Cpl
Michael Archbold

Information about birth

Year of birth:
1894
Place of birth:
Blackrock, Dublin, Ireland

Army information

Country:
England, United Kingdom
Force:
British Expeditionary Force
Rank:
Corporal
Service number:
27247
Enlistment place:
Dublin, Ireland, United Kingdom
Units:
 —  Royal Dublin Fusiliers, 9th Bn.  (Last known unit)

Information about death

Date of death:
16/08/1917
Place of death:
Vampir, Zonnebeke, Belgium
Cause of death:
Killed in action (K.I.A.)
Age:
23

Memorial

Tyne Cot Memorial
Panel: 144

Distinctions and medals 4

Points of interest 3

#1 Place of birth
#2 Enlistment place
#3 Place of death (approximate)

My story

Corporal Michael Archbold (9th Battalion Royal Dublin Fusiliers, 48th Brigade, 16th Division), was killed in action on the 16th of August 1917.
From the 16th to the 18th of August, the Battle of Langemarck, a stage in the Third Battle of Ypres, raged. On the 15th of August 1917, a day before the advance, the 9th Battalion Royal Dublin Fusiliers left the Vlamertinghe area and marched to the assembly positions on the Frezenberg. The Battalion was in position by 11.30 p.m.
During the night of the 15th/16th of August 1917 there was intermittent German shelling on the assembly positions. The shelling continued all through the morning of the 16th of August, which made it very difficult for the battalion to get in position.
The 16th (Irish) Division attacked at 4.45 a.m. with the 9th Royal Dublin Fusiliers on the right of the Divisional front. The Battalion advanced along the Ypres-Roulers railroad. The Battalion attacked and the German strongpoints at Vampir Farm and Potsdam and dug in just in front of these positions. The Germans still held Vampir farm. The 9th Battalion Royal Dublin Fusiliers was eventually pinned down east of Vampir Farm. During the afternoon the Germans launched a counter-attack and with both flanks in the air the men of the 16th (Irish) Division were forced to withdraw to the Frezenberg.
On the 17th and 18 of August 1917, the 9th Battalion Royal Dublin Fusiliers were relieved and returned to Vlamertinghe area.
Corporal Michael Archbold fell during the attack on Vampir Farm. His remains were never recovered or never identified. Michael Archbold possibly kept lying in no man’s land after his Battalion withdrew to the Frezenberg. He is remembered on the Tyne Cot Memorial.

Files 1

Sources 4

"The Third Ypres. Passchendaele. The Day-By-Day Account", McCarthy, C., London, Arms and Armour Press, 1995, p. 49.
Sources used
Ancestry
https://www.ancestry.co.uk/
Sources used
CWGC
http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/846241/ARCHBOLD,%20MICHAEL
Sources used
The Long Long Trail
http://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/
Sources used