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14th July; RESCUE AT LAST!During the night of 13th – 14th July 1916, Private Matthews’s situation took a positive turn....
14/07/2020

14th July; RESCUE AT LAST!

During the night of 13th – 14th July 1916, Private Matthews’s situation took a positive turn. He would never forget the next few hours.
“I had lost all count of time, when in the darkness I was awakened by the shuffle of feet, and I managed to call out. Somebody came towards me, nearly treading on me, and it proved to be an officer on patrol with a party of N.C.O.’s of the London Scottish. The officer questioned me, and as briefly as possible I told him my story. He went straight away for the stretcher bearers and soon returned with them. I was stuck so fast to the ground that they had literally to dig me out, and it proved very painful to me, you may be sure. Then as gently as possible they lifted me on to the stretcher and commenced their perilous journey across No Man’s Land to our trenches.”
Once there, Private Matthews was fed and his wound was dressed – his fears that it might have turned septic were unfounded. He was then transported to a base hospital where he remained for two weeks before being returned to ‘Blighty’. It took a full year for his wound to heal.

13th July: I AM DYING!Private Matthews was slipping away. Stuck fast in a collapsed trench, he was lapsing into unconsc...
13/07/2020

13th July: I AM DYING!

Private Matthews was slipping away. Stuck fast in a collapsed trench, he was lapsing into unconsciousness and losing track of time. He was no longer sure how long he had been ‘missing in action’, but clung to life. He could not move the lower part of his body but his arms were free and he could move his head.
“I began to feel I was dying and would read again and again letters I had received from dear friends at home, whom it seemed destined I was never to see again.”
If he can hold on for 24 hours more…!

12th July; VISIONS OF RESCUEOn this day 104 years ago, the 4th Battalion, London Regiment was at rest near a small villa...
12/07/2020

12th July; VISIONS OF RESCUE

On this day 104 years ago, the 4th Battalion, London Regiment was at rest near a small village behind the lines. One of their number, presumed to be dead, was lying in No Man’s land, badly wounded and in desperate need of assistance. The soldier in question, Private Matthews recalled, “At times I must have lapsed into unconsciousness for I had very clear visions of some of my own pals finding me and carrying me off in a stretcher to safety and when I recovered my senses and found I was still lying in the trench, I nearly went mad with frenzy, and the agony of suspense was unbearable.”

As far as anyone knows, Private Matthews had already survived much longer in No Man’s land than any other wounded Britis...
11/07/2020

As far as anyone knows, Private Matthews had already survived much longer in No Man’s land than any other wounded British soldier. There were however other surprising survivors from the two divisions that attacked Gommecourt on 1st July 1916. On the 3rd July, a lieutenant from the 56th (London) Division crawled ‘home’ despite having been blinded in the fighting. The following day an officer of the Notts and Derby Regiment managed to heave his bleeding body into his own front line, despite being shot 7 times during his crawl to safety. Four days later, also in this sector, two wounded soldiers of the 12th Battalion, London Regiment, were spotted and rescued by a patrol (under cover of darkness). They had sheltered in a shell hole and like Private Matthews, had survived by drinking water from puddles.

10th July THE SWEET SMELL OF DECAYPartially buried, hungry, thirsty and badly wounded, Private A. Matthews of the 4th Ba...
10/07/2020

10th July THE SWEET SMELL OF DECAY

Partially buried, hungry, thirsty and badly wounded, Private A. Matthews of the 4th Battalion London Regiment lay unseen in No Man’s land. Around him and along much of the Somme front, the bloated bodies of thousands of British soldiers lay in varying states of decomposition. Most of these men had fallen on the 1st July and while rats and flies did their work, the air was filled with the stench of putrefication.
Private Matthews was desperate, “Occasionally I would shout, but that was very exhausting as I was becoming by this time very weak.”

9th JULY; AT LAST A DRINK!Private Matthews recalled;“For two days I was without any means of sustenance and then it rai...
09/07/2020

9th JULY; AT LAST A DRINK!
Private Matthews recalled;
“For two days I was without any means of sustenance and then it rained heavily and I caught some of it in my steel helmet and when that had gone, I drank from the filthy pools of water I was able to reach in the trench. The time dragged on, and days and nights passed and I was listening ever listening for any sign of approaching help.”

8th JULY; THE AWFUL COST For a few hours in 1st July 1916, the trench near Gommecourt in which Private Matthews lay was ...
08/07/2020

8th JULY; THE AWFUL COST
For a few hours in 1st July 1916, the trench near Gommecourt in which Private Matthews lay was considered a gain for the 56th London Division. But German counter attacks had pushed them back to their front line (or jumping off trench) and this was once more No Man’s land. It is worth mentioning that at this point in the Battle of the Somme, the British army had gained little more than 8 square kilometres of French soil at a cost of 20,000 lives. Some wondered if, at this rate of loss, there would be enough men in the British Empire to bring this war to a successful conclusion.
Today Private Matthews saw no-one, ate nothing and drank nothing.

