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Returning troops to their regiment in war (possibly 1917 film spoilers)

Posted: January 14th, 2020, 11:25 am
by didds
I saw 1917 last night (Ive opened a thread on the movies forum for discussion of the film).

A query that has subsequently crossed my mind...

In the film the soldier (Schofield) is in "the 8th" ( the 8th army I guess). He travels several miles to link up with an advanced front line which is manned by not-the-8th.

Having reached the not-the-8th and delivered his mjessage... the film leaves him about to sit under a tree, exhausted.

In reality in such situations (ie soldier from one army/regiment/battalion etc) how would the solider have returned to his own mob? expected to just get there under his own steam? be taken there? seconded to the mob he was now in and serve with them?

just intrigued how this worked in reality (for whatever reasons of troops becoming disjointed and ending up with "another mob" )

didds

Re: Returning troops to their regiment in war (possibly 1917 film spoilers)

Posted: January 14th, 2020, 11:49 am
by ReformedCharacter
didds wrote:I saw 1917 last night (Ive opened a thread on the movies forum for discussion of the film).

A query that has subsequently crossed my mind...

In the film the soldier (Schofield) is in "the 8th" ( the 8th army I guess). He travels several miles to link up with an advanced front line which is manned by not-the-8th.

Having reached the not-the-8th and delivered his mjessage... the film leaves him about to sit under a tree, exhausted.

In reality in such situations (ie soldier from one army/regiment/battalion etc) how would the solider have returned to his own mob? expected to just get there under his own steam? be taken there? seconded to the mob he was now in and serve with them?

just intrigued how this worked in reality (for whatever reasons of troops becoming disjointed and ending up with "another mob" )

didds

I don't think there was an 8th Army in WW1 but there was an 8th Infantry Division, a Division being the largest sub-unit of a British Army then and probably now.

The 8th Division was a Regular Army division that was formed by combining battalions returning from outposts in the British Empire at the outbreak of the First World War. Major-General Francis Davies took command on 19 September 1914. The division moved to France in November, 1914, following the First Battle of Ypres. The division fought on the Western Front for the duration of the war, taking part in the Battle of Neuve Chapelle, the Battle of Aubers Ridge, both in 1915, the Battle of the Somme, in 1916, and the Battle of Passchendaele in 1917.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/8th_Infan ... ed_Kingdom)

I haven't seen the film but in general troops were moved in and out of front-line duties, rested etc. and that would have given the opportunity for a soldier to re-join his regiment.

RC

Re: Returning troops to their regiment in war (possibly 1917 film spoilers)

Posted: January 14th, 2020, 3:12 pm
by Garless
My partner has researched her Great Uncles who both died in WW1. The older survived until almost the end of the war but changed regiment several times as he survived but his regiment was decimated to the point of no longer existing.

Re: Returning troops to their regiment in war (possibly 1917 film spoilers)

Posted: January 14th, 2020, 3:24 pm
by MaraMan
My Grandfather served with The Royal Fusilliers between 1915 and 1917, luckily his records survive. He was wounded Passchendaele and survived the war. He served with several batallions of the Fusillliers during his time, and it was very common to move around like this. You would not ordinarilly move between regiments though, so as the film shows he would have had to rejoin his own regiment, he would not just join the Devonshire's. Having said that my Grandfather originally enlisted with the City of London Yeomanry but was posted to the Royal Fusilliers when he was sent to Flanders (he was originally posted to Dublin and was involved in the Easter Rising/Rebellion). So it did happen, but I think on group rather than individual level.
MM