The British artillery bombardment began at 05.00 hours and was followed thirty minutes later by the forward companies who climbed over the British parapets and assembled 80 yards from the German line in accordance with orders. Many of these men were very quickly shot down by rifle fire and machine-gun fire as the enemy troops holding the front breastworks were, in the main, not severely affected by the artillery fire. The Germans were expecting an attack and had possibly been alerted by the destruction of a large chimney in the Rue du Bois the previous day to give British artillery an improved field of fire.
The main British assault began at 05.40 hours but few companies reached the enemy front line, except where two mines had been exploded on the left of the line in the northern sector. Because of the largely undamaged state of the enemy breastworks, further attempts during the day to cross no-man’s-land resulted in severe casualties to the attacking troops. Those men who did reach the German lines were quickly attacked by the defenders. With no support able to reach them, those who remained were withdrawn after dark and further attacks were called off in the evening.
Although the British artillery bombardment on the German front defences looked effective – one eye-witness described the German lines as ‘a long sheet of flame and bursting shells’ – much of the wire was not cut and insufficient heavy artillery shells hit the breastworks. Some shells fell as far as 400 yards behind the German line. The British counter-battery bombardment was also not effective as the enemy was able to shell both the front and assembly positions.
Casualties on the British side totalled over 10,800, while the estimated German losses were 1,500. A special order issued by Haig on the day after the battle stated that the attack had ‘proved of great assistance to our allies’, which suggested the British assault had caused the Germans to move reinforcements away from the French attack near Vimy. German accounts, however, do not bear out this statement.
Battle of Aubers Ridge – objectives
J. UPTON
Rouges Bancs, France, 9 May
The first of four VCs won on 9 May was awarded to Cpl James Upton, 1st Sherwood Foresters (Notts & Derby Regt), 24th Bde, 8th Div., who took part in the northern section of the attack.
The Sherwood Foresters were in support of 2nd East Lancs, whose attack should have commenced from a new trench dug west of the Petillon–Rouges Bancs road in advance of the main line. This trench, however, was not completed owing to the waterlogged ground, so most of the East Lancs started forward from the main British breastworks at 05.20 hours, twenty minutes after the British artillery barrage had begun. The advance companies met with fierce machine-gun and rifle fire which inflicted heavy losses but they still attempted to cross the 150 yards of no-man’s-land when the barrage lifted at 05.40 hours. Because the German trench line was at an angle to the advance the East Lancs moved to their left as they neared the enemy line and came under enfilade fire which almost annihilated the leading platoons. The attack could get no nearer than 70 yards from the German breastworks.
B and D Coys of the Sherwood Foresters were ordered up to the British defences and succeeded in moving forward from there at 06.10 hours, despite the trenches being clogged with the dead, wounded and survivors from the first advance. As the intended direction of attack was under fire from a number of enemy machine-guns and the ground covered with dead and wounded men, the companies changed direction towards the right, the advance now against the shoulder of a small salient in the German line. Some men of B and D Coys had got to within 40 yards of the enemy when they were held up by wire, through which only a single path, 4 yards wide, had been cut; close behind the wire was a ditch packed with wire that was also undamaged by the artillery fire. As the companies tried to get through the wire, the men were shot down in large numbers. At this point the order to retire was passed along part of the line and the surviving men, seeing troops to their left retiring, fell back to the British line.
A further attack by the two remaining companies of the battalion, A and C, was attempted at 07.35 hours in conjunction with the East Lancs but this advance was also halted by enemy shell and machine-gun fire before the German line was reached. Many men lay down in the open, rather than attempt the return across no-man’s-land. It was here that No. 10082, Cpl James Upton won his VC. He crawled forward, near to the enemy breastwork, where a sergeant lay wounded, and bandaged the man’s wound before affixing rudimentary splints, and carrying him back to safety. Discarding his heavy equipment, Upton returned to no-man’s-land to rescue another man, this time with a stomach wound. The injured man was too heavy for him to carry so he dragged him to the British line on his waterproof sheet. Yet again Upton went forward, this time to rescue a soldier badly wounded in both legs; carrying the man on his back, he was within a few yards of safety when a German shell exploded close by, killing the wounded man instantly and shocking Upton badly, causing him to stop his efforts for a time to recover.
