Lives of the First World War

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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