On 4th March 1916 the Tyneside Scottish Brigade took charge of a
section of the Western Front in its own right, when it relieved the
Tyneside Irish, the 3rd Battalion taking over the line held by the
1st Tyneside Irish. The section of trenches was about 2 miles
north-east of the former positions, and only about a mile or so
outside of Armentieres. Just behind the line was the village of
Bois-Grenier.
The Tynesiders occupied some 1200 yards of trenches, bounded on
the left by the hamlet of Rue du Bois, and on the right by Water
Farm. No-Man's Land was on average some 200 yards in width, but at
the left end was a marked salient where the two front lines were only
50 yards apart. The countryside here is flat and featureless,
although there were a few farms and a narrow track immediately behind
the British Front line. About 70 yards to the rear of the front line
was a support trench known as the Bois Grenier line, and a further
1000 yards back was the reserve line. The Divisional Artillery was
positioned a further 1000 yards behind that. Zig-zag lines of
communication trenches linked the various positions. Initially the
front line was occupied by A, B and C Companies, with D Company in
support. The 4th Tyneside Scottish held the line to the left, with
the 16th Royal Scots on the right. This was the situation until 8th
March.
The Tynesiders were shelled on 5th and 6th, although snowy weather
stopped this for the next two nights. The bad weather and shelling
caused considerable damage to the trenches, and some 15,000 sandbags
were used to rebuild and strengthen the parapets. The Battalion
suffered more casualties during this stay in the trenches; on the
first night in position one Corporal, two Lance Corporals and seven
Privates were wounded, and Private Bates was killed. Aged 45, he is
buried in Ration Farm Cemetery, about half a mile behind what was the
front line.
On 9th March the unit was relieved by the 2nd Battalion and moved
back into Brigade Reserve. Battalion Headquarters and 'C' Company
were in the village of Rue Marle, 'B' Company in L'Armee and 'C'
Company in Chappelle d'Armentieres, all about 2 miles behind the
front line. 'D' Company remained forward of the Battalion, in the
Bois Grenier support line, one platoon being at Ferme du Biez, about
a mile north of the left hand flank of the trenches previously
occupied. On the following day 'A' Company's billets were shelled,
resulting in the death of a Corporal and injuries to three other men.
As a result, the Company was moved forward about a mile, occupying a
line of trenches just behind 'D' Company.
The War Diary records that on 11th March the wintry weather eased,
making conditions much easier. Also, Lt Atkinson went to Wisches on a
machine gun course, and on 13th Capt Amos and 2/Lt Smith joined the
Battalion. At 1 p.m. on 14th March the Battalion relieved the 2nd
Tyneside Scottish, taking over the same line of trenches as before.
The operation took 2 hours. 4th Tyneside Scottish were again on the
left flank, but now the 27th Northumberland Fusiliers were on the
right. Some exchanges of fire took place during this period in the
trenches, as on the afternoon of 16th the enemy in the salient were
bombarded with Stokes mortars and artillery shells, doing some damage
to the German parapet. An unexploded German torpedo was recovered
from the salient, and passed back to Battalion Headquarters. On the
following day the Battalion suffered three more casualties, and one
of these, L/Cpl Proud, is buried in the Ration Farm
cemetery.
On 20th March the unit received a reinforcement of twenty men, who
were soon experiencing the effects of enemy fire, as on 21st the
Germans managed to blow the roof off the Estaminet and damage the
parapet in front of the centre Company's trenches. That evening the
3rd was relieved by the 2nd Tyneside Scottish and moved back to their
billets in the vicinity of Rue Marle. The relief commenced at 7.30
p.m. and was completed in three hours. The unit remained in these
billets until 25th March when they again took over the same section
of trenches, with 'A' Company on the right, 'B' in the centre and 'D'
on the left, 'C' Company forming the reserve. A day later a further
artillery and trench mortar attack was carried out against the
Germans in the salient. As the weather was favourable, this activity
continued on 29th, but the unit itself suffered casualties,
especially to 'A' Company. The Battalion again changed places with
2nd Tyneside Scottish on 30th March. 'A' Company were billeted at Rue
Marle, 'D' Company at L'Armee, 'C' Company in the Bois Grenier Line,
and 'B' Company in the support trenches near Ferme du Biez.
Casualties during March had proved to be quite high. A battalion
in the front line trenches would normally expect about 30 casualties
in a month, but the 3rd Tyneside Scottish recorded 1 officer slightly
wounded, 8 men killed and no fewer than 38 wounded, although some of
these were soon back on duty.
Whilst on this tour of duty the Tyneside Scottish were visited by
four members of the Tyneside Scottish Committee, namely Sir Thomas
Oliver, and Colonels Joseph Cowan, Johnstone Wallace and Joseph Reed,
and the section of trenches was actually bombarded during the visit,
giving the guests a true impression of life on the Western Front.
April opened with the 3rd Tyneside Scottish in the reserve
billets, but then on night of 7th/8th April they were relieved by the
25th Australian Infantry Brigade, moving initially to the area around
Rue Dormoire, taking over billets from 27th Australians. The Brigade
then began its move back towards St. Omer. The journey was made in
three stages, stops being made at Morbecque on 9th April, Ebblinghem
on 10th and Zuduasques on 11th. The men finally arrived in billets in
villages some 15 miles northwest of St. Omer on 12th April, having
marched some 57 miles.
The 3rd Tyneside Scottish was billeted in the villages of
Nortleulinghen ('A', 'B' and 'C' Companies) and Mentque ('D'
Company), with 1st Battalion at Recques, the 2nd in Nordasques and
the 4th in Bayenghem. (See Map 4). Within a few days the men had
cleaned up, sorted out their clothing and equipment, and signs of
trench life soon disappeared. The countryside here was much closer to
that which the Brigade was to find when it moved to the Somme area,
with gently rolling hills and good farmland, quite unlike the flat,
more industrialised areas around Armentieres. A new round of training
began, with practice in bomb-throwing, bayonet fighting, signalling,
machine-gunnery, trench mortar firing etc. Rifle ranges were
improvised in local quarries, and musketry kept up to standard. This
activity continued for some two weeks, when Divisional and Brigade
exercises began. The area chosen to practice attacks on enemy
positions was some distance from the billets, and a typical day
involved a march of some 20 miles on roads and across country, as
well as the actual exercise itself. These exercises continued until
the beginning of May, when the Division was ordered south.
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