5-8.3.15 (Ploesteert): The Battalion attached Headquarters A & C Companies to SOMERSET LIGHT INFANTRY and B & D Companies to 1/RIFLE BRIGADE in trenches and working parties.
Breastworks held by the London Rifle Brigade, Ploegsteert Wood. 1914-15. Imperial War Museum © IWM (Q 11743).
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5th March 1915: Line piquet all day. Never seen as much mud in my life. There was a grave nearby with about 75 N.C.O.’s and men buried in it.
[2381 Pte. George Potter Bagshaw]
The graves that George Bagshaw refers to are most likely those of 42 men the 1st Battalion SOMERSET LIGHT INFANTRY CEMETERY who were killed in action on 19th December 1914. The men had died during an attack by the 11th Brigade on the "German Birdcage" east of Ploegsteert Wood, which had failed with heavy casualties, many of which had been caused by the British artillery firing short.
