roll of all NCO's and men
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Can't imagine that the commanders did take notes - during an attack - of the places where there was a casualty ?
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by
ral104
moderator, scientist
No, they wouldn't have. This is an order for them to carry a list of the men under their command so that they can quickly check men off against it as soon as the fighting finished, or they got to a point where they were able to. They were ordered to put it in a specific pocket so that should they be killed or wounded themselves, somebody else would know where to find they list so they could do the check.
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David_Underdown
moderator
A casualty, so far as the British Army was concerned, was any man who didn't answer to his name at such a roll call. Depending on the evidence of other men int he unit they might be recorded as wounded if known to have been put into the medical evacuation chain, killed, missing etc. So casualty figures for days such as the 1st day of the Somme can in fact be slightly inflated by the inclusion of men initially put down as missing but who managed to find their way back to their unit over the next few days once things had had a chance to settle down.
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cyngast
moderator
Erik, this is a really interesting bit you found! I've wondered, as I've been tagging long casualty lists, where the information came from.
And David, you've explained why sometimes you see notes such as "Missing, believed wounded." or "Believed taken prisoner." Somebody in the unit must have seen something happen to the man, but wasn't sure of the outcome.
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The roll of NCO's and men is also mentioned on page Image AWD0003j9t
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