Passchendaele100
The infantry attack known as Passchdaele, named after a village of that name on a ridge of land to the north east of the Belgian town of Ypres, began on 31st July 1917, precisely 100 years ago this month. In official records it is known as the 3rd Battle of Ypres – ‘but to the men who struggled in the mud and filth was known with loathing by one word – PASSCHENDAELE (or by many British Tommies as Passion Dale) (Oliver 2009, p94).
The 3rd Battle of Ypres – but what of the 1st and 2nd Battles of Ypres? The 1st was fought from 13th October until the 2nd November 1914 (very soon after the outbreak of the war) and is sometimes referred to as The Battle of Armentieres. You will all remember the famous war song, ‘Mademoise from Armentieres – parlez-vous?’ It was in this battle that the young lady became famous – helping the Allied troops in the trenches in many ways! The 2nd was fought in the following year (1915) from April 22nd until 13th May. It is best remembered as the battle when the Germans first used poison gas! The Buckhurst Hill branch of the Legion remembered the beginning of the Great War by attending a special memorial week-end in Armentieres referred to as the ‘Race to the Sea’. A major problem for the Allies during this war was to keep the Belgian coast in Allied hands as the Germans intended to establish a submarine blockade of Britain to starve us out! This can be seen as the major strategic reason why the allied Commander in Chief in 1917, General (later Field Marshall and Earl) Douglas Haigh was willing to expend so many men to gain just a thin strip of Flanders soil(or perhaps I should say Flanders mud!) in the Battle of Passchendaele – the longest and fiercest of the three battles of Ypres!
The Battle of the Somme fought in 1916 was the bloodiest battle in the 1914-18 War as far as Buckhurst Hill was concerned. Passchendaele which saw over 20 Buckhurst Hill men die ran in close second!
As soon as the conflict was launched the rain came down and the troops were floundering and even drowning in glutinous Flanders mud. Many Tommies actually believed that the German High Command controlled the weather! In point of fact this area had been heavily farmed for centuries and the years of war in the 20th century destroyed the elaborate drainage systems that had been established. Just as on the Somme the year before this was Trench Warfare! Passchendaele has a fine museum and attached to it are some reconstructed trenches (ill. Our French friend Jean Francois Catteau walking along one of these trenches).
The battle began at 3pm on Tuesday 31st July and on that first day two men from Buckhurst Hill fell. Pte Albert Edward Heath, 19 year old ‘Ted’, was serving with the 8th btn of the Lincolnshire Regt in the Messines Woods just outside Armentieres when he was killed. Secondly, on this same day, 2/Lt ‘Reggie’ Gratton fell to enemy fire. Ted’s parents in Gladstone Road were informed of his death by the customary telegram. However Reggie’s parents in the School House in Princes Road received a telegram telling them that their son was ‘wounded and missing’. This was corrected some time later by another telegram saying that he was in fact dead! Both men are ‘of no known grave’ and are remembered at the Menin Gate in Ypres. The Branch laid a wreath at the Menin Gate in 2014 in memory of them. Two other men
who were fighting in the Messines Woods on that day, but who survived to fight another day were Lt Col Winston Churchill and Corporal Adolph Hitler!
One particular casualty that deserves special mention is 38 year old Lieut William Thomas Black of the 4th btn the Essex Regt (attached to the Royal Enginers) who was killed in action on Monday 24th September 1917. William was educated at Bancroft School (and his name appears on their memorial) and his family lived in Church Road, Buckhurst Hill. One year from his death, on Friday October 5th 1918, an obituary to him appeared in the Woodford Times. It read as follows:
‘For the second time, within a period of ten months, we have to record the sad fact that Mrs Black and family have been called upon to suffer bereavement through the war. (Their first son, Pte Thomas Leonard, was killed in action aged 27, on Sunday21st May 1916.) This time it was their son Lieut William T. Black, killed in action on September 24th 1917. The deceased officer was 38 years of age and for the last 20 years worked with the Telegraph Boys Christian Association. He was also greatly interested in the Scout Movement and spent many happy days with them in Chingford at their summer camp.’
A week later, on October 12th 1918, the following notice appeared in the Woodford Times: ‘The Hackney Boy Scouts Association is holding a memorial service on Sunday next, October 14, for the late Lieut William T. Black (Scoutmaster in the Association and one time Commissioner for N E London), of whose death reference was made in these columns last week. The service, will commence at 3.45, and will be held in the gym of the YMCA, 65 Stanford Hill (nearest station Stoke Newington). Any friend of Lieut Black will be welcome.
I don’t intend to list all the Buckhurst Hill men who fell in the taking of Passchendaele but only those few who for one reason or other stand out in particular. The Roll of Honour of all who fell appears in the July edition of the Chronicle. However I should like to mention Pte Edward George W Hill of the 1st Btn East Surrey Regt. Who was killed in action alongside men of the Canadian Expeditionary Force on the day they took Passchendaele, November 6th 1917. His family home was ‘near the Standard Inn’ in the High Road, Loughton. He was a member of Pelly House Mens’ Club in Queens Road, Buckhurst Hill and his name appears on the club’s splendid oak memorial plaque. Club member Teddy Higgs has recently completed a series of articles in ‘Pelly News’ entitled ‘A Richer Dust…’ giving a detailed military history of each of the men who appear on the Pelly house Memorial. He plans to publish all the articles in a small booklet in the near future. His email address is higgs375@ aol.com
Another of the last men from Buckhurst Hill to die at Passchendaele was Pte William Arthur Balaam with the 2nd btn the Northumberland Regt. Like Edward Hill, William Balaam was a member of the Pelly Club and his name is recorded on the Pelly House Memorial as well as on the memorials at St John’s and St Stephen’s. It is interesting to note that Balaam appears on our memorials but his comrade in arms ans fellow member of Pelly House does not. This is easy to explain he lived in Buckhurst Hill but Edward Hill came from down the road in Loughton and therefore appears on their memorial. Balaam left in Buckhurst Hill a widow, Susan Annie, and a young
son, Dudley Arthur. Like many of the men who fell in Passchendaele William Balaam’s name appears in the Tyne Cot cemetery (Ill. The Tyne Cot Cemetery) which overlooks Ypres. On the same day that the Branch laid a wreath at the Menin Gate in 2014 a wreath was also laid in Tyne Cot.
The two Balaams, father and son, are the only father and son to both appear on our memorial at St John’s Church. Corporal Dudley Arthur Balaam died in action on 31st July 1943 serving under Monty in the 8th Army. Unlike his Dad Dudley only appeared on St John’s Memorial as St John’s is the only memorial kin the parish to contain Second World War casualties.
I should like to finish with the words of the mother, father, sisters and brothers of 19 year old ‘Ted’ Heath who fell on the first day of the battle and is mentioned at the beginning of this article, which appeared in the Woodford Times on Friday 26th July 1918, one year after his death.
‘His cherry ways, his smiling face, are happy to recall. He had a friendly word for each, and died beloved of all. Some may think we forget him when at times they see us smile, But they little know the sorrow that which is hidden behind the smile’ The Heath Family, Gladstone Road, Buckhurst Hill Stephen
