Ypres Salient 8th Batallion Sherwood Foresters
Sanctuary Wood; July 29th-30th 1915.
Extract from 'Whitwell Parish Soldiers' by Cliff Hobson.
Immedietely after stand down and within a few hours of our arrival in the trenches the whole of the wood was suddenly surrounded by a. ring of fire. At the same time a heavy bombardment was opened on the trenches around Hooge Crater which was occupied by the men of the 14th Div. The latter, who like ourselves had only just come into the line the night before were dead tired and just got down to sleep. We were surprised by the sudden attack and the first use of flamethrowers and had little time to organise a defence. The enemy succeeded in gaining the whole of the front. The first attack was driven of by rifle and machine gun fire. .The platoon of B Company lined the parapet and opened rapid fire preventing the attack from developing. Unfortunatey an enemy machine gun traversed the parapet killing many of the men of this gallant platoon including Albert Woodhead.
Elizabeth Hatton