Help with CCS Gommecourt area 1st March 1917

[TEW]

I'm still delving into the next stage which is the Warlincourt - HS Lanfranc part of the evacuation. Some more diaries to check later today.

TEW

[Bob Davies]

10 hours ago, TEW said:

I'm still delving into the next stage which is the Warlincourt - HS Lanfranc part of the evacuation.

Thank you for your interest and knowledge  TEW. I find this all very interesting, learning all the time. From McPherson Medical Services general history CCS 20 and 42 get a mention 1916 prety much as you have described in previous posts. Link here;https://archive.org/details/medicalservicesg03macp/page/30/mode/2up?q=Gommecourt Link to the bigger size map here; http://digitalarchive.mcmaster.ca/islandora/object/macrepo%3A74180Regards, Bob.

[TEW]

Bob,

I've read through the three CCS dairies for Warlincourt Halte from mid-Feb to mid-March to get a feel of their 'evacuation to base' routine. I'm going to assume that Jack arrived at Warlincourt Halte 1/3/1917 but it changes little if he arrived the following day.

Just to re-cap, the CCSs involved are 20, 32 & 43. We now know that 32 was still setting up until 27/3/1917 which is too late. The basic principle here is that the two CCSs rotated intake, as one filled to capacity it closed for admissions by which time it's counterpart had evacuated the wounded to base and would then open for the next intake.

3 & 16 MAC (Motor Ambulance Convoy) are involved with Warlincourt Halte. 3 MAC brought 22 wounded men from Field Ambulances to 43 CCS 1/3/1917, 28/2/1917 they took 34 wounded to 20 CCS. This makes 43 CCS look more likely for 1/3/1917.

16 MAC mention having six ambulance cars working at Warlincourt Halte 28/2/1917 which could have been used for bringing wounded in from FA or evacuating to Doullens or both.

It looks as though evacuations to base were quite sparse really, there aren't many AT (Ambulance Train) evacuations two weeks either side of 1/3/17. There are some unusual types of evacuations where wounded were evacuated by MAC to Doullens, specifically 62 CCS. This was actually closed at the time but may have served as a staging point for AT evacuations.

22nd Feb, 43CCS evacuated via MAC to Doullens, this was repeated 12th March. 20 CCS make no mention of evacuations for these dates.

There is one AT evacuation for 8/3/1917, this would be for both CCSs. 43 CCS mention evacuating 150 men onto 23 AT while the diary for 23 AT and the base diary give a total of ORs as 397. 23 AT then departed for Le Treport. Given the nature of his injury and the fact this is the first evacuation noted after 1/3/1917 this seems the most likely scenario otherwise he would have waited another four days to be evacuated to Doullens by MAC.

Things get tricky once a man arrives at a base via an AT. Le Treport has a number of base hospitals which he may have been admitted to. We know the HS Lanfranc departed Le Havre 17/4/1917 so there is a ~5 week time frame for various scenarios.

1. Hospitalised in Le Treport until moved to Le Havre for embarkation.
2. Another AT took him to Le Havre where he stayed until 17/4/1917
3. Moved from Le Treport to another base, EG. Abbeville, Dieppe then to Le Havre for embarkation.

Without the Daily Sketch article I wouldn't have been able to pinpoint Le Havre as being his port of departure.

TEW

 

[Bob Davies]

10 hours ago, TEW said:

I've read through the three CCS dairies for Warlincourt Halte from mid-Feb to mid-March to get a feel of their 'evacuation to base' routine. I'm going to assume that Jack arrived at Warlincourt Halte 1/3/1917 but it changes little if he arrived the following day.

Blimey TEW, that is some searching and understanding of the casualty evacuation right down to the port in double quick time! Thank you so much for your efforts here. I would imagine that 5 weeks from being  wounded to being put on a boat is pretty dam good taking into account Grandads injury and the thousands of other wounded they are looking after. Jacks Mother had an invite to see him in France, however her husband had not long died and so one of Jacks uncles went over to visit him. This information was passed down by word of mouth so no document that I am aware of. If I find one when I am next home I will be sure to let you know the details therein. The news paper was kept in Grandads drawer, much thumbed and loved over the years. I have a copy of a letter sent to my Grandmother April 1974. It if from a survivor of the 'Donegal' hospital ship sunk by the same U boat . He says "both left Le Treport (the best I can decipher it to) on Tues afternoon April 17th 1917 they were in convoy together, Donegal in the front. We were torpedoed first then a few minutes later the Lanfranc was hit. I was picked up by the destroyer Jackal H55. From the deck we watched both the ships go on end and sink." He goes on to say that he was wounded in the head and a bullet through his arm smashing the bone, on Easter Monday April 9th in the battle of Arras. Best wishes and thank you again, Bob.

[s.hibbitt]

On 29/10/2021 at 13:41, Bob Davies said:

Thank you for this link TEW, very interesting. Yes quite a detailed description, the fore name is wrong but the number and the rest fits so it must be him. Do you think that there would be more given if I ask them to send me a copy? I look forward to seeing the evacuation you mentioned later. Best wishes, Bob.

Name: John Griffin.

Rank: Private.

Unit/Battalion/Regiment: 5 The Leicestershire Regiment.

Service number: 4152.

Age: 19.

Hospital(s): 2nd London General Hospital, Chelsea.

Condition/Injury/Disease: Gunshot wound of head, Depressed fracture of skull.

Details and Outcome: Patient admitted suffering with gunshot wound received 01/03/1917. Patient treated at several hospitals in France and England. Under course of treatment patient underwent operation, fragments of shrapnel removed. Further details of treatment given. Discharged.

Number of Pages: 1.

Definitely worth a visit to the archives if you can get there, I wasn't disappointed.  

[Bob Davies]

1 hour ago, s.hibbitt said:

Definitely worth a visit to the archives if you can get there, I wasn't disappointed. 

Thank you for sharing that picture with us s.hibbitt, I bet that made your day :-) it would have done mine! Happy New Year to you, Bob.

[TEW]

Goid result with the medical sheet. I'm still trying to work out how many and which ones have been indexed.

One day these will all be online.

TEW

[s.hibbitt]

45 minutes ago, Bob Davies said:

Thank you for sharing that picture with us s.hibbitt, I bet that made your day :-) it would have done mine! Happy New Year to you, Bob.

Yes it absolutely did. I saw five documents altogether but this one meant the world to me. July 21st 1917, the day he met my Great Grandmother.  It also confirmed that the "Hibbert" mentioned in this original book turned at the corner by either of my Grandparents was my Great Grandad.  I kid you not over a 100 years later it's still not spelt correctly by many.

[s.hibbitt]

15 minutes ago, TEW said:

Goid result with the medical sheet. I'm still trying to work out how many and which ones have been indexed.

One day these will all be online.

TEW

Yes, I requested to see Bert's and Captain Wynne's but was given two large boxes full of 1/4th and 1/5th Leicester lads, although none was in alphabetical order they were great to see. Lost all track of time and spent the entire day in there. 

[Bob Davies]

@garfyboy this thread is what was discovered. Regards, Bob.

Edited 5 September , 2022 by Bob Davies