Alfred Trevor Crosby

Alfred Trevor Crosby enlisted in the Sherwood Foresters (Notts and Derby Regiment) at the end of September 1914. After recruit training he was posted to the 1st Battalion in France, arriving on 6 March 1915. The Battle of Aubers 9 May 1915. 25th Brigade spearheaded the attack but suffered very heavy losses and therefore the 24th Brigade which included the 1st Battalion advanced at 5.55 am., although due to congestion and heavy machine gun fire, the men did not get out of the trenches until 6.10 am. The artillery preparation had been wholly inadequate and the enemy's parapets had been undamaged (A lack of shells in 1915 cost many infantrymen's lives) Despite the problems, the leading platoon of 'B' company got to within 40 yards of the enemy wire, only to find it had been cut in just one place. An 'obscure' order arrived halting the offensive and the battalion had to move back. At 7.35 am, another advance was attempted but heavy machine gun and artillery fire checked this and the men lay down wherever they had got to. Many of the officers and men lay out in the open until 1.15 pm, when a recall was ordered. The enemy were fairly quiet in the afternoon but at 7.30 pm, they opened up with H.E. shells causing many casualties. Soon after 10 pm, the battalion was relieved and ordered back to Rouge de Bout. The battalion's casualties and missing numbered some 359 all ranks and Alfred was one of the 52 other ranks known to have been killed. He has no known grave and is commemorated on the Ploegsteert Memorial Belgium. John Morse

Pte. Alfred Trevor Crosby, 1st Battalion Nottinghamshire & Derbyshire Regiment, described his capture and subsequent escape from German captivity on 13th March 1915 in a letter to a friend back in Nottingham, published locally on 17th April 1915. Crosby, a former solicitor's clerk, had only been in France since 6th March. Sadly, he did not survive the battalion's next action at Aubers Ridge on 9th May 1915. “CAPTURED BY THE GERMANS. “NOTTINGHAM SOLDIER’S EXCITING EXPERIENCE. “Private A. T. Crosby, of the 1st Sherwood Foresters, was captured at Neuve Chapelle by the Germans, who took everything from him, even his overcoat. He had the good fortune to escape, however, and rejoined his company. Private Crosby was a solicitor's clerk, and enlisted in the City Battalion, subsequently being transferred to the 1st Battalion, and becoming a member of Grenade Company. He describes his exciting experience in a letter, dated April 11th, to Mr. H. R. Houldsworth [1], a fellow clerk, as follows: “We held some advance trenches which had just been made. There was no barbed wire or anything, just rough trenches, and on the morning of Saturday, 13th March, about 4 30, the Germans made a tremendous counter-attack in their effort to retake the village. Our position was precarious as we were in danger of being cut off. Consequently we had to retire. We retired to the next line of trenches which in their turn had to be evacuated. I stayed too long in the trench, not having heard the order, and before I could say ‘Jack Johnson’ I was surrounded by a yelling horde and made prisoner. It was during an attack by our bomb-throwers, which threw the enemy into a panic, that I made my escape.” Above article was published in the Nottingham Evening Post on 17th April 1915 and is courtesy of Jim Grundy and his facebook pages Small Town Great War Hucknall 1914-1918