War Diary Entry: July 21st 1916

Had a hot bath at 10am, it was very necessary, but it brought on shelling, the 2^nd or 3^rd shell pitched at the corner of our office, blew all the glass out of the mess, filled the whole place with dust and smoke & put a motor bicycle into the air. 2 orderlies had a marvellous escape. All the shells were round our headquarters. We had been anticipating this and so had got our old hd qrs with the deep dug out (at the W end of Englebelmer) ready for occupation and we moved in there in the afternoon. Went round the trenches early.

War Dairy Entry: July 19th 1916

Went round the trenches early in the morning. The N side of Mary Redan is completely blown in and will take some time clearing. The new firing line which was supposed to have been dug across our part by some pioneer battn is only dug 1’6” deep in places & we have now got to complete it. 

Went down to Mailly Wood after breakfast to see the 2 battns, and went on afterwards with Handress Lloyd to the high ground just S of Englebelmer to watch the shelling down Contalmaison way. After tea Perse & I walked over to see Williams at his hd qrs on the Martinsart road. While we were away they put a cluster of 12 small shells round our bde hd qrs. They twice put shells into Englebelmer during the night.

War Diary Entry: July 18th 1916

Rained hard in the morning. W end of Englebelmer shelled for a quarter of an hour about 4am. We were to have let off gas again last night, but wind unfavourable, so we hung on till 1am when it was finally put off. The SWB were to have attempted a raid last night, they were only going to send off quite a small party; on their way up about 2.45am a big shell buried 4 of them in a communication trench, and by the time they were dug out it was too late to start. COs conference in Mailly Wood at 11am. Got back to bde hd qrs at 1pm & found De Lisle there; as there are not enough pioneers available we have got to complete a trench that has been dug about 200 yds in advance of our present line. Walked down to see Williams after tea; his hd qrs are in some canvas huts half way down the Englebelmer – Martinsart Rd.

War Diary Entry: July 17th 1916

87^th Bde relieved 88^th Bde in left subsector. Hd Qrs in Englebelmer, this not so pleasant as the place is regularly shelled and the cellars are not shell-proof. All the buildings near our old deep dugout are knocked flat , and there is not room for everyone in the deep dugout, so we are now at the E end of the village. 

The KOSB took over the left half of the firing line, the SWB the right, the Borders a platoon each in Withington & Anley & rest of bde in huts in Mailly Wood. The 88^th Bde were glad to clear out for a rest. 

Englebelmer was shelled with 5.9” from 8.30pm – 9.15, at 1.5 mins interval, but all fell at far end (W) of town.

War Diary Entry: 8th July 1916

An absolutely peaceful day around our head quarters, there was only one short burst of shelling lasting 5 minutes at 5pm. It blew a bit of the railway line onto our dugout. They shelled Hamel steadily most of the day putting 3 shells into the roof of the KOSBs but beyond breaking a beam little damage was done.

The 86^th Brigade relieved us during the afternoon. They did not take over our head quarters but are wisely having theirs just behind Mesnil. The relief was finished about 8.30pm and the whole brigade came back into the huts in Acheux Wood except the MG company which remains behind at Englebelmer. The mess and my bedroom are in a cottage in the village. Brand has been applied for to go as GSO2 of the Gds Divn. Brand , Perse and I got back here about 10pm in a car, the road was not shelled at all the whole way.

War Diary Entry: July 4th 1916

Thiepval Wood again bombarded both morning and afternoon it must be getting a regular shambles. They put a lot of 5.9 shells Hamel during the day all round the KOSB & SWB hd qrs. An exceptionally heavy rain storm came on just after midday ,it kept on raining most of the afternoon. All the trenches were washed out and fell in in many places; in the low part of Hamel all the trenches cellars and dugouts were flooded. 

