WW1-Soldier gassed 22/7/1917

[HollyMM]

I was looking through one of the WW1 soldiers records that I have (I've had about 5 cousins and 3 great-great uncles serve in the war--and that's just on my mum's side.  ), and spotted in the papers for Arthur Lyttelton JOHNSON that he'd been gassed severely on 22nd July 1917. Where would he most likely have been serving in France at this time (as it says he marched into France), when he was gassed? It does say on the Casualty Form that he was admitted to the 7th General Hospital in St Ornes (which I assume is in France, because the name sounds very French. I could be wrong, however.)

[km1971]

Hi Holly

If you have his papers it should say which regiment and battalion he was serving in at the time. From that you can be given links to what his unit did in France/Belgium.

Ken

[HollyMM]

I checked for his regiment, and apparently he was with the: Canterbury Infantry Regiment, C Company, 16th Reinforcements 1st NZEF. I've tried looking on the internet, but I haven't come up with anything for this regiment. Where are the best places to look to find out where that particular battalion/regiment served in France/Belgium?

What I have: Canterbury Infantry Regiment, C Company, 16th Reinforcements 1NZEF, and then 3rd Canterbury Tunneling Detachment.

[percy porter]

If you don't get any luck from other sources I'll check my books in the morning. It's a bit late (for me) to do any research tonight.

Alan NZ

[HollyMM]

If you don't get any luck from other sources I'll check my books in the morning. It's a bit late (for me) to do any research tonight.

Alan NZ

Thanks, that would be good if you could do that for me sometime. The internet isn't being very helpful to me at all.

[scrimnet]

The Canterbury Inf Regt was formed in 1914 and was formed from volunteers of the T.F. regiments in Canterbury District:

1st (Canterbury) Regiment,
2nd (South Canterbury) Regiment,
12th (Nelson) Regiment, 
13th (North Canterbury and Westland) Regiment

It was disbanded in 1919

[scrimnet]

There is a book you may like to find...

Ferguson, David. The History of the Canterbury Regiment, N.Z.E.F., 1914-1918. Auckland : Whitcome and Tombs, 1921

[scrimnet]

The New Zealand Division's first major trial on the Western Front was during the Battle of the Somme. It took part in the Fourth Army's attack on 15 September. By the time they were relieved on 4 October, the New Zealanders had advanced three kilometres and captured eight kilometres of enemy front line. More than 7000 had become casualties, of whom 1,560 were killed.

In June 1917 the New Zealand Division further distinguished itself in the storming of Messines ridge. During the Third Battle of Ypres in the following October, however, it was bloodily repulsed in its second attack at Passchendaele; with 850 dead, this remains the worst disaster in New Zealand's history in terms of lives lost in a single day.

Here is some more int...

http://www.diggerhistory.info/pages-nz/nz-infantry.htm

As he was injured in mid July, it appears that he may have been caught in a random gas attack, as the wind was with the enemy...

[HollyMM]

The New Zealand Division's first major trial on the Western Front was during the Battle of the Somme. It took part in the Fourth Army's attack on 15 September. By the time they were relieved on 4 October, the New Zealanders had advanced three kilometres and captured eight kilometres of enemy front line. More than 7000 had become casualties, of whom 1,560 were killed.

In June 1917 the New Zealand Division further distinguished itself in the storming of Messines ridge. During the Third Battle of Ypres in the following October, however, it was bloodily repulsed in its second attack at Passchendaele; with 850 dead, this remains the worst disaster in New Zealand's history in terms of lives lost in a single day.

Thank you for that useful information, scrimnet.