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Born-Horsham

Enlisted-London

The Battle of the Somme (July-November, 1916)

By the beginning of October, 1916,  the Battle of the Somme had been raging for three months. Thousands of men had already been killed or wounded or were simply missing, never to be seen again and and just a few square miles of the French countryside, all in the southern part of the battlefield, had been captured from the enemy. Mistakes had been made by the various commanders and would be continued to be made but there was no turning back as the British, Australians, South Africans, New Zealanders and Canadians carried on battering away at the German defences in the hope of a breakthrough, So it continued all the way through to November with nearly every battalion and division then in France being drawn into it at some stage. In the end the German trenches had been pushed back a few more miles along most of the line but the cost in lives had been staggering. By the end of the fighting in November, 1916, British Army casualties numbered over 400,000, killed, wounded and missing.

The Battle of the Ancre Heights  1st October-11th November, 1916

After the capture of Thiepval at the end of September, 1916, the Germans no longer held dominant positions overlooking the valley of the River Ancre and the British attack here was now renewed. It was carried out by the Reserve Army, holding the front either side of the River Ancre while at the same time, further to the east, the Fourth Army attacked in the Battle of the Transloy Ridge.

On 30th September, 1916, the 1st Wiltshire battalion of 7 Brigade, 25th Division moved into the wet and muddy support trenches to the east of Pozières. On 2nd October they moved further forward into the front line, occupying Hessian and Zollern Trenches and Stuff Redoubt where they remained there until relieved on 7th October. The Battalion Diary for 5th October recorded that during the morning the enemy shelling of their positions was quite heavy, easing off in the afternoon and it is most likely that it was this that caused the death of Robert Bailey.