Saturday 25th September 1915

Front line trenches near Bois Grenier.

At 4.25 am the British attack at the Battle of Loos was launched and the Battalion provided support as they had rehearsed the previous morning but with the addition also of machine gun fire and smoke bombs. The bombardment began on time and the massive British assault to the south went forward. In the event that the British assault further south secured all its objectives then the plan for III Corps envisaged an attack along a broad front from Bois Grenier in the north, where 10DWR would take the lead, to Aubers Ridge in the south. The ferocity of the exchanges was noted in a subsequent letter home by Tunstill’s Man, Pte. Harry Horner (see 24^th September);

“About 4.30 last Saturday morning all was very quiet and a few minutes later our big guns opened fire and then the German guns started, and shells came falling down like rain. What with the noise of our shells passing over us and the German shells coming on us, on all sides, we did not know where we were, and every minute we thought we should be blown up into the air.

Then we got the order to open fire on the Germans. Just at first we did not like to put our heads up over our trench, but we knew we had to do it, and with a cool mind we all started firing. After the bombardment was over and the smoke cleared away we could see the German trenches and most of them were blown to bits with our shells. We seemed to be firing better shells than the Germans, as most of ours were high explosives. … After we had been firing a few minutes we had no fear of the shells, for we all fired as hard as we could till our rifles were red hot and we could not hold them, not thinking of any danger or of being hit with the shells. We were very lucky in our trench, as not one of us was hit, but all the time shells were dropping very near us. Two shells dropped right on the front of our trench while we were firing, and goodness knows how we missed being blown to bits, as it sent sandbags and things flying into the air and filled our eyes with dust. The bombardments lasted for about three hours and for that time we hardly knew where we were, only we were firing away at the German trenches. We were all very thankful when we found ourselves all in the trench and unhurt.

The trenches which we were holding were the nearest point to the German trenches and on our right the trenches were a long way back. They wanted to get the trenches on our right in a line with ours; so we were firing on the Germans to keep them from firing on our men who were attacking the German trenches on our right. As far as we know all went very well and they took a lot of the trenches as well as prisoners, and for this last week on this front we have done very well”.

Another of Tunstill’s men, Pte. Johnny Smith (see 21^st September) also wrote to his family about his experiences:

“We had two very fierce bombardments, the worst on Saturday morning. They started about 4.30 and kept at it until after 11 o’clock, and there were thousands of shells fired, but our chaps fired a lot more than they did, and did a lot more damage, hitting their trenches nearly every time and blew them to blazes. It seemed like one mass of fire all along the line. We had to hold our trenches while those on the right advanced, which was a great success. We did not get off scot free. They dropped a lot of shells all about the trenches, and we had some casualties, but were lucky not to have more. The artillery chaps told us it was the hottest they had had”. 

Pte. Harry Waller (see 19^th September) also wrote about the days’ events,

“… there was a terrific bombardment. They say it was the heaviest of the war. The artillery bombarded the German lines for four hours and, of course, the Germans did a bit back. We had all the weapons of modern warfare except gas and liquid fire. It was simply horrible. Talk about noise, it was worse than an iron foundry and a dozen weaving sheds in the same building. Our guns were simply pouring shelld into the German lines; we were exploding mines in their front line trenches; machine guns were cracking on both sides; and rifles were being fired by the thousand. The Germans were exploding star shells to see what we were doing and we were exploding smokie bombs to prevent them seeing anything. It all began just before Dawn in pitch darkness so you can imagine it was just about as rotten as anything could be. Later on, when it got light, aeroplanes were buzzing about, trying to see how it was going”.

Despite the optimistic tone of Ptes. Horner, Smith and Waller, the main British attack further south had, in fact, faltered after a promising beginning and no orders were received for 10DWR to advance; they remained in their positions for the rest of the day. 

However they were subjected to a ferocious and sustained artillery response from the Germans and the artillery exchanges continued unabated for more than nine hours. The majority of the German shells landed behind the British fire trenches and the Battalion suffered only fourteen casualties; two of them were described as serious and indeed one man died while being treated at the Field Ambulance Unit. The man who died was Pte. Seth Bancroft of D Company; he would be buried at Erquinghem-Lys Churchyard Extension. He was 21 years old and from Haworth. News of his death would reach his family in a letter from a comrade, L.Cpl. George Peacock. He was also an original member of the Battalion, having joined, aged 20, in September 1914. Having previously served four years with 6^th (Territorial) Battalion, he had been promoted Acting Corporal whilst the Battalion was in training in England and further promoted during service in France. He was originally from Durham but had been living with his parents and five siblings in Haworth, where he had worked as a weaver.

L.Cpl. George Peacock

Image by kind permission of 'MenofWorth'

Lt. Dick Bolton (see 15^th September) later reflected that, ‘It was really miraculous how few casualties were suffered but these early losses were keenly felt’.  

