John(Jack) Beauchamp Wakefield 1/8th London Regt. Post Office Rifles

[Jean M]

On ‎30‎/‎06‎/‎2017 at 16:13, ss002d6252 said:

#373409 Garland was previously #6487 with the 8th Londons so his number ties in time-wise with Jack's number. Garland was transferred from the 6th East Surreys to the 8th London's on 26 Aug 1916. I suspect therefore that Jack joined the East Surreys in Aug 1915 and then was part of a bulk transfer to the 8th London in Aug 1916.

 

#3266 was allocated to the 6th East Surreys on 10 May 1915 so I'd have expected that #3267 was allocated very closed afterwards but that doesn't fit the amount of war gratuity he was paid... Taking May 1915 as the date would give a war gratuity of 25 months - a difference of 2 months service somewhere

 

I am just starting to pull together all the details that I have gleaned from various posts. I am still puzzled by what seems to be a gap of 12 months from Jack's joining the East Surreys in Aug 1915 and the transfer to 8th London in August 1916. Would that 12 months have been for training in England? I didn't think, at that stage of the War,that there was the luxury of such a long training period. Have you any thoughts or knowledge?

 

Jean

[ss002d6252]

Just now, Jean M said:

 

I am just starting to pull together all the details that I have gleaned from various posts. I am still puzzled by what seems to be a gap of 12 months from Jack's joining the East Surreys in Aug 1915 and the transfer to 8th London in August 1916. Would that 12 months have been for training in England? I didn't think, at that stage of the War,that there was the luxury of such a long training period. Have you any thoughts or knowledge?

 

Jean

12 months isn't unusual - the training was 3-6 months but the army often kept men around for various reasons, the precise one often lost to time (he could have been ill, been training others etc etc)

Craig

[Jean M]

Thanks. Guess we'll never know!

[Drew-1918]

Hello Jean,

 

Sorry for taking my time to post the extra detail about the 7th June. It took me quite a while to check the text as there was a problem with scanning an old photocopy. Don't worry, I didn't have to type it. I still have a little bit to add, but I thought you might like to read something to be going on with. Apologies for leaving it on a bit of a cliffhanger for now! I hope it is of interest. There is a lot of detail about the White Chateau itself and the terrain on the day, as well as a lot of other info.

 

Cheers,

 

Chris

 

 

2nd JUNE 1917 

 

During a Battalion parade Col. Green spoke to us regarding the attack and said how he hoped we should uphold the traditions of the regiment; in my small circle, all the chaps appeared keen to do their level best, although no one seemed to have that "dare-devil V.C.' spirit. The next day we moved forward to Dickebusch, actually riding in G.S. wagons, a little bit of "sugar' before the storm. Here we were distributed amongst the various cellars that every dwelling possessed, and ordered to put our greatcoats and belongings into our packs, which in turn had to be dumped in the main street, to be collected and stored by our transport. The only equipment that we S.B.s now carried was a water bottle, haversack containing washing and shaving kit and our bag of dressings. Directly it was dusk, the roads became alive with continuous streams of transport limbers, wagons, pack mules carrying ammunition, whilst all the time our guns were hard at it, in fact, I had never heard anything like it and it gave us great confidence to think that we were superior in artillery and ammunition. 

 

5th JUNE 1917

 

After two nights' rest in these cellars, we bid adieu to our friends in the transport section and by evening we were on the move towards the line. It was very slow work because of the traffic on the road and tracks. It reflected great credit on the guides that we did not have a single casualty getting into the trenches, although Fritz was shelling spasmodically all the time. our way generally lay across country and the Battalion was centred around Spoil Bank support position. We were crowded into any tunnel or dugout that offered any semblance of shelter 'Toby' and I were put with a crowd of others in a large dugout that had previously housed the Brigade Canteen, but they had cleared out all the stock to make room for troops. We were still ignorant of the day of the attack, because in discussing it with us, our officers referred to it as 'Z' day. However, we felt sure that it could not be far off, judging from the many signs about us We all spent a very uncomfortable night in this dugout, as we were lying partly on each other, the only benefit from this being warmth.

