page_title: 6th Battalion, Cheshire Regiment
section_title: Ypres
hierarchical_section_title: 6th Battalion, Cheshire Regiment / World War I / 1/6th Cheshires / Ypres
caption_attribution_description: English: A battlefield scene from the First World War.
context_page_description: The 6th Battalion, Cheshire Regiment, was a Territorial Force unit of the British Army. Formed in 1908 from Volunteer units recruited in Cheshire since 1859, it was one of the first TF units to go to the Western Front in World War I. It had a wandering existence, moving frequently from one command to another, seeing a considerable amount of combat at the Somme, Ypres, during the German Spring Offensive and in the final Allied Hundred Days Offensive. After the war it was amalgamated into a local artillery regiment.
context_section_description: In mid-November 1916 39th Division was relieved and marched north to the Ypres Salient, where after rest it took its turns in the front line, with its continuous trench warfare and raiding. This increased in intensity in April and May 1917 as preparations were made for a new attack (the Third Ypres Offensive).
  The first phase of the offensive (the Battle of Pilckem Ridge) was launched at 03.50 on 31 July, with 118th Bde acting as divisional reserve. 39th Division took its first two objectives successfully, then 118th Bde went through at 10.10. Immediately after crossing the Zonnebeke–Langemarck road 1/6th Cheshires came under heavy machine gun fire from their right rear, where a neighbouring brigade had been delayed. Despite heavy losses, the battalion pressed on to the German Third Line west of  Aviatik Farm on the Gravenstafel Ridge where a large number of Germans behind a mass of uncut barbed wire were holding up their hands in surrender. However, a major German counter-attack soon came in and the rest of 118th Bde could not hold their positions, leaving the left of 1/6th Cheshires exposed. Many of the surrendered Germans took the opportunity to pick up their weapons again, but the German artillery barrage fell on friend and foe alike. Losing heavily, the Cheshires gradually withdrew from the Third Line through drenching rain. At 22.00 that night 118th Bde was ordered back through the rest of the division to regroup in the original British starting line; its battalions had lost roughly 70 per cent of their attacking strength. The troops had to hold their positions as the rain turned the battlefield into a swamp. 39th Division was finally relieved on 6 August.
  The division was back for the Battle of the Menin Road Ridge on 20 September when 117th Bde attacked, and the Battle of Polygon Wood on 26 September. This time the division had sidestepped northwards to make an attempt on the troublesome Tower Hamlets Ridge, but 118th Bde got stuck in the Bassevillebeek valley, where men had to pull each other out of the deep mud. The brigade lost its creeping barrage and was stopped short of its objective by machine guns and counter-attacks. 39th Division was pulled out for rest in mid-October.
caption: The Menin Road by Paul Nash depicts the devastated battlefield round the Tower Hamlets pillboxes on the Bassevillebeek Spur.
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