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Key dates over September 1914

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: 0

22nd September 1914 - First British aeroplane raid on Germany against Dusseldorf and Cologne airship sheds

2nd Batt: in billets at La Cour des Moines to rest and refit. Employed entrenching a second position. Standing by ready to reinforce. (From 22-28 Sept);

3rd Batt: Relieved by Leics regt. Moved to bivouac N of Braine then moved to Chassemy to relieve Norfolk regt.

The Worcester City Relief Fund: nearly £3170;

Three Worcestershire soldiers, invalided home from the front, have arrived in the city Privates Jackson and Clarke, of the 3rd Battalion, and Private Rutter, of the 2nd. All three are suffering from rheumatism, which has attached a considerable number of our men – the result of exposure in the trenches during bad weather. These three men were part of a company of 50 English soldiers who were sent home in charge of 375 German prisoners, bound for Dublin. The Worcester men, who left the boat at Avonmouth on Tuesday, told of the pitiable condition of the Germans. Before being captured these prisoners had had nothing but raw potatoes to eat for six days. So weak and exhausted were they that they could not retain the food given them on the boat. They told the guards that they were only too glad to be captured because they were completely spent. As soon as they were caught they started trafficking with our troops for food, and they gave three mark pieces (a silver coin about the size of our half-crown) for three biscuits. One of the Worcester party showed the writer one of these coins, which he intends to have made into a brooch. Pte. Jackson, whose home is in Spring Gardens, said he was on sentry over the four German officers taken with the other prisoners. But so pacific were the whole of the captured that guards were hardly necessary. They were quite content to be in British hands. One of the officers, who spoke English well, did not attempt to disguise his admiration for the way in which the British troops fought, and he also remarked upon the fact that they always appeared to be in the front of the fight. They commented not only upon the dash and bravery of our troops, but upon their great ability. They said that our infantry fire was simply terrible. These three Worcesters were ordered home on the day before the “turn of tide” spoken of by Lord Kitchener. They shared only in the lesser glory of the “orderly retreat” carried out with such great skill by Sir John French; they had to leave it to the others to join in the great advance on the German lines.