Queen s Park in the Front Line

Transcription

1 Queen s Park in the Front Line An account of the contribution made by members and players of Queen s Park Football Club who enlisted for service in the Great War and saw active service at Arras in Index 1. Walter McFarlane Coulter M.C. Pages Arras March - May 1917 Pages Ralph Risk at the Chemical Works Pages 5 4. Walter Coulter and David Sorley at Croisilles Pages 6 Written by Fred Ellsworth March 1 st

2 Walter McFarlane Coulter M.C. Walter McFarlane Coulter was born in 1891 in Frederiksted, on St Croix in the Virgin Islands - Danish controlled until sold to the USA in Walter was the son of Frank and Mary Coulter. Frank Coulter was a sugar cane planter and merchant, also born in Frederiksted. In 1894 three year old Walter was brought by his father to live in Scotland, almost certainly as a consequence of his mother s death. Frank Coulter then returned to St Croix, where he later remarried and divided his time between family homes in both St Croix and New York. Walter Coulter lived with his maternal grandparents, Walter and Janet McFarlane, in Manswewood, Eastwood. By 1901 the extended McFarlane family were living side by side in two substantial villas, Summerlea House and Sunnyside House. Walter was educated at Thornliebank School, Glasgow High School and the Royal Technical College (now part of Strathclyde University). He served an engineering apprenticeship with John Dalglish and Sons, Pollokshaws, and was working in the drawing office of the Fairfield shipyard in Govan when he enlisted. Walter Coulter played one first team match as a half-back for Queen s Park in season but was registered as a player for the following two seasons. He was also a playing member of Poloc Cricket Club. There is no surviving evidence of father and son ever meeting again, although neither is there any trace of Walter in the 1911 UK census. Walter Coulter enlisted in the 9 th (Glasgow Highland) Battalion Highland Light Infantry and, from the spring of 1915, was one of the Queen s Park men who represented the battalion in football competition. On 5 February 1917 the 9 th Battalion had taken over the trenches near Bouchavesnes, 10 miles (16 km) south of Bapaume and 6 miles (10 km) south-east of Longueval, on the Somme. On 25 February 1917, Lieutenant Walter Coulter was awarded the Military Cross for his actions on February 7 th. 2

3 The Battalion diary describes the sequence of events that led to his award : Enemy artillery and Trench Mortars active. Our artillery cutting gap in wire on Peronne Road. A raid organized by Lieutenant Colonel Menzies carried out on enemy trenches on Peronne Road. Raiding party of 2 officers : 2 nd Lts Brown and Wilson, 6 Royal Engineers and 59 Other Ranks of Glasgow Highlanders under 2 nd Lt Coulter. Party entered enemy trench after a four minute Artillery, T.M, and M.G. bombardment. One party went to right and one to the left. No opposition was met with going over. A number of dug outs bombed and blown in by both parties. Lt Wilson knocked out a machine gun team and captured the gun. 2 prisoners and machine gun were brought back. Party remained in enemy line 25 minutes. Germans offered resistance and would not come out of dug outs. Only 4 casualties were inflicted on raiding party. Lt Wilson was unfortunately killed in our own line after coming back. Party left our lines at 11 pm and returned at pm. Valuable information was gained by identification of prisoners regiment. By midnight all was quiet on both sides. Hard frost. The official detailed report dispatched to Division HQ was written by Walter Coulter - in it he omitted any reference to his own actions. The cover notes, later attached by his Commanding Officer, fully credited the contribution made by the newly promoted Captain : Great credit is due..to Captain Coulter who actually commanded the party and directed operations from a central position in the enemy s line. The citation published in the London Gazette on 26 March 1917, stated that Walter Coulter was awarded the Military Cross for conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty during a raid on the enemy's trenches. He led his men with great dash and the success of the raid was largely due to his personal coolness and initiative. He has on many previous occasions done fine work. On Friday 30 March 1917, the Southern Press commented that his many friends in football circles, and especially at Hampden, will hear the news with sincere pleasure. Arras March - May 1917 The town of Arras lies about 14 miles (22 km) north of Bapaume and 17.5 miles (28 km) north of the furthest advance of allied forces on the Somme by November The area around Arras was more urban and industrial than either Flanders and the Pas-de-Calais to the north or Picardy and the Somme to the south. Here the trench lines passed through the ruins of buildings, underground cellars, and iron ore slag heaps. 3

