Easenhall is a small village about 3 miles North West of Rugby in Warwickshire.
Easenhall Chapel
Those who laid down their lives in the Great War 1914 – 1918 and recorded on the War Memorial in Easenhall.
The Memorial which consists of a Brass Plaque in the Chapel in Easenhall lists the three who died and another 23 officers and men who served in the Forces in the 1914 – 1918 War.
Brass Plaque
GEORGE FRANK DALE Rifleman No. Z/238 1st Battalion Rifle Brigade (The Prince Consort’s Own). Killed in action 22nd March 1915 aged 18 years. Buried Strand Military Cemetery, Ploegsteert Wood, Western Flanders. Strand Military Cemetery is close to the French border, 4 miles N of Armentieres, S of Ploegsteert Wood. The Cemetery was established near to Strand Trench in October 1914. Records 659 UK., 284 Aust., 77 NZ., 15 Can., 1 S.A., 4 unknown, 4 German burials.
Son of Wallace and Catherine Dale of Easenhall, Rugby. Born, enlisted and in residence in Rugby.
Rifleman Dale had enlisted on the 2nd September 1914 during a recruiting boom in Rugby by the Brigade, aged 19 years and over 6 feet tall. He went out to France on the 26th of January 1915, the Battalion having landed at Havre on the 23rd August 1914 as part of 11th Brigade, 4th Division.
The Battalion participated in the retreat from Mons, the Battle of the Marne and the advance to the River Aisne. It was here that the German armies, in retreat from the River Marne turned to face their pursuers. It was an ideal defensive position, high ground north of the River. The Allies were faced with crossing the River itself to be confronted with German guns in commanding positions on the opposite bank. Units of the BEF and French 5th Army forced their way across the river on the 12th September but there was no possibility of a breakthrough and both the Allies and the Germans began to extend operations northward by seeking to recover a war of movement by striking around the open flank of the other. At the end of September Sir John French suggested to General Joseph Joffre the French Commander in Chief that the British Expeditionary Force should resume its designated pre-war position, on the extreme left flank of the French armies and on the night of 1/2 October 1914 the BEF began to move north leaving the Aisne in great secrecy with the enemy unaware that they had gone.
On the 10th October 1914, III Corps began arriving in the North in the neighbourhood of St Omer from the Aisne but whilst by the evening of the 11th October although all the 6th Division had arrived, part of the 4th Division was still on the way. The Corps was ordered to advance to and concentrate at Hazebrouck 13 miles East of St Omer with the infantry being carried by motor buses to be provided by the French but there were delays and the move was not completed before dark on the 12thOctober 1914. The Battalion, with the rest of 11th Brigade moved East from Hazebrouck being engaged in minor operations in the area of Armentieres until the 22nd October when orders were received to move north to Ploegsteert but these orders were cancelled and the Battalion was ordered to hold the line in the Le Touquet area until the 10th November 1914 when it was relieved finally taking over trenches East of Ploegsteert Wood on the 20th November 1914.
From the 20th November 1914 until 15th April 1915 the Battalion remained in the Ploegsteert Wood sector as part of 11th Brigade, the other Battalions in the Brigade being the 1st Battalion Somerset Light Infantry, 1st East Lancashire Regiment and the 1st Hampshire Regiment.
Whilst before in fact the Battalion arrived in the Ploegsteert sector, on the 25th October 1914 it is recorded of Ploegsteert Wood “the trenches were absolute quagmires … the water and mud were ankle deep in the front lines; by the beginning of November the trenches were knee-deep in slime and filth. The stench from dead bodies often partially buried in the soggy, slimy ground, just as they had fallen, was awful. Unwashed, caked with mud, clothes sodden … aching with rheumatism and the early symptoms of trench feet, verminous and generally in a deplorable condition (the Somersets) held the line with a degree of staunchness, determination and cheerfulness of spirit never surpassed in the whole glorious history of the Army.”
On the 19th December 1915 the Battalion participated in the attack on German positions East of Ploegsteert Wood capturing the strong point German House with the loss of 3 officers and 23 Other Ranks killed in action, and 3 officers and 42 Other Ranks wounded.
