Churchover Memorial

Holy Trinity Church, Churchover

The Memorial consists of a stone cross in the Churchyard of Holy Trinity Church, Churchover recording those who laid down their lives in the Great War 1914 – 1918.

 Memorial

Harry Richard Hirons Private No 27514 199th Company Machine Gun Corps (formerly No 10588 7th (Service) Battalion  East Kent Regiment).  Killed in action 10th October 1917 aged 20 years.  Commemorated on the Tyne Cot Memorial to the missing which forms the north-east boundary of Tyne Cot Cemetery, Belgium.  Commemorates almost 35,000 soldiers who have no known grave and who died from August 1917 to the end of the war – a continuation of the names inscribed on the Menin Gate in Ypres.  There are 33,750 from the United Kingdom and one from Newfoundland.  The New Zealand memorial to the missing is within this Memorial Wall and there are 1,176 names.  All Australian, Canadian, Indian or South African are on the Menin Gate.

Born Churchover, Son of Edward Hirons of Churchover, Rugby enlisted Rugby.  1901 Census records Edward Hirons aged 40 a Cement Quarryman living at 42, with his wife Mary aged 33 and children Arthur 11;  Ellen 10;   Edith 9;   Elsie 6; Harry 4;   Agnes 2; and Annie 9 months.

Harry Hirons eldest brother Arthur had served for three years in the Coldstream Guards and was in the Reserve for about 12 months before mobilization, working at the Locomotive Depot of L.N. W. Railway Company at Rugby.  Arthur Hirons on reporting for duty in August 1914 was sent to the 1st Battalion which landed at Havre on the 14th August 1914.  The Battalion was involved in the Retreat to the Marne and then on the British Expeditionary Force moving North to Flanders arrived in Hazebrouck ready to play its part in the First Battle of Ypres when about the 4th November 1914 Arthur Hirons was wounded in the back and taken prisoner by the Germans.

Harry Hirons went to France at some time after the 31st December 1915.

 The Battalion landed at Boulogne in July 1915 part of 55th Brigade 18th Eastern Division.  At the beginning of 1916 the Battalion was in billets at Dernancourt  SW of Albert and remained in the Somme area, taking part in the Battle of the Somme on the 1st July 1916.  The British front line was in front of Carnoy and the objectives of 55 Brigade included the German trench Montauban Alley reached at 1330 that day.  On the morning of 11th July 55 Brigade was ordered to move forward to Maricourt to act as reserve brigade to the 30th Division then involved in bitter fighting in an attempt to capture Trones Wood.  30th Division having been driven out of all but a small portion of the wood, 18th Division was ordered to relieve 30th Division and then to capture the wood at all costs by midnight 13 – 14th July.  The relief was completed by 10 am on the 13th July and 55 Brigade was given the task of capturing the wood.  Except for B Company, the Battalion remained in Maltz Horn Trench to endeavour to take a German strongpoint whilst B Company was lent to 7th Queen’s and attacked with them on the 13th July 1916 and suffered very severe losses.  At 1900 on the 13th July one platoon attacked the strongpoint a bombing party moving along the trench but was driven back and it was then decided to attack the objective over the open by parties from the flanks but these were met by heavy rifle and machine-gunfire and had to withdraw again with losses.  The Battalion was then ordered to hold Maltz Horn Trench at all costs although attacks were still made on the morning of the 14thJuly until about 0900 it was found that the Germans had withdrawn retiring towards Guillemont.  Private Hirons being wounded in the arm in one of these incidents, was sent back to England and had a few days with his family about the 26th August 1916.

The Third Battle of Ypres was the major British offensive in Flanders launched on 31 July 1917 and continued until November.  The ultimate aim was the destruction of German submarine bases on the Belgian coast but encouraged by the success on the 7th June 1917 when the 2nd Army smashed the ‘impregnable’ German defences along the Messines-Wytschaete Ridge General Sir Douglas Haig  believed that the German Army was close to collapse and prepared for a conventional breakthrough attempt.  The Battle was not designed merely to rob the Germans of command of the high ground surrounding the salient by capturing the immediate ridges, and Passchendaele Ridge and Klerken Ridge beyond that, but to thrust north-east to Roulers and Thourout and then swing due north towards the Belgian coast.

After a 10 day preliminary bombardment a total of 12 divisions attacked on 31 July 1917 along an 11 mile front east of Ypres.  However the Germans had had time to prepare a defence in depth and held off the main British advance around Menin Road and restricted attackers to small gains around Pilkem Ridge.  Attempts to renew the offensive over the following days were hampered by pouring rain turning the Flanders lowlands into a muddy swamp so no major attacks could be made until 16th August when the Battle of Langemarck produced minor gains for the British coupled with heavy casualties.  A series of small-scale advances began on the 20th September with an attack along a narrow front, the Batle of the Menin Road Bridge, and two further attacks on 26 September (Polygon Wood) and 4th October (Broodseinde) established British possession of the ridge east of Ypres.  These costly gains although coupled with heavy casualties led the British High Command to believe that the German defence was almost exhausted and despite worsening rain decided to continue attacks towards Passchendaele.  Attacks on 9th October (Poelcapple) and 12 October (First Passchendaele) made little progress towards the Ridge as the attackers floundered in the mud.  Haig persisted with three more assaults in late October on the Ridge and the operation was finally called off when Passchendaele village was seized by Canadian and British infantry on 6th November 1917.

An infantry battalion in 1914, at full war establishment, consisted of 1007 all ranks, of whom 30 were officers.

As well as the headquarters, the battalion had four companies commanded by a major or captain divided into four platoons.  Each platoon was sub-divided into four sections of twelve men under an NCO.

In addition to the four companies, each battalion had a machine-gun section with a lieutenant in command, a sergeant, a corporal, two drivers, a batman and twelve privates (two six man gun teams).

The two machine-guns with each battalion were, until the outbreak of the war, the Maxim pattern gun which had been introduced in the 1890s.  In the latter half of 1914 many of these were replaced by the improved Vickers version.  Both were belt-fed and water-cooled and were fired from a tripod using ammunition of the same type as in the rifle.

The first significant change, which had been implemented by February 1915, was the doubling of the machine-gun allocation, to four guns per battalion, requiring a total of four, six man gun teams.

Starting in June 1915, Lewis guns on a scale of one per company were issued to battalions.  This was a light automatic weapon air cooled and fired by one man with a loader who carried the ammunition.  Although normally fired  on a bipod from a prone position because of the weight of the barrel, it could be fired by a sturdy man standing up.

On the 2nd September 1915 a proposal was made to the War Office for the formation of a machine-gun company for each brigade by withdrawing the Vickers guns from the battalions to obtain four sections for each infantry brigade each section having four guns.  They were to be replaced by Lewis guns, thus giving each battalion a total of eight Lewis guns.

This proposal was approved on the 22nd October 1915 when an Army Order was issued bringing into existence the Machine Gun Corps.  From November 1915 the machine-guns were concentrated into Brigade machine-gun companies of the Machine Gun Corps, numbered the same as the Brigade to which it was allotted.  The reorganisation depending upon the output of Lewis guns, was ordered to take place in brigades by rotation and was completed before the Battle of the Somme, 1st July 1916. 

By July 1916 the Lewis gun scale had increased to 12 and later 16 per battalion, ie. four per company.

