The 1/5th Battalion Norfolk Regiment at Gallipoli (Part 1)

Part 1

Introduction

Men of the 1/5th Battalion Norfolk Regiment at Sheringham Station.

This was the first of a series of blogs that I wrote as we approached the 100th Anniversary of the 1/5th Battalion Norfolk Regiment going into action on 12th August 1915 at Kuchuck Anafarta Ova at Gallipoli.

I have written about this battalion in both my books but evidence is continually popping up. So supported by further research I hoped to try and dispel many of the myths attached to the battalion including their alleged ‘disappearance into a cloud of smoke’.

This first part of the story is designed to introduce you to the various myths that surround the battalion and to bring you up to the point when they embarked for Gallipoli.

Please note that virtually all of the accounts I use in these blogs come from men who were there at the time of the battalion going over the top on 12th August 1915 and were interviewed soon afterwards. Where I have not used accounts from 1915/16 I have either sourced the account or have explained by rationale behind it. All images are from my own archive.

And so we begin…

War always brings tragedy and some incidents are more tragic than others. In the case of the 1/5th Battalion it is even more tragic as they have become part of a mystery that has led to books being written about the subject and even a TV adaptation being made in 1999. There have also been numerous stories in articles in newspapers, magazines and on the Internet.

And even more woefully the latest book published this year, 2020, has followed some of the old myths and provided nothing new in the way of the evidence I have provided in these blogs. So, unfortunately, virtually all of them provide misinformation including some very up to date websites that follow the same pattern with their name.

This brings me onto the main points of their story which tend to fall into four categories which are.
1. They were known as the Sandringham Company, Battalion or Regiment.

2. A despatch published on 6th January 1916 by Sir Ian Hamilton on the Gallipoli Campaign, and after the 1/5th Battalion went over top on 12th August 1915, noted that they were lost, it stated,

‘Nothing more was ever seen or heard of any of them. They charged into the forest and were lost to sight or sound. Not one of them ever came back.’

3. That they were abducted by aliens.

4. They were executed by the Turks.

In the book by Nigel McCrery, and the TV adaptation of that book produced by Prince Edward’s film company, entitled ‘All the King’s Men’, it depicts a highly charged solution to the mysteries surrounding the battalion which centred on men from the Royal Estate at Sandringham who were lost on 12th August 1915.

All of these theories will be looked at as we go along except the ‘Abducted by Aliens’ drivel. If you want to read about that then please visit the websites that try to push that point with all of their inaccuracies!
So let’s look at the first myth that they were known as the Sandringham Company, the Sandringham Battalion or the Sandringham Regiment.

This can be explained in the way that the unit was formed and then reformed. Between 1905 & 1912 the Secretary of State, Lord Haldane, set about reorganising what was at that point called the pre-1908 Militia and Volunteer Force, which were separate entities. Therefore, on 1 April 1908 they became the Special Reserve and Territorial Force respectively. The Territorial Force was designed to be a home force but could be used for overseas service should any crisis erupt in the Empire and Norfolk raised three infantry battalions, the 1/4th, 1/5th & 1/6th (Cyclists) as well as one cavalry battalion, the King’s Own Royal Regiment of Norfolk Yeomanry. Various units that would support the main battalions such as field ambulance, artillery and service corps were also formed.

These relatively new units of the British Army were all made up of volunteers who trained in their spare time and their role had never resulted in them being sent overseas until WWI broke out. At that time these units were asked whether they wished to see active service and for the most part men volunteered to do just that.

All of the three main TF battalions had a specific area where they drew their men. The 1/6th Battalion recruited from all over Norfolk, the 1/4th recruited, for the most part, from the southern part, including Norwich, and the 1/5th from the northern swathe which spanned from Great Yarmouth to Hilgay and Dereham. So from this you will see that the 1/5th Norfolks did not just recruit from Sandringham.

Companies were raised by town and for the case of the 1/5th Battalion it is important that we must list where this occurred.

‘A’ Company: Recruited from King’s Lynn with detachments at Hunstanton and Thornham.
‘B’ Company: Recruited from Downham Market with a detachment at Hilgay.
‘C’ Company: Recruited from Fakenham with detachments at Aylsham and Wells.
‘D’ Company & Battalion HQ: Recruited from East Dereham with a detachment at Swaffham.
‘E’ Company: Recruited from Sandringham.
‘F’ Company: Recruited from Cromer with detachments at Holt, Melton Constable and Sheringham.
‘G’ Company: Recruited from Great Yarmouth.
‘H’ Company: Recruited from North Walsham with a detachment from Great Yarmouth.

We will come back to this in a little while.

When war was declared on 4th August 1914 the 1/5th Norfolks mobilised along with the rest of the Norfolk and Suffolk Brigade, of the East Anglian Division, which also included the 1/4th Norfolks and the 1/4th & 1/5th Suffolk Regiment, although the 1/4th Suffolks were sent to the Western Front on 9th November 1914.

