Thomas Cecil Hardwick Woods

A Lieutenant, attached to the 11th Battalion, Thomas died on 22nd of March 1918 at the age of 21. 

Thomas was born at Blundeston in 1897, the only son of Captain Thomas Hardwick Woods and Mrs. Florence Emily Rose Woods. Thomas was baptised at Saint Mary’s Church, Blundeston, on 14 May 1897, and his family lived at Blundeston Hall and this remained one of their homes throughout Thomas’ life.

In 1911 Thomas was a pupil at Claremont House School, Kirkley Cliff. Later he had a home at Winchester House, Newport.

Early in World War One Thomas was a private soldier serving with the Suffolk Yeomanry and by mid-1915 he was a Corporal. Thomas was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant with the 4th Battalion Suffolk Regiment on 7 May 1915. Thomas’ medal index card states that he arrived in France on 1 January 1916. By February 1916 he had joined the 1/4th Battalion ‘in the field’. 

On 19 February Thomas, as part of C company, was involved in a successful ‘straafe’ on the enemy’s support line opposite Sap 45. Thomas threw nine live grenades in the attack. At Switch Trench, Somme, on 15 July 1916 the 1/4th Battalion supported the 1st Middlesex Regiment in their attack and Thomas was wounded. Thomas was promoted to Lieutenant on 1 July 1917 and by March 1918 he was attached to the 11th Battalion.  

On the night of 20/21 March 1918 the 11th Battalion relieved the 16th Battalion Royal Scots in the sector just north of the River Sensee. Patrols went out during the night: the enemy was heard, but not seen. At 5 a.m. the enemy placed a heavy bombardment on the battalion area using gas and heavy Minnenwerfer. The bombardment caused few casualties but did great damage to the trenches. At 8 a.m. a party of stormtroopers entered the front line trench, but were repelled. An intense bombardment was again laid on the battalion area between 3 and 3.30 p.m. as the enemy attacked on the battalion’s left. For the rest of the day they withstood repeated attacks and at 8 p.m. they received an order to withdraw to the second line, at Henin Hill, once it was dark. The withdrawal began about 8.30 p.m. 

By 1 a.m. on 22 March they had taken new positions with A and C Companies in the first line of the second system. At 5 a.m. a bombardment was opened up on Henin Hill. At 9 a.m. it was noted that the units on the right were retiring. Once these men had retired A Company sent a platoon to form a defensive flank on the right. Repeated attacks took place throughout the morning. At 11 a.m. A Company were in a position overlooking dead ground in the valley in front and held back small parties trying to advance through this area. At this time the shelling on the left side of Henin Hill became very intense. At 1 p.m. a further withdrawal on the right left the battalion’s flank in the air. At 4 p.m. B Company withdrew into A Company’s area and Hind Avenue, where a defensive block was formed and several enemy attacks repulsed. At 6 p.m. the enemy launched an attack from the south against the right of the battalion. For the next hour C and A Companies were under constant fire from enemy troops on the slopes of Henin Hill.        

At 7 p.m. C Company and the remainder of A Company [were] almost surrounded, started to withdraw into Hind Avenue, this withdrawal was completed by 8.30 p.m. They were covered by a few men of B Company and [a] Lewis Gun and Lt. C. H. Woods (sic), who showed exceptional gallantry and contributed largely to the success of the withdrawal, was killed.    

The battalion’s casualties in March 1918 were:
Officer: three killed; five wounded
Other ranks: 29 killed; 8 died of wounds; wounded 88; missing 71