SOLDIER DETAILS:
Robinson,
Howard Challen
Private 38th Battalion 648785
September 2, 1918
Dury
Mill British Cemetery, Pas de Calais, France
Son of George and Margaret Robinson of Milton
Maple
Leaf Legacy Project
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Victoria Park Cenotaph
Photo R. Laughton
Dury Mill Cemetery
Commonwealth War Graves
Private Robinson
Maple Leaf Legacy Project
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Private Robinson
is remembered on the Victoria Park Cenotaph in Milton
Ontario.
Private
Robinson is buried in Dury Mill Cemetery, not alone, but
with another Milton Soldier, Private Denyes.
In August
1918 the cemetery was in the enemy territory, behind the
D-Q Line.
I. C. 5.
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SOLDIER SUMMARY:
| Private Robinson was the eldest son of George
Robinson, of Omagh, Ontario (now part of Milton). It was
reported in the paper that he was killed instantly by a bullet
to the head in the advance on Arras, during "Canada's
Hundred Days".
Private Robinson attested to the 159th Battalion on January
3, 1916. Upon arrival in England he was transferred to the
8th Reserve Battalion on February 2, 1917 and then to the active
38th Battalion (4th Division, 12th Infantry Brigade) on June 26,
1917. He was killed near the Canal du Nord on September 2, 1918.
The war diary of the 38th Battalion reports that the attack
of the Canadian Corps commenced on September
2nd. The map shows the 38th just west of Dury, ready
to cross the D-Q Line, one of Germany's most powerful and well
organized defensive lines (trenches, wire, concrete shelters and
machine gun posts).
The 38th Battalion met the full force of the
machine gun fire but together the Canadians overran a 7,000 yard
front. Plans of the operation are reported for September
2nd and the details and deadly
machine gun fire follow. In total, 8 Officers and 58 Other
Ranks were killed in the assault. Private Robinson was but one! |
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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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