WW1 Victory & British War Medals to 226266 GNR A.B. Berry R.A., Royal Field Artillery, wounded in action 21 March 1918

 WW1 Victory & British War Medals to 226266 GNR A.B. Berry R.A., Royal Field Artillery, wounded in action 21 March 1918

Albert Berry was from Horeham Road, East Sussex, the son of Ephraim and Fanny Berry, born circa 1898. Born into a large family, by age 13 (1911 census) he was already working as a general labourer. He enlisted on 17 March 1917 at Eastbourne aged 19 years and 11 months. He was given the regimental number 226266. In civil life he was a timber carter's boy, in the employ of James Best, Shepherds Hill, Buxted, Sussex. His next of kin was his father, Ephraim, of Tickerage Cottage, Framfield. Having been enlisted, he was posted to No.8 Depot, Royal Field Artillery at Hilsea and then shortly afterwards to 'D' Battery, 7th (Reserve) Brigade (Territorial Force). Having completed his training, around 21 November 1917 he was posted overseas, joining 223rd Brigade Royal Field Artillery in the field on 29 November 1917, shortly after the closure of Third Ypres. At this time the Brigade was in the Ypres sector, his battery having moved forward into the Stroombeek valley on 16 November, where it remained under orders of HQ 32nd Divisional Artillery until relieved by 'D' Battery of 317th Brigade at 9am on 29 November. 

He served as a gun layer with 'D' Battery of the 223rd Brigade - formerly A (Howitzer) Battery, 1/4th Home Counties (Howitzer) Brigade  - which was attached to 63rd (Royal Naval) Division. The unit operated the Coventry Ordnance Works 4.5" field howitzer, in three sections of two guns each. This piece, described by Hogg and Thurston as the best field howitzer in the world in 1914, fired a 35lb shrapnel shell 7,300 yards, each being manned by a 10-man detachment. 

The War Diary for December 1917 notes that the batteries of the Brigade remained in action near St Julien until 4/5 and 5/6 December, when they were taken out of the line to rest in the wagon lines until 13 December when they began to proceed by march route to join V Corps, Third Army at Lechelle towards the end of the month, the batteries being emplaced near Beaucamp.

Almost immediately the Brigade was in action, firstly providing day and night harassing fire and then responding to a S.O.S. call from the infantry in response to an enemy raid on the line at Welsh Ridge west of La Vacquerie on the 30th (the occasion of the famous John Nash painting, ‘Over The Top’. 1st Artists’ Rifles at Marcoing, 30th December 1917, © IWM (Art.IWM ART 1656)).

This entailed putting down fire on the enemy during the day and then covering a counter-attack which went in at 4.30 in the afternoon. The brigade remained in action here, principally engaged in further day and night harassing fire at an average range of 4,000 yards - interspersed with one Corps barrage on 11 Jan 1918 - until relieved again on 20 January. During this period, batteries also prepared forward positions as well as working on their main positions, which were equipped with the beginnings of mined (i.e. excavated by tunnelling) dugouts. 

Upon becoming V Corps Mobile Reserve Artillery at Equancourt the brigade took the opportunity to institute schemes of training in the morning as well as recreation in the afternoons and evenings, which Gnr Berry probably found welcome, as well as air-raid proofing (providing splinter protection) their huts and horse standings. Training included riding school, riding drill, [gun]laying, musketry, small box respirator drill and signalling. The Brigade returned to action again from 5-15 February at Beaucamp, 'D' Battery being under the command of 19th Divisional Artillery and then from 15-22 February back under control of 63rd Div Arty in the same position, moving (to the Trescault Valley?) to coincide with a shift of the divisional front on 22 February in the afternoon. The main activity was night firing (6pm to 6am) on roads, tracks, trench mortars (in particular), machine gun emplacements, wiring parties, new work and all approaches. Single 'sniping' guns were also moved forward under cover of dark to engage targets beyond the range of the main positions. 'D' Battery sent its gun forwards on the night of the 25th. 

The first ten days of March were noted in the War Diary as marked by great enemy movement, with the guns in the forward position and the 'sniping gun' "continually employed in engaging moving targets". On the 11th, 12th and 13th March each night the valley was shelled and drenched with gas, albeit with reducing numbers of casualties. Between 14 and 16 March, by contrast, the enemy was very quiet, whilst the British field artillery put down harassing fire on the enemy front line at dusk and dawn; a resumption of enemy activity in the daytime over the next three days gave renewed opportunities for sniping.

At the time of the commencement of the German Spring offensive, the 63rd division, part of Fanshawe's V Corps in Byng's Third Army, was occupying the vulnerable tip of the Flesquieres salient midway between Bapaume and Cambrai, west of Havrincourt Wood.

