by allanp » Sat Nov 20, 2010 10:39 pm
Hi Steve
I have found 2 enties for you Great Uncle in the Worcester Herald.
18th September 1915 edition
6204 Comp Sergt Major H. E. Brown - Missing - 9th Battalion
9th October 1915 edition
6204 Co Sergt Major H. E. Brown 9th Batt - Belived Killed
10th August 1915
At dawn on August 10th the enemy on the crest line above the position of the 9th Worcestershire opened fire and commenced a bombing attack. Great bombs were rolled down the mountain side to burst in our lines. Then the enemy came over the crest of the ridge in wave after wave of
densely packed troops, their bayonets glittering in the sun as they topped the ridge. Firing as rapidly as possible the 9th Worcestershire held their ground, meeting and repulsing rush after rush.
For some three hours a desperate struggle raged. By 7.0 a.m. Colonel Nunn had been killed and most of the senior officers of the Battalion had also fallen. Captain G. W. Rolph, mortally wounded, continued to inspire his men to the last, firing his revolver up the slope as he lay. At last, when nearly all the officers and most of their men were down, the remnant of the 39 th Brigade fell back from the exposed front line on the slope to the more sheltered position in the dead ground at the head of the ravine. There the 9th Worcestershire were re-organized by Captain Munnick.
On the left flank the garrison of " Gurkha Redoubt " commanded by Captain W. D. Gibbon, beat off all attacks, and maintained their position until darkness fell. They inflicted heavy loss on the enemy with their machine-guns ; and indeed the Turkish loss was enormous. The dense waves of their battalions as they plunged down the slope were smashed by the shells of the Fleet and raked from Rhododendron Spur by a New Zealand machine-gun battery. The Turks fell in swathes, and presently their attack withered away; but they had achieved their object. They had recaptured the crest of Chunuk Bair and had driven the British attacking troops back from their goal.
Meanwhile every available man had been ordered up from reserve. " C " Company of the 9th Worcestershire were the only reserve unit of the 39th Brigade, and its platoons had been dispersed as picquets over wells and dumps in the gully. When orders came down, those platoons made their
way up the ravine, as also did every available man of Battalion Headquarters, led by the Quartermaster, Lieut. C. H. Inwood. Lieut. Inwood led his collection of cooks and orderlies most bravely through a fierce and accurate fire along the gully and up the ravine to the firing line, bringing bandoliers of ammunition and tins full of water which enabled the defence to be continued.
In the reorganization of the defence Captain N. K. Street of the Regiment, Staff Captain .of the 39th Brigade, was conspicuous by his bravery. He rallied stragglers of all regiments and led them up the hill to a level stretch known as " The Farm," where the fighting was desperate.
There he continued to direct and inspire their resistance until he was killed.
Hope this helps
Regards Allan
12631 Lance Sergt George William Hill. KIA Vimy Ridge, 28 April 1916 3rd Battalion