 

6th JUNE 1917

 

We had received orders to keep under cover as much as possible, in case enemy aeroplanes should spot the assembly of so many troops, which would give the game away. Although at this time we had dozens of planes up, it was always possible for a Fritz plane to dodge over our lines for a short time and hurry back on the approach of one of ours. 

In the afternoon, we learned that the attack was to take place on the following morning, and were ordered to be ready to move at 10 p.m.-now that it was so near, all were slightly excited. After taking our positions in single file with our Company, we moved up the communication trench at 10.30 p.m. We were almost thunderstruck at the changes that had taken place during the 4 weeks that we had been away from it. New dugouts, gunpits and ammunition dumps were everywhere, all in readiness for the artillery to move their guns forward as soon as we had advanced. These had all been camouflaged, so that Fritz should not know of their existence, and in fact, many of them were made in daylight, the men working under the camouflage.

Just before reaching the front line, our Company was led into a shallow trench that had recently been dug as a 'jump off' trench, as the front line could not accommodate so many troops.  This trench was so crammed that a few of us had to shelter in some shell holes close by.

'Zero', the hour of the attack, was now given out as 3.10 a.m. and we were to take our signal from a string of mines that would go up at this hour, all along the front. 

 

 

7th JUNE 1917 

This period of waiting was very trying; no one seemed inclined to talk, but the officers kept passing along the top of the trench, with a cheery word here and there, our guns were still hard at it, and Fritz's retaliation was very light, and until about 2.45 a.m. we had nothing near us at all. 

At this hour, a few rifle grenades dropped into the trench, and resulted in light casualties, Smith, Lansome and Pennell being amongst them. "Toby and I hurriedly dressed their wounds, as they were all anxious to reach the shelter of a dressing station before the fun started, and I believe those of us left behind envied them,

Just before 3 o'clock, orderlies brought up containers of hot cocoa for us, which 'whetted where it went', nevertheless it was better than nothing. Following this, the officers came along with "beaucoup rum" which they served out in stiff tots to those who wished for any and thus the troops were in good vein, and ready for anything. 'Toby' and I refused the rum, as we thought it best to remain quite sober and have all our wits about us.

Our 'B' and 'D' Companies were now in the front line-their duty was to capture the German first and second lines and in readiness for this had sent out parties into "No Man's Land' cutting lanes' through our barbed wire, so that it should not delay the attack-the German wire had already been smashed about by our shell fire. Naturally, from our starting positions, my 'A' Company would be in rear of 'B' and 'D' Companies, and after they had taken their objectives, we should have to pass through them, and continue to progress until we had captured the White Chateau. 

About 5 minutes before zero' hour it suddenly became almost quiet, and we imagined our artillery gunners adjusting the sights on their guns; getting them ranged onto the exact pre-arranged spots. 'Toby' and I were just shaking hands, and wishing each other good luck, when we heard a mighty rumble and roar, and to our left and right we could see flames and smoke shooting into the air. They were weird sights, and I was glad to think that I was not in the midst of them, like many Jerries must have been. These explosions we saw were the mines at Hill 60 and Railway Cutting on our left, and one at St. Eloi on our right, and there were several others further along out of our vision. Our boys had helped in the mining of the former two, although unaware of the time when they would be utilized. When the mines exploded, simultaneously our guns opened up, and I had never heard such an infernal row in my life-the air unceasingly reverberated with our gun reports, and it was impossible to hear one another speak. All these impressions entered the mind in a flash, for hardly before I realized what I was doing, I found myself climbing out of our trench, across the top a little way, jumping over our old front line trench into what was "No Man's Land' It was still pitch black, and all I could see now were shell bursts in the distance and numerous German Very light S.O.S. signals going up. Before I had gone 10 yards I found myself separated from 'Toby', but as it was essential that we should be together, I quickly found him close by cursing some wire that had tripped him up, and we went on hand in hand, rather like school children in the midst of battle, until it became lighter. Now that the attack was in full swing, I felt proud to think that I was in it, and confidence was easily gained, for I had not seen a single enemy shell or heard any rifle fire so far. This, my first trip into "No Man's Land", made me think how fortunate I had been never to have been on patrol along it, during trench warfare. It was one mass of shell holes, the lip of each forming part of the lip of the next one and it was jolly hard work walking across them. A few of the shell holes had water in them, but for the most part all appeared to be churned-up dust and the place was an absolute wilderness. All our troops walked casually towards their objectives in this attack, as they followed a creeping barrage of shells put down by our gunners, which moved forward at intervals. It would have been impossible for the infantry to run because of the nature of the ground, and also they all had extra loads, some carrying spare ammunition, others shovels etc. 

