Lance Corporal Harold Bowler, Royal Irish Rifles

1892-1917

This is the story of Harold Bowler born in 1892 in Sutton in Asfield, Nottinghamshire. However, for some reason, possibly due to his wife's grief turning to anger against the authorities, he does not have his name on the war memorial at Sutton in Ashfield. He was killed on the front lines at Wytschaete, Belgium (now Wijtschate) on 28th July 1917 during the Battle of Messines. The battle was the precursor to the Third Battle of Ypres, known as Passchendaele.

He was the youngest son of William Bowler from Mansfield Woodhouse (my G/G/Grandfather) where the Bowler line can be traced back to the 13th Century. Harold had 6 brothers, however, just one other brother, Jesse, (my G/Grandfather) served in the First World War. The other brothers were miners and as such were exempt from the Conscription Act brought in on Jan 25th 1916. Coal production was vital to the munition industry, subsequently, the area's collieries were required to work at maximum capacity. In early 1916 Harold was drafted into the Notts & Derby Regiment at Derby where he trained before his transfer and dispatch to Flanders to strengthen the weakened Royal Irish Rifles, 10th Battalion after losing half of its infantry in battle at the Somme. The regiment was a 'new army' formed by Belfast volunteers in September 1914. By October 1915 after training on the Sussex coast the regiment was fighting on the Western Front within the 107th Brigade, 36th (Ulster) Division.

The Division was involved in the initial assault at the Battle of Albert (first phase of the Battle of the Somme 1916) around the immensely fortified position of Thiepval.. They faced an uphill advance, with the objective of capturing a large stronghold behind enemy lines, called the Schwaben redoubt.

The attack on 1 July 1916 has entered into Ulster folklore as a day of enduring memory. Although the British Army was defeated with more than 57,000 casualties, of whom 20,000 were killed, the Ulstermen captured and held for a considerable time the Schwaben Redoubt, despite virtually no progress being made by either Division on its flanks. The Division was relieved on 2 July, having suffered 5,104 casualties of who approximately 2,069 died.

On 5 July 1916 the Division moved back to the Bernaville area where Harold & other replacement drafts began to arrive.

By the end of July 1916, the Division moved north to Flanders to the Kortepyp Camp south of Neuve Eglise, Red Lodge on Hill 63 west of Ploegsteert and the Messines-Wulverghem-Ploegsteert area in preparation for a major operation to capture the Ypres Salient. The town is situated on the edge of the flat Flanders plain which extends to the west and north. To the east a series of low ridges run round the town and join the Messines-Wytschaete ridge.

The Ulster Division became part of The Second Army and the planned objective was to capture the long ridge running south from Ypres to Armentieres, through the villages of Wytschaete and Messines. Occupation of the ridge gave the Germans a considerable advantage being able to observe all activity within the Salient from 3 sides and bring down large and accurate concentrations of artillery fire on allied troops dug in on the lower ground. Unlike any other sector on the Western Front, the Salient saw action on a daily basis, even in relatively quiet periods the monthly rate of allied casualties was approximately 5,000. During the training rehearsals in May and early June 1917, the front line in the 2nd Army sector was lightly held by one battalion for each divisional front. At the same time, a continuous programme of trench raids took place across the Messines front. The 36th Ulster Division were among those involved in 19 raids on the defences held by 3 German divisions between 16th May and 6th June. The raids took the form of small fighting patrols of 12 men to battalion raiding parties of 300 men. They took 17 prisoners to gain vital intelligence on the morale and strengths of the German lines. Harold Bowler was promoted from private to lance corporal during this time, indicating he had been involved and had earned the trust to lead men on the front.

