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The Great War (1914-1918) Forum

Remembered Today:

'X' Trench Mortar Battery, 50th Div, RFA


Auimfo

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Could anyone help me out here?

I'm not all that up to date on the British Army formations and am trying to track the movements of a soldier who was a member of the 'X' Trench Mortar Battery, 50th Division, Royal Field Artillery.

I know that this chaps service file no longer exists so that rules out finding the info from that source and I was wondering if there was anything like a unit diary that might hold something useful.

By his own words, he apparantly enlisted in April 1918 and was sent to France in June 1918 but I have a sneaking suspicion the dates might be a bit out. I'm not aware if he was sent as a reinforcement or whether the 'X' Trench Mortar Battery was formed and sent over to France at that time.

Can anyone tell me the usual training time for a British soldier from enlistment to posting in 1918 and did they usually receive pre-embarkation leave before heading off?

I know that's not a lot to go on but it's very relevant to something I'm researching at the moment. I'd also rather not post his name here just yet for several reasons but will do when everything is complete.

If anyone can assist with answering any of these questions, I'd be very grateful.

Cheers,

Tim L.

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Tim

50th Division had been out since 1915 and its TMB will have been with it since then.

Your dates for training might be right - there was a heck of a need for men after the German spring attacks and I have infantry war diary notes referring to "half-trained" men arriving in drafts.

John

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Hello Tim

The division had three medium TM batteries, manned by RFA personel, called X.50. Y.50 and Z.50, the last of which was broken up in 1918 to make the others up from four mortars to six.

The War Diaries of the Div TMs of 50th Div are in file WO95/2820, covering the period Aug 1915 to Jan 1919.

Ron

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1916 Nos 31,29 & 23rd TMB became 50X,50Y & 50Z 5/3/16. V50 was the HTMB within 50th Div, 50Z was absorbed by 50X & 50Y 1/8/18. On 11/2/18 V50 moved to V Corps

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Hello,

It may be difficult to get at the War Diaries from Australia, the following may be helpful.

TM batteries were quite small units and although they wrote war diaries they - or at least the ones I have looked at for 18 Division - were quite brief and by no means continuous.

TM batteries were formed during the war when, as far as the BEF were concerned, the need for, and value of, mortars in trench warfare was appreciated. They were part of the divisional artillery and hence were invloved in the divisions operations. Towards the end of 1918 - 'the 100 days' - semi-mobile operations were taking place and the trench mortars were not mobile. Some were provided with transport and were termed mobile. Some, I believe, were attached to the Divisional Ammunition Column and, in effect, ceased to be TM batteries.

Old Tom

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Thanks everyone,

Old Tom, you picked the problem in one - being in Aus makes it quite difficult to access the British records.

Perhaps I might be able to elaborate a little bit.

The soldier I am researching deserted the 'X' TMB just after the armistice. There is some evidence to say that he was actually an Australian soldier who'd deserted much earlier from the AIF when in England but later joined the British Army under an assumed name. Now when he was captured, the British soldier confessed all and claimed he was in reality the Australian.

Problem is that the British soldier 'says' he enlisted in April 1918 but the Australian deserter was briefly recaptured for three days during late May 1918 (before running off once more, never to be seen again).

Is there a way that this might have happened? Or is there any way of verifying the dates of the British soldiers enlistment without having access to his service file?

Cheers,

Tim L.

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Ok, I'll give you his name but please, no SAD debate by anyone!!

253617 Gunner Frank Oswald WILLS, 'X' TMB.

There was a thread on Wills sometime ago and I have been working on his story ever since. When he was recaptured, he shot and killed an MP and was executed after a court martial. I've put together all the information on the Australian deserter and have the court martial documents for Wills.

Everything seems to fall into place for them to be the same man except this one thing. How could they be the same if Wills enlisted in April 1918 and the Aussie deserter was briefly recaptured in May of the same year?..........unless Wills was incorrect about his dates or was on leave prior to leaving for France!! It was only during the court martial that Wills claims to have enlisted in April. The documents show that the hearing officers just accepted this as fact without question (probably because it wasn't particularly relevant to the case). So it's possible he was just approximating.

What I would like to do is somehow confirm if this is correct but unfortunately his service record no longer exists. We tried looking for Frank Wills through BDM's and Census etc. but there's too many of them and with no reference point like a NOK or address, there's no way of knowing where to begin looking.

That's why we are trying to build a possible picture of his training etc and arrival at his unit in France through any unit diaries or similar. If we could somehow establish when he arrived in France, we might be able to work backwards using a standard training time in 1918 to approximate when he might have enlisted.

I know it's a very long shot but an avenue that has to be explored.

Sigh......if only the one page of his service file had survived, this whole mystery could be solved very quickly.

Cheers,

Tim L.

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