Relative of twin Huddersfield soldiers who served on the Somme
Twin Huddersfield brothers were at the very centre of one of the most famous battles of the Somme.
Albert and Herbert Sanderson were serving in the 5th Btn Seaforth Highlanders and were at the heart of the fighting the ruins of Beaumont Hamel.
The 5th Seaforth Highlanders and 8th Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders were the lead battalions, although ground conditions thwarted easy movement from the start. All troops were in position for zero hour at 05.45am on November 13, 1916.
At this point a huge underground mine beneath the German occupied Hawthorn Redoubt was detonated.
Following a creeping barrage and assisted by the presence of thick fog the advance was slow but by 8am it was progressing steadily. The only exception was on the left flank where German machine-gun posts held out until nightfall before surrendering.
By night Beaumont Hamel had fallen with several hundred German prisoners, the British gaining many thousands of rounds of rifle ammunition, trench mortars and mortar rounds.
Albert and Herbert would have seen the explosion of the mine at Hawthorn Ridge and they would have advanced as a lead battalion.
On that day 100 years ago in the final throes of the battle of the Somme, Herman was wounded, while Albert survived unharmed. The injured Herman was recovered later the next day and taken to a casualty clearing station (CCS) at Contay, a small village, about the size of Hall Bower, some miles east of the battlefield.
Sadly he died of his wounds on November 16, 2016. At the point he died his twin collapsed, and when he awoke he instinctively knew his twin was dead.
Herman was buried in the cemetery where he was one of several who died that day.
I was lucky to have worked in Lille in France and could visit Contay easily on the way back to Huddersfield. It still is a small village in a rural landscape.
The British and Commonwealth War Grave cemetery is peaceful and surrounded by Maple trees, as the majority of the 1,500 graves are of Canadian soldiers. Contay is only one of several hundred cemeteries that were in use for the relatively short period of the Somme Battle.
The grandson of Herman’s youngest sister, I have the privilege of now owning one of the brothers’ wallets and photos from the period. A third brother also survived although he had suffered wounds from shell fragments that remained embedded in him until the day he died in the 1970s.
Albert survived the war. My grandmother recalled that when Albert returned in his army clothes his mother made him burn the kilt as it was too flea infested to go in the house!
Herman Sanderson is commemorated on the monument next to Armitage Bridge Church, one of many stories that lies behind the names on that stone.
