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Key dates over August 1918

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Lives lost on this day: 16

22nd August 1918 - Telephone Girls Protests

Rolling casualty count: 10411

War Front:

1st Batt: The enemy heavily bombarded our Line with gas from midnight to 4 am, causing casualties of 1 officer and 16 ORs. One officer and 19 ORs joined the Batt.

2nd Batt: Men bathed in the canals around the area and boating and fishing were in “full swing!”

4th Batt: The enemy put down a heavy barrage on the support Coys and one shell fell on W Coy HQ killing Lt GS Kipps, Gunner Sgt Andrews, Cpl Green, Ptes Dixey and Towler and wounding 2LT GF Wright and Pte Thomas.

L Sgt Surman and Cpl Cook were awarded a bar to the MM, Sgt Lawley, Ptes Phipps, Johnson and Marsh were awarded the MM for their exploits on August 8th.

Home Front:

County Cadets – Official Denial of Damaging Rumour – Lord Deerhurst presided at a meeting of the County Cadet and Juvenile Organisations Committee on Saturday. Lord Deerhurst said he had seen General Sir Robert Scallon at the War Office and he was anxious that in works that the cadets should be formed into engineers. The War Office were keen about the matter, and it was also possible for cadets to be trained for the R.A.F., arrangements having been made by the War Office with the local aerodromes and that after training cadets would be given the opportunity of going there and learning to fly. The Army Council, in conjunction with the Ministry of National Service, had approved of the direct admission of suitable lads of cadet units recognised by Territorial Associations in the R.A.F.

Telephone Girls Protests – Service Not a Matrimonial Service – A memorial, signed by 800 telephone girls has been forwarded to the Controller of the London Telephone Service, protesting against the advertisements which have recently appeared concerning the telephone service. The memorial adds: “We fail to see that the marriage prospects of telephonists are any greater than those of any other girl workers. Statistics show that the majority of girls resigning from the L.S.T. do so for other reasons than the claims of love”, so facetiously referred to in the advertisements mentioned, which would make it appear that girls enter the service for the sole purpose of contracting a marriage. This is not so and we strongly object to the press being used as a medium to feed the public on such gross misapprehensions”.

Information researched by The Worcestershire World War 100 team