In April 2005 my wife and I joined another of the tours with Richard Holmes, this time to the battlefields of the German 1918 Spring Offensive.  This trip had a special resonance for me as my grandfather was captured on the first day of the offensive. Titan tours who had been the tour operators for the previous tours, have merged with Holts Battlefield Tours, so this one was with Holts. In preparation for the trip I had done a lot of work to determine the position of the 2nd Battalion, York & Lancaster Regt. on the 21st March 1918.  Although the itinerary for the trip was aimed only at the area of Fifth Army, Richard was good enough to detour the trip on the last day to see if we could locate the area where my grandfather was captured.  That was in the area of Third Army.  It was a successful detour, more of that on the page for day 3 of the trip. On the way to the hotel for the first night the tour went past the area where the 16th Manchester Battalion under Lt. Col. W. Elstob made their gallant stand at what came to be called “Manchester Hill”. The actual site of their last stand is now spoilt by a new motorway roundabout, and we were unable to get to the site.  The exploits of the 16th Battalion are now commemorated by a memorial in the nearby village.  Lt. Col. Elstob V.C. has no known grave but he is commemorated on the British cemetery at Pozieres, Ovillers-La-Boiselle, which we visited on the last day of the tour. Another stop on day one was the Vadencourt cemetery. The headstone in the centre is for Lt. Col. J.H.S. Dimmer, V.C. M.C. of the King’s Royal Rifle Corps who died on the 21st March 1918. He was killed on horseback. I usually try to find a York & Lancaster headstone.  This one is for Private W.M. Jackson from the 2nd Battalion (the same as my grandfather when he was captured on 21st March ‘18). Private Jackson was killed on the 4th November 1918, only one week before the war ended. In the photo above the two outside headstones are for aircraftmen 2nd class from the RAF who were killed on the 23rd October 1918, also in Vadencourt cemetery. I am ex-RAF, and so I was taken by seeing these. Richard on day one at the Manchester memorial.