Harborough Magna Memorial

All Saints' Church, Harborough Magna

The War Memorial takes the form of a stone cross in the Churchyard of All Saints’ Church in Harborough Magna recording those who laid down their lives in the Great War 1914 – 1918 and the Second World War.

The Memorial was dedicated and unveiled on Sunday the 10th April 1921 by The Venerable C M Blagden, Archdeacon of Warwick

Memorial

Screen in All Saints' church recording

 all who served

Those who laid down their lives in the Great  War 1914 - 1919 and recorded on the War Memorial in Harborough Magna

Arthur Burton Rifleman No 54126 2nd Battalion Royal Irish Rifles (formerly No. 12847 Kings Royal Rifle Corps).  Died of wounds 16th August 1918.  Buried Arneke British Cemetery, Nord, France.  The cemetery was used by Clearing Station and Stationary Hospitals from October 1917. The records show 418 UK., 9 Aust., 3 Can., 2 NZ., 2 SA., 1 unknown, some French and 2 German burials.

Arthur Burton was the brother of  Miss Ada Burton of 283 Harrow Road Maida Hill London; he was born and enlisted in Rugby, Warwickshire.

On the 21st March 1918 the German Army launched a massive offensive on the Western Front in a last desperate attempt to score a decisive victory.  The results were spectacular.  They advanced up to 40 miles, further by far than the British and French had managed in their offensives on the Somme, the Aisne and at Ypres.  The British Fifth Army was crushed, and the Allies suffered 212,000 casualties.  The French suffered a humiliating defeat at Chemin des Dames and plans were made for the evacuation of Paris.  The British were seriously concerned that the French might sue for peace and were uncertain whether they could continue the struggle, and plans were drawn up for the evacuation of the British Army from France if Dunkirk, Calais or Boulogne fell.  The German line before the offensive was about 20 miles East of Noyon, on the western edge of St Quentin, 15 miles East of Peronne, 20miles East of Bapaume, 7 miles East of Arras, 5 miles East of Armentieres, 25 miles East of Bailleul and 12 miles East of Ypres.  Then the offensive gradually lost momentum, the French counterattacked in July, the British in August and the Germans finally lost the initiative.  After the offensive the German Army had reached positions some 15 miles West of Noyon, 45 miles West of St. Quentin, 20 miles West of Peronne, 12 miles West of Bapaume, still 7 miles East of Arras, 28 miles West of Armentieres, 8 miles West of Bailleul and 4 miles East of Ypres.

The Counter-Attack in Champagne by mainly the French Army was from 20th July to 2nd August 1918.

On the 8th August 1918 the Allied forces launched the surprise attack that heralded the end of the First World War. 

The Battalion which had been in the 3rd and then the 25th Division, on the 13th November 1917 transferred to the 108th Brigade as part of the 36th (Ulster) Division.  Then on the 8th February 1918 the 2nd Battalion transferred from the 108th to the 107th Brigade joining the 1st and 15th Battalions of the Royal Irish Rifles so the whole Brigade consisted entirely of the Royal Irish Rifles.

 By January 1918 the infantry alone were 100,000 men below strength due to the shortage of reinforcements being released to the BEF and the solution of a Cabinet sub-committee was to order the reorganization of the Army with each brigade being reduced from four battalions to three, and the division accordingly from twelve battalions to nine.  A number of battalions were disbanded such as the 10th (Service) Battalion of the Kings Royal Rifle Corps on the 5th February 1918 when south of Ypres.  The men of the battalions disbanded were transferred to bring up to strength the surviving three-quarters of the battalions, thousands of infantrymen were paraded and told that the units in which they had served, sometimes for several years, would immediately cease to exist.  They were divided into groups and marched off to become members of strange battalions, often in different divisions.  In February 1918 the 2nd Battalion Royal Irish Rifles was in the area west of St Quentin when additional reinforcements of 6 officers and 104 men were received, raising the Battalion strength to 41 officers and 967 men, the trench strength being 18 officers and 551 men.  It is likely that Rifleman Burton was one of these 104 men.

Both the 1st and 2nd Battalions were involved in the German offensive in the Spring of 1918 the 1st Battalion losing a total of 439 whilst the 2nd Battalion was well nigh wiped out losing 626.  By the beginning of April 1918 the 1st and 2nd Battalions had moved north to Flanders entering the line near Poelcappelle and a draft of 306 other ranks arrived to join the 2nd Battalion composed mainly of boys of 19 whose training was far from complete.

On the 9th April 1918 the second great German offensive in the area of the River Lys was launched but whilst there was no fighting in the Salient itself a planned withdrawal took place to what was the old front line before the British offensive in July 1917.  At the end of May 1918 the 36th Division moved out of the line for a period of rest until on the 3rd July 1918 both the 1st and 2nd Battalions moved back to the region of Cassel, (about 6 miles North of Hazebrouck) the 2nd Battalion  to Hondeghem (a village midway between Hazebrouck and Cassel).

 The French troops which had been moved up to the support of the British in Flanders were now about to be relieved round the great salient made by the German offensive on the Lys.  The 36th Division was to relieve the 41st French Division in the neighbourhood of St Jans Cappel (about 2 miles North of Bailleul) the 2nd Battalion moving up on the night of July 6th to take over a portion of the support line.  The Division’s position was on the outskirts of Bailleul which was crumbling away under the Allied artillery fire.  (Bailleul had fallen to the Germans on the 15th April 1918 despite fierce resistance which proved costly to both the Allies and the German attackers).  The British were now strong enough to embark upon some local offensives to improve their position for example on the 29th July a patrol of two officers and four men from the 2nd Battalion made their way to a farm house inside the German wire surprising the enemy post of 10, taking 4 prisoners the rest being killed or wounded:  in no-mans land 2 of the prisoners broke away and were shot, the patrol returning with no casualties.

The ordinary tours in line and support continued into August but the British had not given up their policy of eating into the enemy’s defences and denying him any good ground in his uncomfortable salient.  On the 18th August the 9th Division had resumed the offensive by capturing the Hoogenacker Ridge south-east of Meteren.  It was a month since Marshal Foch’s first great counter-blow had been struck and on the 8th August the great offensive had cleared Amiens and carried the line forward to Roye.

  It was now the turn of the 36th Division to improve its position when on the 18th and 20th August 1918 the line was advanced with 60 prisoners being taken and 11 machine-guns captured and a great number of Germans killed.

 However on the 14th August 1918 the 2nd Battalion’s area North of the village of Fontaine Houck (2 kilometres -just over a mile- North of Meteren, 4 kilometres – just over 2 and a half miles - North West of Bailleul) was heavily gas shelled, particularly in the vicinity of A Company’s HQ.  Captain C E Barton, 2/Lts R A Gough, C H Lane, F T Poole and 60 men were gassed.  Captain Barton and 2/Lt Lane later died from the effects. The 1st Battalion had two officers affected including the Chaplain.  Rifleman Burton was one of those gassed being evacuated back to the Clearing Station and Hospital at Arneke where he subsequently died.  The others who died of wounds from this attack were Rifleman Charles Monk who died on the 17th August and is also buried in Arneke British Cemetery (who also served formerly with the Kings Royal Rifle Corps);    Rifleman Francis Sydney Barker who died on the 17th August and is buried in Terlincthun British Cemetery, Wimille;   Rifleman Thomas Boulton who died on the 19th August and who is  buried in Terlincthun British Cemetery;   Rifleman Herbert Thomas Allen who died on the 20th August and is  buried in Arneke British Cemetery (who also served formerly with the Kings Royal Rifle Corps);  Rifleman John Robert Jacques who died on the 20th August and is buried in Bertenacre Military Cemetery, Fletre (who also served formerly with the Kings Royal Rifle Corps), Second Lieutenant Charles Henry Lane who died on the 21st August and is also buried in Arneke British Cemetery and finally Captain Charles Erskine Barton  who died on the 23rd August 1918 and is buried in Terlincthun British Cemetery.  (The Regimental Numbers of Riflemen Burton, Monk, Allen and Jacques suggest all joined the Royal Irish Rifles at the same time, on transfer from the Kings Royal Rifle Corps).

Rifleman Arthur Burton was awarded the Victory and British War Medals which indicates he did not go overseas until after the 1st January 1916.

Arneke British Cemetery is about 13 miles North West of the scene of the Gas attack.  Terlincthun British Cemetery is about 2 miles from Boulogne and the burials are mostly from the Base hospitals at Boulogne and Wimereux whilst Bertenacre Military Cemetery is 6 miles North East of Hazebrouck and about 3 miles to the west from the scene of the Gas attack.

John William Cooper Lance Corporal No. 9806 1st Battalion Royal Warwickshire Regiment.  Killed in action 26th June 1916 and commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial, Somme, France.  Thiepval commemorates 72,100 officers and men of the United Kingdom and South African forces who have no known grave who fell in the Somme sector  in the period between the arrival of British units in 1915 and 20th March 1918 but the vast majority are of the July to November 1916 battle.

John Cooper, the son of Jack Cooper, was a native of Newbold, Rugby, but had spent most of his life at Harborough Magna.  He was 30 years of age and was called up as a reservist in August 1914 and landed in France on the 12th September 1914.  Prior to the outbreak of hostilities he was employed in the Cement Works at Newbold. 
 
 The 1st Battalion was at Shorncliffe on the 4th August 1914 part of 10th Brigade 4th Division and embarked on the 22nd August 1914 landing at Boulogne the same day.  During the morning of the 24th August the trains carrying the units of the 4th Division arrived at Le Cateau. The Division was then involved in the Retreat of the British Expeditionary Force to the Aisne and Marne before advancing North on the 5th September 1914, being engaged in an attack at Meteren in October before moving further North to the Ploegsteert sector in November 1914. John Cooper certainly had joined the Battalion by the time of its arrival in the Ploegsteert sector. In April 1915 the Battalion was engaged in the 2nd Battle of Ypres, following the first use of Gas by the German Army.

In June 1915 General Joffre was proposing two offensives against the German forces; from Champagne northwards and from the Artois plateau eastwards.  The offensive from Artois – as planned at the beginning of June – was to be the main operation and formed a sequel to the expected capture of Vimy ridge with a greatly re-enforced French 10th Army attacking eastwards from about Arras and Lens into and across the Douai plain.  The offensive from Champagne was to be delivered from about Reims northwards along the foothill of the Ardennes following the eastern border of the plain.

On the 4th June General Joffre sent a draft of his scheme to British G.H.Q. with the British being asked to assist in two ways;  by taking over 22 miles of the French line south of Arras from Chaulnes (33 miles south of Arras) across the Somme to Hebuterne (13 miles S.S.W. of Arras) in order to free for the offensive in Champagne the French Second Army the holding that sector of the line and also participating in the French 10th Army offensive by attacking either on its immediate left, north of Lens, or on  its right  across the Somme uplands south of Arras.

In principle Sir John French agreed to these proposals and the newly formed Third Army was to become responsible for the extended front, in fact of 13 miles rather than 22 miles, from Curlu on the Somme River to Hebuterne,

The first units into the trenches were on the 20th July 1915 1/5th Gloucesters, 1/8th Worcesters and 1/4th Oxford and Bucks. from the 48th (South Midland) Division  to hold the area  Fonquevillers to north of Serre.  Then on the 24th July 1915 1st Kings Own (Royal Lancasters) and 2nd Essex from the 4th Division, Serre to Beaumont-Hamel followed by on the 30th July 1915 1/6th Seaforth Highlanders and 1/8th Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders from 51st (Highland) Division, Thiepval to La Boisselle and finally on the 2nd August 1915 1st Norfolks and 1st Bedfords from 5th Division,  Becourt to the Somme River. 

