Private Walter Mobbs
2 January 1898 − 5 October 1918

Researched and written by Pauline Bannister and Chris Graddon

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Augustus Walter Dennis Mobbs, known to his friends and family as Walter, was the fifth child and second son of James and Matilda Mobbs. He was born in the parish of Wall in Staffordshire on 2 January 1898. Wall is a small village just south of Lichfield and lies on the site of the Roman settlement of Letocetum.

Walter came from a family of 6 children, four girls and two boys. His paternal grandparents, John Timothy and Sarah Elizabeth Mobbs, had 10 children - 5 boys and 5 girls - of whom Walter's father James was the third. Walter’s maternal grandparents John and Sarah Young had 8 children - 6 girls and 2 boys - of whom Walter's mother, Matilda, was the eldest.

Birth certificate for Augustus Walter Dennis Mobbs

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The 1901 census shows Walter at the age of 3 living with his parents in Wall Lane, with his elder brother Ernest and three of his sisters, Charlotte, Ann and Edith. Walter’s father, James, was employed by Staffordshire County Council as a road labourer, whilst Walter's brother Ernest, then aged 14, was already working as a farm lad. By the time of the 1911 census, Walter's elder siblings had left the family home, leaving Walter and his younger sister Doris at home with their parents in Wall.

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By the time of the 1911 census, Walter's elder brother Ernest James was working as a farm labourer at Hill Hook in Sutton Coldfield. He was living then with Herbert and Ernest Dicken, who were employed - presumably at the same farm - as a waggoner and a horseman; their sister Mary was also living there and Ernest James Mobbs would go on to marry her in 1916.

Walter's sisters Charlotte and Edith were then working as a domestic servant and domestic nurse respectively for the family of the metal manufacturer Thomas Henry Purden, his wife Mary Elizabeth and their two sons at "Ingleside" on the Lichfield Road in Four Oaks, Sutton Coldfield. Ann, the third of Walter's elder sisters, was also employed as a domestic servant, at 85 Birmingham Road, Lichfield, working for the brewer George Bonnett, his wife Katie Fanny and their two daughters.

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It is not certain where Walter went to school but it is likely that he attended the National School in Wall. This had opened in 1867 on the vicarage grounds in Market Lane; it comprised a school room, a classroom, and a house for the school mistress. There was an average attendance of over 50 in the late 1890s and this figure rose to about 80 by 1911 when the building was enlarged. From 1936 it became the St. John's Church of England Primary School, with older pupils from the area attending secondary schools in Lichfield; the primary school closed in 1978 and is now a private home.

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It is not certain where Walter Mobbs worked prior to enlisting but it is more than likely that he worked at some stage for Walter Ryman who, in 1917, farmed 353 acres at Manor Farm where he had a flock of 400 Shropshire sheep, 50 head of cattle and 70 pigs; there he also grew 12 acres of turnips and kale, 21 acres of swedes, 65 acres of clover and 8 acres of mangold wurzel beets, mostly to provide feed for all the animals. His other crops included 44 acres of oats, 43 acres of wheat and 85 acres of potatoes. Ryman became noted for his potatoes and by 1928 - when he was farming some 600 acres, including Pipe Place Farm at Pipe Hill - he was producing over 2,000 tons of potatoes a year from 200 acres, produce that was sold at markets in the Black Country and Derby. The manure for the potato fields was provided by large flocks of Shropshire and Dorset Down sheep whilst 20 acres were devoted to growing mixed barley and oats to feed Ryman's herd of pedigree pigs. Other crops grown by Ryman in 1928 were 120 acres of wheat, 30 acres of oats, and 20 acres of roots.

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On 4th August 1914, Britain entered the war in Europe that would result in over twenty eight million casualties and the loss of over eight million lives. Of these, the South Staffordshire Regiment lost 6,357 men during the course of the war. One of these was Walter Mobbs who enlisted for the South Staffordshire Regiment at Walsall and was assigned to the 2nd Battalion. His regimental number, 201116, indicates that he probably signed up after 1 January 1917, by which time Walter would have been 18 or 19. 

At the start of the Great War in August 1914, the 2nd Battalion South Staffordshire Regiment were in Aldershot, part of the 6th Infantry Brigade of the 2nd Division. Their commanding officer, Lieutenant Colonel Charles Steer Davidson, received orders for the Battalion to mobilise for war on 4 August and this was completed by 6 August. After 5 further days awaiting orders, they entrained for Southampton on 12 August and then embarked on the steamship SS Irrawaddy, landing at Le Havre, as part of the British Expeditionary Force, at 7.30 a.m. on 13 August 1914. The 2nd Division was commanded by Major-General Charles Carmichael Monro and its 6th Infantry Brigade comprised the 1st Battalion The King's Regiment (Liverpool), the 1st Battalion Royal Berkshire Regiment (Princess Charlotte of Wales'), the 1st Battalion King's Royal Rifle Corps and the 2nd Battalion South Staffordshire Regiment.

Along with the other units of the British Expeditionary Force, the 2nd Battalion of the South Staffordshire Regiment, took part in a series of major actions in the early months of the war, commencing with the first engagement against the German Army. This occurred on 23 August 1914 at the Battle of Mons where the British army attempted to hold the line of the Mons-Condé Canal against the advancing German First Army. The massed rifle fire of the seasoned soldiers from the regular British Army inflicted disproportionate casualties on the numerically superior German force which attacked en masse over terrain that was devoid of any cover. The British held up the German advance until the evening but they were then forced to fight a tactical withdrawal from Mons that lasted for two weeks. That Allied retreat ended at the River Marne where the British forces were able to regroup and make a stand to defend Paris. That First Battle of the Marne (5-10 September 1914) and the counterattack that followed, the First Battle of the Aisne (12-15 September 1914), proved to be a major turning point in the war because it denied the Germans the rapid knock-out blow they intended, and the 2nd Battalion of the South Staffordshire Regiment was involved in both actions.

The subsequent "Race to the Sea" saw the Western Front extended to the north and west, until it reached the English Channel, as each army tried to gain the advantage and outflank the other. By 14 October, fighting at Picardy, Albert and Artois had brought the remnants of the British Expeditionary Force to the strategically important Belgian town of Ypres. From the Allied perspective, Ypres was the last obstacle barring the Germans' way to the Channel ports of Calais and Boulogne so it was vital for them to hold that sector. On the other hand, if they could force a breakthrough at Ypres then the relatively flat terrain of Flanders could be exploited to advantage, allowing them to threaten the German army's major supply lines. The 2nd Battalion of the South Staffordshire Regiment arrived at Ypres on 20 October and soon found themselves involved in the thick of the action; on 22/23 October - in support of the 2nd Brigade at Pilkem - they lost 44 men killed or wounded regaining the advanced trenches. Further heavy losses were sustained driving the enemy back at Beselare on 26/27 October; the 2nd Battalion then held their trenches through to 11 November despite having to repulse a German infantry assault and coming under repeated heavy fire from the enemy artillery. On 12 November, the Germans broke through the French army on the 2nd Battalion's left flank and their position was critical for a while but they held their own until 3 a.m. the next day when they were ordered to retreat and provide company support for, and then relieve, the Highland Light Infantry who were holding the Passchendaele-Beselare road; the 2nd Battalion were relieved in turn on 15 November. The strength of the British Expeditionary Force had been seriously weakened by that time. Fortunately, fighting on that front quietened down towards the end of the third week in November because the German generals overestimated the numbers and strength of the Allied defences at Ypres so called off their final offensive when a decisive victory was still possible.

The end of November saw the 2nd Battalion South Staffordshire Regiment resting, exercising and training away from the front in billets at Caëstre where they remained until 21 December. They were inspected on 24 November by the Commander in Chief of the British Expeditionary Force, General Sir John French, and on 3 December the 6th Infantry Brigade was visited by King George V.

When the First Battle of Ypres concluded, on 22 November, a crucial victory had been achieved by the Allies but at the cost to the British Expeditionary Force of 7,960 killed, 29,562 wounded, and 17,873 missing. The fighting also claimed between fifty and eighty thousand French soldiers killed, wounded or missing, and more than twenty thousand Belgians casualties. German losses were also high, more than nineteen thousand killed, eighty thousand wounded and thirty thousand missing. As winter began, both sides dug in, occupying the trenches that would be repeatedly fought over and dominate the war from thereon in.

Although it came at a high price, the Allied defence in the First Battle of Ypres did deny the Germans a swift victory but it also saw the virtual destruction of the highly experienced and well-trained British regular army. The enormous losses suffered by the "Old Contemptibles" in the early months of the war had to be replaced in the short term by the arrival on the Western Front of fresh reserves. In due course, conscription at home would become essential and inevitable. Meanwhile, fighting would resume again around the Ypres salient in April 1915 in the Second Battle of Ypres and the Western Front would become virtually static with the Allied and enemy armies locked in a stalemate.

Over the next two years, the 2nd Battalion of the South Staffordshire Regiment spent much of the time alternating between reserve billets and the front line trenches of the Western front. In 1915, they were also involved in actions around Givenchy (20 February, 10 - 11 March) and at Cuinchy in the major British offensive at the Battle of Loos (25 September - 18 October).

This period of recuperation was soon over and by 17 January the 2nd Battalion found itself back in the front line at Givenchy. The first days passed quietly enough, with some light shelling and mortar fire, but then, on 20 January, the Germans exploded a mine about 30 yards ahead of their line, collapsing a British mine and trapping 6 men from the 176th Tunnelling Company of the Royal Engineers. The attempt to rescue them resulted in the death of one officer from the Royal Engineers; two other officers and several men - including two stretcher bearers from the 2nd Battalion - suffered the effects of poison gas and were sent to hospital. Two days later a further draft of 33 men joined the ranks of the 2nd Battalion but such were the rigours of life on the Western front that the infantry brigades had been reduced, effectively, to around half of their nominal strengths. And so the months went by, the endless round of trench warfare relieved intermittently by periods in the reserve areas where the men trained and took what rest they could.

Then, on 22 May 1916, orders were received for the 2nd Battalion to move to Vimy Ridge, a long, high hill that dominated the landscape and provided unobstructed views for miles in all directions. It had been under German control since October 1914, though the French Army had attempted to remove the Germans from it on a number of occasions, suffering 150,000 casualties in the process. The British had discovered that German tunnelling companies had taken advantage of the relative calm on the surface to transform Vimy Ridge into a strong defensive position with an extensive network of tunnels and deep mines protected by trenches that were manned by highly-trained soldiers armed with machine guns and artillery. The tunnelling companies of the Royal Engineers began a counter-offensive but the Germans responded by intensifying their artillery and trench mortar fire. Then, on 21 May 1916, following shelling by 80 German batteries hidden out-of-sight on the other slope of Vimy Ridge, the British lines were attacked by the German infantry along a 2,000 yard front; they captured several British-controlled tunnels and mine craters before halting their advance and entrenching their positions. It then took almost a year before the Allies were in a position to take Vimy Ridge once and for all. The Canadian Army Corps success in capturing the ridge in April 1917 is considered by many to be a defining moment for Canada, one where the country emerged from the shadows of the British Empire.

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The next major encounter for the 2nd Battalion South Staffordshire Regiment came at Delville Wood where they suffered 92 fatal casualties in the battle that took place between 15 July and 3 September 1916. The dense woods of that area of the Somme were important to the German defences, Delville Wood in particular because of its commanding position even though it stretched little more than 500 yards in any direction. A night attack on 13 July had established a toe-hold in the area and from there, on 15 July, 121 officers and 3032 other ranks from the South African Infantry Brigade launched an assault to capture and then defend the wood. The men came under devastating German artillery fire that destroyed almost every tree in the wood, making movement and reinforcement hazardous in the extreme. Despite being low on food and water, the South Africans somehow managed to hold on for 7 days; out of ammunition, they were forced to defend the ground they had gained using bayonets and hand to hand combat. Of the 3153 South African men who entered Delville Wood, 457 were killed in action, 120 died of their wounds and 186 were missing, presumed killed in action, and 1709 were wounded.  

By the time they left their billets at Bajus on 20 July, the 2nd Battalion South Staffordshire Regiment had been bolstered by the arrival of 20 men from the ranks on 18 June and strengthened further by 2 lieutenants and 45 other ranks on 3 July. With the rest of the 2nd Division, they went by train to Longueau near Amiens, a distance of about 50 miles. After drinks of hot Oxo, the men continued the journey that would bring them eventually to the Reserve Brigade area in the old German trench between Carnoy and Montauban-de-Picardie on 25 July. From there, on the afternoon of 27 July, they moved up with the 17th Battalion Middlesex Regiment to Delville Wood, where under heavy shell-fire they relieved the 23rd Battalion Royal Fusiliers.

By the early hours of 28 July, A Company was in the front line near the northern edge of the wood, with B Company in support, whilst C company formed a defensive flank facing west. The wood, which formed an advanced salient in the British front line, was under incessant hostile shell fire from three directions and the Battalion suffered some heavy losses. At about 9 p.m. the Germans mounted a counter-attack, but their bombing patrols were beaten back and the 2nd Battalion's original lines held firm. During the bombardment, "the line held by B Company was practically obliterated by heavy shells; all the officers were killed and most of the men buried" but the remains of B company still held their ground. Part of C Company was also shelled heavily. "The Battalion held on under great difficulties in the matter of supplies and water which had to be taken up to the Companies under a very heavy barrage."

On 29 July, the Commanding Officer produced a plan for one battalion with machine guns to hold Delville Wood supported by a second battalion a short distance in the rear. That evening, the 2nd Battalion South Staffordshire Regiment were relieved and returned to the Reserve Brigade area in the old German trench just north of Carnoy. During their 2 days in Delville Wood, the 2nd Battalion had lost 5 officers killed with another dying of his wounds; 42 men from the ranks were killed, 46 were missing in action and 196 were wounded; another 21 men were suffering from shell shock. On 30 July, officers from the reserve replaced those who had been killed and the following day the Battalion returned, one company to Longueval Alley and three to Montauban Alley, providing close support to the King's Regiment in Delville Wood, which was still under heavy hostile bombardment. Relieved again on 1 August, they were reinforced the next day with an additional 200 men, though none of these had steel helmets; about a quarter of them had already seen some military action, albeit very limited, and some had returned from the campaign in the Dardanelles. 

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On 5 August, the 2nd Battalion moved to Bernafay Wood to closely support the attack planned for the night of 8/9th August. The report of Captain Walter George Fluke describes how at 2.30 a.m. on 9th August he left the British trenches with a party consisting of 19 Brigade bombers and 50 bayonet men and carriers, their task being to attack the German trenches in the vicinity of Machine Gun House.  They moved forward in single file under heavy machine gun and artillery fire; the ground was very uneven and full of shell holes, which made it very difficult for the group to keep together. This was made all the more difficult as the men had been shelled heavily all day and were exhausted by all the tasks they had undertaken in preparation for the assault. When Captain Fluke managed to get to the German trench, he found that he had only 3 men with him. They all leaped down into the trench and, at first, they met no resistance; the 12 or so sentries, who were leaning asleep against the parapet, were dazed when they suddenly found they were being shot at. The trench was in the shape of a horseshoe and Captain Fluke and his men moved down one arm for some distance until they saw a large group of enemy coming towards them, bombing them heavily. Captain Fluke's group, who had used all of their bombs, returned fire, retiring slowly back to the bend where they encountered another strong enemy group closing in on them along the other arm of the horseshoe. Captain Fluke and his men were bombed heavily but continued firing until they were forced to retreat back to their own trenches.

