1914 Star & Bar Trio
To:
13329. Pte Harry Smith
3/WORCS REGT
(AN EARLY PRISONER of WAR)
at
DOBERITZ, GERMANY.
Pte Harry Smith was a very early entrant and was captured in the first few weeks of the war, probably on 27th-28th September 1914 when the Germans captured many soldiers at CAUDRY.
The 3rd Battalion Worcestershire Regiment sailed from Southampton on the 14th August 1914 in SS “Bosnian” arriving at Havre on the morning of the 15th August 1914.
(Smith's MIC gives 12th August!)
By the 24th August 1914 the 3rd Battalion were in the front line just a few miles south of Mons. On the morning of the 26th August the 3rd Battalion were at the northern end of CAUDRY, at which point battalion H.Q. moved to a new location in a building near the railway embankment. Unfortunately a large German shell hit the building and burst, killing or wounding many of H.Q. personnel. Many were severely wounded and were sent to a small temporary hospital at Caudry. On the 28th August the Germans, who were then in occupation of the place, came into the hospital and initially sent all the wounded to Cambrai.
A Newspaper extract from the Worcester Journal (16th Jan 1915)
showing a list of local men who had been made POW.
Includes a Colour Copy of Returning P.O.W. letter from King George V & Queen Mary
GVF and Mounted as Worn on original ribbons. (SOLD)