Current Information:

Age-36

Born-Lee

Premont British Cemetery, France

With an end to the fighting on the Eastern Front after the Russian Revolution, Germany was able to bring its troops from there to France and launch a series of offensives in the Spring of 1918, designed to bring the war to a swift conclusion. Four times between March and July they attacked in strength and on each occasion they broke through the British and French lines and made spectacular gains but in each case they over extended themselves and without adequate supplies keeping up with their rapid advances, they could go no further.

The first of these attacks, Operation Michael, was made on 21st March by 63 specially trained divisions, attacking along a 60 mile front held by 26 British divisions, many of them in a weakened state At 4.40am the German artillery opened up with the most ferocious and concentrated bombardment of the war, the likes of which the British had never experienced before. The Forward Zone, consisting mainly of individual posts was blown away. Very few of the men there made it back. Many were killed and many more were taken prisoner. The Battle Zone was also battered as were the British guns, firing from positions just to the rear. Brigade and Divisional HQs were targeted as well and then, from out of the thick mist, came the German storm troopers. Moving fast, they skirted round the few remaining strongholds and penetrated deep into the British lines, including those of the Battle Zone, causing the utmost confusion. There were many cases of heroic stands being made but the relentless pressure forced the British back everywhere and there then began a general retreat that went on for two weeks and which ceded to the Germans a huge amount of territory, including all of that that had been won at such great cost during the Battle of the Somme in 1916.

20th Division were not in the front line when the Germans attacked on 21st March. They had moved south from Ypres to the southern part of the Somme front near St Quentin in February and were in XVIII Corps reserve that day with orders to move forward to man the rear zone defences between the Somme and the Omignon from St Simon to Trefcon. On 21st March the 12th King’s Royal Rifle Corps battalion of 60 Brigade marched to Douchy to cover troops in the Rear Zone. Here on the next day 60 Brigade were heavily attacked. 12th King’s Royal Rifle Corps on the left of the Brigade, with its right resting on the village of Fluquières, had both its flanks turned by the enemy advance and fell back to Villers St Christophe, losing one company which was practically surrounded. That night 20th Division, having covered the retirement of the rest of the Corps, fell back behind the River Somme, fighting all the way. On 23rd March 12th King’s Royal Rifle Corps held a line from Canizy to the bridgehead at Offoy. There were repeated attacks all day against the 20th Division front especially against 12th King’s Royal Rifle Corps at Offoy, but the line held. They were in action again the next day when at 8.30am the Germans attacked at Canizy. In response 12th King’s Royal Rifle Corps  counter attacked and drove them back but despite this brief success by the evening the division had fallen back to the line of the Libermont canal under heavy artillery and machine-gun fire. 12th King’s Royal Rifle Corps  spent that night at Breuil. On 25th March the enemy launched heavy attacks from the north and that evening, covered by 61 Brigade, 60 Brigade withdrew, under considerable pressure,  to the line Cressy-Billancourt-Rethonvillers. That night  all of 20th Division moved back to Roye. They were on the move again next morning back to the Le Quesnel area. With the enemy advancing again, 60 Brigade dug in just east of Le Quesnel with 12th King’s Royal Rifle Corps at Arvillers forming a defensive flank. They stayed here for the whole of the next day and then at 11am on 28th March 60 Brigade were relieved by French troops and moved back to bivouacs, coming under heavy shell fire as they withdrew form Arvillers. That evening 20th Division moved to a wired position from Démuin to Mézières-en-Santerre.  There was heavy fighting here the next day. Mézières-en-Santerre was lost, retaken and then lost again but German advances to the north resulted in a further withdrawal to a line just in front of the Moreuil-Démuin road. On the following day, 30th March, there were repeated attacks along the whole of the Corps front. 20th Division fell back some distance but at 7pm, a counter attack regained all the original line. This however was a short lived success. On 31st March attacks on both sides of 20th Division forced them back to the River Luce and on 1st April they were holding a series of bridgehead positions here, with their left resting on Hangard. That evening they were withdrawn to the Quevauvillers area and after ten days of moving and fighting 12th King’s Royal Rifle Corps were out of the battle having sustained over 450 casualties, either killed, wounded or missing. One of these was Albert Tappenden who lost his life on 31st March.