"Only With Honour" Diaries of medical officer 1915 1916 7th battalion East Surrey Regiment

[RegHannay]

Hello All. Just been looking through my Grandfathers diaries and come across a visit he made to a rifle grenade factory on the 25th March 1916, somewhere around the Bethune/Vermelles area.

Has anyone got information on this subject please.

Also in the same area he writes of staying in a brewery "in spite of a bed luxuriant enough for a hothouse exotic I candidly admit I slept badly in it." 

Has any member have info on this also. Love to see a photo of this  "Hothouse"!!

Thanks Dave D.

Edited 3 February , 2020 by RegHannay
added info

[Colin W Taylor]

There was a bomb factory in Bethune in 1915. I think it is mentioned along with an address in a page of the IWM collections.

 

https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/30020080

 

I had thought such places were closed down by 1916 as the No5 Grenade and factory-made rifle grenades. 

Regards

Colin

Edited 7 February , 2020 by Colin W Taylor

[RegHannay]

Thank you Colin.  

Yes it certainly was still in production in March 1916.... Entry from the diary....

"Just heard we are not returning to damned trenches to-morrow, so I have another "louse" in bed to look forward to.

Visited a rifle grenade factory this afternoon and watched the molten metal pouring like cream from the furnace. The whole process was most interesting." 

Thank you for your info.

 I am at the moment putting extracts of the diaries ("Only With Honour") onto the GWF blog.18 entries to date.

Regards 

Dave D

 

[RegHannay]

Forgot to say Colin, Regie mentions the public schools battalion in the diaries. He being hardened to war, they being innocent and gullible still..

[Colin W Taylor]

Dave,

 

That sounds familiar during the early days of the UPS in France. Could you let me know the dates of the comments so I can work out where he came across them and therefore which battalion he was referring to? Otherwise, I'll keep an eye on the blog. Many thanks for sharing his diary.

 

Kind regards

 

Colin

[RegHannay]

Evening Colin. 

7th battalion ESR relieved the school battalion at Givenchy on the 10th December 1915. (part of diary I didn't upload yesterday).

Reg wrote "The public schools battalion from whom we took over, who's six days in the trenches was their baptism of fire since arriving in France. They were a quiet source of amusement since they were full of the dangers of the position and warned us against all sorts of non-existing terrors, dangerous roads etc."

I would be very interested in finding out who these lads were and how they fared. And if you do find out which brigade it was would you mind if I add it to the diaries.

Regards

Dave D

[Colin W Taylor]

Dave,

 

7th Bn E Surrey Regt diary records it was 20th Bn Royal Fusiliers. 

 

20th RF Diary:

 

To be fair to 20th RF they could have passed on what they had been told previously by 18th RF before them and whichever Regular Battalion had passed on to them before. However, talk of German sniper fire from behind their own front line sounds a bit far-fetched. In a matter of a couple of months the UPS battalions were showing fresh units around the trenches as part of their induction. I have acquired a few personal accounts from different archives but none with sufficient detail to provide any further information.

 

The War The Infantry Knew by Dunn might mention this relief from the point of view of 2nd Bn RWF; I'll see if I can find my copy.

 

Many thanks for sharing the quote with me; I wouldn't think of reproducing it without asking permission.

 

Kind regards

 

Colin

 

PS - I've not got much information on 7th E Surreys but there are a collection of letters from another officer with 37th Brigade - Arthur George Heath of 6th Bn Royal West Kent Regt - https://archive.org/details/lettersarthurge00murrgoog/page/n9/mode/2up; they only cover up to Nov 1915 but might provide some background/comparison.

 

 

 

[RegHannay]

Morning Colin.

 

First , I must try and get a  copy of "The War The Infantry knew" James Churchill Dunn was made temp Lieut 18/01/1915, three days before Regie 21/01/1915, makes you wonder if they met up. (Info thanks to Dave66 on GWF). Not only that but he has same surname as me. (No relation I know of.)

 

Regies diary entry does not sound as if it were third hand but may well be. It may be that some school brigade/battalion were with the 2nd RWF on familiarisation training in the trenches. (Not recorded anywhere)

 

You mention snipers behind the lines. On the 01/07/1915 there is an entry in the diaries at Gunners farm --- "While there they brought in a supposed civilian spy, he had gun and revolver and said he was out to shoot hares. Several civilian sharp-shooters are known to be about, he may be one of these. They sneak out at night and take up positions to snipe men who would normally be protected from enemy trenches." 

 

This entry was made while he was with the 36th FA, (not being a great researcher I do not know which regiment diary to look for to confirm this entry)

 

Thanks for all your help and knowledge. 

Regards

Dave D.