Battle of Passchendaele 31st July – 6th November 1917
Officially known as the Third Battle of Ypres, Passchendaele was fought between 31 July and 6 November 1917 in the West Flanders region of northern Belgium.About 275,000 Allied troops and 220,000 Germans died. Among them were six soldiers from Rainhill.
Ypres was the main town within the salient of the British lines and the site of two previous battles: first Ypres in 1914 and second Ypres in 1915.
The British were encouraged by the success of the attack on Messines Ridge when nineteen huge mines were exploded after they had been placed at the end of long tunnels under the German front lines. Preparations for the Third battle began, yet the flatness of the land made stealth impossible and the Germans knew an attack was imminent.
The infantry attack began on 31st July 1917. Constant shelling had churned up the clay soil and smashed drainage systems. The left wing achieved its objectives but the right wing failed completely and within a few days, the heaviest rain for 30 years had turned the area into a quagmire drowning men and horses.
Six soldiers from Rainhill lost their lives fighting in the Battle of Passchendaele.
James Saggerson NAYLOR, aged 23, of the South Wales Borderers who had been born in Rainhill in 1894 was killed on this day and is commemorated on the Ypres Menin Gate Memorial. His name which also appears on the family grave in St Ann’s Churchyard was added to the new plaque on the Warrington Road Cenotaph on 3rd July 2016.
The attacks resumed in August with little effect and stalemate reigned for another month. William Percival BALL of the Royal Garrison Artillery was killed in action on 14th August and rests in Bard Cottage Cemetery with his name being commemorated on the family grave in St Ann’s churchyard and the new plaque on the Warrington Road Cenotaph.
On the very same day William TITTERINGTON, of the South Lancashire Regiment who had moved to Rainhill by 1883 was active in trench raiding parties and repelling enemy raids died from wounds at the Field Ambulance Station at Estaires. He is buried at Estaires Communal Cemetery and remembered on the new plaque on the Warrington Road Cenotaph and on the family grave in St Ann’s Churchyard.
An improvement in the weather conditions prompted another attack on 20th September and the Battle of Menin Road Bridge along with the Battle of Polygon Wood on 26th September established British possession of the ridge east of Ypres. Fred CARTMELL had moved to Rainhill and became an Asylum Attendant at the Rainhill Hospital Annex. He had joined the King’s Own Lancaster Regiment. On the day that Fred died, 26th September, the Battalion War Diary indicates that fighting and heavy shelling was taking place in Ypres. Fred’s name is recorded on the Tyne Cot Memorial in Belgium and on the Brass Plaque in St Ann’s Church, St Ann’s WWI Memorial, Warrington Road Cenotaph and the Rainhill Hospital Memorial.
Further attacks in October failed to make much progress. James HIGHCOCK from Ritherup Lane, Rainhill was wounded in fighting with the South Lancashire Regiment close to Ypres. His injuries were caused by gunshot wounds and they were dressed in a Field Ambulance station before he was evacuated back to Southampton. Septicaemia set in and he died on 19th October. His body was brought to Rainhill and he was buried in St Ann’s Churchyard on 25th October at the age of 41 and is remembered on the WWI Memorial in St Ann’s Churchyard.
William James LOWE was born in the Old Post Office on 28th November 1890. He joined the Lancashire Hussars, later to become the King’s Liverpool Regiment and was killed in action on 6th October aged 27. He has no known grave and is remembered on the stone walls of Tyne Cot Cemetery, Belgium, the Brass Plaque in St. Ann’s Church and the WWI Memorial in the Churchyard, also on the Warrington Road Cenotaph.
The eventual capture of what was left of Passchendaele village on 6th November 1917 gave Sir Douglas Haig an excuse to call off the offensive and claim success. The Allies had made barely five miles beyond their starting point in three months and 325,000 Allied and 260,000 German casualties had occurred in that time.
“We will remember them”.
Ypres was the main town within the salient of the British lines and the site of two previous battles: first Ypres in 1914 and second Ypres in 1915.
The British were encouraged by the success of the attack on Messines Ridge when nineteen huge mines were exploded after they had been placed at the end of long tunnels under the German front lines. Preparations for the Third battle began, yet the flatness of the land made stealth impossible and the Germans knew an attack was imminent.
The infantry attack began on 31st July 1917. Constant shelling had churned up the clay soil and smashed drainage systems. The left wing achieved its objectives but the right wing failed completely and within a few days, the heaviest rain for 30 years had turned the area into a quagmire drowning men and horses.
