1 the Role Played by the Royal Newfoundland

1 THE ROLE PLAYED BY THE ROYAL NEWFOUNDLAND INFANTRY REGIMENT DURING THE FIRST WORLD WAR based upon its War Diary. KEY: Extracts for the Newfoundland Regiment’s War diary are preceded by a date, colon (:) and are shown within inverted commas, e.g. 01/03/1917: ‘Battalion relieved British troops in the newly captured firing line.’ The commentary written by the author is shown in Italic script and is preceded by the word Commentary and a colon. Further details about warfare are headed Information, followed by a colon and are within squared brackets ([ … ]) INTRODUCTION: When the First World War broke out in 1914, Newfoundland was a separate dominion territory within the British Empire. Like most of the Imperial countries, the government of the Dominion of Newfoundland decided to actively support Britain, ‘the mother country’ when she declared war on Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire. On 4th September 1914, the Newfoundland Legislative Assembly passed an act authorizing the formation of the Newfoundland Regiment. Over the next five years, the Newfoundland Regiment, later renamed the Royal Newfoundland Regiment played an important part in the trench war first in the Gallipoli campaign and then on the Western Front. The Regiment participated in nearly all the important battles fought by the British Army during this period. Of the 4,000 men who fought so bravely for their people, 1,300 were killed and another 2,300 were wounded. For the size of its contingent, the Royal Newfoundland Regiment sacrificed the highest percentage of lives within the British and Imperial Army. THE FIRST FIVE HUNDRED: The First Five Hundred Newfoundlanders landed at Portsmouth on 20th August 1914. More and more new drafts followed them as they moved from camp to camp within Britain. By the time they reached Inverness in Scotland in December 1914, the Regiment had reached battalion strength of 1,000. During this period, the Newfoundland troops were undergoing training as well as carrying out some ceremonial guard duties at Edinburgh Castle. [Information: A regiment or battalion (led by a Lieutenant-Colonel backed up by a Major) contained about 1,000 men and 35 officers, organised into a number of sub- groups including in order of size, 4 companies each containing 240 soldiers, led by a captain), 16 platoons (each made up of 60 men, led by a lieutenant); and 64 sections (each numbering 14 men, led by a corporal). The NICO’s (Non Commissioned Officers) 2 who did so much to organise the men and maintain their morale were sergeants and corporals.] EGYPT: On 19th August 1915, the Regiment sailed from Devonport on the ‘Megantic’ for the Near East. On arrival at Alexandria, the troops set about training to take part in a seaborne attack on a supposedly unknown destination. GALLIPOLI AND THE DARDANELLES CAMPAIGN: On 14th September 1915, the Regiment embarked from Alexandria in Egypt upon His Majesty’s Troop Ship ‘Ausonia’ ‘for an overseas destination.’ [Its destination was supposed to be secret, but almost everybody in Egypt and the enemy Turkish Empire already knew that the British were going to launch an attack upon Gallipoli and the Dardanelles, the gateway to the Black Sea). 19/09/1915: The Regiment landed at Sulva Bay, Gallipoli on Kangaroo Beach and suffered compared with other British and Imperial regiments in the assault force relatively few casualties: only 1 officer and 8 Other Ranks were wounded. This was because the Turks had failed to defend this area to the same degree as the rest of Gallipoli. 01/10/1915-11/10/1915: Commentary: The Regiment took up position in shallow Fire Trenches and immediately came under heavy fire. During this period, Lieutenant James Donnelly was awarded the Military Cross while Sergeant W. Green and Private R.E. received Distinguished Conduct Medals for ‘acts of gallantry and devotion to duty.’ These were the first of many gallantry medals to be awarded to members of the Newfoundland Regiment. The Newfoundlanders’ quickly became disillusioned with their hopeless situation: ‘I’d like to know,’ said one chap, ‘why we all enlisted.’ ‘“It doesn’t do any good to talk about it now,” said Art Pratt, in a matter of fact voice. “Some of you enlisted so full of love of country that there was patriotism running down your chin and some of you enlisted because you were disappointed in love, but the most of you enlisted for love of adventure, and you’re getting it!”’ Commentary: Unfortunately, the expeditionary force’s situation in Gallipoli was untenable. As the Turks were waiting for the invading British and Imperial forces to land on their coasts, they were able to build up their defences and prevent the expeditionary force from driving inland and worse still inflicted heavy casualties upon them. On landing, the Newfoundlanders and the rest of the British expeditionary force had almost no shelter and suffered badly on some days from the appalling heat and swarms of flies 3 while on others they were drenched with rain. Reluctantly, the British High Command decided to evacuate their troops. 