The battalion concentrated their H.Q. at Dereham the next day and then moved to Billericay soon afterwards. But on 17th August 1914 the battalion transferred to Colchester.

On 14th November 1914 the 1/5th Norfolks received a new C.O. in the guise of Colonel Sir Horace George Proctor-Beauchamp. Colonel Proctor-Beauchamp had never served as an infantryman, having been a cavalryman all his life. This would have a major impact on the battalion from the start and would have major consequences for an entire brigade on the day they first went into action.

Colonel Sir Horace George Proctor-Beauchamp.

‘Colonel Proctor-Beauchamp was appointed to command the 1/5th Norfolks aged 52 he had served with the 20th Hussars; a cavalryman through and through, he had never served as an infantry commander. It was, at best, an unfortunate appointment. He had not served for 8 years.’

From correspondence with the Norfolk Regiment historian Dick Rayner in 2012

Now back to the Sandringham issue.

The active service E Company from Sandringham merged with another company in February 1915, becoming ‘C’ Company (King’s Company). The reason for this was so that the TF battalions could then fall into line with regular battalions by having four Rifle Companies and a HQ Company.

As Dick Rayner rightly points out,

‘February 8th 1915, a major reform. Conversion to a 4 company battalion. The Sandringham Company ceased to exist.’

From correspondence with Dick Rayner in 2010

That really important piece of information, e.g. their name changed to the King’s Company, is completely omitted in the new book. This is terrible.

The Norfolk Regiment historian Dick Rayner believes that the main issue with their name more than likely arose when the 50th Anniversary in 1965 came round. Here references to the Sandringham Company, Battalion and Regiment first started to emerge to a wider audience. Especially when a story materialised that year where three New Zealand sappers claimed to have seen a British regiment marching up a sunken road to be swallowed up in a cloud.

However, as we will see, very little in the way of the reference to ‘Sandringham’ is ever mentioned in contemporary accounts from 1915 and 1916.

So, in a nutshell, all reference to Sandringham should really be struck off any type of account(s) when talking about the battalion when they are looked at from their service in Gallipoli. And yet that name still remains! And frustratingly the most recent book does not even mention the word King’s and Company in its narrative but just goes on to try and justify why they should just be called the Sandringham Company.

This, to me, is a travesty and a really bad way of using a privilege. By that I mean it smacks to me of, ‘I’m a historian so I can write what I want’. But if you do that you must tell the story fully with all the available evidence. This does not happen in the new book.

In November 1914 the battalion was inspected by King George V and by March 1915 they were on the move again, this time moving to Bury St Edmunds, with the 1/8th Hampshires also joining them from the Isle of Wight. On 21st May 1915 the East Anglian Division was re-designated the 54th (East Anglian) Division, with the 1/5th Battalion becoming part of the 163rd Brigade which also included their sister battalion the 1/4th Norfolks along with the 1/5th Suffolks and the 1/8th Hampshires.

On 20th May 1915 they moved to Watford and underwent a final period of intensive training. By this time Proctor-Beauchamp had already lost the confidence of his officers and men. Dick Rayner points this out as to what was thought of him, prior to the battalion sailing for Gallipoli, he states,

‘…Manoeuvres became more complex, tiring and monotonous, the hardening up process began to tell on everyone. Not least, by all accounts, on Colonel Beauchamp. An unpublished record refers to ill-tempered outbursts directed at officers and men. Battalion and company exercises exposed his shortcomings and did nothing to improve morale. Confidence in his ability reached a low ebb, with much murmuring in the officers’ mess.’

If this is correct, and I have no reason to doubt this, then it does not instil confidence in me at Proctor-Beauchamp’s abilities to command and this has a bearing on what would happen to them on 12th August 1915. However, having trained for a number of months, the battalion left Watford by train for Liverpool on 29th July 1915 and embarked on the luxury liner HMT Aquitania. They sailed from there at 2300hrs on 30th July 1915 bound for the Dardanelles along with the rest of the 163rd Brigade, half the 162 Brigade and the 54th (East Anglian) Divisional HQ.

The HMT Aqitania which took the 1/5th Battalion Norfolk Regiment to Gallipoli.

In the next part of this series of blogs we will look at the 1/5th Norfolks initial landing at Gallipoli and their initial preparations for going over the top on 12th August 1915.

The 1/5th Battalion Norfolk Regiment at Gallipoli (Part 4)

Part 4

Aftermath & Myth

The officers of the 1/5th Battalion Norfolk Regiment including their C.O. Colonel Proctor-Beauchamp.

Local papers reported the loss of 5th Norfolk officers soon after the event, where one paper noted,

‘It is with the deepest regret that we publish the list of missing officers of the 5th (Territorial) Battalion of the Norfolk Regiment. At the time of going to press, no further information is available than the bare fact that they are missing.’

