After a search in the UK's National Archives and the payment of about £3 per diary, I've managed to obtain and transcribe the 8th East Yorkshire's war diary for September 1915 (ref. WO 95/1424/2) and the 7th Borders' for April 23rd 1917 (ref. WO 95/2008/1):
8th East Yorkshire war diary for September 1915
(click on the images to see larger versions)
Folkestone, 9/9/15, 11pm:
The Battalion embarked for France - on arriving at BOULOGNE marched to a rest camp - entrained at 10:30pm and detrained at WATTEN
Moulle, 11/9/15, 3am:
Marched into Billets - from 11/9 to 20/9 carried on with Field Training
Moulle, 20/9/15, 7:10pm:
Marched by road WITTES arriving at 2am 21/9/15 went into bivouac and rested until 7pm
[20th: "St Martin Wittes Le Pont Dupil" also shows up in other information online]
Ecquedecques, 22/9/15, 1am ["Lespesses"]:
arrived and billeted - approx 8 miles from the Trenches
[24th 7pm: they begin march towards the battle area]
Noeux-les-Mines and Loos, 25/9/15, 11am:
Moved from billets – halted for an hour and at 3pm launched the attack at enemy from BETHUNE – LENS Road – The direction was for Hill 70 thro' LOOS East and over the slack heaps – We came under heavy artillery fire at 3pm and so moved in artillery formation – D Coy led the attack with C on the left B & A in support. On arriving in the village of Loos [their costly detour via Chalk Pit Copse seems to have been glossed over in this official account] Col B.I. Way was met by the Brig Gen of 145 Bde apparently on account of the obstacles when coming over the enemys trenches the Battalion was straggled out. Col Way led on to the SE side of the village and formed up about a company & a half - Shells of all classes were falling very thick around and several casualties occurred – D Coy and part of C under Col Way crossed the slack heap & commenced entrenching C Coy & part of B & about a company of the 10th York organised by the Adjt lined up and moved forward on the right – Major Ingles 2nd in Command formed up the two reserve companies in Loos and went up to the slack heap and commenced communication trench – at 8pm the Bn was in line digging in – Companies were re-organized - 10 York R on our right – Col Way commanding the left of the Bn & Major Ingles on the Slack Heap. All the night machine gun fire from the right flank and shells made entrenching difficult – 2 small counter attacks were easily repulsed during the night.
Loos, 26/9/15, 10am:
Lt. Col Way with a party of 120 E York Rgt and a few of the London Rgt & a few Northb Fus [Northumberland Fusiliers] made an attack on Hill 70 - the enemy's trenches were however reached, but the flank fire from mch guns on the left & shells made the Bn withdraw. At 11am the slack heap was heavily shelled and Col Way was wounded ordered a slight retirement to the village - heavy casualties from snipers & machine guns occurred and Major Ingles with Capt Moon's [??] A Coy kept on the slack heap and held their position - Part of the Bn retired at 4:30pm & joined support trenches of 23 Londons W of the village and remained all night - Shelling by the enemy continued all night
Loos, 27/9/15:
A & B Coys held on the slack heap until relieved by the London & Gordons at 4pm the shelling was incessant particularly during the relief at 6:30pm the Bn was formed up in Bivouac at SAILLY LABOURSE. Rain was falling throughout the engagement.
A roll was called and the Casualty list made for the 3 days action
Officers killed 4. Injured 1 Officer
Officers wounded 11. Gassed 1 Officer
Officers missing 1. Wounded & [illegible] 1 Officer
Other ranks Killed 21. Gassed 1.
Other ranks wounded 132. Gassed & [illegible] 1
Other ranks missing 131. Died of Wounds 1
Bethune, 28/9/15:
The Brigade entrained and marched to Rest Camp to be refitted.