The carefully-planned enemy bombardment opened in the early hours of the morning, particular attention being paid to the rear of the British lines, not just to disrupt communications but also to destroy the British artillery. The Brigade War Diary narrates the attack as follows: "During the night of 20/21st the enemy was quiet until 4am 21st when he started a concentrated bombardment of gas shell on Ribecourt & forward & rear gun positions.  At 6.20am the enemy attacked & S.o.S. Signal was sent up by the Infantry, a good barrage answered this call. At 8am the gas shelling stopped & by 10am the ground was clear of gas. The result of this attack on our sector was that the enemy held a few of our posts. 

     During the day of 21st everything was quiet as our Infantry were preparing to counterattack. During the night the forward sections had orders to withdraw to the intermediate positions in Havrincourt Wood."

Meanwhile, some time on 21 March 1918, Gnr Berry suffered a shrapnel wound to his right leg, resulting in a compound fracture of the tibia and fibula, a piece of shrapnel having seemingly entered his leg via the shin. He was admitted to 149th Field Ambulance, and from there transferred to No. 48 Casualty Clearing Station, where 500 units anti-Tetanus serum was given, and the following day to the 7th Canadian General Hospital before his evacuation to England on 1 April for treatment at the Wharncliff[e] Hospital, Sheffield. His wound was recorded on War Office Daily List No. 5558, dated 6 May 1918, his next of kin address being recorded as 'Framfield'. Whilst nearing the end of his treatment at Wharncliffe  his wound was assessed as 30% disabling, the knee movement being not quite free, ankle movement fair and some wasting to the calf muscle. He also described himself as suffering (or having suffered) from pneumonia due to gassing and deafness due to gunfire. After fourteen months stay in hospital, due to his wound and subsequent 1/2" shortening of the leg, for which he required a special rest, he was discharged Physically Unfit, aged 22, on 12 June 1919, and awarded the Silver War Badge, number B229987. His address on discharge was Upper Honeys Green, Framfield, Sussex.

201456 Pte John McKenna, 5th (Reserve) Battalion, DLI and 10th DLI, wounded Inverness Copse 23 August 1917

201456 Pte John McKenna, 5th (Reserve) Battalion, DLI and 10th DLI, wounded Inverness Copse 23 August 1917

John McKenna of South Shields, born circa 1884, attested his willingness to be enlisted for General Service/service with the Royal Garrison Artillery at South Shields on 11 December 1915 aged 31 years 4 months. Having presumably attested for deferred ('Class A') service, was posted to the Army Section 'B' Reserve the following day. He gave his employment as shipyard worker and union delegate.

He was mobilised on 19 June 1916, being appointed to the Durham Light Infantry at Newcastle and posted to 'C' Company, 3/5th DLI, on 20 June and given the regimental number 4804. He was aged 31 years 10 months at the time and gave his wife Ann McKenna (née McCaffery) as his next of kin. They had married at St. Bede's Roman Catholic Church, South Shields in July 1906 and had one child, Rachael, born in October the following year. The 3/5th DLI was a Territorial reserve battalion, being the third line of the 5th DLI, the first and second lines being (or just about to become) overseas service battalions. The 3/5th subsequently became the 5th (Reserve) Battalion of the regiment, and in September 1916 absorbed the 6th-9th Reserve battalions at Newcastle as part of the Northumbrian Reserve Brigade before moving the following month to Redcar and Catterick.

Pte McKenna would have been given his new six-digit Territorial number of 201456 in March 1917 whilst still with the 5th Battalion. He was finally posted overseas to 35th Infantry Base Depot, Etaples on 29 March 1917. From there he was posted under Army Order 204 to the 10th battalion, Durham Light Infantry, "the Shiny Tenth" under Lieutenant-Colonel Hubert Morant, on 18 April, probably joining them in the field shortly afterwards. At this time the unit was part of 43rd Infantry Brigade, 14th (Light) Division, in General Allenby’s Third Army.

At this time, the 10th Battalion had recently returned from the trenches by Arras, having taken part in the assaults on the Hindenburg Line (Nice Trench and the Blue and Brown Lines near Wancourt) on the opening day of the First Battle of the Scarpe, the first day of the Arras offensive. Although successful in its attacks, the battalion suffered in excess of 100 wounded on 9 April, Easter Monday 1917, and over 120 casualties on the 10th. During its rest at Sus St Leger in the Manin district, when Private Frisby is likely to have joined it, the battalion was training and firing musketry courses at Ficheux Wood, subsequently relieving 151st Brigade in the area Ronville to Telegraph Hill, where the battalion was mainly engaged in salvage work (including recovering ammunition, grenades etc for battalion use) in the vicinity of the old German front line. The battalion was then employed, with the rest of the Brigade, as divisional reserve in Niger Trench for the failed attack by the 41st and 42nd Brigades on the Wancourt Line, part of the Second Battle of the Scarpe, which took place on 3 and 4 May. ‘C’ and ‘D’ companies went into the line on 7/8 May, and made nightly patrols, whilst ‘A’ and ‘B’ companies were in reserve.

