A company 1/5th Bn North Staffordshire Regiment 27/29 April 18

[ALANJONES]

Bertie Berrisford died of wounds on the 29th April 1918 and is buried in Arneke Cemetery (his name is spelt incorrectly as Berresford on some records)

He was serving in A Company of the 1/5th North Staffordshire Regiment and I am interested to know what the Company and/or Battalion were doing which might explain how he was wounded.

Unfortunately this battalion's war diary has not been released online yet and it will be a while before I can get to Kew!

Any help will be greatly received!

Many thanks

Alan

[woollamc]

Alan

It is on line (here). I have a copy and will happily post some entries but, if he died of wounds, it is hard to know when he sustained his injuries. The 5th were around Bullecourt when the Germans started Operation Michael in March when both the C.O and the adjutant were captured and many of the other officers were killed or taken prisoner. From memory, the War Diary for a few months afterwards is brief and perfunctory but will have a look now and see if there is anything that might help you.

C

[woollamc]

After the disaster on 21 March at Bullecourt, when the Battalion lost 22 officers and 539 ORs, they were moved out of the line and kept in reserve whilst they were reinforced, and then moved from the Somme to Ypres, back in the line at Passchendaele on 12 April (for one day), in reserve again until 15 April, when they were under heavy bombardment and a gas attack at Bailleul until relieved on 18 April, with the loss of 172 ORs. They were in reserve again until 27 April, when they went back into the line at Ouderdom, near Poperinghe and, on 28 April, reported two killed and two wounded.

As Pte Berrisford died of his wounds and is buried at Arneke, I am assuming that he died at 10th, 13th or 44th Casualty Clearing Stations and it may be that he sustained his injuries either in Bailleul between 15 and 18 April or when the battalion was holding the line at Ouderdom on 28 April, both of which are around 30 km from Arneke.

Hope this helps.

C

[ALANJONES]

Aha - when I searched I either got that wrong, or it had not been quite released.

That's really helpful and I will look at the War Diary.

I am sorry - I should have mentioned that his service record includes the 44th Casualty Station report of his death.

Thank you very much for your swift and helpful reply,

best wishes

Alan