Friends of Islington Museum

Category: Finsbury Rifles

  • Away from the Western Front : 20th – 30th April 1917

     On Sheikh Abbas Ridge After the disastrous Second Battle of Gaza as part of the 162 Brigade , the Finsbury Rifles retreated behind the Sheikh Abbas ridge. Over a third of the battalion had been killed, wounded or posted as missing   – all recorded as casualties in the battalion war diary. In spite…

  • Away from the Western Front : 18th – 19th April 1917

     The Second Battle of Gaza Having failed to take Gaza by surprise,  Lieutenant-General  Murray  drew up a more cautious plan for a second attempt to capture the town. While the Royal Navy would shell Gaza from the sea, three  infantry divisions would attack together, supported by an intense barrage of…

  • Away from the Western Front : 22nd March to 16th April 1917.

    The First Battle of Gaza – 26/27 March 1917 Although the initial role of the EEF was to defend the Suez Canal and keep it open for Allied shipping, the overall aim of the campaign had shifted since 1915. Now it was clear that the EEF would be fighting an offensive…

  • Away from the Western Front : 10th – 23rd March 1917.

     Precautions against cholera     The army medical infrastructure in Egypt had been set up to treat casualties from Gallipoli. During the 1916 when much of the EEF was tied up in defending the Suez Canal against a largely absent enemy force, the Royal Army Medical Corps was able to refine sanitary arrangements. Each division…

  • Away from the Western Front: 4th – 9th March 1917.

    From El Arish to El Burj   The Ottoman garrison at El Arish had been based in the old Napoleonic fort by the town but this had been severely damaged by shelling from the Royal Navy anchored off the Mediterranean coast. The new military camp was outside the town and would grow to include a…

  • Away from the Western Front: 23rd February to 3rd March 1917

    At El Arish  Once the brigade reached the small town of El Arish on the Mediterranean coast, bathing parades provided welcome relief from the heat and the accumulated dirt and sand of the march across the desert. El Arish had been occupied by Ottoman forces from 1914 -1916. They had only…

  • Away from the Western Front: 7th February – 22nd February 1917

    The Advance across the Desert : Romani to El Arish     Captain FH Garraway, the adjutant of the Finsbury Rifles, wrote the daily entries in the battalion’s war diary in the approved style – terse and strictly factual. His counterpart in the 1/5 Bedfordshire Regiment, another battalion in 162 Brigade, included…

  • Away from the Western Front: 1st – 6th February 1917.

    The Advance across the Desert Crossing the Sinai Desert was wryly dubbed ‘Our 40 Days in the Wilderness’ by the Finsbury Rifles. Although the journey only took 3 weeks, it was an exhausting and unpleasant experience with the heat by day, the plummeting temperatures by night, heavy storms and as…

  • Away from the Western Front: 15th – 31st January 1917.

    Preparing to Move The Military Service Act of 1916 stated that men graded A1 were able to march, see to shoot, hear well and stand active service conditions. In addition, they were fit to serve overseas in terms of their physical & mental health and training.  ‘B’ class men could…

  • Away From The Western Front:1st January 1917 – 14th January 1917

    Packing up and the march to Kubri The intense boredom and sand filled discomfort of life for those manning the Suez Canal Defences, described by a soldier in the 1/5 Essex as “a very laborious and tedious sojourn in the wilderness ” was drawing to a close. Orders came through…