War Diaries Talk

Terminology

  • Chris_Morley by Chris_Morley

    I've just received a copy of the War Diary from the National Archive for the Essex Regiment that my Great Uncle Reginald Morley was serving in when he was killed on the Somme in May 1918 (aged just 18). It makes a great read but you need to know the 'code' its written in to fully understand and appreciate it, I've found some documentation online relating to this but one was amiss in not including the much used CCS (Casualty Clearing Station) acronym. Is there a good, reliable 'code' book that currently exists?

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  • ral104 by ral104 moderator, scientist in response to Chris Morley's comment.

    Hi @Chris Morley. You might find this thread useful: http://talk.operationwardiary.org/#/boards/BWD000000c/discussions/DWD00001em

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  • Chris_Morley by Chris_Morley

    Thanks for that. What would be really useful is a living list on the site that people could refer to or add a new abbreviations too in the hope that someone else might know the answer. So for instance in the Diary that I have it refers to a number followed by 'OR' in the casualty list. Based on entries where killed and injured Officers and NCO are referred to by name (that tells a story!) I've assumed that OR stands for Ordinary Rank and it was deemed that their name wouldn't be recorded.

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  • HeatherC by HeatherC moderator

    Chris yes it stands for Other Ranks and you're not the first person to ask that! We had a forum thread started for exactly this kind of thing http://talk.operationwardiary.org/#/boards/BWD000000e/discussions/DWD00001ob but over time it has become lost in the noise as people seem to just start a new thread every time 😉 Part of the problem is the forum is not terribly well structured and as people apparently aren't sure where to post, they tend to start a new thread for every new question. Rob who answered your first post above is on the case and is re-organising the forum to make it easier to use. I'm sure the "jargon" thread will get sorted out and used properly.

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  • fisfiris by fisfiris

    An old thread, but trying not to open a new one, as HeatherC says above!
    Working on 3 Div Train: there is a mention of the SO visiting mairies about outstanding 'bons', also 'sent in balance of Bons outstanding to SSO'.
    I know that a bon is a voucher system used in modern french supermarkets, like a loyalty card point system. However, does anyone know how it fitted into WW1 provisioning. Was it a voucher given by the allies to local tradespeople, or were local tradespeople ob;liged to provision the allies?

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  • ral104 by ral104 moderator, scientist

    No, the army paid for the produce it sourced from the local population. The bons were exactly as you describe - official IOUs for goods received or damage done to property.

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