The Lynn Advertiser dated Friday 27th August 1915

A little while later casualty lists were recorded for the men who were killed, wounded or missing. In fact, in the succeeding weeks, casualty lists recording the names of the officers and men, wounded, killed, missing and taken prisoner appeared in the local papers.

However, a dispatch, published on 6th January 1916, on the Gallipoli Campaign by Sir Ian Hamilton helped to fuel the mystery thereby helping others to go down a route whereby their fate has been woefully misreported.

‘The 1/5th. Norfolk were on the right of the line and found themselves for a moment less strongly opposed than the rest of the brigade. Against the yielding forces of the enemy Colonel Sir H. Beauchamp, a bold, self-confident officer, eagerly pressed forward, followed by the best part of the battalion. The fighting grew hotter, and the ground became more wooded and broken. At this stage many men were wounded, or grew exhausted with thirst. These found their way back to camp during the night. But the Colonel, with sixteen officers and 250 men, still kept pushing on, driving the enemy before them. … Nothing more was ever seen or heard of any of them. They charged into the forest and were lost to sight or sound. Not one of them ever came back.’

The Eastern Daily Press reported on the 7th January 1916, ‘SANDRINGHAM MEN DISAPPEAR.’ The article went on to state that 16 officers and 250 men pushed deep into enemy lines and ‘…were lost from sight and sound. None of them ever came back.’ Directly quoting Hamilton’s after action report.

‘In the county’s principle newspapers the E.D.P. and the Norfolk News, the fate of the 5th Norfolks at Gallipoli was soon taken over by the 9th Norfolks at Loos and the 7th Battalion at the Hulluch Craters as well as the execution of Edith Cavell. Overall the fate of Captain Beck was given no more coverage than many fellow officers after the disaster. The 5th Norfolks soon disappeared into obscurity. Only Colonel Woodwark, brother of Captain E.R. Woodwark continually pressed the War Office for information but to no avail. Obviously there were other approaches to request information, such as through places such as the American Embassy in Turkey, but nothing of great significance as far as I can find from records available.’

From correspondence with Dick Rayner in 2012

And yet accounts reported soon after show that many of the men were killed in small groups defending positions within Turkish lines. But these men do not amount to an entire battalion and many did not disappear and these accounts were reported by men who survived and returned to their own lines.

Captain Frank Beck 1/5th Norfolk Regiment

But interest in their story grew, especially when the King enquired as to their fate. One thing of note at this point in time is that one of the main reasons the King took so much interest in the fate of this unit is because of his estate manager Captain Frank Beck. In a small article printed in the Lynn Advertiser with a picture of Beck it was reported,

‘LOST AT GALLPOLI-Captain Beck, commanding officer of the Sandringham Company of Territorials who charged into the forest at Gallipoli and were lost.’

From the Lynn News

It is partly from this that the legend was built that the entire battalion had all disappeared into the ether and was never seen again. Looking at the history of the Norfolk Regiment that equates to 30 officers and 1000 other ranks!

In a cable sent to Hamilton at some point towards the end of September 1915 the King enquired,

‘I am most anxious to be informed as to the fate of men of the 5th Battalion Norfolk Regiment as they include my agent Captain Frank Beck and the Sandringham Company.’

From correspondence with Dick Raynor

In more recent times, e.g. the present day, it has been mooted that Beck and a number of the men who advanced were summarily executed by the Turks in the farm where a group of them got to. But there are no accounts from the time to corroborate this and we will come onto Captain Beck in a little while. Which means their fate is still written about without actually checking on the facts that are available.

But if we look at all of the evidence objectively we can see that even the press looked at it in a more serious and sensible way and articles help to disprove the myths that have been put forward. For instance, the two officers who were captured were reported as such in local newspapers along with the names of 13 other ranks who also became prisoners. Accounts from men who were there were published soon after, especially in the Yarmouth Mercury and the Lynn News.

One went with the headline,

‘CAPTAIN CEDRIC COXON AT CONSTANTINOPLE’

And then went on to report.

MEN WHO NEVER CAME BACK
LIST OF WOUNDED PRISONERS AND WOUNDED

On enquiry at the Norwich Headquarters of the Territorial Force Association we learn that according to information there compiled 177 men were regarded as missing from the 5th Norfolks after their mysterious adventure described by Sir Ian Hamilton in his report on the Dardanelles operations. Sir Ian, it will be remembered spoke apparently in round numbers, of 16 officers and 250 men. At Norwich the authorities whose business it is to complete the statistical abstracts could not at the outset make the figure any higher than 177. If these 137 are still unaccounted for. There thus remains a balance of 40 men, of whom the following two officers and thirteen men now known to be prisoners of war in Turkey while the remaining 25 are dead or in the hospitals of the Allies, or are known to be otherwise safe…

From the Lynn News

The newspaper reporting who had become prisoners of the Turks.

