graemejw Posted 22 April Share Posted 22 April My great grand uncle had the terrible misfortune to be killed by a premature shell explosion - he was a Bombardier in the RFA (94th Bde) & died on 27th November 1916 at Noyelles - while bombarding Cite St Elie. It happened around a month after they had been engaged in the Battle of Le Transloy. The Regimental Diary is a great source of information - i am not sure how to link it here as I access it on Ancestry. https://www.ancestry.co.uk/imageviewer/collections/60779/images/43112_2141_3-00060?ssrc=&backlabel=ReturnBrowsing&pId=615511. He is buried in Vermelles Cemetry. https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/252778/h-r-williams/ I am just wondering what they would have been doing at Noyelles & for what reason during November 1916? It seemed like a quiet month after the dramatic engagements of October 1916. Is there a map that would show the approximate position of the batteries during November 1916? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Admin Michelle Young Posted 23 April Admin Share Posted 23 April Welcome to the forum. The war still carried on along the Western Front. Although after the battle of Loos in September-October 1915, there were no major actions in the sector, but the area still had to be manned. Raids and the like were carried out. Maybe they were sent to the sector to “rest” after their actions further south. I would imagine the war diaries would give the battery positions. If you can share the map reference, members should be able to assist you with finding the location. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jay dubaya Posted 23 April Share Posted 23 April Noyelles was the position of the brigde HQ. 'D' Bty, 94th Bde were a 4 gun Howitzer battery and at the time appear to have been located at 36c.G.14.a.7.2. See 21st Division CRA here. J Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
graemejw Posted 23 April Author Share Posted 23 April Jay & Michelle - thanks so much for the replies. I actually now live in Canmore, Alberta in the Canadian Rockies. The Great War is all around us - within a few kms drive there are vast mountain ranges named after people and places from the war - Mount Joffre, the Haig Glacier, Mounts Buller, Shark, Smuts, French & many more https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spray_Mountains Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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