War Diaries Talk

Meaning of phrase "at disposal"

  • Stork by Stork

    On the 16th + 17th days you'll find "Companies at disposal of O/C comps." I've seen this in many diaries, sometimes worded "under disposal" rather than "at disposal." I've always ignored it because I had no idea what it meant. I think it means that the O/C of each coy is having his coy do things, but doing what, exactly? Drills + exercises? Repairs + maintenance of weapons? Working on their accommodations? Digging trenches? Should I tag this as 'Training' or 'Digging/Repairing positions' or something else?

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  • ral104 by ral104 moderator, scientist

    I think you're right that this means the company commanders can choose what to do with their individual companies (or at least the part of them not in a working party). As to what they were doing, it could have been anything. It will have been down to the decision of the OC and what he considered most important at the time.

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  • cyngast by cyngast moderator

    I agree that this means the company commander decides what the men will do at that time. As far as tagging goes, I have always skipped putting a tag here because there are so many activities possible and there is no way to know exactly what they are doing.

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  • 141Dial34 by 141Dial34

    hi, Cyngast,Heather once told me to use #burial for known burial sites.I do this .Do I stop(as noone else seems to do it) or should it be added to hashtag list. also #fgcm -I need clarification.

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  • cyngast by cyngast moderator in response to 141Dial34's comment.

    Using #burial is probably a good idea for known burial sites. So, yes, keep doing it. And your comment is a good reminder to me to do it, as I'm halfway through a page that includes a burial of three men with a cemetery name! Maybe we should add it to the Definitive Hashtag List.

    As for #fcgm courts martial can actually be tagged with one of the official tags, using Discipline under Army Life. If a particular man's name is included in the account, you can also tag Discipline as the reason on the Person tag. This is why we have not added #fcgm to the hashtag list.

    It never hurts to use a hashtag to mark something in a comment. The reason we have compiled our list is to provide some consistency in how particular types of references are marked. This will make it easier for anyone researching a particular topic, such as the role of horses on the Western Front or relations between the troops and the local citizens, to find diary entries on that topic.

    In fact, your above comment on #burial is a good example of the argument for consistency. I have used #funeral in the past when there is mention of a particular man's burial, usually an officer it seems, but it would be better to get all these references under one hashtag. #burial seems a better choice.

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  • ral104 by ral104 moderator, scientist

    I'll add #burial to the list - looks like I must have forgotten about it.

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