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**Darrell** · 11-01-2012, 06:14 AM

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DCM Trio - ALFRED WAGSTAFFE - BIRTH INDEX JAN-FEB-MAR 1894 b.jpg (167.2 KB, 50 views)

**Darrell** · 11-01-2012, 06:14 AM

Closeup of entry:

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Birth Index Closeup.JPG (46.4 KB, 50 views)

**Darrell** · 11-01-2012, 06:17 AM

In the 1901 Census for Hyde (RG13/3282), shows young Alfred aged 7 and his brother John aged 5 living with their grandparents Alfred and Priscilla Wagstaffe at No. 70 Oldham Street, Hyde. Alfred’s parents Joseph and Fanny are shown living at No. 2 Croft Street, Hyde. The members at his grandparents address are as indicated below.

 Alfred Wagstaffe age 71 Retired Cotton Industry
Priscilla Wagstaffe his wife age 68 born in York, Bradford
Joseph S Whyatt, Son In Law age 24
Elizabeth Whyatt, daughter age 23 born in Hyde
Alfred Wagstaffe, grandson age 7 born Hyde
John Wagstaffe, grandson age 5 born Hyde
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DCM Trio - ALFRED WAGSTAFFE - 1901 England Census (1).JPG (51.5 KB, 50 views)

**Darrell** · 11-01-2012, 06:17 AM

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DCM Trio - ALFRED WAGSTAFFE - 1901 England Census (2).jpg (219.4 KB, 50 views)

**Darrell** · 11-01-2012, 06:19 AM

Alfred attended Hyde Lane Day School and later became connected with the Union Street Sunday School. Later Alfred joined the St George’s Rowing Club and Young Men’s Class and then began work as a weaver at Northrop Looms in the wharf shed of Ashton Bros. Ref. This was gleaned from “The Hyde Reporter” June-September 1918.

Fast forward 10 years and the 1911 Census for Hyde shows that Alfred age of 17 and his brother age 15 were back with their parents living at No. 4 Croft Street, Hyde. It appears that his oldest Sister, Elizabeth, and also Ethel were no longer in the household. William is now listed as a Grocer’s errand Boy. It also appears a younger Sister happened along the way around 1902 and was 9 years old.

Joseph Wagstaffe age 38, born Cheshire, Hyde, Tool Worker.
Fanny Wagstaffe his wife age 38, born Cheshire, Hyde
Alfred Wagstaffe, son age 17, born Cheshire, Hyde, Weaver Cotton Industry
John Wagstaffe, son age 15, born Cheshire, Hyde, Loom Tender Cotton Industry

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DCM Trio - ALFRED WAGSTAFFE - 1911 England Census (1).JPG (42.3 KB, 50 views)

**Darrell** · 11-01-2012, 06:20 AM

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DCM Trio - ALFRED WAGSTAFFE - 1911 England Census (2).jpg (193.9 KB, 50 views)

**Darrell** · 11-01-2012, 06:22 AM

Alfred’s WW1 Service Records have not survived, but through research, I have been able to piece together his service and highlights of his War Service.

In August 1914 World War I begins. Alfred joins up in the first few weeks of the War and enlists with the King’s Own Scottish Borderers with the Service Number 16631 on 09 November 1914. He finally enters the fray when he lands in France on 09 July 1915 as part of the 7th Battalion of the KOSB part of the 15th (Scottish) Division .

It doesn’t take long for Alfred to get into the thick of the action. He is present at the Battle of Loos and is wounded and hospitalized by a bullet in the thigh on 25 September 1915. Below is some information about this battle in which Alfred becomes a casualty.

The Battle of Loos: 25 September 1915

The Loos battlefield lies immediately north of the mining town of Lens, in the heart of the industrial area of north-east France. The ground here is uniformly flat, dominated by slagheaps connected with the coal mining in the district. In 1915, the various mining villages, collieries and other industrial buildings presented a difficult challenge for any would-be attacker.

Picture below:

Flat as a pancake: the Loos battlefield today. View from Dud Corner north/northeast toward Auchy. In 1915, the slag heap known as Fosse 8 would have dominated the landscape to the right of the picture. There is no a trace of it today. Trees in the centre ground (right of a whitish building in the distance) surround Le Rutoire Farm. The 15th (Scottish) and 1st Divisions attacked nearest the camera, going left to right across this image.

