Neuve Chapelle was the first large scale organised attack undertaken by the British Army. The reality of modern warfare soon extinguished the initial popular belief that ‘it’ (the First World War) would be over by Christmas’.
Despite this disappointment 1915 began with optimism. The commander of the British Expeditionary Force, Field Marshal Sir John French, remained convinced that a major effort could secure an early victory. More Divisions had arrived in France by this time and the British Expeditionary Force was split into two Armies – Sir Douglas Haig’s First Army and Sir Herbert Smith-Dorrien’s Second Army.
Field Marshall French believed that an advance from the northern ‘flat lands’ close to the Belgian border to the high ground of the Aubers Ridge, would see both an improvement to the muddy, winter conditions suffered by the British troops – and strategically would threaten the German hold on the city of Lille.
To this end, plans were put in train for an attack on the German lines at Neuve Chapelle. (The village of Neuve Chapelle lies north-east of Bethune on the road to Armentières, in the Pas de Calais département of northern France).
The battle that followed was the first set-piece offensive against an entrenched enemy delivered by the British Army in the First World War.
The high water table in the area had prevented German trenches being dug, so instead breastworks were constructed above the ground. These fortifications were 4 feet high and 5 feet thick breastworks and protected by barbed wire suspended on knife rests – the depth of the wire varying from six to fifteen feet deep.
After receiving his orders from French, Haig turned to the two army Corps under his command to undertake the attack. With both Corps engaging two two divisions, the attack at Neuve Chapelle was a major affair. Artillery was to be key.
On 10 March 1915, following a preliminary bombardment by British artillery, the battle to take Neuve Chapelle commenced. More shells were fired in the opening 35 minute barrage than in the whole of the Boer War.
As happened elsewhere on the Western Front, the bombardment was largely ineffective, leaving intact much of the barbed-wire entanglement in front of the German positions.
A total of 111 officers and men from the Lincoln battalion were killed or died of wounds during the course of the battle.
The losses in the Cameronians were even worse – with nearly 200 officers and men being killed. The battalion’s officers were particularly badly hit, with the commanding officer, Lt-Col Wilfred Bliss, being killed in action.
At midnight on 12 March General Haig halted the offensive to consolidate the areas gained. The allies had sustained over 12,800 casualties. Today the Neuve Chapelle Indian Memorial just outside the village commemorates over 4,700 Indian soldiers killed in action.
The losses in the Cameronians were even worse – with nearly 200 officers and men being killed. The battalion’s officers were particularly badly hit, with the commanding officer, Lt-Col Wilfred Bliss, being killed in action. The Grenadier Guards, the 1st Irish Rifles, the 1st Worcesters, the 2nd and 6th Gordon Highlanders all also lost a Lieutenant-Colonel.
At midnight on 12 March General Haig halted the offensive to consolidate the areas gained. The allies had sustained over 12,800 casualties. Today the Neuve Chapelle Indian Memorial just outside the village commemorates over 4,700 Indian soldiers killed in action.