WHEN Michael Parker heard that one of his wife’s family has been killed in the Great War, but had no details, he decided to investigate further.

Apart from the name – John Rimmer – and the year of his death, 1917, relatives knew nothing else.

Saddened, Michael set out to discover the details and found that John, who came from Blackburn, had been killed in the first ever mass tank attack in history.

He died three days before Christmas, on the third day of the Battle of Cambrai, which was unique for a second reason – it was also the first time a predicted artillery barrage was used.

Michael was aided in his search for information by Stephen Irwin at Blackburn Museum and two Frenchmen, authors of a book that is today regarded as the most comprehensive insight into the battle.

They also sent him photographs of battle scenes, which had been created by an enthusiastic model maker from the area.

It’s now known that John was born in 1895 and his family lived at 72, Bower Street, Mill Hill.

He went to the Norfolk Street day school and regularly attended St Francis’ Church Sunday School.

He was working as a weaver at Gordon Street mill in Darwen, when he enlisted on September 3, 1914 into the King’s Own Scottish Borders Regiment; his low service number – 14345 – shows he was among the first to respond to Lord Kitchener’s appeal for volunteers.

John was attached to the 7th Battalion, which arrived in France in July 1915 and fought at the Battle of Loos in September, capturing the village, despite being affected by British poison gas and hard hit by German machine guns. This is probably where he won a Military Medal for bravery on the battlefield, described by our newspaper as ‘a plucky act’ – it’s known he was also awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal, but Michael has not been able to trace the citation.

At some point in 1916, John transferred to the newly-formed Tank Corps and was promoted to lance corporal; he was in C Battalion and trained on the newly-introduced Mark IV tanks, which were numbered with the prefix C.

The following year he came home on leave and visited his old school, where the headmaster Mr Kenyon, made the occasion one of great rejoicing.

Back at the Front, the battle ground of Passchendaele, swamped with heavy rain, became no place to employ tanks that weighed 28 tons, so they were moved south, to a new battlefield around the town of Cambrai.

it is likely that John saw action on the opening day of the battle here, as his unit, C battalion are known to have supported troops who were attacking Lateaux Wood.

It was a big success, too, as they broke into the supposedly impregnable Hindenburg Line – though the Germans did counter attack.

Three days later, some 90 tanks were involved in attacking Bourlon Wood at the village of Fontaine-Notre-Dame.

A composite battalion created from what was left of B, C and H battalions were involved and John Rimmer went into action in C 47 tank, named Conquered II, which was armed with machine guns only.

This was known as a ‘female’ tank – a male tank also came with two cannon. C47 attacked from the south and reached the village centre, despite enemy resistance – while the German troops were equipped with armour piercing bullets, they were relatively ineffective against the British tanks. However, from a letter quoted in John’s obituary, it is known that the engine of C47 began to overheat and as it reached the village centre it caught fire.

The men inside were in a desperate position, their tank, loaded with petrol and ammunition, was on fire inside and out and the enemy was pouring rifle and machine gun fire on to it from the houses which lined the narrow street.

Fortunately, C48 was on hand and as it drew alongside, John and his comrades kicked open their escape hatches, rolled out and ran to it, under constant fire.

Their commander fell, severely wounded, and was almost run over by its caterpillar tracks, but he and all his men were helped inside C48.

Caesar, as it was named, out of ammunition and now carrying 16 men, began to fight its way out of the village.

The Germans opened up an intense barrage as it passed and bullets started to enter the tank, possibly between the armoured louvres that protected the radiator grille. John was hit.

Later, Lieutenant Archibald wrote to John’s parents: “We were in a very tight coroner and not a single man escaped without a wound; your son was killed by a bullet which struck him in the throat and he died almost at once.

“Later on we were twice hit by shells and set on fire, however, by that time we had got back behind our own lines.

“The next day two other officers and I went up and buried your son close to where we had been hit.”

Three officers burying ‘an other rank’ was unusual, but in other letters John is described by his officers as ‘plucky and cheerful and ready to volunteer for any dangerous job’.

“We shall all miss his smiling face and I hope your grief may be lightened by the memory that he showed himself a brave man out here and he was not unwilling to die for his country.”

His body has either never been found, or identified and, with no-known grave, John Rimmer is commemorated on the Cambrai Memorial at Louverval.

For a fuller version of this story, see www.cottontown.org