On the 22nd July 1915 the Brigade left the Ypres Salient arriving in the area of Doullens, Somme and by the 26th July 1915 the Battalion was settled in trenches at Sucrerie near Mailly-Maillet.  By March 1916 the Battalion was in the back area, initially in the area to the North East of Doullens and Arras, and by the 21st May 1916 was at Gapennes North East of  Abbeville and then practising attacks on the training area neaby at St Riquier.  In early June 1916 the Battalion was finding working parties  until the 11th June when the Battalion moved into hutted billets at Bertranscourt.  Then on the 18th June 1916 the Battalion relieved the 2nd Battalion Royal Dublin Fusiliers in trenches in the Auchonvillers Section. On the 20th June shells were fired into A Company Sector and a British Aeroplane was brought down by German anti-aircraft guns near Serre.  Work on the front line and assembly trenches continued in preparation for the Somme offensive. On the 21st June the British trenches were shelled and 1 soldier was killed and another wounded, then on the 22nd June 15 heavy trench mortar shells fell in C Company’s Sector .  The 23rd was a quiet day with a little shelling in the afternoon and then on the 24th June five days bombardment of the German lines started prior to the Great Push (opening of the Battle of the Somme).  At 2200 gas was discharged from the British lines but stopped at 2300 as the wind was unfavourable.  There followed heavy German fire on the British Front and Support lines, and the trenches were severely damaged.  The gas did not have much effect on the Germans but British casualties were heavy owing to shell fire (especially the German 5.9” shells and “Whizz Bangs”) but one or two from gas blown back.  2nd Lieutenants C Lukey and J F Gamble were killed.  On the 25th June Gas was again discharged  but the use was dangerous and unpredictable.  “At about 2230 one of the gas cylinders leaked owing to having been hit by a piece of shell.  At 2245  the wind dropped completely and a very light breeze E S E came up and brought the gas back.  The trench was also filled with gas from the leaking cylinder.”  Hostile artillery was most active especially after gas discharged with a heavy barrage on the British 2nd line at 0245.  A further note in the War Diary reads, “Old men very tired after nine days shelling and gas.”  On the 26th June 1916 Enemy artillery was normal except on the Battalion’s right.  About 1600 the enemy shelled Auchonvillers rather heavily – also the Tenderloin Street and 4th Avenue trenches and the Sunken Road. (These were all in the area to the East of the village of Auchonvillers in the British lines and West of the village of Beaumont-Hamel (in German hands). The intention had been for a raiding party to get into the German trenches but the enemy put such a heavy barrage up in front and on the British line that the party were unable to leave the British line and the raid was abandoned.  The 10th Brigade was relieved by the 11th Brigade the relief being completed by 1900 on the 26th June and the Battalion moved back to Bertrancourt for rest and a change of clothing.  There were four casualties going out.  Lance Corporal Cooper was one of those killed that day.  The Battalion remained at Bertrancourt until the 30th June when it was transferred to the assembly trenches at the front.  On the 1st July 1916 the 10th Brigade began its advance but the 1st Battalion received an order to halt and reform at Tenderloin Trench and subsequently a patrol being pinned down by machine-gun fire from Beaumont-Hamel both the Battalion and the Brigade were moved back to a safer position.

Lance Corporal John Cooper was awarded the Victory and British War Medals and the 1914 Star.

Charles William Davenport  Private No. 16684 the Coldstream Guards died on the 14th November 1918 aged 24 years at Queen Alexandra’s Military Hospital, Millbank, London and is buried in Harborough Magna Cemetery, Harborough Magna, Warwickshire.

He was the only son of Charles and Maria Davenport.

In  1901  Charles Davenport, described as Labourer at Cement Works aged 29 was living with his wife Maria aged 30 at 55 The Street Harborough Magna together with son Charles aged 7 and daughter Elsie 4 (both born in Harborough Magna, Charles in early 1894).

On the 12th August 1915 Charles Davenport enlisted at Rugby.  He then went to Caterham for basic training being posted to the 5th (Reserve) Battalion whose main function was to prepare men for service and send drafts of men overseas.  The 5th (Reserve) Battalion of the Coldstream Guards during the period of the war provided drafts of 16,860 all ranks.

Private Davenport remained with the 5th Battalion until landing in France on the 26th September 1916.  At that stage of the War there were four Battalions of the Coldstream Guards in France all in the Guards Division formed in August 1915, the 1st Battalion was in the 2nd Guards Brigade, the 2nd and 3rd Battalions in the 1st Guards Brigade and the 4th Battalion was the Pioneer Battalion of the Guards Division. He would have gone first with his draft to the Guards Division Base Depot at Harfleur which had been established towards the end of August 1915 whose main function was to post all ranks to the various battalions on orders received from a Reinforcement Officer.  Private Davenport was posted to the 3rd Battalion Coldstream Guards.

The Battle of the Somme ended on the 18th November 1916  when the weather finally brought the Battle to an end with Fifth Army’s attack pushing the line up the slopes north of the Ancre and consolidating the hold on Redan Ridge, the village of Beaucourt captured by the 63rd Division on the 14th November being the last village to fall into British hands, whilst Serre to the North remained German.  The Guards Division had been relieved on the 1st October going to the Amiens area remaining there until the 10th November 1916 with the Regiments being made up to strength in officers and men from the 5th (Reserve) Battalion and it is fairly certain that in that period Private Davenport joined the 3rd Battalion.

The Guards Division relieved the 17th Division on the 13th November 1916 the front taken over running along the spur of high ground east of Lesboeufs on the right to Guedecourt on the left.  The trenches were in a shocking condition and the enemy continuously shelled the area held by two companies on the 19th November:  The Division was relieved and by the 23rd November had been withdrawn back to Meaulte preparatory to relieving the French further south.  In this short period the 3rd Battalion had 30 casualties and the Division overall 8 officers and 257 other ranks.

On the 4th December 1916 the Division relieved the French at Sailly-Saillisel about 2 miles North East of Combles remaining in this sector until 1st January 1917.  In mid March 1917 the German withdrawal to their newly constructed defensive line, the Hindenburg Line, began.  The Guards Division took no part in Third Army’s offensive in the Battle of Arras in the Spring of 1917. 

The Division moved to the Flanders sector and the infantry was held in readiness for the offensive beginning on the 7th June 1917 to capture the Messines-Wytschaete Ridge but were not called upon.

On the 31st July 1917 behind a tremendous creeping barrage the Fifth Army began the Third Battle of Ypres generally known as the Battle of Passchendaele after the last dreadful phase of that Battle the Guards Division attacking with the 2nd and 3rd Guards Brigades.  See the entry below for Private James Harris for an outline of the Battle of Messines and 3rd Ypres.

On the 15th June 1916 the Division began its move forward to take over the Boesinghe sector of the line preparatory to the British offensive.  This sector was situated in the low-lying ground alongside the bend in the Yser canal north and south-east of the village of Boesinghe, the canal itself forming a barrier between the British and German trench systems, such a formidable obstacle that neither side had made any serious attempt to cross it during the war.  How to cross the canal was therefore an outstanding problem for the Divisional Commander but the initial date for the attack, 25th July, had to be put back to the 31st July and the attacking Brigades, 2nd and 3rd, were withdrawn and replaced by the 1st Brigade on the 26th July.  Before then experiences of raiding parties showing an alert enemy and reports as to the increase of water in the canal did not lessen the anxieties of Major-General Feilding, commanding the Guards Division.

In the early hours of the 27th July however observations suggested no activity in the German trenches opposite the Guards front and an RFC observer had reported  there were few if any Germans west of the Steenbeek in the sector facing the Guards Division. The result was that about 5.20 p.m. on the 27th July four patrols of the 3rd Battalion Coldstream Guards crossed the canal on mats and found the front trenches deserted and continued an advance to establish themselves some 700 yards East of the Canal capturing 2 German officers and 42 other ranks.  Thus began the 3rd Battalion’s involvement in the Third Battle of Ypres.

In the Battle of Pilckem Ridge 31st July – 2nd August 1917, the 2nd and 3rd Guards Brigades were involved, with 2nd Grenadier Guards and 2nd Coldstream Guards from 1st Guards Brigade in support.  On the 7th August the Division was relieved by the 29th Division and in their turn the Guards relieved the 29th Division on the 29th August.  On the 21st September the Guards Division was relieved by the 29th Division but the Guards Division returned to attack on the 9th October with 1st Guards Brigade attacking with 2nd Grenadiers and 2nd Coldstreams at 5.20 a.m. and later that morning, the 3rd Coldstreams took over the attack to take the third objective.  Only the 3rd Guards Brigade was involved in the next attack on the 12th October and on the 17th October the Guards Division was relieved by the 35th Division ending its role in the Battle of Ypres but having carried the British line for a distance of about 6,000 yards advancing from the Yser Canal to the outskirts of Houthulst Forest.  The Guards Division moved South to near St. Omer for refit and training before moving further South on the 9th November to near St. Pol, 20 miles West of Arras ready to participate in the Battle of Cambrai.

This was to be a surprise attack using almost 400 tanks to support the Infantry without any long artillery bombardment to alert the enemy.  The objectives were to break through the Hindenburg Line between the Escaut Canal and the Canal du Cord, capture Cambrai and Bourlon Wood and then to drive on towards Valenciennes.  The Hindenburg Line was a wide complex of trenches, strong points, pillboxes and barbed wire with two further lines of defence about half a mile behind the Hindenburg Line and another about a quarter mile further back again.

The attack began shortly after 6.00 a.m. on the 20th November 1917 and by the end of the day a 6 mile wide gap had been made in the German line which at its furthest point was some 5 miles from the front line on the 20th November and some 4 miles west from the centre of Cambrai. The Guards Division did not become involved until the 22nd November when it moved forward into the battle area moving further West on the 24th to take up a line West of Cantaing (a village 4 miles South West of Cambrai) and East of Fontaine Notre Dame ( another village some 4 miles and directly East of Cambrai).  The 3rd Coldstream Guards held the sector nearest to Fontaine by posts.  On the 27th November the 2nd Guards Brigade attacked and captured Fontaine but later that day a German counter attack retook the village.  The Division moved back West to a position south of Havrincourt Wood (where the tanks had assembled) on the 29th November when on the 30th November following the arrival of substantial German reinforcements a general German attack began.  The Guards Division was warned and the 1st Brigade was ordered forward to attack a line from Gouzeaucourt (some 10 miles South West of Cambrai) to Villers Plouich (a village about 2 miles North.  The 3rd Coldstream Guards was involved in the successful capture of Gouzeaucourt village and the 1st Guards Brigade recovered a number of heavy British guns.  On the 1st December the 1st Guards Brigade had the objective of attacking a ridge about a mile East of Gouzeaucourt the 3rd Coldstream being the attacking Battalion. Gauche Wood was won and held but Gonnelieu was not.  That evening the 2nd Guards Brigade relieved the 1st Brigade.  The 3rd Guards Battalion had 3 officers killed and 10 wounded, with 45 Other Ranks killed and 160 wounded.  The Guards Division sector was quiet from the 2nd to the 4th December, on the 5th December a German attack on 1st Guards Brigade sector was repulsed and on the 6th December 1917 the Guards Division was relieved by the 9th Division and the Guards Division moved back and to a position West of Arras.

