St. Eloi Craters April 1916

[hedleywilliams]

In late April 1916, in the Daily Telegraph, and then in early May 1916 in the Territorial Service Gazette, my Grandfather A.J.Williams was listed as wounded, as follows :

2123 Pte. A.J.Williams, London Regiment

Jack Williams talked very little of his WW1 experience but we do know that he fought with Canadian Troups and was treated in a Canadian hospital (in England). SO, in trying to work out where we fought we are guessing St Eloi Craters, where the action is shown as including the Second Army, V Corps : 3rd Division, and Canadian Corps : 2nd Canadian Division.

I would really appreciate any thoughts on whether or not it is reasonable to assume that the "London regiment" was at St. Eloi, or where my grandfather's injury could have been sustained.

Any help and direction on researching my individual family history would be appreciated - I do have the original copies of the Telegraph and Territorial Service Gazette

Hedley J. Williams

[CROONAERT]

Hedley.

As far as I can ascertain, there were no battalions of the London Regiment involved in the actions at St.Eloi in March/April 1916.

Dave.

[jhill]

From the parent site I believe a battalion from the London Regiment was with the 3rd Division until Febraury, 1916 (this is easy to check!). If so, perhaps some men on command elsewhere in the Division may have still been around in March.

To learn about the actions of this Division at St. Eloi you can find part of their War Diary on line here:

http://www.archives.ca/02/02015202_e.html

search for "st eloi" (no period), or perhaps "2nd army".

[Marco]

Hedley,

See http://members.tripod.com/apollon_2/images...DESTELOOI22.jpg

for a good large map of the area. Perhaps the owner of this website (Floyd) can give you more details.

Regards,

Marco

[Yorts]

Hi,

Medals to the London Regiment state both battalion and regiment (unusually for Great War medals). Although it can be hard to distinguish between 1/2, 2/2 battalions etc. the medal index card at kew should record his battalion within the regiment. No guarantees that he was still serving with this battalion during the period mentioned, but it may be a starting point.

Rgds,

Alex.

[bmac]

The Canadians held the line all the way to a point north of Hooge during this time which rather broadens the potential locations where your grandfather could have met up with Canadian soldiers (though the division to their north contained no London battalions).

[David_Bluestein]

The Canadian 1st and 2nd Divisions were there. However it was the 2nd Canadian Division that was heavily involved. In particular the 18th, 19th, 20th, 21st, 27th, and 31st Battalions. (If memory serves)

A good Canadian resource on the subject in the book by Lord Beaverbrook, 'The Official History of the CEF'. Beaverbrook acted as the official Canadian war correspondent (of sorts), and published during the war. They used to be quite commom to find. (However his first volume on the 1915 battles are much easier to find).

Hope that helps.