I saw several of them fall over, and thought at first they had been hit, but they were on their feet again. What had happened was that they had tripped over some barbed wire. 

As we neared Jerry's front line there were bits of wire all over the place ; our guns had done their work well blowing his line of wire to bits, and frequently I had to release a strand that had hooked onto my trousers or puttees. 

Just here I saw some Jerry prisoners in the charge of some 'D' Company lads close by a concrete dugout. I discovered that 'Toby' and I were now on the position of Fritz's front line, but we could see no signs of a trench, it having been flattened by our guns. All the small dugouts were bashed in and even some of the large concrete ones were badly damaged. These 'D' Company lads told us that Jerry had not fired a shot at them, but were all sheltering in their concrete dugouts from our shell fire, and immediately our boys reached them, came out with their hands up. These prisoners looked very scared and fatigued, and we learned afterwards that owing to our heavy shelling, they had received very few rations and had served longer than usual in the front line as relief troops could not reach them. 

'Toby' and I continued on and now noticed some light shells bursting close by ;  these were fired from a German whizz-bang gun at short range; the noise of their arrival was rather unnerving, but they did little damage. We came across a few chaps slightly wounded, but all had either dressed their wounds with their field dressings, or had been bandaged by the 'B' and 'D' Company S.B.s in front of us. A few more prisoners put in an appearance wending their way back to our lines-no one was in charge of them, but they glad to get away from the shelling and kept going. 

One of our chaps had wisely suggested that to stop the need for escorts to prisoners', all the prisoners brace buttons on their trousers should be removed and they would then need both their hands to keep their trousers up and consequently would be harmless.

 

Another line of khaki figures put in an appearance digging away, and we found out that they were endeavouring to clear out what had previously been Jerry's second line, but was now practically level. The capture of this trench had proved almost as simple as that of the front line and so far we had seen few casualties. 

I could see now our Company's objective, the White Chateau, ahead and it appeared to be a most formidable fortress. Formerly it had been three storeys high, built of stone with steel girder supports, but continual shelling had reduced it to one large heap of broken masonry resting on the cellars, which Fritz had supported inside. We had previously been told that it garrisoned a company of infantry troops, so I rather expected our lads would have a warm reception before they captured the place. 

Hostile shelling now became more severe, and large "coal boxes' dropped with unpleasant regularity all around us- suddenly I felt a sharp little sting on one of my fingers and looking saw that it was bleeding. Wiping the blood away I discovered that a small piece of shrapnel had made the cut, fortunately nothing to worry about.

 

 

Just in front of us, we saw some of our Company in a large shell hole and on reaching them learned that they were waiting for more of their pals to join them, so that they could attack the Chateau. Apparently many of our Company lost their direction when going over in the dark, and went too much to their left, thus coming on to the canal bank, and from there had to get back to their correct position. These factors made our Company late in attacking their objective. Shells were flying all over the place. "Toby' and I were kept very busy as no one was under cover, the casualty list began to grow. Those chaps who could get along after we had bandaged them up did so, for it was no joke to lie out in the open under the heavy fire. I felt sorry for those severely wounded, as we could only make them easy in a shell hole, and leave them until the stretcher squads reached them; in the meantime, perhaps another shell might do them further harm. One poor chap had a smashed leg, and to dress his wounds satisfactorily we really needed a splint, but as we were not carrying these, we had to look round for a substitute and eventually found a piece of wood in an old trench, which served its purpose well. 

 

From The Long Carry, By Frank Dunham

Frank was in the 1/7th London Battalion who were on the left of the 1/8th Battalion for the attack. 

