Current Information:

Age-29

Born-Acton

Esquelbecq Military Cemetery, France

On 2nd August, 1918 the 1st East Kent (Buffs) battalion of 16 Brigade, 6th Division carried out a raid on the enemy lines opposite them in the Dickebusch sector of the Ypres salient with the objective of the capture and interrogation of prisoners.  C Company and No.7 platoon of B Company left their trenches at 7.05am behind a supporting artillery barrage and further aided by mortars and a smoke screen. Both objectives, Brasserie Farm and a the ruins of a nearby canteen, were gained but it was the return journey back to their own lines when their real problems began. By now the enemy had brought their machine guns into action and the left and centre parties were hit hard. There was little cover to be found in no-man’s-land and the exposed nature of the British line meant that the raiders had to scatter to whatever cover they could find behind their own trenches. Now that the British artillery barrage had lifted, German snipers were active and their fire prevented the wounded from being brought in.  The casualty list of fifteen killed, another two dying from wounds, twenty seven wounded and five missing seemed a very high price to pay for a few prisoners but it was seen as a successful operation because its objectives had been realised. Horace Hawtree. died from wounds on this day and he might have been wounded on an erarlier date.