MANNING, George William
Private 53729, 2nd/5th Manchester Regiment
Died of Wounds on 28th July 1918
Son of Mrs E.P. Bramwhite of 21, Bygrave Road, Baldoc, Herts.
George William Manning’s birth was registered in the September quarter of 1898 in the registration district of Kensington. He was the oldest child born to William Henry Manning and Emily nee Cole. The couple had at least four children. George’s father was employed as a gas fitter.
On the 1901 census the family are residing at 99, Peel Street in Kensington. George is aged two and his younger brother Reginald is aged eight months.
By the next census the circumstances of the family have changed for the worse. George’s father is in the Kensington Infirmary and he would die shortly after the census was taken. George's date of his admission to the school is unknown but at the age of twelve he is resident in Beechholme along with Reginald and one other brother born in 1903. George’s mother is living in Kensington sharing with another family along with her young daughter of one year.
George enlisted in Mill Hill. Unfortunately we don’t know the year as no service records survive for him. His medal index card doesn’t state his date of entry or his qualifying date but because he was only entitled to the Victory and British War medals he would not have joined until 1916 and his age would have prevented him from serving overseas earlier. (Although this wasn’t always the case)
George’s mother remarried in 1916 to Samuel Bramwhite.
The 2nd/5th Manchester regiment were a territorial force and the designation of 2/5th means that they were the second line unit raised to that particular battalion.
They were formed at Wigan during September 1914 and in November of that year became part of the 199th Brigade in the 66th Division. They trained at Southport until May 1915 and then moved to Crowborough, Cuckfield and Peasepottage in Sussex. In March 1916 they moved to Colchester and from there left for France in March 1917. They saw active service on the Western Front and were involved in action on the Flanders coast in the 3rd Battle of Ypres commonly known as Passchendaele. Whereas the first and second battles of Ypres were launched by the Germans in 1914 and 1915 respectively, the third battle of Ypres was intended as Sir Douglas Haig’s Allied forces breakthrough in Flanders in 1917.
Meticulously planned, Third Ypres was launched on 31st of July 1917 and continued until the fall of Passchendaele village on the 6th of November. The offensive resulted in gains for the Allies but was by no means the breakthrough intended, and such gains as were made came at great cost in human terms. This was the final great battle of attrition of the war.
As was the norm for any major Allied offensive, on the 18th of July a heavy preliminary artillery bombardment was effected for ten days prior to the launch of the attack at 03.50 on the 31st of July. The bombardment made use of 3,000 guns which expended four and a quarter million shells. Given such an onslaught the German Fourth Army fully expected an imminent offensive; the element of surprise was entirely absent.
Thus when the attack was launched across an 18 kilometre front the Fourth Army was in place to hold off the main British advance around the Menin Road and restricted the Allies to fairly small gains to the left of the line around Pilckem Ridge. British attempts to renew the offensive over the course of the next few days were severely hampered by the onset of heavy rain, the heaviest in 30 years, which churned the Flanders lowland soil into a thick muddy swamp. Tanks found themselves immobile, stuck fast in the mud. Similarly the infantry found their mobility severely limited. Ironically the very force of the preliminary bombardment had itself destroyed drainage systems, exacerbating the problem. In addition, the artillery shells that had rained down in the days prior to the attack’s launch had peppered the very ground that needed to be traversed by the advancing Allied Forces.
As a consequence no renewed major offensive could be contemplated until 16th of August, when the Battle of Langemarck saw four days of heavy fighting which resulted in small gains for the British, but heavy casualties. The attacks began afresh on the 20th of September with the Battle of the Menin Road Bridge. This was followed by the Battle of Polygon Wood on the 26th September and the Battle of Broodseinde on the 4th of October. Taken together these established British possession of the ridge east of Ypres. Little progress was made at the Battle of Poelcapelle and the 1st Battle of Passchendaele on the 9th and 12th of October respectively.
War Diary entry of the 2nd/5th Manchester Regiment:
Oct1st-2nd 1917. TOURS. WARDRECQUES. “ Training new formations for attack over shell hole areas.”
3rd-4th. “Battalion moved to BRANDHOEK area”
4th-11th “About 7pm moved forward to take over the British Front Line held by 11th Australian Brigade N.W of ZONEBEKE.”
“ On evening of the 10th Battalion was relieved by 43rd Australian Infantry and commenced moving out of the line. The Battalion arrived at ST LAWRENCE CAMP about 6pm on the 11th. During this time owing to the shelled nature of the ground, the wet weather and dark nights, moving about was very difficult. Enemy artillery did a great deal of shelling and on several occasions put down heavy barrage on our positions. Casualties were fairly numerous. Rations and water were got up with difficulty.”
Oct 13th. “ The battalion moved to RENESCURE AREA and billeted in ARQUES.”
Casualties 30 killed
94 wounded
17 missing
Because the war diary is so precise in its listing of casualty figures throughout the years of 1917 and 1918 and the fact that there isn’t any mention of any soldiers missing after the above date in October 1917, we have to assume that George had been wounded and taken prisoner somewhere around the 9th of October. The fact that he is buried in Cologne cemetery also bears this out. More than 1,000 Allied prisoners were buried in Cologne Southern Cemetery during the First World War.
Between the outbreak of war in August 1914 and the Armistice of November 1918, the German forces captured about 300,000 Commonwealth servicemen on the Western Front. Approximately one third of these prisoners were held in German occupied territory in France or Belgium. Prisoners of war had been granted certain rights under international agreements established at Geneva in 1864 and The Hague in 1899 and 1907. The Red Cross monitored the conditions and welfare of these men. Some of the men were badly wounded when taken prisoner and died shortly after arriving in Germany. Some prisoners also died as a result of violence perpetrated by their captors. As many as 12,000 died whilst in captivity.
It can only be assumed from the records that are available that George died in captivity some ten months after initially being wounded.
George's mother and brother were legatees..
GRAVE REF :- Cologne Southern Cemetery. XIV.F.13.
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