Coldstream Guards, The - Actions in World War 1 (Great War) to 1915

The Coldstream Guards is the regiment which was raised by George Monck, and which fought under Cromwell at Dunbar. In December 1659, it was camped, during three weeks of piercing cold, in the village of Coldstream on the Tweed, and on New Year's Eve it set out for London, where it had some share in restoring Charles II. to his throne.

In 1661 that king took the regiment into his service, and since it has been known as the 'Second' or 'Coldstream Regiment of Foot Guards'. In the two hundred and sixty years of life to the start of the Great War, it had won glory in nearly all parts of the world.

The Coldstreamers fought at Mons in 1678, and under Dutch William at Namur. At Malplaquet, and again at Fontenoy, the regiment was nearly destroyed, and, having crossed over to America, it suffered heavily at Guildford in 1781.

It was with Wellington in the Peninsula, where the corpses of the Coldstreamers littered the fields at Talavera and Barossa; at the crisis of the Battle of Waterloo they held the farm at Hougomont; and they endured to the end through the fog of Inkerman.

They fought in South Africa under Pole-Carew, advancing at Belmont and forcing their way across the Modder.

"Though ranking second on the list of our infantry, this is the senior regiment of the British Army. Other corps may boast of earlier traditions, but this is the oldest national regiment and the sole survivor of the famous 'New Model'. Well may it claim, in its proud Latin motto 'Nulli Secundus', that it is second to none." - Fortescue's "History of the British Army".

The men who landed in France in August 1914, were soon to show themselves worthy successors of the heroes who fought and fell upon these bloody fields. The 1^st Battalion was in the 1^st Brigade and the 1^st Division, and the 2^nd and 3^rd Battalions were in the 4^th Brigade and the 2^nd Division, thus being also called the 'Guards Brigade' because it consisted wholly of Guardsmen. All three battalions were in the 'First Army Corps', commanded by Sir Douglas Haig.

It would be impossible in an article, to give anything like a full account of the work done by these three battalions even during the first year of the Great War; it was too great and too glorious. I shall, therefore confine this article to four actions in which the Coldstreamers specially distinguished themselves

• their stand at Mons,
• their fight at Landrecies,
• their deeds at the first Battle of Ypres, and
• their struggle in the brickfields at Cuinchy.

After a few days spent near Boulogne the Coldstreamers, like the other battalions, were sent forward to the front, and on Sunday morning, August 23^rd, they were shown their position, and at once put to work to dig trenches in the fields in which they were. The 1^st Battalion was near Binche, where the French and British lines met, and the 2^nd and 3^rd were about midway between that place and Mons.

Each battalion held about half a mile of the line, certain companies being in front and others in reserve.

Late in the afternoon, the German guns opened fire, and soon the officers, by means of their glasses, could see their infantry pressing forward. When they came within range the Coldstreamers, almost all of them skilled marksmen, fired steadily and at the word into the advancing masses, remaining undisturbed in spite of the heavy artillery fire, which was directed by aeroplanes, and of the fresh forces which were continually hurled against them.

They were neither beaten nor broken, but alas! the French had gone from the British right, and Germans were working round it , so to save his corps Sir Douglas Haig ordered the men to draw slowly back towards Bray.

This was the beginning of the Great Retreat, which was undertaken in earnest as soon as darkness fell. On that Sunday, Lord Plymouth's son, the Hon. Archer Windsor-Clive, was killed, the first name on a long list soon to be added to the Coldstreamers' roll of honour.

During the retreat Sir Douglas Haig entrusted to the Brigade of Guards the hazardous, if honourable, duty of protecting the rear of his corps, and in this brigade were the 2^nd and 3^rd Coldstreams.

As an officer wrote:

"Our job was to take up successive positions and hold on to them till ordered to vacate them"

On one of these occasions the 2^nd Coldstreamers were told to hold a position for four hours to enable the remainder of the brigade to get safely away. The men entrenched themselves, and prepared to obey the order, but at once the German guns, having in some way or another discovered the spot, began to pepper them.

Quickly Lieutenant-Colonel G. P. T. Fielding, D.S.O., their commanding officer, moved them back about two hundred yards into some fields of clover and roots, and there they remained until the four critical hours had elapsed.

This rearguard duty was responsible for the Battle of Landrecies. On the night of Monday, the 24^th, the tired Battalion of Guards slept where they could in fields and barns until 3:30 in the morning, when they were ordered to move. Wearily they tramped along mile after mile, and in the afternoon they reached the little town of Landrecies, and hoped for a good night's rest. But this was not to be.

At four o'clock, just after their arrival, there was a false alarm: but as the Germans were known to be advancing, at seven o'clock a company of the 3^rd Coldstreamers was sent out to barricade and stretch wire across the streets. This was done, and soon the sound of marching was heard.

At first it was thought the marchers might be French soldiers, but they were not. They were Germans, and they opened fire upon the Coldstreamers. This was returned, and the Battle of Landrecies began.

The battle was fought at night, and in the streets, which were a scene of carnage and confusion. As soon as ever the alarm was given troops rushed for their arms, and the remainder of the 3^rd Coldstreamers was sent out to meet the foe, while the other battalions prepared defences in the town.

Well and truly did the Coldstreamers play their allotted part through that terrible night. Some lay across the streets, others worked machine-guns in sheltered positions, while others rushed forward and drove their bayonets into the enemy, all being under a steady fire from the guns brought up by the Germans in the dark.

At one point a detachment of sixty men lined a street about seventy-five yards (about 65 to 70 metres) behind some wire on which they had hung a tin can. It was too dark to see the Germans, but the Coldstreamers knew where they were when the can rattled against the wires, and then they let them have it.