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Loos.JPG (27.0 KB, 48 views)

**Darrell** · 11-01-2012, 06:25 AM

THE PLAN

The combined Franco-British offensive would attack eastwards against the German Sixth Army. The whole force, supervised by General Foch, would consist of French Tenth Army and British First Army. It would attack on a 20-mile front between Arras and La Bassée. Although artillery would bombard the whole front, no attack would be made on a central 4000-yard strip facing the towns of Liévin and Lens. South of this gap, the French Tenth Army would throw 17 infantry Divisions against the enemy, supported by 420 heavy guns with two cavalry Divisions ready to exploit the expected breakthrough. To the North, British First Army would attack with the six Divisions of I and IV Corps, having 70 heavy guns available, with two cavalry corps (Indian and III) to push the advance forward. The objectives were imprecise but optimistic; the cavalry were to reach the area of Ath and Mons, 50 miles away in Belgium.

Joffre's plan was brutally simple. The strong enemy positions would be crushed by four days continuous artillery bombardment, with a 4-hour final crescendo before the infantry attacked. The latter would be arrayed in great depth, each Division placing no more than half of two Brigades in the first line. A constant flow of men would follow, as would the reserves behind the assaulting Divisions. All other Armies from the coast to Switzerland would be ready to move forward once the enemy were destroyed in Artois.

Sir John French arranged for Second Army to carry out subsidiary attacks near Ypres, as would First Army north of the La Bassée canal in addition to their main assault role. 75,000 British infantry would make the initial attack.

Experience at Neuve Chapelle and Festubert had shown that troops attacking on a narrow front would suffer from concentrated fire. First Army therefore made their attack front as wide as possible, placing all six Divisions of I and IV Corps in the line, but faced the dilemma that the numbers and weight of heavy artillery they had available was insufficient to support such a breadth of front. It was decided to use intense smoke barrages to conceal the front as far as possible, and also to employ Chlorine gas for the first time as a means of compensating for the relatively lightweight artillery. Final detailed orders were issued by First Army on 19 September. Much secrecy was maintained about the use of gas; the word 'accessory' was substituted in all orders.

All England was buzzing with rumours of this 'Big Push' some weeks before the attack. There was little by way of strategic deception and preparations near the battle front were all too obvious. Only the date and time of attack were unknown to the enemy and once the opening bombardment began, it could not be too far away.

Alfred was part of the 15th Division as stated above. The British Order of Battle that included the Scottish 15th Division was as follows:

IV Corps (Lieutenant-General Sir H. Rawlinson)
--- 3rd Cavalry Division (Major-General C. Briggs)
--- 1st Division (Major-General A. Holland)
--- 15th (Scottish) Division (Major-General F. McCracken)
--- 47th (2nd London) Division TF (Major-General C. Barter)

The attack on the morning of 25 September 1915:

The centre 15th (Scottish) Division

In this sector the gas cloud hung back, causing delays and some losses to the advancing troops. Although the infantry had only 200 yards to cross from the heads of the Russian saps, the gas and smoke only covered them for the first 40 - and as men emerged into the clear, two German machine-guns swept twice across the advancing line, causing many casualties. The MG's were soon joined by enemy artillery fire from beyond Loos. However, strong parties continued the advance, cleared the German front lines and began to storm through Loos village itself. By 8.00am the village was entirely in British hands. On the left of the Divisional front, men reached the La Bassee-Lens road by 9.15am. Reserves were ordered up to support this advance. Emerging from the village, men of many units advanced unopposed - but without clear landmarks and with few officers, they headed for the summit of Hill 70 rather than to the left which was the original plan. On the extreme right, the 1/9 Black Watch, finding that the expected flank defences of the 1/19 Londons absent, halted. The mass of infantry now on Hill 70, seeing Germans retreating in some disarray, began to advance down the far-side slope. This advance was caught by German crossfire from the 2nd line, and it was brought to a standstill by 10.30am, with men doing their best to take cover on completely open ground on the downward slope North of Cite St Laurent. Calls for artillery support were answered with a bombardment falling away to the left, on Cite St Auguste, the original objective of the Division. 200 men on the hill, now reinforced by the 7/RSF, dug in a trench behind the crest line. Although by 11.30am the enemy had reinforced his position in front of Cite St Laurent, steps had been taken to evacuate Lens, such was the threat of a further Scots advance.

