Military History

Charles is lsited as being killed in action on 31st July 1917. The following extract from the book Wearside Battalion - The 20th (Service) Battalion, The Durham Light Infantry by John Sheen [buy here] covers the events of, and leading up to, the 31st.

"The brigade started moving up; the first move for 20/Durham LI was to Wood Camp, which they left at 1400 on 25 July heading for the front line. At Ridge Wood a halt was called and the battalion was provided with tea. Then it was onwards once more into the line via Spoil Bank and Ravine Wood. C Company took over a line of advanced posts with D Company in support in the ravine in Fusilier Wood. B Company held the Caterpillar with A Company in support in Ravine Wood. Battalion headquarters was close to B Company in the Caterpillar and the leading companies were placed under command of Captain A Pumphrey who had his headquarters in the ravine. On the way in four men were wounded.

The news came in that the expected attack had been indefinitely postponed, so it was decided that the companies would rotate through the various posts, in order to familiarise everyone with the positions. However the German artillery was becoming a real nuisance and each day the casualty lists were growing longer.

On 28 July the battalion lost Second Lieutenant A R Willis and five men killed, thirty-two wounded, eight gassed and one man missing, probably blown to smithereens. A Company owing to the enemy shelling, withdrew into Caterpillar Wood leaving only the Lewis gun teams to hold the strongpoints in the ravine in Fusilier Wood.

The next day the companies moved round again and again lots of casualties, forty-two wounded and thirty-six gassed. Word came through that the attack would now take place at 0350 hours on 31 July, so that evening, Captain Pumphrey reported back to Battalion Headquarters and Second Lieutenant Shepherdson went out to where string had been laid as a marker and replaced it with the white tape, on which the assaulting waves were to line up. The battalion moved off to the assembly area on the evening of 30 July and on the way in ran into a heavy enemy barrage which caused a number of casualties.

Before Zero Hour the battalion had moved into position and were lined up on the tapes and ready to go. On the right D Company, under the command of Second Lieutenant Fletcher, were in touch with 10/Royal West Kent Regiment on the right, and formed up with two platoons in the leading wave and the third platoon behind, half as a carrying party and half for mopping up. Behind them in two waves came B Company, led by Captain Fulljames. On the left in the same wave formation, under the command of Captain Hand was C Company, with their left flank resting on the Klein Zillebeke road; this was the left flank of X Corps and Second Army, and the next troops to the north were from 24th Division of FIFTH Army. Behind C Company was A Company also in two waves, with Second Lieutenant Britton in command.

At Zero Hour the leading waves were to assault the enemy-held Imperfect Trench, known as the Red Line. The second wave was to follow the leading wave and mop up any enemy left in the Red Line and then push on and, supported by the third and fourth waves, assault the enemy second line. Once this line was taken the third and fourth waves, or what was left of them were to pass through and under the cover of a covering barrage dig a new line to be known as the Green Line some 400 yards further forward and sited for observation. Behind that a Blue Line would be dug, which was to be a support line. The divisional Royal Engineers were to support the battalion and assist with the consolidation of the Red Line, but while 20/Durham LI were there the Engineers did not turn up.

At 0350 hours then, the whistles blew and some sources state that the battalion buglers sounded ‘The Charge’, as the battalion went ‘over the top’, the enemy opened fire with their heavy machine guns and down came the enemy barrage in answer to their infantry’s SOS rockets. In the teeth of this hail of fire, taking casualties as they went, the leading waves of 20/Durham LI ejected the Germans from Imperfect Trench. What the officers and men of the attacking British battalions did not know was that the enemy had built lots of concealed concrete pill boxes, which the British barrage had failed to destroy, all these positions provided covering fire for other posts each with interlocking arcs of fire. Having taken Imperfect Trench, the battalion pressed on to the Blue Line, but were unable to get any further forward, so they started to dig in. The enemy snipers and machine-gunners were causing a lot of casualties, and on the right flank the enemy held their ground.

However, on the left the attack was reasonably successful. But now it started to rain, the start of the wettest European autumn for many years. The battalion was roughly located along the Blue Line, but officer casualties were mounting, 2/Lt’s Fletcher and Clark were both wounded. Second Lieutenant Russell had sprained his ankle on the way into the assembly area and took no further part in the action. But some men of C Company led by Captain M Hand pushed too far forward and were cut off and never heard from again.

Captain Fulljames was wounded and Second Lieutenant Britton killed both near the Blue Line and among the men the casualties were very heavy. Tragedy now hit the Wearsiders, an enemy shell hit the battalion headquarters dug-out, the adjutant, Captain F Wayman, was killed instantly and the commanding officer, Lieutenant Colonel North, was slightly wounded. Word was sent to the rear and Lieutenant Cox was ordered up to take over as Adjutant, but before he reached battalion Headquarters he was wounded by shrapnel. The next officer chosen was Second Lieutenant Walton who was killed shortly afterwards. At this point the enemy mounted a counter-attack on the right.

The CO, even though he was wounded, collected an assortment of battalion headquarters personnel, batmen, cooks, signallers, storemen and clerks and fifteen men of B Company. Armed with a Lewis gun, the CO himself led the counter-attack and was again wounded. Command of the battalion fell to Captain Pumphrey who as soon as he could sent Second Lieutenant Shepherdson back to the rear to bring up two companies of 21/King’s Royal Rifle Corps from support positions. Meanwhile the forward positions were involved in bitter hand to hand fighting; each enemy position was taken with the bomb and the bayonet. However the German Artillery now put down a massive barrage that covered all the original assembly area, No Man’s Land and the area of the enemy line captured. Through this storm of shells Second Lieutenant Shepherdson brought up the KRRC companies who were placed between B Company and the remains of C and D Companies. On the right flank, contact was made with 10 /Royal West Kent Regiment which had established a visual signalling station which was in communication with the artillery in the rear. By this method Captain Pumphrey was able to call down SOS fire on the battalion’s right flank. With those men available firing rapid rifle fire and the Lewis gunners joining in and along with the assistance of a Vickers gun of 123/Machine Gun Company, which the crew had managed to get up, yet another enemy counter-attack was broken up.

By nightfall the front had grown reasonably quiet, but small enemy parties continually tried to penetrate the forward positions. Battalion casualties had been very heavy, among the officers there were three killed, five wounded and one missing, presumed dead. Among the men the initial figures showed eighteen killed, 153 wounded and seventy-three missing, a total of 244, however when the battalion got out of the line and revised the figures there were no less than 431 casualties"