The 1st Northumbrian Brigade mobilised in August 1914 and deployed to France in April 1915. In early May,
the Brigade were the first Territorial field gunners to engage in the Ypres fighting in the Second Battle of Ypres.
A reorganisation of Field brigades in 1916 saw the 4th Durham Battery transferred to 250 (Northumbrian Brigade) as D/250 Battery, the 5th Durhams going to 251 Brigade, D/251 Battery. The units would go on to take part in the Battle of the Somme, Battle of Arras (1917), Battle of Passchendaele before the final battles of 1918.
The percentage of awards gained by the British Army as a whole in World War I was 4, or one in twenty-five. The figures quoted above speak for themselves, and the record of the 4th Northumbrian Brigade is one of which any unit could be more than proud. It was, indeed, an outstanding achievement which, worthy of the highest praise, placed the Territorial Force of 100 years ago in a position of notable pre-eminence.
C.M.G. (2)  Order of St Michael and St George 
D.S.O. (4)  Distinguished Service Order
M.C. (18)  Military Cross
D.C.M. (3) Distinguished Conduct Medal
M.M and Bar (1) Military Medal 
M.M (50) Military Medal 

This page covers the story of the brave men of South Shields the 4th Durhams Battery
(Always Ready)

Lest We Forget
Owing to the sagacity and foresight of Lord Haldane, Secretary of State for War, the Territorial Force was created on 1st April 1908 under the authority of the Territorial and Reserve Forces Act of 1907. As a result, the old volunteer force in the country ceased to exist and its units were incorporated into the new Force. The object of this new legislation was to provide a Home Defence Army properly organized in field divisions and coast artillery units, the latter being located close to Naval bases and defended ports, would be available to man their coast defences rapidly in the event of general mobilization and to train during peace with the armaments they would use in war. The Territorial gunner enlisted for a period of four years after which he could re-engage for a further period. As a recruit he had to do 45 drills; then he had to perform 20 drills a year and attend 15 days annual training in camp. He only received pay when under canvas or when called out for actual service, and his uniform was issued to him free by the County Territorial Association which still dealt with his administration. He was liable for home service only but could volunteer to serve overseas in time of war. Those who did such volunteering were permitted to wear badges on the right breast when in uniform. This took the form of a metal tablet bearing the words “Imperial Service”.
It is obvious that the new regulations were far superior to the old and that the “Terrier,” as he was called, would soldier under conditions preferable to those under which the old-time volunteer had to labour.
This Act sounded the knell of the 3 Durham R.G.A. (Volunteers) as coast defence gunners. No longer were they to be linked with sea and ships,
rather would they be enfolded by fields and hedge-rows; for they were to become mobile artillery for a field army.
Picture
4th Durhams Cleadon
Picture
4th Durhams South Shields
So far as this country was concerned the lights went out in Europe on 4th August 1914 and were not re-lit until 11th November 1918.
To the public who had never visualized a war of this magnitude, the news came as a stunning blow. Something which had never happened before within living memory, was afoot. The authorities, however, saw further behind the veil and had taken steps to prepare for such an event. The disaster which was about to engulf the world may not have been fully appreciated, circumstances being novel and the shape of things to come uncertain, but plans were ready to be put into action and when the blow fell everything moved like a well oiled machine. Horses for the Territorial Force had been earmarked and all the various farms and warehouses in which these animals normally worked had been duly catalogued in readiness. Postcards summoning officers and men had been written in anticipation of possible dispatch, and the tendency of lectures in the Territorial Summer Camps of 1914 had stressed the gospel of making ready.
The 4th Northumbrian Howitzer Brigade was, like everyone else, caught up in this maelstrom. By 5th August, most of the officers and men had reported at their drill halls in Hebburn and South Shields and mobilization was proclaimed, full steam ahead being the order of the day. At the headquarters at South Shields everything was in a bustle at the drill hall where Lieut.-Colonel A.U. Stockley, R.F.A., who commanded the brigade, and Captain D’Arcy, the adjutant, were issuing orders. Most of the requisitioned horses arrived that day, and before dark, the 4th Durham Battery, the ammunition column and the headquarter staff had marched off from South Shields to a camping ground at Hebburn.
Captain C.W. Brims and a few N.C.Os remained behind at South Shields to form a depot for the enlistment of recruits, the brigade being under strength. This small staff had its hands full as there was no lack of applicants to join the colours. Needless to say all the members of the brigade agreed to serve overseas.  By the middle of September 1914, the brigade had moved to Newcastle and was encamped on the edge of the Town Moor. Major Thomas Higginbotham and Major Robert Chapman commanded the two batteries and the officer in charge of the ammunition column was Captain C.W. Brims. Training took place steadily throughout the winter, the officers and men living in tents up till November and afterwards being accommodated
Picture
5-inch B.L. howitzer
in billets close to the camping ground. It was not, however, “all work and no play”, and ample opportunities presented themselves for small dinner parties in near-by restaurants and visits to the nearby music hall. It was a strenuous time and, although the normal life of the officers and men was strictly curtailed (in this respect it differed from that of the professional soldier who has no business to attend to except his military duties), it was full of comradeship and anticipation even though “hope deferred maketh the heart sick”. The first Christmas was spent as cheerfully as possible in the various billets in West Jesmond.  There was one aspect of the brigade’s war training which left much to be desired. It was, doubtless, impossible to rectify this, circumstances being what they were, but it was a weakness. This was the carrying out of actual gun practice. Many of the older men, of course had had experience of shooting at annual practice camps, but there were quite a number whose only familiarity with gun-fire before leaving for the Front was a two-day brigade visit to Salisbury Plain where each battery fired a few rounds at easy targets to accustom the gun detachments to artillery fire. But for this small diversion from the hum-drum life of camp training, many young men of this brigade would have set foot in France to take part as artillerymen in a great war without ever having seen or heard a piece or ordnance fired. Regrettable though this omission was, there was unfortunately neither the ammunition, time nor opportunity to give the British artillery at home the chance of becoming practical gunners before reaching the Battle Area.
