More info on this regiment please D Battery Gunners A Squad

[Marilyn Jones]

I'd love more information on this regiment please.  Where did they fight etc?  

Thank you.

[FROGSMILE]

18 minutes ago, Marilyn Jones said:

I'd love more information on this regiment please.  Where did they fight etc?  

Thank you.

We would need to know the Brigade that the Battery were a sub-unit of to answer your question Marilyn.  The Brigade (numbered) was the equivalent of an infantry battalion or cavalry regiment and so had its own identity.  The Batteries sometimes were transferred from one Brigade to another, just as sometimes infantry battalions could be moved from one infantry Brigade to another.

In 1924 artillery Brigades were renamed as artillery Regiments to bring them in line with cavalry terminology and fit in with tactical formation doctrine that a Brigade should be the overarching organisation that might contain an all arms mixture comprising infantry, cavalry (by then tanks) and artillery all within the same structure.  Thus the organisational nature in WW1 was quite a bit different to WW2. 

Edited 28 September , 2021 by FROGSMILE

[Marilyn Jones]

I don't have that information unfortunately. But thank you for replying. 

[FROGSMILE]

4 minutes ago, Marilyn Jones said:

I don't have that information unfortunately. But thank you for replying. 

Unfortunately it won’t be possible to identify the Battery without first knowing the Brigade.

[Marilyn Jones]

It sounds very complicated to a complete novice like me!  I'm very envious of all the knowledge you have. 

One thing I did notice, is they seem to have a certain style of boot.  Are they mounted soldiers do you think? 

[charlie962]

Marilyn

1. A couple of men have shoulder titles of T over RFA over ???(a county?) but the rest have plain RFA titles. Can you do a sharper close-up of the shoulder of the man kneeling bottom left ?

2. Is it a smudge or are those traces of overseas service chevrons on the lower left right sleeves the two men kneeling bottom right? Can you do a sharper close-up please?

3. What is the context of the photo? Where did you find it?

Charlie

Edited 28 September , 2021 by charlie962
confusing my left and right

[PhilB]

We assume you know they are Royal Field Artillery, M?

[Marilyn Jones]

9 minutes ago, PhilB said:

We assume you know they are Royal Field Artillery, M?

No I didn't know.  Its all a mystery to me, but I'm very keen to know. 

[Marilyn Jones]

15 minutes ago, charlie962 said:

Marilyn

1. A couple of men have shoulder titles of T over RFA over ???(a county?) but the rest have plain RFA titles. Can you do a sharper close-up of the shoulder of the man kneeling bottom left ?

2. Is it a smudge or are those traces of overseas service chevrons on the lower left sleeves the two men kneeling bottom right? Can you do a sharper close-up please?

3. What is the context of the photo? Where did you find it?

Charlie

 

Charlie

1.  I'll try to get a closer view tomorrow.  Although looking at it through my eyeglass, it's pretty indistinct anyway, but I'll do my best. 

2.  Actually the 3 on the right have chevrons. What do they indicate? 

3.  It's one of a bundle of 8 postcards I acquired.  They're not related to each other though. 

[charlie962]

1 minute ago, Marilyn Jones said:

They're not related to each other though. 

If they came through a dealer they could have come from any part of the country but if they came from a house clearance then geographical location might adda clue.

 

2 minutes ago, Marilyn Jones said:

2.  Actually the 3 on the right have chevrons. What do they indicate? 

Overseas Service Chevrons, worn from beginning of 1918. One chevron when first gone overseas plus an additional for each full year overseas. It helps date the photo.

Is there anything written on the back of these photos ?

Charlie

[Marilyn Jones]

1 minute ago, charlie962 said:

If they came through a dealer they could have come from any part of the country but if they came from a house clearance then geographical location might adda clue.

 

Overseas Service Chevrons, worn from beginning of 1918. One chevron when first gone overseas plus an additional for each full year overseas. It helps date the photo.

Is there anything written on the back of these photos ?

Charlie

 

From what I can see, there's one chevron on the left sleeve, and 3 on the right.

No, nothing written on the back.  Not even a publisher!  From a dealer I think rather than a clearance. 

[charlie962]

5 minutes ago, Marilyn Jones said:

From what I can see, there's one chevron on the left sleeve, and 3 on the right.

I'm getting my left and right muddled!

Overseas service chevrons are the small ones on the wearer's lower RIGHT sleeve.

Good Conduct stripes are on the wearer's lower left sleeve.

charlie

[FROGSMILE]

This is quite an interesting photo Marilyn, in that there’s just a couple of veterans present with the chevrons that you’ve mentioned.  There are no wound stripes, no medal ribbons and no overseas service or good conduct chevrons.  Together this suggests a completely new unit being formed up and trained ready for deployment to France to bolster existing units and increase the overall artillery strength.

[charlie962]

12 hours ago, FROGSMILE said:

There are no wound stripes, no medal ribbons and no overseas service or good conduct chevrons.

The Captain has what looks like a wound stripe.  I think your reasoning on formation of a new unit, particularly in 1918, is good.

With the photo being probably 1918 why would there be a TF man with a county RFA title?

Charlie

[FROGSMILE]

3 hours ago, charlie962 said:

The Captain has what looks like a wound stripe.  I think your reasoning on formation of a new unit, particularly in 1918, is good.

With the photo being probably 1918 why would there be a TF man with a county RFA title?

Charlie

Well spotted Charlie, I didn’t see that and I think you’re right that the officer, a captain and so the battery captain (responsible for logistics and administration), is indeed wearing a metallic braid type wound stripe on his left lower sleeve.  I did see the TF fellow and you make a good point, perhaps then a battery forming up in 1918, but with a man joined who had hitherto been second  or third line TF.

Edited 29 September , 2021 by FROGSMILE

[PhilB]

Why do you reckon they`re almost all wearing a bag over their right shoulders?

[FROGSMILE]

13 minutes ago, PhilB said:

Why do you reckon they`re almost all wearing a bag over their right shoulders?

It looks like the small box respirator haversack to me Phil.  Presumably they’d been training with some practices carried out wearing respirators.

 

Edited 29 September , 2021 by FROGSMILE