#17583 Sergeant Albert Klemp
6TH WILTSHIRE REGIMENT
THE VILLAGE OF CONTALMAISON WAS another of the objectives deemed necessary in order to secure the left flank of the troops set to assault in the upcoming large-scale advance on the Bazentin Ridge, which had been set for mid-July.
Among the men who would have to try to help capture it was 20-year-old Albert Klemp, the son of a P&O harbour master. Raised in Southend-on-Sea and educated at the local high school, by 1914 Albert was working as a clerk at the customs office in the City of London. At the height of the rush to the colours in the first week of September, Albert enlisted at the busy recruiting station at St Paul’s in the City and was allocated to a battalion of the Wiltshire Regiment. Albert had seen much in the opening week of the Battle of the Somme. On 2nd July his battalion had been ordered in at La Boisselle prior to its capture, but their endeavours had proved unsuccessful at a cost of almost 300 casualties.
Given approximately forty-eight hours to reorganise, on 7th July Albert and his battalion moved off again to take part in an attack near Contalmaison. The 6th Wiltshires went forward, making steady progress on the right flank of the attack. In the centre, ‘so eager were the troops to get on’ that they even ran into the divisional artillery barrage and were held up. Three times during the day they were left with their right flank in the air and suffered the nerve-wracking effects of German snipers throughout the afternoon until their bombers took care of them that evening. The night was a very wet and trying one, but the enemy did not attempt to counter-attack.
Men of the Wiltshire Regiment advance. (Authors’ collection)
On 8th July it was dry and warm, but the weather had taken its toll on the ground and the mud underfoot was awful. Albert continued helping to consolidate the Wiltshire’s position. The battalion adjutant recorded ‘little activity’ in terms of fighting but Albert and his comrades were subjected to heavy artillery fire during the day, leading the Wiltshires to suspect that a counter-attack may be about to come towards them. In the end, this was not to be the case, but the constant stream of enemy fire had taken its toll, claiming the life of Albert Klemp. Five weeks later his family would suffer further loss when his brother was accidentally killed off Harwich when Submarine E41 collided with another vessel during exercises. Albert’s body, if recovered, was never identified and he is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial, Pier & Face 13a.