After further spells in the line, the Brigade moved out via Reserve Brigade Camp, Beaurains, Beaumetz and Saulty to the Divisional Rest Area at Bus-les-Artois in the middle of June for rest, particular orders being given regarding the cleanliness and order of the trenches and shelters left and the handing over of trench stores. March turnout (including the tidiness of packs and availability of Small Box Respirators and P.H. (Phenate Hexamine) Helmets) and discipline on the march were also addressed, a letter in relation to the latter from the Brigadier-General Commanding being read out to all ranks at Parade at the commanding officer’s instruction before setting off. In rest the battalion occupied itself with cleaning, inspection, various training, saluting drill, Church Parade and entertainments by the Pom-Poms (a theatrical troupe?) and the battalion’s band, and a divisional horse show in which the battalion took two prizes. Two officers were also detailed to observe a Platoon attack at the Third Army Infantry School at Auxi-le-Chateau and early the following month the battalion took part in brigade tactical schemes, in which the battalion did well, and a field day. The final day before mobilisation parade on 9 July was a holiday including sending off a party of thirty to Delville Wood (where the battalion had been heavily engaged at the end of August 1916) and games in camp. 

July 1917: Preparations for Third Ypres

Thereafter, the division moved to Gezaincourt and Doullens to join IX Corps of Second Army at St Jans Capel, near Bailleul, for more training, taking up the rest of the month, and a General Inspection by the Second Army Commander, General Plumer on 26 July. (As a matter of interest, the companies of the battalion at this time were all wearing a mixture of leather (438 sets) and webbing (311 sets) equipment, and part of the instructions for the inspection concern inter-company exchanges to secure that only ‘A’ Company wore leather equipment so as to present a uniform appearance.)

From 9 August the battalion moved via Caestres and Abeele to Dickebusche prior to going back into the line at Inverness Copse astride the Menin Road four miles from Ypres and a mile and a half out East of Hooge, marching off from Zillebeke Bund on 21 August in order to participate in the Battle of Langemarck. After taking casualties from both gas and shell en route, the four companies were distributed as follows; two to hold the original front line after the assaulting battalions had left it (in ‘A’ Company’s case, the original front line South of the Menin Road), one company (probably ‘B’) to follow the right assaulting battalion to form a defensive flank if needed, and one company in reserve. ‘B’ Company, following the assault on the right of the line pushed on as far as the Dry Lake (Company HQ) and one platoon got as far as Harenthage Chateau, capturing the garrison of the chateau, but suffered severe casualties and was forced by 10am to withdraw back to the Dry Lake. Nevertheless, the two platoons of DLI defenders were able to maintain the line for two days, beating off an enemy attack on the night of the 24th and then able to spare a platoon to more or less re-establish the centre of the line.

Whilst the action around Harenthage Chateau was taking place, two platoons of the Reserve Company were sent to Inverness Copse before 9am on the morning of 22 August in support of the left flank of the much-depleted Somerset Light Infantry and dug in just outside the wood at its Northern edge. The copse and its right flank was further reinforced throughout the day and evening by A Company, the other two platoons of the Reserve Company and a further platoon, followed that night by the rest of the company holding the original front line North of the Menin Road. 

The following account taken from Captain Wilfrid Miles' "The Durham Forces in the Field", relating to the part played by the 10th Battalion of the Durham Light Infantry in the Third Battle of Ypres, expands on the battle:

