Notes on William McClure by Graham Taylor
The Tincourt mentioned in Capt Percival's diary is the village of Tincourt-Boucly where the DLOY billeted on the night of March 30th. Villers is the village of Villers Faucon where the infantry attack on St. Emilie started.
William was killed in action during a battle in which his troop was acting as flank cover for the Infantry attack on St. Emilie. It is located in between the towns of Cambrai and Saint Quentin just to the west of the A26 motorway, one of the main N-S arteries through the Somme Region.
Capt. Percival in his diary states that at the time they were observing the battle from a ridge line at Capron Copse. Either the artillery fire that killed William was part of a German defensive plan on possible form up points or it is possible they were observed and drew artillery fire. Capron Copse is approx a mile NW from Sainte Emilie as the crow flies and marked on the WW1 trench map (62c NE 17a) it is shown on elevated ground overlooking St. Emilie on contour line 135.
The copse still exists today and it is possible to drive to it. Leave the village of Villers Faucon on the Rue de l'Epine, take the second left into Rue de Marceau Carpentier and Capron Copse is approx half a mile on the left.
The Germans at the time were withdrawing to the Hindenburg Line, a planned withdrawal to a pre-prepared defensive line. They were hotly pursued by Allied troops during Feb and March 1917. The location where William was killed was only about four miles short of the Hindenburg Line and within easy reach of German artillery.
Bearing in mind there was a battle going on and the situation being fluid I am confident that William would have been given a battlefield burial by his comrades fairly close by or in the nearby village of Villers Faucon.
The ground was to be fought over twice more, during the German Spring Offensive of March 1918 when the Allies were pushed right back to where they were in late 1916 and then the Hundred Days Offensive of Aug 1918 when the Germans were pushed back and finally defeated.
Many burial plots were destroyed by shell fire in the later battles when the area was devastated. It is possible that William lies in an unmarked grave somewhere after being reburied but unidentified. Hence his name on the Thiepval Memorial to the missing. By late 1918 over half a million troops had been buried but equally the number of casualties with no known grave was also over half a million.
Ref your earlier query regarding William's rank. As his rank is quoted as Cpl in the official war diary and also in Capt. Percival's private diary it looks like William had had a battlefield promotion. He was unfortunately killed before this could be made official by the Regiment and the Cavalry Records Office. Field promotions were quite common and normal practice.
