4th Durham Light Infantry

[Paul Johnson]

Undertaking some research into Lt Reginald Anthony Hargreaves - 4th DLI - Missing In Action 28th June 1917.

Anybody tell me what action, if any, the Battalion were involved in on this day?

I will be checking his Service Record & the Unit War Diary soon but there may be some information out there that is not included in these two sources.

Thanks

Paul Johnson

[Clive Harris]

Paul, I think you may find he was attatched to the 2nd Battalion, the 4th were on Garrison duties at Seaham Harbour from September 15 for the duration of the war.

The 2nd Battalion did suffer a number of other rank casualties on the 28th June, there was a last attack in the Northern part of the Arras battlefields towards Lens on that day, it was unusual in that it featured a number of dummy tanks, dummy constructed men that were raised above the parapet on pully's and ropes. The Germans reacted with a heavy barrage and under the cover of this the 5th division attacked at Oppy. Though the 2nd Durham's were in the 6th Division at this time I think were on the flanks of this attack.

I am sure someone out there will be able to confirm this for me

regards

Clive

[Paul Johnson]

Thanks Clive for the info.

I need to look a bit further into this. I was going to visit the PRO this week but looks like the weather may have stumped me. (I'd be rubbish in the trenches, faced with a bit of cold weather)

regards

PAUL JOHNSON

[David T]

Paul,

4th Battalion DLI was the 4th (Extra Reserve) Battalion, the primary role of which was to supply drafts of trained and fit men to frontline battalions. In the early days, this was almost exclusively for the 2nd Battalion, DLI, the only regular army DLI battalion to serve on the Western Front. Later, as the DLI expanded so drafts were also provided to other DLI battalions serving overseas and, occasionally, to other regiments. In all, the battalion despatched over one hundred and fifty drafts overseas, the last in November 1918 after the armistice with Germany. Almost three hundred officers passed through the battalion for training. plus anything from 13,000 to 16,000 'Other Ranks' ... depending on the source used!

An important secondary role for the 4th (Extra Reserve) Battalion was coast defence as part of the Tyne Garrison. Seaham was its base of operations for most of the war. The main source of information about the battalion's war record is a digest of service held by the Durham Records Office (Reference D/DLI 034/1), but this will not help provide further information re. Lt Hargreaves. My guess is that he was a regular army officer, formally attached to the 4th Battalion and then temporarily attached to the 2nd Battalion or some other unit.

However, the good news is that, having resrearched the war records of each and every DLI battalion during the last few years, I can provide a little more information to that already provided by Clive. 2nd Battalion, DLI was in action on 28 June 1917, when a very succesful raid was mounted on a front of about two hundred yards. A bangalore torpedo was used to get through enemy wire and the eighty-six man raiding party inflicted heavy casualties on the Germans. So successful was the raid that several DCMs and MMs were awarded.

Casualties included an officer and three 'Other Ranks' killed, plus twenty-six men wounded and seven 'Missing'. I cannot confirm if the officer killed was Lieutenant Hargeaves, but it seems very likely - he's listed in 'Offficers Died ...' (p. 160) as having been 'Killed in action' on 28 June 1917. The one thing I can add that might be of some help is that the trench map reference reference in relation to the successful raid was:

Loos, Edition 8B and Lens, Edition 8A (10,000: 1 scale)

Guess you've already searched the Commonwealth War Graves site. If Lieutenant Hargreaves is buried in that area it might be reasonable to assume he was the officer killed that day. You could always ask the Durham Record Office to do a seach for you - the relevant 2nd Battalion war diary reference is D/DLI 042/3, and the DRO telephone number is 0191 - 383 - 3253 (Durhan County Council, County Hall, Durham).

Hope your researches are fruitful.

David T.

[peterd]

David,

Can you shed any light on my grandfather John (Jack) Dillarstone. I know he served with 4DLI as I have the silver head to a swagger stick engraved to this effect. However, he did go to France (or Flanders) and was wounded and gassed (probably lightly) but sufficently to preclude him going down the pit again when demobilised. The only other thing we know about him is that he was a batmat to a Captain Sebag Montefiorri in France and also a member of a concert party. Any comments would be appreciated.

Thanks

Peter Dillarstone

[Paul Johnson]

David,

Thank you for the information. I will tie this in with what I already have about Hargreaves. I think you are right, he is most likely to be the officer killed on the 28/6/17 with the 2nd DLI.

I will contact the Durham RO and see what they can come up with.

Thank you again for a very informative and useful piece of info.

Regards

PAUL JOHNSON

[widwick]

Paul

The only contribution I can make is that Lt Hargreaves is not in the 'Officers of the DLI 1758-1968 (Vol 1 - Regulars)' by M McGregor, nor is he a pre 1914 regular in The DLI by W L Vane. Can anyone with a pre 1917 Army List help here?

Peter

If your grandfather served with Capt Eric Cecil Sebag-Montefiore in France it was between 18 October and 11 November 1918 according to McGregor

Regards

Tony

[Paul Johnson]

Peter,

Thanks for the info. I may check the 1917 Army List, next time I am at the PRO.

Regrads

PAUL JOHNSON