L/7588 Signaller John Smith Carrick MM, 160th (Wearside) Brigade, Royal Field Artillery - BWM/VM pair
(Please note that credit for the detailed information about the actions of of 160th Brigade and the circumstances of JS Carrick's recruitment and award of the Military Medal is due to Phil Adams, on whose "The Idle and the Dissolute" I have relied very heavily: http://160wearsidebrigade.co.uk)
John Smith Carrick's birth was registered in Tynemouth in the last quarter of 1896. He was born to George William and Mary Ann Carrick. In 1901 they were living at 16 Public House Row, Cramlington, and later (by 1911), 1 Blue Bell Row, West Cramlington. By this time John, aged 14, was a token carrier working at the pithead. He was a miner from Cramlington in civil life, like his father, George. His regimental number falls within the L7001-8000 band shared by the Tyne & Wear (recruiting office: Sunderland) and Nottinghamshire (recruiting office: Nottingham) Brigades. He served in 'B' Battery of 160th (Wearside) Brigade, Royal Field Field Artillery. His regimental number would fit someone enlisting some time after 2 March but before 22 March 1915. He was the cousin of L/7586 Driver James William Carrick RFA, son of Mrs M Carrick of 30 Cross Row, West Cramlington, who died of wounds on 3 April 1918. The account of their enlistment, alongside two other volunteers from Cramlington, including John Smith Carrick's next-door neighbour, in 'Idle and Dissolute', confirms the date as 6 March 1915. This was less than a week after recruiting officially opened. The four men were examined by a local doctor in Cramlington, sent to the Northern Area Command Cente, Newcastle, the following day and then made their way to the brigade camp at Houghton-le-Spring. Judging by his later career he was most probably placed in 'D' Battery (renamed as 'B' Battery from 22 May 1916). After training in various places including Codford Camp, Gnr Carrick would have gone overseas with the brigade, as part of 34th Division, via Southampton to Le Havre on the morning of 9 January 1916, first going into action at Rue Fleurie south of Armentieres roughly a month later, 9-11 February. April saw the Brigade in action at Fleurbaix and May with the division in the 2nd Army Training Area, Lumbres, preparing for the Somme offensive. On the Somme the battery engaged in counter-barrages, general preparation and wire-cutting, the tempo of which accelerated as 1 July 1916 ('Z' Day) approached.
On the day itself, and the following day, the Brigade fired on La Boiselle, Heligoland on the other side of the 34th Brigade's front, Horseshoe Trench beyond it, and then later Contalmaison and Pozieres. The 34th Division suffered 6,380 casualties in the attack. In later attacks the Brigade supported 19th and 23rd Divisions, fire tasks including box barrages, protective barrages and shoots on hostile positions, and (as part of the divisional artillery) received the divisional commander's thanks on 11 July for splendid work in the recent fighting: Major-General Ingouville-Williams was killed by shellfire at Mametz ten days later. 'A' Battery's commander commented, of this period, "In these succeeding days [after the Brigade had moved to new battery positions at The Horseshoe, in Tara Valley, at the end of July 1916] Col Warburton, who commanded our 160 Brigade R.F.A., showed great skill in the handling of his guns, and thus preventing repeated local hostile attacks from taking effect." Later, in mid-August, a special mention was received from Rawlinson, GOC 4th Army upon the division's departure for the Chapelle d'Armentieres sector, acknowledging their support for the infantry and the high standard of training this evidenced.
After spending about five months in the area, engaging in activity such as artillery support for rounding parties, the Brigade gradually moved towards Arras, where it was in place to support the 34th Division in its part of the Battle of Arras - First Battle of the Scarpe. The division's task was to mount an attack on the third line of the German positions on the southern part of Vimy Ridge ('the Brown line'). The Brigade, after taking part in four days of intensive preparation, then joined with units of the divisional artillery of 17th division to form the right group, covering the front of the right infantry Brigade in the attack, the fire plan consisting of four barrages on the successive German lines with associated 'lifts', followed by a creeping barrage, a standing barrage and then a protective barrage. The Brown Line was taken by 5.25pm allowing the batteries of the Brigade to move forward and, incidentally, for B/160 to take eleven prisoners - Germans found in a dugout. Meanwhile reports from the lead battalions of the 101st Brigade noted that "The enemy's artillery fire was weak, and his rifle and machine gun fire feeble, most of them being caught in their dug-outs. The trenches were badly shattered."
Subsequently the Brigade also supported the 37th Division in the Second Battle of the Scarpe and 34th Division in the Battle of Arleux, as well as subsequent attacks of 37th, 9th and 31st Divisions as the overall Battle of Arras continued on into May and the Third Battle of
the Scarpe and beyond into June. The Brigade finally left the Arras battle area on 1 July 1917 after five months' continuous engagement, with the 34th's Divisional History noting "Our gunners did not get farther back than the Roclincourt Valley. The strain on the personnel was very great, and yet when called on, the guns never failed us. Day or night their barrage came down within a few minutes of an S.O.S. going up."
