PRIVATE PATRICK BYRNE, KINGSTOWN, CO. DUBLIN -22140 - 1st Royal Dublin Fusiliers

[markharrison1973]

Just found out yesterday my Gt Grandfather died in Belgium in 1918 and is buried in Jambes Communal Cemetery. Just wondering the best resourse for Army Records.
Is It Ancestry or are these available for free somewhere
I've found all the Death / Burial related Info.
There seems to be a discrepency with the Date of death, Ive seen Sep 10 1918 and 18.11.18.
I have his Victory Medal (had no idea I had it until last night) so I know its definently the right service number.
Any help appreciated.

[jim1]

About 70% of service records were destroyed during the blitz & I'm afraid his was one of them.
The War Gratuities list states he died between 10/9/18 & 10/12/18 which is a big discrepancy.
Need to dig a bit more.

[MaxD]

You may know that some 70% of Great War records were destroyed by bombing in the second war and his service record seems to be among them.  However, some detail survives.
 His medal record is on Ancestry if you have a sub or you can download it from the National Archives for £3.45 http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/D1680823.  This records his three medals, the 1914-1915 Star because he entered France before the end of 1915 and the Victory and British War medals.
Also surviving is the entry in the Register of Soldiers Effects (on Ancestry) which has his date of death as "between 10 Sep 1918 and 10 Dec 1918" and also says that he was a POW.  It says he was with 9th Battalion RDF.  His burial as the only British soldier in the Communal Cemetery, suggests that the November date is the date of burial. The burial information gives his battalion as 1st Battalion.  POW records would be found here https://grandeguerre.icrc.org/en/File/Search/#/3/2/224/0/British%20and%20Commonwealth/Military/burns (the listing is somewhat eccentric) , if he entered the POW system, I can't find a record for him. The dates suggest he may have been captured and held locally, died and his body recovered with the Belgian soldiers who are buried with him.

maxD
 Sorry Jim, crossed in the post again!

[jim1]

LLT says the 8 & 9 RDF amalgamated Oct. 1917 & disbanded Feb. 1918, the men going to the 1st. & 2nd. Batts.
1/RDF were involved in a number of operations on the Ypres Salient Sept. - Oct. 1918.
1st. was at Ploegsteert 4/5 Sept. described as a minor operation with no casualties mentioned.
28/9/18 - 1/10/18 they were involved in a major offensive on the Menin Rd. 10 OR's reported missing.
21/10/18 involved again in another attack. 38 OR's reported missing.

Edit;
Correction to the above minor op. 4-5 Sept. 1918. Missing 14 OR's.
On the 10th. the Batt. were in reserve & weren't involved in anything untill the 28th. Sept.
10th. Sept. as mentioned as the first date of his death may refer to when he was reported missing so would be the operation on the 4-5th. If he was still alive & with his Batt. after this date it wouldn't have been included.
Is that a reasonable assumption ?

[MaxD]

Thanks Jim.  Namur, where he is buried, is a long way east of the final front line on 11 November.  I wonder whether he was indeed among the missing in one of the actions you describe, had been captured and had begun being taken to the east when the war ended, died at some time not known and that is why he was the lone (Irish) Brit among a number of Belgians who were also in captivity.  The discrepancy beteen 10 Dec 18 (the end date in Soldiers Effects) and the November date in CWGC and the two Died in the Great War tomes could well simply be a product of the end of war confusion?  Your comments welcome.

maxD

[jim1]

I've edited the above post Max.

[MaxD]

Totally reasonable scenario Jim.  Not sure there is much else concrete to add?

maxD

[markharrison1973]

Thanks for the info guys. Really useful. Dissapointed to find the records destroyed but the odds weren't good in that sense. Really sad to hear he was a POW. But will do some more research into the movement of his battalion.
I'm not on Ancestry at the moment as I had exhausted their resources doing my tree a couple of years back so will just need to wait to access those other records. I have a family photo of an unknown soldier. Will need to check if there are any links to the RDF. Thanks again.

[jim1]

This is how it all unfolded .The final objective was Ploegsteert village which had for the entirety of the war been in British hands.
The German Spring Offensive pushed the British lines back but were themselves unable to advance further & this is why there is a large "no man's land" which had to be covered on the 4th. to the 6 am. "jumping off point".
For whatever reason this was to be done without RA support which resulted in so many casualties.
It wasn't until 9 am. when the Brigade were stopped completely that it was decided to put up a creeping barrage to start at 3 pm.
The village was taken by 4.20 pm. with few casualties.
This would have been the only close contact 1/RDF would have had with the Germans & may have been wounded & taken prisoner at this point.