Private Davenport would have taken part in these Battles and as well in the period when the 3rd Coldstream Guards were “holding the line” in general trench warfare.

On the 1st January 1918 the Division moved to take over a 4,800 yards sector of the British Front Line which ran from the South, North of Monchy le Preux  passing to the West of Pelves crossing the Scarpe River to pass East of Roeux  to the Arras – Douai railway line just to the North of Rouex, the Northernmost point being on the south east of the village of Gavrelle. The line was about 6 miles East of Arras centre and was to be held by two Brigades in the front line relieved every 10 days with one in Reserve.

By order of the British War Cabinet a reorganisation of all British Division in France was effected, the orders for the reorganisation being issued by the War Office on the 10th January 1918. The divisional establishment was reduced from 12 to 9 battalions by removing one battalion from each Brigade.  This resulted inter alia in the disbandment of a number of battalions the personnel being allocated to bring other battalions up to strength.  This was, in so far as the Guards Division is concerned, carried out in February 1918 and resulted in the 3rd Coldstream Guards becoming part of a new Fourth Guards Brigade and that Brigade was transferred to the 31st Division on the 8th February 1918.

Instructions on the measures to be taken for organising the defences were issued from G.H.Q. on the 14th December 1917 after the suggestions of the Army commanders had been received and considered.   A front-line defence system was to be regarded as an outpost line, the Forward Zone, held in some degree of strength with redoubts at intervals but such as to require the enemy to commit substantial numbers of troops and a bombardment to pass through to reach the front of the Battle Zone.  This was envisaged as a strong defence system sited in the best possible position, unlike the Forward Zone which was often the place reached at the culmination of an attack and not really suitable for defence anyway.  The Battle Zone was to be sited 2000/3000 yards behind the Forward Zone and some 2000/3000 yards in width.  Only the Forward Zone had to be manned all the time by battalions serving on a rotation basis; for the Battle Zone most of the defenders remained in billets nearby, working on the defences or training but ready to man the Zone if an attack was believed to be imminent.  In so far as the Forward Zone was concerned, the troops could move back to the Battle Zone if necessary but the Battle Zone was to be held at all costs. The Rear Zone on which the defence could fall back if necessary or advisable was to be 4 to 8 miles behind the Battle Zone but in view of the shortage of labour the Rear Zone was only to be reconnoitred and later marked out and if possible wired. There was a somewhat uneven distribution of Divisions of the B.E.F., with Second Army furthest to the North in the Ypres sector having 12 Divisions for a frontage of 23 miles, First Army with 14 Divisions for 33 miles, Third Army 14 Divisions for 28 miles Battle Zone if necessary but the Battle Zone was to be held at all costs. The Rear Zone on which the defence could fall back if necessary or advisable was to be 4 to 8 miles behind the Battle Zone but in view of the shortage of labour the Rear Zone was only to be reconnoitred and later marked out and if possible wired. There was a somewhat uneven distribution of Divisions of the B.E.F., with and Fifth Army 12 Infantry and 3 Cavalry Division for 42 miles.

The Allies had little doubt that the Germans would mount an offensive in the west but there was no unanimity of view as to when and where the attack would be made.

The line that the Guards went into did not in many respects meet the requirements of this new system of defence in depth.  South of the Scarpe the forward zone and the main line of resistance had to coincide as it was not considered possible to give ground on this part of the front.  North of the river the two zones were clearly defined but in both areas the trenches had not been laid out to the best tactical advantage and required an immense amount of labour spent on them being, in many places, lacking any revetment.    When going into these trenches in January, the area had experienced a heavy snow fall but following a sudden thaw on the 10th January 1918 the trenches became impassable, rain was a problem some trenches crumbling and collapsing completely, again requiring labour to make them habitable. The pattern of holding the trenches was usually for a 16 day period at a time, Battalions spending alternately 4 days in the front line and 4 days in support. 

When the weather improved towards the latter part of January 1918 enemy patrols became active but during the first two or three weeks from the 1st January the enemy artillery was actively bombarding the British lines, explosive shells often mixed with gas, causing casualties often from injuries being caused to men who were splashed with liquid from the exploding shells, liquid chlorine for example being converted into chlorine gas at the point of emission.

On the 18th January 1918 Private Charles Davenport was Wounded in Action by Gas.  The same day Privates George Henry Hack and Percy Pomfret, both of the 3rd Battalion, were killed in action, have no known grave and are commemorated on the Arras Memorial to the Missing.  Also on the 18th January Privates William Henry Hilsdon and Robert Taylor Jefferson were killed in action whilst serving with the 3rd Battalion and are both buried in Level Crossing Cemetery. Fampoux which is about 1 mile from Roeux and North of the River Scarpe.  It is most likely that the four soldiers killed in action were casualties of enemy artillery shelling rather than gas.  .

On the 29th January 1918 24 soldiers from the 2nd Battalion Grenadier Guards were the victims of mustard gas shelling while waiting for the train at Fampoux after being relieved in the line.  A light railway ran from Fampoux to Arras which facilitated the bringing up of troops and rations to within a mile of the line and also saved troops on relief from a long march back to billets.

It is probable therefore that it was Mustard Gas that was used on the 18th January.

On the 21st March 1918 the long anticipated German offensive was launched and by that date of course the 3rd Battalion Coldstream Guards was with the 31st Division and part of First Army holding a sector North of Vimy Ridge and not directly attacked on the 21st March.

Charles Davenport remained in France with the British Expeditionary Force until the 24th January 1918, either with a Field Ambulance unit or in a Casualty Clearing Station, being posted to the 5th Battalion on Home Service on the 25th January.  He may well have been admitted to Queen Alexandra’s Military Hospital, Millbank, London at that time.

Private Davenport died whilst in Queen Alexandra’s Military Hospital on the 14th November 1918.  The cause of death was certified as (i) Pneumonia (Double Lobar) 2 months and (ii) Empyema 5 months, Pneumonia is inflammation of the lungs due to infection affecting in Private Davenport’s case both lungs and which had affected him since about September 1918.  Empyema is an accumulation of pus in a body cavity, found around the lung as a (rare) complication of infection such as pneumonia or pleurisy, which had affected him since about June 1918.  Both diseases were caused by his being gassed on the 18th January 1918.

His parents as Next of Kin were notified of their son’s death on the 18th November 1918 and he was buried in the North West corner of Harborough Magna Cemetery just over 200 yards from All Saints Church, Harborough Magna.  The headstone is inscribed “In Loving Memory of Pte. Charles W Davenport (Coldstream Guards) Died November 14th 1918 Aged 24 years.  Peace, perfect Peace.”

Private Charles Davenport was awarded the Victory and British War Medals.

Tear Gas and Mustard Gas were regarded as Disabling, Phosgene and Chlorine as lethal.  However only 4% of combat deaths were due to Gas.  188,000 British Empire troops including Canadian were gassed in the Great War but survived, 8,100 died in consequence of Gas, just over 4%.

William Ewart Davenport Gunner No. 1210, Royal Horse Artillery and Royal Field Artillery. “D” Battery, 306th Brigade.  William Davenport was killed in action on 18th July 1916 aged 18 years.  He is buried in Laventie Military Cemetery, La Gorgue, Pas de Calais, France.  The Cemetery 6 miles SW of Armentieres, and E of village.  It was 2 miles behind the British front line from 1914 to 1918.  The cemetery register records 413 UK., 4 Aust., and 3 German burials.

William Davenport was the son of Alice S Davenport of Harborough Magna, Rugby.  He was born in Harborough Magna and enlisted at Coventry.  Prior to the war he had been employed as a cleaner by LNW Railway.  In 1901 Alfred F Davenport (31) Labourer in Cement Works was living with his wife Alice  (38) at 33 The Street Harborough Magna with Jessie (9), Della (7), William E aged 2 years (born in Harborough Magna) and William Davenport a widower aged 70.

On the 24th August 1915 William Davenport completed the Attestation Form to join the Army and remained on the Home Front being trained until the 22nd May 1916.  On the 23rd May 1916 he embarked with his Battery at Southampton landing at Havre on the 25th May 1916.

On the 1st July 1916 the Battle of the Somme began and an operation to discourage the Germans from bringing up reinforcements from other parts of the Front was conceived.  An initial scheme envisaging an attack to capture Aubers Ridge including the villages of Aubers and Fromelles was abandoned but upon a suggestion that German troops had been withdrawn from the Lille area to reinforce the Somme front, offensive action at the junction of the British First Army (General Monro) and Second Army (General Plumer) in the area of Laventie was ordered, the preliminary bombardment to “give the impression of an impending offensive operation on a large scale” but the objective was limited to the German front-line system and reduced to a 4000 yard frontage having regard to the artillery available, part of it lacking training.  Both the Australian 4th and 5th Division artillery had had practically no experience of warfare on the Western Front and some of the heavy batteries were newly formed and had never fired in France.

The operation at Fromelles on the 19th and 20th July 1916 involved the British 61st Division and the Australian 5th Division and the attack frontage was, from the south near the village of Fouquissart, the right of the 61st Division’s sector being 182nd Brigade area, next to the 183rd Brigade in the middle with 184th Brigade to the left, the 5th Australian Division’s 15th Brigade being alongside the 184th Brigade, the Divisional boundary being just to the North of the Sugarloaf salient in the German line.  The Sugarloaf was about 420 yards from the front line from which the Australian 59th Battalion was to attack across totally exposed ground.  The 2/7th Royal Warwickshire was the Right Hand Battalion in 182nd Brigade advancing alongside the Rue d’Enfer, a road running from Fouquissart to cross the German front line to enter the southern end of Aubers village.

The troops were committed to a short advance across the flat water-logged Flanders country under the eyes of the enemy on Aubers Ridge who during daylight hours could watch all the preparations for the attack and in the 12 months since any substantial action in this sector the Germans had had ample opportunity to strengthen the defences with many machine-guns in concrete emplacements, well sited and concealed.

Six British and Six Australian battalions were to carry out the assault but with a concentration of artillery amounting to 296 field guns and howitzers and 78 heavier guns, the proportion of heavy guns to frontage of attack being more than that of Fourth Army for the opening of the Somme offensive on the 1st July.  Such of the batteries as were in place began wire-cutting on the 14th July.  On the 16th July the heavy artillery was to begin registration and a slow bombardment whilst from zero hours on the 17th July a special artillery programme was to be carried out until the infantry assault some seven hours later.

On the 16th July Sir Douglas Haig advised that he no longer needed the attack to take place unless the commanders on the spot were sure their resources were adequate. Lieut. General Sir R. C. B. Haking, confident of success, was against either postponement or cancellation and this view was maintained despite a change in the weather with heavy rain falling.  On the 17th July an order was issued fixing the 19th July for the attack, zero hour not to be earlier than 11 a.m.  This delay came as a welcome relief to the exhausted Infantry who had been engaged in removing gas cylinders from the trenches and bringing ammunition and stores from the rearward dumps to the front line.
 

William Davenport served with the 61st (2nd South Midland) Division.   The 61st Division had arrived in France between the 25th and 27th May 1916 first taking over trenches on the 13th June.  Four Artillery Brigades, 305, 306, 307 and 308.   306 Brigade comprised A, B and C Field Batteries and D a Howitzer Battery, accompanied the Division’s Infantry.  The main British artillery bombardment began on the 16th July continuing in particular on the afternoon of the 18th July when the sky cleared so that with Royal Flying Corps assistance the British artillery was able to make good progress.  However these bombardments drew a vigorous reply from the hostile German batteries. Lieutenant Ernest Martin, Gunners Thomas Henry Simms, Henry Carrodus Mellon and William Davenport were engaged on telephone work.  The shelling was so severe that they took shelter in a dug-out.  Immediately a shell dropped on the dug-out killing all the occupants.  The bodies were recovered and buried in a cemetery at the back of the lines.   An officer advised the family “Your son was a hard working telephonist who took a keen interest in his work and was not afraid to go into the danger zone if it was necessary in the course of his duty.”