And what is more this account, which appeared in the local press in 1916, actually listed who was accounted for and who was still considered missing. Even the brave action of Private Beales was printed in the local papers and shows that men survived and returned home and from enemy territory. In a small article with his picture, see part 3, it stated,

‘Too much praise could not be given, Lce-Corpl Beales D.C.M., for his heroism at Anafarta,” says a returned 5th Norfolk man concerning the Leziate hero, whose valour was spoken of in last week’s Lynn News, “for by his remarkable coolness and pluck when everything was in a state of confusion he saved many of our men. He did splendidly and those other men would do anything for him since then, in fact, he is idolised.’

From the Lynn News

We also have an excellent article printed in one of the local papers of the time that interviewed a survivor of the battle who described that fateful day quite vividly and on the subject of what happened to the missing he stated,

‘I did not see anything of the missing officers after I got lost. I heard the Colonel call out when we approached the huts I have referred to, but I did not see him then. I did not hear him again afterwards. During the attack I did not see anything of Capt Pattrick. I did not see any wood into which the officers and men could have disappeared, and I certainly did not see them charge into a wood in fact the Norfolks did not charge as far as my knowledge goes. I know absolutely nothing about how the officers and men disappeared. At first, like others, I thought that the officers and men who are now reported missing had returned to other trenches but later I found that this was not the case. I inquired a lot about them but all I could find out was that they had disappeared-vanished. We could only come to the conclusion that they had advanced too far, had been captured and made prisoners of war.

We knew that some of the men had been killed and others been wounded, so it did not seem at all unlikely that these others had been captured by the enemy. I heard no news about the 5th Norfolks charging into a wood until I came home.’

Private Sidney Pooley 1/5th Norfolk Regiment

Private Pooley’s account.

The only account we actually have of the execution of men on that day comes from a 3rd party account, the sister-in-law of Arthur Webber, who served with the battalion. He stated that he had been saved by a German officer after a number of men had been shot or bayoneted by the Turks. But he told nobody about this until he died in 1969 and the story was not disclosed by his sister-in-law until 1991! I sadly put this in the same category of account as that made by Tom Williamson, (see part 3).

And for this blog I want to include an account that came from a witness who was there and who told his story in the Lynn News in 1916.

‘In my opinion the officers and men of the 5th Norfolks who were in the firing line, who were able to, continued the advance when the other regiments in the brigade had come to a standstill, and were taken prisoners. It seems to me that the greatest mystery about the whole thing is that so many of us got back at all.’

Lance Corporal 2414 Ray Towler

And not only do we have that account from someone who returned to his lines we also have accounts from two men who were captured by the Turks. These interviews were recorded by their captors. The first is quite guarded and comes from an other rank.

‘We, the whole regiment, landed on the northern shores of the Suvla Bay. We were 20 men in a trench on August 12. 17 were shot. Three of us got wounded. We remained in the trench. They took me prisoner.’

Sergeant 1870 Alfred Allen

The other account is far more detailed and comes from one of the men who had been reported as a POW,

The Turkish fire was so dense and decisive that all of the soldiers around me were killed.

Only the Sergeant and I remained. We managed to move forward for another 100 yards. Sergeant was hit, and he fell. I moved forward for 30 yards when I was hit. As I lost too much blood, I hardly pulled myself together. I tried to walk. I do not know how much I walked before falling.

When I came around the stars were twinkling in the sky; the Turks who thought I was dead placed their guns on my body and started to shoot. Were I to move, it would have been my end. I passed out again. When I came around the next time I found myself in the Turkish trenches, which I was trying to seize, full of Turkish sons compassionate faces.

They gave me water and food; and took me to a first aid station on their shoulders.

2nd Lieutenant W G S Fawkes

Now although you can read between the lines in what 2/Lt Fawkes is saying in his account this again proves that men were taken prisoner and not just butchered as others have suggested.

And what of Frank Beck?

He was last seen by Private John Dye sat under a tree with his head leaning over. In Nigel McCrery’s book it is mentioned that his pocket watch was found after the war and after a lot of correspondence it was returned to the family. I really still fail to see what this proves? And what is not mentioned in any account I have read is that some of his personal belongings were found soon after the action! In the Lynn News in 1916 where they interviewed Sergeant William Jakeman who had survived the advance the same article it made note of this and part of a headline stated,

‘CAPTAIN BECK’S POCKET BOOK FOUND’

And goes on to report,

‘Information comes to hand that Capt Frank Beck’s pocket book and also his cheque-book, found on the plain across which he passed in the advance on Anafarta have been found and have been forwarded to Sandringham. The finder handed them over to the military authorities, who forwarded them to relatives.’

From the Lynn News

The small report in the Lynn News detailing that items of Captain Frank Beck’s property were found on the battlefield.

