Soldier's Memoirs: 2/6 South Staffordshire Regt.

[Steve Favill]

I'm a newbie, so please forgive me if I have posted this in the wrong section.

I thought that others might be interested in what we have found out about my great-uncles who served in the ill-fated 2/6 South Staffordshire Regiment. Both were L/Cpls, and were signallers. Their names were 240913 William Herbert Lewis and 240895 Arnold Wilfred Favill.

They became great friends, so much so that Arnold became engaged to marry Bill's sister, Elizabeth and both families became close.

Bill was gassed at Bourlon Wood in November 1917, and was evacuated to England, thus surviving the war. Arnold stayed with the battalion and was killed along with most of his comrades during the German offensive on March 21st 1918. His name is on the Arras Memorial.

After the war, Elizabeth married Arnold's older brother, who had served in India with the Manchester Regiment. They became my grandparents.

A little human interest story, strange how things work out.......Bill wrote down some of his experiences, if anyone is interested, I could post them?

[jay dubaya]

Hi South Staffs, very nice memoirs to have, and if you're happy to share them I would very much appreciate sharing in them. To have such personal memoirs is a priceless gem. Feel free to PM me or my e-mail add. is on my profile, cheers for now, Jon

[delta]

Hi South Staffs;

First person records are vitally important in filling in the gaps of official documents, as well as enlightening us in the lives of those who fought.

Certainly you should post them together with any photos- they will add more grist to our various mills

Stephen

[Jon6640]

As a South Staffordshire man I'd love to hear more. Where did they come from originally?

Jon

[Kate Wills]

Dear South Staffs,

I'm sure everyone here would be pleased to read your great-uncles' experiences. How about posting them here, in the manner that Kevin is currently doing in his Milward thread?

Milward thread

[Guest KevinEndon]

Here is a copy of A W Favill's entry on the soldiers died disc

[Jon6640]

My home town! Someone needs to tell Doug Lewis.

Jon

[asdarley]

I'm a newbie, so please forgive me if I have posted this in the wrong section.

I thought that others might be interested in what we have found out about my great-uncles who served in the ill-fated 2/6 South Staffordshire Regiment. Both were L/Cpls, and were signallers. Their names were 240913 William Herbert Lewis and 240895 Arnold Wilfred Favill.

They became great friends, so much so that Arnold became engaged to marry Bill's sister, Elizabeth and both families became close.

Bill was gassed at Bourlon Wood in November 1917, and was evacuated to England, thus surviving the war. Arnold stayed with the battalion and was killed along with most of his comrades during the German offensive on March 21st 1918. His name is on the Arras Memorial.

After the war, Elizabeth married Arnold's older brother, who had served in India with the Manchester Regiment. They became my grandparents.

A little human interest story, strange how things work out.......Bill wrote down some of his experiences, if anyone is interested, I could post them?

I'd be very interested. I also have a relative who was killed 21/03/1918 serving in the Sth Staffs

Pte 42213 Herbert Turgoose. his brother Harry was killed almost exactly a month later.

[Doug Lewis]

Hi South Staffs

My great Grandad served in the 2/6th South Staffords (survived the war) so I definitely would be interested in the memoirs, your G. Uncle and my G. Grandad may have known each other. I think we may have already been in contact with each other, as I have received a photograph of Arnold Favill with William Herbert and Lawrence Lewis,from a John living in Wisconsin asking if I was related to the Lewis's and if I had any information on Arnold.

Arnold is remembered in the Lady Chapel St Peters Church Wolverhampton you can see here on my site http://www.wolverhamptonwarmemorials.org.u...lady_chapel.htm

Regards Doug.

[SOMMESOLDIER]

Hi,

I too, would be very interested.

Cheers

Tim.

[IanA]

Even though I have no personal interest in the South Staffs, I would be interested in seeing these memoirs. Have you thought to offer them to the Imperial War Museum?

Ian

[spike10764]

Please post them, if you can, although I have no personal interest in the S Staffs, I'm sure they will be appreciated on here..

[marina]

I'd love to see them too.

Marina

[Steve Favill]

Hi South Staffs

My great Grandad served in the 2/6th South Staffords (survived the war) so I definitely would be interested in the memoirs, your G. Uncle and my G. Grandad may have known each other. I think we may have already been in contact with each other, as I have received a photograph of Arnold Favill with William Herbert and Lawrence Lewis,from a John living in Wisconsin asking if I was related to the Lewis's and if I had any information on Arnold.