Map showing the Division that Alfred was part of (15th):

Attached Files

1.JPG (34.8 KB, 48 views)

**Darrell** · 11-01-2012, 06:29 AM

Alfred doesn’t see any more action past the first day of the offensive, so that’s where we leave France for the time being. Alfred returns to England to recover from his wounds.

After 5 months, Alfred heads back to France arriving in February 1916. He transfers from the 7th Battalion KOSB to the 30th Machine Gun Corps (MGC). This is recorded in the War Diary of the 7th Battalion KOSB WO95/1953 15 Division 46 Infantry Brigade.

No actual records exist of his travels and what actions he took part in, but by 1918 we had been promoted to Sergeant in the 30th MGC. It was during this time that he was involved in the action that earned him the Distinguished Conduct Medal. The award of the DCM is documented in the London Gazette 03 September 1918 (DCM award register WO391/6) and the War Diary WO95/2323 30 Battalion MGC April 1918.

The action where Alfred earned the DCM was the 25/26 April 1918. This was likely during the Battle for Lys which took place from 09-29 April 1918.

First up some background on the battle of Lys around this time.

The Battle of Lys, 09-29 April 1918

The Battle of the Lys (also known as the Lys Offensive, the Fourth Battle of Ypres, the Third Battle of Flanders (French: 3ème Bataille des Flandres) and as the Batalha de La Lys in Portugal) was part of the 1918 German offensive in Flanders during World War I (also known as the Spring Offensive). It was originally planned by General Ludendorff as Operation George but reduced to become Operation Georgette, with the objective of capturing Ypres and forcing the British forces back to the Channel ports (and thereby out of the war). The battle began on 7 April 1918, and lasted until 29 April. In planning, execution and effects, Georgette was similar to (although smaller than) Operation Michael, earlier in the Spring Offensive.

Background

The German attack zone was in Flanders, from about 10 km east of Ypres in Belgium to 10 km east of Béthune in France, about 40 km south. The front line ran from NNE to SSW. The Lys River, running from southwest to northeast, crossed the front near Armentières in the middle of this zone.

The German attacking forces were the Sixth Army in the south (under von Quast), and the Fourth Army in the north (under Sixt von Armin). Both armies included substantial numbers of the new Stosstruppen, trained to lead attacks in the new Hutier tactics.

The front was held by the Belgian Army in the far north, by the British Second Army (under Plumer) in the north and center, and by the British First Army (under Horne) in the south.

The First Army in particular was a relatively weak force; it included several worn-out formations that had been posted to a "quiet sector". This included two Portuguese divisions, which were undermanned, lacked almost half of their officers, had very low morale and were set to be replaced the day of the German attack.

The German plan was to smash through First Army, push Second Army aside to the north, and drive west to the English Channel, cutting off British forces in France from their supply line which ran through the Channel ports of Calais, Dunkirk and Boulogne.

Battle of Estaires

The battle opened on the evening of 7 April, with a heavy German artillery barrage against the southern part of the Allied line (between Armentières and Festubert). The barrage continued until dawn on 9 April. The Sixth Army then attacked with eight divisions. The centre of the attack struck the Portuguese divisions, which crumbled. The British 55th Division (south of the Portuguese) pulled back its northern brigade and despite numerous further attacks held its ground for the rest of the battle. The British 40th Division (to the north) was outflanked and attacked from the rear and fell back to the north.

Horne committed his reserves (1st King Edward's Horse, 11th Cyclist Battalion) to stem the German breakthrough but they too were defeated. The Germans broke through 15 km of front and advanced up to 8 km, the most advanced probe reaching Estaires on the Lys. There they were finally halted by British reserve divisions.