As with countless engagements in WWI the bodies of the men who fell that day did not have the luxury of a burial detail. In fact they lay where they fell until 1919 when the battalion’s Chaplin the Reverend Charles Pierrepont-Edwards, who won the Military Cross for organising stretcher parties under fire around Suvla Bay, went back to the peninsula with a grave’s registration party. He had been given the task of locating the missing men of the 1/5th Norfolk Regiment. Initially this seemed to be an impossible task but then quite by chance a number of men from the 163rd Brigade were found. Pierrepont-Edwards reported at the time.

The Reverend Charles Pierrepont-Edwards.

‘We have found the 5th Norfolks – there were 180 in all; 122 Norfolk and a few Hants and Suffolks with 2/4th Cheshires. We could only identify two – Privates Barnaby and Carter. They were scattered over an area of about one square mile, at a distance of at least 800 yards behind the Turkish front line. Many of them had evidently been killed in a farm, as a local Turk, who owns the place, told us that when he came back he found the farm covered with the decomposing bodies of British soldiers, which he threw into a small ravine. The whole thing quite bears out the original theory that they did not go very far on, but got mopped up one by one, all except the ones who got into the farm.’

Now that one statement, to me, always blows out all the other theories out of the water altogether. It has been documented time and time again and yet we still go down the route of fantasy and myth. And many of the accounts do not take into account that the bodies of these men would have quickly decomposed, especially in the heat of this area. It would have made the process of identification virtually impossible. And again no mention of summary executions although it is intimated that Pierrpont-Edwards mentioned that the bodies had bullet holes in their heads to a friend after the war. But his ‘official’ written report makes no mention of this!

And again this comment was made as is noted, ‘…some years after the war…’ And yet his report written at the time is extremely scathing of the Turks.

I again put this in the Williamson (see part 3) and the Webber pot of witnesses.

The reason for that being is that Pierrepont-Edwards report on his findings is incredibly scathing of the Turks. In it he states,

‘It was in this ravine that many of the bodies were found and it would appear from this that a portion of the battalion were surrounded in the farm and annihilated.’

He bullet points the following,

1. Almost every grave was desecrated and the Cross or other distinguishing mark destroyed or removed. In some case the bodies had not been re-interred. This explains the difficulty in finding the graves of those who were known to have been buried. In the case of isolated graves it was frequently impossible.

2. Bodies were only bones and all recognizable uniform decayed. A shoulder title, Regimental crest or badge of rank was often the only means of identification and in many cases those were absent.

3. The Turks always robbed the dead of everything of value and made a practice of collecting discs. This accounts for the fact that so many are buried as unknown.

For someone who is openly critical of the Turks in his report I again ask why is it that he left out the fact that every body had a bullet hole in the back of their heads?

The two men mentioned in Pirrepont-Edwards report are Corporal 2624 John Augustus Barnaby who enlisted at East Dereham. John was 24 when he was killed and was the son of John and Georgina Barnaby of 33 South Everard Street in King’s Lynn and Private 1028 Walter Carter who was born in Wretton and who enlisted at Stoke Ferry. Walter was 22 when he was killed and was the son of Sarah Ann Carter Wretton Road in Wretton. Both are now laid to rest in Azmak Cemetery at Suvla.

As we have seen Hamilton lists the total dead for the 1/5th as 16 officers and 250 men, figures which have always been taken as totally accurate and were probably taken from either the 5th Norfolks or the 163rd Brigade casualty returns. The war diary lists ‘22 officers and about 350 men’. However, neither was correct and did not take into consideration men captured, wounded, or those that came in later on. This is especially when it must be reiterated that these men did not just come from Sandringham. We will look at this in the final part of this series.

But as one recent account notes.

‘Many wounded, disoriented and exhausted men returned back to the British lines over the next few days. Surviving the war as Prisoners were at least two officers and thirty-one other ranks from the brigades attack, also adding to the surviving numbers. The final casualty figure for the 1/5th Norfolks was adjusted to fifteen officers and 141 men killed on 12th August, of which only Captain Beck and sixteen men were recruited from the Sandringham estate. This is the fact, not the myth.’

Gallipoli Association Website

The reality of the attack on that day, that I can see, is that the 1/5th Norfolks, along with the 1/5th Suffolks and the 1/8th Hampshires, were at the very outset a very choice target to the Turks having exposed themselves. They then pushed on and advanced into extremely an extremely well defended Turkish front and those that were not killed in the advance wre finished off during a number of Turkish counter attacks. The Norfolks made their own little salient as they advanced and were fired upon from three different directions, front, left and right by an enemy commanding the high ground. History teaches us that this is not the best way to attack and the same fate would befall the 36th Ulster Division on the Somme in 1916. So it is not surprising that so many were lost.

In the final part of this series I will contiune to look at the casualty figures and also tell you why I wrote about the battalion in the first place.

This will be published on 14th August 2015.