Arnold is remembered in the Lady Chapel St Peters Church Wolverhampton you can see here on my site http://www.wolverhamptonwarmemorials.org.u...lady_chapel.htm

Regards Doug.

John is my father. I shall get the relevant pages from him, might take a day or so. After WW1 Bill Lewis emigrated to Indiana in the USA, which is where he wrote things down. They are not extensive, but are interesting. We are in Wisconsin now, but originally from Wolverhampton. Bill died about twenty years ago so I never got to meet him. I'll post them by the weekend, I was hoping to have had the papers to copy by today.

[Steve Favill]

Even though I have no personal interest in the South Staffs, I would be interested in seeing these memoirs. Have you thought to offer them to the Imperial War Museum?

Ian

They have been given to the Staffordshire Regiment Museum. They are not too long or greatly detailed, but the IWM may be interested, that's a good point.

[Doug Lewis]

South Staffs

It's a small world , looking forward to reading the information short or long.

Regards Doug.

[staffsreg]

I too am waiting to read these memoirs..here's hoping!

cheers South Staffs!

Ivan.

[Steve Favill]

I too am waiting to read these memoirs..here's hoping!

cheers South Staffs!

Ivan.

Finally! Got 'em!

As I mentioned before, they are certainly not extensive, and they were written some years after the fact, and so some details may be a little bit "iffy". Certainly they pale in comparison some some that I have read on this forum, but as they say, every little helps. My great-uncle had emigrated to the United States after the war, and lived until May 29th, 1981. There are a few American terms used here and there, which I have kept in.

There are some interesting insights, though.......here goes.

"William Herbert Lewis, Bn. Willenhall, Staffordshire on December 7th, 1898.

October 1914

At the age of 16 years and 9 months, I told the recruiter I was eighteen. They took me. My parents could have protested and made void the enlistment, but my father said "You have made your bed, now you can lie on it".

Minus guns and uniforms we were stationed at the Earl of Dudley's estate named Himley Hall, about six miles from Wolverhampton. It was there that I met a fine young man who was to be my buddy until we were seperated in 1917 when I was a war casualty having received a good dose of mustard gas that put me in hospital for three months. Arnold Favill was lost in action in France in March 1918 during the Kaiser's last attempt to win the war.

My sister Bessie would have married Arnold, they were very much in love, she did eventually marry Arnold's brother Bill, who had served in India during WW1."

Installment number two to follow.........

[Steve Favill]

Second Installment

"Arnold and I were promoted to Lance Corporal and eventually became instructors of signaling which led the the position of Signal Clerks, which meant that we were responsible for all ciphering, and incoming and outgoing messages at battalion headquarters.

Our first overseas assignment was to Dublin, Easter Sunday in 1916 to help quell the Sinn Fein rebellion. Four regiments landed at Kingstown, about ten miles south of Dublin. When we arrived at the outskirts of Dublin, we were faced with SinnFeiners who had set up barricades on all of the important buildings. Homes galore were raided, and finally a British gunboat sailed into Dublin Bay and up the River Liffey and knocked out the rebels in their strongholds, such as the flour mill.

The full brigade of four Staffordshire regiments North and South stayed on in camps an barracks until early 1917 when we departed from the south of England as a full division, the 59th 15,000 strong plus support bound for Le Havre France. We crossed on the SS Karmac. It was very interesting to be standing on deck reading the Morse code being flashed from ship to ship as they formed a convoy before sailing across the English Channel."

[wig]

You might wish to know that the Staffordshires in Dublin were accused of some atrocities against the civilian population. In fact there is little doubt that they were engaged in some atrocities. But it is so frustrating to see just a sentance on Dublin, but then the great war in Europe was always more important and left a deeper impression on the common soldier that a bit of agro in Dublin......

wig

[Doug Lewis]

Hi Wig

Do you have any information in relation to the Staffords and the troubles in Dublin. My G.Grandad was one of the Staffords in Dublin, Anything that would put more meat on the bone in relation to his service would be welcome.

Regards Doug.

