The Second Battle of Ypres - 7th Battalion, Durham Light Infantry

D/DLI 7/700/24 A Vaux Brewery horse and cart, with Private George Thompson holding the bridle, and two unidentified soldiers of the 7th Battalion, The Durham Light Infantry, seated on the cart, while training as transport drivers [c. 1914]

Overview of the Second Battle of Ypres

What was the 7th Battalion Durham Light Infantry?

• The 7th Battalion (7DLI) was one of the Territorial Battalions of the 151st (Durham Light Infantry) Brigade
• Recruits came mainly from the Sunderland and South Shields areas
• Commanded by Colonel E. Vaux of Sunderland

What happened when war was declared?

• At the end of July 1914, 7DLI was at the annual brigade training camp at Conway, Wales
• 3 August – The battalion was recalled to Sunderland, arriving in the early hours of the 4th
• 4 August – The order for mobilisation was received in the evening at Battalion Headquarters in Livingstone Road, Sunderland

What did the battalion do at the start of the war?
There is currently no battalion history for 7DLI but one is being written; the Record Office holds an unpublished draft written around the 1920s by an unknown officer. We know 7DLI:

• Undertook coastal defence work
• Camped at Ravensworth Castle
• Were billeted around Newcastle and Gateshead

Sergeant George Thompson wrote an account of his time in the war; in 1914/15 he was a private and was selected to be a transport driver, working with horses:

• Stationed at the Drill Hall [Sunderland] whilst the government purchased horses for war service
• After hard training at Ravensworth Castle with the battalion, the transport section went to the Co-operative Wholesale Society stables in Gateshead
• Spent a week training with the Royal Field Artillery ‘…first riding bare back then with saddles on. We were sore for days after’ G. Thompson (1)

When did the battalion leave the UK?

1915

• 17 April – The transport section, 50 men and 60 horses and mules, set sail from Southampton on the SS Dunkirk; arriving at Le Havre, one mule had to be hoisted off the ship as it would not leave of its own accord
• 19 April – The rest of the battalion left for Boulogne and were reunited with the transport section there
• 23 April – 7DLI moved forward to Steenvoorde and joined up with the rest of the brigade (6, 8 and 9DLI)

When did 7DLI first engage with the enemy?

26 April

• 7DLI moved forward through Zevenkote to Gravenstafel; they were heavily shelled during both the advance and whilst maintaining their position

What were the worst days for 7DLI at the Second Battle of Ypres?

24 May

• About 3am there was a big chlorine gas attack by the Germans in the area where A and B Companies were attached to the 3rd Battalion, Royal Fusiliers; this was followed at 8am by a bombardment; they were forced back to the second line trenches suffering heavy losses
• Battalion HQ, C and D Companies were at Brielen; the gas reached them but fortunately they had pad respirators; they marched through a burning Ypres to the GHQ line near Potijze where 6 and 8DLI were already in position
• The remainder of A and B Companies joined them on 25 May
• Throughout the period of the battle, George Thompson and the transport section were backwards and forwards with ammunition and rations for the men, frequently under shell fire, ‘”Yes” I think Ypres was the worst front to be on, out of the whole lot. Out of my four years in France I think Ypres worst of the lot…’ G Thompson

D/DLI 7/63/3(87) Sketch made by Reverend JAG Birch, of a view of the Menin Gate Memorial, Ypres, Belgium, c.1927

Casualties

From the unpublished draft history

24-25 May                           KIA/DOW            Wounded           Missing

Officers                                      3                            1                            2

Other ranks                              25                          75                        181

KiA - Killed in action
DofW - Died of wounds

The Second Battle of Ypres is considered to have ended on 25 May 1915.  However, the lists in Solders Died in The Great War (does not include officers) shows 43 names for 26 May, 39 indicated as having been killed in action.  The war diary entry for this date reads ‘From GHQ line to bivouac near huts at Brielen’.  The unpublished history gives no indication of further fighting on this day.  All the men listed as killed in action have their names on the Menin Gate Memorial to the missing.  Never found, it may be these men were given 26 May as their date of death but we may never know for sure.

How do I find out more about what happened?

1)      Memoirs of G. Thompson, Durham County Record Office reference, D/DLI 7/700/11

2)      Faithful, The Story of The Durham Light Infantry – SGP Ward, 1968