99005 Private
22nd Company, Machine Gun Corps (Infantry), 22nd Brigade, 7th Division
Age: 27
Date of Death: 1.10.17
Buried: Tyne Cot Memorial Panel 154 to 159
Family history: Son of John and Jemima Sharp. He had three brothers, Charles, John Smart, and James Smart, and three sister, Agnes, Janet and Isabella. Andrew was married to Janet and they had one child. He enlisted in the Royal Scots Fusiliers and later transferred to the Machine Gun Corps.
The action leading to his death
The line that the 22nd Brigade held ran over ground closely associated with the 7th Division, even if few of those still with it in October 1917 had helped to make history at Polygon Wood three years earlier. They took over a fraction of the line they held in 1914, roughly the north eastern edge of what, in 1914, had been Polygon Wood but now in 1917 had only a few stumps sticking out from its swampy and muddy surface. The 22nd Brigade occupied the front line with two battalions, the Welch Fusiliers on the right in Jetty Trench, the 20th Manchesters continuing the line north ward in front of Jubilee Trench. The line was anything but good, as there had been little time for consolidation, before the Germans opened a tremendous barrage at 5am on 1 October which lasted for over an hour. Luckily the mud reduced the effect of the shell-bursts by smothering the projectiles however, the Brigade still suffered numerous casualties. At 6.15am the Germans launched an infantry attack against the British line and this was repelled by concerted rifle and machine gun fire and by the British artillery fire. The Germans continued to shell the British line throughout the day.
(Linesman Map)
Medals
The British War Medal, Victory Medal
