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The Great War (1914-1918) Forum

Remembered Today:

7th Battalion South Lancs Regiment


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Good afternoon,

looking to try and trace where a relative lost his life on 25/9/1917.

Private 34177 William George Field aged 26

Think Third Battle of Ypres.

 

I know he is commemorated on the Tyne Cot Memorial but would like to know more if possible.

 

Thanking you in advance

Louise

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Louise

Welcome.

The Register of Soldier's Effects confirms that he died in Action on 25/09/1917. 

The Unit War Diary and the WD for 56 Infantry Brigade are available on Ancestry and there are a lot of papers attached. If you look in the top right hand corner of this map you will see the Ypres Comines canal and north of that is the general area.https://maps.nls.uk/view/101464681

Please ask for help as to how to find the War Diaries. You can also download them from the National Archives for a small fee. It seems that the Bn went into the line and was relieved early on 25th. It went into dug outs and tunnels on the canal bank in support. During their spell 7 South Lancs lost 35 killed and over 100 wounded and missing.

Brian

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His Service Record survives although incomplete. Link to FindmyPast is here   (scroll back for other pages). There are a couple more pages here

 

It shows he first went to France 20/7/16 but returned to UK 27/2/17 with Myalgia.

 

He went again to France 11/6/17 being posted to 8th Battalion

He was subsequently posted to the 7th Battalion and joined B Company 'in the field' on 15/9/17, thus only a few days before his death. Knowing the Company may help pin down exactly where he was ?

 

Charlie

 

 

Edited by charlie962
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There is more info and maps in the WD of HQ General Staff 19 Div. The Unit WD records that on the 23rd the line held was from Wet Pond to Wood Farm. These positions are marked on a map in the 56 IB WD (Ancestry p 264/1009) and I have taken the liberty to picture it here, since the NLS maps are right on the join. Wet Pond is at map ref P 1 b 5 6 and Wood Farm (in Belgian Wood) is at J 31 d 4 3. Use Klein Zillebeke as a reference and compare to the image from the 1:50 000 Belgian IGN. The area is roughly where it is marked 96 in red on the current map. The Unit constantly suffered casualties during it's time in the line.

Brian

001.JPG

002.JPG

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  • 4 months later...

Louise , I have only recently discovered that my great uncle Captain Robert Heaton was killed on 25th September 1917 while attached to the 7th SLR ( from 1/5 SLR ) but I don't know any more than that . Brian, thank you for the maps- most interesting .

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3 hours ago, pjhl said:

Louise ,

pjhl

sadly Louise seems to be one of those who asks a question, gets some useful work done by Forum members, signs in again subsequently but never says thanks or even no thanks! Always a puzzle. Do they get lost somewhere in the forum and cannot find their original thread ?

 

Charlie

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