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The Great War (1914-1918) Forum

Remembered Today:

Interpreter corps


lexxie

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An interesting thread on Intelligence, albeit scant on the use of linguistics, although it does mention that persons with foreign language skills were sought after for military intelligence duties. Thomas George Jameson Torrie gets a mention, but his unit is stated as the 27th Cavalry, not the 17th, of the Indian Army.
 

 

 

 

 

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During the First World War, locally employed persons were used as interpreters.

Local interpreters in Egypt and Palestine appear in the medal roll WO 329/2340, Egyptian HQ
Images 354 to 417 inclusive (of 424) of this medal roll (via Ancestry) list various names, Taranto, M being the first.

Local interpreters used at the Dardanelles and Salonika appear in the medal roll WO 329/2346, Army of the Black Sea
Images 34 to 61 inclusive (of 368) of this medal roll (via Ancestry) list various names, Cadozzo, L being the first.

There are a number of interpreters from the campaigns in Africa who were awarded bronze British War Medals, and they appear throughout WO 329/2359.
 

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A belated reply to Lexxie, who mentioned Charles Battersby Hill (a relation possibly?). I'm writing about Cecil Meares, a member of Captain Scott's Terra Nova expedition, whose WWI medal card describes him as being in the Corps of Interpreters. Meares spoke about five or six languages well and is also referred to as carrying out 'intelligence' work before and during the war (he was a great and very hardy traveller), including in the Russo-Japanese war. When I looked up Charles Battersby Hill to see if I could establish a connection, I see he probably worked in Cheltenham, where I live - and yes, working in the Corps of Interpreters would have been ideal training for his later career. If he lived in Cheltenham, he would doubtless have known the story of Scott's expedition as well but may not have known about Cecil Meares, who was attached to the Northumberland Hussars, who were on the Western Front at Ypres, where French, Russian and German would all have been useful. Best wishes, Anne 

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I think there's actually several strands to interpreters -

 

In Aug 14 there is something called, at least by those who served in it, the 'Corps of Interpreters'.  Quite how formal a 'corps' structure it had is obscure.  Interpreters were administered by the same section of the War Office as the Int Corps, which was also raised in Aug 1914. These were French speakers attached to units of the BEF (and a sizeable group attached to Indian Army units arriving in France).  Since the French had agreed pre-war to provide interpreters for the BEF the 'Corps of Interpreters' quickly faded out - some found employment with RTO and APM staffs, a few went to the Int Corps, and others just faded away.

 

You have to envisage this happening in an environment of ad hoc recruitment and commissioning, with personal contacts playing a large part.   In at least one instance a man who went out as an interpreter was only commissioned after he was captured by the Germans.  A flavour of the interpreter experience can be found here

http://www.patrickmileswriter.co.uk/calderonia/?page_id=1

 

There are combined medal rolls for 'Interpreters and Intelligence Corps' but an examination of the medal card usually makes it clear the capacity in which a man served - it would appear there originally two distinct rolls, at least for the 14 Star, and this is often obvious from the card

 

As noted up thread there were locally engaged interpreters in the 'eastern' theatres - these were generally of NCO status I think, although a very few were eventually commissioned (on a local, honorary basis).  There were also British officers employed in Salonika as interpreters, I think often concerned with the management of labour.

 

And then in the late stages of the war you get German speakers being commissioned as 2/Lts Gen List for service as interpreters in PoW camps.  Many of these never leave UK.  Again they are selected and administered by the same office that administers the Int Corps.

 

That's interpreters.  The Int Corps had it's own requirements - on the Western Front that was German for prisoner interrogation, document exploitation and signals intelligence (the latter included German speaking RE ORs for 'IToc') and French for officers and NCOs engaged in counter-intelligence.  Repeat with variations for other theatres.

 

 

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Further to the last two posts, take the case of Cecil Mears, originally a 2/Lt nominally serving with the Northumberland Hussars. He was sent to France 21.09.14 as a (French speaking) interpreter. However, for reasons mentioned by Quex, he only lasted six months in this role and after that transferred to RNVR 30.3.1915. Apparently the navy wanted him because of his Russian language ability. That said, that particular skill set seems not to have been made use of, as he was appointed to No. 4 Wing RNAS (based near to Dunkirk) to serve as their Intelligence & Transport Officer. He ended the war as a Squadron Leader (after the RAF absorbed the RNAS in April 1918).

Regards,

Michael

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