Monday May 27th, 1918
No work, raining and fairly cold. Dodged night work. Good supper – down to it early.
Sangars
Tonight a patrol goes out and reports a new enemy position composed of ‘trench and sangars’ just north of Anvil Hill.
A sangar is a temporary fortified position with a breastwork constructed of stones, sandbags or similar materials. It is normally built in places where digging a trench would not be practical. As we know, there is a lot of terrain like that on the Dojran front. The term is used extensively by the British Army – even today.
This image, from WWII, shows Gunners Resting. In the foreground there are four soldiers relaxing next to a truck. One is lying on a bed reading, another is crouched on a petrol can with his back to us. Two others are sitting, leaning aginst the truck. They are surrounded by sandbags and various paraphernalia. In the background there are three sangars containing soldiers keeping guard.*
Not A1
Yesterday Frank was sorry to hear that his brother-in-law Abram Sutton has been called up. Abram was classified as C1, fit for garrison duty at home and able to shoot. He will join the 27th King’s Liverpool and serve in Ireland. A few days ago, there was a lot in the newspapers about men of both A and B classifications being released for war, and the need to backfill able-bodied service men so they could be sent to the front lines. This is likely what has happened to Abram.
It wasn’t just other ranks who were classified as unfit to serve. Today’s Battalion diary entry mentions a 2Lt Twigg, obviously assigned to the 13th, who has now been deemed to be unfit for combat. As B2, he is fit for duty overseas but in a medical support role or in a back office post in the garrison.
13th (Service) Battalion War Diary – 27th May 1918 – Sporan
Our artillery fired a few rounds on the usual objectives, viz – Devedzelli Hill, White Scar, Emerald, Diamond Hills, Spotted Dog and Devedzelli Village. Enemy fired a few rounds south of Bastion and registered on Kimberley Spur, Tomato Hill, Mudder Ravine and Belmont. One of our planes patrolled our lines at 17:45 hrs. Five enemy planes patrolled their own lines at 18:45 hrs. Two officers’ patrols were out during the night but saw and heard nothing of the enemy. A small trench was found at point 12050/18270 approx (north of Anvil Hill) which does not appear to have been used recently. Another position, composed of trench and sangars was found at pt 12038/18270 (approx) north of Anvil Hill which appears to have been used recently. Both positions are outside the enemy wire. 2Lt H Twigg who so far has not been with the Battalion has been classified B2X.
References & Further Reading
¹ ‘Sangar‘ on Wikipedia
* Art.IWM ART LD 2536 copyright Imperial War Museums