Captain Fluke collected his men together once more and at 4.30 a.m. made a second attempt to reach the horseshoe trench but this time the Germans were ready and waiting and the men came under very heavy fire; they were also in danger from British artillery shells that were falling short of the German lines. Captain Fluke came to the conclusion that it was pointless to try to proceed further as his group would have suffered enormous casualties; working in small groups, each providing covering fire for the others, his party returned to their own trenches without suffering too many casualties. A third attempt to reach the horseshoe trench was organised but by then it was being shelled by both the German heavy artillery and the British, so that attack was cancelled. Captain Fluke was awarded the Distinguished Service Order and mentioned in despatches; his citation appeared on page 10170 of the London Gazette on 20 October 1916.

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The 2nd Battalion South Staffordshire Regiment were relieved that evening of 9 August  and on 12 August took up billets at Méaulte.  The 1st Battalion South Staffordshire Regiment was based at Dernancourt, about a mile and a half away, and exchanges of visits were organised for 13 August, but the 2nd Battalion received orders that afternoon to march to Méricourt-sur-Somme and there to board trains that would take them to Saleux. After some delay, they were taken from Saleux by motor buses to Belloy-sur-Somme, ten miles or so north west of Amiens. They marched from there via Vignacourt on 16 August and Fienvillers on the 17th to Bois-de-Warnimont on 18 August; then, on the following day, they took over trenches at Serre from the 2nd Battalion Coldstream Guards.

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The Battle of the Ancre, which took place in mid-November 1916, had been postponed repeatedly because of bad weather and in the end it was a far smaller operation than had been planned initially, the aim being to push the Germans back 2 miles rather than the 5 miles originally intended. The primary purpose was the elimination of the German salient, with Beaumont-Hamel at its head, that lay between Serre and the Albert-Bapaume road.

South of the River Ancre, the village of Thiepval had been captured by the British during the Battle of Thiepval Ridge (26 - 28 September 1916) but Saint-Pierre-Divion was still being held by the Germans. North of the Ancre, the villages of Beaumont-Hamel and Beaucourt-sur-l'Ancre had not seen any major action since the opening of the Somme offensive on 1 July 1916.

The main attack was to be led eastwards by the 5th Army Corps against the German defences north of the River Ancre. Meanwhile, the 2nd Army Corps would attempt to seize the enemy lines that ran south of the river down to Saint-Pierre-Divion towards the recently-captured Schwaben Redoubt.

The general assault was launched in darkness and thick fog at 5.45 a.m. on Monday 13 November. It was supported by heavy artillery bombardment and by tanks, the Army's fearsome new weapon which had only recently been deployed for the very first time in combat, in September 1916 in the Battle of the Somme. The 3rd Division - on the extreme left of the 5th Army Corps - struggled at great cost through the mud and mire towards Serre where isolated groups managed to force their way beyond barbed wire that had only been partly cut, but they were gradually forced to retire. At the same time, the 2nd Division advanced along Redan Ridge and, further south, the 63rd Division pushed on and by evening time reached the outskirts of the village of Beaucourt-sur-l'Ancre, which they secured the next day. On the right, after fierce fighting, the 51st (Highland) Division captured the village of Beaumont Hamel. They were then ordered to push on towards the village of Grandcourt and the River Ancre while the 5th Army Corps was detailed to secure the rest of Redan Ridge. However, neither of these further actions succeeded: the tanks were unable to move forward effectively, their advance being hampered by the deep mud and the sleet and snow; some British forces were cut off in Frankfurt Trench and taken prisoner while other troops met heavy machine gun fire they couldn’t remove. South of the River Ancre, matters progressed somewhat better and, with artillery support, the advance by the 39th Division resulted in the capture of Saint-Pierre-Divion.

On the early afternoon of 28 October, the 2nd Battalion South Staffordshire Regiment had relieved the 13th Battalion Essex Regiment in the northern section of Redan Ridge. The recent rains had left their trenches in a bad state but on 30 October they were relieved by the 22nd Battalion Royal Fusiliers and marched to billets in Bertrancourt where they stayed until 7 November when they moved again, this time to Mailly-Maillet. On 11 November, Lieutenant Fredrick Jacob Brooks, who was in charge of patrols of the enemy wire, succeeded in exploding a torpedo under the German front line wire in front of the Battalion's assembly trenches south of Serre. The Battalion moved into those trenches on the 12 November and that night formed up for the attack. There was very little enemy shelling and no casualties were received as they assembled.

As the attack began on 13 November, the 2nd Battalion successfully crossed the German front line and assaulted the second line wire, which was virtually uncut. However, the 2nd Battalion's formation was broken as other battalions came across their front line. The Battalion suffered heavy casualties among the officers and the other ranks and the thick mist made reorganisation difficult. Two junior officers were missing, believed killed in action, and two company commanders were also missing, one known to be wounded; several other junior officers and all four Company Sergeant Majors were wounded. The Chaplain joined Battalion Headquarters and helped to dress the wounded while the old defensive lines in Monk trench and Legend trench were re-occupied. That night, casualties were evacuated from dugouts in the Monk and Delaunay trenches.   

With winter rain once again blanketing the battlefield, offensive operations were called off on 19 November. Although the British had achieved some early successes on the Ancre, and had gained some ground, the fact that they could not push on further meant that the areas they had gained were a very dangerous place to be posted to as both sides settled down to endure the winter of 1916-1917 on the Somme.

The 2nd Battalion South Staffordshire Regiment spent the remainder of November and December recharging their batteries, training and integrating replacement troops, at Yvrencheux from the end of November to 21 December when they moved on to Gapennes where they remained until 9 January 1917. It is conceivable that Walter Mobbs was one of the draft of 148 other ranks who arrived with Captain Walter George Fluke on 26 November when he returned to the Battalion from sick leave. The Battalion spent the early days of the New Year 1917 in billets and Nissen huts at Gapennes with a regular routine of parades, exercise and practice attacks.

On 9 January, the men left their billets at Gapennes and marched to Le Meillard from where they moved again to Bruce Huts at Raincheval, arriving after dark on 12 January. The weather was bad when they arrived and got worse over the next few days. The men were in working parties and had to endure heavy snowfalls that reached a depth of seven feet altogether by the time the Battalion moved to Ovillers Huts on 20 January. On 24 January, they went into the front line, taking over the left of the Courcelette subsector from the 17th Battalion Middlesex Regiment. That night it was relatively quiet and some good work was done improving the barbed wire but there was heavy shelling and rifle grenade fire throughout the next day and night, with the Battalion sustaining a number of casualties. During the day the Germans created gaps in their own barbed wire and at dawn on 26 January the enemy attempted a raid but they were driven back by the Lewis gun at Number 11 post which killed 4 of the raiding party and wounded a number of others; the few bombs that the enemy threw were largely ineffective. That night, B and D Company swapped places with A and C company in the front line. An enemy post opposite the left of the 2nd Battalion was causing some trouble and on the morning of 28 January it was bombarded and destroyed by the Howitzer Battery. That night, the Battalion were relieved by the 23rd Battalion Royal Fusiliers and marched to the army reserve at Bouzincourt where they stayed until the afternoon of 5 February when they marched once more to Bruce Huts; there, again, they provided working parties whilst the remaining men paraded and practised attack formations. The weather remained very frosty for the next 10 days and the clear skies led to bright, moonlight nights which were exploited by enemy aircraft who bombarded and machine gunned their area.

The thaw finally began to set in on 15 February and made the going very difficult when, on the evening of 16 February, the 2nd Battalion left Bruce Huts for the front line, going via the Albert-Bapaume Road and the cross-country track by Dyke Valley. The same evening, groups went into the front line to lay direction tape and cut the British barbed wire in preparation for the attack by the 2nd Battalion planned for 17 February. Enemy artillery was more intense than normal and there was heavy shelling of the area where the Battalion formed up. The morning of 17 February was cloudy and dark as the British barrage opened at 5.45 a.m. and the Battalion's assault troops began to crawl forward.

The situation was very unclear for some time as German machine gun fire took a heavy toll on officers and other ranks; of ten officers who went on the attack, only one returned uninjured, three were killed, three were missing in action and three were wounded. Gallant though their efforts were, the Battalion was largely unsuccessful and in the end was forced back to the old British line. A captured German officer later gave information that "a deserter had given the enemy several hours warning of the impending attack" and the Germans had reinforced their line accordingly with both troops and weapons.

Report submitted by Lieutenant-Colonel George Dawes to the 6th Infantry Brigade Headquarters regarding the attack by the 2nd Battalion South Staffordshire Regiment on 17 February 1917 {extract from the War Diary of the 2nd South Staffordshire Regiment}

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After the failure of their assault, the 2nd Battalion were relieved by the 1st Battalion King's Regiment on the night of 18 February and went to Wolfe Huts, going into reserve from 23 February until 3 March when they went into support at Ovillers Huts. The Battalion had suffered severe losses in the attack and further reinforcements arrived on 6th and 7th March. It is more likely, given his regimental number, that Walter Mobbs arrived with this group rather than with the draft that arrived in November 1916. Battalion working parties were given the task of repairing the roads in Courcelette and B Company suffered 21 casualties there on 8 March. Next day, the General Officer commanding the 6th Infantry Brigade, Brigadier-General Richard Knox Walsh, inspected the Battalion's latest reinforcements; two days later they were in the front line at Wolfe Huts. 

From 14 March to 5 April 1917, the German armies on the Somme carried out a strategic withdrawal to the Hindenburg Line known as Operation Alberich. In the process they flattened villages, poisoned drinking wells and destroyed everything they left behind on the ground; they blew craters in the roads and crossroads and booby-trapped ruined buildings and the dugouts they had used. British patrols began to detect the withdrawal of German infantry from the Somme in mid-February 1917 and the British and their allies began a cautious pursuit; it halted only when they began to get close to the Hindenburg Line itself. The construction of this new line had been spotted by British and French aviators towards the end of 1916.

On 13 March, at short notice, the Battalion received orders to move at 8.30 in the morning. The Germans had fallen back to the Bihucourt Line from the ridge at Loupart Wood and the Battalion moved via Courcelette to Lady's Leg. Next day they relieved the 13th Battalion Essex Regiment in their positions on the Irles-Grevillers Road and at Loupart Wood; they immediately organised constant patrolling to keep the Bihucourt Line under close observation. On 15 March, the Battalion received a misleading message and in response sent two strong detachments to attempt to occupy the Bihucourt Line. There were several casualties and the men were unable to reach their target, which was still strongly held by the enemy. However, they did manage to establish a telephone position at about half distance that proved invaluable as a reporting point for the patrols.

Exploiting the mist on 16 March, the enemy set working parties to the task of repairing their line and its barbed wire; this was a distraction to disguise their intended purpose which was to withdraw. Captain Charles Robert Woolley - who had been awarded the Military Cross on 3 March 1917 - took a small patrol and a Lewis gun into action against one large working party which resulted in several German casualties.

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Meanwhile the regular observation patrols continued until the Battalion were relieved by the 17th Battalion Middlesex Regiment. On the morning of 17 March, as the enemy withdrew from the Bihucourt Line, the 2nd Battalion was called on to return to Loupart Wood but in the end they were not required and returned to Lady's Leg for the night.

On 18 March, the 1st Battalion King's Regiment moved forward as advanced guard with the 2nd Battalion South Staffordshire Regiment in close support, first to Loupart Wood, then to the Irles-Grevillers Road and finally, that night, to Sapignies. The Battalion's support role continued the following day and the village of Mory was occupied. In the evening, when the 2nd Infantry Division were relieved, the 2nd Battalion South Staffordshire Regiment went back to Dyke Valley. From there, a series of marches brought them by the end of March 1917 to Hestrus where they remained until 7 April when they marched to Diéval; they were in training apart from Good Friday, 6 April, which was observed as a Sunday.

The Battle of Arras, which took place from 9 April to 16 May 1917, was an offensive by British and Commonwealth troops against German defences near the French city of Arras. The Allied assault was on a broad front that stretched from Vimy in the north-west to Bullecourt in the south-east. There were major gains in the first few days, most notably the capture by Canadian troops of the strategically significant Vimy Ridge (9 to 12 April). British divisions in the centre of the front were also able to make gains but, in the south, British and Australian forces made little headway.

The initial successes were followed by a series of smaller-scale operations

The First Battle of the Scarpe (9 - 14 April 1917)
The First Battle of Bullecourt (10 - 11 April 1917)
The Battle of Lagnicourt (15 April 1917)
The Second Battle of the Scarpe (23 - 24 April 1917)
The Battle of Arleux (28 - 29 April 1917)
The Second Battle of Bullecourt (3 - 17 May 1917)
The Third Battle of the Scarpe (3 - 4 May 1917)

that sought to consolidate the ground that had been won but did so at a high cost in casualties. Stalemate followed, as so often on the Western Front. The Battle of Arras and those smaller-scale operations resulted altogether in nearly 160,000 British casualties and roughly 125,000 German casualties.

A 25-mile march over two days brought the 2nd Battalion South Staffordshire Regiment to Roclincourt on 11 April, about 4 miles north of Arras, where they were in dug-outs and reserve trenches until 18 April. From the 13th to the 17th April, working parties were employed each day constructing and repairing roads whilst the officers reconnoitred the forward areas. As the 6th Infantry Brigade moved from reserve into the front line after dark on the night of 18 April, the 2nd Battalion South Staffordshire Regiment relieved the 52nd Oxfordshire Light Infantry in the right subsector of the 2nd Division's front line.

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The 4 days that followed saw continuous, often intense enemy shelling of the Battalion's position but, remarkably, there were few casualties. On the night of 20/21 April an advanced trench was dug approximately 400 yards from the barbed wire in front of the German front line at Oppy Wood. On 22 April, the 2nd Battalion's B Company moved up and occupied the advanced trench, then after dark the 1st Battalion King's Regiment relieved the 2nd Battalion who went into reserve. However, in the very early hours of 23 April, Lieutenant-Colonel George Dawes was wounded in the head by a shell fragment as he returned from the 1st Battalion King's Regiment Headquarters in the front line. Temporary command of the South Staffordshire's 2nd Battalion was assumed by Major John Jackson Cameron who had joined them from the 23rd Battalion Royal Fusiliers on 4 April. The 63rd Division attacked enemy positions during the morning of 23 April; there was a German counter-attack in the afternoon and the companies of the 2nd Battalion were moved forward to help repel it but they were able to return to their previous positions at 6 p.m. as the situation gradually quietened.

The 2nd Battalion was split up for the attack on 28 April, the start of the Battle of Arleux. 4 officers and 120 men from B Company were assigned to join the 13th Battalion Essex Regiment, along with 1 officer and 68 men from A Company who were to provide a carrying party. The same numbers from D and C Companies linked up with the 17th Battalion Middlesex Regiment. The attack began at 4.25 a.m. and the British front line was subjected to constant, heavy fire throughout the day. By 4.50 a.m. the Germans had regained the front line trench they had previously occupied opposite B Company and the 13th Battalion Essex Regiment, but it took the enemy until 10.45 a.m. to re-occupy their trench opposite D Company and the 17th Battalion Middlesex Regiment. From the 2nd Battalion, Captain W.A. Simmonds and 2nd Lieutenant C. W. Bloomfield were both taken prisoner; both survived and were eventually repatriated home after the war had ended. However, 2nd Lieutenant Horace Johnson, 2nd Lieutenant John Samuel Smith and 2nd Lieutenant Roderick Stratford O'Connor were all killed. In addition to these, 186 men from the ranks were killed, wounded or missing. The 2nd Battalion were relieved from the front line during the evening of 28 April as the 99th Infantry Brigade took the divisional front line but they remained in the area until 1 May when they marched from the Roclincourt Reserve Trench to the hamlet of Bray.  

