Headstone of Sapper E.M. Des Brisay, 2nd Canadian Signal Company, Attd. Royal Flying Corps, died August 3, 1916, age 23, at Cabaret Rouge British Cemetery, Souchez, France. © 2013 John M. Shea
98 SapperE.M. Des Brisay2nd Canadian Signal Coy.Attd. Royal Flying Corps, 3rd August 1916 Age 23Thou hast made him exceeding glad with Thy Countenance
"A remark by one of our artillery subalterns explains some erratic shooting: 'If we fire over you, God help you; we've only one trained gunner per gun left.' Of one group in Caterpillar Wood 75 per cent. became casualties. In our recent operations the 9th Brigade had heavier losses than the 98th or 100th. (The 51st Division came out of High Wood with only two-fifths of the 33rd Division's losses.)"
Extract from the entry for August 5, 1916 from the writings — diaries, letters, and memoirs — of Captain J.C. Dunn, Medical Officer of the Second Battalion His Majesty's Twenty-Third Foot, the Royal Welch Fusiliers. On the same day, Dunn recorded that 'Corps has been strafed for the High Wood mess. . . . The Division is returning to the line with every Brigadier and O.C. on tenterhooks lest he be made the scapegoat for the man above him.' Part of the Battle of the Somme, the English attack on High Wood began July 14, but the Wood was not entirely taken until mid-September.
The Big Push, A Portrait of the Battle of the Somme by Brian Gardner, page 248, copyright © 1961 by Brian Gardner, publisher: William Morrow and Company, publication date: 1963
1916-08-05, 1916, August, Battle of the Somme, Somme, High Wood
