Military History

Charles is listed as being killed in action on 4th September 1916. The 1st Battalion war diary entry for the 4th September is transcribed below, Charles was a member of

Sept 3^rd 1916 – Falfemont Farm: 3.30pm – Moved to slit trenches E of Bde HQ & Maltz Horn Trench

6pm: Came under orders of G.O.C. 95^th Infantry Brigade & formed their Bde Reserve

Sept 4^th 1916 – Falfemont Farm: 12.30am Came under orders of 15^th Infantry Bde & ordered to move up and take up the right of the line opposite Falfemont Farm – Point 48 – to relieve 1^st Cheshires in firing line and portions of 16^th Warwicks in support.

4.40am: Relief completed. A Coy on left & B Coy on right from about B.2.a.3.1 to B.2.c.9.6 where they joined up with the French. B Coy has 1 Platoon in an intermediate trench about 100 yards behind. C Coy had 2 Platoons in trench in rear of A Coy which runs along track SE from B.2.c.1.7 & 2 Platoons in slit trench NE of Angle Wood. D Coy had 2 Platoons each in same trenches as C Coy but behind B Coy & on the right of C Coy. Bn HQ was between the slit trench & support trench NE of Angle Wood at about B.2.c.2.4.

The forming up trenches were very bad & they were at once deepened, also there was not sufficient length of trench to enable Coys to form up on the frontage as far as opposite P.48. 1^st Cheshire Reg was on our left with 1/Bedfords on their left from Wedge Wood to junction with 95^th Bde. 16^th Warwicks in support in trench S of Angle Wood.

6am Capt Francis wounded but returned to duty

8am Went to advanced Bde HQ N of Hardecourt & received orders for the attack.

11am Saw O.C. Coys issued orders for the attack at 3.10pm. Our objective was from P 48 to corner of triangular trench at B.2.a.6.7 (600 yards frontage & about 350 yards distance to go.

1.15pm Orders received that zerom hour would be at 3.10pm & that a barrage would be held on NE side of Falfemont Farm for 20 mins to enable us to clear up the front trenches & support to come up.

2.5pm Orders received detailing the barrages & giving us an extra objective in Quarry which had to be taken at zero + 30 mins & the 16^th Warwicks to be prepared t0 establish line from S corner of Leuze Wood to connect with French on light railway about C.3 central.

3.10pm A & B Coys assaulted, very heavy machine gun fire opened on them immediately. Capt Francis & a few men of A Coy succeeded in reaching the SW corner of the farm but were bombed out and the remainder of the attack was held up by cross machine gun fire. The situation then became very involved, as all the officers but two were either killed or wounded & the advance over a 600 yard front was very split up as the only way to go on was by crawling from shell-hole to shell-hole, a any attempt at an advance was immediately stopped by M.Gun fire. The French did not advance on our right. C & D Coys moved up & occupied the trenches vacated by A & B Coys respectively.

3.20pm C & D Coys started their assault on NE face of Farm & trenches E of original objective from SE of Farm to P 48 but were also held up by M G fire. Sent 2/Lt T Brown with reserve bombing platoon & 2 Lewis Guns to go up behind C Coy & capture the Quarry at T.26.d.1.2 by working round to the west of the Farm.

4pm Touch was then lost with the 1/Cheshires who had worked round into the NW face of Farm from round the W side of the hill which was not commanded by M Guns from our right. Received message from Bde that the 95^th Bde would capture SW edge of Leuze Wood at 6.30pm & 16^th Warwicks establish line from Leuze Wood to light railway at B.3.central.

Informed Bde that it would be impossible for 16^th Warwicks to carry out the operation as we had not reached our objective. Our advance was progressing slowly & on the left they were within about 50 yards of the Farm – on the right where they had further to go and where the M.G. fire was worse they had got about halfway across.

6.40pm Received orders from Bde to make a simultaneous attack with 95^th Bde at 6.30pm on the Farm – to be assisted by 2 Coys of 16^th Warwicks and by 1/Bedfords on the left. O.C. 16^th Warwicks deployed two Coys behind the original front line & asked him to give orders that they should go through our men & collect every Norfolk men they could find and take them forward in the attack. Warned all Coys as I had just previously told them to dig in as near to the Farm as they could get and then rush it at dusk. I had sent a message to cancel the bombardment by the artillery at 5.35pm as A Coy were reported to be within a few yards of the Farm.

6.45pm Ordered all Coys to advance on objective & 16^th Warwicks to reinforce them with 2 Coys & to hold any original front line with 2 Coys. The 7^th Irish Fusiliers were on their way to new trench S of Angle Wood. This attack was also unsuccessful owing to M.G. Fire so I ordered them to dig in & push forward as soon as it was dark. The ground between our trenches & the objective was a mass of shell holes & very bad going at the best of times, but heavy rain set in during the night (which was also an exceptionally dark one) and added to this the men had become completely exhausted & little further progress was made until the morning.

8.30pm Part of A Cioy on the left again reach the SW edge of the Farm. The 2 Coys 16^th Warwicks holding original front line started to dig communication trenches forward to the Farm.

Sept 5^th 1916 – Falfemont Farm: 3am Falfemont Farm completely occupied by A & C Coys. Position from S corner of Farm to P 48 still uncertain but patrols had entered portions of this line during the night. Patrols were pushed forward & also to the R to get in touch with the French & to the L to get in touch with 1/Cheshires. Sent up grenades and Lewis Gun drums to the Farm – also rations and water. There were then 5 Lewis Guns on the Farm. Started to work down German trenches from S Corner of Farm towards to P 48. Machine Guns from the R were still in action & causing many casualties.

7.30am Whole of objective occupied down to P 48 & French came up on our right.

The total casualties for the above actions were 356.