Friends of Islington Museum

Category: Finsbury Rifles

  • Away from the Western Front : 18th – 24th December 1917.

    The battle of Jaffa – Bald Hill     The key port of Jaffa, some 40 miles north of Gaza, had been captured by the Allied forces in November. However, Ottoman & German forces still controlled the River Auja which reached the Mediterranean Sea near the port. From their system…

  • Away from the Western Front : 27th November – 17th December 1917

    Wilhelma   The Ottoman forces had retreated further north to the area around Wilhelma. This was  a successful agricultural colony founded in 1902 by the German Templar movement and named for the Emperor of Germany,  Wilhelm II.  For the Finsbury Rifles a return to trench warfare and artillery bombardment seemed likely. They were fortunate not to suffer any casualties…

  • Away from the Western Front : 17th – 26th November 1917

    Marching North     While other divisions of the EEF advanced east into the Judean Hills, the 54th (East Anglian) Division now marched north along the coastal plain.  It was now the rainy season which at least gave the Finsbury Rifles a chance to catch up with some long overdue…

  • Away from the Western Front : 9th – 16th November 1917

    After the 3rd Battle of Gaza     After the fighting and an all too brief time to recuperate the Finsbury Rifles were  directed to support the Royal Engineers  –  providing labour for the construction of prisoner of war camps. While this work was often resented by the men of the…

  • Away from the Western Front : 6th – 8th November 1917

      The Third Battle of Gaza (2)   It was no secret that casualties in fighting were highest in the rifle companies of the army . The 54th (East Anglian)  Division had had to rebuild itself twice – after the Gallipoli Campaign and more recently after the disasters of the first…

  • Away from the Western Front : 31st October – 5th November 1917

               The Third Battle of Gaza (1)   The 3rd battle for Gaza lasted for over a week. This time the bombardment  from the Royal Navy and the Royal Artillery was calculated correctly and began ahead of the actual attack. As the 54th Division moved up along the coastal strip to the west, they came under heavy fire…

  • Away from the Western Front : 17th – 30th October 1917.

          Training intensified in the lead up to Gaza. In October those skills learned and practised in  platoons and companies during the summer, were developed at  battalion and brigade level. The message for the soldiers of the EEF whether they were peacetime territorials  or wartime conscripts was that  bravery and courage alone…

  • Away from the Western Front: 30th September – 16th October 1917.

    The Allenby Effect After the failures to take Gaza in March-April 1917,  it was clear that the Egyptian Expeditionary Force needed a fresh approach and a new command structure. General Sir Archibald Murray was posted back to the UK to be head of the army  in Aldershot while General Sir Edmund Allenby took over as…

  • Away from the Western Front: 12th – 29th September, 1917.

    Reciprocal shelling, night patrols and anti-gas training The Small Box Respirator was the most advanced and successful anti-gas equipment used by the British and Dominion forces during the First World War. Introduced in 1916, it became standard issue during 1917. The respirator consisted of a face mask with glass eye-pieces connected to a metal ‘small box’ filter (containing …

  • Away from the Western Front 1st – 11th September 1917

    The Indian Army and the EEF Some 1.8 million soldiers from the Indian Army were sent overseas during World War One. 200,000 served in Egypt and Palestine, over 95,000 in combatant roles. The main role of the Indian Army in peacetime had been to defend its North- West Frontier. Its commissioned officers  were all British while other…