25 September 1916 - Supporting III Corps
The Tanks on the Somme. 25th September 1916.
D Company with 23rd Division, III Corp, 4th Army.
D Company intended to get 2 tanks into action on 25th September 1916
D Company
D18, 743, Lt Enoch
A second, unidentified tank
Notes:
The above is based on Trevor Pidgeon (s2.p34)
Orders
To clear Twenty Sixth Avenue from M26c.2.9 (Point 29) to M26 central to M26b.5.3 (Point 53). 743 was to clear the latter, eastern part of the trench. (S2.p34)
Zero: 12:35pm (S2.p34)
Assembly point: Gunpit road / Gunpit Trench . (S2.p34)
Account of operations
One tank ditched on its way to the start point. The attack on the western part of the trench was thus cancelled. (S2.p34)
743 started on time and made it to the crest line just before Zero where it brought down a German Barrage; this destroyed the tank at M26d.8.8 and halted the attack. (S2.p34f)(Wirn)
Summary
Intended: 2
At start: 1
Failed to Start:
Engaged enemy:
Ditched / Broke Down: 1
Hit and Knocked out: 1
Rallied: 0
Penetrated by AP bullets: 0
Note
Aftermath
743 Sketched in situ in December 1916: X2 photographs.
Sources
W3 – C Company’s War Diary. Transcript from Bovington Tank Museum.
W4 - D Company’s War Diary. Transcript from Bovington Tank Museum.
WIrn -
S2 - Pidgeon, Trevor (2012) Tanks on the Somme
S12 - Chris McCarthy. (1998) The Somme. The Day by Day Account. Brockhampton Press.
S22 - Staedman, Michael (1995) Thiepval, Leo Cooper P. 86ff