page_title: 5th Battalion, Lincolnshire Regiment
section_title: Hohenzollern Redoubt
hierarchical_section_title: 5th Battalion, Lincolnshire Regiment / First World War / 1/5th Battalion / Hohenzollern Redoubt
caption_attribution_description: English: Trench map depicting the Hohenzollern Redoubt in October 1915.
context_page_description: The 5th Battalion, Lincolnshire Regiment, was a volunteer unit of Britain's Territorial Army from 1900 until 1967, serving as infantry on the Western Front during the First World War and as an air defence unit during and after the Second World War.
context_section_description: The 1/5th Bn was in the forefront of the attack on the Hohenzollern Redoubt in October 1915. This was an attempt to restart the failed Battle of Loos, and the division was moved down from Ypres on 1 October for the purpose. The Germans had recaptured the Hohenzollern Redoubt on 1 October after severe fighting, and had driven off a hastily-organised British attack. 46th (North Midland) Division was ordered to make a prepared attack on 13 October.
  The battalion took over its place in the line on the night of 12/13 October. The preliminary bombardment began at noon on 13 October, a gas cloud was discharged from the British trenches at 13.45, and the troops went over the top at 14.00. 1/5th Lincolns formed the left half of 138th Bde's attack, advancing in four waves, the first two platoons of each company jumping off from the front line, the other two from the support line. The battalion's objective was Fosse Trench, about 400 yards behind the Hohenzollern Redoubt. The barbed wire in front of the redoubt was well cut and the leading waves of the battalion swept over its east and west faces with little difficulty until they reached the dead ground between the redoubt and Fosse Trench, which was open and swept by rifle and machine gun fire from the front and both flanks, particularly from Mad Point out to the left. The attack melted away, although isolated parties maintained themselves in shell holes, including Sergeant Harry Drewery with the only surviving machine gun team, who set up in a German communication trench and stayed in action until evening. (Drewery was awarded the DCM and his gunner, Private Percy Coulson the MM.) The CO, Lt-Col T.E. Sandall, was among the wounded. At dusk the battalion's survivors under the only unwounded officer, Captain R.E. Madge, withdrew to the redoubt, which the support battalion (1/4th Lincolns) and the divisional pioneers (1st Bn Monmouthshire Regiment) were consolidating for defence. The Germans put down a heavy bombardment on the east face, obliterating the defences, and the survivors had to retreat to the west face, which they held throughout the night until relieved next morning. (Corporal C. Leadbeater won a bar to his previous DCM for consolidating a point in the north face, defending it with Hand grenades through the night, and then acting as a stretcher bearer when the battalion withdrew; several other MMs were slo awarded.) The battalion had lost 22 out of 23 officers in action, and 461 other ranks, killed and wounded.
  After the disaster, the 46th Division undertook trench-holding duties and absorbed drafts of reinforcements until 23 December, when it was ordered to Egypt. The 1/5th Lincolns entrained for Marseilles and embarked on the troopship HMT Anchises on 8 January 1916, reaching Alexandria on 13 January. However, the movement was immediately cancelled, and the troops disembarked next day and went into camp. However, the division's move to Egypt was countermanded on 21 January and the units that had arrived were re-embarked. The 1/5th Lincolns boarded HMT Megantic at Alexandria on 2 February to return to France on 5 February. The battalion landed on 9 February and the division had reassembled near Amiens by 14 February. The 46th Division went back into the line in the Vimy sector, where 1/5th Bn was involved in a sharp fight when the Germans blew a mine under the parapet of their trench on 12 March.
  The battalion had been badly hit by sickness and was at less than half its establishment strength, and so was primarily used for fatigue duties. In April it received a strong draft from home, enabling it to take its place in the line, and Lt-Col Sandall returned to resume command.
caption: The Hohenzollern Redoubt, 1915
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