Friday April 5^th 1918 

Reveille 6am, drill 8:30 till 12:30. No work afternoon or night. Very warm.

Salonica Mobilization Store Table

It is difficult to imagine the complexity of supplying the armed and auxiliary services during WWI.  William Ewing makes a good attempt when describing a stopover his unit made in Alexandria, Egypt. ‘The Ordnance Stores spread over a vast area. Their contents are bewildering in amount and variety. … Here is found every article of material equipment for every unit in the service – artillery, cavalry, infantry, medical, sanitary, transport, etc. etc. This means big guns and small arms, with appropriate ammunition, limbers, wagons, harness and trappings, tents and tent furniture, appliances for cooking, articles of clothing, needles and thread, boots and boot-laces, and the thousand and one things that experience has shown to be needful.’º

Ewing also alludes to one of the main supply solutions,‘Each unit is furnished with a ‘Mobilization Store Table’ wherein are specified the things to which it is entitled. Under proper authorization the quartermaster draws these, up to the number indicated … and the material equipment of the unit is complete.’ º

According to the Battalion’s Diary today, there is a revised Salonica Mobilization Store Table that entitles the 13th to four extra Lewis Guns and additional limbers and carts.

The first image shows a Mobilization Store Table for the Royal Flying Corps, dated July 1917.  It starts with the big items – the number of planes to which a service or corps squadron was entitled. The second shows a Table for the allocation of small arms ammunition per Battalion, Brigade and Division.³ Reading the numbers being supplied makes it easier to understand why over 7 billion .303 bullets were manufactured during the war years.

Wagons & Carts

GS Limbered Wagons, as can be seen in the photograph, were effectively a pair of two-wheeled limbers linked together and drawn by horses.

This articulation helped to create a flexible and agile vehicle.  Over the course of the war they were adapted for a variety of purposes. One was as a wire wagon: ‘that could lay a field telegraph line at a gallop.‘ Another more common use was for the carriage of machine guns.²

A Maltese Cart was often used by the Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC).  It could be either drawn by one horse or pulled by a man. It was rarely ridden in but instead used to carry equipment.

The Battalion will be issued with an extra six GS Limbered wagons, bringing the total to nine, plus one Maltese Cart.  While the entry mentions that the reliance on pack transport will be decreased, it is unclear what will happen to the mules.  Will they be retired or just returned to the Store?

It is interesting that the additional Lewis Guns are recorded as bringing up the Battalion’s total to 20. On the Western Front in 1917 the Battalion’s allocation had been raised to 36.  Regardless, the new guns allocated to HQ will trigger a small reorganization and a burst of training over the coming days.

13^th (Service) Battalion War Diary – 5^th April 1918 – Saida

A new Salonica Mobilization store table has just been issued. Its effects on the Infantry Battalion are to increase the wagon transport and decrease pack transport. It also allows for an extra four Lewis Guns on Battalion HQ, bringing the Battalion’s guns up to 20. GS Limbered wagons will be increased from 3 to 9 and a Maltese Cart will be issued. All these wagons will be in possession by the 6^th inst. About seven of our planes carried out a bombing raid over the enemy back area.

References & Further Reading

Thanks to the Great War Forum and its members for this information. Particular thanks to those who responded to my posted questions.³

º ‘From Gallipoli to Bagdhad‘ by William Ewing, 1917, pages 186-7

¹ Maltese Carts – Other Equipment, thread from the Great War Forum

² Limber – Other Equipment, thread from the Great War Forum

* GS Mark I Limbered Wagon, in the Cobb and Co Museum in Toowoomba, Australia. Image from ’50 Travel Tales’ & may be subject to copyright.

³ # ‘Salonika Mobilization Stores Table?’ thread on Great War Forum (including images, which may be subject to copyright)

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