Arthur Jenkin 'A Tank Driver's Experiences'

[delta]

Thanks John - pity he doesn't give that detail.

 

 

 

[PMHart]

Thanks John - that is very clear and pretty persuasive. The RND had a couple of engineering companies at Gallipoli. Perhaps I will do better when I have seen the full book rather than just the extract battle account in Vain Glory!

 

Cheers,

 

Pete

[johntaylor]

Hi, definitely worth getting hold of the book as it's rather vague in terms of details, but contains plenty of intriguing clues.  Having been through the book I found it matched up very well with the History of 13th Tank Bn (which you can download from the NA website), but of course this could still turn out to be wrong.  

 

The History contains a full list of casualties for the various actions, and if I'm correct then the real Arthur Jenkin should be on there somewhere, but it's not so simple to pick him out.  Of course he might also have altered the facts in the interests of a good story - just as Jim Macintosh says he got shot and wounded at the conclusion of  'Men and Tanks', though that doesn't seem to have been the case.  However that account is more heavily fictionalised, and the Jenkin book is presented as a factual record - for instance he's very specific that he was evacuated to Southampton on the Red Cross ship St Patrick, and treated at Graylingwell War Hospital in Chichester.

 

I'll be very interested to see what you make of it when you've read the book, and whether you agree with my attribution to 13th Tank Bn.

 

All the best, John

[IPT]

John - When he says that he never saw the officer again, did you get the impression that he was killed/missing, or that he simply didn't come back at the same time as the other crew members? 

 

Confused and Innocent Pete - 

 

[michaeldr]

19 hours ago, johntaylor said:

Jenkin says in the book that he previously served in "the Royal Naval Division of the Royal Engineers" (whatever that was).  

 

If you wish to pursue that line of enquiry, then you should contact the FAAM; see http://www.fleetairarm.com/naval-aviation-research.aspx

[johntaylor]

Hi, as regards the officer, there's no indication that he was killed or wounded, though Jenkin seems to be implying some criticism of his behaviour, as he blames the officer's "hesitancy" for the direct hit on their tank.  So I don't think there's anything that helps us to identify the officer.

 

Regarding the RND, I have checked the service records on Findmypast but there is no-one called Arthur Jenkin.  In fact he says he originally joined the Royal Engineers, so that would have been his primary unit.  I have no idea what the Royal Naval Division of the Royal Engineers was, but it seems to have been a sub-unit of the RE.

 

Lots of questions, not many answers.

 

John

 

[michaeldr]

8 minutes ago, johntaylor said:

I have no idea what the Royal Naval Division of the Royal Engineers was, but it seems to have been a sub-unit of the RE.

As far as I am aware there were no “RND of the RE”

However, the RND did have Divisional Engineers

See the link which I gave previously

 

Royal Marine Attestation Packs: 

Approximately 60,000 of these are held within the date range 1850 to 1923. Others can be found at the National Archives. The records include: RMLI (Plymouth, Chatham & Portsmouth Divisions) Continuous Service (CS) & Short Service (SS); RMA CS & SS; RND (Divisional Engineers, Divisional Train, RM Medical Unit, Ordnance Company) Deal Short Service; RMB - Royal Naval School of Music; RM Labour Corps (New Formation) Short Service.

[IPT]

1 hour ago, johntaylor said:

Regarding the RND, I have checked the service records on Findmypast but there is no-one called Arthur Jenkin.  In fact he says he originally joined the Royal Engineers, so that would have been his primary unit.  I have no idea what the Royal Naval Division of the Royal Engineers was, but it seems to have been a sub-unit of the RE.

 

I've become pretty dubious that Arthur Jenkin was his real name, but who knows?

 

To illustrate Michael's suggestion, here's an example of a casualty; 

 

RND, 1st Field Company, RM Divisional Engineers - LEAH, Arnold, Sapper, RM, 1466 S (Deal), illness in Alexandria

 

I did attempt to cross check RND against Tank Corps, and some were even sappers in the RND who transferred to the Tank Corps, but couldn't find a Tank Corps man with an SWB.

[johntaylor]

Thanks for shedding more light on what he could mean by "Royal Naval Division of the Royal Engineers", though I'm not sure if it brings us much closer to identifying the mysterious Mr Jenkin.

 

I'm sure we'll get him in the end...

 

John

Edited 5 April , 2017 by johntaylor

[simond9x]

I was just Googling for this book and came across this thread. I can't find a copy of the book itself but, if anyone is still wanting to read it, a pdf can be downloaded from here  A tank driver's experiences; | Library of Congress (loc.gov)

 

Apologies if this has already been posted somewhere.

[MaureenE]

I haven't seen this link before. Thanks for posting.

Maureen

[johntaylor]

Many thanks for posting the link. Unfortunately we still don't know the author's real name!

 

All the best, John