The wire had
been cut successfully.The Germans were mostly caught in dugouts, so little
resistance was encountered
89th
Brigade : starting from four lines of assembly trenches at 7.30 a.m.,17th
and 20th King's met little resistance and moved on to Casement
and Alt Trenches. The 2nd Bedfordshire were in support and
mopping-up. The attack pressed on to Dublin Trench. At 8.30 a.m.the right of
the line joined with the French and the left, in the east end of Glatz
Redoubt; simultaneously, the 3rd Battalion of the French 153rd
Regiment entered Dublin Redoubt at the east of Dublin Trench.The position
was consolidated
21st
Brigade : The enemy here was also caugh in its dugouts so little resistance
was encouterd
Leading,
with 19th Manchesters, 18th King's went forward until
they caught up with British barrage at Alt Trench, where they had to wait
until the barrage lifted at 7.45 a. m., before occupying it. The Manchesters
had few losses but the King's were caught by enfilade machine-gun fire from
the west side of Railway Valley. Fire from the Warren caused severe
casualties among 2nd Green Howards who were in support, and few
managed to cross no man's land. A party of Germans came out of a deep dugout
and proceeded eastwards but were out-bombed by a party of moppers-up. This
enabled 18th King's to advance along Train Alley to Glatz
Redoubt, reaching it at 8.35 a.m. and joning with 89th Brigade
90th
Brigade : At 8.30 a.m.90th Brigade began its advance on
Montauban, passing through 21st Brigade with 16th and
17th Manchesters. The 2nd Royal Scots Fusiliers were
in close support. Despite machine-gun fire from Bresleau Alley, they
continued their advance, and the German machine-gun was finally wiped out by
a Lewis-gun of the 16th Manchesters. Under cover of a
smoke-screen, the Manchesters and Royal Scots Fusiliers entered the village
of Montauban at 10.05 a.m., to find it deserted. By 11 a.m. the second
objective in Montauban Alley was entered. The Germans were pulling back in
large numbers. The 16th Manchesters rushed the battery in
Caterpillar Valley and captured the first three guns of the battle.
Montauban was consolidated.At 12.30 p.m. 4th Coy, 20th King's (89th
Brigade) attacked La Briqueterie from Dublin Trench under cover of an
artillery bombardment
Simultaneously,
bombers moved up Nord Alley cutting off the retreat of the garrison. By
12.35p.m.La Briqueterie was taken, as were all objectives and the position
was consolidated. By 6p.m. the road to Maricourt-Montauban had been repaired
200 yards beyond the old German front line
The 30th
Division had taken all its objectives
18th and 30th
Division attack on Montauban, July 1st 1916.
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Capt.W.P.Nevill,
a company commander attached to the 8th East Surreys, thought of an original
way to encourage his men to go forward at zero hour on July 1st. He gave
each of his four platoons a football, the idea being that they would compete
to see which one would be the first to dribble their football up to the
German front line. However the 8th East Surrey were badly held up by
the German machine-gun fire and suffered heavy casualties. They lost nearly
all their officers, including Capt. Neville |
Sunday
July 2nd 1916. Temperature 75°; clear sky.
XIII CORPS
30thDivision.
The Germans attacked twice between 3 a.m. and 4 a.m. at Bernafay Wood. They
were repulsed by a shrapnel barrage laid by 30th Divisional artillery, which
later made an unsuccessful attempt to set the wood on fire
Monday July 3rd
1916. Temperature 68°; fine, with some cloud and thunderstorms to the
south-east
XIII CORPS.
CAPTURE OF BERNAFAY WOOD.9th Division.
After a
20-minute bombardment of the near edge, 27th Brigade attacked Bernafay Wood
at 9 p.m., occupying it almost unopposed and sustaining only six casualties.
The 6th KOSB and 12th Royal Scots covered 500 yards of open ground and took
17 prisoners, three field guns and three machine-guns. The east of
Montauban Alley was consolidated. Patrols sent out towards Trônes
Wood found it held by some machine-gun detachments.
The only thing
left intact in the village of Montauban and this large German shell lying at
her feet which did not explose
Bernafay
wood British Cemetery
This wood is
frequentely mentioned as an evil place by Australian soldiers writing home.
