Timeline and Summary

3rd Grenadier Guards – Timeline and Summary

I have attempted to give a month by month summary of where the battalion was (approximately), major actions they fought in and time in the front and support lines.

Date	Place	Summary	Front Line	Support Line
27 Jul 1915	LE HAVRE	Battalion Lands in France.
Aug 1915	ESQUERDES	Training
Sep 1915	LOOS?	War Diary is missing. Battle of Loos – Attacks on 27th & 28th	3?
Oct 1915	LOOS	In trenches opposite Hohenzollern Redoubt & Big Willie 8th – German Counter-attack	17	4
Nov 1915	NEUVE CHAPELLE, PETILLON	Resting and in trenches north of NEUVE CHAPELLE and PETILLON.	6	6
Dec 1915	LAVENTIE	In trenches near LAVENTIE	10	10
Jan 1916	LAVENTIE	In trenches near LAVENTIE	9	9
Feb 1916	RIEL BAILLEUL	In trenches near RIEL BAILLEUL	3	4
March 1916	YPRES, CALAIS	Training and in trenches near YPRES	2	3
April 1916	YPRES	In trenches near YPRES. Issued with Steel Helmets.	14	5
May 1916	YPRES	In trenches near YPRES	10
Jun 1916	YPRES	Training and in trenches near YPRES	3	6
Jul 1916	YPRES	In trenches near YPRES	9	7
Aug 1916	SOMME	Training and trench improving (CT’s) on SOMME sector. In trenches near Beaumont Hamel. Marched to MORLANCOURT.	2
Sep 1916	MORLANCOURT, GINCHY, LES BOEUFS	15th Sep – Battle of Flers-Courcelette (a phase of the Battle of the Somme 1916) 413 Battalion casualties listed in the war diary (a large proportion were MIA), the largest single day losses of the war (for this unit). The Commanding Officer and Lt. Asquith, son of the Prime Minister were killed in this battle.	4
Oct 1916	HEUCOURT	Training
Nov 1916	SOMME area	Training and road repairs.
Dec 1916	ALBERT	In trenches near ALBERT (Somme area)	16
Jan 1917	ALBERT	In trenches near ALBERT (Somme area). Box Respirators issued.	9
Feb 1917	ALBERT	Training and general fatigues. In the trenches near COMBLES.	2
Mar 1917	ALBERT	In trenches near ALBERT. War diary 11 -31 March is missing.	8 (16??)
Apr 1917	ALBERT	Training and road and rail repairs. Platoons were reorganized as laid down in SS143 i.e. 1 Rifle section, 1 Lewis Gun section, 1 Bombing Section and 1 Rifle Bombing section per platoon.
May 1917	Le MESNIL, CLERY, BILLON	Work on ETRICOURT-YPRES railway. Training in Somme area.
Jun 1917	WARDRECQUES, YPRES	Training and in trenches near YPRES.	2	2
Jul 1917	WYLDERS, YPRES	Training and in trenches near YPRES. 31st – Battle of Pilckem Ridge (a phase of the of 3rd Battle of YPRES). Total casualties in the Battle = 26 Killed 113 Wounded 12 Missing	4	2
Aug 1917	YPRES, HERZEEZE	In trenches near YPRES and training at HERZEEZE.	3
Sep 1917	YPRES	Training in Pas De Calais area and in trenches near YPRES.	4
Oct 1917	HERZEEZE, YPRES, CALAIS	Training at HERZEEZE. 9th – Battle of Poelcappelle (a phase of the 3rd Battle of YPRES) – details of attack not included in war diary. Training in PAS-DE-CALAIS area	1
Nov 1917	CALAIS, BOURLON WOOD	Training near CALAIS. Battalion marched from CALAIS to CAMBRAI area. 26th – Battle of Cambrai (attack on FONTAINE NOTRE DAME) – details of attack not included in war diary.	2
Dec 1917	GOUZEAUCOURT, SIMENCOURT	In the trenches near GOUZEAUCOURT and training in ARRAS area.	4
Jan 1918	GOUZEAUCOURT	In the trenches near GOUZEAUCOURT and training in ARRAS area.	12	6
Feb 1918	ARRAS	In trenches near ARRAS.	8
Mar 1918	ARRAS	In trenches near ARRAS. 24th – 28th – First Battle of BAPAUME 1918 (a phase of the German Spring Offensive – Operation Michael)	13	2
Apr 1918	ARRAS	In trenches S. of ARRAS (AYETTE) and training.	9	2
May 1918	ARRAS	In trenches S. of ARRAS (AYETTE)	18
Jun 1918	ARRAS	In trenches (AYETTE) and training at LA BAZEQUE. 150 men sick with ‘Influenza’.	3
Jul 1918	ARRAS	Training at LA BAZEQUE and in trenches near RANSART. Training American Officers and NCOs in front line.	8	6
Aug 1918	SOMME	In trenches near RANSART. Training a company from US 320th Regiment (part of US 80th Division). 21st-24th 2nd Battle of BAPAUME (part of 2nd Battle of the Somme 1918) – details of attack not included in war diary.	9	7
Sep 1918	RANSART	3rd – Attack (part of 2nd Battle of the Somme) – light casualties. In trenches near ST LEGER 27th – Battle of the Canal Du Nord	9	10
Oct 1918	CAMBRAI, ST PYTHON	Training near DOIGNIES. 9th – 11th – Battle of Cambrai 1918 Leapfrogged with other brigades and ended month at ST PYTHON.	9
Nov 1918	VILLERS POL, BAVAI (BAVAY), MAUBEUGE	4th – Attack at the River Rhonelle (part of Battle of the Sambre 1918). 7th – 8th Attacks on BAVAY and LONGUEVILLE. Ended war in MAUBEUGE.	5
Dec 1918	BELGIUM, COLOGNE	March across Belgium to Cologne
Jan 1919	COLOGNE	Occupation duty in Cologne