9th Norfolks disaster at the Quadrilateral, 15 September 1916

9th Norfolks disaster at the Quadrilateral, 15 September 1916

Background

Part of the 6th Division, the 71st Infantry Brigade commanded the Norfolk Regiment’s 9th (Service) Battalion.

The battalion was relocated to the rear region and the village of Flesselles after being relieved following their last

offensive during the Battle of the Somme. On September 6, it started to proceed once more, travelling to Méricourt

l’Abbé via Allonville, Querrieu, and Corbie. Between Albert and Bray, in the Sandpit area, it relocated to a makeshift

camp on September 8, 1916. To assist in unloading armaments from a train that was coming at Plateau Station, a

working crew was provided.

On 11 September the battalion moved forward via Carnoy to an area of trenches south of Trones Wood. Captured

earlier in the battle, it was a mass of shell holes, destroyed trees, barbed wire and dugouts, and the men bivouacked

as best as they could. Although the front was by this date some miles away the area was still under long-range shell

fire and could be raided from the air. Three officers became casualties on 13 September. Many men, who had arrived

as recent drafts, for the first time experienced the unmistakeable and harrowing sights and smells of the battlefield.

The 9th Norfolks, having now been given their orders for the attack on 15 September, began to move to their place of

assembly at 10pm the previous day and were in position by 1am.

The attack

The battalion’s war says little of the attack: “Held up by [barbed] wire which was uncut. Casualties 431 other

ranks.” It then names eighteen officers who also became casualties. These figures mean that almost all officers and

about two-thirds of the men of the battalion who went “over the top” were killed, wounded or captured.

Although the brigade and division war diaries can be consulted to gain a more detailed understanding of the events,

the published history of the 6th Division provides a concise description of the action’s goals and consequences.

Gueudecourt-Flers-Lesboeufs-Morval was the British target for September 15th; the XIV Corps (Guards and 6th

Division) intended to seize the two latter. It was the first time tanks were used, and from the Division’s perspective, it

was a failure because, of the three assigned to the 6th Division, two malfunctioned before the battle began, and the

third, which had left in compliance with orders long before the infantry, had its periscope shot off, its peep-holes

blinded, was covered in bullets that penetrated armour.

With one company of Bedfords bombing up the trench from Leuze Wood and the others over the open to the north

into the south-west face, the 16th Infantry Brigade launched a battalion-front attack. Despite their best efforts, the

Buffs, Yorks, and Lancasters were unable to take the strong position, despite their support for the attack.

From the northwest, the 1st Leicesters and Norfolks launched an equally determined attack on the Quadrilateral,

overcoming the entrenched Foresters and Suffolks, but they were also unsuccessful. Nonetheless, some progress was

achieved, and by 10 a.m., the 71st Infantry Brigade in the north and the 16th Infantry Brigade in the south were

encroaching on the enemy’s trenches and wire.

Let us make things a little clearer: the 6th Division was to attack employing two of its brigades – the 16th on the right

and 71st on the left. In the 16th Brigade, one battalion only – the 8th Bedfords – would advance and in the case of the

71st two made the attack, the 1st Leicesters and the 9th Norfolks. They faced a key and formidably defended German

strong point known as the Quadrilateral.

Aftermath

Using records of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission I have traced the fates of the men of the battalion who died. It breaks down as follows:

• 126 officers and men have no known grave and are commemorated at the Thiepval Memorial. Some of them may lie marked only as “unknown soldiers” in the cemeteries in the area if, for example, they were found by post-war battlefield clearance parties but could not be identified. Some may still lie in the fields facing the Quadrilateral.
• 29 lie in Guillemont Road Cemetery. This is reasonably near to the location of the battalion’s attack but this is not where the men were originally buried. According to CWGC, “The cemetery was begun by fighting units (mainly of the Guards Division) and field ambulances after the Battle of Guillemont, and was closed in March 1917, which it contained 121 burials. It was greatly increased after the Armistice when graves (almost all of July-September 1916) were brought in from the battlefields immediately surrounding the village and certain smaller cemeteries”.
• 2 lie in Guards’ Cemetery, Lesboeufs, which is also close to the attack site.
• 3 are buried in Corbie and Meaulte. These were locations of medical units and these men had died of wounds, having been taken rearward to these places.
• 4 lie in Serre Road Cemetery Number 2, which is quite some way from Guillemont and is a post-war battlefield clearance cemetery.