9th South Staffs

[Guest Sapper George Marchant]

My Grandfather George Charles Marchant enlisted in (have copy of his army form Z.21) the Royal Engineers on 11th December 1915 he was aged 36. I guess this was one of Kitcheners new armies.

It appears that at sometime he was placed in the 9th Battallion of the South Staffordshires - he was discharged from them in March 1919. Having seen action in Italy ( he left France on the 11th November 1917 for Italy)

I have a copy of a letter he sent from his first training camp called Marfa Camp in Conway, North Wales - he describes himself as part of 5th Company, Regiment 179006 - in his letter he refers to tedious route marches and fieldworks

anyway...

I had some questions

1. What would be the circumstances by which you would end up in a different regiment to the one you enlisted for?

2. What was 5th Company, Regiment 179006?

3. At what point would it be expected that he would have transferred from the training camp to the front.

4. would it have been possible that he would have been a Sapperin the 9th South Staffs - if yes what would have been his duties typically

5. What advice could you offer me to learn more about the 9th South Staffs?

Thank you for your kind consideration

[watchman]

Hi

I have looked at a copy of the History of the South Staffordshire Regiment and it only has one page on the 9th Battalion:-

9th Battalion(pioneers) South Staffordshires

Raised at Lichfield sept 1914

Trained until Feb 1915

Overseas in August 1915

Part of the 69th Infantry Brigade,23rd Divisionlanded in france 25th August 1915

Rest of 1915 & until April 1916 they were in Armentieres area repairing roads and trenches. Work also on Somme during great battles of 1916 at Ypres and Messines.

Stayed in ypres section until Nov 1917 when they went to Italy.

June 1918 help smash the great Austrian offensive.

Stayed in Italy until Feb 1919 when they arrived back at Lichfield for demobilisation April 1919.

"As a poineer Battalion they did some remarkable work, particularly in tunnelling. They built many bridges over the Piave, in Italy, one, especially, biult over the Livenzariver, was capable of carrying a weight of over ten tons".

Have you got any medals or docs showing his number? If so check in the medal rolls to see what he is listed as serving in and then conduct a search based on the regiment.

Also a trip to PRO may get you a look at the war diaries which will give you a bigger idea of where what and when your grandfather did.

Andrew