That evening, 120 men - A Company plus others from C Company - were sent under Captain Richard Baxter M.C. to join up temporarily with the 1st Battalion King's Regiment in the 99th Infantry Brigade, with orders to attack enemy positions at Oppy on 3 May. They began to form up in bright moonlight at 1 a.m. but sustained casualties from the heavy German bombardment of both the front line and support trenches. The attack commenced at 2.45 a.m. and the first objective was achieved, but the failure of the attack on the village of Oppy and Oppy Wood allowed the enemy to make repeated counter-attacks and, eventually, they broke through the Allied line. In the action 7 men from the 2nd Battalion were killed and another died later from his wounds; one officer and 15 men were injured and 8 more were missing. Those that survived the attack were relieved at midnight on 3/4 May and rejoined the remainder of the 2nd Battalion at Roclincourt Camp on 5 May. The rest of the men had marched there from Bray that afternoon and had been set to cleaning, bathing and road clearing after their long tour in the front line, support and reserve trenches. On 5 May, Major Clifton Edward Rawdon Grant Alban took command of the Battalion from Major John Jackson Cameron who had been in temporary command. The Battalion remained at Roclincourt Camp until 17 May, supplying working parties for road building at Bailleul Road.

On 18 May the Battalion moved by motor buses to Camblain-Châtelain where they undertook general training and welcomed drafts totalling 98 additional soldiers before returning, again by bus, to Roclincourt Camp on 25 May. Until the end of the month they provided a variety of working parties, for example laying trench boards under the supervision of the Royal Engineers. On 26 May, the General Officer Commanding 2nd Division, Major-General Cecil Edward Pereira, praised Private J Titley who, on 16 May 1917 and at considerable personal risk, had stopped supply wagon horses that had bolted downhill, thereby preventing what might have been a serious incident.

A number of men from the South Staffordshire Regiment were mentioned in despatches on 22 May 1917, four from the 2nd Battalion including Lieutenant Stanhope William Howard Sholto Douglas-Willan who had been killed in action on 17 February 1917.

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On 1 June, the 2nd Battalion was attached, temporarily, to the 99th Infantry Brigade and moved to relieve the 1st Battalion King's Regiment as Support Battalion in the right subsector of the Divisional Front on the Arleux-Oppy line, where they experienced some desultory shelling during their 2-day tour. On 3 June they re-joined the 6th Infantry Brigade and moved to the Farbus area as Reserve Battalion, occupying the ground previously held by the 24th Battalion Royal Fusiliers in the left subsector of the Divisional Front. They remained there until 8 June, providing nightly working parties for the front line. An observation post established by the Battalion on the east side of their area also managed to obtain a lot of useful information regarding enemy positions. During this period the Germans persistently shelled the British battery positions in the Battalion's area, the British giving as good as they got.

On 9 June, the Battalion relieved 17th Battalion Middlesex Regiment and the 1st Battalion King's Regiment in the Arleux line and its loop extension. They worked nightly on a new front line being dug 200 yards in front of the existing front line. Once dug, its depth had to be increased to provide greater protection, and positions also had to be made for 3 Lewis guns. Working parties made good progress positioning and strengthening the barbed wire along the whole of the Battalion front, though on the night of 10 June a hostile German barrage of whizz bangs and shrapnel killed 2 and wounded 3 other men. {The term whizz-bang was used by the British Tommies for the light shell fired by the smaller calibre enemy field guns, the name deriving from the sound the shells made as they exploded}. On the night of 13/14 June, the men had to tunnel under the metal road that crossed the existing front line, an extremely arduous task. On 14 June, after coming under some half-hearted enemy shelling, the 2nd Battalion were relieved by the 1st Battalion Devonshire Regiment.

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On 19 June, after 4 days training and road mending, lorries and motor buses took them to Bethune, a journey of about 20 miles. The next day, they relieved the 2/8th Battalion Lancashire Fusiliers in the Givenchy-lès-la-Bassée sector. A Company and B Company were attached as Support Battalions, A Company to the 1st Battalion King's Regiment in Givenchy Keep and B Company to the 17th Battalion Middlesex Regiment in the old British line; C Company and D company and Battalion Headquarters were located in Village line.

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Training continued through to 26 June with the Battalion providing working and carrying parties day and night while the officers reconnoitred the Brigade forward areas. 20 coils of additional concertinaed barbed wire were made daily and delivered to the front line.

On the evening of 25 June, there was very heavy hostile minenwerfer bombardment of the right subsector and Givenchy Keep. {Minenwerfer were short range mortars used to clear obstacles, including bunkers and barbed wire, that longer range artillery could not target accurately}. The support and communication trenches were blocked and damaged and the defending battalion suffered about 40 casualties. A raiding party 80 strong, half storm troopers and the rest from the 1st Battalion Bavarian Regiment, broke through a gap in the craters but were driven off, with the 1st Battalion King's Regiment taking some prisoners. The 2nd Battalion South Staffordshire Regiment stood ready all night and in the morning relieved the 1st Battalion King's Regiment in the right subsector, with the 17th Battalion Royal Fusiliers on their right and the 13th Battalion Essex Regiment on their left. A quiet period followed, with very little artillery fire through to the end of the month, though the support lines were the target of some minenwerfer and there was some sniping and machine gun fire at night. During this time, a lot of work was undertaken by the 2nd Battalion, positioning replacement rolls of concertinaed barbed wire and repairing the damage caused by the 25 June raid. The Battalion's intelligence officer, 2nd Lieutenant Robert Rankin, led reconnaissance patrols every night until he was wounded in the arm on the evening of 30 June/1 July.

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On 2 July the 2nd Battalion were relieved by the 1st Battalion King's Regiment and moved to the reserve in Gorré where the men were able to bathe. They also received a change of clothing, but work went on and 40 rolls of concertinaed barbed wire were made that day, and each of the two days that followed, and these were sent up to the front line. On 4 July, the forward routes to the left subsector were reconnoitred by the officers and Major Alban returned from special leave in the UK and resumed command of the 2nd Battalion.

From 6th to 8th July, men from C Company were sent to Cailloux Keeps to defend and guard the northern flank of the divisional boundary, while A Company and B Company were despatched to Windy Corner. Physical and specialist training was undertaken, plus musketry and bayonet practice, but there was still time for boxing contests on 6 July. The 2nd Battalion relieved the 1st Battalion King's Regiment in the line during the evening of 8 July and five days of normal trench warfare followed.

From 14th to 19th July, the 2nd Battalion South Staffordshire Regiment were in Support at Windy Corner. Mining parties were supplied daily to the 251st Tunnelling Company of the Royal Engineers, and nightly carrying parties supplied ammunition for the Stokes and medium trench mortars. The Battalion also tended the war cemeteries nearby.

Another 5 day stint of trench warfare followed in the Givenchy right subsector. Late on 24 July they returned to the reserve area, however Captain Charles Robert Woolley was wounded at Windy Corner on his way back from the line. There was heavy rain during this period; that did not prevent aquatic sports taking place on the Canal D'Aire on 28 July, however it did make the task of repairing the trenches even harder when they returned to the line late the following day. Generally, though, it had been a quiet month, with just one fatality, plus 3 officers and 14 men from the ranks wounded; the Battalion's strength had been bolstered by the arrival of 7 officers; 20 men from the ranks had also joined but 28 others were evacuated sick. The nominal strength of the Battalion at the end of the month was 27 officers and 618 men from the ranks.

Despite the heavy rain, from 29 July through to 3 August it was business as usual and the day-to-day routine of trench warfare in the Givenchy right subsector where 4 men from the 2nd Battalion were wounded on 1 August in the heavy bombardment of Givenchy Keep. Then it was a case of turn and turnabout from 3rd to 9th August with the 2nd Battalion now in Support, based at Windy Corner, supplying mining parties to the 251st Tunnelling Company Royal Engineers but also, because of the rain, providing drainage parties for the 5th Field Company Royal Engineers. On 9 August it was back to the Givenchy right subsector. The following day the 251st Tunnelling Company exploded an underground mine; no damage was done to the British trenches and saps but that night, after a heavy artillery barrage, the enemy occupied both lips of the resulting Warlingham Crater. An attempt, by the 17th Battalion Royal Fusiliers, to drive the enemy out of the crater was beaten back in the very early hours of 11 August but a second attempt succeeded in taking the front lip late the same day. Heavy enemy bombardment of different sections of the front line punctuated the next few days until 15 August when the 2nd Battalion South Staffordshire Regiment were relieved and went into the 6th Infantry Brigade reserve. In addition to the customary activities undertaken in reserve, the officers and NCOs were given a demonstration of the new Canadian-designed "Yukon" packs - an early form of rigid-frame rucksack that allowed men to carry and move heavy loads. This period was also notable for a water polo match played on 18 August against the 5th Field Company Royal Engineers and for a special performance attended by the Battalion at the Divisional Theatre at 6.30 p.m. on 20 August. However, all too soon, it was back to the front line and, from 21 to 27 August, another stint of trench warfare in the Givenchy right subsector.

{The term "sap" refers to a temporary, unmanned, often dead-end utility trench dug out into no-man's land. They were used, for example, to connect the front line trench to a listening post close to the enemy wire or as a "jumping-off" line in a surprise attack.}

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It was very quiet when the 2nd Battalion were relieved and went into Support at Windy Corner on 27 August. From then until 3 September they supplied mining and drainage parties, as before, whilst continuing to tend the war cemeteries in that area, then there was a further stint of trench warfare in the Givenchy right subsector until 7 September, after which the Battalion moved to Brigade rest billets at Beuvry. 

During August 1917, the 2nd Battalion South Staffordshire Regiment had received 6 officers and 54 men from the ranks as reinforcements but 4 men from the ranks had been killed, another 20 had been wounded and 1 more was missing on patrol. In addition, 1 officer and 37 men from the ranks had been evacuated sick.

The 2nd Battalion stayed at Beuvry until 17 September and, as well as the expected parades, training, route marches and carrying parties, there were plenty of opportunities for the officers and men to unwind, starting with a Sunday afternoon concert on 9 September at the Municipal Theatre in Bethune; there was also an evening concert for the men on 14 September in the Recreation Room. The 2nd Battalion held a Marksman Competition while they were at Beuvry, while D Company took the team prize in the Battalion cross-country race which was won by 2nd Lieutenant Hubert Murray Hussey; the 2nd Battalion South Staffordshire Regiment took second place in the 6th Infantry Brigade cross-country race a few days later. 2nd Lieutenant Hussey was awarded the Military Cross on 18 February 1918 but was later killed in action on 6 August 1918.

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A football tournament was also played, with A Company beating D Company in the final; the 2nd Battalion then went on to defeat the 251st Tunnelling Company. In the 6th Infantry Brigade football competition, the 2nd Battalion's A Company beat the 13th Battalion Essex Regiment's D Company in the semi-final but lost out - unsurprisingly - to the 17th Battalion Middlesex Regiment in the final, the "Footballers" Regiment containing a large contingent of international and first division players.

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On 18 September, the 2nd Battalion returned as Reserve Battalion to Gorré Chateau where they relieved the 1st Battalion Berkshire Regiment. The men were given the opportunity to bathe and they also received a change of clothing; their training continued throughout this period and included practice on the range at Le Quesnoy. The men were also deliberately exposed to both chlorine and lachrymatory (tear) gas, though this unpleasant experience, part of their training, was supervised by the Division's gas officer. On 21 September, the 2nd Battalion officers were photographed during the afternoon by the 1st Army photographer and, later that day, a troupe from the 251st Tunnelling Company gave a concert in the Y.M.C.A. hut, the 2nd Battalion providing their own concert the following day. There was also time for another football match with the 2nd Battalion defeating the 41st Brigade Royal Field Artillery.

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In the early morning hours on 24 September, the area around Gorré Chateau was heavily shelled; the 2nd Battalion South Staffordshire Regiment stood by, ready and prepared, but in the event they were not required. However, later that evening they moved back into the front line in the Givenchy right subsector. The next morning there was hostile enemy shelling of the area for 2 hours, with the light railway, 2nd Battalion Headquarters, Wood Lane and Herts Redoubt bearing the brunt, especially the latter which took a direct hit. Allied artillery retaliated but, even so, the enemy bombardment resumed the next day, and the day after. After two quiet days, the enemy targeted gas bombs at the Division's front line during the very early hours of 30 September, over 100 in the 2nd Battalion's area alone, the men having to wear their gas masks as a precaution until 4 a.m. The wind, however, was blowing in a north-easterly direction and it took the gas back towards the German line, their gas gongs and warning bells being heard at about half past two in the afternoon. In the evening, the 2nd Battalion were relieved and went to Windy Corner as Support Battalion.

September 1917 was a relatively quiet month for the 2nd Battalion South Staffordshire Regiment. Even so, 3 men from the ranks were killed in action, with 3 more wounded, 2 others gassed and 20 more evacuated to hospital.

Their period in Support at Windy Corner passed much like the previous ones, though there was some further enemy gas shelling early on. The Royal Engineers responded with "D" Special Company firing gas drums at the enemy lines; the Livens projectors they used had a range of up to 1600 yards and there was little retaliation this time. The Royal Engineers Special Companies had been established in 1915 and charged specifically with the task of responding to the enemy's use of chemical weapons.

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On 5 October, the 1st Battalion Wiltshire Regiment replaced the 2nd Battalion South Staffordshire Regiment as the 7th Infantry Brigade relieved the 6th Infantry Brigade in the front line. The 2nd Battalion moved temporarily to billets at the School for Young Girls in Bethune but two days later they marched to their new base in inferior billets at Burbure, near Lillers, to the west of Bethune, where they stayed until the middle of the month; on 15 October they moved to good, dry billets at Bas Rieux and there they stayed until 5 November. This month long period away from the front line was occupied with route marches, inspections and drill, practice on the firing range, technical and chemical training, attack practices and a variety of Brigade competitions. The men from the 2nd Battalion also took the opportunity that was provided to bathe at the colliery in the mining village of Raimbert.

The 2nd Battalion South Staffordshire Regiment lost only 5 men wounded in October 1917 but 30 were evacuated to hospital. In addition, they were reinforced by a fresh draft of 4 officers and 165 men from the ranks, and by the return of 19 men from hospital. The 2nd Battalion strength, at that point in the war, comprised 35 officers and 674 men from the ranks. October had been a quiet month but their routine was about to change.

Over a period of 3 days, the 2nd Battalion marched from Burbure to the Houtkerque area, a distance of about 30 miles altogether. They stayed there in tents, about 15 miles west of Ypres, until 23 November, the men receiving tactical training in methods of attack used against strong points and pillboxes in the Ypres sector. They were schooled, also, in open warfare and bayonet fighting, and practiced their night assembly and advance. Just after midday on 23 November, they marched to the station at Proven. Three hours later, they boarded trains that took them about 80 miles south, to Miraumont, arriving there at half past five the following morning. From there buses transported them to Rocquigny where they were billeted in tents and Nissen huts. They were now part of General Julian Byng's 3rd Army, and were about 20 miles from Cambrai, where the British Army was engaged in a major offensive.

The Battle of Cambrai, which took place in November and December 1917, was significant as it was the first major battle in which the British Army used tanks on a large scale. This gave the Allies the advantage of mobility that both sides had lacked for much of the previous three years. Cambrai was an important enemy-held railhead east of the Hindenburg Line and the German defensive position there was a very strong one, with two lines of fortifications and another under construction. General Haig's plan was for the Hindenburg Line to be attacked along a wide front; simultaneously, the cavalry divisions were to sweep around the town and cut it off. 476 tanks (350 of them armed) led the six infantry divisions in the attack, in itself a controversial decision because tanks had yet to show their true potential on the battlefield. 

