Wounded to Notification Home - A Realistic Window

[Iamsmudge]

@TEW Thank you.

This has muddied the waters somewhat, I was thinking the August 16 wounding and letter resolved and associated with the action at Delville, but now its less clear. See below images for the timeline. I don't suppose there's anyway to know for sure whether this is one event with the notification letter delayed until 26th August for the shrapnel incident on the 10th. Or that he was patched up and wounded a 2nd time at Delville.

There is no record of any casualties for the shelling on the 10th in the war diary, was this normal? I suppose the entry into the 51st FA records makes that irrelevant anyway.

 

Edited 8 November , 2023 by Iamsmudge

[RussT]

5 hours ago, TEW said:

51 FA were running a dressing station on the Montauban-Mametz road and a collecting post in Bernafay Wood.

The logical discharges would either be 'back to duty' or to CCS. Wounded can't be evacuated from an ADS to Hospital so that may mean CCS or to Hospital via CCS, a bit of a vague term though.

There were CCSs at Heilly and Vecquemont, all part of the evacuation chain from 51 FA's ADS.

Correct - even those personnel working in a related official capacity at the time would often use the term hospital in a very general/loose way - and that is why I put the word hospital in quotation marks (as "hospital") in my post. For the sake of completeness here, and it's something I should have made clear at the time, the Column that is ticked with his discharge date is headed "To Other Hospitals" whereas the final column does indeed actually state CCS, so that was the type of facility to where he was evacuated from 51/FA on the same day that he was admitted to the FA. As I noted, the actual CCS is unfortunately not identified. I paginated a few pages backwards but the entries were only ever written simply as CCS. If you go through the list of names/numbers, I am sure you will find Service Records for some of the men on that list which might then help to identify the actual CCS (for that day at least, as they may well have changed the destination CCS, if more than one was available, from time to time).

It's a feature of these A & D Medical Registers that they were pre-printed with pre-formatted Columns/Headings in order to make the individual hand-written entries relatively simple, tidy and to a consistent format for each row. The same generic type of Register was used for all the RAMC facilities - e.g. ADSs, MDSs, FAs, CCSs and Hospitals themselves - so the pre-formatted Column headings, being the same for all facilities, sometimes have to be treated with a little caution rather than interpreted literally.

Regards

Russ

 

[RussT]

I had a quick look for Service Files for men who are recorded in the 51/FA A&D Medical Register as being admitted and discharged on the same day i.e. 10/08/1916 as per Joe Smith.

There are 63 men spread over about 2 1/2 pages of which I found about 15 Service Records - a not untypical hit rate in my experience.

The Service Records were quite variable in quality and many did not have the relevant page(s) which ordinarily would detail a man's progression through the medical evacuation chain - i.e. Army Form B103 - "Casualty Form - Active Service". Those Records that did contain a B103 were also rather variable in their details. Nevertheless, the ones I did find, itemised below, are sufficient I think to draw some reasonable conclusions (all images courtesy FMP)

11563 Scully 9/DoW

The relevant pages of this man's B103 are spread over 2 pages and his movements are not in date order (and I'm not sure whether I have the Rouen institutions correctly transcribed):

WiA 09/08/1916

Admitted 51/FA 10/08/1916

Admitted 1/1st South Midland CCS 10/08/1916

Admitted 2/Convalescence Depot ??, Rouen 12/08/1916

Admitted Convalescence Camp (ex 1/Australian GH) ??, Rouen 13/08/1916

10869 Keeling NF

WiA 10/08/1916

Admitted 51/FA 11/08/1916

Admitted 1/1st South Midland CCS 11/08/1916

Evacuated 23 Ambulance Train 11/08/1916

Admitted 5/GH Rouen 11/08/1916 

Given this man's record in the 51/FA A&D Book is for 10/08/1916, then I think it likely that the dates of 11/08/1916 for 51/FA & 1/1st SM CCS on his B103 are out by one day. Either way, he moves through the entire medical evacuation chain in a couple of days at most, which is quite common for those with less severe wounds and who were "fit" enough to travel.

11425 Gray RFA

Admitted 51/FA 10/08/1916

Admitted 1/1st South Midland CCS 10/08/1916

Admitted 12/GH, Rouen 11/08/1916

Admitted 39/GH, Rouen 12/08/1916

29631 Willmot RF

Admitted 51/FA 10/08/1916

Admitted 1/1st South Midland CCS 11/08/1916

This B103 is one that has been made out retrospectively and I suspect the date for him being admitted to the 1/1 SM CCS should be 10/08/1916 as implied by the 51/FA A&D Book.

26006 Burton DCLI

Admitted "Hospital" 10/08/1916 - I take this to mean 51/FA - an example of the term "hospital" being used loosely.

Admitted 1/1st South Midland CCS 11/08/1916

Evacuated 23/AT 11/08/1916

Admitted 11/SH, Rouen17/08/1916 (this date looks to be incorrect if the evacuation on 23/AT occurred on 11/08/1916)

112529 Heywood RFA

Admitted 1/1st South Midland CCS 10/08/1916

His B103 is evidently missing his previous admission to 51/FA

 

Even given the sometimes inconsistencies in the records, I would be confident in concluding that Joe Smith was moved (possibly by MAC) from 51/FA to 1/1st South Midland CCS (aka 56/CCS, which was located at Vecquemont) on 10/08/1916.

It's probable, although less certain, that he was evacuated from 56/CCS the next day 11/08/1916 on 23/AT to Rouen and being admitted to 5/GH.

War Diaries are available for 56/CCS and 23/AT.

Regards

Russ

 

[Iamsmudge]

@RussT This absolutely amazing thank you.

I'm busy for the next few days, but will resume with those war diaries at the weekend and work your findings into my timeline.

Again thank you very much for your time.