Survivors

[Adrian Harris]

OK, I admit it, I read the Daily Mail online

This article caught my eye this morning:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... -home.html

Apart from the fact that they all apparently survived, I find it interesting that quite a few of them appear to be wearing shorts.

Adrian.

[Peter Silcock]

An interesting photo and quite eerie. To me smacks very much of a propaganda "having fun in the sun" type shot. I wonder how many photos exist of a group of WW1 front line soldiers all of whom survived? Not many I would think making this one pretty unique. A good spot Adrian even if you had to admit reading Mail online

[Stephen White]

Adrian, thanks for publishing this. It's salutary to realise the officers in the photo were a couple of months away from the seminal battle of Cambrai and all the more remarkable that they all survived. I've just come back from commemorating their predecessors of D Company, the Motor Machine Gun Corps, who first took the tank into action at Flers-Courcelette, in September 1916. Although they all survived, many of them suffered severe wounds.

D Company, MMGC became D Battalion, the Tank Corps and in turn, D Bn, the Royal Tank Corps and ultimately, 4th Royal Tank Regiment, into which I was commissioned. So I have a personal interest in this.

The only other similar photo of survivors I've seen was from WW2. I now can't find the photo but it was based on this famous shot of Paras before D-Day:

The photo I saw recently showed the survivors superimposed sitting in the C-47 which was at RAF Shawbury for a time with the Assault Glider Trust.

Anyone for a Tetrach?

Stephen

[Mick Regan]

I think this the one you are referring to. Saw it today on facebook, so had to post it here.





Mick

[Chris Hall]

[quote="Adrian Harris"]OK, I admit it, I read the Daily Mail online {/quote]

Well, at least you're technological about it - I still read hard copy

A fascinating article, and I couldn't pass up the opportunity to do a bit of digging, could I ? So into the library I went, looking at two sources in particular: "Following the Tanks" by Jean-Luc Gibot and Philippe Gorczynski (the Bible on Cambrai 1917) and "The Tank Corps Book of Honour". Unfortunately I couldn't find references to all the Officers in the article, but here's some information that I did turn up (using the same numbering):

4. Captain Wilfred Wyatt: Commander, 11 Coy, 6 Section
5. Lieutenant Gerald Edwards: 11 Coy, 6 Section, ‘Diallance’, D34, 2861, Female
6. Second Lieutenant Gerald Butler: 11 Coy, 8 Section, ‘Dop Doctor II’, D32, 4572, Female
7. Lieutenant Edward Sartin: Immediate Award of MC for an action near Albert on 22/8/1918
8. Second Lieutenant Daniel Stevens: 11 Coy, 7 Section, ‘Dolly II’, D31, 8074, Male
9. Captain David Morris: Commander, 11 Coy, 5 Section. Immediate Award of Croix de Guerre at Bullecourt on 11/4/1917
10. Captain Christopher Field: Commander, 11 Coy, 7 Section. Immediate Award of MC at Flesquieres (Cambrai) on 20/11/1917
11. Captain Hugh Skinner: Immediate Award of MC at Bullecourt, probably on 3/5/1917
13. Second Lieutenant Horace Birks: 11 Coy, 5 Section, ‘Double Dee II’, D27, 2655, Female

Nothing else yet on the others. There's some confusion over Major Richard Cooper, who's listed in the Book of Honour as 14th Battalion. The tank names might be of interest to anyone who's yet to give their Mark IV an identity. I was particularly amused by Dolly II being a Male ! And Dop Doctor II (4572) was the next off the production line after my Liesel (4571) !

Heroes All. Their Name Liveth for Evermore.

All the best,

Chris

[Adrian Harris]

Many thanks for the additional information.

Chris, I presume "Diallance" should actually be "Dalliance" ?

Adrian.

[Chris Hall]

Adrian -

I guess so, but that's a direct lift from Gorczynski, which was sourced from the National Archives. So it's either a play on words, which was pretty common with British WW1 tank names (eg.Fums Up in F Battalion) or a misprint somewhere.

Hope that cold's better ....

All the best,

Chris

[Adrian Harris]

I can see the point with "Fums Up" but "Diallance" doesn't exactly trip off the tongue

Adrian.