Preparations for War

On 4th March 1915, after a tiring two day journey, the men of the Jersey Company arrived at the training camp of the 7th Royal Irish Rifles, which was located near the small town of Buttevant in the heart of beautiful County Cork.

The next six months were spent here; learning to be soldiers in the modern British Army - and generally enjoying the genial hospitality of their Irish hosts. Whilst they were in Ireland they were joined by a further 89 volunteers from Jersey. As a result, the Jersey Company was strengthened, and the Contingent was able to detach men to fill other roles within the 7th Royal Irish Rifles, including 26 to form the Battalion's Machine Gun Section and a number who became Signallers. There was a further detachment in August when those men considered unsuitable for active service left to join a reserve battalion in Dublin.

The remaining members departed the Emerald Isle at the start of September and moved to Aldershot in order to complete their training and organise for war. The 7th Royal Irish Rifles was part of the 48th Infantry Brigade, which in turn was part of the newly formed 16th (Irish) Division, and these two formations were working up here in southern England in preparation for crossing to the Continent. By December everything was ready: on the 19th they embarked for France.

At The Front

The Contingent spent its first eight months in a section of the Western Front north of Arras, in the vicinity of the small French town of Loos. Reputedly a "quiet" sector, the trenches here were used at the time for introducing newly arrived units to the rigours of trench warfare, and train them to survive in this most unforgiving of environments. Regardless of reputation however, frontline duty at Loos quickly proved to be as dangerous as elsewhere. Shelling, sniping, trench raids and poison gas soon began to claim victims from the Contingent, as well as sickness and debilitation brought on by dreadful conditions that winter.

The first casualty occurred in January when one of the men was wounded by a sniper. The first fatality came in March, when 2nd Lieutenant Laurence Hibbs died of fever. And a few days later the first death in action occurred when Captain Johnson, the Company's second in command, was killed by a shell near the village of Vermelles.

It was a pattern that continued throughout the spring and summer. A total of 11 men died whilst the Contingent was at Loos, and many others were evacuated wounded or ill.

The Battle of the Somme

The Battle of the Somme started on the 1st of July 1916. Along a 20 mile stretch of the front, a combined British and French offensive was launched, with the broad aim of breaking through the enemy lines and advancing into the open country behind. Tenacious German defence had quickly put this plan on hold, and in the months that followed more of a slogging match took place as the allies advanced slowly from position to position. By the start of September, in the east of the Battlefield, the fighting had reached the village of Guillemont; but despite several assaults, this key location remained in German hands.
The 16th (Irish) Division had been brought south from Loos to join the battle at the end of August, and a few days later the first elements were committed to an assault on Guillemont. On 3rd September the village was taken with great élan by the soldiers of the 47th Brigade, and the Germans pushed back. Two failed, in response the Germans had heavily shelled Guillemont throughout the day and the Jersey Company, which was manning the perimeter defences, suffered considerable casualties as a result.

Two days later, on 5th September, 7th Royal Irish Rifles were sent into Guillemont with orders to garrison the ruins, and defend them against possible German counter-attack. On the next day, the British attempted to capture Ginchy, another village lying around half a mile to the north-east. Although this attack, with Ginchy still firmly in German hands, 16th (Irish) Division was ordered to prepare for another assault on the village on 9th September. 7th Royal Irish Rifles were chosen as one of the battalions to take part in the first wave of the attack: their duty being to advance across no-man's land and capture the village itself. At 4:50 in the afternoon the offensive began. The Jersey Company, its strength by now down to less than fifty men, successfully made it into the ruins of Ginchy and played their part in the fight to overcome the stubborn German defenders. By the end of that day the job was done, and the battalion was marched off the battlefield and on to a rest camp located behind the lines.
Five days of fighting in the Battle of the Somme had cost the Contingent - and the Island of Jersey - dearly. Twenty members were killed at Guillemont / Ginchy, and over 100 more wounded, many of them seriously.