All four are buried next to each other in a row in Laventie Military Cemetery, La Gorgue.  The headstone for Lieutenant Martin bears an inscription “Only a memory of a bygone day and a sigh for a face unseen.”  Next to him is Gunner Davenport’s grave with the headstone inscribed “R.I.P.”  Next is Gunner Mellon and at the end the grave of Gunner Simms with the headstone inscribed “Dearly loved by all at home.”

Gunner William Davenport was awarded the Victory and British War Medals

What were the objectives of the attack at Fromelles?  First Army Order issued on the 15th July stated “offensive operations to be carried out as early as possible with a view to seizing the enemy’s first line system of trenches on the front between Fauquissart-Trivolet Road and La Cordonnerie Farm.”  The overall purpose of the action was “to prevent the enemy from moving troops southwards to take part in” the defence of the British Somme offensive.  In the words of the Australian Official History of the war “It is difficult to conceive that the operation as planned was ever likely to succeed.”  At 3.15 a.m on the 20th July the Germans counter-attacked in force and first there was a retirement to the enemy front line but intensive German machine-gun fire resulted in the Australian forces having no alternative but to fall back across No Man’s Land to their start line, units of the 61st Division having been ordered to withdraw after darkness fell on the evening of the 19th July.

In the evening of the 20th July O.H.L.ordered the Guard Reserve Corps to be moved from the Sixth Army to Cambrai to provide a reserve on the Somme.

The German first line of trenches at Fromelles remained firmly in German hands.

The successful counter-attack on the 20th July showed the Germans that their line was not in any serious danger.

The action has been described as a “bloody catastrophe.”  The 5th Australian Division had over 5,500 killed, wounded or missing and the British 61st (South Midland) Division over 1,500 killed, wounded or missing.

One mile north of Fromelles is VC Corner CWGC Cemetery which contains the identified bodies of 410 Australians and on a screen wall the names of 1298 Australians who died in the Battle and who have no known grave.  The British lost a total of 411 Infantry killed, of whom 91 were from the 2/6th Royal Warwickshires, 82 from the 2/7th Royal Warwickshires in 182nd Brigade;  33 from 2/4th Gloucesters, 62 from 2/6th Gloucesters in 183rd Brigade and 22 from 2/4th Royal Berkshire, 110 from 2/1st Oxford and Buckinghamshire Light infantry and a further 11 from the 2/4th Oxford and Buckinghamshire in 184th Brigade.

The bodies of Allied soldiers killed in the area were transported back behind German lines and buried in mass graves.  After the Armistice some were found and the bodies buried in VC Corner Cemetery.  In May 2008 a number of mass graves were found at Bois Faisan on the outskirts of Fromelles and the remains of  250 British and Australian soldiers have been recovered and buried in the new Fromelles (Pheasant Wood) Cemetery completed in July 2010 and officially dedicated on the 19th July 2010.  Of these 250 casualties, only 97 have been identified.

William George Fidler, Private No. 1797, 1/7th Battalion Royal Warwickshire Regiment.  William Fidler died 7th March 1916 and is buried in Foncquevillers Military Cemetery, Pas de Calais, France.  This cemetery was begun by French troops but taken over by the British in summer of 1915.  The cemetery register records 625 UK., 12 NZ., 6 Aust., 2 Chin., 1 French, 4 German burials and 2 special memorials.

In  1891  George Fidler (34), an Agricultural Carter was living  at 79 Outlying House Harborough Magna with Julia (32) and children Edith Kate 8, Maud 6, Rose 4, May 4, Ellen 2 and William 6 months.
In 1901  the family had moved, George Fidler (44), Waggoner on a farm, was living with his wife Julia (42) at 5 Pailton Road  Harborough Magna with Ellen 12, William 10, Arthur 8 and Ernest 5.  William’s brother Ernest Fidler also served in the Great War.

 William Fidler was a member of Rugby “E” Company which left Rugby for  Coventry on 4th August 1914, under Company Commander Captain Claude Seabroke.  The Territorial Battalion had been in Camp at Rhyll on Sunday the 2nd August 1914 and returned to Rugby but mobilised on the 4th August 1914 leaving Rugby for Coventry becoming part of the Warwickshire Brigade South Midland Division moving later in the month to the Chelmsford area in Essex.

On the 22nd March 1915 the Battalion landed at Havre.  Private William Fidler landed with his Battalion which on the 13th May 1915 became part of 143rd Brigade 48th Division.  In April the Battalion began instruction in trenches near Houplines and later in the month began tours in Steenebeek sector trenches near Wulverghem, south of Ypres on the north-east side of Ploegsteert village and to the West of Messines Ridge, the Ridge being in German hands.  In July 1915 the Brigade moved south when the 48th Division joined the Third Army  the Brigade taking over from the French 42nd Brigade in trenches north and east of Hebuterne, one of the most peaceful sectors of the British line.  (See the Entry for Lance Corporal John Cooper above for the reasons for this move). South.  Hebuterne is a village about 9 miles North of Albert.  Private Fidler had been  attached to the Horse Transport Section but about mid-February 1916 had been transferred to the Warwickshire Infantry Brigade Machine Gun Company.  On the 7th March 1916 he started out with a team of horses, which had recently arrived from a Remount Depot, and a wagon.  Ten minutes after leaving he was found lying unconscious in the snow on the side of the road with a fractured skull. He was taken in a motor ambulance to a field hospital close by but he only regained consciousness for a few minutes and died in the hospital.
 
The main method of supply into France and Belgium was relatively simple.  Stores from the UK base were moved by train and ship to an entry port and then moved by rail through a Regulating Station, to which other stores were delivered and then to a Railhead.  Motor transport then took the supplies to Refilling Points where 2nd line horse transport (ie. the Divisional Train) collected them to deliver forward to battalion or unit lines.  Gun ammunition, re-supplied most of the way by rail, was initially carried by the Divisional  Ammunition Column (an Artillery organisation) but this was later handed over as an Army Service Corps Motor Transport responsibility as horse transport was clearly inadequate for the task especially when more and more guns were used and ammunition expenditure increased, delivery being to direct to dumps near the guns.  At the Refilling Point supplies were normally broken down into four dumps one for each of the three Brigades and one for Divisional Troops.  From the Refilling Points Horse Transport took over totally and supplies went forward to Unit Quartermasters Dumps and taken further forward to the Company or Battery concerned.  If forward operations were envisaged troops drew “Fortress” or “Barrage” rations which were dumped in the rear of the unit or behind the trenches so as to cover the possibility of an interruption to routine re-supply.

On the 2nd September 1915 a proposal was made to the War Office for the formation of a machine-gun company for each brigade by withdrawing the Vickers guns from the battalions to obtain four sections for each infantry brigade each section having four guns.  They were to be replaced by Lewis guns, thus giving each battalion a total of eight Lewis guns.

This proposal was approved on the 22nd October 1915 when an Army Order was issued bringing into existence the Machine Gun Corps.  From November 1915 the machine-guns were concentrated into Brigade machine-gun companies of the Machine Gun Corps, numbered the same as the Brigade to which it was allotted.  The reorganisation depending upon the output of Lewis guns, was ordered to take place in brigades by rotation and was completed before the Battle of the Somme, 1st July 1916.  The Army directive was on January 8th 1916 and in so far as the 143rd Brigade is concerned the pattern was the formation from the four Machine Gun sections of the Battalions of a Machine Gun Company but when casualties occurred reinforcements were sent out from the Grantham Machine Gun Training Centre.

The method of supply to the Brigade Machine Gun Companies was not dissimilar to supply to a battalion and that was the duty that Private Fidler was engaged upon that day.

Throughout the Great War horses provided the backbone of  movement of guns and supplies.  On mobilisation of the British Expeditionary Force in 1914 120,000 hoses were collected.  The remount service which had the responsibility for providing remount horses to regiments and units in the United Kingdom had become the responsibility of the Army Service Corps in 1891 and there were four Remount Depots in the UK before the war.  A Base Remount Depot with 2600 animals and two Advanced Remount Depots (each with 300 animals) went to France with the British Expeditionary Force.  As the campaign continued further Base Remount Depots were opened at the Base Ports with an Advanced Horse Transport Depot in Abbeville.
 
It is possible that this Remount Team was alarmed by something leading to Private Fidler being thrown from the wagon and fracturing his skull.

Private William Fidler was awarded the Victory and British War Medals and the 1915 Star, he having landed in France before the 31st December 1915. 

John Edward Grimsley Private No. 330743 2/7th Battalion Royal Warwickshire Regiment. John Grimsley was killed in action on 1st November 1918 and is  commemorated on Vis-en-Artois Memorial.  The Memorial, at Haucourt, Pas de Calais, commemorates 9,903 missing who have no known grave who fell in the advance in 1918 in Picardy, Hindenburg Line, Selle and the final advance in Artois.

In  1901  Samuel Grimsley, a Cement Quarryman, was living with his wife at 33 The Street Harborough Magna with their children John born in Harborough Magna in 1892 aged 8, Beatrice 7, William 4 and Annie 3.
William Grimsley also served in the Great War.

John Grimsley was a  member of E Company (Rugby Infantry Co.) under Captain Seabroke, Lieutenant Greg and 2nd Lieutenant E H Thomas which  left by train for Coventry on the 4th August. The Battalion had been in Camp at Rhyll on Sunday 2nd August but returned to Rugby being mobilised on the 4th August 1914.  John Grimsley enlisted in Rugby.

The Battalion was formed at Coventry in October 1914 and in February 1915 became part of the 2/1st Warwickshire Brigade, 2/1st South Midland Division in the Northampton area.  By March 1915 the Division was in the Chelmsford area in Essex and in August 1915 became part of 182nd Brigade, 61st Division.  The other battalions in the Brigade were the 2/5th, 2/6th and 2/8th of the Royal Warwickshire Regiment, with the 183rd and 184th Brigade constituting the 61st Division.  The Division was in the Salisbury Plain area in March 1916 and landed in France on the 21st May 1916.

After a short period of inspections and preliminary training units of the Division were attached to units of the 35th Division in the Neuve Chapelle sector for instruction in trench warfare and then on the 11th June 1916 the 61st Division moved up to take over the line in this same sector from the 38th (Welsh) Division.  The Battalion was on the periphery of the Battle of the Somme, arriving in the sector at Sibiville on the 6th November and on the 18th was at Warloy well in the back areas.  The Division took part in the 3rd Battle of Ypres and in the Battle of Cambrai, the Battalion being involved in particularly hard fighting on the 3rd December 1917 to maintain its front beyond the old Hindenburg front system.

By order of the British War Cabinet a reorganisation of all British Divisions in France was effected: the divisional infantry was reduced from 12 to 9 battalions by removing one battalion from each Brigade.  This resulted inter alia in the disbandment of a number of battalions the personnel being allocated to bring other battalions up to strength. On the 20th February 1918 the 2/5th and the 2/8th Battalions of the Royal Warwickshire Regiment were disbanded and the 2/8th Battalion of the Worcestershire moved from 183rd to 182 Brigade.

