PRIVATE 202399 WILLIAM DARNBROUGH, 1ST BATTALION SHERWOOD FORESTERS.

PRIVATE 202399 WILLIAM DARNBROUGH, 1ST BATTALION SHERWOOD FORESTERS. KILLED IN ACTION 31st JULY 1917 AGED 19

In early summer 1917 the British High Command turned their attention to the Ypres Sector at the western end of the British front line. The German Army were positioned on a series of low ridges that overlooked the city and from where that could direct fire onto the British front line below. It was believed that more advanced artillery tactics and better prepared infantry would help to clear the enemy from the security of their hilltop positions. Officially the battle was called 3rd Ypres but it is always known as Passchendaele the most western of the ridges. For the soldiers who fought in the sector from July to November 1917 it was simply called 'Hell'.

The British artillery barrage had begun on the 16th July hoping to destroy the enemy barbed wire and defensive positions. The attack itself was to begin at 3.50am (Zero Hour) on the 31st July when every British Gun commenced a hurricane bombardment. Ten minutes later the infantry would climb out of their trenches and assault the German positions. Alfred Warsop, a private in the 1st Battalion Sherwood Foresters vividly described the fear that overtook the soldiers waiting to go over the top and the horrors that awaited. Men would pray, sit in silent contemplation and even hold the hand of a comrade in the hope of allaying the worst of their fears.

Just after 4am the Sherwoods climbed out into No Mans Land and began to form up for the attack on the German trenches. The weather was dire as driving rain fell from leaden skies which hindered the men as they began to move forward. Officers became disoriented in the gloom and the attack soon lost cohesion. Worse still German strong points, often concrete pill boxes, had survived and began pouring machine gun fire into the British attackers. Undaunted, the Sherwoods continued to advance towards the enemy lines. A few even reached the first objective but they were soon counterattacked and forced back towards their own lines.

Alfred Warsop had survived the initial assault but as he returned back to the British trenches he was horrified to see hundreds of his comrades lying dead in the shell pitted ground. One of those who lay in No Man's Land was a young 19 year old Ilkley lad, Billy Darnbrough, who had fallen in this his first attack.

William Darnbrough was born in Guiseley on 29th March 1898 the eldest son of Joseph a grocer and his wife emily. By stages the family had moved first to Burley in Wharfedale and then into Ilkley where they lived at 3 Victory Road. Billy worked as a switchboard operative but a few weeks after his 18th birthday was conscripted into the Sherwood Foresters. After training he arrived in France on 17th May 1917 where he remained at the Base Depot at Etaples until 18th June when he joined the first battalion.

On the 31st July 1917 the 1st Battalion Sherwood Foresters suffered over 600 casualties, including, Billy, whose body was never recovered. Today Private William Darnbrough is commemorated on the Menin Gate Memorial to the missing in Ypres and remembered with pride on the war memorials in Guiseley and here in Ilkley.