Despite being 36 years old on the outbreak of war with Germany, Bertram enlisted into the army on 11 December 1915. He joined the 2/8th Battalion of the Durham Light Infantry, which was part of the Territorial Force. He was given service number 323032 and described as 5 feet 8 inches tall and weighing 150 lbs.
The 2/8th was assigned to Home Defence and remained in Britain throughout the war. In March 1917 however, Bertram sailed from Folkestone to Boulogne to join the 19th (Service) Battalion (2nd County) of the same regiment. It had been originally formed in January 1915 as a Bantam Battalion, consisting of men who were shorter than 5 feet 3 inches and thus initially turned down for military service. However, the huge losses of 1915 and 1916 necessitated a relaxation in the army medical standards for new recruits, so men who might have previously been restricted to bantam units were accepted into regular units. Therefore the 19th ceased to be a bantam unit in January 1917 and Bertram, who was of average height, joined on 10 April.
At this time the Battalion was undertaking short periods of frontline duty interspersed with periods in billets behind the lines. The men were kept busy in working parties to repair roads, craters, and bridges, or put through intensive training in attack formations. A raid on a heavily occupied trench was mounted on 5 May 1917, resulting in the loss of three officers and 58 men. On 19 July, when the battalion was on the line, the war diary recorded:
During the night 19th/20th, after heavy TM [trench mortar] and artillery bombardment of Rifleman Post, F29 b.7.4 about 1,500 yards NE of Hargicourt, the enemy attempted a raid on the post in which he was unsuccessful. We fired the SOS signal twice. Our casualties were 26. Enemy left 2 dead near the Post and several rifles, bayonets, bangalore torpedoes, etc.
The battalion was based in the Birdcage Sector of the front, and on 19 August moved up to the frontline to relieve the 18th Battalion of the Highland Light Infantry at Gillemont Farm (not Guillemont – a common mistake), southeast of Épehy. This had been the scene of intense fighting during the Somme offensive and had just been recaptured from the Germans a few days before. On 24 August, after a quiet five-day spell, they were relieved and returned to billets in Lempire. The following day however, the Germans suddenly attacked, using flamethrowers to retake the ground they had lost a week before. Bertram and the rest of the 19th were put back on the line the following day, going over the top at 7.30pm with the objective of regaining the position. Following heavy fighting they were successful in capturing a heavy machine-gun, two Lewis guns and three Stokes mortars, plus ammunition. Sadly, Bertram was killed during this action, aged 39.
Units
- 2/8th Battalion, Durham Light Infantry (1915-1917)
- 19th (Service) Battalion (2nd County), Durham Light Infantry (1917)
Medals
See also