At the beginning of the German Spring offensive on the 21st March 1918 the 61st Division was in a sector North West of St. Quentin; its engagement in this area ended on the 30th March well to the west of Ham.  Then on the 9th April 1918 the German offensive against the British front north and south of the Lys River was launched and the 61 Division was brought into the line near Merville remaining in the general area until relieved in July by the 74th (Yeomanry) Division. The Division retuned to near the Foret de Nieppe West of Merville on the 7th August 1918 when it relieved the 5th Division.

At 04.20 on the 8th August 1918 some 2,000 guns of the British Fourth Army opened fire on targets in the German Second Army sector.  Between the 1st and 8th August, General Sir Henry Rawlinson’s Fourth Army had been almost doubled in strength with an additional six infantry divisions, two cavalry divisions, nine tank battalions and a further thousand guns being brought forward.  A creeping barrage had been laid 200 yards in front of the leading waves of the infantry which was the signal to advance.  The main attack south of the Somme River  was led by the Canadian Corps on the right and the Australian Corps on the left.  XXXI Corps of the First French Army was to attack on the right of the Canadian Corps, in part to protect the flank of the main thrust, with the British 58th, 18th and 12th Divisions attacking north of the River with the 47th Division north of the Ancre River attacking towards Albert, these Divisions of the British III Corps providing a further flank guard.  The attack was over a 14 mile front, and by mid-afternoon except in the extreme north and south all objectives had been taken following an advance of some 8 miles, over 400 German guns were captured and 27,000 casualties inflicted on the enemy, of whom 12,000 were prisoners.  The Fourth Army casualties were 9,000.

On the 8th August 1918 the 61st Division was part of XI Corps, Fifth Army and was well to the North in Flanders in the sector south of the Lys River.  To its south was the 4th Division which held the sector down to the La Bassee Canal.  All the British divisions of the Second Army, in the sector north of that of the Fifth Army, and in the Fifth Army had taken part in heavy fighting during the early part of 1918 and were regarded as not so forward in their recovery as those of the First, Third and Fourth Armies.

By the beginning of September the advance in the Lys Valley was under way.  By the beginning of October the Division had moved south to Picardy and on the 10th October 1918 the 2/7th Battalion was at Anneux about 5 miles West of Cambrai.  Cambrai had been evacuated by the Germans on the 9th October 1918. On the 18th October the troops marched to South of Cambrai and went into billets. 

On the 22nd October the Battalion marched to a wood near Montrecourt, some 8 miles North East of Cambrai and then on the 24th began an advance towards Sommaing a further 3 miles distant.  The River Ecaillon was crossed  at a position about 5 miles due South of Valenciennes and then the 2/8th Worcestershire passed through to continue the attack and by the 25th October the village of Sommaing had been cleared.  The Battalion remained in billets there until the 31st October.

Plans had been made for a new attack which were swiftly completed for it was imperative to attack the enemy before the German troops could have time to recover from their repeated defeats.  In front of the 61st Division the enemy were entrenched along the high ground beyond the River Rhonelle.  At Artres, just over 2 miles North East of Sommaing, the River Rhonelle describes a deep curve changing its direction from east to north towards Valencienes.  East of Artres the northern bank of the river is overhung by a steep ridge marked by the villages of Villers Pol and Maresches and at the end of that ridge the river, flowing north, eventually joins the River Escaut at Valenciennes.  By the time the Battalion had reached this area, on the 1st November, advanced troops from the Division had effected a crossing of the river near Artres and that foothold on the opposite bank was to form the starting point of the attack of the 182nd Brigade.  The Brigade would attack up the slope to the crest of the ridge and would then advance along the ridge from west to east to taking the defences of the village of Maresches, (just over a mile from Artres),  in the flank and then pushing on beyond the village to secure a position on the further side.  On the right the 183rd Brigade was to clear the southern bank of the River Rhonelle; on the left the 4th Division was to attack and capture Preseau a short distance from Maresches.  Zero hour was at 0515 but during the night sappers had put light bridges across the river and the platoons of the attacking Battalions filed across to take up positions on the far bank.

At 5.15 a.m. the British artillery opened fire and the Battalion advanced to attack their objective being the hamlet of Saint Hubert and the high ground to the north of Maresches, St. Hubert being about1200 yards North East of Maresches which was the objective of the 2/8th Worcestershire, attacking on the Battalions right flank.

During the attack, four 77 mm. guns were captured and about 500 prisoners taken but as the Battalion began the task of entrenchment, German shell fire increased, troops who had taken Preseau on the left could be seen retreating and then about 10.0 a.m. German tanks were seen coming from the north-east followed by a line of counter-attacking German infantry.  The Battalion was defenceless before the advancing tanks as no British guns had been brought up, rifles and machine guns being of no avail against armoured vehicles, and both the Battalion and the 2/8th Worcesters had to retreat.  The German artillery was taken back by the enemy but captured German machine-guns remained with the British.  Two British field guns had later been man handled across the river and came into action, halting the advance of the tanks and gradually during the afternoon a defensive line was established on the northern side of the river.  By the afternoon of the 2nd November the Battalion was in the line as left support Battalion of the Support Brigade of the Division until the 61st Division was relieved by the 19th and 24th Divisions and the Battalion marched about 8 miles south east to St. Aubert about 8 miles East of Cambrai and by the 4th November was at Haussy (7 miles South West of the scene of the action and 10 miles East of Cambrai).

Private Grimsley was killed in the 1st November action by a machine-gun bullet.  In a letter to his wife an officer stated “He was one of my best men, in fact had he come out alive Captain Chamberlain was recommending him for a decoration.  In
several fights I always admired his courage and pluck.”

Private John Grimsley was awarded the Victory and British War Medals, sent to his mother in July 1921.

James (Jim) Harris Private No. 37990 8th Service Battalion Gloucestershire Regiment (formerly No. 35010 Royal Berkshire Regiment).  Jim Harris was killed in action 28th July 1917 and is commemorated on the Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial, its panels being inscribed with the names of  54,900  of those killed in the Ypres Salient between 4th August 1914 and 15th August 1917 (the remaining 34,888 names being inscribed on the memorial at the rear of Tyne Cot Cemetery) and who have no known grave.

Jim Harris was born in Harborough Magna and enlisted at Rugby.  He was the son of Joseph and Sarah Harris.  In  1901  Joseph Harris, a Quarry Man in a Cement Works aged 61, was living with his wife Sarah (58) at 43 The Street Harborough Magna with their children Joe (26), Charles (24),  Tom (23), William (18) and Jim aged 14 who was working as a Ploughboy on a farm.

The 8th Battalion had landed in France on the 18th July 1915 as part of 57th Brigade, 19th Division, (the other Battalions in the Brigade being 10th Royal Warwickshire Regiment, 10th Worcestershire Regiment and 8th North Staffordshire Regiment).

In March 1917 the 19th Division had moved North from the Somme region to Flanders.

Towards the end of October 1914 the professional Regular soldiers of the British Army were slowly being pushed back towards the coastal ports by the seemingly inexhaustible numbers of German troops.  On the 21st October the fighting for Messines Ridge began in earnest; the British held the ground well to the east of Messines village and by the 1st November 1914 the British had been pushed off the Ridge giving the Germans good observation over the British lines and the front lines of both British and German were in effect fixed from then.  Plans for a major assault to push the Germans off the Ridge had begun in the middle of 1915 General Sir Herbert Plumer the Second Army Commander taking the correct view that any plan to push the Germans back through Belgium must be preceded by their removal from this high ground.

During the Second Battle of Ypres (22nd April to 25th May 1915) the Ridge did not form part of the German offensive front and no movement took place south of Hill 60 well to the North of the Ridge itself but in the subsequent two years the Germans converted the ridge into a veritable fortress:  hundreds of concrete emplacements carpeted the slopes and lay secreted in woods served by a magnificent network of deep and well drained trenches with tramways and roads and in apposite locations throughout the sector were heavily fortified trench redoubts and farms.

Being downslope, British artillery fire was difficult to register on the German lines on the ridge top and it was recognised that any infantry assault was likely to be a costly proposition but the British did not intend to attack using the traditional artillery-infantry combination but  what was to become the largest mine attack in the history of warfare.  Mining began as a response to German activity in the British sector of the Western Front but by the end of 1915 the construction of what became 24 mines in this part of Flanders was well under way starting with from the North one mine at Hill 60, the Caterpillar and St Eloi (all North of the Ridge itself) then at the North of Messines Ridge three at Hollandscheschuur Farm, two at Petit Bois, one each at Maedelstade Farm, Peckham and Spanbroekmolen,  three at Kruistraat Cabaret, one each at Ontario Farm and Petit Douve Farm, two at Trench 127, two at Trench 122 (called Factory Farm and Ultimo Crater) culminating at Le Pelerin (The Birdcage) east of Ploegsteert Wood.

On the 1st May 1917 the British began the preliminary bombardment of the German positions.  There was of course a German response but it was estimated that in this phase 50% of the German guns were destroyed.  Then between the 26th May and 6th June the intensive preparatory bombardment commenced from 2266 concentrated British guns many wheel to wheel in places. By 0300 on the 7th June the infantry assault troops had moved into assembly trenches.   The mine at Petit Douve Farm had been lost on the 28th August 1916 by a German heavy camouflet but at 0310 on the 7th June 19 mines were exploded (the four at The Birdcage were not used) and the British artillery launched a devastating and highly accurate barrage all guns firing at their maximum rate to blow the German defenders off the ridge.  As this barrage erupted 80,000 assault troops in the leading assault divisions advanced.

The 19th Division was positioned just north of the Vierstraat – Wytschaete road and the fortified adjoining farms of Plateau and Hollandscheschuur surrounded by Nag’s Nose trench formed an important obstacle with behind Grand Bois, a wood full of German trenches, and on the left flank of the Division Croonart Wood known to be heavily defended.  However the three mines at Hollandscheschuur ripped the German line apart the leading 58th and 56th Brigades making rapid progress.  Infantry went through Croonart Wood to find it almost empty and bunkers abandoned.  The 8th Gloucestershires and 8th North Staffordshire passed through the troops of the leading Brigades.  The 8th Gloucestershires objective was the Black Line in front of Onraet Wood (East of Grand Bois) which was taken in an attack which began at 0810 and patrols were then pushed out  to Oosttaverne Wood, where more Germans either rushed forward to surrender or retired.  The Brigade then began to dig in but early in the afternoon orders were received to push on and capture Oosttaverne Village and Odonto Trench beyond.  The attack of the 57th Brigade had been so hurriedly arranged that junior commanders had no knowledge of what they were to do beyond the fact that they had to move in a certain direction and keep up with the British barrage.  German shelling was light and inaccurate.  The Battalion launched its attack at 1510 and the village of Oosttaverne and Odonto Trench were taken.  Defensive works were then put in hand.  On the 8th June the Battalion held its positin in Odonto Trench and patrols were sent out in the morning to deal with hostile snipers with some 30 German prisoners being taken.  In the evening S.O.S. signals were sent up on both flanks of the Battalion but any attempted hostile counter attack was stopped by the British artillery.  On the night of the 8th/9th June the Battalion was relieved and took up a position in reserve in front of Grand Bois.

The Battle of Messines Ridge ended on the 14th June 1917 with the final line of the 19th Division being about 1000 yards East of the Oosttaverne line, observation from that position not being as good as expected but the enemy had evacuated objectives prior to a further  advance on the 10th/11th June, when the Battalion was in billets.  The result of the operations in the period 7th to 10th June 1917 was the capture by the Battalion of 200 prisoners, 11 field guns and 20 machine-guns.  Casualties 2 officers killed, 2 officers wounded, 21 other ranks killed and 83 wounded.

