2nd Battalion 3rd Rifle Brigade New Zealand

[THart]

Hello everyone.  I hope this message finds everyone doing well.  I am researching my wife's 2nd Great Uncle, William Christie. I have his military file from the nation archives with quite a bit of information and I have been able to locate where he is buried in Gommecourt, France.  I am trying to find information about his death.  If I have done proper research thus far, I would see from his records that he joined "2nd BN 3rd N.Z.R.B." on 6-4-18 (April 6th, 1918) and was posted to A Coy.  He died "July 29th 1918 In The Field France".  From reading the history of the Brigade, I believe that he was in Rossignol Woods when he died, but I am not 100% certain.  The diary I read spoke about A Coy being in that area just days prior, but that date is not specifically mentioned in anything I've read.

 

Are there additional records that I may not have come across yet?  I have not seen physical diary images, just the transcripts I have been able to find online and the history as well.

Is there a repository where I might find pictures related to the company (A Coy) that he was joined to at that time?

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

Best,

 

Tony

[GraemeClarke]

entered in error - sorry

Edited 22 July , 2020 by GraemeClarke

[clk]

Hi Tony,

 

Welcome to the Forum.

 

His CWGC record (link) has a 'concentration' sheet as part of it. It gives a map reference from where his body was recovered before being moved to his current resting place, and would probably be closer to where he originally died. There is help on reading map references here, and this website may be useful. 

 

 

Images sourced from the CWGC

 

In what appears to read as 57d.H.....I think that the 'H' may be a 'K' as his service file shows:

Image sourced from Archives New Zealand

 

 

5 hours ago, THart said:

The diary I read spoke about A Coy being in that area just days prior, but that date is not specifically mentioned in anything I've read.

 

Are there additional records that I may not have come across yet?  I have not seen physical diary images, just the transcripts I have been able to find online and the history as well.

 

Have you tried looking for the Brigade HQ and Division HQ diaries in the Archives New Zealand? (link). I don't know what the NZ records are like, but in the UK higher level diaries often contain things like orders, maps, reports on operations, etc which don't appear in the Battalion diary.

 

Regards

Chris

[WhiteStarLine]

3 hours ago, clk said:

.I think that the 'H' may be a 'K'

Good spotting, as Gommecourt is in square K.

[THart]

Thanks everyone for the quick replies!  Love the links and have saved them.  I was wondering if there was a site to interpret trench coordinates so thank you for that also.

 

So it looks like I was a bit off.  This is the final page of the one diary I have been able to find and where I assumed that he died in the Rossignol Wood Sector:

Image sourced Archway New Zealand Archives

 

I'll do a bit more digging and see what I can come up with.  Any other interesting sites anyone would recommend to add to my collection?

 

Best,

 

Tony

[clk]

Hi Tony,

 

56 minutes ago, THart said:

Any other interesting sites anyone would recommend to add to my collection?

 

I don't know about Kiwis, but for Brits there is good advice here. The whole site is a really good resource. 

 

I also wonder if it might be worth contacting British War Graves. They seem to have images of the headstones of British soldiers who are buried in Gommecourt Wood New Cemetery, but I'm not sure about the New Zealanders.  If they do, it's a free of charge service, and they will send you a decent quality digital image attached to an email.

 

Regards

Chris

[THart]

Thanks Chris.  Actually British links are also welcome as William is one of 8 brothers from Darlington, Durham.  William fell in love with a woman from New Zealand and emigrated there shortly after marrying.  A couple of his brothers also fought in the war and I will be researching them next.  His brother Herbert was on the USS Opal when it went down during storms so far as I know.

 

Best,

 

Tony