"The tenth were the next [of the service battalions of the Durham Light Infantry] to enter the battle. They arrived at Zillebeke Bund on August 20th and on the following day the officers reconnoitred the brigade line which lay astride the Menin Road, west of Inverness Copse. At 2.00am on August 22nd the battalion came forward through a bombardment of gas shells to occupy support positions for the attack. By the time a hostile barrage in Sanctuary Wood was passed casualties already amounted to 60. 'A' company were in the open on Stirling Castle ridge, south of the Menin Road; 'B' company in support trenches in Sanctuary Wood; and 'C' and 'D' companies in the tunnels under the road. When the attacking battalions advanced two hours later, the 10th occupied the old British front line. But one company had to follow the Somersets on the right, and form a defensive flank facing south, besides sending a bombing section and some rifle grenadiers up Jasper Lane to meet and escort a tank. The monster did not keep the appointment, but this party pushed on and captured a German machine-gun and its detachment as well. Meanwhile the rest of the company had pushed forward on the right and established themselves in the vicinity of Dry Lakes. Here the company commander was killed after organising a successful attack upon a machine-gun which was taken, together with 5 Germans. The leading platoon managed to reach Herenthage Chateau and the platoon commander and his surviving men accepted the surrender of the garrison. There were 50 prisoners to bring back, but few, if any, of the party survived the terrific shell fire encountered on the way. What remained of this company of the 10th withdrew during the morning to a position in Jasper Avenue.The Somerset Light Infantry who led the brigade attack upon the right, had passed through Inverness Copse and would have taken Jap Trench if the left battalion had not been held up at their first objective. To conform to their line on their left the Somersets now had to fall back to a position in the copse, astride the Menin Road. At 8.50am they asked for reinforcement. Two platoons from one of the reserve companies of the 10th went forward and dug a post north of the copse, where they were in touch with the Cornwalls who were lying in a chain of shell-holes in front of the trench they had taken. At eleven o clock more reinforcements were required and a company of the 10th were sent forward to the western edge of Inverness Copse. In response to later appeals more of the 10th were put in, till, by evening, the whole battalion had gone into the copse to reinforce the line. The night was comparatively quiet, but at 4.30 in the morning of August 23rd British tanks arrived upon the scene and at once became a target for the German guns. One tank, which had evidently lost its bearings, travelled along the northern outskirts of the copse and fired upon the post there, wounding 2 men. Afterwards it was put out of action, being hit twice by German shells. No ground was gained on this day and at night the hostile shell fire was much heavier, while our own gunners put down a heavy barrage." In the midst of this action Pte McKenna suffered a severe Gun Shot Wound (any penetrating wound, including shrapnel - his fragmentary surviving record appears to indicate that the wound was to his right side) on 23* August 1917. He was probably either an artillery casualty or (conceivably) a victim of friendly fire from the British tank mentioned above. Whilst Pte McKenna was being taken back through the casualty evacuation chain towards the base hospitals on the French coast, the battalion successfully held off German counterattacks throughout the day of the 24th whilst under shellfire from the British guns, only relinquishing the wood (save its north-west corner) at nightfall, before being relieved the following day. Pte McKenna, one of 369 casualties suffered out of a battalion strength of 628 at the start of the battle, featured on War Office Daily [Casualty] List No.5375 dated 27 September 1917.

After hospitalization and stabilisation treatment in France, Pte McKenna was evacuated home from France on 6 September 1917, being posted for records purposes to the 73rd Territorial Force Depot (the Drill Hall, Stockton-on-Tees) the following day, 7 September 1917. After a period of hospitalisation of roughly two months, he was posted to Ripon Command Depot to convalesce on 12 November 1917, returning apparently to his old reserve battalion on 1 January 1918.

Subsequently he was transferred to the Territorial Force Reserve (Army Reserve Class 'W' - 'for all those soldiers whose services are deemed to be more valuable to the country in civil rather than military employment') on 20 March 1918 for employment in shipbuilding with John Readhead & Sons, South Shields. He and his wife subsequently adopted a daughter, Peta Fortescue. He was discharged under paragraph 392 xxva of King's Regulations on 19 March 1919; this provision related to soldiers who were 'surplus to military requirements (not having suffered impairment since entry into the service)', thus implying that he had enjoyed a full recovery from his wound. His transfer to the Army Class Z Reserve followed on 5 May 1919.

Upon discharge his address was given as 13 John Williamson Street, South Shields, and his military character was given as 'Good'.

For his service with the Durham Light Infantry (the old 68th of Foot, as noted on his medal index card) he was entitled to the British War Medal and Victory Medal, receipt of which was acknowledged on 1 April 1922.

John McKenna died on 4 August 1921.

*26 August according to the Military History sheet in his records: this is almost certainly incorrect however, as the battalion had been withdrawn from the firing line to Ouderdom the preceding day

Pte A B (or B A) Heath, 1st KSLI and 7th and 2nd Leinsters- twice wounded

Arthur Benjamin Heath of Cressage, Shropshire was possibly a Derby Scheme volunteer. Probably, taking the service history of 33219/15365 Herbert Hammond of Clee Hill, Ludlow, as a guide, he was mobilised some time prior 22 March 1917 at Shrewsbury. He was  probably mobilised at Copthorne Barracks, and then posted for training to the 3rd (Reserve) Battalion, King's Shropshire Light Infantry at Pembroke Dock.

