Current Information:

Age-20

13, Cricklewood Broadway

Peronne Communal Cemetery, France

Starting on 8th August, 1918, the Allies launched a series of offensives, collectively known as the Hundred Days Offensive, that resulted in the collapse of the German army and the end of the war by November. British, Australian and Canadian troops attacked across the old Somme battlefield and on the Arras front causing the demoralised German Army to fall back on a daily basis while the French did the same thing further south.

By the beginning of September much of the territory that had been lost earlier in the year,  when the Germans had made spectacular gains in March and April, had been won back but the Allies relentless pressure did not falter. At this stage 74th Division entered the battle. This division, made up from Yeomanry units, had arrived in France in May 1918 from Palestine where it had seen action in the Battles of Gaza and the capture of Jerusalem. Placed in GHQ reserve it underwent training before being brought forward to a position near Moislains, just to the north of Péronne, to relieve 58th Division during the night of 1st/2nd September. When 229 Brigade continued the advance in this sector on 2nd September, the 12th Somerset battalion came under enfilade fire from Allaines. Veering towards this village, they attacked it and captured seventy prisoners before resuming their advance north-eastward. The other leading battalion of 229 Brigade, 14th Black Watch, moved towards Moislains along the canal and was met by machine-gun fire from that village. At 10am the enemy counter attacked, the end result of which was that the battalions of 229 Brigade were forced back to their starting line. Meanwhile, the 16th Sussex battalion of 230 Brigade had, despite coming under heavy shelling, moved forward to Haut Allaines where they made touch with the 2nd Australian Division. That evening both brigades were ordered to advance their outpost line to the lower slopes of the Tortille valley. For this, their first action on the Western Front, 74th Division had been unfortunate to be confronted by the German Alpine Corps of picked troops, rather than the units of a lesser division that they had been expecting, and they suffered many casualties as a consequence. One of these was Ralph Hamilton of 14th Black Watch who was killed in action.