Heidenkopf - Quadrilateral Redoubt - Redan Ridge

[Terry Carter]

Being a Brummie I take a great interest in the two Birmingham Territorial battalions that attacked the Heidenkopf at zero hour 1 July, 1916. The 1/8th and 1/6th Royal Warwicks, who were attached to the 4th Division for the attack.

The 1/8th was in the first wave and entered the Heidenkopf with little opposition (The Heidenkopf or as we called it The Quadrilateral Redoubt is now the ground to the left hand side of Serre Rd No 2 cemetery, when facing the cemetery from the road).

Have I read somewhere that the Germans had prepared mines and they were to be exploded if the strongpoint was taken. Thus the reason it was lightly manned on 1/7/16. However these mines were not blown.

I wonder if this was the reason that the men from the 1/8 and 1/6 got to the German third line but were cut to pieces by flanking fire from either side.

Cheers

Terry

[Guest Bill NEWMAN]

Terry,

The 1st Battalion Somersets were driven left from their line of advance due to enfilade fire. Elements of the battalion together no doubt with the Warwicks ended up in a fierce Grenade fight defending this piece of captured ground. The history of the Somersets states in relation to this action " Unfortunately some of the German front line trenches which had been captured were not properly cleared of their defenders who hid themselves in their deep dug outs until the British troops passed on towards the second line." It could well be that this answers why the first line trenches were so easily taken . I know nothing of any mining activity on the part of the Germans. Do you by chance have any accounts of the action at the Quadilateral 1.7.16 . If so I would be very interested

Regards Bill

[bmac]

A footnote in the Official History says that, realising the Heidenkopf to be vulnerable, it was mined with the idea of blowing it up as soon as it was lost. It was then manned by a few engineers and one machine gun team. When the attack went in, the machine gun jammed and the mine was set off in error blowing up the MG and the engineers before the attacking soldiers arrived. The effect of the explosion was greater than anticipated and it blocked up many of the dug outs allowing No. 3 Company, 121st Reserve Regiment to be overrun. This would explain the initial 'success' of the attack of the 1/8th Warwicks and the 1st Rifle Brigade in this sector.

[Ralph J. Whitehead]

I am attaching a rough translation from the Regimental history of the 121st Reserve Regiment for the fighting on 1 July 1916 and a short time after. Please excuse any awkward sentences, it was a bit of a rush. Unfortunately the problems at the Heidenkopf were not as detailed as I would like and there is no mention of the problem with the premature explosion. In any case, here it is:

At 8 o’clock in the morning on the 1st of July, the drumfire had reached its greatest intensity, dust, smoke and artificial fog shrouded everything. Then the artillery fire suddenly became transferred to the rear and out of the smoke the Englishmen appeared to be proceeding in dense masses. In a moment the garrisons of the dugouts came forth and received the attackers with rifle fire or hand grenades.

By the Heidenkopf the attacker could approach close up to the position, protected by the terrain and the smoke, and was then already in the trench before the garrisons of the dugouts could come forth. A bitter fight of man against man took place here now. While the garrisons of the rear trenches, especially the machine guns, mowed down the following waves of the attackers, hand grenade troops immediately penetrated into the connecting trenches from all sides, partly advancing over open fields and forced the invading enemy back, until finally the hand grenades ran out. Further south at the boundary between the I and II Battalion the enemy was also successful to penetrate at a position, however they were immediately thrown out again in the counterattack by Hauptmann Gonser with his company staff. Similar events happened at different points. In general the attack against the position broke down bloodily, so that after one hour the position with the exception of the point of penetration at the Heidenkopf was firmly in the hands of the regiment. There reinforcements arrived from the III Battalion with hand grenades. Also one platoon from the Regiment 169 subsequently on the right under Leutnant Hoppe came to help. Now the clearing of the position was continued, the stubbornly resisting opponents were pushed back step by step. Over and over they settled down again, barricaded themselves behind sandbags, installed machine guns and small mine throwers, so that he could only slowly be moved with hand grenades. However these were also dug out still, and whoever could not flee into the darkness of the night, became taken prisoner. So this part of the position was also in our hands by the morning of the 2nd of July.

