Mobilisation On the outbreak of war in August 1914 the units of the South Midland Division had just set out for annual training when orders recalled them to their home depots for mobilisation. The Gloucester & Worcester Brigade travelled to
Minehead on 2 August, but in view of the international situation the 4th Gloucesters returned to Bristol next day and the men were dismissed to their homes to await orders for mobilisation, which were issued on 4 August. The South Midland Division began concentrating at
Swindon in
Wiltshire, shortly afterwards moving to
Essex as part of
Central Force. 4th Gloucesters sent two companies to guard the petrol depots at
Avonmouth Docks until the end of the month, while remainder were
billeted in villages outside
Chelmsford. On the outbreak of war, TF units were invited to volunteer for Overseas Service. On 15 August 1914, the
War Office issued instructions to separate those men who had signed up for Home Service only, and form them into reserve units. On 31 August, the formation of a reserve or 2nd Line unit was authorised for each 1st Line unit where 60 per cent or more of the men had volunteered for Overseas Service. The titles of these 2nd Line units would be the same as the original, but distinguished by a '2/' prefix. In this way duplicate battalions, brigades and divisions were created from the recruits who were flooding in. Later they were mobilised for overseas service in their own right and a 3rd Line created.
1/4th (City of Bristol) Battalion The South Midland Division underwent progressive training in Essex, and on 13 March 1915 received orders to embark to join the
British Expeditionary Force (BEF) in France. The Gloucester and Worcester Brigade crossed from
Folkestone to
Boulogne, and by 3 April the whole division had concentrated near
Cassel. After final training the battalion went into the line near
Ploegsteert ('Plugstreet'). On 12 May 1915 the division was designated
48th (South Midland) Division and the brigade became
144th (Gloucester and Worcester) Brigade.
Somme The battalion served in the trenches for 16 months before it participated in its first major battle, during the
Somme offensive. On the
First day on the Somme (1 July) the battalion was in bivouacs south of
Sailly-le-Sec and did not participate in the division's actions, though it marched up to
Mailly-Maillet in reserve. The division later took over the line west of
Serre-lès-Puisieux, and 1/4th relieved 1/6th Bn in the front line on the evening of 8/9 July the trenches still in a bad state after the fighting on 1 July. The battalion was relieved on 12 July and bivouacked at
Bouzincourt. On the night of 15 July 1/4th Gloucesters went back into the line in front of
Ovillers-la-Boisselle and at 16.00 on 16 July was ordered to attack the German lines as part of the
Battle of Bazentin Ridge – the battalion's first major attack of the war. The area to be attacked was invisible to the leading companies and to the artillery observers, so it was not until reconnaissance of the German
barbed wire had been carried out that Zero hour was set. Meanwhile, the companies assembled at 22.00 for a night attack. D Company formed up in an assembly trench in front of the British line and B Company gathered in the communication trench leading to it. At 23.30 the patrol returned, reporting that the German line was strongly held but the wire was very much cut up. Zero was set for 02.00 on 17 July, preceded by a short (10 minute) bombardment. The attack went well and the German positions were captured, but the attackers could not make contact with 7th Bn
Worcestershire Regiment on the right. By daybreak the two companies were being attacked from both flanks, but C Company was ordered to '
bomb' its way along the German frontline trench to fill the gap to 7th Worcesters. When bombs began to run short, the Gloucesters used captured German ones. 1/4th Gloucesters had consolidated the captured trenches by midday. The three attacking companies had each lost about 80 men, but after fighting off violent counter-attacks the battalion went 'over the top' again at 17.00 on 18 July, A Company advancing up the old German front trenches and C Company advancing in parallel up the old German second line. By 20.00 they had successfully captured the northern end of Ovillers. A further attack was ordered for 01.30 on 19 July, but the advance was held up by machine gun fire and the Germans having set alight their abandoned
dugouts. In three days' fighting the battalion lost 275 all ranks. The battalion attacked again at
Pozières on 23 July. The 1/6th Gloucesters were 'literally mown down' (
Official History) and only a few bombers got into the enemy trench. The 1/4th tried to help by bombing its way down the trench from the left, but when the 1/6th was overwhelmed the 1/4th was ordered to halt. The battalion drove off a German counter-attack next day with the help of artillery and trench mortars. The division was then withdrawn for rest. The division was back in action on Pozières Ridge on the night of 14–15 August, fighting unsuccessfully to capture and hold 'Skyline Trench' at a cost of 70 casualties. However, it made a successful attack on the
Leipzig Redoubt on 21 August, taking 150 prisoners and resisting three counter-attacks. On 3 September 1/4th Gloucesters' line was heavily bombarded while a neighbouring division attacked, but casualties were slight. The battalion spent the first part of the winter on the
Ancre Heights, and then spent the whole of January 1917 out of the line in training. On 2 February 1/4th Bn relieved French troops south of the
River Somme.