The German Army having been removed from the heights of Messines Ridge, the way was now clear for the major British offensive in Flanders.  The Plan mainly the conception of General Douglas Haig envisaged an opening attack to capture the plateau in the region of Gheluvelt with the First Objective being the high ground from Gheluvelt through Passchendaele and round to Dixmude, (some 10 miles from the allied line on the 21st June) the second objective was the line of the Strategic Railway running North from the area of Roubaix through Roulers and Thourout to Ostend (a further 8 miles or so) with the third objective being a line from Courtrai in the South to Bruges and then to Zeebrugge on the coast (a further 10 to 15 miles).  In fact at the end of Third Ypres, 10th November 1917, the advance had only reached the Passchendaele Ridge.

The date of the offensive was initially fixed for the 25th July 1917 but to accommodate the French who were to participate to a limited extent and through a delay in the arrival of heavy artillery it was necessary to postpone the date to the 31st July.  although the softening-up artillery duel began in June, the preliminary bombardment itself was originally intended to start on the 16th July and last for nine days but was subsequently extended to fifteen days.  To carry out the programme the Fifth and Second Armies deployed 2,092 18 pounder guns and 4.5 howitzers, 718 medium pieces and 281 heavy guns.  In total 3,091 guns were employed in around 450 batteries faced by 1,556 German guns, but the Germans had superior observation from the ridges.   From the 16th July the British artillery  began steadily bombarding the enemy’s trenches.  In retaliation the German guns were pounding the British positions with little possibility of rest for the soldiers in the front line who were not in fact expected to participate in the opening of the offensive.

On the night of 10th/11th June the battalion had returned to billets at De Zon Camp remaining there until the 15th June when there was a spell back in the old line in front of Grand Bois and this pattern continued until the 21st June when the Battalion went back into Corps Reserve where they remained until the 1st July moving the next day to Ridge Defence with Battalion Headquarters at Onraet Farm.  They remained there until the 7th July when the Battalion moved forward to the Oosttaverne sector attacking the German positions on the 9th July  and taking German prisoners.  On the 11th July the Battalion was relieved and moved back to billets remaining there until the 22nd July but providing working parties until the 22nd July when the Battalion relieved the 7th Kings Own Royal Lancaster Regiment in the line at Oosttaverne.  In the period between 22nd July and 27th July 2 officers were killed and 1 wounded by the shell-fire described.

On the 28th July 1917 the Battalion was in the line when the Germans at 0125 made a determined raid on the front line with Storm Troops but were repulsed with considerable German losses.  Private Harris, having survived the attacks in June and July, twenty one of his Battalion colleagues were killed in this action.

The Battalion was later that morning relieved by the 8th North Staffordshire returning to Ridge Defence and Onraet Wood.

Private James Harris was awarded the Victory and British War Medals.

 Alfred Hawkins Private No. 8658 2nd Battalion Northamptonshire Regiment.  Alfred Hawkins was killed in action  on 9th May 1915 and is commemorated  on Ploegsteert Memorial.  The Memorial stands in Berks Cemetery Extension, Ypres, Belgium which is about 9 miles  south of the Grote Markt, Ypres on the N365 leading to Ploegsteert village and then Armentieres; it commemorates 11,447 officers and men who fell in the Great War and whose graves are not known.  It serves the area from the line Caestre-Dranoutre-Warneton, in the north to the line Haverskerque-Estaires-Fournes in the south in which the best known features are the towns of Hazebrouck, Merville, Bailleul and Armentieres, the Forest of Nieppe and Ploegsteert Wood and covers the period from the arrival of III Corps in this area in 1914 to the date of the armistice with Germany.

Alfred Hawkins was born in Harborough Magna, Warwickshire and was the son of Oliver and Julia Hawkins of Harborough Magna, Rugby.  He enlisted at Northampton.

 In 1901 Oliver Hawkins, a Wood Sawyer aged 42, was living with his wife Julie aged 42 at 47 The Street Harborough Magna with John (15), Alfred (12) and Annie (5).

On the 4th August 1914 the Battalion was stationed at Alexandria in Egypt and arrived in England in October joining the 24th Brigade 8th Division at Hursley Park Winchester  and landed at Havre on the 5th November 1914.  Private Hawkins landed in France with his Battalion.  The Battalion went by train to Merville about 6 miles North of Bethune and 3 miles West of Estaires going into billets in a nearby hamlet.

Shortly thereafter the Battalion was in the trenches in the front line, the line in this sector running from Frelinghien North East of Armentieres, East of that town and then curved south west passing East of Bois-Grenier, West of Aubers and Neuve Chapelle and then south to cross the La Bassee canal near Givenchy.  The trenches were shallow and filled with straw having originally been dug by the Lahore Division and in order to secure some trace of warmth and shelter the Indians had burrowed under the parapet in many places.  In some positions the German line was only 70 yards distant.  On relief the Battalion moved into brigade reserve billets.  This established the pattern up until December 1914 by which time the conditions in the trenches were exacting a severe toll – one platoon about 50 strong was reduced in three hours to 19 men with only one Sergeant and two lance-corporals left of the N.C.Os.  Sickness from exposure was responsible for 60% of the loss.

On the Armentieres sector the “Christmas Truce” began on the 24th December 1914 and thereafter the Battalion remained standing in the mud and slime of the trenches enduring the awful winter of 1914 – 1915.  By the New Year the Battalion was, when not in the trenches, in billets at La Gorgue still in the Estaires area of  Northern France.  The general pattern of trench warfare continued until the March 1915.

The French Commander in Chief General Joseph Joffre saw the Western Front as being dominated by the great bulge in the centre from near Arras in the North round to near Verdun in the East, the mid point in the area Compiegne-Soissons indirectly threatening Paris about 37 miles distant.  With insufficient forces to launch an offensive to break through this line, he planned attacks on the flanks in Artois and Champagne to inflict heavier casualties on the Germans than were sustained by the French attackers and also endanger the vital German railway connections.  The first attack was in February 1915 in the Champagne area which was abandoned in March with 40,000 French casualties for an advance of some 3,000 metres, just over a mile.

He next planned an attack in the Artois area in early March from North of the River Scarpe principally in a North East direction towards Vimy Ridge and requested Sir John French, BEF Commander, to assist with a British attack towards La Bassee just to the North of the Franco-British Army boundary coupled with a request that the BEF relieve a French Corps in the Ypres sector.  This request was refused but instead the BEF mounted its own attack on the 10th March to capture the German held village of Neuve Chapelle and advance onto Aubers Ridge.  The attack starting from a line from the West of the present D 947 Estaires – La Bassee road took the German defenders by surprise, the German front line was broken and the British and Indian forces advanced nearly a mile but German reinforcements arrived long before the BEF could exploit the gain and the battle ended on the 12th March with a new line established East of Neuve Chapelle but the enemy remained on the Ridge overlooking the Allied forces in the low lying land north of La Bassee Canal to the Lys River.

The British and Indian Corps attack on Neuve Chapelle was the first major offensive of the war to be launched from a trench system.  New artillery tactics had been developed, surprise was to be achieved by dispensing with a preliminary bombardment and shelling the enemy positions only while the infantry advanced.  The artillery was then to concentrate on preventing enemy reserves from coming up. Some 340 guns were mustered – an unprecedented concentration.  Four infantry brigades were to attack on a front of only 2000 yards.  German defences consisted of a conventional single trench line, strongly held, supported by a line of strong points including machine-guns some 1000 yards to the rear.

On the opening day 10th March 1915 the 2nd Battalion was to be part of a detachment with 5th Black Watch and the machine-guns of 4th Cameron Highlanders in “B” line of the British trenches in support of 2nd Royal Berkshire.  At 730 a.m. the British bombardment began and the British began their advance.  By 8 a.m. German shells were dropping into the Reserve area causing casualties amongst the 2nd Battalion.  Two Companies were ordered forward to assist in digging trenches beyond Neuve Chapelle facing the Bois de Biez but by about 1 p.m. the whole Battalion was engaged in digging a communication trench up to captured enemy positions and to bring up stores.  Casualties were incurred.  The 2nd Battalion was ordered to participate in the renewed attack and at 4.30 p.m. on the 10th March the Battalion was in the front line for the advance which was of course at night, they advanced about 1000 yards digging in some 400 yards beyond the village.  Units had become mixed up and the enemy was holding some houses some 300 yards ahead and it was realised that any further attempt to move forward was doomed to failure and a halt until dawn was agreed. 

Zero hour was to be at 7 a.m. on the 11th March preceded by an Artillery bombardment but the morning dawned with fog which interfered with artillery observation so the bombardment was of little use and the advance was in vain, “At the given hour my men went over the top but before they had gone ten yards they were all flat.”  There was a further artillery bombardment at about 1.45  p.m. and a further attempt to advance but the Germans were in strength and this attack failed also with a number of casualties from rifle and shell fire.  By midnight the strength of the Battalion had been reduced to 12 officers and 320 other ranks. One of the casualties was Private Hawkins who was wounded by shrapnel in the arm evacuated and by the end of the month was in hospital at Rouen progressing favourably.

On the 9th May Joffre’s attack in Artois began after a 6 day artillery bombardment of the German line from North of the Scarpe River to the region of Lens.  Adverse weather conditions had put the start date back by two days which had the result that the British attack on Aubers Ridge also began on the 9th May but with only a short 30 minute artillery bombardment which had neither neutralized the substantially improved German front-line defences since March 1915 nor blown adequate gaps in the German wire.  The objective was to break through the enemy’s line by a two pronged assault to capture the German positions on the Ridge and then effect a rapid advance of some 6 miles in a south easterly direction to cut the main road from La Bassee to Lille (now the N 41) to reach a line from Bauvin to Don on the Deule canal. The British front line roughly ran to the East of the road from Fleurbaix to Bethune but curved to the East of Neuve Chapelle and then crossed the Estaires – La Bassee road (now D947) at La Bombe crossroads, near to where the Indian Memorial now stands, turning south to pass to the East of Festubert to cross the La Bassee canal near Givenchy. There was to be a Northern attack, by units from the 8th Division heading generally south east to the Ridge and a Southern attack by units of the Dehra Dun Brigade of the Meerut Division from the Indian Corps and from the 1st Division, the Indian Corps heading East from Port Arthur cross roads and the 1st Division heading more to the South East.  The attacks began at 5.30 a.m. and heavy casualties were immediately inflicted by the German machine guns.  The single brigade of the Meerut Division lost 37 officers and 856 other ranks.  In the early afternoon, a second attack in the North resulted in more casualties and on the 10th May Haig cancelled the Aubers Ridge offensives.

Private Hawkins had recovered from his wound and rejoined his Battalion in time to participate in the Battle of Aubers Ridge on the 9th May 1915.

The area chosen for the British attack was not promising.  The ground in front of the ridge was flat, exposing advancing infantry to uninterrupted fire and had a high watertable, which made digging a trench more than two feet deep impossible (the Germans had created breastworks along their line, well supplied with fire points and supported by extensive communication trenches in the drier rear areas).  German machine-guns in this sector were for the most part protected by bunkers which could only be destroyed by a direct hit.  British guns were few in numbers and the shortage of shells was reaching crisis point.   The British attack was nevertheless scheduled for 9th May 1915.  The attack was to be  preceded by a necessarily short but heavy artillery bombardment of some 30 minutes.  The British plan involved a main attack by the 1st and Meerut Divisions on a 2000 yard frontage from a point North East of Festubert to a point south of Neuve Chapelle.

