#659 Sergeant Frank Vallois
1ST LANCASHIRE FUSILIERS
AS THE SUN SET ON 1st July, the Somme battlefield was in chaos. The fighting may have settled down after the ferocity of the opening advance, but confusion reigned and units tried desperately to take stock and reorganise themselves. North of Billy Disbrey and the 11th Suffolks, the failure of the advance had been even more resolute, but among the men who had somehow come through the savagery unscathed was a 29-year-old reservist from Jersey.
Frank Vallois had served in the army for eleven years, eight of them in the heat of India, before leaving the service. Having returned home, he departed Jersey again immediately on the outbreak of war and rejoined the army. Forced along on the Great Retreat of 1914 he had fallen foul of that trying experience and was the first wounded man to arrive back on the island for sick leave. He made the most of his recovery time for the war effort, tirelessly promoting recruitment at home as the Jersey Company, all that could be expected of an island with such a small population, was being raised.
Frank was one of four brothers who had answered the call to arms. His brother Ernest, with the Jersey Company in an Irish Battalion, had already died at a casualty clearing station in April 1916 as a result of fatal wounds in both arms and his left leg and lay buried at Bethune town cemetery. The other two Vallois were hard at work in the artillery and the Royal Navy respectively. At the onset of July, Frank was serving with a new battalion of the Lancashire Fusiliers, his original regiment, because of the need to spread out the experience of valuable NCOs such as him. Part of the 29th Division, the battalion had served first at Gallipoli until being evacuated at the beginning of 1916. From Egypt it was sent to Marseilles and then found its way to the Somme.
On 1st July Frank’s battalion had attacked towards Beaumont Hamel, another of the villages fortified by the Germans at the northern edge of the main battlefield. As on Billy Disbrey’s front, a mine was detonated to attempt to smooth the way for the infantry by taking out a portion of the enemy’s front line, but with little effect as it was blown at a ridiculous time. After much argument about whether it should be blown hours in advance, or just as the infantry went over, a bizarre compromise was reached and it was detonated at 7:20am. In the ensuing ten minutes before the attack commenced, the enemy regrouped following the shock and in some places in the sector were even on top of the parapet aiming their weaponry and waiting to greet the British troops when they came forward.
The Thiepval Memorial to the Missing of the Somme. (Andrew Holmes)
Frank’s battalion made a valiant effort to try to reach the German lines. As on Billy Disbrey’s front, the chances of escaping savage machine-gun fire were slim. ‘The enemy was ready for us and had plenty of machine guns … against them no troops with the strength of 1½ men per yard can hope for success.’ In all, half the battalion was killed or put out of action. Having somehow survived, the night of the 1st was an anxious one for Frank and the remnants of the battalion. The Lancashire Fusiliers found itself massively disorganised as it tried to take stock and form a coherent unit again. It was the same all over the Fourth Army front. Communications were shot, battalions were decimated. Some had almost ceased to exist as fighting formations.
On 2nd July Frank’s battalion consolidated and wired their front. Men were still isolated up in front, having got forward, or were out in the open due to a lack of space in the trenches. In bright sunshine with a cool wind, they continued to take stock, attempting to get supplies of rifles, equipment and stores from the battle out of their way in order to take adequate cover. Throughout the day they were subjected to heavy artillery fire, amassing yet more casualties. Having come through unmitigated carnage the day before, Frank fell foul of the enemy’s barrage and was not to survive the day.
In all, 6,292 men from Jersey served in the Great War, of whom 862 would not return home. Frank Vallois’ body, if recovered, was never identified and he is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial, Pier & Face 3c/3d.