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(Battle of Flers - Courcelette 15th-22nd September 1916)By September 1916 the Battle of the Somme had been raging for two months. As part of the next phase of the campaign the Guards Division was ordered to attack and hold the villages of Morval, Lesboeufs, Guedecourt and Flers. The 1st Battalion the Welsh Guards was to begin to attack at 9.35 a.m. on the 16th September, from trenches to the North West of Guillemont Station. Their objectives were the same as those that the 6th Division had tried and failed to take days earlier suffering “enormous casualties”. In the early hours of the 16th the commanding officer of the Battalion ordered his units back to Ginchy to await orders as he was unable to locate the forward positions. These trenches had almost ceased to exist to the combined effects of heavy rain and artillery fire. The order to attack was confirmed, but postponed to 12.30 pm. The assault was to take the form of sectional rushes following a creeping barrage. The attack began on schedule but the troops quickly lost their direction and the advance broke down. The battalion failed to reach any of its objectives and ‘dug in’ in close contact with the enemy near the Flers Lesboeufs Road. The day’s fighting is described in the Regimental History as ‘hard and confused’ having taken place over difficult ground in poor weather. The Welsh Guards were relieved by troops from the 20th Division, later that night after suffering 144 casualties. Among those casualties were Guardsman J.H. (Bert) Richards and L/Cpl A. Harris. Augustus ( Gus) Harris had been employed in the local tinplate works before joining the Glamorganshire Police Force (PC 526) in August 1914. He was released from the Police to enlist in the army on April 9, 1915.Hewas a well known local Rugby player. Neither man has a known grave and both are commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial to the Missing. The memorial is massive multi arched structure that is visible from almost all parts of the Somme battlefields; it records the names of 72,498 British troops who have no known grave. Bert Richards and Augustus Harris are also commemorated on the Rudry War Memorial and Augustus Harris is further commemorated on the Glamorganshire Police Memorial in Bridgend . Augustus Harris and James Herbert Richards are commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial to the Missing.
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