In Memory Of

HAWKINS, HARRY

Service Details
Age:
 27
Date of Birth:
 -0001-11-30
Service No:
 4211
Rank:
 Private
Unit:
 1st Regt.
Unit 2:
 "B" Coy.
Regiment:
 South African Infantry
Date of Death:
 1916-10-18
Cause of Death:
 Killed in action. On the 18th October 1916, at 3.40 am, three companies of the 1st S.A.I. attacked Snag and Tail Trenches. The B Coy failed to realize that they had reached Snag Trench and continued beyond it. They had lost touch with their flanks and only some men succeeded to come back. Only a block was established at 50 metres of The Pimple. The D Company launched an attack at 5.45 pm and Snag Trench was occupied but the machine-gun fire from the Butte de Warlencourt took a heavy toll, leaving a small group in the trench.
Commemoration
Grave Reference:
 III. J. 18.
Cemetery:
 WARLENCOURT BRITISH CEMETERY
Localitly:
 Pas de Calais
Country:
 France
Additional Information
Son of Mr. J. and Mrs. Emma Hawkins, of 13, Upper Drostdy St., Uitenhage, Cape Province. Harry Hawkins enlisted at Potchefstroom on 2 September 1915. After service in the Senussi Campaign in North Africa he went to the Somme and was wounded at the battle of Delville Wood on 18 July 1916. After recovering from his wound he was killed in action at the Butte de Warlencourt on 18 October 1916. He was a member of "B" Company, one of the ill-fated companies of 1st S.A.I. that disappeared without trace into the mist in the dawn attack on that day. Only one officer and one other rank survived to tell the fate of the missing companies