War Diary

[kingo]

Anyone got the war diaries for Royal Warwickshires around 8th July 1918 ?.Where were they,and what were they doing ?.Any info much appreciated.

[Dave Phillips]

Hi

I don't have the diary but have a CD copy of Fairclough's 'The First Birmingham Battalion in the Great War'. The battalion were at the front near Nieppe and although weak in numbers were involved in an attack on 28th June. Here is an snippet:

"After this attack, the situation on our front remained

quiet: the enemy made no attempt to recapture the lost

ground, and life followed the ordinary trench routine. The

weather was very hot, and in the surrounding fields crops

were ripening. Efforts were made to garner some of these,

and special officers were appointed to supervise this work.

Patrol work was carried out continually in order to capture

prisoners for identification purposes and, as mentioned

previously, this proved a simple matter. Large drafts were

arriving to make the battalion up to strength. Many of the

men arriving were only eighteen or nineteen years old, but

they were very keen and made good soldiers.

Major R. H. Baily rejoined the battalion on 5th July,

after a course in England, and on 14th July he took over

temporary command of the 1st Cheshires. On the 5th

we relieved the 1st Bedfords in the front line. The transport

had very bad luck on the 8th July, for an aerial bomb

dropped in the transport lines, killing 14 men and wounding

16. A move back to rest at Arcadia Camp was made on

11th July, but the huts were found to be leaking very badly,

and the battalion was employed for several days in making

them rainproof.

Little more remains to be said of our stay in the Nieppe

area, for on 1st August, the battalion went back to Steenbecque,

where it was inspected by the new divisional

commander, and on 6th August, the 61st Division took over

the front from the 5th Division, who were destined to move

further back for a divisional rest. With this relief ended

our Nieppe experiences, which had opened full of excitement,

and ended after a burst of activity, in peaceful trench

life conditions."

It seems that they suffered from a bombing attack on the 8th July.

All the best

Dave

[kingo]

Many thanks Dave.may i ask where you got the CD from ?.The information is for a mate of mine and it sounds as if this would be a good purchase for him.

[Dave Phillips]

The CdRom actually contains 5 Books and can be found here:

http://www.midlandshistoricaldata.org/

Look for the compendium edition - £20.

It's been one of my best buys!!

Dave

[kingo]

Cheers Dave.