A wet January ended with frost and snow, which went on into February but did dry up the mud and reduced casualties because with the communication trenches allowing of progress the temptation to risk crossing the open was less. All the Battalions in the Brigade continued to have casualties but these were less high largely due to the steady improvement of the line, now showing the effect of all the hard work devoted to it. The men were becoming very expert at their work on the trenches “as good as R.E.’s” an officer of the Hampshire Regiment wrote.
Winter conditions in the forward trenches were grim. Trench foot and frostbite were rife, and bronchial infections took a daily toll of men who spent much of their time on duty standing in what were little more than man made ditches. Shelter from the elements was the ultimate consideration, but in a terrain where one was unable to delve underground inadequate and insecure surface built dugouts were obligatory. A direct hit even from the smallest shell was lethal. But there was no choice: the minimum excavation depth before hitting water was less than half a metre. Throughout most of the Ploegsteert sector the British frontline lay at the foot of a forward sloping hill creating a serious localized front-line problem the Ploegsteert and St. Yves positions being doubly hazardous; not only were the front-line trenches overlooked from the Messines Ridge but because of the sloping ground behind the British positions communication routes were glaringly obvious to the enemy and simple to target with artillery. General Headquarters “stay where you are” policy was absurd, and irrational and it would cost many lives. By Christmas 1914 the task of linking up forward posts had started in earnest, substantial quantities of timber, sandbags and corrugated iron required for breastwork construction were now becoming easier to source, not least through the demolition of dozens of shell-damaged farms and houses close to the line. Each night a fresh length of breastwork was added. By the end of March 1915 most gaps had been closed, both front and support lines were practically continuous and a thin belt of barbed wire hung below the parapet along the full length of the sector. Dugouts were constructed in buildings just behind the British front line, perhaps most notably the dugout in the cellar of the St Yves Post Office occupied by Lieutenant Bruce Bairnsfather of the 1st Battalion Royal Warwickshire Regiment the creator of “Old Bill” a cartoon character being a wise and phlegmatic soldier of the “old sweat” variety.
Ironically although sniping and shelling were hardly infrequent (the forward edges of the wood quickly lost their verdant quality), after its bitter and bloody beginnings in October 1914 Ploegsteert became one of the more tranquil sectors of the British Western Front sliding into an environment of mild attrition. From spring 1915 trench raids were regular (when ground conditions suited) shelling particularly of the many hamlets farms and chateaux was common and sniping in particular became highly developed. Conditions behind the lines were being much improved, notably the arrangements for bathing and for providing dry clothing.
Between the end of November 1914 and the re-opening of active operations with the British attack at Neuve Chapelle (March 10th 1915) the Fourth Division’s line changed less and saw less activity than the rest of the front. The Germans were content not to provoke the Division into activity and the Division was in no position to initiate, the water-logged ground largely accounted for this but the Division had so long a front that it could not have collected the force required for a minor enterprise without weakening its defensive strength unduly. A re-arrangement of the Division’s line and of the method of holding it was introduced in early March so that each battalion did six days in trenches and then six either in reserve or support. The Battalion itself moved about 1 mile to St. Yves on the northern outskirts of the wood and this proved a vexing time for the Battalion for “there was a continual stream of orders and counter-orders for moves and readjustments of the line.”
Rifleman Dale was killed during one of the periods when in the front line. The Quarter Master Sergeant of the Company wrote to Mrs Dale “Regret inform you your son killed in action yesterday morning. We all sympathise deeply with you and deplore the loss of a willing and promising young soldier. May lessen pain if you know he died an absolutely painless death. Wm H West CQM Sgt “B” Co Rifle Bde.”
Also on the 22nd March 1915 Rifleman Z/2099 Wilson Hornby was killed in action. On the 23rd March 1915 Rifleman S/4962 Edgar Petitt died of wounds. On the 24th March 1915 Rifleman S/7525 John William Payne was killed in action. All are buried with Rifleman Dale in Strand Military Cemetery and were all members of the 1st Battalion. This suggests that Rifleman Dale, Rifleman Hornby and Rifleman Pettitt were casualties of shell fire on the 22nd March 1915, Riflemen Dale and Hornby being buried almost where they fell whilst Rifleman Petitt dying of wounds the following day and being moved from the trench area itself.