Upton remained in front of the British parapet until after 20.00 hours that night, under fire at all times but rendering first aid to seriously wounded soldiers; he also brought in ten more wounded men. For his untiring efforts throughout the day Upton was recommended for the VC. The battalion was relieved late in the evening and went back to billets; its casualties for the day totalled 359.
Upton’s VC citation was published in the London Gazette on 29 June 1915, and when the battalion was in Brigade Reserve near Sailly, France, on 8 July, he was presented with his medal ribbon by Maj.-Gen. Sir F. Davies. On 14 July Upton returned to England and on the 24th was invested with his VC by the King at Windsor Castle.
James Upton was born in Lincoln on 3 May 1888 and was brought up by his elder sister. He enlisted in the Army at Derby on 24 July 1906 and was stationed in India when war began, arriving in France on 5 November 1914 with his battalion, the 1st Sherwood Foresters.
The battalion was in action in France throughout the winter, and was heavily involved in the battle of Neuve Chapelle. On 20 July 1915, less than a week after receiving his VC, Upton married Mary Jane Chambers at Lincoln. He returned to France and his last recorded day of service there was 9 February 1918; in total he served there for three years and ninety-six days. He was demobilized on 30 March 1919 and in the post-war years lived at Bulwell, Notts., and Kingsbury, London. Upton and his wife had three sons, Thomas, Kenneth and George and they were survived by seven grand-children and a number of great-grandchildren. James Upton died at Uxbridge, Middlesex, on 10 August 1949, and his VC was given to the Regimental Museum in Derby by an anonymous woman donor on 26 March 1962. Upton’s name appears on the Nottingham Castle Victoria Cross Memorial.
C.R. SHARPE
Rouges Bancs, France, 9 May
At the same time as the East Lancs attacked on 9 May, the assaulting companies of the three battalions on its left, 2nd Rifle Brigade, 1st Royal Irish Rifles and 1/13th London (Kensingtons), all of 25th Bde, also advanced. The Rifle Brigade and Irish Rifles, despite losses, covered the 100 yards separating the front lines and found much of the German wire cut and a 20 yard gap in the breastworks where the British artillery had been effective. Little resistance was met as the majority of the defenders, from 9 Coy, 16th Bavarian Reserve Infantry Regt, had been killed by artillery; the battalions moved forward and took the hamlet of Rouges Bancs where the position was consolidated.
Further to the left, after a large mine was detonated under the German first and second lines, the Kensingtons charged across the 70 yards of no-man’s-land to where enemy defences 80 yards wide had been destroyed by the mine. The Kensingtons occupied the mine crater, regrouped, took the Stützpunke at Delangre Farm (known to the Germans as Totes Schwein or Dead Pig Farm), advanced to the enemy third line, and formed a left-facing defensive flank. Meanwhile, the remaining companies of the Rifle Brigade, led by Lt-Col. Stephens, advanced to support the two front companies and consolidated about 250 yards of trench. Supporting troops now tried to reach the Irish Rifles but two companies of the 2nd Lincolnshire, 25th
Bde, incurred such losses that they were unable to move more than a short distance across no-man’s-land (see map on page 133).
The news reached 25th Bde Advanced HQ that parts of the enemy line had been taken at about 06.00 hours, whereupon the brigade commander, Brig.-Gen. A.W.G. Lowry Cole, went forward to the front breastworks. He ordered the last two companies of the Lincolns, C and D, to cross no-man’s-land via a newly dug sap to the mine crater and to work along the German front line towards the Rifle Brigade. He had hardly given the order to the Lincolns when ‘a number of men of the Rifle Brigade and Irish Rifles were seen streaming back over the German breastwork bringing with them the other two companies of the 2nd Lincolnshire’ ( Official History). A very confused situation existed, and German prisoners who were also running for cover in the British lines were mistaken for a counterattack; Lowry Cole mounted the British breastwork and ‘by voice and gesture succeeded in arresting and turning the troops’. He was still standing on the parapet when he fell, fatally wounded and died soon afterwards. The Lincolns moved forward as ordered to the mine crater and began bombing westwards along the trenches. Leading one of the bombing parties was No. 7942, A/Cpl Charles Sharpe who cleared the enemy from a length of trench 50 yards long, and continued bombing alone as the men with him were by then all casualties. He was later joined by four other men and with them bombed his way along a further 250 yards of trench which was then held for the rest of the day. Notwithstanding Sharpe’s efforts, for which he was awarded the VC, and those of his comrades, all British troops were withdrawn from the German lines after dark, their positions having become untenable.
