295307 Pte Harold Andrew Savidge, 12th Bn, Somerset Light Infantry

Minehad born Harold Andrew Savidge of the 12th Battalion, Somerset Light Infantry was killed in action on the 6th November 1917 in the fighting around Beersheba. His army number was 295307 and he had previously served with the West Somerset Yeomanry. His yeomanry number was 1427 which suggests that he joined around February or March 1915.

Harold arrived overseas, in the Balkans, on the 23rd September 1915. He is buried in Beersheba War Cemetery. This from the Commonwealth War Graves Commission:

"By October 1917, General Allenby's force had been entrenched in front of a strong Turkish position along the Gaza-Beersheba road for some months, but they were now ready to launch an attack with Beersheba as its first objective. On 31 October, the attack was carried out by the XXth Corps (10th, 53rd, 60th and 74th Divisions) on the west, and the Desert Mounted Corps on the east. That evening the 4th Australian Light Horse Brigade charged over the Turkish trenches into the town. The cemetery was made immediately on the fall of the town, remaining in use until July 1918, by which time 139 burials had been made It was greatly increased after the Armistice when burials were brought in from a number of scattered sites and small burial grounds. The cemetery now contains 1,241 Commonwealth burials of the First World War, 67 of them unidentified."

At the going down of the sun, and in the morning, WE WILL REMEMBER THEM.

Sources:

Ancestry.co.uk
Army Ancestry
Army Service Numbers 1881-1918
Commonwealth War Graves Commission