One-hundred years ago, in the summer of 1916, almost all of the men from Platt parish who were serving along the Western Front were concentrated with their units in the Somme region of Northern France. After many months of preparation, the Battle of the Somme was designed to drain the enemy reserves, and break through their line in an effort to end almost two years of stagnant trench warfare. After a ferocious artillery bombardment lasting seven days and nights that could apparently be heard from Platt Woods, the offensive began at 7:30 a.m. on 1 July. We know that six of our lads were in action on the first day with one, Thomas Bennett of the 7^th Battalion The Queen’s Own (Royal West Kent Regiment) being awarded the Military Medal for gallantry during the battle and reputedly saved by a bible in his breast pocket that stopped a bullet.  In 1922 Thomas, who lived at Whatcote Cottages, was the first person to lay a wreath at the newly built Platt War Memorial. Also in the fray was Frederick Pierce from Comp, who was serving with the Royal Engineers and tasked with going out into No Man’s Land during the night to build bridges over the ditches and streams, over which the attacking forces could cross, often with shells landing in very close proximity.

Within a week another dozen or so from the parish had joined the battle, with two men losing their lives within hours of each other on the third day. Peter Piper of the 6^th Royal West Kents, who wrote to his sister in Crouch on the eve of the battle ‘that in spite of everything he was not downhearted’, was mercilessly mown down by machine-gun fire whilst trying to get through barbed wire in front of the German trenches. Richard Andrews from Wrotham Heath had provided covering fire for Peter’s company as they advanced, but was killed himself very shortly afterwards in an enemy counter-attack.

As the summer wore on, more locals, many of who had enlisted shortly after war broke out, were sent to the Somme, and by the end of the campaign in November 1916, over a quarter of all those from Platt who were posted overseas during the course of the entire war, had seen action in the region.

Those men from Platt we know were definitely at the Somme are:

ANDREWS, Richard Haxon – 6^th Bn The Queen’s Own (Royal West Kent Regiment) KIA 3/7

ASHDOWN, Herbert Henry – 6^th Bn The Queen’s Own (Royal West Kent Regiment)

BANCE, George – 10^th Bn The Queen’s Own (Royal West Kent Regiment)

BANCE, George Thomas – 8^th Bn The Queen’s Own (Royal West Kent Regiment)

BANCE, James – 11^th Bn King’s Royal Rifle Corps

BENNETT MM, Thomas – 7^th Bn The Queen’s Own (Royal West Kent Regiment)

BISH, Ernest Frank – 10^th Bn The Queen’s Own (Royal West Kent Regiment)

BOWEN, Albert Victor – 7^th Bn The Queen’s Own (Royal West Kent Regiment)

BOWEN, John William – 59^th Brigade, Royal Field Artillery

BOWEN, Sydney Horace – 7^th Bn The Buffs (East Kent Regiment)

BRADLEY, Gus Leopold Diplock – 14^th Bn London Regiment (London Scottish)

BRIDGLAND, Sidney – 38^th Trench Mortar Battery

BUSH, Francis Augustus – 1^st Bn The Buffs (East Kent Regiment)

BUSH, Jesse Joseph – 29^th Battery, 42^nd Brigade, Royal Field Artillery

CORNER, Charles William – 10^th Bn The Essex Regiment

CRIPPS, George Alfred – 10^th Bn The Rifle Brigade

ELLIS, Robert James – A Battery, 124^th Brigade, Royal Field Artillery

EVANS, Alfred Luke – 2^nd Bn Coldstream Guards

EVANS, Ernest George – 10^th Bn The Queen’s Own (Royal West Kent Regiment)

FRENCH, Stuart Charles – 11^th Bn Highland Light Infantry

HAYES, Herbert Thomas – 56^th Field Ambulance, ASC

HAYES, Vincent Abel – 8^th (Service) Bn, The Queen’s Own (Royal West Kent Regiment)

HOUNSELL, Archibald Charles Clarence – 21^st (County of London) Bn (1^st Surrey Rifles)

INGRAM, Philip Maurice – 4^th Dragoon Guards (Royal Irish)

LARKING, Frederick Charles – 8^th Bn The Buffs (East Kent Regiment)

NEWMAN, Edward George – 94^th Brigade, Royal Field Artillery

PARRIS, Ernest Henry – Grenadier Guards

PARRIS, Frederick Thomas – 3^rd Bn Grenadier Guards

PIERCE, Frederick George – Royal Engineers

PIPER, Peter – 6^th Bn The Queen’s Own (Royal West Kent Regiment) KIA 3/7

PITMAN, Cecil Charles – 50^th H.A.G. Royal Garrison Artillery

RAYFIELD, Albert Edward – 11^th Bn King’s Royal Rifle Corps

RAYFIELD, Charles John – 7^th (The Princess Royal’s) Dragoon Guards

SEARS MM, Stephen John – 1^st Bn The Queen’s own (Royal West Kent Regiment)

SPARKS, Arthur Victor – 7^th Bn The Buffs (East Kent Regiment) KIA 19/7

TERRY, Albert John – 7^th Bn The Queen’s Own (Royal West Kent Regiment)

TERRY, Francis John – 1^st/4^th Northumberland Fusiliers

THOMAS, Noel – 7^th (City of London) Bn The London Regiment

THORNDYCRAFT MM, Reginald Frank – 11^th Bn King’s Royal Rifle Corps KIA 3/9

WILLMER, William – HQ Divisional Artillery, RFA

• Men who were in action on the first day are in bold.