War Diary 2nd Battalion Durham Light Infantry

Date: [unknown] [unknown]
Location: France
Surname/tag: durham_light_infantry

Contents 1 Document information 2 War Diary Index 2.1 1914 2.2 1915 2.3 1916 2.4 1917 2.5 1918 3 Research Notes 3.1 Abbreviations 3.2 Glossary 3.3 Partial Transcription 3.4 Structure 3.5 Casualties 4 Sources

Document information

WAR DIARY of 2nd BATTALION DURHAM LIGHT INFANTRY 6th DIVISION, 18th INFANTRY BRIGADE AUGUST 1914 - DECEMBER 1918

This is a partial transcript of the official war diaries of the battalion written during the war.^[1] The document extends to March 1919 when the battalion was part of 27 Division 80 Brigade and serving in Salonika and the Black Sea region.

The France War Diaries for all battalions (and some other theatres of war) are available to download from the National Archives Ref: WO95 and to view and download from their collection on Ancestry.

War Diary Index

1914

1915

1916

• June
• July
• August
• September
• October

1917

1918

Research Notes

Abbreviations

• 2/LT = 2nd Lieutenant
  
• AOC = Army Ordnance Corps
  
• Cmdg = Commanding
  
• Coy = Company
  
• DLI = Durham Light Infantry
  
• D.S.O. = Service * Order
  
• Hqrs = Head-quarters (assumed)
  
• M.G. = Machine Guns
  
• OR = Other Ranks
  
• RAMC = Royal Army Medical Corps
• Rly = Railway i.e. Railway Construction Companies of the Royal Engineers
  

Glossary

• Minenwerfer - a mortar used for launching short range mine shells, used to accurately target obstacles like bunkers and barbed wire.

• Whizzbang - Small high-velocity shell which travelled faster than the speed of sound. This gave the defenders no warning of incoming shells as the whizz of the incoming shell was heard before the bang of the gun.

Partial Transcription

Initially I only plan to transcribe the part of the document relating to the service of James Simon Forcer (1882-1916) but I am more than happy for other people to add to this whatever sections relate to their connections.

Structure

The intended structure is for there to be a space for each month to make the pages easier to navigate and manage.

• Each monthly page should be linked above in date order to form an index.
• Each monthly page should have the same basic format.

Please copy and paste the following template:

[[Category:Durham Light Infantry, British Army, World War I]] ==Document Info== This is a transcription of the official war diaries of the 2nd Battalion Durham Light Infantry for {MONTH} 1916. It forms part of a larger set of pages indexed [[Space:War_Diary_2nd_Battalion_Durham_Light_Infantry|here]]. ==War Diary== ==={Page description}=== [Image ###] * {Date} - {Transcript for that date} ==={Page description}=== [Image ###] * {Date} - {Transcript for that date} ==Casualties== {format to be confirmed} ==Additional Documents== ==={Page description}=== [Image ###] * {Description and/or Transcript for that page} ==Sources== <references/>

• Replace the info in curly brackets
• Copy and Paste the Page Description section as many times as needed for the pages in each month.
• If there are no additional pages and only the Diary pages then the Additional Documents section should be deleted.
• Insert the relevant image number for each page

The Image number used so far is the Ancestry image number. I don't know if this matches the National Archives one. If a different source / number range is used this should be specified on each page.

Casualties

Where I can find names and records for the casualties I will add them in the casualties, hopefully to include the 'Other Ranks' who are not usually named in the diaries and also deserve to be remembered. Decisions on the best way to format this to be decided when quality of data available is established. If this is mainly going to be for the Officers who are already named it might not be worth the work required to collate the data.

Sources

1. ↑ Military: "UK, World War I War Diaries (France, Belgium and Germany), 1914-1920"
   The National Archives of the UK; Kew, Surrey, England; First World War and Army of Occupation War Diaries; Class: WO 95; Piece: 1617
   Ancestry Sharing Link - Ancestry uk Record 60779 #465665 (accessed 11 August 2023)
   Regiment or Unit: Durham Light Infantry; Sub Unit: 14th Battalion, 2nd Battalion; Division: 6th Division; Diary Entry Start Date: 4 Aug 1914; Diary Entry End Date: 7 Aug 1914; Diary Dates: 1914 Aug - 1919 Mar, 1915 Sep - 1918 Jan; Diary Entry Location: Lichfield; Piece Description: Piece 1617: 18 Infantry Brigade (1914 - 1919); Piece Number: 1617.