98th Trench Mortar Battery

[Andy Buchan]

My grandfather served with the 98th Trench Mortar Battery between October 1917 and May 1918, but I have been unable to find out very much about this unit - where they fought during this period, what mortars they used etc. Is anyone able to give me this information or suggest where I might look, I have not found anything at Kew.

He had previously served since the beginning of 1916 with the 4th Kings (Liverpool) Regiment.

[Allan1892]

1 hour ago, Andy Buchan said:

what mortars they used etc

The post by Great Uncle Ted in the post from 2018 describes a Mortar Battery

[brianmorris547]

The only War Diary for 98 TMB is WO 95/2427/6 but it only covers October to December 1915. It is on Ancestry under Various (Infantry Brigades) 33 Div - 98 Infantry Brigade Piece 2427. There are 1917-18 War Diaries for the TMBs of 33 Div but they are numbered X/33, Y/33 etc TNA ref WO 95/2413/7.

Brian

[Guest]

This will have been the new infantry-manned Light Trench Mortar Battery in 98th Inf Bde, (which 4th Kings was also part of) formed in June? 1916.

The 1915 diary relates to the  (probably RA-manned as most TMBs in 1915) Battery formed in october 1915 which served with 51st Div and then 32 Div.. and became X/32 TMB in March 1916 when the TMBs were reorganised and all 'Light' batteries became linked to Infantry Brigades.. a number of these diaries seem to have been misfiled in NArchives in divisions they never served with due to sharing same number as Infantry Brigades, which later also had TMBs. .. All a bit confusing as in March 1916 32nd Div had 102, 110, 98, 81, 88, and 108 Trench Mortar Batteries:- 88 became Y/32, 98 becames X/32 and 102 became Z/32, the others being 'Light' infantry TMBs

I would think the 98 Infantry Brigade (or Div HQ) diaries for 33rd Div are likely to refer to the unit as the Brigade controlled it.. It will have been using 3" Stokes mortars I think, I think standard in all the 'Light' infantry TMBs. Divisional HQ A&Q diaries often provide useful summary casualty returns which can often be informative when units see much action (and casualties)..

Edited 12 November , 2023 by battiscombe
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