#13324 Sergeant Albert Cowell
8TH LOYAL NORTH LANCASHIRE REGIMENT
BACK AT THE NORTHERNMOST REACHES of the battlefield, despite movement around Mouquet Farm, the village of Thiepval was still firmly in German hands and guarded the ridge beyond from any eastward approach. Additionally, the competent tactical movement that had dictated events at Pozières the month before was now absent and lacked the same direction.
One of those destined to try to silence the formidable Leipzig Salient during continued operations was 20-year-old Albert Cowell from Cleveley near Blackpool. A spinner, he enlisted in Chorley enthusiastically on 2nd September 1914 with a stiff little finger that was overlooked by a compliant medical man. Albert had thus far survived everything that the Germans could throw at him, but he had almost managed to kill himself. At the beginning of 1916 he picked up a German grenade as a souvenir while out with a working party. Souvenir hunting was responsible for many an accident among young men on the Western Front when it came to meddling with dangerous weapons. Having managed to convince his officer that he had done a bombing course, knew what he was doing and should be allowed to keep his grenade ‘for instructional purposes’, Albert was left to his own devices. He was showing it to a friend when it went off. Several people were knocked down in their shared billets and he suffered wounds to his right leg, but nobody was maimed permanently or killed and Albert rejoined his battalion a few days later. A court martial reasoned that yes, his wounds were self-inflicted, but seemingly that it was through stupidity and not malicious intent, and his punishment was light.
On 23rd August 1916, Albert and his battalion marched past Aveluy Wood and up to support positions behind troops in the Leipzig Salient, where his company was ordered to conceal itself in nearby dugouts. The following day it was attached to the 3rd Worcestershire Regiment and ordered to seize a nearby trench at 4pm. The ground gained on one side exceeded the objectives and a barricade was erected. Staying close up against the creeping British barrage, no difficulty was experienced in crossing no-man’s-land. In fact, almost all of the casualties were caused by British shellfire when men strayed too close to its protective curtain.
The Germans found their British attackers on top of them before they could man their parapet or bring their machine guns into action. The enemy then made a good, stubborn effort at resistance but suffered heavy casualties when the combined battalion engaged them in bomb fighting, flinging their explosives down into the entrances of dugouts and dispensing with the defenders inside. The attack was a success. Two machine guns were captured along with large piles of rifles, equipment and bombs.
Rain cascaded down on top of Albert Cowell and the Lancashire men on the night of 25th/26th August, an inch of water turning the chalky ground into a sea of white mud. The troops waded up early the next morning to take over different trenches from a battalion of the Wiltshire Regiment in preparation for an attack on the Salient.
Throughout the day they were informed the trench that comprised the battalion’s objective was held by less than 100 Germans, who were starving and ready to surrender. Men from Albert’s company were selected to make the attack on a small scale under one lieutenant and at 6pm they rushed forward following a small local bombardment with trench mortars. The Germans responded with heavy shell and machine-gun fire and many of the attackers fell approaching the enemy lines. The survivors entered the German trench and were surprised to find it strongly held by very determined troops. A fierce fight ensued, in which the Loyal North Lancashire men were heavily outnumbered. A lieutenant led two more companies up to help and some progress was made, but the few men he left behind were suddenly subjected to an enemy counter-attack on the British position behind.
The lieutenant saw that to go and attack was too risky and that his priority was now not to aid the attack, but to make sure that his own position was not overrun and captured. The Germans attacked the British line in force, but the North Lancashire men beat them off several times, and the enemy suffered heavy losses. Fierce shelling continued for the next few hours and then at intervals throughout the night. The failed attempt on the Salient had cost the Loyal North Lancashire battalion nearly 300 casualties, including Albert Cowell, who failed to return. His body, if recovered, was never identified and he is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial, Pier & Face 11a.