chaz bod Posted 25 February , 2018 Share Posted 25 February , 2018 (edited) Hi All, new here. I am looking for any information on the whereabouts of the 6th Battalion Leicestershire Regiment in April and May 1917. My Great Great Uncle, 21108 Pte. George Walter Bodicoat served in the 6th Battalion and was KiA on the 3rd of May 1917, somewhere in the Bullecourt area S.E. of Arras. I know at that time the Battalion was part of the 110th Brigade. 21st Division, but any further information additional to that would be greatly received. We have just been on a WW1 Battlefield tour, and seen his name on both the CWGC memorial in Arras and the Ring of Remembrance at Notre Dame de Lorette. The tour it self was quite thought provoking, but brilliant. Edited 25 February , 2018 by chaz bod Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Admin DavidOwen Posted 25 February , 2018 Admin Share Posted 25 February , 2018 Hi and welcome to the forum - I have the relevant war diary and it states the battalion was in support of 8th and 9th who were tasked with the assault in Fontaines -Les Croisilles. If you pm me an email address I will gladly share the diary with you Regards David Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chaz bod Posted 25 February , 2018 Author Share Posted 25 February , 2018 Hi David, Thanks for the reply, I'll message you my email addy later Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garry Posted 7 November , 2018 Share Posted 7 November , 2018 Good afternoon, I am trying to establish the whereabouts on the Somme of the 6th Battalion Leicestershire Regiment leading up to the 13th July 1916. This is the date that my Great Uncle, John Thomas Collins Private 10679 died at Heilly Casualty Clearing Station, Mericourt_L'Abbe. We do not know what his injuries were, when or whereabouts he was fighting when wounded. I visited Heilly Cemetery at the end of September, it's a beautiful cemetery in the wonderful peace of countryside and his grave is simply lovely! Any assistance would be greatly appreciated. Many thanks, Garry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Admin DavidOwen Posted 7 November , 2018 Admin Share Posted 7 November , 2018 Hi Garry and welcome to the forum The war diary has the Battallion at FRICOURT on 11th July, going into the trenches, A&B Companies were in support of QUADRANGLE Trench whilst HQ & C & D remained in reserve in FRICOURT WOOD. This remained the same on the 12th. On the 13th A&B left the trenches at 5pm and bivouacked (sic) in the southern edge of FRICOURT WOOD, leaving here at midnight for the position of deployment at NE corner of MAMETZ WOOD. The diary (unlike others) does not record any casualties on a daily basis. The full diary can be found here http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C7353180 and for the earlier period here http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C7354094 or should be free if you have Ancestry If I can help further please let me know. Regards David Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sotonmate Posted 8 November , 2018 Share Posted 8 November , 2018 19 hours ago, Garry said: Good afternoon, I am trying to establish the whereabouts on the Somme of the 6th Battalion Leicestershire Regiment leading up to the 13th July 1916. This is the date that my Great Uncle, John Thomas Collins Private 10679 died at Heilly Casualty Clearing Station, Mericourt_L'Abbe. We do not know what his injuries were, when or whereabouts he was fighting when wounded. I visited Heilly Cemetery at the end of September, it's a beautiful cemetery in the wonderful peace of countryside and his grave is simply lovely! Any assistance would be greatly appreciated. Many thanks, Garry Garry Some of the CCS War Diaries have some detail. Just a chance that CCS36 (WO95/344) has some,it was one of the Heilly Stations which I helped member BARDESS here with. My notes say there were names in the period May to Dec 1916. You might like to PM her and ask if she can help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bardess Posted 8 November , 2018 Share Posted 8 November , 2018 Hi @Garry I'm afraid your GU is not named in the CCS War Diary but I attach the page anyway Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sotonmate Posted 8 November , 2018 Share Posted 8 November , 2018 Good job Di ! Garry, there were 2 other CCS at Heilly Station at this time CCS 38 and 2/2 London. I noted that 38 had no casualty specifics, just daily numbers data, 2/2 London file,aka CCS 55,rich on staff data but not on casualties. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garry Posted 8 November , 2018 Share Posted 8 November , 2018 Hi Everybody, I very much appreciate all of the feedback, I really did not expect much, but it’s great to see that so much work has and is going on still! In the meantime, does anybody know what the 6th Battalion was involved in prior to going into the trenches at Fricourt on the 11th? Thanks again, Garry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sotonmate Posted 8 November , 2018 Share Posted 8 November , 2018 7/8/9 July 1916 at HENGEST-sur-SOMME in billets. 10th - marched to AILLY, entrained to MERICOURT, then bus to MEULTE, and on to FRICOURT. (WO95/2164/1). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garry Posted 10 November , 2018 Share Posted 10 November , 2018 Thank you @sotonmate leads me to understand my Great Uncle was wounded either 11th/12th or 13th itself the day he passed away at Heilly. when I visited his grave at Heilly, we then drove to the hotel in Rancourt, passing directly enroute Fricourt where he was in action and wounded, shame I didn’t know that then as I could have spent time around there! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garry Posted 10 November , 2018 Share Posted 10 November , 2018 Headstone of my Great Uncle Private John Thomas Collins at Heilly Cemetry, interned with two others in the same grave! Family photo shows him on the right at the back behind his mother Ellen, my Grandmother, Ivy, is at centre front. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sotonmate Posted 10 November , 2018 Share Posted 10 November , 2018 Garry Thanks for the view of your photos. It must mean a lot to you that you have these. I once visited LONGUENESS cemetery near to ST OMER, a place where hospitals were sited. The cemetery was the same as the one you show, space and frequency of deaths dictated that a grave site was shared more than once, I also saw that there was less space between the stones than yours, so crammed to the maximum. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garry Posted 13 November , 2018 Share Posted 13 November , 2018 @DavidOwen, thanks for the war diary links, I accessed them and it’s great to see albeit brief the description of the movement and engagement! do you have anything in more detail as to what happened in Quadrangle Trench? thanks again, Garry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Admin DavidOwen Posted 14 November , 2018 Admin Share Posted 14 November , 2018 Garry, sadly I don't have any further information. You may wish to contact the Regimental museum to see if they might be able to assist? https://royalleicestershireregiment.org.uk/the-regimental-museum Regards David Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garry Posted 19 November , 2018 Share Posted 19 November , 2018 @DavidOwen Hi David, I contacted RLR and unfortunately my Grt Uncle Johns attestation documents were lost along with 60% for others during a bombing raid on a London warehouse during WW2!! I’ll need to look elsewhere from now on and if I find anything I’ll put it on here. thanks again, Garry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clk Posted 19 November , 2018 Share Posted 19 November , 2018 (edited) Hi Garry, 54 minutes ago, Garry said: I contacted RLR and unfortunately my Grt Uncle Johns attestation documents were lost along with 60% for others during a bombing raid on a London warehouse during WW2!! I think that they have misled you. It looks like his papers are on Findmypast (link), and will probably be on Ancestry. It seems that he was admitted to 64 Field Ambulance with a wound to his right side on 13th July 1916. Evacuation chain On 13/11/2018 at 21:47, Garry said: thanks for the war diary links, I accessed them and it’s great to see albeit brief the description of the movement and engagement! do you have anything in more detail as to what happened in Quadrangle Trench? The Brigade HQ, and Division HQ diaries would probably give you more context as they usually contain 'extras' that aren't in the Battalion diary - usually in the appendices. They are here and here at the National Archives, or here and here on Ancestry. Good luck. Regards Chris Edited 19 November , 2018 by clk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garry Posted 19 November , 2018 Share Posted 19 November , 2018 @clk Wow, that’s incredible, very many thanks!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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