By the middle of March 1915, the authorities had begun to fit out the Northumbrian Division with every kind of article necessary for active service. The artillery brigade suddenly found itself submerged under a flood of equipment which in its most sanguine moments it had never dreamed of possessing. By the beginning of April it was complete in every way for action, the only fly in the ointment being the obsolescence of its ordnance. “Hope springs eternal” and officers and men yearned for the 4.5inch Q.F. howitzer. Their yearnings were in vain and the brigades left for France with its somewhat ancient field-piece, the 5-inch B.L. howitzer.
The brigade entrained at Newcastle on 19th April 1915 en route for Southampton where they embarked in the Anglo-Canadian for France on the 20th. They formed part of the Divisional Artillery of the 50th Division, the main body of which had crossed the Channel a few days earlier.
Le Harve where the brigade disembarked was reached the following day. No cheering crowd of friends and relations waved farewell to the men as they left their northern town, the Bank Holiday atmosphere which formerly surrounded departing heroes having evaporated with the passing of the Victorian era. From 1914 onwards, troops proceeding on active service have left these shores unheralded and unsung. After disembarkation the Brigade spent the day at the Hanger aux Cotons, that vast Ordnance depot at Le Harve collecting stores to complete their G1098. Having carried out this somewhat irksome task, they entrained at 10p.m. for the Front. How those trains rattled and jolted through the night! It was true that officers were comfortably ensconced in 1st class carriages, but travelling by rail under such conditions was non the less monotonous. Speed was not the strong suit of the French Railways under the hazards of war, but, after much shunting and banging , the trains always managed to complete their journeys in safety. Crawling at a snails pace through the countryside of France, Hazebroucke was finally reached at 10p.m. on 22nd April where the men de-trained and were marched away to billets in Pradelle. Orders were issued next day to pack up and move forward as quickly as possible as the Second Battle of Ypres was in full swing, and this meant heavy casualties and the need for
reinforcements. Owing to some muddle on the roads, the night of 23rd April was spent bivouacking at the foot of the Mont des Cats. About mid-night the order to unhook the wheelers, put down poles and wait for dawn was given and the respite, short though it was, proved very welcome. On setting off at first light the road was very narrow and unfortunately the M.T. of the 5th Cavalry Division chose the same route. The result was not unlike an Ascot day meeting and many lorries got ditched in the ensuing chaos. At noon on 24th April, the brigade was instructed to return to billets, and then at 6.0 p.m., when all and sundry were expecting a restful night after the previous day’s labours, orders were received to march at mid-night for the neighbourhood of Abeille. After a soaking night of rain---and how can it rain in Flanders---billets were reached at 8.0 a.m. For the next three or four days the brigade remained in situ carrying out exercises and short marches in the environs of Steenvorde and Rynelde. It was the lull before the tempest. On the night of 5 May, Captains Anderson and C.L. Chapman were sent forward to report to the C.R.A. 28th Divisional Artillery under whom they were to function for the time being, and Brigadier-General Gay ordered the brigade
to advance and rendezvous west of the brewery at Vlamertinghe. The road to Vlamertinghe lay through Poperinghe and on arrival the 4th Battery was addressed in stirring words by its Commanding Officer, who exhorted his listeners to acquit themselves like men in the trails and tribulations which lay ahead. On going forward the brigade reconnoitred the position east of Ypres amidst harrowing scenes.
Old men and women were trudging away from the flame encircled town, refugees wheeling their few pitiable effects in barrows and tumbledown perambulators, and little children were clinging in fright to their mothers’ skirts. These, intermingled with ambulances carrying blood stained men, made up the sorry procession which met the eye as the stricken area was approached. In Ypres itself, which resembled a huge bonfire, the cathedral was on fire, and the writer has in his possession part of the carved choir-stall which was salvaged from that burning pile. Shells were bursting everywhere and bullets, whizzing by, hummed like a swarm of angry bees on a summer’s afternoon. This reconnaissance move through Ypres by Suicide Corner was the Northumbrian men’s baptême de feu.
The 4th Northumbrian Howitzer Brigade had received orders to march at 12:30 a.m. on 6th May to a point one thousand yards west of Vlamertinghe. The two batteries and the ammunition column set out at 1.0 a.m. and reached their destination at 6.30 a.m. The brigade and battery commanders then spent the morning reconnoitring gun positions to be occupied that night. At 8.0 p.m. on 6th may the batteries advanced and went into action, being the first Territorial field gunners to take part in the Ypres fighting. The 4th Battery were just north of the Menin Road and 3,000 yards east of Ypres, the 5th Battery 300 yards south of La Brique and 1,000 yards N.E of Ypres, the wagon line 800 yards East of Vlamertinghe on the Poperinghe-Ypres Road and the brigade headquarters with the ammunition column at Brandhoek.
Being well within range, only some two miles fron the German front line, the batteries of the 4th Northumbrian Brigade R.F.A. went into action at once.