The attack that had been prepared for months with all the resources of the technology and all means and techniques of the art of war, lead by fourfold the number of superior, fresh troops also failed by the tenacity and the heroism of the Swabians. The Englishmen had placed four active divisions against the right wing of the regiment, 1½ divisions further south against the left wing. He wanted to break through at the Heidenkopf, to capture the heights at Serre; so that Beaumont and Thiepval would automatically have fallen.

Already during the fighting on the 1st of July a number of prisoners had been taken and when on the 2nd of July the dugouts of the recaptured position were searched, still another quantity of Englishmen were found inside one or more. There were also still men in the shell holes close in front of the position, so that the overall number of prisoners amounted to 200. Also a number of our men, who were already in English captivity, came forth again. However what does it look like in the Heidenkopf? Body next to body, and at individual positions whole piles of Germans and Englishmen under each other, not to mention the mass of weapons and material lying around. A horrible picture of destruction. Approximately 150 German dead lay in the comparatively small area of the Heidenkopf and approximately triple that number of Englishman. Altogether the regimental losses were:

from the 24 30 June: 24 dead, 122 wounded, 1 more missing,

from the 1 10 July: 179 dead, 291 wounded, 70 missing, most of them on the 1st of July.

Among these were the following officers:

Fallen: Hauptmann Frhr. von Ziegesar, Leutnant der Reserve Lutz, Seidel, Frhr. von Gaisberg, Bauer, Rapp, Schlößer, Offizierstellvertreter Stadelmaier.

Wounded: Hauptmann der Reserve Bösenberg, Oberleutnant Lutz, Oberleutnant der Reserve Weiger, Leutnant der Reserve Dobler, Förster, Schwaderer, Scheu, Bühler, Offizierstellvertreter Jäger, Häusler.

1,200 dead Englishmen became counted in and in front of the position of the I Battalion, 576 in front of the sector of the II Battalion. 28 machine guns, 4 mine throwers, and a great deal of material: arms, ammunition, entrenching tools, signal and telephone apparatus were captured. The Englishmen had been splendidly equipped. The prisoners made an excellent impression, large strong, well maintained people. Each man had his shaving things with him and one was occupied with shaving during his capture in the dugout, so important was the thing to him.

Before and during the day of the battle their was considerable traffic on the roads and in the communication trenches to the position. The wounded and prisoners became taken to the rear and guns, ammunition wagons, the vehicles of the Machine Gun Company and the first line baggage traveled forward with the ammunition, tools and food despite the artillery fire, like in quiet times. Part on detours, part going across country, they attempted to avoid the especially dangerous positions. However they did not accomplish this without losses. One team came one day leaderless at the gallop into Miraumont; the driver lay dead in the wagon, the one who accompanied him was also dead, fallen down on the way. Dead horses and broken vehicles were by the roads still for a long time. The regiment had lost 36 horses in this time. Between them carrying troops went back and forth and snaked themselves laboriously through the shot up terrain and those zones that were continually lying under artillery fire and gas.

Many a severely wounded man had to thank the doctors for their lives by their hard work in this time. Just as devoted and shunning no danger the remaining medical personnel operated, soon in the drum fire, now hurrying there to bring the first help to a wounded man.

The regimental doctor, Oberstabsarzt Dr. Schwarz, knew a good story to tell. A man from the regiment had gone to the kitchen at the “Five Meadows” in the morning on the 1st of July with some mess kits to get coffee and on the return route to the medical dugout he looked for cover. When he found out however that the Englishmen had penetrated into the position, he dropped his full mess kits into the corner, tore a rifle out of the hands of a wounded man and plunged out with the words: "With that I must also be there!".

