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The Great War (1914-1918) Forum

Remembered Today:

G Nelson. 58584 A Coy. Cheshire Regiment 2nd Btn


Monkey George

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Hi George, welcome to the forum.

I would recommend that you have a look at the parent site 'The Long Long Trail' it has a section on how to research a soldier. ‘The Long Long Trail’ also has a section on regiments which shows that the 2nd Battalion of the Cheshire Regiment was in the 84th Brigade 28th Division, have a look for yourself, it will show you when the battalion was formed and where they fought etc.

 

George Nelson has a medal index card that shows he was entitled to a British War Medal and Victory Medal this shows he did not go overseas before January 1916 around the time 28th Division moved to Salonika. I would recommend you get a subscription to either Find My Past or Ancestry to see if he has a service record, and get a copy of his medal index card, both these sites have free trials. If there is no service record then a further post in the ‘Soldiers’ sub forum may attract the attention of a Cheshire regiment expert who may be able to tell you when his number was allocated.

 

In April 1918, the time of George's death, 28th Division were based in the Struma Valley. According to the official history, operations were launched on the 14th April 1918 in the Struma valley to convince the Bulgarians that a general offensive had begun. These operations were to be carried out by the Greek 1st Division and the British 27th and 28th Divisions. The following is from the Official History of the Great War Military Operations Macedonia Volume 2 pages 83 and 84:

 

"On the front of the 84th Brigade (Br.-General F. C. Nisbet) the 2/Cheshires moved across KOPRIVA bridge to KUMLI, which it reached at 12.30 a.m. on the 15th. It's orders were to send out fighting patrols to occupy KYUPRI and BAIRAKLI before dawn. The KYUPRI patrol lost touch with it's Lewis guns, waited some time for them, and at 2 a.m. went forward without them. When the guns reached the permanent outpost position the officer in command there would not let them go on, as day was breaking. KYUPRI was found unoccupied.

 

At 8.0 a.m. about 500 of the enemy were seen advancing from the north and on either flank. The outposts were quickly driven in, and the patrol thereupon began a fighting retirement on KUMLI. Unfortunately the ground south west of KYUPRI afforded no cover, and though the patrol inflicted heavy loss on the enemy it suffered very heavy loss itself, the casualties being about 60 out of a strength of twice that number.

 

The BAIRAKLI patrol was first bombarded, then repeatedly attacked. The fighting was at close quarters and was extraordinarily fierce. One platoon beat off five assaults before it was rushed and surrounded at 11.45. Just at this moment an order to withdraw to KUMLI was received. The retirement was covered by the support platoon, but the enemy followed up in strength and with great determination and killed or captured the whole rear guard."

 

These operations went so badly wrong that a court of enquiry took place shortly afterwards. To find out which companies/platoons were involved in each of the patrols, you need to get a copy of the battalion war diary, Ancestry have some battalion war diaries online but not normally for battalions based in Salonika, to view these you would need a trip to the National Archives at Kew.

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As a private soldier he couldn't be blamed for leadership failures and I am sure he did the best he could, he may have been part of the rearguard action for instance and gave his life so that others might escape. If you want to find out more about the exploits of the 28th Division and the 2nd Cheshires I would recommend you get a copy of 'Under the Devil's eye' by Wakefield and Moody, It covers life in the Struma valley extensively and describes the important actions that took place there from 1916 to 1918 as well as giving a good overview of the campaign as whole.

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