Edited 5 July , 2017 by Drew-1918

[Jean M]

Thank you - gripping stuff. I heard the piece on Radio 4 this am about Messines Ridge. We have every intention of exploring the area when we are out at the end of the month and all these first hand reports will make it much more real. Incidentally I have come upon some information that indicates that Jack was somewhere near Wytschaete. I have been pulling info. together and I was a bit puzzled to read in your extract from "The History of PO Rifles" that Cpl Bottomley's body was found draped over the captured machine gun. His name is also on the Menin Gate, which I thought was for those with no known grave.

Thank you for your efforts on my behalf. I really am appreciating them.

Jean.

 

[Drew-1918]

You are very welcome, I am glad it is of interest. 

Did you mean 'From Beneath- Mines at Messines'? I hadn't known about that but just looked it up. It is absolutely riveting to hear the voices of the men themselves. Thanks very much for that. 

 

Regarding Cpl. Bottomley's grave: I am not sure what happened, but sometimes men were buried and then their graves lost due to subsequent battles over the same territory. 

 

I will try and get the rest of the section done asap.

 

Cheers,

 

Chris

 

 

Edited 5 July , 2017 by Drew-1918

[Drew-1918]

Hello Jean,

 

Apologies for taking a while to complete this. Please see below for the rest of Frank Dunham's experiences on the 7th March.

 

Cheers,

 

Chris

 

"...While Toby' and I had been attending these wounded, our Company had made an unsuccessful attempt to capture the Chateau. Apparently the enemy had machine guns situated just behind the ruins and these opened fire immediately the troops attempted to close in on the Chateau, resulting in a few more wounded, and unfortunately Corporal Short was killed by a bullet through the stomach. 

Just at this time the 6th London troops appeared on the scene. According to schedule, we should have had the Chateau in our hands by this time and cleared all dugouts in the area, so that the 6th London could pass through us and in turn capture Jerry's third trench system about 400 yards further on. Leading one of the platoons was Captain 'Gussy' Collins, who had been my company officer with the 25th Londons in England. He was renowned for his monocle, which he was still wearing, as he strolled along with a light cane, as though doing training in England. As Captain 'Gussy' came level with our Company, he shouted, "Haven't you captured this bally place yet?" meaning the Chateau, and receiving the negative reply, he halted his platoon and went forward accompanied only by his platoon Sergeant to see exactly how things were.

It seems strange that these two walked straight towards the Chateau and reached the front of the ruins without having a shot fired at them, but after its capture we found that Fritz had no entrances facing us and consequently could defend it from the rear by having machine-guns in the open and firing round the two extremities of the Chateau and thus our troops positioned in front were not under fire. It was fascinating to watch this pair as they commenced to climb up the ruins, wondering what the end of it all would be. No sooner did they show their heads over the top, when over came some stick hand grenades from Fritz, each making a resounding explosion amidst the broken masonry. Both the Captain and his Sergeant fell back down the ruins, apparently either killed or severely wounded; but no, they scrambled to their feet and rejoined their platoon close by us none the worse for their experience. 

One of our aeroplanes, flying very low, now appeared overhead and by means of several 'toot toots' on a hooter, the observer signalled to us that he wanted to know our present position. Practically every rifleman had been issued with a flare for this purpose and on lighting these they showed a rough line of our position. Almost at once, our artillery reopened fire on the Chateau ; the aeroplane observer had signalled to them, of course, and many direct hits were obtained; meanwhile, Lt. Preston, one of our platoon officers, was gathering together all the 'A' Company troops he could collect, in readiness for another rush on the Chateau immediately our shelling on it ceased. 

Just as these were assembled, a tank put in an appearance slightly to the right of us and kept going until it was in position to fire its guns at the rear of the Chateau, presumably at the German machine gunners there, for on going forward again, our lads were able to surround the Chateau very quickly and after the exchange of a few bombs with some Jerries in the rear entrances, Jerry put his hands up and the place was ours. 

This tank soon afterwards was hit by a shell, and rendered useless; the crew, being uninjured, got out and walked back to their commander The first task of our boys was to empty the Chateau of its occupants and there appeared to be a never-ending stream of them as they filed out singly- all told we got 75 prisoners from this place, including six who were severely wounded and were resting on stretchers inside. All the former were marched back under escort and seemed glad to be getting out of it-we learned from them that they had received a grueling time from our shell fire of the past few days and had been obliged to keep in the Chateau for safety...

