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Remembered Today:

Ibstock War Memorial

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Hohenzollern and beyond ...


Chris_B

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The fate of three other men on the Ibstock war memorial is intertwined with that of the 1st/5th Leicesters. After young Harry had become just an entry on a casualty form, the battalion moved from the Ypres Salient to Hohenzollern, from the proverbial frying pan into the fire zone.

Much has been written about the attack of the 46th North London Division on the Hohenzollern redoubt on the 13th October 1915. ( See this GWF thread for example:

The part played by the 1st/5th Leicesters is covered in detail in the Captain Hills' Battalion history. The battalion was in reserve that day and it's casualties were light in comparisons with the dreadful losses sustain by other battalions in its brigade. In the days that followed they had moved to Drouvin and Vaudricourt, and around the end of the month the history notes:

many reinforcement officers arrived and two large drafts of other ranks.” p52 THE FIFTH LEICESTERSHIRES

The Battalion faced the prospect of spending a cold and wet winter in the Flanders mud. Trench foot was as much as a problem as enemy sniping. These were the conditions that Private 241625 George Sidney Bott, newly drafted from England on 28.10.1915, would have been plunged into. His service papers have not survived. But his medal index card shows his original army number was 4494 and from others who served in the battalion this suggest he volunteered early in 1915.

George had been born in Leicester where he spent his formative years. His father John Walter earnt a living as shoemaker and repairer. George's location and occupation at the time he volunteered are not known, but his family were already established in Ibstock.

Apart from the excitement of actually boarding the cunard, now HMT, “Andania” at Marseilles, bound for Egypt on 20th January 1916, an order countermanded on the 22nd, it was the lot of the 1st/5th Leicester to remain in France and Flanders. The history's chapter headings show their progress over the next long years of war:

THE VIMY RIDGE. 6th Feb., 1916. - 9th May, 1916.
GOMMECOURT. 10th May, 1916. - 3rd July, 1916.
MONCHY AU BOIS. 3rd July, 1916. - 29th Oct., 1916.
MONCHY AU BOIS. 3rd July, 1916. - 29th Oct., 1916.
LENS. 6th April, 1917. - 10th June, 1917.
HILL 65. 13th June, 1917. - 4th July, 1917.
ST. ELIE LEFT. 4th July, 1917. - 23rd Nov., 1917.
CAMBRIN RIGHT. 1st Dec., 1917. - 12th April, 1918.
GORRE AND ESSARS AT PEACE. 12th April, 1918. - 10th Aug., 1918
GORRE AND ESSARS AT WAR. 10th Aug., 1918. - 12th Sept., 1918.

Somehow George Bott got through it all, and perhaps there's a clue to his battalion longevity in the circumstances of his death 7/9/1918:

“ B Company Headquarters most unluckily received a direct hit causing six casualties. Two Serjeants who could ill be spared, A. Cross and E. Bottomley were both badly wounded, the latter mortally; two servants, C. Payne and L. Brotheridge, were wounded not very seriously, and the two runners, G.S. Bott and G. Dewsbury were hit, Bott so badly that he died in Hospital. These two runners, inseparable friends, had long been associated with "B" Company Headquarters, and had always done yeoman service, for there was probably never a better pair. “
p150 THE FIFTH LEICESTERSHIRES

Being a runner may have saved George Bott from some of the worse fighting, but the fickle finger of fate had finally caught up with him. His good friend G. Dewsbury was Pte. 241187 George E Dewsbury, who first landed in France on 18.8.1915. He survived the war.

The final few chapters of the battalion history are:

PONTRUET. 14th Sept., 1918. - 25th Sept., 1918.
CROSSING THE CANAL. 25th Sept., 1918. - 4th Oct., 1918.
FRESNOY AND RIQUERVAL WOODS. 5th Oct., 1918. - 11th Oct., 1918.
THE LAST FIGHT. 12th Oct., 1918. - 11th Nov., 1918.

