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Enlisted-Willesden

Sailly-Saillisel British Cemetery, France

The Somme trenches were no place to be during the winter of 1916-1917.  Constant rain, snow and cold winds made them a nightmare. Men who were able to make the comparison said that the mud of the Somme was worse than that at Passchendaele, later in 1917. Simply surviving in the shell battered trenches was arduous enough but by now the plans for a major offensive at Arras were well advanced and they included a need to keep the Germans fully occupied on the Somme front. Starting early in the year, the British launched a number of attacks on the Somme front, aimed at capturing strategic points in the German line and thereby undermining their overall defences.

An example of this occurred on 28th February, 1917, when 86 Brigade of 29th Division attacked Palz and Potsdam trenches east of Sailly-Saillisel as the Germans began their retreat to the Hindenburg line. At 5.30am, 2nd Royal Fusiliers attacked Palz Trench on the right of the Brigade front. They moved forward behind an excellent artillery barrage during which the right of their advance lost direction slightly because of the difficulties of the terrain. Four minutes after zero the enemy artillery opened up but did not interfere with the attack because it fell on the old front line and behind it. There were plenty of good gaps in the wire and 2nd Royal Fusiliers had no difficulty getting through it. They met very little resistance in the German trenches. The enemy, caught by surprise, surrendered readily with many being caught in the dug-outs. Attempts to then move move to the right were thwarted by enemy bombers working down Bayreuth Trench and there followed a day of heavy fighting At 1.30pm the German bombardment became intense and at  1.40pm there was a strong enemy bombing attack down Bayreuth Trench. The bombers of 2nd Royal Fusiliers who sought to repel this were picked off by snipers on higher ground but eventually a block was formed 200 yards south of where Weimar Trench entered Palz Trench, After this it was a matter of consolidating the ground that had been won and fighting off the counter-attacks that inevitably followed. The attack had been a success but 2nd Royal Fusiliers had suffered a large number of casualties during the course of the fighting. One of these was Harold Coles.