Military History

John is listed as being killed in action on 9 Apr 1917. The 2nd Battalion war diary entries for the period 8th to 10th April 1917 are transcribed below.

Trenches Mercatel Sector - 1917 April 8^th:  A beautiful day. Our artillery bombarded the Hindenburg Line all day. At 3.16pm our artillery practised the barrage which appeared very good. At 9pm Battalion HQ’s move forward to Battle position in Sunken Rd South of Mercatel. At 9.15pm a section of the 31^st Machine Gun Company reported at HQ’s and were guided to their assembly positions. At 10pm Capt. Colley and 120 O/R’s reported to HQ as clearers etc and were guided to their assembly positionsby 2/Lt Rudman. The Battalion and all attached people were in position by 11.30pm. Rain commenced falling.

Trenches Mercatel Sector - 1917 April 9^th:  At 1.30am a party of 100 O.R. of D Coy under the command of Lieut Frisby went forward to attack the mill near the Henin-Neuville Vitasse Road. The attack met with considerable resistance and the attackers were forced to retire, having sustained heavy casualties. Lt Frisby was wounded and Lt S.R. Parsons killed, and 35 O.R’s became casualties. Lt Bearne and one platoon moved forward to cover the retirement. It was ascertained from prisoners taken later that the garrison of this mill was as the time of the attack 120 other ranks and 2 machine guns.

At 5.30am the main attack on the Hindenburg Line commenced. Neuville Vitasse and St. Martin-sur-Cojeul, the villages on our flanks were captured, and at 11.38am the 21^st Brigade attacked with the 2^nd Wiltshire Regiment on the right, the 18^th Kings (Liverpool) Regt on the right and the 19^th Manchester Regt in support. The distance between the assembly positions of this Battalion and their objective varied between 2000 and 2400 yards. The Battalion advanced in artillery formation, the 1st way composed of A Coy on the right and D Coy on the left, Each wave consisting of 2 lines of 2 Platoons company.

Considerable hostile shelling was experienced throughout the advance, which became intense as it proceeded Causing heavy casualties before the attackers came insight of their objective. To reach the objective two Sunken Roads had to be crossed at which considerable resistance was offered but soon overcome, A machine gun and several prisoner being captured on the first. Between the 1st and 2nd Sunken Roads the attackers came under fire from several machine guns, which together with the shelling formed a considerable barrage. The advantage continued off to the enemy’s wire but by this time the ranks of the attackers were considerably depleted. The wire was found to be damaged but not cut sufficiently to allow troops to enter the trenches. The few unwounded men left took cover in all available shell holes but eventually had to retire to the Sunken Road running from Neuville Vitasse to St. Martin-sur-Cojeul Where they dug in on the eastern bank.

The enemy’s artillery immediately commenced to shell this road heavily with shells of large calibre, causing further casualties. By this time most of the officers had become casualties only three remaining, 2/Lts H.C. Clark, F.J. London and T.W. Glynn. These offices collected all the unwounded men, 90 in all, and consolidated the position. Some little time afterwards two companies of the 19^th Manchester Regt Arrived in support and also dug in on the same road. This position was held until the evening, when two companies of the 16^th Manchesters came up and took over the position. After relief the remnants of the Battalion marched back to Switch Lane, south of Mercatel.

The total casualties sustained by the battalion in the attack, not counting those previously sustained in the attack on the mill were 14 officers [listed by name] and 328 other ranks.

Switch Lane Mercatel Sector - 1917 April 10^th:  The Battalion rested and remained in trenches, Switch Lane. During the day the enemy retired on our front leaving behind a few posts. A volunteer party went out at night I'm picked up 1 officer and 9 other ranks who had been wounded the previous day. END