Second Battle of Ypres

On 7th May, the 4th Battery fired twenty rounds for registration purposes, an essential task prior to opening up in earnest. Next day, when the enemy launched his attack on Frezenberg, they delivered 392 rounds. The German attack began about 5.0 a.m. --- the chilly hour of dawn --- and by 9.0 a.m. the 4th Battery was literally stretched to the limit. Within about ninety minutes they were reduced to eleven rounds “in the kitty” and had to have their stocks of shell and cartrides replenished. Ammunition was brought up to them under heavy fire about 12.30 p.m. The teams were hidden in an avenue of trees some 400 yards in the rear of the battery, while single wagons were driven up to the guns. Between one and two o’clock in the afternoon Farrier Sergeant Robertson returned to the wagon line and had orders to bring that wagon and four gun limbers out full. Between 4.0 p.m. and 5 p.m., he was again on the position and emptied the wagon and gun limbers. He then came back with the five wagons and gun limbers hidden in the avenue. He had orders to return with five wagon loads of ammunition, but on arrival at the wagon line that order was cancelled, and Farrier Sergeant Robertson was instructed to take up the wagon teams only as the battery was to be withdrawn. During the fighting on 8th May the casualties in the battery accounted to one man killed and one N.C.O. and man wounded. Remarkably few, considering the sound and fury which had been raging during the preceding twelve hours.
 By 4.0 a.m. on 9th May both batteries had withdrawn to the wagon line where conditions were no quite so insufferable. During the day further reconnaissance’s were made for suitable alternative suitable battery sites and that night, i.e., the night of 9th May, the 4th Battery again came into action 200 yards North West of Lock No. 12 on the Ypres Canal immediately north of Ypres. The new position could hardly be described as peaceful or pleasant, in fact from a human point of view it was neither. The battery came under intense shell fire on 10 may with the loss of one man wounded, but it did not open fire again till 13th May when it was heavily engaged. The next engagement was on 16 May when the 3rd Division launched a successful attack on Bellewarde ridge. On that occasion the artillery bombardment of the enemy’s trenches commenced at 2.50 a.m.
A peaceful interlude in the sea on carnage may now be recorded. On Whit-Sunday, 23rd May, the 4th Durham Battery held its first church service in a little ruined cottage where normally Gunner Mackay, of South Shields, exercised his culinary art. Major Chapman --- the C.O. ---- read a chapter from his Bible and, after prayers, the hymn “Jesus, lover of my soul” was sung by the assembled company. That Sunday was fine and sunny, and an absence of shelling on the part of the Germans made the occasion one to be remembered in after years.
Gunner James Sambrooks, D.C.M, of the Northumberland Howitzer Brigade, 4th Battery, R.F.A., has been awarded the Croix de Guerre by the President of the French Republic for repairing telephone wires under heavy fire on many occasions at Ypres.
The Germans made a heavy gas attack along the Divisional front on 24th May, in the course of which both 4th and 5th batteries distinguished themselves. At one time the 4th Battery, which was nearer the enemy line than any other in the Divisional Artillery, was firing at 1,200 yards range. After having been in action for nearly a month in various positions in the salient.
The 4th Battery on June 4th occupied a site on the bank of a moat round Ypres near the Ecole d’Equitation. Meanwhile on the 29th May the G.O.C 50th Division was asked to convey the following message from the C.R.A. 27th Division, to which the 4 Durham battery had been attached:---
“The G.O.C is asked to convey to all ranks of your battery his keen appreciation of the work done by them during the recent fighting, work which was
carried out under very trying and arduous conditions.”

