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On
July 1
st
2006
the eyes of the world fell upon
the
Somme
area of
France
, as we remembered the 1
st
day of the
Battle
of the
Somme
, a black day in the history of
the
?
twentieth
century.
There were ceremonies both official and unofficial throughout the region to pay
respect to the thousands of men who paid the ultimate price on that day.
Little wonder then, perhaps, that 30
th
June has slipped past largely unnoticed for the last eighty-nine years. Yet
that day held great significance for the people of
Sussex
, for the 30
th
of
June became known as
?
The day
Sussex
died.
?
Between the towns of
Bethune and
Armentieres
,
in the
Pas de Calais
, lies
Richebourg
l?Avoue
.
Richebourg
is
surrounded by other villages and small towns, some with slightly more familiar
names, at least to those with an interest in the Great War.
Aubers
,
Festubert
, and
Neuve
Chapelle
are just some of the scenes of battles fought in
1915. Mention
Richebourg
to
many people and their response is an unknowing look or a shrug of the
shoulders. Yet
Richebourg
played a significant, if
somewhat dubious, role in the
Battle
of the
Somme
, and an infamous one in the
history of
Lowther?s
Lambs, officially the 11
th
,
12
th
and 13
th
(
Southdowns
)
Battalions of The Royal Sussex Regiment.
The Battle of the Boar?s Head,
Richebourg
l?Avoue
, was planned
as a diversionary action to make the German Command believe that this area of
the Pas de Calais was the one chosen for the major offensive of 1916. The
intention was to prevent the Germans from moving troops to the
Somme
area, some fifty kilometres to the south.
British troops had
been fighting in the area since 1914. The 2
nd
and 5
th
Battalions of The Royal Sussex, had fought at
Richebourg
during the Battle of
Aubers
Ridge, in May 1915, and
in June of 1916 came the turn of the three
Southdowns
Battalions, which together formed the 116
th
(
Southdowns
)
Brigade of the 39
th
Division, which had arrived in France on March 5
th
,
1916, taking over trenches in the
Fleurbaix
sector on
March 20
th
.
?????
On the 11
th
of June, the three
Battalions went to the Divisional Reserve, being billeted around
Locon
, and commenced training for an attack (though this
was still only a rumour). On June 16
th
they returned to the front
line trenches in the
Ferme
du
Bois area near
Richebourg
, holding the line until
June 23
rd
, when news was received that the 39
th
Division were
to make an attack on the Boar?s Head, a salient of the German lines, and that
the 116
th
Brigade, the
Southdowners
, had
been chosen to lead the attack. Further training followed. A replica of the
battlefield had been built behind the lines, but the battalions had only days,
not weeks, to consider it.
Initial plans had been that the 11
th
Battalion should lead the attack, with the 12
th
on their right, and
the 13
th
in reserve. At the time that these orders were received,
Lieutenant Colonel Harman
Grisewood
, was the
Commanding Officer of the 11
th
(1
st
Southdowns
).
Grisewood
had lost his brother George, the Adjutant
of the 11
th
Battalion until March 1916, who died of illness, his
obituary says of pneumonia, though Neville
Lytton
states meningitis, at
Merville
on March 27
th
1916. His death had deeply affected Colonel
Grisewood
,
who, it is said, on seeing the plans, was concerned that if his untried troops
attacked over unfamiliar ground a disaster might result, and is said to have informed
his brigade commander
" I
am not sacrificing
my men as cannon-fodder!"
Needless to say the attack had to go in, but the
Divisional Commander, Major General R. Dawson, aware of
Grisewood?s
comments, was concerned that this might be passed down to the men of the 11
th
Battalion, and so the roles of the 11
th
and 13
th
Battalions
were reversed.
According
to a letter from Col.
Grisewood
to Captain Neville
Lytton
,
Grisewood
was told to ?clear
off at once?.
Colonel
Grisewood
was succeeded by Major G H Harrison (the regular
soldier).
Grisewood?s
second brother
Francis was to become a casualty of the Boar?s Head.
In
consequence it was the 12
th
and 13
th
Battalions, with
half the 11
th
supplying carrying parties, who made final
preparations on 29
th
June, then assembled in the trenches of the
Richebourg
sector in the early hours of 30
th
June for the forthcoming attack, which was designed to ?bite off the German
position known as the Boar?s Head?, making the Germans believe that the real
offensive was here, not the Somme.