 He would then have proceeded overseas to join the BEF around 26 June 1917, as part of a draft of men for the 1st KSLI. Upon arrival in France he would have been posted to one of the numerous base depots situated near the coast to complete his training and wait to be posted to join his battalion in the field. Most probably whilst still at base Depot, he would have been transferred to the Leinster Regiment on or around 22 July 1917 and then posted immediately to the 7th (Service) Battalion, then part of the 47th Brigade of the 16th (Irish) Division. This was most probably to make good losses incurred in the opening three weeks of the Third Battle of Ypres. His first wound was recorded in War Office Daily List No.5370 dated 21 September 1917 and probably indicates that Pte Heath was wounded with the 7th Leinsters at Third Ypres - possibly, like Pte Hammond, by gun shot wound around 18 August 1917. He was most probably wounded during the battalion's participation in the Battle of Langemarck on 16 August 1917. Prior to the battle the 16th and 36th Divisions had been providing carrying parties since the last week in July and had been holding ground from 4 August in the Hanebeek and Steenbeek valleys, which were overlooked by the Germans. This had exhausted many men and from 1 to 15 August, the divisions had lost about a third of their front-line strength in casualties. Accordingly the divisions struggled in the attack, which took place along a front from north of the Ypres–Roulers railway to just south of St Julien, finding that the German strong points had not been destroyed by the artillery. The garrison at Potsdam, Vampire and Borry farms inflicted heavy casualties on the attackers of the 16th Division and it is possible that Pte Heath was wounded in this attack.

As part of a wider manpower rationalisation in the British Army, the 7th battalion was disbanded on 14 February 1918 at Tincourt. The personnel were sent to the 19th Entrenching Battalion (200 men) and to the 2nd Leinsters, a Regular battalion of the regiment. It seems likely that Pte Heath may have been sent back to the 7th after recovering from his wound and that his transfer to the 2nd Battalion - as indicated in his medal roll entry - took place at this time. This was during the brief period when the 2nd battalion was part of 16th (Irish) Division; from 30 April it moved across to the 88th Brigade of the 29th Division. Pte Heath's second wound, which probably took place not long after his transfer, was recorded in War Office Daily List No.5601 dated 25 June 1918. It was incurred possibly in the course of the Battles of St Quentin and Rosieres in late March 1918, both battles of the German Spring Offensive. The battalion, along with the rest of the 47th Brigade was in Reserve when the German attack commenced on 21 March and swiftly found itself reduced to two companies. These companies were then in defensive positions around Proyart when the Germans broke through north of the Somme on 27 March, and forced to perform a further fighting retreat. Pte Heath could have been wounded on either of these occasions. Alternatively Pte Heath may have been wounded when the 2nd Battalion (now part of 88th Brigade of the 29th Division) was caught by shelling on the road from brigade headquarters to relieve the 10th East Yorkshires in the line opposite Vieux Berquin on 27 April.

Pte Heath was demobilized by transfer to the Army Class 'Z' Reserve on 21 October 1919. 

He was possibly one and the same with Benjamin Arthur Heath, born in Albrighton Shropshire in the second quarter of 1889 to Benjamin and Elizabeth Heath, his father Benjamin being a farm servant originally from Montgomery in Wales. In 1911 Benjamin the younger was a Farm Waggoner boarding with Clement and Edith Thomas at 2 Plex Cottage, Broad Oak.

60822 Pte J Liddle, 9th Green Howards - fourteen days of war in 1918

60822 PTE Joseph LIDDLE 9th Yorkshire Regiment (Green Howards) - Battle of the Sambre

Born in 1888, Joseph Liddle was from Butterknowle, County Durham, a village situated between Bishop Auckland and Barnard Castle. He worked as a miner and was married to Florence Liddle (née Blackett), whom he had wed at West Auckland on 21 September 1913. They had one child, Claude, born 22 January 1917. Having been conscripted under the Military Serice Acts, Joseph Liddle was aged 29 years 7 months when mobilised in May 1918 at Sunderland and was posted for training from the Reception Depot at Newcastle to 'D' Company of the 4th (Reserve) Battalion the Yorkshire Regiment (Green Howards), a reserve battalion, under the regimental number 60822. At the time he was resident at 27 Pinfold Lane, Butterknowle. He was posted overseas to the BEF on 23 October 1918, seemingly on posting to the 2nd Battalion. However, he appears to have been redirected to another battalion whilst still at base, proceeding via 'J' Infantry Base Depot to join the 9th (Service) Battalion, The Yorkshire Regiment (Green Howards) in the field on 27 October 1918. This unit was then part of 3rd Army and had only been back in France from Italy about a month at the point at which he joined it, having been made a part of 74th Brigade of the 25th Division. At the time the battalion was in the front line, with headquarters at Mal Garni, until relieved by the 5th Gloucesters on 31 October. The battalion had suffered in excess of 459 casualties in the month. This date of joining would have put him in line to take part in the Final Advance in Picardy, including the Battle of the Sambre, 4 November 1918.  

In this, the battalion moved from billets in Pommereuil to Mal Garni (Fontaine au Bois) 3 miles west of Landrecies and at two o'clock crossed the Sambre canal north east of Landrecies by means of two petrol tin float bridges, took an enemy outpost on the opposite (eastern) side of the canal and captured an enemy battery headquarters, together with some 4.2" and an 8" howitzer (possibly either a former British 8" or a 21cm mortar) and some prisoners.  They continued advancing next day via Old Mill des Pres to Maroilles and then on the 6th being involved with the support of two armoured cars in fighting which led to the capture of Mairbaix. As the war diary notes, "Had a running fight with enemy but could not come into close contact with him". On 7 November the 75th Brigade passed through the 74th and took up the advance, allowing the battalion to withdraw to billets. 11 November 1918 found the battalion in billets at Bousies north west of Landrecies. Casualties for the month were 3 other ranks killed and 32 wounded. After the Armistice the battalion went into billets at Le Cateau and later St Vaast and from 20 November was involved in salvage work around Cambrai. Pte Liddle was sent home to be demobilized as a miner on 20 December 1918, and having been medically examined at the depot at Ripon, was subsequently discharged to the Army Class 'Z' Reserve around 27 January 1919. His full entitlement for his service was the British War Medal and Victory Medal.

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

M2/167531 Pte F Bird, ASC - BWM & VM pair plus ASC brooched collar (sweetheart?) badge. Shrapnel wound 31 March 1918 whilst attached to 111th Siege Battery.

M2/167531 Pte F Bird, ASC - BWM & VM pair plus ASC brooched collar (sweetheart?) badge. Shrapnel wound 31 March 1918 whilst attached to 111th Siege Battery.

Frederick Bird was a chauffeur,  aged 26 years 7 months on attestation. He attested for General Service on 11 December 1915 at the recruitment office at Dunmow in Essex. He gave his address as Shremhall Priory Cottage, Lakeley, later changed to the College Mews, Hertford Heath, Hertfordshire. He gave his next of kin as his wife, Beatrice Maud (née Turner), whom he married at Hertford Heath on 11 August 1915. Frederick, having sought to have his service deferred, was posted to the Army Reserve the following day, 12 December.

He was mobilised on 8 April 1916 and appointed to the Army Service Corps - Motorised Transport, being sent to the ASC Motor Transport Reserve Depot, Grove Park on 10 April, his attestation being approved at Grove Park on 11 April 1916. He was sent to France with surprising speed, being sent out as 'spares' on 22 April 1916.

Once there, after a short stay at base depot, he was attached to 111th Siege Battery Royal Garrison Artillery (which went out on 11 May 1916) as a motor lorry driver. 111 Siege Battery was armed with 6" Howitzers.

After spending some time near Arras and serving on the Somme near the start of the great offensive, the battery was in action on 22 May 1917 at Soyer Farm west of Ploegsteert, cutting wire in preparation for the Battle of Messines Ridge, and then again around Boesinghe from 14 July to some time in August 1917 as part of the Artillery support for the Third Battle of Ypres. The following extract quoting Lieutenant Allfree of the 111th battery relates to the journey to the battery positions at Boesinghe to the north of Ypres, near the ruins of the village, and with the Steenbeek canal to the east: 

"On 13 July [1917], Allfree and his battery got their movement order and were trucked to their billets in the village of Reninghelst, south of Poperinghe. Told to move his guns into position that night, he set off in a jeep [sic], towing his gun carriage behind it, up the road out of Poperinghe. His lorries had already departed. Diverted by shellfire to Elverdinghe, he soon caught up with his trucks, which had stopped by the side of the road. The drivers were reluctant to continue: shelling up ahead had knocked out several vehicles and horse-drawn wagons. Allfree could hear the rounds exploding but 'I had to go on.  So I spoke to each of the lorry drivers and told them what they had to face...' He ordered them to 'get on with all speed, and not to stop for anybody or anything'. It was crucial to get the guns and supplies forward by daybreak, before the lorries became visible targets. 

His driver proceeded carefully: the spokes on the wheel of the gun they towed had 'jarred loose'... They soon reached the scene of the shelling ahead - disembowelled horses and smashed-up wagons and lorries and the smell of blood and high explosive'. There was so much traffic the German guns couldn't miss striking a lorry if they got the range of the road right. Allfree drove around the mess. The shells burst just behind and ahead of his vehicle. Then the gun carriage's axle came loose on the potholed road, and he abandoned it. He arrived without any of his guns, which were brought up the next day."

