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Age-22

61, Pretoria Road, Streatham

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.

Third Battle of the Scarpe (3–4 May 1917)

The Third Battle of the Scarpe was launched in conjunction with an attack by British and Australian troops at Bullecourt to the south of Arras. Its objective was to force a German retreat further to the east and to try and reach the Wotanstellung, a strong German defensive line. This did not happen. It started badly as a result of the decision to fix zero hour at 3.45am, half an hour before sunrise which made it very difficult to see what was going on. To add to this, the nearly full moon, which set at 3.35am, silhouetted the assembling troops drawing enemy fire which caused heavy loss and confusion.  During two days of fierce fighting the British and Canadians were unable to make any significant advances and the offensive was abandoned. Once again the casualty rate had been shockingly high.

On 3rd May, 54 and 55 Brigades of 18th Division attacked the village of Chérisy to the south-east of Arras. The attack was launched at 3.45 am with the 7th Bedfordshire and 12th Middlesex battalions leading the attack of 54 Brigade, their objective being Chérisy and the Sensée stream running behind it. Things did not go to plan. Confused by the darkness of the night the units almost immediately lost contact with each other and when a shout of ‘Retire’ was heard many on the right fell back and had to be re-organised. By the time they set off once more they had lost the protective artillery barrage and with dawn breaking  they were visible to the German defenders and hit by fierce machine-gun fire. Most of 12th Middlesex went to ground before reaching Chérisy, unable to penetrate the wire in front of the Chérisy-Riegel and Fontaine trenches, but some did manage to enter the village and others got as far as the Sensée. Those in the village formed a strongpoint at its southern edge and there they fought off a strong German counter attack until, when reduced from fifty men to eight, they withdrew as best they could. By the end of the day the survivors of 12th Middlesex were back where they had started. The battalion suffered over 300 casualties one of whom was John Hatton who was killed in action.