Private Robert Bell

Private Robert Fade Bell, 9th ( Service ) Battalion, Northumberland Fusiliers. He was killed in action in Belgium on 16th April 1918, aged 20, during the German Spring Offensive on the River Lys. He was the son of Robert and Margaret Bell of 40 Chapel Street, Berwick and is commemorated on the Tyne Cot Memorial, Zonnebeke, Flanders, Belgium. He had been  wounded twice previously. He was a Battalion Lewis Gunner and he and all his team were killed by a shell. His gun team had been holding a hill when the Germans put down a heavy barrage. The photograph shows Lewis gunners on the alert for an attack and other Allied troops in rather makeshift defensive positions.