Bedfordshire Archives Service Catalogue

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X550/2/5/1802
Title
War Diary for February 1918 1 Feb 1918 - Villorba Battn. billeted at Villorba. 1 Officer per Coy & one for H.Q. reconnoitred route to line. Battn. carried on training under Coy. arrangements. 2 Feb 1918 - Rotunda Bidasio Battn. employed cleaning billets & preparing for move. Battn. moved up at dusk to relieve 14th Royal Warwickshire Regt. in support. Bn. H.Qrs. at Rotunda Bidasio (App I) 3 Feb 1918 As above. Bn. H.Qrs. shelled with 77m.m. shells Casualties 2 O.R's wounded. 1 Coy. employed at night clearing BERTI C.T. 4 Feb 1918 As above. All Coys. employed clearing & revetting PICCOLO & No.8. C.T's. Working hours 9 a.m. to 12.30 p.m. & 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. Major W.Allason D.S.O. 2/Lt.J.C.Meade & 19 O.R's joined Battn. 5 Feb 1918 As above. Lt.Col.P.R.Worrall D.S.O. M.C. proceeded to assume command of 1 Devon Regt. 6 Feb 1918 As above. Enemy shelled road in vicinity of Bn. H.Qrs. 2/Lt.F.Hughes to Fd. Amb. sick. 7 Feb 1918 As above. Very quiet. Lt.Col.E.I.de S.Thorpe D.S.O. joined Bn. 8 Feb 1918 As above. Situation very quiet. 9 Feb 1918 As above. About a dozen enemy light shells in rear of B.H.Q. Misty all day. 10 Feb 1918 - Front Line As above. Relieved 1st Norfolk Regt in Front line in the evening. 11 Feb 1918 In Front line as above. Very quiet. 12 Feb 1918 As above 13 Feb 1918 As above 14 Feb 1918 As above 15 Feb 1918 As above. Enemy Artillery active, Front line & Supports. Officers of E.Surrey Rgt. reconnoitred Bn. front. 16 Feb 1918 As above. Reconnaissance of line continued. 17 Feb 1918 As above. Very quiet. Bgde, O.O. recd re relief on 18.2.18. 18 Feb 1918 - Visnadello As above. Relieved by 1st E. Surrey Regt. in evening & marched to VISNADELLO & billeted there. Enemy aircraft very active at night. 19 Feb 1918 In billets as above. Bn. cleaning up, changing clothing, equipment &c. At night enemy aircraft bombed vicinity of village. 20 Feb 1918 As above. Bn. Training. 21 Feb 1918 As above. Bn. Training. 22 Feb 1918 As above. Bn. Training for operations to be undertaken in near future. 23 Feb 1918 As above. Training for coming operations. 24 Feb 1918 As above. Enemy aircraft very active bombing vicinity of village from 7 p.m. to 4 a.m. 25th inst. 25 Feb 1918 As above. Bn. Training. Performance by Bedford Boys in evening 26 Feb 1918 As above. Bn. Training. Second performance as above. 27 Feb 1918 - Rotonda-Bidasio As above. Bn. preparing to move to the line. 7 p.m. Relieved 1st Devon Regt. in the Support line (ROTONDA-BIDASIO) 28 Feb 1918 In line as above. Bn. employed repairing trenches, Carrying parties &c. Evening our heavy artillery very active counter-battery work. OPERATION ORDER No. 121 1st. Battalion The Bedfordshire Regiment Reference - Sketch Map February 1st. 1918. 1. Battalion will relieve the 14th. Royal Warwickshire Regiment in support to-morrow, in the neighbourhood of ROTUNDA BIDASIO. 2. GUIDES. 14th. R.Warwickshire Regiment will meet the Battalion at the Church ARCADE, at 7 p.m. on the following scale: - One per Platoon, one for each Coy. H.Q. and one for Battalion Headquarters. 3. DISPOSITIONS. "A" Coy. will relieve a Coy. of the Warwicks holding the ROTUNDA, (Left) "B" Coy. will relieve a Coy. of the Warwicks holding the QUARRY, etc, (Left Centre) "C" Coy. will relieve a Coy. of the Warwicks holding the Railway Embankment (Right Centre) "D" Coy. will relieve a Coy. of the Warwicks holding the Railway Embankment (Right) 4. RECONNAISANCE. One Officer per Company and Capt S.H.Draper for H.Q. will reconnoitre the road from VILLORBA to Church ARCADE. Route - VILLORBA to junction of track and road immediately North of the N in VISNADELLO, thence road junction on N.E. of the O in VISNADELLO, thence by main road to the Church. 5. LEWIS GUNS. 3 Guns per Company will proceed in limbers in rear of each Company. The remaining gun with complement of magazines, will be carried on one Pack animal. 