At
2.50 am
the preliminary
bombardment commenced, final preparations were made, and scaling ladders were
placed against the trench sides to allow the men to go ?over the top?.
In his
history of the regiment
Martineau
writes:
?The records of one battalion are liable
to be more eloquent than those of another. Yet, with the Southdown Brigade in
France
, there
is much in common, and, in that sense, one may be taken to speak for all. There
were superficial differences, however.
Thus, the 11
th
Battalion, while supplying carrying-parties for the 12
th
and 13
th
on the day of the
Richebourg
and
Ferme
du
Bois assault, sustained 116 casualties in this
service alone.
?
The 12
th
Battalion, assembling in the front line at
Ferme
du
Bois, while the artillery bombarded the enemy trenches,
attacked at
3.05 am.
, on
June 30
th
, seized the front line, which they held for four hours
against considerably superior German forces
,
?
and
even broke through to the support
line, which they held for half an hour.
Naturally it could
not last.
?
The Germans were ready. There
is even a story that one man brought back a notice in English, announcing:
?Come on,
Sussex
boys. We?ve been waiting for you for three days!?
?
A heavy barrage on the front line and
communication trenches prevented reinforcements from being sent forward, the
supply of bombs and ammunition gave out, and the valiant survivors were
compelled to withdraw. The Battalion?s 429 casualties included 17 officers.?
The War Diary of the 13
th
Battalion gives a more
detailed account of the attack
???
?FERME DU BOIS.
The battalion assembled at
1.30 am
.
On the
morning of the 30
th
June in readiness for the assault, with all four
platoons of each coy in the front line.
The
preliminary bombardment on the morning of the attack opened at
2.50 am
., and at 3.05 the leading wave of the battalion
scaled the parapet, the remainder following at 50 yards interval. At the same
time the flank attack under
Lts
. Whitley and Ellis
gained a footing in the enemy trench. The passage across NO MAN?S LAND was
accomplished with few casualties except in the left companies, which came under
very heavy machine gun fire.
The two
right companies succeeded in reaching their objective, but the two left
companies only succeeded in penetrating the enemy?s wire in one or two places.
Just at
this moment a smoke cloud, which was originally designed to mask our advance,
drifted right across the front and made it impossible to see more than a few
yards ahead. This resulted in all direction being lost and the attack devolving
into small bodies of men not knowing which way to go.
Some
groups succeeded in entering the support line, engaging the enemy with bombs and
bayonet, and organizing the initial stages of a defence.
Other
parties swung off to the right and entered the trench where the flank party was
operating, causing a great deal of congestion.
On the left, the smoke and darkness made the job of
penetrating the enemy wire so difficult that few, if any, succeeded in reaching
the enemy support line, where they were subjected to an intense bombardment of
HE
.
and
whizz
-bangs.
Capt. Hughes, who was wounded, seeing that his company was in
danger of being cut off, gave the order for the evacuation of the enemy
trenches, and the remainder of the attacking force returned to our trenches.
The enemy, who was evidently thoroughly prepared, now concentrated
his energies on the front line, and, for the space of about 2? hours, our front
and support lines were subjected to an intense bombardment with heavy and light
shells, causing a large number of casualties . . . The enemy casualties are
also considered to have been considerable, large numbers of dead being seen in the
enemy trenches.?
During the attack, the majority of Officers were killed or
wounded, platoons, if not
companies being
led by NCOs.
Probably the best remembered of these was Company Sergeant Major
Nelson Victor Carter, age 29, of
Eastbourne
in
Sussex
.
CSM Carter, ?A? Company, 12
th
Battalion, took the fourth wave into
action under heavy shell and machine gun fire. Bombing matches took place, but
after heavy casualties were suffered the men were forced to withdraw.
CSM Carter attacked a machine gun post which was causing
particular trouble, shot one, or more, of the crew with his pistol before,
apparently, turning the machine gun on the Germans. This bought much needed
time to withdraw safely, and with this having been done Carter finally left the
position.
The action in the support line had lasted only thirty minutes. CSM
Carter continued to aid in the withdrawal to the first line, and later in the
day, whilst bringing in the wounded, was
shot
?
in
the chest, dying almost immediately
. For his actions that day CSM Carter was awarded the Victoria Cross. The
Citation read as follows:
?
London
Gazette,
9 September 1916
,
Boar's Head,
Richebourg
l'Avou?
, France, 30
June 1916, Company Sergeant-Major Nelson Victor Carter, 4th Company, 12th
Bn
., Royal Sussex Regiment.
