George Datlen (1893-1916)

Post date: Sep 17, 2015 7:23:1 PM

George Edward Datlen was born in Dover in October 1893 to Charles George and Jessie Ann. At the time of the 1901 census, after the death of his father, he was living with his mother and 5 siblings at Finnis's Court, 4, Finniss Hill, Dover. By the time of the 1911 census George was living in a 3 room cottage in Pizienwell with his mother and her new husband of 8 years a "Horse Dealer" called Albert John Blythe; all George's siblings, including 2 younger ones, had left home. George was working as an farm labourer. He did not go to Wateringbury School.

George enlisted as G/9046 in the 3rd battalion of the Royal Sussex Regiment at Maidstone on 19th February 1916 (after conscription was introduced). He was 22 years and 126 days old and still single. He was 5 feet 6 inches tall, weighed 140 llbs with a 35 inch chest. He apparently had served earlier in the same battalion but had been discharged in May 1912. After a spell of 10 days in Newhaven hospital in March 1916 with influenza he was posted to France on 20^th July 1916, transferred to the 2^nd battalion on 28^th July and appointed an unpaid Lance Corporal on 31^st July. When he died on 17^th August his service was reckoned as 180 days.

However the short notice amongst the many Kent "killed" which appeared in the Kent Messenger on 23^rd September 1916 still records him as a private:

9046 Pte. G. Datlen (Wateringbury), Sussex Regt.

The Battalion he was transferred to, the 2^nd Royal Sussex, had been in France from August 1914 and had participated at The Battle of Mons and the subsequent retreat, The Battle of the Marne, The Battle of the Aisne, First Battle of Ypres, The Battle of Aubers, The Battle of Loos, and, immediately prior to George's death, The Battle of Albert (1^st -13^th July 1916), the first part of the Somme Offensive.

The War Diary (Army form C2118) of the 2^nd Battalion Royal Sussex Regiment is available at the National Archives (reference WO/95/1269/1) and the following is a transcription of the period (just 20 days) from when George joined the battalion (then part of the 2nd Brigade, 1st Division) up to his death:

FRANVILLERS 28^th July: Battalion in billets. Several prizes were won in sports held in the afternoon. 1st Water Carts. 1st 2nd & 3rd Cookers. 3rd Limbered Wagons. 2nd Pack Horse.

Draft of 31 O.Rks¹. joined the battn.

FRANVILLERS 29^th July: The baths at MEVILLE were allotted to Companies during the morning and afternoon. Sgt. Majors parade in the evening.

FRANVILLERS 30^th July: In the afternoon the Battalion marched to HENENCOURT about 5 miles and bivouacked in the Camp there.

to HENENCOURT²

HENENCOURT 31st July: Inspection of the Battalion by the G.O.C 2nd Brigade in the morning; Drill etc. in afternoon.

HENENCOURT 1st August: Inspection of the 2nd Brigade by the G.O.C. 3rd Corps. Regimental sports in evening. Night Operations & Wood Fighting.

HENENCOURT 2nd August: Physical Training, Drill etc. Sports in the evening. Draft of 46 O.Rks. joined the battn.

HENENCOURT 3rd August: Physical training & drill. Night operations & Wood Fighting.

HENENCOURT 4th August: Battalion went through ordinary training during the day and at night carried out night operations.

HENENCOURT 5th August: Battalion took part in the Brigade scheme of night operations.

HENENCOURT 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th August: Training, physical exercises, Drill and Musketry. Companies held their respective sports in the evenings. On the 9th a Regimental Concert was held in HENENCOURT WOOD, in the evening, & proved very successful.

HENENCOURT 10th August: Training in the morning. During the afternoon Regimental boxing contests took place in HENENCOURT WOOD.

HENENCOURT 11th August: companies went out to their allotted area in the morning and training was carried out in Artillery Formation movements. The baths in the chateau were allocated to Companies and Transport.

HENENCOURT 12th August: Commanding Officer's parade in the morning. The afternoon was devoted to regimental sports in celebration of honours won by the regiment at MAIDA.

HENENCOURT 13th August: Battalion left HENENCOURT towards evening and marched via ALBERT to BECOURT WOOD, we bivouacked here for the night.

to BECOURT WOOD

BECOURT WOOD 14th August: About 1 p.m. the battn marched off from BECOURT WOOD and proceeded via MAMETZ WOOD to HIGH WOOD. We relieved the 11th to HIGH WOOD Suffolk in the Firing Line, the situation was then quiet. At night about 11 p.m. the Enemy shelled our trenches in reply to our artillery bombardment and we suffered several casualties. The 1st Brigade was on our left and the 1st Middlesex (33rd Division) on our right.

HIGH WOOD 15th August : Our batteries remained very active throughout the day, the German guns replied with occasional shelling. About 9.30 p.m. a Patrol was sent to report upon the Western portion of the trench running S.W. from HIGH WOOD. At midnight the Patrol reported the line not wired and attack feasible. About 2.30 a.m. "B" coy on the right, and one Company Northamptons on the left moved out. There was no artillery preparation and the enterprise was unsuccessful principally owing to loss of direction. Lieut. Collins killed and some 30 O. Rks casualties.

HIGH WOOD 16th August : Some shelling during the day. It was further decided to again attack the German position but with 2 Coys R. Sussex and 2 Coys 1/Northants. This time moving forward at 10 p.m. under an intense bombardment, the trench was occupied with few casualties, and some 12 prisoners unwounded, were taken by the 2 Coys.

HIGH WOOD 17th August : Towards morning the Germans made a determined counter-attack with a Flammenwerfer³ and hand grenades. Considerable confusion to MEMETZ WOOD ensued: 2/Lieut. Atkinson was killed, and 2/Lieuts. Sainton & Johnson having been wounded earlier in the evening , 2/Lieut. Wright was the sole officer left and managed to maintain himself with a small party in the captured trench. The Enemy bombarded all day and about 8 p.m. the Loyal North Lancs began to relieve the Battalion which now moved into Brigade Reserve at MAMETZ WOOD.

[ on 21st August the diary notes that casualties in last 7 days were 3 Officers killed and 14 wounded; Other Ranks 56 killed, 320 wounded and 87 missing].

Frederick Adams of Waterringbury had been killed in High Wood a month earlier.

From Pizienwell his mother seems to have moved at different times to 23, Latter's Buildings, Old Road, Wateringbury and 2, Springdale Terrace, Wateringbury, remarrying as Denton.

George, along with 72,000 others (including from Wateringbury: Frederick Adams, William Cowlard, Albert Herbert, Lewis Newman, Frederick Latter, William Butchers and George Pearce) with no known grave, is commemorated on Pier and Face 7C of the Thiepval Memorial, designed by Sir Edward Lutyens, and located on the D73 next to the village of Thiepval, France.

Notes:

1. ORks (or more usually ORs) was a standard army abbreviation for other Ranks i.e. anybody except commissioned officers.

2. Henencourt is 3 ¹/₂ miles west of Albert was a relatively safe billet. It has a substantial chateau still surviving from before WW1 in the centre of the village.

3. Flammenwerfer (=flamethrower) were introduced by the Germans in 1915. They had been designed by Major Bernhard Reddeman. The potable model was designed to be carried by one man with another operating it. it belched a stream of petrol and oil up to 20 yards for under 2 minutes. It was heavy and bulky making its carrier an obvious target. It's range was short also increasing the vulnerability of the operator. The British developed a non-portable version and 4 were available on 1st July 1916 but were not used again after 1916.