My Dad was the youngest of all of his brothers so was only 11 years old when WW1 began. Two of his brothers were killed, Arthur in 1916 on the Somme and William on 22nd August, 1917, though his body was never found and identified. William had lied about his age when he enlisted in the West Yorks and when they found out that he was still under 18 the Army sent him back from the Front in France to Northern Ireland. Once he turned 18 he was transferred to they Royal Scots and straight back to the front.
I searched for a long time before I found a reference to where the Royal Scots were on the 22nd August and as I look again at the map he wasn't all that far from the village of Broodeseinde. Anyway it gives a good idea of the slow advance made just two months after his death.
Memoirs & Diaries - The Diaries of Robert Lindsay Mackay - Ypres 1917
(Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders)
"This continued for half an hour, when the light was just making itself apparent. Then we noticed a few ROYAL SCOTTS fall back, and then, nearer us, one or two Argylls. More and more came, so J.F.C.Cameron got his Lewis gun ready and looked after the left half of our front. I took the right half, intending to stop the men, and get them to reform, or if necessary, to dig in where they were.
Failure. "We Gained Some Ground In Front Of Ypres" - Press Bureau
At this time I noticed large numbers of Boche, and a counter-attack was developing on us, and across our front from the direction of Zevencote. The Boche were really getting busy, and their snipers made it difficult to move. I had to go at the double all the time - that, however, did not mean much as the bits of wire, and the mud and other obstructions made me relatively slow.
Got all our fellows who remained, (the others I could not but presume to be either dead or wounded or prisoners), together and spread them out with guns along about 500 yards parallel to the Frezenberg-Beck House Road. Our attack on Beck House and Borry Farm was a failure. These places could not be touched by our artillery. A big shell of ours could bounce off them! Their garrison probably exceeded that of our battalion. J.F.C.Cameron, in his escapade of the previous day when he got within 30 yards of Beck House found it garrisoned, and saw about another 50 men enter it.
After what seemed a long journey I got in touch on the right with the H.Q. of the Royal Scots. Their H.Q. was as bad as our own. I had to enter all doubled up, but the poor fellow who followed, a Scot, almost at my heels, was shot by a sniper, through the head. The sniper was some 50 yards off. Gradually we got a grip of things and organised a decent but terribly weak line. Boche gave us a thin time of it with his sniping and shelling.
Once I could not help feeling amused. Boche started shelling with light stuff, and I had to get down behind a wall, or rather a bit of a wall. Then our fellows started shelling with heavy stuff which fell short, and I had to crawl round to the other side of the wall, i.e. the Boche side. J.F.C. on the left flank did glorious work. His sang froid was extraordinary. He had rather a bad bit of line with a nasty big curve in it. He and his sergeant, a tough named Flynn, well deserved the honours they got for the show. Not an officer of ours came back, except McClure, Chesney and Muirhead, and they were all badly wounded. "
This will give some idea of what they had all suffered in the weeks leading up to the Jabber Track.