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Key dates over April 1916

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30

Lives lost on this day: 5

21st April 1916 - 8th Battalion Prisoner's letter home

Rolling Casualty Count: 2957

At the Front:

2nd Batt: Batt allotted baths in the Ecole de Jeunes Filles and every man had a change of clothing.

4th Batt: germans fired 8 large shells from trench mortars and one dug-out was demolished, killing 4 men. There was incessant rain.

9th Batt: Capt S Munnick re-joined the Batt.

On the Home Front:

Wounded Man arrives home - Pte Benger who was wounded when one of his comrades in the 8th Battalion (Pte Matthews) was killed and several others were taken prisoners on Feb 18th has arrived at his home 20 Happy Land, St Johns having been discharged from the Bradford Military Hospital. He was wounded on the face, around one eye, in the arm and hand, but happily none of the wounds are serious. As he was lying in trench the Germans turned him over and robbed him of his wrist watch, all his money, his knife and all his belonging except his letters and paybook. Apparently they though he was much more seriously injured otherwise would have taken him with the other prisoners.

8th Battalion Prisoner - Mrs E Ricketts, Bromyard Terrace, St Johns, has received a postcard from her son Pte Ricketts, who was one of the members of the 8th Battalion captured by the enemy on Feb 18th. It was written from Germany. Pte Ricketts assures his mother that he is going on alright, he was wounded slightly in the hand and taken prisoner. ' do not worry about me, because I shall be able to come home alright after the war. I think there were 12 of us taken altogether. Tell Percy to remember me to all my pals. I am with some more English chaps who have just had a parcel from home and I had some English bread and butter off them'

Mittens for the 14th Worcestershires - In addition to providing mackintosh caps for the men of the 14th Battalion Worcestershire Regiment Lieut-Co Sir H Webb MP has defrayed the expense of the wool out of which ladies of Worcestershire have made mittens for the members of the Battalion.

Information researched by the WWW100 team.