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Key dates over June 1918

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: 13

1st June 1918 - Three German prisoners of war escaped

Rolling casualty count: 9909

War Front:

1st Batt: Batt in the Line on the western edge of Bois De Courton. Batt consisting of 3 officers and 70 OR formed into the 1st and 2nd /8th in a composite Batt.

2nd Batt: Batt practised withdrawal from positions by platoons. Batt ready to move to yellow and blue Lines at short notice.

3rd Batt: A detachment of the Batt was in the forward area near Bligny, forming part of a Composite Batt, which was composed of units of the 25th Division.

4th Batt: Batt in support to the Brigade in Bois D`Ava and La Motte. Enemy artillery very active in the Swartenbrouck area. Y Coy had 4 men wounded and 1 man killed by stray shrapnel. Leave reopened and 9 vacances were allotted to the Batt. A draft of 36 OR joined Batt.

1/7th Batt: Batt in reserve position on Mont Magna Boschi.

1/8th Batt: Batt in reserve at Mount Lemerle.

10th Batt: Enemy kept up heavy fire while their troops moved forward to evacuated ground at Ville-en-Tardenois. The Batt on the left held firm and the 2 Front Line coys held up the enemy by their rapid and accurate fire.

Yeomanry/Cavalry: Men still training at Latron

Home Front:

Local Notes: Not very many church services have been written for boys’ voices. But, during the war boys have to sing more and more services in the Cathedral because of the absence o so many adults on grimmer service, and thus the lack of variety of suitable musical settings is accentuated. Mr. Edgar L. Day, the Assistant Organist of the Cathedral, has written a setting for three or four boys’ voices to the “Magnificat” and “Nunc Dimittis,” a setting which likely to supply that need, not only in our Cathedral but elsewhere…Mr. Day has given two years to the Army. He was wounded in the left thigh in the advance in September 1916, and he lay in hospital for nearly a year. He sufficiently recovered to resume his work at the Cathedral, but he is still lame and is handicapped in pedalling.

Three German prisoners of war escaped from the Northfield campt at about 11 o’clock on Monday night. They were Karl Sperber (23), Rennd Neumier (22), and Richard Hoffmann (21). The men were wearing the uniform of German prisoners of war, namely, corduroy jackets and trousers, with different coloured round patches and round hats. The men were captured near the East Worcestershire Waterworks pumping station at Burcot on Tuesday afternoon.

35,00 Farm Hands for the Army: On June 11 more men are to be taken from agriculture for the Army. The Minister of National Service has made two Orders, one for England and Wales and one for Scotland, withdrawing exemptions held wholly or partly on occupational grounds by any men employed in agriculture or in a certain number of allied occupations specified in the schedule to the Orders…The recruitment of 30,000 men under 31 in Grade 1 in England and Wales, and of 5,500 men of the same category in Scotland has been authorised.

Information researched by the Worcestershire World War 100 team