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Remembered Today:


Terry_Reeves

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4 hours ago, leo mcguire said:

I just discovered my Grand father..Anthony McGuire...Royal Engineers...Reg # 130154....was wounded in the foot and sent back to a hospital in the UK for treatment and then discharged from the Engineers and sent back to Canada. Would you know which hospital he might have been sent to and would I be able to check their records etc. This would have been in late 1916...

Thanks Leo McGuire

Leo

 

I can’t help directly with you question I’m afraid. He had previous service with the King’s Liverpool Regiment with the number 5193 and would have been transferred to the RE in March 1916. Unless there is a medical record somewhere I think you may be struggling to find where he was treated. I have extracted the names of all the men named in the unit war diaries however and will have a look through them to see if he is mentioned in respect of being a casualty, which would then give some sort of time line.

4 hours ago, leo mcguire said:

I just discovered my Grand father..Anthony McGuire...Royal Engineers...Reg # 130154....was wounded in the foot and sent back to a hospital in the UK for treatment and then discharged from the Engineers and sent back to Canada. Would you know which hospital he might have been sent to and would I be able to check their records etc. This would have been in late 1916...

Thanks Leo McGuire

 

2 hours ago, brianmorris547 said:

Terry

I was trying to find another name on a Mesopotamia list, Green, L which led me to two records on FMP (neither of which was who I was looking for).

178921 Pnr L Green, 1 Bn SB died 24/08/1916 (There are two records for him in the British Jewry Book of Honour, one of which is a photograph) and 179455 L/Cpl H Green. The book can be searched and contains other SB men.

Brian

Brian thanks. I do have the book on CD somewhere.

 

TT

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Terry

I thought you might have !

Last year you very kindly sent me some lists of SB men wounded between September 1916 and early 1917. Nine pages in all. Can you please tell me which WD they were from with the WO 95 ref. I can download it next time at Kew.

Cheers

Brian 

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  • 3 weeks later...

Terry

Thanks for the message re WO 95/122. Downloaded.

One of the names in 122/6 (casualty lists October 1916) is 41724 Sgt Orrin, J. He is named in an extract from Fourth Army Routine Orders for an act of bravery on 09/02/1918. The document is in the service record of 60979 Cpl Skelly RE, who is also named with 44922 2/Cpl Locke.

Brian

Edited by brianmorris547
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  • 1 month later...

Hi there,

Im trying to find out some information about my Grandfather Harry Burton born 1893 (some state 1894)

Apparently N Special Company
To all accounts he was Royal Engineer 28890 who served on Western Front.

He later transferred to RFC/RAF as Pilot Cadet 318989

 

Would live to know if you could find any other information or point me to where I could find any further service records.
I have trawled archives, ancestry, find my past but think that his records may have been destroyed WW@

 

Would appreciate any assistance you could provide.

 

Thanks, Paul

 

 

Harry Burton Colourised and Edited.jpg

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Pabs

 

Can you say where you got the information from regarding Harry's number? According to the RE medal rolls 28890 was allocated to Sapper Edward J Smith.

 

TR

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Pabs

 

There is a zero missing from the number in your original post, however, this still remains a mystery as 288900 per his RFC record does not appear in the RE medal rolls either, nor is there an index card for him with that number.  I'll see what I can do.

 

TR

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  • 4 weeks later...
On 15/12/2018 at 17:57, Terry_Reeves said:

Jon

 

Sorry I missed your post,, I was abroad when you posted it. Hope you had a good trip and thanks for posting the photograph.

 

He does have as service record, if you haven't  seen it let me know and I will post the details.

 

TR

 

 

So sorry Terry.  I sent this message last November, then didn't check for replies.  My omission.  Yes, I've had my Grandad Lovett's service record for a number of years now.  I also went up to Kew and looked through the war diary of No. 2 Special Co'y.  (I've recently been able to download the complete diary and that of 77 Field Ambulance, where he was cared for when suffering from shell shock.)  I've just finished reading Richter's book 'Chemical Soldiers'.  I didn't find any reference to No. 2 Special Co'y, indeed the Stokes mortar units don't get very much mention.  Would that be because they weren't considered as significant in the campaign?  I plan to visit France in March next year.  My wife and I have booked an Airbnb in St Omer, very close to Helfaut.  From the Company war diary I've traced the route my grandfather might have travelled in 1917-18.  I hope to visit some of the significant locations.  I realise that there will be little to see today.

I'd value any thoughts/ suggestions you might have.

Jonathan

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 Jonathan

 

No worries.  With regard to Richter, I guess it is because he was concerned with the bigger picture so to speak. The mortar companies certainly played their part and suffered a lot of casualties. 