The attack started at 6.20 a.m. on 20 November and was protected by a rolling artillery barrage that shielded the advance against the expected German counter-attack. The intense Allied artillery attack on the Hindenburg Line took the Germans by surprise; it enabled the British tanks and their infantry support to advance rapidly across the ground, through and beyond the enemy trenches, penetrating the Hindenburg Line far more than ever before.

The impact and fear provoked by the rapid appearance of British tanks among the German ranks caused several of their units to retreat and the Allies took roughly eight thousand prisoners on the first day of the offensive. The initial attack went well and the 62nd Division fought hard through the ruins of Havrincourt and by nightfall were within sight of the German-held high point of Bourlon Wood which commanded that area. The 62nd Division had gained more than five miles, an astonishing distance compared to the limited gains and losses experienced during the months when the campaign on the Western Front had been largely bogged down.

Meanwhile, the 36th (Ulster) Division had moved up the dry excavations of the Canal du Nord and by nightfall had reached the Bapaume-Cambrai road. At the same time, the 6th Division broke through the Hindenburg Line and moved forward to capture Ribecourt and Marcoing; the 5th Cavalry Division advanced beyond them but were then repulsed at Noyelles. The 51st (Highland) Division also fought hard for Flesquières but they were unable to capture it, leaving a German-held salient that was able to fire on the Allied divisions that bordered them on either side.

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Not everything, however, went to plan. The 20th (Light) Division captured La Vacquerie after a hard fight and then advanced to a bridge crossing the St Quentin Canal at Masnieres. Securing the bridge was vital for the 2nd Cavalry Division's advance to the east of Cambrai but the back of the bridge was broken by the weight of the first tank that went across it; effectively, this put a halt to the 2nd Cavalry advance, although the infantry were still able to get across, albeit slowly, using a lock gate a couple of hundred yards further along the canal. 

The early progress was staggering and when the reports of the advance reached Britain on 23 November it led to the premature pealing of victory bells. The first day of the operation was largely successful, albeit at a cost of just over 4000 casualties, but - as the day wore on - things began to go wrong.

The 3rd Army was unable to break the German defences between Marcoing and Masnieres so could not push on to encircle Cambrai itself. The German line to the south of Masnieres was also not penetrated convincingly, and Bourlon Wood, which dominated the northern half of the battlefield, still lay in German hands. 179 Allied tanks had either broken down, been disabled or been destroyed so, as the afternoon of 20 November wore on, the attack began to lose its early impetus. 

Even so, General Byng was keen to press on. That evening, III Corps was instructed to maintain the push south of Masnieres and IV Corps was ordered to complete the capture of Flesquières and Bourlon. However, there were few fresh troops that could be put into the field so - having lost both the element of surprise and a substantial number of tanks - the renewed attack foundered. Late on 21 November, General Byng ordered III Corps to halt and consolidate the ground they had gained. 

When General Byng had presented his plan for the attack, Haig had recommended reinforcing the left side of the attack in order to take Bourlon Wood as quickly as possible, but Byng had ignored this advice. By nightfall on 20 November, it was clear that Haig had been right. From their dominant high position in the wood, the Germans stopped the British advance at Anneux and Graincourt, though the 51st (Highland) Division did force the Germans to abandon the strategic position of Flesquières Ridge during the night. 

On the morning of 21 November the 62nd Division began a costly battle for Anneux. They were relieved two days later by the 40th Division, a 'Bantam' division consisting of personnel who were fit for service but under the Army regulation height. The 40th Division comprised the 119th, 120th, and 121st Brigades and the plan was for the 121st Brigade to capture the village of Bourlon while the 119th Brigade would aim to take Bourlon Wood; on their right, the 51st (Highland) Division would move forward towards Fontaine and, on the left, the 36th (Ulster) Division would attack at Moeuvres.

Supported by 92 tanks, this four-pronged attack moved forward under shell fire on the morning of 23 November. The 121st Brigade was cut down by heavy machine gun fire, but a few men did reach the village of Bourlon. After 3 hours and bitter yard by yard close combat fighting, the Welsh units of the 119th Brigade broke through at Bourlon Wood and occupied the northern and eastern ridges. However little progress was made by the 36th and 51st Divisions on the flanks as the Germans reinforced their positions there.   

Over the next few days, the Allies committed more troops to the battle, including the Guards Division which advanced into Fontaine. However, when their troops had been driven from Bourlon Wood, the Germans targeted all their artillery at that area and the Allied battalions now occupying the wood were all but wiped out. Three companies of the 14th Highland Light Infantry did made it to the far side of Bourlon but they soon became isolated and their numbers were decimated. Then, as the weary troops settled into defending their newly-won positions, it began to snow.

By 30 November, the Germans had re-organised and were ready to launch a counter-attack to defend Cambrai. That counter-attack was so effective that, on 3 December, General Haig ordered the withdrawal of the British units that were still near Cambrai. Once again, the British Army’s failure to build decisively on its initial successes had proved very costly, the British losing over 44,000 men during the battle; the Germans lost a similar number, estimated to be about 45,000 men.

The 2nd Battalion South Staffordshire Regiment left Rocquigny at 9 a.m. on 25 November and began a 9-mile march to bivouacs at Doignies. Enemy shelling halted them on the last leg from Beaumetz-lès-Cambrai to Doignies, forcing the platoons to proceed individually at 50 yard intervals. When they arrived they set about constructing earth walls to provide additional protection around their shelters. Leaving behind a rear guard of 6 officers and 108 men, the 2nd Battalion marched the following evening to the barricade on the main Bapaume-Cambrai Road, and from there to the front line where they relieved the 9th Battalion Inniskilling Fusiliers; 2nd Battalion Headquarters was located in a support trench for the Hindenburg Front Line system, this having been taken by the 36th Division during the attack on Moeuvres on 20 November.

At 6.20 a.m. on 27 November, the 62nd Division attacked the village of Bourlon but were forced to withdraw when the Germans counter-attacked. The area occupied by the 2nd Battalion was heavily bombarded and there was further heavy shelling by both sides the next day. That night, of 28/29 November, a party of 450 men from the 2nd Battalion and the 13th Battalion Essex Regiment, carried out night wiring along the whole of the front line occupied by the 6th Infantry Brigade; fortunately, they were not subjected to shell fire but they did suffer some casualties from machine gun fire. On 29 November, the artillery bombardment by both sides went on - at intervals – throughout the day and, at times, it was very intense. That night, the 13th Battalion Essex Regiment relieved the 2nd Battalion who moved to the right support area of the Moeuvres sector.

The last day of November, which began with a heavy enemy barrage aimed at the Bourlon-Moeuvres-Inchy front, saw gas shelling of the 2nd Battalion area. The enemy captured Lock No. 5 from the eastern side and pushed on westward to the south of Mouevres, at the same time driving a second wedge further to the south. The 2nd Battalion South Staffordshire Regiment moved up in close support and B Company drove the enemy back from that northern position. Throughout the remainder of the day, the 2nd Battalion maintained its pressure on the enemy until they could make no further progress because of the bombing that continued all night. The fighting continued until the afternoon of 1 December and in it the 2nd Battalion lost 1 officer, 2nd Lieutenant John Albert McKee, and 18 men killed, plus 4 officers and 75 men wounded, with a further 2 men missing in action, A and C companies suffering the heaviest casualties.

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At 8 o’clock in the morning of 1 December, a German attack was repulsed on the east side of Canal Trench and, although they did make some inroads, by the early afternoon bombing up the trenches had gradually driven the enemy back to the positions they had occupied the day before. Little progress was made going forward until around midnight when a group - men from the 2nd Battalion Highland Light Infantry with others from C Company 2nd Battalion South Staffordshire Regiment - managed to break through but a shortage of bombs forced them to halt and reorganise.

The 2nd Battalion Highland Light Infantry relieved two companies of the 2nd Battalion South Staffordshire Regiment - A and C - in the early hours of 2 December; at the same time, B and D were relieved by the 22nd Battalion Royal Fusiliers. While the rest of their comrades went into Brigade Reserve, D Company went in support of the 2nd Battalion Highland Light Infantry and later repelled a hostile attack at around 5 p.m. The next morning they were joined by C Company, while A Company and B Company carried bombs and other munitions to the front line. Later in the day, C Company and D Company were relieved by the 4th Battalion Seaforth Highlanders and the whole of the 2nd Battalion South Staffordshire Regiment went into Divisional Reserve; from there they moved to a rest base at Velu Wood about 6 miles west of Havrincourt which they reached early in the evening on 4 December. So far, the operation had witnessed the death of 1 officer and 21 men from the ranks, whilst 6 officers and scores of men had been wounded or were missing in action. The Battalion remained at Velu Wood until 8 December and, although they were subject to the usual training, refitting and inspection, they were also allowed some sorely needed rest, though even this was interrupted in the evening on 6 December by an enemy bombing raid, which fortunately did no serious damage.

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On the night of 8 December, the relief of the 5th Infantry Brigade by the 6th Infantry Brigade saw the 2nd Battalion replacing the 24th Battalion Royal Fusiliers as right support battalion in the Moeuvres sector. Battalion Headquarters, based at Lock 7, was heavily shelled, periodically, throughout the next day. Generally though, the company lines were untroubled and A Company moved up in the afternoon in close support of the 17th Battalion Middlesex Regiment. That night the enemy were quiet apart from some machine gun fire. On 10 December, Allied artillery shelled the enemy lines heavily for an hour at midday, the Germans replying intermittently throughout the day. After further shelling of Lock 7, Battalion Headquarters moved after dark to a dugout previously occupied by A Company.

There were rumours that there was to be an enemy attack in the morning on 11 December, and the men of the 2nd Battalion stood by ready to meet and repel any such encroachment, but in the end heavy Allied artillery bombardment of the approaches and the enemy lines was enough to see the day turn to normal trench warfare with the 2nd Battalion relieving the 17th Battalion Middlesex Regiment in the right subsector. Intermittent enemy shelling continued the next day, the Allies responding in kind, and that evening barbed wire was deployed in front of the Battalion’s front line and advanced posts. The next day was generally quiet, with no material damage caused by the heavy enemy shelling in the early afternoon. Bad visibility grounded the enemy aircraft on 14 December which resulted in little shelling of any significance. The 2nd Battalion were relieved by the 2nd Battalion Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire Light Infantry and moved to the divisional reserve at O’Shea Camp, Lebucquière; they stayed there until 20 December when they, in turn, relieved the 1st Battalion King’s Royal Rifle Corps as Reserve Battalion in the Hermies area. Two days later they moved into close support of the 13th Battalion Essex Regiment who they relieved during the morning of 23 December in the Moeuvres left front sector.

24 December saw shelling by both sides but no substantial damage was done to the area occupied by the Battalion. That evening, 400 gas drums were projected at the enemy lines by the Royal Engineers and a number of these fell in Kellett Trench where men from the 2nd Battalion were positioned. An intense 8-minute British artillery bombardment produced little response, allowing further work to take place that night on the barbed wiring. Christmas Day 1917 was quiet, snow falling in the morning as normal trench warfare continued.

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On Boxing Day, the enemy shelled the British front line and support trenches for 7 hours, from half past eleven in the morning until half past six in the evening; the bombardment then slackened off allowing the 1st Battalion King’s Royal Rifle Corps to relieve the 2nd Battalion who went into Brigade Reserve shelters at Spoil Heap Camp, south of Hermies, until the evening of 29 December when, following a foot inspection the previous day, they relieved the 17th Battalion Middlesex Regiment in the 6th Infantry Brigade front line.

The artillery were very active on both sides on 30 December and there were a number of direct hits on the British front line. The Battalion’s rear was also the target for enemy gas shells, some falling close to Battalion Headquarters. That night, the enemy fired a few gas shells at the Battalion’s front line and support trenches at 2.30 a.m., but they had little effect. All in all, the final day of 1917 was a quiet one for the 2nd Battalion though there was heavy bombardment, at intervals, to the right of their area.

In December 1917 the 2nd Battalion South Staffordshire Regiment had lost 1 officer and 15 men of other ranks; 6 officers and 69 men had been wounded and 1 man was missing. 70 men from the ranks had been evacuated to hospital but 28 had returned and the Battalion had also bolstered its numbers with a further draft of 4 officers and 104 men from the ranks. Testament to the courage of the 2nd Battalion South Staffordshire Regiment came when 9 of its men were awarded the Military Medal and 2 received the Bar to the Military Medal.

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1918 began with the 2nd Battalion in the 6th Infantry Brigade front line; it was very cold, with light snow, and normal trench warfare continued together with heavy intermittent shelling to the right of their area. On 2nd January they were relieved by the 17th Battalion Middlesex Regiment and went into Nissen huts and shelters at Spoil Heap Camp, south of Hermies. The next morning was spent cleaning up and then they were taken by bus to A Camp in the 5th Army Corps reserve area at Rocquigny. This move was slightly delayed when an S.O.S. was sounded in the front line and the men of the 2nd Battalion were required to stand by, ready to go into action. In the end, they were not needed as the all-clear was given after 15 minutes, allowing the transfer to go ahead.  

Their first full day at A Camp was spent resting, cleaning and bathing, parading and being inspected. Their second day, 5 January 2018, was observed as Christmas Day; Christmas Dinner was served in two large huts and was greatly appreciated by the men. Next day, the Brigade Armourer inspected the Battalion’s rifles and Lewis guns, and the day after that training continued, some of it in huts because of the heavy rain. At half past six in the morning on 8 January, about 4 enemy aircraft attacked the camp, two bombs hitting the cook houses. 1 man was killed, 4 men were wounded and 3 horses were also slightly injured. That afternoon a point was selected for an anti-aircraft Lewis gun and this was manned during the night when there was heavy snow and a very severe frost. 

Next day, work began on building protective parapets around the huts; progress was slow because of the hardness of the ground and the task eventually took 5 days to complete. Church parade on 13 January was followed by a route march the next day. On 15 January, the men’s box respirators were tested in the Gas Hut under the supervision of the Brigade Gas Officer and, two days later, in the afternoon, there was a flammenwerfer demonstration. The usual range of training was provided through to 23 January, though much of this had to be held indoors, in the huts, because of the bad weather.

In the morning of 24 January, the 6th Infantry Brigade relieved the 188th Infantry Brigade in the Divisional Reserve, the 2nd Battalion South Staffordshire Regiment replacing the 8th (Anson) Battalion at Equancourt. A football match took place in the afternoon of 26 January despite enemy aircraft having dropped bombs in the vicinity of the Battalion the previous afternoon and evening. On 27 January, the men of the 2nd Battalion spent the daylight hours working on the defences at Metz-en-Couture while the company officers reconnoitred the forward areas. The following afternoon they moved by train to Trescault; from there, a route march brought them to the support line in the La Vacquerie Left Sector where they relieved the 24th Battalion Royal Fusiliers. The next three days were generally quiet, the 2nd Battalion supplying working parties of men and officers to the front line and support trenches. On the last afternoon of January 1918, relieving the 13th Battalion Essex Regiment, the 2nd Battalion took over the front line and posts as Right Front Battalion.

The 2nd Battalion’s casualties were much lighter in January 1918, just 4 men from the ranks killed and another 9 wounded. Although 32 men had returned from hospital, twice that number had been evacuated for treatment. Nevertheless, there had been a significant boost in numbers with the arrival of 14 officers and 327 men from the ranks.

February 1918 began with normal trench warfare, B Company and C Company occupying the front line and listening posts in the right sub-sector of the La Vacquerie sector, with A Company and D Company in support. After dusk, work continued on improving the front line trench and improving communication between the listening posts and the front line. At that time, the posts could only be reached at night and it took 4 trips to get hot food to the men who were deployed there. Over the next three days, the men worked hard on improving the barbed wiring in their section. The enemy artillery were very active on 3 February, a lot of casualties resulting from a direct hit on the left support company headquarters. That evening, the 2nd Battalion were relieved by the 13th Battalion Essex Regiment and moved to a camp in Havrincourt Wood.

