War Diaries Talk

Tagging Brigade Diaries

  • stoat11 by stoat11

    Hi,
    I am tagging 1 DIVISION: 43 BRIGADE ROYAL FIELD ARTILLERY (1 AUG 1914 - 31 MAY 1916) and I have been tagging references to the associated batteries as "other unit" as there a lots of them giving details of their actions. My reason for doing so was that Infantry battalions attached to Infantry Brigades will have their own diaries but I was thinking that Batteries associated with RFA Brigades don't. I'm now not sure how I should be doing this 😃
    By the way, the scans of this diary are really hard to make out - is there a point at which it's just not worth struggling with any more?

    Cheers,
    Mike

    Posted

  • marie.eklidvirginmedia.com by marie.eklidvirginmedia.com

    I am also tagging this diary. Some very faint pages. I am using Chrome and with the Chrome filter can change the contrast brightness etc and really zoom in and this has helped me to tag the faint pages.

    There is a link here for attaching the Chrome Sheen Filters: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/sheen/mopkplcglehjfbedbngcglkmajhflnjk

    Posted

  • cyngast by cyngast moderator in response to stoat11's comment.

    I'm not quite sure what you mean by the associated batteries. Each RFA brigade had three batteries. In tagging, it's best to think to think of this set up as comparable to an infantry battalion and its companies. So you do not want to tag the batteries that are assigned to the 43rd Brigade as other units, as they are part of the 43rd Brigade.

    In many cases, artillery batteries were shifted around quite a bit and assigned to various "groups" or just other brigades for short periods. (This is why I'm not sure if you meant the 43rd Brigade's associated batteries or those from other brigades.) If other batteries are joining the 43rd they can be tagged as "Other Unit; With" when they first join, but after that I think it's best to treat them as a battery of the brigade. Certainly tag any activities recorded for them.

    Likewise, if a battery of the 43rd goes to another brigade or group on attachment, you can tag that second brigade as Other Unit.

    As for the faint pages, if you can't read them reasonably easily, we don't want you ruining your eyesight over them! Using the Chrome Sheen Filters is helpful for many taggers. Otherwise, tag what you can read, and don't worry about what is too difficult to make out. Here and there throughout the project we have run into batches of very faint pages. However, as a whole we are able to capture an enormous amount of information from the diaries, so the project won't be harmed if a few pages can't be tagged. Just add #faint to the Comment box and click Finish.

    Posted

  • stoat11 by stoat11

    Hi cygnast,
    Many thanks for the explanation. I will now stop tagging the Brigade batteries as "other unit" unless they have transferred in 😃 I thought I was probably doing it wrong!

    Hi Marie,
    Thanks for the link to the Chrome Sheen Filters - I'll get them installed.

    Cheers,
    Mike

    Posted

  • cyngast by cyngast moderator

    You're welcome, Mike. Those artillery diaries can be confusing, I know!

    Posted

  • Alcea by Alcea

    Hi. Newbie here. Apologies in advance if this is a dumb question. I am tagging 36 Brigade RFA and would like to know how to record the fact that its associated batteries ( 15, 48 and 71 ) might be in action in different locations at the same time. Does each action/location just get logged as 36 Brigade and not recorded at individual battery level? Also how to tag entries for 'action' if the specific details are not recorded?
    Regards, Anne

    Posted

  • cyngast by cyngast moderator in response to Alcea's comment.

    First, all questions welcomed and encouraged here! As are all volunteers! We're glad you've joined us.

    There isn't really any way to record what each battery in a Royal Field Artillery brigade is doing. Just tag what the diary states the battery is doing, such as firing or moving. When a battery goes into action, it is not always firing, but may be ready to fire, so the best tag for that is "In the line." Even though artillery batteries were usually located well behind the front line of trenches, it's as close as our tags get to recording what the brigade's situation is.

    Posted

  • Alcea by Alcea

    Hi cyngsast.Thanks for the clarification. Good to know that questions are welcomed as you will no doubt get many more from me as I get accustomed to the tagging conventions etc.!

    Posted

  • cyngast by cyngast moderator in response to Alcea's comment.

