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L/Cpl. James Alban Charles "Jimmy" White
British Army 15th (2nd Portsmouth Pals) Btn. Hampshire Regiment
from:Warminster
James White enlisted in the 15th (2nd Portsmouth Pals) Btn, Hampshire Regiment at Winchester on 9th Feb 1915. After training the Bn moved to France on 2nd May 1916 as part of 122nd Brigade in 41st Division and moved to the La Creche area where they started instruction in the trenches in parties of about 100 with other units on the 10th May. The Bn continued to operate in the area between Hazebrouck and Bailleul until Sep 1916 when it moved to the Somme area.
On 15th Sep 1916 the Battalion took part in the Battle of Flers-Courcelette, which was the first attack using tanks. A major advance (in WW1 terms) was achieved and the village of Flers was captured by 122nd Brigade with the support of the tanks. However casualties were high, mainly due to the German artillery barrage, but also to three machine guns on the Battalions left. 8 officers and 31 men were killed, 5 officers and 188 men wounded and 60 men were missing.
James White was one of those wounded, and left some notes and a map of the action. It shows he reached the 3rd German line at the edge of the village, where he says the line was consolidated, and he may have gone further on with a party under Lt Smith. His map shows he was wounded in the second German line, but does not indicate if this was on the way forward or later. However the Battalion War Diary records that the German barrage was very heavy and many messengers were killed or wounded trying to get messages to or from Battalion HQ to the men in Flers. It may be that James White was one of these. He suffered severe wounds to his legs from a shell.
He records that he manged to get to a Field Ambulance in a sunken road running from Longueval to Flers and was then evacuated back. He spent a long time in Whitchurch Military Hospital (Cardiff), Netley Hospital and the Royal South Hants Hospital and was discharged as unfit for military service on 22nd Nov 1917.
James Alban Charles White died in 1926, ten years after he was wounded, from septicemia caused by his wounds.
