253917 Pte. Joseph Johnston British Army 10th/11th Btn. Highland Light Infantry from:Stewarton, East Ayrshire My Grandfather, Joseph Johnston, for whom I am named, joined the 10th/11th HLI just before his 18th birthday. He was captured by German troops on 9th of April 1918, two days after his 19th birthday. He was engaged in the Battle of the Lys, part of the German Spring Offensive.
He was captured at Fleurbaix in Northern France, a village 13 miles west of Lille. By that time his HLI Battalion had become, firstly on the 1st February 1918, with the 119th Brigade of the British Army's 40th Division, and subsequently on the 16th February 1918 with the 120th Brigade of 40th Division.
He had sustained a gunshot injury to his left hand, and remained in hospital for 19 days, after which he was transferred to Gustrow, a German POW Camp approximately 120miles from Hamburg. From there he would be allocated a position as a joiner in the docks in Hamburg, where he remained until he was repatriated at the beginning of December 1918
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