War Diaries Talk

Retired

  • Fingula by Fingula

    Should I mark "retired" as withdrawing or unit movement?

    Posted

  • HeatherC by HeatherC moderator

    It depends on the context. In this case it looks like we are on the middle of the 1914 "retreat" and I assume you are referring to this bit "C squadron maintained its position till dark when it retired and rejoined the regiment"

    The Field Guide defines "withdrawing" as "Although there were long periods when the line was static there were also occasions when units had to withdraw, either because they were forced back by a German attack or because it was decided that there were advantages to the line being moved to a different position. Tag any mention of the unit consolidating the line by withdrawing, or retreating or moving back."

    I think that applies here since the Squadron was pulling back to join up with the rest of the Regiment due to the German advance in front of them rather than just moving from A to B.

    Hope that helps

    Heather

    Posted

  • Jan_Greenslade by Jan_Greenslade

    I am coming across more and more references to the Germans' use of flares in relation to my unit's position/activities. There have been a variety of colours, number, time intervals etc. I have found a website which explains the meaning of each flare used by the Germans and judging by their importance I wondered whether they should be hashtagged or shall I just continue with the 'enemy activity' tag?

    Posted

  • Maria64 by Maria64 in response to Jan Greenslade's comment.

    Hi Jan,
    It's just my opinion but I'd say that all you can do is maybe tag it as Enemy Activity because we are told only to collate information on what your specific unit is doing. If they are monitoring the flares, I'd say Enemy Activity is fine to use. Sure there'll be a moderator long soon with proper advice. Good luck!
    Best wishes,
    Maria.

    Posted

  • HeatherC by HeatherC moderator

    Hi Jan, Obviously you do tag it as enemy activity. However if you think it's interesting (and I confess I know nothing about the meaning if the different colours and so on) then this is EXACTLY the kind of thing Rob was talking about last week here http://talk.operationwardiary.org/#/boards/BWD000000a/discussions/DWD0000bhc when he said that volunteers might find interesting stuff in these diaries that they can then highlight and we can get a discussion going between us.

    Here's what I suggest you might try? Start a thread about flares. Probably this is the best part of the forum for it (despite the awful tile!) http://talk.operationwardiary.org/#/boards/BWD000000a If you can do it by linking from a page that mentions them, so we can all see what you mean. Then by all means start using the hashtag #flare and let's see if we can all learn something about them. Please do also link the website you have found.

    I look forward to learning something new!

    Heather

    Posted

  • Jan_Greenslade by Jan_Greenslade

    There are quite a lot of references to Germans sending up coloured flares over my Battalion's positions. Wondered whether anyone else was experiencing this and how they were tagging the activity. Most recent incident states: Red lights seen beyond ridge to our front. There is a website listing all colours used by Germans and for what purpose. For anyone interested the web site is: http://theaerodrome.com/forum/aircraft/47273-flare-colors.html.
    l

    Posted

  • HeatherC by HeatherC moderator

    Jan - can I suggest a new thread for this so people notice it? Call it "Flares" - that will make people look! 😉

    Posted