 

I would recommend visiting the following:

 

Wizernes:  Special Brigade men detrained at the small station there and marched up the hill to Helfaut. Google map ref: 50.707112, 2.246492

 

The chalk quarry, just a few hundred metres away, where the original SB men practised their revolver firing. This is now a French Army  firing range at the bottom of the hill. Google map ref: 50.705038, 2.247190

 

The La Couple Centre de' Histoire which is  close by and sign posted (see also Google maps) This is a WW2 German V weapon site and is very well worth a visit.

 

The Mairie in Helfaut which served as the Special Brigade HQ and Depot BEF throughout the war.It can be found in Rue du Pipistraque.

 

Longuenesse (St Omer) Souvenir  Military Cemetry. The  details can be found on the CWG web site. With regard to the Special Brigade, it contains the grave of Pioneer Sijli Abdul Ali who was killed whilst in hospital at St Omer as the result of an air raid. Of Indian descent, he was born in England. If you would like to send me you e-mail address via the forum message system I will send you the details.

 

St Omer. This was the British GHQ from October 12, 1914  to 31 April, 1916. Again, I can send you some details via an e-mail.

 

TR

 

 

 

 

Edited by Terry_Reeves
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1 hour ago, Terry_Reeves said:

 Jonathan

 

No worries.  With regard to Richter, I guess it is because he was concerned with the bigger picture so to speak. The mortar companies certainly played their part and suffered a lot of casualties. 

 

I would recommend visiting the following:

 

Wizernes:  Special Brigade men detrained at the small station there and marched up the hill to Helfaut. Google map ref: 50.707112, 2.246492

 

The chalk quarry, just a few hundred metres away, where the original SB men practised their revolver firing. This is now a French Army  firing range at the bottom of the hill. Google map ref: 50.705038, 2.247190

 

The La Couple Centre de' Histoire which is  close by and sign posted (see also Google maps) This is a WW2 German V weapon site and is very well worth a visit.

 

The Mairie in Helfaut which served as the Special Brigade HQ and Depot BEF throughout the war.It can be found in Rue du Pipistraque.

 

Longuenesse (St Omer) Souvenir  Military Cemetry. The  details can be found on the CWG web site. With regard to the Special Brigade, it contains the grave of Pioneer Sijli Abdul Ali who was killed whilst in hospital at St Omer as the result of an air raid. Of Indian descent, he was born in England. If you would like to send me you e-mail address via the forum message system I will send you the details.

 

St Omer. This was the British GHQ from October 12, 1914  to 31 April, 1916. Again, I can send you some details via an e-mail.

 

TR

 

 

 

 

Thanks Terry. My email is 180devonshire@gmail.com

Jonathan

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Don't go to France assuming there will be little left to see. Get trench maps relating to your war diaries and overlay them on modern satellite imagery. Not only did we find broad battlefields but actual tracks followed and even a very obvious machine gun post.

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7 hours ago, Stuart T said:

Don't go to France assuming there will be little left to see. Get trench maps relating to your war diaries and overlay them on modern satellite imagery. Not only did we find broad battlefields but actual tracks followed and even a very obvious machine gun post.

Thanks Stuart

I'm not sure my technological abilities stretch that far!  Can you give me any tips as to which website/s have the most accurate trench maps that can be downloaded?

Places mentioned in the War Diary of No. 2 Special Co'y include: Verquioneul, Sailly Labourse, Nieppe, Eikhoek, Zillebeke, Poperinghe, Forthem, Grand Bois, Neuve Eglise, Hazebrouck, Pont de Metz, Ruitz & Arras.  I realise that some of these places may have been training/ back-up locations, away from the front line trenches.

Jonathan

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I started with the National Library of Scotland which shows you how the sheets line up and overlap. They have a number of dates (use the closest) and scales. Read the instructions and persevere!

The best downloads (up to 1GB) are from McMaster.edu.  check the different series available. I found that trench maps were hiding on page two of the contents.

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13 hours ago, Stuart T said:

I started with the National Library of Scotland which shows you how the sheets line up and overlap. They have a number of dates (use the closest) and scales. Read the instructions and persevere!

The best downloads (up to 1GB) are from McMaster.edu.  check the different series available. I found that trench maps were hiding on page two of the contents.

Thanks Stuart.  I will investigate!

Jonathan

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi Terry,

 

Have you ever come across mention of Cpl 106469 Harold John Thorp enlisted in July 1915 into the RE and listed as a chemist. Some of his service papers survive but not sufficient to ID which company he served. 

 

Later commissioned Lieut (A/Capt) RE and served in I believe the Special Gas School.

