4th Entrenching Battalion France

[Steff Jacks]

Hi all,

I have seen on the war service record that my ancestor joined the 4th Entrenching Battalion when he arrived in France in 1916. 

Can anyone please tell me why he would have joined this and also what he would have done?

He went on to join his battalion (the 12th Middlesex) in March. 

Thanks

Steph

[charlie962]

LongLongTrail is always a good place to start.

https://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/army/other-aspects-of-order-of-battle/entrenching-battalions/

[charlie962]

There is a war diary here, free to download if you register. 

https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/fd65fe816c9d47beb1dfbf6733e6d0c0

Not sure how much detail.

[FROGSMILE]

3 hours ago, Steff Jacks said:

Hi all,

I have seen on the war service record that my ancestor joined the 4th Entrenching Battalion when he arrived in France in 1916. 

Can anyone please tell me why he would have joined this and also what he would have done?

He went on to join his battalion (the 12th Middlesex) in March. 

Thanks

Steph

Entrenching battalions were usually used for the rapid construction of new lines of trenches when there was an urgent requirement for realigned defences in the period before the Labour Corps was created to carry out such work (among other things) in 1917.  They were widely considered by some a wasteful, but necessary use of infantry in extremis, and were temporary units largely created by taking the rumps of battalions reduced to cadre strength by attrition, and adding to them drafts from the infantry base depots (IBD) that had not yet been assigned to their intended units.  These pro tem battalions were generally broken up once they had carried out their intended tasks, and then used to reinforce and bring other denuded battalions up to full, trench strength.

Edited 2 September , 2023 by FROGSMILE