The Second Battle of Ypres - 9th Battalion, Durham Light Infantry

What was the 9th Battalion Durham Light Infantry?

• The 9th Battalion (9DLI) was one of the Territorial Battalions of the 151st (Durham Light Infantry) Brigade
• Recruits came mainly from the Gateshead area
• It was commanded by Colonel A Henderson

What happened when war was declared?

• At the end of July 1914, 9DLI was at the annual brigade training camp at Conway, Wales
• 3 August – An advance party went back to Gateshead
• 4 August – The rest of the battalion returned to Gateshead; the men were sent to their company headquarters and the men sent home from there; the mobilisation telegram was received at 7:15pm

What did the battalion do at the start of the war?

• 5 August – 9DLI convened at Gateshead; the battalion moved to South Shields for coastal defence work
• Later in August the battalion moved to a camp at Ravensworth Castle
• In October they moved to billets around Newcastle

D/DLI 2/9/288 Soldiers of the 9th Battalion, The Durham Light Infantry, 'waiting teeth inspection for the front', 1915

When did the battalion leave the UK?

• 17 April – The transport and machine gun sections left for Southampton; they sailed to Le Havre on board the SS Mount Temple
• 19 April – The rest of 9DLI left went to Folkestone then travelled on to Boulogne
• They were billeted in the area around Cassel
• 23 April – The battalion marched towards Vlamertinghe with 7DLI

When did 9DLI first engage with the enemy?

24 April

• They marched through Ypres where they had a close encounter with shelling, ‘I was marching along at the rear of the Battalion when suddenly the company in front of me disappeared in the gutter and I was left standing…I never heard the burst or probably I should have followed their example.’ Major J English (1)
• The battalion lost some men and horses when the transport section was fired on by Germans

D/DLI 7/424/2(66) Shell-damaged buildings and streets, taken by PHB Lyon, captioned: Ypres, the Cloth Hall from the west, Belgium, 14 May 1915

What were the worst days for 9DLI at the Second Battle of Ypres?

• The battalion spent much of the last week of April entrenched in fields around Verlorenhoek under constant shellfire but suffering few casualties
• 3 May – The battalion marched to huts at Brielen, arriving about 2am; as they passed through Ypres a shell landed amongst the men, killing seven and wounding others; ‘…it burst just about 20 yards in front of me and I got plenty of muck in my face but I am alright…’, R Constantine (2)
• 11-12 May – 9DLI were involved in what is known as the Battle of Frezenberg Ridge; they were in trenches that were liable to flooding; heavy rain and shell fire caused severe damage to the trenches; four men were killed on each of the two days and more wounded

Casualties

The only figures found are for those who died, not wounded or missing:

                                3 May                    11-12 May

Officers                        -                               -

Other ranks                 7                              8

How do I find out more about what happened?

1) The Gateshead Gurkhas, A History of the 9th Battalion The Durham Light Infantry 1859-1967 – Harry Moses, 2001

2) Letters of R Constantine, Durham County Record Office reference D/DLI 7/137/3

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