Home of the Infantry Regiments of Berkshire and Wiltshire

War Diary

1915-08-27
Regiment 6th Royal Berkshire
Location France, Bray
Entry The day was quiet and work was proceeded with. The trenches want a lot of attention - accommodation for our numbers of men & officers being totally inadequate. The difficulty in getting wood is retarding the progress of our improvements. Timber & all materials for dug-outs - defensive positions etc - bombs and grenades are badly wanted & not easily obtainable. The Essex Regt (one Coy) took over the Citadel, & are employed in RE fatigues and digging a communication trench. The enemy shell the cook-houses etc at the citadel frequently - but with no result. Our Artillery was busy on the enemy's trenches during the day. At 8pm a rifle-grenade exploded on our left sector. Ptes Greenhaugh & Green of B Coy being wounded. At 8.30pm a sausage exploded close to Coy HQ of our left sector. Some damage was done & the following NCOs killed & wounded - KILLED Sgt Skurry - L/Cpl Bettis. Ptes Westall - Smith & Gillam. WOUNDED - Ptes Slater - Gorton - and Neil. All these men belonged to "B" Coy. Some aerial torpedoes - two more sausages and a number of rifle grenades were fired at us during the rest of the night, but no further casualties occurred. The night passed without further incident. The enemy were busy repairing damage done to their lines by our Artillery between points 311 & 313. Pte Gee - "A" Coy was buried in the afternoon. The B'dr visited the trenches during the evening.