Name
(Leonard) Wallace Batt
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
31/07/1917
21
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Guardsman
25493
Grenadier Guards
2nd Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
Not Yet Researched
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
YPRES (MENIN GATE) MEMORIAL
Panel 9 and 11.
Belgium
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
Kelshall Village Memorial, St Faith’s Church Roll of Honour, Kelshall
Pre War
Born 1896 in The Street, Kelshall, Herts. son of Thomas William and Katherine (Judge) Batt.
Leonard Wallace Batt was born in September 1896 in The Street, the son of Thomas and Katherine (Judge) Batt. He was their third son and fourth child. According to the 1901 census The family was living at The Street, Kelshall and there were 6 persons registered in the household.
These were Thomas (39) a tailor, his wife Katherine (37) and their children Alfred W. (16) and Harold (14) who were both butcher’s errand lads, Edith (10) and young Leonard (4).
He was still living there in Kelshall in 1911.
Wartime Service
He, like so many local lads, enlisted to answer Kitchener’s call in 1916 it is thought in London. He joined the 2nd. Battalion of the Grenadier Guards as Private 25493. The Guards Division was set up in September 1915 and was made up of four Grenadier battalions, three Coldstream, two Irish, two Scots and one Welsh.
The Guards Division served in 1915 at the Battle of Loos (Sept. 26th to Oct. 8th) and the Hohenzollern Redoubt (Oct. 16-19th) but from the medal rolls index it would appear that Leonard did not join up until 1916 so it is possible that he was involved in the terrible Battle of the Somme in 1916.
This started on July 1st but the Guards were notably involved in September at Flers / Courcelette, at Morval and at the capture of Lesboeufs on the 25th. A memorial to the Guards stands just south of the German 3rd line in 1916 commemorating the action of the Guards who, during their three weeks holding this sector, sustained 7,000 casualties.
In 1917 the Guards were involved in the German retreat to the Hindenburg Line in March then in July, up in the Ypres sector the 3rd battle of Ypres usually known as Passchendaele was to take place.
On 31st July the Battle of Pilckem ridge was to take Leonard. At zero hour 3:50am on the left of the Rouler railway, the Guards Division attacked with two Brigades. The 2nd Guards (1st Scots Guards and 2nd Irish Guards) met little resistance in meeting their objective. The 3rd Guards Brigade (1st Grenadier Guards and 1st Welsh Guards) also made their objective with little resistance. The second objective was taken up by supporting Battalions of the 2nd and 3rd Guards Brigades, the latter coming under murderous machine gun fire from blockhouses on the Rouler railway. This threatened to hold up the whole attack including the actions of the 113th and 114th Brigades further South. The 3rd Guards managed to clear the blockhouses and join up with the 113th and 114th Brigades.
The 1st Guards Brigade (2nd Grenadier Guards and 2nd Coldstream Guards), who were in support advanced at 8:50am to take their objectives, but were held up by machine gun fire from near the Steenbeek and the slow advance of the 113th and 114th Brigades and had to dig in 80 yards short of their objective. Leonard was killed in this attack.
Sergeant R J Bye of the 1st Grenadier Guards who captured 2 pillboxes and accounted for 70 of the enemy and Private T Whitham of the 1st Coldstream Guards who took a machine gun nest and killed its 3 occupants won the highest honour, the V.C. for their courage and bravery whilst taking part in this action.
Leonard Batt was killed on this day, July 31st 1917, the first day of the battle known as Passchendaele and is commemorated on panel 9 at the Menin Gate Memorial in Ypres alongside 54,000 others whose bodies were never found. My poem written whilst standing under the vast memorial sums up my feelings about their ultimate sacrifice.
May he rest in peace.
Notes on the Guards Division
At zero hour 3:50am (31st July 1917), on the left of the Rouler railway the Guards Division attacked with two Brigades, the 2nd Guards (1st Scots Guards and 2nd Irish Guards) met little resistance in meeting their objective. The 3rd Guards Brigade (1st Grenadier Guards and 1st Welsh Guards) also made their objective with little resistance. The second objective was taken up by supporting Battalions of the 2nd and 3rd Guards Brigades, the latter coming under murderous machine gun fire from blockhouses on the Rouler railway, this threatened to hold up the hole attack including the actions of the 113th and 114th Brigades further South. The 3rd Guards managed to clear the blockhouses and join up with the 113th and 114th Brigades.
The 1st Guards Brigade (2nd Grenadier Guards and 2nd Coldstream Guards), who were in support advanced at 8:50am to take their objectives, but were held up by machine gun fire from near the Steenbeek and the slow advance of the 113th and 114th Brigades and had to dig in 80 yards short of their objective.
Sergeant R J Bye of the 1st Grenadier Guards (who captured 2 pillboxes and accounted for 70 of the enemy) and Private T Whitham (took a machine gun nest and killing its 3 occupants) of the 1st Coldstream Guards won the highest honour for the courage and bravery, the VC, for their part in the action.
Acknowledgments
Malcolm Lennox, Jean Handley
