Thomas Jackson

Thomas Jackson, 80098,Gunner, 157th Siege Battery, Royal Garrison Artillery. KIA 9th April 1918, age 21.

Thomas Jackson was born at Field Broughton, the son of Thomas and Jane Ann Jackson who later moved to High Newton to take on the village Post Office and shop.

Thomas enlisted at Ulverston and joined 157th Siege Battery, Royal Garrison Artillery, which originally comprised four 6-inch (26cwt) Howitzers, but on 10th February 1918 this number was increased to six. The battery went to the Western Front on 30th November 1916 and joined IV Corps Heavy Artillery on 16th December then 25th Heavy Artillery Group (H.A.G) on 23 December 1916.It was transferred between various H.A.Gs until 15th December 1917 when it became part of 70th H.A.G, where it remained.

The end of 1917 saw the major protagonists suffering a severe shortage of manpower after more than three years of war. The United States had declared war on Germany and the Russian revolution had released manpower from the Eastern Front. The German High Command decided its best chance of victory was a major offensive in the spring of 1918, before the Americans arrived in force.

On 21st March 1918 "Operation Michael", also known as the "Kaiserschlacht" or "Kaiser's Battle", was launched on a 60 mile front across the old Somme battlefields. This involved 65 German divisions and Gough's thinly dispersed 5th Army retreated under the pressure. The enemy advanced 40 miles, but was held without forcing a breakthrough and halted on 5th April.

Ludendorff tried again, with another offensive further North between Ypres and La Basee. The Battle of the Lys began at 04:15hrs. on April 9th, 1918 with a furious four and a half hour preparatory bombardment, on a 10 1/2 mile front using 1,686 guns. 1.4 million shells were fired on that first day 1/3rd being gas.

The German artillery bombardment was planned by Colonel Georg Bruchmueller and was much more sophisticated than the "blunt instrument" barrages of earlier years. Bruchmueller's plans were broken down into separate phases, which used surprise as a major element. The guns were not registered by firing aiming shots, a mathematical formula - the "Pulkowski method" - was used so that the first the enemy knew of an attack was the first shell landing. Phase one of the barrage was concentrated on the front lines using gas and high explosive, no counter battery fire was used. This lasted about half an hour and was designed to bring the enemy gunners out to retaliate. The next phase concentrated on the opponent's artillery batteries, using a superiority in numbers of 3.3 to 1 on 9th April. This was a vicious barrage using a mixture of Blue Cross and Green Cross gas shells, high explosive and smoke. Blue Cross gas induced vomiting and penetrated most types of gas mask, the artillery men then took off their respirators and were hit by Green Cross which was an asphyxiant choking gas, either phosgene or chlorine. If this failed then high explosive would probably succeed. This phase would last 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 hours.

The third phase would shift fire to infantry targets and then back and forth to include counter-battery fire, so that the defenders did not know what was happening. The final 10 minutes of the plan would shift the bombardment to the enemy front-line.

The war diaries of 157^th Siege Btty. R.G.A. are not in the Public Record Office at Kew, so I have no certain knowledge of the fate of Gunner Jackson. I have searched the CWGC database, in conjunction with "Soldiers Died" and found six other members of 157 Btty. killed on the 9^th all but one have no known grave, three are commemorated on the "Plugstreet" Memorial to the Missing, including the Battery Sergeant-Major Thomas James Moore, one at Pozieres and one on the Loos memorial. Gunner George William Townend age 33 years, from Saltburn is buried at Cabaret-Rouge British Cemetery, Souchez, Pas de Calais, Grave VIII. H. 13. Did they die with Thomas Jackson in that awful bombardment?

Gunner Thomas Jackson is commemorated on Panel 1 of the PLOEGSTEERT MEMORIAL, which is situated in Berks Cemetery Extension on the roadside between Ypres and Armentieres. It commemorates the soldiers who fell in the border area where France meets Belgium.

Since the above was written I have received an email from a Mr Peter Colvin, which I append :-

My grandfather Gunner George James Colvin was also in the 157th Siege Battery, Royal Garrison Artillery and died around midday on the 9th April 1918, the same day as Thomas Jackson. I have a long handwritten letter written by Lt W. Drummond Hunter to my grandmother describing exactly how her husband died. It describes how after a heavy bombardment over several hours the enemy had broken through from the original front line just over 4 miles to the East. The attack had taken place through a sector held by the 2nd Portuguese Division.

By midday the enemy were only one hundred yards away and Captain W P Begg, Battery Sergeant Major T J Moore and my Grandfather went to the Battery Headquarters to secure confidential papers when they suffered a direct hit by a shell killing all three of them instantly. As none of them were buried and they only appear, like Thomas Jackson, as names on the Ploegsteet Memorial, I assume that they were all blown to pieces. The enemy advance was eventually halted just East of there position

On the 9th April the Battery was at Bout Delville where it had been since January 1918 with a reputation of being a quiet part of the fighting. It is about 4.3 miles from the original Front Line and is marked on modern maps. We went there in April 2018 and it is a bleak and flat place not even a village, just a collection of houses.

There is an account of the movements of the 157th Battery RGA in a document in the National Archives written by a Lieutenant in the RASC who was part of the Support Column moving the guns and transporting ammunition. If you are interested the Reference No is WO-95-323-2 and it is downloadable on line.