CALE Sidney

The following information has been researched by Geoff Hill:
1911 Census
‘Rose Lawn’, Droitwich Road, Worcester
Sidney Cale, aged 18, Clerk, Union Workhouse
At the same address: Alfred James (father), tailor on own account; mother, 4 brothers and 2 sisters.

Sidney Cale enlisted as a Private in the Army Service Corps, service no. S4/060465, entering active service in France on 25th July 1915. He was subsequently promoted to Acting Sergeant with the regiment before being commissioned 2nd Lieutenant in the Worcestershire Regiment on 25th April 1917.

The Battle of Passchendaele (Third Battle of Ypres) was a major campaign of the First World War, fought by the Allies against the German Empire. The battle took place on the Western Front, from 31st July to 10th November 1917, for control of the ridges south and east of the Belgian city of Ypres in West Flanders. The 4th Battalion Worcestershire Regiment was in the Ypres salient in 1917 and was probably involved in the Battle of Langemarck (to the north-east of Ypres), which ran from 16th – 18th August. This was the second Allied general attack of the Third Battle of Ypres. Attacks on 27th August were minor operations, which were costly and inconclusive. Haig called a halt to operations amidst tempestuous weather. Presumably, Sidney Cale was wounded during either the Battle of Langemarck or the subsequent minor operations, and taken to one of the Casualty Clearing Stations, where he succumbed to his injuries.

The 4th, 47th and 61st Casualty Clearing Stations (CCS) were posted at Dozinghem and the military cemetery was used by them until early in 1918. The three CCS’s were given names reflecting the village names in Flanders – Mendinghem, Dozinghem and Bandaghem. These were not, of course, real village names, but Army humour for medical facilities.