We will remember them… 
Ypres and Gallipoli, May 1915
On the Western Front the stalemate of trench warfare continued. Since the end of the race to the sea in December 1914 attempts by both sides to break through had produced little movement at great cost in casualties.
The latest of these was the Second Battle of Ypres, which began on 22nd April and lasted until 25th May. This was the only major German attack on the Western Front in 1915 and the aim was to capture the town of Ypres, which occupied a key strategic position blocking the German advance to the Channel ports. It was therefore vital to the allies to keep hold of it.
This was the task of the British 5th Division, of which the 5th Battalion of the Cheshire Regiment was part.
The letter from Private Alfred Haywood, published in last month’s news sheet, describes some of the fighting in this battle.
Undoubtedly other Alderley Edge men will have been engaged. Haywood mentions ‘Alcock’ – probably John Thomas Alcock, whose name appears on the Roll of Honour in the Methodist Church, which lists men who had joined the forces.
He is described as a butcher’s apprentice in the 1911 census when he was living with his parents and four siblings in Moss Lane.
When the battle ended, Ypres remained in Allied hands, but German guns were near enough to subject the town to constant bombardment. By the end of the war it was in ruins.
Meanwhile on April 25th a new front was opened when men of the Australia and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) landed on the Gallipoli peninsula in Turkey.
The heavy losses on this first day set the scene for one of the greatest British military tragedies of the 20th century. Two battalions of the Cheshire Regiment were sent out in August, leading to the deaths later in the year of three of the men commemorated on our war memorial.
If you know of Alderley Edge men who served in the war
and returned home afterwards, we should be glad to hear of them.
