27th and 40th Casualty Clearing Stations

[Gardenerbill]

These two RAMC units are mentioned in 801^st MT Co War diary, the CO or one of the junior officers inspects their Lorries regularly through the summer of 1917 and into the spring of 1918. Mysteriously neither are listed in ‘The Long Long Trail’. Can anyone tell me where they were?

[IPT]

As far as I can see, 27th CCS was at Lahana and 40th CCS was at Kilo 71.

[apwright]

27 CCS at Lahana Jul 1916 to Sep 1918. Then following the advance - Güvesne, Cerniste...

40 CCS at Güvesne Jun to Nov 1916, then at Kilo 71 (Struma CWGC Cemetery) Nov 1916 to Jun 1918, then at Gumendje Station Jul to Sep 1918. Then following the advance - Gevgeli, Strumitza...

Adrian

[Gardenerbill]

Thanks IPT and Adrian,

that makes perfect sense, the 801st were at K43¹/_² on the Seres road in February 1917, then K70 in October 1917 and K59¹/₂ in June 1918, all close to Lahana. I had wondered if the CCS were down in the valley, but up in the hills makes more sense given the mosquito/malaria problems down by the Struma.

[apwright]

... I had wondered if the CCS were down in the valley, but up in the hills makes more sense given the mosquito/malaria problems down by the Struma.

Well ... K70-71 is down in the valley!

Adrian

[Gardenerbill]

Adrian I take your point but K70 and K71 are not on the plain they are between the 90 and 100 contour line on the Orljak 1:20000 map.

[apwright]

About 95 and 80 masl respectively, according to Google Earth. But only because the road descends on a very gradual spur. Struma Cemetery is lower, at about 65, and the surrounding country is 50-60 masl. The river at, say, Wessex Bridge is about 18.

Once you're off the road, the drop of 40 metres to the river over a distance of 4.5 km (!) is a very gentle slope, about half a degree.

With nothing higher in between, it's barely noticeable when walking. And certainly, when standing at Struma Cem, you feel as if you're on the plain and not in the foothills!

Here's the view south from near the summit of Cole's Kop. Compared to the mountains on the right, it's well within the natural elevation range of the plain. I wouldn't even call it a foothill, to be honest! The nearest point over 100 masl with any noticeable steepness is about a mile off to the right.

Sorry to quibble, but ...

Adrian

[Gardenerbill]

Yes it's interesting how you can get the wrong impression from a map, this is how it looks on the Orljak military map:

K65 is just off the bottom of the map at around 440m (1,443ft)

K66 is 360m (1,181ft)

K67 is 280m (918 ft)

K68 is 210m (688ft)

K69 is 140m (459ft)

K70 is 95m (311ft)

K71 is 85m (278ft)

K72 is 55m (180ft)

The river is just off the top right corner of this section and shown at around 25m (82ft)

[AndyR]

Very interesting - thanks - my grandad was in both with dysentery according to his papers.

His papers also seem to refer to 18th stationary hospital - was this also in the Lahana area?

Thanks

Andy

[JustinL]

One of my paternal grandmother's many cousins served with the Surrey Yeomanry in the Salonika theatre. He was admitted to hospital via the 40th CCS with 'I.C.T. foot', so I am interested to know its whereabouts.

 

I know that Struma Military Cemetery is on the NW edge of Kalokastro (formerly Saltikli), and that according to the CWGC site it was originally too close to a ravine.

 

Adrian - you seem to know the area from personnel experience. Is there a small ravine dropping down to a stream depicted on the trench map running parallel to the road to the west of Kilo 71?

 

Does the trench map mark the location of Saltikli incorrectly, namely too far to the west?

 

Justin