26/11/1915: ‘Heavy rain storm, trenches flooded.’ 04/01/1916: ‘First party of the Regiment evacuated.’ Commentary: Unlike the initial attack, the evacuation was carried out in an exemplary manner with hardly any casualties: ‘Down dozens of little gullies leading back from the front lines came little groups of six to a dozen men, the last (in every case) an officer closing the gully with a previously prepared frame of barbed-wire, or lighting a fuse which an hour later would fire a mine for wrecking the sap or a tunnel by which the enemy could follow … There was no check, no halting, no haste or running, just a steady, silent tramp in single file … each line marched (like so many ghostly figures in the dim light) … and so on to a motor barge. There was a short pause to make sure no one was left behind.’ The Turks were completely deceived. There were no casualties. And so the disastrous Gallipoli campaign came to an end. RETURN TO EGYPT: Commentary: The Newfoundlanders reached Alexandria on 10/1/1916. For the next couple of weeks, the Regiment went into training. 16/01/1916: ‘From now onwards training and reorganising and equipping took place; attention (was also) paid to ceremonial drill.’ 27/01/1916: ‘Brigade inspection and march past (took place).’ 29/02/1916: ‘Effective strength of the Battalion: 19 Officers and 560 Other Ranks.’ 14/03/1916: ‘Embarked on HMT ‘Alaunia’’. ARRIVAL AND CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE: 22/03/1916: ‘Disembarked at Marseilles and entrained to Buigny.’ Commentary: From there, the regiment marched to a series of different camps gradually getting closer and closer to the Western Front, a line of trenches stretching from the North Sea coast in the west to the borders of Switzerland in the east. [Information: The British trench system consisted of three parallel lines: the front, the support and the reserve lines. The front line facing the enemy was usually made up of two trenches: the fire and the command trenches. Although continuous, the fire trench was by no means straight. At intervals, it was crossed by thick earth buttresses called ‘traverses’. Their function was to protect the troops in the trench from enfilade fire when the enemy tried to fire straight down along its whole length. Normally, the buttresses 4 were placed between 18 and 30 feet apart. Machine-guns were also distributed along this line. A continuous belt of barbed wire, some 3 feet high and 30 feet wide was erected about 20 yards in front of the fire trench. A number of ‘sap’ trenches were built out into No Man’s Land to act as an observation or advanced warning post. The ‘command’ trench lying about 20 yards behind the fire trench contained ‘dug-outs’ for men to sleep in and ‘latrines’ (toilets). 5 Enemy trenches No Man’s Land Saps Front Line Command line O O O Support line Reserve line Artillery line Key: The vertical lines in the diagram represent the communication trenches. O represents a strong point containing machine-guns and trench mortars. 70 to 100 yards further back, the ‘support’ trench was occupied by fresh troops who lived in deep dug-outs so that they could move forward to support their comrades in the first line when they came under attack. Roughly 400 to 600 yards further behind the support trench lay the ‘reserve’ line that was occupied by resting soldiers who, in an emergency, could be called forward to support the troops in the front and support lines. Strong points were built on the land between the first, support and reserve lines, containing machine-guns and trench mortars. Finally, the field artillery (the big guns) was situated well behind this trench system out of range of enemy rifle and machine-gun fire. 6 At frequent intervals, the front, support and reserve lines were linked by communication lines along which fresh troops, food and ammunition could be passed to the front. Telephone cables were laid along these lines to connect the soldiers in the front line to battalion headquarters and the batteries (the big guns). This form of warfare used up enormous amounts of equipment: picks, spades and machines with which to dig the trenches; pumps and pipes to drain them; duckboards to floor them; concrete to fortify them; millions of miles of barbed-wire to protect them; vast quantities of sand-bags to reinforce them; and miles of telephone cable to connect them. ] 06/04/1916.: ‘Four Officers and eleven Other Ranks proceeded to England on leave.’ (These were the first of a series of drafts sent to England for a short break away from the fighting.) 08/04/1916: ‘Battalion moved into Reserve Trenches in front of Engelbeiner for night operations.’ 15/04/16: ‘New drafts of Officers and Other ranks arrived.’ Commentary: All through the war, dead and wounded Newfoundlanders were constantly replaced by new drafts (groups of soldiers) from England – normally, these men had only had basic training in how to deal with the horrors of trench warfare.

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