"All along the line things began to go wrong"

On the 22nd August 1918 Joseph Vernon (the husband of my Great Aunt) died of wounds he had received in late July.

Joseph Vernon was born in 1882 in Brereton, Rugeley, Staffordshire, he was the fourth child of Joseph and Jane Vernon (nee Heaton). He had 3 older brothers, John (born 1875), George (born 1880) and Thomas (born 1881) and 2 younger brothers, Samuel (born 1885) and Herbert (born 1890) and one older sister Selina (born 1877) all were born in Brereton.

Joseph married my Great Aunt Elizabeth Ann Renshaw in 1902 at St. Michael’s Church Brereton, Rugeley.

Elizabeth Renshaw was born in 1885 in Brereton the daughter of George and Matilda Renshaw (nee Thompson). She had two sisters Dorothy (my Nan born 1902) and Alice (born 1883).

Joseph and Elizabeth had seven children Joseph (born & died 1903), Samuel (born 1905), Issac (born & died 1906), Mary (born 1908), Beatrice (born 1909) and Ethel (born 1912) and another child was born and died before 1911.

In 1911 the family were living at 6 Talbot Road, Brereton just 4 houses away from his parents, who lived at number 16. Joseph aged 29 was working in the local colliery as a coal miner / timberer below ground. Elizabeth parents lived at number 8 Talbot Road, her father George was also a miner in the local colliery.

Joseph Vernon was serving as a private with Royal Army Medical Corps having joined up in 1915 and at some point later was transferred to the 1/5th Kings Own Scottish Borderers. It’s not clear if he was still in the RAMC attached to the KOSB or had joined them out right. He had served in Egypt and taken part in the Battles around Jerusalem. He had been serving in France since May 1917.

His brother Herbert was serving with the 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards and had enlisted in March 1915.

The battle of the Somme, which had began on the 1st July with such heavy losses continued to rumble on, inflicting heavy casualties on both sides for little territorial gain. During this continued fighting Herbert Vernon, aged 26, was killed in action on the 12th September.

The local newspaper - The Lichfield Mercury published the news a couple of weeks later.

29th Sept 1916 – Lichfield Mercury

Rugeley Casualties

Killed in Action. Official information has this week been received by Mrs E Vernon, Brereton Road, Rugeley, that her husband Private H. Vernon Grenadier Guards, was killed in action on Sept 12th, He joined the Grenadier Guards March 1915 and has been out at the front since last April. Previous joining the Army was employed as a miner the Brereton leaves a wife and one child.

Herbert is commemorated on Pier and Face 8D Thiepval Memorial and on the Brereton War Memorial.

Joseph’s Cousin Horace Vernon serving with the 2/6th North Staffordshire Battalion had been killed 17th May 1917 and another Cousin John Vernon had recently returned home July 1918 with what was probably the Spanish flu.

The official history of the 1/5th Kings Own Scottish Borderers details the events of late July

On the 27th July the 1/5th KOSB were Just south of Beugneux, where there is a small hill (158) which was covered by wood.

At 10.45pm the battalion marched from Bois de Bouef by Billy sur Oureq and Oulchy la Ville. They were heavily shelled by the German 5.9 guns, and suffered severe casualties. The pace was increased in order to get as quickly as possible through the shelled area but although all the companies had French guides, touch seems to have been lost. At any rate the leading company became divided in the wood.  On clearing the wood only Battalion Headquarters and half the leading company were present – three and a half companies were not there!

It was now three am in the morning and the advance was timed for 4.10am. By some mistake the company commanders had thought that orders had been given for the men to lie down. They continued to do so for over an hour, though they were under severe shell-fire during the whole time.

However Lieut. Dunn, a good officer was in charge of transport in the rear, During his advance many men and mules had been killed. He quickly realised the situation and rode to the headquarters. The remaining companies were hurried to the front and were in position only ten minutes before zero hour.

The Battalion went forward at 4.10am and began fighting its way to the front through fields of wheat standing breast high and through the woods to the south west of Beugneux. They got on well.

