Monday July 22nd, 1918
Eighth day defaulters. Parade 8:30. Work all day till 7:30pm. Royal Irish and Lancashire Fusiliers arrived in adjoining field.
199th Brigade
Initially the 199th Brigade comprised four Battalions of the Manchester Regiment, together with a Machine Gun Company and Trench Mortar Battery. All four Battalions will be disbanded by the end of July 1918, starting with 2/8th Battalion in February 1918. Then came the 2/5th, 2/6th and 2/7th Battalions which were reduced to cadres in April 1918 and will be disbanded at the end of July 1918.
To reconstitute the 199th (Manchester) Brigade, these original Battalions will be replaced. Today it is joined by the 13th Manchesters and tomorrow by both the 6th Lancashire Fusiliers (originally of the 197th Brigade) and the remainder of 2/9th of the Manchesters (originally of the 198th). These will be followed in August and September by 5th Connaught Rangers and 18th King’s Liverpool.
The BWD yesterday mentioned two other Battalions joining the 199th Brigade. The 12th Lancashire had moved from Salonika at the same time as the 13th. They joined the 199th a week ago and will be absorbed into the 6th Lancashire tomorrow. The 5th Royal Irish have arrived from Palestine, they will join the 199th in a couple of days time, but move within the month to the 48th Brigade of the 16th Irish Division.
In the meantime, Frank and the 13th help erect tents for their new comrades and those, originally in the 66th Division, who are returning from training some of the US troops.
13th (Service) Battalion War Diary – 22nd July 1918 – Haudricourt, France
Specialist training and foot inspection. Fatigue party pitching tents for Lancashire Fusiliers who arrive today from Serqueux. Camps also pitched for 5th Royal Irish Fusiliers and the Cadres of the old units of this Division who return from training United State’s units tonight.
References & Further Reading