After clearing the Chateau, our boys had orders to dig a trench about 50 yards beyond it and take shelter there; meanwhile the 6th Londons were advancing further on. By this time (I lost all count of time, but should think it about 7.30 a.m.) the sun was shining strongly and the churned-up earth seemed to be getting very hot, all our Company boys digging looked very warm. For the time being, we seemed to be out of the battle, as there was no shell fire near us and things seemed strangely quiet. Away ahead we could hear signs of battle, and wondered how the 6th Londons were getting on-a little later came a message from them to say that they had gained all their objectives, and were preparing to receive the expected enemy counter-attack. I might add that the scarcity of enemy shell fire in the early part of the day is explained by the fact that most of their gun positions were known to our artillery observers and were knocked out at the commencement of the attack, whilst the enemy, noting our quick advance, removed the undamaged guns further back to prevent their capture. 

'Toby' and I having made sure that all the wounded in our vicinity had been dressed, we turned back to the Chateau, being most anxious to have a look inside. All along the rear were dead Germans, presumably those who had held our Company for some time, while close by stood two of their heavy machine guns apparently intact; it was really not a very pleasant sight. 

We found that there were only two entrances to these cellars, both near each other at one end and these were so small that we had to crouch to get inside, but once inside, we had to descend several stone steps and found ourselves in a large room about 16 feet high. The ceiling was of concrete, and supported by several large wooden beams in the centre and of course, the foundations supported the sides, so with this amount of stuff on the top outside, we could now understand how its garrison were safe from shell fire. 

Fritz had certainly made the place comfortable, for half the room contained wooden beds and there were also about 6 small rooms leading off, even more comfortably furnished, presumably officers' rooms. 'Toby' and I had a good look round everywhere and besides the wounded Germans, previously mentioned, there were two who had died from their wounds.

It was interesting to see German cooking utensils etc., and also their food, black bread and sausage, lying about and here were sufficient souvenirs to satisfy a battalion of troops. I took a Jerry soft hat and drinking cup and put them in my haversack; I would not take anything weighty, such as a revolver or dagger, for I knew that I should always have to carry them about with me until I went on leave and this did not appear likely for months yet.

PLt. R. N. Eve, the now senior officer in our Company, had already established 'A' Company H.Q. here, so 'Toby' and I decided that it would be a good place for us, as it was quite close to our boys in the trench in case of any casualties. We just ran out to tell the boys where to find us if necessary and then returned and refreshed ourselves with some chocolate and water-the former I had bought some days previous and kept by me. 

Our people were soon busy clearing the Chateau up inside and signallers were at work fixing telephone wires and from these we learnt that all Battalion H.Q, were shortly moving forward to this place, so we looked like being crowded-- 'Toby' and I both had visions of being told to clear out and go with our Company and the prospect of a night in an open trench was not very pleasant; fortunately for us this did not materialize. It was about 9.30 a.m. when my pal, Digby Planck, walked into the Chateau with a wound in the side of his head-he was a rifleman in my Company and had been digging in the trench when Fritz commenced to shell them with a whizz-bang gun and he had caught a piece of shrapnel. It proved to be nothing very serious and after I had dressed it for him he went back to the Aid Post on his own, glad to be getting out of it. 

'Toby' and I now went outside again and went amongst the wounded who were still lying about, doing anything that we could for them there were still no signs of our stretcher squads and apparently they were still busy with the earlier casualties. Enemy shelling in our area was gradually increasing and it seemed rough luck on these poor chaps to have to remain in it. However, they were sticking it without a murmur. I suggested to 'Toby' that if only we could find something to carry them on, we could get some of them into the Chateau under cover- we had no stretcher with us, as our job had been to dress the cases. Eventually we thought of a door from inside the Chateau and, forcing one down, we took this outside and persuaded two officers servants to come with us for we could not have carried it loaded by ourselves. It was not long before we had the first case under shelter. 