2 Lewis Gunners will march with this gun, and will be ready to deal with any hostile Aircraft that may come over on the line of march. 6. Companies will march at 100 yards distance. Order of march: - Headquarters, "A" Coy. "B" Coy. "C" Coy. "D" Coy. Head of column to pass the Club at 5 p.m. 7. RELIEF COMPLETE will be reported by Runner to Battalion Headquarters. All work in progress and lists of trench stores taken over will be sent to Battalion Headquarters by 9 a.m. on the 3rd. inst. 8. EACH Company will detail a party of one N.C.O. and 6 Other Ranks to march with the limber conveying the Blankets and trench stores proceeding to the trenches. OPERATION ORDER No. 122. PUG Feb. 9th. 1918. 1. Battalion will relieve POINTER in front line on evening of the 10th. inst. 2. Companies will move off at 5-15 p.m. Platoons will move at 100 yards interval. "A" Coy. will use No. 8 Communication trench. "C" Coy. tactical trench to right Coy. "D" Coy. Trench by Railway and support line. "B" Coy. No. 4 Communication trench. 4. C.S.M's. will proceed in advance to take over stores et., C.Q.M.S's. or Coy. Clerks will remain to hand over to incoming Unit. 5. POINTER will leave one guide fpr each ward post. 6. "D" Coy. will send two Lewis Guns and Teams to be attached to "B" Coy. for duty while in the line. 7. Relief complete will [be] reported by word "AMBER" and confirmed by Runner. OPERATION ORDER No. 123. PUG Ref. Map. Spresiano 1/25,000. February 17th./18. 1. The Battalion will be relieved by PENGUIN on the evening of the 18th. inst. 2. GUIDES. One guide per Platoon, and one for Battalion Headquarters will be sent as follows: - "C" Coy. to SPRESIANO Church, and remainder to C.ZAGO. 2/Lieut. V.E.Farr will be in charge of guides at C.ZAGO. Guides will be [at] rendez-vous by 7 p.m. 3. When relieved, Companies will withdraw independently to Billets in VISNADELLO. 4. Quartermaster and C.Q.M.Sgts. or Coy. Clerks will take over billets in VISNADELLO from PENGUIN, and arrange to meet Battalion. 5. BLANKETS will be rolled in bundles of 10. Limbers will collect these, Officers trench Kits and Cooks Kit at the following places: - H.Q. "A" and "D" Coy's. at VILLA CAVALIERI. "B" Coy. at C.BREDA. "C" Coy. at SPRESIANO ROAD. 6. RELIEF Complete by Code word "BRITIS" and confirmed by runner. 7. If advanced posts are not out when Companies are relieved, one guide per post will be left. OPERATION ORDER No. 124. 1st. Battalion The Bedfordshire Regiment. Ref. Map. SPRESIANO Sheet 1/25,000. Feb. 26th. 1918. 1. Battalion will relieve the 1st. Devonshire Regiment in Support to-morrow in the neighbourhood of ROTUNDA BIDASIO. 2. DISPOSITIONS. "A" Company will relieve a Company of the Devons holding the Rotunda, (Left) "B" Company will relieve a Company of the Devons holding the Quarry, etc., (Left Centre) "C" Company will relieve a Company of the Devons holding the Railway Embankment (Right Centre) "D" Company will relieve a Company of the Devons holding the Railway Embankment, (Right) 3. LEWIS GUNS. 3 Guns per Company will proceed in Limbers in rear of each Company. The remaining gun with a complement of magazines, will be carried on one pack animal. 2 Lewis Gunners will march with this gun, and will be ready to deal with any hostile Aircraft that may come over on the line of march. 4. Companies will march by platoons, at 3 minutes interval between platoons. Order of march: - Headquarters "A" Coy. "B" Coy. "C" Coy. "D" Coy. Head of column to pass the Church at ARCADE at 8 p.m. (Headquarter party will leave VISNADELLO at 7 p.m.) 5. RELIEF COMPLETE will be reported by Runner to Battalion Headquarters. All work in progress, and lists of trench stores taken over will be sent to Battalion Headquarters by 9 a.m. on the 28th. inst. 6. EACH Company will detail a party of one N.C.O. and 6 Other Ranks to march with the limber conveying the blankets and trench stores, proceeding to the trenches. Company Commanders will arrange for C.S.M's. to proceed to their positions in the line, to take over trench stores during daylight.
Date free text
1-28 Feb 1918
Production date
From: 1918 To: 1918
Level of description
item