Monty's Battalion was part of the 12th Infantry Brigade, 4th division, 3rd Army whose Commander in Chief was Edmund Allenby of earlier Palestine fame.

At that time Brigades were made up from different units seconded to them. Monty’s C Company was supposed to support B Company on the right flank of the Battalion’s attack to take German positions close to the chemical works and train station buildings at Roeux, a small village near Arras.

Zero hour for the attack was 03:45.

The battle that day is infamous as many were killed and little ground taken.

Monty was reported missing after the battle and was never found. It seems during the battle their right flank was left exposed and German units managed to get under a railway cutting, slip behind them and none returned. The after-action report written by the Brigade Commander lists 14 of 20 officers and 291 of 430 other ranks as casualties for Monty’s battalion alone. The Brigade lost over half its officers and men, 25 officers and 615 other ranks missing, one of them Monty.

There is no grave as Monty's body was never found and his name appears on the Arras Memorial in Arras, France.

The attack that day failed. The few positions taken were abandoned and a new attack took place the next day which failed too.

My interest in him started when my mother gave me a pocket prayer book given to Monty by his father, in 1912 and had been in my grandmother’s possession. He took the prayer book with him to France, and it was found amongst his possessions after he was killed.