Corporal 113554 Alfred Wilkinson

SECRET War Diary R.E. 4th Bttn. Special Brigade 

At the beginning of June 1916 the Brigade were in the area of Wizernes/Helfaut, just south of Saint-Omer where the new Brigade was inspected by Sir Douglas Haig. The area was reconnoitred, but suitable billeting and training sites were not found so on the 12th they were moved by train to Bouquemaison, west of Arras.  

The next few days over 5000 cylinders arrived for a surprise attack along the front, a request was put in for a 1/10,000 map of the trenches. The cylinders were subsequently tested, loaded and sent off to dumps. On the 19th the Companies moved off to forward billets and by the 22nd the situation was “All Ready”.  

NOYELLE VION. The initial plan on the 26th was thwarted by unsuitable winds, but the next day the Army Commander instructed “all gas was to be liberated when a suitable opportunity presented itself day or night”. 

On the 28th 2 cylinders per emplacement were ready to set off at 4.a.m. on the 29th. The Diary then, for the first time, reveals that heavy fighting was in progress :- 

Casualties:-  

27/6/16 wounded (gas), 2/Lt A.G.S.Innes. O.R killed 1; killed (gas) 2; died of wounds (gas) 2; wounded 7; wounded (at duty) 1; wounded (gas) 14; wounded (shell shock) 2.  

28/6/16 killed, 2/Lt F.W.Caton and 4 O.R.; died of wounds, 1 O.R.; died of wounds (gas), 2 O.R.; wounded, 2/Lt J.B Platnauer and 22 O.R. of whom 4 are at duty; wounded (gas), Lt. D.J. Law and 19 O.R.; wounded (shell shock), 1 O.R.; missing (believed killed) 1 O.R.; missing 1 O.R. [Note: 2/Lt Caton was M.A. Oxon., B.Sc. London, F.C.S.] 

Corporal Alfred Wilkinson was sadly one of the above statistics and died from gas poisoning on 28th June 1916 at 4th London Field Ambulance at the age of 40. Once the Germans identified the source of the gas release they would sometimes counter with artillery fire which could damage the cylinders and cause gas release in the trenches where the cylinders were emplaced. There are a mixture of causes of wounds or death. The non-gas casualties may have been caused by shell splinters and shrapnel. 

Further detail of the circumstances surrounding the attack of 28th June is provided below:

Between 15 and 19 June 1916, Captain Norman Hall of the 2/5^th LF, then in the 55th Division, witnessed the Special Brigade of the RE installing gas cylinders on their front in preparation for a planned raid on the German front in which selected “volunteers” from 7 Battalions, including the 2/5^th LF, were to take part. The raid was to take place at the end of June. Its objectives were only partially achieved, and heavy casualties were suffered by the British, especially by the 2/5^th LF. A report can be found in the WD of the 55^th Division.

 

Captain Hall's account of the raid is to the effect that an artillery bombardment of the enemy trenches began on 25 June 1916, and goes on:

 

… it was arranged that on the first day on which the wind was favourable, a gas cloud and smoke cloud was to be discharged, under cover of which the Infantry Raiding Parties would advance, and enter the German trench at intervals along the Divisional Front at Blairville. On Sunday June 25 and Monday June 26 the wind was unfavourable, so that only the Artillery programme was carried out. On Tuesday June 27 the wind was good, at midday. The Infantry Parties were ordered to take up their positions in the Line. However, rain set in, and continued all night. At 6.00am on Wednesday June 28 the troops returned to their billets. During the day on June 28 the weather cleared. The Infantry Parties again took up their allotted positions, and at 5.00pm gas was discharged.  At 5.35pm the Infantry went over the sand bags. Unfortunately, partly due to the strength of the wind, and partly on account of the contour of the ground – which created local currents – the gas did not carry across No Man’s Land sufficiently, but blew along No Man’s Land instead. The Boche spotted this, had time to give the Alarm, and immediately opened a heavy fire with Artillery and Machine Guns as the Infantry began to advance.

 

The Divisional report is to the effect that one of the objectives of the raid was to find out the effects of the gas on the enemy, and the overall conclusion was that the “effect of the gas was small” as most Germans were wearing respirators, or the gas did not reach them; it appears that only the 2/5^th LF saw Germans sitting on their fire-step apparently overcome by the gas.

 

Major General J.C. Latter stated in his account of the raid in The History of the Lancashire Fusiliers 1914 to 1918 published in 1949. While the Divisional War Diary and the report is to the effect that all gas cylinders were turned off at 5.25pm, Major General Latter wrote that the gas “was to have been discharged from 5 p.m. to 5.25 p.m. on 28^th June, though actually it was still pouring out for at least ten minutes longer, as all the Royal Engineers in charge of it became casualties before they could turn off the taps of the cylinders.”

 

 Captain Hall did not mention this detail in his account written within 10 years of the end of the war, nor have I seen it in any of the other contemporaneous War Diaries. I can’t help feeling that Latter was informed about it by word of mouth by someone who was there. He had himself been in the 2/5^th LF alongside Captain Hall for several months during 1915, and rejoined them later in the war; though he wasn’t with them at the time of the Blairville raid he kept in touch with Captain Hall and probably others, right up to the time of publishing the Official History.

 

Undoubtedly some of the Special Brigade RE casualties on 28 June 1916 were caused by gas, and I believe that Major General Latter’s account of the British gas continuing to be discharged for 10 minutes longer than planned owing to the operatives having become casualties is likely to be correct. What is not clear, however, is whether the RE casualties were casualties of their own gas because of the unfavourable conditions, and it was this that led to the delay in closing the valves, or whether, because the operatives were the victims of incoming artillery, this prevented them from carrying out the task of closing the valves, resulting in them and/or other members of the RE unit then being gassed by their own gas. Alternatively, were the Germans retaliating with gas shells rather than merely “ordinary” shells?

 

The operation on the 28th June 1916 was carried out by P and Q Special Companies of 4th Battalion. with attacks on  Blairville and Ficheux.  1826 cylinders of gas were dispensed  using  White Star  gas - a mixture of 50 % phosgene and 50% chlorine and Red Star gas which was pure chlorine. They were so-called because the cylinders were stencilled with the appropriate coloured star to indicate the contents.

Alfred's death was reported in the Liverpool Daily Post on 07^th July 1916: 

Liverpool Schoolmaster Killed.  

"Much regret has been caused in Roman Catholic circles in Leigh by the news that Corporal Alfred Wilkinson (40) has died from wounds.  Born at Leigh, he had been assistant schoolmaster at St. Francis Xavier’s, Liverpool, for twelve years prior to the outbreak of the war.  He then enlisted in the 4^th King’s Liverpool, but as he had a knowledge of chemistry he was transferred to the Royal Engineers.  He was a single man, lodging in Anfield.  A solemn Requiem Mass was held on Wednesday at St. Francis Xavier’s, when over 2,000 children attended, and reference to the deceased was made by the Rev. Father Parry, the rector.”