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Born-Islington

First Battle of Ypres

Between 21^st October and 22^nd November, 1914 a desperate fight took place around the Belgium city of Ypres, the first of three major battles that were to be fought there during the course of the war. British troops entered Ypres in October. The 1^st and 2^nd Divisions plus the 3^rd Cavalry Division had made their way up from the Aisne as part of the “Race to the Sea”, whilst the 7^th Division came west to Ypres after Antwerp had fallen. The Germans knew that Ypres was the gateway to the Channel ports and that these were vital to Britain’s war effort so they poured reinforcements into the area. The fighting fell into three distinct battles; the Battle of Langemarck, 21-24 October, the Battle of Gheluvelt, 29-31 October and the Battle of Nonne Bosschen, 11 November. Ypres did not fall to the Germans but its defence during these two months resulted in the destruction of much of the old regular British Army.

Between 29th and 31st October a massive concentration of German troops tried to break the British line around Gheluvelt at the eastern apex of the Ypres salient. On the 29th October, after a day of intense fighting, often hand to hand, the British were pushed back to the Gheluvelt cross roads. The following day the Germans attacked Gheluvelt itself and although the village remained in British hands, German troops had some success further south at Zandvoorde and were now able to enfilade the British line. Then on 31st October came the main German attack and Gheluvelt fell. At one stage the it seemed that all was lost but a dramatic counter attack by 2nd Worcestershire, stabilised the line. However, the loss to the British army had been enormous.

After their heavy involvement in the battle on 2nd November, the 1st King’s Royal Rifle Corps battalion of 6 Brigade, 2nd Division moved back to support positions in the woods west of Gheluvelt where for the next three days they had to withstand heavy artillery bombardments and infantry attacks. On 6th November, they rejoined 6 Brigade to the south of Zonnebeke and consolidated new positions. They were in these reserve trenches when the enemy made their final effort to capture Ypres on 11th November, and although they were not directly involved in this fighting, they still suffered some casualties from the fierce shelling that accompanied this attack. It was probably this shell fire that caused the death of Alfred Bates on 13th November.