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18
quintinshill rail disaster
BATTLE OF GULLY RAVINE
1/7RS, still only two companies strong, played a major part,
alongside the 1st/4th Battalion (1/4RS), in the battle of Gully Ravine
on 28 June where they lost
11 Officers
and
230 Other Ranks
, killed,
wounded or missing (
presumed killed
).
It is reasonable to assume that, if A and D Companies, lost
in the rail crash, had been present, casualty numbers would
have been double.
On 7 July, pending the arrival of reinforcements, particularly
of Officers for 1/4RS, who had suffered 22 Officer casualties in the
battle, including their CO, out of 31, and 345 Other Ranks, the
surviving elements of 1/7RS combined with those of 1/4RS into
a single Battalion of three companies, one 1/7RS and two 1/4RS,
under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Peebles. The merged
Battalion, 4/7RS, was again in a major action on 12–15 July when
the 1/7RS element suffered a further
53 casualties.