Between the 15th and 23rd April 1915 the 4th Division was relieved by the 48th (South Midland) Territorial Division, the 5th Battalion Gloucestershire Regiment taking over from the 1st Battalion at St. Yves on the 15th, and on relief the Battalion went back to billets in the neighbourhood of Steenwerck for training.
Strand Military Cemetery was begun in October 1914 when two soldiers who died of wounds were buried in October 1914 by an Advanced Dressing Station near a section of a long trench which led into Ploegsteert Wood known as The Strand. There were no further burials made until April 1917 when a proper military cemetery was established in what is now Plots 1 – V1. The main use was after the Armistice when over 750 graves were concentrated in Strand Cemetery from the surrounding battlefields. These included the graves of 13 British soldiers who fell in 1915 and 1916 from Prowse Point Lower Cemetery, Warneton (which was between Prowse Point and Mud Corner Cemeteries) and was made by the 1st Rifle Brigade but the bodies of Rifleman Dale and Rifleman Hornby were recovered in January 1920 from Ford Boyd (in the North East corner of Ploegsteert Wood itself and well to the south-east of Prowse Point) whilst Rifleman Payne was found and recovered from nearby, with Rifleman Pettitt (and Riflemen Albert Edward Collins killed in action 11th April 1915, John Pratt killed in action 31st March 1915 and William Arthur Huggins killed in action 5th April 1915, all serving with the 1st Battalion) were recovered some distance away at Prowse Point Lower Cemetery. Fort Boyd was a fort on the edge of the wood itself which gave some protection from shrapnel and small arms fire but none against direct shelling.
George Dale was awarded the Victory and British War Medals and the 1915 Star.
GEORGE JOHN PLANT Lance Corporal 20724 2nd Battalion Coldstream Guards Military Medal. Died of Wounds 27th August 1918 aged 25 and buried in St Hilaire Cemetery Extension, Frevent, Pas de Calais, France. Frevent was a place of importance on the Line of Communication and this cemetery was used from March to August 1918. It records 266 UK., 24 Canadian, 9 Australian, 3 New Zealand and 2 British West Indian.
George Plant was the son of Daniel Lewis Plant and Anne Plant of Burton- on- Trent, and the husband of Margery Ellen Plant of Pailton, Rugby. He was born at Harborough Main, Warwick and enlisted at Warwick.
The Battalion landed at Havre on the 14th August 1914, remaining on the Western Front throughout the War. The Guards Division was formed in France in August 1915 by concentrating the 8 Guards battalions already in France (including the 2nd Coldstreams) and bringing out from the UK 4 more including the recently formed Welsh Guards plus a Pioneer battalion (4th Coldstream). On the 20th August 1915 the Battalion was transferred to 1st Guards Brigade.
On the 21st March 1918 the German Army launched a massive offensive on the Western Front in a last desperate attempt to score a decisive victory. The results were spectacular. They advanced up to 40 miles, further by far than the British and French had managed in their offensives on the Somme, the Aisne and at Ypres. The British Fifth Army was crushed, and the Allies suffered 212,000 casualties. The French suffered a humiliating defeat at Chemin des Dames and plans were made for the evacuation of Paris. The British were seriously concerned that the French might sue for peace and were uncertain whether they could continue the struggle, and plans were drawn up for the evacuation of the British Army from France if Dunkirk, Calais or Boulogne fell. The German line before the offensive was about 20 miles East of Noyon, on the western edge of St Quentin, 15 miles East of Peronne, 20miles East of Bapaume, 7 miles East of Arras, 5 miles East of Armentieres, 25 miles East of Bailleul and 12 miles East of Ypres. Then the offensive gradually lost momentum, the French counterattacked in July, the British in August and the Germans finally lost the initiative. After the offensive the German Army had reached positions some 15 miles West of Noyon, 45 miles West of St. Quentin, 20 miles West of Peronne, 12 miles West of Bapaume, still 7 miles East of Arras, 28 miles West of Armentieres, 8 miles West of Bailleul and 4 miles East of Ypres.
