Missing in Action: A Dundee Son

The Andrews Family
Mr and Mrs David Andrews, of 116 Blackness Road, Dundee, spent  four months in 1917 writing to whoever would listen, including the British Red Cross and  the Infantry Record Office, trying to discover the whereabouts of their son, James.
30188 Private James George Andrews, of the 15th Battalion, The Royal Scots, had been posted missing in action on the 28th April 1917.
The 34th Division, of which the 15th Royal Scots formed part, were involved in the Battle of Arleux on 28th April 1917. This battle was part of a larger British Offensive, known as the Battle of Arras (9th April-16th May 1917). The aim of the Battle of Arras was to draw the German troops away from a French assault, (the Nivelle Offensive) some 50 miles south of Arras, and to capture the high ground of Douai from German hands.

Between 9th-12th April, the Canadian Corps had successfully captured the crest of Vimy Ridge. However, the south-east portion was considerably vulnerable to attack, so in a combined effort of British and Canadian troops, Arleux-en- Gohelle was attacked on the 28th April. Whilst the Canadian troops captured Arleux with little resistance, the British attack on Givrelle, and the subsequent counterattack by the Germans, resulted in a great many casualties.
In the heat of battle it is not possible to account for the whereabouts of every man involved. Private Andrews was present at the commencement of the attack but his whereabouts were unknown by the end of the day.
When the Andrews family contacted the Red Cross Offices in London, they had, surely, prayed that their son had been taken as a Prisoner of War, or that he would be discovered in a clearing hospital. Their prayers went unanswered. In August of that year, Elizabeth Andrews, in a letter to the Infantry Office, spoke of the bitter loss of her poor good son and went onto state that she no longer looked upon her son, James, as missing.
It would be 9th March 1918 before it was regarded, that for official purposes, that Pte Andrews had died on or after 28th April 1917.
Private James George Andrews’ name is commemorated at the Arras Memorial, Faubourg-d’Amiens Cemetery (Bay 1 &2).
The Arras Memorial commemorates 35,000 Servicemen from the United Kingdom, New Zealand and South Africa, who died in the Arras sector between spring 1916 and 7th August 1918.
James Andrews’s story is not unique. He did not receive medals for courage or valour but Pte Andrews served his King and Country and died whilst doing so. It is to him and to many more, such as him, that we owe a debt of gratitude, which we may never fully repay. It is to the memory of the sacrifices that these men made during The Great War 1914-1918 that the armistice is commemorated on 11th November at 11am
.

Lest We Forget

Discover Your Family WW1 History