241629 Major. Gordon Galbraith British Army 11th Battalion Worchester Regiment from:Dundas, Ontario, Canada Gordon Galbraith was my grandfather.
My mother had a typed carbon copy of a report of the Battle of Doiran, Macedonia. After reading it over, and searching on-line for the various names mentioned, I have found its source to be the "Worcestershire Regiment in the Great War" (1928) book. However an extra page has been inserted into the chapter on the 1917 Macedonia conflict:
A living survivor of the Battle of Doiran, Major G.M Galbraith (then Lieutenant Galbraith, Platoon Commander of No.3 Platoon, A Company, 11th Battalion,) writes:
"My platoon was detailed to carry barbed wire and stakes to wire in front of Point 06 after capture. Platoons 1, 2, and 4 were to proceed first. We were to follow. Platoons 1 and 2 went forward but no sign of No.4 Platoon, so I ordered my men to dump everything and follow. I felt that a gap in the attack might be bad.
Proceeding down the slope toward the enemy trenches, a 5.9 shell burst at my right rear, killing my Platoon Corporal, and batman, and causing numerous casualties in my Platoon.
My leading men were blasted back on top of me, and I could not get free until Captain Cooper rushed up and pulled them free. The blast burned the back of my neck and I was dazed.
Gathering the remainder of my men, I went forward to the bottom of the Jumeaux Ravine, to find it well wired. I cut a path and about eight of my men crept through. The barrage was intense, but we were able to line up until a rocket went up a few minutes later. We charged forward, took that portion of the enemy trench directly in front, dug out a small post and mounted a Lewis Gun.
We were immediately attacked from our left, but drove the enemy back with bombs. We had collected several buckets of bombs from our wounded who were sent back. I sent Private Auden with a message to Colonel Barker stating that we were hanging on, but required help. Several Gloucesters got through the barrage and reported to me. One by one however, we lost our men, sending the wounded back, retaining their ammunition and bombs.
We were on the extreme left of Point 06 and enemy forces tried again and again to dislodge us, but we showered them with bombs until finally a Platoon of Bulgars by-passed us in the direction of 4 Platoon. Pte Sellman was about the only man left at this stage. We carried some buckets of bombs in their rear, and he steadily mowed them down with deadly accuracy. All was confusion.
Finally Sellman was wounded at about the time that word was passed along to withdraw. We staggered back to our trenches, to find utter chaos. When I was able to get my men rounded up, we found that 29 out of 41 had been killed or wounded.
At one stage of the enemy's counter attack, I fired my Very light pistol (green-yellow etc) asking for Artillery support. There was no response. What a difference a half a dozen 18-pounders mounted on our parapet firing point blank at their lines would have made. A creeping barrage up the mountain side would have been priceless.
One felt lucky to be alive."
|