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Sgt. John Edward Wetherell
British Army 2nd Btn. Cheshire Regiment
from:Edgeley, Stockport, Cheshire
L/Cpl. John Wetherell was wounded in teh 2nd Battle of Ypres and was treated in Liverpool Hospital.
On 22nd April, the Germans launched the attack that would become officially known as the Second Battle of Ypres. By 8 May, the situation had become critical for the Allied armies. The Cheshires' Regimental History notes that "behind our gassed and shattered lines, had the Germans only known, lay nothing to prevent their capturing the Channel Ports." The section of the front line to be held by the 28th Division, which included the 2nd Battalion (one of the Regiment's two Regular Army Battalions), Weis about 1.5 miles between Frezenberg and a position known as Mouse Trap Farm. This was 3 miles to the north east of Ypres. The Regimental History notes 'The line to be held was nothing more effective than narrow trenches three feet deep, hastily constructed, with little wire, no communication trenches and little or no overhead cover. It was not a line in which to meet a heavy attack, yet the Allied plan required it to be held." Poison gas had been first used by the Germans on 22 April.They again used gas in this attack. At that time, there was no practical defence against it. All that was done was to issue each Battalion with 200 cloth bands to be worn across the mouth (it should be noted that a Battalion at full strength would exceed 800). 'The positions occupied by Battalion headquarters and No. 1 and No. 4 Companies were surrounded by the enemy and with very few exceptions the whole of the officers and other ranks were killed or taken prisoner." Only small groups managed to escape. The Diary records that, at this time, known casualties included 17 dead, 200 wounded and 190 missing.