    I asked a ton of questions at first, too. Or lurked about on this page hoping someone else would ask the same question! You'll find that as you go along, you'll have fewer questions as you get to know how our system works.

    Posted

  • marie.eklidvirginmedia.com by marie.eklidvirginmedia.com

    Hello and welcome Alcea. Here are some helpful lists for you when tagging diaries.

    List of Abbreviations 1914-1918 Army list link: http://www.westernfrontassociation.com/the-great-war/great-war-on-land/general-interest/881-abreviations-army-list.html#sthash.2tnsRkwK.dpbs

    Great War abbreviations link: http://www.briancurragh.com/page6.htm

    Common military abbreviations link: http://www.1914-1918.net/abbrev.htm

    List of medical abbreviations link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_medical_abbreviations:_A

    The Talk Discussion Board is very helpful and The Mess Hall has some useful tips.

    Also ‘The What to Tag’ list https://talk.operationwardiary.org/#/boards/BWD000000j/discussions/DWD0000d05

    There is a link here for attaching the Chrome Sheen Filters, when the pages are faint and you need to zoom in to read them. It is a Chrome Sheen Filter that you can install. When you install it, the Chrome Filter it will appear as a coloured icon in the top right corner of your screen.

    https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/sheen/mopkplcglehjfbedbngcglkmajhflnjk

    More information: An army was made up of a number of Corps. A Corp was made up of a number of divisions. An infantry division was made up of a number of brigades. An infantry brigade was made up of a number of battalions. An infantry battalion was made up of 4 companies. An infantry company was made up of 4 platoons.

    Posted

  • cyngast by cyngast moderator

    Marie, as always, is a virtual store of helpful information.

    I just want to point out the difference between our tags, the official types of information in the menu on the left side of every page, and our collection of hashtags highlighted in Marie's What to Tag list but also known as the Definitive Hashtag List, which is stickied at the top of the Talk page. The tags are for those types of information that the projects founders decided to collect: names, places, types of activities, etc. The hashtags have been created by the volunteers to fill in the gaps in types of information some of us have wanted to see highlighted, such as a variety of comments about horses, weapons, and getting along with the Allies, both military and civilian. Hashtags are placed in the Comments box, the little cartoon-like bubble near the Finish button. You are welcome to use the hashtags or not; don't feel pressured to keep it all straight!

    We do ask that you try to use as many of the official tags as are appropriate on any given page. If you are unsure or feel you have made an error, don't worry. Every page is tagged by five volunteers before it is finished, and then the final tag will be chosen from a consensus of those five tags. We all make mistakes. I can think of several I've made in recent days: forgetting to check the year in the date tag, marking an officer as leaving the unit when he then turned up leading a company two pages later, etc. The diaries can be confusing sometimes.

    Also, Marie's link for common military abbreviations has a new URL: http://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/soldiers/a-soldiers-life-1914-1918/common-british-army-acronyms-and-abbreviations-of-the-first-world-war/ The Long, Long Trail website in general has a wealth of information about the British Army in World War I. You can find out which battalions belonged to which brigade and which brigades belonged to which divisions, as well as the makeup of all kinds of various units.

    Posted

  • marie.eklidvirginmedia.com by marie.eklidvirginmedia.com

    Forgot to post this useful tip when I posted Alcea a list of different abbreviation lists etc, which may be useful.

    A tip for finding a reference in a long article:

    On the page of article, Press Control key then F key, (Find). At the top right hand side of the article it will show a long white blank square. type in the word, for example (Roger) or what word reference you need, then press Enter and the word Roger, it will now be highlighted in colour in the text, enabling you to find it quickly. It will also show you how many times the word Roger- (or any other word you enter), comes up in the article. (Roger is a gas cylinder).

    This is an example for the trench slang list but the same procedure applies to other articles as well.

    Posted

  • Alcea by Alcea in response to marie.eklidvirginmedia.com's comment.

    Many Thanks for all of this useful information - although two of my great-uncles died in WW1, I know very little about Military History so this is quite a steep learning curve!

    Posted