Current Information:

Born-Bow

Vlamertinghe Military Cemetery, Belgium

During the night of 11/12th July, 1916 the 10th Rifle Brigade battalion of 59 Brigade, 20th Division, moved into the front line near Wieltje in the Ypres salient. On the following day the enemy artillery was active and at 6.10pm their guns opened up an intense bombardment of the battalion’s trenches. At 6.25pm, three white stars, apparently dropped from an aeroplane over the enemy’s trenches, were seen after which their fire slackened and then stopped at 6.43pm. The British artillery retaliated and a few minutes later the German guns opened up again with even more intensity than before. This finished at 7.10pm and all was quiet until 7.25pm when the bombardment began again and lasted until 7.45pm. The British lines around Wieltje were very badly damaged especially by aerial torpedoes which landed with great accuracy. This resulted in a number of casualties for the battalion, including William King.