(T) 765, R.E. (T) 1472 and 402929 Sapper James A Clark, 2nd Highland Field Company, Royal Engineers

(T) 765, R.E. (T) 1472 and 402929 Sapper James A Clark, 2nd Highland Field Company, Royal Engineers

James A Clark was probably a native of Aberdeen, judging by his Territorial unit affiliation and his 1918 next of kin address (as found on his daily casualty list entry). A pre-war Territorial, he probably joined some time between the end of April 1914 and beginning of August. Judging by his 1917 service number, he was most probably a member of the 2nd Highland Field Company. He was almost certainly a serving member of the Territorial Force on the outbreak of war and as such, only obliged to undertake home defence. To address the manpower needs of the British Expeditionary Force, men of the Territorial Force were invited to volunteer for active service overseas ('the Imperial Service Obligation'). From the evidence of his Territorial Force War Medal entitlement Sapper Clark clearly accepted the Imperial Service Obligation. However, unlike many of his comrades he was almost certainly not sent overseas in 1914 and 1915, but rather in 1916 or afterwards.

During this time, he was possibly on the strength of those elements of the three Highland Field Companies which stayed with the newly-formed Home Service second-line Division, the 64th (2nd Highland) Division, in the UK when other elements went to France in 1915.

The first line Highland Field Company (1/2nd) went to France via Le Havre on 3 May 1915 and by June 1917 had been renumbered as the 401st. Having previously served with 7th Division it joined the 51st (Highland) Division on 31 January 1916 and remained with them for the rest of the war. The service history of the second line (2/2nd) Company was very similar. 

Until joining the first or second line company on active service, Sapper Clark was possibly with 3/2nd Highland Field Company (later 405th Field Company) or 4/2nd Highland Field Company, both home service units. With them he may have been on the training staff, an orderly or an administrator. His service with them would have taken him to Blair Atholl, Perth and Scone, Perth, then Alyth, Dundee and Coupar (winter quarters) and finally Norwich, Taverham, North Walsham and Kelling before a major restructure and withdrawal of second-line units took place in 1917.

Possibly, like 571/1446/402903 Sapper Alfred Webster, he went overseas in October 1916, joining his Company in November. Certainly the fact that he went overseas with his four-digit service number would indicate that his posting overseas took place before February 1917, when the Territorial RE was renumbered. Similarly, his later 6-digit service number indicates that, when he received it, he was on the strength of one of the various 'lines' of the 2nd Highland Field Company. 

Assuming Spr Clark was not posted elsewhere on his arrival in France (as was the case of some of his comrades with close service numbers), he would have joined either 1/2nd Highland/401st (Alfred Webster's Unit) or 2/2nd Highland/404th Field Companies. These companies principally served with 51st  (Highland) Division on the Western Front. 

With them, his service would have included, if he joined them early enough in 1916, service with the Division in support of the division's successful assault on Beaumont Hamel on 13 November during the closing (Battle of the Ancre) stage of the Battle of the Somme. One exploit of the 404th (then 2/2nd) Field Company during this period was the overnight digging (alongside one company of the 8th Royal Scots, the divisional Pioneer battalion) of New Munich Trench, enabling it to be garrisoned before dawn. For their service on the Somme, both Field Companies were awarded the unofficial RE battle honour "Ancre '16".

Service in 1917 would have included the Battles of Arras (battle honours "1st Scarpe '17" and "2nd  Scarpe '17"). The Field Companies were the first elements of the division to travel down to the Arras sector in January 1917 and it was in the preparatory period for the Battle of Arras that 402903 Alfred Webster was wounded by gassing (from a gas shell) whilst with the 401st Company. The RE also distinguished themselves, at this time, by running a pontoon ferry service from Fampoux via Athies to Blangy for conveying ammunition up the river Scarpe to battery positions in the Scarpe valley, and bringing back the wounded, to take some pressure off the RAMC. 