Then we were confronted with the village of Beugneux. There were woods both on the right and left of the village. The heavy machine gun fire from both the woods and the village stopped our advance.

At 6am, the prospects were decidedly promising, although there had already been heavy losses. It was very misty, and in parts of the battlefield when the day dawned “tear gas” was still drifting about the woods. The leading companies were also within range of German machine Guns. But then all along the line things began to go wrong.

D company was driven out of its position by our own magnificent barrage at 8am and the French put down a heavy barrage but unfortunately behind our front line. Regiments either side were forced to retire. Thus for the third time Beugneux had resisted the Allies attack.

Our casualties had been very heavy. Two officers had been killed and 17 other ranks. Five officers and 241 men were wounded and missing. All the missing were either killed or wounded.

It is likely that Joseph received his fatal wounds at this time and 100 years ago on the 22nd August 1918 Joseph passed away.

The Local newspaper – The Lichfield Mercury reported his death on the 6th September.

Fri 6th Sept 1918 – Lichfield Mercury

Joseph Vernon, 6 Talbot Road, died on the 22nd August at General Rouen, from wounds received July 29th. Private Vernon joined the RAMC in February 1915, served in Egypt. He then went to Salomes and later returned to Egypt, where he took part in the battles around Jerusalem. He was later transferred to the Scottish Borderers and went to France in May last. He was 36 years of age and leaves a widow and four children. He had not been home for three and a half years. The eldest child is 13 years of age and the youngest six. Previous to joining the army he was employed at the Earl of Shrewsbury’s Brereton Collieries. His brother Herbert was killed in Action in Sept 1916.

Joseph is buried in the Bois-Guillaume Communal Cemetery Extension, which can be found in a north eastern suburb of Rouen. The majority of burials in the original communal cemetery were from soldiers who had died at No 8 General Hospital, Rouen which was based at 147 Avenue de Marechal. Bois Guillaume. It is likely that Joseph was also in hospital in Rouen after being wounded.

Bois-Guillaume Cemetery, Rouen

The inscription on his grave reads “GREATER LOVE HATH NO MAN THAN THIS THAT A MAN LAY DOWN HIS LIFE FOR HIS FRIENDS.”

He is also remembered on the Brereton War memorial along with his brother Herbert.

Brereton War Memorial

Also listed on the Brereton War Memorial is my three times removed half cousin Albert Hollins who was killed on the first day of the Somme. 

A successful attack but a heavy cost

On the 19th August 1918, Private Alfred Sidney Searle, serving with the 2nd Battalion Royal Fusiliers was killed in action

Alfred Sidney Searle was the brother in law of my Great Great Grand Uncle Edwin Ernest Bush who had married Alfred’s sister Ada Searle on the 10th September 1893 at Holy Trinity Church, Wimbledon.

Alfred was born in 1880 in Wimbledon, Surrey, one of eight children of John Joseph and Emma Jane Searle (nee Miles). Both his parents had passed away by the time Alfred was 17 and in 1901 he and two brothers Edward Horace and Thomas Ernest were living with his sisters (Ada) family in Leyton Road, Wimbledon.

Alfred married Harriet Rachel Harman in 1907 in Wandsworth, Surrey and had 3 daughters Minnie (born 1908), Queenie (born 1912) and Constance (born 1916). Before the War Alfred had worked as a house painter along with many of his cousins and was living with Harriet and his young family at 6 Abbey Terrace, Abbey Road, Merton

Following the success of the Battle of Amiens (8th – 12th August 1918), the allies launched a number of new offences to keep the pressure on the German forces whose moral was weakening after four long years of conflict.

The attacks by the British Army extended all the way along the line from the Somme up to Ypres in Belgium and on 18th August, they attacked and captured the Outtersteene Ridge near the town of Bailleul in northern France, close to the Belgian border. Although only 120 feet above sea level the Outtersteene Ridge afforded the enemy a good observation of the low lying country around it and its capture was deemed important. 27 Brigade of 9th Division  attacked behind a powerful artillery barrage and within an hour the ridge was in British hands. At 5pm on the following day, 19th August, the 12th Norfolk battalion of 94th Brigade, 31st Division, and the 2nd Royal Fusiliers of 86 Brigade, 29th Division continued the attack and in less than an hour and a half gained the further objectives of Lyndé Farm and The Trucks. They then went on to reach the Vieux Berquin-Outtersteene road
Alfred was serving as a Private with the 2nd Battalion Royal Fusiliers and on the 19th August 1918, Alfred went over the top.