Once again, their first day was devoted to resting, cleaning equipment and improving their billets, however their camp was shelled around 11 o’clock that night causing casualties amongst the men sleeping in tents. The shelling resumed around 5 o’clock the following morning but there were no further injuries. Later that morning a position was selected where shelters could be erected to protect the troops from any further bombardment. Enemy attacks were not slow in coming, a 5-hour barrage of high velocity shells occurring during the night of 5/6 February. Work continued on the protective shelters until the evening of 6 February when the 2nd Battalion once again swapped places with the 13th Battalion Essex Regiment.

This time it was A Company and D Company that occupied the front line and listening posts in the right sub-sector of the La Vacquerie sector, with B Company and C Company in support. On 7 February, the 2nd Battalion’s first full day in the line, the enemy launched a heavy artillery and trench mortar attack on the Allied front, registering a number of direct hits and causing considerable disruption. The British artillery replied for 4 to 5 hours and that evening the men in the line began the task of rebuilding the sections that had been badly damaged. As normal trench warfare continued, they carried on with that repair work over the next two days until they were relieved by the 1st Battalion King’s Regiment during the night of  9/10 February, when they went into the divisional reserve at Metz-en-Couture. They stayed there until the evening of 13 February when B, D and part of C Company relieved the 17th Battalion Royal Fusiliers as Brigade Support while A Company and the remainder of C Company relieved one company from the 1st Battalion King’s Regiment in close support in Victory Lane.

Picture 45

14 February saw a return to normal trench warfare with sporadic British artillery shelling of La Vacquerie. The enemy artillery responded the day after, shelling the back area in the morning and the front line and support trenches, at intervals, throughout the day. That evening, the 2nd Battalion South Staffordshire Regiment moved up into the front line and support, taking over from the 17th Battalion Royal Fusiliers. Good visibility on 16 and 17 February, led to increased aerial activity on both sides, enemy aircraft passing over the British front line at about 7 o’clock in the evening and returning two and a half hours later after they’d bombed the back area. On 18 February there was intermittent enemy shelling of the 2nd Battalion’s positions until they returned to the divisional reserve at Metz-en-Couture having been relieved at the front by the 1st Battalion King’s Regiment. 

They stayed at Metz-en-Couture until the night of 21/22 February when the 6th Infantry Brigade took over from the 5th Infantry Brigade. This saw the 2nd Battalion relieving the 17th Battalion Royal Fusiliers as Support Battalion. They strengthened the barbed wiring and repaired the trenches and dugouts in the support line over the next 3 days, until the evening of 26 February when they moved back up to the front line and listening posts, again replacing the 17th Battalion Royal Fusiliers. Normal trench warfare resumed, but at 6.50 p.m. a number of shells targeted the vicinity of Surrey Road trench; there were no casualties but 2nd Battalion Headquarters was filled with fumes so gas masks had to be worn for 45 minutes. The enemy also bombarded the Battalion’s front line and support trenches, together with the area to their right. That heavy bombardment resumed for a quarter of an hour early the next morning, 28 February, but thereafter the enemy were quiet apart from the usual occurrences of day to day trench warfare. This continued up until their relief, by the 1st Battalion King’s Regiment, when the 2nd Battalion returned once more to the divisional reserve at Metz-en-Couture.

At the end of February 1918, the 2nd Battalion South Staffordshire Regiment had a maximum trench strength of 32 officers and 667 men of other ranks; adding on those in a non-combatant role, for example medical personnel, the Battalion’s maximum ration strength was 36 officers and 796 men from other ranks. During February the battalion had seen the deaths of 13 men from the ranks. One officer and 31 other ranks had been wounded; 89 men had been evacuated to hospital but 32 had returned. Three men were awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal instead of the Military Medal they had been cited for in December 1917; in addition, Sergeant Albert Gibbs was awarded the Croix de Guerre to go alongside the Military Medal he had received the previous December.

The customary cycle of trench warfare resumed during the evening of 6 March when the 2nd Battalion left the divisional reserve to take over as Support Battalion, moving up on 11 March to the front line and listening posts, which they occupied until the night of 14/15 March; it was then back to Metz-en-Couture until the night of 18/19 March when they again took over as Support Battalion. However, when they were relieved during the night of 20/21 March by companies from the 17th and 18th Battalions of the London Regiment, their route march back to Metz-en-Couture was followed by a light railway journey to Rocquigny. At 5 a.m. on 21 March the 2nd Battalion was ordered to stand to, ready to move at 5 minutes’ notice, though it was not until the following day that they did move, in the early hours, to a reserve location north west of Haplincourt, then at half past four in the afternoon to a position in the Green Line between Fremicourt and Lebucquière, where the enemy were thought to be holding a line running in a south-easterly direction.

Picture 46

There was intermittent German shelling throughout the 2nd Battalion’s first day in their new position. During the morning, men from the 25th and 51st Divisions fell back on the 2nd Battalion’s position, reporting that the enemy had broken through, and towards evening it was reported that the enemy had moved into Lebucquière. To compound matters, Allied artillery was firing short and several shells landed in the 2nd Battalion’s lines. At 7 p.m. the enemy were reported to be grouping behind Velu Wood, south of Havrincourt, about 5 miles away.

At ten to nine on 24 March the Germans began a barrage of the British front line, at which time the enemy were observed massing behind the ridge just north of Lebucquière. Three-quarters of an hour later the enemy lifted their barrage which freed them to attack the front held by the Cheshire Regiment to the left of the 2nd Battalion. By 10.30 a.m. the Cheshires had been driven back about 200 yards but they rallied and, supported by a platoon from the 2nd Battalion’s C Company, counter-attacked and drove the enemy back to the ridge. Sadly, the C Company commander 2nd Lieutenant John Atkinson was killed in this action.

At about 2 p.m. the Germans launched an assault along the whole front and soon allied troops to the right of the 2nd Battalion’s position were observed retreating towards Haplincourt in large numbers. The 17th Battalion Royal Fusiliers rallied and attempted a counter-attack but by then the Cheshires had fallen back, exposing the 2nd Battalion’s left flank, so orders were given for the four companies to fall back. C Company were cut off along the Lebucquière-Fremicourt Road, none making it back to the position then being held by 2nd Battalion Headquarters; A Company made a brave attempt to hold the enemy back but held on for too long and the majority of their men were either killed in action or taken prisoner; only B and D Company managed an orderly retreat to Battalion Headquarters. B Company were then ordered to fall back, to take up a position on Sunken Road and there to provide cover for the remainder of the Battalion as they moved back in four well-separated lines. By the time the last group withdrew, the enemy had advanced to within 200 yards and their machine gun and sniper fire made the crossing of this 700 yards of open ground particularly hazardous. The 2nd Battalion commander, Lieutenant Colonel C. E. R. G. Alban, had remained behind with that last section but he was hit during their withdrawal; the Medical Officer, Captain Roger Llewellyn Williams supported him for about 50 yards but Alban was wounded again, this time very seriously, and he had to be carried the remainder of the way by Captain Williams, a stretcher bearer and 2nd Lieutenant B. T. Bona, who all showed conspicuous bravery despite the withering fire that was being directed at them.

Picture 47

After a short period supporting men from the 51st Division south east of the village of Beaulencourt, the remnants of the 2nd Battalion received orders to evacuate. They retreated through Gueudecourt, narrowly avoiding another encounter with the enemy, and then marched across country to Eaucourt l’Abbaye - which the British had captured back in October 1916 - and took up a position along Sunken Road south east of Le Barque which they managed to hold from about 10 p.m. until 5 a.m. the following morning, 25 March. At 5.15 a.m. they fell back to a point between Pys and Courcelette, which they held for most of the day until they were again driven back, this time behind Miraumont. The 2nd Battalion’s strength was now down to about 80 men led by 4 officers, including the Medical Officer Captain Williams. As evening came they were on the march again, towards Beaucourt-sur-l’Ancre, finally taking up a position in support of the 17th Battalion Royal Fusiliers on the high ground behind Hamel as the enemy were reported to be advancing on Beaucourt-sur-l’Ancre. On 26 March, the Battalion was strengthened by the addition of three Lewis guns and teams from the Tank Corps, and that night they marched to Mailly-Maillet after being relieved by troops from the New Zealand Regiment. They were now some 16 miles west of the position on the Green Line that they had occupied just 4 days earlier.

On 27 March, the remnants of the 2nd Battalion moved to Beaussart and then at 5 p.m. they went into Support at the village of Englebelmer, replacing a battalion from the 63rd Division. Two nights later they moved forward to relieve a front line battalion from the 99th Brigade in Aveluy Wood where they were again subjected to the usual level of shelling. During the night of 30/31 March they were relieved and moved to Hédauville, where they spent the last day of the month bathing and cleaning up.

For the 2nd Battalion, the statistics for March 1918 make sombre reading. 2 officers and 10 men from the ranks had been killed, 7 officers and 125 men had been wounded, whilst a further 10 officers and 341 men were missing.

For the first three days of April, the 2nd Battalion occupied the Support bivouacs in Englebelmer, the village being shelled frequently throughout their stay. They were relieved during the afternoon of 3 April by Hood Battalion from the 63rd (Royal Naval) Division and marched to Halloy; they arrived there after dark and occupied billets that were mainly in barns. They found a new draft of men from the ranks waiting there to join the Battalion. The next day was spent organising the new recruits and dividing them between the four companies whilst those who had come through the previous month’s ordeal took some much needed rest. That did not last long because next morning they were on the march again, this time to Nuncq-Hautecôte where they spent their first full day cleaning up, followed by kit and equipment inspections. Church parade on 7 April was followed by testing and assessment of the specialists that had joined with the latest draft and then there were two more days of general training before they were on the move again, marching for three days until they reached Barly.

Early in the morning on 12 April, the company commanders were taken by lorry to Blairville to reconnoitre a section of the front line. The next day each company sent a sergeant forward to reconnoitre the section of the front that their company was to occupy and to take over the trench stores. In the early evening of 14 April, the 2nd Battalion paraded and then they were transported by bus to Blairville where they took over the right sub-sector of the left section of the front line from the 2nd Battalion Scots Guards. The four companies occupied a section of the line to the south west and west of Boyelles, with Battalion Headquarters located north-west of their position, in Boisleux au Mont. As no cooking could be done in the line, hot tea had to be sent there in containers at night time.

Picture 48

Normal trench warfare was once again the order of the day on 15 April but at 9 o’clock the following morning the Germans attacked the 1st Battalion King’s Regiment in the left sub-sector and managed to gain a foothold in the front line trench, forcing the King’s back on to the left of the 2nd Battalion front line. C Company set up a defensive flank in the railway embankment while two reserve platoons from D Company were made available to support the King’s Regiment; in the event only one of these was used, assisting in a bombing attack from the north. Together with men that had become isolated from the King’s Regiment, the 2nd Battalion’s front right company, B Company, launched a bombing attack northwards up the front line trench. They forced the Germans back and by twenty past six that evening the enemy had been cleared from the front line trench. Normal trench warfare then resumed and continued until 18 April when the 2nd Battalion were relieved and went into the 6th Infantry Brigade Reserve at Blairville where they rested and obtained clean clothing before, in turn, relieving the 17th Battalion Royal Fusiliers in the left sub-sector to the east of Boisleux au Mont. Their positions there afforded them little if any protection from enemy fire. Once again, normal trench warfare was the daily diet through to 24 April; in addition, parts of the Boyelles area were exposed to gas clouds from Allied artillery during the very early hours of 23 April.

On 24 April, the 2nd Battalion took over briefly from the 26th Canadian Battalion of the 5th Canadian Infantry Brigade before being relieved themselves by the 1st Battalion King’s Regiment and moving again to the 6th Infantry Brigade Reserve at Blairville. After a 2-day rest they moved back into the front line, in the right sub-sector near Boisleux au Mont.

At 6 a.m. on 28 April, British 8-inch howitzers targeted the German-held Sugar Factory on the western edge of Boyelles. This building, which overlooked the whole of the Allied front line, was hit but it was not destroyed and normal trench warfare resumed through to 2 May, the month of April ending with heavy rain, poor visibility and very wet trenches.

April had been a better month for the 2nd Battalion in terms of casualties, with just 2 officers wounded, 4 men from the ranks killed and another 52 wounded; thankfully, none were missing.

A brief return to Blairville provided some respite for A Company and C Company until 5 May, resting during the day but at night providing 300-strong working parties who marched to the front line and dug communication trenches either side of the railway embankment west and north-west of Boyelles. Blairville was shelled daily during this period. D Company remained meanwhile at their position in the Purple Line whilst B Company - operating under the direct orders of the 6th Infantry Brigade - continued to occupy the defensive position west of Boisleux au Mont.

During the night of 5/6 May, the 2nd Battalion moved back into the line in the left sub-sector, relieving the 17th Battalion Royal Fusiliers. This rotation of normal trench warfare began with heavy rain but the weather improved as the days passed, as did the conditions the soldiers had to endure in the trenches. The German trench mortars became very active during this tour and the Royal Field Artillery retaliated for a while but they soon had to stop because the contour of the ground and the close proximity of the German mortars created a hazard for allied troops with British shells falling short. During the afternoon of 11 May, the Germans heavily bombarded the station at Boisleux au Mont, landing about 400 shells on that locality. It wasn’t until 12 May that the 2nd Battalion were relieved, this time by the 2nd Battalion Manchester Regiment; they marched to Blairville and were then taken by bus to the 6th Army Corps Reserve at Barly where they stayed until the end of the month. There, the men had training in the morning and enjoyed outdoor activities and games in the afternoon; the weather improved markedly with generally fine and sunny days. However, throughout this period they were under orders to be ready to move at short notice.

During May 1918, the 2nd Battalion South Staffordshire Regiment had seen the deaths of 10 men from the ranks; in addition, 1 officer and 37 other ranks had been wounded. However, they had built up their numbers once more, to a maximum trench strength of 29 officers and 700 men of other ranks; adding on those in a non-combatant role, the Battalion’s maximum ration strength was now 32 officers and 787 from other ranks.

The fine weather continued into June as the 2nd Battalion enjoyed 5 more days at Barly. After inspection on 6 June, they marched to Gouy en Artois where they were taken by train to Monchy-au-Bois in the central sector; they arrived there at 7 p.m. and tea was provided by the Guards Brigade. Billeting for the 2nd Battalion was very limited and included a large number of tin shelters; twenty officers went to forward positions while the remainder were left with Rear Transport at Pommiers. On 7 June, there was specialist training, in particular for scouts and signallers, and this continued into the following day. Sunday 9 June began fine with a few light showers; the men bathed in the morning then attended church parade before relieving the 17th Battalion Royal Fusiliers in the left sector of the front line in front of Ayette. Normal trench warfare resumed once more and continued through to 15 June. In the very early hours of 10 June a German soldier was captured by Lance Corporal Booth of B Company; four days later the Germans launched an unsuccessful raid in which one of their officers was killed, his body left on top of the 2nd Battalion’s trench parapet. On 15 June, the 2nd Battalion’s lines and the village of Ayette were heavily strafed in retaliation for a trench mortar attack on a suspected German outpost the night before. The 2nd Battalion were relieved later that day by the 1st Battalion King’s Regiment, but while the three other companies returned to the reserve trenches at Monchy-au-Bois, B Company moved to the Purple Line.

