8/King's Own were part of 76th Brigade, 3rd Division.

The following is extracted from 8/King’s Own War Diary (WO 95/1436) (with detailed notes from the Official History - Military Operations: France & Belgium 1917 …. The Battles of Arras):

9 April 1917 [The first day of the Battle of Arras]

Attack on BROWN LINE. (The Division attacked south-east of Arras. 1/Gordons took the Black Line, with 10/RWF passing through to take Devil’s Wood. 9th Bde captured Tilloy and the Harp complex of trenches. 8th Bde advanced on the Wancourt-Feuchy (Brown) Line, but was held up by machine-gun fire from Feuchy Chapel. A deliberate attack was ordered at 6.45pm, by 1/Gordons and 8/King’s Own. The King’s Own received the orders at 6.35pm and arrived late on the start line. 1/Gordons attacked alone but were forced back to the line of the Neuville-Feuchy Chapel road, where they dug in.)

10 April 1917  

NAMUR TRENCH – withdrawn late in day. (8th Bde attacked the Green Line and secured all objectives from Guemappe to the Cambrai Road.)

11 April 1917  

Ordered to attack GUEMAPPE. Attack failed. 2 officers killed and 11 wounded. (76th Bde was ordered to take Guemappe, from the Cojeul stream to the Cambrai road. The attack failed under MG fire frontally from Guemappe and in the flank from Wancourt, and was held up on the line of the Wancourt-Monchy road.)

12 April 1917  

At HARP.

13 April 1917  

Withdrawn to Arras. Casualties (8-11 April) 5 officers + 38 ORs KIA. 11 officers + 168

ORs wounded. 28 ORs missing.

13-23 April 1917         

Arras.

23 April 1917  

NW of HARP.

24 April 1917  

BROWN LINE. 4 ORs KIA, 5 wounded. Relieved Border Regt east of Monchy. (This was probably 1/Border (87th Bde, 29th Div). 29th Div was relieved that night by 3rd Div, after its assault on the Blue Line. The Blue Line was gained on almost the entire divisional front).

25 April 1917  

A, B & C Companies in front line. D Company in support. Heavy shelling and no movement possible between companies and battalion. At night, dug new trench from ARROWHEAD COPSE to TWIN COPSES. D Company in front line (left to right – B, A, D, C). (Arrowhead and Twin Copses were just north-east of Monchy-le-Preux, short of the Blue Line.)

 26 April 1917  

Intermittent shelling of front and support trenches and battalion HQ. During night, attack on right flank, which was repulsed by C Company. (After a three-day hiatus, the battle of Arras resumed on 28 April 1917.)

Stuart Lyon