Military History

Theatre of War	Medals	Commonwealth War Grave or Memorial
France and Flanders	British War & Victory Medals	Wimereux Communal Cemetery
Arrived in Theatre	Medal Citation (if app)	SWFHS Area Memorials
After April 1917		Wixford
Action, Battle or Other Reason Killed	Date and Place Enlisted	Other War Memorials
Battle of the Lys (Fourth Battle of Ypres)	After 13 Apr 1917
Place of Death	Previous Regiments or Units
53rd General Hospital, Wimereux	~

Circumstances Leading to Death (Normally from War Diary)           

The Warwickshire Roll of Honour book states that Thomas died from a gunshot wound to the head at the 53rd General Hospital, Wimereux (not Boulogne per the book) on April 12th 1918 having been wounded the day before. The battalion war diary for the period 10th to 11th April 1918 is transcribed below:

On the night of the 9th/10th April the Bttn was holding a subsector of the trenches east of the Messines-Wytschaete ridge - with its right on the Wambeke and its left of Junction Buildings (exclusive). The front was held by two Coys (A&B) which were distributed in depth - each with two platoons in the front line of posts & 1 strong platoon in support. C & D coys where in reserve about 2,000 yards behind the front line.

About 3.30am fairly heavy shelling on the whole subsector began consisting of H.E and gas shells. This continued practically without intermission the whole ? though no gas shells fell after abpout 5.30am. About 6 am the shelling which was much heavier on the subsector of the Battalions on our right reached a climax and the enemy under cover of a very thick "scotch mist" attacked the 57th Bde on the right & apparently forced its centre battalion on to its reserve line. The left Bn of the 57th Bde (the 10th Warwich R.) thereby had its right flank turned & the success of the attack was so sudden that a portion of the Warwicks were forced to fall back in a northerly direction to our right flank - the Wambeke formed the natural boundary between the 57th and 58th Bdes & just north of it ran a long duck boarded but shallow Communication trench. Mancester St between Verne Rd and Gun Farm was a system of flooded shallow trenches which C Coy occupied at once to form a defensive position, while half the support platoon of B Coy was utilized with any parties of the 10th Warwick R which came across the Beke to man the Manchester St as a long defensive flank. The 4th Coy (D Coy) was used to stiffen up the defense of the right flank of the Bde which was dangerously exposed.

The whole BN subsector was subjected to heavy shelling and a large part of it to M.G & rifle fire thoughout the day coming from the high ground south of Wambeke round Anzac Farm. The Bn maintained its position everywhere until 4.30pm that afternoon. At 3.30pm the enemy was massing 2000 yds east of our front line - & a frontal attack developed but was unable to materialise owing to our vigourous Lewis Gun & rifle fire. At 4.30pm orders were received by the Bttn on our left (9th R.W.R) to evacuate the front line of posts & this order emanated from Bde the front line held by this Bn was also abandoned, although the order for this to be done never reached the front line from our Bn HQ. A strong position was then taken up by the two front Coys on the line of the supporting points. The enemy advanced about 5.30pm to our original front line but was unable to approach nearer that 600 or 800 yards owing to our active Lewis gun and rifle fire,

About 6.0pm the enemy organised strong attacks on our right and left flanks. The order to withdraw on to the Reserve line never reached the front line Coys so our positions on the support line were held until the enemy had completely surrounded the two front line Coy a few elements of which, only, managed to work through to our own lines. The reserve Coys which had been heavily engaged on the right flank fell back fighting on the high ground west of Oostaverne. Bttn HQ Coy which was utilised in an attempt to strenghten the right rear was also engaged heavily in fighting in which C.O. Major Monreal was mortally wounded and the 2nd on Command Capt Garthwaite wounded.

During the night the survivors of the Bttn rallied on portions of the front between the Dammstrasse & Wytschaete. 75 stragglers were collected and sent up to Grand Bois where Capt Rentoul had established Bn HQ. The remainder of the day was spent in collecting & reorganising the Bttn.