 

He was awarded an MBE in 1919.

 

Resigned his commission in 1922. 

 

Best 

 

 

Mark 

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Mark

 

I have him in my database as a schoolmaster, likely to have been teaching chemistry. On commissioning he was posted the Depot Special Brigade thence to P Special Company. He trained as a teacher at Isleworth Teacher Training College , London.  He married Gladys Reddall in 1932 and in 1939 was Head of Rowan Boys Central School, residing at 53 Moyser Rd, Wandsworth.  I have no record of his company in 1915, but there is a possibility it was 189 Company.

 

TR

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Thanks again Terry,

 

You help always appreciated 

 

Mark 

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Apologies in advance that this post is a little off topic, but I wanted to make sure you saw this Terry.

 

It is from the 37th Division Intelligence Report for 16 Oct 1918 and concerns German "Reizkörper", which were originally used for gas mask training, but in the last 100 days appear to have been used to delay sappers clearing mines and booby traps in captured villages.

 

Reizkörper roughly translates as "irritant vessel".

 

I'm not sure what "B-Stoff" on the sketch means, but I suspect it is an abbreviation for Bromwasserstoff - hydrogen bromide, which certainly is a lung irritant and several of the German lachrymatory weapons were based on organic compounds of bromine.

 

I can find no other reference to Reizkörper here on the Forum, nor are they mentioned in the Gas Warfare volume of the OH.

 

Mark

 

754851663_37thDivIntellReport16Oct1918-Reizkrper01.jpg.e5ff22e25187df561d0f517de6ea4e6f.jpg

<snip>

1376270790_37thDivIntellReport16Oct1918-Reizkrper02.jpg.d8fe220e324d939bb39eff9f48343af8.jpg

<snip>

998477688_37thDivIntellReport16Oct1918-Reizkrper03.jpg.9dbd84f1052dd9e8d9322867aa3f5fb4.jpg

 

Some pictures of *probably* the WW2 version ..

spacer.png

 

spacer.png

 

 

and the cylindrical tin mentioned in the Intell Summary

spacer.png

 

 

Sources:

Dutch Grenades, Mines & Boobytraps site (in English)

A WW2 Wehrmacht militaria forum

Edited by MBrockway
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Mark

 

Many thanks for posting this , I have never come across such a device. B Stoff was Bromacetone, a strong lachrymator which would have caused some problems in a confined space.

 

Merry Christmas to you and yours.

 

TR

Edited by Terry_Reeves
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To you and yours also Terry! spacer.png

 

 

Just to finish off the diversion into gas mask testing/training, I came across this sad anecdote in the OH Diseases of the War gas warfare volume:

 

1033597444_OHDiseasesIIp465.jpg.40d220346eba0cc256fdb9ea59c17f8c.jpg

[OH Diseases of the War II, p.465]

 

Mark

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  • 3 months later...

Out walking in my local Churchyard (Ecclesall, Sheffield) came across a family grave which also commemorated J Reginald Layland B.Sc., who died 14th July 1918.  CWGC database says he was a Sapper in the 4th Special Company.  Any idea of what his Company was doing in July 1918?   I'd like to place a poppy cross at the family grave come 11th Nov., so any information about the man will make it more meaningful.

 

Thanks

 

Edwin

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Edwin

 

No 4 Company was part of 5th Battalion, responsible the Brigade’s 4 inch Stokes Mortar operations. They fired gas, smoke and incendiary projectiles.

 

188190 Pioneer Joseph Reginald Leyland was killed whilst taking part in preparations for a Stokes Mortar gas operation in the Avion area against trenches along the railway line, probably for an operation which was to be carried out on the 16th July. The railway line can be seen on Google maps.

 

Preparations started on 13.7.18. "O" section carried up ammunition to 11 Divisions front and began work on emplacements. P and Q sections carried up mortar bombs to 20 Division front and all parties remained in the line to dig emplacements.

 

On the 14th,  O section completed the arrangements for the operation on 11 Division front whilst P and Q sections dug emplacements an Q section completed the carrying in of equipment.   The war diary notes that one officer and 4 men killed with 3 men wounded.  The company HQ was at La Coulotte.

 

The fatalities were 2 Lt E A Armitage, who had only been commissioned from the ranks a few months earlier, and Pioneers James Milliken, Albert Williams, William Dick as well of course, J R Leyland.  The exact circumstances of death are not recorded but it was almost certainly due to shell fire.

 

TR

 

Edited by Terry_Reeves
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Excellent! And many thanks.   I was surprised that a man with a B.Sc. degree should not have had a commission.

 

Again, thanks for all the detail.

 

Edwin

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