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Key dates over December 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 31

Lives lost on this day: 1

17th December 1914 - Turkish forces launch attacks on the Russians in the Caucasus. In difficult conditions, the Russians initially do badly but soon recover. Fighting continues until 18 January 1915.

Rolling casualty count: 553

1st Batt: In Billets ready to move at ‘short notice’. Draft of 300 NCOs and men joined Battalion at 3pm.; 2nd Batt: Waiting to move at 1 hour’s notice; 3rd Batt: E. Kemmel: In trenches.

Today five men from Birmingham were charged with stealing from a store-room at the HQ of the 11th Battalion, Worcs Regt, an overcoat, value one guinea, the property of His Majesty’s Government. The Chief Constable stated that until a day or two ago the men had been soldiers in the 11th Battalion. He asked that the men should be remanded for a week to enable enquiries to be made with respect to other missing property. He mentioned that the men had been discharged from their regiment. A considerable quantity of goods had been missed from the store-room, and overcoats had been traced to the men’s possession. ..Sgt Hales, of the 11th Battalion, stated that 18 private coats were taken within the last week.

This morning 42 men, under Lt RH Abell, left Worcester to join the main Battalion on the East Coast. They were headed by the Band, under Bandmaster WE Davies, and Capt Vigors (Adjutant) and Capts Griffiths and Walford accompanied the draft to Shrub Hill, where they had an enthusiastic send-off.

On Wednesday 60 recruits were enrolled at Norton, making 173 for the first 3 days of the week. A considerable number of these recruits were those who had notified, on the Parliamentary Recruiting Committee’s form to householders, their willingness to join. They are being called up as fast as possible.

We understand that the order made on Wednesday cancelling the Christmas leave of the Territorials in Worcester has been cancelled. The arrangements made for them to take the leave in three batches will now be carried out. The leave is to be for 6 days.

Christmas Cheer for 8th Battalion: With reference to the appeal for funds to supply a Christmas dinner to the members of the A and B (Worcester) Companies of the 8th Battalion, now quartered on the East Coast, we are informed that the sum of £18 is needed to entertain the 240 men in the two Companies.

Information researched by Sue Redding