25.5.1917 PETIT SAINS: Battalion relieved 1/5th LEICESTER REGIMENT in RIGHT SUBSECTOR of Right Brigade Front.
1/6th Battalion War Diary [WO/95/2694]
25/26 May: Relive the 138 Brigade in the LIEVIN SECTOR. See Operation ORDER N. 117. Relief complete by 4pm.
139 Infantry Brigade: Headquarters War Diary [WO95/2692]
6/5/1917 PETIT SAINS: Battalion relieved 1/5th Leicestershire Regiment in RIGHT SUBSECTOR of Left Brigade Front, East of CITE ST PIERRE. M.12.d.50.10 to N.1.c.40.35 (Ref Map 36C.SW.1)
Our new sector was one of the worst we ever held. The front line, "A" Company (Petch), consisted of "Cooper Trench"—an exposed salient in front of Cité St. Pierre, overlooked and shelled from every direction and absolutely unapproachable during daylight, except for those who were willing to crawl. "B" and "C" Companies (Wynne and Moore) were behind in cellars, and "D" (Shields) and Battalion Headquarters still further back in the Cité. On the left could be seen the low slag heap and railway line of St. Pierre coal mine. [1/5th Leicesters]
1/6th Battalion War Diary [WO/95/2694]
“The 6th May saw us back in trenches, relieving the 1/5th Leicestershire Regiment in the right sub-sector of the left Brigade front east of Cite St. Pierre, for the commencement of a spell which was as comfortable as most the Battalion had enjoyed. For the whole of the months of May and June the weather was glorious, the health of the Battalion was of a very high standard, and the two months spent in the various parts of the Divisional sector…..will be remembered as a happy and not too exciting period”
[1/6th Battalion History]
6th: The 139 Brigade relieve the 138 Brigade in the left (St. PIERRE) Sector.
139 Infantry Brigade: Headquarters War Diary [WO95/2692]
19.4.1917 NOEUX-LES-MINES: QM Stores and transport moved to PETIT SAINS.
19.4.1917 ANGRES: Battalion relived 7th Battalion NORTHANTS Regt in LIEVIN. Letters “A” and “B” Companies in front line. Letters “C” and “D” Companies in support.
1/6th Battalion War Diary [WO/95/2694]
ANGRES 19: 139 Brigade relived the 73rd Infantry Brigade on the front M.29.d.2.1. to M.23.d.6.6. with headquarters at M.27.c.6.0.
15.1.1917: Battalion relieved 5th Battalion in XI sub sector.
1/6th Battalion War Diary [WO/95/2694]
15th: 6th and 8th Battalions take over the front line. Our heavy trench mortars made good shooting on an emery dugout behind Gommocourt Wood.
139 Infantry Brigade: Headquarters War Diary [WO95/2692]
7.1.1917: Relieved 5th Battalion in RIGHT SECTOR.
Draft of 180 Other Ranks (160 partly trained) joined Battalion and sent to 139 Brigade Training Depot.
80 of these men comprise the 28th Reinforcement (see below), but the origin the of the other 100 men is not clear.
1/6th Battalion War Diary [WO/95/2694]
7th: 6th and 8th Battalions take over the front line.
139 Infantry Brigade: Headquarters War Diary [WO95/2692]
Some of these these men came from the 14th Infantry Base Depot and formed the 28th Reinforcement to the 1/6th Battalion.
This Reinforcement comprised many men from the South Nottinghamshire Hussars (left) and Derbyshire Yeomanry (right).
Army Service Record for 7804/242592 Pte Percy McNeil recording that he had left Folkstone on the 4th January 1916 and had been posted to the 14th Infantry Base Depot before transferring to the 1/6th Battalion Sherwood Foresters.
Percy had originally enlisted into the South Nottinghamshire Hussars on the 22nd August 1914 and embarked for Gallipoli (via Alexandria) in August 1915. He was taken sick with enteritis and dysentery and returned to England on Hospital Ship FORMOSA in February 1916. After treatment and recuperation he was transferred to the 5th Reserve Battalion Sherwood Foresters before disembarking from Folkestone for Boulogne in January 1917.
Army Service Record for 669 Pte John Atkinson of ‘D Squadron’ 1/1st South Nottinghamshire Hussars who also transferred to the 5th battalion Sherwood Foresters on the 2nd January 1917, two days before leaving for France.