A very pleasing tribute to the old 3rd Durham Volunteer Artillery who, in their more modern guise as Territorial field gunners, were very keen soldiers.
The brigade then left the Ypres Salient for Kemmel. It was a welcome chance. A theatre of operations may cover a vast area as indeed that or World War I did, but conditions in that theatre may vary considerably. It may be likened to the curate’s egg --- good in parts. Kemmel was one of the less distasteful places , though it was not an ideal spot for a rest. After a month’s sojourn at Kemmel the brigade moved on to Armentieres where they were in action for three months, the 4 Durham Battery occupying a position just south of Chapelle d’Armentieres. Things on the whole were reasonably quiet during this period, there being little activity on either side of the line except the occasional artillery duel to keep the soldiers of both sides on their toes. Armentieres is not a particularly thrilling place at the best of times; in war it was deadly dull. It is a frontier town separating france from Belgium, but like “discharge” there are no douaniers in war, and the township just existed as a human settlement on the map, astride the river Lys. One feels that its only claim to a niche in a man’s memory will be the well-known so popular at one time, and even that now is becoming forgotten with the passage of time. The Division left Armentieres in November and the 4th Northumbrian Brigade R.F.A. was withdrawn from the front line for a month’s well earned rest. The weather during this rest period was very wet and great efforts had been made to prevent the horses sinking into the everlasting mud. Flanders has been immortalised by her poppies, but in winter her mud was no less a feature of her landscape. The quiet backwater in a tempestuous sea had soon to be left and on 2nd December the brigade moved up again to the Ypres front. “Well back to Hell, boys” was the comment when the orders arrived and the trek back to the Salient began.
The sector of the line allotted to the 50th Division ran from just South West of Hill 60 to a little short of the Menin Road, a great change from the Neuve Eglise and Armentieres areas. “Gone were the peaceful days of Kemmel and Armentieres,” laments from Captain Ommaney, whilst Colonel Shiel remarks, “From this time on we met real and bloody war.” Shelling was very heavy on both sides during these fateful days. The Divisional Artillery went into action north, south and west of Zillebeke Lake, the 4th Northumbrian Brigade R.F.A. taking up positions, one battery near the school east of Ypres and the other in the neighbourhood of French Farm. These sites were not very far from those originally held by the batteries seven months earlier, but conditions had deteriorated in the interim. The battery surroundings were now a mass of pollution and filth. Ypres at this junction beggars description. Even the worst nightmare could not conjure up the fantastic scenes of desolation which met the gaze of the onlooker. Mud was the norm of existence; black squelching mud the background against which the picture must be portrayed. The area between the shattered town and the German trenches to the east of it was scarred and eroded as if blasted by some Titanic fury. Roads were obliterated, blown into nothingness by the last argument of kings --- Ultima ratio regum --- that proud motto of the gun. They had been replaced by a series of duck-boards, sodden with rain and sludge, which spanned the oozing quagmires and linked together the water-logged crumbling craters. The air was orchestrated by the scream of shell, the bursting of which tore the vitals from the living earth which shook and groaned under the impact of this human savagery. Twisted tree stumps, tangled weeds, mounds of broken bricks and charred debris marked the spot which had once been Hooge. Everywhere ruin dominated the landscape which had become a cess pit of corruption, a midden stinking and pestilential. Slowly the surrounding country was sinking into the last embrace of death as if it had become the obscene playground of the damned. Movement by day was impossible and even by night, peril stalked the land. East of the ramparts the area was one vast smoking cauldron, a witch’s brew of disease and doom. The town itself was moribund, nothing moved, nothing lived. The silence was only broken by intermediate gun-fire and the detonation of high explosive. The gates had long since been pulverised and traffic junctions were shunned as if they were the centre of plague. Ypres was a charnel-house of horror and devastation.
The 4th Battery was heavily engaged during the enemy attack on the Bluff on 14th February 1916. The Bluff was just outside, and on the right of, the 17th Division. This place was a narrow ridge some thirty or forty feet high, covered with trees, on the northern bank of the Ypre-Commines Canal, and was probably formed when the canal was dug---a heap of earth thrown up by the excavators. At this period, however, it was a distinct feature at the southern end of the Ypres Salient and ran outwards throught the British lines almost into the German area. Later, when the Bluff was retaken on 2nd March, the brigade, especially the 5th Battery, rendered close and constant support to the infantry.  At this point in our narrative it is essential to stress the fact that World War I, like other wars, was fought as a single conception where every regiment and corps fitted together like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle to form a complicated whole. Every action of each unit was for that unit complete in itself---a microcosm within a microcosm---but it was at the same time part of that overall strategy which brought the fighting to its successful conclusion and led the Allies to ultimate victory. It must not be forgotten, however, that this short account purports to describe the exploits of one small, battery and not the war itself.
A sort of general post of artillery units must now be chronicled and the resultant game of puss in the corner appreciated step by step if the history of the 4th Durham Battery in Flanders is to be kept distinct from that of other gunner formations. The moves may be tabulated as under:---
(1) While in the Ypres Salient, the 4th Northumbrian Brigade had been joined by D/61 Battery from the Guards Division. The Brigade then consisting of three batteries was renamed “the 253rd Brigade R.F.A.”

(2) After leaving Ypres, the 253 Brigade R.F.A. moved to Kemmel where on 16th May 1916 it underwent dismemberment contingent on the re-organization of the 50th Divisional Artillery, being made into a three battery 4-gun 18 pdr brigade. As the 4th and 5th Durham batteries were armed with field Howitzers and not 18 pdr guns, they had to leave the 253rd Brigade and seek fresh pastures.

(3) The 4th Durham Battery was therefore transferred to the
250 Brigade R.F.A. and became known as D/250 Battery whilst the 5th Durham Battery joining the 251st Brigade R.F.A. rejoiced in the name of D/251 Battery.

(4) The 250th Brigade was again remodelled on 16th November 1916 when it was converted into a four battery brigade--- three 6-gun 18 pdr batteries and one 4-gun howitzer battery.
As, however, D/250 Battery filled the latter role, it remained in the brigade and functioned thus for the remainder of the war.

(5) In December 1916, both D/250 and D/251 batteries were at last able to dispense with their obsolescent equipment and acquire the current field howitzer---4.5 inch Q.F. With a feeling the old discarded pieces were sent back and loaded on trucks at Godwersveldt station.

