Volume Eight - Pre-Victorian to the present day - more aspects - Chains at Penarth Dock - Macey, Mules and Wallace Family History . . .

The Western Front had been static for almost 3 years in Belgium, and General Douglas Haig wanted a new push. If the Allies could break through, they could threaten the occupied Belgium ports to the north which were being used by the Germans as U-boat bases. From there, they had been enjoying unrestricted access to the British coast. In the spring of 1917, U-boats were accounting for considerable shipping losses, including the S.S.Warnow referred to above..

The push began on the 31st July 1917. It lasted 3 months and was a battle of attrition. On September 26th, Arthur’s Battalion were up at 5.30am with their position being bombed. At noon, they were in position. They moved into the open, facing machine gun fire and snipers based in Polderhoek Chateau, which was on higher ground to the south-east. They received further losses. Arthur was one of them. He was shot and killed by a sniper. He was 26 years old.

The Battalion were relieved in the evening of the 27th and headed back to Mont D’hiver, where Arthur’s Lieutenant, T. H. Williamson found time to write a letter to his step-sister, Amy Martin back in John Street, whom he had named as next of kin. Lieutenant Williamson wrote:-

‘British Expeditionary Force. 1st October 1917.

I regret to have to tell you that your brother, Private A. Mules was killed in action on the 26th September during a successful attack by his battalion on that date. He was sniped, and his death was painless and instantaneous. He had been in my platoon since he joined the battalion in France, and I have always found him a very brave and willing soldier.

I and my platoon wish to send you their sincere sympathies. He will be very much missed by all who knew him. I hope it will give you some consolation to know that he died while taking part in one of the biggest battles of the campaign, and it is he and his comrades who made the great sacrifice that we have to thank for such a great victory’.

Arthur was buried just a mile away from where he fell, at Hooge Crater Cemetery (grave XII.F.10). This is beside the Menin Road as it goes west back into Ypres (Ieper, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium).