Chapter Three
4 July
In the absence of any orders troops were engaged during the early part of the day in clearing the battlefield of the previous three days. In the 17th Division Sector while the wounded had been attended to, no attempt had been made to clear the battlefield of the dead. Brigadier-General J L J Clarke in command of 52 Brigade recalled:
‘In the old no man’s land the bodies of our men were to be seen just as they fell in every conceivable attitude, some prone, others huddled up in a crouching position, or kneeling in the act of firing, all stark and rigid like so many wax work figures; in the captured German trenches the dead in places were literally piled up in heaps friend and foe mixed up in an extricable mess where hand to hand fighting had taken place.’
It will be recalled that the previous day Brigadier General Fell had been in trouble with General Pilcher for being absent from Brigade Headquarters in Fricourt Chateau. On the 4th at 2.00pm Pilcher came from Meaulte to Fricourt again to see Fell and this time found Fell at his post still very frustrated and anxious to make an attack. Pilcher told him it might be possible for his brigade to make an attack on the Quadrangle at midnight. Fell recalled, ‘I told him again, we hold the Bosche stone cold and I had scouts up trees watching them going and coming’.
Soldiers of both sides witnessed such scenes as they advanced over captured ground. Here, five Germans lie in a captured trench.
‘Heavy rain fell all afternoon with thunderstorms and the trenches soon filled up with water and everything turned to mud. The troops were soaked through and completely clogged up.’ TAYLOR LIBRARY
By 5.15pm orders were issued that Fell’s brigade were to be relieved by 52 Brigade. A disappointed Fell was spoken to by Pilcher who told him he was proud of what his men had done and he wanted 52 Brigade to do likewise. Fell’s disappointment at being withdrawn before the attack was shared with some of his troops. The 10th Sherwood Foresters waiting in Hedge Line Trench were reported as “being anxious to capture that trench” (Quadrangle). So Fell’s 51 Brigade gave way to 52 Brigade and the 10th Sherwood Foresters were replaced by the 9th Northumberland Fusiliers. The 7th Lincolns and the 7th Borders also gave way but relief for the 8th South Staffordshires was short lived as they rejoined the front line attached temporarily to the newly arrived 52 Brigade.
Heavy rain fell all afternoon with thunderstorms and the trenches soon filled up with water and everything turned to mud. The troops were soaked through and completely clogged up.
The battle plan was to stage a surprise attack at midnight on 4/5 July on Quadrangle Trench and Wood Trench but Major-General H E Watts commanding the 7th Division telephoned XV Corps Headquarters at 6.15pm to say that it was impossible to make a surprise attack because of the conditions. Lieutenant General Horne was unwilling to cancel the attack but changed the orders to include a preliminary bombardment. The attack was retimed to start at 12.45am.
During the afternoon a bombardment was launched to cut the German wire and final reports were that the wire in front of Quadrangle Trench was well gapped but there was only one gap in the centre of Wood Trench. The night was very dark and the ground very heavy and conditions quite appalling as another bombardment started at 12.15am on 5 July prior to the attack timed for 12.45am.
5 July
The assault was to be made on a front of about 1,800 yards. There were four assaulting battalions. On the extreme left flank were the 10th Lancashire Fusiliers, on their right the 9th Northumberland Fusiliers and the 1st Royal Welsh Fusiliers were in the centre with the 2nd Royal Irish on the right flank.
During the bombardment the fighting patrols crept out into the darkness of No Man’s Land to get as near to the German position as possible. The barrage lifted and was replaced with a hail of machine gun fire. On the 7th Division front alone eight gun crews of 22 Brigade Machine Gun Company poured 6,500 rounds on to the front of Wood Trench and the eastern part of Quadrangle Trench. The assaulting troops charged in as swiftly as the conditions would allow and the enemy were taken by surprise, as had been originally intended.
Map 5. Attack on Quadrangle Trench and Wood Trench 5 July.
