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Defence of Festubert

{{Short description|First World War engagement on Western Front}}

{{see also|Winter operations 1914–15}}

{{About|an engagement in 1914|the British attack in spring 1915|Battle of Festubert}}

{{Infobox military conflict

| conflict = Defence of Festubert

| width =

| partof = First World War

| image = File:Defence of Festubert 23-24 November 1914.png

| image_size = 250px

| caption = Defence of Festubert 23–24 November 1914

| date = 23–24 November 1914

| place = Festubert, France

| coordinates = {{Coord|50|32|39|N|02|44|15|E|type:event_region:FR|display=inline,title}}

| map_type = France

| map_size = 200

| map_caption = {{centre|Festubert, commune in the Pas-de-Calais department and Nord-Pas-de-Calais region of France}}

| map_label = Festubert

| result =| combatant1 = {{flag|German Empire}}

| combatant2 = {{flag|United Kingdom}}

  • {{Flagcountry|British India}}

| commander1 =

| commander2 = {{ubl|Charles Anderson | Henry Keary | Claud Jacob}}

| units1 = Infantry Regiment 112

| units2 = 7th (Meerut) Division

| strength1 =

| strength2 =

| casualties1 =

| casualties2 =

| notes =

| campaignbox = {{Campaignbox Western Front (World War I)}}

{{Campaignbox Race to the Sea}}

}}

The Defence of Festubert was an engagement on the Western Front early in the First World War when Indian and British battalions of the 7th (Meerut) Division of the Indian Army defended the village of Festubert against a German attack from 23 to 24 November 1914. It was one of the first actions in the war in which an attack was made against a prepared defensive position. The British and Indian regiments that took part were awarded the battle honour Festubert 1914.

Battle

=23–24 November=

The fighting around Ypres subsided in mutual exhaustion by 22 November and for about three weeks bad weather also inhibited operations apart from artillery-fire, bombing and sniping. At the end of the month the British made several night raids and on 23 November, the German Infantry Regiment 112 captured {{cvt|800|yd|m}} of trench east of Festubert in the Indian Corps area.{{sfn|James|1990|p=6}} The Indians counter-attacked through the night and recovered the trenches. The Defence of Festubert was one of the first attacks on an organised trench system. Most notably a night attack also occurred, involving mainly the 129th Duke of Connaught's Own Baluchis and the Mazhabi Sikhs of the 34th Royal Sikh Pioneers Regiment and the 1st Battalion Manchester Regiment. The battle was a costly British victory, the lost trench was recaptured but there were many casualties in the 129th Baluchis battalion and the 1st Manchesters.{{sfn|Edmonds|Wynne|1995|p=4}}

Order of battle

October 1914, 7th (Meerut) Division{{efn|All data from Edmonds, Military Operations, 1914, Part II, 1925.{{sfn|Edmonds|1925|pp=482–483}}}}

GOC: Lieutenant-General Charles Alexander Anderson
GSO1: Colonel Claud Jacob

Dehra Dun Brigade

GOC: Brigadier-General C. E. Johnson

Garhwal Brigade

GOC: Major-General Henry Keary

Bareilly Brigade

GOC: Major-General F. Macbean

Divisional Mounted Troops

Divisional Artillery

Engineers

Signals Service

  • Meerut Signal Company

Divisional Pioneers

Supply and Transport:

  • Meerut Divisional train

Medical Units:

  • 19th and 20th British Field Ambulances
  • 128th, 129th and 130th Indian Field Ambulances

Notes

{{notelist}}

Footnotes

{{reflist|20em}}

References

{{refbegin}}

  • {{cite book

|series=Der Weltkrieg 1914 bis 1918: Militärischen Operationen zu Lande |title=Der Herbst-Feldzug 1914: Im Westen bis zum Stellungskrieg, im Osten bis zum Rückzug |trans-title=The Autumn Campaign 1914: In the West until Position Warfare, in the East until the Retreat |author= |volume=I |year=2012 |orig-year=1929 |publisher=Mittler & Sohn |location=Berlin |edition=Die Digitale Landesbibliothek Oberösterreich |url=http://digi.landesbibliothek.at/viewer/image/AC01859873/1/LOG_0003/ |access-date=29 July 2015 |oclc=838299944}}

