The Doings of the Fifteenth Infantry Brigade August 1914 to March 1915   By: Edward Gleichen (1863-1937)

[Illustration: L. de St. A. J. T. W. G. A. L. M. B. R. E. B. photo by Lieut. H. M. Cadell, R.E. Some Of Brigade Headquarters.]

THE DOINGS OF THE FIFTEENTH INFANTRY BRIGADE AUGUST 1914 TO MARCH 1915

by

Its Commander

Brigadier General COUNT GLEICHEN, (now Major General Lord Edward Gleichen), K.C.V.O., C.B., C.M.G., D.S.O.

William Blackwood & Sons Edinburgh and London 1917

NOTE.

The following pages not in the first instance intended for publication contain an expanded version of the very scrappy Diary which I kept in France from day to day.

The version was intended for private home consumption only, and has necessarily had to be pruned of certain personal matters before being allowed to make its bow to the public. I have purposely refrained from adding to it in the light of subsequent events.

I trust that the reader will consequently bear in mind the essentially individual and impressionist aspects of this little work, and will not expect to find either rigidly historical, professional, or critical matter therein.

G. 14th August 1917.

CONTENTS.

Pages Up to the Eve of Mons................................ 1 21

The Battle of Mons.................................. 22 38

Mons to Le Cateau................................... 39 43

Le Cateau........................................... 44 56

The Retreat......................................... 57 86

The Advance......................................... 87 93

The Marne.......................................... 94 102

To the Aisne...................................... 103 111

The Aisne......................................... 112 140

Westward Ho!...................................... 141 149

Abbeville to Béthune.............................. 150 157

Givenchy and Festubert............................ 158 198

To Bailleul....................................... 199 205

To Ypres.......................................... 206 208

The First Battle of Ypres......................... 209 248

Back to Locre..................................... 249 251

Trench Life Opposite Messines..................... 252 280

Giving Up Command................................. 281 283

SKETCH MAPS.

Page Boussu Wasmes.......................................... 28

Missy on Aisne........................................ 123

Givenchy Violaines.................................... 167

The Footbridge over the Canal......................... 175

Beukenhorst (near Ypres).............................. 211

The Messines Front.................................... 255

ILLUSTRATION.

Some of Brigade Headquarters Frontispiece

The Doings of the Fifteenth Infantry Brigade.

August 1914 to March 1915.

In accordance with the order received at Belfast at 5.30 P.M. on the 4th, the 15th Brigade started mobilizing on the 5th August 1914, and by the 10th was complete in all respects. We were practically ready by the 9th, but a machine gun or two and some harness were a bit late arriving from Dublin not our fault. Everything had already been rehearsed at mobilization inspections, held as usual in the early summer, and all went like clock work. On the 8th we got our final orders to embark on the 14th, and on the 11th the embarkation orders arrived in detail.