Politicians on Battlefield Tours

A little something in the news this week. Mr Cameron and Monsieur Hollande meeting at Pozieres Cemetery, a place that holds great significance for me and my family. There are over 2,700 men buried in the courtyard space just off the Albert to Bapaume road, but it was a name on the surrounding wall that first brought me to the Somme nearly 20 years ago. One name amongst 14000 - those who were missing after the German Spring Offensive in 1918.

William Watkinson was with the Lancashire Fusiliers, and was killed in the German attack launched on a foggy morning in late March 1918. It was the Kaiserschlacht, the last desperate throw of the dice by the German High Command. Although initially successful, sweeping away the hapless Lancashire Fusiliers just north of St Quentin, the offensive eventually fizzled out. The tide finally turned in August 1918, and some of the casualties that lie in Pozieres Cemetery are from that final push to victory. By that time, of course, my great grandmother Rose had received the dreaded telegram, and she was beginning to face up to life with her two daughters.
I still remember the moment when I first saw William Watkinson's name, in the company of my father and his two brothers. The grandfather they never knew.
Bottom left hand corner, if you get a moment Dave.