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General => Armed Forces => Topic started by: MacGrigor on Tuesday 24 November 20 21:35 GMT (UK)
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Hello,
I’m interested in where the battalion were between the 21st of January 1916 and the 1st of July 1916. I haven’t had much luck with my own searches. Their actions at the Somme are documented, but I was wondering where they had been prior to that.
I’d appreciate any help!
Adam
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Is this of any help? :)
https://www.wartimememoriesproject.com/greatwar/allied/battalion.php?pid=6719
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21/1/16-Le Preol
18/6/16 moved to Annequin North.
Still there on 1/7/16.
These 2 locations are only about 3mls. apart.
Although based at these 2 places the work they did on the trenches would have
been at the British front & support lines.
So they are in & around Cuinchy & the infamous brick stacks.
Go to the top left of this map & square 21 you will see the area they were working in.
https://maps.nls.uk/view/101464729
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Is this of any help? :)
https://www.wartimememoriesproject.com/greatwar/allied/battalion.php?pid=6719
Unfortunately, it has a massive gap between 1915 and 1918 :( but thank you anyway.
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21/1/16-Le Preol
18/6/16 moved to Annequin North.
Still there on 1/7/16.
These 2 locations are only about 3mls. apart.
Although based at these 2 places the work they did on the trenches would have
been at the British front & support lines.
So they are in & around Cuinchy & the infamous brick stacks.
Go to the top left of this map & square 21 you will see the area they were working in.
https://maps.nls.uk/view/101464729
Brilliant, thank you!
Also, a couple of years ago you helped me with my great-grandad’s records. His service record did not survive sadly, but I found a man two digits after his service number (both having the PW prefix), and he’d enlisted in December 1915. You said in itself that did not mean my great-grandad enlisted in December 1915 too, but if there were lots of service numbers joining around that time, that might help.
I found the service record of a man two digits before his service number, and he too had enlisted in December 1915. I found the service record of one man twenty-seven digits before, and he too joined in December 1915. I then decided to look through all the Silver War Badge rolls, as these of course give enlistment dates. I got all the men with service numbers +/- 100, which was about eight soldiers, and they all enlisted between November 1915 and January 1916, with one man who’d enlisted in March 1915. Does this seem like more of a pattern?
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There was a logic of sorts to it all.
These men look like they joined under the Derby scheme so quite possible GGrandad did too.
However there were odd numbers used up from this batch & given to men who joined later
so it's not chiselled in stone.
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No, I agree it’s far from certain. Some numbers I searched for had no man, and others were later occupied until as late as July 1916. The earliest I saw in the SWB records was one from 1914, but that was the only one I found who’d enlisted that year. The majority were March to May 1915, or November 1915 to January 1916.
However, I did cross-reference one of the SWB records with a service record, and the enlistment date was the date he was assigned to the regiment at Inglis Barracks, rather than the day he volunteered.
Beyond all this, all I have is the anecdote from my great-uncle, who told me his dad had told him that he’d gone home on leave during the Battle of the Somme, and came back to lots of new men! I suspect they might’ve been some of the first conscripts. The National Army Museum says conscripts were fighting alongside volunteers ‘by October 1916’, with conscription starting on March 2nd I read somewhere else.
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And also my great-uncle remembered the name of a soldier he kept in touch with after the war. I found his service record, and he’d been discharged in February 1916.
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Also, does anyone have the movements of the 4th Battalion from April to November 1918? I have their battles down as being:
Battle of the Ancre, April 1918
Battle of the Albert, August 1918
Battle of Havrincourt, September 1918
Battle of the Canal du Nord, September and October 1918
Battle of Cambrai and the Battle of the Selle, October 1918
Battle of the Sambre, November 1918
I’m also interested in the 18th Battalion leading up to and for the Battle of Arras in 1917. I lose track of them in November 1916, when they were at Montauban.
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Do you know you can download the war diary from TNA free of charge.
18/Mddx.
http://www.rootschat.com/links/01q2n/
4/Mddx.
http://www.rootschat.com/links/01q2o/
You have to register & go through the process as though you are buying it but it
will show 0 to pay.
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Thanks! I wasn’t aware.
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I've added the 4th.
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Thanks. I shall enjoy reading these.