Chapter Three: The Battle of Neuve Chapelle

15GW482 Indian troops preparing to attack at Neuve Chapelle.

15GW493 British infantry sheltering from the winter weather.

The small village of Neuve Chapelle, situated twenty miles south of Ypres, was where the British launched their first major attack from the static trench lines that stretched across Belgium and France. It was undertaken by the British First Army under the command of Sir Douglas Haig. The purpose of the attack was to capture the German trenches in and around the village and move on to capture the high ground of Aubers Ridge.

15GW504 Dehra Dun Brigade, Headquarters Section, Brigade Signals in the field at St Floris, France. The men are posing carrying out signalling duties: operating field telephones, a Morse key, the use of bicycle equipped battalion runners. Also, on the grass, can be seen signalling flags.

15GW483 Indian soldiers constructing trenches with sandbags and placing barbed wire at the front. Over 1.5 million Indian soldiers fought as volunteers for Great Britain in the First World War.

15GW509 Indian troops charging at Neuve Chapelle, March 1915.

15GW511 The Rajah of Rutlam with his father, Sir Pertab Singh, and one of the general’s aides.

15GW512 Sir Pertab Singh, reads a popular English magazine with his son, the Rajah of Rutlam, seated beside him.

15GW513 Sir Pertab Singh with Allied officers, French and British, in France.

15GW515 Sir Douglas Haig introducing Lieutenant General Sir Pertab Singh to French General Joffre.

15GW514 Sir Douglas Haig and Lieutenant General Sir Pertab Singh.

15GW510 A painting of Sir Pertab Singh leading the Jodhpur Lancers through a French village.

15GW505, 15GW507, 15GW506, 15GW508 Gurkha troops of the Indian Corps training before the forthcoming attack on German positions on the Western Front.

Sir Henry Rawlinson General Officer Commanding IV Corps

Sir James Willcocks

General Officer Commanding Indian Corps

15GW521 British and Indian officers of the 57th Wildes Rifles, Ferozepore Brigade.

15GW519 Men of A Coy, 2 Battalion, Black Watch, share a trench with Indian troops.

15GW538 Men resting at 21 Brigade’s headquarters shortly before the attack on Neuve Chapelle.

15GW537 Moving up heavy artillery at Neuve Chapelle prior to the attack in March.

15GW541 British guns at Neuve Chapelle firing on the German positions.

15GW543 British infantry pass the time with a game of cards as they wait in reserve trenches during the attack on 10 March, 1915.

15GW542 Indian troops manning a French Benet-Mercie, 1909, Hotchkiss light machine gun.

15GW517 An unsure German grenadier seeks to locate his unit’s position near Tahure, January 1915.

15GW545 Wire entanglements laid by the Germans in front of the village of Neuve Chapelle.

15GW540 German infantry at Neuve Chapelle prior to the attack in March 1915.

15GW546 Reserve troops resting during a march from Armentières to Neuve Chapelle.

15GW547 German soldiers in Neuve Chapelle shortly before the March fighting.

15GW549 German position inside the village of Neuve Chapelle.

15GW550 German work detail repairing defences and mending roads.

15GW544 Some of the German defenders of Neuve Chapelle before the British attack.

15GW551 2/Royal Scots Fusiliers advancing at Neuve Chapelle.

15GW530 Bodies of men of the 2/Scottish Rifles killed on the first morning of the attack

15GW553 Among the ruined houses in the village of Neuve Chapelle.

15GW552 British dead from the first wave of the attack at Neuve Chapelle.

15GW556 Neuve Chapelle was devastated by the bombardments.

15GW494 Germans surrendering to men of the Worcestershire Regiment during the fighting for Neuve Chapelle.

15GW498 German prisoners having their pockets turned out following their capture during the fighting for Neuve Chapelle.

15GW497 British gunners cut down by German machine guns in the village of Neuve Chapelle. The dead are still waiting to be cleared away after the fighting.

15GW495 Minutes after their capture in their trenches, these German soldiers stand with their hands raised.

Lieutenant Colonel E. C. F. Wodehouse, commanding officer of the 1st Battalion the Worcestershire Regiment, was among the nine officers killed leading the attack.

15GW501 British dead lying among the barbed wire near Neuve Chapelle.

15GW557 The main street of Neuve Chapelle.

15GW496 Men of the 1st Battalion Worcestershire Regimen’ the captured village of Neuve Chapelle guarding prisoners

15GW559 A British soldier in the ruins of village of Neuve Chapelle.

15GW558 A German machine gun post with armour plated shield in the captured village.

15GW565 A lone survivor in Neuve Chapelle.

15GW563 Captured German positions in Neuve Chapelle.

15GW568 An artist’s depiction of the battlefield of Neuve Chapelle with the wood – Bois de Biez – on the right.

15GW560 A vertical positioned camera fitted so as to photograph the trenches, used for the first time at the Battle of Neuve Chapelle.

15GW561 A victim of ‘friendly fire’, this aircraft had been flying low observing the attack on 10 March 1915 when a British shell enroute towards the enemy lines struck it, knocking it from the sky. Both pilot and observer were killed.

15GW502 British wounded in the German trenches near Neuve Chapelle.

15GW554 German trenches in the woods near Neuve Chapelle.

15GW555 German soldiers in positions behind the lines.

15GW562 German prisoners of war captured at the Battle of Neuve Chapelle parading through an English street.

15GW566 A woman at the roadside shakes her fist at these German prisoners captured at Neuve Chapelle, on their way to a camp near Aldershot.