WW1 Bronze Memorial Plaque to Lyon 8th Leicester’s.

WW1 Memorial Plaque named to Herbert John Lyon. The only name listed is for 41837 Private Herbert John Lyon of the 8th battalion the Leicestershire regiment.
Herbert was born in Shoreditch, London 1892. He was one of four children of Alfred and Eliza Lyon, and before the war he was employed as a Clerk for a manufacturing works in London. On December 3rd 1911 he married Amy Thorn and took up residence in Hackney Road London. They had two children, Herbert Junior born in 1913 and Gladys born in 1915.
The 8th battalion were formed in Leicester in September 1914 as part of Kitchener's Third New Army and joined 23rd Division as Divisional Troops. However Herbert probably joined as battalion reinforcements in France late 1915 early 1916. In April 1915 the battalion transferred to 110th Brigade, 38th Division and on the 8th of July 1916 they transferred with 110th Brigade to 21st Division. They were in action in the Battles of The Somme, including The Battle of Morval in which the Division captured Geudecourt. In 1917 they were in action during The German retreat to the Hindenburg Line, the Arras offensive, the Third Battles of Ypres and The Cambrai Operations. In 1918 they fought on The Somme then moved north and were in action during the Battles of the Lys suffering heavily. It was noted that “the sterling courage of the 110th Brigade in the defence of Epehy in March 1918 was a fine example of British grit. Exposed to the full blast of constant attacks delivered by three fresh German divisions, the stubborn soldiers of Leicestershire refused to budge, but met each attack with such devastating rifle and machine gun fire that, when night fell, the front of their position was marked by heaps of German dead. Only at one point did the enemy succeed in piercing the line at Vancellette Farm, defended to the last man by the party of Leicester men who held it.”
21st Division was one of a number of exhausted divisions that were sent south under IX Corps to recuperate with Fifth French Army on a quiet part of the front. Its battalions were brought up to a strength of about 700 men each, the replacements being either barely trained young men or returning wounded. It was stationed in the angle between the River Aisne and the Aisne Canal, 110th Brigade taking over the Chalons-le-Vergeur sector on the night of 14/15 May, with two companies each of 7th and 8th Leicester’s in the Forward Zone about 1,500 yards (1,400 m) east of the marshy canal, the rest in the Battle Zone along the west bank, and 6th Leicester’s and 110th TMB in reserve. Unfortunately, once again the quiet sector to which 21st Division had been sent for recuperation was that chosen by the enemy for the next phase of their offensive.
At 01.00 on 27 May the Third Battle of the Aisne was launched with a tremendous bombardment on the French and British lines, including a high proportion of gas shells.
The telephone lines laid on the surface by the French were soon cut by shellfire. The infantry attack on 110th Brigade probably began at 03.00–04.00, but this was unclear – no word came back from the four advanced companies before they were overwhelmed. Attacks on the redoubts of the Battle Zone along the canal began about 07.00 but the situation remained obscure until the mist dispersed about 08.00. The near bank of the canal was lost, but 110th Bde's battalions fought on, and held the enemy in the swamps fringing the canal. Two attacks were driven back with rifle and Lewis gun fire, so the enemy resorted to bombing their way up communication trenches to surround and capture the strongpoints one by one. One strongpoint, the 'Tenaille de Guise', held out until 15.00. 6th Leicester’s were fed forward into the fighting line, together with a company made up from the 'battle reserve' of what remained of the 7th and 8th Leicester’s; the road between Cauroy and Cormicy became the front line, which 110th Bde held until nightfall.
At 03.30 on 28 May the brigade, reorganised into a single battalion, followed its brigadier along this track in complete silence. At dawn it halted at Luthernay Farm where it was bombed by a lone German aircraft.
About 08.00 it got within 500 yards of Pévy when it came under fire from the village and the high ground on the right. Breaking up into a number of single-file columns, the brigade struggled across a swamp to reach the high Prouilly ridge; luckily the Germans fired too high. As the brigade climbed the ridge the skyline was crowned by a wave of French infantry, and together they formed an all-round defence until the German artillery finally caught up and forced them off. By nightfall the remains of 110th Bde were back across the River Vesle, reorganised as two small battalions, which took up new positions at a tile works west of Muizon and on Hill 202, with BHQ in Rosnay. The following morning the Germans chose not to make a frontal assault on the Vesle but to continue the turning movement through Jonchery while shelling 110th Bde's positions. The force on Hill 202 was driven to lower ground and Lt-Col Edward Chance, CO of 6th Leicesters, was killed by a shell, and the line at Muizon under Lt-Col Sawyer of 7th Leicesters was driven back to within 1,000 yards of Rosnay. Here the brigade was relieved at 21.00 by French troops and withdrew to rejoin 21st Division at Étréchy on 31 May. At the Aisne 110th Bde lost 52 officers and 1378 ORs, of whom a further 33 officers and 1168 were posted missing.
The true loss of the brigade and that of the 8th battalion Leicester’s was not fully accounted until the 28th June when the battalion was reduced to cadre strength.
Private Herbert John Lyon is listed on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission as died on the 16th June 1918. On the list of ‘Soldiers died in the Great War’ the date is 16th May 1918. He is now remembered at the Dormans French National Cemetery, so the earlier date is more probable.
We can only imagine today how horrific this amount of concentrated action might have been, with constant bombardment and little respite, comrades falling all around, knowing your time is coming. How does a man stay firm and not run or just fall apart. There are so many stories of ordinary men and their acts of combined bravery that was just taken as a matter of course in extreme conditions, Herbert Lyon is one and his plaque is a testament of his sacrifice.
His plaque is in perfect condition and comes with various copied research including Commonwealth war graves certificate, medal index card, and medal roll, plus other records, census, pensions and marriage etc.

Code: 30088