In November 1917 the battery was part of 27 Heavy Artillery Group and in position at Le Verguier  near St Quentin. The battery was subsequently at Epehy (about 10 miles to the north), and caught up in the opening day of the German Spring offensive, 21 March 1918, when as part of the Germans' plan to cripple the British counter-battery work the gun lines and OPs were deluged with high explosives and gas, which combined with the prevailing heavy mist to create dreadful conditions for the British defenders.  

Writing again, Allfree noted the conditions as follows "...outside in the sunken road [next to the battery positions]...[i]t was still almost dark and there was a thick mist. Shells were falling everywhere. It was a perfect hell...the eyepieces of the respirator got fogged immediately and you could see nothing... the layers...could not see the lamps on the aiming pickets owing to the mist. I sent a man out with an electric torch to lay on, but even this could only be seen with difficulty". Soon the targets were coming ominously closer ("Presently a target came through from the Major...It represented an alarmingly short range with a 6" howitzer... soon my difficulty was to get a sufficiently low elevation on the guns to hit the targets and yet to clear the bank in front of the guns.") In the end, one gun had to be left behind, and the battery's horses transport pulled the remainder out.  A few hours later, however, when the battery had once again to pull out, the battery's guns were only saved, when the FWD lorries did not turn up, by commandeering the horse team of a sister battery.

Ten days later Private Bird was wounded - a Gun Shot Wound to the right thigh resulting in a fractured femur - on 31 March 1918. 

He returned home on 3-4 June 1918 and was placed under treatment at the War Hospital, Reading, at some point going into the books of the RASC Clearing Office, Blackheath. His character form (Army Form W.3226) as signed by Officer Commanding 40 Brigade, ASC, on QE June 1918 gave his sobriety as good and noted that he was intelligent and reliable.

He was finally discharged from Reading War Hospital as an invalid - equipped with suit, overcoat, cap collar and tie - on 22 September 1919. His discharge from the Army, under paragraph 392 (XVIa) of King's Regulations - no longer physically fit for war service - was accomplished at the same time. He was aged 30, and his address on discharge was 1 Crown Terrace, Hockerill, Bishops Stortford, Hertfordshire. His wound was judged as 70% disabling, and he was pensioned at 28/- weekly for 26 weeks from 23 September 1919, plus a 7/- allowance for his wife Beatrice. He received his Silver War Badge, number B317593, in October 1919.

73184 Pte James Tait, 10th and 1/8th Battalions, Durham Light Infantry WiA

73184 Pte James Tait, 10th and 1/8th Battalions, Durham Light Infantry

James Tait, born in Moor Row, Cumberland, attested his willingness to serve for the duration of the war on 13 December 1915, having been medically examined on 9 December.  He was 27 and a half at the time, married and employed as a labourer although,  perhaps surprisingly, his physical development was described as "poor". He was posted into the Army Reserve the following day.

He was not finally mobilised until 14 August 1917, when he was posted for duty at Newcastle-upon-Tyne to 'D' Company of the 5th (Reserve) Battalion, Durham Light Infantry. By this time he was employed as a miner. He was medically graded Class A. As part of his preparation for active service, he was vaccinated on 17 and 28 August 1917,  and seen by the Oculist on 31 October, who recorded that no glasses were ordered and that he was fit for class 'A'. Pte Tait embarked for France on 22 December 1917, disembarking and being sent to 'E' Infantry Base Depot at Etaples the following day. Upon arrival he was posted, according to his Casualty Form, to the 5th Battalion, DLI (presumably from the context the 1st/5th, at that time serving with 50th Division). However, within three days, and presumably whilst still at Base Depot, he was re-posted, under Army Order 204/16, to the 10th battalion, which  he joined in the field on 27 December 1917. At this time the battalion, having spent the autumn and winter at Passchendaele, was at Zudausques in the Pas-de-Calais, where they had spent much of the month resting and training, and in keeping the Christmas holiday on 31 December, when the whole division was out of the line. The battalion had suffered 110 other rank and 5 officer casualties during its stay in the Passchendaele sector, on top of heavy losses at Inverness Copse in August, and Private Tait was no doubt re-posted to help make up these losses.  

Having proceeded to ‘Edgehill’ near Beur-Somme on 2 January, the battalion occupied itself with further training and inspections amid the snow and freezing weather. Responding to a brigade order of 21 December, the battalion also took the opportunity, on 10 January, to reorganise its companies on a basis of four companies of four platoons each, just in time to receive a further order to reorganise on a three platoon per company basis on 15 January. Military activity was broken up by a range of competitions including cross-country runs, a brigade wiring competition (won by ‘C’ Company’s wiring team) and Army Rifle Association competitions at battalion, brigade and divisional level on 12, 16 and 18 January respectively, No.5 Platoon, ‘B’ Company winning the first two and coming second in the latter. 

