12th Battalion Kings Royal Rifle Corps

[oseven85]

I am trying to find the activities of the 12th Bt. KRRC during the period 20.12.14 -27.05.17.

I believe they were part of 60th Brigade 20th Light division but beyond that I can find nothing.

Please can anyone help me fill in some detail?

Thanks in advance.

[dundeesown]

Hi oseven

I`ll give it a go,but have you had a look in the Long Long Trail.?

From 20.12.1914 to 21.07.1915 still in U.K.22/07/1915 landed in Bouogne.

This is for the 20th (light)Division.

August.1915...Fauquissart sector Bethune--September 25th..Attacked at Fauquissart (Bethune)

January to June..1916...Ypres

July To Oct...Somme

January 1917..Somme...(Morval sector)

March..Hindenburg.........Advanced to Metz and Bertincourt

June....Arras................Engaged against Hindenburg line north of Lagnicourt.

I`m sure a KRRC expert will be along soon to put this right and help you.

all the best Gary.

[oseven85]

I looked in the Long Long Trail section and it said the 12th KRRC joined the 60th Brigade, 20th (Light) Division and did not move to France until 22nd July 1915.

My grandfathers Soldiers Record says he was in the 12th KRRC and that he was moved to France 20th December 1914 and was on Home leave 30th April 1915.

He was sent back to France 21st June1916 until 20th October 1917 during which time he was seriously injured hospitalised and then transferred to the Royal Engineers

27th May 1917.

[delta]

Was he a pre-war reservist or in the TA; if so, he may have been sent out as part of a draft to oe of the regular bns.

[MBrockway]

Hi oseven,

A big welcome to the Rifles family here on the Forum. My own grandfather was also in 12/KRRC.

Can you give us your grandfather's name and any other useful details and we might be able to work out why he was sent out to France so much earlier than the rest of the battalion?

As regards the movements of the battalion, describing their adventures over such a long period would be far too long a post for here! If you can be more specific we'll be happy to help.

I can very strongly recommend you get hold of Capt Inglefield's History of the Twentieth (Light) Division - it is an excellent read and I found it a great way to the basic facts organised in my head when I began researching my own grandfather's war.

You can also get a very general picture of what all the KRRC battalions were up to here:

KRRC Association website - History pages: 1915

The pages covering the rest of the War can be reached from the menu buttons in the right hand margin on that webpage.

Cheers,

Mark

[MBrockway]

Was he a pre-war reservist or in the TA; if so, he may have been sent out as part of a draft to oe of the regular bns.

Delta,

It appears he was a re-enlisting pre-war regular who served with the KRRC in India. See oseven's other Topic in the Hospital sub-forum (!):

Lnc. Cpl. William Dumbleton 8162 France 1914-1916

There's also this one here too:

KRRC R.E.

Perhaps we should concentrate our efforts in this Topic here?

Here's William Dumbleton's MIC:

(the back was blank, so I've cropped it off)

It looks like he appears on the Royal Engineers medal rolls for all three campaign medals, but at least one of them must have had a KRRC inscription because there's an asterisk against the KRRC row showing he should be labelled as an Acting Warrant Officer Class II. Puzzling!

He also was awarded a Silver War Badge, again on the RE rolls though.

Cheers,

Mark