In Memory of Second Lieutenant R N Wood, 9th Royal Irish Fusiliers – a snapshot of life and death in the trenches on the Somme, February 1916
Many years ago I purchased the diary of Second Lieutenant (Temporary) Reginald Nixon Wood, 9th Battalion Royal Irish Fusiliers (9/RIF), who died on Tuesday, 22 February 1916. On the 100th anniversary his death, and of the Battle of the Somme, this post, aims to tell the story of his tragically short war, a few months before the ‘Big Push’. 9th Royal Irish Fusiliers arrival in France The 9/RIF, 108th Brigade (36th Division), with a strength of 30 officers and 995 rank and file, disembarked at Havre on 4 October 1915. It then proceeded to Rainville where it settled into billets and a period of training. This included gas demonstrations, rifle and bombing drill and Brigade field exercises. On 17 October the 9/RIF left Rainville, arriving at Hebuturne on 19 October for instruction in trench warfare, attached to 144th Brigade (48th Division). The general method for instruction at this time was the attachment of formations and units to those next larger, that is ...