T4-043405 Pte P Smith ASC/1st Cheshire Regiment, wounded in action, Albert, August 1918

T4-043405 Pte P Smith ASC/1st Cheshire Regiment, wounded in action, Albert, August 1918

Percy Smith, of Willenhall, Staffordshire, born in 1896, attested his willingness to serve for the duration of the war on 19 January 1915 at Darlaston. A driver, he was employed by Josiah Wright, greengrocer, of Little London, Willenhall. He was medically examined at Doncaster, aged 19 years 108 days, and graded 'A'. He was resident at 1 Banner Cottage, Willenhall at the time of enlistment. He gave his next of kin as his father, Frederick, of the same address (later 1 Manor Cottage, Willenhall). He joined at the ASC Depot at Bradford on 19/20 January for posting to Aldershot and his attestation was approved by the officer commanding on 27 January 1915. His regimental number was T/4/043405. At the same time a reference as to his character and trade qualifications was requested from his former employer, which came back affirming that he could drive a pair, that he had been employed for 12 months, leaving to enlist, and that he was considered sober, honest and a good worker.

Having enlisted, he was tested as a Driver and sent on furlough.

He went overseas to France between 11 and 13 September 1915 with 37th Divisional Train (37th Divisional Blanket Section)  (280 Auxiliary Horse Transport Company). He was most probably a driver of the ubiquitous General Service (GS) wagon.

Subsequent postings included No.1 Auxiliary(?) Horse Transport Depot, 281 Auxiliary Horse Transport Company, and 1st and 11th Auxiliary Horse Transport companies, Army Service Corps.

On 24 June he was admitted to 'A' Section, 5th Stationary Hospital, Dieppe, NYD (Not yet diagnosed) - subsequently diagnosed as sprained ankle - and then discharged to unit (1st Auxiliary Horse Transport) on 27 July 1916. The commanding officer's entry on his 'report on wounds and injuries sustained otherwise than in action' indicated that the injury occurred when carting from the coup[e] (an area of forest where harvesting of wood is planned or has taken place) to the Decauville railway, and that Pte Smith "showed insufficient judgement in driving between two trees not far enough apart to allow free passage". At the time he was attached to the 10th Labour Battalion, Royal Engineers at St Saens, working in Coup[e] 25, Fôret d'Eawy (about 12 miles south-east of Dieppe). 

After leave to the UK, he was posted on 5 September 1917 to Lines of Communication reinforcements, Rouen (ASC Base Depot), then posted on to No. '4'  Infantry Base Depot for training and there medically graded 'A' by the depot medical board. 

Subsequently, on 24 September he was compulsorily transferred to the Cheshire Regiment, posted to the 1st Battalion and allotted the new regimental number 51265, joining the battalion in the field on 7 November 1917. At this time the battalion was at Micmac Camp in the Ypres Salient. The battalion was part of the 15th Brigade of the 5th Division and had been since the outbreak of war. The only thing which happened of note on the day was that an aeroplane bomb was dropped in the area of the camp, slightly wounding one Other Rank. On the 9th, 400 men of the battalion marched to Reninghelst to be entertained by divisional concert troupe 'The Whizzbangs', and then two days later Pte Smith would have passed through Railway Dug-outs, Zillebeke, for his first taste of life in the line. Possibly on the 14th he experienced his first trench raid, an unsuccessful one in which one OR was killed.

He would have gone with the battalion to Italy in December 1917, to stiffen the Italian defence there, and been stationed on the Piave River.

Returning to France in April 1918, the battalion took part in the Battle of Hazebrouck and the Defence of Nieppe Forest. In August 1918 the 1st Battalion, which had been in the Fôret de Nieppe, travelled down from Le Sart via Sercus to Halloy and then Boyencourt in the Somme area to take part with Third Army in the Battle of Albert, 1918, specifically operations against German troops in the Ancre valley. Attacking from north-west of Bucquoy, the battalion was part of a two-Corps attack in the direction of Bapaume. The battalion was in one of the later waves and was tasked with taking the third objective, the railway line lying south east beyond Achiet-le-Petit towards Achiet-le-Grand, which lay the other side of the valley. The attack, being outside of effective Artillery range, was made with tank support only, but most of these were knocked-out upon skirting the village to the left and the troops suffered intense machine gun fire from the high ground beyond the railway line. Although the railway line objective was taken, the battalion suffered 300 casualties of 600 effectives and was relieved that evening after dark from a line a little short of the objective and closer to the village. 

Pte Smith was transferred from 14th Field Ambulance to a Casualty Clearing Station with a GSW to his right hand on 23 August 1918; on this date the battalion had moved its Companies to positions forward of Achiet-le-Petit, after a seemingly quiet day on the 22nd. The fact that he was injected with anti-Tetanus serum suggests a 'dirty' wound, possibly from a shell fragment. No casualties are reported in the war diary on either 22 or 23 August and therefore it is possible that his injury was incurred during the abovementioned action, part of the Battle of Albert, 1918. From the CCS he was placed in the care of 3rd Australian General Hospital, Abbeville on 24 August and shortly afterwards evacuated home.

He was formally placed on the strength of the Cheshire Regiment depot on 29 August and admitted, wounded, to 3rd Western General Hospital, Cardiff, remaining under treatment until 13 September 1918.

Upon discharge he was sent on furlough from 13 to 23 September, after which he was marked as fit for Duty.

On 23 September 1918 he was posted to the 3rd Battalion, The Cheshire Regiment as medical category A.iii  (Returned Expeditionary Force men, ready except for physical condition).

Later he was in No.7 Company, 3rd Cheshires, writing in February 1919 to assert his right to the ribbon of the 1914-15 Star and asking that it be sent to his home address (then Manor Cottage).

His Soldier's Protection Certificate was issued at Clipstone Camp on 23 January 1918, and he was transferred to the Army 'Z' Reserve on 21 February 1919 at Shrewsbury.

For his service he was entitled to the 1914-15 Star, British War Medal and Victory Medal.