The Counter-Attack in Champagne by mainly the French Army was from 20th July to 2nd August 1918.
On the 8th August 1918 the Allied forces launched the surprise attack that heralded the end of the First World War. With skill and daring 21 Divisions breached the German lines, supported by 500 tanks (the largest number to have been seen in any one battle of the war) and 1000 aircraft. In their wake they left 50,000 dead or wounded German soldiers along a stretch of 11 miles. On this “black day” for the Germans the Allied forces began to see a glimmer of hope and the dawn of victory that was to come only 100 days later with the Armistice on 11 November 1918. The Advance to Victory can be divided into 7 phases, The Advance in Picardy 8th August-3rd September, The Advance in Flanders 18th August-6th September, The Breaking of the Hindenburg Line 26th August-12th October,The Pursuit to the Selle 9th-12th October,The Final Advance – Flanders 28th September-11thNovember, The Final Advance – Artois 2nd October-11th November and The Final Advance – Picardy 17th October – 11th November 1918.
The Guards Division, with the 59th and 2nd Divisions formed VI Corps part of the Third Army and the opening of the offensive on the Front of the Third Army began on the 21st August 1918 but the 1st Guards Brigade did not become involved until the evening of the 25th August when the Brigade relieved the 3rd Guards Brigade, and the Battalion took over the front line trenches at St Leger about 3 miles North of Bapaume. In the evening of the 26th August orders were issued from divisional headquarters for the attack to be renewed the following morning, the objectives being the high ground north and south of Longatte and Ecoust, but the advance was not to be pressed if the enemy’s resistance proved obstinate. The 62nd Division was to advance on the right and the 56th Division on the left of the1st Guards Brigade, zero hour being 0700 and the line from which the attack was to be launched ran from Camouflage Copse to the Crucifix and then bent north-eastward through St Leger Wood at the northern extremity of which the line of the 56th Division began. At 0500 the 1st Guards Brigade HQ was informed that the attack by the 56th Division was being postponed to 0930 as it was thought, having captured some prisoners on the 56th Division Front, the Germans may have established the exact time of the attack but it was impossible for the Brigade to change the time of their planned attack as the attacking battalions were in their starting positions and it was impossible to get in touch with them all quickly enough to prevent some of them at any rate from advancing at the original time. On the right the 2nd Battalion Grenadier Guards were to attack, the Coldstreams on the left with the 1st Battalion Irish Guards in reserve. The Coldstreams on the left with the 1st Battalion Irish Guards in reserve. The Coldstreams had No 4 Company in front, No 2 and No 3 in left and right support and No 1 in reserve. As soon as the British field gun barrage came down at 0700 the leading company advanced, followed by the supports at 200 yards distance and by the reserve company 400 yards in rear of the supports. The enemy was expecting the attack and immediately opened upon the men a very heavy fire. The postponement of the attack by the 56th Division enabled the Germans in the village of Croiselles, which commanded the left and centre of the advance, to concentrate on the Coldstreams. In a short time the right was held up, by machine-gun fire from Banks trench which appeared to have been little damaged by the British shell fire; the centre got somewhat further forward, gaining the crest line beyond St Leger reserve trench when it was also checked; the extreme left made most progress and captured many prisoners on the sunken roads running south from Croiselles. Bunhill trench was gained and consolidated under heavy fire which came from Croiselles, east of that village and also from Bunhill reserve trench. One company of the Coldstreams reached the final objective, but without sufficient support and being counter-attacked on its exposed flank had to withdraw. The situation could not be restored by companies in support or reserve who were soon absorbed into the fighting line while the Germans, moving up machine-guns under cover of their trenches, swept the ground and brought the attack to a standstill. Withdrawal from this untenable position was safely accomplished, but not before severe losses were inflicted on the enemy both in prisoners taken and men killed. A heavy bombardment was maintained upon the British line throughout the morning