Pte 32482 Henry Taylor

10 Battn. Loyal North Lancs War Diary  

AMBRINES, HARBARQ, and ST NICHOLAS 

27th April 1917 – We received orders to attack GREENLAND HILL at dawn the next day. 

28th April 1917 - 4.25 a.m. - Barrage opened, Battalion being already in position for attack. The enemy did not put up much of an artillery barrage so I immediately brought my second wave into new trench.  

4.27 a.m. - The Battalion attacked and reached a point where a trench had been begun by the enemy. By this time the Battalion had suffered heavily and only one officer (2/Lt Jones) was left. The Battalion immediately commenced to dig in into this newly begun trench. As they were so heavily enfiladed with machine guns from right flank (chemical works) there were several batches of the regiment still further advanced in shell holes. These wisely remained there all day, sniping and doing as much damage as they could. By the time the Battalion was dug in between 50-60 were all that remained. During the advance a few of the East Lancs, Bedfords and Warwicks joined my Battalion and digging in with us. The attack on GREENLAND HILL once more failed, although we did gain some ground. Undoubtedly the chemical works was the main reason for this failure, but I cannot help thinking that if my Battalion had been supported in a more determined manner, we might have got to the enemy trench, but they were so few in numbers they were killed or wounded. There was a great delay and much confusion at the time of the start, amongst the supporting battalions, which I myself witnessed and tried to rectify. I am afraid they delay was a great hamper to the leading Battalion as the wave which should have been the first evidently never started, or if it did, it didn't support my Battalion. Only the second wave appears to have got through, so eventually there was a gap between the front waves and the supporting ones. Still, on the hole, I am afraid the Right Flank was the main reason for our failure.  

30th April 1917 - We estimate our casualties for these operations as 8 officers killed and wounded, O.R’s killed 19, wounded 112, missing 78. 

 

He now rests at Etaples Military Cemetery in France.

 

During the First World War, the area around Etaples was the scene of immense concentrations of Commonwealth reinforcement camps and hospitals. It was remote from attack, except from aircraft, and accessible by railway from both the northern or the southern battlefields. In 1917, 100,000 troops were camped among the sand dunes and the hospitals, which included eleven general, one stationary, four Red Cross hospitals and a convalescent depot, could deal with 22,000 wounded or sick. In September 1919, ten months after the Armistice, three hospitals and the Q.M.A.A.C. convalescent depot remained. 

 

The cemetery contains 10,771 Commonwealth burials of the First World War, the earliest dating from May 1915. 35 of these burials are unidentified. It is the largest CWGC cemetery in France, and was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens.