STEVENS, Wilfred

Wilfred Stevens was the son of James and Eliza Stevens who later lived at Brook Crescent, Wollescote. He enlisted in the Worcesters and was sent to the 2/8th Territorial Battalion. They went to France in 1916 and were in the Arras sector following up the German retreat to the Hindenburg Line in 1917. In March 1918 they were still facing the enemy Line at St Quentin and had to undergo the first great German Spring offensive. The huge barrage of the 21st March was followed by a long retreat across the old Somme battlefield. It was a fighting retreat but the British forces were heavily outnumbered. The Worcesters were not relieved until the 31st March and on that day Private Wilfred Stevens was killed in action. He was 21 years of age and is commemorated on the Pozičres, Lye and Wollescote and Lye church Memorials.