DIARY November 12, 1914 – Near Polygone Wood Some shelling, which caused several casualties including 2nd Lt Pepys killed.
Casualties: Killed: 2nd Lieutenant Pepys and 7 others Wounded: 14 Missing: 1 Total: 23 November 13 – Near Polygone Wood Not much shelling.
At night the 5th reinforcement of 140 men under Captain C O Chichester arrived.
Casualties: Killed: 1 November 14 – Near Polygone Wood Relieved by the Hertfordshire Territorial Battalion at night and marched to Molenaareshoek 1.5 miles north-east as a reserve to the 6th Infantry Brigade.
Casualties: Wounded: 1 November 15 – Molenaareshoek In reserve to 6th brigade.
Some snow fell.
At night relieved by the French 109th Regiment and marched via Westhoek and took over trenches with B, C and D companies from the Northamptonshire and Gloucestershire Regiments extending from near Ferme Verbeck southwards.
A Company in reserve at Westhoek.
Roads more than ankle deep in mud and slush.
The 6th Reinforcement of 46 men under Lance Sergeant Millgate arrived.
November 16 – Westhoek and near Ferme Verbeck to Ypres six miles west.
Some sniping but not much shelling.
At night relieved by the French 158th Regiment and marched to Ypres, arriving about 2am and billeting in north-western part of the town.
Some shells dropping in and near Ypres during the night.
Casualties: (In trenches) Killed: 2 Wounded: 3 Total: 5 November 17 – Ypres.
Billeted in Ypres.
In the afternoon the machine gun section was sent to near Hooge to assist the 3rd Division who were being attacked.
November 18 – Ypres to Bailleul via Westoutre and Locre (14 miles) Marched at 5am with the Highland Light Infantry. Went into billets at Bailleul, which is out of range of shells.
November 21 – Bailleul Leave for seven days to England for officers and senior non-commissioned officers was opened.
Machine gun detachment returned from duty with 3rd Division.
Casualties in machine gun detachment: Wounded: 1 November 25 Bailleul to trenches near Wytschaete, seven miles north-east.
Out in trenches relieving the Gloucestershire Regiment at night.
A, C and D Companies in front line, B Company in reserve.
Casualties: Wounded: 1 November 26 In trenches near Wytschaete.
Not much shelling but a good deal of sniping, as the German trenches were very near.
Casualties: Killed: 3 Wounded: Lieutenant AV Spencer and two others Total: 6 November 27 Trenches near Wytschaete to Bailleul, seven miles south-west.
Relieved at night by the Lincolnshire Regiment and marched back to Bailleul, arriving at 2am on November 28.
November 30 – Bailleul in billets 7th Reinforcement of 80 men arrived with following officers.
Troops from the battalion
THE war diary and regimental chronicle of the 2nd Ox and Bucks Light Infantry continues to fascinate Steve Berridge, above.
He is transcribing the diary and chronicle and has not finished yet.
Mr Berridge is a volunteer at the Soldiers of Oxfordshire Museum in Woodstock and often travels to war memorial sites in France.
A former corporal in the Royal Green Jackets, the 51-year-old was one of the volunteers who greeted Princess Anne at the opening of the Woodstock museum in September.
Mr Berridge’s interest in the history of the regiment started when he began researching the life story of his great-grandfather, Corporal George Berridge, who served in the 1st Buckingham Battalion during the First World War’s Battle of the Somme. Mr Berridge said the 2nd Battalion entered a relatively quiet period following the dramatic scenes in Nonne Bosschen Wood, east of Ypres, on November 11, 1914.
During a stand-off, about 400 troops used bayonets to rout the Prussian Guard from the wood, suffering only a handful of casualties. The troops’ bravery mirrored the actions of the regiment 100 years before in the Battle of Waterloo.
Mr Berridge said: “Some of the troops would have been aware of what went on at Waterloo so they would have been fired up by Nonne Bosschen.
“It was quite a feat to expel the Prussian Guard from the wood, because clearing woods can be particularly dangerous as the terrain can be dark and difficult to navigate.
“After the storm of Nonne Bosschen, the first Battle of Ypres was coming to an end and this quieter period signifies an end to mobile warfare and the emergence of trench warfare.
“There was not a great deal of movement until about the end of the month when the battalion started to move out of Belgium and back into France.
“There will still be some casualties but they were due to shelling and sniper fire rather than major attacks.”
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