Farm is shown just above Fricourt Wood at the bottom of the map. The second trench map has more names on it.

[Battalion History]  On the 1st July the 21st Division with the 50th Brigade attached, was to capture (a) Fricourt Farm, Trench Junction, Crucifix Trench and Birch Tree Wood, and (b) certain map points distinguishing Quadrangle Trench and Trench Junction; [the Quadrangle is shown on the map below, J Dillon] the 63rd Brigade was given two objectives. the first to be captured by the 4th Middlesex and 8th Somerset L.I., while the second objective - again distinguished by map points - was to be captured and held by the 10th York & Lancaster, unless the troops of the 7th Division should already have occupied this line.  In the advance “C” and “A” Companies, on left and right respectively, were to be in front, with “B” in support and “D” in reserve.

The attack was commenced at 7.30 a.m. on the 1st July by the 4th Middlesex and 8th Somerset L.I. on the 21st Division sector of the front. The Battalion then, as directed, passed through the 4th Middlesex, who were now in the German front line trenches, and at once came under very heavy machine-gun fire from Fricourt and Fricourt Wood. The leading waves got some distance in advance of Dart Lane, where they were held up by machine-gun fire from Fricourt Wood; at the same time three large parties of the enemy attempted to bomb their way up all the trenches south of Dart Lane, while the battalion bombers were having a hard struggle with a numerous German bombing party in Lonely Trench, and three barricades which the enemy had here erected were destroyed.

Unfortunately, while more places are named on this map, the trenches are not named.

[Battalion History]  The battalion then placed a barricade at the north end of Lonely Trench near the junction of Lozenge Alley [Lozenge Wood is shown so presumably the trench is one of those close by, J Dillon], while a party of “D” Company, with stragglers from other units, were sent into Arrow Lane to protect that flank, assisted by a gun from the Machine Gun Corps. This party came under heavy fire from the south, the enemy making several desperate attempts to bomb up Empress Support and the remains of Empress Trench.

The remainder of the Battalion was at this time in Lozenge Alley with the 8th Lincoln Regiment and parties of other units, and this position was being consolidated. Then about 5 p.m. the commanding officer reorganized the Battalion and proceeded with it to Dart Lane, which was then consolidated, and there was a holding party of Bombers at the corner of Dart Lane and others at Empress Support and Lonely Lane; there were also groups in Arrow Lane and in the communication trenches between Dart Lane and Arrow Lane; these were strengthened by about thirty men of the 10th Yorkshire Regiment.

Here the Battalion remained till about 2 p.m. on the 2nd July, during which time it worked hard in passing up rifle ammunition, bombs, etc., to the 62nd Brigade, which had sent out a very urgent call for supplies of all kinds.  This work went on continuously for some time, and then the Battalion was ordered forward to join the 62nd Brigade; and, going by the Sunken Road, it occupied Dingle Trench and Patch Alley, the Battalion Headquarters being in the Sunken Road at the southern end of Round Wood, coming here under a heavy shell fire from two large-calibre enemy guns. [The Dingle and Round Wood are on the map above. I assume the Sunken Road is the one between these points although the trench names are not marked.  J Dillon]

The blocking party which had been ordered to follow immediately in rear of the 4th Middlesex did not reach its objective, as all the men were knocked out with the exception of about six, the officer commanding the party being wounded just after getting over the parapet.  One officer and a small party of men of the Battalion did actually succeed in reaching the hedge on the outside of Fricourt Farm, but were compelled to fall back, owing to a large German bombing party coming down Lozenge Alley from Fricourt Farm.  The party protecting the Battalion right managed to collect a fair number of prisoners from the dug-outs in Dart Lane, Empress Support and various small communication trenches.

About 4 a.m. on the 4th July the Battalion was relieved by some of the 12th Manchester Regiment, and proceeded by Dernacourt and Ailly-sur-Somme to billets at Vaux-en-Amienois, which was reached at 10 in the morning.

From Neillands book; By the end of the day [1st July] XV Corps could claim that it had made good progress on the flanks of its attack, and had taken over 1,500 prisoners. On the other hand, the Fricourt bastion was still unsubdued and the corps had lost 8,791 men killed and wounded, nearly half of them from the 21st Division.

The Battalion history records the losses for the 10th York & Lancs from the 1st - 3rd July as; “seven officers and 53 other ranks were killed or died of wounds, six officers and 237 non-commissioned officers and men were wounded, and 25 men were missing.

The Battalion went on to fight in the Battle of the Ancre in mid-November.

The Battalion would take part in both the Battles of the Scarpe, named after the river running east from Arras. The First Battle would be from the 9th - 14th April, 1917, The Second Battle took place on the 23rd April, 1917. Both these battles were part of the operation around Arras that also included the gallant actions of the Canadians in their taking of Vimy Ridge. The 10th Battalion would be involved in the action around Monchy-le-Preux, part of the First Battle.

In February 1918 the 10th Battalion was disbanded as part of the changes in the British Army to get units back up to their normal strength.  Following the disbandment my grandfather moved back to the 2nd Battalion and was then captured on the 21st March during the German offensive, Kaiserschlacht.

Many battalions were disbanded, like the 10th, and Brigades which had previously had 4 battalions, came down to a strength of three.  General Jack had a comment in his diary on this change; “For heavy fighting I think that the present organisation of infantry brigades in three battalions, instead of the former four battalions, is unsound. In the event of severe casualties, or otherwise trying operations, the two leading assaulting battalions cannot both be relieved at the same time, as is desirable - perhaps vital. A further immediate attack must therefore be carried out with one relatively inefficient battalion and one fresh battalion, an ill-balanced arrangement...”

In Lyn Macdonald’s book “To The Last Man, Spring 1918.” she includes an item from Private J. Mortimer, MM, 10th Bn, The York and Lancaster Regiment in which Pte Mortimer describes his memory of the disbandment of the battalion.  Mortimer, like my grandfather, was sent to join the 2nd Battalion. As only two companies were sent to the 2nd there is every chance that they knew each other, and a 50-50 chance that they were in the same company.

We were inspected by the divisional commander. We worked hard to look smart for this parade.  Normally we had to buy our own cleaning kit, but on this occasion we were issued - free, gratis - with Blanco, boot polish, Pinko for button-polishing etc. I polished my leather equipment until you could see your face reflected in the holster that held my revolver.  (Numbers 1 and 2 on the Lewis-gun had a Webley revolver, not a rifle.) After this parade the Lewis-guns were cleaned, greased, and packed in their boxes.  All Lewis-gunners with revolvers handed them in and got a rifle.  We were told officially that two companies were going to the 6th Battalion and two companies to the 2nd Battalion.

Then came the day. The Commanding Officer, Colonel Ostler, MC, addressed us.  He said he had every confidence in us that we would keep up the tradition of the Regiment no matter what battalion we were going to serve in - or words to that effect. He wished us all the best of luck. Then we marched to the station and boarded the trucks. The band was lined up and as we moved slowly out of the siding the band played ‘Auld Lang Syne’.  The Colonel stood there saluting until all the trucks had passed him, and that was my last memory of him, standing in the distance and the faint strains of ‘Auld Lang Syne’ dying away. It was very impressive, but it was sad too.

At Bapaume, C Company and D Company left the train.  We were taken to a camp with a number of huts.  I was posted to No. 4 Platoon, A Company, 2nd Battalion, York and Lancaster Regiment. And that was the end of the ‘Old Tenth’.