Private Charles Hodges

Charles Hodges was born in Newick in 1895 or 1896 (the registration of his birth could not been traced). He was the sixth child of George Hodges,  a gardener who was born in Chailey, and his wife Elizabeth, who was from Brighton. By 1901 the family were living in an address on The Green, and in addition to his two older brothers, George and Alfred and his three older sisters, Molly, Alice and Katherine, Charles had a younger sibling, Lily. All of the Hodges’ children had been born in Newick. Charles attended the village school from 1904 until 1909.

By 1911 the family had moved to Church Road. Molly and Alice were not at home but George Jnr., Katherine, Alfred, Charles and Lily were still living with their parents. Katherine was listed as a ‘Kitchen Maid’ and Lily was still at school. All three boys were listed as ‘Domestic Gardener’. Their father had retired by that time.

The War Diaries of the 12th and 13th show that both formations had been in and out of the front line since their arrival on the continent in March. By the 29th June 1916, both battalions were in the Ferme de Bois/Richebourg area awaiting the attack, following a period of practice for it behind the lines. The detailed orders for the plan of the attack show that the intention of the action was to capture both front and support lines in the area of the Boar’s Head. To this end the 12th and 13th Battalions were to capture these positions and hold them, forming a new front line, the 12th on the right, and the 13th on the left of the assault. The 11thBattalion, Royal Sussex Regiment was in reserve, making the attack a very local affair.

Following a short bombardment, the Sussex men attacked at 3.05am on the morning of 30th June 1916. The War Diary of the 12th Battalion is short and to-the-point:

‘Battalion attacked enemy front and support lines and succeeded in entering same. The support line was occupied for about ½ an hour, and the front line for 4 hours. The withdrawal was necessitated by the supply of bombs and ammunition giving out and the heavy enemy barrage on out front line and communication trenches preventing reinforcements being sent forward.’ 

By 10.00am the battalion had been relieved and was marching to billets at Les Lobes. A figure entered in the margin of the 12th Battalion’s War Diary shows that the casualty figure for the day was 412 men killed, wounded or missing. Privates Sydney Brooks and Charles Hodges were among them. Sydney’s brother William survived the attack.

The War Diary of the 13th Battalion gives a more detailed account of the events of the day, but in essence the 13th Battalion’s experience was clearly much like that of their comrades in the 12th Battalion. They managed to occupy limited parts of the German front and support line but were forced back owing to fears that they would be cut off.  The only extra detail of significance is the effect of a smoke screen designed to mask the advance, which drifted into the attacking formation causing great confusion, especially in the darkness of early morning. 

The battalion was relieved at 1.30pm and marched to billets in Vielle Chapelle. The War Diary does not give complete casualty figures, but Paul Reed, (a leading authority on the Royal Sussex Regiment during the Great War) gives a total figure of nearly 1,100 men killed wounded or missing from the three Battalions (a company from the 11th Battalion had gone forward as a carrying party and had been almost completely wiped out). Hence casualties in the 13th battalion were even higher than those in the 12th

Charles Hodges was awarded the Victory Medal and the British War Medal. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission entry for Charles Hodges describes him as the ‘Son of the late George Hodges’