The shaded area shows the ground gained during the Battle of Arras. Courtesy of www.1914-1918.net . |
The early successes were not sustained. From 10 April onwards, the Allies came up against renewed German resistance, and initially the artillery of the Third Army was too far back to support its infantry. Tanks were deployed but were too few in number to be effective. The 1st Battalion of the Royal Irish Fusiliers, with a fighting strength of 20 officers and 617 men, was part of the 4th Division. The Battalion’s war diary notes that 11 April was a snowy morning. On that day, the Battalion was to push forward from a point north of Fampoux in an advance of over 2000 yards. However, the troops came under heavy fire and suffered severely. The Battalion lost 11 officers and 307 men in the action.
By the time the battle officially ended, the British had made significant advances but had failed to make the decisive breakthrough.
Private Thomas CONDRON (service 24941) died on 11 April 1917 in the Battle of Arras.
Thomas CONDRON was born in Dublin in about 1880 (possibly early 1881), the fourth child of Thomas and Anne (née WHELAN) CONDRON. In the 1911 census of Ireland, Thomas is recorded as a coal labourer and is living at home in Dublin with his widowed father, one brother and a married sister. Thomas moved to Scotland and married Susan COURTNEY in 1914 in Glasgow. The couple had three children: Thomas (born 1914), Michael (1915) and James Patrick (1917). Thomas joined the Royal Irish Fusiliers and was subsequently transferred to the 1st Battalion.
Thomas’s father was Thomas CONDRON, born in about 1853 in
County Wexford. Thomas (senior) married Anne WHELAN in 1873 in the registration
district of Gorey. The couple had seven children: Anne (1873) who married
Patrick MITTEN, Michael (1876), Julia (1878) who married Denis McGRATH, Thomas
(1880), Mary (1884) who married Michael CONNOLLY, Peter (1888) and Sarah
(1891). Thomas (senior) was listed as a general labourer in the 1901 census and
a brewery labourer in the 1911 census.
Thomas CONDRON is buried in Brown’s Copse Cemetery, Roeux,
in northern France.
(Note that the Commonwealth War Graves Commission has him
wrongly listed as J. CONDRON and has his date of death as 16 April, though
other sources give 11 April).
For other blog posts about CONDR*Ns in the First World War, click on "First World War" in the Labels list on the right of the blog web page. Comments and corrections welcome, either by leaving a comment below or by email to me: CONDRAN[AT]ONE-NAME.ORG .
1 comment:
Hi, I came across your blog while looking into my family tree. My name is Michael Connolly and based on the post I would be a grand-nephew of Thomas Condron. My grandmother, Mary Condron married James Connolly (correction to the post, their son was Michael). My grandmother lived until the mid 19070s and I have no memory of her mentioning a brother who died in the war!
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