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The Great War (1914-1918) Forum

Remembered Today:

17th Bn R/Fusilier casualty


andrew pugh

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Hi All, Merry Christmas to you all!

Could anybody tell me how a soldier by the name of Jack, Monk (Private) Service number PS/11371 17th Bn Royal Fusiliers was entered as being killed on the 26/3/1918 on the C.W.G.C (Casualty Details Site),and is buried in Bancourt Cemetery,when his Battalion was by this time as far back as the Beaucourt Road on the old Somme Battlefields.Surely they wouldnt have transfered his body all that way back to Bancourt Cemetery when there so many other cemeteries near where they were fighting.Also can someone tell me what the PS stands for in front of his service number?

Regards Andy.

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Andy - PS = Public Schools, I believe, so presumably he started in one of the PS Bns of the RF (18, 19, 20 & 21). As the 18th, 19th and 21st had all been disbanded by early 1916, it is possible he came from one of them, or he might have arrived from the 20th when it was disbanded in 1918.

As for burial place, I must confess I don't know where Bancourt is, but given the mess things were in on the date in question, is it possible he was wounded and transferred back to a dressing station (or further down the chain), and actually dies there, rather than in the battle line? A mistake in the CWGC recording is not impossible - "killed" instead of "died of wounds"?

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Andy

He is listed as killed in action by SDGW and his date of death is given there as the 23rd of March. I have the battalion history which has the following

"Almost before it was light on the 22nd the battalion received orders to move to Tank Camp on the Bancourt Road"

At 1am on the 23rd they march to the "Green Line" astride the astride the Haplincourt-Lebucquiere Road. They spent the 23rd under heavy shelling. They moved to the Somme battlefield by the 26th

I would suggest that the date given on CWGC is incorrect and the one (the 23rd) given in SDGW is the correct one hence he is at Bancourt likely killed by shelling

Best regards John

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