Private William Yule

Private William Yule, 1st Battalion, Kings Own Scottish Borderers. He was killed in action in France on 30th November 1917, during the Battle of Cambrai, aged 34. He was the son of Janet and the late James Yule and had been born in Grantshouse. He is commemorated on the Cambrai Memorial, Louveral, Cambrai, France. He had been employed as a gardener at Minto House before enlisting in the 9th Lancers. Later in France he was posted to the K.O.S.B. He fell in the fighting near Marcoing where the German counter attacks were repulsed but at a cost.  4 Officers and 51 Other Ranks were killed and 4 Officers and 79 Other Ranks were wounded. This was the first time tanks had been used en masse ( 437 ) and on good ground to effect a breakthrough in the German defences. Two photos show scenes from the Battle and the third  shows one of the tanks in close up.  These vehicles were still very slow and prone to mechanical failure but were a step in the right direction in breaking barbed wire defences. It would however take another War before before tanks were the queens of the Battlefield. His brother James had been killed with 1st Battalion, Scots Guards in October 1914.