The next step in the winter of 1917 – 1918 was to allow the formation of full machine gun battalions as divisional troops, as opposed to companies of machine guns under brigade command.

When in 1918 Brigades had been reduced from four battalions to three, the Lewis gun scale was increased to 36 per infantry battalion (ie. two per platoon).

Private Harry Hirons transferred to the Machine Gun Corps and by the 1st August 1917 the 199th Company was engaged in coastal defence with Company H.Q. at Nieuport a small town in West Flanders on the south-west side of the River Yser two miles from the sea (in 1917 almost destroyed above ground but had been equipped by the French who held the sector until June 1917 with a considerable system of tunnels).

In June 1917 Commonwealth forces relieved French forces on  6 kilometres of front line from the sea to a point south of Nieuport and held this sector for 6 months.

 On the 6th August1917 during stand to the enemy heavily shelled the Company’s position for 10 minutes, one of the gun positions being blown in and the tripod buried;  the dug out received a direct hit and two Privates were killed and 9 wounded.  One of those Private Thomas William Foxwell was taken back by limber and is buried in Coxde Military Cemetery, the village being about 10 kilometres behind the front line and was used for rest billets and was occasionally shelled but the cemetery which had been started by the French was found to be reasonably safe and was used at night for the burial of the dead brought back from the front line.  On the 7th August the Company co-operated with the 6th Duke of Wellingtons in a successful raid and the next night supported a gas projector attack on the enemy trenches firing 26500 rounds.  The Company remained in this sector until relief on the 17th August with 15 men being gassed on the 15th  in the dug out which it was found connected with a tunnel into which a gas shell had penetrated.  On the 18th August the company left Coxde marching and travelling by barge to Tetenghem where they billeted.  The Company remained there until the 9th September engaged in Company training and barrage drill before moving to Bray Dunes near the sea where on the 10th September No. 1 Section co-operated with 147th Brigade. 49th (West Riding) Division in brigade manoeuvres  The Company remained in this area until the 21st September taking part in training brigade operations with both 147th and 148th Brigades and practising close support of infantry.  The Company then moved to Lederzeele area on the 24th September then to billets at Westbecourt then to Cormette and arrived on the 3rd October to Trappistes near Watou where the Company was billeted in the barn of the Trappists Monastery where the Brigade HQ of 148th Brigade was situated.

On the 5th October the morning was spent in preparing the guns and packing limbers and the Company paraded on the Poperinghe road to await transport but the lorries did not appear until 1930 pm when the Company moved into the line that night to relieve the 5th (Divisional) New Zealand Machine Gun Company occupying the S.O.S. positions in the Passchendaele sector.  The Guide was picked up at the Asylum in Ypres and the Company proceeded up the St Jean – Wieltje road, this being in a bad state of repair and crowded with traffic, and the relief was not completed until 0600 on the 6th October 1917.

The day was spent in reconnoitring forward positions and settling down, 110,000 rounds of ammunition was taken forward to dumps the packs animals experiencing great difficulty with the mud and water.

At evening stand to on the 7th October the S.O.S. was put up on the Divisional front and the batteries promptly opened fire expending 40,000 rounds.

The morning of the 8th October was spent in working on barrage charts and carrying ammunition forward with the guns being brought forward and new lines of fire laid out.  In the afternoon the enemy shelled the slopes of Gravenstafel Ridge with casualties in the gun teams and the shelling continued until 2230 with the gun teams being re-organised during the night and preparing to mount and lay the guns at daybreak.

By this time the next phase of the offensive was the capture of Passchendaele with a preparatory attack designated the Battle of Poelcapelle.  Weather conditions had continued to deteriorate and several high ranking British officers proposed halting the offensive in Flanders but Sir Douglas Haig would not entertain any such suggestion: the Germans were to be driven off the ridge at Passchendaele.

At 0520 on the 9th October 1917 the 66th Division attacked with two Brigades, 198 and 197. The start line was between the Ravebeekand the Ypres-Roulers railway.  Patrols from the 2/8th and part of the 3/5th Lancashire Fusiliers  about 0930 actually reached the outskirts of Passchendaele village itself, bodies of the men from these battalions being found when the village fell on the 6th November 1917. All guns were in position to open fire at Zero except three, one of which had been struck by shrapnel; the two remaining had lost their gun commanders and most of their personnel.  Over 100,000 rounds were fired.  After the barrage had closed, S.O.S. lines were taken up.  During the afternoon it was reported to the C.O. that the Germans were massing for a counter attack in Friesland Copse, nearly a mile west of Passchendaele village.  A runner was despatched to battery positions and in 15 minutes fire was brought to bear on the target which resulted in German shell fire which caused more casualties and 3 guns put out of action.  The S.O.S. went up about Stand To that evening and all guns again fired.

Fire was maintained intermittently throughout the night and the day of the 10th was spent in getting up ammunition, 300,000 rounds being carried to gun positions.  About 1630 the enemy opened up on battery positions and the guns again opened fire. Hostile shelling put 2 guns of No. 3 section out of action and reduced their personnel to 5 men.  This section was therefore withdrawn and the Company was relieved by the Divisional New Zealand Machine Gun Company during the night.  The 66th Division repulsed a counter-attack and during the night was relieved by the 3rd Australian Divisiion.  The 199th Company assembled at X Camp St. Jean where after a short rest the Company marched to transport lines West of Ypres and then proceeded to Warrington Camp near Brandhoek to very comfortable billets moving further West to Winnezeele on the 16th October where the Company remained until the end of the month.

Harry Hirons was one of those killed on the 10th October 1917 almost certainly by German shell-fire.  The exact position of the gun position is not established but it was probably at least a mile from Passchendaele village itself;  the whole offensive of the 9th October had achieved very little, the number of casualties was high and the capture of Passchendaele seemed very far off.  The Machine Gun Corps (Infantry) sustained 47 other ranks killed in action on the 10th October 1917 although not all of these would have served in 199th Machine Gun Company.

He was awarded the Victory and British War Medals.
 

John Matthews Rifleman No Z/2347 3rd Battalion Rifle Brigade.  Died of Wounds 25th March 1918.  Buried Rosieres British Cemetery, Vauvillers, Somme, 21 miles East of Amiens.  Records 59 UK burials all fell between March 23rd - 26th 1918 during the German offensive. 

Son of Mr and Mrs William Matthews of Churchover, Rugby.  Born and Enlisted Rugby whilst residing in Churchover.

In 1901 William Matthews (aged 39) a Platelayer on Midland Rail was living at 50 Churchover with his wife Alice (aged 46) and children Walter 12, Charles 10, Edith 8, John 6 and Arthur 3.

John Matthews was among the first to go from Churchover enlisting at Rugby on the 2nd September 1914 and went to France on the 1st April 1915 where he was wounded in the 2nd Battle of Ypres on 5th May 1915.  After being some time in hospital in Manchester he was stationed at Minster, Isle of Sheppey and went out to France again in June 1917.  After seeing some very heavy fighting he came home on leave in February 1918 and rejoined his Battalion only a fortnight before he was mortally wounded.

At the outbreak of War, on the 4th August 1914 the 3rd Battalion Rifle Brigade was stationed at Cork eventually landing at St. Nazaire, France on the 12th September 1914 as part of 17th Brigade, 6th Division.  On the 14th October 1915 the 17th Brigade was transferred to the 24th Division remaining with that Division until the Armistice.

