In 1915 the battalion moved into the Ypres sector and would take part in the action at Hooge, in August, where the Germans first used their flamethrowers against the British.

Hooge crater is blown Photo of Hooge crater Trench map, 1917 Flamethrower attack British attack, including 2nd York & Lancs What the men carried into attack

The main sources for the page were the battalion history and the excellent book in the “Battleground’ series; “Sanctuary Wood & Hooge” by Nigel Cave.

As early as March the 6th Division knew that they were eventually bound for the Ypres Salient, after relief by the 27th Division.  They would then join the newly created VI Corps, commanded by Major-General Sir John Keir. On Keir’s appointment Major-General Congreve took over the 6th Division. On the evening of the 30th May the Division left Armentieres and took up its position in the trenches at St. Jean at 1.30 am on the 3rd June.  The 2nd Battalion was at full strength on the 31st May; 27 officers and 1,002 NCOs and Other Ranks.  They were arriving after Second Ypres had finished on the 25th May.

The area around Hooge Chateau was one where the front lines came very close together, and there had previously been heavy fighting around Bellewaarde and the Chateau. To try to take the initiative the British decided on a mining action, to blow a crater and so allow them to take the higher ground from the Germans. At 7 pm on the 15th July 3,500 lbs of Ammonal were blown, creating a crater some 120 feet wide and 20 feet deep.  As with all craters that were blown, the idea was for the attackers to move quickly and hold the furthest most lip of the crater before the enemy got into it.  Captain Billy Congreve, son of the commander of the 6th Division, reported “The mine went off most successfully and the Middlesex took the crater withour much trouble, also the piece of trench in front of Isalnd Posts. The Middlesex worked down the trench...., but were unable to stay there as they ran out of bombs. It was a real bombing battle.  The crater is huge, and the explosion greater than we thought possible; so great that several of the storming party were burned by falling debris, in spite of the fact that they were all withdrawn south of the main road.”  Congreve went on to win an MC at Hooge, and ultimately a posthumous VC.  His father also held the VC.

The following is the recollection of Private George Clayton, 175th Tunnelling Company, from Max Artur’s boo “Forgotten Voices of The Great War”; ‘We were digging through a grey clay in the Ypres Salient that was easy enough to work, so you could get ten yards done in a shift, and thirty yards in a day - ten days of that made three hundred yards.  We were heading towards the Hooge Chateau, where the cellar had become the headquarters of the German officers. When we got there we laid it with explosives, then stemmed it with sandbags and tree trunks to stop the force of the explosion blowing back towards us. Then we ran the wire back up to the support line. When the Hooge Chateau was finally blown up I was about 250 yards away watching from my trench, and I saw the earth come up and shake the ground.  It made a dull thud like an earthquake and left a hole like a quarry.’

The crater is still there, on the opposite side of the Menin road from the cemetery at Hooge. We visited the site on our battlefield tour.  I have photos of the cemetery, but for some reason my camera failed me at the crater. The one below is by Nils Fabiansson from his site; http://w1.865.telia.com/~u86517080/BattlefieldArchaeology/BildgalleriENG.html

On the 23rd July the 3rd Division was relieved by the 14th, who would be the target of the first German use of flamethrowers against British troops.  Edmund Blunden in his poem “Trench Raid near Hooge” includes the flamethrower attack; two lines from the poem

Through the black reached strange long rosy fingers All at one aim Pretending and bending: down they swept,

The map above is from the IWM Trench Map CD. The Menin Road can be seen cutting left to right through the centre.  Zouave Wood is at the bottom, with the top of Sanctuary Wood to the right of Zouave. The crater is the ‘rosette’ just above the name ‘Hooge’. The Chateau can be seen north-east of the crater. This map is from 1917, so the front line has moved.  In 1915 the British line came down the right side of ‘Y’ Wood to the road at about The Culvert.  It ran along the road to Hooge then dog-legged up to where the crater is now towards the Stables (south of the Chateau) then crossed the road towards Sanctuary Wood, roughly through the middle of the trench called ‘Ignorance Row’ on the map.

