The Day that Sussex died - 30th June 1916

I've covered the South Down battalions of the Royal Sussex Regiment in previous posts, but on the Day that Sussex died - 30th June 1916 - I thought it would be fitting to just drill down a little and look at one or two of the men.

On the 30th June 1916 the South Down battalions attacked towards a German position in Richebourg known as the Boar's head. The action, intended to be a diversionary assault for the main action further south the following day, resulted in over 1100 casualties for the three South Down battalions.

The sequence of numbers below is just a small group mostly centred on Chailey and Newick. NO IDENTIFIABLE SD/ RESULT means that I have been unable to find a confirmed medal index card for that particular number. In addition, b. = born, e. = enlisted, 12th = 12th Battalion, KiA = Killed in Action, DoW = Died of Wounds.

In terms of the data, it is actually depressingly representative of South Down data as a whole - two repetitive dates: 30th June 1916 and 3rd September 1916 - featuring heavily. Men joining the South Down battalions were organised broadly alphabetically by surname and then numbered, as can be seen from the segment below. Click on the individual name links below to read more about the men on my WW1 Remembrance blog and Chailey 1914-1918 website.

SD/1630 NO IDENTIFIABLE SD/ RESULT
SD/1631 Pte Percy Bish
SD/1632 Pte Sydney Arthur Brooks 12th b.Newick e.Brighton KiA 30/06/1916
SD/1633 Pte William Jared Brooks b.Newick e.Brighton
SD/1634 Pte William Thomas Brown
SD/1635 Pte Albert John Cushman
SD/1636 Pte Laurence Davis 12th e.Brighton KiA 30/06/1916
SD/1637 Pte Charles Hodges 12th b.Newick e.Lewes KiA 30/06/1916
SD/1638 Pte Ernest Larkin 12th b.Hurstmonceux e.Lewes KiA 02/06/1917
SD/1639 Pte Fred'k Charles Maple 12th b.Wiston e.Hove KiA 01/09/1917
SD/1640 Cpl William D Mead
SD/1641 Pte John E Mitchell
SD/1642 Pte H Moore
SD/1643 L/Cpl Ernest William Plummer 12th b.Ringmer e.Lewes DoW 03/09/1916
SD/1644 NO IDENTIFIABLE SD/ RESULT
SD/1645 NO IDENTIFIABLE SD/ RESULT
SD/1646 Pte Thomas Morris Warren 12th b.Lavant e.Bognor 11/11/1914; disch wounds 24/10/1917
SD/1647 Sgt William Wilkinson

Remembering the men of the South Down battalions on this, the 94th anniversary of the Day that Sussex Died. William Jared Brooks, pictured.

Read more about numbering in the South Down battalions:

11th (Service) Battalion, (1st South Down), Royal Sussex Regiment
12th (Service) Battalion, (2nd South Down), Royal Sussex Regiment
13th (Service) Battalion, (3rd South Down), Royal Sussex Regiment

Read more about the history of the South Down battalions - Lowther's Lambs.

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The Boar's Head - 30th June 1916

In Remembrance

It can be all too easy, looking purely at army service numbers, to lose sight of the fact that behind each number is a man and behind that man, people who cared for him.

On this day, 93 years ago, the South Down battalions suffered heavily in a diversionary attack at Richebourg L'Avoue on a system of trenches known as The Boar's Head. I have written about this in more detail in Chailey's Somme on my Chailey 1914-1918 website.

Although I have written in my narrative that fifteen officers and 364 Other Ranks were killed, Soldiers Died in the Great War reveals the following statistics for the 30th June 1916.

11th Battalion (1st South Down) - 2 officers, 26 men
12th Battalion (2nd South Down) - 4 officers, 136 men
13th Battalion (3rd South Down) - 7 officers, 159 men

More would die of their wounds in the days to come.

And so on this day, I remember the men behind the numbers, the men of Sussex who exactly 93 years ago, laid down their lives for a diversion.

"At the Going Down of the sun, and in the morning, WE WILL REMEMBER THEM."

The photograph of poppies on the Sussex south downs at Winton, near Alfriston, comes from East Sussex County Council's website.


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