Pte 11057 Harry Zodickson

• Age: 20
• From: Liverpool
• Regiment: The King's (Liverpool Regiment) 18th Btn
• K.I.A Saturday 1st July 1916
• Commemorated at: Danzig Alley Cem, Mametz
  Panel Ref: IV.S.8

Harry was born in Russia in about 1896, the fourth of eleven children born to Hyman, a cabinet maker, and his wife Rebecca (nee phonetic Posen). Their first four children were born in Russia, suggesting that they came over to the UK in about 1898, their next child being born in Liverpool in 1899. (The 1921 Census indicates that Hyman was born in Viteblsk, now Belarus, about 500 miles N.E. of Minsk).  

In 1901 Hyman and Rebecca lived with their six youngest children at 14 Minshull Street, Edge Hill, Liverpool. Harry is 5 years of age and lives with his parents. His father is 38 years of age and a cabinet maker born in Russia, whilst his mother is 33 years of age and was also born in Russia. He has five siblings in the household; Hannah aged 10, Charles aged 9 and Max aged 7 were born in Russia, whilst Sarah aged 2 and Moses aged 1 were born in Liverpool.

Sister Esther died in infancy in 1907.  

His mother Rebecca died aged 42 in Liverpool in the summer of 1910. 

In the 1911 Census, Hyman, a 45 year old widower, lives with his nine youngest children at 28 Moon Street, off Crown Street, Liverpool; Charles aged 19, Max aged 17 and  Harry now 15 are all cabinet makers in the family business. The other six children; Sarah 13, Moses 11, Sammy 8, Louis 7, Abram 6 and Myer 2, are at school or at home and the family also employs a servant Mrs E. Kelly aged 50. Hyman declared that he was married for 23 years and had eleven children, ten of which had survived

Harry enlisted in Liverpool on 20th August 1914 and was originally posted to the 16th Battalion of The King's Liverpool Regiment. He arrived in France as part of reinforcement draft on 17th December 1915 for the 18th Battalion of The King's Liverpool Regiment as Private 11057.

He was killed in action with the 18th Battalion during the attack at Montauban on the 01st July 1916.

18^th Battalion Diary

At 6.30am the artillery commenced an intensive bombardment of the enemy’s trenches. Zero Hour – 7.30 am – the battalion commenced to leave their trenches and the attack commenced. The attack was pressed with great spirit and determination in spite of heavy shelling and machine gun enfilade fire which caused casualties amounting to 2/3rds of the strength of the Battalion in action. The whole system of German trenches including the Glatz Redoubt was captured without any deviation from the scheduled programme. Consolidated positions and made strong points for defence against possible counter attacks.

Graham Maddocks provides more detail concerning the events of the day:

As the first three waves began to move forward towards the German reserve line, known as Alt Trench and then on to the Glatz Redoubt itself, they suddenly came under enfilading fire from the left. This was from a machine gun which the Germans had sited at a strong point in Alt Trench. The gun itself was protected by a party of snipers and bombers, who, hidden in a rough hedge, were dug into a position in Alt Trench, at its junction with a communication trench known as Alt Alley. These bombers and snipers were themselves protected by rifle fire from another communication trench, Train Alley which snaked back up the high ground and into Montauban itself. The machine gun fire was devastating and it is certain that nearly of the Battalion’s casualties that day were caused by that one gun.  

Lieutenant Colonel Edward Henry Trotter  wrote in the conclusion of his account of the days action:

I cannot speak to highly of the gallantry of the Officers and men. The men amply repaid the care and kindness of their Company Officers, who have always tried to lead and not to drive. As laid down in my first lecture to the Battalion when formed, in the words of Prince Kraft:

“Men follow their Officers not from fear, but from love of the Regiment where everything had always and at all times gone well with them”.    

Joe Devereux in his book A Singular Day on the Somme gives the Casualty Breakdown for the 18^th Battalion as Killed in Action 7 Officers and 165 men and of those who died in consequence of the wounds 3 Officers and 19 men a total of 194 out of a total loss for the four Liverpool Pals Battalions of 257. 

Harry now rests at Dantzig Alley British Cemetery, France.

The village of Mametz was carried by the 7th Division on 1 July 1916, the first day of the Battle of the Somme, after very hard fighting at Dantzig Alley (a German trench) and other points. The cemetery was begun later in the same month and was used by field ambulances and fighting units until the following November. The ground was lost during the great German advance in March 1918 but regained in August, and a few graves were added to the cemetery in August and September 1918. At the Armistice, the cemetery consisted of 183 graves, now in Plot I, but it was then very greatly increased by graves (almost all of 1916) brought in from the battlefields north and east of Mametz and from certain smaller burial grounds.

Dantzig Alley British Cemetery now contains 2,053 burials and commemorations of the First World War. 518 of the burials are unidentified but there are special memorials to 17 casualties known or believed to be buried among them. Other special memorials record the names of 71 casualties buried in other cemeteries, whose graves were destroyed by shell fire.

The cemetery was designed by Sir Herbert Baker.

Liverpool Daily Post 7th Aug 1916 

Killed. 

King’s (Liverpool Regiment) - Zodickson, 11057, H. (Liverpool); 

Harry is commemorated on the following Memorials:

Hall of Remembrance, Liverpool Town Hall Additions Panel 5

Liverpool Hebrew School Memorial

British Jewry Roll of Honour. 

British Jews in the First World War– This records his death incorrectly as 1/7/17 and gives an address 11 Southampton Street, Fitzroy, London. 

Soldiers Effects and Pension to father Hyman, 83 Paddington, Liverpool. 

Brother Max served with the RAF as 3rd Class Aircraftsman 133373, discharged on the 24th June 1919 with a pension. 

It is known that in later life, his brother Charles, changed his name to Dickson, it is possible that other members of the family did likewise.

Father died aged 73 in 1935. 

We currently have no further information on Harry Zodickson, If you have or know someone who may be able to add to the history of this soldier, please contact us.

See also the website We Were There Too which commemorates Soldiers of the Jewish Faith who fell in the Great War. Visit www.jewsfww.uk/the-project.php