Frederic Grange Wesselhoeft
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He was the only son of Frederick, a merchant, and Ellen Wesselhoeft of 'Hillhead', 13 Arlington Drive, Mapperley Park, Nottingham. He was the brother of Muriel and Mary Wesselhoeft. His father was in business as a printer’s furnisher at 46 Hounds’ Gate. The family were of German origin, but the father had been brought to England as an infant. However, there were still strong connections with Germany prior to the Great War. The father founded the business in 1881 in London, but quickly made Nottingham his headquarters. His cousin, Second Lieutenant G H Wesselhoeft, was killed a year in 1916 on the Somme.
He joined the 2/7th Sherwood Foresters in September 1914 and proceeded to Ireland with his regiment, going through the Dublin Rebellion in April 1916. He served with the Expeditionary Force in France and Flanders from the following September (1916). He was transferred to the Royal Warwickshire Regiment and was killed in action at the Battle of the Menin Road, 20th September 1917. He is listed as buried in the military cemetery near Ypres but is now commemorated on the Tyne Cot Memorial to the Missing. His Commanding Officer wrote: “He had served faithfully and willingly all the time, and is greatly missed by all who knew him”. One of his comrades stated “He was the best pal I ever had, liked by all, and greatly missed by all his company.”
Nottingham Evening Post, Roll of Honour, Thursday 27 September 1917. ‘Wesselhoeft. Killed in action, September 20th, Frederick Grange, sergeant Royal Warwicks, late of Sherwood Foresters, aged 20 years, only son of Frederick and Ellen Wesselhoeft, Hillhead, Arlington-drive, Mapperley Park.’ (www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk) The Battle of the Menin Road Ridge, sometimes called "Battle of the Menin Road", was the third British general attack of the Third Battle of Ypres in the First World War. The battle took place 20–25 September 1917, in the Ypres Salient in Flanders on the Western Front. During the pause in Allied general attacks between late August and 20 September, the British changed some infantry tactics, by adopting the "leap-frog" method of advance, or “bite and hold”, when waves of infantry stopped once they reached their objective, then consolidated the ground while other waves passed through the objective to attack the next one and the earlier waves became the tactical reserve. General adoption of the method was made possible when more artillery was brought into the salient and by increasing the amount of air support of ground operations and specialising the tasks of air defence, contact-patrol, counter-attack patrol, artillery observation and ground-attack. Optimism increased among German commanders, that the offensive had ended. Drier weather and extensive road repairs made it much easier for the British to move vast amounts of supplies forward from the original front line. Visibility increased except for frequent ground fog around dawn, which helped conceal British infantry during the attack, before clearing to expose German troop movements to British observation and attack. The British infantry succeeded in capturing most of their objectives and then holding them against German counter-attacks, inflicting many casualties on the local German defenders and the Eingreif Divisions sent to reinforce them, with massed artillery and small-arms fire. German defences on the Gheluvelt Plateau, which had been retained or quickly recaptured in July and August were lost and the British were able to attack again on 26 September. Research Simon williams
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