2 men from Lemsford Died in this battle - They were David Cochrane, Reginald Goodge
Ruins of Arras cathedral Together with the Battle of Albert, the Battle of Arras formed an attempt by the French to outflank the Germans in a north-westerly movement towards the English Channel - the 'race to the sea'. Designed to outflank the German forces by advancing along a line between Arras and Lens, the attack began on 1 October once sufficient troops had been collected to comprise Maud'huy's new Tenth Army.
Whilst initial progress towards Douai was good, effective counter-attacks by Crown Prince Rupprecht's Sixth Army, transferred from Lorraine, obliged Maud'huy to order a withdrawal.Nevertheless, in the face of heavy attacks by three corps of the German First, Second and Seventh Armies, the French managed to hold on to Arras, although Lens was lost to the Germans on 4 October, by which time fighting had subsided and the line begun to stabilise once again.With the failure of French outflanking manoeuvres at Albert and Arras, activity moved further north towards Flanders, where the Germans saw success.
Source firstworldwar.comCommonwealth War Graves
Lest We Forget
From 1914 to1918 97 men and one woman went to War - 20 men never came home. Read the life history of each man and learn where they died
Those Who Gave Their LivesLemsford local History Group WW1 Records
Memories & Letters
Memories from the people of Lemsford Parish – letters from the Front and home and much, much more
Local Parish Magazine
From the Bishop's Hatfield Parish Magazine 1914 to 1918, Church- Social - War Records
Servicemen of Lemsford
War records from 98 men who went to war. We show their memories images and why we should never forget them.
5 Facts the Great War
Battles of WW1
Battle of the Somme
1 July - 13 November 1916The British suffered around 420,000 casualties, the French 195,000 and the Germans around 650,000. Only in the sense of relieving the French at Verdun can the British have claimed any measure of success.
Battle of Passchendaele
31 July - 6 November 1917Passchendaele village lay barely five miles beyond the starting point of his offensive. Having prophesied a decisive success, it had taken over three months, 325,000 Allied and 260,000 German casualties
The First Battle of Ypres, 1914
October 19 to November 22, 1914First Battle of Ypres saw the BEF sustain 7,960 killed, 29,562 wounded, and 17,873 missing, while the French incurred between 50,000 and 85,000 casualties of all types. To the north, the Belgians took 21,562 casualties