On 16 June, the men of A, C and D Company bathed, cleaned up, rested and attended church parades. The next day was also spent taking it easy, apart from Company inspections and a little drill, but the following day they moved into Support with A Company and D Company in the Purple Line. It rained that night so 19 June was spent cleaning up the trenches, making new shelters and improving the cover that was there already. The next day saw the normal pattern of trench warfare with some shelling of the troops in the Purple Line. On 21 June, enemy shelling was targeted at the Support Trench, with the officers’ shelter taking a direct hit. The Support Trench was again the German target the following day as the 2nd Battalion moved to the forward area around Ayette - taking over from the 1st Battalion King’s Regiment - with the 5th Brigade on their left flank and the 99th Brigade on their right.

Picture 49

Two days of fine weather and normal trench warfare were followed, on 25 June, by a very cold day and an unsuccessful raid on the right flank by the 23rd Royal Fusiliers. The 2nd Battalion’s War Diary also reports that 3 officers went down that day with trench fever. After two more days, the 2nd Battalion were relieved by the 17th Battalion Royal Fusiliers and returned to Reserve at Monchy-au-Bois. After three days respite, the last day of June saw them leaving the reserve trenches once again. That month, 9 men from the ranks had been killed and another 25 wounded.

The early days of July continued the same recurring cycle for the 2nd Battalion - Support in the Purple Line system at Monchy-au-Bois (1 - 4 July), the forward area at Ayette (5 - 8 July), back to Reserve at Monchy-au-Bois (9 - 12 July) and then Support once more at Monchy-au-Bois (13 - 16 July). Although their first tour of the Ayette forward area was a quiet one, their second (17 - 20 July) was marked on 18 July by heavy shelling with Yellow Cross mustard gas; this took place between 5 o’clock and 9 o’clock in the morning, with A Company and the Aid Post suffering several casualties, three officers, including the Medical Officer Captain Williams, plus 11 men from the ranks, 4 of whom died the following day.

{Mustard gas was first used by the Germans in July 1917 prior to the Third Battle of Ypres and was, arguably, the most effective gas used in the First World War. The Germans marked their shells, yellow for mustard gas, green for chlorine and phosgene, so they called the new gas Yellow Cross. It was known to the British as HS (Hun Stuff). Although mustard gas can kill in high doses, its general effect is to disable those who are exposed to it. Being heavier than air, it pollutes the battlefield where it sinks into the soil as an oily liquid. It can remain active there for several days, weeks or even months, depending on the weather conditions. Its effects were extremely painful; mustard gas blistered the skin of its victims and made their eyes very sore. It induced vomiting, caused internal and external bleeding, and it attacked the bronchial tubes, stripping off the mucous membrane. In fatal cases, the victims sometimes suffered for as long as four or five weeks after their exposure to the mustard gas before death claimed them.}

On 21 July, the 2nd Battalion returned to Reserve at Monchy-au-Bois where they remained until 25 July, when they relieved the 1st Battalion King’s Regiment in Support, remaining there until 30 July. On 28 July, B Company from the 319th Regiment of the American Expeditionary Force was attached to the 2nd Battalion until the start of August so they could receive instruction and gain battlefield experience. One platoon (of 1 officer and 40 men) was attached to each of the four South Staffordshire companies; the American company headquarters comprised an additional 2 officers and 18 more men from the ranks. To make room for them in the trenches, 4 platoons were sent back to the transport lines for training, one from each of the 2nd Battalion’s four companies. On 30 July, the Americans went forward with the 2nd Battalion as they relieved the 1st Battalion King’s Regiment in the front line area around Ayette, and served with them until 2nd August when they were relieved by the 319th Regiment’s F Company.

After another stint of normal trench warfare, the 2nd Battalion moved to Reserve on the night of 4/5 August, spending five days there before moving for another six days in the Purple Line Support system at Monchy-au-Bois, where they spent the time improving the trenches and shelters and reinforcing the barbed wire. On the night of 17/18 August the 2nd Battalion South Staffordshire Regiment replaced the 1st Battalion King’s Royal Rifle Corps and the 1st Battalion Royal Berkshire Regiment in the front line at Ablainzevelle south of Ayette. After a day of normal trench warfare, 19 August was somewhat livelier; the officer in command of the wiring party was wounded but Lieutenant Francis Hugh Slingsby led a patrol that captured 4 enemy soldiers. The British artillery was very active the day after, but the Battalion lost another officer wounded in action. 

On 16 August, the 6th Army Corps Headquarters issued orders for the 2nd Division to capture the Ablainzevelle-Moyenneville Ridge. At that time, the three 2nd Division infantry brigades were all in forward positions, with the 5th Infantry Brigade on the left, the 99th Infantry Brigade on the right and the 6th Infantry Brigade - including the 2nd Battalion South Staffordshire Regiment - in the centre. They formed a line that stretched south-west for a distance of about 3 miles, starting opposite Moyenneville and ending north of Ablainzevelle. Following 5 days preparation, the 99th Brigade attacked Moyblain Trench, the main German line of resistance, at 4.55 a.m. on 21 August. The trench was about 1,000 yards from the 2nd Infantry Division's front line and was strongly defended; the enemy also had additional outposts that were dug in further forward, about 300 yards from the British lines. Nevertheless, the 99th Brigade captured their target by 6.15 a.m. and set about making it secure. The following day troops from the 3rd Division attacked and captured Courcelles.

At 8 a.m. on 23 August, the 2nd Battalion South Staffordshire Regiment advanced; they had the 1st Battalion Royal Berkshire Regiment in support and to their left was the 1st Battalion King’s Regiment supported by the 17th Battalion Royal Fusiliers. They moved forward under heavy but generally ineffective enemy shell fire. By 11 a.m. the 2nd Battalion had formed up in the Railway Embankment north east of Courcelles; this was to be their “jumping off” point for the attack on Ervillers. Three light tanks had been attached to the 2nd Battalion with orders to circle round the south of Ervillers; three more had been attached to the 1st Battalion King’s Regiment to complete the encirclement from the north. When the attack began at 11 a.m., the Germans began a heavy artillery barrage of the area around the railway line but it did not hold back the advance of the 6th Infantry Brigade; they quickly captured Ervillers and, with the aid of the tanks, removed numerous German machine guns and trench-mortars along the Courcelles-Ervillers Road. The 2nd Battalion and the 1st Battalion King’s Regiment set about consolidating their gains in the village but machine gun nests on the slopes of Mory Copse and Hally Copse prevented them from pushing further east, as had been intended. In this advance, the 6th Infantry Brigade captured a large number of prisoners and machine guns, plus some trench-mortars and field guns. However, 25 of their officers and 575 men from the ranks were killed, wounded or missing in action. From the 2nd Battalion, 2nd Lieutenant E. R. Shakespear, 2nd Lieutenant Edward Douglas Rawson and Captain Horace Walter Smeathman Hatton all died in action on that day, along with an unspecified number of men from the ranks.   

Pictures 50 to 54

Given the success of the Allies’ advance, it was no surprise that the enemy artillery were very active the day after the attack. Fortunately some respite awaited the men of the 2nd Battalion as they were relieved by the King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry during the night of 24/25 August and proceeded to bivouacs at the Aerodrome to the east of Ayette, where they remained until the end of the month. A day of rest, on 25 August, was followed by cleaning up and bathing, reorganising, parades and inspection. On 28 August, the 2nd Division operated a “salvage day” and the 2nd Battalion appointed its own Salvage Officer. Two days later the General Officer Commanding the 2nd Infantry Division, Major-General Sir Cecil Pereira, congratulated the Battalion on the amount they had managed to salvage, its value being nearly £3200 (the equivalent today of just under £200,000).

During August 1918, the 2nd Battalion South Staffordshire Regiment had seen the deaths of 3 officers and 15 men from the ranks. 4 officers and 156 other ranks had been wounded and 11 more were missing in action. However, a further draft at the end of the month brought another 170 men to build their numbers back up again, to a maximum trench strength of 26 officers and 744 of other ranks; adding on those in a non-combatant role, the Battalion had a maximum ration strength at the start of September 1918 of 28 officers and 825 men from other ranks as they moved to Moyblain Trench in the 6th Army Corps Reserve.

The British offensive known as the Second Battle of Bapaume (21 August - 3 September) was, arguably, the turning point on the Western Front. In the last week of August, the German army was forced into a series of retreats as the British Third and Fourth Armies pressed eastwards. The British attack began on a narrow front on 21 August, with an attack by the Third Army, to which the Germans responded with a counter-attack on 22 August, but this was quickly repulsed. On 23 August, General Haig ordered an advance by the Third Army and part of the Fourth Army on a 33 mile front, and on 26 August the right wing of the First Army joined in. Their attack, which is sometimes referred to as the Second Battle of Arras, extended the front to 40 miles. At that point in the war, the German line ran south along the Somme from the ancient fortress-town of Péronne before crossing open country to Noyon on the Oise. The German General, Erich Friedrich Wilhelm Ludendorff, had ordered retreats from the Lys salient and what was left of the Amiens salient. He intended to form a new defensive line on the Somme but his plan was thwarted by the Australians, New Zealanders and Canadians. On 29 August the New Zealanders broke through the Le Transloy-Loupart trench system and captured Bapaume. Further south, on the night of 30/31 August, the 6th Australian Brigade captured the commanding tactical position of Mont St. Quentin on the east bank of the Somme. Then, on 1 September, the 14th Australian Brigade captured Péronne itself. Meanwhile, to the north, on 2 September, the Canadians broke through the Drocourt-Quéant switch south east of Arras; up until that point, that had been a strongly defended section of the German line. With two substantial gaps in his proposed new front line, the loss of these defensive positions of strategic strength forced General Ludendorff to retreat back towards the Hindenburg line, abandoning all of the territory that the Germans had won in the earlier months of 1918.

From Moyblain Trench, the 2nd Battalion moved forward twice on 2 September in order to get into position, in the early hours of 3 September, to relieve the 2/4th Battalion of the King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry in the assembly area for the upcoming attack to capture the high ground to the west and south west of Morchies. A and C Company were in the front line, with D Company in support and B Company in reserve, and zero hour was set for 5.20 a.m. The men moved forward under a heavy British artillery barrage, encountering little by way of enemy opposition, and captured their objective at 5.35 a.m. They then sent out patrols and set about consolidating their new position. This first phase saw the death from shell fire of Major Bertram Chambré Parr who was on attachment to the 2nd Battalion from the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry. The 2nd Battalion then received orders to continue the attack and they eventually established a new front line to the east of Hermies and Demicourt. As well as Major Parr, the Battalion lost 4 men from the ranks killed in that action, plus 2 officers and 44 men wounded or missing. Their front line was lightly shelled but relatively quiet on 4 September; that night they were relieved by the 1st Battalion Royal Berkshire Regiment and moved to the Divisional Reserve in the Old German Hospital east of Morchies where they spent the next 5 days. Aside from resting and cleaning up, practising their gas drill and being inspected, the Battalion also witnessed an upsurge in activity from enemy aircraft, one of which was brought down on 7 September. The next day, 10 men from the ranks were wounded while they were working in a party digging trenches and reinforcing the barbed wire between Boursies and Doignies.

On 10 September the 2nd Battalion moved to Beaumetz-lès-Cambrai, as Support to the 5th Infantry Brigade, and that evening they relieved the 1st Battalion Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry in the front line. Over the next 5 days and nights, enemy shelling was generally light and the front line companies sent out night patrols to gather information and establish forward listening posts. On 15 September, the 2nd Battalion were relieved. They returned briefly to the Old German Hospital before moving the next day to Ervillers where they remained until 26 September, a period that included one of their 2nd Lieutenants getting himself injured while playing in a football match.

On 26 September, the 2nd Battalion moved to the trenches in the Doignies area in preparation for the next attack. The following day, they moved via Lock 7 on the Canal du Nord to positions south east of Flesquières where they formed up. At half past three in the afternoon they joined forces with the 1st Battalion King’s Regiment and attacked Orival Wood, capturing it about two hours later. The 2nd Battalion then encountered strong opposition from enemy machine guns as they endeavoured to press home their advantage with an assault on the Graincourt Line. Although they were unable to achieve their objective, they did manage to establish a line further forward, the 2nd Battalion’s patrols establishing contact with the 62nd Division on their right and the 1st Battalion King’s Regiment on their left. This action saw the capture of Lieutenant Francis Hugh Slingsby but, despite being wounded, he managed to escape later in the day. 4 other officers were wounded that day and an estimated 100 men from the ranks were killed, wounded or missing. Two machine guns were seized and several prisoners were taken. These included a German Regimental Commander who was most indignant at being captured by a private from the South Staffordshire Regiment and demanded to be escorted by an officer instead.    

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The attack continued at 5.15 a.m. the following morning, 28 September, B Company and D Company forming the first wave for the assault on Lathe Trench, Cantaing Trench, Cantaing Support and the crossing over the Canal de St. Quentin; they had C Company in support and A Company in reserve. The attack was successful and the 2nd Battalion fought their way through to the railway embankment to the west of the Canal de St. Quentin. In the process they seized a large number of weapons and took roughly 300 enemy prisoners, most of them serving with the German Marine Division. However, heavy enemy machine gun fire prevented a crossing of the Canal de St. Quentin so a forward line was established along the railway embankment. The 17th Battalion Royal Fusiliers then took over the front line with the 2nd Battalion in support to the north east of Noyelles-sur-Escaut. Lieutenant Charles Robert Woolley was wounded during the operation on 28 September, an action in which the Battalion also had 170 men from the ranks either killed, wounded or missing in action. The advance continued the next day, A Company and B Company occupying Marcoing Support Trench to the east of the Canal de St. Quentin while C Company and D Company maintained their occupation of the railway embankment west of the canal. Sustained enemy shelling of the Battalion’s positions, which continued into the final day of September 1918, caused a further 30 casualties. Overall, the advance made during the period 26 - 30 September 1918 had seen 6 officers wounded, 31 other ranks killed, 146 wounded and 94 missing in action.

The 2nd Battalion South Staffordshire Regiment continued to occupy Marcoing Support Trench and the railway embankment for the first three days of October. The weather was fine, which afforded them the opportunity to reorganise, improve and clean up their positions south of Cambrai. The front line consisted then of a series of listening posts, running roughly north-west to south-east, to a position where the Battalion set up a combined post with the 1st Battalion King’s Regiment.

On the night of 3/4 October, the 2nd Battalion relieved the 1st Battalion Highland Light Infantry. On 4 October the weather remained fine and the enemy shelling was light, enabling A Company and B Company to establish posts forward of the existing front line. Company officers patrolled that night. The following day, Saturday 5 October 1918, the companies in the front line endeavoured to improve their positions despite an increase in the level of enemy shelling. Once again patrols were sent out at night to reconnoitre and monitor the enemy’s positions. Private Walter Mobbs was killed some time during 5th October. There is no indication in the 2nd Battalion’s War Diary of how he met his death so it must be presumed that he was either the victim of the enemy shelling or that he was killed whilst out on night patrol. The average life expectancy for a man in the trenches was just 6 weeks so Walter had survived far longer than most, over 80 weeks if he arrived on the Western Front - as seems likely - in March 1917. With just a little more good fortune he might easily have seen the war through to the end and come back home again to live and work in Wall and the surrounding area of Staffordshire. Sadly, it was not to be. Although he would not have known it, Walter died tantalisingly close to the end of the war, just 37 days before the signing of the Armistice on 11 November. However, he was not the last man from the 2nd Battalion South Staffordshire Regiment to die in France, indeed 3 more died in November 1918, the final month of the war. To put things into perspective, some 11,000 men became casualties on the last day of the war alone. Arguably, Walter’s death was more poignant because it occurred during a period when the Battalion’s casualty rate was far lower than it had been during the major offensives he had fought in on the Western Front. As well as Walter Mobbs, the 2nd Battalion South Staffordshire Regiment lost 7 more men killed in action during October 1918. They also lost 2 men who died from their wounds, one officer and one from the ranks; 2 officers were wounded, as were 47 men from the ranks, and 1 man was missing in action. 

