#30185 Private Thomas William Collingwood
1/6TH WEST YORKSHIRE REGIMENT
THE LINE AT THE NORTHERN end of the battlefield had barely progressed at all since 1st July. Since then it had been the scene of sporadic, vicious artillery bombardments or localised intense, but essentially unprofitable fighting aimed at holding fast or perhaps edging forward the line slightly. Other than that, as the artillery in the area helped occupy potential reinforcements that could move south on the enemy front by harassing them with their fire, roads were improved, trenches dug and communications secured.
Since Oswald Webb’s Ulster Division had pulled out of the line, shattered, on the night of 3rd July, part of the sector by Thiepval had transferred from Irish hands to those of the 49th (West Riding) Division. Tall and fair, Thomas Collingwood was one of the youngest of nearly a dozen children from a large family in Tow Law, near Consett in County Durham. The son of a coal hewer in a family where all the men and boys worked in the mine, he was a labourer before the war. Enlisting into the Durham Light Infantry at Newcastle in December 1915, once Thomas got to France though, as was the case with thousands of reinforcements arriving at the front, he went where he was needed and, a specialist bomber, he was routed to the 1/6th West Yorkshire Regiment.
Throughout August, Rawlinson’s Fourth Army was to take the lead role in the Somme Offensive, but scrapping continued on Gough’s front. With it, casualties mounted in miserable circumstances brought about by attritional warfare. Haig wanted to wear down the enemy here before another large-scale advance in September. He believed that nothing more could be gained unless the conditions were just so before going forward, after meticulous preparation and not without his troops steeling themselves for any counter-attacks to prevent inevitable losses. Not to put too much strain on anyone, but he also wanted the enemy chipped away at like this while expending the least amount of men and equipment possible. Such perfection in balance was a tall order and one that his generals could not, as it turned out, carry through.
Thomas Collingwood and his battalion were carrying out training at the northern end of the battlefield behind Thiepval and Beaumont Hamel until they were called up on 3rd August and moved into trenches facing the fearsome Leipzig Salient, formed by a bend in the German lines on the long slopes of a spur and to which the enemy appeared to attach much importance, to the south of Thiepval. No offensive was in the offing, but as usual there was endless backbreaking work to be done to maintain or better the lines and to be ready should the enemy attack. Preparations were made to start on a new dugout on the 4th, using the elaborate German model, as advancing past some of these during the battle so far had revealed all manner of luxuries, in both amenities and protection, that hitherto the British could only have dreamed of. As Thomas began work, the trenches were heavily shelled, others were blown in to the extent that they were completely uninhabitable. During the course of the day, Thomas Collingwood was killed. His would become an all too common story for thousands of men who were to be sent into battle for the remainder of the campaign. The 21 year old had survived less than a month after being sent to reinforce the numbers on the Somme. He was laid to rest at Authuile Military Cemetery, plot F.31.