2nd Rifle Brigade, Aubers Ridge

[nealw66]

Just to add my thanks to the many previous posters who have shared so much information on the 2nd Bn Rifles and Aubers Ridge in particular.

I am currently researching two brothers who both served during this action.

Z2655 William Hugh Wreford was wounded on the 9th May and died of those wounds in Bolougne on 18th May. (Although shown on CWGC as 4th Btn, his record shows him as 2nd.)

His brother, Z2656 Lesley Warren Wreford was also wounded on the 9th May, but recovered and was commisioned into 4th London. He was later killed in action in August 1917.

Thanks again to those who have helped add detail to their sacrifice.

Neal

[Victoria Burbidge]

I took my eye off the ball and a whole raft of relatives appeared whilst I wasn’t looking …………………

I’ll deal with each one separately and then I’ll try to give a précis of the 9th May 1915.

V.

[Victoria Burbidge]

My great uncle William F Tate (born 1891 in Coventry - William Frederick Augustus Take) served in this unit and died on May 9th, 1915

John, we seem to have a couple of slight discrepancies here. William’s service record states that he was born in London, Middlesex (parish unknown) and that his surname was “Tate”, not “Take”. I’m intrigued. Could you shed a little light on this for me? He doesn’t appear to have had much in the way of family. Do you have any family history which you’d be happy to share with me?

His service record is extremely damaged and what’s left is almost illegible, but this is what I’ve managed to put together for you so far:

William (Willie) Frederick Tate

Born: London

Enlisted: Coventry 2nd October 1908, aged 18 years and 4 months

Occupation: “cycle grinder”

Height: 5 feet, 4 ¾ inches

Next-of-kin: Percival Horace Tate (brother) of 128 Grace Street, Toronto, Ontario, Canada)

Posted to 1st Bn. Rifle Brigade (the “home” battalion) and then to the 2nd Battalion at Rawal Pindi (date unknown, but quite possibly December 1912, arriving January 1913).

Willie Tate arrived in France on 7th November 1914 with the 2/RB and would undoubtedly have seen action in the Battle of Neuve Chapelle in March 1915. I can find no trace of him having been wounded at this time. He was posted as “missing” following the action at Fromelles on 9th May 1915 and nothing more was heard of him. He is commemorated on the Ploegsteert Memorial to the Missing. I have a photo of his name on the Memorial. If you're interested, I'll try e-mailing it through to you.

V.

[Moriaty]

I have done a little research on Captain Alan Knyveton Hargreaves of the 2nd Rifle Brigade, kia 9 May 1915 and buried at Le Trou and am aware of the family connection with Lewis Carroll.

Alan was originally in the 3rd Battalion, can anyone clarify whether he was attached to the 2nd Battalion when he returned to France in March 1915 after convalescing from a bullet wound received on 13 October the previous year?

Also I wondered whether anyone has a photograph of him?

Thanks in advance for any help

Moriaty

[markivee]

I have, of late, laid my hands upon a 1st Edition of "Jackets Of Green" by Arthur Bryant

I quote Page 240 regarding the Battle of Aubers Ridge

There was a postscript to this further martyrdom of the 2nd Battalion - a letter found later on the body of a German Roman Catholic priest who had been serving as a volunteer in the ranks. "If the British Army is going to fight like this Rifle Brigade," he wrote, "Germany can never win the war"

"How these Englishmen had in twelve hours dug themselves in! The hundred fellows who were in our trenches had brought with them an enormous quantity of ammunition, a machine-gun and one they had captured from us. With the aid of the material lying about they had got everything ready and ship-shape for defence. Almost every single man of them had to the put out of action with hand-grenades. They were heroes all, brave and true to the end until death... They were all men of the active (sic) English Rifle Brigade... men who were only mercenaries could not behave like this"

R.B.C 1926, 177; 1918, 60-I.

Mark.

Lest We Forget

[SiegeGunner]

Interesting quote and provenance, Mark. I'd be interested to know who the German priest was and which regiment he served with. Also, what action occurred later in which the RB came into possession of the man's body.

'Active' is a mis-translation - the German word actually means 'regular' as in regular Army. The Germans often referred to British regulars as mercenaries, so the second part should probably be translated as "... men who were mere mercenaries could not ..."

Mick

[markivee]

With much thanks to Ben Townsend for doing the scans for me.

R.B.C 1918 Pg 60-1

R.B.C 1926 Pg 177

although the reference given for the 1926 chronicle seems to be a bit ... err ... wayward ... but there you go

Mark.

[da bomb]

My Great Grandfather Cpl George Forder Elsdon (6934) originally entered the war with 1/Bn Rifle Brigade and then transferred to 2/Bn RB at some time during the war. Shown here in a postcard photograph in "Hospital Blues" a Blue hospital uniform with white shirt and red tie, to distinguish them while back home.

He made a note of a Sgt (588794) with B Coy 4/Bn Northamptonshire Regt home address on the rear of the postcard, and i noticed reading this that they were involved in the action near Aubers Ridge. Whether Cpl G.F. Elsdon was with 2/Bn at the time i am not sure, or if he joined afterwards to help bolster the 2/bn replacements.