The enemy, however, got round to the rear of the men, who retired a few yards, and into the town by other ways. Much of the fighting was hand-to-hand and with bayonets, but the scene baffled description.

Just before daylight the Coldstreamers, who had lost five officers and about a hundred and fifty men, were relieved by the Irish Guards, but their stubborn valour had saved the corps. Leaving many dead behind them, the Germans retired before the morning.

Before the Great Battle of Ypres, which began on October 19^th, the three battalions had lost many officers and men, mostly in the fighting on the Marne and the Aisne, and although drafts had arrived to fill the gaps, they were not at full strength.

Viscount Hawarden (Robert Cornwallis Maude, 6^th Viscount Hawarden), a lieutenant, and Captain Banbury and Captain Fuller-Maitland were dead, and so were two gallant subalterns, bearers of historic names - Percy Wyndham and Geoffrey Lambton.

Two or three had been taken prisoners and several, including Capt Hon Charles Henry Stanley Monck, a kinsman of the founder, and Captain F. Hardy, wounded.

It must not be forgotten that, on September 28^th Frederick William Dobson, of the 2^nd battalion, had won the first Victoria Cross gained by the Guards during the war, and that Second-Lieutenant Merton Beckwith Smith, of the 1^st Battalion, had earned the Distinguished Service Order (D.S.O.). On October 4^th, near Vandresse, he led fifty men in an attack on some German trenches, which were taken.

When the Battle of Ypres opened, the three battalions of Coldstreamers were all with the rest of the First Corps in front of Ypres, actually on the road leading from Bixschoote to Zonnebeke, and from there they advanced, on the 21^st, a little way towards Bruges.

But this was all the progress that was made, for the Germans, as at Mons, were coming on in overwhelming strength, and the men had their work cut out to hold them back.

On the 22^nd the Germans broke through the line where the 1^st Coldstreamers were, but the Guards stood firm, and on the 24^th they were relieved by some French Territorials.

During the second stage of this long battle, the Coldstreamers were all between Zonnebeke and Gheluvelt, the most important part of the line, and there on the 29^th the 1^st Battalion was in the thick of the fight.

The men were driven from their trenches, and four companies were surrounded; but many of them refused to surrender and died fighting. One of these was the Honourable Vere Douglas Boscawen, a son of Lord Falmouth.

The remaining companies met a still fiercer attack two days later, being again driven from the trenches: and by the time the day was done, the 1^st Battalion had ceased to exist as a fighting unit.

On the same day, one of the two critical days of this battle, the 2^nd and 3^rd Battalions had a terrible ordeal. They had been moved to protect a most important position at Klein Zillebeke, which Sir Douglas Haig said must be held at all costs - and at all costs they did hold it.

The stubborn attack delivered on October 31^st was repeated, with less vigour, on the following day, and again on November 5^th; but the Germans did not prevent the Guards from advancing and capturing some machine-guns on the 7^th, or from being ready for the Prussian Guard on the 11^th.

This assault failed, and the Coldstreamers - or what was left of them - were still in front of Ypres when the battle died away.

But a terrible price had been paid for this success. The three battalions cannot have lost much less than 1,500 men, and among the officers killed were:

• Major the Hon. Leslie d'Henin Hamilton, of the 1st Battalion,
• Major R.A. Markham, of the 2nd,
• Captain Monck,
• The Hon. Nigel Legge-Bourke,
• The Hon. Charles Douglas-Pennant,

and many more. Four captains were among the missing, and one or two of these were certainly dead.

Small wonder that after this trial by fire the Guards were given a rest; but they were again ready for the toe in January.

At that time the 1^st Battalion of the Coldstreamers was entrenched in a brickfield near Cuinchy, and on January 25^th these were attacked and blown in. A counter-attack was organised, but the Germans could not be wholly driven out, and for the next ten days the fight for the brickfield continued.

To help in this struggle, the 4^th Brigade, in which were the 2^nd and 3^rd coldstreamers, was brought up to Cuinchy; but they had only just got there when, on February 1^st, the 2^nd Battalion was driven from its trenches, which a determined counter-attack failed to recover.

But now a second-lieutenant, Arthur Leigh-Bennett, came to the rescue, and so did the Irishman, Michael O'Leary. Under Leigh-Bennett, fifty men of the Coldstreamers and thirty of the Irish Guards recovered all of the lost ground and took some machine-guns. Finally, the 3^rd Coldstreamers, on February 6^th, drove the Germans from another section of the brickfield.

In the fighting at Cuinchy, Viscount Northland and several subalterns were killed.

19^th October 1914

1^st Battalion

• Lieutenant-Colonel J. Ponsonby, D.S.O.
• Captain W. St. A. Warde-Aldam.
• Lieutenant and Adjutant G. Campbell.
• Lieutenant J. C.-Wynne Finch.
• No. 1395 Company Quartermaster-Serjeant. J.Duggan.
• No. 6901 Serjeant A. White.
• No. 10118 Lance-Corporal N. Mitchell.
• No. 6866 Serjeant T Harris.
• No. 9179 Corporal (temporary Serjeant) T. Fletcher.

2^nd Battalion

• Lieutenant-Colonel C. E. Pereira.
• Major R. A. Markham.
• Captain F. Hardy.
• Captain G. B. S. Follett.
• Serjeant-Major J. Clancey.
• No. 1174 Company Serjeant-Major G. Link.
• No. 5948 Serjeant W. Watson.
• No. 4943 Lance-Corporal A. Brown.
• No. 6840 Private F. W. Dodson.

3^rd Battalion

• Lieutenant-Colonel G. P. T. Fielding, D.S.O..
• Major T. G. Matheson.
• Captain A. Tritton.
• Lieutenant and Adjutant A. Smith.
• Second Lieutenant C. M. Cotrell Dormer.