Subsequently the companies also served at Third Ypres (20-25 September 1917, for which they received the battle honour "Menin Road"), and Cambrai.

After this year of heavy fighting,  the Division was sent to the South and took over a poorly-placed and sited section of the front line in the Lechelle area, opposite the Hindenburg Line. To help remedy this situation, General Harper, the General Officer Commanding,  laid down principles for the construction of a new defensive system, and each of the Field Companies was given a particular sector of the line, with the responsibility for maintaining and developing the defences devolved to the infantry under the Sappers' direction. As such, the Field Companies were heavily engaged throughout the winter and early spring of 1918. For their good work, all ranks and arms were congratulated by General Byng, GOC 3rd Army. In addition, the Royal Engineers were also employed in salving buildings in the rear sector for use by a wide range of Divisional amenities including hot bathhouses for officers and men, Divisional canteens, both retail and wholesale, at which battalion canteens could purchase their stock; wet canteens, a fresh fish, vegetable and egg store, a picture palace, a Divisional theatre, a Divisional soda-water factory, a rest camp for officers and men, and hot soup kitchens.

In 1918 the companies were caught up in the German Spring Offensive, receiving the battle honour "St Quentin '18" amongst others. During this critical period, both companies took an active part in repelling the German attacks. The 51st Division was in the line at the eastern edge of the Artois plateau when the German attack fell on 21 March 1918, with 152nd Brigade holding the central section. The attack was heralded by a severe four-hour bombardment which interrupted all communications within the first quarter of an hour. Once the Germans had gained a foothold in the British line, companies between the Bapaume — Cambrai road and the Louverval valley were forced back into Boursies. Here the divisional artillery came into play, and men of the 401st Field Company were involved with units of 152nd Brigade in holding a wired communications trench, specially sited as a switch line, which played a crucial role in delaying the enemy's advance through Boursies. Dvr. G. S. Copland, of 404th Field Coy. Royal Engineers, who died of wounds 22nd March 1918, aged 24, was most probably wounded in this action. Also an Aberdeen man, he was the eldest of three brothers who fell in the Great War, one - 402132 Cpl C. Copland - who died 8th Sept, 1917, aged 22 with the 404th's sister company, the 401st Field Coy, Royal Engineers at Ypres.  Elements of both Field Companies continued to be engaged throughout the following days, as the fighting retreat continued, fighting alongside both 152nd and 153rd brigades and also subsequently during the Battle of the Lys, to which sector the division had, ironically, been sent for a rest.

Sapper Clark appears on the War Office daily casualty list for 7 July 1918, suggesting a wounding date of early June 1918.

Depending upon the severity of his wound, Sapper Clark may have been back on duty in time to serve during the Hundred days' offensive, when the 404th Company took a prominent part in the Battle of the Selle, bridge building alongside the 400th company, which had been with the 51st Division throughout the war. Here, at Noyelles, the 404th Company brought up its Weldon trestles and pontoons by waggon under accurate rifle and machine gun fire but nonetheless managed to put in place a bridge by 3.45am, only eight hours after Infantry patrols had reached the bank. 

The Divisional Engineers did much good work in throwing both light and heavy bridges over the rivers encountered during the advance, for example over the river Ecaillon at Thiant in October 1918. Here, finding that two fifteen-foot decks could just span the crossing, engineers of the 404th Field Coy under Lt E F Smith constructed the bridge from standard parts in eighteen and a half minutes under heavy shell fire. The division finished the war in rest in the Cambrai-Iwuy area on 11 November 1918.

It is not clear when Sapper Clark was demobilised but assuming he was with the 51st Division, it is likely that it was between December  1918 and March 1919. This would have been part of the division's reduction to a cadre prior to reformation in Scotland as part of the new Territorial Army. 

Sapper Clark's Territorial Force War Medal was  issued to him on 19 April 1922 and he clearly had received his British War and Victory medals by 1924 as in this year they were returned, apparently for adjustment (usually of name or number), and reissued on 16 June 1924.