War Diary - 2nd Battalion Royal Fusiliers 19th August 1918

At 5.00 pm the battalion attacked (W Coy on the right, X Coy on the left, 2 platoons of Z Coy in support on the right) under a barrage and captured the line of trucks, LYNDE, ASSET and LESAGE FARMS, also assisting in the capture of LABIS FARM, which formed part of the objective of the 12th Norfolks, who attacked in conjunction with us on our right. The operation was completely successful and the line was established in front of the road running from F 13 A7,2 – F.6.C.6.G. 
We captured 111 prisoners, including 1 officer, 10 machine guns, and 2 trench mortars. In addition several casualties were inflicted on the enemy as he fled in confusion. No counter attack was delivered. Narrative attached Appendix No.

Our Casualties were :-

Killed 2/LT Whyte & 2/LT Brown and 16 other ranks
Wounded 2/LT Adams & 2/Lt Walton and 63 other ranks.

After dusk the remaining 2 platoons of Z Coy went into the line and CAPT. CLARKE took over command of the right sub-sector, the inter-company boundary being the cross-roads at F.13b.8.8.

It is during the main attack on the 19th August that Private Alfred Searle, aged 38, lost his life.

Private Alfred Sidney Searle has no known grave and is commemorated on the Ploesteert Memorial (Panel 3) along with 11 of his comrades who also died that day

Pte. Ernest Phillip Ray aged 18
Pte. William Sidney Rix aged 20
Pte. Charles Dawson aged 26
Pte. Alfred Wilcox
Pte. Samuel Charles Wing
Lance Corporal Albert Wood aged 19
Pte. Frank Herbert Rogers aged 18
Pte. Leonard Shelley
Lance Corporal William Ratcliff Mason aged 23
Corporal Reginald Hickox
Lance Corporal Charles Herbert Holliday

Ploegsteert Memorial is located in Hainaut, Belgium 12.5 Km south of Leper (Ypres)

Ploegsteert Memorial

Alfred left behind his widow Harriet whom he had married in 1907 and his three daughters, Minnie (aged 10), Queenie (aged 6) and Constance (aged 2).

August 1914 - August 1918 Four Years and Five Days in France

On the 12th August 1918 my Great Grand Uncle William Alfred Bush was killed in action.
Sergeant William Bush was serving with the 363 Motorised Transport Company of the Army Service Corps

William had been in France with the British Expeditionary Force since war broke out in August 1914 and had previously served in the Army Service Corps from 1905-08. Before joining the army in 1905 he had been employed as a boiler maker and in 1911 was a house painter as were a number of his cousins

William was born in Wimbledon in 1879, the second youngest child of the late William and Jane Bush (nee Napp). He had two older sisters Elizabeth Clara (born 1863, Wimbledon) and Jane (born 1871, Wimbledon), One older brother Albert Henry (born 1873, Wimbledon) and one younger brother James Charles (Born 1881, Wimbledon). He had 3 other siblings who all died in childhood (William John aged 2, Alice Cave aged 2 and Susan Mary aged 5).

William and the family, his wife Elizabeth and their four children, Lillie, William, Ivy and Dorothy were living at 6 Leyton Road, Wimbledon, having previously lived in Goodenough Street, Wimbledon. He had married Elizabeth Jane Pope at Wandsworth Register Office on the 24th July 1905. William and Elizabeth had four children Lillie (born 28th June 1908), William (born 17th March 1911), Ivy (born 24th September 1912) and Dorothy (born 6th April 1914). Their first child also called William died in infancy, Dorothy was only four months old when William was mobilised on the 6th August 1914.


