Wounded with the 10th West Yorkshires on the Somme, 25 August 1918

Background

This article is derived from a study I made for a private client in 2020. It concerns Albert Binns, a Knaresborough man who enlisted aged 21 years and 9 months on 31 August 1914. At that time, he joined the cavalry and began training, but in November 1914 he was discharged from the army on medical grounds under King’s Regulations 392iii due to poor eyesight. It is not clear why this defect was not revealed during his initial medical examination.

On 19 July 1915 Albert re-enlisted, joining the 5th Battalion of the Prince of Wales’s Own (West Yorkshire Regiment) (Territorial Force) and was made its Private 3315. He was later renumbered 201293. After training with 2.5th Battalion he joined the 1/5th in France. He had an eventful war. Albert was wounded on the Somme on 8 August 1916; gassed at Nieuwpoort on 1-2 August 1917; married in Nottingham in early 1918; and was then posted to the regiment’s 10th (Service) Battalion. He was then wounded for a second time.

It was on 25 August 1918 that Albert was admitted by 51st Field Ambulance, a unit of the Royal Army Medical Corps that supported his battalion. Its admission register notes that he was suffering from a shot wound to his right forearm and that he was evacuated the same day to a Casualty Clearing Station. The dressing station operated by the Field Ambulance was on this date not terribly close to his battalion but it is myassumption that he was wounded on the same date or possibly the day before. He may have been lucky: on 26 August the battalion participated in a large scale attack and sustained heavy casualties. Albert was discharged from the army on medical grounds on 1 April 1919.

The 10th (Service) Battalion

The 10th (Service) Battalion had been raised in September 1914 and had been in France since July 1915. It was under command of the 50th Infantry Brigade of the 17th (Northern) Division throughout the war and by the time that Albert Binns joined it had gained much experience.

In the spring of 1918 it participated in the desperate defensive fighting against the German offensive “Operation Michael” in the Somme sector.

In late July and early August 1918 French and British forces carried out successful counter-attacks. It turned out to be the beginning of a more or less continuous series of successful battles, often known as the “Hundred Days Offensive”. The first all-British phase (including Canadian and Australian forces) was the Battle of Amiens on 8 August 1918; the next was the Second Battles of the Somme, 1918 which began on 21 August. It was in this phase of offensive action that Albert was wounded for the third and final time.

Circumstances of wounding

Part of a map from the British Official History, showing the progress made by the southernmost three of the five British Armies in France and Flanders during the “Hundred Days Offensive”. The area of specific interest to Albert’s story is that of the Third Army.

Same source. Part of a map illustrating Third Army’s offensive operations in the period 21-23 August 1918. This is known as the Battle of Albert, the first phase of the Second Battles of the Somme, 1918. Note the location of 17th (Northern) Division, which at the time was in reserve behind the 21st and 38th (Welsh) Divisions.

Same source. As the advance continued in the period 23-27 August (the Battle of Bapaume), the 17th (Northern) Division came into action. It crossed the River Ancre just north of Thiepval and was within sight of the old “Leipzig salient” where Albert had been wounded in 1916.

A clearer view of the progress made in the relevant area, 21-26 August 1918. Note the location of Pozières, in the centre of the map. (Linesman)

On 23 August 1918, Albert’s battalion crossed the Ancre and by the end of 24 August had reached a position north west of Pozières. Its war diary is not terribly easy to read, being rather faded, but the entry for 25 August (the day on which I believe that Albert was wounded) reads as follows:

“Battalion HQ – X.3.b.6.4
5am. 52nd Infantry Brigade passed through 50th Infantry Brigade which now became the brigade in divisional reserve. The battalion [was] ordered to follow 1000 yards in rear of the right flank of 52nd Infantry Brigade and be prepared to protect the right flank of the division.
5.30am. The battalion moved forward and at noon took up a position south of Martinpucih, facing South East in [map squares] S.2.a. and b.
6pm. Battalion moved to line facing South and East in M3..c. and S.2.b.”

Given that Albert Binns was evacuated to the Field Ambulance and even went on to a Casualty Clearing Station on the same date, it appears likely that he was wounded either the day before or fairly early on in this advance.

I have used a red triangle to mark the position of Battalion HQ before the advance began, laying it onto a map produced in late July 1918. The area was heavily cratered by shellfire and riddled with trenches, barbed wire defences, dugouts and traces of older defences from 1916. (Linesman)

My red flags mark grid map positions S.2a. and b, the position reached by noon. Famous names from 1916. (Linesman)

The battalion’s advance overlaid a present-day map. Albert Binns appears to have been wounded somewhere within the area shown. (Linesman)

Imperial War Museum photoraph IWM Q11251. “A German shell-burst, seen near Grevillers, on the New Zealand Division front”. The day on which Albert was wounded and while it is a few miles from his location, this is a typical Somme scene that he would recognise.

Links

West Yorkshire Regiment

Second Battles of the Somme, 1918

War diary of 10th (Service) Battalion (National Archives)

Linesman maps produced by Great War Digital