The 46th (North Midland) Division was a territorial formation which had crossed to France in February 1915. It served first in the Ypres Salient, and then fought in the Battle of Loos, taking heavy losses at the Hohenzollern Redoubt on 13th October 1915. It then moved down to the Somme, and on 1st July 1916 was in the Third Army area as part of VII Corps. Along with the 56th (London) Division it was detailed to attack the village of Gommecourt on this day, as part of a diversionary attack to lure German reserves away from the main attack further south. The 139th Brigade attacked on the left towards a position known as The Little Z, and 137th Brigade on the right, bordering on the Foncquevillers - Gommecourt road. Both formations suffered heavy losses from German machine-gun fire, with units getting lost in the smoke barrage cover and having trouble crossing the muddy No Man's Land. Many battalions suffered most of their casualties within a short reach of the British parapet, with only a handful ever reaching the German wire and trenches. Subsequent waves were wiped out with shell fire, and a second attempt to attack in the afternoon was cancelled by the divisional commander, Major-General Hon. E. Montagu Stuart-Wortley. Casualties amounted to 2,455. Following the disastrous attack, a Court of Enquiry was held, and Stuart-Wortley dismissed; the division was relegated to the sidelines, never taking a part in a major action again until their brilliant crossing of the St Quentin Canal in September 1918.
The Memorial was erected in the 1920s in Gommecourt Wood New British Cemetery, and is only a small plaque mounted on the wall of the cemetery.
View looking down the line of the German trenches at Gommecourt, towards the 'Litttle Z'.
