Thursday May 9th, 1918
Dismounted guard 10:30. Work at night for spite of SM. Chamberlain? strafing Mosquitoes – umpteen of them. Rained heavy in night.
The Company Sergeant Major (CSM)
Yesterday Frank wrote, ‘Adjutant complains of same guard – very glad. CSM up for the jump.’ This presumably relates to the incident a couple of days ago when Frank moaned about being put to work for two hours and had his shift doubled. Today he writes that he was again put to work at night ‘for spite of SM’ (presumably the same CSM). Hopefully for Frank, this is the end of it.
The company sergeant major’s role, together with that of the company quartermaster sergeant were created in October 1913 and together replaced the two colour sergeants in each infantry company. In 1915, the CSM became an appointment of the new rank of Warrant Officer class II and adopted the rank badge of a large crown on the lower sleeve.¹
Frank’s hope that the CSM would be in trouble with the Adjutant is probably a pipe dream. A CSM is a Warrant Officer II and as such cannot be punished by a Commanding Officer under the King’s Regulations. This was clarified in Army Order 279 of 1917.³
This photograph shows CSM Edward Brooks VC (1883-1944). He was awarded the Victoria Cross when he was 34 and serving with 2/4th Battalion of the Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire Light Infantry. He single-handly attacked a German machine gun post, captured the gun and turned it on the retreating enemy.² He received the VC from the King in July 1917.
13th (Service) Battalion War Diary – 9th May 1918 – Saida
Work as before. The evenings just now are mostly wet and are inclined to impeded the completion of the anti-malarial work.
References & Further Reading
¹ Company Sergeant Major, Wikipedia
² Edward Brooks VC, Wikipedia
³ ‘CSM not a rank but a position‘ thread on The Great War Forum
* photograph of CSM Edward Brooks, public domain, Project Guttenberg