#S/17722 Rifleman William Lesurf
1ST RIFLE BRIGADE
THE ATTACK OF THE 18TH had fared little better to the south-east, almost at the end of the British line. At Lesboeufs Rawlinson’s men were attempting yet again to push north-east towards the Le Transloy line. Serving with a regular battalion of the Rifle Brigade was a 27-year-old dock labourer from Duckett Street in Stepney, East London. William Lesurf enlisted in December 1915 and was not mobilised until April the following year. He stepped off a transport and on to French soil on 14th September 1916. Having joined the battalion two weeks later, he was only in his third week of active service when the 1st Rifle Brigade was ordered to seize a collection of trenches to the east of Lesboeufs.
Here, as at the Butte, the conditions were deplorable. ‘All movement was painfully slow through the flooded trenches and water filled craters … The only possible way for the infantry to take its objectives was to get to close grips with the enemy and fight with bomb and bayonet.’ William’s battalion went into battle with just over 500 men. In the pouring rain he and his comrades rushed forward, narrowly avoiding a sweeping barrage laid down by the enemy that came in on no-man’s-land just as they cleared it on their way forward. One company could not get within 20 yards of the Germans thanks to a machine gun that opened as soon as it started its attack. Another got lost as soon as it set off, and was only spared annihilation by the fact that the Germans opposite appeared to do the same.
Scrapping went on from shell hole to shell hole and the situation became utterly confusing in the dark. On the front of another company, the enemy had begun sending up flares. Here the riflemen were caught by the quick barrage laid down and, as they crested the top of a small ridge to advance, they were mown down by machine-gun fire. Parties of the battalion began reaching their objectives, but had to withdraw. The failed attempt towards Le Transloy had cost the 1st Rifle Brigade more than 260 men.
Across the board the day had been a disaster. No-man’s-land was littered with wounded and dying men, including William Lesurf. The men of the battalion that remained unscathed after their ordeal collected them one by one as the rain continued to tip down. As the battalion was relieved the following night, William was not among those collected and was later deemed to have died on 19th October. William left behind a widow named Margaret and four children: Lily, 7, Mary, 5, Violet, 3, and 2-year-old William. He never met his fifth child, a daughter, also named Margaret, born just nine days before her father’s death. William Lesurf lay on the battlefield until his remains were discovered in 1923. He was identified by his clothing and a serial number on his boot and finally laid to rest at Bienvillers Military Cemetery, plot XVIII.H.2.