Friday May 31st, 1918
Stand to 4:30. Work 7 – 11. Raining hard all day. Wrote letters afternoon. I think the big guns have caused rain. 16 years today since peace declared in Boer War. Hope this war will end soon.
Boer War
Frank is correct, the Boer War ended 16 years ago today. Technically he was referring to the Second Boer War. The First Boer War, of 1880-81, had been short lived. Its aim had been to annex Transvaal to Britain’s Cape Colony. It ended because the Prime Minister, Gladstone, had not favoured waging a foreign war for what was seen at the time as little gain.
All this changed with the discovery of gold. The Second Boer War pitted the British Empire against both the Republic of Transvaal and the Orange Free State. It lasted 18 months and was a bloody, callous and internationally unpopular war. Remembering this, no wonder Frank wants this war to be over.
Machine Gun Corps
Yesterday Frank reports that his friend Joe Harrison, who went down with malaria a few days ago, is being sent down to base. He is travelling with Lieutenant Wallwork, also from B Company, who is going to the UK to attend a course with the Machine Gun Corps in Grantham.
The Machine Gun Corps was created in October 1915. Initially comprising of the companies formed in each brigade, it would eventually consist of infantry Machine Gun Companies, cavalry Machine Gun Squadrons and Motor Machine Gun Batteries. ‘A total of 170,500 officers and men served in the MGC, of which 62,049 were killed, wounded or missing.‘²
The Lieutenant will not be alone in Grantham. ‘This was the centre of the British machine-gun world. In 1918 over 50,000 men were camped around there undergoing training.’ ¹ The average duration of training was 70 days – clearly there is a lot to learn.
Evacuation to Hospital
Joe Harrison is not travelling far, he is going to one of the hospitals around the town of Salonika. Hopefully his journey is less arduous than that of Captain Drury of the 6th Battalion, the Royal Dublin Fusiliers.
Drury had succumbed to malaria in July 1916. In his diary he described the journey down to Salonika from the front.
‘About 09.00 a motor convoy arrived and I was shoved on a stretcher and put on the top tier with my face about one foot from the roof that felt like a furnace. It was a terrible journey over awful tracks and I had to keep my hands jammed against the roof of the wagon to prevent my head being battered. What on earth happens to wounded men it is hard to imagine!’³
He wrote this entry on the 10th July and was evacuated by hospital ship on 27th July 1916. We do not yet know the fate of Frank’s friend, Joe, though it is unlikely to be a trip to Malta.
13th (Service) Battalion War Diary – 31st May 1918 – Sporan
Operation Order No 38 (Appendix No 2) issued. The Battalion will be relieved by the 12th Lancashire Fusiliers (65th Infantry Brigade) on the night of 2/3 June 1918. Artillery only slightly active on both sides. The day was very wet and there was no aerial activity. The dugout on the west of Devedzelli Spur has been camouflaged. Effective strength table (Appendix No 3) is attached. Also interrogatory (Appendix No 4).
Lt W Wallwork B Coy is struck off effective strength of the Battalion on proceeding to Base to await embarkation to UK for course with MGC Grantham with effect from 31-5-18. The undermentioned officers having arrived are taken on the effective strength and posted to Coys as under with effect from 29-5-18:- 2Lt J Parkinson B Coy, 2Lt Turner A Coy.
For description of Sector and Maps see Appendix No 1 of War Diary for November 1917 and appendices for that of April 1918. The health of the Battalion is good in spite of the fact that the climate just now is most trying, days of great heat alternating with wet and sultry days, and cold nights. This is particularly trying to men who have suffered from malaria.
JFB Morrell, Lt Col, Commanding 13th (S) Battalion, The Manchester Regiment June 1st , 1918
References & Further Reading
¹ ‘The Machine Gunners at Grantham‘, NZETC, Victoria University, Wellington
² ‘Machine Gun Corps in WWI‘, The Long Long Trail
³ ‘Diary of Captain Noel Drury, October 1915 to July 1916‘, National Army Museum. Entry for 10 July 1916
* photograph of Captain Drury, copyright National Army Museum London