4 Arras itself already had underground chalk quarries (Boves) dating back to the 13 th and 14 th centuries, used for mining blocks of chalk for building. The existing quarries under the main town squares were used as troop shelters for up to 24,000 men. New Zealand tunnelers worked in great secrecy to link the underground quarry caverns and allow for the incorporation of light railways, water reservoirs, ammunition stores, medical stations and command centres. In addition, two tunnel extensions were built out towards the front lines, to bring soldiers up in front of, or beyond, German lines in March The British and Commonwealth offensive began in a squall of sleet and snow on Easter Sunday, 9 April To the north of Arras, 4 Canadian Divisions attacked and Vimy Ridge was in Canadian hands by the evening of 10 April. To the east and south-east of Arras, during February and March of 1917, the Germans had been withdrawing their forces in stages to the newly constructed and more heavily fortified Hindenburg Line of defences. As a result, the tunnels from Arras brought soldiers out a little less close to the front lines as originally planned. One third of the battalions that fought in the Battle of Arras were Scottish, mostly from the 9 th and 15 th (Scottish) Divisions and the 51 st (Highland) Division. Significant gains were made in the first 3 days before the offensive began to falter. 4

5 Ralph Risk at the Chemical Works Ralph Risk was born in He was educated at Mount Florida and Queen s Park schools and in 1907 played for Glasgow Schools in their annual inter - city match against Edinburgh at Hampden Park. He studied law at Glasgow University and was a solicitor with Maclay, Murray and Spens in Glasgow. Ralph Risk made 21 appearances for Queen s Park, mostly at outside left, between 1912 and 1914 and in 1914 he went on tour with the club to Denmark and Sweden. Ralph Risk enlisted as a Second Lieutenant in the 1 st Battalion Gordon Highlanders in June The following year, on 18 July, he was wounded in an attack on Longueval on the Somme. In the spring of 1917 Ralph Risk was with the 6 th Battalion Gordon Highlanders during the Arras Offensive. In the first days of fighting the battalion attacked the Chemical Works at Roeux, over ground commanded by enemy machine gun fire from Greenland Hill. During the following weeks the Chemical Works changed hands several times and Ralph Risk was awarded the Military Cross for his actions on 14 May, the citation stating : For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty. He led his platoon, under very heavy machine gun fire, to a position where he established a post which he held until ordered to withdraw. His great personal courage and fine example enabled him to secure his position and keep his men in hand. This painting by Fred Farrell, showing the 6 th Gordons approaching the Chemical Works along a railway embankment on 23 April 1917, names Ralph Risk as the figure on the right. Captain Ralph Risk was later awarded a Bar to his Military Cross - in other words a second Military Cross - for his actions at the River Scarpe, between 24 and 25 August 1918, and went on to become President of Queen s Park from 1933 to 1935 and again from 1936 to

6 Walter Coulter and David Sorley at Croisilles At 5.30 am on 20 May 1917, the 9 th Battalion Highland Light Infantry was involved in 33 rd Division s attack on the German Hindenburg Line defences near Croisilles, 8 miles (13 km) south-east of Arras and 8 miles north of Bapaume. Captain Walter Coulter, aged 27, was killed at 6.30 am. Around the same time, by a strange coincidence, 2 nd Lieutenant Samuel Coulter, unrelated, was wounded in an action for which he too was awarded the Military Cross. On 20 May 80 Glasgow Highlanders were killed. 12 deaths dated back to men who had enlisted in 1914, 11 to 1915, 35 to 1916 and 22 had reached the battalion earlier in Another 200 or so were wounded - figures which reflect the ever decreasing life expectancy of men at the front. Walter Coulter s body was never recovered and he is commemorated on the Arras Memorial. The Memorial commemorates almost 35,000 servicemen from the United Kingdom, South Africa and New Zealand who died in the Arras sector between spring 1916 and 7 August, 1918, and have no known grave. The 33 rd Division attack on 20 May also involved the 1 st Battalion Scottish Rifles. Amongst their ranks was David Sorley, who had enlisted with the 9 th Battalion, Highland Light Infantry, before gaining his commission with the Scottish Rifles. 2 nd Lieutenant David Sorley was awarded the Military Cross for rallying his men, leading them forwards to cover and by his coolness and personal example preventing a general retirement. The attack of 20 May, in which Walter Coulter was killed and David Sorley awarded the Military Cross, took place in the final days of the Arras offensive. By then the allies had advanced as far as Oppy in the north and captured Roeux in the centre. Further south, British and Australian forces had finally captured Bullecourt. British and Commonwealth casualties amounted to 158,660. The daily casualty figure stood at 4,076 - higher even than the Somme s 2,943 the previous year. German casualties were scarcely less. 6

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