34 replies to this topic

[Desmond7]

http://www.bbc.co.uk...acd_index.shtml

This link may be of interest .. photo albums etc

[gunner parr]

Very interesting thread that I came through via 'Battersea' - my dad, my grandmother and great-grand parents were from there - and I attended Battersea Grammar School! I digress - I wonder if anyone has any information on 80101 Sergeant Walter William Melrose - born Battersea 1892 - who won the MM with Dunsterforce at the Volkan grizhnoi on 26 August 1918.  He served previously with the RNAS in Russia (F1397 POM RNAS) but little info in the Czar's British Squadron.

[charlesmessenger]

Gunner Parr

I can  tell you a little about Melrose. He was a motor mechanic in civil life and his address on enlistment was given as 16 Townsend Road, Southall, Middlesex. He ppears tp have served in Gwerman SW Africa, but joined the RNACD in 1914 and served in Belium and France in 1915. He was with No 3 Squadron in Russia and was awarded the St George Medal 4th Class for his perforance as a Maxim machine gunner in the fighting arounf the village of Pav Koti during 19 Aug - 1 Sep 1916. His fire and that of another Maxim gunner was effective in suppressing enemy fire and foprcing him to withdraw from his trenches.

Charles M

[centurion]

charlesmessenger, on 31 March 2012 - 09:41 AM, said:

Gunner Parr

I can  tell you a little about Melrose. He was a motor mechanic in civil life and his address on enlistment was given as 16 Townsend Road, Southall, Middlesex. He ppears tp have served in Gwerman SW Africa, but joined the RNACD in 1914 and served in Belium and France in 1915. He was with No 3 Squadron in Russia and was awarded the St George Medal 4th Class for his perforance as a Maxim machine gunner in the fighting arounf the village of Pav Koti during 19 Aug - 1 Sep 1916. His fire and that of another Maxim gunner was effective in suppressing enemy fire and foprcing him to withdraw from his trenches.

Charles M

I wonder if he served with the armoured cars used in German S W Africa.


 gws_windhoekcar_01.jpeg   67.57K   0 downloads

[gunner parr]

Thanks so much for the information and the leads! I now know the Russian medal (I have Melrose's medal group though minus the 1914-15 Star) was awarded  for Russia and not Dunsterforce which I had assumed but could not confirm.  Following your lead I have just found his RN paper confirming RNAS/RNACD service and his Army pension forms which, according to his statement, he served in German South West Africa from March to September 1915 and France from September to December 1915 before going to Russia.  Attached is an enlarged photograph of Melrose from a larger group picture of C Section DUNCARS. Great help!

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[rnascars]

Hi All,

I have just joined the forum and this is my first posting, I just hope all goes well and its in the right section?

I am trying to find any information as to when the S.S. Dundrennan first set sail from Liverpool with a cargo of armoured cars bound for Russia?

What is of interest is that I have an album with over 90 of photographs, none of which are captioned, only a duplicated folio size sheet with captions and numerals which refer to the photographs on the album pages.

I am trying to establish the date when these photographs were likely taken? There are no dates mentioned on the folio sheet, only references to Lt. Commander Soames, Lt. Hedge, Major Charles including petty officers: White, Thirgood, Walker, Francis, Sewell, Chilvers & Sandifer.

Any help to try and establish the date of these photographs would be most appreciated

Regards
Andrew

P.S. I have enclose a photographs from this album, with the appropriate caption: Arrival in BROVARIE of armour from PROSCUROFF

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[sotonmate]

From the Beeb link above it seems that late 1915 was the time these vehicles were shipped to Russia. You may need to read the ship files in WO25 at Kew for information,there is a system of filing papers for ships leaving UK ports for overseas and which were engaged by the military to carry men and stores. They are filed by date (no port sequences) and each file covers around 3 months of shipments. If you consider it worthwhile to read the appropriate file(s) the references are:
WO25/3537  1 Oct to 31 Dec 1915,and just in case it was earlier or later,
WO25/3536  1 Jul to 30 Sep 1915,
WO25/3544  1 Jan  to 31 Mar 1916.
Search time about 20 mins per file,so long as you are not distracted by something you didn't know about and decide to read about it !

[RobL]

Regarding Rolls Royces in Russia, i've got at least one photo of a Rolls Royce armoured car in that campaign

[rnascars]

sotonmate, on 17 April 2013 - 08:19 PM, said:

From the Beeb link above it seems that late 1915 was the time these vehicles were shipped to Russia. You may need to read the ship files in WO25 at Kew for information,there is a system of filing papers for ships leaving UK ports for overseas and which were engaged by the military to carry men and stores. They are filed by date (no port sequences) and each file covers around 3 months of shipments. If you consider it worthwhile to read the appropriate file(s) the references are:
WO25/3537  1 Oct to 31 Dec 1915,and just in case it was earlier or later,
WO25/3536  1 Jul to 30 Sep 1915,
WO25/3544  1 Jan  to 31 Mar 1916.
Search time about 20 mins per file,so long as you are not distracted by something you didn't know about and decide to read about it !

Sotonmate

Thank you for pointing me in the right direction, I will check this out.

[rnascars]

Thought this photograph may be of interest to the forum?

This one is captioned: 'Austrian prisoners pushing off a PIERCE ARROW with Lt. HEDGE steering'. and was probably taken at Petrograd?

Maybe someone could pin point the date Lt. Hedge was around at the time taking care of deliveries, also I am trying to identify the owner of this album. Its most likely to have been one of the named petty officers in an earlier posting of mine?

If any forum members are interest in these photographs, I am prepared to scan and share the contents of the album with interested parties

Regards
Andrew

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•  49ra.jpg   102.97K   0 downloads