Current Information:

Born-Mitcham

Dantzig Alley British Cemetery, Mametz, France

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 1st July, 22 Brigade had been in reserve when 7th Division took part in the attack on Mametz, one of the few successful operations on that day. On the night of 3rd-4th July, 2nd Royal Irish and 1st Royal Welsh Fusiliers moved up to occupy a line along the southern edge of Mametz Wood. The following night, along with other battalions, 2nd Royal Irish crept up, under cover of the rain and darkness, to within 100 yards of the enemy line and then at 12.45am, after a 30 minute bombardment, they attacked. On the left Quadrangle and Shelter trenches were captured but on the right 2nd Royal Irish did not fare so well. They were held up by uncut wire and driven back by machine gun fire. They tried twice more but each time the German fire was too fierce and they were unable to capture either Mametz or Wood Trench. Among their casualties that night was Ernest Ayling.