#G/5968 Private James Richard Sage
1ST THE BUFFS (EAST KENT REGIMENT)
THE RENEWAL OF THE ADVANCE on the Fourth Army front was imminent, but the enemy would not let Rawlinson’s men prepare for their attack unmolested. From New Romney in Kent, James Sage had enlisted as a teenager in Canterbury in the spring of 1915. A milkman, the youngest of five children and the only boy, so far he had come through the war without major physical injury, apart from a week in the drill hall at Chatham with trench foot.
On 19th September, James’ battalion, the 1st Buffs, began a long march away from the trenches towards Albert, where the entire battalion, exhausted and rubbing their sore feet, expected to have a rest. This dream of respite lasted less than twenty-four hours for, on the evening of the 20th, orders were received for James and his fellow troops to return to the lines the following day for the renewed offensive. James returned to Ginchy and relieved a battalion of the Coldstream Guards on a narrow front to the north of Morval. Depressingly, they were to take over the front line again. To make things worse, James discovered that he and the rest of The Buffs were sharing a trench with the Germans, who sat 50 yards away.
There were assembly trenches to be dug and, more of a concern for The Buffs and a Bedfordshire battalion alongside them, there was a distinct lack of dumps close to the front line to keep them in ammunition and supplies. James got to work. Reconnaissances were made of German positions nearby and on the night of the 23rd the new trenches were finished and the front line reinforced.
At 5:30am on 24th September the enemy took to the offensive before Rawlinson’s men had a chance to attack. An SOS was sent up by James’ battalion as a German force emerged from wet mist and drizzle and made a determined effort to break the line. The enemy succeeded in dropping into The Buffs’ trenches but was ejected swiftly thanks to a nearby Lewis gun. In the course of protecting the line, the day before going over the top, James Sage was killed. His body, if recovered, was never identified and he is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial, Pier & Face 5d.