Current Information:

Born-Fulham

The Battle of Arras was a series of offensives by the British Army between 9th April 1917 and 16th May 1917. It had been planned in conjunction with the French who would attack in Artois and between them the Allies would force the Germans out of the large salient they had held since the line of trenches was first established. But the Germans had spoiled this plan by falling back to the new and very strong Hindenburg Line in January 1917 and the salient no longer existed.  For the want of an alternative plan the attack went ahead anyway. It all started well for the British who made substantial gains on the first two days but then the offensive ground to a halt and by the end their losses amounted to over 150,000.

The Second Battle of the Scarpe (23-24 April, 1917)

The British offensive at Arras was resumed on 23rd April, 1917, when they attacked eastwards along an nine mile front from Croisilles to Gavrelle on both sides of the  River Scarpe in what some came to consider was the hardest fighting of the war so far.

At 4.45am on 23rd April, 29th Division attacked Infantry Hill, a well defended enemy stronghold, to the south of the Scarpe and east of Monchy-le-Preux. 88 Brigade attacked between Monchy and the Cambrai Road, with 4th Worcestershire leading and 2nd Hampshire in support. To their left 87 Brigade moved against Infantry Hill itself while 88 Brigade’s objective was to secure the southern slopes of the hill and the Bois du Vert. 4th Worcestershire did well and captured the copse 600 yards west of the Bois du Vert but suffered heavy casualties and needed all the support that 2nd Hampshire could give to hold their gains. 2nd Hampshire sustained 20 casualties from shell fire even before advancing and machine-guns caused more casualties as they advanced across a sunken road, but they pressed on to join the hard-pressed Worcestershires in the copse. They captured Pick Trench and with their bombers cleared most of String Trench, capturing 50 of the enemy. Both battalions resisted a number of counter-attacks, but in the afternoon the enemy retook the copse, overwhelming most of Y & Z Companies. Elsewhere the defence held, including at Shrapnel, Pick and String trenches. Some of 2nd Hampshire joined in an evening attack to recover the copse but it was too heavily defended for this to succeed. In the end a line some 400 yards forward from their starting line was secured. Relieved that night they went by bus to Simoncourt to rest except for W Company who stayed an extra 24 hours. The battalion suffered nearly 300 casualties during the course of the day, of whom Oscar Bongers was one.