5th Pontoon Park RE

[Les Martin]

HI

I'm trying to find out as much information as I can about 5th Pontoon Park Battalion RE, the unit served in Italy in WW1, I wish to find out where they were, if anywhere, before going to Italy 

[alf mcm]

Les,

  There a 4 War Diaries available for download from The National Archives {at £3.50 each}, for different dates. They only cover service in France and Belgium. https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/results/r?_q=5+PONTOON+PARK+ROYAL+ENGINEERS+WAR+DIARIES

 

Regards,

 

Alf McM

[Ron Clifton]

Hello Les, and welcome to the Forum!

 

5th Pontoon Park RE first appears in the order of battle in France in April 1916, under Fourth Army. By December 1916 they came under GHQ, although half of the unit returned to Fourth Army for a couple of months in early 1917. They remained under GHQ until they went to Italy at the end of the year, and remained there until the Armistice.

 

The other four Pontoon Parks RE seem to have spent their service entirely in France and Belgium, each attached to one of the other Armies throughout. Fourth Army did not have an active role for most of 1917 (they were investigating the possibilities of operations along the Flanders coast) which probably explains why 5 Pontoon Park was kept under GHQ.

 

Ron

[Les Martin]

Thanks

[Les Martin]

Thanks all, very helpful start, I'm researching my Grandfather who served in 5th Pontoon Pk, and was in Italy when he was awarded a MM, Sgt John Martin 49992, I've found the Gazette entry for him, but as he was 25 years old and married I assume he was elsewhere before Italy, I don't think he's record survived the bombing in WW2

[alf mcm]

Les,

  His medal index card shows he was also awarded the British War Medal and British Victory Medal. He didn't serve abroad until 1916 at the earliest.  https://www.ancestry.co.uk/interactive/1262/30850_A001053-00617?pid=1226799&backurl=https://search.ancestry.co.uk/cgi-bin/sse.dll?_phsrc%3DbmY33560%26_phstart%3DsuccessSource%26usePUBJs%3Dtrue%26indiv%3D1%26dbid%3D1262%26gsln%3DMARTIN%26gsfn_x%3D1%26gsln_x%3D1%26cp%3D11%26_F8007A65%3D49992%26_F8007A65_x%3D1%26new%3D1%26rank%3D1%26uidh%3D9y4%26redir%3Dfalse%26gss%3Dangs-d%26pcat%3D39%26fh%3D0%26h%3D1226799%26recoff%3D%26ml_rpos%3D1&treeid=&personid=&hintid=&usePUB=true&_phsrc=bmY33560&_phstart=successSource&usePUBJs=true&_ga=2.30073848.652782140.1570259818-119227612.1483026526

 

Regards,

 

Alf McM

[Les Martin]

Hi All, just want to say thanks, after going through the National Archives digital downloads, I've discovered That my grandfather arrived in Le Harve from Devonport on 17th March 1916, and served in No 3 Section Pontoon Park RE, however when they arrived in France the unit was No 5 Bridging Train, and changed the units name 27th March 1916, I followed the war diary and now know where he served up to and including 30th November 1917, unfortunately the remainder of the war diary has not been digitised, that takes them up to their service in Italy, so Ill need to get up to Kew to have a look at the record.

Thanks again