William Frederick Patrick Kirwin

William Landed in France 2nd May 1915 attached to the Seaforth Highlanders.

He transferred at some point to the Royal Engineers and it was with them that he was killed in action on 20th Nov 1917 during the battle of Cambrai.

Son of William and Catherine Kirwin, of 171, Bridgewater St., Farnworth, Bolton

He is buried at

CROISILLES BRITISH CEMETERY

The 7th Division attacked Croisilles in March 1917 and took it on 2 April. It was lost on 21 March 1918 and recaptured by the 56th (London) Division on the following 28 August, after heavy fighting. Plots I and II of the cemetery, were made between April 1917 and March 1918 and the rest was formed after the Armistice, when graves were brought in from the neighbouring battlefields and from some smaller burial grounds. The majority of the soldiers buried in the cemetery belonged to the Guards, 7th and 21st Divisions. Croisilles British Cemetery now contains 1,171 Commonwealth burials and commemorations of the First World War. 647 of the burials are unidentified but there are special memorials to 14 casualties buried among them. Other special memorials commemorate casualties buried in HENDECOURT-LES-CAGNICOURT Communal Cemetery in 1917, whose graves were destroyed by shell fire. The cemetery also contains the graves of six Commonwealth airmen of the Second World War and 18 German war graves.

The Battle of Cambrai was an attack launched against the Hindenburg Line in November 1917.. It revealed tactical innovations on both sides that would be used to great effect in the fighting of 1918 to end the deadlock which had paralysed the belligerents on the Western Front since 1914.

The most spectacular of these was the British Army's use of tanks which were, for the first time, to be a decisive element in a battle; however the new counter-attack methods employed by the Germans were probably the most important leap forward in the short and medium term.

The attack began on 20 November at 6.20 a.m. along a ten kilometre wide front. The Tank Corps provided 476 tanks (of which 350 were armed) to lead six infantry divisions into the field. The bombardment which accompanied the attack was carefully timed and took the Germans by surprise. The British also used Livens projectors to shower poison gas on various parts of the front.

Preceded by a rain of explosive shells, the tanks made quick progress and soon reached the enemy's trenches. The Hindenburg Line had never before been so deeply penetrated. The surprise and terror provoked by the tanks among the German ranks caused several units to retreat and the British took 8,000 prisoners on the first day of the offensive. Never had an attack advanced so quickly since 1914 and by the evening of 20 November the British vanguard had won nine kilometres of terrain and was closing in on Cambrai.

But once again the problem of capitalizing on the initial breakthrough reared its head a fundamental problem was the tardy arrival of reinforcements caused by the heavy congestion on the roads: it took fifteen hours for troops to cover the final five kilometres to the front...

In fact, the impact of the first assault dissipated along with the element of surprise and the Germans were soon harassing the foremost troops.

The battle of Cambrai lasted into December but William died on its first day.

Ian Sythes