On the 25th July there was also a milestone for the RFC (I have to include this as I am ex-RAF aircrew). A German airman, Hans Roser, was shot down by Capt Lanoe Hawker, RFC. Roser is buried in Sanctuary Wood cemetery.  He was known to have been buried there, but the grave was lost in the sheling and fighting that happened there after the burial.  Hawker won the VC for this action, the first to be won for aerial combat. The communique from the RFC said; “On the 25th July, Capt Hawker in a Bristol Scout attacked two hostile machines; One at Paschendaele at 6 pm and one over Houthulst Forest at 6.20 pm.  Both machines dived to escape. Capr Hawker then climbed to 11,000 feet and at 7 pm saw a hostile machine being fired at by anti-aircraft fire at about 10,000 feet over Hooge.  Approaching down-sun Capt Hawker opened fire at about 100 yards range. The hostile machine burst into flames and turned upside down, the observer falling out.  The machine and pilot crashed to earth south-east of Zillebeke in our lines.”

A Bristol Scout as flown by Hawker.

On the 30th July the Germans launched an attack to take the slightly higher ground around the Chateau, held by the British, the flame throwers would be used, a frightening weapon.  The attack started at 3.15 am and was aimed at the area around the crater and the stables.  The crater was taken and the troops there and to the east driven out of their trenches.  Against the advice of the Brigadier on the ground, a counter-attack was to be launched at 2.45 pm with units coming from the area of Zouave and Sanctuary Wood, as well as the 9th Kings Royal Rifle Corps (KRRC) coming from the west along Menin Road.  In the action by 9 KRRC in the trenches just north of the wood, and to the west of Hooge, 2/Lt Woodroffe won the VC; “Cut off from the remainder of the battalion and surrounded by the enemy he held off all attacks until his bomb supply was exhausted; and then extricated his company in good order.  Later he led his men in a gallant counter-attack against a hail of rifle and machine-gun fire and perished at their head, cutting a way through the wire entanglements in the open.” Woodroffe’s body was never found and he is commemorated on the Menin Gate Memorial.

Another to die in that day’s counter attack was Lieutenant Gilbert Talbot. He was part of the attack by 9 Rifle Brigade out of Zouave Wood and was killed before reaching the Menin Road.  He is buried in Sanctuary Wood and his brother the Rev Neville Talbot opened Talbot house in Poperinghe as TocH, a refuge for soldiers back resting from the trenches.  Also Unfortunately the counter-attack, apart from the area where 2/Lt Woodroffe was killed, was largely unsuccessful and would give rise to the need for an attack by 6 Division on the 9th August

The following description of the flame-thrower attack is by a Second Lieutenant Carey, and is from the book “At the Going Down of the Sun”. ‘I remember having a strong presentiment, as I plodded up to the line that night that I would never come back from it alive (in the event, I was the only officer in my company to survive the next 24 hours).  The silence after we got into the line became uncanny.  There was something sinister about this. About half-an-hour before dawn there was a sudden hissing sound and a bright crimson glare over the crater turned the whole scene red. I saw three or four distinct jets of flame, like a line of powerful fire-hoses spraying fire instead of water, shoot across my fire-trench.  Then every noise under Heaven broke out - trench mortars and bombs, machine-guns firing, shrapnel falling and high explosive shells.  It was a death trap to stay where we were and our Company Commander gave the order to get the remnant of my platoon back to the support line. About a dozen men were all that I could find. Those who had faced the flame attack were never seen again’.

A carefully planned attack would be needed to regain the crater area from the Germans, rather than the hastily thrown together counter-attack of the 30th July.  The attack would be commanded by Major-General Congreve, VC.

From the 2nd Battalion York & Lancs war diary;

31st July  8.25 pm.  From 16 Infantry Brigade all battalions to be ready to move at once to support 14th Division who are reported to be attacked.

31st July 10.40 pm. Battalion on the move. In position at 11.50 pm.

3rd August Position at HOOGE lost on 30 July to be retaken by 6th Division.

On the 8th August, just prior to the attack, L/Cpl Dunkley from the 2nd Battalion had been killed. The attack would start at 2.45 am on the 9th August with just the one Division, and with a starting frontage of some 1,000 yards, there would be some subsequent ‘bunching’ as the frontage was wider than the objective.  The 16th Brigade were on the left, the 18th on the right, with the Brigade boundaries coinciding at the crater.  The 2nd Battalion, York and Lancs had taken over the trench positions of the 9 KRRC in which 2/Lt Woodroffe had been killed.    The attack was a success and the British lines, including the crater, were re-taken.  The carefully planned attack succeeding where the rushed counter-attack had failed.

