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Tag: Engineers & Pioneers
Engineers, pioneers and field engineering in the Salonika Campaign, 1915-1918
‘Slouch Hat’ Harold, May 1916
This photo depicts a young signaller posing in a Salonika photographer’s studio in May 1916, showing off his new slouch hat.
A little bit of Salonika in Suffolk
We recently received this intriguing email from Darrell Chalkley …
Remembering 180629 Sapper Harry Ernest Wilkinson, Royal Engineers
Some months ago the Society was contacted by Harry Wilkinson’s granddaughter who wanted to know more about his war service. Little is know about it, except that ‘he fought both against and later with the Bulgarians’ and ended up in Constantinople. Happily, he returned home safely.
Continue reading “Remembering 180629 Sapper Harry Ernest Wilkinson, Royal Engineers”
Labour units of the BSF
A recent enquiry sent me into the uncharted waters of labour units that served with the British Salonika Force. Our orders of battle for the BSF – including on this website – tend to focus on the fighting units, so the Labour Corps and other supporting corps rarely get a look in. Continue reading “Labour units of the BSF”
Faces of Salonika : Somerset Miners
This rather small and tatty picture – another eBay purchase – shows a group of men sitting on a quayside, which may be Salonika. The mixture of service dress (as worn in the UK and on the Western Front) with a sun helmet would certainly be appropriate for men of the BSF after about mid-1916. The extremes of the Macedonian climate make all sorts of combinations of dress possible which, for me, is one of the fascinations of the campaign. Continue reading “Faces of Salonika : Somerset Miners”
1/12th Battalion (Pioneers) The Loyal North Lancashire Regiment in Macedonia : Part 2
By Harry Fecitt MBE TD
We were fortunate also in getting during April the 1/12th Battalion The Loyal North Lancashire Regiment, which came to us as our Pioneer Battalion, under a most capable officer, Lieutenant Colonel Beckett. They were a hard-bitten, thirsty lot of Lancashire miners, but what they could do with a spade was a perfect revelation. The Division owed a great deal to this fine Battalion for the splendid work they did on the Vimy Ridge, and I attribute our comparatively low casualty returns to the rapidity with which these pioneers, assisted by the various battalions, managed to lower the depth of the trenches eighteen inches in record time.
Major General E.S. Bulfin CB, Commander 60th Division, France 1916.
Salonika
1/12th Battalion (Pioneers) The Loyal North Lancashire Regiment in Macedonia : Part 1
By Harry Fecitt MBE TD
We were fortunate also in getting during April the 1/12th Battalion The Loyal North Lancashire Regiment, which came to us as our Pioneer Battalion, under a most capable officer, Lieutenant Colonel Beckett. They were a hard-bitten, thirsty lot of Lancashire miners, but what they could do with a spade was a perfect revelation. The Division owed a great deal to this fine Battalion for the splendid work they did on the Vimy Ridge, and I attribute our comparatively low casualty returns to the rapidity with which these pioneers, assisted by the various battalions, managed to lower the depth of the trenches eighteen inches in record time.
Major General E.S. Bulfin CB, Commander 60th Division, France 1916.
1/12th (Territorial) Battalion (Pioneers) The Loyal North Lancashire Regiment
Next Stop Salonika! Wessex Royal Engineers, December 1916
An interesting postcard this – purchased on eBay – in that it was taken in the UK but has a very clear Salonika connection. It is labelled: Wessex “Salonica” Draft. Dec 1916. Continue reading “Next Stop Salonika! Wessex Royal Engineers, December 1916”
Salonika Campaign Society, 1915-1918 