In the first days of July after the attack the English infantry behaved completely quiet. The artillery rendered single fire assaults, especially on the intermediate position and on Beaumont. So one could make makeshift repairs to the shot up positions again to bring them into good condition in places. However it only progressed slowly because the garrison was extremely overtired and many had been removed and the numbers were hardly enough for the most necessary security guard. The II Battalion from Infantry Regiment 186 was used still only as support. They did considerable work taking away the dead. They were buried in a mass grave behind the Feste Soden; a large cross made out of birch trunks later decorated the grave in that 150 Germans were situated, besides a number of Englishmen who were in a special grave. Most of the Englishmen were buried in the position. It took ten days until all attainable bodies had recovered; many also remained still lying in front of the position and fouled the air.

Ralph

[Terry Carter]

Wow..... what a fantastic response. Thankyou bmac, Bill, and Ralph and anyone else who might also add in the future.

Ralph thankyou very much for the translation and your time in writing the reply. (do you still want that postcard?)

Bill, I do not have much info on what happened at the Heidenkopf due to the fact that nearly every officer with the 1/8th and 1/6th Warwicks became casualties. There is a report in the War Diary of their attack. When I get home tomorrow from work I will add it to give others a chance to read it aswell. However the 'operation notes' prior to the attack make interesting reading detailing who was to attack where, artillery lifts, etc. There was even two tunnels dug by the 252nd Field Coy RE from our front line (Bess Street) towards the Heidenkopf. Once the attack was under way they were to have the tops blown off to form a communication trench; one for up traffic the other for down, and only to be used by battalion runners... and by the way men who were allotted to be runners were required to wear shorts for ease of identification. One man in each bombing group was to carry a chequered flag, men with with cutters to have yellow cloths tied around the lanyards. Men designated for carrying parties to carry hundreds of Mills Bombs across to the German lines were to have a badge with the letter 'C' sewn on their right upper arm etc etc.

Thanks again... off to work

Terry

[Guest Bill NEWMAN]

Thanks Terry I watch with interest

[Terry Carter]

Bill,

The following is the account of the action for the 1/8th Royal Warwicks taken from the War Diary:-

07:25. Enemy machine-guns opened up all along line. Three minutes later our troops are lined up lying on the parapet ready to advance.

07:30. Advance begins. Enemy first line reached and passed very quickly as also was the second. Only in one or two cases were any enemy seen in these two lines. Having plenty of casualties from machine-gun fire in enemy third and fourth line. At the third line we were temporarily held up by machine-gun fire but took it by rushes. From this point the fighting was all with bombs, along trenches.

We reached our objective probably in 35 - 40 minutes from zero hour and at once commenced consolidating and cleaning rifles under the directions of Captain Martin and 2nd Lt Turner. By this time the next battalion was arriving (1/6th Royal Warwicks) but had had so many casualties that they could not go through us so helped consolidating. This happened with all battalions following us.

Many times we were bombed from this position and regained it until bombs ran out. We had to retire to the third line, line the parapet and hold on with machine and rifle fire. Parties were detailed to collect as many bombs as could be found (both English and German) and when we had a good store we again reached our objective. No supply of bombs were coming from the rear so could not hold on and retired again. Enemy machine-guns and snipers were doing great amount of damage all the while.

Enemy artillery opened but fortunately their range was over. Held on to this position until relieved by a battalion from the rear.

Althrough the action no troops were seen on our right or left. This had a great deal to do with our inability to push past our objective.

11 pm. Arrived at Mailley-Maillet and were put into billets.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

In 1964 the Birmingham Evening Mail run an article about a survivor of the attack who served in the 1/6th Royal Warwicks.

Before reaching Mailley-maillet both battalions, the 1/8th and 1/6th Royal Warwicks had a roll call in the leafy lane that runs past the entrance to the Sucrerie Cemetery. The 1/8th could only muster 47 men out of 600 that went into the attack. Of 830 men of the 1/6th who went into the attack 95 answered their names only 25 of them were unwounded.

