King's Bruton Casualty, Captain John Ramsay Cox of the 1st Battalion, Worcester Regiment

Captain John Ramsay Cox

Captain Cox was killed in action at Neuve Chapelle on 12th March 1915, aged 41.
He was born 29 June, 1873, the son of Captain William Stanley Ramsay Cox and was educated at King's School, Bruton.

Prior to the First World War, he had served with the 6th (Special Reserve) Battalion, Worcestershire Regiment, re-joining early in September, 1914.

Having been attached to the 11th Worcestershire, and temporally employed as a Staff Captain at the 78th Infantry Brigade Headquarters, he proceeded to France in early January, 1915 as part of a draft for the 1st Worcestershire.

It is believed he was killed when his battalion attempted to withdraw from an untenable position in the enemies trenches during the assault at Neuve Chapelle on 12th March. His body has not been found.

The following is an account of the battalion’s action that day.

The trenches in front of Neuve Chapelle held by the 1st Battalion Worcester Regiment were subject to much activity in the run up to the attack. Officers from a number of regiments were sent up in order to reconnoitre the ground in preparation for the great attack planned to commence on the 10th. This attack was intended to smash through the salient in the German line formed by the village of Neuve Chapelle, then hopefully on to take the Aubers Ridge. 

Parties of the 1st Worcestershire were in action shortly after the artillery barrage, the heaviest bombardment yet experienced in the war, lifted to the rear of the village around 8 am. In reserve, however, the main body of the Battalion moved forward later and by the afternoon, two companies were heavily engaged.

The following day was a disaster. Heavy casualties were sustained as the Worcesters advanced, some caused by our own artillery falling short of the enemy lines. 

Before the first daylight of 12 March the enemy's guns heavily shelled the Worcestershire trenches. Then through the mist, a dense mass of infantry were seen surging forward. Two battalions of the 21st Bavarian Reserve Regiment in close formation lead by officers waving swords and, noted one eyewitness, followed by "a fat old blighter on a horse." 

On the right of the Worcestershire, the Sherwoods suddenly fell back. The little salient which their line formed had been attacked from both sides and broken in. This left the Worcester's right flank open, but the Battalion remained unshaken.

'A' Company swiftly formed to the right to face the opened flank and the abandoned trenches of the Foresters. With the Bavarians now within seventy yards, one officer of 'A' Company noted:
"A most extra ordinary hush for a few seconds as we held our fire while they closed in on us. From flank to flank the whole line of the Worcestershire broke into the crackling roar of rapid fire. We brought them down in solid chunks. Down went the officers, the sergeant majors and the old blighter on the horse."

At this point the Worcester's broke from their line and charged into the Bavarians,  bayoneting and firing as they went. Much of the enemy now scattered and found its way into an orchard where the Worcesters had a fine scrap with the Germans. The Worcesters had their tails up with a vengeance. They chased the Germans up and down that muddy field like terriers after rats.

Meanwhile to the left of 'A' Company, 'B', 'C' and 'D' were also engaged in a fierce bayonet fight. The end of which saw the pursued beaten enemy into their own lines. Storming a group of building known as "Point 85", the Worcestershire occupied these. But once again through lack of communication, the British guns inflicted casualties among its own troops with bombardment of the captured area. 

Now isolated, the three companies beat off repeated counter-attacks until at about 10 am, when it had became clear that the Battalion's position, now encircled by the enemy on three sides, was no longer tenable. Reluctantly the Commanding Officer, Colonel E.C.F. Wodehouse gave the order to fall back. 

As the three companies withdrew in good order, officers and men fell fast. The Commanding Officer, the Adjutant, and the last surviving Company Commanders went down, and it was a mere remnant of the three stubborn companies which, still in good order and grimly firing, reached the trenches which they had held at dawn.

Still away to the right, the survivors of 'A' Company, now with hardly any officers, continued the fight in the orchard. But here too, lack of support inevitably forced a withdrawal. The four companies now reunited, the roll was taken and casualties counted.

The day's fighting amounting to a total of three hundred and seventy all ranks.

Trenches at Neuve Chapelle