Battalion transfer on promotion ?

[Mike Cross]

To help me with some research can anyone tell me the likely timing of the movement of 5428 Sjt A J Cross from Rifle Brigade 1st Batt to 2nd Batt ?

1914 Star is marked Private 1st Batt

War Medal to Sjt, no Batt marked

Victory Medal to Sjt, no Batt marked

DCM awarded May 1917 to L Sjt 2nd Batt

War Office letter on death July 1917 refers to Sgt of 2nd Batt

DCM gratuity letter 1918 refers to Sergeant of 2nd Batt

Chaplain & CO condolence letters refer to Serjeant

Is he likely to have moved on any particular promotion ?

His record has not survived. Will the Medal Rolls help me ?

MC

[mcderms]

It was very common for soldiers to be promoted and then moved to other battns or even regts where there rank/experience was needed. This was particularly common after the Somme battles in 1916 when it was realised that the high calibre of recruits in many of the Pals battns were being wasted as pvt soldiers. The Sheffield battn had a lot of men who survived 1/7/16 promoted to sgt or commissioned then transferred out. The same practice was applied in 1914 and 1915 to regular battns when experienced men were promoted. It's most likely that your man had shown himself to be a capable soldier and was promoted to replace losses in the other battn. The best way to check this would be to go to the Public Records Office in Kew and check out his service records.

[Muerrisch]

From my knowledge of RWF, this neat and tidy posting of an NCO from one battalion to another because of need for a sergeant is uncommon. I am not suggesting the men were cannon fodder in a good regiment, and regular soldiers [as probably was Sgt Cross] were worth a pound a pinch, but the process was usually much more random, and happened often after a wound, or illness, resulting in going back from the battalion. Soldiers were moved in drafts, not individually. And there were good drafts, which every CO wanted, and poor drafts. Even officers [again, excluding the dwindling band of regulars] were not posted to sustain quality in a unit, perhaps excepting the CO, the Senior Major, and the Adjutant. The imperatives of war made career development, or balancing quality between battalions, pie in the sky.

I can add that his 1914 star 1st battalion means he landed with them, or was posted to them in time to earn the medal.

[Mike Cross]

Thanks for these comments.

His service record has not survived. I read all of the 2nd Batt Rifle Brigade 1914-1917 War Diaries, even finding him mentioned for the action that appears to have led to his recorded DCM. Part of my quest is to pursue the legend of him winning the DCM on another occasion. Frequently mentioned during my childhood and recorded on the box containing a wartime photo negative in an unknown hand "... Killed in Action at Zonnebeke .. Won D.C.M. twice".

I have only recently discovered that he had previously served in the 1st Batt. and this has resolved a date disparity concerning his entry into the Theatre of war on his MIC. The 2nd Batt were still on their way back to the UK on the recorded date, whereas the 1st Batt were here and ready to go - and went!

MC