Lives of the First World War

In November 1915 Jesse joined the Worcestershire Regiment and was posted to the 2nd/7th Battalion with the service number 4500. This Battalion was formed in Kidderminster in September 1914 and by the Spring of 1916 it was based at Tidworth on Salisbury Plain. It is likely, therefore, that Jesse did his training in that area. The Battalion originally left for France on 23th May 1916 as part of the 183rd (2nd Gloucester & Worcester) Brigade, 61st (2nd South Midland) Division. Jesse’s unit was first baset at Vieille Chapelle, in between Armentières and Béthune. For the next few weeks the men were instructed in trench warfare. This came to an end on 10th June and after that the Division took over a sector of the line at Neuve Chapelle. On 1st July, further to the south, the Battle of the Somme started. Although Jesse’s unit was not part of this, the 61st Division was chosen to take part in a subsidiary attack. The aim was to destabilise the German front line and lead to an enemy retreat. The attack on Aubers Ridge, planned on 9th July, was to be four kilometres wide. Alongside Jesse’s Division was the Australian 5th Division. Both these units were new to France and had no combat experience. As they gathered at Fromelles, just north of the ridge, they faced experienced German soldiers of the 6th Bavarian Reserve Division, who had been victorious at a battle in the same area the year before. (Adolf Hitler, then a corporal in the 16th Bavarian Reserve Infantry Regiment, probably took part in the battle). Even worse, the preliminary bombardment, which lasted eleven hours, was very badly executed so that when the main infantry attack was launched at 6am on 19th July, men were immediately subjected to intense machine gun fire and shelling. Four waves of infantry were mown down; some men did succeed in reaching German lines but they were quickly isolated and counter-attacks followed. No man's land filled with the bodies of dead and wounded. A second attack followed without any breakthrough and many survivors of the 19th July were killed by enemy machine guns as they tried to regain their lines the following morning. In just one day the Australians lost 5,533 men and the British 1,400 with nothing to show for it. Jesse Pratt died sometime during the late evening of 19th July, or possibly the early morning of 20th July. His Battalion had not been involved at the start of the battle but relieved another unit at 10pm. The war diary notes that amongst the first tasks was bringing in the dead and wounded – see the extract below - and it seems that Jesse volunteered for this task. His family received two letters about his death from officers. His Lieutenant wrote: LETTER “We had just come into the trenches after the battalion before us had made an attack, and the dead and wounded were laying in front of out lines. Your son volunteered to go out after dark and look for wounded with an officer. They were detected and a machine gun opened fire on them; your son was hit through the head and killed instantly. Your son gave his life for others that night. He volunteered to go out, and ran the risk of his own free will, so we deplore the loss all the more as it was one of gallant self-sacrifice.” His Captain also wrote: LETTER “I feel his loss personally very acutely; knowing you and your family for so many years, I took a special interest in him, and endeavoured to help him along all I could. I can only say my confidence in him was never misplaced. He was always brave, cheerful and willing, and a good soldier.” Jesse’s body was never found and he is commemorated on stone 64A of the Loos Memorial which is in Dud Corner Cemetery.

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