Maxsparky Posted 8 May , 2009 Share Posted 8 May , 2009 Who had the best rations? French, British, Australian or American. For instance could a British Brigade be supplied with rations from the French and vice versa? Are did everyone just get 'bully beef' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stoj22 Posted 8 May , 2009 Share Posted 8 May , 2009 After seeing this in a War Diary I always wondered............KIA, DOW.........? Steve. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
truthergw Posted 8 May , 2009 Share Posted 8 May , 2009 Who had the best rations? French, British, Australian or American. For instance could a British Brigade be supplied with rations from the French and vice versa? Are did everyone just get 'bully beef' When British troops moved in to the line in front of Vermelles in 1915, they were short of food and traded tobacco for stew with French soldiers next door. That from the memoirs of a French soldier. The poilus got a wine ration and also a brandy ration although the brandy was fairly rough. They got fresh bread and a hot meal when possible. There are references to an American unit whose commisariat was so chaotic that they were in danger of starving. I believe the French fed them until their stores got sorted out. Most soldiers got enough to eat when conditions allowed. British did not live on bully beef all the time, there was stew in tins as well. The great thing about bully was it did not need cooked. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4thGordons Posted 8 May , 2009 Share Posted 8 May , 2009 TonyE Is Rubin to which you refer related to Schmdit-Rubin (the straight pull rifle used by the Swiss?) And while we are on the obscure.... which rifle type was used by the largest number of men in WWI? Obvious candidates SMLE No1 MKIII, Mauser GEW 98, Moisin-Nagant 1891.....? Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4thGordons Posted 8 May , 2009 Share Posted 8 May , 2009 After seeing this in a War Diary I always wondered............KIA, DOW.........? Steve. I have wondered about this distinction too. It appears to me that if the casualty lived long enough to recieve some formal treatment they are recorded as DOW if death ocurred prior to entering the medical system (ie before an evac. to an aid post etc) they were KIA - this is from anecdotal and non systematic observation only. As your diary reference says, "Died" rather than "Killed" I wonder if this instance may be an example of "died" (natural causes) - heart attack etc. Died is a category in SDGW although they are almost all (in my limited experience) deaths of men at home in the UK whilst serving. Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David B Posted 8 May , 2009 Share Posted 8 May , 2009 From what I've heard of the Australian rations they werent crash hot either. Hard tack and stew - and I often wondered where the dead horses went. Just as an aside, when I was in Korea were used to swap our bully with the tintanks for their loverly icecream. They must of been mad david Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David B Posted 8 May , 2009 Share Posted 8 May , 2009 Notice how our founts of knowledge come good as usual, thanks Nigel and Chris david Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CGM Posted 9 May , 2009 Share Posted 9 May , 2009 Hello all, I suddenly wondered - why weren't the MICs and rolls burnt? Does every one survive to this day? Regards CGM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stoj22 Posted 9 May , 2009 Share Posted 9 May , 2009 Good question CGM.......how did the Luftwaffe miss the medal rolls! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David B Posted 9 May , 2009 Share Posted 9 May , 2009 Nigel, I am now a Vickers expert. Try me - it fired .303 ammo. All the same thanks mate David I now have a naval question (no not the other one) What is a drifter ? Some sort of fishing vessel or what ? David Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ralphjd Posted 9 May , 2009 Share Posted 9 May , 2009 Just put "died" on the SDGW and it lists 85479 in total ,of which 33706 were in F and F. Ralph. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4thGordons Posted 9 May , 2009 Share Posted 9 May , 2009 Just put "died" on the SDGW and it lists 85479 in total ,of which 33706 were in F and F. Ralph. so can I still say "mostly" if not almost all so then died would get my vote for this one Thanks Ralph. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4thGordons Posted 9 May , 2009 Share Posted 9 May , 2009 I now have a naval question (no not the other one) What is a drifter ? Some sort of fishing vessel or what ? David I believe so - as in "Drift nets" Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
truthergw Posted 9 May , 2009 Share Posted 9 May , 2009 Drifters, as suggested, use nets which are suspended in the water like a curtain, as opposed to a trawler which drags a net bag along the bottom. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nigel Marshall Posted 9 May , 2009 Share Posted 9 May , 2009 Thanks for the Tyne Cot answer Tom. I assume drifters will work in pairs then to suspend their nets? Cheers, Nigel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David B Posted 9 May , 2009 Share Posted 9 May , 2009 Tom, gotcha, but what use would be a drifter in the navy, or was it used as a sort of auxiliary David Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geraint Posted 9 May , 2009 Share Posted 9 May , 2009 In the US navy a drifter was a bum As Tom said, a drifter was a 20-50ft fishing boat that dropped it's net out in a circular curtain and stopped; so that the fish within swam into the net and were hauled in. They fished the top five foot of the ocean. A trawler dropped it's net in an ark and carried on steaming, hauling the net against the fish shoals to wind them in. They generally operated at a greater depth. The difference between both boats were superficially minimal. Only the net gantrys were visibly different; the trawlers having those big rectangular blades on either side to sink the net to the required depth. A drifter 'drifted' with it's engines shut; allowing time and tide to take them wherever. A trawler usually worked in groups. My great grandad used to work as a drifter off the North Wales coast catching herring. (So I did a bit of research!!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David B Posted 9 May , 2009 Share Posted 9 May , 2009 Thanks guys, nowadays I suppose there's no use for either - no fish David Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted 10 May , 2009 Share Posted 10 May , 2009 Does anyone know of a website where I might find metereorological charts for a given date in WW1, UK France and Belgium. Here is a good one for calendars. Just type in Calendar 1914, 1915, or whatever year required. http://www.hf.rim.or.jp/~kaji/cal/cal.cgi?1914 Cheers Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4thGordons Posted 10 May , 2009 Share Posted 10 May , 2009 Does anyone know of a website where I might find metereorological charts for a given date in WW1, UK France and Belgium. Here is a good one for calendars. Just type in Calendar 1914, 1915, or whatever year required. http://www.hf.rim.or.jp/~kaji/cal/cal.cgi?1914 Cheers Mike I have been looking for this for a year or so too! I posted a thread about it some time back, (I don't need charts - just basic daily/weekly even weather conditions) in the orifinal thread I cited the fact that in "Somme day by day" daily weather conditions are provided so presumbaly the records exist somewhere.... I would be VERY grateful if someone can answer this. Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted 10 May , 2009 Share Posted 10 May , 2009 Found a few interesting things here 1915, it's not the real deal though. Mike http://etc.usf.edu/Maps/pages/4600/4627/4627z.htm Edit. This too. http://etc.usf.edu/Maps/galleries/multi/co..._Recordset1=303 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tinhat47 Posted 12 May , 2009 Share Posted 12 May , 2009 This one isn't obscure ... in fact it's probably painfully obvious to everyone but me: Why didn't officers have service numbers? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nigel Marshall Posted 12 May , 2009 Share Posted 12 May , 2009 I don't know Matt, but by WWII they were numbered. I'd be interested to find out why officers from our period weren't numbered as well. I'd also like to find out when the numbering system came into effect. Cheers, Nigel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David B Posted 13 May , 2009 Share Posted 13 May , 2009 What happened to the millions of fired shell cases. Were they collected and refilled or recycled and then refilled or what ? David Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest KevinEndon Posted 13 May , 2009 Share Posted 13 May , 2009 Why are there 12 soldiers in the R.A.M.C with the same number, that being 223, the R.A.S.C. have a similar amount. I would have thought only 1 person would be number 223, even the Royal Warwickshire Regt has 2 men numbered 223. Confused.com Kevin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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