21st - 31st Bn in the line. This period has been distinguished for the great deal of work done in the connection with the improvement and strengthening of our trenches and dug outs also for the nightly patrols. Officers & men have been continuously practised in patrol the river bed at night and the negotiable spots of the various streams have been pointed out to each officer and man. Enemy posts have been engaged but we have suffered no casualties up to date. A miniature range has been built and every man has been trained and practised with the rifle whilst the promotion of Inter Company and Inter Platoon Competitions has interested and encouraged the men tremendously.
MENTIONED IN DISPATCHES (London Gazette supplement
December 21st 1917
Lt Col. D Rumbold D.S.O. M.C.
Major D Lewis M.C.
Major F Colley D.S.O. and bar
Capt. R.J.M. Leakey
Capt N. Macleod
Capt L Tester
21st 2/Lt A T Hughes and 7 O.R. proceeded to
20th On the night of the 20/21st Bn relieved the 8th KOYLI on the left of Bn Front. Relief complete at 8.30 P.M.
Disposition. B Coy Right Front Line Coy
C Centre “
D Left
A Support Coy
January 19th Church Services.
Church Parades are on a Saturday. Any ideas why?
18th Coys at O.C Coys disposal for training and Baths at H.Q.
17th A & C Coys at O.C. Coy’s disposal for extended order and practice in attack formation. Range practice for “B” Coy during the morning and the Evelyn Wood party during the afternoon. Officers assembled at Bn H.Q. for discussion of and instruction in tactical schemes.
16th Physical Training, Bayonet Fighting, Musketry & Saluting Drills. Range practice for 'A' Coy. Specialists under own Officers. Medical Officers inspected 'A' Coy for vaccination marks.
15th O.C.s inspection of A,B and C Coys, Scouts and Lewis Gunners. Evelyn Wood Musketry Party, H.Q. Details and Signallers. All Corporals and L/Corporals paraded under the B.S.M. Junior N.C.O.s Class. Companies after inspection were taken in Saluting Drill, Arms Drills, Squad drills and Box Respirator drill. Range practice for C Coy. A Coy did Physical Drill and Bayonet Fighting. Lt Col. S D Rumbold D.S.O., M.C proceeded by rail train to
14th Bn in reserve at VENGAZZU. Coys at disposal of of Os. C. Coys for a necessary inspection and interior economy. Specialists under own officers. Junior N.C.O.’s class. Baths at Bn H.Q. Working parties provided was:- 1 Officer & 50 O.R. to R.S.O. VOLPAGO. 1 Sgt & 20 O.R. to 193rd Coy A.S.C.
The Q.M. and 8 O.R. proceeded on leave to England.
13th Bn was relieved at 2 am by the 8th KOYLI. Bn relief A,B,C Coys and HQ moved via CIANO and BIADENE to billets in VENEGAZZU. D Coy moved to billets 200 y S.E. of the junction of Road 16 with the MILITARY ROAD via Road 16. Relief complete about 5 am.
5th - 12th Bn in the line. During this period in spite of snow and exceptionally cold weather several attempts were made by patrols to cross the river and to reach the enemy's line but owing to the swiftness of the stream its depth and the lack of any chart, no crossing could be effected for some time. Towards the end of our tour in the front line however 2/Lt Flory with a patrol succeeded in definitely locating a sufficiently shallow spot in each stream to enable a continuous crossing to be made and this route has been definitely established. On the first occasion of a patrol crossing the entire bed of the river it was heavily fired upon by a post and withdrew but this post as was ascertained later was removed to a position further East.
12th Capt J W Cook and Lt. A J Ellison proceeded on Italian leave to
4th Bn at MONTEBELLUNA. In the evening Bn relieved the 9th Yorkshire Regiment in the LEFT front line RIGHT sub sector. Relief complete at 8 pm
Dispositions "A" Coy Right front line Coy
"B" Coy Centre " "
"C" Coy Left " "
"D" Coy support Company
3rd Bn at MONTEBELLUNA. Range practice on No 1 Div range - Revolver practice for officers. The working partieswere;- 1 officerand 25 other ranksunder D G O MONTEBELLUNA. 1 sergeant and 10 O.R. MONTEBELLUNA station.
2nd Montebelluna. Physical Drill. Saluting Drill. Box Respirator Drill and musketry. The working parties supplied were:- 1 officer , 25 men for D.G.O. Montebelluna. 1 officer and 30 men at MONTEBELLUNA station unloading flax. 1 N.C.O. and 20 men under O.C. Sanitary Section, MONTEBELLUNA. Loading party of 1 sergeant and 10 O.R. to report to 128 Fld Co Corps R.E. Dump. The Armourer Sergeant inspected rifles of Companies. Bgde Football Championship Final. 8th Y & L v 9th Y & L .
Result 9th 2 8th 0
Baths. Lecture by G.S.O. of the Division, in Bgde Recreation Room BIADENE. All Platoon Comders. attended. Identification Cards issued to all officers.
January 1st 1918 Bn in billets in MONTEBELLUNA. Baths. Coys at disposal of Os C Coys for training on Coy Parade grounds. Specialists under own officers. Working parties. 1 officer, 25 men working under D.G.A. constructing training trench.
1 officer , 1 N.C.O. per Coy reconnoitred the portions of the front line occupied by the left Battalion, Right Brigade sub sector.
8 comments:
The story of Harry that we read yesterday on Corriere della sera newspaper is beautiful and moving.
We are an italian couple that in last two years followed the tracks of a soldier of 96th infantry regiment that died in an attack near Gorizia (in the est area of North of Italy) in 1916, 15 of August. We followed the track in the same mainf that you follow Harry's movement, using the regiment diary that gave us detailed information about locations, dates, timing and movement of Concetto Suma.
The Bank Foundation 'Fondazione Monte di Pietà ' and Handcratf Association 'Confartigianato Vicenza' recently have published the history of the war of Concetto Suma. During our researches following infantry man tracks we took a lot of pics and here you can see some of these WW1 places pictures at this address and take further information about Concetto Suma
Congratulations for Harry'story!
Francesca ed Enrico
I'm using wordpress...you can play with the dates so that they match exactly...see www.france1917.com.
Missing words, sight unseen might be:
reconnoitre
soundings
?
bellissimo lavoro, complimenti
pagine di storia da ricordare
Doriano
Venezia Italia
I downloaded the picture of the entry and played with the brightness and contrast so the words show up better. I believe/guess that the first missing word is "reach" as in "reach the enemy's line" and the second blank might be "any" along with either "boat" or "chart" as in "lack of any boat"
Just my best guesses.
Fantastic series of blogs - well done.
I think the war diaries really do add colour and understanding to Harry's leters. Just one thing; have you thought of publishing a glossary of common abreviations used in the diary? I have found it hard to understand some of the entries because of this.
Keep up the great work.
Good job. I live in the area. Some hints for you. Dec 3rd 1917: MONTELLA is wrong -->MONTELLO
Jan 12th 1918 VENGAZZUA is VENEGAZZU.
Bye bye, Alex
You asked for comments on the diary for the 19th January with regards to the church services. The operative word is SERVICES as opposed to PARADE.
As the Battalion was returning to the line the following day individual faith services would be held, without a Battalion parade, for those individuals who wished to attend.
Keep up the excellent work!
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