Key dates over December 1915
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: 2
31st December 1915 - New Year's Eve - 2nd,3rd,4th and 9th Battalions all preparing for year ahead
Rolling Casualty Count@ 2633
2nd Batt: Reconnoitre of trenches to be taken over tomorrow. Drill and practising for bombing raid along trenches.
SMD RFA: Wire cutting with help of 3rd Batt Worcs Reg.
4th and 9th Batt: Both in the trenches which were in a poor state.
A New Year's Eve in War Time
BY THOMAS HARDY
1915-1916
I
Phantasmal fears,
And the flap of the flame,
And the throb of the clock,
And a loosened slate,
And the blind night's drone,
Which tiredly the spectral pines intone!
II
And the blood in my ears
Strumming always the same,
And the gable-cock
With its fitful grate,
And myself, alone.
III
The twelfth hour nears
Hand-hid, as in shame;
I undo the lock,
And listen, and wait
For the Young Unknown.
IV
In the dark there careers —
As if Death astride came
To numb all with his knock —
A horse at mad rate
Over rut and stone.
V
No figure appears,
No call of my name,
No sound but 'Tic-toc'
Without check. Past the gate
It clatters — is gone.
VI
What rider it bears
There is none to proclaim;
And the Old Year has struck,
And, scarce animate,
The New makes moan.
VII
Maybe that 'More Tears! —
More Famine and Flame —
More Severance and Shock!'
Is the order from Fate
That the Rider speeds on
To pale Europe; and tiredly the pines intone.
Information researched by the WWW100 team.
Casualties
- Pte William Jauncey 20418 - 9th Bn Worcestershire
- L/Cpl G Taylor 7012 - 3rd Bn Worcestershire