At 5 a.m. on the 9th May 1915 what was described as a wholly inadequate artillery bombardment by the British began with the Infantry attack being launched at 5.40 a.m..  At the first sign of dawn the German machine-guns woke up and began ripping the sandbags from the breastwork in front of the orchard about midway between Petillon and Rouges Bancs in the Battalion’s sector. The 2nd Battalion’s subsidiary attack started at 5.50 a.m. and was largely dependent on the main effort, the two attacking Companies leaving the assault trench which had been dug during the night in front of the orchard where the Battalion had assembled but the misfortunes of the East Lancashire part of the central advance had its effect with the Battalion being exposed to enfilade fire from the German trenches.  Men fell in dozens but the survivors gallantly pushed on resolutely across the wide belt of No Man’s Land which separated them from the German trenches one Company being almost wiped out but “D” Company being aided by the fire of two field guns which had been brought forward to within 350 yards of the German line reached the breach which the guns had blown in the German parapet and established itself precariously in the shattered trench.  It proved impossible to exploit the success so gallantly won.  The two support companies sent forward between 6 a.m. and 6.30 a.m. came under severe enfilade machine-gun fire immediately they left the shelter of the Orchard and were unable to reach their comrades in the German line.  The general situation of the Battalion was a few were up in the enemy’s line, the bulk scattered dead wounded or untouched and praying for night in No Man’s Lane and a residue with battalion HQ in trenches and being heavily shelled.  By then all forward movement had ceased, the ground between the British and German lines being swept by a heavy rifle and machine-gun fire from both flanks.  Brigadier-General Arthur Lowry Cole commanding the 25th Brigade arrived at the breastwork at 6.30 a.m. and having directed the 2nd Lincolnshires to get across the ground by the mine craters a number of men from the Rifle Brigade and Irish Rifles were seen streaming back over the German breastwork after an order to retire from some unauthorised person.  The Brigadier leapt up on the parapet to stop the retirement but was mortally wounded and died shortly after.  It became evident that any further attack by daylight was doomed to failure and orders were given that the attack would be renewed the following morning.  Since it was useless to attempt to hold permanently the isolated position on the extreme right at 8 p.m. under cover of dusk the remnants of “D” Company of the 2nd Battalion were withdrawn to the British line.  Before the action the strength of the Battalion had been 20 officers and 867 other ranks, the total casualties were 426 of whom Private Hawkins was one.

Private Alfred Hawkins was awarded the Victory and British War Medals and the 1914 Star.

The French attacks on the 9th May were immediately successful, Moroccan troops on the first day taking Vimy Ridge and the French advancing 3 miles in 90 minutes but the Germans closed the gap with reserves before the French reinforcements could themselves advance, Vimy Ridge was lost and the bitter fighting continued until 18th June 1915 with an advance of less than 3 miles for a casualty list of 300,000 of whom 100,000 were killed. 

William Stratford Private No. 1853 1st Battalion Royal Warwickshire Regiment.  Private Stratford died of wounds on 29th October 1916 and is buried in Grove Town Cemetery, Meaulte, Somme, France, 5 miles S of Albert.  The 34th and 2/2nd London Casualty Clearing Stations were posted here in September 1916 to deal with casualties from the Somme Battle-fields.  The cemetery register records 1,366 UK., 14 Aust., 11 Newfld., 1 NZ., 1 French and 34 German burials.

William Stratford was born in Harborough Magna, Warwickshire and enlisted at Rugby in September 1914, whilst still living in Harborough Magna. 

 
On the 4th August 1914 the Battalion was at Shorncliffe as part of 10th Brigade 4th Division and landed in France on the 22nd August 1914.  The 10th Brigade reached Le Cateau on the 24th August 1914, the Battle of Mons having been fought on the previous day, and the British Army had already begun its great retreat.  The battalion participated in the Battle of Le Cateau and then with the remainder of the British Expeditionary retreated by stages to the Marne, after Le Cateau the Battalion was split for some time, part ending up in St Quentin where the C.O. signed an agreement to surrender if the enemy advanced to occupy the town which fortunately did not happen.

The Battalion participated in the Battle of the Marne and the advance to the River Aisne.  It was here that the German armies, in retreat from the River Marne turned to face their pursuers.  It was an ideal defensive position, high ground north of the River.  The Allies were faced with crossing the River itself to be confronted with German guns in commanding positions on the opposite bank.  Units of the BEF and French 5th Army forced their way across the river on the 12th September but there was no possibility of a breakthrough and both the Allies and the Germans began to extend operations northward by seeking to recover a war of movement by striking around the open flank of the other.  At the end of September Sir John French suggested to General Joseph Joffre the French Commander in Chief that the British Expeditionary Force should resume its designated pre-war position, on the extreme left flank of the French armies and on the night of 1/2 October 1914 the BEF began to move north leaving the Aisne in great secrecy with the enemy unaware that they had gone.

The 1st Battalion remained in the trenches at St.Yvon until the middle of March 1915 then for a short time it held a line at Steenbecque nearer Ypres and participated  on the 25th April 1915 in the second Battle of Ypres and the subsequent fighting until July 1915.  On the 19th May 1915 Private Stratford landed in France to join his Battalion.  On the 22nd July 1915 the  10th Brigade left Elverdinge  north of Ypres  entraining and arriving at Doullens in Picardy going on to billets in Bertrancourt and by the 26th July the Battalion was settled in trenches at Sucrerie near the sugar factory near Mailly-Maillet, north of Albert.  This move south resulted from discussions in the period June – July 1915 with General Joffre insistent on the B.E.F. taking a greater share of the front. Well he might for the French were responsible for nearly 400 miles – much of it certainly “quiet” of the 475 miles of front between Switzerland and the sea.  The original intention was for the B.E.F. to become responsible for 21 miles of front from Chaulnes (33 miles south of Arras) to Hebuterne   (13 miles S.S.W. of Arras) but in August 1915 Divisions began to move south and the B.E.F. became responsible for a shorter line from the North Bank of the Somme near Curlu (in German hands) to Hebuterne.  By the 1st July 1916 and the opening of the Battle of the Somme the Franco-British Boundary had changed somewhat and ran along the North Bank of the River Somme from West to East until Bray when the boundary veered north east passing North of Suzanne and then through the village of Maricourt until reaching the font line of both the Allies and the Germans.

In the period from July 1915 to June 1916, the 1st Battalion’s main area of service was around Mailly-Maillet with rest periods being taken at Acheux.  The Battalion participated in the opening days of the Battle of the Somme, holding support positions in the  sunken Beaumont-Serre road just outside Auchonvillers on the 1st July 1916  and then on the 24th July the Battalion was transferred North to the Ypres sector.

On the 26th September  the Battalion moved south again detraining at Longeau and there followed a period of training exercises in the vicinity of Daous and Corbie then on the 8th October a move North to Mansell Camp near Mametz.  On the 9th October the Battalion marched to Guillemont moving into trenches East of Lesboeufs relieving the London Rifle Brigade.  The Battalion remained in the trenches until relieved on the 13th October by the 2nd Royal Dublin Fusiliers.  On the 11th October both the British and the German artillery was active, the enemy retaliating on the British front line causing 12 casualties and a fair amount of damage.  Two Germans surrendered to the Battalion and were sent to Brigade HQ for interrogation.  On the 12th October under cover of a creeping barrage an attack was launched but the 1/Royal Irish Fusiliers together with some of the 1st Battalion’s “D” Company had run into trouble from the British barrage forcing that part of the line to return to their original trench.  The initial advance gained over 300 yards and the men dug in creating a new trench, Antelope Trench, (600 yards east of Lesboeufs)  but by the evening it was apparent that other units had not been successful and without flank support the Battalion was forced to re-organise and consolidate.  On relief on the 13th October the Battalion went back to Guillemont and then on the 16th October on relief by the 1st East Lancashires went to billets South of Bernafay Wood providing working parties between the 17th and 21st October 1916.

By the middle of October conditions on and behind the battle-front were so bad as to make mere existence a severe trial of body and spirit.  Battalions were reduced to two company strength.  The infantry, sometimes wet to the skin and almost exhausted before zero hour, were often condemned to struggle painfully forward through the mud under heavy fire against objectives vaguely defined and difficult of recognition.

On the 23rd October 1916 the 4th Division in conjunction with the French on the right and the 8th Division on the left were to attack the German line the objectives being the German front defences to the West of Le Transloy and the establishment of a line beyond the crest of the spur to a position within assaulting distance of Le Transloy.  The morning was so misty that after consultation with the French zero hour was changed from 1130 a.m. to 2.30 p.m. in the hope that visibility might improve.

 In outline the 11th Brigade of the 4th Division attacked from a position East of Lesboeufs with 1/Hampshire and 2/R Dublin Fusiliers.  The Hampshire and the left of the French 152nd Division were stopped almost at once by fire from Boritska Trench (running North West to South East directly across their line of advance) their joint objective and from machine guns in scattered shell-holes.  When the 1/Rifle Brigade arrived to reinforce, posts were established north-west of the objective.  After dark, contact was obtained with the Dublin Fusiliers who had secured the gun-pits on their front and also a strongpoint beyond.  The 1st Royal Warwicks was to advance through the Irishmen of the Dublin Fusiliers but the two battalions had become mixed and after hand to hand fighting all attempts to go further were frustrated by fire from the flanks.  From the captured gun pits a trench was dug back to Frosty Trench which was linked to Antelope Trench (both back from Boritska and again across the line of the previous advance) which did effect some improvement to the British line which with the ground in so bad a state was no small achievement.  But it had cost the 1st Hampshires alone over 200 casualties when by that stage of the Somme fighting few battalions in the Fourth Army could muster more than 400 men for an attack.

Notwithstanding the conditions, the men living on cold food and standing up to their knees in mud and water and in too poor a physical condition to conduct an attack successfully, Haig ordered yet another and indeed the seventh attack on the Transloy Line for the 5th November.  Lord Cavan, Commander of XIV Corps advised that an advance on Le Transloy from the present position had practically no chance of success on account of the heavy enfilade fire of machine guns and artillery from the north and the enormous distance the British had to advance.  The response was a minor attack on the 3rd November should still proceed which accomplished nothing and only then was Haig initially persuaded that the 5th November attack should be cancelled but he changed his mind, and the operation failed at a cost of 2,000 casualties.

The detailed account from the Battalion Diary of the 1st Warwickshires demonstrates the minor successes and failures of that day and the extreme difficulty in getting back to Battalion H.Q. any information as to the situation in the actual fighting positions.

