In Memory of

JOHN LEITH

Gunner
103785
"B" Bty. 107th Bde., Royal Field Artillery
who died on
Friday, 1st June 1917.Age 20

Additional Information:

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John Leith

 

1914-18 War Medals

 

Son of the late John and Mrs. Jane Leith, of Piperwell, Duncanston, brother of James Leith

John Leith, Farmer in Courtieston, Leslie d 28/8/1904 age 43. Wife Jane Mair d Newbigging, Inverurie 3/2/1953 age 88. Interred Leslie Kirkyard, sons recorded on headstone.

Born Kennethmont, enlisted Aberdeen, killed in action, served France & Flanders. He is also listed on Leslie War Memorial.

PRO :War & Victory Medals

KIA - Army Returns

Service Notes

Divisions had Brigades of artillery in support and in general the Artillery Brigade consisted of A, B, C and D Batteries. A,B and C were usually 18 Pdr Field Gun Batteries. D was usually a 60 Pdr Howitzer Battery.
In the later years of the War X,Y and Z Batteries were added, these being Trench Mortar Batteries.

The really heavy guns were operated by The Royal Garrison Artillery.

Commemorative Information

Cemetery: RAILWAY DUGOUTS BURIAL GROUND, ZILLEBEKE, Ieper, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium

Grave Reference/
Panel Number:

IV. B. 9.

Location:

The grave of John Leith

Railway Dugouts Burial Ground (Transport Farm) is located 2 kilometres south-east of Ieper town centre, on the Komenseweg, a road connecting Ieper to Komen (N336). From Ieper town centre the Komenseweg is located via the Rijselsestraat, through the Rijselpoort (Lille Gate) and crossing the Ieper ring road, towards Armentieres and Lille. The road name then changes to Rijselseweg. 1 kilometre along the Rijselseweg lies the left hand turning onto Komenseweg. The cemetery itself is located 1.2 kilometres along the Komenseweg on the right hand side of the road.

Historical Information: At 2 kilometres west of the village of Zillebeke the railway runs on an embankment, overlooking a small farmstead known to the British Army as Transport Farm. It is a place screened by slightly rising ground to the East, and burials on the site of the cemetery began in April, 1915. They were continued until the Armistice, especially in 1916 and 1917, when Advanced Dressing Stations were placed in the Dugouts and the farm. They were made in small groups, without any definite arrangement; and in the summer of 1917 a considerable number were obliterated by shell fire before they could be marked. The names "Railway Dugouts" and "Transport Farm" were used indifferently, and both are included in the present name. At the time of the Armistice, 1,705 graves were known and marked. Other graves were then brought in from the battlefields and small cemeteries in the neighbourhoods, and 258 known graves, destroyed by artillery fire, were specially commemorated. The latter were mainly in the present Plots IV and VII. There are now nearly 2,500, 1914-18 war casualties commemorated in this site. Of these, over 400 are unidentified and 261 are represented by special memorials. Other speical memorials record the names of 42 soldiers from Canada and 30 from the United Kingdom, buried in other cemeteries, whose graves were destroyed in later fighting. The cemetery covers an area of 16,374 square metres and is enclosed by a rubble wall, except where it borders the pond. VALLEY COTTAGES CEMETERY, ZILLEBEKE, was among a group of cottages on "Observatory Road", which runs Eastward from Zillebeke village. It contained the graves of 111 soldiers from the United Kingdom and Canada. It was in an exposed position during the greater part of the war, and of the graves in it are represented by special memorials in Railway Dugouts Burial Ground. TRANSPORT FARM ANNEXE was about 90 metres South-East of the Railway Dugouts Cemetery, on the road to Verbrandenmolen. The graves in it were removed to Perth Cemetery (China Wall), Zillebeke; but one officer, whose grave was not found, is specially commemorated here.