G/11268 Pte Ernest Arthur Newby, 2nd Royal Sussex BWM/VM pair, killed in action nr High Wood, 9 September 1916

G/11268 Pte Ernest Arthur Newby, 2nd Royal Sussex BWM/VM pair, killed in action nr High Wood, 9 September 1916

Ernest Arthur Newby's birth was registered in the Blything district of Suffolk in the second quarter of 1887. He was the son of Arthur (a tile maker and later general dealer and grocer) and Hannah Newby. In 1911 he was living with his parents in Yoxford (Little St., Yoxford, Suffolk), where he was employed as a domestic gardener. 

He enlisted in nearby Saxmundham, possibly under the 'Derby' or 'Groups' Scheme of deferred enlistment, probably some time in 1915. His Sussex regimental number of 11268 fits roughly between G/10552 (joined on 5th April 1916) and G/11558 (joined on 11th May 1916), suggesting it was allocated around the last week in April, 1916.

Judging by the careers of 11224 Pte Albert Gurry and 11308 Pte Herbert Seaman, he was probably first enlisted into the 10th (Reserve) Battalion of the Suffolk Regiment, then part of a bulk transfer of men to the 10th (2nd Reserve Battalion) Royal Sussex Regiment on or about 29 April 1916, with whom he trained before embarking overseas around 8/9 August 1916 on posting via 40th Infantry Base Depot at Etaples to the 12th (2nd South Downs) Battalion. Pte Gurry, who was sent overseas on 8 August, on 22 August is recorded as having been posted to 2nd Battalion (this being possibly his date of joining the battalion in the field). Pte Newby was also part of a draft to the 12th (2nd South Down) Battalion, Royal Sussex Regiment, very possibly the same one as Ptes  Gurry and Seaman, both of whom were less than 50 service numbers away from him; certainly once in France like Pte Gurry he was posted to join the 2nd Battalion of the Royal Sussex, then part of 2nd Brigade, 1st Division.

Meanwhile, the battalion spent the early part of August 1916 resting and training in Henencourt Wood, prior to entering the firing line again at High Wood on the 14th, then going to Brigade reserve in Mametz Wood a few days later. Further fighting in and around High Wood on 19 and 20 August reduced the battalion's fighting strength to 4 officers and 150 men* before the battalion was withdrawn and sent to Albert for rest. It was here, on 23 August, that a draft of 128 other ranks, including 97 from the Royal East Kent Reserve Yeomanry, joined the battalion, augmented by another draft of 57 the following day. It is not clear which draft Pte Newby may have been in; either way presaged a return to the firing line, this time to the right of High Wood, on 31 August 1916, 'A' Company (probably already with Pte Newby in it) holding the front-line trench. The war diary notes that the company had a fairly trying time owing to shelling, parts of the line being filled in and men buried, so it was probably with some relief that they handed over the line to 'B' Company on 1 Sept. Further drafts of 328 and 9 men joined on 5 and 6 September, while the battalion moved from Becourt Wood to Lozenge Wood, and then on 7 September back to the firing line to prepare for the forthcoming attack. A further 4 men arrived on the 9th itself.

(*battalion casualties for the previous seven days' fighting being given as 3 officers and 56 other ranks killed, 14 officers and 320 other ranks wounded, and 87 other ranks missing)

After the Battle of Bazentin Ridge on 14 July 1916, the well-wired German reserve/second line at High Wood had become the front line.

By early September the wood, although partially taken on a number of occasions, still defied repeated British attempts to hold it and so it was determined that operations should take place on 9 September, addressing the wood itself and its left and right flanks, to improve the British position prior to a major attack with tank support on the 15th. One of the positions selected for attack was Wood Lane trench, part of a trench system running from the northern tip of High Wood along its eastern edge and then extending south south east towards Longueval. The attack was on a front of three battalions, the 2nd Royal Sussex being the middle battalion with the 1st Northamptonshires on the left, nearest High Wood, and the 2nd King's Royal Rifle Corps on the right. The 2nd Sussex arranged their assault with two companies ('C' and 'D') leading, with Pte Newby's 'A' Company given the task of following-up the left-hand company ('C') and then establishing an outpost line in front if the line was secured.

Among those taking part in the attack on Wood Lane trench on the 9th September was G/17582 Pte Walter Ernest Grover, formerly of the East Kent Yeomanry and freshly joined the 2nd Royal Sussex from England earlier the previous month - probably in the draft of 23 August mentioned above. He recalled marching in sections up the pavé to the shattered remains of Mametz Wood on a Sunday evening (probably 27 August) where they were bivouacked, and spending up to a week there (and in other locations by Becourt and Fricourt) prior to the attack, the battalion being employed in taking ammunition, rations, barbed wire and other supplies up to the front line.

