This article is based on part of research I undertook in 2025, looking at the military service of Reginald Elphinstone Baty. He was born in Newcastle-on-Tyne on 1 August 1895, the son of John Baty and his wife Fanny, née Moore. His parents had married the previous year and Reginald would be their only child. After serving with the 9th (Service) Battalion of the Northumberland Fusiliers and being wounded at the Bluff, he went on to become an officer with the 21st (Service) Battalion and would be awarded the Military Cross. Reginald also later served successively with the Royal Air Force, Defence Force, Territorial Army and in the Auxiliary Air Force in the Second World War. Sadly, he took his own life in 1953.
Reginald was named in a casualty list that forms part of his battalion’s war diary. It says that he had been wounded on 15 February 1916. This carried through to the War Office list released on 25 February 1916 and this was printed in the London “Times” on 6 March 1916. His wound had come during a sharp action at a position southeast of Ypres known as the “Bluff”, although his battalion was located at the very edge of this fighting.
Figure 1: From the casualty lists printed in the “Times”. Pte 12119 R. Baty and others of the same battalion.
The 9th (Service) Battalion, a unit of Kitchener’s Second New Army or K2
The Northumberland Fusiliers already had seven battalions when war was declared in August 1914: two regular, one reserve and four of the Territorial Force. Thus its first new battalion for K1 became the 8th (Service) Battalion. The next, raised at the Newcastle regimental depot during early September 1914 as part of K2, was the 9th (Service) Battalion. It was placed under orders of the new 52nd Infantry Brigade of the 17th (Northern) Division.
The 52nd Infantry Brigade also included the 12th Manchester Regiment, 10th Lancashire Fusiliers and 9th Duke of Wellingtons (West Riding Regiment). A brigade Machine Gun Company was added in February 1916 and a brigade Trench Mortar Battery in June 1916.
The new brigade and the rest of the division very soon moved to the area of Wareham in Dorset, where they remained until moving to Winchester in May 1915. Their experience was typical of early Kitchener units: no or very little by way of uniform for some weeks; gradual arrival of proper arms and equipment; much time spent under canvas; much route marching and basic drill work before genuine infantry training began. The battalion, very largely composed of Newcastle and Northumberland men, developed a great spirit and comradeship through these months.
Move overseas
After receiving a disappointing order that the division would be retained for home defence (subsequently cancelled), advance parties left for France on 6 July 1915. Main embarkation began on 12 July and the units moved to concentrate near St Omer.
By 22 July 1915 the division had been ordered to the area of the Wytschaete-Messines ridge, south of Ypres in the West Flanders province of Belgium, where it would place the units under temporary arrangements whereby other, more experienced units, would give them some instruction in trench conditions. After a short while the division took responsibility for the sector. It remained in this area, with the battalions being rotated in and out of the trenches for spells varying from two days to perhaps ten, for several months. The area was never truly quiet but the division had a relatively uneventful spell here compared to what it would experience later on. It is described well in the published history of the division. On 6 January 1916 the division was relieved for rest and moved to a quiet rear area.
On returning to an active front, the 17th (Northern) Division did not return to the Wytschaete-Messines area but were positioned a few miles to the north, just outside Ypres itself. It was here that the battalion was involved in the division’s first serious engagement – one in which Reginald was wounded – the fighting at the Bluff.
Map 1: The location of the Bluff. The solid black line marks the approximate position of the front line in February 1916. The 52nd Infantry Brigade, including Reginald’s battalion, held the line south of the Ypres-Comines canal when the German attack began. The battalion was on the division’s extreme right and held trenches southwest of St. Eloi. It did not come under German infantry attack when the Bluff was assaulted, but was affected by enemy shellfire.
Map 2: part of a map that is included in the published history of the division.
Map 3: From the war diary of the staff at V Corps headquarters (the division came under orders of this corps) (TNA WO95/746). It shows the German trenches only (in red) at the time of the Bluff action. South of the canal, the line turned towards the hamlet of St. Eloi.
The German attack on the Bluff
The division had taken over the canal sector of the front line south of Ypres between 5 and 8 February 1916, and had placed its 51st Infantry Brigade on a 1300-yard front at the Bluff position. It was also responsible for the south bank of the canal and had put the 52nd Infantry Brigade there. The Bluff was an important spot. It was a piece of ground slightly higher than the surrounding area. As such, while it remained in British hands it gave some advantages of observation across the German front but also blocked German observation other than from the air. It was considered vital to hold.
Enemy shellfire began to fall on both brigade fronts in the morning of 14 February 1916, intensifying on the Bluff from mid-afternoon onwards. (The enemy was also shelling the 24th Division a little way to the north Hooge at the same time). British artillery began to retaliate, and the infantry at the Bluff stood by to meet an anticipated attack. All telephone wires were cut by the shelling, which severely affected the ability of units in the front line to call for support. German engineers exploded three small underground mines at 5.45pm, one under the Bluff (which buried a platoon of the 10th Lancashire Fusiliers sheltering in an old tunnel) and two slightly further north. Shortly afterwards, German infantry attacked between the canal bank and the Ravine. They entered and captured the front line trenches but were driven out of the support lines behind the front. The division’s 50th Infantry Brigade was ordered forward from reserve but took no direct part in the fighting: the battalion was used for carrying supplies forward to the troops who were under attack. Small local efforts to counter attack over the next two days failed. The all-important Bluff position had been lost, and it would take more than localised efforts to regain it. It was in fact recaptured in a large-scale attack on 2 March.
On the western edge of the attack
Figure 2: From the war diary of the staff at divisional headquarters (TNA WO95/1980), giving more detail of the battalion’s position. It was on the extreme right of the portion of the line held by the 17th (Northern) Division.
Map 4: From the diary of the headquarters of 52nd Infantry Brigade (TNA WO95/2009) with my highlights in yellow. British trenches are shown in blue. Reginald’s battalion held the subsectors P1 to P4, which lay southwest of St. Eloi. It was somewhere in that area that Reginald was wounded on 14 February 1916. The battalion had taken over these trenches on 6 February and was just about to be relieved for rest when the German attack took place.
Figure 3: Using Google Maps. A view across the British front line of the P1-P4 sector held by the 9th Northumberland Fusiliers, looking from the east. The German front line lay close to the camera, with the British further away into the field.
Figure 4: The battalion’s war diary (TNA WO95/2013) reported that it had a relatively quiet day except for two periods when enemy shellfire fell on its area, especially around its headquarters dugout at position S8. Sadly this dugout is not shown on any map I could trace.
Figure 5: From the war diary of the staff at divisional headquarters (TNA WO95/1980), giving detail of the locations of the dressing stations, to which the wounded would be carried or, if possible, walk.