The Riga German Offensive in early September 1917 led to the Russian collapse, hostilities on the Eastern Front formally ending on the 15th December 1917 but before then the Germans had begun the process of transferring divisions and artillery from Russia to the Western Front.  It was also appreciated by the Allies that a massive assault upon the Allied line was probable before the arrival of significant American reinforcements.

At the Rapallo Conference on the 9th November 1917 the Supreme War Council was established originally no more than a consultative committee established to co-ordinate support for the Italian Front following the defeat at Caporetto, the Council became a means for the governments of Great Britain and France to increase their strategic authority over military commanders.  The first members were Generals Ferdinand Foch (France), Henry Wilson (Britain), Tasker Bliss (U.S.A.) and Luigi Cadorna (Italy).

By order of the War Cabinet a reorganisation of all British divisions in France was effected:  the divisional infantry establishment was reduced from 12 to 9 battalions by removing one battalion from each Brigade.  This resulted inter alia in the disbandment of a number of battalions the personnel being allocated to bring other battalions up to strength. In January 1918 the Supreme War Council ordered Field Marshal Haig to take over from the French a sector of some 28 miles from St. Quentin to the south.

In the Winter of 1917/1918 a new defence philosophy emerged giving flexibility in place of rigid trench lines to be held at all costs.  A front-line defence system was to be regarded as an outpost line, the Forward Zone, held in some degree of strength with redoubts at intervals but such as to require the enemy to commit substantial numbers of troops and a bombardment to pass through to reach the front of the Battle Zone.  This was envisaged as a strong defence system sited in the best possible position, unlike the Forward Zone which was often the place reached at the culmination of an attack and not really suitable for defence anyway.  The Battle Zone was to be sited 2000/3000 yards behind the Forward Zone and some 2000/3000 yards in width.  Only the Forward Zone had to be manned all the time by battalions serving on a rotation basis; for the Battle Zone most of the defenders remained in billets nearby, working on the defences or training but ready to man the Zone if an attack was believed to be imminent.  In so far as the Forward Zone was concerned, the troops could move back to the Battle Zone if necessary but the Battle Zone was to be held at all costs. There was a somewhat uneven distribution of Divisions of the B.E.F., with Second Army furthest to the North in the Ypres sector having 12 Divisions for a frontage of 23 miles, First Army with 14 Divisions for 33 miles, Third Army 14 Divisions for 28 miles and Fifth Army 12 Infantry and 3 Cavalry Division for 42 miles.  But the Fifth Army could retreat if necessary whilst if for example the Second Army did, this would expose the vital Channel ports.

For their part the Germans resolved to use the opportunity of their increased strength to seek a success on the battlefield and the decision to attack was initiated at a conference in November 1917, confirmed in January 1918 codenamed “Michael”, directed against the British front either side of St. Quentin from the River Oise in the South, and North to the River Scarpe East of Arras, Fifth and Third Armies Fronts.

Reconnaisance by the Royal Flying Corps at the beginning of 1918 showed a growth of new hospitals and aerodromes on the 5th Army Front as well as roads, railways and bridges being constructed or improved.  But where and when was still uncertain.  According to Sir Hubert Gough “The Fifth Army” in late January he learned that General Von Hutier had appeared on the Front in command of the German 18th Army whose service had been continuously on the Russian front where he had been responsible for many large-scale and highly successful attacks and did his presence on 5th Army Front mean an attack of similar nature?  General Von Hutier’s presence came to light because, following the shooting down of a young German airman who died in the British lines, his name and location of his aerodrome was discovered (and no doubt this information was conveyed to the Germans by a note being dropped into the German lines).  A few weeks later in an obscure Baden newspaper a letter from Von Hutier addressed to the mother of the airman was published giving the indication that he had arrived on the Front.

Before dawn on the morning of the 21st March 1918, at 4.50 a.m., the enemy’s guns opened fire on the Third and Fifth Front.  Shells of all calibres fell thick and fast on the British gun positions whilst the rear areas were shelled with long-range guns.  Large numbers of gas shells were used.  As dawn broke a dense mist obscured the whole battlefield hiding S.O.S. signals sent up from the front-line trenches, and also preventing the machine gunners from obtaining the field of vision necessary for the effective working of their guns.  The German assaulting troops began to advance in mass formations in enormous numbers in practically continuous lines.

On the 12th March 1918 the 3rd Battalion the Rifle Brigade had relieved dismounted cavalry in the Vadencourt sector with Battalion H.Q. in Cookers Quarry, the 17th Brigade being the left brigade of the 24th Division with the 72nd Brigade on its right and the 199th Brigade (66th Division) on its left.  The Battalion was in the right sub-sector of the brigade front with the 1st Battalion Royal Fusiliers in the left sub-sector.  On the 20th March information as received that the enemy intended to attack on the morning of the 21st and that a heavy bombardment including gas shelling was to be expected.

On the 21st March 1918 the 3rd Battalion was in the outpost line in the Battle Zone facing north-east between Bellenglise (about 4 miles north of St. Quentin) and Le Verguier (about 3 miles west of Bellenglise) when at 4.40 a.m. the enemy opened an intense bombardment, Vadencourt itself (some 3 ½ miles south west of Bellenglise) and the area where Battalion H.Q. was established being particularly hit.  All telephone communication forward of Battalion H.Q. went in the first few minutes and the fog prevented any use of visual signalling and rendered the strong machine-gun and Lewis gun defences useless.  The Brigade had not long taken over the line and the golden rule wire first , dug-outs second and trenches third had not been followed.  By the end of the day the Battalion had been pushed back, although heavy casualties had been inflicted on the enemy, to a line west of Battalion H.Q.

The 3rd Battalion held this line during the night of 21st/22nd March but Le Verguier had to be abandoned to the enemy the 8th Queen’s Royal (West Surrey) Regiment withdrawing to save capture a general retirement west was ordered the Battalion being ordered to move via Flechin at about noon.  Flechin is some 3 miles south west of Le Verguier. There orders were receive to continue the retirement  via Vraignes to Merancourt and then Montecourt on the north bank of the Omignon River where accommodation in huts was found for the night.  By then all ranks were somewhat exhausted, having fought for about 36 hours with little chance of food and having to wear gas-masks continuously for 4 hours.

At 4 a.m. on the 23rd March 1918 the Battalion was ordered to take up a position in reserve to the Brigade behind the village of Monchy-Lagache, the other side of the River, and after a night march was in position west of the village of Flez to cover the retirement of the troops of several divisions over the bridge over the Somme River, a river with marshy banks, and the Somme canal at Falvy and then retire itself.  The river and the canal in this region runs north to south from Peronne to Ham across the line of the German advance which it was thought, at least by G.H.Q. could be utilised to stop the German advance hence at 5 p.m. on the 23rd March G.H.Q. teleponed an order “Fifth Army will hold the line of the Somme river at all costs.  There will be no withdrawal from this line.” However at the very time of despatch of the order the line of the Somme had been lost.