Six soldiers from Rainhill lost their lives fighting in the Battle of Passchendaele.
James Saggerson NAYLOR, aged 23, of the South Wales Borderers who had been born in Rainhill in 1894 was killed on this day and is commemorated on the Ypres Menin Gate Memorial. His name which also appears on the family grave in St Ann’s Churchyard was added to the new plaque on the Warrington Road Cenotaph on 3rd July 2016.
The attacks resumed in August with little effect and stalemate reigned for another month. William Percival BALL of the Royal Garrison Artillery was killed in action on 14th August and rests in Bard Cottage Cemetery with his name being commemorated on the family grave in St Ann’s churchyard and the new plaque on the Warrington Road Cenotaph.
On the very same day William TITTERINGTON, of the South Lancashire Regiment who had moved to Rainhill by 1883 was active in trench raiding parties and repelling enemy raids died from wounds at the Field Ambulance Station at Estaires. He is buried at Estaires Communal Cemetery and remembered on the new plaque on the Warrington Road Cenotaph and on the family grave in St Ann’s Churchyard.
An improvement in the weather conditions prompted another attack on 20th September and the Battle of Menin Road Bridge along with the Battle of Polygon Wood on 26th September established British possession of the ridge east of Ypres. Fred CARTMELL had moved to Rainhill and became an Asylum Attendant at the Rainhill Hospital Annex. He had joined the King’s Own Lancaster Regiment. On the day that Fred died, 26th September, the Battalion War Diary indicates that fighting and heavy shelling was taking place in Ypres. Fred’s name is recorded on the Tyne Cot Memorial in Belgium and on the Brass Plaque in St Ann’s Church, St Ann’s WWI Memorial, Warrington Road Cenotaph and the Rainhill Hospital Memorial.
Further attacks in October failed to make much progress. James HIGHCOCK from Ritherup Lane, Rainhill was wounded in fighting with the South Lancashire Regiment close to Ypres. His injuries were caused by gunshot wounds and they were dressed in a Field Ambulance station before he was evacuated back to Southampton. Septicaemia set in and he died on 19th October. His body was brought to Rainhill and he was buried in St Ann’s Churchyard on 25th October at the age of 41 and is remembered on the WWI Memorial in St Ann’s Churchyard.
William James LOWE was born in the Old Post Office on 28th November 1890. He joined the Lancashire Hussars, later to become the King’s Liverpool Regiment and was killed in action on 6th October aged 27. He has no known grave and is remembered on the stone walls of Tyne Cot Cemetery, Belgium, the Brass Plaque in St. Ann’s Church and the WWI Memorial in the Churchyard, also on the Warrington Road Cenotaph.
The eventual capture of what was left of Passchendaele village on 6th November 1917 gave Sir Douglas Haig an excuse to call off the offensive and claim success. The Allies had made barely five miles beyond their starting point in three months and 325,000 Allied and 260,000 German casualties had occurred in that time.
“We will remember them”.
On Tuesday 28th November 2017 at 7.30pm, Ste Lingard gave a talk about Passchendaele at St Ann’s Millennium Centre, View Road.
Ste writes “My two Great Grandfathers were both from Widnes originally, but settled in St. Helens before the war… Both were killed whilst serving with the 1/5th battalion of the South Lancashires - Lance Corporal William Molyneux (8 Sept 1916, Delville Wood, on the Somme); and Sergeant Thomas Hallwood DCM (12 April 1917, Railway Wood, near Ypres). I have been to both sites. Most recently, I followed Thomas's last day by retracing his steps on the ground, on the 100th anniversary of his death”.
You can follow the Battalion’s experiences in real time, 100 years on, at https://twitter.com/FifthSouthLancs.
Ste writes “My two Great Grandfathers were both from Widnes originally, but settled in St. Helens before the war… Both were killed whilst serving with the 1/5th battalion of the South Lancashires - Lance Corporal William Molyneux (8 Sept 1916, Delville Wood, on the Somme); and Sergeant Thomas Hallwood DCM (12 April 1917, Railway Wood, near Ypres). I have been to both sites. Most recently, I followed Thomas's last day by retracing his steps on the ground, on the 100th anniversary of his death”.
You can follow the Battalion’s experiences in real time, 100 years on, at https://twitter.com/FifthSouthLancs.