Battalion Information

Sherwood Foresters

The history of the regiment in the First World War is very much the story of the men of the counties of Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire. When war was declared, The Sherwood Foresters consisted of eight battalions and a depot at Derby. During the War the regiment expanded to a maximum of 33 battalions, of whom 20 served overseas. Altogether some 140,000 men, nearly all from Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire, served in the regiment.

The 2nd Battalion was part of the British Expeditionary Force, which landed in France in September 1914, and went straight into the bitter fighting on the Aisne. On 20 September (the anniversary of the Battle of Alma - a previous Battle Honour of the 95th), the battalion carried out a counter attack to plug a gap in the British lines. The casualties were almost identical with those at Alma, 17 out of 22 officers and 214 out of 930 other ranks. Reinforced, the 2nd Battalion fought another major battle in October at Ennettiere on the way to Ypres, holding a vastly superior German force for 48 hours and losing in the process 16 officers and 710 other ranks.

Both 1st and 2nd Battalions continued to serve in France until after the Armistice on 11 November 1918, and overall were the most heavily committed of all the battalions of the regiment.

The 3rd and 4th Militia Battalions were embodied at the outbreak of war but remained in the UK as holding and reinforcement units.

Essex Regiment

During the First World War the Essex Regiment provided 30 infantry battalions to the British Army (3 Regular Army, 18 Territorial Force, 6 Kitchener Army, 3 Garrison). The regiment's battle honors for the First World War include Le Cateau, Ypres, Loos, Somme, Cambrai, Gallipoli and Gaza.

1st Battalion took part in the first day of the Battle of the Somme on 1 July 1916. The battalion (comprising W, X, Y, and Z companies) took up position in the British trenches at 3:30am. At 8:40am the battalion received orders to advance and clear the German first-line trenches. The battalion was delayed by heavy enemy fire and congestion in the communication trenches. The Newfoundland Regiment advancing to the left of the Essex battalion was almost entirely wiped out as they advanced towards German lines. At 10:50am the Essex companies were in position and received orders to go "over the top". Companies came under heavy artillery and MG barrage immediately they appeared over the parapet, causing heavy losses. The attack became bogged down in no man's land. The battalion received orders from 88th Brigade headquarters to recommence the attack for 12:30pm, but at 12:20pm the battalion commander advised brigade HQ that "owing to casualties and disorganisation" it was impossible to renew the attack. The survivors of the battalion received orders to hold their position along the line of Mary Redan - New Trench - Regent Street.

Royal Engineers - Railway Companies

The contribution to the war effort, especially on the Western Front, of the designated Railway Construction Companies of the Royal Engineers is largely overlooked and/or not researched in most accounts of the conflict. Given the fact that the earliest troop movements gave rise to the phrase "war by timetable" and that the railway was the primary means of movement of men, munitions and supplies, the important if unglamorous role of this military function cannot be underestimated.

The RE railway construction and maintenance troops RE in 1914

In August 1914, there were only two Regular and three Special Reserve RE Railway Companies.

After the realisation that the war would not be over by Christmas, the British Army set in motion plans to expand upon the remaining rail network still in Allied hands in France and Flanders. The 8th Railway Companyy landed in France in August 1914 and the 10th and two Special Reserve Companies in November of that year. The third Special Reserve Company landed in February 1915. It was soon seen that these units would not suffice for probable requirements and the Director of Railway Transport was instructed to organise additional Railway Construction units. In October 1914, the Railway Executive Committee in England formed a Sub-Committee for Recruiting. Very large numbers of the employees of British railway companies were then volunteering for military service and the men for RE Railway units were selected from them. By the end of 1917, out of 180,000 enlistments from English railway companies, about 40,000 were serving in RE Railway units.

Training the RE troops

The HQ of the regular railway troops before the war was at Longmoor in Hampshire and the Special Reserve Companies came there annually for training using the specialised Woolmer Instructional Military Railway. During the war, Longmoor, and subsequently part of Bordon, became the centre for all RE railway and road personnel and at one time also for Inland Water Transport personnel. From the outbreak of the war until the armistice, nearly 1,700 officers and 66,000 other ranks were sent overseas from this centre.

The source of railway troops

Approximately half the officers for the new units were provided by the British railway companies on the recommendation of the Railway Executive Committee and the other half were mainly men from overseas who had been employed on colonial and foreign railways. Some of the Companies formed in 1915 drew upon a large contingent of local men, forming the kind of unit seen in the infantry as "Pal’s Battalions". However, as time wore on and with the major transport logistical re-structuring of 1917, the local flavour would become diluted as men were swapped around and experienced men from other army units were combed out to swell the ranks of the Railway Companies.

Railway construction

Once in France, the sappers would be assigned to a Construction Train, of which there were eight in operation in mid-1915. Each Construction Train would have a complement of up to two complete Railway Companies, with a Captain as officer commanding the train. This enabled the sappers to carry both themselves and all their necessary tools and equipment to and from wherever the next work was required. The Companies would pitch tents for accommodation, as required. Large-scale work would include the construction of the major stores and ammunition dump at Audruicq, ten miles from Calais. Here, and at numerous other locations such as the nearby major ammunition dump at Zeneghem Yard, there was great use of Chinese Labour and R.E. Labour Companies to prepare the ground, ready for the platelaying sappers.

Immense undertaking

As the various campaigns and battles unfolded, RE Railway Companies were engaged all over the British sector, joined by Dominion RE Railway Companies. Close examination of the period maps bear testimony to miles of what was to be temporary track that criss-crossed the area. Howitzer Spurs, Ambulance Train Sidings, Tank Enablements and bridges were all constructed, in addition to the constant maintenance and line doubling. Work in progress was always a potential target for enemy artillery and also there were the attentions of the German Air Force to contend with. Zeneghem Yard, for instance, was a natural target and sappers from RE Railway Companies are recorded as having to help extinguish serious fires resulting from air raids.

A primary objective was always to take standard gauge railways as close to the front as possible, to lessen the demands on light railway systems, horsed transport and manpower. For the sappers, work could mean toiling around the clock, especially where lines had been cut by shellfire. Inevitably there were casualties; analysis of the records shows that 173 men from Railway Companies lost their lives. From just the two Regular Companies in 1914, there would be a total of forty-five Companies engaged in Standard Gauge Railway Construction, including other theatres such as Egypt and Salonica, by the end of hostilities. Most of the men in the RE Railway Companies had enlisted for the duration of the war and were naturally keen to return home as soon as possible. However, there was still much line repair work to be done in order to restore the lines of communication now extending deeper into the areas formerly held by the Germans. The Railway Companies gradually began to be demobilised and by August 1919 the last Company had laid its last sleeper.