William was 35 when he set of for World War One, 5 feet 4 1/4 inches tall, fair complexion, blue eyes and brown hair. He had a small tattoo mark on the back of his right forearm and a 1/2 inch long linear scar above his right eyebrow.


The ASC MT Companies performed a number of functions and some like the 363 company were attached to the Royal Garrison Artillery (RGA) as Ammunition Columns / Parks. 363 Company, which was formed May 1915 was the Ammunition Column for 18th Brigade RGA. The 18th Brigade later came under V Corps Heavy Artillery.

The heavy guns and howitzers of the RGA, with attendant equipment and ammunition, needed motorised transport to haul them. The MT Companies called Ammunition Parks operated dumps, or stores, of ammunition, with the larger calibres of artillery shells required special mechanical handling equipment.

There is no doubt these ammunition parks would have been a prized target during any attack.

The Battle of Amiens was the opening phase of the Allied offensive which began on 8 August 1918, later known as the Hundred Days Offensive, that ultimately led to the end of the First World War. Allied forces advanced over 11 kilometres (7 mi) on the first day, one of the greatest advances of the war, with Henry Rawlinson's British Fourth Army playing the decisive role. The battle is also notable for its effects on both sides' morale and the large number of surrendering German forces. This led Erich Ludendorff to describe the first day of the battle as "the black day of the German Army". Amiens was one of the first major battles involving armoured warfare and marked the end of trench warfare on the Western Front; fighting becoming mobile once again until the armistice was signed on 11 November 1918.

On 21 March 1918, the German Army had launched Operation Michael, the first in a series of attacks planned to drive the Allies back along the length of the Western Front. With the collapse of  revolutionary-controlled Russia, the Germans were able to transfer hundreds of thousands of men to the Western Front, giving them a significant, if temporary, advantage in manpower and materiel.


By the end of the Marne-Rheims offensive (15-17 July), the German manpower advantage had been spent and their supplies and troops were exhausted. The Allied general, General Ferdinand Foch, ordered a counteroffensive which led to the Second Battle of the Marne, after which victory he was promoted to Marshal of France. The Germans, recognising their untenable position, withdrew from the Marne to the north. Foch now tried to move the Allies back onto the offensive.

The battle began in dense fog at 4:20 am on 8 August 1918

Total German losses were estimated to be 30,000 on 8 August. The Fourth Army's casualties, British, Australian and Canadian infantry, were approximately 8,800, exclusive of tank and air losses and those of their French allies.

The German General Erich Ludendorff described the first day of Amiens as the "Schwarzer Tag des deutschen Heeres" ("the black day of the German Army"), not because of the ground lost to the advancing Allies, but because the morale of the German troops had sunk to the point where large numbers of troops began to capitulate.

Whilst the Battle of Amiens was drawing to a successful close for the Allies, fighting continued along the Western Front and during the night of the 11th August and the early morning of the 12th the Base depot of the 353rd Company Army Service Corps was subjected to an enemy air raid. Sergeant William Alfred Bush who had served for 4 years and 5 days since the war began died of wounds to his skull from the bombing raid.

In his official war records it states - Died of bomb wounds skull received in action (enemy air raid) In the field, France

He is buried at the Les Baraques Military Cemetery, Sangatte in the Pas de Calais region of Northern France.

Les Baraques Military Cemetary Sangatte

Buried alongside him are six of his comrades from the 364 Mechanical Transport Company, Base Depot (N) who also died on the same day

Private          A Heath                   M39672         Age 35 Chepstow
Lance Corporal William Haddock Robinson   M2/082708         Age 39 Bristol
Corporal                  E Hamshar           M2/050271
Lance Corporal William George Edwin Woodward M2/079669 Age 55 Brixton
Private         George Fairbrother           DM2/224389 Age 27 Blackburn
Private         William Purves Miller   M2/266650         Age 25 Newcastle

Sergeant                William Alfred Bush   M/22781         Age 39 Wimbledon

He is also remembered on the War memorial in the All Saints Church in South Wimbledon

All Saints Church Wimbledon

The inscription reads “Remember before God the men of this parish who gave their lives in the Great wars”

One can only imagine the catastrophic tradegy and sense of loss for his wife Elizabeth, too have their 13 year marriage cut short and for William’s children Lillie aged 10, William aged 7, Ivy aged 5 and Dorothy aged 4


Sources
Commonwealth War Graves

All Saints Church, Wimbledon

A Doughboy overseas

On the 9th August 1918, 100 years ago today, Private Solomon Wraight (my Great Uncle) was serving overseas in the machine gun company of the 315th infantry regiment of the United States Army.