I only recently found out that he died in May 1927 Aged 61, which would of made him 48 years old in 1914. A proper "Old" Contemptible.

[Guest mhanley]

The 2nd King's Royal Rifle Corps (of 2nd Brigade, 1st Division) were in the Southern Attack at the battle of Aubers Ridge - a mile or so south-west of the area where 2nd Rifle Brigade were. They were the second wave of attack that went in after the 1st Battalion of the Northamptonshire Regiment.

Whilst I don't have a description of what the 2nd Kings Royal Rifle Corps faced, the following is a letter describing the attack as the Northamptons found it:

Peterborough Advertiser 19th June 1915

Sergeant Yerrells Story of the 9th

Sergeant S Yerrell of the 1st Northamptonshire Regiment, whose mother lives at 78 Belsize Avenue, writes, "I hope you will be able to find space to insert this letter from two or three men of Peterborough who have been out here fighting since 12th August (1914) with the 1st Northants thus having been had about ten months good fighting. The names of us are, Corporal Bradley, Lance Corporal B. Cape {believed to be Cope, not Cape}, Private J Davey and the writer, Sgt S Yerrell. I will do my best to give you an idea of what it was like on the 9th of May, when our regiment suffered great losses. We were marched off on the night of the 8th to take up our position in the trenches, and the men went with good heart and only too eager to grapple with the enemy. All instructions were given to the men before hand as to what they had to do. The morning of the 9th broke upon us with the sun shining on the battlefield, the birds giving us a cheerful song as he partook of a little food just before the great attack. At 5am we heard the tumbling sound overhead, as if a lot of machines were working, it was the opening up of the bombardment by our artillery, by looking over the trench and seeing houses brought down to the ground in a cloud of red and black smoke, we knew that it was the firing of our big gun known to us as "Mother". It fired three or four times when all of a sudden about a thousand guns of different calibre opened fire with terrible rapidity, and it was as if the air was alive with shells which played "Old Harry" with the enemy's trenches. We crouched down behind our own trenches waiting for the word "Advance" whilst shells went on before us with a message of death, playing havoc with everything in front. At last the watches of the officers pointed to 5.31am with the artillery still coughing, and the Germans answering with "Jack Johnsons" which the plugged into our trenches with showers of shrapnel over our heads. When the order came down the lines, "Over the top and advance" all the soldier, some of whom had been fighting for months, some of whom were about to have their baptism of fire, joined in the biggest attack ever known. It was grand to see how everyone behaved, for it was as if the whole army jumped up like one man to go out for their revenge on an enemy who had debased himself by murdering innocent women and children. We went out to meet the dreadful fire of machine guns and rifles amid a constant rain of bursting shells which decimated our men, but still they went on, but with one object in front of them, to drive the enemy from the position and gain victory for England.

The front line consisted of "B" and "D" Companies of the 1st Northamptonshire Regiment, and two companies of the Royal Sussex, who have proved themselves to be a good lot of fighters. With men falling all round, the two companies of our regiment went on until within 300 yards of the barbed wire, with the remainder of the regiment coming upon on our left and at the rear. At this point we found that we could not get any further, and one officer gave the command for his men to get in line with him and lie down, unlucky it was for him, for a shot killed him there and then. It was awful, for the enemy, knowing how they were fixed, fired on us with machine guns. Killing our wounded as they tried to crawl back to cover, and the other men who were at their mercy. It was the worst thing I have ever been through, when I could see what had happened I made for cover myself, whilst the artillery on both sides kept up a terrible fire. It was awful to see our wounded start to creep back, only to be hit once again, very often fatally, I was sick at heart, for as I looked round I could only see men who had answered their country's call, and had bravely laid dowm their lives for England's sake.

It was about 4 o'clock when the bombardment started afresh, and looking around I could see the famous regiment, the Black Watch, steadily advancing over the same ground that we had covered in the morning, they did indeed gain the enemy's first trench, but soon afterwards were forced to leave it again. Towards night the firing slackened a little, and I waited patiently for darkness so that I could creep back out of the firing zone. At 10 o'clock I chanced it, running as fast as my legs could carry me until I reached my own trench. With one bound I was on the other side, not caring who was there but only wanting to gain my regiment, or what was left of it. I tell you, I said my prayers when I got there, and it was not the first time that day, nor was I the only man. You may guess what we thought when we looked around and saw what was left of the 48th.

Now these four me who I am writing for are doing their duty, and I want to ask if anyone will send us out such a thing as a mouthorgan or melodian. A good smoke or in fact anything to remind us of the good old city. We had one melodian which was sent by Mr Claypole in February but it was unlucky, for it got mixed up with a German "Jack Johnson" sometime in April, thus having a short life, if a merry one in the trenches. If anyone is so kindly inclined as to forward such a gift it would be very thankfully received by Sgt S Yerrell. "D" Company, 1st Northamptonshire Regiment, 2nd Infantry Brigade, 1st Division, BEF.

