Who were 275th S.B.A.C. ?

[Another John H]

Attached is the essential part of a postcard at the best resolution I have.

Does anyone here know what the 275th S.B.A.C is or was?

The full picture shows a total of 24 Officers and men.

Regards

John H

[n cherry]

Cap badge sorts of looks like ASC....and AC perhaps ammunition column....SB- South Berkshire (a TF unit)??????

Probably wrong!

[Ron Clifton]

275 Siege Battery Ammunition Column.

The guns )8=inch howitzers) were manned by the RGA but the tractors which pulled them were driven by ASC personnel.

Ron

[Another John H]

275 Siege Battery Ammunition Column.

The guns )8=inch howitzers) were manned by the RGA but the tractors which pulled them were driven by ASC personnel.

Ron

Many thanks for that Ron.

Now finding my way through the introductory bits... and I now think I understand origin of a phrase my dad uses "to slope off"

Attached is the whole image in low resolution.

I understand that the Officer half way up the righthand edge is John F Smith.

Grandfather on my maternal side. F is for Farbridge.

But as there are nearly a million hits, I probably won't dig too deeply at the monent.

Regards

John H

John H

[kildaremark]

There was a previous thread on 275th siege battery which highlighted the battery's sign:-

http://1914-1918.invisionzone.com/forums/i...mp;hl=275+siege

It's not quite the same as the one in the photo above but similar.

Mark

[Another John H]

There was a previous thread on 275th siege battery which highlighted the battery's sign:-

http://1914-1918.invisionzone.com/forums/i...mp;hl=275+siege

It's not quite the same as the one in the photo above but similar.

Mark

Many thanks for the link, Mark.

Looking closely at the modern colour picture of the mascot/logo and comparing it with the postcard, I'd argue it's the same: outline of the face, and shape of the hair around the ear are as near as.

The missing missing cap and lapel is either down to relatively early monochrome photography only being sensitive at the blue end of the spectrum (not "panchromatic*") or the logo being improved before the recent picture was taken.

Regards

John H

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panchromatic

[ororkep]

John,

As Mark indicated it is slightly different as it was hand painted, but will be of the same lady. The file contains two other period hand painted originals (not modern) again of the same lady but with very slight differences. The signature on the paintings says ‘D Noble’.

The unit was formed on 15-02-1917 at Bulford, and consisted of 24 3-ton lorries, 4 cats for the 8 in Hows and 1 touring car. The AC arrived at Boulogne on the 19-03-1917 on the SS Hunscape. An additional 10 lorries and two extra cats joined when the battery was increased from 4 to 6 guns. At Third Ypres it records one of the guns took 20 hours to move only 21 yards due to the mud and shell holes which had to be crossed. The CO is shown as Lt J H Slaughter. If of interest the diary consists of a 10 page short history of their movements on the Western front, and lists those men wounded and honours and awards. One of the wounded Officers was a 2/Lt W H Crole Smith.

Rgds Paul

[Another John H]

John,

As Mark indicated it is slightly different as it was hand painted, but will be of the same lady. The file contains two other period hand painted originals (not modern) again of the same lady but with very slight differences. The signature on the paintings says 'D Noble'.

The unit was formed on 15-02-1917 at Bulford, and consisted of 24 3-ton lorries, 4 cats for the 8 in Hows and 1 touring car. The AC arrived at Boulogne on the 19-03-1917 on the SS Hunscape. An additional 10 lorries and two extra cats joined when the battery was increased from 4 to 6 guns. At Third Ypres it records one of the guns took 20 hours to move only 21 yards due to the mud and shell holes which had to be crossed. The CO is shown as Lt J H Slaughter. If of interest the diary consists of a 10 page short history of their movements on the Western front, and lists those men wounded and honours and awards. One of the wounded Officers was a 2/Lt W H Crole Smith.

Rgds Paul

Thanks Paul for the additional information regarding the history of the unit.

Regarding the mascot/logo, a much closer look shows they are subtly different - as you quite rightly say.

It never occured to me to talk to my grandfather about his time in the war, I suspect it wouldn't have been encouraged in the early 1960's anyway, and I'm not sure it suits everybody to talk about what must have been a truly horrible experience, so I don't have any first hand details regarding injury or awards.

I don't ever remember seeing any medals, but I do recall a nice telescope - leather encased - which was presumably a tool of the job, when you weren't "up to your oxters in clarts". (North Eastern UK - Geordie - expression for "up to your armpits in mud").