Can I just add that these two battalions were attached to the 11th Infantry Brigade. The Brigade CO, Brigadier-General Prowse, was mortally wounded crossing No man's Land. As he lay dying the General spoke an immortal epitaph to the gallantry of Birmingham's part-time soldiers:-

" I did not think much of Territorials before, but, by God, they can fight!"

Terry

[Ralph J. Whitehead]

Enemy artillery opened but fortunately their range was over.

From reading the German accounts of the fighting on the Somme prior to 1 July 1916 it was common practise for the German guns to fire in the rear of the attacking line in order to cut off further reinforcements. The Infantry in the first waves would be taken care of by the defending infantry and supporting units.

There was also the issue of friendly fire as the guns often did not have sufficient details to determine where the enemy lines were situated and where their own troops were positioned after an attack.

I came across a second shorter account of the fighting on 1 July at the Heidenkopf and will post it as soon as it is translated.

Ralph

[egbert]

Coming back to the original question, what about the mines?= I try to translate hastily from Reichsarchiv, Book 20, Somme-Nord:" When British troops flooded into the Heidenkopf site, the mines - which were prepared by 4./Wuertt.Pi.13, Lt d.R. Eitel - blew up according to plan. At first nothing was known about the effectiveness, because the brave men of Rgt 121 and the demolition squad from the pioneers did not survive. Not before the following nights, 4 large craters were observed in front of flattened Heidenkopf site. 1st company also observed, that the assault of strong British forces suddenly paused....a lot of corpses were found later in front of Heidenkopf...."

[Ralph J. Whitehead]

Terry, I have expanded a bit on what Egbert provided, a rough idea of the section in Soome Nord I that deals with the fighting near the Heidenkpf.

Somme-Nord I

The Heidenkopf that projected out towards the Serre-Mailly road at the I/R121 had been completely pounded. The Battalion commander, Hauptmann Frhr. von Ziegesar, was severely wounded already on 25 June during the observation of the artillery battle (died 26 June). Hauptmann Winter then led the Battalion. Several English waves approached closely here, protected by smoke and the terrain. Before the weak garrisons of the 3rd, 2nd and 1st Companies could come out of their mined dugouts the Englishmen were already in the position. Through the capture of Hill 141 east of Serre the positions of Beaumont and Thiepval should be caused to fall.

The break-in had not come easily for the Englishmen. When the British troops flooded into the Heidenkopf, the mines - which were prepared by 4/Württ.Pi.13, Leutnant der Reserve Eitel - blew up according to plan. At first nothing was known about the effectiveness of the explosion, because the brave men of Regt 121 and the demolition squad from the pioneers did not survive. Not until in the next night were four large mine craters observed in front of the leveled Heidenkopf. However it had been observed from the 1st Company at the minefield that during the advance strong English forces had suddenly faltered. Many corpses then became found later in front of the Heidenkopf. The batteries of the 52nd I.D. intervened in an exemplary manner for the protection of the threatened position. They pinched off further English waves from the road. However with the penetrated Englishmen, who had looked to nest in with plentifully carried equipment - machine guns, mine throwers, telephone and blinker signal devices, bitter close combat developed.

The Regimental commander, Colonel Josenhanss, unhesitatingly ordered counterattacks. The garrisons in the rear trenches interfered, their machine guns mowed down the closely following English waves. Everywhere brave bombing parties, advancing over the banks, threw the Englishmen back. Further south Hauptmann der Reserve Gonser with his runners stemmed Englishmen who had penetrated between the 1st and 7th Companies. However the attack generally broke down bloodily here before the position in the defense and the artillery barrage fire. What of the enemy that was still alive here, fled. Already after one hour the position of R.I.R. 121 was again free from the enemy with the exception of the break-in-position at the Heidenkopf. Reinforcements from the III Battalion arrived soon.