This action was one of the greatest defeats ever suffered by Portuguese forces. The 2nd Portuguese Division, with approximately 20,000 men and commanded by General Gomes da Costa (later President of Portugal), lost about 300 officers and 7,000 men killed, wounded or taken prisoner. Despite the defeat, acts of remarkable bravery were shown by the Portuguese soldiers, the most famous episode was that of Aníbal Milhais (nickname "Soldier Millions") who, armed only with a Lewis gun, single-handedly defeated two German assaults by laying down intense fire, covering the retreat of Portuguese and Scots alike, despite coming under heavy attack himself.

On 10 April, Sixth Army tried to push west from Estaires but was contained for a day; pushing north against the flank of Second Army, it took Armentières.

Battle of Messines

Also on 10 April, German Fourth Army attacked north of Armentières with four divisions, hitting the British 19th Division. Second Army had sent its reserves south to aid First Army, and the Germans broke through, advancing up to 3 km on a 6 km front, and capturing Messines. The 25th Division to the south, flanked on both sides, withdrew about 4 km.

By 11 April, the British situation was desperate; it was on this day that Haig issued his famous "Backs to the wall" order.
Battle of Hazebrouck

On 12 April, Sixth Army renewed its attack in the south, towards the important supply centre of Hazebrouck, another 10 km to the west. The Germans advanced some 2 to 4 km and captured Merville, Nord. On 13 April they were stopped by the Australian 1st Division, which had been transferred to the area. The British 5th and 33rd Divisions were also moved there.

Battle of Bailleul

Between 13 and 15 April, the Germans drove forward in the centre, taking Bailleul, 12 km west of Armentières, despite increasing British resistance. Plumer assessed the heavy losses of Second Army and the defeat of his southern flank and ordered his northern flank to withdraw from Passchendaele to Ypres and the Yser Canal; the Belgian Army to the north conformed.

First Battle of Kemmelberg

The Kemmelberg is a height commanding the area between Armentières and Ypres. On 17–19 April, Fourth Army attacked there but was repulsed by the British.

Battle of Bethune

On 18 April, Sixth Army attacked south from the breakthrough area toward Béthune but was repulsed.

Second Battle of the Kemmelberg

French Marshal Foch had recently assumed supreme command of the Allied forces and on 14 April agreed to send French reserves to the Lys sector. A French division relieved the British defenders of the Kemmelberg. On 25 and 26 April, Fourth Army made a sudden attack on the Kemmelberg with three divisions and captured it. This success gained some ground but it made no progress toward a new break in the Allied line.

Battle of the Scherpenberg

On 29 April, a final German attack captured the Scherpenberg, a hill to the northwest of the Kemmelberg.

It was during this, the second Battle of Kemmelberg that Alfred was involved in the action that earned him the DCM.

The British Order of Battle for this offensive:

Phase: the Second Battle of Kemmel, 25 - 26 April 1918

Second Army (Plumer)
XXII Corps (Godley)
9th (Scottish) Division
21st Division
25th Division
39th Division
49th (West Riding) Division
71st Brigade of 6th Division
89th Brigade of 30th Division.

Map of the area where the Battle of Lys took place in April 1918:

Attached Files

2.jpg (133.3 KB, 48 views)

**Darrell** · 11-01-2012, 06:33 AM

The entries in the 30th Machine Gun Corps War Diaries lists the action during the 25/26 April 1918.

1.

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1.jpg (189.5 KB, 48 views)

**Darrell** · 11-01-2012, 06:34 AM

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2.jpg (184.7 KB, 48 views)

**Darrell** · 11-01-2012, 06:34 AM

3.

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3.jpg (157.3 KB, 47 views)

**Darrell** · 11-01-2012, 06:39 AM

Although an announcement came in late June 1918 of Alfred's accomplishments, official notification came in the 03 September 1918 London Gazette announced the Citation of the action which Alfred was part of to earn the decoration.

Coverpage:

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LG 1.jpg (100.6 KB, 48 views)

**Darrell** · 11-01-2012, 06:40 AM

b. Page where the King starts the list of DCM awardees fro this time period:

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LG 2.jpg (144.8 KB, 46 views)

Announcement

DCM WW1 Trio Group to Alfred Wagstaffe - 30th M.G.C.

DCM WW1 Trio Group to Alfred Wagstaffe - 30th M.G.C.

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