wound stripes

[andrew pugh]

Good Evening All.

Can anyone tell me would British Army Regiments keep in their archives the total amount of wound stripes issued to a particulat Battalion? like for instance the 17th Bn Royal Fusiliers,or would they only be mentioned in a soldiers records? I dont think soldiers were not autherised to wear them until 1917,at least in the Royal Fusiliers.

Best Regards Andy

[Petroc]

Hi,

I think it highly unlikely that battalions/brigades/field companies and so forth would have had the time of inclination to document the award of wound stripes; I'd imagine that there were simply too many! Also, with the sheer number of transfers from unit to unit, multiple wounds, so on and so forth, that it would also have been very difficult to ascertain exactly who was entitled to what/where and even when!

I'm not sure about this last point though...I did read somewhere that the wearing of a wound stripe was entirely down to the individual who was entitled to display it, and that many seasoned front-line troops deliberately avoided wearing them because they were a simple representation of 'being in the wrong place at the wrong time' and therefore didn't confer any real sense of authority, courage or experience ...any truth in this>?>