Sharpe’s VC was gazetted on 29 June and he received his award from the King at Windsor Castle on 24 July, the same day as Cpl Upton. Three of the four men who had joined Sharpe in the German lines, Ptes Bills, Donderdale and Leeman, were awarded the DCM for their gallantry on 9 May.
Charles Richard Sharpe was born at Pickworth, a small village in Lincolnshire, on 2 April 1889. His parents, Robert, a farm labourer, and Charlotte Ann, had a number of other children. After going to school at Pickworth, Sharpe worked on a farm before, at the age of 16, enlisting in the Army. With the 2nd Bn Lincolnshire Regt, he was stationed in Bermuda when war began and arrived in France at Le Havre on 6 November 1914, having travelled via Nova Scotia and England. The Lincolns were involved in various actions during the winter and early part of 1915, including that at Neuve Chapelle in March.
Sharpe returned to France after the presentation of his VC and soon afterwards was badly injured by a bomb; he was invalided out and did not serve overseas again. He left the Army in 1928 having attained the rank of Master Sgt Cook and on 9 November 1929 attended the dinner for VCs at the House of Lords.
Sharpe worked for a time as assistant garden instructor at an approved school in Bourne, Lincs., where he was regarded as a role model by the boys, and when this establishment was closed he ‘went to work on the local council’s ashcart’, Sharpe said, ‘but that was considered the wrong job for a VC, so I finished my working life as a labourer and cleaner for the British Racing Motors’.
In September 1956 the Second World War memorial at Bourne, which consisted of a miniature cenotaph with a Garden of Remembrance, was unveiled. Sharpe, or ‘Shadder’ as he was known to his friends and British Legion colleagues, was a daily visitor to tend the gardens.
In February 1963 Sharpe was staying in Workington with Mrs Dorothy Foster, one of his daughters, at 17 Stainbank Stairburn, when he suffered a fall on the 14th, fracturing several ribs. He died in Workington Infirmary on 17 February of cerebral thrombosis caused by the fall. The military funeral service, organized by 2nd East Anglian Regt, of which the Lincolns were then part, was held on 21 February at St Nicholas Church, Lincoln, where a fullsome tribute was paid to Sharpe by the secretary of the Royal Lincolnshire Regiment Association. The well attended service was followed by interment in Newport Cemetery, Lincoln, Plot H. 354.
Aubers Ridge
An obituary notice stated that Sharpe left one son, then serving in the Royal Navy, and one daughter, Mrs A. Gregory, then living in Lincoln. Presumably Sharpe had married twice, for he had been living with Mrs Cooke, another daughter (or step-daughter), before staying in Workington with Mrs Foster.
Sharpe’s medals, comprising the VC, 1914 Star and Bar, BWM, BVM, 1939–45 War Medal, Coronation Medals for 1937 and 1953, and the Long Service and Good Conduct Medals, came up for auction in London on 25 July 1989 but remained unsold, the estimated selling price being £9,000–10,000. His VC is held by the Royal Lincolnshire Regiment Museum on loan from South Kesteven Council. Sharpe was the last surviving VC of his regiment.
J. RIPLEY
Rue du Bois, France, 9 May
Three battalions of the Black Watch (1st, 2nd and 1/4th), were in action in the southern section of the Battle of Aubers Ridge on 9 May and two men, from different battalions, won the VC on this day.
The initial assault south of Neuve Chapelle by battalions of the 1st and Meerut Divs fared no better than the one to the north, with only a few men reaching the German line. The losses were severe, 120 officers and nearly 3,000 men falling in less than half an hour. A further attack was attempted at 07.00 hours but the assaulting troops were mown down as soon as they came into view of the enemy. The 1st Bn, Black Watch (1st (Guards) Bde, 1st Div.), occupied support trenches vacated by 2nd Bde in the first attack, positioned with its right on the Cinder Track which ran at right angles from the Rue du Bois. Orders were received that a further attack was to be made at 12.40 hours by the 2nd and 3rd Bdes. This proposed assault was twice postponed but finally orders were received for an attack to start at 16.00 hours.