30.12.1916 SOUASTRE: Battalion relieved 5th Battalion in same sector, distribution of Companies under:-
30.12.1916 SOUASTRE: 2/Lieut R EVANS to 3rd Army School.
War Diary [WO/95/2694]
30th: Centre Company of left sub sector shelled by 4.2 during the afternoon. 6th and 8th Battalions relieved the 5th and 6th Battalions in the front line.
139 Infantry Brigade: Headquarters War Diary [WO95/2692]
22.12.1916 SOUASTRE: Lieut AH GOODHALL and 2/Lieut VTG HORE proceeded to join Heavy Branch Machine Gun Corps.
Alec Harrison Goodall
Casualties during Brigade Support – 2 other ranks wounded.
Battalion relieved 5th Battalion in same sector trenches. Distribution of Companies:-
War Diary [WO/95/2694]
We took over a front line position about December 20th and it was the exact position we occupied on July 1st. The front line trench was exactly the same as it had been on that date. Of course it had been repaired and strengthened and the approach trenches were in good order and easy to travel along.
Christmas Eve the letters and parcels had arrived from home. Life was bearable. My little unit was quartered in a dug-out just behind the front line. All seemed set fair for a comparatively decent Christmas considering we were in the middle of a war and within easy rifle fire of the front line.
The dug-out was a sort of mud and sand-bag dwelling with half a dozen wood and wire-netting beds arranged in pair bunks and I occupied one of the top beds which was close to the ceiling. The walls and the ceiling were honeycombed with rat-runs, so much so that the rats that infected those runs were really a menace. They were a very large species and had grown so impudent that you could see them waiting on the edge of the run-ways for the time that the candles stuck on the walls and on a make-shift table were blown out. As soon as it was sort of safe for them they came out of the walls, the floors and the ceiling and ran over everything and everybody. You could feel them crawling over you and hear them turning over the various articles in the dug-out in search of scraps of food. They seemed in a way afraid of light and if anyone struck a match or switched on a flashlight they made a squealing scramble to get into the runways, it was like a flock of sheep trying to get through the gate of a field.
[2305 Pte Frank Longson]
22nd: 6th and 8th Battalions relieved 5th and 7th in the front line. A quite day.
139 Infantry Brigade: Headquarters War Diary [WO95/2692]
12.12.1916 SOUASTRE: Battalion relieved 5th Battalion in RIGHT SECTOR (X1 Sub Sector) trenches (GOMMECOURT). Disposition of Battalion as under:-
Relief completed by 12.30 pm.
2/Lieut. FW HIPKINS to Divisional School.
The Bluff: "On the evening of the 4th June we moved up through Foncquevillers, and relieved the 5th Sherwood Foresters in the right sector, opposite Gommecourt Park. A road and bank, running parallel with the front line, and about 100 yards behind it, provided Battalion Headquarters. Behind this again, the "Bluff," a steep bank, gave the support Company a good home". The Fifth Leicestershire, A record of the 1/5th Battalion the Leicestershire Regiment, T.F., during the War, 1914-1919
1/6th Battalion War Diary [WO/95/2694]
Communication Trenches and Centre and Left Sector front lines in a very bad state, in place knee deep in mud and water.
1/7th Battalion War Diary [WO/95/2694]
12th: Enemy Trench Mortar action against our left Battalion during the night. 6th & 8th Battalions relieved 5th & 7th in the front line, the later returning to Divisional Reserve.
139 Infantry Brigade: Headquarters War Diary [WO95/2692]
25.10.1916 BELLACOURT: Lt Col. GD GOODMAN CMG returned from Divisional School. Relieved 5th BATTN in RIGHT SECTOR.
War Diary [WO/95/2694]
4am: Early in the morning we stopped the enemy working in front of Blaireville Wood by Lewis gun fire.
7.30am: 6th & 8th Battalions relieved the 5th & 7th in the front line. The 5th returning to BAILLEUVAL.
10.15pm: In order to cooperate in a raid carried out by 137th Infantry Brigade on our right, a bombardment of the German BLOCKHOUSE was continued for 30 minutes. Our left group RA, one 2″ trench mortar & a stokes mortar, which was brought into action in the RAVINE cooperated. The enemy retaliated with several batteries of 77 & 4.2 howitzers & several trench mortars on both our sectors. Some damage being done to trenches.
139 Infantry Brigade: Headquarters War Diary [WO95/2692]
Derbyshire Territorials in the Great War 