The stubborn enemy gradually became pressed back step-by-step in bloody fighting. They settled again and again, covering themselves behind sandbag barriers and inserted machine guns and light mine throwers. I.R. 169 also sent the hard-pressed Württembergers help without being asked. The platoon of Leutnant der Reserve Gattner from the 11th Company reinforced the 1/R121, Leutnant Hoppe (Friedrich) who advanced with his platoon to the 3/R121. He met there only a few standing courageous men, in hot hand grenade fighting. The seriously wounded company leader lay with several other wounded men in a dugout still held by the Englishmen, every platoon leaders was disabled. Leutnant Hoope (Friedrich) threw the Englishmen to the rear in a very determined hand grenade battle and rescued the wounded comrades in the dugout. Vizefeldwebel Haid followed Platoon Hoppe with a few men, which, in the meantime had been reduced to 20 men, nevertheless they advanced on further, then the supply of hand grenades ran out. The Englishmen then lay closely opposite for two hours long until about 7 o'clock in the evening when they gradually retreated, still being harassed by the prosecution fire of the free standing remnants of the brave Platoon Hoppe.

Approximately 40 men were taken prisoner and three machine guns were captured. In the meantime the third platoon of the 11/169 under Leutnant Hoppe (Johannes) secured the left flank of the 169er and prevented the Englishmen from advancing despite all of their efforts. The English nest still existing in the Heidenkopf then became cleared at the onset of darkness in bitter close combat.

Ralph

[Terry Carter]

Thanks Ralph

Both accounts that you supplied make fascinating reading. Very brave men on both sides fighting for their lives and trying not to give an inch of ground.

I have walked the ground of the Heidenkopf a few times. However having now delved more deeply and read the account from the German side, I cannot wait to make a return visit this time with better understanding of those traumatic hours of 1 July, 1916.

I am sure that recently I flicked through book and saw an aerial photograph of the area of the Heidenkopf (not the picture in Paul Reed's 'Walking the Somme') I thought to myself, I'll remember that.....now I cannot recall where I saw it.. can anyone help. This happens with old age..or could be the fault of the lager?

Thanks again Ralph

If anyone else has any info regarding the 1/7/16 attack upon the Heidenkopf please feel free to chip in.

Terry

[egbert]

Here is another German story from actions next to Heidenkopf:

http://www.btinternet.com/~a.jackson/lais_e.htm

[Ralph J. Whitehead]

Terry, I seem to recall seeing an aerial photo of the area in one or more of the Pals books published by Pen & Sword. You might want to try a few of them relating to the Serre area. I am glad we were able to help you in your search. What one of us forgets, another remembers.

Ralph

[Mark Hone]

Blimey, Terry, it wasn't one of the Pen and Sword books you wrote was it? Definitely stay off the lager. Only kidding.

All the best,

er...what's my name?

[Terry Carter]

Mark

I doubt I would not drink so much if you were buying the rounds !!!!!

Unfortunately, I will not be doing anything else for Pen & Sword.. I have been given the boot for spending to much time on this forum.

Anyway there are two aerial photographs of the Heidenkopf. Both in Pen & Swords battlefield Europe books. An oblique angle look over the area to be found in Paul Reed's 'Walking the Somme' and the other in the guide covering Serre written by Jack Horsfall and Nigel Cave.

Unless, of course, you know of any others.

Thanks for all the replies to this topic

much appreciated

Terry

[Timbob1001]

Interesting stuff! Anyone know of any detailed accounts of what happened to the 1st Soemrsets that day?

Am ratehr struggling to find more than Wyrall's account and the War Diary.

Thanks

Tim

[Nickh2203]

This is most likely too old to help Timbob1001, but there is a .pdf version of the history of 1st Battalion, Somerset Light Infantry, written by Major  V.H.B. Majendie available online. I believe that it's a public domain document, so I'm attaching a copy here. 

 

It's fairly superficial and gives a very basic account of the Battalion's movements for that day. 

