Current Information:

Age-32

86, Holden Road, North Finchley

Sailly-Saillisel British Cemetery, France

Starting on 8th August, 1918, the Allies launched a series of offensives, collectively known as the Hundred Days Offensive, that resulted in the collapse of the German army and the end of the war by November. British, Australian and Canadian troops attacked across the old Somme battlefield and on the Arras front causing the demoralised German Army to fall back on a daily basis while the French did the same thing further south.

By the beginning of September, 1918, much of the territory that had been lost earlier in the year,  when the Germans had made spectacular gains in March and April, had been won back but the Allies relentless pressure did not falter. At 5.30am on 1st September, the 2/4th London and 3rd London battalions of 173 Brigade, 58th Division attacked the village of Bouchavesnes, to the north of Péronne. The 2/2nd London battalion was in close support. It was a cold but fine morning with good visibility as the set off from their overnight bivouacs in Hem Wood with their objectives being the village itself and a line running from Jupiter Trench, south-east to German Wood. They met heavy hostile shelling and considerable opposition from machine-gun posts on the western side of the village but by mid morning all objectives had been reached and they were in contact with the Australians on the right and 47th Division on the left who had also been involved in the attack. Many prisoners were taken but their success came at the cost of over two hundred casualties, some of which were inflicted later in the day as the enemy continued to shell both the captured positions and the rear areas. One of these casualties was Harold Gant of 2/4th London.