Lives of the First World War

known 28th March 1918

"On the night of the 27th [March 1918] the battalion relieved the 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards on the right of the divisional front. The battalion held a front of some 2,000 yards with their right on Boyelles, and at 7 a.m. on the 28th the enemy commenced to bombard the trenches, and continued doing so with increased violence until 11.30 a.m. Companies on the right of the line reported the enemy massing in Boyelles, which was partly concealed by a rise in the ground. The Commanding Officer put the artillery on to hum, and the attack did not develop in that quarter. On the left, however, the enemy drove back the division holding the hill north of Boiry Becquerelle on the main Arras – Bapaume Road, and proceeded to attack the flank of the Prince of Wales’s Company. [Captain] Claud Insole [the Company commander] was not to be caught that way. He blocked his trench and held it with bombers, while his Lewis Guns cleared the open ground [ref]; 2/Lieut. E. J. Davies was killed while repelling this attack."

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