Memorial
Herbert Amory is the husband of my fifth cousin, once removed. He was born in 1888 in Park, Sheffield. Special thanks are owed to Trevor Higgins for writing the following text:-
Herbert is commemorated on Le Touret Memorial within the cemetery of the same name , north east of Bethune. The Memorial has inscribed some 13,000 names of soldiers who died within a defined area and were never found. The geographical area as defined, covered the battles of La Bassee and Armentieres. (James Wilfred Loukes died on the 24th October 1914 in an engagement within the same area).
Le Touret
The battles and engagements around Bassee and Armentieres were the BEF’s attempt at stopping the Germans advancing south, and ably assisted by French battalions, stemmed the flow, but at great cost. The Germans made use of field artillery and many soldiers were killed in a 20 kms area south of Armentieres. German snipers also caused many deaths during times when the British ‘moved’ during quiet times.
When the numbers of the two memorials Le Touret and Ploegsteert are added together, 24000 names, one can appreciate the loss of life in this area, that is without the named buried in countless cemeteries.
This is a revised version of a post which was originally published on my WordPress Blog on 10/09/2009 and republished on Mollekin Portalite on 16/05/2011.
WEEK 42 