Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Pair: Private H. E. Norman, 11th (Cambridgeshire) Battalion, Suffolk Regiment, who was killed in action on the First Day of the Battle of the Somme, 1 July 1916

British War and Victory Medals (16703 Pte. H. E. Norman. Suff. R.) nearly extremely fine (2) £300-£400

Herbert E. Norman attested for the Suffolk Regiment and served with the 11th (Cambridgeshire) Battalion during the Great War on the Western Front from 1916. He was killed in action on the first day of the Battle of the Somme, 1 July 1916. The Battalion War Diary for 1 July 1916 reads: ‘7:28 a.m. The mine opposite left of 101st Brigade was exploded. 7:30 a.m. The infantry assault was launched. The Battalion followed the 10th Lincolns from our assembly trenches down into Sausage Valley and across to the German lines. Owing to the failure of the 102nd Brigade on the left to capture La Boiselle, our advance from the moment it left our assembly trenches was subjected to a very heavy fire from machine guns from La Boiselle. In spite of the fact that wave after wave were mown down by machine gun fire, all pushed on without hesitation, though very few reached the German lines.’

Relieved on 4 July, the Battalion had suffered total casualties of 691. Norman is buried in Ovillers Military Cemetery, France.

Sold with copied Medal Index Card and War Diary extract.