Private John Thomson Allan was a patient at Hickwells in 1915 and 1916 having arrived there after being wounded at The Battle of Loos in September 1915. His entry in Nurse Oliver’s album reads:
Chailey 23rd Oct 1915
[Line drawing of Gordon Highlanders' cap badge]
J T Allan
4th Gordon Hrs
Wounded at Houdge
25th Sept 1915
The National Archives reveals that he was 3246 Private John Thomson Allan, a territorial soldier who arrived in France
on 26th March 1915. The 1/4th Gordons was an Aberdeen-based battalion which had
disembarked at Havre in February 1915. On 27th February it transferred to the
8th Brigade in the 3rd Division (a regular division).
The following extract is taken from Part 11 of The Hospital Way and deals with the action at Hooge in which Private Allan was wounded:
On 16th June 1915, the 3rd Division had
taken part in a disastrous diversionary attack on Bellewaarde Ridge, which aimed to deprive the enemy of observation and at
the same time straighten out the British line between Hooge and Railway Wood. Although
some ground had been won, and quickly held by battalions of the 8th Brigade following up behind, the cost had been high. Heavy and concentrated German artillery fire, well directed onto lines until recently
held by their own troops, cut swathes through the attacking British forces and by the end of the operation the 3rd Division
had lost 140 officers and 3,391 men. The 9th Brigade suffered particularly heavily,
losing 73 officers out of 96 and 2,012 men out of 3,663. On that occasion the
1/4th Gordons had been spared the brunt of the attack but here they were, just three months later, staring at the same ridge
and this time preparing to take part in the main assault of another diversionary attack.
The British bombardment began at 3.30am
on the morning of 25th September and fifty minutes later two mines were exploded under the German trenches facing the 2nd
Royal Scots. Two further explosions followed almost immediately and as the debris
settled, the attacking troops moved forward. At first, the going was good. The War Diary for the 1/4th Gordons reports that the men reached the German front
line trench and met with little loss, finding “many Germans in it, many of whom bolted.” Their success though
was to be short-lived. Between 4.50 and 11am the German artillery responded with whizz bangs
before collecting north of the Menin Road and launching a counter attack. Their
bombs expended, the Gordons were forced to retire to the trenches held by The Royal Scots line, the diary reporting that,
“The men of C and D companies who were in the German 3rd line are cut off and missing.
1/4th Gordon Highlander casualties for the 25th September are noted as:
NCOs and ORs
Officers
Killed
23
1
D.O.W.
1
-
Wounded
148
7
Wounded & Missing
6
1
Missing
141
6
Total
319
15
John Allan’s path back to Britain would have been first to the 2nd Eastern General Hospital at Brighton
and then, almost immediately to Hickwells. His wound
was severe enough to keep him at Chailey certainly until the beginning of 1916, but not severe enough to prevent him from
taking part in various “entertainments” which were reported by the local press.
