4 replies to this topic

[Bob B]

Where did my Grandfather go to on Saturday 9th & Sunday 10th November 1918?

A  Gunner in D/281 Bde (56th London Div)  his brigade was rapidly advancing into Belgium. This is an extract from his diary:

 Diary. (471 x 652).jpg   98.93K   14 downloads

Nov 8 Left Sebourg...  reached Fay(t)-Le-Franc. Athies at night

Nov 9 Left Athies... reached ????

Nov 10 (Memo) Left ???? for Quevy Le Petit

  
I can also place the 280 & 281 near the HQ at Onnezies on the morning of the 8th and at Blaregnies on 9th when 167^th Infantry Brigade advanced on Quevy accompanied by 281A & 280C Brigades.

I travelled the route a while back but could not locate 'Nagur', 'Nayun', 'Nayon' ? on the ground nor on local maps.

I did find a house called 'Noyon' in Fayt-Le-Franc but the owner told me it was recently named and without any local connection.

So where was did he go to?

[anneca]

I'm sure there would be at least one handwriting expert on the Forum able to help with this.  It is great you have his diary with original writing!  Might the word on Saturday 9th ('Nagur', 'Nayun' or 'Nayon') actually be Ny.....something?

[Edward1]

Somewhere in the centre between 3&6
There is a   "Bruyere"  in the vicinity as in Sars la Bruyere (last couple of letters are similar)
Eddie

Attached Files

•  wheredgo.jpg   71.08K   2 downloads

[anneca]

You've got a point there Edward.

[Bob B]

I would welcome a check by one of our handwriting experts, but in general I have been able to decipher his writing. What does not help is that he has gone over some of  the original pencil entries in ink.

I am confident that its 5 or possibly 6 letters where

1  = N
2 = a or o
3 = y or g. I do not think it is q. However the entry of the 9th includes Witney Gazette which shows a flourish on the y, G and z
4 = }
5 = } un, ur or is there a 6th letter

Therefore I had already discounted the many places starting Bl.. and Br..

In his diary are some words in French, some spelt right and some phonetically, which is hardly surprising. I suspect the place names were either taken from signs or were his interpretation of what he heard, could it be a local dialect which is causing the confusion. NB this is the only one I have not been able to decipher.

I purchased some local large scale maps when I traced his route. Looking at them shows very few possible routes today. The Fayt-LeFranc & Athies lie on the Bavay to Mons road but there are no other obvious North South routes that cross the border. To the East is a very heavily wooded area with just one through route via Petit Dour, although I suspect there were some local tracks.

With the Canadians to the North and 11th div (?) to the South the 56th were moving on quite a narrow front leap frogging forward with the 62nd Div so this narrows the search area.

I suspect it will always be a mystery.

Thanks for the help

Bob