 

Hope this helps.

 

Nick

A History of the 1st Battalion Somerset Light Infantry - majeuoft.pdf

[Darruss]

On 04/06/2003 at 17:47, Ralph J. Whitehead said:

The II Battalion from Infantry Regiment 186 was used still only as support. They did considerable work taking away the dead. They were buried in a mass grave behind the Feste Soden; a large cross made out of birch trunks later decorated the grave in that 150 Germans were situated, besides a number of Englishmen who were in a special grave. Most of the Englishmen were buried in the position. It took ten days until all attainable bodies had recovered; many also remained still lying in front of the position and fouled the air.

Ralph

Does anyone have any further information regarding the mass grave and special grave mentioned above? My interest is the 2nd Essex in the Hiedenkopf.

 I realise this is a stab in the dark given the date of the original posts, 

 

Dar

[Ralph J. Whitehead]

[Darruss]

Thankyou Ralph, any idea of the location?

[WhiteStarLine]

Hi Darruss,

 

Let's have a crack at this.  According to "The Germans at Beaumont Hamel" by Jack Sheldon, Feste Soden is as shown below and on page 130 he prints a photo and a map showing its trench location.

 

Chasseaud's Rat's Alley gives it as 57d.K.35.b and Jack Sheldon [p 64] says it was behind spot height 143.  The map below shows the left and right bound of the Somerset Light Infantry and their left boundary finished at point 143.  So this 1916 National Library of Scotland is probably in the right area, but unfortunately there is no "x marks the spot".

 

[Ralph J. Whitehead]

5 hours ago, Darruss said:

Thankyou Ralph, any idea of the location?

It would appear that this question has been answered in the following threads. While I have maps of German burials on the Somme from this period I do not have anything that locates these burials other than the description already provided above, sorry. 

 

One manner in which you could check to see if these burials were recovered is to identify possible names of men buried there and see if they have a marked location currently. If they show up then I would assume that the bodies were moved. Unfortunately it sounds like simple mass graves and identifying individuals would have been almost impossible depending upon how long they were buried at this location. Since the area was not taken by the British until many months later I would doubt they were moved or identified if they were.

[Terry Carter]

Blimey! 

I started this thread, 17 years ago and information is still being added

Doesn't time fly lol

[Callum Stuart]

Hi everyone, Callum here.

 

Im researching my 3x great uncle who was a CSM William Aitken of the 2nd Seaforths. Recieved an MC for actions on 1st July 1916. Then was promoted to 2nd Lieutenant. According to the transcript the MC was awarded for actions "North of Beaumont Hamel" so I gather im in the right area.

 

I'm new to war research as I've largely been doing family history until now, so was wondering if any of you had any information that I might find interesting regarding that battalions actions that day or any other useful stuff. Loving the maps and overlays that were posted recently!

 

Thanks a bundle

 

Callum Stuart

Edited 16 April , 2020 by Callum Stuart

[Don Regiano]

3 hours ago, Callum Stuart said:

Hi everyone, Callum here.

 

Im researching my 3x great uncle who was a CSM William Aitken of the 2nd Seaforths. Recieved an MC for actions on 1st July 1916. Then was promoted to 2nd Lieutenant. According to the transcript the MC was awarded for actions "North of Beaumont Hamel" so I gather im in the right area.

 

I'm new to war research as I've largely been doing family history until now, so was wondering if any of you had any information that I might find interesting regarding that battalions actions that day or any other useful stuff. Loving the maps and overlays that were posted recently!

 

Thanks a bundle

 

Callum Stuart

 

If you have a subscription to Ancestry you can read their war diary.  1 July 1916 begins here:

 

https://www.ancestry.co.uk/interactive/60779/43112_1483_0-00000?backurl=&ssrc=&backlabel=Return#?imageId=43112_1483_0-00428

 

Otherwise, for a small fee you should be able to download it from the National Archives.