Hindenburg Line 1/4th Gloucesters was next engaged in following the German retreat to the
Hindenburg Line (
Operation Alberich) in the spring of 1917. There were still some actions against outposts of the Hindenburg Line. On the night of 12/13 April B and C Companies of 1/4th Bn attacked Queuchettes Wood. They had achieved all their objectives by 04.00, and B Company drove off a counter-attack. The battalion was then heavily shelled but casualties were light. In the evening it was relieved and went back to billets at Hamel. However, it was less successful at The Knoll on 24 April. 1/6th Gloucesters attacked and failed to take it, so the rest of the brigade was ordered to renew the attack at 23.00. Major L.G. Parkinson, the acting CO of 1/4th Bn, was killed just before Zero while receiving his orders by telephone, and although one company reached its objective, two others pushed too far forwards and were forced to withdraw to avoid being surrounded.
Ypres The division moved to the
Ypres Salient in July. During the
Third Ypres Offensive the 1/4th Battalion was not engaged at the
Battle of Langemarck on 16 August, when 145th Bde attacked with heavy casualties, nor in 48th (SM) Division's other attacks on 19, 22 or 27 August. It then spent the next month out of the line at training camps. Only part of the division was engaged in the
Polygon Wood (28 September–3 October), and at the
Broodseinde on 4 October, 1/4th Bn's participation was limited to two platoons as stretcher-bearers and guards for prisoners. However, the battalion attacked at the
Battle of Poelcappelle on 9 October, when 144th Bde advanced up the
Poelcapelle Spur towards Westroosbeke with 1/4th Bn on the left, A and D Companies leading. The battalion arrived by motor bus and was supposed to be guided to the start line, but when no guides appeared the CO, Lt-Col John Crosskey, led them himself, losing three companies and a platoon on the way up the
duckboard tracks in the dark. It was not until 04.30 that the battalion was assembled at 'Tweed House'. When the attack began at 05.25 the leading companies were able to get within of the
Creeping barrage, but after its first lift the men moving over the sodden ground could not achieve the assumed rate of advance and the barrage fell further and further in front. The brigade was 'raked by machine-gun fire at the outset' from German positions that were too close to be covered by the barrage, and the battalion got held up about east of 'County Crossroads', though a couple of small parties pushed forwards among the ruins of 'Oxford Houses' where they replied to the German sniper fire . These parties eventually had to fall back because of a divisional barrage put down to help 8th Worcesters in another failed attack on Oxford Houses. The battalion had suffered 177 casualties, of whom 69 died. Lieutenant-Colonel Crosskey was seriously wounded and evacuated to England, but not before he had provided a detailed report, in which he blamed the exhaustion of the men after the long approach march, the mud, and the pace of the barrage. He was awarded the
Military Cross (MC).
