A WW1 Private described "General Labourer" by wife - Is that... a thing?

[jim1]

In an attempt to redeem myself from my previous blooper I've
ferreted around in order to find the 2/8th. exact position in the trench.
below is just that.
It went from Liverpool St. to the sunken Rd.
There's also a write-up of the operation which proved unsuccessful for
a variety of reasons.
Just to show just how bloody trench raiding was I've included a snip
of a note from the C.O. asking for knobkerries which traditionally were
Zulu war clubs, a more common name was trench clubs.

[Annbee]

In an attempt to redeem myself from my previous blooper ...
It went from Liverpool St. to the sunken Rd.
There's also a write-up of the operation which proved unsuccessful for
a variety of reasons....

Thanks Jim (1) You got me going back to the diaries and re-reading the Orders, which I assume is where you better deduced their position too. And now I totally agree with you! (2) Not a blooper in the slightest - but I'm more than happy to have an even closer identification of where Thomas Beach fell.

There's also a write-up of the operation which proved unsuccessful for a variety of reasons

Can you guess what I'm going to ask?! Where on earth is that gem hidden? I read all of the 2/8th Warwickshire War Diary pages ranging from the start of 1916 to June 1917 and all I saw in 1916 were Plans, Operation Orders and the daily diary entries.

I did notice that in August, after having conducted several raids since they arrived, that a specifically titled "Raid Order" was issued, with far more explicit instruction on goals of the raid, how to conduct the raid and details right down to wearing the blacked face. I wonder if this order was in response to the mixed results of the previous raids.

I saw only one 'Report on a Raid' and that was a raid completed in January 2017. I can't find any other reports or analysis of an completed operation.

Where did you find your report referring to the one of 26th June 1916, Jim?



 

[jim1]

Sometimes you have to go through the hierarchy to get
what you want.
182 Bde. diary p.136 on.
http://www.rootschat.com/links/01sli/

[Annbee]

Sometimes you have to go through the hierarchy to get
what you want.

I have no idea how you found that report, Jim, and thank you so much for providing this last piece of what turned out to be an even sadder end for my Great Uncle Thomas, as well as several of his comrades, than I originally imagined.

That the raid turned into " little disconnected parties crawling around NO MAN'S LAND", with high explosives and shrapnel being fired at them, with no communication - and this is their first ever attempted Trench Raid, and only their 3rd day in the trenches... It's a small tragic snapshot.

Your addition of the Trench Club too - who knew soldiers had to do such terrible difficult things.

Thanks for all your assistance, Jim. It's been invaluable in helping me understand what happened in the trenches.

I sure wish Thomas had been just a general labourer now!

[jim1]

Earlier in the diary personal notes from the C.O. states that the men
lay down 150 yds. from the enemy trench & waited for the barrage
to lift & then rushed the trench only to find it deserted.
A German tactic was to withdraw men to safer positions & allow
the trench to be occupied & let the bombers & artillery deal with them.
However the bombers couldn't be used as the R.A. was shelling their rear
trenches also.
The Germans then laid down a barricade of fire to prevent the 2nd. & 3rd.
waves from advancing & fired on the parapet to stop them retreating & followed
that with shrapnel shells to cause maximum damage.
The C.O. states that the shrapnel shells detonated too high up preventing serious
casualties.
The men in the trench remained for 45 mins. until the flares went up ordering the withdrawal
& crawled back to their jumping off point 150 yds. from the trench & waited for the R.A. to
lay down a covering barrage so they could get back to their own lines.
That's about as much as I can tell you.

[Annbee]

That's a great summary, much appreciated, and I shall do extra reading of the notes. Though I think you probably explain it better for a layperson.

My grandfather was 5kms up the road with the Army Veterinary Corps the night his brother died. His war diary practically said "quiet night".