Died : 22nd March 1918

The oldest of the four sons of Charles, a milkman, and Fanny S. Brooks to serve during the First World War was Charles (jnr). He was born in the village of Selmeston on 30th April 1881 and the family continued to live there until 9th January 1893. It was there young Charles first went to school before transferring to Ringmer on 9th January 1893. He remained at Ringmer School until 27th April 1894, when he was exempted further education. During this time the family lived at The Broyle but soon after moved to Ashton Green, Ringmer.

Charles joined the 13th Battalion of the Royal Sussex Regiment (a Southdown Battalion) at Lewes. It was as part of the 39th Division and the overseas service of SD/5825 Private Brooks whilst with them, that earned him the British War & Victory Medals.

The Battalion was to see much action on the Somme in 1916. On 30th June it was in the forefront of the debacle at Richebourg when, as part of a diversion, it was decimated. The fighting at Stuff Trench on 21st October and St. Pierre Divion on 13th November was particularly bad and many more casualties were incurred. It fared little better in 1917 having been sent to the Salient to take part in vicious fighting at Kitchener’s Wood during the Battle of Pilckem on 31st July. More action followed south of the Menin Road near Stirling Castle on 26th September as part of the Battle of Polygon Wood.

On 21st March 1918 the 39th Division was ordered to St. Emilie near Péronne in support of the 16th Division. The enemy attacked their position at 7am on the following morning and were driven off. The force of the onslaught was such that the 16th Division on the right of the 39th was forced to retire. Then, ‘A’ Company of the 13th Sussex was ordered to form a defensive flank and act as rearguard. Charles was a member of its III Platoon. Around noon the Germans made a violent thrust on the Battalion H.Q. which was occupied jointly with the 1st Hants and situated in the quarry to the north of St. Emilie. They were repulsed. Shortly afterwards orders were received to retreat and most were able to comply except for ‘A’ Company and half of ‘B’ Company which had been sent up with them. They did not receive that vital order. These poor men were isolated and, as the official account dramatically reads, 'cut off and annialated;4 officers and about 150 O.R.s [other ranks] were thus lost to the Battalion'. The War Diary for 22nd March 1918 records all this without emotion and then adds that, ‘the night was fairly quiet’. In fact, although many were indeed killed, those who survived the action, including the wounded, were taken prisoner and spent the remainder of the war in captivity.

As the enemy captured the ground where Private Charles Brooks died, even if his body had been recovered, there is no record of his burial and in consequence he has no known grave. It is most likely he was buried by the Germans near to where he fell. Charles is commemorated on the Pozières Memorial to the Missing, which is situated right in the heart of the Somme Battlefields. This records a further 14,707 names of men without known graves, most of whom were lost without trace between 21st and 24th March 1918 as a result of the German Spring Offensive of 1918; otherwise known as the "Kaiserschlacht"

The cemetery and Memorial to the Missing at Pozières, right in the heart of the Somme Battlefields.

Adapted from Valiant Hearts of Ringmer by Geoff Bridger: Ammonite Press, 1993