17th Casualty Clearing Station

[John84]

Do any pals have details of an air raid on the 17th Casualty Clearing Station, 17th August, 1917. Found a small snippet in the local newspaper archives this morning, regarding a local man, George Ayre, R.A.M.C., been killed in the raid....I have his details from the CWGC, but can find nothing of the enemy air raid anywhere on the net. I believe the 17th Casualty Clearing Station was at Remy Siding when this air attack occurred. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

John.

[jhill]

There is a reference to this in the Diary of No 2 Canadian Casualty Clearing Station at Remy. A bit goes like this:

"17 August 1917 9:30 a.m.

Enemy Aeroplane droped 4 or 5 bombs over our area. Two fell on No. 17 C.C.S. close by causing 60 casualties. 14 O.R. Personnel and 10 German wounded Prisoners were killed. 27 O.R. Personnel and 9 Germans wounded.

. . .

18 August 1917 9:30 a.am.

Another Enemy Air raid. Bombs dropped towards Godewaersvelde & Hazebrouck. There seems to be a special purpose in the enemy aeroplane raids recently. Within the last 2 or 3 days bombs have been dropped on C.C.S.'s in the Brandhoek, Dozinghem and Remy Groups.

At Brandhoek (Nos 4,47, & 3 Australian C.C.S.'s) One officer was killed.

At Dozinghem (Nos. 4,47 &61 C.C.S.'s) 4 sisters were wounded.

At Remy (Nos 10,17, and 2&3 Canadian C.C.S.) there were 60 casualties as above. I examined the craters at at No 17 C.C.S. today. They were 12 by 14 feet in diameter and 5 to 6 feet deep. One was within 20 yards of the officers' huts & tents- which were riddled with splinters. The officers were in the mess at the time."

No. 3 Canadian C.C.S. reported that the attack on No. 17 killed 14 English and 9 German prisoners while wounding 32 English and 10 Germans.

The diarist of No. 2 is very chatty and much given to passing on gossip and venting his opinions, such as his conclusion that the C.C.S.'s were being deliberately targeted. However, he does record each air raid. In fact, there was much German bombing in the Salient at this time, and you may enjoy browsing the whole diary for this period.

[mhifle]

Hi John,

Here is a list of the CCS's at Remy Siding.

Regards Mark

[BJanman]

Hi

Information I have is that the unit was hit with 4 bombs, 9.20pm, 17th August 1917.

Casualties

RAMC - Killed = 6 Wounded = 13

fatigue men - Killed = 7 Wounded = 15

Officers servants - Killed = 1 Wounded = 5

German patients - Killed = 13 Wounded = 6

There were no officer casualties.

Slight difference in numbers but the British ORs killed are the same. Anyway the RAMC men killed were

27767 L/Cpl George AYRE. 38 CCS att 17 CCS. kia 17/8/17 age 44

101281 Pte George CONEYS 48 CCS att 17 CCS kia 17/8/17 age 23

59767 Pte Arthur George GILLETT 17 CCS kia 17/8/17 age 27

424024 Pte Sydney INGALL 4th (Northern) GH TF att 76 Fd Amb, att 17 CCS kia 17/8/17 age 21

40847 Pte George PERRY 76 Fd Amb att 17 CCS kia 17/8/17 age 26

11311 Pte George Henry THURSFIELD 17 CCS kia 17/8/17 age 28

Barbara

[John84]

Jhill/Mark/Barbara

Thank you very much for this information, its just what I was after. Jhill, thanks a lot for the link to the casualty clearing station war diaries, I shall certainly enjoy reading them. Once again many thanks to you all.

John.