By the time the turn of the 3rd Battalion came to cross the enemy could be seen coming on in masses over a distant ridge. Falvy is some 8 miles north west of Ham.  In spite of being enfiladed by the enemy who had gained possession of the heights to the south-east of Falvy the Battalion was able to withdraw successfully.  Despite exhaustion it was necessary to get a Hill between the Battalion and the canal and so the retirement continued to Licourt about 2 miles West of the Somme where the night of 23rd/24th March was spent, dinner being accompanied by bursts of shrapnel which did no harm!

On the 24th March the remnants of the 17th Brigade including the 3rd Battalion were ordered to move west to Chaulnes about 4 ½ miles west of Licourt the enemy having forced the crossing of the Somme and advancing;  the Brigade was ordered to take up position for the defence of Chaulnes.  This it did, the Battalion being in brigade reserve and its C.O. being in command of Chaulnes defences.  That evening the town was heavily shelled.  Also that evening 8th Division informed the 25th Brigade that, next morning ,the 25th Brigade in conjunction with the French, the 24th Division and the 24th Brigade (8th Division) would carry out an attack in front of Licourt having as its aim to recapture the line of the Somme.

The 25th Brigade, which included the 2nd Battalion of the Rifle Brigade, received orders for the attack at 3.30 a.m. on the 25th March indicating zero hour would not be before 8 a.m.   The line of the attack by 24th Division was to be north-easterly and the movement of troops exposed a dangerous gap on the right so when the enemy attacked at about 6.15 a.m. before long the line had been penetrated and the Germans were advancing rapidly on a wide front towards Dreslincourt and Pertain about 2 miles east of Chaulnes.

Oddly at 1020 a.m. the 17th Brigade heard that zero hour for the attack was at 10 a.m.!  Early in the morning the 3rd Battalion was ordered forward and took up positions around Omiecourt about 2 miles east of Chaulnes but in the evening a retirement back to Chaulnes was ordered, from which there was to be no withdrawal.

Rifleman John Matthews was admitted into probably a field hospital on the 25th March 1918 suffering from wounds in the neck and right arm and died that day.  It seems probable that he was wounded in the attempt to stem the German advance on Chaulnes.

There were two other casualties on the 25th March, Rifleman M. Berg who was killed in action, has no known grave and is commemorated on the Pozieres Memorial and Rifleman A W Poulter who died of wounds and is buried also in Rosieres British Cemetery.

The 3rd Battalion spent the night of the 25th/26th March in Chaulnes and then at 9.30 a.m. on the 26th March a Staff Officer from 24th division arrived and as two other brigades of the division had withdrawn owing to a gap on the southern  flank of the division the 17th Brigade and the 3rd Battalion followed suit the Brigade concentrating at Vrely 5 miles south west of Chaulnes with the town of Rosieres about a mile to the north. 

Rifleman Matthews was awarded the Victory and British War Medals and the 1915 Star.




 Frank Sutton Guardsman No 20862 3rd Battalion Grenadier Guards.  Killed in action aged 27 years between 14th and 17th September 1916.  Commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial, Somme, France.  Commemorates 72,100 officers and men of the United Kingdom and South African forces who have no known grave who fell in the Somme sector in the period between the arrival of British units in 1915 and 20th March 1918 but the vast majority are of the July to November 1916 battle.

 Born Churchover in 1889, son of the late Mrs Fanny Elizabeth Sutton of School Street Churchover. Enlisted Rugby.  In 1901 Fanny Sutton aged 37, a Laundress, was living at 11 Bothy Houses, Churchover with sons Frank aged 12, George aged 10 and Willie aged 5 years.  Frank Sutton was working in Coton House gardens when he enlisted.  George and Willie Sutton also served in the Great War but seemingly survived.   Frank Sutton was liked and respected by all who knew him. 

The Battalion was in Wellington Barracks on the 4th August 1914 remaining in England until landing at Havre on the 27th July 1915. Frank Sutton landed with his Battalion.

In a letter dated the 13th July 1915 Lord Kitchener advised Sir John French that the King had approved the formation of a Guards Division actually formed in August 1915.  There were three Brigades. The 1st Guards Brigade consisted of the 2nd Grenadier Guards, the 2nd and 3rd Coldstream Guards and the 1st Irish Guards. The 2nd Guards Brigade consisted of the 1st Coldstream Guards, the 1st   Scots Guards, the 3rd Grenadier Guards and the 2nd  Irish Guards. The 3rd Guards Brigade consisted of the 1st Grenadier Guards, 2nd Scots Guards, 4th Grenadier Guards and the 1st Welsh Guards (itself formed following a Royal Warrant of 26th February 1915). The Pioneer Battalion was the 4th Coldstream Guards.

The Division’s first major involvement was the Battle of Loos in September 1915. The Division remained in the Laventie Sector which extended from near Richebourg l’Avoue to Fleurbaix in the Winter of 1915 – 1916 before moving North to the Ypres Salient in mid February 1916.  The Division remained in that Sector before going South to the Somme sector at the end of July 1916.

Initially the Division was billeted in the area Bouquemaison-Lucheux-Halloy with Divisional Headquarters at Doullens and found itself for the time being in XIV Corps reserve.  On the 8th August 1916 orders were received and on the 9th August the Division began the relief of a brigade of the 6th Division and the whole of the 25th Division and the relief was completed by the 11th August with the three Brigades holding the sector which faced the German positions from west of Beaumont Hamel to a point opposite Serre.  Divisional HQ had been transferred to Bertrancourt.  About the middle of August XIV Corps was moved from the Reserve Army south to the Fourth Army so eventually divisional headquarters was opened at Treux, about 3 miles south west of Albert, with the 1st Brigade at Meaulte, the 2nd at Morlancourt and the 3rd at Vignacourt.  In the course of operations from the 3rd to the 5th September, in which the Guards Division did not participate, the capture of the village of Guillemont and Falfemont Farm south east of Guillemont was achieved and this plus the seizure of Leuze Wood and the south-eastern portion of Delville Wood broke a barrier which had delayed the British advance for seven weeks.  For the next ten days the Division remained in corps reserve but the opportunity was utilized to give the troops as much training as was possible, with every phase in an attack upon the enemy’s prepared positions rehearsed by the battalions.

This was the battle of Flers – Coucelette conceived as a multi-divisional push on a frontage that stretched from Reserve Army’s sector near Thiepval to the East across the whole of Fourth Army’s front to Leuze Wood (West of Combles) a distance of about 6 miles following the British front line from west of Thiepval (49th Division) to south west of Combles (56th Division) with the French Sixth Army to the right of Fourth Army to attack on the same day, 15th September 1916, the British effort to be supported by the first use of Tanks.

On the 3rd September a conference was held at divisional headquarters at which Major General Feilding outlined the general plan which was so soon as the line Leuze Wood-Ginchy had been secured, the Guards, 6th and 56th Divisions should attack the enemy’s positions between Ginchy and Flers in order to gain possession of the line Morval-Lesboeufs-Gueudecourt, in conjunction with a French advance on the right.  Two Guards brigades were to be used in the initial attack with the third in divisional reserve.  The advance would have to take place on a narrow front of probably not more than 1,000 yards.  The brigade in reserve was to move forward as closely as possible behind the leading brigades.