View of Hedgeline and Bottom Wood from the 10th Lancashire Fusilier’s position. 9th Northumberland Fusiliers were in the middle distance and 1st Royal Welsh Fusiliers near Bottom Wood. (See Map 5)
On the extreme left of the attack the 10th Lancashire Fusiliers encountered some resistance. The Fusiliers were met by machine gun and rifle fire and a hotly contested fight took place before the trench was captured. Captain Thacker then led a patrol up from Quadrangle Trench up Pearl Alley nearly as far as Contalmaison and established a ‘stop’ in the trench, although this was later driven in by the Germans. Later the Fusiliers captured Shelter Alley and thus formed a defensive flank facing north-west. The 9th Northumberland Fusiliers rushed to the trench and met no severe rifle or machine gunfire. Major Allen gallantly led the attack setting a fine example, always in the forefront of the advance. ‘A’ Company especially, responded, doing good work, but in the process lost their commander Lieutenant Drummond. Many of the Germans were already dead in the trench killed by the artillery bombardment. Those that remained were bayoneted while those that retreated were pursued by Lewis gunners and rifle fire. Two enemy machine guns were captured and a large number of documents were sent back to Brigade Headquarters. By 1.30am the trench had been consolidated and four machine gun positions had been established by 52 Brigade Machine Gun Company.
On the right flank of the attack things did not go so well. Two assaulting companies of the 1st Royal Welsh Fusiliers advanced but more resistance was encountered in Quadrangle Trench. The left company of the 1 st Royal Welsh Fusiliers got into the trench and shortly after 2.00am linked with the 9th Northumberland Fusiliers on the left. They then started to bomb along the trench to the right where there was some more resistance. At 1.30am runners had reported that the right hand company was held up by the German wire where they were bombed and caught by the British artillery barrage falling short. The reserve company were waiting in Bottom Wood and at 2.00am half that company led by Lieutenant Dadd were called forward. Confusion was still reported and even more reinforcements were called up. Just then Lieutenant Dadd arrived back and reported that the trench had been cleared so further assistance was not required.
The 1st Royal Irish on the extreme right flank of the attack made an encouraging start and progressed through the wet and soggy conditions a distance of about 150 yards in ten minutes. They were then counterattacked and driven back. The 1st Royal Welsh Fusiliers attempted to assist the 2nd Royal Irish to occupy Wood Trench by bombing along to the left in Quadrangle Trench towards Wood Trench but it was found that a gap existed between the end of Quadrangle Trench and Wood Trench which consisted of a small valley through which the light railway line ran and it was swept by machine gun fire. It was reported later that a patrol did get across this gap into Wood Trench and drove the Germans towards Mametz Wood, finally returning to Quadrangle Trench but the 2nd Royal Irish had already withdrawn by then. The officer leading that patrol was Second-Lieutenant S Sassoon and a rather different account of these exploits are better known:
There wasn’t much wire in front of Quadrangle Trench. I entered it at a strong point on the extreme left and exploring to the right I found young Fernby.
Typical light railway built by the British Army to move supplies on the Somme. TAYLOR LIBRARY
Route taken by Siegfried Sassoon when he ‘attacked’ Wood Trench which was situated about fifty yards behind the small bush.
Kendle, who had been trying to do something for a badly wounded man, now rejoined me, and we continued, mostly on all fours, along the dwindling trench. The trench became a shallow groove and ended where the ground overlooked a little valley along which there was a light railway line. We stared across at the Wood. From the other side of the valley came an occasional rifle-shot, and a helmet bobbed up for a moment. The helmet bobbed up again. “I’ll just have a shot at him” he said wriggling away from the crumbling bank which gave us cover. At this moment Fernby appeared with two men and a Lewis gun. Kendle was half kneeling against some broken ground; I remember seeing him push his tin hat back from his forehead and then raise himself a few inches to take aim. After firing once he looked at us with a lively smile; a second later he fell sideways. A blotchy mark showed where the bullet had hit him just above the eyes.
View from the position of the German held trench.