and the position was becoming critical as some of the Coldstream groups were taken in the flank by hostile fire. Two platoons of No 2 Company were reduced to 18 men; another of No 1 Company was enfiladed from both flanks; most of the officers were casualties and the whole Battalion now barely mustered 140 all ranks. In these circumstances the left and centre were withdrawn to St Leger reserve, which was close to and joined Banks Trench, and which was then occupied by a company of the Irish Guards, though still partly held by the enemy. For the rest of the morning the British heavy guns put down a concentration on the sunken roads and did great execution among the enemy. Owing to the heavy casualties suffered by the Coldstreams, two companies of the Irish Guards were ordered up to make good the line of St Leger reserve, reinforcing the British right group and protecting that flank. The 2nd Battalion of the Grenadier Guards on the right of the Coldstreams had an equally heavy task to perform and also found themselves engaged in very severe fighting. However the check which the Brigade sustained during the day did not last very long and the determined resistance of a few brave Germans armed with machine-guns and concealed under cover was overcome in the evening. At 1900 an intense barrage was put down on the hostile position for ten minutes and the moment it lifted the Irish Guards and the Coldstreams on the right rushed in and immediately captured it. The garrison, consisting of one German officer and 93 other ranks, surrendered with their machine-guns. During the night and the next day, the 28th, the enemy retired pursued for nearly a mile by the Brigade who then halted and consolidated the positions gained. The losses in the Battalion were 3 officers killed in action, 7 officers wounded and 111 other ranks killed in action, 189 wounded. It was in this action that Lance Corporal Plant was wounded and subsequently died.
In addition to the Military Medal, Lance Corporal Plant was awarded the Victory and British War Medals.
George Plant is also commemorated on the Memorials at Pailton and Monks Kirby.
PERCY ALONZO SMITH Private No. 29573 2nd Battalion Hampshire Regiment. Killed in action 23rd April 1917. Commemorated Arras Memorial. The Memorial stands in the cemetery at Faubourg d’Amiens in SW Arras and records the names of the 35,928 “Missing” who fell in the Battles of Arras, Vimy Ridge, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Battles of the Scarpe, Battles of Arleux, Bullecourt and Hill 70, 1917, and all “Missing” of the R.F.C. and R.A.F. who fell on the Western Front and have no known grave.
Private Smith joined the Battalion in 1916. He was away from home in gentleman’s service at the time he joined the Army. After a period of training he was sent to France in July 1916. He had a kind disposition was bright and cheerful and always willing and obliging which made him a great favourite wherever he went. Son of Alfred and Mary Ann Smith of Easenhall, Rugby. Born Easenhall, enlisted Southampton, residence Easenhall. In 1901 Alfred Smith (50) Farm Labourer was living at 87 The Street Easenhall with his wife Mary A Smith and sons Percy (14) and John (10).
At the outbreak of the war on the 4th August 1914 the Battalion was at Mhow in India, one of 73 Infantry Battalions at various locations abroad recalled from their overseas station arriving in England on the 2nd December 1914. In early 1915 the 29th Division was formed with the last eleven battalions to return home, all from the Far East, and the Battalion became part of 88th Brigade in this Division. The battalions in addition to the 2nd Hampshire Regiment were the 4th Worcesteshire Regiment, 1st Essex Regiment and the 1st/5th Royal Scots (a Territorial Battalion). With effect from the 18th October 1915 the Royal Scots in the Brigade were replaced on Gallipoli by the 1st Newfoundland Regiment. The Brigade served in Gallipoli from April 1915 to January 1916 landing in Marseilles on the 21st March 1916. The Battalion was in the Reserve at the opening of the Battle of the Somme on the 1st July 1916, in the Ypres Salient in August and September 1916 and back in the Somme sector and by the end of October 1916 in the front line North of Flers sustaining 331 casualties in October. The Battalion was in support when the offensive petered out in the slippery slime of the battlefield the Battalion then being North East of Lesboeufs.
Private Smith joined the Battalion in July 1916.
The Battalion got through the winter without heavy casualties having only 24 killed and 79 wounded between November 1st 1916 and March 31st 1917.
