#119 REMEMBERING SERGEANT-MAJOR ALFRED JOLLEY
ALFRED "ALF" JOHN JOLLEY—Part 1 of 3
The Battle of Vimy Ridge, April 1917, was the first time that all four divisions of the Canadian Expeditionary Force fought together as a cohesive formation. This battle became a symbol of achievement, sacrifice and Canadian nationalism.
The Vimy Ridge Memorial in France is dedicated to those World War I Canadian soldiers killed and presumed dead and who have no known grave. The central mourning figure of the memorial is “Canada Bereft” (Mother Canada) who gazes down at the plain where many Canadians died; she represents a grieving nation mourning her lost sons and the sorrow of war. The figures of Justice, Peace, Truth, Knowledge, and Faith evoke the moral values which the soldiers fought to defend. The broken sword and the laurel wreaths symbolize both defeat in war and the honour of victory.
Engraved into the monument are the names of 11,285 fallen
Canadians of the First World War with no known grave in France. Unlike most war
monuments of its time, the Vimy Ridge Memorial makes no distinction of rank,
regiment or social class among the fallen. All names—generals to privates—appear
in the same lettering, size and style. This is a monument, by and for the
people, where the name of every fallen Canadian is treated with equal dignity.
Alfred Jolley’s name is among those listed. He was killed in action on October 22, 1916 in the Battle of the Somme and the charge on the Regina Trench.
The Regina Trench was a strongly-constructed German trench
system, part of the German defences on the Somme front. Earlier Canadian
attacks on the Regina Trench had failed due to the German defences of uncut
barbed wire and machine gun fire. On October 21, the 4th Canadian
Division attacked the west end of the Regina Trench and supported by machine
gun barrage and heavy artillery captured that sector of the trench. The next
day, Canadian units consolidated their gains and advanced down the enemy’s
trench system.
From the
War Diary: On October 22, a battalion of the 4th Canadian Division
tried to advance along Regina Trench, but they were stopped by flanking machine
gun fire and a German artillery bombardment. The terrain remained extremely
difficult. The trench lay on a reverse slope, the Germans wire and machine gun positions
still effective, visibility reduced and the weather deteriorating. The partial
capture of Regina Trench on Oct 21-22 represented a turning point in the local
campaign. Though the whole trench was not secured, the Canadians had gained a
firm foothold, forced German counterattacks and inflicted significant prisoner
losses.
It was during this attack on Regina Trench on October 22 that Alfred was killed. For soldiers, like Jolley, the fighting that day was extremely intense—creeping barrages, machines guns sweeping the open ground and trenchlips, close-quarter fighting in the trenches and high casualty rates. On just that one day, October 22, there were between 1, 250 and 1,300 Canadian casualties. (250-300 deaths, 900-1000 wounded, 50-75 missing). Across all Canadian attacks on Regina Trench (October 1 to early November 1916), the Canadian Corps suffered about 6,000 casualties in total. The 22 October attack was one of the costliest individual assaults.
Sergeant Jolley, aged 39, was instantly killed by the concussion from an enemy shell that burst near him. His was not a death by direct shrapnel, but one caused by the shock waves of blast pressure from an enemy shell. Such a death was typical in heavy bombardments where the pressure from an exploding shell could cause fatal internal injuries or brain trauma even without visible wounds.
There are many reasons why Alfred’s body was not recovered. Regina Trench was one of the most heavily shelled sectors on the Somme, so additional shelling likely struck the same ground many times before recovery crews could reach him; stretcher bearers and burial parties could not move safely across the muddy battlefield while fighting continued. The intense shelling frequently obliterated, buried or scattered bodies beyond recognition; any shallow battlefield burial could easily be lost and even marked graves disappeared. In 1916, identification of a body relied on identity discs (which could be lost or destroyed), unit badges, paybooks (often ruined by muddy water or shell blast), and personal effects. If Alfred’s body was badly damaged, buried deeply, or swept away by further shellfire, identification may have simply not been possible, even if some remains were later found. It is most likely that Alfred’s remains lie in a Canadian War Graves Cemetery today as an “Unknown Soldier”.
About 6,846 Canadian service personnel from the First World War were buried as "Unknown." This means their remains were recovered and given a proper burial although identity could not be established. (When Canada selected an unknown soldier for repatriation in 2000, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission was asked to pick from one of the 1,603 graves of an Unknown soldier in the Vimy area.) Separately, 18,000 to 19,000 Canadians from World War I have no known graves and are commemorated on memorials to the missing.
Alfred "Alf" Jolley was born on October 26, 1877 in Denford, Northhampshire, England and was shipped off to Canada in June 1890 as a Barnardo Home child. He worked as a farm labourer in Wellington County and then became a painter in Guelph. In 1902 he served four months with the 2nd Canadian Mounted Rifles in the Boer War in South Africa. (These are two chapters of his life for later research!)
World War I began in 1914. Alf enlisted in the 71st Battalion of the Canadian army on August 31, 1915. He was 38 years old, not young by World War I standards, but his prior South African experience likely helped him get accepted and placed as a sergeant in a combat battalion.
Alfred was survived by his wife Lillie Cook whom he had
married in Guelph Township on November 16, 1904. (He was 28 years old, she was
21.) He was survived by two children—Frederick William Jolley (1907-1989),
Elsa Jolley (1908-1995); a daughter, Doris Lillian Jolley (1912-1915) died
young of pneumonia.
Lillie never remarried. She raised her two children and lived in Guelph with her widowed mother.
Alfred’s name is memorialized on the Vimy Ridge Monument in France, and on the cenotaph in Guelph’s Woodlawn Cemetery. He is remembered in Canada's Book of Remembrance. He is remembered by the British Home Children Society.
Comments
Post a Comment