Italy On 10 November 1917 the 48th (SM) Division received orders to move to Italy. By 1 December the units had finished detraining around
Legnago on the
Adige. On 1 March 1918 the division relieved
7th Division in the front line of the Montello sector on the
Piave Front, and held the line until 16 March, with 1/4th Bn in reserve. On 1 April it moved westward into reserve for the middle sector of the
Asiago Plateau Front. On 15 June the
Austro-Hungarian Army made what proved to be its last attack, known to the British participants as the
Battle of Asiago. The 48th (SM) Division had been particularly hard-hit by the
Spanish flu epidemic, and the average strength of the 1/4th Gloucesters' four companies was only 70 men instead of the establishment of 250. The battalion was at the foot of the mountain in reserve, and although it was brought up to the line by lorry it took no part in the counter-attack that regained 48th (SM) Division's positions. The 1/4th Gloucesters carried out a raid on the night of 23/24 October as a diversion from the Allied offensive to be launched next morning (the
Battle of Vittorio Veneto). The battalion attacked the village of Ave and took prisoner six officers and 223 other ranks for the loss of four men wounded. Defeated on the Piave, the Austrians abandoned their positions on the Asiago Plateau on 29/30 October, and the 48th (SM) Division began a pursuit. 1/4th Gloucesters attacked the Austrian
Winterstellung (Winter position) on the morning of 1 November but were driven back. A flank attack the following morning shifted the Austrian defenders, and the pursuit continued down the gorge of the Val d'Assa. On 3 November 1918, at Osteria del Termine, the division surrounded and captured a large force of Austrian troops including the corps commander and three divisional commanders. 1/4th Gloucesters guarded the prisoners, allowing the division to push on. By 15.00 on 4 November, when the Armistice with Austria came into force, the division had pushed forward into the
Trentino and 1/4th Gloucesters was at
Baselga di Piné. After the conclusion of hostilities the division was withdrawn to Italy for the winter.
Demobilisation began in January 1919 gathered pace in February. On 11 March the last cadre of the battalion, 7 officers and 43 other ranks, left for England. During the war 48 officers and 333 other ranks of the battalion had died on active service. At first the men lived at home, and little or nothing was available in terms of uniforms, arms or equipment. It was not until the division concentrated at
Northampton in January 1915 that the men were issued with
.256-in Japanese Ariska rifles with which to train. Here they formed part of
First Army of Central Force, but when the 1st South Midland Division went to France, the 2nd took its place at Chelmsford and became part of
Third Army of Central Force, with a definite role in Home Defence. The battalions formed their machine gun sections while at Chelmsford, but the strength of the battalions fluctuated widely as they were drawn upon for drafts for their 1st Line battalions. In August 1915 the division was numbered as the
61st (2nd South Midland) Division and the brigade became the
183rd (2nd Gloucester and Worcester) Brigade. In February and March 1916 the units of 61st (2nd SM) Division moved to
Salisbury Plain to begin final training for overseas service. Here they were issued with
.303 SMLE rifles in place of the Japanese weapons, and four
Lewis guns per battalion in place of dummy guns and antique
Maxim guns. Final leave was granted in April and May and entrainment for the embarkation ports began on 21 May. By 28 May the division was concentrating in France. The division was then thrown into the
Attack at Fromelles on 19 July, a diversionary attack to relieve pressure on the Somme front. The attacking troops were committed to a short advance over flat, waterlogged country against strong defences including concrete machine gun emplacements. The attack was timed for 17.30 on 19 July, after several days' bombardment of the enemy wire and
breastworks. 2/4th Gloucesters were among the attacking battalions, and suffered from German shellfire while they waited all day in their jumping-off positions. When the signal was given to advance the men were hit by
Shrapnel shells as they tried to exit the
Sally ports, and these had to be abandoned and the men went 'over the top' of the
parapet. Once in
No man's land the machine gun fire was so intense that they made no progress. The attack was a disaster, the assaulting battalions taking very heavy casualties. 61st (2nd SM) Division was only used for trench-holding for the rest of the year.
