October 1916 reshuffle

[eskimo]

Hi Pals,

Does anyone have any idea or knowledge of what happen to the personnel of Warks 243 brigade South Mids when it was broken up, were they sent back to their original brigades, posted to any brigade, how many men are we talking about?

My man was transferred into Warks 243 from Worcs 241 in the 18pdr, howitzer, Apr 1916 trade off, I lost track of him from Oct 1916, until his death in Aug 1918, he ended up in 165 brigade, which was a Lancs brigade. Need a thread to get going again.

Any help appreciated long shot i know!

Regards eskimo.

[KONDOA]

Hi Eskimo,

Have a similar problem to yourself but with regard to 182-180 Bgd. RFA.

Personel disappear, are killed in a seperate sector to their previous batteries operations and CWGC list their initial battery only. No SR available and no other clues to date.

Hope you have more luck.

Roop

[eskimo]

Hi Roop,

Yep, the German bombing of the records buildings in WW2 certainly did'nt do us any favours. Having said that, the things we learn while researching our men is knowledge we would never have gained if his records had been to hand!

Keep at it regards Eskimo.

[KONDOA]

the things we learn while researching our men is knowledge we would never have gained if his records had been to hand!

That is very true Eskimo, it makes you research rather than just rely on the available SR without involving the events surrounding same.

Hope this makes some sense to some people, some of the time.

Roop

[Simon R]

Just for your reference I'm looking at D btys. 245th and 246th brigades (previously 1/11th and 1/10th West Riding Howitzer brigades respectively).

[eskimo]

Hi Simon,

Cheers any help appreciated

Eskimo

[rflory]

Eskimo wrote:

Does anyone have any idea or knowledge of what happen to the personnel of Warks 243 brigade South Mids when it was broken up, were they sent back to their original brigades, posted to any brigade, how many men are we talking about?

Eskimo: 243 Brigade, RFA TF was broken up on 18 Oct 1916 with the personnel of A Battery and 1/2 of C Battery going to 240 Brigade, RFA TF and personnel of B Battery and the other 1/2 of C Battery going to 241 Brigade, RFA TF, to bring the batteries in each of these brigades up from four to six 18-pdr guns. Both of these Brigades remained with the 48th Divisional Artillery for the rest of the war so I am not sure how he got to 165th Brigade, RFA. It is possible that he was injured, invalided or wounded and sent home and on returning to France was assigned to a new brigade. Dick

[eskimo]

rflory,

Thanks for info much appreciated.

The details i've got for him are:-

Transferred to D battery 241 brigade from 1st battery (A battery) 31/3/1916, to hospital 4/5/1916 returned 14/5/1916, to D battery, transferred to 243 bde on 18/5/1916, and there is the problem which battery did he go into if i had that nugget your info would move me forward, he did get wounded 3 times so your assumption could well be valid. I do not think he went back to 241 so 240 might be worth a bit of research.

for info. 243 bde remained in Hebuterne to start with then in the period for July to Sept fighting in the battle of the somme first moving south and held back to support the Canadians at Auchinvillers the attack failed so the brigade instead moved down to Ovillers near Albert and were in heavy fighting there with casualties.( could have been wounded here) They had a short respite behind the lines and then joined the advance north from Albert to Pozieres

Thanks again Dick.

Regards Eskimo