15.10.1915: Major John Eaton Blackwell took over Command of 8th Sherwood Foresters vice Lt.-Col. George Herbert Fowler (killed in action).
15.10.1915: Total casualties:-
- Officers wounded 2 (2/Lts JL Percival & GF Gardner)
- Other Ranks killed 13
- Missing believed killed 1
- Wounded 48
Bn moved to billets at Verquin.
War Diary [WO/95/2694]
The names of the dead and wounded can he found here.
Oct 15th. Slept on dump till about 6 a.m. then drew rations & went back & relieved 4th Leics in reserve trench. Many dead & wounded in front of their trench, but as morning was misty S.Bs. fetched them in till mist cleared. Shells & whiz bangs at intervals all day. Much bombing about 6 p.m. Relieved about 10 p.m. by Grenadier Guards. Very glad to get out. Only had bread, biscuits, jam, bully beef for 3 days, & only water to drink – no fires. 7th & 8th Sherwoods charged & took Hohenzollern Redoubt, but lost many men. (About 6000 cas in div).
[3289 Pte George William Beardsley]
The bodies of all of the men of the 1/6th Battalion who were killed in action were not recovered or identified after the War and they are now commemorated on the Loos Memorial.
The fact that so many bodies were not recovered is a testimony to the severity of the fighting and only Bernhard White from Grassmoor, who died in a casualty clearing station in the Chateau at Vermelles, has a known grave.
For more information see the ‘Lost Cemeteries of Hohenzollern’.
Derbyshire Territorials in the Great War 