The Second Army began meticulous planning to assemble the most intense concentration of artillery in the entire war. Additionally, an estimated 8,000m of tunnels and shafts 30m deep were dug by tunnelling companies of the Australian, Canadian & Royal Engineers with the objective of planting 21 mines containing a total of 455 tons of 'ammonal' explosive under key German positions on the Messines Ridge. It took the huge labour force 18 months to get the mines into position, which was as an astonishing engineering accomplishment given the enormity of the task to hide the operation from German reconnaissance planes. There is an excellent online site called Beneath Flanders Fields that gives excellent insight into the tunelling operation. Incidentally, one of the 2 mines that didn't explode actually detonated during a lightning storm in 1954. The second remains a mystery although some historians believe it was abandoned because it was too close to a German couner-mining tunnel and risked the whole operation. The plan was conceived by General Herbert Plumer and given the go-ahead by Field-Marshall Haig as a precursor to a larger offensive in the Ypres area with the objective of cutting off German supply lines at Belgium coastal ports and the German occupied naval bases.

Three Army Corps would be used in the attack across a front of about 16 kilometres. On the right (the southern end of the front) II ANZAC would take the village of Mesen. In the centre of the line were the Irish 36th Division with the IX Corps who would be attacking to the right of Wytschaete. with the 16th Irish Division attacking from the left. The left flank to the north was held by X Corps and their task was to take St Eloi and Mount Sorrel.

At 01:00 hours on 7 June 1917 the British moved up into position. Just before 03:10 hours everybody was warned to lie flat on the ground. At 03:10 hours 19 mines were detonated. Moments later, the full ferocity of the British artillery barrage was let loose bombarding German lines above the heads of the advancing Divisions.

Harold Bowler advancing with the 36th (Ulster) Division on the right of the village of Wijtschate, faced one of the most heavily defended sectors of the German line and it was for this reason that they were given the greater concentration of mines along their front. These were the Kruisstraat group, Peckham mine and the massive mine at Spanbroekmolen, which was only completed hours before. The original chamber was destroyed by German counter-mines called 'camouflets' in March, subsequently, a new chamber had to be dug. Hours before the battle was due to start, the engineers working under tremendous pressure to lay the new electrical cables and priming charge were not filled with confidence that the mine would explode. Despite the havoc wrought by the mine explosions and the deadly effectiveness of the British creeping barrages, surviving German defenders within the heavily wired deep defensive zone (supported by the garrisons of concrete strongpoints and pillboxes) offered solid resistance to the assaulting British troops - especially towards the upper reaches of the Ridge. The first significant British casualties occurred in the late morning as the crest of the Ridge became congested with troops during the pause to allow artillery and supporting infantry Divisions to get forward. The crowded uplands presented perfectly ranged targets for German machine guns and artillery and, unfortunately, the advance down the eastward slopes was affected by communication problems with supporting artillery in the Irish IX Corps and II Anzac Corps sectors resulting in 'friendly fire' casualties.

The huge crater left by the Spanbroekmolen mine is now a preserved memorial/fishpond named the 'Pool of Peace'

Although the mine did detonate it was delayed killing 13 of the advancing 36th Division. The mine left the largest crater of the battle and is now a preserved memorial. An estimated 10,000 German soldiers perished during the mine explosions with most having 'vapourised' and others crushed by pressure waves. The British Official Historian offered the following final figures for British and German casualties for the Messines fighting: in the period 1-12 June Second Army casualties were 24,562 (comprising 3,538 killed, 17,977 wounded and 3,047 missing). German casualties for the same period were estimated as about 23,000.

By the end of the day with the aid of two tanks the 36th Ulster Division captured an entire German Battalion Headquarters, before eventually coming up alongside the 16th Irish Division at Wijtschate. The Germans continued to resist for another 6 days before finally withdrawing their lines on the 12th June. A further bombardment opened as planned on 16 July and was originally intended to lead to an attack, however, some of the British heavy artillery was late in arriving due to the onset of terrential rain bogging them down. The offensive was subsequently postponed until 31st July. By then, 4.3 million shells had been fired at the enemy's defences but was to prove insufficient. The effect of the shelling was much more successful on the left and in the centre. On the British right, however, in front of the Gheluvelt plateau, the german lines still had 64 pillboxes intact with active machine guns. It is here that Lance Corporal Harold Bowler was killed on the 28th July 1917, a few days before the next major phase of the Ypres offensive . He is buried in the frontline Derry House cemetery pictured on the left.