Current Information:

Age-19

5, Kingsbury Road, Neasden

Railway Dugouts Burial Ground, Belgium

In 1914 the British army had no trench mortars but as the war progressed and became bogged down in the stalemate of trench warfare, the need for such a weapon, became more and more apparent. Fired from the front line they were able to deal with individual targets such as machine gun nests or sniper posts and thereby assisting the infantry going into the attack. But they were not always welcome. Many an infantryman would complain bitterly about trench mortar sections that would join them in the front line trenches, fire a salvo of mortars and then disappear back, leaving the occupants to face the inevitable enemy retaliation.

Many different models were tried until in mid 1915 the three inch Stokes mortar became standard issue and each division had three Medium Batteries attached, which had the same number as the division. There were also Light Mortars attached to Brigades and bearing the Brigade’s number. When an attack went in it was the job of the men of the Trench Mortar Batteries to accompany the infantry forward and resume their fire from captured positions. It was dangerous work.

According to records, Stanley Leaver, who was killed in action on 5th May, 1915, served with the 20th Trench Mortar Battery. However this was part of 20th Division which did not arrive in France until July, 1915, so presumably he was with another unit at the time but, as yet, there is no information about this. He is buried in a cemetery near Ypres where the Second Battle of Ypres was being fought at that time.