AN EMOTIVE
1914-15 TRIO & PLAQUE
8910. Pte. E. KENNETT. 3rd Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regt)
KILLED IN ACTION.
1st Day of Battle of Bellewaerde.
24th May 1915.
3rd ROYAL FUSILIERS 
On the 21st May 1915, the 3rd Battalion Royal Fusiliers were occupying the front line in an area between the Roulers Railway Line and the lake at Bellewaarde near to the village of Hooge on the Menin to Ypres road. The trenches were said to be in a poor condition and filled with water.
FIRST DAY of the ‘BATTLE of BELLEWAERDE'
The Germans attacked on the 24th, with poison gas, heavy artillery and an infantry assault. The battalion sustained 552 casualties.
H.G. O'Neil in his history of the Royal Fusiliers records that -
"The Germans had been in possession of our fire trenches since 8:00am. The trenches were taken and retaken but eventually the 3rd Bn Royal Fusiliers were compelled to retire to a second line. Royal Fusiliers, with the assistance of the 2nd Buffs, suceeded in holding the third line to the end of the day". 
The battalion was relieved by the 2nd Royal Scots on the 25th. The 3rd RF were reduced to 150 men (from 880) with the rest killed, wounded or missing as a result of the days fighting. *On 24 May 1915,
NOTE: 2/Lt Harold Strachen Price was in command of a platoon holding an advanced position just south of the Ypres-Roulers railway (positioned just forwards of ‘Railway Wood') under intense bombardment and gas on the first day of the ‘Battle of Bellewaerde'. Upon the order to retire, most of Harold's platoon became casualties, Harold amongst them. He has no known grave and is now commemorated with his men, who we believe included Edward Kennett, on the Menin Gate Memorial to the Missing"
THIS IS A REAL 'MUST HAVE" GROUPING FOR THE COLLECTOR OF LONDON AREA MEDALS. THE STAGGERING LOSSES SUSTAINED DURING THIS INFAMOUS ACTION WILL ALWAYS BE REMEMBERED AS SOME OF THE WORST OF THE GREAT WAR.
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