?
"For most conspicuous bravery.
During an Attack he was in command of the fourth wave of the
assault. Under intense shell and machine gun fire he penetrated, with a few
men, into the enemy's second line and inflicted heavy casualties with bombs.
When forced to retire to the enemy's first line, he captured a machine gun and
shot the gunner with his revolver. Finally, after carrying several wounded men
into safety, he was himself mortally wounded and died in a few minutes. His conduct
throughout the day was magnificent."
The
following is a part of a letter written by Lieutenant (later Lt. Col.) Howard
Robinson, Carter's Company Commander to Kathleen Carter, Nelson's wife.
"When I
last saw him he was close to the German line, acting as leader to a small party
of four or five men. I was afterwards told that he had entered the German
second line, and had brought back an enemy machine gun, having put the gun team
out of action. I heard that he shot one them with his revolver. I next saw him
about an hour later (I had been wounded in the meanwhile and was lying in our
trench). Your husband repeatedly went over the parapet. I saw him going over
alone and carrying in our wounded men from 'No Man's Land'. He brought them in
on his back, and he could not have done this had he not possessed exceptional
physical strength as well as courage. It was in going over for the sixth or
seventh time that
the was
shot through the chest. I
saw him fall just inside our trench.
Somebody
told me that about a month previously your husband carried a man about 400
yards across the open under machine gun fire and brought him safely into our
trench. For this act I recommended him for the Military Cross. On every
occasion, no matter how tight the hole we were in, he was always cheerful and
hopeful, and never spared any pains to make the men comfortable and keep them
cheery."
Company
Sergeant Nelson Carter is buried in the
Royal
Irish
Rifles
Cemetery
,
Laventie
,
France
.
Also in
action that day, with ?B? Company, 12
th
Bn
,
was Private SD/2389 John
Searle of
Worthing
. The youngest of five
brothers, Pte Searle was just fourteen and a half years of age when he enlisted
in April 1915, and had not reached his sixteenth birthday when he took part in
the
Battle
of
the Boar?s Head.
Private
Searle is remembered on the Loos Memorial to the missing. He was amongst those
whose bodies were never recovered after the battle.
Among the rare poetic spirits to be found
among those who officered these battalions was Edmund
Blunden
.
His Undertones of War contains impressions of the life lived by
the men, and of the men themselves, which are intensely revealing. Concerning
the
Richebourg
diversion, he wrote
?What the Brigade felt was summed up by some sentry who, asked by
the General next morning what he thought of the attack, answered in the
roundest fashion, ?Like a butcher?s shop.?
?
Our own trenches had been knocked silly, and all the area of the attack
had been turned into an
Aceldama
.?
The Battle of the Boar?s Head lasted less than five hours.
The
Southdowns
Brigade
lost
17
officers and 349 men killed.
Over 1000 were wounded or taken prisoner.
The 13
th
Battalion was all but wiped
out.
Thanks to
the Mayors of
Richebourg
and
Aubers
a
commemoration of the sacrifice made by those men was held at
Richebourg
St.
Vaast
Cemetery on 30
th
June 2006.
Also on
June 30
th
2006
Group
members laid wreaths at the Loos Memorial,
and
CSM Carter?s
grave in the
Royal
Irish
Rifles
Cemetery
at
Laventie
.
since
the ninetieth anniversary
WE have REMEMBERED THEM.
We will endeavour to continue to do so
at
Richebourg
St.
Vaast
Post Military Cemetery
At 17.00hrs on the last Saturday in
June
each
year until the 100
th
anniversary
The 100
th
Aniversary
Commemoration will be held at 17.00hrs on
30
th
June
?
2016
.
God willing we will
be there.
The major
Boar?s Head Cemeteries are:
????
This piece draws on information from the Regimental
Archive
of
?
The
Royal Sussex Regiment held at the West Sussex County Council Records Office at
Chichester
, including a draft research document by Paul
Reed, the War Diaries of the 11
th
, 12
th
, and 13
th
Battalions The Royal Sussex Regiment, and various letters written to the family
of CSM Nelson Carter. Other sources include ?
A History of The Royal
Sussex
Regiment, 1701-1953?
by Captain G. D.
Martineau
,
and
?
A
Short History of The Royal
Sussex
Regiment
(35
th
Foot ? 107
th
Foot), from 1701 to 1926.
? 2006-2010 John A Baines