Review of 'Recruiting, Retribution and Redemption: The 35th (Bantam) Division' by Professor Peter Simkins (June 2011)

At the start of the Great War, two men above all realised the length of time it would take to defeat Germany and the manpower that would be needed for the task.   These were Lord Kitchener and Douglas Haig.   When Kitchener set about recruiting the volunteers for the expanding British Army, the minimum height requirement was 5’3”.   However, with the decline in enlistments in the late autumn of 1914, the height restriction was lowered to 5’ and the Bantam formations came into being.   Inspired by the story of a diminutive miner who walked all the way from Durham to Cheshire in an attempt to enlist, Alfred Bigland -–the MP for Birkenhead – obtained authority to raise a Bantam battalion.   This became the 15th Battalion, the Cheshire Regiment.   Other Bantam battalions were raised in Manchester, Durham, Bristol, the Midlands, Scotland, Lancashire and even Leeds !

These early Bantam battalions became part of the 35th (Bantam) Division, which began to assemble in the summer of 1915.  Its first commander was Major-General Reginald Pinney.   When it arrived in France in February 1916, it was allocated to Haking’s XI Corps in the First Army.   One of the first problems experienced by the Bantams when they entered the line was the height of the fire step !   Once the Germans knew that their opponents across No Man’s Land were Bantams, they made derisory crowing sounds.   After a few months in the ‘nursery’ sector north of La Bassée, the division moved south in July 1916 to take part in the Battle of the Somme.   At this point doubts began to emerge about the division’s morale and combat effectiveness.  

In its first serious encounter with the Germans on the Somme, on 18 July, the division performed well in the defence of Waterlot Farm, south of Delville Wood, in the Longueval sector.   But on 20 July there was a painful reverse when the 15th Sherwood Foresters attacked near Arrow Head Copse at sunrise.   The combination of inadequate artillery support and the fact that rising sun illuminated the attackers led to heavy casualties from German machine-gun fire.   When some men withdrew from a forward post earlier than ordered on the evening of 20 July, the resulting court martial sent the NCO in charge to his death by firing squad.   

Following these incidents and more unsuccessful attacks, Pinney and other officers grew increasingly unhappy about the quality of the troops and particularly the physical standards of the recruits now being sent to replace casualties.   Bernard Montgomery, then Brigade Major of 104 Brigade, was one of many officers who were concerned about the division’s morale and fitness.   In late August, after inspecting recent drafts, Pinney instructed his medical officers to weed out unfit or sub-standard men.

In September 1916, Pinney was transferred to the 33rd Division, exchanging commands with Major-General Herman Landon.   Under the latter the ‘combing-out’ process would be accelerated, especially after the events of 26 November, when the 19th DLI were preparing an early morning raid, at 0300, to the east of Arras.   Unfortunately, the raid was preceded at 0230 by a German attack on the Durhams and two other battalions, in the wake of a heavy trench mortar bombardment.   Lance-Sergeant J W Stones of the 19th DLI and one officer – Lieutenant Mundy – were visiting posts around King’s Crater when Mundy was wounded.   Stones was later intercepted well to the rear.  He claimed that Mundy had sent him back for reinforcements, though he had left his rifle jammed across a trench on the way back.   Mundy died of his wounds so Stones’ story could not be corroborated.   He was charged with casting away his arms in the presence of the enemy, while twenty-five other NCOs and privates were court-martialled for quitting their posts or for showing  cowardice during the raid which had gone ahead despite the German attack.  Stones and  two other NCOs were shot by firing squad, bringing to six the number of Bantams of the 35th Division who had been executed since the formation reached France.   The unhappy incidents of 26 November ensured that the weeding-out process would be even more ruthlessly applied.   Some 2,784 men were rejected by the end of December and the division’s Bantam status was abandoned, only normal-sized men being accepted thereafter.

In July 1917 Landon was succeeded as divisional commander by Major-General George McKenzie Franks, a gunner who had helped plan the recent Messines Ridge assault.   Under Franks training and preparation for battle proceeded apace.   In August 1917 the division performed well in operations at Gillemont Farm and The Knoll, near Epéhy.   Its next major action was as part of a pre-Passchendaele attack in the Houthulst Forest on 22 October, with the aim of maintaining pressure on the Germans while Currie’s Canadian Corps prepared for the main assault.   The attack commenced at 0535, with the French 1st Division and the British 35th Division attacking towards the Houthulst Forest while the British 34th and 18th Divisions attacked from Poelcappelle.   The French 1st Division successfully covered the left flank and the 35th Division took some of its objectives, although the 34th Division on its right  made less progress, and with that flank unprotected, the 35th Division was eventually forced back in places by German counter-attacks.  Nevertheless, the 14th Gloucesters, on the left of the attack, managed to retain a hold on the final objective.

In March 1918, during the German Michael offensive, the 35th Division –  part of Congreve’s VII Corps in the Fifth Army – fought a skilful and determined defensive battle as it conducted a fighting withdrawal across part of the old 1916 Somme battlefield.   On 25 March, VII Corps troops north of the Somme were placed under the overall command of Third Army instead, a change which led to some confusion.   Previous orders to Franks to carry out a staged withdrawal across the Ancre were countermanded by Third Army on the afternoon of 26 March.   However, Franks was away from his headquarters when the orders came through and the division continued its retirement.   Franks was immediately removed from command and succeeded by Major-General Arthur Henry Marindin.

The 35th Division further redeemed its fighting reputation during the final Allied offensive in Flanders as part of Watts’ XIX Corps in Second Army.   On 28 September 1918 it helped to lead the break-out from the old Ypres Salient and in the following advance to the Scheldt it achieved a creditable success rate in attacks of 60 per cent.   It is interesting to note that in some battalions of the division up to 20 per cent of those who fought and died during the last Hundred Days appear to have been original or early Bantam recruits.

Report by Peter Palmer