“At 2.30 p.m. on the 23rd October 1916 barrage fire opened and the attack was launched; the first wounded man came in and reported he had been hit well out in No Mans Land and the Companies of the Royal Warwickshires were going ahead well.  By late afternoon Brigade was reporting German prisoners coming in from Gun Pits (a German position about 550 yards  East of Lesboeufs) and when the CSM of “C” Company returned wounded he reported his Company was 400 yards NE of Strong Points at Hazy Trench (800 yards E of Lesboeufs).  At 5 p.m.  the Warwickshires received a wire timed 3.30 p.m. from the Royal Dublin Fusiliers that strong points had been captured, machine gun fire on all sides was holding up the advance, heavy casualties had been incurred and required reinforcements to bring up small arms ammunition and bombs. At 5.30 p.m. a runner from “A” Company reported the situation at 4.30 p.m., a mixed party of 50 Royal Warwicks and Royal Dublin Fusiliers close up to Hazy Trench digging in.  There were only about 20 Germans holding Hazy Trench  after dark, with German machine guns firing about 300 yards ahead.  Troops on our right about 400 yards to right flank slightly in advance, cannot see any troops on our immediate left.  At 6.50 p.m. message by runner timed at 3.45 p.m. from “C” Company Royal Warwicks that in South end of Gun Pits with about 25 men and being fired at from left rear.  Some Germans in north end of Gun Pits and in Shell Holes behind us.  See some of our men digging in about 300 yards NE of us on ridge.  OC “D” Company reported arranging to attack and clear up situation in the Gun Pits.  He reported only had a small mixed force.  Casualties heavy and also Royal Dublin Fusiliers lost heavily.  At 6.45 p.m. Royal Dublin Fusiliers reported “A” Company holding Gun Pits and cleared same thoroughly.  Holding ridge on the other side of these pits.  Uncertain about troops on the left but they appear to have been held up. At 7.30 p.m. runner delivers message timed at 5.45 p.m. from “D” Company that occupies German Strong Point but only has 14 men.  Our troops hold a line about 500 yards ENE of his position.  At midnight message received from OC 1st Somerset Light Infantry that a Company had gone forward to Gun Pits and delivered bombs and ammunition and found sufficient men of the Warwicks and the Fusiliers there so withdrew.  But at 3.30 a.m. on the 24th October a report was received that the ammunition had not been delivered in fact.  At 5.40 a.m.  a message timed at 2.45 a.m. was received that Lieutenant Beamish was in touch with Frosty Trench (about 560 yards E of Lesboeufs) but 100 yards distant from it and was digging towards Frosty Trench and was in touch with Gun Pits.  At 4.30 p.m. the same officer reported that they had had a quiet day with little shelling.  A few Germans were about the north end of Gun Pits, about 8 had been shot that morning and others seen trying to get away North.  Rifle fire that morning had stopped a feeble attempt by the Germans to counter attack with bombs.  The Germans occupied a small post at south end of Hazy Trench on the crest otherwise both sides of the valley clear of the enemy.  At 2 a.m. on the 25th October the Battalion was relieved by the 20th Royal Fusiliers marching back to Trones Wood then to Mansell Camp tents to rest and clean up.  On the 27th October the Battalion entrained for Corbie remaining there in billets until the 30th October.  The men were visited by the CO of the 10th Infantry Brigade who congratulated them; “Both the Division and Corps were proud of the Battalion.  All ranks showed great gallantry and now we shall be out of the line for one or two months and new drafts would join us and they should be imbued with the same spirit.”

Casualties for October were 6 Officers killed in action, 2 died of wounds, 7 wounded and 175 casualties in the other ranks of whom 139 were killed.  Private Stratford died of wounds received in the operation on the 23rd/25th October 1916.

Private William Stratford was awarded the Victory and British War Medals and the 1915 Star.

Martin Victor Towers  Private No. 10739 5th Battalion Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry. Private Towers died of wounds on 27th September 1915 and is buried in Etaples Military Cemetery, Pas de Calais, France.   Etaples was the site of vast British reinforcement camps and hospitals being remote from attack except by air-craft.  The cemetery register records 8,767 UK., 1,122 Can., 461 Aust., 261 NZ., 67 SA., 28 B.W.I., 18 Newfld., 5 Ind., 1 USA., 2 Belg., 47 Port., 1 Chin., 655 German burials and 11 special memorials.

Martin was the elder son of Thomas Towers a farmer of Harborough Fields Farm Churchover and Elizabeth Towers of Harborough Magna, Rugby.  Prior to enlistment at Rugby he assisted his father on the farm.

In  1901  Thomas Towers (38), Farmers Brother, was living at 2 Harborough Fields Cottage, Harborough Magna with his wife Elizabeth (34) and sons Martin aged (5) and Thomas (2).  Thomas Towers brother  Joseph Towers, a Farmer, lived at 1 Harborough Fields Farm with his wife Ada and 5 children and 1 servant.
Martin’s brother Thomas Towers also served in the Great War.

When war was declared on 4th August 1914 the British Army consisted of the Regular Army, with its Reserve and Special Reserve, and the Territorial Force.  The Prime Minister Mr Asquith was also acting as Secretary of State for War, a post he subsequently passed on to Field Marshal Earl Kitchener of Khartoum on 5th August.  On the day he assumed his duties Lord Kitchener asked Parliament to authorise an additional 500,000 men for the Army.  On 11th August his proclamation headed “Your King and Country need you.   A call to Arms” was published and called for some 100,000 men aged between 19 and 30 to enlist.  Within two weeks the required number had come forward and new Service Battalions were formed.  This Army was called K1 and the 5th Battalion was in K1 and formed at Oxford in August 1914.  It was in 42nd Brigade part of the 14th Division and landed at Boulogne on the 21st May 1915.  The other Battalions in the Brigade were the 5th Battalion, Kings Shropshire Light Infantry; 9th Battalion, King’s Royal Rifle Corps and 9th Battalion the Rifle Brigade.  Private Towers was one of the first to enlist, in fact on the 28th August 1914 and went to France landing with his Battalion on the 20th May 1915.

The 42nd Brigade moved North to the Ypres Salient and the Battalion was in the trenches in the area of Railway Wood on Bellewaarde Ridge for spells in June, July, August and September 1915.

  In June 1915 the British Army extended its line to the south, to include the area
from the La Bassee Canal south to Loos. The French Commander in Chief General Joffre  proposed attacks in the Autumn of 1915 in the Champagne area with 14 divisions and required the British to attack near the mining village of Loos.  The area was entirely unsuitable for an assault the sector being flat and with little cover dominated by slag heaps from the coal mines which gave the Germans observation over the area and strong points from which they could sweep the area with machine-gun fire but several pressing reasons compelled the British to agree to the attack.  The Germans had launched a massive offensive on the Eastern Front and the Russian ally had lost 750,000 men; the Italians who had come into the war on the side of the Allies in May 1915 had been hard hit on their front, and the Gallipoli campaign had proved to be a failure.  The date for the offensive was finally agreed as the 25th September 1915 after an artillery bombardment for four days, the British Commander Sir John French electing to make up for his deficiency in guns by the use of poisonous gas and smoke. On the southern sector of the British sector two Divisions, the 47th and 15th (Scottish) were employed whilst to the north of the 15th Division was the 1st Division whose northern boundary was the Vermelles-Hulluch road and north of that road were the 7th, 9th (Scottish) and 2nd Divisions.

It was decided to undertake subsidiary operations, with the purpose of deceiving the enemy as to the real direction of the main attack.  For this object the 3rd and 14th Divisions were to carry out an attack on the enemy’s trenches north and south of Bellewaarde Lake, just north of Hooge, in the Ypres Salient some 40 miles North of Loos.

The attack was directed on a frontage of 2000 yards against the German position about Hooge and on Bellewaarde ridge and commenced at 4.20 a.m. on the 25th September 1915.  The attack was launched by the 3rd Division astride the Ypres – Menin road and was preceded by the successful firing of two pairs of mines under the German front trench.  Simultaneously with the mine explosion sections of the Royal Engineers rushed forward and cut the wire entanglements with gun–cotton in Bangalore torpedoes.  South of the road the German front trench was taken in the first rush, but further progress could not be made and during the afternoon the enemy concentrated a heavy artillery fire on the captured position followed by an advance of strong bombing parties and the trench had to be evacuated.  North of the road the efforts of the 7th Brigade to take the ruins of Hooge chateau and force its way into the strong work at the south-west corner of Bellewaarde Lake were unsuccessful, uncut wire and numerous machine guns defeating the successive attempts.

The left attack made by the 14th Division gained a footing in the German front trench across Bellewaarde ridge at three different points and in places reached the support trench.  In first line were the 5th  Shropshire Light Infantry, the 5th Oxford and Bucks and the 9th Rifle Brigade.  Bellewaarde Farm itself was not carried and the efforts of these isolated parties to bomb the Germans out of the intervening parts of the line had not been successful before the Germans delivered a strong counter attack.  This bore hardest on the 9th Rifle Brigade near Railway Wood and in spite of the support of 9th King Royal Rifle Corps the Rifle Brigade was forced back to its original trenches, only retaining possession of the crater of the mine that had been sprung just before the attack.  This initial success enabled the Germans to concentrate on the parties of the other two battalions which had established themselves further south and ultimately these after being subjected to a further artillery bombardment were compelled to withdraw.

All three subsidiary attacks had thus ended with the assaulting troops back in their original trenches mainly because the British hand-grenades were inferior both in quality and number to those of the enemy.  No German reinforcements other than local supports had been required to meet them and they therefore had not had the desired influence on the main battle south of the La Bassee canal.

The total casualties in the 14th Division were 54 Officers and 1,747 Other Ranks.

Private Thomas Towers had been dangerously wounded in the brain by a bullet and his parents were advised he was unconscious in 3rd Canadian Hospital at Etaples, one of 16 Hospitals at Etaples, “Early next morning his parents received a wire announcing his death.”

Private Thomas Towers was awarded the Victory and British War Medals and the 1915 Star.  He is also commemorated on the War Memorial at Churchover.

Those who laid down their lives in the Second World War 1939 – 1945 and who are recorded on the War Memorial in Harborough Magna

Harold Carter.  Driver No 2369250 Royal Corps of Signals.  Harold Carter died on 16th July 1945 aged 41 years.and is buried in Rangoon War Cemetery, Myanmar (Burma).  The cemetery is in Rangoon itself and was first used as a burial ground immediately following the recapture of Rangoon in May 1945.  Later the Army Graves Service moved in graves from several burial sites in and around Rangoon including those of the men who died in Rangoon Jail as prisoners of war.   There are now 1,381 Commonwealth servicemen of the Second World War buried or commemorated in the cemetery.  86 of the burials are unidentified and there are special memorials to more than 60 casualties whose graves could not be precisely located. 

On March 8th 1942 Rangoon fell to the advancing Japanese and within a further two months the British forces were driven out of Burma, over the mountains, back into India.  The liberation of Burma began in mid October 1944 when the monsoon rains ceased and the ground dried and Lieutenant General Sir William Slim’s 14th Army began the operation which involved principally 4th Corps and 33rd Corps driving South with XV Corps concentrating on clearing Arakan on the West coast, seizing Akyab Isand for air bases and then releasing troops for the main offensive by the other Corps.

By the end of March 1945 the Japanese 15th Army was retreating from mid Burma and the way to Rangoon was open but the city had to be reached quickly because of the approach of the monsoon and also the 14th Army supply system would break down if a South Burma port was not gained by June when American transport aircraft were to be withdrawn from Burma and sent to help China.  So the decision was taken to order “Operation Dracula” for early May.

 On the 1st May 1945 “Dracula” was launched, with parachute landings at the mouth of the Rangoon River and amphibious landings on both banks.  Hearing that the Japanese were already evacuating Rangoon, the whole force re-embarked and moved up the river entering the city the next day.  Early on the 6th May 1945 the force met the main spearhead of IV Corps driving south and the liberation of Burma was then virtually complete.

  Driver Carter died of disease contracted whilst serving in South East Asia.  He enlisted circa 1943.  He was the son of Edith Louise Carter; husband of Irene Dora Carter of Clifton Warwickshire and father of Marie Jackson nee Carter of Harborough Magna.  His headstone in the cemetery bears the inscription “It’s a lovely day to-morrow.”