Current Information:

Age-22

37, Hazelhurst Road, Tooting

Born-Wandsworth

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

On 1st July 1916 The British Army launched a massive offensive along a section of the front line running north of the River Somme. The French attacked south of it. The first day was a disaster for the British army which suffered nearly 60,000 casualties, 19,000 of whom were killed, and made hardly any inroads into the enemy lines. But the battle had to go on, if for no other reason than to relieve pressure on the French at Verdun where they had been facing the full onslaught of the powerful German Army. 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 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.

On 14th July, 1916, a second major offensive was launched, this time against the German second line of defences stretching from Longueval to Bazentin-le-Petit, but unfortunately, after a promising start which saw some important gains on the first day, the British Army once again reverted to a series of uncoordinated attacks, using out dated tactics. Not surprisingly they soon found themselves engaged in a war of attrition as they attempted to push the enemy further back across the Somme battlefield. This was no more so the case than in the fight to capture the village of Longueval and Delville Wood that lay next to it; a struggle that went on for many weeks through the summer of 1916.

5th Division moved into this sector on 19th July, 1916 and began preparing for their part in a general attack on the night of 22nd- 23rd July, 1916, which would involve seven other divisions with objectives that stretched from Guillemont on the right of the line to Pozieres Ridge on the left. 3rd Division attacked Delville Wood and in order to protect the left flank, 1st East Surrey and 1st Cornwall Light Infantry of 95 Brigade, 5th Division, attempted to clear the enemy strongpoints in the orchards to the north of Longueval. They both managed to cross the Flers road and 1st East Surrey captured and consolidated one of these strongpoints, but a strong German counter attack drove back both battalions to Pont Street, their starting off point. During the night the battalion was relieved and moved back in reserve to old German trenches near Montauban. Three days later, 27th July, another attack was made on Delville Wood and at 2pm, 1st East Surrey were ordered to move up to the old German trenches 1,000 yards west of Longueval. That night they relieved 1st Norfolk and 1st Bedford in the positions they had won during the day in the village of Longueval and in the north-west corner of Delville Wood. The relief was an ordeal in the dark, across unknown territory and being constantly shelled by the enemy. The battalion had suffered 70 casualties by the time they had reached their new positions at 6am. They spent the rest of 28th July consolidating and improving what cover was available and all the time the shells kept coming over. If anything the 29th July was a worse experience for 1st East Surrey. The shell fire did not let up in the slightest and made communication with the rear almost impossible. No food or ammunition was making its way up but most pressing was the lack of water especially for the many wounded lying around, unable to be evacuated. Then, in full daylight in the middle of the afternoon, two companies were ordered to attack two enemy post, north-west of Longueval. A previous bombardment of these posts by the artillery was assumed to have put the machine guns there out of action but this was not the case and the attack came to grief when they opened up. Those still alive managed to crawl back to their own lines to lick their wounds. Over the period from 27th July to 29th July, 1st East Surrey lost over 300 officers and men, killed, wounded or missing. One of these was George Benfell.