Eyeless Posted 22 January , 2014 Share Posted 22 January , 2014 Hello All.. From Holland an researching for a English friend about O’Connor, Christopher. Reg. No. 24502. Rank; Private, Royal Dublin Fusiliers, 9 th Batt. Killed in action, August 5, 1917. Born Castledermot, Co. Kildare.. What i have so far.. Timeline 9th Bat. RDF 1 aug: Moved to ST.JAMES TRANOK..HQ located @ JAMES DUG-OUT.. Occupied position on the BLUE LINE (road POTIJER-FREERNBERG) 2 aug: Hq @ RUPRECHT FARM Moved to BRANDHOEK AREA @ TORONTO FARM 5 aug: Moved to VLAMERTINGE AREA.. (O’Connor, Christopher. Reg. No. 24502. Rank; Private, Royal Dublin Fusiliers, 9 th Batt. Killed in action, France, August 5, 1917. Born Castledermot, Co. Kildare.) 7 aug: Moved to the BLUE LINE.. HQ @ WILDE WOOD.. 10aug: Moved back to VLAMERTINGE AREA.. 15aug: Moved to the BLACK LINE.. 16 aug:1917 Aug 16 At 4:45am on the 16th of August, exhausted and weak from previous fighting, the 48th and 49th Irish Brigades launched their attack, with the 47th brigade in reserve. During the previous few days, there were many casualties sustained from shell fire, gas poisoning and sickness - the latter due to very adverse weather conditions, rain having fallen continuously during the previous four days and nights. The 7th Royal Irish Rifles and the 9th Royal Dublin Fusiliers led the attack, with the 2nd Dublins in support. Some little time before zero hour on the 16th of August, the Germans had opened up a heavy barrage in which the 9th Dublins and 7th Faughs lost approx. 65% of the men in each battalion before they even began their attack. As soon as they attacked, the 48th Brigade was badly cut up by machine gun fire from German machine gun positions at the Potsdam, Vampire and Borry Farms which were in direct line of the advancing Brigade. B Company under Captain Byrne of the 2nd Dublin Fusiliers was practically annihilated, only two officers and three other ranks survived. The attack was carried out on open wet and muddy ground. A message had come back to the 2nd Dublins headquarters at Frezenberg Redoubt that the German machine gun post at Vampire Farm contained five machine guns. At 9:30 am, C Company of the 2nd Dublin Fusiliers, in accordance with orders from the Brigade, moved up in support of the 9th Dublin Fusiliers who had suffered severely from intense machine gun fire and succeeded in getting to within one hundred yards of Bit Work which was their objective. Only two officers and ten men remained, the rest of the battalion were either killed or wounded. This was the end of the 9th Dublin Fusiliers. On the 17th of August, the 48th Brigade moved back to their camp at Vlamertinghe. The 1st, 2nd, 8th and 9th Battalions of the Dublin Fusiliers, along with the 7th Battalion of the Royal Irish Fusiliers, lost eighty two officers and 1,550 men of other ranks. 18aug: Moved back to VLAMERTINGE an from there on a train to POPERINGEN an marched to WATOU no. A Area.. 20aug: Marched to FORMHOULD..(need to check name) 22aug: Entrained @ BSQUKLBESQ (need to check name) to BAPAUME HALT an marched to COURCELLES LE COMTE (FRANCE pas de calais).. 26aug: Moved to ERVILLERS CAMP (france) (DIVISIONAL RESERVE) Is there anybody that can provide me with more information an maps on what happand on an before 5 august 1917? Thank you in advance Marco Vreugdenhil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eyeless Posted 27 January , 2014 Author Share Posted 27 January , 2014 Just a little kick.. Is there anybody that can provide me with more information an maps on what happand on an before 5 august 1917? Is there anybody that has a trench map of Brandhoek an Vlamertinghe early August 1917? Best regards. Marco Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin W Taylor Posted 27 January , 2014 Share Posted 27 January , 2014 Marco I presume you have read the battalion war diary - the information you have agrees with what it states. An annex to it states two other ranks were wounded on the 5th but does not state how or where - presumably Christopher was wounded at this time and died of his injuries. The other option was that he was killed on or around the 2nd August but was only noticed to be absent on the 5th - however this would be unlikely but is supported by his grave or body being lost. I've attached a rough map but without knowing where he exactly where he died this may not help. It's from 1918 but the camps are likely to be in similar locations. I hope this helps Kind regards Colin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eyeless Posted 28 January , 2014 Author Share Posted 28 January , 2014 Thank you very much Colin!! Do you have that map in a higher resolution with also Toronto Camp on it? So that i can look at the Vlamertinghe Area an Brandhoek/Toronto Camp Area to make a good overlay? Best Regards Marco Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin W Taylor Posted 29 January , 2014 Share Posted 29 January , 2014 Marco I'm afraid I'm at the limit of what can be posted on the forum in terms of file size. If you can send m a private message with an email address I'll endeavour to send a better map over. Please find attached a view of Toronto Farm and camp bottom left with Vlamertinghe top right. Kind regards Colin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eyeless Posted 29 January , 2014 Author Share Posted 29 January , 2014 Pm Sent Colin.. Thank you very much! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GJW Posted 14 August , 2019 Share Posted 14 August , 2019 On 29/01/2014 at 20:39, Eyeless said: Pm Sent Colin.. Thank you very much! Hi Christopher is from my village in Ireland. We are doing some work to remember those who served and or died in WW1. Would be very grateful if you could let me know what you finally put together on him. Gerard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Admin Michelle Young Posted 14 August , 2019 Admin Share Posted 14 August , 2019 Eyeless hasn't visited the forum since 2014. You could try sending them a private message. Michelle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GJW Posted 21 August , 2019 Share Posted 21 August , 2019 Thank you Michelle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
corisande Posted 21 August , 2019 Share Posted 21 August , 2019 The odd thing about Christopher O'Connor is that I cannot get a Birth for him in Castledermot He died as "Christopher C O'Connor" so the middle name should be a help The Athy Historical Soc has him as Christopher O Connor, Private, 24502, 9th battalion Royal Dublin Fusiliers was killed in action. Son of Thomas and Julia Wickham O Connor of Green Lane, Castledermot. Veteran of the South Africa Campaign-Boer War 1899-1902 But that is just from CWGC His earlier Service Record is online - click and shows 1. Attested 7 Aug 1900 as Christopher Connor 2. Served 3. He must then have re-enlisted with a new service no in WW1 4. The service record has correct father as Thomas of Castledermot Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
corisande Posted 21 August , 2019 Share Posted 21 August , 2019 The service record gave his age, and that gave me his birth. "Connors" is often difficult to research as it can be rendered in many ways, and often for the same man "O'Connor" , "O'Connors" . "Connor" , " Connors" , "O'Conner" etc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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