 On the 8th September 3rd Guards Brigade H.Q. was established at Carnoy and the following evening orders were received for the Brigade to relieve the 47th and 48th Infantry Brigades which had sustained severe casualties in an attack upon Ginchy.  At 8 p.m. on the 9th September the 3rd Brigade moved forward from Carnoy but the relief of units of the 47th Brigade which lay south east of Ginchy was not completed until 5 a.m. in the 10th September.  The relief of the 48th Infantry Brigade was completed about 3.30 a.m. but the position on the outskirts of Ginchy was precarious as the Germans made a counter-attack at the time that the Welsh Guards took over the line which was on the north of Ginchy and facing north-east.

On the 12th September the bombardment for the attack began but the weather although fine in the morning deteriorated later in the day and persisted through most of the next day, the 13th, hampering the efforts of the Royal Flying Corps spotting for the artillery which certainly reduced the effectiveness of the bombardment although on the 14th September the weather cleared allowing uninterrupted shelling of the German lines.

During the night of the 12th-13th September the 3rd Guards Brigade was relieved in the line by the 1st and 2nd Guards Brigades so that the front of the Guards Division was then held by the two brigades which were to carry out the attack on the Guedecourt-Lesboeufs-Morval line fixed for the 15th September.  The Guards Division were given Four objectives.  First the Green Line which lay up to about 1000 yards north and north-east of Ginchy.  Next the Brown line a further 500 yards an objective only for the 1st Guards Brigade in the left sector, the line touching the southern edge of the village of  Flers.  The third objective was the blue line which was 800 to 1000 yards east of the brown line being about 2/3rds of the distance between Ginchy and Lesboeufs but ran to the North of Flers and finally the red line which ran East of the German held villages of Morval, Lesboeufs and Gueudecourt.

There was no front trench system to accommodate the assembly of troops, so the various positions of assembly for the battalions of the two attacking brigades were laid out with tapes by the Royal Engineers but there were few casualties from the German artillery and machine-gun fire during the night as the various commanding officers had avoided as much as possible the areas usually bombarded by the enemy’s gunners.

The front of the 1st Guards Brigade was held by the 2nd and 3rd Battalions of the Coldstream Guards with the 2nd Grenadier Guards and the 1st Irish Guards behind and was on the Northern edge of the remains of the village of Ginchy, the 2nd Coldstream Guards being in the orchard in the North East corner of the village. The line of advance of the 2nd Coldstream Guards was approximately to the North East, that of the 3rd Coldstream Guards North.  The front of the 2nd Guards Brigade was held by the 3rd Grenadier Guards and the 1st Coldstream Guards with the 1st Scots Guards and 2nd Irish Guards behind and was on the Eastern edge of the village.  The line of advance of  both Grenadier Guards Battalion was again North East towards Lesboeufs.  Ten tanks were detailed to co-operate with the Guards and gaps of 100 yards in width were to be left in the creeping barrage to allow of the forward movement of the tanks to the first and second objectives with the attacking troops being instructed on no account to wait for the tanks as it was not expected that they would exceed a pace of 15 yards a minute over heavily shelled ground.

Throughout the night of the 14th – 15th September the British heavy artillery maintained a continuous bombardment of the enemy’s positions opposite and at 6.20 a.m., zero hour, on the 15th September the creeping barrage came down and the two Guards brigades moved forward to the attack.

The first objective or Green line for the 3rd Battalion was about 600 yards away and lay over a ridge and it was hoped this would be reached without any serious opposition but the ground in and around Ginchy was a battered mass of irregular ridges and shell-holes which overlapped and stretched away in the early morning mist and the barrage ahead and the enemy’s shells falling all round made it impossible to distinguish anything, let alone the Lesbouefs road or the church at Lesboeufs.  Soon after it started off the Battalion came on  unexpected intermediate lines, but even though no more than connected shell-holes these had served to shelter a number of Germans who fought with the utmost bravery before being shot or bayoneted.  This caused little delay but brought on the men in the rear.  During this stage Captain A K Mackenzie and Lieutenant Raymond Asquith were both mortally wounded.  While these intermediate lines were being cleared heavy machine-gun fire was opened on the right flank where the Sixth Division had been held up at the start.  The tanks which were to have flattened out the wire and helped the advance never appeared with the result that when the troops of the 2nd Guards Brigade crossed over the Ginchy ridge they were in view of the enemy’s lines and the Brigade was committed to hard and continuous fighting in a difficult position and by that stage the Brigade had got very mixed up continuing its advance as a brigade rather than as four battalions.  With the right flank of the Brigade completely exposed a company of the 3rd Battalion was thrown out as a defensive flank and in spite of casualties the 3rd Battalion with the 1st Battalion Scots Guards reached the first objective and began to secure it the German garrison offering comparatively little resistance.  The Division, as a Division, had swept everything in front of it, although not quite in the order as planned but parts of the German trenches remained untouched.

The failure of the 6th Division to take the German strongpoint of the Quadrilateral meant that as soon as attacking lines showed themselves they were met by sweeping fire from the enemy’s machine-guns on the right flank and were mown down.

With the first objective finally secured the advance towards the second objective began.  On the extreme right no progress was possible but towards the centre the 3rd Battalion Grenadiers reached a position which was assumed to be the second objective but was in fact according to Aeroplane reports half-way between the first and second objectives.

As to whether it would have been possible to push on at once into Lesboeufs itself accounts vary, those in front thought that if reinforcements had come up the village would have fallen but it was not appreciated that the right of the Guards Division was totally unprotected and the further the Division advanced the more perilous its position became.  Seeing the Germans retiring hastily towards Bapaume and withdrawing their field guns resulted in a small group from the Scots Guards, the Irish Guards and the 3rd Battalion of the Grenadiers pressing on towards Lesboeufs a further 800 yards reaching an unoccupied trench at the bottom of a gully where they sent back messages for re-inforcements but none came and eventually the Germans finding that the British attack had spent itself began returning and attacked this group from all sides culminating in a group of about 250 German troops rushing the trench held by about 100 British troops who nonetheless fought their way back to the main British line.

Whilst Brigadier General J. Ponsonby pressed for the 3rd Guards Brigade (Brigadier General C E Corkran) to be sent up, reports which reached Major General G P T Feilding from aircraft reconnaissance showed that the troops in front were not in the positions ascribed to them and with reports of Germans massing between Morval and Lesboeufs and the situation on both flanks of the Guards Division not satisfactory, only the 4th Battalion Grenadier Guards was ordered to reinforce the 2nd Guards Brigade by strengthening the right flank.  All that night the right flank of the 2nd Guards Brigade was being bombed with at one time a Company of the 3rd Battalion standing back to back firing both ways.

The next day, September 16th, the 2nd Guards Brigade was relieved by the 61st Infantry Brigade, the 3rd Battalion on the 20th September moving into bivouacs at Carnoy where it remained until the second attack of the Guards Division on the 25th September.  The line actually reached by the  two Guards brigades on the 15th September approximated to the blue line from a point on the Ginchy – Lesbouefs road to a point on the Ginchy – Guedecourt road, in front of the villages of Morval, Lesboeufs and Gueudecourt.

The percentage of officers killed and wounded in the 3rd Battalion was exceptionally high; out of 22 officers who went into action, 9 were killed and 8 wounded.