On 22 January the battalion moved out, arriving in Mesnil-le-Petit and Mesnil-St-Nicaise on 23 January. This was probably Pte Tait's first experience of the full devastation wreaked by war, the battalion war diary noting that they were moving through evacuated country with most of the villages “burnt out by the Boche”. On 26 January the battalion took over the line at Montescourt from the French 414th Regiment; this appears to have been a disappointment, the trenches being recorded as very muddy and needing fire-steps making. For Pte Tait this was probably a relatively gentle introduction to trench warfare, with only desultory enemy shelling and some aerial activity recorded in the battalion's war diary until the battalion was relieved on 1 February.

In February 1918 there was a general reorganisation of the infantry component of the British Army to make better use of the dwindling stocks of manpower. This manpower crisis had affected many battalions in one way or another - the 10th battalion itself, for example, had received few reinforcements since September the previous year, after the fighting at Inverness Copse. The chosen solution was to move from a twelve battalion per division structure to nine, achieved by the breaking up of the more junior battalions, and the 10th battalion was one of those chosen. On 2 February, whilst in camp at Haute Tombelle, the order was received and on 4 February 1918, after nearly three years’ service on the Western Front, the 10th Battalion was disbanded. The men paraded at 6am on the 4th February and were split into a number of parties, ‘A’ Company going to 1/5th DLI , ‘B’ Company to the 2/7th (probably a mistake in the war diary for 1/7th) and 1/8th DLI, ‘C’ Company to the 15th and 1/8th DLI, and ‘D’ Company to the 1/6th and 1/8th DLI. 2nd DLI got the runners, best NCOs and the band. 

Private Tait was one of the party sent to join the 1/8th battalion, 150th Brigade, 50th (Northumbrian) Division, in his case 'B' Company under Captain Holdsworth. At this time the battalion was in the Passchendaele sector.

He spent relatively little time with his new battalion, suffering two bouts of inflammation of the connective tissue (ICT) in his arms in February and March which took him away on 23 February, whilst the battalion was in GHQ Reserve at St Martin-au-Laert. After a stay at 10 Convalescent Depot, Escault and E Infantry Base Depot, Etaples, he returned to his unit on 20 April 1918, shortly after its participation in the Battle of the Lys. Within not much more than a month of his return he was wounded at Soissons, suffering a Gun Shot Wound (bullet) to the right thigh on 27 May 1918, during Operation Blücher-Yorck (or the Battle of the Aisne 1918 to the British), an action in which the battalion was effectively destroyed. The Battle commenced with an exceptionally heavy and carefully targeted gas and High Explosive bombardment of 3,700 guns at 1am, with the assault itself, supported by tanks, following at 4am. The 8th battalion, along with the 6th, was in the front line, emplaced on lower ground East of the Californie Plateau on the Chemin des Dames,  and was swiftly overwhelmed. Pte Tait was one of 70 wounded recorded in the War diary for that day, 7 other ranks being killed and a further 371 missing - mostly captured. After passing through the hands of the 1/3rd Northumbrian Field Ambulance, he passed through the casualty evacuation chain via the 1st Australian General Hospital, Rouen and Hospital Ship St David across to England. He was at the Military Hospital, West Bridgford,  Nottinghamshire between 31 May 1918 and 8 August, then at 'C' Division, King's Lancashire Military Convalescent Hospital, Blackpool until 17 September. His wound was reported as healed and improved with massage and physical training. Having been on the books of the Regimental Depot since his return to England he was transferred to the 3rd (Reserve) Battalion on 26 September and seen by the Battalion Medical Officer on 29 September 1918. Here, at St John's Hospital, South Shields he was medically graded Bii. Then, following a medical board at Ripon his discharge was approved on 17 October 1918 and he was transferred to Army Reserve Class 'P' on the same day. This indicated that he was regarded as one ‘whose services are deemed to be temporarily of more value to the country in civil life rather than in the Army’ and entitled to a pension owing to length of service or, in this case, disability upon discharge. He was graded as 20% disabled and granted a pension of 5 Shillings and Sixpence a week for 52 weeks from 18 October 1918. He was also entitled to the Silver War Badge, Number B293164. He was finally discharged under Para 392 xvia of King's Regulations on 26 April 1919 whilst on strength of 3rd (Reserve) Battalion,  Durham Light Infantry. Upon appearance before a further medical board on 10 September he received a supplementary war gratuity of £5.