2017
Commemoration
Through September and October 2017 the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers
will commemorate the Third Battle of Ypres more popularly known
as Passchendaele. In Lancashire the commemoration will focus
on the experience of Sergeant Joseph Lister of the 1st Battalion
of the Lancashire Fusiliers
Sergeant Joseph Lister
in action at Poelcapelle, Belgium on 9th October 1917 and the
proposed design for the memorial to be constructed at the same
location in 2017
Fundraising Appeal
In Belgium on Saturday 30th September 2017, a monument will
be unveiled at the site of Joseph Lister's 1917 act of gallantry,
which led to the award of the Victoria Cross. The ceremony will
be attended by the Burgemeester of Langemark-Poelcapelle, the
Governor of West Flanders, representatives from the City of
Salford and the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers. The purchase of
the land and the construction of the memorial will cost £5,000.
The Lancashire Headquarters is therefore making an appeal for
contributions towards the cost.
Local Commemorations
In Salford, where he was born, at a date to be decided in October
2017, Joseph Lister will be commemorated by the dedication of
a memorial stone. At Willow Grove Cemetery near Stockport, where
Joseph Lister is buried, a celebration of his life will take
place on Saturday 4th November 2017. Finally, the commemoration
will include a small exhibition on Joseph Lister in the Fusilier
Museum Bury and at the Salford Museum and Art Gallery.
Profile of Joseph Lister
VC
Joseph Lister was born at 65 Fenney Street, Higher Broughton,
Salford, (about a mile from the Broughton Detachment of Greater
Manchester Army Cadet Forces) on 19 October 1886, the son of
Joseph and Nancy Lister (nee Gee). His father had a book-keeping
business in Burnage, Manchester and had moved to Higher Broughton
in 1881. In 1896 they moved to Longsight, before settling at
17 Ash Street, Harpurhey, Manchester. Following his marriage,
he and his wife Harriet moved to Reddish near Stockport where
Joseph gained employment at Lowe's Chemical Works. At the outbreak
of the Great War he enlisted in the Lancashire Fusiliers and
was posted to the 1st Battalion. The 1st Battalion had fought
in the Gallipoli Campaign in 1915 where it had been awarded
the famous, "Six Victoria Crosses before Breakfast"
and taken part in the Battle of the Somme in 1916 in which Lister
was wounded. By October 1917, Lister had rejoined the Battalion
which found itself in Belgium preparing to take part in the
Third Battle of Ypres, what would become popularly known as
Passchendaele.
The 1st Battalion moved
about 10 miles up to the start line from Vlamertinge during
the night of the 8th/9th October and despite a number of platoons
getting lost the battalion was in position at 0510hrs for a
Zero Hour of 0520hrs. The weather was appalling with record
levels of torrential rain which when combined with broken drainage
systems, produced extremely difficult going for the troops.
Just as dawn was breaking, the barrage opened and the attacking
waves moved forward. Seven minutes later a German counter-barrage
came down. However, the major opposition came from German machine
guns operating from pill-boxes in strong-points situated to
the south and east of a position known as Olga Houses. The citation
for the Joseph Lister's Victoria Cross best described what followed:
For most conspicuous bravery in attack during a violent thunderstorm
at Passchendaele Ridge, Belgium on 9th October 1917, during
the 3rd Battle of Ypres, when advancing to the first objective,
his company came under machine gun fire from the direction of
two "pill -boxes". Seeing that the galling fire would
hold up our advance and prevent our troops keeping up with the
barrage, 8133 Sergeant Lister dashed ahead of his men and found
a machine-gun firing from a shell-hole in front of the pill-box.
He shot two of the enemy gunners and the remainder surrendered
to him. He then went on to the pill-box and shouted to the occupants
to surrender. They did so with the exception of one man, whom
Sergeant Lister shot dead, whereupon about a hundred of the
enemy emerged from a shell hole further to the rear band surrendered.
This non-commissioned officer's prompt act of courage enabled
our line to advance with hardly a check and to keep up with
the barrage, the loss of which might have jeopardized the whole
course of the local battle.
By about 1000hrs the
1st Battalion had accomplished its task, but with the loss of
all but five of the company's officers and about half of the
total of other ranks.
After the war he became
a postman in Reddish and later worked at Craven's a local firm
as a watchman. At the outbreak of the Second World war he re-joined
the Lancashire Fusiliers. Following the Second World War, he
lived at 25 David Street, Reddish and following retirement became
a school crossing warden. He died on 19th January 1963 aged
seventy-six. Following a service at St Elizabeth's Church, Reddish,
he was buried in Willow Grove Cemetery (grave P/9931)
Third Ypres
In 1917, Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig, the Commander in Chief
of the British and Empire Forces argued that Flanders was the
best site to launch a major British offensive. Success would
ease pressure on the main British cross-channel routes and enable
British Forces to seize the strategically important Roulers
rail junction just a few miles behind the German lines. Seizing
the Passchendaele Ridge was crucial to the plan as it would
not only open up the route to Roulers but also take the pressure
of the hard pressed British Army defending Ypres, whose trenches
were overlooked by the Germans dug in on the Passchendaele ridge.