The 1/5th Battalion Norfolk Regiment at Gallipoli (Part 3)

Part 3

The Advance on 12th August 1915

Corporal 2247 Bertie Ernest Green 1/5th Battalion Norfolk Regiment who died of wounds on 13th August 1915

The terrain that they would be advancing over had, to their left, rough ground covered with patches of prickly thorn bushes with slabs of stone and dried up water courses. For instance one of these courses, Azmak Dere, ran to the right of where the 1/5th Norfolks would form up. Also on the right was scrubland that then led to farmland and ‘short stubby trees’.

Major Thomas Woods Purdy

‘None of the officers knew the nature of the operation nor the position of the enemy trenches. There was a general impression that the object of the move was to be a ‘sniper drive’ for the country was infested with snipers and they had been annoying us continually for three days.’

Major Thomas Woods Purdy 1/5th Norfolk Regiment

On the left of the 54th Division was the 10th Division. Orders received was that the former was to link the latter with the 53rd Division who were positioned on the Salt Lake and Azmak River. But as is noted by the Norfolk Regiment history there were insufficient troops to do this, with a front of three battalions and the same number in the second line.

Brigade H.Q. arrived at their position at 1125hrs and the Brigade Major, Major Bridgewater, who was ex 1/5th Norfolks was sent immediately to visit each battalion to confirm they were in position ready to advance at 1600hrs. His order of visits were the 1/5th Suffolks, 1/4th Norfolks, 1/8th Norfolks and the 1/5th Norfolks. He arrived at 1545hrs with maps of the Helles area.

However, when the 163rd Brigade H.Q. moved up to the start line it was ascertained that the 1/5th Suffolks and the 1/8th Hampshires had not received any orders and the 1/4th Norfolks were only getting ready to move, but their C.O. was not happy that he had not received written orders about this and threatened not to move until this was rectified. It is clear that Proctor-Beauchamp had already failed in his duty to inform the other battalions of this order and his ability to command must be brought into question.

‘Company commanders were sent for by the Battalion Headquarters and informed that an advance was to be made immediately towards the hills marked Tekke Tepe and Kavak Tepe. The advance was to be pushed on at all costs, and it was not expected that there would be any opposition but snipers would cause a certain amount of trouble. When asked what the objective was to be Brigade were unable to tell him. He was also uncertain whether there were to be any troops on the flanks of the Brigade. The CO (Colonel J E Rhodes) also said he protested to the Brigadier at the vagueness of the orders.’

From an account made by an officer from the 1/8th Hampshire Regiment

Had it not been for the Brigade Major ascertaining the readiness of the Suffolks and the Hampshires the Norfolks would have advanced on their own.

‘At 3.30 p.m. we received orders to be ready to move at 4 o’clock to go sniper driving, and had no idea we were going into action. Each man was given a pick and a shovel. The idea held among the men was that they were going to dig themselves into positions where they could successfully deal with the enemy snipers who had given us so much trouble.’

Private J E Lockwood, 1/5th Norfolk Regiment

Another veteran of the 1/5th Norfolks had this to say,

‘The only instructions I remember was that we were to advance to the enemy line and dig in or take cover for the night and the enemy line wasn’t really, that was only pointing forward, we didn’t know, we knew we had to look forward and we had to cover our area in our advance.’

Once the order to advance was again issued there had by now been no end of confusion caused. There then followed a number of orders and counter orders resulting in the company commanders being ordered to press on regardless. Ultimately the Turks were able to spot the Norfolks after only advancing 200 yards. The Norfolk’s advance would initially follow this pattern.

Left flank of the battalion B Company, under command of Captain A Pattrick, followed by the Signals Section under the command of Captain Woodwark. Next to B’ Coy, centrally would be D Company under the command of Major Purdy and next to him, right flank, would be A Company commanded by Captain A Knight. Finally, following Purdy would be C Company under the command of Captain Frank Beck followed by the Machine Gun Section commanded by Lieutenant A Culme-Seymour.

The 1/5th Battalion Norfolk Regiment order of battle for 12th August 1915.

The confusion as to where they were was compounded even further when,

‘At about 3.45 p.m. Captain and Adjutant delivered to me a box of maps and ordered me to distribute them amongst the officers. I did so. There were, however, so many maps that it was impossible to examine them or compare them with the country around and officers found themselves obliged to select those most likely to be useful and leave the rest behind.’

From an account made by an unidentified Norfolk Regiment officer

At 4.40 p.m. the brigade advanced, almost forty minutes after the bombardment had started, and almost immediately was told to halt and move half left in order to rectify their alignment. However, only the 1/5th Norfolks got this message.

