Current Information:

Born-Hammersmith

The 1st Worcestershire battalion of 24 Brigade, 8th Division, landed in France on 5th November, swapping the warmth of Egypt for the bitter cold of the northern French winter. Before long they were in trenches facing Neuve Chapelle, where they stayed all winter. Before the middle of December the battalion had lost half of its strength. In their exposed positions, over 100 had been killed and wounded, mainly by shellfire and more than 400 had been disabled by frostbite. One of their spells in the front line there, the A Lines, lasted from 28th November until 1st December and on the latter they moved back into divisional reserve at La Gorgue. The enemy often seemed to know when an inter-battalion relief was taking place in the front line opposite them and then did as much as they could to disrupt it. This meant targeting the approach communication trenches with their artillery and keeping up a high level of machine-gun and rifle fire. Reliefs therefore were times of extra danger and many a soldier was killed or wounded during them. This may have been the fate of Walter Gilbert on 1st December.