45326 Private
10/11th Battalion Highland Light Infantry, 46th Infantry Brigade, 15th (Scottish) Division
Age: 31
Date of Death: 9.4.18
Buried: (Royal) Berkshire Corner Cemetery Extension Panel 9
Family history: Son of George and Agnes Hogg, Muirhouses, Carriden, Bo'ness. He had four brothers, William, John, James and Thomas, and three sisters, Grace, Elizabeth and Agnes.
He enlisted in the 16th Battalion royal Scots but was subsequently transferred to the 17th Battalion and transferred again in May 1916 to the Highland Light Infantry 10/11th Battalion. He saw action at the Somme, Arras and in Third Ypres. His brother James had enlisted in the 1st Battalion Royal Scots but he was transferred to the 171st Company, Chinese Labour Corps. He was to die during the Flu pandemic on 23 October 1918 and is buried at St Sever Cemetery Extension, Rouen, grave S.II.DD.14
The action leading to his death
This action took place well outside the confines of the Ypres Salient. However, the missing are commemorated on the (Royal) Berkshire Corner Cemetery Extension.
Operation Georgette, to the Germans, or the Battle of the Lys to the British, opened on 9 April 1918. This was a large scale battle with a front line of some 37km’s that stretched from the La Bassee Canal almost to the gates of Ypres. Casualties on the British and commonwealth side totalled 82,000 dead, wounded, missing or taken prisoner. Georgette was carried out by the German 6th Army and part of the German Fourth Army and its main objective was to seize the rail head at Hazebrouck from where the British 2nd Army in Flanders was supplied. To the east, it would reach the Steenvoorde to Poperinge road which also supplied the 2nd Army in the Ypres Salient.
The 10th/11th Battalion Highland Light Infantry (HLI) were at Nouveau Monde along with the 14th Battalion HLI they were essentially in reserve on the river line. ‘D’ Company and half of ‘B’ Company of the 10th/11th HLI were ordered to take up a line between Cockshy House, where it would link up with 151st Brigade of the 50th Northumbrian Division, and Levantie East Post. All six Platoons advanced and were never heard of again. The conclusion being that they had advanced on their objective and were annihilated as they had advanced into the full force of the German advance. The rest of the Battalion took up a support position between Muddy Lane Post and Levantie North. And here it came into contact with the Germans and heavy machine gun fire. By 1pm they were reporting large waves of Germans advancing on Levantie North and attempts to reinforce them were impossible and what was left of the battalion withdrew across the river at Nouveau Monde late in the afternoon.
(Linesman Map. This is a modern map of the area but it is little changed from April 1918
Gordon would also have known Private James Gardiner from Stenhousemuir who was a member of the same Battalion and was killed in the same action. https://www.theypressalient.com/post/james-gardiner-1
Medals
The British War Medal, Victory Medal
