217801 Pte. William W. Roberts British Army 4th Btn. Royal Fusiliers (d.29th May 1916) Private William Roberts was executed for desertion on 29th May 1916 and is buried in the Bailleul Communal Cemetery Extension in Bailleul, France.
The 4th Battalion of the Royal Fusiliers had landed at Havre on the 13th August 1914 and Private Roberts joined the Battalion some three months later.
At the end of May 1915 the Germans had possession following the 2nd Battle of Ypres and the Gas Attack of Bellewarde Lake and established positions which left an uncomfortable sag in the Ypres salient which the 3rd Division was tasked with a local straightening. At 1.30 a.m. on the 16th June 1915 the 4th Royal Fusiliers were in position with in front of them a wood with a trench guarding its western end. After the artillery bombardment which began at 2.50 a.m. two companies were able to advance and capture the German front line without much resistance but the position was different on the right when the two supporting companies of the Battalion pushed through the wood to the trench on the bank of the lake, advancing too quickly for the British artillery and sustaining casualties.
After considerable loss the companies withdrew to a communication trench which they held for the rest of the day under heavy artillery fire with gas shells being freely used by the enemy. At the end of the day only a small amount of ground remained in the Battalion’s hands and the losses had been heavy, with 15 officers and 376 men becoming casualties
Private Roberts was one of the wounded being shot in the head. After treatment and a period of convalescence he rejoined the Battalion in September 1915 for the second attack on Bellewaarde designed as a subsidiary attack to seek to take pressure off the main British effort to the South at Loos
As part of the 3rd Division the Battalion was unable to make progress and again in the afternoon of 25th September was subjected to heavy German artillery fire on the position that had been captured followed by an advance of strong German bombing parties so the taken position perforce had to be abandoned.
At some time Private Roberts left his comrades and went back some distance remaining away for some eight months until he was arrested in the village of Brandhoek some 8 kilometres west of Ypres. Following his arrest Private Roberts was kept at Locre, a quiet village sheltered by Kemmel Hill in the rest areas of the Kemmel-Wyteschaete front. However on the 9th May he managed to escape but was soon re-arrested, standing trial on the 20th May 1916.
Whilst his C.O. described him as a “good and plucky soldier†until his wounding in June 1915, he had apparently made other attempts to desert and had received a death sentence on the 25th May 1915 commuted to imprisonment. He was shot at Locre at 3.45 a.m. on the 29th May 1916 aged 34 years.
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