Michael's Story.
Michael was the son of James and Sarah Ann Little and had been born within the parish of St Joseph's Roman Catholic Church, Stockport, around 1877. By 1911 he had been married to Elizabeth Ann for seven years and they lived at 36 Kingston Street with at the time their 3 children, James, age 6, Michael, 4 and Joseph, 2. He worked as a General Labourer believed to be Mr H Bardsley, who was a contractor. Michael enlisted at Stockport and his service number suggests that this will have been in August 1914. After training he embarked for France 11 January 1915.
The local newspaper reported that he had been seriously wounded on the 16th or 17th of February. The Battalion were in action on the 17th, they carried out a trench raid on a German position at Factory Farm just east of Ploegsteert Wood, and this is the more likely date. The War Diary states.
17th February 1917
MEEANEE Day. At 10:40am One Officer + 65 other ranks from A, C and D companies under Captain Appleton, successfully raided the enemy trenches north of Factory Farm, inflicting heavy casualties upon the enemy. Many dugouts were bombed. Bombed dugouts and trench material destroyed. Ten prisoners were taken, 8 of that number were caught by their own machine gun fire and killed crossing No Man’s Land to our line.
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This raid was planned in meticulous detail over the first couple of weeks of February. 70 men from each of three companies were picked and each was trained in his task. A life size model of the enemy positions was made so the party could practice. For days, prior to the raid British artillery shelled No Man’s Land to cut the German wire. At 10:40am, the men left their trenches in two parties. The right-hand party, commanded by Captain Appleton, was about halfway across the 200 yards of No Man's Land when an enemy machine gun opened fire, causing a few casualties. When they reached the enemy wire, they found it had not been destroyed, but it was still possible to get through. At that point a second machine gun started to fire and, in front of them, the Cheshire’s could see the enemy trench full of troops. They quickly took shelter in shell holes and waited for a few minutes in the hope that the other party would be able to help them. It was impossible to make any further progress and Capt. Appleton made the decision to withdraw. It was while they were making their way back to their own trenches that most casualties occurred. The left-hand party, commanded by 2nd Lieutenant Rowe, reached the enemy trench without much difficulty, but was then fired on by a machine gun. Lance Corporal Nicholls knocked it out by pointing his Lewis gun through a loophole in the German sandbags and emptying the full magazine. Lt Rowe bayoneted three Germans and shot two more. About 20 more tried to run away from the raiders but were all killed. The War Diary records that "there were about 4 Germans in each dugout. They refused to come out and were consequently bombed, first with Mills bombs and then Fumite bombs. They must nearly all have been killed as they were unable to get around a corner to avoid the bombs and could be heard screaming." At 11.10, Lt Rowe gave the order to withdraw. This was costly as a sniper had taken up position and machine guns were sweeping No Man's Land. The raid had killed around 50 of the enemy and had taken 10 prisoners, although eight were killed on the way back by fire from the German machine gun. However, 53 raiders had themselves lost their lives and another 60 wounded. |
Michael was evacuated from the trenches and received first aid treatment from the battalion Medical Officer. He would then have been further evacuated to the Casualty Clearing Station, some miles away, at Bailleul where he died from the wounds the next day.
After the war Elizabeth received a war gratuity of £11 10 shillings.