909 Garrison Guard Company

[Mike Watkins]

I have been advised by Ivor Lee, who contributes to this forum on Labour Corp matters, that my grandfather served in 909 Garrison Guard Company.

To quote Ivor, 'Garrison Guard units were used to guard place like army bases, railway lines and ammo/store dumps on the lines of communications.

In April 1918 909 together with 3 other GG Companies were formed into 2 Provisional Guard Battalion as part of 199 Brigade. A month later they were redesignated the 35th Battalion Kings Royal Rifle Corps.

These men being used for the purpose of garrisoning the line between SAULTY and HARBARCQ and garrisoning part of the GHQ Line East of AVESNES LE COMTE

Apart from this very little is known about 909 Company. There is no reference to them before April 1918 although they were in existence from November 1917 working on the Lines of Communications'.

Can anyone shed more light on the 909 Garrison Guard Company please?

Thanks for your help.

Mike

[charlesmessenger]

Mike

As you say information is sparse, but the Garrison Guard coys were mainly made up of medically downgraded infantrymen. Hence it was not too difficult to convert them into fully fledged combat soldiers, which is what they became by late August 1918. Indeed, they performed more than creditably as members of 40th and 59th Divisions.

Charles M

[Mike Watkins]

Charles

Many thanks for your response. My grandfather said very little of his war experiences so it is not clear if he joined the Garrison Guard from another unit. According to the Absent Voters List he was in the 909 in 1918 and I understand he was serving in France at the time.

Unfortunately I cannot locate his MIC from the service number stated in the AVL to check his service history and there are many men with the same name (Thomas R Watkins) so a process of elimination is difficult.

Any suggestions on how I can further investigate his service history would be gratefully received please.

Thanks, Mike