Casualties of Spring 1918: Serjeant John Robertson Field and Lieutenant Colin MacPherson Dobell

At the end of May, the German Army launched Operation Blücher-Yorck – the third attack of its spring offensive. In 11 days of fierce fighting both sides suffered an estimated 250,000 casualties; wounded, missing, killed, and taken prisoner. Here are the stories of two of the servicemen killed in the first few days of the battle.

Lieutenant Colin MacPherson Dobell

Royal Welsh Fusiliers

Died: 30 May 1918

Aged: 22

Commemorated on: Marfaux British Cemetery

Colin Macpherson Dobell was born on 26 November 1896, in Beauvoir Manor, Québec, to William Molson Dobell and Constance May (nee Sewell). Colin was the eldest of four brothers, and his father William was a prosperous timber merchant, and his grandfather Richard Reid Dobell, was a Canadian Member of Parliament.

Colin attended school in Québec, before travelling to England in 1910 to attend Rugby School. In 1914 he travelled back to Canada to attend the Royal Military College of Canada. His uncle was Charles Macpherson Dobell, who would became a Lieutenant General during the First World War.

Colin was commissioned in August 1915 and was posted to the 1st Battalion, The Royal Welsh Fusiliers. He fought at the Battle of the Somme in 1916, and was seriously wounded in September. He was transported back to the UK to recover, and was only ready for active service in April 1918. On his return he was attached to the 9th Battalion Royal Welsh Fusiliers, then serving in Belgium.

Towards the end of May, Colin and his unit were transferred south to near Rheims. On 29 May 1918, during Operation Blucher-Yorck, the Battalion arrived in Bligny and on 30 May they pushed forward patrols to make contact with German forces near Coemy. During the day Colin was wounded by a high explosive shell. He was evacuated to a medical unit behind the lines but died of his wounds.

He was originally buried close to the medical facilities where he died, but was brought to Marfaux British Cemetery after the war. On his headstone are these words, chosen by his mother: “Thank God for one, who counting not the cost, faced death”.

Serjeant John Robertson Field

Durham Light Infantry

Died: 31 May 1918

Aged: 24

Commemorated on: CWGC Soissons Memorial

John Robertson Field was born in 1884, in Blyth, Northumberland, the son of Robert and Margaret Field. He was the eldest of three children, and had a younger brother, Adam, and a sister, Sarah. Their father Robert worked as a drapers assistant. In 1904, John’s mother died.

After schooling John worked as a brewery clerk but on the outbreak of the First World War he  enlisted in the British Army, joining 1st/6th Battalion, Durham Light Infantry part of the 50th (Northumbrian) Division. John’s brother Adam also served during the war with the Army Service Corps. After training John and his battalion were posted to France in April 1915, at which point John had already been promoted to the rank of Corporal. John saw action at Loos in 1915, at the Somme in 1916, and at Arras, and Passchendaele in 1917.

In May 1918, by which time John had been promoted to Serjeant, the 1st/6th Durhams had been transferred south to near Soissons, to rest and reequip after having fought in France and then in Belgium during the German ‘Michael’ and ‘Georgette’ Offensives.

On 27 May 1918, the Germans launched Operation Blucher-Yorck. John and the 1st/6th Durhams were once again fighting for their lives. In the chaos of the German advance and the allied retreat, John was reported missing in action, along with 500 other men of the battalion. Most returned safely but John, along with 64 others of the 1st/6th Durhams were never seen again. They are all commemorated on the CWGC Soissons Memorial.