First World War Deaths

[jds1949]

The piece reference for the War Diary of the 2nd battalion South Staffordshire Regiment available from the National Archives is:

Piece reference WO 95/1362

Although it is one of the diaries that has not yet been digitalised you can request a copy of the relevant pages from the National Archives. Start at:

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue/displaycataloguedetails.asp?CATID=5635696&CATLN=6&Highlight=,SOUTH,STAFFORDSHIRE,REGIMENT&accessmethod=0

Click on "Ordering and Viewing Options"

Click on: "Order printed or digital copies of this record"

Then fill in the form

jds1949

[Doug Lewis]

Fraser
Do not purchase anything I have all the Staffords War Diaries,MIC cards, and loads of information on them during  WW1, give me some time and I will get you the information.

Regards Doug

[Doug Lewis]

Fraser
Some information to be going on with.

Your Grandad was killed in action at the Battle of Neuve Chapelle.
It had been decided by Sir John French that the Britishshould make an offensive attack along their front, for reasonswhich he sets out at some length in his Dispatch, and thesection chosen for the attack was the village of NeuveChapelle. We had captured this village on October 16th,1914, but a heavy German counter-attack later had recaptured it from us. The assault of Neuve Ohapelle was to be undertakenby the 1st Army, the 4th Corps operating on the north,and the Indian Corps on the south, while, in order to keep the Germans occupied and prevent them from sending reinforcements,two supplementary attacks were to be made on the flanks of the main movement. One, a holding attack at Givenchy by the 1st Corps, and the other, by the 3rd Corps ofthe 2nd Army, just south of Armentieres.
Prom ten o'clock on the evening of March 9th the infantry assembled, trench and ditch was full of them, all eager andwaiting for the long delayed advance.
The morning of March 10th was greyt and sullen, clouds hung low in the sky, and there was mist in the distance, but although the Germans sensed that something was astir in the British trenches they made no attempt to find out what was afoot.
At 7.30 a.m. a terrific bombardment began on the German trenchesthe air was split by a pandemonium of sound four shells to the yard was our fire, and at the end of this thirtyfiveminutes' preparation there were no German trenches,simply a crumbled mass of debris and mangled bodies. Our gunners then lengthened their range, and the houses in the village in rear of the first German line crumpled up like paper.
The 6th Infantry Brigade advanced immediately the barrage lifted, attacking the German position north-east of
Givenchy. They advanced in three columns: —
Right Column—3 Companies 2nd South Staffords Regt.,
under Brev. Lieut.-Colonel P. C. L.Routledge.
Centre Column—3 Companies 1st King's Liverpool Regt.
Left Column—3 Companies 1st King's Royal Rifles.
The right column was constituted as follows:—"B" Company under Lieut. J. S. Townsend, to lead the assault, supported by " C " Company under Captain H. S. Blockey, and " A " Company under Captain H. H. Sabben.
At 8.10 a.m. " B " Company advanced against the enemy'strenches in front of "Duck's Bill," just east of Givenchy
village. The advance commenced from three previously prepared points in the Battalion front line.

[Doug Lewis]

where traverses, had been built by the East Anglian Field Company R.E. (Territorials), and a portion of the parapet knocked down to enable the men to leave the trench. In addition a certain amount of wire, which consisted of "knife rest frames" just in front of the parapet, had been removed during the previous night to allow the men to pass through it.
No sooner were the men out over the parapet when they came under severe cross fire from two machine guns in
the German trench, which at this point was only 80 yards distant from the South Staffords. A certain number of them managed to gain the German trench, but were unable to remain there. 2nd Lieut. G. M. F. Hewart
and fifteen men attacked with the object of capturing a machine gun which was doing great execution, but none of them returned.
2nd Lieut. W. D. Wood, with about twelve men, got into the German trench on the right, but they were bombed out by the enemy. 2nd Lieut. W. D. Wood then headed another party, and a platoon of "C" Company under 2nd Lieut. R. J.Richardson, was also sent forward, but no permanent lodgement could be made in the enemy trenches. Eventually the attack ceased, and the right column was ordered to reform.