In the middle of the Australian sector of the Somme battlefield of 1916,
Bernafay Wood had been heavily fortified by the Germans, and thier
machine-gunners, concealed by the shelltorn tree stumps, inflicted many
casualties
The cemetery
was established on the very edge of the wood and British soldiers were being
buried there by 8 July, only a week after the beginning of the British Somme
offensive. The first Australian dead, of the 122 Australians now there, were
buried in September 1916 and the last in May 1917 but the greatest number
arrived there during the dreadful winter of 1916-17. The physical strain at
that time is indicated, for example, by the death from"heart
failure" at the age of 39, of Private William Watson, 6th Field
Ambulance (Grave J.58)
Private
Ernest Buckland, 3rd Battalion, was 44 when he died of wounds on 26
December. His widow, Elizabeth, of Laurel Street, Cabramatta, NSW, named her
home "Bernafay". It expresses her anguish (Grave J.53)
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Private
E. A. Buckland |
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These
two photos and articles were given to us by her granddaughter :
Roslyn, who came with her family, in July 2002, in our B&B. (to
see our visitor's book)
The
sympathy of the whole of the Canley Vale, St. John's Park, and other
districts will go out to Mrs E. A. Buckland of St. John's Park, widow
of Private Ernest A. Buckland, who was killed in action in France on
what is stated to be his first day in the trenches. Private Buckland
was an energetic man of 44 years, and he leaves a wife and three
littles girls. He was prior to his departure for the front president
of the St. John's Park Progress Association, president of the School
of Arts, and a prominent member of the Poultry Breeders' Association,
and one of the leading men of the district. He was a popular all-round
favorite, and was farewelled by the local people and also at the
Cabra-Vale Town Hall. His brother enlisted at Auburn shortly after
Private Buckland left for the front. Mrs Buckland was engaged at St.
John's Park Public School on the teaching staff.
OBITUARY
: Mrs Elizabeth Ann Buckland :March 15 saw the passing of one of
Cabramatta's oldest and most respected matrons in the person of Mrs.
Elizabetrh Ann Buckland, who passed away at her residence,
Laurel Street, Cabramatta, aged 84 years, after a long illness.A
native of England, deceased was born in Devonshire in 1872, and in
1901 married Mr. Ernest Buckland before migrating to Australia
in 1907. Mr Buckland was a well known identity amongst early
Cabramatta settlers, and as an employee of the Metropolitan Water
Board was responsible for the connection of water to many of the early
homes in the district,before being killed while overseas with
the 1st A.I.F. in 1916. On the death of her husband, Mrs. Buckland
took up the teaching profession. After being at St. John's Park School
for a couple of years. She was transferred to Cabramatta Public
School, where she taught for some ten years before hill-health forced
her to retire in May 1928. An ardent worker for her church, Mrs.
Buckland was an active member of the soldiers' Memorial Church of
England Women's Guild. She was also a member of Cabramatta C.W.A.
branch, and an original member of War Widows' Guild. It was deceased's
wish that her funeral be a quiet private one. Left to mourn her
passing are daughters, Phyllis Dorothy Buckland, now a teacher at
Cabramatta Infants school, Mrs E. (Mick) Kohler of Bulli,
granddaughter Roslyn Horne, Mrs. J. Warner, and great-grandson Gregory
Warner. Another daughter Mrs. D. Horne of Leadville, predeceased her
in December 1944. |
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A splendid
soldier and gentle man, Captain Percy Chapman MC, 55th Battalion, who was
killed on 12 March 1917, was a survivor of the Battle of Fromelles. He left
a poignant description of an incident during that battle when he and
Captain Norman Gibbins saw a German crawling towards them in the dark.
Gibbins and Chapman led him but when Chapman let go one of his hands,
"The poor mangled brute got up on his knees and started to pray.
"O cruel, cruel", said Gibbins, as the two officers helped the
German along. Gibbins himself was killed later in the battle ( Chapman's
grave, J.42) |
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A
very young, very brave, very junior leader in Bernafay Wood cemetery is also
worthy of mention. He is Lance Corporal Robert Otter, 1st Battalion. A
veteran of the Gallipoli campaign, he was only 19 when he was leading
patrols at Flers in October 1916. Two shells exploded in the middle of his
last patrol and Otter was too severely wounded to be moved to the rear. He
died of his wounds on 1 November (Grave G.28)
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