Harry (Henry) Lapping

The 12th (Service) Battalion arrived at Boulogne on the 10/07/1915 and were part of the 46th Brigade, 15th (Scottish) Division when Harry fell. He arrived in France with the 2nd Battalion on the 26/05/1915. Harry was Killed in Action on the 2nd day of the Battle of Pilckem Ridge, 31st July - 2nd August 1917. SEE PHOTOS x 23 FOR THE BATTALION WAR DIARY JULY - AUGUST 1917. The War Diary states - IN THE LINE 31st July : "Battalion moved overnight to battle positions in ST. JAMES TRENCH and CAMBRIDGE and POTIJZE Defences. Operations commence on a large scale. ECOLE (school) YPRES 2nd August : "Battalion returns from the line and are accommodated in the ECOLE YPRES. This was a phase of the Battles of Ypres, 1917 (3rd Ypres), 31st July - 10th November 1917 : The British finally got what they had wanted since 1914, the opportunity to attack at Ypres and breakout of the confines of the salient of trenches around it. Often known as the 3rd Battle of Ypres or Passchendaele, the offensive began with encouraging gains but terrible summer weather soon bogged it down. By August the offensive was clearly failing in its objectives and had descended into attritional fighting. New techniques by both sides led to agonisingly slow forward movement for the British, at enormous cost in casualties to both sides. Bad weather in October led to the battlefield becoming an impossible quagmire. The site of the Menin Gate was chosen because of the hundreds of thousands of men who passed through it on their way to the battlefields. It commemorates casualties from the forces of Australia, Canada, India, South Africa and United Kingdom who died in the Salient. In the case of United Kingdom casualties, only those prior 16 August 1917 (with some exceptions). The Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial now bears the names of more than 54,000 officers and men whose graves are not known. See photos for Harry's Medal Index Card, his CWGC Grave Registration, his name on the Menin Gate Memorial, his Army Register of Soldiers Effects, his Service Medal and Award Rolls x 2, his name on the Menin Gate Memorial x 2, Harry's Pension Records x 2, the Highland Light Infantry Cap Badge, a map showing the gradual eastwards advance from Ypres and the Battle of Pilckem Ridge and an advanced British 18 pounder Royal Field Artillery gun battery taking up new positions close to a communication trench near Boesinghe, 31st July 1917. Finally, SEE PHOTOS x 35 FOR THE 15th (SCOTTISH) DIVISION BOOK 16th JUNE - 3rd AUGUST 1917, the 15th (Scottish) Division Order of Battle x 13 (the Division Harry was with when he fell) and a Newspaper clippings from the Coatbridge Express 29/08/1917.