(6) In order to make confusion worse confounded, it may be  stated that D/250 Battery was, in fact, the howitzer battery of the 1st Northumbrian Brigade (Newcastle) and D/251Battery, the howitzer battery of the 2nd Northumbrian Brigade (Hull); alternative titles for the 250th and 251st Brigades R.F.A respectively.
We are given to understand that the lifecycle of the liver fluke is somewhat involved and that the various metamorphoses it undergoes seem to bear little relationship to one another. Natural history obviously has no monopoly in this respect.
After leaving Ypres in the Spring of 1916, the 4th Durham Battery was ordered to proceed to Kemmel and on arrival moved to the wagon line at Ourderdam where a roll-call was taken. Many lads from South Shields were missing but re-inforcements from the ammunition column brought the battery up to strength before it reached Kemmel Hill where it relieved a Canadian battery near Viersttract which was due for a rest. That night some firing took place, one gun being in action just behind the trenches and the other three futher back. In a fortnight’s time the Canadians returned to the line and in turn relieved the 4th Durham Battery which withdrew for “peace and quiet” near Steenvorde. Whilst there the battery lost the services of Captain Chapman who returned to England to take over the command of a newly formed unit.
Major Charles Lancelot Chapman, M.C
Charles, an articled clerk in his father Henry’s chartered accountancy office, was not so lucky. On August 3, 1914, he left the annual Westoe Lawn Tennis Club tournament to join his elder brother Robert at the Bolingbroke Street headquarters of the 4th Durham (Howitzer) Battery, where he was a Second Lieutenant. He was promoted to captain before the end of the year, and fought alongside Robert on the Western Front for two years, in both the Second Battle of Ypres and in the Somme. “Charles played an important role as a Forward Observation Officer, supported by signallers, equipped with telescopes, flash-spotters and voice tubes. “They all had the extremely dangerous task of going into the front-line area with field telephones to find a location where they could observe and report the impact of their own battery’s shellfire. “Charles’ work was excellent, and he was rewarded with the Military Cross in January 1916.” In May he was recalled to England to be trained as a battery commander, and on his return he was posted to the 36th (Ulster) Division, where in March 1917 he was promoted to Major and Commanding Officer of ‘D’ (Howitzer) Battery of 173 Brigade, Royal Field Artillery. “In May, his brigade was involved in the famous Battle of Messines in which coal-miners had dug tunnels to lay 21 mines containing 400 tons of explosives. The explosions killed some 10,000 German defenders, and the battle was won. After a spell of home leave, Charles returned to fight with the 36th (Ulster) Division in the Third Battle of Ypres. Tragically for him, his luck ran out and a shell explosion on his battery in August 1917, during the Battle of Langemarck, caused him life-threatening wounds. “He was transferred by ambulance train to a Canadian Casualty Clearing Station at Rémy Farm near Poperinghe, where he died two days later. “He was much loved by his men. A very touching letter was written to his parents, and published in the Shields Gazette in September 1917, by ‘The Old Boys who are left’ – men from Charles’ original 4th (Durham) Howitzer Battery in South Shields. The letter was signed by 16 NCOs, 13 Gunners and 13 Drivers. It said that Charles ‘was admired by all ranks for his fearlessness in action, and with him the boys would go anywhere. We will always remember him with regret as a real Englishman and fine officer who died for his country’.
Read more at: https://www.shieldsgazette.com/lifestyle/nostalgia/wartime-history-of-south-shields-family-1-9461823
He is buried in the Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery in Belgium.
 After a week of retirement the battery returned to La Clytte and took up a position in front of Kemmel Hill relieving a battery of the 19th Division. During the early part of the summer of 1916 the Kemmel front was comparatively inactive and it was during this lull that the changes adumbrated took place and D/250 Battery moved down to the Somme.

It has been said that during the latter half of 1916 all roads---from the point of the British Army in France---led either to or from the Somme. This massive battle, a fearsome eruption in the continuous line of trench warfare stretching from Switzerland to the North Sea, commenced on 1st July 1916. It had been discussed at the end of 1915 by Generals Joffre and Haig and, as neither the French nor the British were deemed powerful enough to “go it alone” it was decided to launch a combined attack.
The area selected was North and South of the Somme River. Much argument over this operation has since taken place, but whatever the original intentions of the Allies they had subsequently to be modified; and the success or failure of the enterprise can only rightfully be judged on the three objects of the offensive:---

(1) To relieve pressure on Verdun

(2) To assist the Allies in other theatres of war by stopping any further transfer of German troops from the Western Front.

(3) To wear down the resistance of the forces opposed to the British and French.
What is now known euphemistically as “a softening up process” took place on 24th June when at least 1,500 guns of various calibres opened up a furious bombardment of the enemy’s trenches, communications and rear defences. It was, as can be imagined, hell let loose and the Germans had to take cover as best they could. The 50th Division did not actively take part in the struggle till 15th September, though some of its divisional artillery did come into action some days earlier whilst temporarily under the orders of the C.R.A. of another division. The 50th Divisional Artillery had not properly settled down in their new quarters north and south of Montigny when they received orders on 17th August to move up and relieve gunners of 34th Division who had had a gruelling time since 1st July. Their hope, therefore, of a few days rest in a quiet area was still born, and they were told by the artillerymen of the 19th Division, who had relieved them on 8th and 9th of August, what the Somme was like. The description can be well imagined. 

The Somme
Mametz, Bazentin, Martinuich, High Wood, Le Sars, Eaucourt l’Abbe, Flers-Courcelette

D/250 Battery proceeded to the Somme, firstly by rail entraining at Bailleul and detraining at Doullens, and secondly by road passing through Albert which had been badly knocked about. The wagon line was left at Becourt and the battery went into action at Contalmaison on 14th August, Sergeant Hall being one of the first casualties at La Clatte, Captain Brimer and Sergeant Major Mulvany joined the battery which was once again at full strength. After this the 250th Brigade including D/250 Battery went into the line on 24th-25th August relieving the 70th Brigade R.F.A. Like the remainder of the divisional artillery, D/250 Battery was in almost continuous action on the Somme. They took part in the attacks on
Mametz, Bazentin, Martinuich, High Wood, Le Sars, Eaucourt l’Abbe
and in the creeping barrage at the battle of Flers-Courcelette between 15th and 22nd September.

