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General => Armed Forces => World War One => Topic started by: obsessedorwhat on Friday 03 June 11 19:48 BST (UK)
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:-\ Could someone alleviate my monumental ignorance please? Sorry, I just need this clarifying if poss; in the quest to try and discover our grandfather's battalion during his WW1 service; have got the reference numbers from the National Archives re war diaries that may be worth a look at in connection with the above, but something occurred to me. On his medal index card, the date entered is 7 October 1915; could someone tell me if possible what is the signifiance of entering these dates - in terms of, say, does this mean the date he got to the Western Front? And if so, this might help further narrow down his battalion??
Thank you as always for any help.
;)
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7 October 1915
If that is the date on the bottom left of the MIC then it is the date he landed in a "war zone" It should also say "France" or whatever, or if not give a number that you can translate to the war zone.
If you go to Long Long Trail and look up the Regt, then see what battalion landed in France that day, it is usually a good pointer that that is his battalion (but obviously not 100%)
The dates are put on if the man qualifies for 1914 or 1915 Star
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Remember that some war diaries can be downloaded as PDF files so removing the need to visit Kew. It used to cost £3-50 per diary (might in fact contain several unit diairies).
Also bear in mind that though the diaries are usually very informative etc. they may well NOT mention your man by name. Officers were usually mentioned by name but not other ranks. e.g. 'Lt Bloggs and 3 OR (other ranks) were wounded...'
That said if he took part in a raid or similar he might get a mention in a detailed report of said raid.
Without wishing to complicate things I found that sometimes the Brigade war diary (i.e. the unit the battalion reported to) might contain a detailed report from the battalion on a particular raid etc. where no copy survived in the battalion war diary (such reports were often separate appendices rather than routine war diary entries).
Bernard
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:D
Corisande, Bernard, thank you v much for that info, v helpful indeed. Having checked the Long, Long, Trail it seems increasingly possible my grandfather was in the 8th Battalion, east yorks. Thank you re tip for the PDF; + I hadn't thought to check out the brigade diaries either, so will follow that up.
Much appreciated indeed.
;)
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The war diary for the 8th Battalion East Yorkshire Regiment is available as a download from the NA - cost £3.50 - see here:
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documentsonline/details-result.asp?Edoc_Id=8199308&queryType=1&resultcount=4
Just click on "add to shopping" and follow on from there.
jds1949
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Many thanks :D JDS1949 for that link - will save me trawling!
;)
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Also worth checking the Medal Roll (to which the MIC refers) and it may well have his battalion on the roll.
Sue
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;) Thank you for that Sue, shall try this also.