W. Borthwick 20581 2nd Bn Royal Scots Fusilliers KIA 30th July 1916

[Peter Le Duc]

Hi All,

i recently discovered that one of my great Uncles was KIA on 30th July 1916  and is commemorated on the Thiepval memorial.

William Borthwick
20581, 2nd Bn., Royal Scots Fusiliers

I have tried to identify which action this would have been in but confess to being a bit confused.

 

The Roll of Honour for the 2nd RSF at Somme suggests that the action may have been at Guillemont. However I can find no evidence of 30th Division being involved in actions other than the Battle of Albert.

 

My subscription to Ancestry has expired and I am hoping that someone can help to confirm where 2RSF were on 30th July and if any details may exist of the action.

 

By a weird coincidence, when I learned of his death from my aunt, I did a google search and discovered his and his brother medals on an auction site.  His brother died of flu on active service in Greece.

If by chance, anyone on here now owns them, I would be indebted to know if you have researched them.

 

many thanks in Anticipation

 

 

[Pat Atkins]

It appears the battalion were involved in an unsuccessful assault on Guillemot village on 30th July 1916, part of a larger Anglo-French attack. Zero Hour was 0445 and they advanced from trenches north and south of the GUILLEMONT-TRONES WOOD; a creeping barrage, was ordered but it may not have occurred.The attack took place in thick mist on a frontage of 260 yards. They advanced in half companies, 60 yards apart, and with the Lewis guns going forward in the 4th line. 2 companies of Manchesters were in support. 2nd RSF reached their objectives east and west of GUILLEMOT by 0545 and advanced with some 18th Manchesters east of the village, where they were stopped by a counterattack and consolidated, reinforced by the rear two companies of 2nd RSF who moved up from the west of the village. However, tunnels enabled the Germans to move up to their forward defences once the British troops had passed them. A company of 17th Manchesters was sent to hold ARROWHEAD COPSE. By 1000 the mist had lifted, a heavy German barrage and machine gun fire swept the road and the area around it, and communications had broken down between Battalion HQ and the assaulting companies. By 1200 D Coy reported they had fought their way into the village but feared being cut off; the 89 Bde attack to the south failed and 2nd RSF was now precariously isolated to the east of the village. Their presence there may have hindered the British artillery response, allowing German rifle and machine gun fire to dominate the area west of the village; the Germans drove forcefully through Guillemot from the railway. The RSF men east of the village (D coy and some of A Coy) mostly were killed or made prisoner.

 

As far as I can tell from the War Diary, the battalion held its original jumping-off trenches, reinforced by 2 companies of HLI the next morning; they then handed over the line to 8th King's Liverpools. Casualties were 2 officers killed and 15 wounded; 15 ORs killed, 40 wounded and 578 missing. I'm assuming many of the missing were in fact killed that day.

 

According to Wikipedia (I know, I know) "GHQ considered that the costly failure of the attacks on 30 July had been due the tenacity of the German defence, the quality of its tactical leadership and the move towards defence in depth".

 

The map below pertains to the Liverpool Scottish attack on 9th August 1916, but I think it probably shows roughly the line the 2nd RSF attacked from (the double dotted line is the GUILLEMOT-TRONES WOOD road referred to in the War Diary).

 

[MaxD]

Paul's account of the action needs no additions from me but to pick up on your point about your Ancestry sub having expired, the war diary is available at the National Archives for the modest sum of £3.50 at http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C7353660

You will be able to get a flavour of your relative's war before the 30 July from that.  What you may have found on line about the 30th Division in 1916 would almost certainly have highlighted only the major engagements but actions large and small were essentially going on almost all the time in one sector or another.

 

Max

[Peter Le Duc]

Pat, thanks sooo much for this. I could not have hoped for more information.

This forum and its contributors are brilliant.

Thank you too Max, I will get the diary from NA