emrezmen Posted 17 January Share Posted 17 January Hello, I am looking for information on the activities of the 135th Company RE at Gallipoli. I couldn't find any information about the service of this unit, except that it was responsible for digging the famous well at the mouth of Gully Ravine. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michaeldr Posted 18 January Share Posted 18 January Emre, I'm very sorry, but this is a mystery to me: I can't find anything on 135 Company https://www.nzsappers.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Corps-History-Vol-06.pdf This is a link to the relevant RE History and 135th Company do not appear in the OoB for Gallipoli – see Appendix I, page 415> https://www.re-museum.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/Library-War-Diaries-WW1.pdf is the RE Library's own list of War Diaries for the Great War and only one unit bears the number '135' – an Army Troop Company which served on the Western Front Our GWF Pal Terry_Reeves is a great expert on the RE and I hope that this catches his eye and that he can help. One final thought is that 135 Company might have been at Gully Ravine sometime post-1916. Either with the army of occupation or even much later (NATO perhaps) and done some repairs then. regards, Michael Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brianmorris547 Posted 18 January Share Posted 18 January In October and November 1915 No 5 Fortress Co RA RE were working on wells and reservoirs in the area. The WD is on Ancestry under Gallipoli - RE - 9 Corps. Brian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michaeldr Posted 18 January Share Posted 18 January Brian, I admit to not being familiar with the unit which you mention, however 9 Corps was active at Suvla, while in this case Emre is looking for an RE Company involved with a particular well at Gully Ravine, Helles - ie 8 Corps and a different area of operations regards, Michael Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alantwo Posted 18 January Share Posted 18 January (edited) On 17/01/2024 at 16:39, emrezmen said: Hello, I am looking for information on the activities of the 135th Company RE at Gallipoli. I couldn't find any information about the service of this unit, except that it was responsible for digging the famous well at the mouth of Gully Ravine. Any help would be greatly appreciated. There are several references to the 136th Field Company RE and the digging of wells in the 8th Corps CRE War Diary (1915 Aug - 1916 Jan) not sure if that will help. Regards Alan Edited 18 January by alantwo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brianmorris547 Posted 18 January Share Posted 18 January (edited) 6 hours ago, michaeldr said: Brian, I admit to not being familiar with the unit which you mention, however 9 Corps was active at Suvla, while in this case Emre is looking for an RE Company involved with a particular well at Gully Ravine, Helles - ie 8 Corps and a different area of operations regards, Michael Michael The War Diary records that 5 Co RA RE moved from Suvla to the W Beach area in October. It looks as though Alan has solved it though EDIT Michael Apologies Sir. I re checked 5 RA RE and you are quite right. It was West Beach at Suvla not W Beach. Alan is correct. The WDs of RE 8 Corps (piece 4275 - CRE and 5 RM RE) record that No 5 Co Royal Monmouthshire RE and 136 Fortress Co were at Helles throughout and were working on Wells, Reservoirs and Piers Brian Edited 18 January by brianmorris547 additional info Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
b3rn Posted 18 January Share Posted 18 January (edited) Royal Engineers 8th Corps Piece 4275: 8th Corps: Commander Royal Engineers (1915 Aug-1916 Jan) [From a report dated 6 September 1915.] "A well has been sunk by the 136th Fortress Co. R.E. at GULLY BEACH which promises to give an excellent supply of water. Water has been pronounced to be of good quality by the Medical authorities." JA Gibbon Brig-General, C.E., 8th Army Corps A quick browse of the other 70 pages revealed no other mention of this particular well, although I might've missed a reference. Some interesting comments about lack of material and labour (especially in comparison to the French) and the late arrival of deep well boring plant, which produced abundant water, with which a large amount of sickness might've been avoided. Edited 18 January by b3rn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michaeldr Posted 19 January Share Posted 19 January 7 hours ago, b3rn said: [From a report dated 6 September 1915.] "A well has been sunk by the 136th Fortress Co. R.E. at GULLY BEACH which promises to give an excellent supply of water. Water has been pronounced to be of good quality by the Medical authorities." JA Gibbon Brig-General, C.E., 8th Army Corps Thanks for that quote Bern. Over the course of the campaign there were several wells dug in this vicinity, including one by Joe Murray of the Hood Battalion RND. However, 'excellent supply' certainly seems to suggest that the well dug by 136th Fortress Co. is likely to be the one which survives to this day. Nevertheless, as pointed out by Emre in his o.p., and by Steve Chambers in his book on Gully Ravine, we still have the problem of the marking on the well reading 'RE 135 Company' – see pages 161/2 of Steve's book Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michaeldr Posted 19 January Share Posted 19 January (edited) Even the RE official history seems confused about which company was involved with the well here. from the link in the second post above [ https://www.nzsappers.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Corps-History-Vol-06.pdf] R.E. IN THE AUTUMN (page 89 of HISTORY OF THE CORPS OF ROYAL ENGINEERS, VOLUME VI GALLIPOLI, MACEDONIA, EGYPT AND PALESTINE 1914-18) “... A well was sunk by the 136th Monmouth Army Troops Company at Gully Beach.” This one name appears to be two different units - 136th Fortress Company RE and the 5th Siege Company Royal Monmouthshire RE. Perhaps then, we should not be surprised by the Sapper marking the wrong number in his fresh concrete? Edited 19 January by michaeldr Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dai Bach y Sowldiwr Posted 19 January Share Posted 19 January (edited) On 18/01/2024 at 06:40, michaeldr said: Our GWF Pal Terry_Reeves is a great expert on the RE and I hope that this catches his eye and that he can help.i You need to tag him like this @Terry_Reeves Edited 19 January by Dai Bach y Sowldiwr Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michaeldr Posted 19 January Share Posted 19 January Thanks Dai but I've reached the age where even if I got it right, there's no guarantee I can repeat the feat. I've just had a 60 minutes video chat with my family in the UK and it's the same every week - a full five minutes until we each get our screens the right way up Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry_Reeves Posted 19 January Share Posted 19 January I can’t add any more to the post I’m afraid. It does seem that 136 Company is the most likely candidate. TR Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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