J.B. Priestley referred to the casualties in a letter home, “On Saturday morning we were subjected to a fearful bombardment by the German heavy artillery – they simply rained shells and our artillery rained them back – and there we were, the poor, long-suffering infantry, crouched in our trenches, expecting each moment to be our last. One shell burst right in our trench – and it was a miracle that so few – only four – were injured. The man next to me had his finger broken, but I escaped with a little piece of flesh torn out of my thumb. Nothing serious at all – I bandaged it up myself when I attended to my neighbour. But poor Murphy – your Murphy you know – got a shrapnel wound in the head, a horrible great hole, and the other two were the same. They were removed soon after and I don’t know how they are going on”. ‘Murphy’ was L.Cpl. William Murphy (see 7^th April); he had, as Priestley indicated, suffered a serious head wound and would be evacuated to one of the local Casualty Clearing Stations (details unknown). On admission it would be noted that he was ‘only semiconscious and almost completely blind; no paralysis; rendered unconscious for several day’. The following day an operation would be carried out ‘for removal of depressed fragments and a large haemhorrage from the posterior end of the superior long sinus’. At some point (date and details unknown) he would be transferred to 13^th General Hospital at Boulogne. 

Among the lesser casualties were at least two of Tunstill’s Men. Pte. Joseph Simpson, the man who had been admonished for knocking fruit out of the trees whilst the Battalion was in training at Nort-Leulingham, (see 5^th September) suffered an injury to his right hand and Cpl. Thomas Walsh (see 9^th August) suffered serious shrapnel wounds to his left buttock. Both were treated initially at 69^th Field Ambulance Unit. Also wounded was Cpl. David Hanton (see 1st May); he suffered wounds to his right hand and would be admitted via 69^th Field Ambulance to 3^rd Canadian Casualty Clearing Station, before being evacuated to England two days later onboard the Hospital Ship Asturia. The details of his treatment in England are unknown. Pte. Joseph Fitzgerald (see 6^th April) suffered shrapnel wounds to the back of his left hand. He was evacuated via 69^th Field Ambulance to 2^nd Casualty Clearing Station at Bailleul. Form there, next day, he would be taken by train to 9^th Stationary Hospital at Le Havre and from there, three days later, onboard the Hospital Ship Asturias, to England. The details of his treatment in England are unknown.  Pte. Robert Wilson Irving was shellshocked after being buried by a shell explosion; he was evacuated for treatment to a hospital in France (details unknown). Although not a member of Tunstill’s Company, he was an original member of the Battalion and had enlisted while working as a labourer in Bradford. He was 34 when he joined up and married with five children.

Reflecting on the events years later, Priestley remembered that, “we were in the front line, wearing full kit and so weighed down with extra cartridges and bombs we could hardly move, waiting to climb the scaling ladders, all along the fire trench. Over our heads, where the ladders would take us, invisible express trains seemed to be passing both ways, there was such an unceasing exchange of shells. Once up the ladders and out of the trench, I felt a cat would not live five minutes. But the luck was in – I had a lucky war – and because the attack on our right had not gained sufficient ground we were never thrown into the assault, stayed where we were, and saw the scaling ladders taken away”.

On completion of his four weeks’ sentence for desertion, Pte. Arthur Walton (see 20^th August) was appointed Acting Lance Corporal.

The weekly edition of The Keighley News carried a report on the death of Pte. Raymond Tilbrook (see 16^th September):

DEATH OF PRIVATE R. D. TILBROOK

Private R.D. Tilbrook of Vernon Street, Cross Roads, of “A” Company, 4^th Platoon, 10^th West Riding Regiment, who left England for France on Thursday August 26, has been reported killed while taking supplies to the trenches on the British front during the night of Thursday September 16^th. He was killed instantly by machine gunshot at 10 o’clock and was buried the day afterwards in the neighbouring village cemetery. Writing to Mrs. Tilbrook, early this week, the chaplain of the company conveys the deepest sympathy of the officers and men, and says that the funeral was attended by Private Tilbrook’s comrades, several of whom enlisted with him a year ago from Keighley and district. He also states that orders have been given for a cross to be erected on the grave, on which will be inscribed Private Tilbrook’s name and rank etc. From Lance-Corporal R.C. Chorley also a message of condolence has been received by the widow, with the regrets of the whole of the members of the platoon who, he says, held Private Tilbrook in the highest esteem. His age was 30, and he was the youngest son of the late Mr. Fred Tilbrook, for many years curator of the Holycroft School, Keighley, and of Mrs. Tilbrook, late of Gladstone Street, Keighley. Another brother, John, is at present in training with the 18^th West Yorkshire Regiment. Private Tilbrook will be well remembered by many friends in the South Ward of Keighley. He was assistant in the Co-Operative Stores at Lund Park, and at the time of enlistment manager of the Utley Co-Operative Stores. He leaves a widow and one child.

The family of Pte. Arthur Stubbs received a letter written by Cpl. Billy Oldfield (see 22^nd September), informing them of the fact that Pte. Stubbs had been wounded.