Problem with the Diary of 3rd Div. Divisional Troops 3rd Divisional Train (15, 21, 22, 29 Companies ASC. 1st Jan 1915-31st May 1915) - Title of Diary
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Ral, Just started to tag the above diary at page 33 (on my profile page number is 487) for the 6-9th February 1915. It continues in sequence to page 38 dated 23-28 Feb 1915. (on my profile page is 492). Link: https://talk.operationwardiary.org/#/subjects/AWD0003664 The heading on the top of these diary pages states (O/C No. 3 Coy 3rd Divisional Train).
The following pages are confusing, although Title of diary is as it should be on these pages:
Page 39 (on my profile page numbered 493) dated 1st February to 8th February 1915. Link: https://talk.operationwardiary.org/#/subjects/AWD000368q The heading on the top of this diary pages states: (SO Divisional Troops 3rd Division 2nd Corps). This I tagged as #outoforder - thought the Author had put the wrong month of Feb and maybe it should have been March 1915 – Apparently not, because page 33 has the dates of 6-9th Feb 1915. This page is signed by 2/Lt. R H Thomas ASC- SO Divisional Troops). Not sure if SO means Staff Officer.
Page 40 is the next page to come up for tagging (which I have not tagged because of the confusion with this diary so I cannot give you a link for it). This page is dated 16th to 20th February 1915 – no dates for 10th to 15th Feb 1915 but pages running in sequence. The Title of the Diary is still as it should be. This page is also signed by 2/Lt. R H Thomas ASC- SO Divisional Troops). The heading on top of the diary page being the same as for page 39.
To Clarify: Diary dates are being repeated for the day, month and year of 1915. Diary dates are missing. Different people are writing some of the diary pages. There are different heading on the Divisional Train diary pages. I am confused with this Divisional Train Diary– Are certain people for different Companies writing diaries of their own for this Divisional Train?
Ral, I will not tag anymore of this Diary at the moment because I am not sure about it. I await your reply and comments. Meanwhile I will continue to tag another diary. By the way, there is another diary to be tagged for the (3rd Div. Divisional Troops 3rd Divisional Train (15, 21, 22, 29 Companies ASC). The dates being 1st June 1915-31 Aug 1915, which seems to be the continuation of this one.
Hope you can understand this report. Has anyone else mentioned it?Posted
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by
cyngast
moderator
Marie, If I understand you correctly, I think this is the way the Divisional Train diaries run. Each company--here 15, 21, 22, and 29--keeps its own diary. To further confuse matters, within the train, the companies may be referred to as 1, 2, 3, and 4, rather than by their official numbers. At least that has been my experience with them. They are similar in format to the Trench Mortar Battery diaries I have tagged, where each month you see the diary for X, Y, and Z batteries.
It looks like you started out with a diary kept by the O.C. for the train, as a whole, for the month of Feb. 1915. Then you got to the diary kept by 2/Lt. Thomas, for one of the companies, for the month of Feb. 1915. If you keep going, you will probably run into the diary for a different company for the month of Feb. 1915.
I can't explain the missing page for 10th to 15th Feb., but maybe it will turn up after the page for 16th to 20th Feb. We can hope!
I hope this helps. Rob should be able to shed more light on the subject.
Cynthia
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Cynthia thanks for your quick helpful reply. I think the confusing part of it was the dates being repeated. Unusual diary this one with different companies writing their diary. Thought I had better check it out before continuing, although I suppose if you tag exactly what is written then it is not a problem. Actually it was a choice between this diary or a Trench Mortar Battery to tag next.
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by
cyngast
moderator
Marie, I know the first time I tagged a Divisional Train diary I found it confusing, too. It made more sense as I went along, though.
Depending on how detailed the diaries are, it can be tedious when you tag each time the train moves four or five separate times!
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by
ral104
moderator, scientist
Cynthia's right, Marie - the Divisional Trains are generally an amalgamation of various company-level diaries, just like the Trench Mortar Batteries.
I'm guessing the missing dates might turn up at some point, but not to worry if they don't. The major benefit of this sort of diary is that there's usually enough information from one of the sub-units to fill in any blanks for the unit as a whole.
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