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Age-20

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The Battle of La Bassée

This was fought by 3rd and 5th Divisions of III Corps between 10th October and 2nd November 1914 and as the name suggests it focused on an area around the town of La Bassée in northern France. It was part of the Race to the Sea and it determined the line of the Western Front in that sector. There were some initial British successes but La Bassée remained firmly in German hands and when German reinforcements arrived the village of Neuve Chapelle was captured by them. Towards the end of October, the fighting on this front died down as the attention of both armies switched to Ypres.

During 20th and 21st October, 1914, the 4th Middlesex battalion of 8 Brigade, 3rd Division were in trenches in front of the village of Le Riez where they suffered many casualties when the Germans shelled the village. On 22nd October the battalion were withdrawn to billets and then moved to Fauquissart where they dug trenches which they occupied on 24th October. They then remained in these trenches until the end of the month when they moved back to reserve trenches at Bacquerot, where they continued to be shelled on a daily basis. On 4th November, B Company was sent forward to support the Connaught Rangers who were making a local counter attack to regain lost trenches and suffered seven casualties in the process and on the following day they were heavily shelled before moving back to billets in the evening. Among their casualties during this time spent in the Bacquerot trenches was Alfred Clements.