Skip to navigation | Skip to content | Skip to footer

Key dates over April 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

Lives lost on this day: 0

17th April 1917 - Second Battle of Gaza. British troops in Palestine are heavily defeated by Turkish forces in a renewed attempt to break through.

Rolling casualty count: 5853

War Front: 1st Batt: Batt provided working parties for the roads near Nurlu.

2nd Batt: Germans shelled Croiselles and St Leger all day. Very wet.

3rd Batt: Batt relieved the 18th Cheshire Reg in the Le Touquet Sector and held the Line from the River Lys to the north of the Falaise Gap. During the relief, the enemy shelled the area of Reserve Farm heavily and inflicted casualties on 2 platoons-6 men were killed.

4th Batt: Batt to be ready to move at 2 hours notice.

10th Batt: Batt moved to Arques.

SMD RFA: Occupation of trenches without opposition.

Yeomanry /Cavalry: The plan was to secure Sheikh Abbas Ridge and sufficient ground for the deployment of the troops to carry out the main attack on the 19th April. Two officer patrols were sent out at midnight to ride through the enemy lines but the telegraph communication which ran along the Gaza to Beersheba Road failed and men had to rely on compass bearings as they approached the Turkish entrenchments.. The parties , led by RMF Harvey of D Squadron, had to retreat at full gallop, under a hail of bullets!

Home Front: WORCESTERSHIRE AND THE WAR – Long Delayed Parcels – Mr and Mrs Charles Wilmott have received letters from their son, Trumpeter Vernon Wilmott, prisoner of war in Angora, Turkey. The letters were written within a few days of each other in the early part of March, and stated that he had just received five parcels sent to him. He says that the shirts and socks, which he gathered were despatched in the parcels, had been removed, but the food contents were all right, and he was about to enjoy them. The first of the parcels were despatched 10 months ago. The food was in tins.

FIGHTING TUBERCULOSIS – COUNTY ASSOCIATION The annual meeting of the Worcestershire Association for the prevention of Tuberculosis was held at the Shirehall, Worcester on Friday. The 14th annual report stated that now that complete schemes for the treatment of all persons suffering from tuberculosis were being adopted thoughout the county, the position in regard to the reservation of beds had entirely changed. Originally only a certain portion of the beds were reserved by local authorities, and subscribers to the Sanatorium had the right of nominating patients for admission, but under the Worcestershire County Council scheme all tuberculosis persons in the county have the right, subject to the case being suitable for treatment, to be admitted to the Sanatorium.

Information researched by The Worcestershire World War 100 team