An order came from the Army (we are now in the reserve Army since 2 days) that the line had to be pushed out in front tonight, Fuller & Bayley came up about 6pm with 2 RE subalterns on their way up to mark it out, the 2 subalterns have a pleasant night in store for them. We received information during the afternoon that the 49^th Divn were going at 2am tomorrow morning to try and clear the germans out of the lengths of trench which the 49^th hold on the high ground, but which the Germans occupy down by the river end. They were also going for the Hill & Mound. After this rain the marsh will be absolutely impassable so they will not be able to reach them. We have offered to take on the Mill (a very small ruin in the marsh) instead of them, & are sending out half a dozen men to reconnoitre it tonight. 

A 5.9” shell landed full in our office at Englebelmer yesterday laying it level with the ground. All our people were out at the time.

War Dairy Entry: 3rd July 1916

It was the intention at one time to withdraw the 29^th Divn into reserve to recoup, but it has now been decided to withdraw the 31^st instead.The 4^th Divn are taking over the 29^th Divn line as far up as Broadway, & we are to hold from there to the Ancre, the 88^th Bde on the left & 87^th on the right, 86th bde in reserve in Englebelmer. 

De Lisle came up this morning and I went all along our frontline with him. On the right down by the marsh the trenches are blown about a good deal & trees are lying across them in several places, on the left they are not so bad, but all the trenches want deepening, revetting & traversing. The Germans again bombarded Thiepval Wood once or twice, & seemed to be putting in some gas shell. It is just across the Ancre above our hd qrs so we get all the benefit of the noise, but very few of the shells. All our machine guns are laid on the Bosch trenches in front of this wood. We are being left entirely alone by them at present.

War Diary Entry: July 1st 1916

The bombardment began again early & became more intense. At 7.20am the mine under Hawthorn Redoubt went up. As this mine contained 20 tons of ammonal (4 times larger than any single mine we have put up during the war) everyone cleared out of our dugouts in that part of the line. It made quite a good show, masses of earth going up in the air. The crater was immediately rushed by a party of 86th brigade.



After the explosion our Brigade began to file out of the trenches and form up in no man's land. A certain amount of machine gun fire was at once opened on them. At 730am the barrage lifted and the whole line advanced on the german 1st line, while the reserve companies moved forward out of our trenches. Very heavy machine gun fire was immediately opened on them. It looked as though a number of our people (the SWB on the left & RIF on the right of the line in the front line) were pushing through their frontline. One party of RIF were seen to place their bridge over the German 1st line, look down into the trench and then pass on. About 10 minutes later the 2 reserve battns (Borders on the left and KOSBs on the right) moved out of our 2nd & 3rd lines and advanced across the open swept by machine gun fire. About 745am flares began to go up in the Station Road. As this was the signal that the leading troops had reached their objective, things looked quite satisfactory. It was then seen that a number of Germans were still in their front line showing themselves and shooting at the men lying out in no mans land. This looked as though we had passed over their 1st & 2nd line without leaving enough men to deal with the Bosch as he emerged from his deep dugout. After waiting some time to see if the leading battns would send back a number of men to mop these up, the Newfoundland & Essex Battns were ordered forward to clear the frontline and pass through the 87th Bde. During this period it was reported that parties of the 87th had been seen fighting down by Beaumont Hamel cemetery and the station buildings. The Newfoundland battn started across the opne and was mown down by MG fire. the Essex were somewhat later, and I believe only 2 companies advanced and they met the same fate. By now no mans land was a mass of killed and wounded, and the Germans were firing at them with guns, rifles and machine guns. They also shelled our frontline very heavily with 5.9" HE shells. This trench was already packed with killed and wounded. Orders were then received that a fresh bombarment would be carried out after which the Worcesters (88th Bde) would assault the trenches about 1245pm. The bombardment started, but at the time laid down for the attack nothing happened.The Worcesters had been quite unable to get up the communication trenches into the frontline all of which were blocked with killed and wounded. The 88th bde were then told to report when the Worcesters were ready in position to attack. Fortunately shortly after the attack was cancelled, as it was bound to have met the same fate as the previous one. The afternoon was spent trying to clear the trenches of casualties and reorganise the battns (their remnants) of the 87th & 88th Brigades. It was subsequently sicovered that hardly a single man had reached the German frontline and that te best part of 6 battns were lying out casualties in no mans land. all the afternoon the Germans bombarded our front line. the 88th bde took over the front line and the 87th Bde collected their remnants in St Johns Road. this account only refers to what happened on the 87th Bde front (about 1000 yds).

