#G/16163 Private Frederick Hillard
8TH EAST SURREY REGIMENT
BACK AT THIEPVAL, 32-YEAR-OLD FREDERICK Hillard was serving with a battalion of the East Surrey Regiment. From New Malden, Surrey, the painter and decorator lived with his parents, three unmarried sisters and two brothers. Frederick embarked in July 1916 and joined his battalion to help replace their initial losses at the Battle of the Somme. The 7th Queen’s had been in action since the onset of the battle for Thiepval Ridge, had lost almost all of their officers and NCOs and had had no rest since the 26th. The 29th September was dedicated to getting them out of the line. At 2pm Frederick’s battalion was ordered to relieve them on the southern face of Schwaben Redoubt and to attack the northern face at 4pm the following afternoon, to try to seize the stronghold once and for all.
Having struggled up without guides, who had gone missing, Frederick and the rest of the men began their subsequently long relief at midnight. The rest of the darkened hours passed fairly quietly, which was a blessing for a battalion largely depleted in numbers. Two platoons had been lent out and were not sent back as promised, meaning that they were to attack as a significantly weakened force. One of their companies was only sixty strong; roughly half strength.
The scene at Thiepval in 1916. (Authors’ collection)
After the fury exacted upon them by men such as Thomas Wilson and the 7th Bedfords in the preceding days, the Germans were determined to regain lost ground at Schwaben Redoubt. Before the Surreys had had time to settle in, at dawn a counter-attack began with a 6am barrage to the south of the redoubt. Then the Germans came at Frederick and his comrades with a strong bombing attack on their exposed left flank. They drove the Surreys from the southern face of the Schwaben Redoubt with their menacing little bombs, pushing them until they were almost 200 yards back from the face of the stronghold.
Their position was fought for hand-to-hand, the men brandishing bayonets, the East Surreys advancing again across the open. Meanwhile though, Kent men were being pushed off the western face of the redoubt. Frederick’s battalion regained its position at the southern face, but it was coming under its own barrage in the shared trench, even though the men had let off flares to advise of their position. Gradually the shells whittled away at the British troops until there were only seventy-five Surrey men left. Frederick and his comrades had been hurried into place, some without rations; dispositions were confused owing to the movement, or lack of, of the men around them. The East Surreys were having to communicate back to their headquarters through another brigade, which made messaging far too slow and meant they could not get information to the rear quickly enough.
Enemy shelling continued on the south face of the redoubt all morning. One company of the 8th East Surreys reported that two of its platoons had been reduced to ten and seventeen men respectively before they had even reached zero hour for their attack. At 4pm Frederick assaulted the northern and eastern faces in the open, with some measure of success. But attempts elsewhere on Schwaben Redoubt failed because the attackers simply ran out of men, all of them being cut down by shell and machine gun. Troops were scattered throughout the north face, and to the east and south of the redoubt.
The enemy retaliated by bombarding the strong point for two more hours as the dwindling ranks of the 8th East Surreys clung on. If they had attacked earlier in the day, perhaps they could have taken more advantage of their success, but the Germans just harassed them until after nightfall. In the dark, nobody could get about without being impeded by shell holes everywhere, let alone fashion another attack. The enemy was brave enough to try at 9pm, forcing the East Surreys south again. By this point they were exhausted and, despite trying hard, could not hold on. Despite all their efforts, at the end of September, the Reserve Army’s task was not yet completed. The Thiepval Ridge was a formidable obstacle. For the 8th East Surreys, it had been a confusing, endless day of fighting at close quarters and fierce bombardments had cost the battalion 320 men, including Frederick Hillard. His body was laid to rest at Mill Road Cemetery, plot XV.G.5.