#S/13261 Private Andrew Ballantyne
2ND GORDON HIGHLANDERS
THE FIERCE BATTLE FOR GINCHY would continue. The Devons still had a part to play in the aftermath of Charles Teape’s death, but joining the fray were the 2nd Gordon Highlanders and among their number was another only son, this time of a mill foreman from Hawick. Born in Galashiels, on the Scottish border, Andrew Ballantyne was educated locally at Gala Public School and at Wilton Public School. After completing his education, he moved to London and was working as a wholesale drapery warehouseman with Messrs Cook, Son & Co. at St Paul’s Churchyard when the war began in 1914. He enlisted in October the following year and began training in Aberdeen, arriving in France at the beginning of June 1916.
Andrew Ballantyne. (Authors’ collection)
Like the 9th Devons, the 2nd Gordon Highlanders were in reserve on 3rd October. Half an hour after Charles Teape was ordered to move, Andrew Ballantyne’s battalion was ordered into lorries and began the journey up towards Mametz, arriving not long after dawn on 4th September. That night, after the failure of the Devons to take Ginchy, Andrew’s battalion was ordered towards the village just before midnight. It had received orders to attack before dawn, but the guides were late in arriving to show them up to the starting points and, following the failed assault of the 4th, the congestion in the trenches coupled with the bad weather all conspired to ensure the Highlanders would be lucky to even reach their jumping off trenches in time for dawn, let alone be ready to attack Ginchy.
The authorities had decided that the next attack should be a surprise one launched in the dark, so Andrew Ballantyne was given a twenty-four hour reprieve when the assault on Ginchy was postponed. The rest of the day was spent in preparation as the battalion was heavily shelled while waiting to charge at the ruined village. Two companies made the initial advance on 6th September as Andrew waited behind. Led by inexperienced replacement officers in the dark, across completely unfamiliar ground, the waves of Scotsmen veered off in the wrong direction almost immediately and had to return to their assembly trenches to start again.
The battalion commander, Major Oxley, came up himself to reorganise his charges and at 5:30am they went off again, supported by the Devons. For his trouble the major received fatal bullet wounds to the head and stomach. Struggling over shell-pocked ground, slipping on slick mud, the men got to within 50 yards of the trees bordering Ginchy before the enemy opened a torrent of fire on them. Snipers in the ruins concentrated on bringing the Highlanders’ officers to ground. Without their leaders, the men began to scatter. The assault on the village ground to a halt, the approach to the western side dominated by German machine guns.
Rumours abounded that the enemy was counter-attacking, but an officer who had assumed command rightly concluded that these were false. He could do nothing, though, about the vicious sniping coming from the wrecked masonry about the village whenever a man dared to show his head. To compound the misery of Andrew and his comrades, British shells began to fall short in their midst. ‘One shell from our own side is more demoralising than two from the enemy’s.’
Andrew Ballantyne and the 2nd Gordon Highlanders were to resume their attack in the afternoon. A further bombardment was levelled on the area and punctually at 2pm the men went forward again with further support from the Devons. Isolated parties got in to the village, but the ruins of Ginchy were rife with spluttering machine guns. The Germans bombarded the spot viciously. Concentrating particularly on the western side of the village, they managed to ensure that no reinforcements could get up. To add to the devastating effect of the enemy shelling, Andrew and his fellow Highlanders had edged and bombed forward. This was to their credit, but it brought frightful consequences in confused circumstances with patchy lines of communication when they transpired to be well beyond the line that they had reported themselves as holding and came under their own artillery barrage.
The Highlanders were scattered across a wide area and in many cases were now leaderless. A bombing officer managed to collect and reorganise all the men that he could find, urging them to ready themselves defensively for the inevitable counter-attack that was to come. When it arrived, 200 Germans advancing towards them, it proved too much. Still under artillery fire from both sides, and unable to hold their positions when it appeared that everyone was against them, the tattered remnants of the Gordons and Devons began to abandon their hold on Ginchy during the late afternoon and retreat towards their own front line. By 5am the following morning they had been relieved by the 22nd Manchesters.
For Andrew Ballantyne and the 2nd Gordon Highlanders the attack had been a frustrating disaster. Rushed up to the front and into action, their preparation was almost non-existent. The unfortunate loss of their company commanders early in the day left the attack without cohesion and they were simply spread too thinly on a significant objective. To compound the misery inflicted upon the Scotsmen on 6th September, many of their casualties had been caused by the British guns owing to the perennial struggle to maintain adequate communications in the midst of battle.
With his company, Andrew had got well forward with a number of his comrades. They reached a spot within about 80 yards of the German front, so far as they could make out. Amidst the horrendous shelling, he and the rest of the company were attempting to dig from shell hole to shell hole, forming a continuous line of defence. An officer organising the enterprise shouted some orders towards one hole, which Andrew happened to be in. He made a fatal mistake on hearing the officer’s voice, looking up and exposing enough of his head to present a target to an enemy sniper. The 21 year old fell dead in Ginchy. ‘Personally, I miss poor Andrew more as time goes on,’ wrote one of his officers. ‘He was a thorough young gentleman.’ Andrew Ballantyne was buried near where he fell, but his grave was subsequently lost and his body, if recovered again, was never identified. He is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial, Pier & Face 15b/15c.