William's Story.
William was born in Nantwich in 1885. He lived with his mother Mary at Eaton Terrace, Eaton Road, Bowdon. He was a waggoner on a farm. William enlisted in Altrincham. He entered France on the 25th May 1915. He was killed in action on the 1s September 1918.The Battalion war diary for that day:
38th Division attacked Morval & Sailly-Saillisel. Battalion formed up at 3.30am ready for the attack. At 6.30am the 1st objective , a road crossing the Morval-Rocquiny railway, on a ridge, was reahced & the leading companies were pushing down into the valley which had to be crossed before reaching the slopes leading up to Sailly-Saillisel.
The enemy, who were established in trenches in the valley, opened heavy machine gun & rifle fire with trench mortars & rifle grenade fire.
In the meantime Le Transloy, which was reported to be in the hands of the 19th Division, was still in enemy hands & the battalions of the 19th Division were held up, which meant that the left flank of the 2nd Royal Welsh Fiusiliers was in the air.
The enemy commenced to attack the left flank of the 2nd RWF at 7am. This attack developed first against the 2 front companies, then against the support companies, then eventually Le Transloy intself, against advanced Battalion HQ, which was situated with the machine gun sections on the 2nd RWF.
The Brigade were forced back to the outskirts of Morval. At 6pm the 113th Brigade attacked Sailly-Saillisel from Morval. This attack gained the main road running through north Sailly-Saillisel. This attack enabled Brigade to form on the light railway to the west of Sailly-Saillisel.
The 2nd RWF reached a point 500 yards beyond that village. During the night the enemy made an attack against the left flank but at dawn they had withdrawn.
Researcher: Darryl Porrino