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The Battle of Neuve Chapelle

Between 10th and 13th March, 1915, the Indian Army Corps and IV Corps attacked the village of Neuve Chapelle in the Artois region of France. During the winter of 1914-1915, reinforcements had arrived from Britain and this was seen as an opportunity to use them to break through the German lines.

It started well. At 7.30am on 10th March, a 30 minute hurricane bombardment destroyed the German wire and front line trenches and at 8.05am the infantry went in. Neuve Chapelle was captured and over a mile of the German line taken. But that was the end of the success.  The British chain of command was weak and their communications poor, which was hardly surprising given that many of the troops had no previous experience of battle. The Germans re-organised and reinforced during the night and no further gains were made. British casualties mounted to 12,000 by the time the offensive petered out on 13th March.

On 10th March, 1915, 24 Brigade of 8th Division were in reserve while 23 and 25 Brigades attacked the enemy positions. The 4th Cameron Highlanders battalion were employed as a trench garrison and in the very heavy artillery bombardment, laid down by both sides throughout the day, they suffered about 30 casualties. That evening they moved forward to take over some captured trenches. They were still in these positions on 12th March when a German counter-attack took place and early that evening 4th Cameron Highlanders were ordered forward to take part in a bayonet attack. However, by this time the battalion was somewhat scattered and the leading company became isolated and those following up came across the enemy unexpectedly and suffered casualties. As the night drew in any further attempts were called off and the battalion withdrew to their original trenches having sustained around 70 casualties. The fighting continued through to the next day during which Edwin Chase was killed.