7th JULY; AGAINST ALL ODDS!Against all the odds, Private Matthews of the 4th Battalion London Regiment had survived for...
07/07/2020

7th JULY; AGAINST ALL ODDS!
Against all the odds, Private Matthews of the 4th Battalion London Regiment had survived for a week, wounded and alone in No Man’s land. The stoicism he was showing was not the kind of bravery that would earn him any recognition. He would not know and would probably have not been interested in the fact that by this point in the Battle of the Somme, the army was processing the award of 13 Victoria Crosses.
He had little to distract him, all he could see were walls of white chalk and soil around him and a thin strip of sky above. When he was dragged into this trench the sky was cloudless and the good weather had lasted throughout day two, with a daytime temperature in the low 20’s and mild nights. However, on the 3rd July, there was a return of the bad weather that had caused the Battle of the Somme to be postponed for two days. Heavy rain fell and the claps of thunder at times almost drowned out the boom of the guns. The sky was overcast on the 5th, and on the 6th and 7th, Private Matthews had to contend with the additional misery of a wet uniform and puddles forming around him. However, the inclement weather and its consequences would prove to be important!

The sixth day in No Man’s land was one of the worst for Private Matthews’s - and could have been his last. A massive sh...
06/07/2020

The sixth day in No Man’s land was one of the worst for Private Matthews’s - and could have been his last. A massive shell exploded only a few feet away from him and although his prone position in the trench protected him from shrapnel, it made death more likely when one side of the trench collapsed onto him. Fortunately, he was not hit and his airways remained clear.
He recalled; “I managed to clear the worst of the earth away, but found to my dismay that the biscuits were buried and a piece of the shell had penetrated my water-can and I was once again without food and drink.”
Partially buried and without sustenance, he hoped and prayed that help would come soon.

5th July: THEY’VE COME BACK!!On this day in 1916, thousands of lightly wounded troops from the Somme were passing throu...
05/07/2020

5th July: THEY’VE COME BACK!!
On this day in 1916, thousands of lightly wounded troops from the Somme were passing through London’s Charing Cross station – understandably feted as heroes by welcoming crowds. Private A. Matthews should have been with them but instead he was lying in a corner of a foreign field in desperate need of assistance. On July 5th he thought he was saved when the Tommies who had stumbled upon him the previous night returned.
“While I was shouting for help, they came back again, bringing with them some more water in a tin and biscuits, with a little rum in a bottle. They were now in a terrible state, one was actually crawling on his hands and knees as he was wounded in the leg and hand. I prayed that they would be able to reach our own lines safely and they went off, but whether they got in or not I don’t not know, for I never saw them again.”

4th July: HAS HELP AT LAST ARRIVED?On 1st July, Private Matthews’ objective was to capture German positions around the ...
04/07/2020

4th July: HAS HELP AT LAST ARRIVED?
On 1st July, Private Matthews’ objective was to capture German positions around the Somme village of Gommecourt. Now it was simply to stay alive which in itself was a challenge as he was without food, water and the use of a smashed leg. Mathews was one of 84,000 British soldiers who had already become casualties in a battle that would last 141 days.
On this day in 1916, an uneasy calm had descended over this most northerly part of the front. The attack on Gommecourt had been a diversionary attack with the intention of drawing German guns away from the main thrust a few miles to the south.
However, as darkness fell on his fourth night Private Matthews recalled, “I heard footsteps so I shouted again and again… They were British and when they approached, I told them what had occurred but although they were very sympathetic, they could not help me as they were all wounded themselves and had been lying out since July 1st. They had been feeding on food they found on the dead men lying about, and got me a stock before leaving me. They also promised to give information as to my position when they got back and then left me.”
“An hour or two later, I heard footsteps again .. it was the same men, who could not find their own lines, so they went off in the opposite direction this time. They did not come back that night.”

At this time, and on this day 104 years ago, Private Matthews was lying in a redundant trench in No Man’s land, wounded ...
03/07/2020

At this time, and on this day 104 years ago, Private Matthews was lying in a redundant trench in No Man’s land, wounded and alone. He had been shot on the first day of the Battle of the Somme and although he was unable to move, a kindly officer had dragged him into cover and tended his wounds. Without this, Private Matthews reckoned he would have been blown to smithereens as shells continued to drop around him.
He recalled “Still I shouted but the third day passed and nobody came to my assistance and I had come to the end of my food.”
There were no plans for further attacks in this sector and indeed Pte. Matthews’ battalion had already been withdrawn. He had simply become a statistic – one of 324 casualties (out of 1,000) so far sustained on the Somme by the 4th battalion London Regiment.

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