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I know my ancestor who was serving in King's Own (Royal Lancaster Regiment) was killed on 2 September 1916. Is it possible to find exactly where this regiment was on that day as I hope to visit the battlefields and would like some idea of exactly where he was on that day.
Thanks in anticipation.
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Maybe someone here can help you:-
King's Own Royal Regiment Museum
City Museum
Market Square
Lancaster
Lancashire
LA1 1HT
Tel: 01524 64637
http://www.kingsownmuseum.plus.com
Kath. x
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Thanks Kathleen. Will try that.
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Each unit kept a "War Diary", so once you know his battalion, you could look at that unit's war diary, as well as the higher units (brigade, division, corps, army) containing that unit. Most of the Australian combat units WDs are free and online, and the Canadians have more than that free and online. I have also seen an online transcription of a Gordon Highlanders battalion's WDs online. There is a good online description of WDs via the "Online Help" link at:
http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/archivianet/020152_e.html
Unless he did something particularly gallant, or was an officer, your guy is unlikely be named in the WD. The guy I was researching got two mentions on:
http://data2.collectionscanada.ca/e/e045/e001118444.jpg
In case you missed him, his mentions are: 'All our wounded brought in and cleared by 10.30 a.m.' and in the summary after 28/10/1917: '204 Other Ranks "Wounded"'.
A battalion was nominally about 1000, but, especially later in the war, units would not be at full strength. My guy was a Canadian, in the 58th battalion, which was one of 4 infantry battalions in the 9th brigade, which was one of 4 brigades in the 3rd Can division, which was one of 4 divisions in the Canadian Corps. Especially later in the war, the Canadian infantry battalions didn't move around in the command structure, unlike the British. However the Canadian Corps as a whole was moved from army to army. (However, the Canadian Mounted Rifles did get moved around a bit.) The brigade also had a trench mortar company. The division and the corps both had units of their own, which they would attach to the lower levels for particular operations.
So for the particular example above, which was one of the phases (Passchendaele I) in the Third Battle of Ypres, the 9th brigade consisted of the HQ and signal section, its 4 infantry battalions (43, 52, 58, 116), its TM Battery (9), an MG Coy (9), an engineer coy (9), a field ambulance coy (9), a heavy & medium TM Batt (3), a divisional supply train coy (4), and the divisional salvage company. I think UK divisions were a bit smaller, say 15000 men at nominal strength, but they'd have had a similar structure, possibly with regiments playing the brigade role, but corps and armies were quite variable in size.
Until I read the brigade WD, I didn't really comprehend the amount of detail and coordination an attack involved, I had read "larger picture" accounts - in this case there's a chapter (10) of the Canadian Official History which deals with Passchendaele:
http://www.cefresearch.com/matrix/Nicholson/index.html
and an associated map (which needs saving first in order to rotate it)
http://www.cefresearch.com/matrix/Nicholson/Maps/Map%209.jpg
From the topological detail on this map, I could probably locate where my guy was wounded to within 200m. Actually, the brigade WDs tell a much more detailed story of the assault. The 58th were driven back to their lines after an advance of 250yds, pretty much as the previous two assaults fared. However, on the extreme left, the left of the 43rd bn had managed to breach the pill-box line, and the support battalion was pushed thru the breach to take the pill-boxes in the rear, (their WD has a few pages of tips on assaulting pill-boxes) and with that assistance the 43rd + 58th was able to take the pillbox line, although the 58th's final objective would have to keep a few days for the Princess Pat's. Knowing when he got wounded i.e., morning or afternoon, might help pin down whether it occurred in the first 250 yds or not. Well, it didn't help as he apparently wasn't admitted to the regimental aid post until the day following his admitting to the casualty clearing station west of Ypres (maybe the guys at the RAP had other things to do than fill out forms).
Looking at this map, with an assault on a continuous front, with a 1000m gap on their right gives some indication of what the valley of the Ravebeek was like. I would guess neither side could put more than a handful of men there, and once they were in there, they couldn't supply them or get them out again. Even on the Bellevue spur, trenches were problematical, hence the pillboxes. The state of the ground is further evidenced by the orders for the engineer coys (constructing bridges over the Ravesbeek, and laying bath-mat tracks).
OK, so I've been talking about what I know, a Canadian instance, rather than what you want, but I do think it's worth your checking this WD line out further. It might be a bust, but it might give you a lot of insight. Another of life's lotteries - good luck. I would also try and see what the British official history said.
In view of your guy's fate, you might be interested in the 9th brigade's burials orders:
http://data2.collectionscanada.ca/e/e043/e001057229.jpg
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Thank you all for your help. Will follow your advice. Have got his CWGC certificate so have his army number and that he was in 1st Bn. but it only states when he died, whose son he was, and that he was remembered with honour on Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial. I do know the panel so when I go I can see this.
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