Current Information:

Age-45

6, Wilbraham Mansions, Wilbraham Place, Knightsbridge

Brown's Road Military Cemetery, Festubert, France

The Battle of Neuve Chapelle

Between 10th and 13th March, 1915, the Indian Army Corps and IV Corps attacked the village of Neuve Chapelle in the Artois region of France. During the winter of 1914-1915, reinforcements had arrived from Britain and this was seen as an opportunity to use them to break through the German lines.

It started well. At 7.30am on 10th March, a 30 minute hurricane bombardment destroyed the German wire and front line trenches and at 8.05am the infantry went in. Neuve Chapelle was captured and over a mile of the German line taken. But that was the end of the success.  The British chain of command was weak and their communications poor, which was hardly surprising given that many of the troops had no previous experience of battle. The Germans re-organised and reinforced during the night and no further gains were made. British casualties mounted to 12,000 by the time the offensive petered out on 13th March.

Although on 10th March, there had been success on the right, the British bombardment on the left, where 23 Brigade of 8th Division attacked, failed. This was largely due to the late arrival of the artillery batteries and as a result, the Germans in the line opposite 2nd Middlesex were untouched.  Although the bombardment in front of 2nd Scottish Rifles had been successful, they too suffered heavily.  The leading company on the right, advancing along Signpost lane and reached the German trenches but the left company was stopped and the commanding officer was killed trying to bring troops over to the right to exploit the success there. After a further bombardment at 10.10am, 2nd Scottish Rifles were able to move up to the Smith-Dorrien trench and consolidate their position there. They remained in these positions the following two days, 11th and 12th March, One of the many casualties suffered by the battalion during this battle was Ernest Hayes who was killed on 10th March.