Bernard Rolling

Private Bernard Rolling enlisted in August 1914 at Nottingham initially with a 'Pals' Battalion being formed by the Mayor of Nottingham later transferring to 10th Battalion Sherwood Foresters. He arrived in France the following summer and was killed in action on 14th February 1916. Having no known grave his name is commemorated on the Ypres Menin Gate memorial, Ypres, Belgium.

An extract from the 10th Sherwood Foresters Battalion History elicited the following information. The 10th Sherwoods were relieved on 6th January and moved to villages west of St Omer, Houlle and Moulle. They stayed there until 8th February, resting and training. The battalion, as part of 17th Division, relieved the 3rd Division in the ‘Bluff’ and Hill 60 sector of the line around Ypres on 8th, with 10th Sherwoods moving to a position of reserve, a camp north of La Clytte. On the night of 13th/14th February the battalion relieved the 7th Lincolns who were holding the Bluff and trenches immediately north of the Ypres-Comines Canal. The Bluff was a notorious feature which was heavily fought over, changing hands many times and around which there was a lot of underground warfare. The spoil from the canal when it was dug was heaped upon either side and thin, pine woods had grown on the mounds. A great accumulation of spoil, rising considerably above the level of the rest of the ridge was known as the Bluff. To the south-east, facing the enemy, ‘it presented a very stiff face’, to the north-west it sloped away more gradually in the long heap known as Spoil Bank. The face towards the enemy was full of sniper posts. The German front lines and back areas were completely overlooked from the Bluff and, if the enemy could take it, they would be able to see well behind British lines. The British front line trenches were about 100 yards over the crest of the low ridge running away from the Bluff. The 10th Sherwoods had just been issued with the new British steel helmets that were replacing the previous soft and inadequate head gear. After taking over the trenches, at about 8.30 am on the morning of 14th a slow bombardment of the 10ths front and support lines started. At about 2.30 pm the bombardment ‘suddenly assumed tremendous intensity’. This continued for 2 hours. All telephone communication with the frontline was cut and the British artillery retaliation was inadequate. At 5.40 pm a mine was exploded under the trenches occupied by ‘C’ Company, causing many casualties. Private Bernard Rolling, ON, was a member of ‘C’ Company and it is possible that he was killed at this point. The local Eastwood newspaper reported in a long article enclosed in this booklet that only 8 men of his Company were able to answer the roll call after this engagement. The paper also reports that his body was found two weeks after his death and buried, though his grave was subsequently lost or destroyed and he is commemorated on the Menin Gate. Having blown the mine the Germans then attacked and reached the front line, but were unable to make further headway. Some enemy reached the top of the Bluff and were counter-attacked by the British unsuccessfully. The German attack was part of the German diversionary attacks that preceded their major offensive at Verdun against the French farther south. The British re-took the position easily on 1st March. The 10th Sherwoods withdraw to a support position on 15th February and were relieved, very tired and battered, on the night of 16th/17th February. They marched to a camp north of La Clytte. In all the battalion lost 16 officers and 334 other ranks. All the officers of ‘B’ Company were killed or missing, one later discovered to be a POW. Captain G P Goodall was one of the officers killed, one of the originals from the early days of the battalion. Military research Research Simon Williams