Current Information:

Age-21

24, Mount Ararat Road, Richmond

Flatiron Copse Cemetery, Mametz, Somme

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.

On 1st July, 1916, 56th (London) Division, which included 14th London of 168 Brigade, had been heavily involved during the opening day of the Battle of the Somme when they attacked the German defences at Gommecourt on the northern edge of the battlefield. They remained in that sector until the beginning of September when they moved south, to where the battle was raging. During the night of 6th/7th September, 56th Division relieved 5th Division in the front line in preparation for the forthcoming attack against Combles while 16th Division attacked Ginchy. For the 14th London battalion of 168 Brigade this meant being temporarily attached to 5th Division on 5th September and moving forward to Chimpanzee Trench near Maricourt and then, that evening, taking over from 1st East Surrey in Leuze Wood, a difficult relief that was not completed until daylight. One of the big problems on the Somme battlefield was that the land had been swept bare and in the dark there were very few discernible features to guide incoming units and, as was the case with this relief, they got lost. Add to this the rain and German shelling and the relief took on nightmare proportions. When they finally reached the support line in Leuze Wood there were no trenches to speak of, just the positions that 1st East Surrey had reached in the course of the fighting. During the day they were heavily shelled and that evening moved forward to relieve the 7th Royal Irish Rifles in the front line which they did but at the cost of many more casualties. 14th London remained in these forward positions until relieved on 8th September and moving back into Brigade reserve at Maltzhorn Farm. James Cockburn was one of the battalion’s casualties during these three days in action.