A DARK DAY FOR WINTERTON
As the original WW1 panel on the war memorial is displayed in chronological order, the 16 additional names were listed in the same manner and it quickly became evident that 20th May 1915 was a very dark day for Winterton.
Jack Parrott, James Emerson Proctor and Charles William Stubbins, all serving with the 5th Battalion, Lincolnshire Regiment, were all killed in action on that dreadful day.
A search of the History of the Lincolnshire Regiment 1914-1918 booklet, reveals the following details:
“The records of the 1/5th Battalion are more detailed than those of the 1/4th; even so, there is little in them of more than ordinary interest.
One item, however, does deserve mention. Those who went through the agonies of the trenches will know full well the nerve-wracking tension occasioned by the knowledge that the enemy was preparing a mine which might go up at any moment beneath the trench in which they stood.
This experience fell to the lot of the 1/5th Lincolnshire (for the first time) on the 26th of April. Suspicions were aroused on that date by muffled noises beneath the trench heard by the mining officer near Eil* and confirmed on the 28th by sounds of voices underground. But no further mention appears in the records until the 20th May when the inevitable result occurred: on that date at 3 p.m. the Germans blew the mine, killing eleven men and wounding twenty-two others of the 1/5th Lincolnshire, four men also being “missing, believed killed.” One officer (Lieutenant Dyson), who had been buried for fourteen hours in the debris, was recovered at 5 a.m. on the 21st bruised, but sound and cheery.
The next day suspicious noises were heard by R.E. officers under Eil, as if a mining charge was being placed in position.
On the 6th miners working in rear of Eil (which had been rebuilt since the explosion) discovered an enemy sap and heard the German sentry snoring. The Royal Engineers then placed a charge of 150lbs. ammonal and fired it, destroying the enemy’s gallery, but leaving our own intact. On the 15th of June, just before midnight, the 1/5th returned to bivouacs in Dranoutre.”
*Refers to a trench called ‘E1 Left’, also known as ‘Hell’s Kitchen’.
As the original WW1 panel on the war memorial is displayed in chronological order, the 16 additional names were listed in the same manner and it quickly became evident that 20th May 1915 was a very dark day for Winterton.
Jack Parrott, James Emerson Proctor and Charles William Stubbins, all serving with the 5th Battalion, Lincolnshire Regiment, were all killed in action on that dreadful day.
A search of the History of the Lincolnshire Regiment 1914-1918 booklet, reveals the following details:
“The records of the 1/5th Battalion are more detailed than those of the 1/4th; even so, there is little in them of more than ordinary interest.
One item, however, does deserve mention. Those who went through the agonies of the trenches will know full well the nerve-wracking tension occasioned by the knowledge that the enemy was preparing a mine which might go up at any moment beneath the trench in which they stood.
This experience fell to the lot of the 1/5th Lincolnshire (for the first time) on the 26th of April. Suspicions were aroused on that date by muffled noises beneath the trench heard by the mining officer near Eil* and confirmed on the 28th by sounds of voices underground. But no further mention appears in the records until the 20th May when the inevitable result occurred: on that date at 3 p.m. the Germans blew the mine, killing eleven men and wounding twenty-two others of the 1/5th Lincolnshire, four men also being “missing, believed killed.” One officer (Lieutenant Dyson), who had been buried for fourteen hours in the debris, was recovered at 5 a.m. on the 21st bruised, but sound and cheery.
The next day suspicious noises were heard by R.E. officers under Eil, as if a mining charge was being placed in position.
On the 6th miners working in rear of Eil (which had been rebuilt since the explosion) discovered an enemy sap and heard the German sentry snoring. The Royal Engineers then placed a charge of 150lbs. ammonal and fired it, destroying the enemy’s gallery, but leaving our own intact. On the 15th of June, just before midnight, the 1/5th returned to bivouacs in Dranoutre.”
*Refers to a trench called ‘E1 Left’, also known as ‘Hell’s Kitchen’.