The great attack on the Somme had already been planned, and the 6th
Duke’s were engaged for some months in digging assembly trenches,
laying railway tracks, carrying material to the line, and generally
assisting in the many preparations that had now become recognised as
necessary to a successful offensive. They were quartered at different
times in most of the villages from Toutencourt to the river Ancre, and
in April and May went farther back to the pleasant village of Naours
lying in a beautiful valley north of Amiens. Here vigorous training
was carried on for the coming offensive, and replicas of the famous
Thiepval defences were constructed and successfully attacked.
Conditions were now growing better. Expeditionary Force Canteens had
come into being; Y.M.C.A. huts at times were encountered; organized
entertainments were given. The general standard of living was much
improved and wire beds were occasionally found in billets. The old days
of scarceness had passed, and “rest areas” had become more worthy of
the name and were visited with greater regularity.
But before the battle opened another change came in the command of
the battalion. Lieut.-Col. Adlercron, D.S.O., received well-deserved
promotion to the command of the 148th Brigade (in the same division),
and Major C. M. Bateman, D.S.O., was appointed Lieut.-Colonel in his
place. No more popular choice could have been made. Colonel Bateman
had commanded the headquarters detachment of the Craven territorials
for many years before the war and had already won golden opinions in
France both as company commander and as second-in-command. Always cool
in danger, and naturally endowed with a fine military judgment, he had
a special asset in his intimate knowledge of his men, who would have
followed him anywhere.
The great battle of the Somme, which was to last into November, opened
at 7-30 a.m. on July 1st, 1916. On this day the 49th acted as reserve
to two other Divisions in the 10th Corps, ready to exploit any success
that might be won. The roar of the bombardment had been heard for some
days and shells were singing overhead on the evening of June 30th as
the 6th Battalion moved up from Warloy into the assembly trenches it
had previously dug in Aveluy Wood. At 7-25 a.m. the trenches rocked as
the mammoth mine went up at Beaumont Hamel. The roar of the heavies
ceased for a moment, giving place to the rattle of machine guns as the
British went over the top, to be succeeded by a terrific drumfire from
the 18-pounders and French 75’s whose shells came swishing over the
tree-tops.
Though the attack had been a success to the south, it made little
headway against the powerful fortresses of Thiepval and Beaumont Hamel.
The battalion crossed the river without loss and spent the night in
the Crucifix dug-outs near Aveluy village. Next afternoon it received
hurried orders to move to Thiepval Wood, prepared to attack at dawn
next morning. It was an unpleasant march up the river valley, for this
provided the only cover behind the line and the enemy’s artillery were
giving it particular attention. At the North Bluff, Capt. Haddow, the
popular medical officer, was wounded by a shell with some of D company,
and Cpl. E. Briggs was killed while bringing up machine gun ammunition.
In Thiepval Wood, reached in the darkness, there was little shelter
and the battalion spent the night under heavy shelling and machine gun
fire. What had been in the evening luxuriant woodland was found in the
morning to resemble a group of clothes props. The attack, however, was
postponed, and the battalion returned for a night of thunderstorms
into Aveluy Wood. Next day it moved forward again and took over the
line immediately facing Thiepval with headquarters at Johnson’s Post.
Here the Brigade remained for forty-eight days, never moving further
back than the support positions, some 800 yards from the German line.
The trenches had been practically obliterated and had to be re-dug in
close proximity to the enemy; there were many bodies to bury during
the short hours of darkness, and rations and water were brought up
with difficulty. In the first twenty-four hours the battalion, without
making any attack, suffered over sixty casualties, and losses continued
daily. At times the battalion had to make “Chinese attacks,” feints to
hold the reserves opposite in their positions while other divisions
were attacking to the south, and also threw out smoke bombs to obscure
from the view of the Germans in Thiepval the flanking movement against
them. This always drew a heavy bombardment. Meanwhile a good line was
dug, and saps were pushed forward ever nearer to the doomed fortress.
At last towards the end of August the battalion moved out to
Lealvillers for a week’s rest. Here Captain N. B. Chaffers, M.C., who
had been adjutant since December, 1915, when Capt. Marriner had been
promoted to a staff appointment, left the battalion to become second in
command of the 3rd Worcesters. He was succeeded by Capt. F. L. Smith,
M.C., who had won a great reputation as a company commander. Lieut.