Allied plans for 1917 included the resumption of the Somme offensive by the Fourth and Fifth Armies in early February, while the Third Army was to thrust south-east to block a German retreat, while the Fifth Army was to form a defensive flank by attacking north of the Third Army while the French attacked south of the Somme. The French later were to launch their assault in the Champagne area. A number of significant changes after the conception of these plans necessitated their modification. General Joseph Joffre, blamed for French unpreparedness at Verdun, was removed from operational command in December. His replacement General Robert Nivelle requested that the British forces should take over more of the front, freeing French troops for a more ambitious and spectacular offensive, involving more than a million men on a broad front between Roye and positions east of Reims. Then before any Allied offensive could begin the German withdrawal to the Hindenburg line restricted British attacks to the flanks of the abandoned area. The term “line” was perhaps a misnomer for a system of linked fortified areas stretching behind the Western Front from the northern coast to Verdun and extending to a depth of up to 15 kilometres.
The main role in the British attack now fell to the Third Army. If the British were able to break through the German defences north of the Hindenburg Line they could outflank the new German positions. The Germans had anticipated such a move by digging a strong support line from Queant, near the northern end of the Hindenburg Line through Drocourt to the north, thereby covering the rear of their old defences in the Arras area. The British Army’s only chance of success lay in its ability to break this uncompleted support line some five miles behind the front defensive system before German reserves could be brought up. At 0530 on 9th April 1917 four divisions of Canadian infantrymen attacked on a 7500 yard frontage with the objective of capturing Vimy Ridge held by the Germans since October 1914 and converted into a veritable fortress dominating the Douai Plain. The attack was being made in conjunction with a major assault by eight infantry divisions of the Third Army south of the ridge their task being to thrust eastwards from Arras on each side of the River Scarpe. The main assault was supported by about 2000 guns and 70 tanks covering a frontage of about 7000 yards which was to be widened by flank attacks including that against Vimy Ridge. General Nivelle’s attack opened on the 16th April 1917 the main offensive being between Reims and Soissons the aim being the capture of the heights dominating the Ailette Valley above the plain of Laon crossed by the Chemin des Dames and was an absolute failure costing over 130,000 casualties in five days leading to Nivelle’s replacement and Mutinies in the French Army.
The 29th Division had moved forward from Beauval about 3 miles South of Doullens and had spent the 9th April in reserve just West of Arras. The Division was ordered up on the 12th April to take over Monchy le Preux. The village with much difficulty had been captured but standing on a knoll at the end of a spur projecting into the Douai plain over which it provided fine observation had left the British in a pronounced salient inviting counter-attack. The Battalion struggled forward on the 12th April to reach Orange Hill a mile West of Monchy in Brigade reserve moving forward east of Monchy to dig an assembly trench from which the 1st Essex Regiment and the Royal Newfoundland Regiment were on the 13th April to attack Infantry Hill, a slight rise East of Monchy. The Battalion was heavily shelled but escaped lightly and before dawn on the 14th was back at Orange Hill. Whilst Infantry Hill was captured the whole position was counter-attacked in great force by a fresh Bavarian Division, the Essex and Newfoundlanders were surrounded any who tried to run back were shot and the majority captured. Monchy seemed to be at the mercy of the German Army. Three platoons of one Company of the Battalion assisted the Head Quarters Company of the Newfoundlanders in keeping the enemy from exploiting their success and the remainder of the Battalion was led forward by the CO Lt Colonel A T Beckwith D.S.O. The Germans heavily shelled Monchy itself and the British the area east of the village and the barrage worked, the enemy withdrew, and the Battalion’s good service in helping to secure this all-important position by beating off the German attacks secured Monchy for the British, with 30 casualties.
The French attack on the 16th April in the Aisne having failed the decision was that the British for the rest of 1917 had to attack and continue attacking despite many disadvantages including the situation on the 23rd April 1917, the opening of the Second Battle of the Scarpe, where the German position East of Monchy was now fairly strong and held in some force. The 88th Brigade (temporarily commanded by Lt Colonel Beckwith whose place as CO of the 2nd Hampshires was taken by Lt Colonel McCammon attached from 5th Royal Irish Rifles) was attacking between Monchy and the Cambrai road, with the 4th Worcester Regiment leading the 2nd Battalion Hampshires in support and a weak composite battalion formed from the Essex and Newfoundland in reserve and to provide carrying parties. On the left of the 88th Brigade, the 87th Brigade was attacking Infantry Hill itself, and the 88th Brigade aimed at securing its Southern slope including the Bois du Vert, and keeping touch to their right with the 15th Division who were attacking Guemappe beyond the Cambrai road.