[Steve Favill]

It is interesting that Dublin would get such a small mention, but then again, he did not really go into much detail on anything. I'd like to find out more about the role of the regiment in Dublin as well.

I'll continue with the third installment of his narrative:-

"I should mention that under normal conditions, the battalion headquarters signal station consisted of one NCO, one telegraph operator, two linemen and two runners. We were responsible for keeping in touch with the four companies, ABC and D, and also brigade headquarters. You could either speak, or send Morse code on the field telephones. The code word was changed every day and we would create five-letter words to read like this: TWXKR AXCPT.

Intelligence reports were passed out balmost daily, telling of troop movements and other pertinent items. We were able to tell just what type of German army we confronted, the Saxons and, I believe, the Bavarians were enjoyable company, whereas the others (Prussians) would make life miserable with continuous heavy gunfire.

Our first trench occupation was a beaut, mud from ankle to knee deep. French troops, it was rumoured, had occupied the mud hole, it was a disgrace to any army. While we were stuck in the mud, the Germans had vacated their trenches opposite us, and I wish you could have seen their company headquarters dugout, with a ramp for mules leading down to the living quarters, full-size beds, electric lights and a cute little swith-board. The trenches had duck boards, and out in front was a pill box with thick concrete walls and a peep-hole large enough to fire a machine-gun through. Their average dugout was about thirty feet deep.

Later near Lens in France, we were to enjoy the duck-boards in all of the threnches. Us headquarter signallers did twelve hours on duty and twelve off, I well remember sauntering from our dugout to a little shack in the woods, it was covered in honeysuckle."

[stubriscoe]

South Staffs,

As a little background to your Soldier's Memoirs, third part, here is an extract from the War history of the 6th Battalion, South Staffordshire Regiment.

(this covers both the 1/6 and 2/6 battalions, and includes a chapter on the 2/6 in Ireland, which is not covered by the War Diary).

QUOTE

If such conditions as the Battalion then encountered were the common lot of all, the severity of them, as a first experience, must be conceded none the less. The vilest weather; inevitably the least adequate supplies; shortage of water to drink, and, withal, an increased activity of enemy artillery, dispensing of its accumulated supplies of ammunition before withdrawing its line—such were the first sorrows of this unit in its new existence. The shortage of water was due to lack of petrol tins to carry it in, and to the fact that the well of supply was, when resorted to, marked off as forbidden ground by the enemy artillery! Overnight something was done to improve the trenches, but with the light of day this was quickly undone by that same enemy artillery. These would have been a strenuous enough four days, even for seasoned troops; for our raw material the result was much sickness. The relief was late and protracted in " taking over." Trenches were finally cleared at 3.30 a.m. on the night 14/15 March. The march back to Berny support lines was mainly over exposed ground, in very muddy paths and trenches. The mud was so thick and deep that in many cases men's boots were drawn off their feet, and they completed the march without them. The taking over of huts from an outgoing unit was not complete until 7.30 a.m. in the morning, and even then many men were missing, in search of whom relief parties had to be despatched. At 8 p.m. on the 16th, the Battalion, with a constantly increasing number of sick, paraded in order to march back from the support lines to Brigade Reserve; but the relief was again a protracted business and was not complete till 3.30 a.m. on March 16th, on which day at 4.30 a.m. the Battalion arrived again at Foucaucourt.

END QUOTE

Regards,

Stuart

[asdarley]

Good stuff! Keep it coming!

[Steve Favill]

Stuart, thanks for posting the section of the war history that referred to the same trenches that Bill was talking about. That was interesting, seeing from the official perspective.

Anyway, on to Part Four.........

"Some time around June 1917 we soldiers in the front line had the privilege of showing American officers around our section of the line, the Colonel or the Major would do the honours, and it was my pleasure to follow them around with a pad and a pencil. We were very happy because we needed help, and the Americans did take over a large chunk of the front line from the French whom we had heard had mutinied. As a youngster, the splashy uniforms and all new equipment of the new-comers intrigued me immensely.

We moved from one sector to the other, all the way from Ypres in Belgium to St. Quentin in France, and I did not see a civilian for about six months. Later, we witnessed an elderly French couple walking down the middle of the street, it was evident that they had been shopping. The man passed the bag to his wife, walked over by a store front and urinated into a small trough, in plain view of the soldiers.........."