Following intense British shelling, A and D Coys left the British defences at 15.57 hours with platoons of B and C Coys following 80 yards behind. The artillery fire made a few gaps in the German defences and the Battalion War Diary states: ‘On right in 2nd Lieut Lyle’s platoon [of A Coy] Cpl J. Ripley finds gap in wire and is on parapet at 3.59 p.m. and directs men.’ Thus this platoon had covered the 300 yards of no-man’s-land, including the obstacles and the bodies of men killed in earlier attacks, in about two minutes. No. 2832 Cpl Ripley led his party of seven or eight men to an enemy support trench, ‘where they could not fire or be fired upon’, and blocked a communication trench running to the right and their own trench to the left. Meanwhile the other platoons in A Coy, together with the rest of the battalion’s attacking troops, crowded through gaps in the German wire further to the left. The Germans then swept no-man’s-land with artillery and machine-gun fire which prevented further support reaching the men of the Black Watch in the German line. Cpl Ripley held his position although handicapped by lack of bombs. He was attacked on three sides and eventually all his men became casualties and Ripley made his way back to the British line.
Shortly before 17.00 hours the battalion was ordered to withdraw its men to the British breastworks under cover of artillery fire and just over an hour later the surviving men were withdrawn to support trenches. Ripley’s platoon commander, 2/Lt Lyle was posted as missing; he was one of 14 officer casualties, while the other ranks lost 461 men. The battalion’s strength on 11 May, when it was visited by the Prince of Wales, was 8 officers and 354 other ranks.
Ripley was awarded the VC and the citation was published in the London Gazette on 29 June 1915. He received his medal from the King at Buckingham Palace on 12 July. Aged 48, he was one of the oldest recipients of the award.
John Ripley was born at Keith, Banffs, on 20 August 1867, but little is known of his family and early life except that he had at least two brothers. He joined the Volunteers at Montrose in 1884 and served for eighteen years with G Company, 6th Black Watch, resigning in 1912 after earlier receiving the Long Service Medal. Employed as a recruiting sergeant after war began, Ripley enlisted in the 3rd Bn Black Watch on 25 September 1914 and was given the rank of corporal. He transferred to 1st Bn Black Watch on 18 February 1915 and was promoted to acting sergeant in the 3r
d Bn on 2 July.
Returning to St Andrews after receiving his Victoria Cross he was given a very enthusiastic reception and on 30 October 1915 was presented with a War Loan Scrip and a purse of sovereigns by the Provost.
Ripley transferred to the Reserve on 28 March 1919 and returned to St Andrews, taking up his pre-war trade of slater. He attended the garden party for VC winners at Buckingham Palace on 26 June 1920 and the British Legion dinner at the House of Lords on 9 November 1929. On 14 August 1933, while carrying out roofing work for the St Leonards School in St Andrews, he fell some distance from a ladder and sustained serious spinal injuries. He was rushed to St Andrews Memorial Cottage Hospital but died shortly after admission.
After a service at the Cottage Hospital, a bearer party of sergeants from the Black Watch formed a guard of honour for the hearse on its journey to Largo churchyard where Ripley was buried. His brothers, Joseph and William, were among the chief mourners and among those present was Sgt D. Hunter, the ‘Dunfermline VC’. Ripley’s wife had died a few years previously and at the time of his funeral he had a son living in America. The whereabouts of his medals are not known.
D. FINLAY
Near Rue du Bois, France, 9 May
At the same time as the 1st Bn Black Watch attacked near the Cinder Track, its sister battalion, the 2nd (Bareilly Bde, Meerut Div.), was in action to the left, close to Port Arthur (see map on page 137). The 2nd Bn had relieved the 2/2nd Gurkhas (Dehra Dun Bde), who suffered many losses in early attacks on the afternoon of 9 May. Shortly before 16.00 hours, Nos 2 and 4 Coys moved forward into positions lying in front of the British parapet. As the Battalion War Diary states, ‘The charge commenced [at 16.00 hours], but all were shot down almost immediately, few getting further than 30 yards towards the enemy.’ In addition to enemy fire the battalion’s advance was severely impeded by a wide water-filled ditch roughly parallel to the front line and between 10 and 30 yards in front of the battalion. This same ditch had also hindered earlier attacks and many bodies lay in the mud and water. Some bridges were placed across the ditch in the early morning but few remained by the end of the day.
VCs of the First World War 1915 The Western Front Page 13
