Sunday 8th October 1916

Front line trenches south of Le Sars

Rain clearing to fine day; temp 64F

Major Robert Harwar Gill (see 7^th October) reported the situation as it stood at 4am, “The Battalion and 11th West Yorks held O.G.2. up (from the Bapaume Road) to M.15.a.8.3., north side of Triangle to apex, and had pushed out patrols right up to 9.2. and had got in touch with 9th Yorks at M.15.d.6.8. all points being blocked and consolidated. The enemy were found to be by our patrols in O.G.1. at M.15.a.4½.4½”.

Gill now re-organised the defence of the front line. He garrisoned OG1 with ‘D’ Company 10DWR; and OG2 with ‘B’ Company, two platoons of ‘A’ Company and the 61 men from the West Yorks. He gave ‘C’ Coy the task of occupying trenches west of Le Sars. This they did “without difficulty”, getting in touch with the 9^th Yorks Regt on the road at M.15.a.7.7, where the Royal Engineers constructed a strong post, along with a position at the apex of the triangle at M.15.d.5.5 Both communications trenches between O.G.1. and O.G.2. had been deepened during the night and put in a defensible state.

At 4.30am two companies of 8^th Yorks. and Lancs. (70^th Brigade) passed through the lines in O.G.1. and O.G.2. and bombed down the track in M.15.a. capturing O.G.1. & 2. on the left flank. Gill further reported that, “The trench marked on map as running from the road to point 92 was patrolled and found to be a natural ditch about 2 feet deep, useless to either the enemy or ourselves so I ignored it. Finding that OG 2 was unoccupied for some distance to its left, the West Yorks. Regt extended over the ridge M.15 central, there cutting off Germans who were sending up flares in OG1 in M.15.d. In the meantime the WRR had deepened the trench from OG1 to the apex of triangle and made it defensible and had also improved shallow communication trench from OG1 to OG2 (M15.d.2.0 to 3.2) so that it afforded adequate cover”.

Major Gill then ordered the Yorks. and Lancs. companies to hold and consolidate the ground from his left flank as far as the track which they had gained. Hayne’s combined force, of 10DWR, 11West Yorks and 8^th Yorks. and Lancs. now occupied about 1,300 yards  of OG1 and the same of OG2, with a composite force of about 400 men in both lines. The Canadian Division on the left had also attacked at dawn and had taken OG1 and OG2 in continuation of the left flanks of the York and Lancs. companies.

By 1pm 69^th Field Ambulance was able to report, “The battlefield and village of Le Sars completely cleared of wounded. This was accomplished in less than 24 hours in spite of the fact that the ground was over a foot deep in mud and very sticky, and in addition the enemy kept up a heavy barrage on the lower end of the village of Martinpuich, through which the stretcher bearers had to pass”.

Except for continued heavy shelling, the situation remained normal until about 3pm when the Germans made a heavy counter-attack on the Canadian Division on the left and drove it back to its original lines. Gill reported that, “Communication with my Battalion HQ was difficult and no telephone wire lasted more than a few minutes under the continual shelling and messages by runner took from 1 to 1 ½ hours each way. I gave the Canadians what support I could with oblique machine gun fire and also sent them the bombs they asked for, replenishing my supply from the 9^th Yorks. on my right in anticipation of counter-attack on me. I received a message from my CO (Hayne), offering me reinforcements but replied that I hoped to hold my lines without as my left flank was well protected by Stokes guns, bombing parties, Vickers and Lewis guns”. Gill’s confidence was well-placed as he held his line for the remainder of the day.

