Military History

James is listed as dying of wounds at the 53rd Casualty Clearing Station at Daours on 11 Aug 1918. The book "With the 10th Essex in France by Banks, Lt. Col T.M and Chell, Capt R.A" informs us that James was wounded on the 8th August 1918 during the attack at Bois le Gressaire (Gressaire Wood), which was part of the Battle of Amiens often described as "The Last Great Battle", of WW1 at least. He was originally reported as wounded and missing but must have been found and taken to the CCS. The 10th Bn war diary entry for the 8th August is transcribed below.

8^th April 1918 – Assembly Point J.23.b & d: Weather very misty. Battn attacked in conjunction with troops on the right & left. At 4.20am the Battn advanced from assembly position through front line. From this line the Bttn passed through the 12^th Division and keeping to Bray-Corbie Road on the left flank reached the final objective which ran from K.16.d.8.5 to K.23.b.0.8. Dispostions of Coys on the final objective were as follows: A Coy on right, B Coy in the centre, D Coy on the left, while C Coy formed a defensive flank on the left.

The intention was for the 8^th R. Berks Regt to pass through A & B Coys at K.29.a.0.3 to K.23.c.0.5 and capture Gressiare Wood while A & B Coys were to be drawn into reserve. Owing to the very misty weather the 8^th R. Berks and the 68^th Division on the right were unable to get forward to the final objective, while the 7^th R.W. Kents, except on Coy, were also unable to get forward.

When the mist lifted it was found that both flanks of the Bttn were in the air and the gaps were so large that they could not be filled up. This necessitated a withdrawal of the Bttn to a line running North & South along grid line between K.20 & K.21. A large number of prisoners, Machine Guns and Field Guns were captured but a considerable number of the latter had to be given up on withdrawal.

Casualties: Other Ranks: Killed 56, wounded 191, missing 24.  Officers: Killed 2, wounded 8 missing 3.

B.M.O.3 received at 8.15pm ordering Battn to withdraw to Clermont Line. C.O. called [to] 10^th Bde at 2am [9^th] where he was given instructions that Battn would move up at once to Burke Trench. This was completed without incident by 3.50am.