Trenches near Observatory Ridge (I.24.d.7.1 to I.24.d.8.6)
An overcast day, with persistent drizzle. Between 5pm and
8pm there was a heavy artillery bombardment from both sides, which was
associated with a large-scale trench raid being conducted by 47th
Division to the south. There was considerable German shelling of the British
lines, in the course of which two men were killed and two others wounded. The
two men killed were Pte. Herbert
Bayfield (see 16th January)
and Pte. Robert Cheshire (see 16th January); both had
been with the Battalion for less than six weeks and both were buried at Railway
Dugouts Burial Ground. They were part of the draft which had originally been
posted to 9DWR, but, within days, had been re-posted to 10DWR, joining the
Battalion on 16th January.
One of the wounded men was Tunstill’s Man, Cpl. James Shackleton MM (see 14th September 1916).; he
suffered shrapnel wounds to his back and arm and was treated locally in the
fist instance. The other wounded man was
Pte. Harry Read (see 2nd October 1916); his
wounds were not serious and he remained at duty.
Cpl. James Shackleton MM |
L.Cpl.
Albert Bradley (see 15th February) was promoted Corporal.
L.Cpl. Thomas Robinson (16490) MM (see 7th February) began to be
paid according to his rank, having previously held it on an unpaid basis.
Several men who had been away for some time re-joined the
battalion. Pte. Thomas Manuell (see 8th February) had been
taken ill in early December 1916; Cpl. John
Stewart (see 20th November
1916), who had been taken ill suffering from dysentery in November 1916;
and Pte. Sam Shuttleworth (see 17th June 1916) had been
away from the Battalion for the previous eight months, most of which time he
had spent at 23rd Infantry Base Depot at Etaples.
Pte. Sam Shuttleworth
(see 17th June 1916) who
had been away from the Battalion for the previous eight months, most of which
time he had spent at 23rd Infantry Base Depot at Etaples, re-joined
the Battalion.
Cpl. John William
Cooper (see 9th December
1916) was posted to 34th Infantry Base Depot at Etaples, from
where he would be posted back to England. It would appear that he had reported
sick as he would later state that he had suffered from “bleeding piles and a
cough”.
Pte. Henry Jarratt
(see 16th January) was
admitted to 69th Field Ambulance, suffering from myalgia; he would
be transferred to 23rd Divisional Rest Station, where he would spend
six days before being discharged to duty.
Pte. Albert William
Knight (see 2nd February),
who had been in hospital for almost three weeks suffering from ‘trench foot’,
was evacuated to England from 32nd Stationary Hospital at Wimereux;
he travelled onboard the Hospital Ship, St.
David.
2Lt. Harold Watthews
(see 14th February) , who
had arrived in France a week earlier, reported for duty with 10DWR.
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