‘Major Purdy ordered D Company to halt until he could get something definite. A very irate Brunker appeared on the scene demanding to know why Purdy had halted. On being told, Brunker ordered Purdy to extend D Company, fix bayonets and press on without waiting for the Hants and Suffolks to wheel into line. Captain Knight, who had been on field training and army manoeuvres with the 1st Guards Brigade, halted A Company. For his attempt to support Purdy in engineering the Brigade on to the correct alignment, Knight was roundly cursed by Colonel Beauchamp and ordered to advance. Elements of C Company commanded by Captain Frank Beck, moved up from their position in support, becoming intermingled with D Company.’

From 1/5th Territorial Battalion Norfolk Regiment by Dick Rayner

And as the history of the Norfolk Regiment in the Great War points out,

‘Directly the advance began the 1/5th Norfolk received an order to change direction half right, which they did. This order did not reach the 1/8th Hants, and consequently a gap was formed between the battalions, which continually increased as the advance proceeded.’

To confuse and compound matters even further the machine Gun Company received an order from Divisional Staff to refrain from advancing with the support company, this was against an order to advance made by Proctor-Beauchamp himself. The C.O. was furious and Culme-Seymour received a dressing down and was ordered to return. In a situation where he could not win Culme-Seymour positioned himself between the leading companies and C Company, a place where he should not have been. They had to manhandle everything themselves, including the heavy machine guns, and Culme-Seymour succumbed to exhaustion during this advance and collapsed.

The overall advance of the 163rd Brigade in relation to Gallipoli on 12th August 1915.

Witnesses state that they had advanced no further than 50 yards when it was followed by an order to fix bayonets which, shining like mirrors allowed the enemy to identify every movement. So that,

‘From the hills on the right belched forth a terrific cannonade of shrapnel; from the left came hail like machine gun and rifle fire; and bullets came from machine guns and rifles in front.’

Sergeant T Jakeman C Company 1/5th Norfolk Regiment

The men in the blistering heat of that Turkish summer were ordered to double time. Casualties were incurred by the Turkish response almost immediately. It forced the battalion to rush the enemy in bursts with groups of men dashing forward, taking cover and waiting for other groups of men to join them before the process was repeated. Men began to drop out through heat exhaustion brought on by a shortage of water.

‘I thought I would die from want of water. The thirst was terrible and my tongue and lips were swollen. Once during our advance we were nearly dead; and our officer told us to take just a sip and no more.’

Private Cliff Harrison A Company 1/5th Norfolk Regiment

As the Norfolks pressed on the fire became more intense and they began to disintegrate and the advance became more and more broken. The shellfire had also ignited the dry scrubland and this held up more men. Although the men pressed on their numbers dwindled as more and more fell through withering fire and exhaustion.

It should be noted that in all of this confusion and carnage acts of extreme bravery were being carried out. This is born out by Lance Corporal 1781 Herbert Beales. He won the Distinguished Conduct Medal in this action.

‘1781 Lance-Corporal H. Beales, 1/5th Battalion, Norfolk Regiment, Territorial Force. For conspicuous gallantry during operations at Kuchuk Annafarta Ova, Gallipoli Peninsula, on 12th October, 1915. He crawled out two hundred yards under heavy fire and brought in a wounded officer. Later he showed great coolness and presence of mind in assisting to rally the men of his platoon.’

London Gazette dated 22nd January 1916

Lance Corporal 1781 Herbert Beales DCM

Given that the date is incorrect, we know that his DCM was won on the 12th August, because the officer he brought in was Second Lieutenant T Oliphant of C Company who was rescued by Beales under fire after he had been wounded.

‘That was coming from; big guns were fired from the hills. The other was as we were nearing the positions of the Turks, we advanced, they was firing, we actually arrived at a place where we could see the Turks and that was before my officer fell down. He was going over this ridge, he fell down wounded and we was told not to look after anybody but I rushed to his side and I took my field dressing and his field dressing out of our tubes and I put one on here and one on the back, he had a wound this low and he said to me, ‘Never mind me Tom’ he called me by my Christian name, he say, ‘You take this platoon over’ what remained and he said ‘Never mind about me’ so with that, I could have stopped with him I think, I could have gained a VC as you might say couldn’t they, if I’d rescued him but I had to do as he told me. I went on and until I was, found ourselves through the Turkish lines, behind the Turkish lines.’

Private 1592 Tom Williamson 1/5th Norfolk Regiment

We know that number of men managed to advance 1400 yards to a sunken road before stopping and awaiting the rest of the unit. Second Lieutenant Fawkes commanded this small group and he was ordered to press on by Colonel Proctor-Beauchamp, virtually all of them were taken down when they bunched up in a gap covered by a machine gun.

A small element of the 1/5th managed to reach a small vineyard and another element managed to get to a group of small cottages.

Tom Williamson’s interview is an important story which also proves that although men died behind the Turkish lines others got back to the British lines, but also helps to compound things that we know are not accurate.

‘…I was shot through the arm, my arm isn’t straight now. That was a long time healing. I don’t know why but immediately that hit me that was like someone hitting you in the muscle and I know I had to get back. I had a section of my men and they all lay still killed.’