The difference between a creeping barrage, which was introduced on 15 July, and a lifting barrage was that the former in its menacing advance caught shell holes and other points of cover in no-man’s land to which isolated units and individuals retired as soon as a bombardment opened. It was like a steam of lava engulfing all in its path between the enemy’s first and second lines of defence; whereas the latter, which lifted from line to line, missed the intervening terrain.

Heavy casualties were sustained during these actions; gunners, drivers and horses being killed and wounded in large numbers. Lieutenant Weddle and Gunner Muir were killed and Staff Sergeant J. Grey wounded to mention but a few. After a short, well deserved rest and refitting in October D/250 Battery went into action again. By then the reins had broken and the battlefield became a morras in which the men and horses floundered helplessly.
On this map of positions as they were on 30 June 1916 and during the assault next day, the British front line appears in red and the German front line in green above it. Mametz and Fricourt are strongly fortified villages immediately behind and part of the German front line complex. Mametz Wood and Contalmaison lie beyond the shallow valley of Willow Stream and just in front of the enemy’s second line system. Rawlinson’s Fourth Army plan of attack aimed at being well beyond Mametz by 2 hours and 40 minutes after the opening of the assault.
 In January the battery was again withdrawn for refitting and collecting reinforcements which the previous Autumn engagements had rendered necessary. At this stage Captain B.C. Warrens and Lieutenant James joined the battery. A few days later, D/250 Battery again went into action in mid-winter in front of Delville Wood, or rather what remained of it, and behind Flers: and what a bitter winter it was. Even in southern England, skating lasted for three weeks. Throughout all the privations and heavy fighting during this grim period, the divisional artillery suffered many casualties but their morale remained high, and a number of decorations for gallantry were awarded to officers and men. Before finally leaving the Somme,
Picture
Delville Wood
 D/250 Battery with the 250th Brigade went to St Gratien where the further re-organization already mentioned was carried out. When the re-organization was completed, the 50th Division took over from the French south of the Somme and the 250th Brigade R.F.A remained there for a month, at the end of which the Germans successfully withdrew their lines across the river. From this sub-arctic winter position of 1916-197, the batteries composing the brigade moved straight up to Arras. Before leaving the Somme, Lieutenant Darling rejoined D/250 Battery from England where he had been recovering from wounds, and major Robert Chapman left the battery to command the 250th brigade R.F.A.,
Major E.G. Angus being posted to the command in his stead on 19th March 1917.

The Battles of Arras

The battles of Arras were the first allied offensives of 1917. Three weeks prior to the opening attack, the 50th Divisional Artillery took part in the heavy bombardment directed towards the enemy’s lines. On 31st March 1917, the 250th and 251st Brigades moved to Wailly where they both came under the orders of the C.R.A 56th Division and both brigades went into action from positions between Bearains and Agny. The officers serving in D/250 Battery at this date were:---
Major E.G. Angus
Captain B.C. St. G. Warrens
Lieutenant E. Darling, M.C.
Lieutenant C. James
Lieutenant G. MacCallum, M.C
2nd Lieutenant R.A. Goodall
2nd Lieutenant V.H. Jowett
The weather during the early spring of 1917 was terrible, a succession of storms and gales in which snow, hail and rain vied with one another to inflict the greatest possible discomfort on mankind and animals. The elements in their fury blistered men’s faces and cracked the skin of their fingers like a builders blowlamp. Horses, poor beasts died like flies from exposure, especially those sent up from the Base Veterinary Hospital which succumbed to the weather before they could become acclimatised. Stabling for horses, like billets was hard to acquire. It was a grim experience for all concerned. D/250 Battery took part in the successful attack on 9th April and, in the heavy fighting which followed, helped, with other artillery units , materially to re-capture Wancourt Tower. It also did its share in the successful counter-attack made by 50th Division on St George’s Day. A long summer was spent in front of Arras. It was a summer uneventful after the main battle was over, save for the dreary round of occasional gun duels and the boredom of trench warfare high-lit by episodic skirmishes.
Arras France. February1919.
BRAVE SHIELDS OFFICER Lieut. W. Golding
Awarded Military Cross for Gallantry. Lieut. William Golding, South Shields, who is serving at the Front with the 5th Durham Battery of the 4th Northumberland Howitzer Brigade, has been awarded the Military Cross for the continuous good service during the heavy fighting, and especially for gallant conduct in the trenches. East of Ypres on May 13, Lieut Golding, who is 23 years of age, is the son of Captain W. Golding, of 42, Rosebery Avenue, South Shields. Lieutenant G. Akinson, in a letter to his parents, who reside at Broughton Road, South Shields, makes the following references to Lieutenant Golding 
A letter home
"We hear that Lieutenant Golding has been recommneded for the Victoria Cross. He was forward observing when his battalion ceased firing, and there was a cavalry charge. He went forward with the cavalry, picked up a rifle, bayoneted Germans until it broke, and then drew out his revolver and shot a few. By this time they had taken the trenches. "The Germans then shelled them out of it, and they had to retire. His telephones being all smashed up, Lieutenant Golding crawled back under fire and established communications with his batteries, who then shelled the Germans out of their trench, where they were caught by our Maxims and wiped out."
 On 21 May, D/250 Battery withdrew for a weeks rest and relaxation to an old mill just south of Archicourt. This spot housed a standing camp with good horse lines and excellent tentage for officers and men. Arras was only a mile and a half away and there were quite good facilities for the men’s entertainment. Concert parties sang to the troops and the services they rendered were welcomed by the tired gunners after six weeks in the line during which they had lost twelve killed and twenty eight wounded. After a week’s respite D/250 Battery relieved D/47 Battery in the Hindenberg Line near Heninel where although gun-fire was desultory the enemy made himself unpleasant by launching a gas attack to which we replied in good measure. As a result of this chemical warfare duel, 2nd Lieutenant Smith and Sergeant Major Brennan collapsed and were taken to hospital. On 4th June, the battery re-occupied its old position at Wancourt and for the next three or four months settled down to the inertia of trench warfare which was such a marked feature of World War I. The last bombardment of the battle by the Germans took place in August, and it was a heavy one. It started when most of the personnel of the battery were in the cook-house having breakfast. On 21st September, the battery moved to a new position in a sunken road behind the village and had really got comfortably settled in when orders came on 16th October 1917 to move up north.

