Over the course of the war, 5.7 million men from the British Isles served in the forces and 705,000 died. Of these 71 are recorded on the Alderley Edge War Memorial, along with one member of the British Red Cross and a further 6 are remembered in the annual Remembrance Day service.
Every month Michael Scaife will produce articles for the St Philip and St James Church news sheet, with some notes about the war, the War Memorial and to remember those who died in that month 100 years ago.
Below is Michael's most recent article.
September 1915 saw little change in the two theatres in which men from Alderley Edge were engaged. After the costly failure of the attempts to break out from the allied bridgeheads in August, the Gallipoli campaign descended into stalemate. Conditions for the soldiers in the trenches were dreadful: the summer heat and poor sanitation led to a dysentery epidemic.
There was stalemate on the Western Front throughout the summer, too. On 25th September, however, the allies began a large-scale offensive. In the Battle of Loos (25 September- 8 October), the British forces suffered heavy losses but failed to break through the German front.
LONDON GAZETTE, 15 SEPTEMBER, 1915.
Distinguished Conduct Medals
32025 Driver Smith, G., 61st Battery, Royal Field Artillery
For conspicuous good work throughout the months of April and May, 1915, in the severe fighting east of Ypres. On the 27th April he displayed great bravery and resource in saving horses from a burning barn under a very heavy shell fire, and at great personal risk. His devotion to duty was most marked.
George Smith was the son of the Caretaker at the Church Institute. In a letter printed in the Advertiser he explained what happened:
"Well, Dad, I will tell you what happened. Ten of us were sleeping in an old barn over the top of our horses, when at two o'clock in the morning a German shell came through the roof, killing outright five horses and wounding four more, but I am glad to say never hit me or my chums. We only received a few bricks and slates on the head as they fell from the roof. Well you never saw what a mess we were in. We were already dressed, so I slipped down the side of the wall to where the horses were, and succeeded in saving six that were able to walk. Shells were dropping all round the barn at the time, and I was lucky not to get hit."