Between 26 and 29 August 1917 the Brigade distinguished itself as part of the artillery support for the 101st Brigade's successful attack on the high ground around Cologne Farm, opposite Hargicourt. The Brigade had been in this (up until then) relatively quieter sector since 10 July. The 18-pounder batteries laid down barrages in advance of the attacking battalions (15/16th Royal Scots, 10th Lincolns, 11th Suffolks), dispersed a forming enemy counter-attack and undertook further bombardments of the enemy positions with thermite and other shells, together with wire-cutting for the next stage of the attack and night bombardments of between 15 and 20 rounds per hour per gun.
The 101st Brigade issued the following appreciation of the divisional artillery's efforts:
"Please convey to all ranks the appreciation of the 101 Infantry Bde, for the fine Artillery work performed in the operations of the 26th/29th August. The wire was so well cut that there was no check anywhere, the creeping barrage was particularly accurate and easily followed. After the capture of the trench, the protection given by both Heavy & Field Artillery was far beyond all praise, all S.O.S signals were promptly replied to. The Infantry in trenches over there [who] were in mud and water with no wire in front of them and with little or no protection and in many locations unable to fire from the parapet on account of the collapse of the firing step, felt perfectly secure from counter attack when they saw the splendid protection they were receiving from the Artillery." (Brig-Gen RG Gore, GOC 101st Bde, 29 Aug 1917)
It seems likely that Gunner Carrick's Military Medal was awarded for gallantry in support of the above attacks. Two other men of 'B' Battery received the MM at the same time, Gnr George W Herring and Dvr Hugh N White; Gunner Herring was wounded on 26 August 1917, possibly in the course of a joint MM action.
Then-Gunner Carrick was serving with 'B' Battery (the brigade's former 'D' battery), when he was was awarded the Military Medal, Schedule number 1084[11?]. The Morpeth Herald for 5/6 October 1917, which reported his award, also indicated that he was employed as a Signaller. As such, his duties would have included maintaining communications between the battery operaring post and its forward observation officers. The Newcastle Gazette coverage indicated that he was advised of the award on 5 September 1917 and received his appointment as Lance-Bombardier at the same time, thus: "Writing home to his parents, Mr and Mrs G. Carrick, 5. Cross Row, West Cramlington, date of September 9, Signaller John S. Carrick, R.F.A., states that [he was] awarded the Military Medal on the 5th September, and the same date received stripe."
Two other men and one officer (Lt Basil Holmes Nelson, 'B' Battery, London Gazette 18 October 1917) received awards at around the same time; Lt Nelson was acting as a Forward Observation Officer for an attacking battalion at the time (Citation LG 7 March 1918: "For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty as F.O.O. He selected an observation post in the captured trench, and then returned and endeavoured to lay a line forward under exceptionally heavy artillery, rifle and machine gun fire."). It is possible that Gnr Carrick's award was for the same action.
It is also possible that Gnr Carrick was awarded his medal for the same action in which Temporary Lt (Acting Captain), later Major, George William King MC, also of 'B' Battery, earned the Bar to his MC, for "conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty as a liaison officer with an attacking battalion. He reached the captured position through a heavy barrage and sent back valuable information as to the movements of the enemy which enabled his battery to fire with great effect. He carried out his duties for three days under very heavy fire." (LG 25 September 1917, citation LG 9 January 1918 30466)
Gnr Carrick's award was formally Gazetted on 30 October, as part of the 2 November 1917 supplement to the London Gazette. This Gazette also dealt with awards for operations at Ypres in August 1917, principally between 8 and 26 August, in particular the Battle of Langemarck, but also Poelcappelle, Polygon Wood, Glencorse Wood, Steenbeek and Gillemont Farm.
He was subsequently promoted to Bombardier (his highest rank in a theatre of war) and would potentially have taken part with the Brigade in the First and Second Battles of Passchendaele later in 1917 of which a source said "from 14th October to 3rd November, 1917 in the above operations [the attack of the 59th Division] near Houthoulst Forest, the Brigade was constantly firing day and night, was constantly shelled, had to bring immense quantities of ammunition up by pack through heavy shell fire and over ground utterly destroyed by shells and water, and lived practically in the open without even weather proof cover in most cases." Later he would have been caught up in the German Spring Offensive (First Battle of the Somme 1918), in which 'B' Battery was a 'silent battery' based near St. Leger, firing at Ecoust and later directly at the enemy over open sights as the attack developed; the battery kept the guns firing until 18:30 when enemy fire made the position untenable, and then, having previously removed the dial sights and breech blocks, returned and got the guns away without Infantry cover. The full losses of the day for the Brigade were sixty; eleven killed in action, twenty wounded and twenty-nine taken prisoner. Later he would have taken part in the April retreat, in the Brigade's contribution to the Battle of La Becque in late June 1918, the Second Battle of the Marne, 1918, and then the taking of Kemmel, Wytschaete Ridge, Menin and Anseghem in the Allied Hundred Days' Offensive.
As a miner, it is possible that Bdr Carrick was selected for early demobilisation (some ex-miners from the Brigade going home as early as 24 December 1918. Alternatively, he may hav stayed on and accompanied the Brigade into Germany. After being demobilized, probably some time in 1919, John Carrick married Margaret H Greenwell, the marriage being registered in Tynemouth in the third quarter of 1921. John Smith Carrick died early in 1961, his death being registered in Northumberland South in the first quarter of that year.