Third Battle of Ypres

The 250th Brigade therefore left the Arras sector to take part in the Third Battle of Ypres. D/250 and her sister battery were engaged from mid-October in the Ypres-Passchendale sector, being present in the unsuccessful attacks on Houthoulst Forest.  Whatever the conditions in the neighbourhood of Ypres were like during the second battle they paled into insignificance compared to those during its third. Another year in which the foetid miasma of death and decay could accumulate; a further period during which the ever-growing stench of gangrene assailed the nostrils. If the ground bled before, it was now haemorrhaging. Ypres had become one vast Golgotha. The life of D/250 Battery during these four months was symptomatic of the whole war. Heavy shelling, little movement, many casualties and abominable living conditions. The latter were occasioned by hostile fire and to a lesser extent to the unpropitious weather. No wonder, therefore, that the circumstances in which the Northumbrian Artillery fought and died were the worse they had encountered during the whole war. Never was Notker’s Latin antiphon more true “In the midst of life we are in death.” The Durham lads suffered terribly under these conditions, but despite overwhelming odds they never failed to support the infantry when required and to keep a stiff upper lip.
The great German offensive on the Somme took place during the latter half of March 1918. It was a Herculean attempt to rout the Allies and break through into France. It was in reality one of the last despairing throws of a reckless and beaten gambler. It may be divided into three phases:---
(1) The actions at the Somme crossings, 24-25th March.
(2) The battle of Rosieres, 26th-27th March, and
(3) The final attack, 28th March.
Luckily Allied Headquarters had learned through German deserters that the attack would be launched on 21st March.
D/250 Battery left the Salient on 18 February 1918 and marched to Thiembronne where a halt for six days was called. After this interlude the battery entrained at Argues and detrained at Longeau. A slow trek in easy stages then followed from Hangard to Bray and across the old Somme battlefields where as B.S.M Dunnington says “We saw thousands of vultures feasting on the skeletons of men that had become exposed”. Crossing the Somme the battery passed through Peronne and finally halted amid charming surroundings at Buire where accommodation in the shape of Nissen huts was provided for the men and covered stables for the horses. It was a real oasis as the adjacent countryside had hardly been touched by shell fire. Life took an almost phantasmal existence in these sylvan environs. The calm before the storm, so common in nature, wrapped the night of 20th-2st1 March in a mantle of uncanny silence, so much so that the hazards of war seemed to belong to another world. When dawn broke on 21 March, an impenetrable fog descended on the landscape like a clammy woollen blanket which reduced visibility to a few yards. Peace was shattered about 4:45 a.m. when the German artillery opened a violent bombardment against practically the whole of the 3rd and 5th Army fronts form the Oise to the Scarpe Rivers. As early as 4:30 a.m. on that fateful morning the 50th Division received a warning from 5th Army H.Q. to move at twelve hours’ notice. The warning was confirmed and translated into an order about 9:30 a.m. Meanwhile the 50th Divisional Artillery had come into action. The 250 Brigade R.F.A. moved off eastwards through Tincourt towards Hesbecourt and took up a position to cover the 66th Division. On 22 March, the enemy began to advance at about 6.0 a.m. and the 250th Brigade opened fire on S.O.S. lines, having been moved to position 1,000 yards west of Nobescourt Farm at 10.0 a.m. They had hardly got settled and dug in when orders arrived at 9.0 p.m. to move back near Le Catelet. Eventually, Nobescourt Farm fell into German hands at 7.0 p.m. after several previous attempts failed. At 5.30 a.m. on 2rd March, orders were received that two batteries of the brigade were to retire and cross the Somme canal at Brie to cover the bridge-head while the remaining batteries fought a rear guard action to hold up the German advance. The leading batteries crossed the bridge at noon and the remainder at 2.0 p.m., the whole brigade moving into positions not far from barleux; almost a year to the day since the brigade had followed the enemy over the same bridge in his retreat. The enemy made several attempts to cross the river without success and received very heavy punishment during these abortive thrusts. Late in the evening of 24th march, the 250th Brigade moved across to the other side of the Belloy to relieve congestion on the roads. At the close of the fighting on 31st March, the British line ran from Moreuil station to Hangard, thence to the old line west of Warfusee-Abancourt.  When the great retreat ended, the 250th and 251st Brigades found themselves after many vicissitudes in the neighbourhood of Gentelles where the gunners stayed till 8th April. A lot of fighting was still taking place in front of them and the line swung to and fro until it finally settled down. In these actions, the 50th Divisional Artillery took part and was heavily shelled on 4th April at the Battle of the Avre when the 250th Brigade suffered its great loss in the wounding of its C.O., Lieut-Colonel Robert Chapman, who was badly hit in the right arm. He was invalided home.No one expressed sorrow when on 8th April the guns about Gentelles were withdrawn and the march northwards began. A few days of quiet followed, that is to say a rest from being in action, but this interlude did not last long. Having completed their march, the brigades were immediately flung into the whirlpool again to assist in repelling German attacks on the Armentieres front, round Merville and east of Hazebrouck. Having suffered very heavy casualties in the two attacks, the 25th0 and 251st Brigades were transferred to the Chemin de Dames, in the expectation of having a rest, but instead of a rest they had to face fresh German attacks on 27th may. After the comparative failure of the Germans in their great Somme offensive of March 1918, for although it gained ground it did not achieve the results expected, they made another powerful thrust a couple of months later; this time in Champagne. Part of this new attack was the Battle of Aisne, 27th May – 6th June. Both the 25th0 and 251st Brigades brought their guns into action about 10th May, some being in the Bois de Beau Marais and others less sheltered in the open.