During the night about 300 unwounded men of the brigade were collected, most of whom had crawled back from no mans land, including about 6 officers of about 80 who had gone over the parapet. A large number of the wounded were got in including a number of officers. Raikes (SWB) came in about 10.30pm, he had previously been reported killed. Welch (KOSBs) had fortunately not taken his hd qrs forward so was all right, all other COs and adjutants were killed or wounded.Every battn had left behind in billets 10% of their men & all officers over and above 22 per battn. With these and the survivors by morning (2nd) we had collected some 700 men. The 36th Divn on our right made no headway this side of the Ancre but S of it they went straight through the the German 3rd line. In the afternoon they were counter-attaked and driven back to the Germans 1st system of which they still hold a part. The 86th Bde got into the German line in places, I believe, but by the evening they were all in their own lines.

War Diary Entry: 30th June 1916

Bombardment does not appear to be more intense than usual, probably because the 2 extra days bombardment has reduced the daily expenditure of ammunition for the big guns. They have done very little shelling into Englebelmer the last 2 days. The bde hd qrs moved up into the deep dugout in Fethand St (the battle hd qrs) about 8pm. There was certainly very little German shelling going on at that time. After dark the 88^th Bde arrived and the crowd of officers and orderlys in our dugouts was quite impossible. We had to send some back to make room. After dark I went along to see Pierce at the Inniskillings hd qrs, they had begun a bombardment of our trenches in that part of the line, and the air was rather thick for a bit. The KOSBs and Borders marched up from Acheux Wood at dusk, and took up their places in the trenches in good time. After that the 2 battns of the 88^th Bde moved in to the 3^rd line trenches (St Johns Rd) getting in between 1 & 2 am; by that time all the trenches were packed with men and no movement was possible. The trenches were still in quite a good state of repair taking all things into consideration. We had had 3 or 4 days rain, we had been bombarding the Germans for a week, with 2 or 3 intense bombardments, to which they had replied to some extent thus preventing us doing much work to repair the trenches, very few of the bridges we had put up have been blown in.

War Diary Entry: 28th June 1916

Last night’s wire cutting and raiding parties were not a great success anywhere. The Germans seem to have expected it as all the parties were fired upon, and so came back. At 3am this morning they put about 20 shells round our headquarters, one fell in the middle of the road and knocked out some gunners, we had no casualties in the brigade. Pouring with rain this morning, the trenches will be in a filthy state; it cleared up during the afternoon. Shelling went on as usual all day, it doesn’t sound very much from here as we only hear the big guns going over, but it is pretty noisy in the firing line. 

We have cleared away nearly all their wire in the front system of trenches. They do not reply very much.  The 15” guns and 190lb trench mortars have layed Beaumont Hamel and Beaucourt level with the ground, and the trenches round Thiepval are blotted out, but the trenches in front of us are not so badly damaged yet. Went onto a conference at the divn at midday, a car came and took Williams and myself in . Afterwards I went & saw the KOSBs & Borders in Acheux Wood & got back here about 2.30pm. Got a message from the divn at about 3pm to say that operations were postponed 48 hours (I believe because of the weather) so the attack does not start tomorrow. 

Went for a walk with Cookson after tea,  we went and watched one of the 15” guns firing, you can see the shell in flight for quite a long way; then we went on to have a drink with Gillon at his prisoners camp, between here and Foxeville. Just as we were getting back the Bosch put a few 5.9” shells into Englebelmer so we hung about outside til it was over.

War Diary Entry: 26th June 1916

Borrowed a car from the ASC and Brand went in to Amiens for an outing. A few shells were fired into Englebelmer at 7am but as no one was about no damage was done. I did not know it was going on at the bottom  of our dugouts. We are rather like rabbits in a warren sitting round the entrance to our burrow. 

