The Diary of Private Sidney Dore, number 3895, 14th Section, 8th Platoon, B Company, 1/7th Notts & Derby (Sherwood Foresters) Regiment, of 26, Manor Street, Sneinton, Nottingham, for the Year 1916.
Sidney Dore voluntarily enlisted on 15th March 1915 and joined the 1/7th Sherwood Foresters in France in October of that year. Sidney was killed on the opening day of the Battle of the Somme, 1st July 1916, at Gommecourt. He has no known grave. Of the twelve men in 14 Section, only six survived the war. The other six all died in the summer of 1916, three (possibly four) on 1st July.
However Sidney's body was recovered by the Germans and his personal diary for 1916 was picked up (one of them used the blank pages for personal notes and scribbles). By remarkable chance the diary was found in a German bookshop in 2004. From this diary the tragic story of Sidney Dore and 14 Section can be told.
I am indebted to Tony Neal, who found the diary, for permission to reproduce it here.
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Notes on the 12 men of 14 Section, 8 Platoon, B Company, 1/7th Sherwood Foresters |
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