Current Information:

Age-23

27, Williams Mews, Regent's Park

Tyne Cot Cemetery, Belgium

Third Battle of Ypres

This was a campaign fought between July and November 1917 and is often referred to as the Battle of Passchendaele, a village to the north-east of Ypres which was finally captured in November. It was an attempt by the British to break out of the Ypres salient and capture the higher ground to the south and the east from which the enemy had been able to dominate the salient. It began well but two important factors weighed against them. First was the weather. The summer of 1917 turned out to be one of the the wettest on record and soon the battlefield was reduced to a morass of mud which made progress very difficult, if not impossible in places. The second was the defensive arrangements of concrete blockhouses and machine gun posts providing inter-locking fire that the Germans had constructed and which were extremely difficult and costly to counter. For 4 months this epic struggle continued by the end of which the salient had been greatly expanded in size but the vital break out had not been achieved.

33rd Division began their move towards Ypres on 20th September and on 23rd September, 1st Middlesex of 98 Brigade left Alberta Camp at Reningelst and made their way via Dickebusch to dug-outs in the railway embankment and the banks of Lake Zillebeke. On the following day, 24th September, they moved to a line between Polygon Wood and the Reutelbeek in preparation for a general attack two days later. This position had only just been captured as part of the Battle of the Menin Road and was still being consolidated. It consisted of shell holes connected by short lengths of trench and surrounded by huge craters. The move up and the relief of battalions of 23rd Division was a difficult one, over unknown terrain and accompanied by a considerable amount of shell fire which cut communications and caused a number of casualties. It took all night to get the men into position. At 5.30am on 25th September the enemy suddenly placed a very violent artillery barrage on the front, support and reserve lines of 33rd Division and 5th Australian Division on their left. Using gas shells and shrapnel and under cover of an early morning mist  the German infantry attacked half an hour later. The brunt of their first attack fell on three platoons of “B‟ Company who held their ground for some time until the enemy worked their way between the posts and attacked from the rear and their resistance came to an end. All except for one of the posts that, despite being besieged, held out until relief arrived two days later. At 6.30am the German infantry attacked again in five waves and worked their way between “A‟ and “B‟ Companies and moving from shell hole to shell hole, got into Veldhoek Trench and then bombed along it. Outnumbered and at risk of being cut off these two companies fell back to the support trenches where “C‟ and “D‟ Companies deployed and stopped any further enemy advance. As was always the case in these situations a counter attack was ordered and at 2pm, those still standing from 1st Middlesex together with 2nd Argylle & Sutherland Highlanders, who moved up in support, launched this. In broad daylight, the enemy were able to see what was going on and both battalions met heavy artillery fire and a hurricane of machine-gun fire. The attack faltered and came to a halt and the men consolidated the ground they then held. From here they repulsed a further German attack that evening. All of this could have interfered with the plans for the next major offensive, the Battle of Polygon Wood, which began on 26th September, but 98 Brigade only had the task of covering the flank of the Australians while 100 Brigade attacked on 33rd Division’s front, During the afternoon, 1st Middlesex were relieved and moved back to dug-outs at Zillebeke. Over the three day period from 24th-26th September the battalion sustained nearly 250 casualties, a list that included Peter Leith whose date of death, although recorded as 24th September was more likely to have been on 25th September.