Bathing Parade – January 28th, 1918

Jan 27, 2018
Caroline

Monday Jan 28th, 1918

Reveille 5:45.  Parade 7:40. Bathing Parade – enjoyed it very much. Working in camp until 12:30. Nice weather but night working. Usual straffe by Johnny.

Night Work

Frank is obviously still working near Tortue on the communication trench up to the Front Line.  Presumably as they are there almost every night, Johnny is well aware of their presence and set to disrupt their activity. Luckily for Frank and his cohorts, their aim must be poor.

 Bathing Parade

Some would say that this is ‘luxury’.  Frank enjoyed a bath on the 25th and now a bathing parade only three days later.  We are unsure whether or not it would be like this short extract from the video entitled ‘Bathing Parade’,  copyright British Pathé, but if so, it looks like fun¹.  Could it be that the troops marched up to Lake Dojran and bathed there? See the full video through the link at the foot of this post.

General Routine Order 1011

GRO 1011 Effective Strength (click to enlarge)

Thanks to Roy (aka themonsstar) on The Manchester Regiment Forum we can now shed some light on the oft quoted ‘GRO 1011’ under which the effective strength of the Battalion is constantly being diminished.

According to Roy, General Routine Orders are important because they ‘… could loosely be described as the BEF’s periodic newsletter from the Chain of Command. They cover: Army Regulations; Orders; Instructions and General Information. They were published daily, weekly, monthly.‘ Whilst Roy was writing about the GRO for France and the British Expeditionary Force, GRO were issued for every theatre of war and the same importance and description holds true.  With illness a constant threat to the British Salonika Force it is easy to think that the majority of officers and other ranks being struck off under GRO 1011 are in hospital.

13th (Service) Battalion War Diary – 28th January 1918 – Vladaja Camp

The day was pretty quiet on the whole. OR struck off effective strength under GRO 1011 as under:- 2 from 26-1-18, 1 from 27-1-18 and 1 from 29-1-18. OR invalided to UK as under:- 4 on 26-12-17, 8 on 11-1-18. 1 OR embarked for UK 15-1-18 to join Officer Cadet Unit. OR transferred to Labour Corps (ACI 837 of 1917) 2 on 29-12-17, 2 on 22-12-17, 6 on 1-1-18.

References & further reading

¹Bathing Parade (1914-1918) copyright British Pathé. Use this link to see the complete video.

The Manchester Regiment Forum 1914-18