Robinson, whose notes on Lewis gun tactics, originally written for the
6th Battalion, had been adopted for use throughout the British Army,
was ordered to G.H.Q., where he spent more than a year working at the
organization of Lewis gun training before returning to the battalion.
In less than a week the battalion was back in the Thiepval area, but it
did not take any active part in the attack on Sept. 3rd, in which the
49th Division was engaged. The 6th was in support, and suffered losses
from shell-fire; Lieut. Gill was killed, Lieut. Jaques badly wounded,
and a dug-out occupied by A company was knocked in. The 147th Brigade
managed after heavy losses to capture most of their first objective,
but their neighbours on either side made no headway and the attack was
abandoned before the 6th was drawn in.
After ten days’ rest the battalion again returned near Thiepval, but
this time it faced the village from the ridge to the south, instead of
looking up at it from the valley to the west. The West Ridings were
now in the old German lines in the “Leipzig salient,” which had been
penetrated on July 1st, and occupied an extremely strong system of
enemy trenches known as the “Wunderwerk” for the astonishing character
of the defences. Though much damaged by our shells, the deep dug-outs
and tunnels still remained to show how the enemy had been able to
hang on in Thiepval through all our bombardments. From these lines
the Division slowly crept forward, one battalion snatching a length
of German trench one night and another the next. The 6th had to pay
dearly for their successes. One night Capt. Cedric Horsfall was shot
while making a reconnaissance in front of the line, and his death was a
sad blow to all the battalion. As strong as a horse and a glutton for
work, he was always ready to lend a hand with pick and shovel, and on
a long march might be seen striding along carrying a couple of rifles
for two of his weaker brethren. His shrewd leadership and unfailing
kindness had endeared him to all ranks. Another gallant officer to fall
was Lieut. W. B. Naylor, who was acting as Brigade bombing officer,
and among other losses were Sergt. Marks, an excellent N.C.O., and
Private Bottomley, whose unfailing humour had lightened many dark days
for his comrades. Lieut. Clegg, who afterwards greatly distinguished
himself with the Independent Air Force that bombed the German towns,
was severely wounded.
After an attack in this sector a curious adventure occurred to that
cheerful fighter, Sergt. Cecil Rhodes. Seeing a waterproof sheet
stretched out upon the ground he stooped to pick it up, when to his
surprise an unwounded German sprang from under it and bolted. The
sergeant gave chase and soon had his man a prisoner.
The battalion was beginning to penetrate the inner defences of Thiepval
when it was relieved by the 18th Division, who, with the assistance of
tanks, finished off the task.
During September the battalion was sorry to lose its very popular
Brigadier, Brig.-General E. F. Brereton, C.B., D.S.O., who had
commanded them since the days of peace. When he returned home,
Brig.-General L. G. Lewes, D.S.O., of the Essex Regt., took his place.
On leaving Thiepval the battalion at once marched northwards and
took over the line near Fonquevillers, facing the German stronghold
of Gommecourt, and for the remainder of the winter kept moving on
from one bad line of trenches to another, working hard to drain and
improve them for the benefit of their successors. At Fonquevillers
the trench-mortaring was very heavy, and four N.C.O.’s in D Coy. were
killed one night by a single shell. Here too 2nd Lieut. Wilson was
mortally wounded by a chance bullet.
Shortly before Christmas the 6th moved out to rest at the little
villages of Halloy and Grenas, near Doullens, and though the billets
were not of the best the Duke’s were able to eat a good Christmas
dinner without interruption from the enemy.
Early in the New Year, still moving slowly northwards towards Arras,
the battalion went into a new line near Berles-au-Bois and then at last
found some really good trenches in the solid chalk of Wailly. During
this winter the game of “winkling” had come into vogue. The line on
both sides was commonly held by detached posts, and small parties of
resolute men would stalk one of these, surprise the sentry and then
pick prisoners out of the dug-out behind him as one picks winkles out
of shells. The 6th were never “winkled,” though they had to keep very
alert, but at Wailly a small party of D Coy., headed by Sergt. Bury,
D.C.M., took a hand in the game with great success. Raiding an enemy
sap they inflicted heavy losses on the enemy. Pte. Scott, of Keighley,
had the misfortune to lose his way when the signal was given to return
and was captured. After being severely cross-questioned, about an hour
later he took advantage of a moment’s inattention on the part of his
captors and escaped back to his own lines with some useful information
about the enemy’s dispositions. A raid on a grand scale was then
planned and practised, but the battalion was again moved on before it
could be brought off.