Since the above letter was received Mrs Yerrell has received notice from the War Office that Sgt Yerrell is in hospital at Wimereux suffering from Enteric Fever.

The 2nd KRRC attack followed closely behind the 1st Northamptons. The attack met with exactly the same end, with the soldiers of the K.R.R.C. being machine gunned down in front of the same field of barbed wire as the Northamptons.

I hope this gives some idea of what the morning of the 9th May 1915 was like....

Steve.

Hi Steve, i never knew you wrote this message untill today, yet it was 3yrs ago lol that is why i never replied. I am so greatful to you that you took the time to tell me about this thank you so much. My whole family never knew this poor man he like many others left a widow and 2small sons. Yet no one knew so about time they can read about this. I will send it all onto them any other info on krrc 2nd battalion or frederick hanly himself would be brill. Thanks indeed Michelle Hanley

[kenneth505]

As an aside I must encourage any who can visit this site to do so. It seems remarkable that Aubers Ridge even merited the term 'ridge.' To visit and contemplate the several heroic encounters there is a real privilege.

[oscarquebec]

Just found this post. Amazing my great uncle was Rifleman Stanley Wake also KIA May 9th 1915 at Aubers Ridge. My wife's grandfather was Sergeant Albert Yerrell RGA survived.

[bazunitec]

Well just to resurrect this thread after a few years.... my Great Uncle was George Henry Woodey. He died on 9th May 1915 and is remembered at Ploegsteert memorial which is in Belgium.... if the battle was in France, why is the memorial in Belgium... Or have I got it wrong!? I have only just this week found a photo of him which I have attached (Not brilliant I'm afraid), but this was unknown of even to my mum who was 89 when she died last year... She told me all about GHW and said there was no photos of him.....

[Guest OldHM]

Neal, You have the information about brothers William and Lesley Wreford. Have you traced the third brother, C.H, a lance Corporal with 10th Batt, Royal Fusiliers. He died 15th July, 1916 and is commemorated on the wall of Poizieres, Ovillers-La Boiselle, Somme. These three sons of John and Eveline Wrefford, New Barnet, were pupils at Queen Elizabeth's school. I have visited the three memorial sites.

Eamonn

[torchy]

I'm looking for help regarding my great, great uncle, Albert Edward Gregory who was serving with 2nd Battalion Rifle Brigade in May 1915 when he died of wounds. I have copies of war diaries and his military service records but have found some anomalies regarding the date and location of his death. I wondered if any Rifle Brigade experts could help me out.

On 9^th May 1915 the 2nd Battalion Rifle Brigade was involved in the battle of Aubers Ridge. It seems likely that Albert would have been involved in this battle.

Albert’s service records show that he died of wounds on 26^th May 1915 and he is now buried in the Cabaret Rouge British Cemetery at Souchez. His Battalion’s war diary does record that on 26^th May 1915 two men were killed by British field guns and one man was killed by rifle fire.

Some of the original Commonwealth War Graves Commission records suggest that Albert died on 9^th May 1915, the date of the Battle of Aubers Ridge. The date of death was later changed to 26th May 1915. This change appears to have been made after Albert’s body was recovered as an unknown British Soldier from its original burial site. Another discrepancy suggests that Albert was killed at Hill 60. This does not appear to be the location where the 2^nd Battalion were fighting. You could perhaps conclude that Albert was either one of those killed on 26^th May or was perhaps wounded on 9^th May 1915 and later died of his wounds on 26th May.

As a relative novice and having only recently discovered of Albert's existence I would be grateful for any help or explanations that anyone could offer as to what happened to Albert.

[Guest DatchetHistory]

Have just joined after Googling William Edmund Gray and finding so much information about him here. I'm not related, but as a local historian in Datchet (Berks) I'm leading a small group researching the village's War Memorial names, including W.E Gray and Frederick Charles Gray. We have Parish Magazines for the war period, one reporting that the three Gray brothers (Charles E, William E & Victor) 'had, by a remarkable coincidence, all met together somewhere in France'. Our research includes families and descendants as well as life on the Home Front, and is intended for publication in some form in 1918. I realise there is more here already than we could ever use, and hope somebody can help me make sense of James Gray's complicated family and of William Edmund's remarkable career.

[stiletto_33853]

On 05/02/2010 at 16:08, nealw66 said:

Just to add my thanks to the many previous posters who have shared so much information on the 2nd Bn Rifles and Aubers Ridge in particular.

I am currently researching two brothers who both served during this action.

Z2655 William Hugh Wreford was wounded on the 9th May and died of those wounds in Bolougne on 18th May. (Although shown on CWGC as 4th Btn, his record shows him as 2nd.)

His brother, Z2656 Lesley Warren Wreford was also wounded on the 9th May, but recovered and was commisioned into 4th London. He was later killed in action in August 1917.

Thanks again to those who have helped add detail to their sacrifice.

Neal

 

Old thread, some of the posters have not been active for sometime. This is a letter in the Lesley Warren Wreford file. Tragic story.

 

Andy

Edited 2 April , 2020 by stiletto_33853