Louis George Bacon is another of our three men. Louis, named after his father, was born and brought up in Ellistown, one of seven known siblings. The family home was at 3 Victoria Road at the time of the Great War. His service papers have not survived and his medal index card shows no dates. But Pte. 240962 Bacon's original army number was 3096, which suggests he was an early recruit to the 5th Leicesters in November 1914, when would have been barely 18 years old.

The service papers of one of his brothers, John Haywood Bacon, have survived. John, 4 years older than Louis, volunteered on 7th November 1914 at Coalville, initially joining the 5th Leicesters as Pte. 3130 and later re-numbered 240985. But John, a skilled fitter, was transferred to civil employment and later to the Mechanical and Shipyards Formation of the RE and did not serve abroad with his original battalion. It's tempting to suppose the two brothers had volunteered around the same time, if not actually together.

One explanation for no date appearing on Louis' medal index card is he that had been in the 2nd/5th Leicesters who had remained in England before moving to Irlenad in April 1916, and finally France on 24th February 1917. The 1st/5th Leicesters had received a large draft of 2nd/5th men in February 1918. By this time Louis would have been one of the long serving survivors of the battalion.

On 24th September 1918, the 1st/5th Leicester was chosen as the sole battalion to attack Pontruet village, beginning at 5am. (The details can also be read here http://www.bigenealogy.com/leicestershire/pontruet.htm)

It was only a qualified success, the enemy held a strong position and where in greater numbers. With little achieved, the history notes:

“We had lost one Company Commander and three subalterns killed, one
Company Commander and six subalterns wounded. Of the rank and file,
thirty were killed, of whom three were Serjeants, one hundred were
wounded, and eight were missing. But we had proved that five platoons
could clear a village held by three Battalions (so said one of the
prisoners) of the enemy; we had shown that when N.C.O.'s became
casualties, private soldiers were ready to assume command and become
leaders, and, most important of all, the battle had proved to each
individual soldier that if he went with his bayonet he was irresistible.
p.160 THE FIFTH LEICESTERSHIRES

It was here that Louis was killed. Amongst the other casualties were privates Fred Pink and Sidney Summers both from Hugglescote and George William Underwood from Whitwick.

Private 49846, Samuel Smith is the last of the three. Again no service papers survive for Samuel, and his medal index card show no dates. But he is likely to have been a late entrant to the war, possibly conscripted earlier but then not called up until the Spring of 1918.

There were three Samuel Smiths living in Ibstock who could have served in the Great War as private 49846. It would simply be a guess as which of these is the name on the Ibstock memorial.

On the 7th November the battalion was at Petite Helpe, and after making a river crossing by pontoon where pressing forward. The enemy may have been in full retreat but there was still resistance. Several casualties were sustained when one platoon attempted to capture a German four gun battery they surprised. The guns were recaptured after two enemy counter attacks. After other actions, the history notes that:

In view of the fact that the Boche was now running away, our casualties during the day had been heavy“
p 197 THE FIFTH LEICESTERSHIRES

On the following day:

“November 8th, and found the enemy's machine guns still very
active in the same positions. The barrage was therefore arranged, and,
covered by these very few shells, "A" and "B" Companies pushed forward,
only to find that the Boche took as little notice of the barrage as he
did of our rifle fire. On the left, as before, the attack was soon held
up, this time with considerable loss to us, for the Boche allowed "A"
Company to come close to his guns before opening fire. When he did, 2nd
Lieut. Coleman and ten men were wounded and three men killed, and though
the others made a most gallant attempt to rush the enemy with the
bayonet, they were held up by hedges, and compelled to dig in once more
and wait
” p 197 THE FIFTH LEICESTERSHIRES

Private 49864 Samuel Smith had died in the battalion's last recorded fight, on 08/11/1918, on the very day that news reached the battalion of the Armistice that was to begin just three days later.

Other casualties that day where:

Pte. 48710 Herbert Lakin of Whitwick.
Pte. 260023 William Stanley of Rickercote, Staffs.
Pte 49830 Thomas Watson of Whitwick.
Pte 407771 Edward Willers of Leicestershire.

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