Mule Train in France

[Guest Amanda Clapp]

My Great Grandfather helped to run the Mule Train in France during WW1. I am trying to find out more about him and have tried to locate his medal roll. Unfortunately, there are several people with the same name. I am struggling to find any detailed info about the mule train, I was wondering if there was a specific regiment who controlled it as this may help me locate his details.

thanks

Amanda

[truthergw]

My Great Grandfather helped to run the Mule Train in France during WW1. I am trying to find out more about him and have tried to locate his medal roll. Unfortunately, there are several people with the same name. I am struggling to find any detailed info about the mule train, I was wondering if there was a specific regiment who controlled it as this may help me locate his details.

thanks

Amanda

You really need the help of one of our ASC experts here, but in the meantime, I think you'll find your GGF helped to run a mule train. A heavy wagon drawn by a team of mules. Mules were used singly as pack animals and in teams to pull heavy loads especially over broken ground. The off-road vehicle of the time. Different regiments and Corps used mules.

[KONDOA]

Do you have his name and number. The number may be indicative.

Roop

[jhill]

Although I cannot help with your particular case, the bit I know so far about employment of mules goes something like this:

The units that transported most of the stuff in the forward area seem to have been the Divisional Trains and the Divisional Ammunition Columns. There was one of each in the structure of each Division. From what I have seen so far, it seems mules were more often used with the D.A.C. than with the Train (although I stand only to be corrected!). Both units also had horses and General Service Wagons.

As an example of how mule trains were used in practice, I can point to this page, Employment of Pack Echelon . This is from the report of the Commander, Royal Artillery, Canadian Corps, of the Passchendaele operations in October and November of 1917. Note that procedures were specially adapted for this situation, and mule teams at other times and places may have been quite different. At Passchendaele mules and drivers, along with everone else, were highly stressed. From memory, I recall one report that mules and drivers averaged something over 27 miles in a day. I do not know if that was typical.

[Guest Amanda Clapp]

Do you have his name and number. The number may be indicative.

Roop

Hi there,

His name was William Rosier, but I do not have his number, sadly there are many William Rosier's on the medal roll. I wonder if the cards contain info such as the date of birth. He served in France so I was hoping the card summary which you can view on the national archives web site, might list whether the 1914 or 1914/15 star was awarded, as this may narrow down the search, but I guess this kind of information is only available once you purchase the pdf copy of the medal roll. I'll have to do some more digging with my relatives and see if they can remember any more.

thanks

Amanda

[Guest Amanda Clapp]

Although I cannot help with your particular case, the bit I know so far about employment of mules goes something like this:

The units that transported most of the stuff in the forward area seem to have been the Divisional Trains and the Divisional Ammunition Columns. There was one of each in the structure of each Division. From what I have seen so far, it seems mules were more often used with the D.A.C. than with the Train (although I stand only to be corrected!). Both units also had horses and General Service Wagons.

As an example of how mule trains were used in practice, I can point to this page, Employment of Pack Echelon . This is from the report of the Commander, Royal Artillery, Canadian Corps, of the Passchendaele operations in October and November of 1917. Note that procedures were specially adapted for this situation, and mule teams at other times and places may have been quite different. At Passchendaele mules and drivers, along with everone else, were highly stressed. From memory, I recall one report that mules and drivers averaged something over 27 miles in a day. I do not know if that was typical.

Thanks for the information - it was really interesting.

Amanda