BRIDGES Ernest

The following information has been researched by Geoff Hill:
1901 Census
41 Melbourne Street, Worcester
Ernest G. Bridges, aged 12
At the same address: Frederick W. (father), china painter, mother, 1 brother and 3 sisters.

1911 Census
Unable to locate Ernest on the 1911 census. His family (father, mother 3 daughters, 1 son) are listed as living at 18 Wakeman Street.

The Macedonian Front of World War I, also known as the Salonica Front (after Thessaloniki), was formed as a result of an attempt by the Allied Powers to aid Serbia, in the autumn of 1915, against the combined attack of Germany, Austria-Hungary and Bulgaria.

The 11th Battalion Worcestershire Regiment was raised in Worcester in September 1914 as part of the Third New Army. In November 1915 it arrived in Serbia. The Allies finally launched a major offensive in April 1917. The main thrust was made by the Franco-Serb forces to the west, with the British launching a diversionary attack at Doiran to pin down Bulgarian units there. This latter attack went disastrously wrong against a determined foe manning elaborate mountainside defences and in the face of a breakdown in communications. A further attack in May also failed, as did the main attack by the Franco-Serbs to the west. The two attacks cost the British over 5000 men. Presumably, Ernest Bridges was killed in the May attack.