First Ypres 1914 by David Lomas

Author:David Lomas
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: First Ypres 1914: The Graveyard of the Old Contemptibles
ISBN: 9781782004424
Publisher: Osprey Publishing Ltd

British wounded being evacuated to England. This photograph shows walking wounded going aboard a hospital ship on their way back to Blighty. These are probably casualties from the Battle of the Aisne.

In the centre, successive waves of the 54th Reserve Division and the 3rd Cavalry Division pressed hard against the 2nd Green Howards and 2nd Royal Scots Fusiliers, part of the 21st Brigade. The battalions wavered briefly and some German troops broke through between the two units. They ran into another company of Royal Scots at Polderhoek Château who sent them reeling back with sustained fire. The line reformed and the Germans withdrew, leaving behind a terrible legacy of dead and wounded.

It was at this point that the mistaken withdrawal of the 2nd Cavalry Division from Hollebeke opened a one mile gap in the British line. The 7th Division’s commander, Gen. Capper, threw in all the troops he could find to support his right flank which was left exposed because of the cavalry’s move. Two companies of the 2nd Scots Guards, the Divisional Cyclists and the Divisional Cavalry, the Northumberland Hussars (who became the first Territorial Force soldiers to see action), went forward, but the Bavarian Cavalry Division failed to take advantage of the error.

Even so, Rawlinson, the IV Corps commander, reacting as best he could in the confusion of lost and delayed messages, of incomplete information and inaccurate assessments, decided to move the 7th Cavalry Brigade on the far left of his line to act as a reserve if the Germans tried to exploit the gap.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.