Ypres and Cambrai In March and April 1917, the battalion saw action in the advance following the German retreat to the Hindenburg Line. On the night of 5/6 April, 183rd Bde was supposed to attack Fresnoy-le-Petit but patrols reported it abandoned. The barrage was cancelled but the troops sent to occupy the village found the eastern half strongly held and wired. The following night 2/4th Gloucesters and 2/8th Worcesters advanced behind a barrage to capture the village, but the wire was uncut and all that could be done was to dig in in front of it and hold the western half. It required a third night operation to complete the capture of Fresnoy and the trenches either side of it. 61st (2nd SM) Division went into reserve at
Arras in mid-May, considerably under strength, but new drafts arrived in July. It then moved to Ypres and was put in as a fresh formation at the end of the Battle of Langemarck. On 17 August 2/4th Gloucesters went into the line in the
Wieltje sector. Two days later, B Company attacked in conjunction with 48th (1st SM) Division on their left. Its objective was Pond Farm Galleries but it met strong opposition and uncut wire and withdrew. The battalion returned to the attack on 27 August: its assembly was disrupted when it was shelled before Zero hour, and the CO, Lt-Col Raymond Boulton, reported that the jumping-off line was a series of shell holes knee-deep in water, while a swamp divided the battalion into two halves. Although the barrage at 01.55 was accurate the men could not keep up with it because of the mud, while their rifles and machine guns became clogged with mud. The battalion made little progress before it was stopped and had to dig in where it stood, having suffered many casualties. 61st Division took part in a minor operation on 10 September, and was then relieved on 18 September and returned to Arras. After the Ypres offensive ended, 61st (2nd SM) Division moved south to relieve British formations exhausted by German counter-attacks after the
Battle of Cambrai. 183rd Brigade took over the line in front of La Vacquerie after dark on 1 December. 2/4th and 2/6th Gloucesters were the only battalions sent in initially, and it was a difficult relief: some of the troops being relieved could not be found, there was no wire in front of 2/4th's position, and two so-called communication trenches, 'Barrier Trench' and 'Village Lane' led straight into the battalion's position from the German side. There were intermittent bombing fights along these trenches next day, and at 08.25 on 3 December the Germans threw in a heavy attack. They advanced in waves over open ground and suffered heavy casualties from the British artillery, rifles and machine guns. 2/4th Gloucesters held for some time, but the Germans bombed their way up Barrier Trench and Village Lane and gained the upper hand. The battalion was forced to retire from La Vacquerie and the right-hand company was virtually cut off. The support company, reinforced by the battalion's cooks, signallers and sanitary men, was hopelessly outnumbered and forced out of the reserve trench. Eventually the CO, Lt-Col Donald Barnsley, was able to gather a few men and hold a position at 'Corner Work' on the slopes of Welsh Ridge. The Germans had also suffered heavily, and did not attack again; the battalion was relieved that night. The division continued to hold its positions until the fighting died down a few days later.
Disbandment Due to the manpower shortage being suffered by the BEF, 183rd Bde was broken up on 20 February 1918, the men of 2/4th and 2/6th Gloucesters being distributed to the 2/5th Gloucesters and to No 55 Infantry Base Depot, with the remainder joining the rest of the brigade in the 24th
Entrenching Battalion. During its service 228 men of the battalion are known to have died. The
Military Service Act 1916 swept away the Home/Foreign service distinction, and all TF soldiers became liable for overseas service, if medically fit. The Provisional Battalions thus became anomalous, and at the end of 1916 became numbered battalions of their parent unit, the 82nd becoming
17th Battalion Gloucestershire Regiment. Part of the unit's role was physical conditioning to render men fit for drafting oversea, and 17th Gloucesters remained in the East Coast defences at
Clacton-on-Sea and later at
St Osyth for the rest of the war. It was disbanded on 6 May 1919. ==Interwar==