J E Hart appears on the Skelton War Memorial, but not on the plaque
in the Church.
Address and family not traced.
The 13th (Service) Battalion of the Durham Light Infantry were
formed at Newcastle in September 1914.
They were attached to the 68th Brigade of the 23rd Division.
The Battle of the Somme began with a massive bombardment at the end of
June 1916 and
a series of offensives were continued into the winter of that year.
James Hart appears to have lost his life in one of these, the Battle of
Flers-Courcelette, which commenced
on the 15th September and lasted until it was called off on the 22nd of
that month.
It was notable for the introduction of tanks, 49 in all, by the British.
Only 15 made it to No Mans Land, but they were considered to have had a
devastating effect on German
morale.
The British forces made initial gains of some 2 km within the first
three days, something of an achievement at the time, and particularly
during the Battle of the Somme.
Led by tanks the villages of Martinpuich, Flers and Courcelette fell to
the Allies, as did the much sought-after High Wood.
Nevertheless, a combination of poor weather and extensive German
reinforcements halted the British and Canadian advance on 17 September;
the Allies had again suffered heavy casualties, including Raymond
Asquith, the son of the British Prime Minister Herbert Asquith.
The Thiepval Memorial commemorates more than 72,000 missing men of the
United Kingdom and South African forces who died on the Somme
battlefields before 20th March 1918 and have no known grave.
Most were killed between July and November 1916.
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