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Remembered Today:

German Trench Raid 11 April 1916


Ralph J. Whitehead

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Hello Everyone:

I am looking for any information, war diary records; any personal accounts from the 1st Royal Irish Rifles 25th Brigade, 8th Division for a German trench raid that took place on the evening of 11 April 1916 near La Boisselle.

From the reports I have it seems that ‘A’ Coy suffered losses in the artillery fire that preceded the attack while ‘D’ Coy suffered the most losses as the attack took place just when two platoons were being relieved at the front line.

I have an account from the German side and I want to see how the two accounts match up. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I would be glad to share the German account from RIR 110 to anyone who can help out, thanks.

Ralph

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Ralph

Our research on the Royal Berks.....

"Its tour of Divisional reserve were either at Millencourt or Henencourt Wood, At the Latter place athletic sports were held.

German artillery was sporadic and certain spots like the 'Glory Hole' at Ovillers were particularly targetted. However neither side could fail to observe the build up of supplies and the preperations being made opposite them.

There was a raid by the enemy on the 1st Irish Rifles on the right of the 2nd Royal Berkshires which reacted on the latter. Lt E M MEDLICOTT and one man were killed and three wounded."

Dosn't help you but give a flavour down the line so to speak.

Cheers

MAC

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Thanks MAC,

Any information is useful.

There were references to feint attacks and shell fire on other portions of the line. Let me finish the account I am working on and I will send it on to you.

Ralph

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  • 4 weeks later...

All I have on this subject is that the British were distracted by thick smoke, trench mortar fire, and showing of dummies in another part of the line. This allowed three German parties (110th Reserve-Infantry) to enter a trench called "the Spion". In the ensuing mêlée (?) with greandes, bayonets and pistols 29 British were captured and a greater number claimed killed; booty included a Lewis gun, one sniper`s and 20 other rifles, plus assorted equipment. This is from Dr. Stephen Bull`s book "World War I Trench Warfare 1914-16.

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Thanks for the details Landsturm. I do not have this book and I am surprised that it contaned such detail. Perhaps I should have a closer look at it.

Ralph

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Ralph - a book has recently been published entitled 'The 1st Royal Irish Rifles in the Great War' - I do not have it but will flick through the index when I am in the bookshop soon. If there is anything on this raid I'll let you know.

Des

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  • 17 years later...

Hi Everyone,

My Great Grand Uncle William John Majury was one of the 1st Royal Irish Riffles killed on the Trench Raid on the night of 11th April 1916, i would be grateful if you could share what information you know as to what happened on that fateful night. I was told that his line was under heavy artillery fire for a few hours and when the shelling stopped a German Raiding party entered his trench killing him and 7 others while also taking POWs as they left.

I know this post is old but i would be very grateful to learn more

Thanks

Linden

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Hi,

the regiment (RIR 110) has its own history:

 Greiner u. Vulpius: "Reserve-Infanterie-Regiment Nr.110 im Weltkrieg 1914-1918", Karlsruhe 1934, Macklotsche, 353 Seiten.

GreyC

Edited by GreyC
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Linden Mack,

Welcome to the Forum. The 1 RIR War Diary for April 1916 can be found here: 

National Archives (if you sign up, you can download it for free) or AncestryThere's much detail about the raid. War Diaries are the day to day operational record of battalions/units/formations.

Acknown

Edited by Acknown
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Thank you so much Acknown,  This is amazing , i had a look at it on Ancestry but will also sign up to the National Archives and down load it there. I see on the night of the 11th April they listed 9 men killed , i have the names of 8 which includes William, i will take a look to see if i can find out who the ninth person was. Its sad to read how William died, he had been through so much in his life already, lost both his parents by the time he was 7 years of age, joined the RIR and fought during the Boer War then deployed to France to be killed during a raid on his trench.

Thanks

Linden

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No doubt you have seen the eight 1 RIR men on the CWGC website. They are all buried in Becourt Military Cemetery. I have looked for the ninth in various ways, but am stumped. There are some possibilities:

  • The War Diary is wrong - quite possible during the rigors of combat.
  • They may have double-counted 2Lt Harte-Maxwell.
  • The ninth was of another regiment or corps, attached to the 1st Battalion. 

Others may have more luck.

Acknown

Edited by Acknown
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I did come across a list before of names of men killed in action on the 11th April 1916 buried in Becourt Military Cemetery, tbh I only counted the Royal Irish Riffles but I do remember another name from another regiment. I will take another look tomorrow to see if I can find it again and let you know 

thanks 

linden 

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Hi Guys im not sure if any one can help with this?

Last week i found Captain Wagners Report on the Raid on Williams Trench on the 11th April 1916. It gave an in depth detailed account of what happened during the German Raid but, now i cant find it again.

Has any seen this before of even have a copy of it ?

 

Thanks

Linden

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Linden

The WD of the 8 Div Adjutant and Quarter-Master General for 11/04/1916 records that 2/Lt A Harte-Maxwell was 4 Conn Rangers att 1 RIR. I did not find any reports of the trench raid in the WD of 25 Infantry Brigade but in the WD of 8 Div HQ General Staff (WO 95/1674/3) there is a Daily Intelligence report dated 12/04/1916 by Captain Gartlan (App A 6) (Ancestry p 509/861).

Brian

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Thanks Brian

i still can’t find the report but I did find a detailed account today in the book Raiding on the Western Front by Anthony Saunders  Chapter 4 it talks about them in training for the raid during the week prior to the raid, the planning that went into the raid , what artillery they used and why and also mentioned Gas being used which help the German raid immensely. 
 

However they seem to bum up the death toll of the dead Royal Irish, they say they came across a bunker with many dead already from the artillery attacks on the RIR lines , and then said they killed several men who were trying to get down to the front line to engage the German attack but these men were surprised and bayoneted before they could do anything , then another party of the RIR came down another communication trench and were fought back using grenades and pistols and the RIR withdrew having sustained many casualties. As they moved down the RIR trenches they came across many destroyed dug outs filled with dead individuals .. it also says that others taken prisoner tried to escape and were shot dead or bayoneted? 

according to the WD of the RIR there were 9 Killed … but only 8 men of the RIR were buried in Becourt Cemetery that died on the 11th April 1916 … William being one of these 8 men 

I assume the WD of the Royal Irish Rifles would give the true account of the dead , wounded and the missing 

thanks 

linden 
 

 

 

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Linden

The WD of the RIR is on Ancestry. WO 95/1730/4. Put 1730 into the keywords box and it is on p 593 and 594/679. The casualties are in the margin. It confirms nine killed.

Brian

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there is a Rifleman Fleetwood George Bolitho also in the same cemetry killed on that day.  Now whilst he belonged to the Rifle Brigade it could be possible he was seconded or attached to the Rifles at the time ? There were afterall in the same Brigade and Division.

 

Paul

Edited by Dirty Harry
spelling ffs
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I made this up on Friday giving the men that died on the 11th and also a couple died within days one from wounds so not sure if they were wounds caused from the raid ? 

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