It was very tiring work, for the door proved an awkward improvised stretcher, tilting violently as we lurched over the cratered ground and the poor chaps had a job to keep on it. It was, no doubt, an uncomfortable journey for them, but they stuck it well and did not complain as they knew that we were doing the best we could for them under the circumstances. I think we had 3 cases inside when our squads put in an appearance and they carried on the good work with their stretchers. 

'Toby' and I were glad to have a rest in the Chateau and got into conversation with the German wounded (these were not cleared to the rear until late in the day). 'Toby', always on the scrounge, persuaded one of them to give him a watch and ring. Personally, I would not have had the cheek to take them. 

Battalion H.Q. and the Aid Post had now fixed up here and the place was packed-R.A.M.C. orderlies were constantly coming and going carrying the stretcher cases back to the motor ambulances. The atmosphere seemed full of bustle and excitement. 

Early in the afternoon Fritz launched a counter-attack against the 6th Londons ahead, at the same time shelling all round heavily-we then learned what a box barrage was, for 'runners' said that they could not get out of the Chateau, and this proved to be true. Fritz was shelling all round us in a square and it was impossible to get through this line of shells.

It was a trying time, while all this was on; we could hear the shell bursts and wondered how our Company lads were fairing in the open trench close by, as we knew that they had no dugouts to shelter in. It was also before our minds too that should Fritz drive the 6th Londons out of their captured trenches, our Battalion would have to move forward and assist to recapture them, but the 6th Londons did very well and kept Fritz off, inflicting many casualties.

Of course, our guns were of great help in these counter-attacks, and on the S.O.S. signal going up from our front line, would open fire immediately and sometimes disperse the enemy before they reached our trenches. When the shelling was easier, 'Toby' and I went outside, and found further casualties had resulted in our Company. We were busy with these for some time and felt thankful that we had the Chateau to shelter in. 

Towards evening, rumours started going around that Fritz had mined the Chateau, to be used in the event of it being captured. There was much speculation as to whether we should be blown 'sky high' but nothing came of them. As it became dusk, I went outside again to see how things were going, and found our Company boys still busy deepening their trench, whilst working parties from the other companies were busy digging a new trench to the Chateau, so that it could be reached with more safety during shelling. Other working parties were busy carrying up rations and ammunition and everyone seemed anxious to get their jobs finished before Fritz opened again with heavy shelling. As it was, at 8 o'clock he made another counter-attack and shelled us heavily, but did not gain any ground Toby' and I spent a fairly comfortable night on wooden beds in the Chateau and our Company having no further casualties, we were not disturbed..."

[Jean M]

I have just been reading through all posts and notice with horror that I say I have registered with BNF - I meant BMF British Medal Forum!

[Jean M]

Chris - thank you for the completed account. Why is "Toby" always given quotation marks? Might I be right in thinking that White Chateau is like Wipers, an anglisisation of Wytschaete? I think that is where Jack "fell".

[Jean M]

I have completed what is a first draft of my "document" about my Great-uncle. I have put it in Dropbox and the following is a link to it.

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/0lzzzdppunrp6el/AAD8nvJgh2-mvxjDxFVregxwa?dl=0

[Drew-1918]

Hello again Jean, 

 

I think Wyschaete was the name of the village, but 'White Chateau' is generally used for the actual building, at least, in British accounts. I don't know if the Belgians use the same name for both. 

 

Dunham sometimes uses pseudonyms so I think the quotation marks are to show that this isn't the chap's real name ; this is possibly because Dunham says he was pressuring German prisoners for souvenirs. 

 

Thanks very much for the link to your work. I can't see it on my mobile, but I'll have a go on my computer later.

 

Cheers, 

 

Chris

 

P.S. Just to confirm that I added this information about the 'White Chateau' because the Post Office Rifles account says that was where they took most casualties. It says that there was machine gun fire from the chateau and that 1/8th men also helped in its capture. I thought it likely that this might be the area where 'Jack' was killed. 

Edited 10 July , 2017 by Drew-1918
Extra detail

[Jean M]

Once more, thanks Chris. I found the account very enlightening. Probably Jack was not situated central to the Chateau and was in the line of the machine guns firing round the building. I hope to visit the area and shall find it "strange" knowing I must be close to where Jack's remains probably are. I always imagined he'd been blown to smithereens but perhaps not. J.