Lieutenant C G Gardner died on the 14th September 1916 and is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial to the Missing.
Lieutenant W A Stainton died on the 14th September 1916 and is also commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial.
Lieutenant Raymond Asquith died on the 15th September aged 37 years and is buried in Guillemont Road Cemetery Guillemont.
2nd Lieutenant George Dewar Jackson died aged 19 years on the 15th September and is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial.
Captain A K Mackenzie died on the 16th September aged 29 years and is buried in Corbie Communal Cemetery Extension.
Lieutenant E H J Wynne died aged 22 years on the 16th September and is buried in La Neuville British Cemetery, Corbie.
Captain the Honr. Richard Philip Stanhope died aged 31 years on the 16th September and is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial. 2nd Lieutenant Evelyn Godfrey Worsley died aged 31 years on the 17th September and is buried in Corbie Communal Cemetery Extension and finally Captain Geoffrey George Gunnis died aged 20 years on the 13th October 1916 and is buried in St. Sever Cemetery, Rouen.
Amongst other ranks there were 395 casualties of whom 134 died and Private Frank Sutton was one of those killed in this action.

He was awarded the Victory and British War Medals and the 1915 Star.

Martin Victor Towers Private No. 10739 5th Battalion Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry.  Died of wounds 27th September 1915.  Buried Etaples Military Cemetery, Pas de Calais, France.   Etaples was the site of vast British reinforcement camps and hospitals being remote from attack except by air-craft.  Records 8,767 UK., 1,122 Can., 461 Aust., 261 NZ., 67 SA., 28 B.W.I., 18 Newfld., 5 Ind., 1 USA., 2 Belg., 47 Port., 1 Chin., 655 German burials and 11 special memorials.

 Elder son of Thomas Towers a farmer of Harborough Fields Farm Churchover and Elizabeth Towers of Harborough Magna, Rugby.  Prior to enlistment he assisted his father on the farm.  Enlisted Rugby residence Churchover.

  In 1901  Thomas Towers (38), Farmers Brother, was living at 2 Harborough Fields Cottage, Harborough Magna with his wife Elizabeth (34) and sons Martin aged (5) and Thomas (2).  Thomas Towers brother  Joseph Towers, a Farmer, lived at 1 Harborough Fields Farm with his wife Ada and 5 children and 1 servant.
Martin’s brother Thomas Towers also served in the Great War.

When war was declared on 4th August 1914 the British Army consisted of the Regular Army, with its Reserve and Special Reserve, and the Territorial Force.  The Prime Minister Mr Asquith was also acting as Secretary of State for War, a post he subsequently passed on to Field Marshal Earl Kitchener of Khartoum on 5th August.  On the day he assumed his duties Lord Kitchener asked Parliament to authorise an additional 500,000 men for the Army.  On 11th August his proclamation headed “Your King and Country need you.   A call to Arms” was published and called for some 100,000 men aged between 19 and 30 to enlist.  Within two weeks the required number had come forward and new Service Battalions were formed.  Private Towers was one of the first to enlist, in fact on the 28th August 1914. This Army was called K1 and the 5th Battalion was in K1 and formed at Oxford in August 1914.  It was in 42nd Brigade part of the 14th Division and landed at Boulogne on the 21st May 1915.  Private Martin Towers was with the 9th Battalion when it went to France.  The other Battalions in the 42nd Brigade were the 5th Battalion, Kings Shropshire Light Infantry; 9th Battalion, King’s Royal Rifle Corps and 9th Battalion the Rifle Brigade.  The 42nd Brigade moved North to the Ypres Salient and the Battalion was in the trenches in the area of Railway Wood on Bellewaarde Ridge for spells in June, July, August and September 1915.

  In June 1915 the British Army extended its line to the south, to include the area from the La Bassee Canal to Loos. The French Commander in Chief General Joffre  proposed attacks in the Autumn of 1915 in the Champagne area with 14 divisions and required the British to attack near the mining village of Loos.  The area was entirely unsuitable for an assault the sector being flat and with little cover dominated by slag heaps from the coal mines which gave the Germans observation over the area and strong points from which they could sweep the area with machine-gun fire but several pressing reasons compelled the British to agree to the attack.  The Germans had launched a massive offensive on the Eastern Front and the Russian ally had lost 750,000 men; the Italians who had come into the war on the side of the Allies in May 1915 had been hard hit on their front, and the Gallipoli campaign had proved to be a failure.  The date for the offensive was finally agreed as the 25th September 1915 after an artillery bombardment for four days, the British Commander Sir John French electing to make up for his deficiency in guns by the use of poisonous gas and smoke. On the southern sector of the British sector two Divisions, the 47th and 15th (Scottish) were employed whilst to the north of the 15th Division was the 1st Division whose northern boundary was the Vermelles-Hulluch road and north of that road were the 7th, 9th (Scottish) and 2nd Divisions. It was decided to undertake subsidiary operations, with the purpose of deceiving the enemy as to the real direction of the main attack.  For this object the 3rd and 14th Divisions were to carry out an attack on the enemy’s trenches north and south of Bellewaarde Lake, just north of Hooge, in the Ypres Salient some 50 kilometres North of Loos.

The attack was directed on a frontage of 2000 yards against the German position about Hooge and on Bellewaarde ridge and commenced at 0420 on the 25th September 1915.  The right attack astride the Ypres – Menin road was pre-ceded by the successful firing of two pairs of mines under the German front trench.  Simultaneously with the mine explosion sections of the Royal Engineers rushed forward and cut the wire entanglements with gun–cotton in Bangalore torpedoes.  The attack was launched by the 3rd Division.  South of the road the German front trench was taken in the first rush, but further progress could not be made and during the afternoon the enemy concentrated a heavy artillery fire on the captured position followed by an advance of strong bombing parties and the trench had to be evacuated.  North of the road the efforts of the 7th Brigade to take the ruins of Hooge chateau and force its way into the strong work at the south-west corner of Bellewaarde Lake were unsuccessful, uncut wire and numerous machine guns defeating the successive attempts.

The left attack made by the 14th Division gained a footing in the German front trench across Bellewaarde ridge at three different points and in places reached the support trench.  In first line were the 5th  Shropshire Light Infantry, the 5th Oxford and Bucks and the 9th Rifle Brigade.  Bellewaarde Farm itself was not carried and the efforts of these isolated parties to bomb the Germans out of the intervening parts of the line had not been successful before the Germans delivered a strong counter attack.  This bore hardest on the 9th Rifle Brigade near Railway Wood and in spite of the support of 9th Kings Royal Rifle Corps the Rifle Brigade was forced back to its original trenches, only retaining possession of the crater of the mine that had been sprung just before the attack.  This initial success enabled the Germans to concentrate on the parties of the other two battalions which had established themselves further south and ultimately these after being subjected to a further artillery bombardment were compelled to withdraw.

All three subsidiary attacks had thus ended with the assaulting troops back in their original trenches mainly because the British hand-grenades were inferior both in quality and number to those of the enemy.  No German reinforcements other than local supports had been required to meet them and they therefore had not had the desired influence on the main battle south of the La Bassee canal.

The total casualties in the 14th Division were 54 Officers and 1,747 Other Ranks.

Private Thomas Towers had been dangerously wounded in the brain by a bullet and his parents were advised was unconscious in 3rd Canadian Hospital at Etaples, one of 16 Hospitals at Etaples, but he later died.