Solomon had been born in Lambeth, Surrey on the 22nd May 1895, the eldest child of Solomon and Alice Wraight (nee Uden). The family, originally from Kent moved to Wandsworth, Surrey in 1894/95 and by 1911 the Wraight family were living in Battersea, Middlesex with both Solomon and his father working as carpenters / joiners.

In August 1915, Solomon emigrated to the USA, and found employment as a carpenter in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, eventually becoming a naturalised American citizen in May 1917 and enlisting in the United States Army in October 1917.

His younger brother William, also a carpenter by trade, had joined the Royal Navy Air Service in March 1917.

Solomon Wraight 

American troops, under the command of General Pershing, started to arrive in ever increasing numbers in France during the summer of 1918 offsetting the temporary numerical advantage the Germans held on the Western front since the collapse of Russia.

The official history of the 315th Infantry describes the arrival in Brest, France of the Regiment on the 18th July. It is likely that Solomon arrived in later waves, as not all the regiment arrived in France at the same time, however Solomon is likely to have had similar experiences.

“We marched through the back streets of Brest and out into the country about six kilometres, where we were ushered into a nice wet field and ordered to pitch tents. This was called a rest camp but all we did was carry water and rations for about a mile or so, and hustle field ranges, baggage etc.”

After 4 days they left the rest camp for the 10th training area.

“After three wonderful days and nights on the train, we were put off at a place called Vivey-Chalmessin. Nobody knew where we were, or what we were going, so we pitched tents in a neighbouring field, and it was here that we were introduced to Vin Rouge while waiting for somebody to give an order. The next morning we started for Chatoillenot, arriving after a hike of 18 kilometers, and there we were billeted. 

The next six weeks formed the most strenuous period in the history of the machine gun company, and the drill was long and tough.”

Sources
The Official History of the 315th Infantry USA.

Wimbledon Wartime Marriage

On the 4th August 1918 Alfred Ernest Bush (My first cousin three times removed) aged 23 married Ellen Elizabeth Rose Scott in Wimbledon, Surrey.

Alfred was the second oldest son of Edwin Ernest and Ada Bush (nee Searle). He was born in 1895 in Wimbledon, Surrey and in 1911 the family were living at 41a Cowper Road, Wimbledon. Alfred was working as an Errand boy, his mother Ada had passed away in 1910. His three younger brothers, Arthur (born 1900, Wimbledon), Albert (born 1903, Wimbledon) and George (born 1908, Mitcham) were all at school. Another younger brother Frederick (born 1896, Wimbledon) was attending Holme Court Industrial School for Boys, Twickenham Rd, Isleworth, which was a certified truant industrial school. His older brother Edwin Maurice Bush (born 1893, Wimbledon) also an errand boy in 1911 was lodging with the Turner family at 49 Cowper Road, Wimbledon.

In 1918, Alfred was serving as a Driver with the Royal Field Artillery whilst his brother Frederick, who had joined the Royal Navy in April 1915 and had been mainly serving on the vessels patrolling the Humber estuary, but had now transferred to HMS Latona on duty in the Mediterranean.

Alfred’s father Edwin Ernest Bush (passed away between 1911 and 1918) had served in the Royal Navy between 1884 and 1892 serving onboard many ships the last one being HMS Helca.

Alfred’s older brother Edwin had married Rosetta Turner in 1915

Ellen Elizabeth Rose Scott was born in 1893 at St. Saviours, Croyden, Surrey. The daughter of William Scott.

One can only assume the marriage took place during Alfred's leave from the front.