The circumstances being what they were, I had no justification for feeling either shocked or astonished by the sudden extinction of Lance-Corporal Kendle. But after blank awareness that he was killed, all feelings tightened and contracted to a single intention – “to settle that sniper” on the other side of the valley. If I had stopped to think, I shouldn ‘t have gone at all. As it was, I discarded my tin hat and equipment, slung a bag of bombs across my shoulder, abruptly informed Fernby that I was going to find out who was there, and set off at a downhill double. While I was running I pulled the safety-pin out of a Mills’ bomb; my right hand being loaded, I did the same for my left. I mention this because I was obliged to extract the second safety-pin with my teeth, and the grating sensation reminded me that I was half way across and not so reckless as I had been when I started. I was even a little out of breath as I trotted up the opposite slope. Just before I arrived at the top I slowed up and threw my two bombs. Then I rushed at the bank, vaguely expecting some sort of scuffle with my imagined enemy I had lost my temper with the man who had shot Kendle; quite unexpectedly, I found myself looking down into a well-conducted trench with a great many Germans in it. Fortunately for me, they were already retreating. It had not occurred to them that they were being attacked by a single fool; and Fernby, with presence of mind which probably saved me, had covered my advance by traversing the top of the trench with his Lewis gun. I slung a few more bombs, but they fell short of the clumsy field-grey figures, some of whom had turned to fire their rifles over the left shoulder as they ran across the open toward the wood, while a crowd of jostling helmets vanished along the trench.
Having thus failed to commit suicide, I proceeded to occupy the trench – that is to say, I sat down on the fire-step, very much out of breath, and hoped to God the Germans wouldn ‘t come back again.
Sassoon then explored the empty trench in the direction of Mametz Wood and according to Robert Graves writing in Goodbye to All That sat down and read a book of poems. When he finally returned to Bottom Wood he faced the wrath of Colonel Stockdale. His presence in the enemy trench had held up an artillery bombardment for three hours.
The 2nd Royal Irish Battalion war diary once again is extremely detailed:
‘July 5. Our objective was Wood Trench and Mametz Wood. This attack was commenced at 10.15pm under a heavy barrage from our guns. C Coy under Capt Bell was ordered to attack Wood Trench with A Coy in Support. The Grenade Coy under Capt Gordon Ralph was again ordered to attack Strip Trench with B Coy on the right to form a defensive flank. D Coy was kept in Battalion reserve. The R. Welsh Fusiliers attacked on our left their objective being Quadrangle Trench.
A rapid and dashing attack was made by all the Companies concerned, C Coy reached the wire in front of Wood Trench in less than 10 minutes while the Grenade Coy again entered Strip Trench. The wire in front of Wood Trench was found by C Coy to be uncut and being extremely thick could not be penetrated. This Coy was exposed to a very heavy close-range fire and suffered severely, Capt Bell being killed on the German wire & two of his officers wounded.
July 5/6. C Coy was ordered to retire about 50 yards under cover of a fold in the ground and await reinforcements from A Coy which were brought up rapidly by Capt O’Reilly who took command of both Coys, Three times between midnight and dawn Capt O’Reilly attacked Wood Trench in a most gallant manner each time being only held up by the German wire which proved an insurmountable obstacle. The enemy’s fire was intense and their trenches were very strongly held. At Dawn the commanding Officer ordered Capt O’Reilly to give it up and return which he was most reluctant to do although severely wounded in the hand. On our left the R Welsh. Fusrs entered the German trenches but were unable to bomb along to our assistance as the Quadrangle Trench did not join up with Wood Trench.
Meanwhile the Grenade Coy covered by B Coy were hammering away at Strip Trench and here fighting was almost entirely of a hand-to-hand nature. Capt Gordon Ralph was wounded in the neck but carried on until carried away unconscious, Lieut Pike who took command of the Grenade Coy led two attacks on Strip Trench and once again entered Mametz Wood only to be driven out by fierce bombing counter-attacks.
Capt Moore-Brabazon was wounded in the foot by an enemy bayonet and handed over command of B Coy to Lieut Blake who was blown up by a shell and carried away shortly after. Attack after attack was made but progress was impossible and at about 3.30 am the Battalion was ordered by B.G.C. 22 Brigade to retire and return to Mansel Copse.