Private Towers was awarded the Victory and British War Medals and the 1915 Star.  He is also commemorated on the War Memorial at Harborough Magna.    


John Henry Webb Sergeant No Z/2343 Rifle Brigade (The Prince Consort’s Own) attached 2/2nd Battalion King’s African Rifles.  Distinguished Conduct Medal.  Died 6th February 1918.  Buried in Dar-es- Salaam War Cemetery, Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania (formerly German East Africa).  Became Tanganyika after 1918.  This Cemetery was created in 1968 when the 660 First World War graves at Dar Es Salaam (Ocean Road) Cemetery had to be moved to facilitate the construction of a new road.  During the early 1970s a further 100 graves were brought into this site from cemeteries all over Tanzania where maintenance could no longer be assured.  The Cemetery now contains 1,764 Commonwealth burials of the First World War, 60 of them unidentified, and 41 from the Second World War, 7 of them unidentified.  There are 112 war graves of other nationalities, the majority of them Belgian and German, from the First World War.

 Prior to the war he was under-gamekeeper for Mr Leo Bonn of Newbold Revel.  Memorial Service held at Churchover on 14th February 1918.  In 1901  Charles Webb a Waggoner on a Farm aged 41 was living at 34 Churchover with his wife Sarah aged 40 and John 17; Fred 15; Lucy 11; Gertrude 8; Violet 6; Mildred 4.

John Webb went to France on the 18th March 1915 as a Private to join the 4th Battalion of the Rifle Brigade.

On the 4th August 1914 the 4th Battalion was stationed at Dagshai in India, sailing from Bombay for the U.K. in mid October and on arrival in England joined the 80th Brigade, 27th Division, landing at Havre on the 21st December 1914.  The Battalion first went into the line on the 6th January 1915 taking over from the French near St. Eloi with the harsh weather conditions bearing severely upon men fresh from India.  St.Eloi is at the northern end of Messines Ridge with the German front line south of the village itself:  the British front line was made up of a series of forward posts and supporting trenches with barricades in the village itself, and the defences incorporated a large artificial knoll known as the Mound.  On the 14th March 1915 the Germans exploded a mine under the Mound and opened a violent bombardment capturing the defences of St. Eloi and entering the village itself from troops of the 82nd Brigade.  The 80th Brigade was brought forward and this included the 4th Battalion from billets near Poperinghe which at 3 a.m. on the 15th March without artillery support began the counter attack which led after heavy fighting to clearing the enemy from the village itself leaving only the Mound in German hands, 5 officers and 28 other ranks being killed or dying from wounds, 4 officers and 59 other ranks wounded and 1 officer and 6 other ranks missing.

During the first weeks of April 1915 the British Expeditionary Force took over nearly 5 miles of the front being the sector from the Ypres – Comines Canal south east of Ypres itself north to a position East of Zonnebeke near the village of Broodseinde from the French, the 4th Battalion relieving the French in trenches to the south side of Polygon Wood alternating with Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry.  By that date Private Webb was with the Battalion.  On the 20th April 1915 a heavy bombardment by the enemy with a 17 inch howitzer of the town of Ypres began causing considerable damage and loss of life which continued the next day.  On the 22nd April with the bombardment continuing the Battalion was in bivouacs near Brielen, just north west of Ypres, when civilians began coming across the fields from Ypres followed later in the day by French colonial troops hurrying away from what transpired to be the first use by the Germans of poisonous gas in the area of Langemarck north east of Ypres.  Reserve battalions from all parts of the Salient were arriving at the threatened sector and the Battalion was directed to stand by in Potijze Wood close to Divisional Headquarters.  Later in the day the Battalion was moved down to the canal bank and sent to hold the entire front of 13th Brigade (held by skeleton battalions) digging to construct a defensible system east of the canal and in the area of Lancashire, Fusilier and Turco Farms where they remained until the 1st May when the Battalion was directed to Sanctuary Wood to join the 82nd Brigade as a working party for trench digging then being ordered to 80th Brigade at Hooge, to take over a new front-line system on the Bellewaarde spur before the evacuation of the Polygon Wood salient on the 4th/5th May the 4th Battalion’s sector then being between the Menin Road and Bellewaarde Lake. It soon became apparent that this new position was commanded from the ground that had been given up. On the 6th May the enemy hurried up his artillery and machine-guns to little more than point-blank range with the artillery being reinforced by gas shells and heavy machine-gun fire the Battalion losing nearly 150 killed and more than 200 wounded.  For wont of ammunition the Royal Artillery was unable to reply.  On the 8th May the Battalion was in dug-outs behind Bellewaarde Lake waiting to relieve Princess Patricia’s Canadians in the left sector of the front.  Early on the morning of the 9th an intense German bombardment began so sustained as to be the prelude to nothing less than a general attack, the Battalion’s machine-guns were hurried forward to support Princess Patricia’s Light Infantry and later in the day two companies of the Battalion were sent forward to help.  The German attack continued on the 10th May with the British trenches blotted out and the men in shell-holes or behind anything that gave a measure of cover but whilst driven back to support trenches behind Chateau Wood the Battalion held on and the German advance ended with the Battalion sustaining losses of more than 50 killed and more than 300 wounded, with nearly 50 missing.  The Battalion was relieved by the 5th Dragoon Guards and went back to St. Jean.  In the early morning of the 24th May the enemy attacked again along the Bellewaarde spur driving back units of the 28th Division;  the 80th Brigade was brought forward and the 4thBattalion was detailed to attack with its right on the Menin Road.  Small pads of cotton wool had been issued but the gas shelling was heavy and these proved useless.  The whereabouts of the enemy and the British troops were unknown and the situation on the Brigade flanks was obscure and the whole attack was in fact a failure the 4th Battalion digging in where it stood being taken out of the line on the 26th/27th May at the end of the Second Battle of Ypres moving in June 1915 south to take over the line in the Armentieres sector occupying trenches  at Bois Grenier.

Private John Webb was one of those wounded in the course of the 2nd Battle of Ypres, he being hit by shrapnel with a piece lodging in his stomach and he was eventually taken back to England and to a hospital at Reading by the 5th June 1915.

By the end of November 1915 the 27th Division, which included the 4th Battalion Rifle Brigade, had left France for Salonica where it remained until the end of the War. 

German East Africa occupied modern Rwanda, Burundi and mainland Tanzania (almost a million square kilometres) and was surrounded by British, Belgian and Portuguese territories.  At the outbreak of the First World War modern mainland Tanzania was the core of German East Africa.  From the invasion of April 1915, Commonwealth forces fought a protracted and difficult campaign against a relatively small but highly skilled German force under the command of General von Lettow-Vorbeck.  When the Germans finally surrendered on 23 November 1918, twelve days after the European armistice, their numbers had been reduced to 155 European and 1,168 African troops.  Dar es Salaam was the capital of German East Africa.  On 8 August 1914 the first recorded British action of the war took place here when HMS Astraea shelled the German wireless station and boarded and disabled two merchant ships – the “Konig” and the “Feldmarschall”.  The Royal Navy systematically shelled the city from mid August 1916 and at 8 am on 4th September 1916 the deputy burgomaster was received aboard HMS Echo to accept the terms of surrender.  Troops, headed by the 129th Baluchis, then entered the city.  On the 12 September 1916 Divisional GHQ moved to Dar es Salaam and later No 3 East African Stationary Hospital was stationed there.  The city became the chief sea base for movement of supplies and for the evacuation of the sick and wounded.  On the 1 January 1902 the King’s African Rifles came into being incorporating the original regiments as battalions.  During the Great War there were 21 battalions and at peak strength in July 1918 the K.A.R. numbered 1,193 officers, 1,497 British NCOs and 30,658 Africans.  Casualties amounted to 5,117 with a further 3,039 died of disease.

