Northumberland Hussars' Old Comrades'
Tour of the Western Front.
•230
The Ypres Times.
It will not be altogether out of place, and certainly of interest to those most nearly
concerned, if I awaken a few memories of the Northumberland Hussars' entry into the
Great War before proceeding to give a short account of the tour of the Western Front
made by members of the Regiment's Old Comrades' Association in June.
There are two especial distinctions of which the Northumberland Hussars are
deservedly prcrud the one of being the only Imperial Service Yeomanry Regiment when
the war broke out, and the other of being the first Territorial unit in action, if not the
first to land on the Western Front.
In September, 1914, the Regiment joined the 7th Division at Lyndhurst, in the
New Forest, as Divisional Cavalry, and on October 5th embarked at Southampton on the
•s.s. Minneapolis, which was afterwards sunk in the Mediterranean. Our destination
was unknown, as we sailed under sealed orders, but we continued up Channel, and the
following morning, at daybreak, we lay off Zeebrugge, where we disembarked on the
Mole, subsequently the scene of the glorious naval enterprise.
From Zeebrugge we marched via Blankenbergh to Bruges, en route, so rumour said,
Tor Antwerp, where the Naval Brigade still held out. Oh October 8tli, however, we
moved off in a westerly direction for Ostend, as the flankghard to the Division marching
the following morning into the town to cover the landing of the 3rd Cavalry Division.
At Ostend we entrained for Ghent in the early hours of the morning of October 10th, only
to learn that Antwerp had fallen, and that the Belgian Army was in retreat. At Ghent
the Regiment had the first brush with the enemy, one troop on patrol riding into an
ambush and although met by heavy rifle fire at point blank range, it sustained no
casualties except the loss of two horses, which said little for the German marksmanship.
On October nth, preparations for a delaying action went on, but that night the
Division suddenly withdrew from Ghent. The infantry slipped out silently in the darkness,
guns and transport with muffled wheels, and the Northumberland Hussars as rearguard,
with the duty of sending out patrols. And here, amid the tragedy of war, there is a flash
of humour. The following is a quotation from Divisional Orders to the Yeomanry riding
by night over pavé roads (surely the noisiest surface on earth), and at that time all
'innocent of bayonets "If there is molestation by the enemy he will be attacked in
•silence with the bayonet!
On October 14th the Regiment entered Ypres, as yet undamaged, and billeted in the
Cavalry Barracks, and from that time onwards had the honour of taking part with the
infantry of the immortal Seventh Division in that epic defence of the Channel Ports
against overwhelming oddsthe First Battle of Ypres.
The following is an extract from the German Communiqué of August 23rd, 1918,
with reference to a mounted attack by the Regiment the previous day in Happy Valley,
on the Somme, near the Bray-Albert road:"North of Bray the enemy brought up
cavalry for the attack it was almost entirely destroyed."
On June the 6th a party of the Northumberland Hussars Old Comrades' Association
left Victoria at 9 a.m., travelling via Folkestone and Boulogne to Arras, which was reached
at 4 p.m. Accommodation had been reserved at the Hotel de l'Univers, and here it may
be said in passing, that all arrangements were in the hands of the Ypres League.
The first day was spent in making a tour of the battle front from Arras to Ypres
via Souchez, Aix Noulette, Noeux-les-Mines, Béthune, Estaires to Saillv, where a brief