The Campaign was in two phases, the first in June 1917 successfully
cleared the Messine Ridge, south of Ypres. It was followed between
July and November by the battle to clear the ground that overlooked
Ypres known as the Passchendaele Ridge. The battle opened up
on 31st July and closed on 10th November 1917.
Lancashire Fusiliers
in the Campaign
The small village of Poelcappelle is situated some six miles
to the north west of Ypres located on the Passchendaele Ridge
between the villages of Langemark and Passchendaele. On the
9th October it would be the objective for the two regular battalions
of the Lancashire Fusiliers, who for the first and only time
in the history of the Regiment would fight side by side. Four
Territorial Battalions of the Lancashire Fusiliers played a
part including the 3/5th Bury, 2/6th Rochdale, 2/7th and 2/8th
Salford. A "New Army" Service Battalion (19th Salford)
worked close behind the lines. For their actions on the day,
the Lancashire Fusiliers were awarded a Victoria Cross, two
Distinguished Service Orders, two bars to the Military Cross,
13 Military Crosses, one bar to the distinguished Conduct Medal,
13 Distinguished Conduct Medals, one bar to the Military Medal
and 113 Military Medals. The casualties included 67 officers
and 1,539 other ranks killed, wounded and missing.
The Battle
On July 18th 1917, a heavy artillery barrage was launched at
the German lines. This lasted for ten days. Three thousand artillery
guns fired over four million shells. The infantry attack started
on July 31st. The main assault was led by Sir Hubert Gough's
Fifth Army. To their left were units from the French First Army
led by Anthoine and to Gough's right was the Second Army led
by the victor of Messines, Sir Herbert Plumer. The Allied attack,
launched across an eleven-mile front, made small gains. The
artillery bombardment destroyed the drainage system and shell
craters filled with water. Then to make matters even worse,
in the early days of August, the area was saturated with the
heaviest rain the region had seen for over 50 years. Flanders
became effectively a swamp. Infantry soldiers found movement
very difficult and tanks, inherently unreliable, found the ground
impossible and were of little use.
Between October 9th
and October 12th, two battles were fought, Poelcappelle and
the First Battle of Passchendaele. In addition to the bad weather,
the situation became even worse when Russia withdrew from the
war and German troops, who had been fighting on the Eastern
Front, were moved to the Western Front to reinforce the Passchendaele
Ridge and block the British advance. In late October three further
Allied attacks were made on Passchendaele Ridge but it was only
on 6th November 1917 that Passchendaele village was taken and
the battle was then closed down.
The Cost
The Third Battle of Ypres or Passchendaele had been a very costly
battle. The British had lost 310,000 men and the Germans 260,000.
Haig was heavily criticised for the attack and for failing to
modify his plans as the attack progressed and in particular
for not closing the offensive down earlier due to bad weather
and increasing German opposition.
Points to Consider
" The war was being fought as part of an alliance with
the French. Between April and November 1917, following the failure
of the Nivelle Offensive, almost two-thirds of the French Army
the mutinied and refused to fight. If the German High Command
had realized the situation, then the reinforcements from the
East and those divisions opposing the British Army in Flanders
would have been thrown against the French army with catastrophic
consequences. Thus Third Ypres became dominated by distracting
the German Army until morale and discipline of the French Army
had been restored. Any attempt to cease fighting earlier would
have resulted in the defeat for the Allies.
" Haig could not
have known that the weather would have played such a major part
in the battle.
" The input of
the newly arrived German troops from the Eastern Front was not
part of Haig's planning and nor could it have been.
" Haig argued
that the Allies could sustain more losses as America had joined
the war by the end of Passchendaele. German losses of men and
material were of greater importance than British losses
Summary.
Joseph Lister epitomized the typical Lancashire Fusilier. From
the back streets of Salford to the front line in Belgium. He
knew his duty and did all he could to project his friends and
comrades at a critical point in the battle and as a consequence
was awarded the Victoria Cross. It is therefore appropriate
to focus the 2017 commemoration on Joseph Lister. I would therefore
ask all of you who have a pride in the history and heritage
of the Lancashire Fusiliers to contribute to this fundraising
appeal for a permanent memorial in Belgium.
M J GLOVER
Colonel
Lancashire Headquarters
The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers
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