Captain Gordon Ralph
Ground across which 2nd Royal Irish made rapid progress towards Wood Trench which was situated in middle distance. (See Map 5)
German snipers picked off unwary British soldiers, which hampered movement and trench repair work. This German sniper has himself being caught unawares. TAYLOR LIBRARY
Our casualties in this attack were 125 all ranks. Capt Bell and Lieut White were killed, both inside the German wire; Capt Moore-Brabazon, Capt O’Reilly, Lieut Blake, Capt Gordon-Ralph, Lieut Price and C.S.M. Burns were wounded. The Chaplain, the Rev Fr Fitzmaurice distinguished himself by rescuing wounded under a heavy fire & R.S.M. Carew did very good work getting up ammunition under fire.’
Meanwhile the 1 st Royal Welsh Fusiliers consolidated their positions in Quadrangle Trench and Lieutenant Dadd and Lieutenant Stevens led bombers and assault troops up Quadrangle Alley and established a ‘stop’ about halfway up to its junction with Quadrangle Support. Quadrangle Trench was repaired and deepened where it was very shallow on the right. Six Lewis gun emplacements were established in case of any counter-attack. As daylight came snipers in Mametz Wood became active and work had to be abandoned. Two counter-attacks were made by German bombers working down Quadrangle Alley to the ‘stop’, the first at dawn and another later in the morning. These were easily repulsed by the bombers and Lewis Gunners. Quadrangle Alley was quite shallow at that point and the heads of the Germans could be seen as they moved down the trench to the ‘stop’ which they were allowed to approach. They were then bombed and enfiladed by Lewis gunners from Quadrangle Trench and so both attacks were destroyed in this way. The ‘stop’ was then converted into a strong point and a further strong point established at the junction of Bottom Alley and Quadrangle Trench.
The 1st Royal Welsh Fusiliers had suffered sixty five casualties including eight killed in this operation. The Northumberland Fusiliers had a total of forty one casualties. The casualties of the 10th Lancashire Fusiliers were not disclosed.
Caterpillar Wood and Marlborough Copse Occupied
South-east of Mametz Wood the 18th Division held the sector on the right of the 7th Division.
While the assault on Quadrangle Trench and Mametz Wood was taking place the 10th Essex (53 Brigade) already in position forward of Montauban Alley advanced at 2.52am. They found the approach trenches impassable and advanced over the open ground and entered Caterpillar Wood unopposed at 3.10am, in spite of reports from patrols that it was being held. Five enemy guns were captured and one machine gun was found. The 10th Essex were supposed to link up with the 2nd Royal Irish, so when they were not at the point arranged a lance corporal and one man pushed westwards to try and make contact. As we know the 2nd Royal Irish attack had failed and a hostile machine gun in the south-east corner of Mametz Wood opened fire and shot the two men as they made their patrol. The 10th Essex then moved across the valley to Marlborough Copse and finding it empty established a strong point.
At 12.30pm XV Corps ordered the 17th Division to attack Quadrangle Support Trench and Pearl Alley later that evening, in conjunction with an attack on the left by the 23rd Division. Major-General Pilcher was not happy about the position on his left in contact with 23rd Division. He wanted this strengthened and sent a message to XV Corps requesting that the 23rd Division take over a portion of the line as far east as Shelter Alley. He also wanted to know what the objective of the 23rd Division’s attack was to be. When Pilcher’s communication arrived at XV Corps HQ at 2.00pm Lieutenant-General Horne was in a meeting and the reply to Pilcher was inconclusive in as much as it refused his requests but stated that the attack would not take place unless the position on the left was strengthened. The 17th Division were ordered to establish a strong point at the point marking the divisional boundary on the Contalmaison road.
18th Division
German machine gun teams.
