Sergeant George Macleod

Sergeant George Macleod, 1st/7th ( Territorial ) Battalion, Northumberland Fusiliers. He was killed in action in Belgium on 26th October 1917, aged 33, during the Third Battle of Ypres. He had enlisted in Alnwick was the son of Mrs D. and the late John Macleod of 1 Mill Road, Portree, Skye and is commemorated on the Tyne Cot Memorial, Zonnebeke, Flanders, Belgium. He fell in the attack on strong German positions at” Angle Point ” and “Aden House “. Some ground was gained but in the face of heavy casualties had to be given up. 10 Officers and 43 Other Ranks were killed and 1 Officer and 150 Other Ranks were wounded. In addition 53 Other Ranks were posted missing, some of whom may have been prisoners. The photographs give some idea of the atrocious conditions of the battlefield. Heavy shelling had destroyed the fragile Flanders drainage systems and the heavy rains had compounded the conditions. The final photo shows the impressive Memorial raised to the 50th ( Northumbrian ) Division of which the Battalion was part until February 1918. It was erected at the village of Weiltje in the Ypres Salient near where the Division had fought its first action on 26th April 1915 only days after landing on the Continent.