L/Cpl Walter Bush evacuation route

[MikeIsotech]

I've just started to trace my grandfather's war. He was in the 10th Battalion of the Rifle Brigade. His service number was s/8762. Thanks to some fantastic help that I got on here I now know a fair bit about where he did his training. I've also managed to follow his time in the field through a number of war diaries.

 

The one bit that I've got nothing much on is what happened to him after he was injured on December 17th 1916 in trenches south-east of Lesboeufs on the Somme. I know that he went to 34 CCS, which I believe was at Grove Town before being put on No2 Hospital Train on the same. After that the trail goes cold. Is it possible to find out where the train took him to and what happened when he reached England? He was medically discharges in May 1917 having, I suspect, spend quite a time in hospital due to a serious head wound.

 

I'd be grateful for any help or advice.

[sotonmate]

You might get a connection from Ambulance Train 2 (War Diary WO95/4130/3 for 1916) as to where he was taken if to a port or a Hospital on the French coast, but after that it is unlikely, other than if you find a service or pension record, that you find where he was treated here at home. Diary ref:

http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/7ee0715ea45342519b6fc53cf4af3eef

edit: just realised that if he was delayed in return home after 1916 (as he was wounded on Dec 17th) you may need to find the next WD, WO95/ 4130/4 covering 1 Jan 1917 to 31 May 1919.

Edited 29 March , 2017 by sotonmate

[TEW]

Thought I may have something but list of Ambulance Train evacuations in DMS 4th Army diary stops on 12th December 1916!

Oddly, there is no mention of any AT evacuations from Grovetown up to 12th Dec 1916 and only 3 for all of November so I'm not sure how all those discharged from 34 CCS were evacuated. Unless, the DMS list is incomplete.

 

17/12/1916

34 CCS admitted 255, discharged 489 and had 138 remaining

 

18/12/1916

admitted 45, discharged 3 and had 180 remaining.

 

And so it goes on like this every day.

 

TEW

[MikeIsotech]

Thanks for the replies. I'll see what I can find from what you've told me. I'd found that entry for 34 CCS and wonder if he was lucky in that he arrived on a day that the hospital train was there so was moved on on the same day that he was injured. Looking at the CCS discharge figures it looks like there might not have been train every day.

 

I can't find his service record but I do have a medical record, which shows he was wounded by shrapnel on the 17th and was sent to 34 CCS who put him on No2 Ambulance Train on the same day.

[TEW]

The link in post#2 to the diary for Ambulance Train No. 2 is the only next option really. That will give you the town or city he went to but after that may be more difficult.

TEW

[MikeIsotech]

Thanks TEW. I've just bought the diary from the National Archive and it shows that the train arrived in Rouen on 18th December. A quick Google shows that there were many hospitals there so it may be difficult to find out where he was.

[TEW]

Yes, that usually is the problem, once unloaded the Ambulance Train's job is done so they would probably have no idea which hospital the men went to and they may have gone to different hospitals depending on bed space.

 

There may be other diaries but at £3.45 a go it can be an expensive trail to follow. For example there is Lines of communication. Rouen Base: Assistant Director Medical Services 1916 . I've never looked at one of these so have no idea what it may have. WO 95/4044/3.

 

Can I ask if Ambulance Train No. 2 had been to Grovetown between 1st December and 12th December 1916?

Thanks

TEW

[MikeIsotech]

A least I know he went to Rouen which is more than I had before. I may need a trip to Kew to look through the records rather than pay for all of them.

 

I've attached a part of the diaries covering the period that you were after. I hope it helps.

WO-95-4130-3 Dec.pdf

[TEW]

Thanks,

 

That's interesting in that the DMS 4th Army diary has the journey given in the 2/AT diary for 12th December. The complicated part that the DMS say that 2/AT left Heilly for Rouen at 4.30pm 12/12/16 with 20 Officers and 411 ORs (total 431). Whereas the 2/AT diary says they arrived at Grovetown at 10.00 am and took on 11 Officers, 282 ORS and then went to Heilly and added another 9 Officers and 129 ORs before setting off for Rouen.

 

The 2/AT diary also totals 431 but fails to mention the Grovetown loading. At least I now know the limitations of the DMS diary.

Thanks

TEW

 

 

 

 

[MikeIsotech]

It could take a while going through the Rouen hospitals and even then it may be a dead end. Here's a snippet of something that I found:

 

"The majority of the British Military Hospitals were on, or in the vicinity of, the Racecourse, and those I can confirm as being there are:

• Nos.5, 6, 9, 10, and 12 General Hospitals
• Nos.1, 3, 8, 11, and 12 Stationary Hospitals - No.12 Stat. only worked for a short time there, and then remained, parked, until it moved prior to the Somme in 1916.
• The Convalescent Depot: No.8 General Hospital was to the south of the town, and remained the odd man out throughout the war. It was, for most of the war, the largest of the Rouen hospitals, but its isolated position away from all other units caused some unrest among the nursing staff, who often felt rather cut off from civilisation.
• No.2 British Red Cross Hospital was more central to the town, and there is another thread on the Forum which deals extensively with it, with some good photographs."