Current Information:

Age-27

44, Worple Avenue, Isleworth

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

By the beginning of September, 1916,  the Battle of the Somme had been raging for two 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 village of Thiepval had been a first day objective when the Battle of the Somme began on 1st July, 1916, and two an a half months later it was still in German hands, That all changed on 26th September when an attack by the Reserve Army succeeded in wresting it  from the enemy. 18th Division were heavily involved with this successful, but  costly attack and were given the difficult task of capturing the western part of Thiepval and the Schwaben Redoubt on top of the ridge, half a mile beyond the village. 55 Brigade were in reserve whilst 54 Brigade and 53 Brigade managed to capture most of the village but not the redoubt. The rest of the village was captured the next day and on 28th September, 53 Brigade attacked and captured the southern face of the Schwaben Redoubt. During the night of 29th-30th September, 8th East Surrey relieved the weary and much depleted troops in this precarious position. The Germans were desperate not to lose complete control of this stronghold and at dawn on 30th September they launched a counter-attack and drove 8th East Surrey from the southern face. But their success did not last long. 8th East Surrey immediately launched their own counter-attack and the position was restored with the bayonet. Then, at 4pm, 55 Brigade attacked the northern face of the redoubt behind a heavy creeping barrage. 8th East Surrey attacked astride the trenches on the right and across the open on the left and occupied all of the northern face of the Schwaben Redoubt but at 9pm they themselves were attacked from the west and being very tired were forced to give ground as far as the entrance to Stuff Trench. The battalion’s casualty list for 30th September was a long one. Over 300 officers and men had been either killed, wounded or were missing. One of those who did not make it back was Cuthbert Reynolds.