[Doug Lewis]

C" Company remained in occupation of the Battalion front line, "A" Company having withdrawn to Marie Redoubt, and a communication trench leading to the front line of trenches. Here they waited while preparations were being made for a fresh artillery bombardment on the uncut German wire, which had held up the first attempt.
The men only had what food they had been able to carry with them, and owing to the German machine gun fire, it was almost impossible to get further rations up to them.
About 1 p.m. orders were received from the 6th Infantry Brigade Headquarters that a fresh bombardment would take place at 2.15 p.m., followed by a fresh assault at 2.45 p.m., in which the right column was to have one Company of the 1st Royal Berkshire Regiment in support. Another Company of the Berkshires was to deliver an assault between the right column and the centre column if the German wire was cut by our artillery.
"C" Company, South Staffords, was told off to lead theattack, supported by "A" Company. " B " Company, which
had suffered very heavily in the morning, owing to the uncut German wire, being withdrawn.
Captain H. S. Blockey, "C" Company, conferred with Lieut. J. S. Townsend of "B" Company, on the position, and made arrangements for the fresh, assault, and as the Germans now had trained their machine guns on the positions in our line from which the previous attacking parties had left the
trenches, it was decided that the men should get over the parapet by means of sandbag steps erected in other parts of the line.
I t was arranged that the attack was to be made by twoplatoons of "C" Company in the front line, supported immediately by the other two platoons.
" A " Company was to follow in the same order, but owing to the fact that sufficient of our wire had not been removed, each platoon could only start on a frontage of one section.
The bombardment began at 2.15 p.m. and at 2.45 p.m. the leading sections advanced, only to be mown down by machine gun fire as soon as they had surmounted the parapet.
Information taken from A History of the South Staffordshire Regiment by Jones.
Hope this is of help.

Regards Doug.

[Doug Lewis]

C" Company remained in occupation of the Battalion front line, "A" Company having withdrawn to Marie Redoubt, and a communication trench leading to the front line of trenches. Here they waited while preparations were being made for a fresh artillery bombardment on the uncut German wire, which had held up the first attempt.
The men only had what food they had been able to carry with them, and owing to the German machine gun fire, it was almost impossible to get further rations up to them.
About 1 p.m. orders were received from the 6th Infantry Brigade Headquarters that a fresh bombardment would take place at 2.15 p.m., followed by a fresh assault at 2.45 p.m., in which the right column was to have one Company of the 1st Royal Berkshire Regiment in support. Another Company of the Berkshires was to deliver an assault between the right column and the centre column if the German wire was cut by our artillery."C" Company, South Staffords, was told off to lead the attack, supported by "A" Company. " B " Company, which had suffered very heavily in the morning, owing to the uncut German wire, being withdrawn.
Captain H. S. Blockey, "C" Company, conferred with Lieut. J. S. Townsend of "B" Company, on the position, and made arrangements for the fresh, assault, and as the Germans now had trained their machine guns on the positions in our line from which the previous attacking parties had left the
trenches, it was decided that the men should get over the parapet by means of sandbag steps erected in other parts of the line.
I t was arranged that the attack was to be made by twoplatoons of "C" Company in the front line, supported immediately by the other two platoons.
" A " Company was to follow in the same order, but owing to the fact that sufficient of our wire had not been removed, each platoon could only start on a frontage of one section.
The bombardment began at 2.15 p.m. and at 2.45 p.m. the leading sections advanced, only to be mown down by machine gun fire as soon as they had surmounted the parapet.
Information taken from A History of the South Staffordshire Regiment by Jones.
Hope this is of help.

Regards Doug.

[Doug Lewis]

Hi Fraser
Picture of memorial from my collection.

Regards Doug.

[Fraser178]

Doug,
I thank you alot for that information, it gives us an idea on how he died, gives us an insight into his life.

Regards,
Joel Fraser

[Doug Lewis]

Joel
That's my pleasure. I have attached a picture of your grandads name on the memorial, the stone is water damaged but it has been over emphasised by my attempt to highlight the stone for you to see the name. The picture is from my own collection.

Regards Doug