Current Information:

44, Tarling Street, Shadwell

Bellicourt British Cemetery, France

By mid-September, 1918, the Allied offensive that had begun a month earlier, had pushed the enemy back almost to the Hindenburg Line. The task now was to break through this formidable defensive system and in order to gain possession of its outlying defences and obtain good observation over it before launching a general attack, a series of operations, some large scale and others more modest in nature were launched by the British Third and Fourth Armies.

On 24th September, IX Corps which held the southern sector of the front just to the north of St Quentin, launched an attack by 6th and 1st Divisions. 1st Division was given the objective of capturing a trench that ran from the western side of Dee Copse to the village of Pontruet. They used 2 and 3 Brigades for this task and were assigned twelve tanks, only seven of which were able to advance with the infantry. The task was made more difficult when the troops were shelled as they moved to their assembly positions in the dark but the attack went ahead and by 10.30am the 2nd Royal Sussex and 1st Northamptonshire battalions of 2 Brigade had reached the Gricourt-Pontruet road and 2nd King’s Royal Rifle Corps, the third battalion of 2 Brigade had cleared Arbousiers Wood. 2nd Royal Sussex and 1st Northamptonshire were in a weakened state having met strong opposition from Pontruet and other enemy strongholds and had thrown back defensive flanks in response. They now had to face a determined counter attack by around four hundred of the enemy and although outnumbered by five to one, the men of 2nd Royal Sussex launched a bayonet charge which effectively dispersed the Germans and resulted in fifty prisoners being taken. 1st Northamptonshire brought their machine-guns and trench mortars into action and the threat from Pontruet was considerably lessened. There were of course casualties for 2 Brigade, one of whom was James Johnston of 1st Northamptonshire who was killed in action.