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Key dates over September 1916

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Lives lost on this day: 22

15th September 1916 - Battle of Flers-Courcelette on the Somme. Allied forces advance, using the support of tanks for the first time.

4th Batt: CO and Brigade Head went to see the raiding party practice for the last time

At 11am artillery and trench mortars bombarded enemy lines.

At 11.30am the raiding party went forward and 2nd Lt H Wyatt and 5 men entered the german trench. 2nd Lt Wyatt was shot in the stomach by a german officer, who then ran to a dug-out. Two men threw Mills bombs into the dug-out and rescued 2nd Lt Wyatt. On the way back they took some prisoners back to the British Firing Line for identification purposes.

10th Batt: A small covering party led by 2nd Lt Bigwood climbed out of the trench carrying a “Bangalore Torpedo”-a length of metal piping closed at both end sand filled with explosives. This was to blast through the enemy wire.

At 9.30am the British artillery opened a bombardment and 2nd Lt Bigwood fired the torpedo which blasted a hole on the german wire. The raiders went through the gap but there was a water-filled ditch full of loose wire.The enemy opened fire and a fierce fight followed. Twenty germans were killed or captured but 4 of our men were missing when the raiders regained out trench.

SMD FRA: 147th Infantry Brigade relieved the 32nd Infantry Brigade.

Windows Smashed: This morning a horse attached to a van belonging to Messrs. Edwin Nicholls and Co., when being turned round by the driver, George Langley (manager of the firm), at the corner of Bath and London Roads, got its forefeet on the pavement and slipped. The horse and one shaft crashed into the plate-glass window of Messrs. George and Welch, both panes being smashed. The horse was cut about the forehead, and one of the shafts was broken.

The Obstinate Quaker: Charles Edward Gregory, ironmonger’s assistant, of Evesham, who was fined £2 and handed over to the Military Authority as he had failed to report himself for military service, was liberated after three or four days’ detention, his friends having produced evidence that he was over military age.

Drunk: Walter Lawrence, painter, 89, Hylton Road, was charged with being drunk in Hylton Road, and P.C. Merriman said that he found the accused lying in the road. Lawrence told the Bench that he had walked from Blackpole, and he called to have a pint or two, which, on an empty stomach, affected him. Fined 5s.

Content researched by Worcestershire World War 100 project team.