  • {{cite book |series=History of the Great War Based on Official Documents by Direction of the Historical Section of the Committee of Imperial Defence |title=Military Operations France and Belgium, 1914: Antwerp, La Bassée, Armentières, Messines and Ypres October–November 1914 |volume=II |last=Edmonds |first=J. E. |author-link=James Edward Edmonds |year=1925 |publisher=Macmillan |location=London |oclc=220044986}}
  • {{cite book |series=History of the Great War Based on Official Documents by Direction of the Historical Section of the Committee of Imperial Defence |title=Military Operations France and Belgium, 1915: Winter 1914–15 Battle of Neuve Chapelle: Battles of Ypres |volume=I |last1=Edmonds |first1=J. E. |last2=Wynne |first2=G. C. |author-link1=James Edward Edmonds |year=1995 |orig-year=1927 |publisher=Macmillan |location=London |edition=Imperial War Museum and Battery Press repr. |isbn=0-89839-218-7}}
  • {{cite book |title=A Record of the Battles and Engagements of the British Armies in France and Flanders 1914–1918 |last=James |first=E. A. |year=1990 |orig-year=1924 |publisher=Gale & Polden |location=Aldershot |edition=London Stamp Exchange |isbn=0-948130-18-0}}

{{refend}}

Further reading

{{refbegin}}

  • {{cite book |last=Corrigan |first=Gordon |title=Sepoys in the Trenches: The Indian Corps on the Western Front 1914–15 |year=2006 |publisher=Tempus |isbn=1-86227-354-5}}
  • {{cite book |title=The War in the Air, Being the Story of the Part played in the Great War by the Royal Air Force |volume=II |last=Jones |first=H. A. |year=2002 |orig-year=1928 |publisher=Clarendon Press |location=London |edition=Imperial War Museum and Naval & Military Press |url=https://archive.org/details/warinairbeingsto02rale |access-date=30 July 2015 |isbn=1-84342-413-4 }}
  • {{cite book |title=The Indian Corps in France |last1=Merewether |first1=J. W. B. |last2=Smith |first2=F. E. |author-link2=Frederick Edwin Smith, 1st Earl of Birkenhead |year=1919 |orig-year=1917 |edition=rev. |url=https://archive.org/details/indiancorpsinfra00ltco |access-date=31 July 2015 |oclc=3774822 }}
  • {{cite book |title=An Analysis of 1,000 Wounds and Injuries Received in Action, with Special Reference to the Theory of the Prevalence of Self-Infliction (Secret) |last=Seton |first=B. |year=1915 |publisher=War Office |location=London |url=http://www.bl.uk/collection-items/analysis-of-1000-wounds-injuries-received-in-action |access-date=30 July 2015 |id=IOR/L/MIL/17/5/2402 |archive-date=25 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231025211928/https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/analysis-of-1000-wounds-injuries-received-in-action |url-status=dead }}
  • {{cite book |title=With the Indians in France |last=Willcocks |first=J. |author-link=James Willcocks |year=1920 |publisher=Constable |location=London |url=https://archive.org/details/withindiansinfra00will |access-date=30 July 2015 |oclc=1184253 }}

{{refend}}

External links

{{commons category|Defence of Festubert}}

  • [http://www.1914-1918.net/bat8.htm The Long, Long Trail, The Winter Operations 1914–15]
  • [http://memoire.pas-de-calais.com/images/_uk/pdf-nationalites/indians.pdf Defrance, C. Indians, unheralded heroes]

{{World War I}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2017}}

Category:Battle honours of the British Army