But where did he die?

[Annie65115]

My grandfather was killed in Northern France on 6 July 1918. He was at that time with the King's Shropshire Light Infantry but had only been with that regiment for a few weeks, having previously been in the S Lancs regiment. I don't know what batallion he was with.

He is buried in Sandpits cemetery near Bethune.

Is there any way of narrowing down where he actually died?

thanks in advance

[emeltom]

I guess you will have looked at the CWGC site. If you haven't it may be able to give you more info.

www.cwgc.org

Emeltom

[JJen]

If you know the Battalion number you could search the war diaries on Ancestry to see if one is available for that period.

Or try searching the newspapers as sometimes war dead were recorded in their local newspaper.

JJ

[MaxD]

If you post his name we can help?

MaxD

[MaxD]

Belay that - presumably he was Sgt Bradbury 7th Battalion KSLI.

Location to follow hopefully.

MaxD

[MaxD]

On 6 July, 7 Battalion KSLI were deployed in positions along the canal bank in the area of square W 24 and the square below it (on another map) shown on the link :
http://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/side-by-side/#zoom=14&lat=50.5572&lon=2.6600&layers=101723830&right=BingHyb
Towards the bottom left where the D945 road number is.

The brigade war diary records them being shelled intermittently specifically in the area of a wood yard which would be to the left of the D171 road marker. Although it doesn't record casualties (quite usual) this would be where Sgt Bradbury was on that day.

The built up area appearing at the very bottom of the map is the northern outskirts of the town of Bethune which you can find and hopefully relate to the linked maps on Goggle Earth. The cemetery is to the west of Bethune towards Bruay la Buissiere, not very far from this area.

MaxD

PS  The battalion war diary is a mess and that period appears to be missing.  However, the brigade diary from which this detail comes is at the National Archives at http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C14052975

[Flattybasher9]

Corporal Arthur Newton was also killed that day and is buried in Sandpits Cemenery,

https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/493072/newton,-arthur/#&gid=null&pid=2

https://www.warmemorialsonline.org.uk/memorial/153912/

Malky

[MaxD]

Indeed.  I settled on Sgt Bradbury as the poster has the Bradbury name in their list of interests and on the basis that he had previously served, as indicated, in the South Lancs.

Detail given of course applies to his comrade.

MaxD

[Flattybasher9]

I wonder how many others from that regiment succumbed that day?

Malky