Joseph Hind

In 1912 at the age of 18 Joseph attested in Nottingham into the Grenadier Guards. After his basic training at the Guards Depot he joined the 3rd Battalion serving in Wellington barracks on Birdcage Walk. He continued to serve in London until July 1915, when his Battalion moved across the channel as part of the 2nd Guards Brigade of the newly formed Guards Division. The Guards Division was to form part of the Reserves for the autumn offensive of 1915 on the flat ground near Loos dominated by slag heaps and colliery towers held by the German troops. The battle started before there were sufficient stocks of ammunition and heavy artillery and to counter this Chlorine gas was to be used, the first use of poison gas by the British Army. Five days before the battle started Joseph had set off with his battalion marching from St Omer and covering about 20 miles each night. On the eve of the battle they were about 8 miles from the front line behind the first line of the reserve divisions. That night they moved closer to the front although they were constantly held up by crowded roads and ground sodden by floods, progress was now slow. The battle started at 6.30 am but by noon the forward reserves were still not in place and it wasn’t until 8 pm that evening that the Guards Division reached its start point at Noeux les Mines. That night and the next day the Guards Division moved forward to try to exploit the success on the first day in breaking into the deep enemy positions near Loos and Hulluch. However the reserves had been held too far back to allow the exploitation and the German troops had reorganised and reinforced their defences. On 27 September at 4.40 pm Joseph’s Battalion advanced to Chalk Pit Wood to the east of Loos and then on to Puits 14 bis (a French mine pit head). Here they were halted by machine-gun fire from Bois Hugo and we believe that Joseph at the age of 22 was killed in this action. His body was never identified and his death was reported to his family at their home in Cotgrave on 22nd October almost a month after his death.

Loos Memorial Panel 5 and 7 Thanks to John Ludlam for help with this page.