207868 Cpl. William Granthan Millen British Army 2nd Battalion Wiltshire Regiment from:Croydon (d.9th Apr 1917) William Granthan Millen was one of my great uncles. A brother of my father's mother. Born in 1886, he was the son of George and Ellen Millen of 62, Oakfield Road, Croydon. He was educated at Oxford County School after which he became a journalist finally becoming editor of the Weekly Journal until enlisting with the Wiltshires in 1914. During his time with the Wiltshires he served in Galipoli and then in France.
The regimental diary for the action of the 9th April tells us that - "At 11.38am the 21st Brigade attacked with the 2nd Wltshire Regiment on their right and the 18th Kings (Liverpool) Regiment on the left with the 19th Manchester Regiment in support. - The distance between the Battalion and their objective (the Hindenburg Line) varied between 2000 and 2500 yards. - Considerable hostile shelling was experienced throughout the advance which became more intense as it proceeded. To reach the objective, 2 sunken roads had to be crossed where heavy machine gun fire was encountered. - The advance continued right up to the enemy wire by which time the ranks were consideraby depleted. It was found that though damaged the wire was not cut sufficiently for the troops to enter the enemy trenches. - Shelter was sought in available shell holes but finally the troops had to fall back to the sunken road running from Neuville Vitasse to St Martin sur Coseul where they dug in."
Total casualties for the action included the deaths of 2 Captains, 12 Subalterns and 328 Other Ranks, Great Uncle William being amongst them.
His grave can be found in the Neuville-Vitasse Road War Cemetery to the south east of Arras.
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