Of the attack on the afternoon of Saturday 9 September, Pte Grover recalled that the battalion was told they were going over the top to attack Wood Lane Trench the previous day; at this time they would have been in the front line south east of High Wood. He recalled "[...when I joined, they had just come out of the line at High Wood again, 130** strong and 4 officers, and the fighting strength of a battalion when they went in, full strength, would be about 5-600 men ...so you can see the slaughter of the Somme...it was carnage...] When we got over the top and were going over, the 1st brigade had been over before us, the day before or week before and there they were, the dead were laying all out...we knew they were the Cameron Highlanders and the Black Watch***...all the kilts you see. We knew they were our division...and we had to go across and stumble over those and of course you couldn't go in a straight line because it was all pitted with shell-holes, and the bullets were coming from High Wood catching us from that way, and the bullets were coming in front of us that way, shrapnel was coming down overhead...and you had all the German artillery banging away at us, and our own artillery going over that way. ... I didn't realise this 'swish, swish' was bullets, and of course you never hear the one that catches you...[We only looked at what was ahead...at High Wood where we were the Germans had part and we had part...Wood Lane trench went right back through where the Germans were... They could enfilade us as we went over - the Germans could fire their machine guns at us that way and also from Wood Lane trench that way, so we were getting it all ways, two sides, with machine guns and trench mortars and what have you... You could see them falling, especially if they were in front, the first advanced/attacking troops...you could see them falling or coming back wounded, and you could hear the bullets whizzing past.]  We got to the wire, and then we got held up with the wire, we couldn't get through. And then the wire-cutters came along and cut the wire and we got through, and then we were held up again in front of Wood Lane trench and we laid there until it got dark...[We were lying in front of this German trench waiting to get in and I noticed two men carrying a box of rifle ammunition; one was shot down, and still this other chap dragged this box along 'til another man came along and helped him; he was shot down and still this man hung onto this box and dragged it in.]... A sergeant came along and pulled us...got us more or less in line and we got into the German trench. That was to be seen to be believed - the Germans were buried in the side of the trench still holding their rifles... the trench was full of the dead, ours as well as Germans... We lost a thousand men on the Somme, our battalion alone."

(**150 strong according to the war diary

***these would have been men of the 1st Cameron Highlanders and 1st Black Watch, probably casualties of the previous attack on 3 September.)

'The Hell that was High Wood'**** continues the account: "We could see High Wood on our left, all battered and shell-torn, and the barrage from our own artillery and that of the Germans on that afternoon was incredible. The ground over which we attacked was swept by machine-gun and field gun fire - whizzbangs - with 5.9s for good measure. I did not know at the time what they were, having only been in France since the 8th August, but I soon learned. Seeing my friends shot down on either side of me gave me a feeling of dread. I wondered when it was going to be my turn."

The battalion war diary narrates the attack as follows:

'At 4.45 pm, in conjunction with the 1st Northamptons on our left and the 2nd K.R.R.C. on our right, the Battalion advanced to the attack, our objective being a portion of the trench WOOD LANE.     In spite of very heavy artillery & M.gun fire, the attacking line, which consisted of "C" & "D" Coys, advanced steadily and in splendid order, closely followed by "A" Company, which was to form an outpost line in front, and "B" Company which was to consolidate. "D" Coy secured its objective with few losses. "C" Coy on the left was less fortunate, suffering rather heavily from M.Gun fire from HIGH WOOD.  It entered the enemy trench, however with little difficulty. "A" Coy pushed through and advanced some distance in front of the captured line, accounting for several of the enemy who had run back.      On our right the 60th Rifles gained their objective, but the Northamptons on our left were driven back by an intense fire.    This left our flank exposed and a defensive flank was dug connecting the captured line with their original front line. By dusk consolidation was well under way. Several prisoners were captured and one Maxim Gun which was secured by the Battalion Scout Sergeant. Our casualties were as follows:

Officers: [6 Killed, 4 Wounded]

Other ranks: 43 Killed, 146 Wounded, 59 Missing, 4 W'ded & Missing.'

The attack by the 2nd Royal Sussex and 2nd King's Royal Rifle Corps was successful but that by the 1st Northamptons and the other associated attempts to improve the position in High Wood prior to the attack on the 15th were not. High Wood itself finally fell, after two months and a day of fighting and 8,000 casualties, at 1pm on 15 September 1916 to the men of the 47th (London) Division.

Pte Newby was serving with 'A' Company of the battalion when he was killed in action during the attack on Wood Lane trench on 9 September 1916. 94 comrades including G/11260 Archibald Montague and G/11270 Charles William Nelson fell with him.

Ernest Arthur Newby was aged 29 when he died, and having no known grave is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial to the Missing of the Somme. He also features on a memorial once set up in the Primitive Methodist Chapel, The Street, Yoxford and now in St Peter's Church in the town. His financial effects, including his War Gratuity of £3 - indicating less that twelve months' overseas service - went to his father, Arthur. Probate for his civil effects of just over £147 was not granted until May 1918, his father again being the beneficiary.

(****Walter Grover, 2nd Royal Sussex Regiment, 'The Hell They Called High Wood', p.210, plus my own simplified and reordered transcript of reel 2 of the recording of him on the IWM website (© IWM), reordered portions in square [] brackets)

Images:

Trench map, High Wood area (including Wood Lane)

Aerial view of High Wood, 1916