battle of loos Posted 31 March , 2020 Share Posted 31 March , 2020 (edited) good morning, here is a British theatre company -"The Blue Tommies": here's another picture of the same unit but here with a name. these men are part of the 185th Royal Engineers Company. the photo was takenon Arras in 1917 185th Tunnelling Company : Formed in Rouen in October 1915, moved immediately to the Somme area, for work at La Boisselle. Moved to the Labyrinth sector near Vimy in March 1916. This Company dug subways near Neuville St Vaast in early 1917. Troops of the Company were the first British to enter Douai, on 17th October 1918, during the great advance to victory. Source : LONG, LONG TRAIL here's a small set of land from the Royal Engineers : I would like to know if it is possible to find information about the men who make up this theatre company "the Blue Tommies" and about the sergeant in the 2nd photo. on the other hand, I am looking for the composition of a tunnelling company. thank you in advance for your help. Kind regards Michel Edited 31 March , 2020 by battle of loos Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alf mcm Posted 31 March , 2020 Share Posted 31 March , 2020 Michael, The War Diary should help.,https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/f9d9e685ebc041ac8cbd60e84129d23a There's a good chance Sgt. Batty is mentioned. There are only 3 Batty Sergeants and above on the medal cards at TNA for Royal Engineers; Thomas, George Henry and William. Regards, Alf McM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
battle of loos Posted 31 March , 2020 Author Share Posted 31 March , 2020 good morning, Thank you so much for the link. regars Michel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brianmorris547 Posted 31 March , 2020 Share Posted 31 March , 2020 (edited) Michel I have the WD for 185 TC (WO 95/245/1) which covers 1915 to 1919. I have read WO 95/245/2 (as shown in the link) at Kew but I did not download it. I can only assume that it contained Weekly Mining Reports and did not name names. From January 1917 until 09/04/1917 185 TC constructed Douai Subway, Zivy Subway, Bentata Subway and Barricade Subway which, according to the WD, proved to be of great use to the Infantry on 09/04/1917. I could not see any mention of Sgt Batty or of the The Blue Tommies. Brian Edited 31 March , 2020 by brianmorris547 typo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
battle of loos Posted 31 March , 2020 Author Share Posted 31 March , 2020 Good evening, I downloaded the WD but I found nothing to pros of Sgt BATTY and "the Blue Tommies". also have a map showing the names of the tunnels you mentioned. the name of ZIVY, I know its location because there is a cemetery and I go from time to time (I live not very far from there). Thank you in advance. regards Michel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sepoy Posted 1 April , 2020 Share Posted 1 April , 2020 Simon Jones website may help you. It lists men from the 179 and 185 Tunnelling Companies See herehttps://sites.google.com/site/laboisselletunnellers/home It may be an idea to contact Simon directly, via his website. Good luck Sepoy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
battle of loos Posted 1 April , 2020 Author Share Posted 1 April , 2020 good morning, Thank you for the link. I did find Sgt BATTY. he is buried in Neuville St Vaast. regards michel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon Jones Posted 16 May , 2021 Share Posted 16 May , 2021 Hello Michel I have just found your post with the two very interesting photographs. I had seen the photo of Sgt Batty’s section reproduced in the book ‘Somewhere on the Western Front’, but not the whole image. I had never seen the photo of ‘The Blue Tommies’ or found any mention of a 185th concert party. There was a history of 185th Tunnelling Company written in 1927 entitled ‘The Life of a Tunnelling Company’ which mentions the dog, who was named Sapper and taught tricks by the Sergeant Major, including sitting up with a toy rifle and a pipe in his mouth. 185th also including a member of the Carcass family, which ran Punch & Judy shows, but I do not know whether he is included in the photo. Here is a drawing of Sapper, from a collection of portraits of Officers of 185th. Thank you for posting the photos. Regards, Simon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
battle of loos Posted 12 February Author Share Posted 12 February good morning, Thank you for your reply which has a particular history with this dog. Kind regards michel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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