2nd Lieutenant Daniel Johannes Cecil Morkel
8TH EAST LANCASHIRE REGIMENT
TWENTY-SIX YEARS OLD AND FROM Somerset West in the Western Cape, Daniel Morkel had had to go to great lengths to get to the Western Front. A farmer’s son and a civil servant, from December 1914 to August 1915 he was in Orange Free State and German South-West Africa acting as a signaller for a mounted brigade of the Union Defence Force. At the culmination of that campaign in July 1915, Daniel wanted to see further active service and so he gathered together some references and sailed for England. When he arrived at the War Office on Whitehall with a friend from home, also looking for a commission, Daniel was carrying recommendations from an official at the South African High Commission. Even General Lukin, who had commanded the South Africans at Delville Wood in July, was willing to support his application. ‘His family is well known and respected in South Africa,’ explained the former. ‘He has taken an active part in sport generally: rugby, cricket, tennis, golf, yachting.’ In particular, he was a good oarsman and secretary of one of the leading clubs in Table Bay. His manager in the civil service, the Master of the Supreme Court in Cape Town, spoke up for Daniel. ‘Strong and keen to serve’, he was an ideal candidate for a commission. After a few weeks of waiting at his sister’s home in Earls Court and visiting another in Oxford, Daniel was an officer in the East Lancashire Regiment.
Just after Henry Begg was killed on 14th November, as the Highland Division tried to seize Munich and then Frankfurt Trenches on Redan Ridge to the north of Beaumont Hamel, General Gough arrived in the area. Ready to hear what plans his corps commanders had made to resume the offensive and seize such positions, they were confident of having possession of both Munich and Frankfurt that afternoon. The V Corps commander then wanted Puiseux Trench, which ran north to south beyond, but a good deal further on. If he was successful at pushing his men this far, Gough would have a view over Miraumont. If the rest of his force, to the south of the river, could secure Grandcourt then the British Army would be in a commanding position ready for 1917.
Neither of the trenches in question fell on 14th November. The troops who had made the initial attack on the Ancre were by now exhausted. Both the Highland Division and the Royal Naval Division were taken out of the line. Among the battalions coming to relieve them was Daniel Morkel’s 8th East Lancashires. Their arrival was rushed and within a few hours of arriving at Mailly-Maillet to the rear, Daniel’s battalion had been sent to join another division temporarily, pointed up a muddy trench north-east of Beaumont Hamel and sent off to fight. It set off at 1:30am, so any rest was out of the question. After struggling through communication trenches, Daniel and his men finally arrived at their starting position at 7:45am in thick fog. They would be attacking this terrain, brand new to them, just forty minutes later.
After a brief preliminary bombardment that targeted their objectives determinedly, Daniel heaved himself out into no-man’s-land and led his platoon due east towards Munich Trench. He and his men advanced a considerable distance, some 200 yards, in such thick fog that the enemy failed to spot them any sooner. Some troops were losing direction with no visibility and as soon as the Germans spied khaki-clad figures labouring towards them they jumped on to their machine guns and began spraying them with bullets. The forward wave of the East Lancashires got to within 50 yards of Munich Trench before the British artillery barrage finally commenced. It proved to be hitting short of the mark and this, the fog and the uncut wire barring the way all conspired to rule out any chance Daniel Morkel had of getting into Munich Trench on 16th November. By 10am the impetus had completely gone out of the battalion’s forward movement. The survivors found themselves pushed right back on to the ridge. Neither Munich nor Frankfurt Trench had been taken, despite the wealth of men thrown at them. There were simply not the troops available to attempt it again. The Battle of the Somme would close with both in German hands. A few Germans were captured elsewhere along the line, but casualties were severe, especially among the East Lancashire’s officers. Ten had been killed, including 26-year-old Daniel Morkel. He was laid to rest at Munich Trench British Cemetery, plot B.4.
Munich Trench British Cemetery. (Andrew Holmes)