Henry Buckingham RA 936154/8819

[TullochArd]

Una Birch Pope-Hennessey in her 1920 "Map of the main prison camps in Germany and Austria" guide describes as follows:  "SKALMIERSCHUTZ. - This place is five miles from Ostrovo on the Polish Frontier. It is a very large camp for Russians and Roumanians, to which British prisoners were sent in March, 1918. American prisoners here. 5th Army Corps."

It shows German V Army Corps (Posen) as the administrative formation at Mannschaftslager SKALMIERSCHUTZ.  My understanding is that each of the 25 German Army Corps were individually responsible for all aspects of PW Handling within resources - from capture to camp. It therefore follows that a V Army Corps unit captured Henry Buckingham.

Edited 4 October , 2022 by TullochArd

[ianjonesncl]

Can anyone place BOUWINCOURT on a map?

This may give an indication of the division that was in the area.

 

[PRC]

4 hours ago, ianjonesncl said:

Can anyone place BOUWINCOURT on a map?

This may give an indication of the division that was in the area.

 

Ian,

What sort of map are you after?

As previouly posted the 25 Field Ambulance, part of 8th Division, spent most of the day trying to pull back "over the ridge" and into BOUVANCOURT, finally establishing there by mid-afternoon. The mornings' diary entries note they were also receiving casualties from 50th Division and 25th Division. I've previously listed the RFA Brigades, Divisional Ammunition Columns, and Medium Trench Mortar Batteries of all three Divisions as a potential starting point.

Given the fluidity of the situation Henry Buckingham could also have been a straggler from a Division previously located in the area before other Divisions were rushed in to shore up the line.

For the same fluidity reason I suspect a trench map will be of little value. Breakdowns in communication and poor intelligence may make Divisional, Corps and Army diaries and maps out of synch with the reality of boots on the ground. The bulk of the 25 Field Ambulance along with a Field Ambulance from 25th Division were captured at BOUVANCOURT in the evening of the 27th and the actual war diary was lost. What there is in its place is the details one individual can remember - he was among those captured when German soldiers appeared at the opening of their dugout but in the subsequents moves he was able to evade capture and regain the allied lines.

Judging from this thread it looks like it was IX Corps and the other Division was the 21st

On page 18 of the thread forum member @Joe Toy has added this map, showing Bouvancourt down near the botton, half way across.

Source is nor stated but hopefully someone will recognise it.

Cheers,
Peter

[ianjonesncl]

24 minutes ago, PRC said:

What sort of map are you after?

Like the one you published.

Many thanks

 

 

[Buckingham]

On 29/09/2022 at 09:17, David Porter said:

The number 936154 falls in a small group of TF personnel at the end of the 935001 - 940000 series. Some had been transferred to the Regular Army in 1916 or 1917 and got a new number. The alternative is a transfer from a London Army Veterinary Corps unit to the RFA in July 1917 (and possibly where the 8819 comes from) and 245318 is also in a block of AVC transfers. So I would say, he was originally in the AVC TF then transferred to a Regular RFA unit (initially a Reserve Brigade) to get 245318 then, as he was on a TF attestation, his number was changed to 936154 to reflect that. He may never have served in the 3rd London Brigade RFA i.e. 282nd and 292nd Brigades etc., unlike many with such numbers. 

EDIT: A lot of the 2453xx numbers refer to men from 1st London Divisional Veterinary Hospital at the Showground, Tunbridge Wells transferred to 3C Reserve Brigade RFA at Swanage on July 10, 1917. It is possible that 8819 is actually a corruption of TT0819 as that is the form of number the others had. A few were transferred to 4B Reserve Brigade RFA at Woolwich at the same time.

 

On 29/09/2022 at 23:00, Gunner 87 said:

Henry was a POW as per the attached. Unfortunately it only lists his unit at RFA 'C'... 

A quick question, is it possible that the c on Henrys POW listing could relate to the transfer from 1st London Divisional Veterinary Hospital at the Showground, Tunbridge Wells transferred to 3C Reserve Brigade RFA? Or is that unlikely? Or not possible timings wise. Apologies if I am getting confused.

Thanks for the extra information and Map.

Edited 4 October , 2022 by Buckingham

[David Porter]

That connection is highly unlikely as his service record would not have followed him as a prisoner. It is more probable that the "c" was for casualty as he may have been sent to 25 Field Ambulance prior to being captured but actual unit unknown to the German forces.

[ianjonesncl]

Guns of 25th Divisional Artillery were in action in the area of BOUVANCOURT during the German assault 27th May 1918.

Source: War Diary CRA 25th Division WO 95/2230/41918 Jan 1 - 1918 Sept 30

[Buckingham]

Thank you David.

Thank you Ian.