How did British and French troops communicate with one another? New Facebook Post

• by ral104 moderator, scientist

  https://www.facebook.com/OperationWarDiary/posts/661668400583422:0

  Thanks to @cgastwein@aol.com for spotting this one!

  Posted August 20, 2014 1:23 PM

• by cotula

  I have been tagging a Mobile Vet. Section, in 1914 - they were allocated an interpreter from time to time, presumably to communicate with locals rather than French troops.

  Posted August 20, 2014 1:32 PM

• by ral104 moderator, scientist

  Yes, I've come across that too - are you tagging no. 8 section?

  I also read a very witty entry by an artillery officer who described the difficulties he encountered trying to communicate with the French troops he was supporting. I imagine this vocab list would have helped him out a lot!

  Posted August 20, 2014 1:35 PM

• by Fheimburger

  My PhD research is on language issues in the Allied coalition (both between the British troops and the locals and between the armies) so I am very interested in this kind of material. In this case the vocabulary is actually an aid to reading French maps - something that was reproduced and circulated with the maps, as far as I know.

  Posted August 20, 2014 2:50 PM

• by ral104 moderator, scientist

  Fascinating! Thanks for letting us know.

  Posted August 20, 2014 3:15 PM

• by cyngast moderator

  Hi! I found that list yesterday and hashtagged it not just because it was an example of interaction with allies but because I thought you might be able to do something with it. I'm honored that it turned into a FB post!

  For me, one of the interesting points of finding it is that I think its inclusion in the diary is a complete fluke. The page following it was a hand-drawn map, which I suspect was on the back of that particular piece of paper. I can imagine an officer trying to explain the present situation to his subalterns or NCOs and fishing that folded-up piece of paper out of his pocket to sketch a map for them on the back of it. Somehow, it then found its way to the adjutant for the diary. And then it was scanned by the National Archives.

  This particular unit has included quite a few maps in the appendices, but this was the only hand-drawn one, so far. The others are the ones they were issued. The unit is the 9th Bn. Norfolk Regiment and they were southwest of Cambrai, Dec. 1917, as the Germans counter-attacked.

  Posted August 20, 2014 8:43 PM

• by ral104 moderator, scientist in response to cgastwein@aol.com's comment.

  Thanks!

  It's fascinating, isn't it, when something like that ends up giving you such a sense of what must have been happening at the time. It's quite incredible to have that sort of link 100 years on.

  Posted August 21, 2014 8:46 AM