page_title: 1st Surrey Rifles
section_title: High Wood
hierarchical_section_title: 1st Surrey Rifles / World War I / 1/21st Londons / High Wood
caption_attribution_description: English: The two wooden memorial crosses erected on the Somme battlefields at High Wood and Eaucourt l'Abbaye by 47 Divisional Engineers in 1916 were falling into disrepair by 1925, when they were replaced in stone. The wooden crosses were preserved at the Duke of York's Headquarters in London (the former divisional HQ) until that building was sold in 2003, and are now restored at Connaught House, the HQ of the London Irish Rifles at Flodden Road, Camberwell.
context_page_description: The 1st Surrey Rifles was a volunteer unit of the British Army from 1859 until 1993. It saw considerable service on the Western Front, at Salonika and in Palestine during World War I. It served as a searchlight unit and as a light anti-aircraft regiment during World War II.
context_section_description: The First Surreys were relieved on 27 July and marched south to take part in the Somme offensive. On arrival, the battalion underwent intense training, before going into the line near High Wood on 10 September. On 15 September, as part of the Battle of Flers-Courcelette, 47th Division attacked to complete the capture of High Wood, with 142 Bde in reserve. The First Surreys moved into Mametz Wood at 06.30 to be close to the fighting line, and at noon were released to 140 Bde. At 15.30, the battalion was ordered to capture a length of enemy-held trench (the 'Starfish Line') that lay between 140 and 141 Bdes. All went well until the leading platoons topped the ridge east of High Wood, when they came within view of the enemy's guns. Whole platoons were wiped out by direct hits, but the  others carried on until they were able to make a determined assault on the trench. The 'Starfish Redoubt' was carried and connection made with the remnants of 140 Bde, but the losses made it impossible to continue to take the second objective (the 'Cough Drop'). Of the 19 officers and 550 men who had gone into the attack, only 2 officers and 60 men remained, the rest being dead or wounded.
  The battalion was pulled out the following morning and marched back to collect a draft of 300 inexperienced men from the 2/5th East Surreys (from 67th (2nd Home Counties) Division in England). By 27 September the First Surreys were back at High Wood in reserve. On 8 October they attacked again, in an attempt to capture 'Diagonal Trench' near Eaucourt l'Abbaye  and the Butte de Warlencourt. The attack was meant to be a surprise after a 1-minute hurricane bombardment, but the troops could make only 2–300 yards, still some 200 yards short of the objective, before they were  compelled to dig in and form a chain of outposts. The exhausted 47th Division was relieved the following day and sent to the Ypres Salient for the winter.
caption: The two wooden memorial crosses were originally erected at High Wood and Eaucourt l'Abbaye by 47 Divisional Engineers in 1916
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