5 Motor Machine Gun Battery research

[rewdco]

Thanks for sharing this information and the photographs with us!

The motorcycle is definitely a Royal Enfield, there are more pictures from the same photoshoot on the first page of this thread.

Regards,

Jan

[Wasntbtf]

21 minutes ago, rewdco said:

Thanks for sharing this information and the photographs with us!

The motorcycle is definitely a Royal Enfield, there are more pictures from the same photoshoot on the first page of this thread.

Regards,

Jan

Jan,

 

I have other photos of Ernie, they just need scanning :¬)

The interview with him on the Imperial War Museum site is well worth listening to, https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/80006843 there is also supposed to be a video of an interview he did with Southern TV at Bovington in front of a WWI tank, I have a still shot from the interview somewhere among the boxes of family artifacts.

Unfortunately I never met him but my wife says he was a quiet and modest man who rarely talked about his war experiences and according to others in the family was greatly changed by his time in France and Belgium with the Machine Gun Corps and the Tank Regimant.

[david murdoch]

Ernest's  Tank Corps 15 star roll page giving his original MMGS number and rank when he earned it. Also he's noted as 5th RFA but those notes are actually MMG Battery numbers. His date of entry is the date 5th embarked. His MM Gazette not long before the battery was disbanded and rolled into Heavy Branch, unfortunately scrolling back a few months in the War Diary does not mention when and why he was awarded it. 

[Wasntbtf]

6 hours ago, david murdoch said:

Ernest's  Tank Corps 15 star roll page giving his original MMGS number and rank when he earned it. Also he's noted as 5th RFA but those notes are actually MMG Battery numbers. His date of entry is the date 5th embarked. His MM Gazette not long before the battery was disbanded and rolled into Heavy Branch, unfortunately scrolling back a few months in the War Diary does not mention when and why he was awarded it. 

David,

 

thanks for that, we have those references among the various papers he left and our family history research.

He originally signed up with the Royal Field Artillery, from memory it was in Shropshire, and was transferred to the MMGS because of his background as a chauffeur and mechanic (see photo below). 

When he was trsferred to tanks he was a gunner on one of the 5 pounders.

After the war he was an engineer instructor at Bovington, this is a picture of him in uniform in the 1920s.

 

 

[rewdco]

Thanks for sharing!

Jan

[Wasntbtf]

Finally found a copy of a. Ernie in full uniform in the 1920s - It is captioned that he is a Warrant Officer but I expect somebody will be able to provide tthe correct RTR rank and b. a copy of the still from the Southern TV interview. Both of these are from Paul Kendall's excellent book Bullecourt: Breaching the Hindenberg Line. We helped Paul with the research about Ernie and supplied him with the photos.

John Taylor's book Deborah and the War of The Tanks also has references to and quotes by Ernie. Ernie is also mentioned in Major Watson autobiography A Company Of Tanks including a description of the Battle of Bullecourt covering not only the loss of Ernie's tank but also the subsequent recovery of it by Ernie apparently to recover his precious Primus stove something that led to Ernie being awarded the DCM.

 

BTW, it isn't unusal for there to be no citations for the award of a MM, it was a new medal (along with the MC) instigated during WWI. Apparently around 5 MMs were awarde for every DCM and an MM only needed a Regimental(Divisional?) recomendation, can anybody confirm this

[INW]

Ernest Hayward is on the list of those tankmen who met up in London to commemorate the first use of the tank in battle.

Please look at my topic about the event, the attendees list is reproduced there. My Grandfather also served in D Battalion and was wounded at Bullecourt, a bullet through both thighs, he recovered quickly. I wonder whether they knew each other perhaps they recognized each other and spoke together at the dinner?  Do you (his relatives) have any recollection of him attending? In the topic you will see my grandfather had his photograph taken. I don't suppose Ernest had a similar photo?

INW

 

Edited 6 May , 2022 by INW
typo corrected

[Wasntbtf]

12 minutes ago, INW said:

Ernest Hayward is on the list of those tankmen who met up in London to commemorate the first use of the tank in battle.

Please look at my topic about the event, the attendees list is reproduced there. My Grandfather also served in D Battalion and was wounded at Bullecourt, a bullet through both thigs, he recovered quickly. I wonder whether they knew each other perhaps they recognized each other and spoke together at the dinner?  Do you (his relatives) have any recollection of him attending? In the topic you will see my grandfather had his photograph taken. I don't suppose Ernest had a similar photo?

INW

 

Ernie was a regular attendee at various reunions as well as local (Bovington) meetings of the RTR association. He was also one of those present at the 60th anniversary commemoration of the Battle of Cambrai.

I have some deatil of the Battle of Bullecourt as I have Major Watson's biography. Do you have any information about what tank your grandfather was in?

My wife recalls Ernie attending the local association meetings, he would go with my wife's father Captain R. H. Collard who enlisted into 4 RTR in 1937, promoted into 149 RTR (7th KOYLI) in 1942 and was sent to India and returned to Lulworth as a Gunnery instructor after WWII.

[INW]

WasntBtf

Thanks for your reply and your request for information about my grandfather. He was George Harwood Wells.

On the 3rd May 1917 he was driving a Mark II training tank (made of mild steel, not armour plate). A bullet came through the side of the tank and through the top of both his thighs.

I guess the crew saved him, got him back to British lines and to a dressing station. If there had not been another serviceable driver in the remaining crew perhaps the tank was abandoned. I have not been able to work out which tank he was in. I do know he was driving tanks again about three weeks later.

This is a bit off topic so I will not go on. I will send you a copy of my biography of him. 

INW.