The Action at La Becque

[Gary Samson]

Can any Pals tell me more about, or point me in the direction of a good account of, the action at La Becque on 28 June 1918. I'm starting to put together some research on a sapper of the 5th Divisional Signals Company who died of wounds on 7 July 1918, possibly sustained in this action.

Many thanks

Gary

[Paul Reed]

Have you tried the 5th Division history? The 31st Division were also in action on this day... you probably find some accounts of them. The Accrington Pals were on unit involved; I knew one of their vets who got an MM in this action.

[Chris_Baker]

Try Andrew Jackson's superb site here. This link takes you directly to the page about La Becque.

[Gary Samson]

Thanks, Paul and Chris. I came across Andrew's excellent website this morning, a superb account of the 31st Division's action to the left of the 5th Division's position in the line. I've had a trawl through PROCAT to see what's available at the NA. This produces dozens of references to "Divisional Signal Company" but none has any further useful detail, such as "5th" . I've not actually carried much corps research before and there seems to be something of a learning curve (certainly not as straightforward as pulling out the war diary of the 6th Bn, The Buffs for example).

Thanks again

Gary

[Gary Samson]

Hmm, having probed PROCAT a bit further (should have done this before my earlier post, of course) I think I've found the further detail I need by clicking on the "Context" tab, which does appear to throw up the Division's number. Shame this information isn't produced on the search results page.

Gary