yr12_induction_smith_m

=**Can the internet be used to trace and link relatives, who fought in the World Wars, to their cemetery and last battle?**=

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**Who was J. Clynch?**
John Edward Clynch died on the 22nd October 1917. The most information we had about him was his name on the war memorial in [|Port Sunlight Village], (J Clynch) and the dates of his possible death between 1914 and 1919. Would it be possible to discover the cemetery that he is buried in? Perhaps even link him to a key battle in World War One, maybe where he died? Using the resource of the //[|Commonwealth War Graves Commission]//, I managed to use the name J Clynch to track my auntie’s (none blood related) great uncle Private John Edward Clynch of the Cheshire Regiment. He died on the 22nd October 1917 aged 32. The details of where and how he died are unknown, except that he was buried at Tyne Cot Cemetery.

Tyne **Cot Memorial and Cemetery**
[|Tyne Cot Cemetery] is situated in the Zonnebeekseweg, Belgium. The memorial is nine kilometres from Ieper Town, north east of the Tynecotstraat. The Tyne Cot Memorial is one of four memorials to the missing in Belgian Flanders which covers the area known as the Ypres Salient. The Salient was formed in the First Battle of the Ypres in October and November 1914. A small British Expeditionary Force secured the town after pushing German troops back to the Passchendaele Ridge. The fact that Tyne Cot Cemetery is situated in the Salient suggests that John Clynch fought around that area.

However the First Battle of the Ypres occurred in October 1914, this is too early for the death of John Edward Clynch. On the other hand, the Third Battle of the Ypres which was fought in 1917. The plan was to push the German forces away from the weakened French front further south. The operation was a complete success and the area of Passchendaele was captured, securing the area for the cemetery and memorial Tyne Cot. It is more than likely that John Edward Clynch fought in the Third Battle of the Ypres and lost his life.

**The Battle for Passchendaele**
[|The Third Battle of the Ypres], otherwise known as the Battle for Passchendaele, was one of the major battles in World War One. It was a battle for the control of the village Passchendaele in West Flanders, Belgium. The plan was to force a hole in German lines, advance to the Belgian coast and capture the German submarine bases there. Harry Patch, the last living survivor of Passchendaele (12/07/2007), commented on one of his experiences in the trenches. "//I fell in a trench. There was a fella there. He must have been about our age. He was ripped shoulder to waist with shrapnel. I held his hand for the last 60 seconds of his life. He only said one word: 'Mother'. I didn't see her, but she was there. No doubt about it. He passed from this life into the next, and it felt as if I was in God's presence. I've never got over it. You never forget it. Never."//

Despite the period of good weather that lasted long enough to dry out the land during periods of battle, Passchendaele is synonymous to the soldier’s misery of fighting in thick mud. Most of the battle took place in swampy marshland. As the British had a huge preparatory bombardment, it reduced the terrain to “liquid mud”. An unknown number of soldiers simply drowned and the newly-developed tanks became bogged down. Ladders and boards were laid across the mud for the soldiers to pass from trench to trench. These were easy targets for the Germans, who simply shot at the boards causing the soldiers to lose there balance and drown. This we know from a quotation from Private Richard W. Mercer (911016); “//Passchendaele was just a terrible, terrible place. We used to walk along these wooden duckboards – something like ladders laid on the ground. The Germans would concentrate on these things. If a man was hit and wounded and fell off he could easily drown in the mud and never be seen again. You just did not want to go off the duckboards.//”

Whether John Edward Clynch died via drowning in the muddy swamp is unknown. It is certain that he died, or was certainly wounded, during the First Battle of Passchendaele on 12th October 1917. There was not much movement during this battle, due to the heavy rain and thick mud. Lieutenant Edwin Campion Ludendorff commented on the state of the battlefield; “//I stood up and looked over the front of my hole. There was just a dreary waste of mud and water, no relic of civilisation, only shell holes… And everywhere were bodies, English and German, in all stages of decomposition.//” By now, there had been 100, 000 casualties with no strategic breakthrough. The Second Battle of Passchendaele took place on the 26th October 1917, four days after the death of John Edward Clynch.