At the time of writing “Visiting the Fallen” I didn’t comment on the number of battalion commanders killed on the opening day of the Battle of Arras, though the ones buried within the area covered by the books are featured. I knew the number was far fewer than on the opening day of the Battle of the […]
Archive | December, 2016
Divisions, Brigades and Battalions – Arras and Bullecourt 1917
Somewhere along the line, I thought it might be useful to include the Order of Battle for Arras and Bullecourt on the website. “Military Operations, France and Belgium, Volume One, 1917”, which covers this period of fighting, only offers a skeleton Order of Battle. It does not set out which battalions made up each of […]
Some notes on attrition at Arras – 1917
The Battle of Arras undoubtedly took its toll on many of the divisions that took part in it. When the 2nd Division took part in the Third Battle of the Scarpe on the 3rd May 1917 it was only able to do so with a composite brigade consisting of four battalions designated ‘A’, ‘B’, ‘C’ and […]
‘Mind the gap’ – Bailleul, Gavrelle and the 4th Division
For anyone interested in the events surrounding the Battle of Arras I would recommend “Prelude to Victory” by Brigadier-General E.L. Spears. Towards the end of the book he writes about the opening days of the battle itself. In one of the paragraphs he writes: “When the 4th Division reached the Green Line it had to […]