214278 Field Sgt. John Atkinson British Army 20th Btn. Durham Light Infantry from:Darlington With the outbreak of the First World War John Atkinson enlisted on the 10th August 1914 in the 3rd Training Battalion Durham Light Infantry (Army Number 22546) and the Northern Echo of 1st March 1916 shows him as a Lance-Corp. serving with the 3rd’s in France. On 14th October 1916 he is recorded as a Sergeant suffering from shell shock and on 26th March 1917 he had been wounded and was in a base hospital in France. He retained the scar of the wound in his right forearm and the remnant of the bullet in his shoulder.
He never talked much about his experiences on the Somme in W.W.1 other than to relate the time when he was in the ambulance from the front to field hospital. Alongside him was a Prussian Guard who, seeing the marksman badge on Dad’s sleeve (he was a sniper), Dad relates,â€he would have killed him if he couldâ€. He was wounded at St. Eloi, near Ypres, and our former home at Aycliffe, near Darlington, bears that name to this day.
However, whilst searching the 1943 edition of the Darlington & Stockton Times the following article of 10th September 1943 emerged:
Great War Comrades Meet at Durham.
The swearing in of Mr. Roland Jennings, M.P., of Whitburn, Sunderland, as a county magistrate at Durham Quarter Sessions on Wednesday was followed by an informal reunion with one of his Great War comrades in arms.
On the bench was Mr. John Atkinson, of Great Aycliffe, who during the Great War was a platoon sergeant in the 20th Batt. Durham Light Infantry. Recognising his former officer, Mr. Atkinson left the court and had a happy chat with Mr. Jennings. In particular they recalled an episode at St. Eloi in 1917 when Sergt. Atkinson was wounded while attacking with a Lewis gun a German machine-gun nest at a 40 yards range in no man’s land. Mr. Jennings, then a second-lieutenant, came to the rescue, helped Sergt. Atkinson back to the British lines and dressed his wound.
Mr. Jennings, chartered accountant, was M.P. for Sedgefield from 1931 to 1935 and has been M.P. for the Hallam Division of Sheffield since 1939. Mr. Atkinson is Aycliffe representative on the Darlington Rural Council and, as a J.P., sits on the Spennymoor and Darlington County Benches.
(Postscripts) – the 20th (Service) Battalion Durham Light Infantry (Wearside), the “Faithful Durhamsâ€, after training at Barnard Castle were at Aldershot on 7th January 1916 (Northern Echo). They were the only North-country battalion in the 41st Division with a high proportion of miners and it became well known for its digging abilities. They moved to France in May 1916 based around Armentieres (my father talked about the place as a place they relaxed in).
From John Sheen’s book emerges a detailed record of the Battalion and its movements as follows:
The 20th Battalion DLI was part of the 123rd Brigade along with the 11th Queens, 10th Royal West Kent, and 23rd Middlesex. The Brigade was part of the 41st Division, which in turn was part of the 15th Corps.
- 1/5/1916 Moved to embarkation positions.
- 4/5/1916 Entrained Farnborough and embarked SS Arundal at Southampton
- 5/5/1916 Gare des Marchandises – Godewaerswelde (Belgium).Probably John joined the Battalion here??
- 10/5/1916 Ypres Salient – frontline for instruction in trench warfare.
- 28/5/1916 Le Bizet/Armentieres.
- 29/5/1916 22 officers & 696 men into the front line.
- 23/8/1916 Bailleul to Somme Front (Longpre les Corps Sants) then
marched to Yaucourt Bussus.
- 7/9/1916 Train Longpre to Mericourt then camp near Becorel
outside Albert.
- 12 – 13/9/1916 Into line with the 11th Queens.
- 14/9/1916 Back to Pommiers Redoubt then back to the Battle at Flers
(with tanks). 123rd Brigade in reserve behind 122nd Brigade (no fighting
but with casualties from shelling – possible source of John’s shell shock reported in the press on 14/10 1916)
- 17/9/1916 Moved to the Montauban line then Bercondal for attacktraining.
- 27/9/1916 Much reconnaiscence into No Man’s Land.
- 1/101916 Back to Pommiers Redoubt.
- 3/10/1916 Camp at Memetz Wood – resting.
- 7/10/1916 800 yards behind Flers.
- 17/10/1916 Left Somme and entrained at Dernancourt to Oismont (via
Amiens). Arrived 18/10/1916.. Battalion strength 1068. From 23/8 to 17/10/1916 casualties 98 dead, 200+ wounded.
- 20/10/1916 Train from Pont Remy to Godeswaersvelde (Dickebusch
Sector)
- 22/10/1916 Renningshelst.
- 3/11/1916 Back to trenches – skirmishes.
- 12/11/1916 Ontario Camp (Dickebusch)
- 18/11/1916 SNOW – COLD. Fighting dimishes but still casulaties. Battalion strength 29 officers and 828 men.
- 23/11/1916 Ontario Camp.
- December 1916 In and out of the line.
- Christmas Day Trench mortar activity.
- 29/12/1916 Ontario Camp (Ypres Salient)
- New Year’s Day 1917. Some had baths – practicing – operating Lewis
Guns. Strength 19 officers (-10) and 463 (-365) men.
- 3/1/1917 In the line – very wet.
- 8/1/1916 New officers joined the Battalion, including R. Jennings.
- 17/1/1917 Back in the line.
- 21/1/1917 SNOW – back to Ontario Camp.
- 28/1/1917 Back in the line.
- Early February 1917. Clearing trenches – back and forward to Ontario
Camp.
- 17/2/1917 Routine fighting – in and out through February into March.
Battalion football competition – church in Reninghelst.
- 5/3/1917 Took over from East Surrey’s.. Snow and mist. Things
described as quiet – in and out the line.
- 18/3/1917. Skirmishes and shelling – likely time when John was
wounded (Northern Echo report on 26/3/1917.
- 24/3/1917 Battalion out of the line and on ‘stand-by’.
John used to talk about the Royal Victoria Hospital, Netley in Hampshire - an existing pre-war military hospital as the place he received on-going treatment for his wounds prior to him moving to Croydon for a time before ultimately finishing up at Woodside Hospital Darlington where he was Orderly Sergeant. He was finally honourably discharged on 13th December 1917.
Postscript by Lewis Atkinson, John’s son:
My son and I are currently tracing family records and we came across the following article by my father dated 11th November 1929 in a Darlington newspaper. He served and was wounded twice in the First World War.
“Once again the Empire today does homage to that vast, immortal army who died that we might live. Again it is vividly brought home to us by the sight of Flanders poppies, religious and other national memorial services, of the terrific sacrifices made by the British Empire during that tragic conflict.
Again, we ex-Servicemen think of those with whom we marched along the roads to the familiar strains of ‘Tipperary’, ‘Who’s your lady friend?’ and the like who are no more. We recall the training, the embarkation, our baptism of fire, the walking wounded wending their way back to the dressing stations, followed by screaming murderous shells; the stretcher cases, the lines of men outside the casualty stations, the on-coming troops, guns, transport, ever moving forward; Ypres, Armentieres, Vimy Ridge, Albert, the mud, aerial torpedoes, whizz-bangs, and Heaven knows what else. And I often ask myself, ‘Was it worthwhile?’ I say most emphatically, never again must the British Empire be plunged into such a catastrophe! Never again. They died that we might liveâ€
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