Wednesday 20th September 1916

Reserve trenches east of Pozieres

There was a marked improvement in the weather, with the rain of the previous few days at last being replaced by drier, warmer conditions.  The Battalion found carrying parties for the front line. The danger of German shelling continued and one shell explosion buried five members of a Lewis gun team. The men were saved by the courageous and prompt response of 2Lt. Maurice Tribe (see 29^th July) and Sgts. Norman Roberts (see 2^nd September) and Harry Waller (see 14^th July; it is not known when he had been promoted) who dug them out, despite being under continued and heavy German shellfire. Roberts made light of the incident in a subsequent letter to his father, saying only, “A day or two ago I, along with a comrade, had a very remarkable excape. A huge shell came over and made a crater on the other side of us. Of course, we were partly buried and what a feeling we had!”. Their courage was recognised by the award of the Military Cross to Tribe and the Military Medal to Roberts and Waller. Sgt. Waller would pass on news of his award in a letter to his family six days later: “I have received enclosed wire last night which I think may interest you. I have not time to write any more at present as the Corporal is waiting for this to drop into the field post office. I am still in the pink and hope you are keeping the same”. The enclosed telegram read simply, “The G.O.C. congratulates you on being awarded the Military Medal by the Corps Commander”.

Sgt. Norman Roberts

Sgt. Harry Waller

At least one man was killed on the day, though whether in the incident involving Tribe and Roberts is unclear; Sgt. Ephraim Smith was buried at Peake Wood Cemetery. He was an original member of the Battalion; he had enlisted aged 21 whilst working as an attendant at the West Riding Asylum at Menston and had married Mary Bailey while the Battalion was in training in England in early 1915. He had been an athlete of some note, “He had a reputation as a sportsman in the Halifax district, especially amongst the Halifax Harriers. He held the Championship for a long time, carrying off many valuable trophies”.

Sgt. Ephraim Smith

A second man, Pte. James Dunn, is also registered in the records of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission as having died on the same day. However, the date of Dunn’s death is also variously given as 25^th September and 25^th October in other official sources; he has no known grave and is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial.

In the front line, 9^th Yorkshires recovered the remainder of the ground which had been lost to the Germans on the previous day and it was reported that, “enemy reported to have gone right back to his next main line”.

Brig. Genl. T.S. Lambert, commanding 69^th Brigade, in a letter to his wife, expressed his thoughts on the current position “I do not suppose we shall be kept in the worst of it very long. In places Boche seems quite ready to come over but cannot quite make up his mind to and of course unless he drops his arms and comes over with his hands up we are ‘not taking any’, as they say. You cannot trust the devils, but they are not such keen fighters as some have been, at any rate among the infantry. If it were not for machine guns and shell fire we should be over there in no time”. He also commented on the tanks which had recently been introduced by the British, “The new ‘engines of war’ are extraordinary looking things and quite interesting. I had a very interesting tour round today, but at times the shell fire was very unpleasant and disconcerting”.

(I am greatly indebted to Juliet Lambert for her generosity in allowing me to reproduce the letters here).

Brig. Genl. T.S. Lambert

Image by kind permission of Juliet Lambert

Cpl. John William Dickinson (see 16^th August) was promoted (Acting) Lance Sergeant.

Pte. Ben Butler (see 19^th September 1914) was briefly admitted to a Field Ambulance Unit, his condition simply stated as “N.Y.D.” (not yet diagnosed); whatever the problem, he was discharged to duty the following day. Ben Butler had an apparently unblemished record since enlistment, in contrast to his brother, Pte. Richard Butler, who had a series of brushes with military discipline and was currently in England, having been treated for wounds suffered in the actions at Munster Alley in July (see 16^th August).

RSM John William Headings (see 14^th September), returned to duty having spent a week in hospital, suffering from myalgia.

The three Headings brothers: from left to right, James Lawrence, John William (standing) and Henry George.
(Photo by kind permission of Jill Monk)

Two former members of Tunstill’s Company were commissioned Temporary Second Lieutenant; L.Cpl. Harry Widdup had left the Battalion some months earlier (see 3^rd May) but it is not clear when Sgt. Tom Pickles (see 18^th August) left, though he was certainly still with the Battalion at the end of July. Both Widdup and Pickles would join 9DWR.

Pte. Michael Hopkins (see 5^th August) was sufficiently recovered from wounds suffered seven weeks previously to be posted to 83^rd Training Reserve Battalion, based at Gateshead. 

Pte. Patrick Sweeney (see 3^rd September), serving with 3DWR at North Shields, again found himself on a charge, as he had less than three weeks earlier; on this occasion he was found to have been, “continually complaining at meals”, and was ordered to be confined to barracks for seven days.

A pension award was made in respect of the late L.Cpl. Joseph Fieldhouse (see 5^th June), who had died of wounds in March; his widow, Eva, was awarded £1 0s. 6d. per week.