For the soldiers in the 2nd Battalion South Staffordshire Regiment, life remained much the same after Walter’s death as the war dragged on. The day after Walter died was fairly quiet with light shelling only; it was a Sunday. There was further light shelling on 7 October, the enemy retaliating with a few gas shells that resulted in one officer being evacuated in a field ambulance. The weather was frosty but fine at 3 a.m. on 8 October when the forward positions were withdrawn in preparation for the Allied creeping artillery barrage that would signal the joint attack by the 99th Brigade and the 63rd Division, part of the Second Battle of Cambrai. The 2nd Battalion remained just behind the front line until the next day when they were withdrawn and returned to the Lock 7 area on the Canal du Nord west of Flesquières. Large plumes of smoke were seen in Cambrai during the first 9 days of October as the retreating German Army set fire to the town but the Allies’ rapid occupation allowed much of the city to be saved from the flames.

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After 3 days of bathing, cleaning up and refitting, kit inspections and salvage, the 2nd Battalion moved again, this time to Niergnies where they were billeted in houses that had only recently been occupied by German soldiers, and which they had left in a filthy condition. They found 3 British tanks in the village that the Germans had captured and converted for their own use and which had subsequently been taken out of action by British gunners firing German anti-tank guns. Relaxation and recuperation, training and salvage, parades and inspection filled the men’s days until 22 October when they moved to Saint-Hilaire-lez-Cambrai. The next day they moved again to Saint-Python and the day after that they arrived at their next base, Escarmain, about 16 miles west of Cambrai.

The three days the 2nd Battalion spent at Escarmain were largely uneventful apart from a few high-velocity shells landing in the village. Then, on 27 October, they moved again, three miles south to Romeries. Two days later, in the early hours, the company officers reconnoitred the Support position at Ruesnes; that afternoon the 2nd Battalion relieved the 1st Battalion Royal Scots Fusiliers there. Shelling of their area increased as October 1918 drew to a close, the Germans targeting the village with 77 mm field guns and 4.2 inch poison gas mortars, and this continued into early November. The weather during October had been generally good, with very few wet days, and the War Diary notes that the Medical Officer had managed to treat a large number of civilians as the Battalion had advanced. Furthermore, many of the villages they had passed through remained mostly intact.

On the night of 2/3 November, the 2nd Battalion was relieved by the King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry and went to the village of Solesmes before moving on to Escarmain on 4 November. To all intents and purposes, their war was over and two further moves took the men to Amfroipret, north of Mormal Forest, in the early morning of 10 November. The following day, at 8.33 a.m., the 2nd Battalion received a message from 6th Infantry Brigade Headquarters informing them that an Armistice would come into force at 11 o’clock that morning bringing a formal end to the war. Their War Diary records that the Battalion responded to the joyous news with their drums and fifes turning out and playing the French national anthem “La Marseillaise”.

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The next day, Amfroipret’s inhabitants put on a great display of flags to celebrate the end of the conflict; meanwhile, the 2nd Battalion continued the task of repairing the village’s roads.

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A week after the Armistice, at 5 minutes to 9 on the morning of 18 November, the men of the 2nd Battalion South Staffordshire Regiment began a long march to Germany, the 2nd Battalion having been chosen to form part of the Army of Occupation. The first 12 mile stage took them to Maubeuge then, early on 20 November, they set off again, this time over the Belgian border to Haulchin. Moving via Anderlues, Couillet and Fosses-la-Ville the 2nd Battalion had covered about 60 miles by the end of the month as they reached Wépion, the strawberry capital of Belgium, in the valley of the River Meuse. As the War Diary records, “The Battalion was accorded a fine reception by the civilian population, both Belgian and French, during its march through the liberated parts of the country. Very good billets were given to the troops and everything possible was offered for the comfort of the Battalion. The weather was good on the whole, making the march most enjoyable.” Their visit to the Haulchin area must have been particularly poignant as it was there that the Battalion first saw action - in August 1914 - which must have seemed a lifetime ago to those men who had been with the Battalion for the duration.

The march to Germany resumed on 4 December, the next stage taking them from Wépion to Ville en Waret. From their they went via Ouffet, Florzé, Spa and Francorchamps before crossing over the border from Belgium into Germany at half past nine on the morning of 11 December. On they went, through Konzen and Nideggen, before reaching their ultimate destination, Düren, at midday on 14 December, where they remained for two months. The 21st of December must have been a very special day for the 2nd Battalion South Staffordshire Regiment as the men lined both sides of Bismarckstrasse in Düren and saluted as their regimental colours were marched along that street to the Bismarck Statue by the colour party that had been sent to England to collect them; the Battalion then formed up and paraded past their colours, which were then formally handed over. 

Altogether the Battalion had covered about 170 miles since they left Amfroipret on 18 November, along roads that were often in very poor condition; it was an astonishing feat. They stayed at Düren through to 11 February 1919 when they were ordered to relocate, by train, to Langenfeld, and there they remained until April 1919.  

April 1919 saw demobilisation - in stages - for the majority of the men of the 2nd Battalion, in particular for those that had volunteered to fight or had been conscripted for war service. Of course, regular soldiers remained in the army until they had completed their years of service. The timing of a man’s demobilisation was based on his age, the length of his service and the number of times he had been wounded in action. This system was designed to ensure that, in general, the longest-serving soldiers were demobilised first. At war’s end in November 1918, the British Army had numbered almost 3,800,000 men. Within twelve months, this figure had fallen to just under 900,000 and by 1922 the Army’s size had been reduced to just over 230,000.

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The Great War had ended but the Army still had one last responsibility to discharge regarding Walter Mobbs. The next of kin of the soldiers who died in action in the First World War received a compensation payment, on average, of £10.7s.0d, the equivalent today of about £500. This sum consisted of his final balance of pay plus a gratuity paid by the War Office. Although the government pledged to provide financial support for the families of those killed in action, the huge number of deaths meant that the sums offered to next of kin were small and seem mean by comparison with those paid today.

Walter’s mother, Matilda, was awarded a War Gratuity of £20. This was allocated in two stages, the first £16.8s.8d in January 1919, when - it would appear - the Army paymasters believed that Walter owed them £3.11s.4d at the time he was killed. However, this amount was allocated subsequently, in April 1919, so Matilda did receive the full amount.

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The Family of Walter Mobbs

Walter’s parents, James and Matilda, had six children altogether, Walter being their fifth child and the youngest of their two sons. His grandfather John Timothy Mobbs and his father James - who was born about January 1852 - both came from Charlecote in Warwickshire but Walter’s paternal grandmother, Sarah Elizabeth Hayes, hailed from Chatham in Kent. James married Walter’s mother, Matilda Jane Young, on 16 May 1886 at the Parish Church of St Leonard in Charlecote. Matilda - who was born about June 1861 - and her father John were born and brought up in Brailes in Warwickshire whilst her mother Sarah Pittam came from Stratford on Avon.

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By the time of the 1871 census, James Mobbs, then aged 19, was working as a farm servant for William and Sophia Moseley at Beoley Hall Farm in Worcestershire. Ten years later, in 1881, James and his father were working as agricultural labourers and were living in Hunscote Lane in Charlecote. Matilda’s family were living close by in the same road, and we can assume that this is how they met and fell in love. However, at the time of the census, she was living and working as a general servant to Eliza Chattaway and her sister Alice at Beech House, a lodging house, in Leamington Spa.

By the time of the 1891 census, James and Matilda had been married for almost 5 years and now had two young children, Ernest James and Charlotte Amelia. James was continuing to work, when he could, as an agricultural labourer and the family were living then in the village of Loxley two miles south of his birthplace. However, the young couple’s early married life was not easy as James was confined to bed for three years through ill health.

The 1901 census shows that James and Matilda and their family of 5 children had uprooted and left Warwickshire for a new life in Staffordshire. Three more children had been born since the previous census, Ann Caroline, Edith Valentine and their youngest Augustus Walter Dennis Mobbs, who was already 3 years old. They were living in Wall Lane, Wall, the small village just south of Lichfield that lies on the site of the Roman settlement of Letocetum. James was now working as a road labourer and his eldest son Ernest James Mobbs, then 14, was also working, as a farm lad. By 1911, the four eldest children had left the family home to make their way in the world, leaving Walter and his youngest sister Doris living at home in Wall with their mother and father.

Walter’s father, James Mobbs died at Wall on 31 August 1934 at the age of 82 but his wife Matilda lived on at 3 Manor Cottages in Wall until her death in 1954 at the age of 92. As the cutting from the Lichfield Mercury makes clear, Matilda was a well-known and well-respected member of the local community in Wall.

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James Mobbs was the eldest son of John Timothy Mobbs and Sarah Elizabeth Hayes. His parents had 10 children altogether, five boys and five girls, born between 1847 and 1869. His parents were married on 23 April 1849 at Christ Church, West Bromwich, about 2 years after the birth of their eldest child, Amelia Hayes Mobbs. John Timothy Mobbs, son of George Mobbs and Phoebe Finch, was born in Charlecote in 1823 and spent all his life in that area working as an agricultural labourer until his death in 1907. His wife Sarah, who was born in Chatham about 1828, survived him by ten years. Apart from Walter’s father James, John Timothy and Sarah Elizabeth Mobbs had 9 other children:

Amelia Hayes Mobbs was born about January 1847 in Hampton in Arden, Warwickshire. She was a dress maker and married Thomas McMahan, who was a house and coach painter, on 15 April 1867 in St Peter's Church, Dale End, Birmingham. The couple went to live in Liverpool.  

Phoebe Mobbs was born about March 1850 in Loxley, Warwickshire. She married John Ayres on 10 November 1873 in the Church of St Jude, Birmingham. The couple lived in the Aston area of Birmingham and had 8 children.

Henry Mobbs was born about April 1854 in Charlecote, Warwickshire. In 1871 he was living with Amelia and her husband Thomas in Liverpool, working as a house painter.

Charlotte Mobbs was born about October 1856 in Charlecote, Warwickshire. She worked as a laundress and married Frederick Edwards, a shoemaker, on 12 July 1881 in the Parish Church of St Leonard, Charlecote. They lived in Great Alne in Warwickshire and had at least two children but Frederick died in 1896 at the age of 51.

Caroline Mobbs was born about October 1858 in Charlecote, Warwickshire.

Frederick Mobbs was born about January 1861 in Charlecote, Warwickshire. He worked as a groom initially but then became a coal miner. He married Emma Langham at Hinckley in Leicestershire in 1881 and together they had 5 children. Frederick died in Nuneaton in 1935.

Mary Ann Mobbs was born about January 1864 in Charlecote, Warwickshire.

William John Mobbs was born about December 1866 in Charlecote, Warwickshire. In 1891 he was living in Liverpool with his eldest sister Amelia and her daughter Eveline, and was working as a farrier and blacksmith. In 1901 he was living with his younger brother Arthur in Aston in Birmingham.  William John Mobbs married Rose A Baker at Stratford on Avon in 1911. He died in Birmingham in 1940.

John Timothy and Sarah Elizabeth’s youngest child, Arthur Mobbs, was born about October 1869 in Charlecote, Warwickshire. He worked as a fishmonger and married Laura Emma Brothers on 22 May 1899 in the Parish Church of St Mark, Coventry, Warwickshire. They had one son, Cyril John Arthur Mobbs who was born in 1909.

Walter’s mother, Matilda Jane Young, was the eldest child of John Young and Sarah Pittam. Her parents had 8 children altogether, two boys and six girls, born between 1861 and 1879. Her parents were married on 19 April 1860 in the Parish Church of St George, Brailes, Warwickshire. John Young, son of Samuel Young and Mary Ann Alcock, was born in Brailes, Warwickshire, about May 1837. He began work as a farm ploughboy, then tried his hand at tailoring, but the majority of his working life was spent as an agricultural and road labourer. He died in 1925 at the age of 88 in the Stratford on Avon area. His wife, Sarah, who was born in Stratford on Avon in 1842, survived him by seven years, dying at the age of 90 in late 1932 in the Stratford on Avon area. Apart from Walter’s mother Matilda, John Young and Sarah Pittam had 7 other children:

Emma Young was born about June 1863 in Brailes, Warwickshire. She married George Alcock, a labourer, on 24 June 1899 at the Parish Church of St Peter, Wellesbourne, Warwickshire. The couple had a son, George W. Alcock who was born in Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, in 1888.

Elizabeth Mary Young was born about June 1863 in Brailes, Warwickshire. She married Charles Edward Pittham, a shepherd, at Warwick in 1909 and died in Warwick in 1916.

Sarah Jane Young was born about December 1865 in Brailes, Warwickshire. In 1881, at the age of 15 she was working as a domestic servant but on 4 March 1889 she married Ernest Belcher, a baker, at the Parish Church of St Peter, Wellesbourne, Warwickshire. Sarah Jane and Ernest had six children but one died in infancy. The family lived in Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, and Sarah Jane died at the age of 70 in Warwick in 1936.

Thomas Young was born about May 1868 in Brailes, Warwickshire. In 1891 he was still living at home and was working as an agricultural labourer. Thomas married Mary Ann Coates on 31 January 1898 in the Parish Church of St Leonard, Charlecote. In 1901, he was working as a farm handyman and was living with his wife in Birdingbury, Warwickshire, where they had 3 children.

Myra Young was born about July 1870 in Weston-sub-Edge, Gloucestershire, the family having moved there in the late 1860s before moving again to Charlecote. In 1891, Myra was working as a domestic servant and was still living with her family, at the Three Bridges Farm Cottage in Wellesbourne. On 8 August 1895 she married Alfred William Mason, a postman, at the Parish Church of St. Peter ad Vincula, Hampton Lucy in Warwickshire. The family lived in Wellesbourne and had 6 children but four died in infancy. 

Edith Young was born about June 1874 in Alveston, Warwickshire. In 1891 she was working as a domestic servant to the family of Joseph Henderson at Castle Hills Farm, Bickenhill, Warwickshire.  

John and Sarah’s youngest child, George Young, was born about October 1879 in Charlecote, Warwickshire. In 1901 he was working as a carter on the farm at Cryfield Grange in Stoneleigh, Warwickshire.

James Mobbs and Matilda Jane Young had six children altogether. The eldest was Walter’s only brother. The rest of the family comprised Walter’s three elder sisters and one younger sister. 

Walter’s brother, Ernest James Mobbs, was born about April 1887 in Loxley, Warwickshire and baptised on 22 May 1887 at the Parish Church of St Nicholas in Loxley. In 1901, Ernest was working as a farm lad, his family having moved by then to Wall in Staffordshire. In 1911 he was working as a farm labourer and living at the home of Herbert Dicken and his sister Mary on Clarence Road, Hill Hook in Sutton Coldfield. Ernest married Mary Dicken on 2 December 1916 in St Michael's Church, Brereton, Rugeley, Staffordshire; she had been born about April 1879 in King's Bromley, Staffordshire. The couple lived later at 57 Four Oaks Common Road in Sutton Coldfield and Mary died there on 10 June 1951 at the age of 72. Ernest died thirteen years later, on 22 May 1964.

