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Key dates over January 1917

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

6th January 1917 - Rasputin assassination

Rolling casualty count: 5179

2nd Batt: Second LT Gillespie joined the Batt. An inter Coy football Competition was started.

4th Batt: An attack by the 1st Essex and the Newfoundland Reg was helped by Batt supplying 1 officer and 38 other ranks as “mopping up” party.

2/7th Batt: The batt took over the huts at Martinsart from the 2/7th Warwicks.

11th Batt: The severity of the Balkan winter is keeping both sides immobile

Yeomanry/Cavalry: The enemy started moonlight raids and our air squadrons retaliated. Raids caused anxiety as they resulted in the death of horses who showed up clearly in the sand.

Home Front: Sequel to Saracen’s Head Prosecution: An order arrived in Worcester on Friday afternoon closing the Saracen’s Head Inn for the sale of intoxicants from Jan. 15th next to the next Worcester Licensing Session on April 5th, both dates inclusive. The order is exactly the same made in the case of the Bull’s Head some weeks ago. The charge in the case of the Saracen’s Head was that of selling a bottle of whisky (by a waiter) during prohibited hours. The licensee, Mr. W. Roberts, was fined £20, and the waiter, £10.

Shot at a Supper Party: The “Russkaya Volya” states that six persons participated in the supper to which Rasputin was invited on Friday night. It further affirms that the victim was shot by more than one person. From the nature of the bloodstains found in the neighbourhood it is assumed that Rasputin made an effort to escape and was laid low by a third bullet. His executioners attached a weight to the body before throwing it from Petrovsky Bridge, but the body, in falling, struck one of the projecting beams, the shock detached the weight, and the body was carried some distance by the current before sinking beneath the ice. It is reported on good authority that the judicial proceedings in connection with Rasputin’s death will shortly be discontinued, inasmuch as the killing was done in self-defence. [see 2 Jan]

Information researched by The Worcestershire World War 100 team