Manchester pals

[gary]

Hi my names Gary 
I am new to this site i have just started searching for my Grandfathers war records.Can any one help find what action his Regiment was in. I have some information about  him his name was Private Harold Moss (26049) of the 3rd Entrenching battalion B company 20th S Battalion Manchester Reg 5th City. There are three dates on one of the documents he enlisted 2-6-1915 -date posted 10-11-1915 and the other says Exped Force France 31-12-1915 and i know he was taken prisoner of war on the 3-Sept-1916. I know nothing about him between his enlistment and being taken prisoner is there any way i can find out where he was kept prisoner.As i have just started i do not know where to look for information and any help will be very much appreciated

[kingo]

Hiya Gary, and welcome to the site.

Your Grandfather was taken prisoner on the 3rd September During the 20th Battalions ultimately unsuccessful attack on the village of Ginchy.The Battalion suffered heavy casualties that day having 11 Officers and 275 men killed, wounded or missing. Your Grandfather was wounded when taken prisoner with gun shot wounds to the (think of the worst place!). He was admitted to a German hospital (cant read where it was-will have to get back to you on that one) before being repatriated on the 29th December 1918 where he was admitted to the King George Hospital, London with influenza. He had lied about his age when joining up, and his Father wrote a very strong letter to the authorities to try and get him back from France. 

[timberman]

Hi Gary
Welcome to the forum.

There is a little bit about the 20thBn on the main site, just folow the link.

http://www.themanchesters.org/20th%20batt.htm


There is  Medal Index card on Ancestry he was entitled to the Victory and British medals.
He also had the rank of L/Cpl
His medals were sent on the 7/11/21

Timberman

[kingo]

Gary, On further inspection, the prisoner of war camp looks like Langensalza. If you google it (Other search engines are available  ) there is some information. It is now known as Bad Langensalza.

[themonsstar]

LANGENSALZA—A busy town (pop.   12,6oo) containing cloth and cotton factories.The camp was opened in 1914, and consists of hutments, each holding 250 men.Capacity,10,000. Centre of numerous working commandos. American prisoners here,11th Army Corps.

[gary]

Thanks for all your help
I know that the camp he was in had Americans in it or near by becouse an American prisoner wrote a book after the war and  he mentions my Grandfather in it .My brother has a copy of the book i will get the name of the book and the author if anyone is intrested. Can any one help me find out what  his Battalion was involved in before the attack on Ginchy.
Thanks again
     Gary

[kingo]

Gary, For a full history of the 20th Battalion you get could a book (either from your local library or from a bookshop)  "The Manchester Pals" by Michael Stedman. It tells the complete story of the Pals Battalions from their inception to their disbandment at the end of the war. (we,as a forum have no connection with the author)

[gary]

Thanks themonsstar for the information about Langensalza Camp i have just read a book- Behind German Lines by Ralph E Ellinwood (it is worth reading). He tells of his time as a WW1 Prisoner of  War he was sent to live and  work on a farm in a village called Illeben not far from Langensalza. He mentions my grandfather saying that he was in the next village the only one that is close enough to walk to is Esckardtsleben. He says that about five of them   used to visit each other on a Sunday for tea he would go to my Grandfathers  village one Sunday and the next my grandfather  would go to his. It seems that they had a lot of freedom working and living on the farms they lived with families and not under guard they had it a lot better on the farms than in the camps.

[harribobs]

The 20th Battn was part of the 7th Division. They landed in France in December 1915.

In February 1916 they had arrived on the Somme, along with the 21st, and 22nd battalion, they were brigaded with the 2nd Royal Warwicks, 2nd Royal Irish and the 1st Royal Welsh Fusiliers (the Oldham lads 24th Battn were the divisions pioneers)

The went into the line opposite the village of Fricourt, during the spring of 1916 the were in the trenches around Bois Francais near Maple Redoubt, then back to Morlancourt for rest or more likely working parties.

On the 1st July the batalion attacked the German lines at the right hand side of Fricourt, through Sunken Road Trench, Zinc Road and Bois Francais support,  starting at 2.30 pm

[harribobs]

harolds photos

[gary]

Thanks Harribobs for posting the photos.
The first photo is Priv 26049-Harold Moss-20th Batt-Manchester 5th City in a prisoner of war camp. The second is of him at a Reunion some years later does any one recognize any one in the photo.
Gary

[mack]

great photos gary.
in the first photo,the POWs are being loaded or unloaded from a train,there are a few different regiments amongst them,and a couple of german guards,i think the man furthest right is a russian POW.

thanks for sharing them with us.

mack

[gary]

Hi Mack
The first photo of my grandad as a P. O. W  must  have been taken after the Germans had released him from hospital after treating him for gunshot wounds(one of which was in his family jewels ).I dont know wether it was common practice for the Germans to take photos of there prisoners or it was taken by some one from the  hospital  before they were shipped out to the camps.If the latter that might account for all the different regiments and nationalities. I Know he was sent to Lanensalza then sent to work on a farm in or near to the village of Esckardtsleben where he spent the rest of the war.The photo must have been sent or given to him there is something printed on the back in German but i can not make it out. I think by the state of the photo it must have been in his wallet for years it was only found after he died in1982.I would be interested if any one recognizes people on the second photo.