After recovery from the wounds John Webb went to German East Africa where he helped in the campaign to drive the Germans into Portuguese territory.  He was promoted to acting Company Sergeant Major and was attached to the King’s African Rifles with a principal role of training the native troops to train natives.

He died of enteric fever on the 6th February 1918.

The Citation in the London Gazette dated 3rd October 1918 for the D.C.M. is in the following terms “For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty.  He has commanded several patrols with great determination and success.  This N.C.O. is always ready to volunteer for any duty of an adventurous nature, and is an ideal leader of native patrols.”

In addition to the D.C.M., he was awarded the Victory and British War Medals and the 1915 Star.

 

A scroll in the Church lists the following additional names as soldiers connected with the Parish who are not inscribed on the Memorial itself..

Frank Congreve, Gilbert Newman, Harry Matthews, Harold Langham, Frank Mack and Robert Megson.

Frederick Congreve  Private No 8282 2nd Battalion Leicestershire Regiment.  Killed in action 13th March 1915.  Commemorated Le Touret Memorial, Le Touret, Pas de Calais.  Commemorates 13,479 missing who have no known grave and who fell in the Battles of La Bassee, Neuve-Chapelle, Aubers Ridge and Festubert 1914-1915.  Born Fishtoft, Boston Lincs.  Enlisted Leicester.

It is understood he was the son of J W Congreve, in 1915 a builder in Churchover and Private Congreve was killed in the Battle of Neuve Chapelle 10th - 13th March 1915. 

Gilbert Thomas Sear Newman Acting Bombardier No. 11046 811th Trench Mortar Battery, Royal Horse Artillery and Royal Field Artillery.  Killed in action 9th or 16th October 1916.  Buried Auchonvillers Military Cemetery, Auchonvillers, Somme.  Begun by the French June 1915.  Used by Field Ambs. and fighting units.  Records 496 UK., 24 NZ., 8 Newfld., and 6 French burials.

  Son of Gilbert and Mary Ann Newman of Sandhurst Gloucester.  Born and enlisted Rugby Warwick.

Harry Matthews Private L/11303 7th Battalion Queen’s (Royal West Surrey Regiment).  Killed in action 28th September 1916.  Formerly 10584 East Kent Regiment.  Buried Mill Road Cemetery Thiepval.  2 miles S of Beacourt-Hamel.  Records 1298 UK and 6 special memorials. 

Enlisted Rugby.  Residence Lutterworth.

Harold Alfred Langham Private No L/10590 1st  Battalion The Buffs (East Kent Regiment) died of wounds 23rd March 1917 aged 17 years.  Buried Bethune Town Cemetery, Pas de Calais.  Northern outskirts of the town which was Railway and hospital centre and Corps and Divisional Headquarters.  Records 2,941 UK., 55 Can., 7 Ind., 1 SA and 6 French burials.  Son of Alfred Langham of High Street Hillmorton Rugby.  Born Catthorpe, Leicester, enlisted Rugby residence Hillmorton nr Rugby. 

Private Langham had served with his Battalion in France since May 1916 and in April 1917 it is believed his parents lived in Churchover. 

Frank Mack

No connection with Churchover or the surrounding area established

Robert Megson 

No connection with Churchover or the surrounding area established 
 

The Scroll also records the Second World War 1939 - 1945 casualty.

Cyril Ansty Mortimore Petty Officer No. D/JX133584 Royal Navy.  Died on 19th December 1941 whilst serving on HMS Neptune.  Commemorated on Plymouth Naval Memorial.  In 1920 it was decided that a memorial at each of the manning ports of Chatham, Plymouth and Portsmouth would be the best way of commemorating the 25,000 sailors who had lost their lives in the Great War.   The Plymouth Memorial was unveiled by Prince George on 24th July 1924.   Extensions to the three memorials were designed to take panels bearing the even more numerous names of the 1939 – 1945 War unveiled by Princess Margaret on the 20th May 1954. 

The Cruiser  HMS Neptune commanded by Captain Rory O’Conor was leading “Force K” a Cruiser raiding squadron.  Their task was to destroy German and Italian convoys carrying troops and supplies to Libya in support of Rommel’s army in North Africa.  On the afternoon of December 18th 1941 the squadron was despatched from Malta to intercept an important enemy convoy bound for Tripoli. The three cruisers of “Force K”, the Neptune,. Aurora and Penelope, supported by the destroyers Kandahar, Lance, Lively and Havock,were steaming south, in single line ahead on a dark, story night when at 0106 am, the Neptune  struck a mine.  The Aurora next astern hauled out to starboard but only a minute later she too exploded a mine;  two minutes later an explosion buffeted Penelope’s port side abreast the bridge.  The Neptune going full astern hit another mine, which wrecked her steering gear and propellers and brought her to a standstill.  The cruiser force had run into a minefield in a depth of water and at a distance from land which made it utterly unexpected. The Aurora contrived to turn and steam out of the field without further catastrophe, followed by the Penelope;  Captain Agnew in command of Aurora considered the situation in all its dire gravity.  They were 15 miles from Tripoli and it was nearly dawn.  The damage to Aurora had reduced her maximum speed to 10 knots and his duty was to get her as far from the enemy coast as he could before daylight.  The risk of sending another ship into the minefield to tow the Neptune out was hardly justified but the need to save life made it imperative.  The destroyers Kandahar and Lively then entered the minefield in an attempt to reach the Neptune and tow her out.  Captain Nicholl was also cautiously edging the Penelope towards her when at 0318 the Kandahar struck a mine.  Captain O’Conor of the Neptune flashed a warning “Keep away.”  At 0403 the Neptune struck a fourth mine which exploded amidships.   This was more than her hull could take;  she slowly turned over and sank.  The Penelope and the Lively had to leave.  The dawn found the Kandahar still afloat but submerged from abaft the funnel.  Of possible survivors from the Neptune nothing could be seen.  All day they waited and with the darkness the sea rose.  It carried the Kandahar clear of the minefield but she was listing ominously.  Then at 4 a.m the destroyer Jaguar sent to the rescue from Malta appeared out of the darkness.  With the Jaguar positioning herself upwind of the Kandahar the ship’s company jumped into the water and as the Jaguar drifted slowly down towards them a total of 8 officers and 170 crew were pulled out but 73 men had perished.  With dawn breaking the Jaguar fired a torpedo into the Kandahar to sink her and set out back to Malta.  As to the crew of the Neptune a few men and a few officers including Captain O’Conor got off and onto rafts before the ship capsized  but there was only one survivor Able Seaman Norman Walton who was picked up by an Italian torpedo boat on Christmas Eve and although temporarily blinded by the oil in the water recovered and was a prisoner of war in Italy until June 1943. The remaining 764 officers and men from HMS Neptune lost their lives.