Walter’s eldest sister, Charlotte Amelia Mobbs, known as “Lottie”, was born about October 1889 in Loxley, Warwickshire. In 1911 she was working as a general domestic servant to the Purden family and living at “Ingleside”, Lichfield Road, Four Oaks, Sutton Coldfield. Charlotte married Arthur Robinson, who worked at Ryman’s pig farm, on 11 March 1916 in the Parish Church of St John the Baptist, Wall, Staffordshire. Their son, William James Robinson, known as “Bill”, was born in Wall on 10 February 1917 and died in Lichfield in 1984; he married Dorothy Edith Durant in Christ Church, Lichfield, on 9 May 1942 and they had two daughters Jean and Beryl. Charlotte died in Lichfield in 1966 three years after the death of her husband Arthur.

Walter’s second sister, Ann Caroline Mobbs, was born about November 1892 and was baptised on Christmas Day that year in the Parish Church of St Leonard, Charlecote. In 1911, she was working as a domestic servant and living in the home of the brewer George Bonnett and his family at 85 Birmingham Road, Lichfield.  Ann was married to Frederick Lane, a miner from Chasetown, on 16 November 1914 in the Parish Church of St John the Baptist, Wall, Staffordshire. Ann and Frederick had three children, Freda, Frederick and Edna between 1915 and 1919. Ann died at the age of 63 about October 1956 in Walsall, Staffordshire.

Edith Valentine Mobbs, known as “Edie”, the third of Walter’s older sisters was born about January 1895 in Hammerwich, Staffordshire and she was baptised on 30 March that year at the Church of St. John the Baptist, Hammerwich. In 1911 she was working with her eldest sister Charlotte Amelia Mobbs as a domestic nurse to the Purden family and living at “Ingleside”, Lichfield Road, Four Oaks, Sutton Coldfield. She died about June 1964 in Birmingham, Warwickshire. On 27 July 1913 Edith married Henry Hackett, a labourer known as “Harry”, in the Parish Church of St John the Baptist, Wall, Staffordshire. Edith and Henry had two children, Edith Amelia and James Henry Hackett, born in 1915 and 1916 respectively. Edith died in Birmingham at the age of 70 about June 1964.

Walter’s younger sister, Doris Maud Elizabeth Mobbs, was born in Wall, Staffordshire about July 1901 and was baptised on 4 August that year at the Parish Church of St John the Baptist, Wall, Staffordshire. In 1911, she and Walter were the only children still living with their parents in Wall. Doris was married twice, first, about October 1935 in Birmingham, Warwickshire, to Albert Henry Summerhill. Albert was born in Birmingham in 1866 and had been married before, in 1888, to Ellen Elizabeth Gilkes at Christ Church, Sparkbrook, Birmingham. He was 69 when he married Doris and he died within a year of their marriage, about March 1936. Doris then married Ernest M Maisey in Birmingham, Warwickshire about October 1940. Doris died on 9 December 1961 in Northfield, Birmingham.

Earlier in her life, Doris Mobbs had two children, Lilian Ivy Hinton Mobbs and Gwendoline Mobbs. Lilian, who was born in Walsall on 15 June 1919, was brought up in Wall by her grandparents, James and Matilda Mobbs. Lilian married James F O'Donoghue in Birmingham in 1947 and died in 1995. Gwendoline, who was born in Lichfield on 27 September 1922, spent much of her younger years in Birmingham with her aunt Edith Valentine and her husband Henry Hackett. Gwendoline married Leonard Harold Knott in Birmingham in 1941. Their daughter, Pauline Knott, was born a year later and married Roger Bannister in Birmingham in 1963. Pauline is the co-author of Walter’s biography.

Pauline recalls that, when she was a child, her grandmother, Doris, would talk to her sometimes about Walter. Walter’s name is recorded on the Vis-en-Artois Memorial; his body was never identified so he did not receive a formal burial and has no gravestone to mark his courage. On one occasion, Doris took Pauline to visit the grave of the Unknown Soldier at Westminster Abbey and said “Who knows, that could be my brother”. Pauline recalls that Doris was often to be heard singing “Roses of Picardy” although Pauline did not realise the significance of that poignant song at the time.

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Reference, item and source

1.     Certificate in memory of Private Walter Mobbs © Commonwealth War Graves Commission

2.     Vis-en-Artois Memorial, Vis-en-Artois British Cemetery, Haucourt, Pas de Calais, France © The Commonwealth War Graves Commission

3.     Copy of Walter Mobbs’s birth certificate © General Register Office

4.     1901 Census for Walter Mobbs’s family © Ancestry

5.     1911 Census for Walter Mobbs’s family © Ancestry

6.     Section of UK, Revised New Series Maps, 1896 – 1904 © Cassini Historical Maps and Ancestry

7.     Enlarged section of Ordnance Survey Map 244 (2.5 inches to the mile) showing the village of Wall and the surrounding area © Ordnance Survey

8.     Section of the 1923 Ordnance Survey showing Wall and the surrounding area © Lichfield Record Office

9.     Photograph of Captain A. F. G. Kilby V.C., 2nd Batallion, South Staffordshire Regiment © The Staffordshire Regiment Museum website http://staffordshireregimentmuseum.com/victoria-cross.html

10.   Photograph of Lieutenant Charles Raymond Hind, 2nd Batallion, South Staffordshire Regiment © The Staffordshire Regiment Museum and The Channel Islands & The Great War website http://www.greatwarci.net/

11.   Photograph of Lieutenant Reginald Berry, 2nd Batallion, South Staffordshire Regiment © New North Road Baptist Church, Huddersfield, website http://nnrbc.org/greatwar/inmemoriam/r-berry/

12.   “The Taking of Vimy Ridge, Easter Monday, 1917” painted in 1919 by Richard Jack (1866-1952) © Canadian War Museum, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

13.   Soldiers digging a communication trench through Delville Wood, July 1916, with an officer observing from the ruins of Longueval Church © Imperial War Museum

14.   The “Last Tree” surviving from the battlefield at Delville Wood © http://www.greatwar.co.uk/somme/memorial-delville-wood.htm

15.   Citation that appeared on page 10170 of the London Gazette on 20 October 1916 regarding the award of the Distinguished Service Order to Captain Walter George Fluke © London Gazette

16.   Extract from the War Diary of the 2nd South Staffordshire Regiment: Report sent by Captain Walter George Fluke regarding the attack launched by the 2nd South Staffordshire Regiment on the night of 8/9 August 1916 © The National Archives

17.   The Battles of the Ancre : British advances from October 1916 to 28 February 1917 © The Long, Long Trail website http://www.1914-1918.net/maps.htm

18.   Photograph showing officers of the South Staffordshire Regiment studying a trench map in a captured German dug-out beneath the ruined church at Beaumont Hamel in November 1916 © Imperial War Museum

19.   First page of the report submitted by Lieutenant-Colonel George Dawes to the 6th Infantry Brigade Headquarters regarding the attack by the 2nd Battalion South Staffordshire Regiment on 17 February 1917 {extract from the War Diary of the 2nd South Staffordshire Regiment} © The National Archives

20.   Second page of the report submitted by Lieutenant-Colonel George Dawes to the 6th Infantry Brigade Headquarters regarding the attack by the 2nd Battalion South Staffordshire Regiment on 17 February 1917 {extract from the War Diary of the 2nd South Staffordshire Regiment} © The National Archives

21.   Third page of the report submitted by Lieutenant-Colonel George Dawes to the 6th Infantry Brigade Headquarters regarding the attack by the 2nd Battalion South Staffordshire Regiment on 17 February 1917 {extract from the War Diary of the 2nd South Staffordshire Regiment} © The National Archives

22.   Fourth and final page of the report submitted by Lieutenant-Colonel George Dawes to the 6th Infantry Brigade Headquarters regarding the attack by the 2nd Battalion South Staffordshire Regiment on 17 February 1917 {extract from the War Diary of the 2nd South Staffordshire Regiment}© The National Archives

23.   Letter, dated 20 February 1917, from Major-General Cecil Edward Pereira, Commander of the 2nd Division, to Brigadier-General Richard Knox Walsh, General Officer commanding the 6th Infantry Brigade, regarding the attack by the 2nd Battalion South Staffordshire Regiment on 17 February 1917 {extract from the War Diary of the 2nd South Staffordshire Regiment} © The National Archives

24.   Citation that appeared on page 2197 of the Supplement to the London Gazette on 3 March 1917 regarding the award of the Military Cross to 2nd Lieutenant Charles Robert Woolley © London Gazette

25.   Sketch map of the 2nd Battalion's position on 18 and 19 April 1917 {extract from the War Diary of the 2nd South Staffordshire Regiment} © The National Archives

26.   Mention in despatches of 4 men from the 2nd Battalion South Staffordshire Regiment that appeared on page 5036 of the Supplement to the London Gazette on 22 March 1917 © London Gazette

27.   Section of the British WW1 Trench map 36C N.W. showing the trenches in the Givenchy­-lès-la-Bassee area © The National Library of Scotland

28.   Enlargement of the section of the British WW1 Trench map 36C N.W. showing the British trenches (blue) and German trenches (red) in the Givenchy­-lès-la-Bassée area © The National Library of Scotland

29.   Citation that appeared on page 7637 of the Supplement to the London Gazette on 26 July 1917 regarding the award of the Military Cross to 2nd Lieutenant Robert Rankin © London Gazette

30.   Photograph of a German minenwerfer in its emplacement in a front line trench © Imperial War Museum

31.   Photograph from 1917 showing a wounded French soldier being brought back by stretcher-bearers. Passing them, the infantryman going to the front line is carrying two reels of barbed wire on a Yukon pack © Imperial War Museum

32.   Citation that appeared on page 8463 of the Supplement to the London Gazette on 18 July 1918 regarding the award of the Military Cross to 2nd Lieutenant Hubert Murray Hussey © London Gazette

33.   1914 Recruitment poster for the 17th Battalion Middlesex Regiment, the “Football Battalion” © Imperial War Museum

34.   Photograph of Major Frank Buckley taken during his football managerial career © the website www.spartacus-eduational.com

35.   Extract from an article that appeared in the 21 January 2015 edition of the Daily Mail © the website http://www.dailymail.co.uk/

36.   Extract from a 1:40,000, January 1918 trench map showing the area around Bethune © Mills Memorial Library, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

37.   The destruction caused by enemy shelling of the light railway in WW1 © Imperial War Museum

38.   A loaded train on the light railway © Imperial War Museum

39.   Troops aboard the light railway © Imperial War Museum

40.   Map showing the area of the Battle of Cambrai © The Long, Long Trail website {http://www.1914-1918.net/bat21.htm}

41.   Extract from the 1:20,000, 1917 trench map of the area around Moeuvres {special sheet, edition 6G, showing parts of 57C.NW, 57C.NE, 57C.SW and 57C.SE, with the trenches corrected to 14 December 1917} © The National Library of Scotland

42.   Further extract from the 1:20,000, 1917 trench map of the area around Moeuvres {special sheet, edition 6G, showing parts of 57C.NW, 57C.NE, 57C.SW and 57C.SE, with the trenches corrected to 14 December 1917} © The National Library of Scotland

43.   Extract from the War Diary of the 2nd South Staffordshire Regiment: A map showing the deployment of the Battalion on 24 December 1917 © The National Archives

44.   Extract from the War Diary of the 2nd South Staffordshire Regiment showing the medals awarded to its men at the end of December 1917 © The National Archives

45.   Extract from the 1:20,000, January 1918 trench map, edition 6D, showing the area around La Vacqueries {57C.SE, with the trenches corrected to 10 March 1918} © The National Library of Scotland

46.   Extract from the 1:20,000, March 1918 trench map, edition 7D, showing the area around the Green Line east of Bapaume {57C.NW, with the trenches corrected to 21 March 1918} © The National Library of Scotland

47.   Citation that appeared on page 8751 of the Supplement to the London Gazette on 26 July 1918 regarding the award of the Distinguished Service Order to Captain Roger Llewellyn Williams of the Royal Army Medical Corps © London Gazette

48.   Extract from the 1:20,000, May 1918 trench map, edition 8A, showing the area around the Purple Line south of Arras {51B.SW, with the trenches corrected to 25 April 1918} © The National Library of Scotland

49.   Extract from the 1:20,000, April 1918 trench map, edition 5A, showing the area around the Purple Line west and south of Ayette {57D.NE, with the trenches corrected to 22 April 1918} © The National Library of Scotland

50.   First page of the extract from the War Diary of the 2nd South Staffordshire Regiment detailing the Battalion’s attack on 23 August 1918 © The National Archives

51.   Second page of the extract from the War Diary of the 2nd South Staffordshire Regiment detailing the Battalion’s attack on 23 August 1918 © The National Archives

52.   Third page of the extract from the War Diary of the 2nd South Staffordshire Regiment detailing the Battalion’s attack on 23 August 1918 © The National Archives

53.   Fourth page of the extract from the War Diary of the 2nd South Staffordshire Regiment detailing the Battalion’s attack on 23 August 1918 © The National Archives

54.   Fifth page of the extract from the War Diary of the 2nd South Staffordshire Regiment detailing the Battalion’s attack on 23 August 1918 © The National Archives

55.   Extract from the 1:20,000, September 1918 trench map, edition 8A, showing the area around Noyelles-sur-Escaut to the east of Flesquières {57C.NE, with the trenches corrected to 21 September 1918} © The National Library of Scotland

56.   Photograph showing a small patrol of Canadian troops crossing the main square in Cambrai on 9 October 1918 © Canadian War Museum, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

57.   Extract from the War Diary of the 2nd South Staffordshire Regiment for 11 November 1918 recording the Battalion’s receipt of the memorandum informing them that the Armistice would come into force at 11 o’clock that morning © The National Archives

58.   Extract from the War Diary of the 2nd South Staffordshire Regiment: copy of the letter dated 11 November 1918 from General Julian Hedworth George Byng to the men of the 3rd Army recognising their achievements in securing the Armistice © The National Archives

59.   Extract from the War Diary of the 2nd South Staffordshire Regiment: copy of the letter dated 11 November 1918 from General Henry Seymour Rawlinson to the men of the 4th Army regarding the role they would play in the Army of Occupation © The National Archives

60.   Document 1 (January 1919) regarding the War Gratuity payment to Walter's mother Matilda Jane Mobbs © National Army Museum Register of Soldiers’ Effects

61.   Document 2 (April 1919) regarding the War Gratuity payment to Walter's mother Matilda Jane Mobbs © National Army Museum Register of Soldiers’ Effects

62.   Copy of the 1886 marriage banns for James Mobbs and Matilda Jane Young from St. Leonard’s Parish Church, Charlecote © Ancestry

63.   Notice of the death of James Mobbs and the family’s acknowledgment from the Lichfield Mercury edition of 7 September 1934 © Lichfield Mercury

64.   Newspaper clipping from the Lichfield Mercury about the life and death of Walter's mother © Lichfield Mercury

65.   Photograph of the grave of Walter’s mother, Matilda Jane Mobbs, in the Parish Church of St John the Baptist, Wall, Staffordshire © Pauline Bannister

66.   Postcard featuring a verse from the song “Roses of Picardy” © Trevor Nicol on Pinterest website (https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/377387643747231123/)

67.   Notice of the death in action of Walter Mobbs from the Lichfield Mercury edition of 8 November 1918 © Lichfield Mercury

68.   Photograph of the War Memorial in the Parish Church of St John the Baptist, Wall, Staffordshire © Julie Graddon

69.   Photograph of the Vis-en-Artois Memorial © the website Sittingbourne Remembers http://www.pigstrough.co.uk/ww1/verdun.htm

70.   Layout of the panels on the Vis-en-Artois Memorial © the website Old Front Line Battlefields of WW1, http://battlefields1418.50megs.com/vis_en_artois.htm

71.   The medal card for Private Walter Mobbs (201116), 2nd Battalion South Staffordshire Regiment © The National Archives and Ancestry