Horne returned at about 5 o’clock from his meeting at Army Headquarters and the apparent uncertainty on how to proceed was ended when he brought with him new draft orders. At 9.30pm Pilcher and Major-General I Phillips commanding the 38th Welsh Division travelled to Heilly for a meeting with Horne at which plans for an attack on Mametz Wood were discussed and draft orders were issued. In preparation for this attack there was a reorganisation of the divisional boundaries. Pilcher’s concerns about his left flank were resolved as the 23rd Division were to move to the east of Shelter Alley as he originally requested.
The 38th Division Come Into The Line
The relief of the 7th Division by the 38th Division who had Headquarters at Grovetown commenced and the divisional boundaries were also adjusted on the right. Among those of the 7th Division being relieved was Second-Lieutenant Siegfried Sassoon and he recorded his impressions of the occasion later, with a premonition of their ultimate destiny.
‘They were mostly undersized men and as I watched them arriving at the first stage of their battle experience I had a sense of their victimisation. A little platoon officer was settling his men down with a valiant show of self-assurance. For the sake of appearances orders of some kind had to be given though in reality there was nothing to do except sit down and hope it wouldn ‘t rain. He spoke sharply to some of them, and I felt that they were like a lot of children. It was going to be a bad look-out for two such bewildered companies, huddled up in the Quadrangle, which had been over-garrisoned by our own comparatively small contingent. Visualising that forlorn crowd of khaki figures under the twilight of the trees, I can believe that I saw then, for the first time, how blindly war destroys its victims. The sun had gone down on my own reckless brandishings, and I understood the doomed condition of these half trained civilians who had been sent up to attack the Wood.’
It was for the Welshmen an inauspicious introduction to the Battle of the Somme. Captain Glynn Jones, 14th Royal Welsh Fusiliers, writing after the war, also recalled the same occasion:-
‘With darkness came guides – at any rate they were called such from the 1st Battalion, and my company was instructed to relieve another in a trench known as Quadrangle Trench, which lay about 500 yards west of Mametz Wood. Apparently this trench had only been taken that morning, as we found to our cost when we got there.
Our guides lost their way, but having wandered over most of the country we found ourselves in a half dug trench and we were told that “this was the spot”. By now I can forgive the company of the 1st Battalion for the unseemly haste with which it departed, but at the time coming from an area where reliefs had amounted almost to a ceremonial parade, I was little less than amazed when I found no officers, no instructions, no information, or anything else, and found that the tired regulars had departed almost as quickly as the Portuguese used to up north.
In any case we put out our men as far as we could. We found that about 200yds to our right, the same trench1 was still occupied by Germans, and a bombing post at this end and another up an old communication trench going forward 2 were among our early operations of defence.
Later with the help of bombs we tried to penetrate further in these directions but found them to be strongly occupied. So having posted our sentries we spent the night slinging dead over the parapet and deeping our trench. We spent two days in the most miserable conditions in this trench. But apart from a number of casualties through enemy shelling, short rations, and mud, we did not do badly. In fact we had a great deal of fun “potting” at Germans on the edge of Mametz Wood to our right and also in our own trench where it dipped into the hollow between us and that wood. But it was indeed a relief to be relieved on the night of the 7th I believe and to receive instructions to collect at Fricourt. But getting to Fricourt was another matter, and, as far as my army days go I am ashamed of nothing so much as the route along which I dragged my poor company to rendezvous. But considering the maze of old trenches, wire and darkness, and a severe shelling near Shelter Wood I can now well wonder that we even got to Fricourt at all.’
1. [Wood Trench]
2. [Quadrangle Alley]
The 8th South Staffordshires had remained in support to the attack of 52 Brigade all day. As the 9th Northumberland Fusiliers occupied Quadrangle Trench so the A and B Companies moved into the Hedge Line Trench where they remained all day under shell fire. They were finally relieved in the evening. As they were leaving Railway Copse a shell landed directly on B Company killing twenty men and wounding many others.
Dear Wife
A member of the ill fated B Company was Private George Hawkins of Walsall who was in the Territorial Army in August 1914 having previously fought in the Boer War in South Africa. He was aged thirty four and was married to Florence. They had four children, one of whom was also called Florence. He had been in France since July 1915 and had previously written to his wife before being killed.