We discharged our gas at 1015 am. It did not excite the Bosch as there was very little shelling. I watched the shelling most of the day, it is warming up a bit , and there are big shells going over our heads from behind at much shorter intervals all day. The 36^th Divn let off their gas between 2.30 and 3.30pm. This appeared to excite the Bosch as he was shelling their line very heavily about 4pm. I hear our 190lb trench mortars are knocking Beaumont Hamel flat, but we can’t see the village from here. 

All the german wire has been pretty well knocked about. All 3 german observation balloons in front of this army were brought down in flames yesterday by our aeroplanes.They knocked in the divn northern observation post about lunchtime, killing the telephone operator, both the officers had gone underground to lunch a few seconds before. We let off a lot of smoke along the line both morning and afternoon which brought on a little extra shelling.

War Diary Entry: 23rd June 1916

87^th Brigade relieved the 88^th Brigade in the trenches, only 2 battns went up (the SWB & Inniskillings). They each have 3 coys in the line and one at Englebelmer. The other 2 battns are going to remain in the huts in Acheux Wood during the bombardment. 

A very heavy thunderstorm came on between 3.45 & 4.15pm during the relief which flooded some of the trenches. I went to a conference at Corps Hd Qrs at 4pm and then on up to Englebelmer about 6pm. 

All the inhabitants (those still there) were being cleared out. The old woman next door was leaving a lamb behind, so I had to buy it for 5 francs. A number of dogs and cats have been left behind.

War Diary Entry: 4th June 1916

I believe every division on the British front made a raid last night starting at midnight. In this divn 86^th Brigade carried it out in the other sector. They only had 2 days notice to get ready for it. There was a new departure in the scheme, after half an hour's bombardment the barrage lifted off the frontline for ten minutes and then came back for 10 minutes before finally lifting to allow the men into their trenches. This was to allow the wire to be cut by torpedoes and by hand. The wire was too thick to be cut in this time , so the 15 minutes allowed for the men in the trenches had to be partly spent in cutting the wire. When they got in they found the trenches deserted, and so came away with a few papers and one casualty. Kelly (now commanding the Essex, 88^th Brigade) was wounded by a shrapnel bullet in the shoulder which went down to his lung; he had no business to be about at all, but could not resist it and was standing on the parapet helping the raiding party back into our trenches. One unlucky shell pitched in a corrugated iron hut behind the Tendelon, and killed 11 and wounded about 22, all Worcesters, they should have been packed away in deep dugouts beforehand.. No casualties in this brigade. The 31^st Divn got into the Bosche trenches on our left and I believe only found a couple of Germans, whom they killed, & came away with about 9 casualties. I went round the whole of our frontline at 5.30am and only found the trench slightly damaged in one place.

Pierce came in to lunch & Welch afterwards to discuss operations. The KOSBs came out of isolation today, and this afternoon moved out of Mailly Wood into this village (Englebelmer)

War Diary Entry: 30th May 1916

Started a deep dugout near the Bde office in anticipation of the day the Germans decide to blow Englebelmer flat. Conference of COs at 10am to discuss the way the battns will form up in the trenches preparatory to an attack and the accommodation available. Divn conference at 4pm.

War Diary Entry: 28th May 1916

The 87^th Bde relieved the 88^th Bde in the right sector. The 88^th took over the left sector from the 86^th and the 86^th went back into reserve. The KOSBs are still isolated in Mailly Wood and were not allowed to move up into Englebelmer. So the Border Regt took over from both reserve battns of the 88^th. The SWBs took over the left of the firing line, the Inniskillings the right. Briand went over to the 92^nd Bde for 10 days, changing over with their Bde Major  Fisher who came to us. Pringle went off to be attached to the 88^th Bde. Perse from one of the battns in the 86^th arrived to be attached to us. Practically the whole relief was carried out by daylight and went off without incident.

War Dairy Entry: 27th May 1916

Rode up to Englebelmer in the morning to see Cayley about taking over the trenches tomorrow. Went to see the KOSBs in Mailly Wood on the way back, then to the SWBs in Acheux Wood, then on to the breaking up show of the divn school at Acheux Chateau, and back here to lunch. Pierce and Brand got back off leave today. Pierce having just lost his wife & looking very old & cut up.