Walter Johnson

Johnson served as Private 86672 Edward Roberts initially enlisting in Barnsley whilst living at Wakefield, with service number 905, in the York and Lancaster Regiment. He later transferred to the 184th Tunnelling Company of the Royal Engineers and landed in France on 19th March 1915. The 184th Tunnelling Company was one of the tunnelling companies of the Royal Engineers created by the British Army during World War I. The tunnelling units were occupied in offensive and defensive mining involving the placing and maintaining of mines under enemy lines, as well as other underground work such as the construction of deep dugouts for troop accommodation, the digging of subways, saps (a narrow trench dug to approach enemy trenches), cable trenches and underground chambers for signals and medical services. 184th Tunnelling Company included a significant number of miners from South Wales, as did the 170th, 171st, 172nd, 253rd and 254th Tunnelling Companies. Before the Battle of Arras (9 April – 16 May 1917), the 184th Tunnelling Company were engaged in Arras on Fish Avenue Tunnel, and in helping construct emplacements for heavy mortars. British forces controlling Arras had decided to re-use the ancient underground quarries in the town to aid a planned offensive against the Germans, whose trenches ran through what are now the eastern suburbs of the town. The underground quarries were to be linked up by tunnels so that they could be used both as shelters from the incessant German shelling and as a means of conveying troops to the front in secrecy and safety. From October 1916, the tunnelling companies of the Royal Engineers had been constructing tunnels for the troops, focusing on Carrière Wellington, a former underground quarry in Ronville near Arras. The New Zealand Tunnelling Company had carried out a first exploration of the underground quarries in the Ronville and Saint-Sauveur districts of Arras on 5 November 1916. While the New Zealanders were moving into place, the 184th Tunnelling Company began work on connection tunnels at Saint-Sauveur on 25 November 1916. The scale of this undertaking was enormous: in one sector alone four Tunnelling Companies (of 500 men each) worked around the clock in 18-hour shifts for two months. By the end of January 1917, the Royal Engineers had constructed 20 kilometres of tunnels linking the ancient underground quarries of Arras. The tunnel system could accommodate 24,000 men and was equipped with running water, electric light, kitchens, latrines, a small power station and a medical centre with a fully equipped operating theatre. (Wikipedia) According to 184 Tunnelling Coy's war diary (TNA WO95/336/3), German forces entered British trenches near Roeux (Arras) on 16th May at 3.30 am. '3 of our NCOs and 1 OR (presumably Johnson) are reported missing having taken part in the counter attack launched against the enemy about 8am - owing to the intensity of shelling the assembly of troops working in the area had to be temporarily suspended, movement of materials being impossible.' He is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial, Pier and face 8A & 8D

Walter's two brothers Bernard Johnson enlisted at Nottingham, serving with the 9th battalion King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry, was killed in action on 1st July 1916 the first day of the Battle of the Somme. Gunner 89613 William Johnson Royal Garrison Artillery was killed in action on 25th September 1917. Family research by Peter Gillings Military research by David Nunn