For sale - British War and Victory Medals named 3175 PTE D. NEWBUTT. MIDD’X R.; Memorial Plaque named DERRICK
NEWBUTT.; Middlesex cap badge and brass Middlesex shoulder title. Comes with
copies of M.I.C., medal roll, research notes, and Commonwealth War Graves
Commission extract.
Lance Corporal Derrick Newbutt was born in October 1890 at
Kensington, London. The 1911 census records him working as a Railway Gateman
for the London Tube still living in Kensington. At the start of the war he was
living in Notting Hill, Middlesex and enlisted at Ravenscourt Park, Middlesex.
He landed in France post 1/1/1916 initially
serving with the 8th Battalion Middlesex Regiment (service # 3178). At
some stage he transferred to the 17th Battalion Middlesex Regiment (6th Brigade
2nd Division) with the new service # G/43857.
He was killed during the Battle of Arleux on 28/4/1917,
fighting with ‘D’ Company. Oppy Village
and Wood were in the 6th Infantry Brigade area of attack. The battalion lost
some 462 men that day, of the troops who " went over the top " in the
morning, 1 officer and 41 wounded men eventually found their way back, whilst 3
wounded officers and 106 wounded other ranks were able to get back in the early
stages of the fight.
The order of companies from right to left was D, C, B, and
A. " At 4.25 a.m. our barrage came down, and at 4.33 a.m. the leading wave
entered the enemy's front-line trench. The wire was found to be perfectly cut
and the trench practically empty. The battalion pressed forward behind the
creeping barrage, and the first objective (Blue Line) was reached with only a
few casualties.
" Fighting became much heavier on reaching the line of
the first objective, very heavy machine-gun and rifle fire being opened from
the houses in the village. Captain Parfitt of D Company had been specially
charged with the consolidation of the first objective, and this was taken in
hand by the first wave, while the remainder pressed on towards the second
objective (Green Line).
The Germans counter attacked and began pressing down in
strength from the north, both down the German front-line trench and by the
Crucifix Road, on the flanks of our two left companies, and had driven these
back through the wood to the enemy front-line trench. Here these two companies
were making a stand, but had by now sustained very heavy losses. The enemy also
appears to have counter-attacked against the front and right flank as well, and
had succeeded in re-entering the wood and getting in between the troops
consolidating on the first objective and those who had been driven back to the
Oppy Trench. The enemy had also worked up the Oppy Trench from the south, and
were bombing up from that direction also. All communication with the remnants
of the troops in the first objective was now cut off, and runners who attempted
to get through to the troops still holding Oppy Trench were either killed or
wounded.
The remnants of the two companies still holding on to the
Oppy Trench finally exhausted all their bombs, and when reduced to about ten
all told, made a dash for the Old British Line. One officer and three men
succeeded in getting through.
" The troops on the first objective were not heard of
again until a wounded officer succeeded in making his way back during the night
(28th). His evidence made it clear that these troops had fought till they were
practically exterminated by the superior forces of the enemy.
He was initially reported as missing but was later
confirmed killed. He has no known grave and is commemorated at the Arras
memorial.
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