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Enlisted-Hammersmith

Boulogne Eastern Cemetery, France

On the evening of 26th May, 1915, the 4th Middlesex battalion of 8 Brigade, 3rd Division marched to the front line through Ypres via the Lille Gate to trenches between Hooge and the Ypres-Roulers railway.  The defences here were very rudimentary trenches and much of their time here over the next two weeks was spent strengthening them. The Battalion Diary is not very forthcoming regarding this tour of the front line but the casualty figures suggest that normal conditions prevailed and that being in the front line was always dangerous with the threat of shell fire, gas and the sniper’s bullet ever present. Arthur Stebbings died from wounds on 7th June after having been sent back to a base hospital on the coast.