Before dawn on the 23rd April the 4th Worcestershire moved forward to their allotted position and lay down, aligned on tapes which had been put out along the line of the lane which runs up in a North Easterly direction from La Bergere Mill to Monchy. The 2nd Hampshire were deployed immediately in rear.
Just as the first light showed pale over the crest of Infantry Hill the British guns broke out in intense fire. The platoons of the 4th Worcestershire charged forward down the slope through a storm of shells. The German front line was easily crossed and the few survivors of the defence killed or captured. The Worcestershire companies reached the bottom of the hollow and pushed up the slope. Officers and men fell at every step but the enemy’s second line was stormed. The leading companies reached their objective, the crest line of the spur which runs south from Infantry Hill. Within half an hour from the start the 4th Worcestershire had advanced nearly a mile, had reached their objective and had commenced to entrench. They had done splendidly but had lost heavily and to hold their gains they needed all the support the Hampshires could give, so there could be no question of the 2nd Battalion pushing on to the Red Line, beyond the Bois du Vert, especially as the 15th Division on their right was not up level. Before advancing the Battalion had 20 casualties from the German barrage. In crossing a sunken road more casualties were caused by flanking machine-guns, but the men pressed on vigorously many following the Worcestershires to the copse with one platoon actually joining troops of the 87th Brigade on Infantry Hill. One Company of the Battalion captured Pick Trench and started bombing to the right flank and after two hours hard fighting cleared most of String Trench capturing 50 prisoners but the 15th Division on the right had still failed to get forward so the 29th Division’s success only accentuated the already pronounced salient. The enemy’s guns concentrated their fire on the captured spur bringing down a terrific bombardment. About 1000 came the first German counter-attack. Flares were sent up and the British artillery put down an intense barrage which blotted out the attack but the enemy was determined to regain the spur. A fresh advance encircled the right flank of the Worcestershires and again the enemy attacked up the slope. German shelling was now heavy and the Hampshires had hard work to retain their gains, let alone consolidate effectively. Several counter-attacks were checked nevertheless, but in the afternoon the enemy came forward in great force, following a heavy bombardmentby big howitzers and despite the stubborn resistance of the Worcestershire and Hamspshire they recovered the copse, most of two Companies of the 2nd Battalion being overwhelmed and company commanders, one being badly wounded, being captured. North of the copse the defence held and in Shrapnel, Pick and String Trenches the Battalion, and some Worcestershires reinforced by a company of the 16th Middlesex from 86th Brigade succeeded in checking the counter-attack. As darkness closed in Lt.Colonel E T Kerans, the CO of the Worcestershires, who then commanded what was left of the Brigade, the C.O. of the 2nd Battalion having been wounded, organised a counter-attack against the copse. He collected the few available men of the 4th Worcestershire, the attached company of the 16th Middlesex and some 40 men from the Hampshires. The counter-attack was bravely made but it had no chance against the superior numbers of the enemy and eventually the attempt to retake the copse had to be abandoned. The 88th Brigade had to be content with maintaining a flank running back from Infantry Hill where the 87th Brigade had secured and held a good position to the Cambrai road including String and Pick Trenches, over 400 yards forward from the starting line.
After midnight on the 23rd/24th April elements of the 86th Brigade came forward to relieve the 88th Brigade. The Battalion was taken back by bus to Simoncourt some 2 kilometres SW of Arras to rest and reorganise. Losses had been severe, over half of those in action. Colonel McCammon died of wounds, 2 officers and 13 other ranks were killed in action, 4 officers and 67 other ranks were missing, (2 of the officers, subsequently it was established, had died of wounds), 9 officers and 200 other ranks were wounded. Private Percy Smith was one of those killed in this action he originally being one of those reported missing.
He was awarded the Victory and British War Medals. | 