The following is from the 2nd battalion history, describing their part in the action;

The attack was launched on the 9th August at 3:15 a.m. on a front of about 1,000 yards, the 18th Infantry Brigade attacking on the right....the 16th Infantry Brigade on the left, with the 1st K.S.L.I (King’s Shropshire Light Infantry) and the 2nd York and Lancaster Regiment in front line, and the 1st Buffs in support, with the 17th Brigade in reserve. The following is from the Battalion War Diary. “At 2.45 a.m. the artillery bombardment commenced and at 3.05 “A” and “C” Companies dashed forward to the assault, the enemy trench being captured with practically no opposition from the German infantry, though their artillery and bombers were very active; about twenty prisoners were taken in the trench and also one trench mortar, while many enemy dead and wounded were found in the position, which was at once improved and strengthened. The enemy made many attempts at counter-attack, but these were all checked by the divisional artillery or the brigade bombers, though at times the state of affairs on the flanks gave rise to some anxiety, and throughout the battle the enemy shelling of the support and communication trenches was very heavy and well-sustained.”

Towards 10 a.m. the German artillery fire began to die down, and about this time three German officers and one hundred and two other ranks, mostly of the 126th and 132nd Regiments, came in and gave themselves up. Finally at 11.30 p.m. the Battalion was relieved in the front line by the 1st Buffs and was withdrawn to the ramparts in Ypres, having experienced a loss of nearly three hundred of all ranks during the battle.  There were 4 officers and 44 other ranks killed or died of wounds, and 197 non-commissioned officers and men were wounded, while 42 were missing, “believed killed.”

The attack was looked upon as a model of really close co-operation between infantry and artillery, and it seems to have been the first occasion upon which steel helmets were issued for wear by some of our infantry as an experimental measure; unfortunately, however, some of the men wearing these were mistaken for Germans and were fired upon by their own comrades.

The following is from the War Diary of the 1st KSLI; “At 3.05 am A & B Coys got into position in front of their trenches. At 3.10 am the bombers under 2/Lt. Woodland started bombing the enemy in Bond St.  They were held up, but on being reorganized by 2/Lt. Woodland succeeded in driving the enemy back. At 3.15 am A & B Coys assaulted the right pushing forward very rapidly were the first to get into the crater, where much hand to hand fighting with bayonet and bombs took place.  The North side of the crater was taken and the new trenches dug about 30 yards to the north of the crater.  Connection with the York & Lancaster Regt. was easily maintained, but that with the D.L.I. was difficult owing to the very severe shelling at the junction of the two Battns.  I, after visiting the new trenches, sent forward another half company when the whole new line was consolidated, in spite of very heavy shell fire.  During the night of 9/10 the Battn. was relieved and withdrew successfully.”

Both the York & Lancs and the KSLI attacked with two of their 4 companies, and the following extract from the operation Order written by the Brigade Major for 16th Infantry Brigade on the 6th August explains why. “Given that the artillery bombardment has been effective the assaulting battalions will have little or no difficulty [italics are mine J.Dillon] in establishing themselves on the line assigned to them without employing more than half their force.  Each battalion will then have half a battalion in hand to fillup casualties in the assaulting companies and enable the line reached to be consolidated.  If battalions use up their whole reserves and are still repulsed it is considered unlikely that the enemy will push home his advantage as such a course would only bring him into the low ground south of the MENIN ROAD where he would be at the mercy of a strong counter attack.”  Staff Officers need to be optimistic!

The only battalion in the front of the attack in 18 Brigade was the 2nd Durham Light Infantry.  The following information on the equipment carried by those in the first, second and third attack lines of the DLI gives some idea of the weight of kit the men carried into action. The info comes from the post-battle report written by the CO, and it is probably reasonable to assume that the 2nd York & Lancs carried similar kit on the left wing; “The leading platoons of C and D Coys carried 120 rounds SAA (small arms ammunition) and 4 sandbags per man.  The 2nd line platoons carried 170 rounds SAA, 6 sandbags and one shovel per two men. A and B Coys carried 220 rounds SAA, 6 sandbags and one shovel per man (i.e. the weight was least for the first attacking waves, and grew progressively heavier the less likely the men involved would be in heavy initial fighting).”

On the map above the Hooge cemetery is on the south side of the Menin Road, just about the position of the ‘g’ in Hooge.  As you stand there, with your back to the road, the ground slopes away in front of you towards Zouave and Sanctuary Wood, the slope up which Gilbert Talbot would have been moving when he was killed.

Hooge cemetery, taken from the bottom looking up the gentle slope towards the Menin Road.  The crater museum is just the other side of the road. Photo J Dillon.