War Diaries Talk

1st Royal Munster Fusiliers

  • cyngast by cyngast moderator

    I've been tagging the diary of the 1st Royal Munster Fusiliers starting in March of 1916. While researching the proper spelling of the O.C., Lt. Col. R. H. Monck-Mason, I came across this diary of a sergeant recording the unit's--or at least his--experiences on Gallipoli: http://ww1.osborn.ws/a-gallipoli-diary They had been there, evacuated in Jan. 1916 and then sent to the Western Front a few weeks later.

    There some additional documents attached to Sgt. Osborn's diary, one of which mentions that Major Monck-Mason was wounded before he ever left the ship that brought them in.

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  • ral104 by ral104 moderator, scientist

    Thanks, Cynthia - it's great to find sources like this to add context and detail to the official accounts. Especially when it covers the experience of the units we're tagging beyond the Western Front.

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  • cyngast by cyngast moderator

    I've taken to looking up soldiers' names that catch my attention or that I can't read clearly, and I've found some interesting things. I wish now that I had kept better records of the diaries I tagged when I started working on this project!

    I thought this was particularly interesting because it covered the unit in Gallipoli, but also because it notes that Major Monck-Mason was wounded on the first day of the invasion in April 1915. The war diary I'm tagging opens in March of 1916 in Egypt as the unit is preparing to go to France, and Major Monck-Mason has not yet returned to the unit. He does return in April 1916, after they are in France, as Lt. Col. and takes command of the battalion. Does this mean it took him a year to recover from his wound, or could he have been assigned somewhere in England before going back to the unit in France?

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  • ral104 by ral104 moderator, scientist

    Very difficult to say. It's possible he was so badly wounded he needed the full year to recover. Or perhaps he was assigned duties back at the depot, or as a staff officer.

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

    Hi Cynthia, I keep a shorthand notebook beside me when tagging each diary. I mark it into columns, i.e. page number, date, places and on a separate page all the names that come up in the diary-this helps if further on they are faint and you cannot read them clearly. If another part of the diary comes up later for different dates, then I can refer to names. More work, but useful.

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  • cyngast by cyngast moderator

    Thanks, Marie, for your tips on taking notes. I know that you have mentioned that you do this, and I imagine it's very useful. I'll have to give it a try, at least for names. That will help with situations like the one with Lt. King.

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