Casualties for the Battalion were relatively light; 3 men were reported killed; 1 reported missing and a further 27 wounded. One of those killed was Cpl. Leslie Seymour Perks (see 6^th October), who was an original member of Tunstill’s Company; just days earlier he had written to the wife of Pte. Herbert Rooke to give her news of her husband’s death. Also killed was Sgt. Harry Lyddington Mason (see 21^st November 1915) who, though not an original member of Tunstill’s Company, had joined them during training in England. The other men killed were Ptes. Robert Emson (see 11^th April) and John Richard Thornton (see 17^th September). All four men have no known grave and all are commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial. Among the wounded was Pte. Daniel Brennan (see 6^th September) who suffered severe wounds to his right leg and right arm; he would be admitted to 2^nd General Hospital at Le Havre. Also among the wounded was Pte. George Whitfield (see 4^th October), who was subsequently evacuated to England and admitted to hospital in Colchester. According to his own account, he was wounded, “when we were on our way up for the third charge, in which we were successful in driving the Germans out. I was injured in the left thigh and just above the knee, but my wounds are going on remarkably well, though the shrapnel bullet is still in my thigh”. Once recovered from his wounds Whitfield did not re-join 10DWR but was instead posted to 1^st/7^th Durham Light Infantry, which was the pioneer battalion for 50^th Division.

Sgt. Harry Lyddington Mason

Pte. George Whitfield

Ptes. George Holmes (15231) and George Wilson Thompson were both admitted to 2^nd General Hospital at Le Havre having been wounded at some point in the recent actions. Pte. Holmes had suffered relatively minor wounds to his cheek; he would be discharged after ten days and posted to the reinforcement depot at Etaples en route to re-joining 10DWR. He was 33 years old and from Rochdale and had been an original member of the Battalion. Pte. Thompson had suffered wounds to his right hand; he would be discharged to one of the Convalescent Depots (details unknown) on 17^th October. He was a 24 year-old labourer from Bradford and had been an original member of the Battalion. Pte. Harold Price was also admitted to the same hospital having been gassed; three days later he would be transferred to 39^th General Hospital also at Le Havre. In the absence of a surviving service record I am unable to make a positive identification of this man and the details of his subsequent treatment and service are unknown. Pte. William Grimes was also admitted to the same hospital; he had suffered wounds to his left hand and right thigh; he would be treated for ten days before being discharged to a Convalescent Depot. William Grimes was 33 years old, but, n the absence of a surviving service record I am unable to make a positive identification of this man or establish any further details of his service.

Pte. Frank Jowett (see 11^th April) was admitted to 2^nd General Hospital at Le Havre, suffering from appendicitis; five days later he would be evacuated to England, travelling onboard the Hospital Ship Asturias. The details of his treatment in England are unknown, but after some time (date and details unknown) he would be posted to 3DWR at North Shields.
2Lt. John Keighley Snowden (see 4^th October), who had been wounded at Le Sars, embarked for England from Le Havre to Southampton onboard the New Zealand Hospital Ship Mohina.

2Lt. Ernest George Costello (see 21^st August), who had been with the Battalion only since 30^th July left to return to England to be transferred to the Army Service Corps.

Whilst the men of the Battalion were again engaged in action, the effects of their involvement in the fierce fighting on the Somme three months earlier were still being felt, with tragic consequences, back at home. Adelaide Benson, only sister of Pte. Fred Benson (see 29^th July), who had been killed in action near Contalmaison on 11^th July, had taken the news of her younger brother’s death very hard. Adelaide’s father had died in 1904, aged 43, when she was 17 years old and from then on she and Fred had clearly been very close. They had worked together in the weaving shed of Messrs. John Binns and Sons Ltd., Croft Mills, in Cowling, close to where they lived with their mother, Ann, in Keighley Road, Cowling. Her mother said that Adelaide had “taken this (Fred’s death) very much to heart, and would talk about very little else, and had become very much depressed”. On the morning of Sunday 8^th October Adelaide asked her mother to walk with her to see some friends at Farnhill. Ann declined but suggested that her daughter call on another friend to take a walk with her. In the event, Adelaide did not call on anyone else but walked alone in the direction of the Malsis Hall estate. That was to be the last time she would be seen alive.

Pte. Fred Benson