SOLDIER DETAILS:
Roberts,
William George
Private, 21st Battalion 663522
September 1, 1918
Mont
Huon Cemetery, France
Resident of Campbellville, Ontario
Maple
Leaf Legacy Project |
Haltonville Cenotaph
R. Laughton
Mont Huon Cemetery
Commonwealth War Graves
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Private Roberts is buried in Mont Huon Cemetery in Le
Treport, France. His grave reference is VII. D. 9A.
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| Other Links:
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| The action involving the 21st Battalion on August
26, 1918 is very detailed in the war diary, as well as in the
texts of Nicholson and Livesay. Readers are encouraged to refer
to those texts for additional details of the battle that took
the life of Private William George Roberts.
Private Roberts is one of the many men of the 21st Battalion
that has been studied by the 21st Battalion Research Group. You
will find that information here:
Private
Roberts, 21st Battalion
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SOLDIER SUMMARY:
| Private William George
Roberts was living in Campbellville (Milton) at the time that he
attested to the 164th Battalion on July 21, 1916. Many of the
Milton lads, farmers like William, joined the 164th. His
next-of-kin was actually his friend "John Ramsey of
Campbelville.
He arrived
in England in April 1917 and was transferred to the 2nd Canadian
Reserve Battalion. After short periods of time in the
119th and 125th Battalions, he arrived at the 21st
Battalion (4th Infantry Brigade, 2nd Division) on March 29,
1918, finally settling there on April 4, 1918.
It appears from the records that Private Robertson received a
shrapnel wound to his right foot on August 26, 1918, was taken
to a Casualty Clearing Station and then to the No. 2 Canadian
General Hospital (Le Treport), where he died on September 1,
1918. Additional medical records suggest it was a gun shot
wound, that his leg was amputated and that he died of secondary hemorrhage
(massive blood loss). Unlike many others, there are no detailed
medical records.
Private Roberts was killed in the period known as "Canada's
Hundred Days", as the CEF entered an era of mobile
warfare and moved rapidly from Amiens, through the Hindenburg
Line to Cambrai. August 26, 1918 marked the start of the Battle
of Arras. The war diary summary of August
26, 1918 (see also part
2 and part
3 ) reports on the action and attack of that date, south of
the Arras-Cambrai road, very near Vis-en-Artois. The report
tells of 12 men killed and 5 wounded, one of which was Private
Roberts - as he did not die that day. The artillery fire was
intense. |
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The soldier pages contain information
that is available from a number of resources. The following hyperlinks
are active where the information is available:
The summary of the service is taken from
the soldier's service records, if they were available from Library and
Archives Canada. A complete copy of the service record is
available in electronic and paper format in the Alex
Cooke Memorial Archives at the Milton Historical Society.
Using that summary, combined with the key references, a summary of the
events leading up to the death of the soldier has been prepared.
The research information available is as noted on the Canadian
Expeditionary Force Study Group web site Matrix
Project as well as in the Library and Archives Canada On-Line
War Diaries.
A summary of all the soldiers is
contained on the Web Blog "Great
War Soldiers of Milton, Ontario CANADA". Please also
be sure to purchase your own copy of "Milton
Remembers World War I - The Men and Women We Never Knew" by
John Challinor II and Jim Dills, edited by Ken Lamb. |
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