Gunner Harry Bloom RHA 1440 died 1 June 1918

[ruthpbloom]

My great uncle, Harry Bloom, served with 'O' battery 9th brigade RHA. According to his gravestone in Ribemont Communcal cemetery extension, he died on 1st June 1918.

According to SDGW, he 'died of wounds'. His Memorial Plaque is inscribed 'Gunner 1440 Harry Bloom 2nd June 1918 Henencourt Wood'.

I have accessed the war diary of the 9th brigade and no casualties are noted on June 1st when brigade is 'training in mobile reserve'. There are no casualties noted immediately prior to that date; however on May 21 6 OR are wounded when the brigade is at Contay.

Does anyone have any ideas about where Harry might have been between May 21 and June 1?

Thanks in advance for any help,

Ruth Bloom

[sotonmate]

Ruth

A testing question for a relative rooky here !

I have been checking which Casualty Clearing Stations were around either Contay ( 16kms or so north east of AMIENS and about 12kms west of ALBERT) or Henencourt (just a few kms west of ALBERT) and have come up with no positive name. As you may know around this time the German's began an offensive in this area so was not a nice place to be.

If you think your relative was one of the wounded at Contay then I have only one CCS link, which I can't trace on my Michelin map,and that is MONTIERES CCS 47 which was based near AMIENS in April 1918. I have traced other CCS for near both AMIENS and ALBERT but have discounted them for either date or positional reasons,the majority being to the south west of AMIENS,and maybe too far for your relative to have been taken to,particularly bearing in mind where he was buried.

Hennencourt Wood has no ref as a CCS and may even have been a scene of fighting of it's own. It may equally have been a cemetary in which your relative was buried before being removed to Ribemont. If you read the Ribemont account on the CWGC site you will see that this actually happened,the Cemetary Extension came into being for this reason.

I shall take another look later on but there may be something for you to look at here or it may jog another member's memory !

Best wishes

Sotonmate

[sotonmate]

Ruth

Forgot to mention that there are a few references to Henencourt Wood from some unit histories suggesting that it may be a rest or re-forming area,so it may have included a small CCS. Put the place in the search engine and take a read,you may get a bit more info.

Sotonmate

[ruthpbloom]

Many thanks, Sotonmate.

Montieres has defeated my map-finder too ('mappy').

Re Henecourt Wood - I'm baffled; there's a memorial at Ribemont to the 8 soldiers whose graves at Henencourt Wood cemetery were destroyed in later battles; they were all killed in late March 1918. The extension was started May 1918, and I had assumed that Harry had been buried there directly, but maybe not. There's no indication in the war diary that the brigade was at Henencourt Wood in May - the location is definitely given as Contay, which is about 8km west of the wood.

As suggested, I Googled Henencourt wood and discovered that the Bedfordshires were in reserve there on June 1st 1918.

How far away might the CCS have been? The nearest possibility I've found (barring the mysterious Montieres) is Pernois, which was operating Apr - Aug 1918 and is about 25km away (but even further from Ribemont).

Thanks again for your interest & suggestions,

Ruth

[sotonmate]

Ruth

I saw Pernois (CCS 4),which has it's own 2 CWGC cemeteries,though of the right date range,and thought that maybe it wouldn't have been the place for your relative as he was buried so far away from the 2 possible places that he was wounded and where he was eventually buried.

I will take another look later !

Sotonmate

[ruthpbloom]

Yhanks Sotonmate

I've just taken a closer look at the map and spoted the cemetery at Pernois. Hmmm. Ribemont must have had a CCS - but I haven't been able to track down any cemetery/CCS cross-reference. (Sounds like a research project for somone!!)

Ruth

[alliekiwi]

I'm wondering if it's possibly to contact the CWGC and ask if your relative was one of the ones whose graves were moved to Ribemont and, if so, where was he buried originally?

Allie

[ruthpbloom]

Thanks, Allie

I hadn't thought of that. I'll follow up on that idea,

Ruth

[BJanman]

Ruth

The 141st Field Ambulance was serving with the 9th Brigade, taking over from the 9th Field Ambulance in 1915. It might be worth looking in their war diary for any clues.

Also the 2nd South Westen Mounted Brigade Fld Amb had a Main Dressing Station in Ribemont around that time and the 231 (West Riding) Fld Amb had an Advanced Dressing Station.

It is possible that your Great Uncle died of his wounds when being treated by a Field Ambulance but probably not if he was wounded on May 21st and died June 1st because they only had a holding capacity of a week.

The war diaries might correspond with the amount of wounded arriving though and may tell you which CCS they were passing wounded back to.

Barbara

[ruthpbloom]

Barbara

Many thanks for your reply - I'll have a go a look at those war diaries on Friday.

Ruth

[ruthpbloom]

I'm wondering if it's possibly to contact the CWGC and ask if your relative was one of the ones whose graves were moved to Ribemont and, if so, where was he buried originally?

Allie

I followed up on Allie's suggestion and contacted the CWGC, who replied within a few days to say that my great uncle was moved to Ribemont in August 1919, from trench ref 57d.V.26.b.2.2.

I've looked at the Imperial War Museum site - ref their trench map CD - and suspect that this one is not on it (I think it would equate to 57d SW possibly 4.)

I'll post a query about the map ref on the Western Front forum to see wehther some kind soul know of it - hopefully I will be able to see it at TNA.

Thanks, Allie, for getting me one step nearer finding out where he actually died.

Ruth

[ruthpbloom]

Ruth

The 141st Field Ambulance was serving with the 9th Brigade, taking over from the 9th Field Ambulance in 1915. It might be worth looking in their war diary for any clues.

Also the 2nd South Westen Mounted Brigade Fld Amb had a Main Dressing Station in Ribemont around that time and the 231 (West Riding) Fld Amb had an Advanced Dressing Station.

It is possible that your Great Uncle died of his wounds when being treated by a Field Ambulance but probably not if he was wounded on May 21st and died June 1st because they only had a holding capacity of a week.

The war diaries might correspond with the amount of wounded arriving though and may tell you which CCS they were passing wounded back to.

Barbara

Hi Barbara

I followed up on your suggestions & accessed the war diaries for the 141st & 231, but neither gave me much of a clue. (I don't think the 231 were in the vicinity at the exact date).

However, I've now found out that he was originally buried just south west of Henencourt Wood (57d.V.26.b.2.2) and wondered whether you might know which field ambulance / advanced dressing station might have been operating there in May/June 1918? (A tall order I know, but you seem to be THE expert!)

Best,

Ruth

[BJanman]

Hi Ruth

Just to let you know that nothing is jumping out at me about Henencourt Wood so I will need to do a bit of research into the areas surrounding it and will come back to you.

Barbara

[ruthpbloom]

Hi Barbara

Thanks a lot - much appreciated!

Ruth