#26712 Private John Arthur Facer
90TH MACHINE GUN COMPANY, MACHINE GUN CORPS
JOHN FACER WAS A 40-YEAR-OLD fishmonger from Yorkshire. Unmarried, he lived with a sister some fifteen years his senior in Bridlington. Having enlisted in May 1915 he was placed in the East Yorkshire Regiment and went off to Redcar for training. While there he began to specialise as a machine gunner and, in February 1916, John was transferred to the Machine Gun Corps and relocated to Grantham to complete his preparations for life at the front. By August 1916, he had been in France for nearly five months and, serving in a company alongside the likes of Eric Measham’s battalion of Manchesters, in early July had come through numerous actions on the Somme and was unscathed by the month’s end.
At noon on 26th July, Rawlinson met with the French to hash out details of the next joint offensive at the southern end of his line. The French were eager, planning to attack both north and south of the river in force, and Haig wanted Guillemont taken as soon as possible. It was decided that a combined effort would be launched on Maurepas in the French sector, after the British had taken Falfemont Farm and up to Guillemont. Once again John Facer would be in the thick of the action as he and his company of machine gunners would advance with the infantry through another division towards the village. As they moved up on the night of the 29th, the Germans lay down a heavy bombardment on Trônes Wood, from which they were to emerge.
Zero hour came at 4:45am. On 30th July, John was helping to man one of six guns ready for battle as they stared into a thick mist. Visibility was down to just 40 yards. Infantry and machine gunners alike ploughed through the fog and entered Guillemont from the south-west, emerging from Trônes Wood, although men were hampered severely by a crossfire of machine guns from both the quarry and the station, where uncut wire also delayed any attempts at advance. Still, the 90th Brigade forged on through the village, its machine-gun company included, repulsing a counter-attack. It was largely operating alone, for the artillery were reluctant to lay down a heavy barrage on the position because of the British troops inside the village. ‘A withdrawal was followed by a fresh advance … but the effort only resulted in fresh losses.’
It was an all too familiar tale for those trying to wrench Guillemont from enemy hands. Information as to the progress of the attack was not easy to transmit to the rear, and for some time headquarters received no news at all. With mist cloaking the battlefield and communication wires cut, units were reliant on pigeons to ferry back messages. In hot sunshine, and under a heavy barrage, the men within spent the rest of the day organising the line so far as it had been established, but Guillemont remained unconquered. It is little wonder that the attack made on 30th July should have taken almost the exact course of action as that on the 23rd, because the conditions under which it was delivered were practically the same.
British losses had been very heavy. The machine guns had had mixed success, but only one had got into the village. Others got close but, by then, Guillemont was being evacuated again. Three guns had to be buried in a sunken road so that men could go back up and recover them later. Mortally wounded on 30th July, John Facer died of his wounds on 2nd August at a casualty clearing station. He was laid to rest at Corbie Communal Cemetery Extension, plot II.A.12.