Current Information:

Age-23

Battle of Aubers Ridge- 9th May, 1915

On 9 May 1915 the British attacked north at Arras as part of the British contribution to the Second Battle of Artois, a Franco-British offensive. Their objective was the capture of Aubers Ridge but it turned into an unmitigated disaster. The German defences had been much improved since the Battle of Neuve Chapelle in March and the British artillery, which was in a parlous condition, failed to destroy the German defences during the short and insufficient 40 minute bombardment that preceded the attack. Extra artillery had been requested but further to the north, the Second Battle of Ypres was being fought on a ferocious scale and none was forthcoming. The few initial gains could not be held and by the evening of 9 May, all the British forces were back where they started, except of course the dead who littered the battlefield. There were 11,000 casualties for the British Army.

The 2nd Royal Berkshire battalion were part of 25 Brigade, 8th Division which attacked on the left of the British line towards Fromelles. They were in support to the 2nd Rifle Brigade and 13th London battalions and when they moved up to press home the attack they found the front line in a state of confusion. There were many dead there and by now men were making their back from the chaos of no-man’s-land where concentrated machine-gunfire had taken a heavy toll of the two leading battalions. The efforts of 2nd Royal Berkshire to reinforce the attack were in vain and the enemy shell fire tore through their ranks so that by the time that they were withdrawn during the early hours of 10th May their casualties numbered nearly 300. One of these was Maurice Day who was killed.