Research

Current map of the old Ancre battlefield

MAP of the RND Front Line 13/11/16, Battle of the Ancre, showing the start positions of all RND Battalions.

From left to right front line, facing NE: 1/RM, Howe, Hawke & Hood Bns.

Support Line: 2/RM, Anson, Nelson & Drake Bns.

Reserve Line: 10/Royal Dublin Fusiliers, 4th Bedfords, 7th Royal Fusiliers & 1st Honourable Artillery Coy.

Also shown are the various positions of Royal Engineers (RE) & Pioneers (Prs). (Map: PRO ref: ADM137/3929).

Top left is now the site of the Newfoundland Memorial Park, where the 51st Highland Division also went over the top 13/11/16. Many of the trenches are preserved here & the ground is still pocked with shell-holes; a Lunar Landscape with grass.

The area where 1RM advanced "up the shell-pocked muddy slope" is now cornfields; but the road marked on the map which bisects 1RM's position still exists. One is able to be very accurate in finding the exact ground.

The Ancre British Cemetery now stands on the Drake support line. Therefore one can get a VERY good set of visual bearings & the whole front line position can be envisaged. Neil York of Stairfoot, Barnsley & I walked the length of the RND line in late September this year (2000. There were no crops, it was dry, freshly ploughed & there were no Farmers about), then back up the support line. We found a live Mills Grenade & a four-inch shell just lying on the surface, also the German Five-inch Shrapnel Nose Cap & fuse (see the Royal Marines page).

New RND Card Index at the Public Records Office (released 5/9/00)

Now available at the PRO on microfiche, is the most valuable RND research material since the release of the Fleet Air Arm Museum's RND service papers. It is listed under class ref: ADM137/339 & is situated in the metal drawers in the far right-hand corner of the Microfilm Reading Room (along with the other ADM series medal rolls). Unfortunately, no Royal Marines are included; only RN, RNVR, RNR & RFR (an occasional RMLI index can be found, but this is very rare).

There are three separate sections: 1. Officers (DD & survived. 32 fiches); 2. Other Ranks (survived. 491 fiches); & 3. Other Ranks-Discharged Dead (73 fiches). However, many ORs DD can be found in the ORs section.

The cards are almost all typewritten & consist of at least two faces. The obverse gives all the man's personal & service details (usually the home address, next-of-kin address, rank & promotion dates, religion, civil employment, name & number, date of birth & enlistment, height, chest measurement etc). The reverse face/s (to the right of the obverse) shows all the details of the man's service, both at home & abroad. Many men have three sides or more (depending on the length of service; those discharged early in the war are likely to have only two sides).

Such notables as Bernard Freyberg VC DSO, George Prowse VC DCM, Arthur Asquith DSO, Rupert Chaucer Brooke, John Bigdon Dodge DSC, Edwin L.A. Dyett, John Henry Bentham, Wm. Charlton DCM, Joseph Murray & Thomas MacMillan can be found.

There are some problems: in the ORs DD section, the fiche with surnames supposedly beginning with 'Waugh' includes many other names out of sequence (Watson, Warrender & others). Handwritten notes on the paper fiche sleeve can warn of such anomalies. Search results are high: over 98% of those checked are present.

For those with relatives who served in the Naval Battalions, the Index is a godsend & frequently contain information not recorded in the service papers (at the FAAM). For many RND casualties, the original map reference & place of burial, with exhumation details from "The Director of Graves Registration & Enquires" are found.

This index will become the first stop for anyone checking an RND serviceman.

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