The Battle For Manchester Hill St Quentin, March 1918.

The Battle For Manchester Hill St Quentin, March 1918.

The Manchester battalions 2nd/5th,2nd/6th, 7th,2n/9th,16th,17th still remaining in France faced an unattractive prospect in the spring of 1918. For a small band of original Pals this year marked their fourth successive one in military service, far beyond these men's initial expectations. It was named because it was captured by the 2nd Manchester Regiment in 1917. The collapse of Russia, following the Bolshevik Revolution, meant that Germany's armed forces on the Western front were being steadily reinforced by divisions no longer needed in the east. Pressure from France would soon result in the British lines being extended further south along the Western Front towards St. Quentin and beyond. The necessary defensive posture of the British Army, therefore, meant that these areas could only be defended using a zonal system, in the which forward positions would be formed by a collection of defended, but lightly held, localities incorporating more heavily defended and manned redoubts. The forward zone was, therefore, itself sub divided into a line of observation, which consisted of widely separated observation posts; the line of resistance which was protected by a single but continuous belt of wire roughly ten yards deep. For further information and stories of The Battle For Manchester Hill go to the page of Sergeant Archer Searle Hoye. Service No. 6630. Information courtesy of Michael Stedman from the book Manchester Pals. Michael Stedman was born is Salford in 1949. From 1970s to the 1990s he taught in nearby Stockport. He holds a lifelong interest in the Manchester and Salford Pals and has organised numerous battlefield tours, enhanced by his deep interest in the history of these communities and the men raised. Michael is one of the historians involved in the successful development of the Thiepval Visitors Centre.

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  • Profile picture for Harold Wark

    Born 1898

    Died 1918

    British Army 202503 Private Manchester Regiment 2nd/5th Battalion

  • Profile picture for Samuel Cartwright

    Born 1896

    Died 1918

    British Army 43208 Private Manchester Regiment 16th Battalion.

  • Profile picture for Joseph Baker

    Born 1898

    Died 1918

    British Army 277129 Private Manchester Regiment 2nd/7th Battalion

  • Profile picture for Charles Joseph Aspley

    Born 1899

    Died 1918

    British Army 54657 Private Manchester Regiment 16th Battalion.

  • Profile picture for Ernest Victor Bell

    Born 1898

    Died 1918

    British Army 59178 Private Manchester Regiment 16th Battalion.

  • Profile picture for Henry Clough

    Died 1918

    British Army 29462 Private Manchester Regiment 16th Battalion.

  • Profile picture for Archie B Bradley

    Born 1883

    Died 1918

    British Army 401211 Private Manchester Regiment 17th Battalion.

  • Profile picture for Thomas Benn

    Born 1895

    Died 1918

    British Army 11472 Private Manchester Regiment 16th Battalion.

  • Profile picture for Walter Grundy

    Born 1899

    Died 1918

    British Army 250854 Private Manchester Regiment 2nd/5th Battalion.

  • Profile picture for George James Guy

    Born 1897

    Died 1918

    British Army 42324 Private Manchester Regiment 2nd/7th Battalion.

  • Profile picture for John George Hall

    Died 1918

    British Army 201985 Private Manchester Regiment 2nd/5th Battalion.

  • Profile picture for Roland Chamberlain

    Born 1898

    Died 1918

    British Army 302111 Private Manchester Regiment 2nd/6th Battalion

  • Profile picture for Stanley Dunn

    Born 1898

    Died 1918

    British Army 277128 Private Manchester Regiment 2nd/7th Battalion

  • Profile picture for Fred Elliott

    Died 1918

    British Army 4105 Manchester Regiment

    British Army 201449 Private Manchester Regiment 2nd/6th Battalion.

  • Profile picture for George Elliott

    Born 1897

    Died 1918

    British Army 40961 Private Manchester Regiment 17th Battalion

  • Profile picture for Joseph Mcgrath

    Born 1895

    Died 1918

    British Army 302121 Private Manchester Regiment 2nd/7th Battalion.

  • Profile picture for Harold John Henry Ellis

    Born 1896

    Died 1918

    British Army 42132 Private Manchester Regiment 17th Battalion.

  • Profile picture for Tom Fitton

    Born 1890

    Died 1918

    British Army 11543 Private Manchester Regiment 16th Battalion.

  • Profile picture for Andrew James Marr

    Born 1899

    Died 1918

    British Army 54403 Private Manchester Regiment 9th Battalion.

  • Profile picture for Sidney Bert Martin

    Born 1898

    Died 1918

    British Army 59213 Private Manchester Regiment 16th Battalion.