War Diaries Talk

What on earth are...

  • ipelletier by ipelletier

    a "F.O.O." (like a F.O.O. line) and

    a "bty" (like in 37th bty only got 3 guns).

    Posted

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

    Hi, @ipelletier.

    'Bty' is shorthand for 'Battery'. So in your example the 37th Battery would be firing with only three guns.

    Somebody might correct me on this, but I think an F.O.O. is a 'Forward Observation Officer' - these were the guys who spotted targets for the gun batteries.

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  • David_Underdown by David_Underdown moderator

    Agree with both of those, FOO doesn't just spot the targets, he will feed back to the units firing whether or not they are actually hitting their assigned targets, or are they firing long or short, too far right or left etc.

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  • ral104 by ral104 moderator, scientist

    Thanks, David!

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  • ipelletier by ipelletier

    Thanks!

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  • marie.eklidvirginmedia.com by marie.eklidvirginmedia.com in response to ral104's comment.

    You are correct - FOO is a Forward Observation Officer. In another book I read about WW1 it gives a list of abbreviations, one of them is: FOO: Forward Observation Officer. Two I had not heard of were:- PBI: Poor Bloody Infantry. LOB: Left out of battle. Two I had heard of were Uhlan: German lancer and Enfilade: Flanking Fire.

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  • angiehart by angiehart

    Can someone let me know what a Pineapple Thrower was - in the report I'm tagging the 'enemy has at least one pineapple thrower which kept on firing'. I'm assuming it didn't throw fruit?

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  • ral104 by ral104 moderator, scientist

    Would have been nice if it had, wouldn't it?

    I suspect it's some sort of trench mortar or rifle grenade.

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  • brownfox by brownfox

    There's an entry here: http://talk.operationwardiary.org/#/subjects/AWD0000uj5 which says "Enemy pineapple trench mortars busy throughout the day" so it seems that your first idea is correct.

    And http://talk.operationwardiary.org/#/subjects/AWD00006r9 records one OR being killed and two wounded by a pineapple, so I think it's clear the Germans weren't making sure the British got their 5 a day.

    Incidentally, pineapple is recorded in my dictionary as a slang term for a hand-grenade.

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  • cyngast by cyngast moderator

    I've heard the term pineapple for grenades in WW2. I always thought it was because those hand-grenades looked a bit like miniature pineapples.

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  • HeatherC by HeatherC moderator in response to cgastwein@aol.com's comment.

    I think you are quite right. I did like the idea of them throwing fruit though!

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  • ral104 by ral104 moderator, scientist

    Yes, I'd come across the term in the WW2 context. Perhaps the pineapple mortar shells were similar in appearance to a grenade.

    Thanks for the links, @brownfox!

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  • David_Underdown by David_Underdown moderator

    Well, remember grenades are so called due to the resemblance of the original 18th century ones to pomegranates...

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  • brownfox by brownfox

    "The pineapple bomb was smaller, about the size and shape of an average size pineapple. It could not be seen in the air, but a loud 'pop' when one was fired from its mortar let us know when one was on its way, somewhere in the sky. They too were nasty things." - From "Over the Top: A Digger's Story of the Western Front".

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