7th Borders war diary for the end of April 1917
Scans of the 7th Borders' war diary are available at the National Archives. These are the entries for 19th to 29th April 1917:
Transcribed, they read:
Place: Line
Date: 19[th April]
Summary of Events and Information: Disultory enemy shelling during the day mostly counter battery work. Bn. relieved by 7th East Yorks, 50th Bde. Relief complete 12:58am. At 9pm SOS was sent up by Div. north of Scarpe river. Lively enemy shelling ensued along left of Bn front for 40 minutes. Situation then quietened down. Bn moved to Brown Line about H 28 c 5.6. Very heavy going on the way out. Casualties 1 killed, 2 wounded. [signed] C G Page Adjt
Brown Line [this would be the Brown Line from the 9th-14th April]
20
Bn. in trenches Brown Line. Relieved about 5pm by 9th Lancashire Fusiliers. Batn. moved back to billets in Arras - men quartered in museum cellars as before. Bn. HQ 2 Place Zumaille. [signed] C G Page Adjt
Arras
21
In Arras men given clean change and two coys. bathed. Batn relieved by Dorsets in the support line area H 28 b. [signed] C G Page Adjt
22
Day spent in support line. Batn. moved at 8:15pm from support line to assembly trench south of Lone Copse. A Coy moved up in daylight to occupy front line and assembly trench which had been evacuated by 9th N.F. [Northumberland Fusiliers]. This was accomplished successfully with only two casualties. Night was fairly quiet the enemy put down a barrage behind the front line, just as the last Coy. had arrived. This dies down shortly afterwards. [signed] C G Page Adjt
23
Attack on enemy positions carried out on the whole front of the offensive. 29th Divn attacked on the right from in front of Monchy le Preux. 51st Divn attack on north side of the Scarpe on the left of the 17th Divn. Objective of 51st Bde. Blue line running from E edge of Pelves village along line of the road running from I 27 centre to I 33 d 6.8 thence along E of the Bois du SART. 1st objective of 51st Bde Brown line running from Cross Roads I 26 a 6.3 to I 26 d 2.0 to I 32 a 2.1 then over sunken road at I 32 c 3.6. Preliminary objective of the 51st Bde a "T" trench running from lake at about I 25 a 5.2 through I 25 c and I 31 a to about I 31 a 1.0 called Bayonet Trench, with a switch trench running SE from I 25 c 3.2 through I 31 b crossing Pelves Road at I 31 b 5.6 called Rifle Trench. Objective of the Bn to carry the preliminary and Brown line objectives. 8th S Staffs on the left with same objective. Objective of 7th Lincolns and 10th Sherwoods to pass through Brown line and gain Blue line. Formation for the attack was A & D Coys in the front line B & C as the supporting line. A & B on the left of each line, 100 yards between waves, 200 yards between attacking and support line. Men extended to 10 paces. Rifle trench was boundary between Border and 8th S Staffs. Zero hour was at 4-45am. At zero hour a standing barrage was put down on Bayonet trench. A creeping barrage began 200 yards west of Bayonet Trench and moved at rate of 3 minutes per 100 yards joining barrage on trench at +6. Both barrages lifted at plus 10 and then crept E at rate of 4 mins per 100 yards as far as Blue line. Two tanks were detailed for the attack on Pelves. Bn advanced at zero hour. Right leading Coy (D) lost direction and moved too much to its right, striking old German trenches about H 36 d 6.8. This Coy. then moved to its left and crossed Bayonet trench about H 36 b 8.6 and moved east. after crossing Bayonet trench an intense MG fire was met from Rifle trench. The remaining men of D Coy swung up to the left towards Rifle Trench and entered a German strong point about I 31 a 8.4 which they enlarged and consolidated. D Coy was joined by the survivors of right support Coy (C) which had crossed Bayonet Trench and had advanced due E. The left leading Coy (A) struck Bayonet Trench with its centre about the junction of Bayonet Trench and Rifle Trench. The left supporting Coy (B) followed and was also mown down by MG fire. The survivors of B and A Coy retired with companies of S Staffs to the assembly trenches NE of Lone Copse. By that time there were no officers of leading Coy surviving. After their retirement the Germans in a portion of Bayonet Trench held up their hands when the men of the Border again advanced but were again repulsed by MG fire. The survivors of the left coy's then retired and occupied the assembly trenches N of Lone Copse. The attack by the 8 S Staffs was also repulsed by heavy MG fire. The survivors of C & D Coys remained out in shell holes until dark when they made their way back to our line. Many were hit by MG fire on their way back. Lt Saunders and about 50 wounded and unwounded made their way in up to 2 AM. The 10th Sherwoods who were occupying the southern portion of Bayonet Trench found a party who brought in 2nd Lt Sanger wounded in the knee and about 100 wounded and unwounded men. Batn HQ moved from gun pits H 35 d 8.9 at 5:40 am to trench about H 36 d 8.8 where it remained during the battle. This piece of trench was held by 9th N.F. The trench was shelled throughout the day but few casualties were suffered by Batn HQ. The Bn was ordered to move to Rly [Railway] Triangle about 1 1/2 miles E of ARRAS and Bn HQ with about 100 men who had come in started to move at 2.30am [24th April] reaching the destination about 4am. [signed] C G Page Adjt
25
51st Bde marched to ARRAS at 6am and entrained at 10AM. Breakfast at transport lines. Detrained at Saulty station and marched to Grand Rullecourt about 6 miles. Bn. billeted in chateau & huts. [signed] C G Page Adjt
Grand Rullecourt
26/30
Bn equipping and reorganisation [signed] C G Page Adjt
29
Corps depot officers and men returned [signed] C G Page Adjt
There is an ongoing project to transcribe the war diaries of all battalions of the Border Regiment and when I've completed the whole month of April I'll make sure it's uploaded there.
The following trench map and sketch were also stored with the April 1917 diary. They clearly show the 23rd April preliminary objective of Bayonet Trench and Rifle Trench. The objectives of the Brown and Blue Lines are not marked:
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