Battle of Aisne

Having suffered very heavy casualties in the two attacks, the 250th and 251st Brigades were transferred to the Chemin de Dames, in the expectation of having a rest, but instead of a rest they had to face fresh German attacks on 27th may. After the comparative failure of the Germans in their great Somme offensive of March 1918, for although it gained ground it did not achieve the results expected, they made another powerful thrust a couple of months later; this time in Champagne. Part of this new attack was the Battle of Aisne, 27th May – 6th June. Both the 250th and 251st Brigades brought their guns into action about 10th May, some being in the Bois de Beau Marais and others less sheltered in the open. All the Batteries were north, north-west and west of Pontavert. The fighting on 27th May will never be forgotten by the 50th Divisional Artillery on account of the disaster which occurred and the gallantry of its gunners, many of whom died alongside the guns they were endeavouring to serve to the last. Ost of those who survived were taken prisoner. Through a holocaust and a fiasco in so far as material success was concerned, the batteries engaged received special thanks of the French Divisional General for their valour and daring. The 250 Brigade was commanded by Lieut-Colonel F.G.D Johnson and the 251st Brigade by Lieut-Colonel F.R Moss-Blundell. On the right the 250th Brigade kept their guns in action longer than the 251st brigade, for the latter was quickly enveloped from the left. The casualties were enormous and not a gun was saved. Very few men escaped. Captain Darling of D/250 Battery was last seen going towards the enemy, revolver in hand, whilst Lieutenant Earle with a few gunners remaining was directing fire of the last battery gun still in action. Eleven wagons of D/251 Battery which went up from the wagon line to take ammunition to the reserve positions came under machine gun fire at close quarters. Those who escaped death or mutilation in the perilous enterprise were captured.
A period of re-organization and reconstruction followed, in fact, the batteries had practically had to be built anew, but both D/250 and D/251 Batteries were ready to take part in the attack on 8th August, south of Albert, supporting the Australians in the great and successful offensive of that day. During the following weeks, Peronne, the breaking of the Woton line in September by the Canadians, Cambrai, Mormal Forest and many other engagements saw their prescence. Thus finally, they were in action during those glorious months of victory in the Autumn of 1918.
Thereafter the enemy hurried eastwards in disorder and, although during the succeeding days there were fierce encounters up and down the line, the German troops never really rallied to the attack. Their resistance was broken and their heart was gone. Incapable of further fighting they sought and obtained an Armistice at 11 a.m. on 11th November, 1918. The war was over and the lights began to flicker again over Europe.
After a period of inactivity following the Armistice, the personnel of D/250 Battery was sent home in batches, and their service overseas ended. They were demobilised in due course and exchanged their war-stained uniforms for civilian suits.

 Life after the Armistice was not too easy in England and some little time had to elapse before the officers and men of
4th Durham Battery settled down to their peace-time routine. It was occasionally hard for those who had led and open-air existence, free from the cares of everyday life, however grim and appalling parts of it may have been, to go back to an office, a factory or shipyard, and live a sedate life befitting the average stay-at-home citizen. Some, indeed, may have emigrated to a Dominion or Colony where the wide open spaces had a strong appeal to certain restless spirits who felt that the strait jacket of respectability in a city street was more than they could bear. This is, of course, pure speculation in the case under discussion, but it is, nevertheless, a problem which always besets the demobilised officer and man after a war, particularly in the case of the non-regular soldier whose mode of existence has been disrupted by hostilities. It is a less pressing problem for the professional soldier who is following his chosen career under whatever conditions he may be serving. Even then a return to peace-time duty with its irksome controls and what the modern soldier calls “bull” is often tedious. Napoleon, one of the greatest generals of all time, hit the nail on the head when in replying to a question about war said “It ruins uniforms and is bad for discipline”.

After the fog of war had cleared somewhat, the 4th Northumbrian Howitzer Brigade R.F.A. (TF) held their first Re-union Dinner at 7:15 p.m. on Tuesday, 2nd December, 1919, at their headquarters in Bolingbroke Street, South Shields. No record of the proceedings appears to exist except the menu. There were three toasts: “The King” and “Our Gallant Dead” proposed by the Chairman, and “The 4th Northumbrian Howitzer Brigade R.F.A. (TF)” proposed by Brigadier-General A.U. Stockley, C.M.G. The latter was replied to by Lieut-Colonel R. Chapman, C.M.G., D.S.O., T.D., and R.S.M. W. Munchin.