Mr Williamson was interviewed by the Imperial War Museum after the war and wrote a book entitled, 'The Disappearance of the King's Company (Sandringham) in Gallipoli, the day the hills caught fire', which was published in 1979 by Stockwell.

And in the interview he is asked a number of questions about the action. For instance he is asked about the type of fire coming from the Turkish lines and where it was coming from,

‘Fire from the front of course, and they had surrounded us. Most of our Battalion went through the Turkish lines unknowingly.’

He then describes how far they had advanced into the Turkish lines stating that they were,

‘…scattered around us, I couldn’t tell how far we’d gone through, we’d gone through they’d supposed to hold a farm near.’

He then continues,

‘Well then of course my only hope was to get back. I knew I was finished as Gallipoli was concerned and I went back and that was when I noticed the E Company, the Sandringham Company, under a Sergeant in a barn, there was a barn and he had these men sheltering in this barn and there was shrub on fire and the snipers and the Turks surrounding, that was how I described that they were reported missing. …they was on our right you see and they was there more or less surrounded by the Turks again in this barn so that was a hopeless position for them to be in really and the Turks surrounded then and they were undoubtedly killed and wounded where they were.’

When asked how many men this was Williamson replied,

‘I found 40, 40 in this particular barn under Sergeant Amos his name was. I can picture him now rallying his men.’

He is then asked to describe this further and goes on to state,

‘When I was quickly coming back, I saw him, that would be on my left coming back, this barn towards the shore and could see him rallying his men in this barn, what, of course he lost casualties going up like any other Platoon but what few were left he was rallying for safety but they were, we were all surrounded at that particular position by the Turks.’

He is further questioned about where the Sandringham Company was at that time,

‘Well I should imagine most of our, most of the 5th Battalion lost 600 men in that advance scattedly, in the approach to the Turks they lost these men, fault through leaders not being with them, through snipers firing from the position which the Germans held, they had full command and full view of our approach. I don’t think we stood any chance whatsoever.’

He then goes on to describe what else he saw and what other troops he saw,

‘They were dotted around wounded, differed soldiers, this chap in particular. Well then I continued my way back and the reserve Battalions, they were in reserve of our whole line, they were following toward us, I should imagine they thought we were the enemy and came across one chap from our section and I helped him to dress his wounds and we went along arm in arm, then I met my own charge hand who was my charge hand in Melton Constable. He was a sergeant Major and he had been dazed and didn’t know where he was and we three marched down to the shore base as far as we were concerned Gallipoli campaign was finished.’

All of the above accounts have been taken from the interview which can be found at the Imperial War Museum, Reference Number, Reel 3 – 9317/4.

As you can see he and the interviewer makes mention of E Company ‘the Sandringham Company’, which by then, as noted in Part 1, did not exist. This is certainly where confusion and misinformation arises in some accounts from veterans. Sergeant Amos cannot be traced in the records now available to me. In fact I can only find a Private 240275 William Cecil Amos who did not serve with the 1/5th Norfolks until 1916. This interview was made a long time after the event and as we will see accounts from the time made by interviews and newspaper accounts from 1916 tend to be far more accurate. He even contradicts himself when the title of his book is partly titled, The Disappearance of the King’s Company (Sandringham)’. This again could lead the reader to believe that everyone came from Sandringham.

So there is danger with interviews made well after the event, which often lead to men stating things that they feel interviewers might want to hear or their memories are fogged by time.

What also contradicts this account is an account made by Private 2941 William Atkins from Great Yarmouth. In an interview with the Yarmouth Mercury in 1916, when he had returned home after being wounded on the day, the newspaper noted that Atkins stated,

‘A Company seems to have been the only one to get in with the bayonet as they charged and took a farmhouse fortified with Maxims. The battalion after a long advance charged a gully in which Turks were sheltering but the enemy ran as they saw them approaching so that they never got to close quarters. This gully represented the furthest point of their advance and here they dug themselves in to resist the counter attack which was delivers from the front and two sides.’

We will look at this again in Part 4.

Another group was joined by Colonel Proctor-Beauchamp and the Adjutant. The C.O. was seen by Private S T Smith to say ‘Hound them out boys!’ It was the last time he was seen alive and probably the last order he ever gave. It was here that the surviving officers managed to take stock of what had happened and Major W Barton and Lieutenant Evelyn Beck led the surviving troops back to friendly lines when it became dark. Had they stayed they would have almost certainly died with the rest.

Private 2579 Thomas William Harbage who was killed in action on 12th August 1915 serving with the 1/5th Battalion Norfolk Regiment.

In the fourth part of this series we will look at the investigation into the 1/5th Norfolks reported disappearance and tell the truth of what actually happened to them.

The fourth part of this series will be published on 13th August 2015.