WW1: The Manchesters in Italy

[Deleted account 231211001]

Seeing as I am in suspended animation due to this broken bleedin ankle, I got to doing some of that family research malarkey.

I amazingly discovered a cousin of my late father who was killed in action in Italy. Cousin Fred is buried in a cemetary North of Vicenza, at a place called Montecchio Precalcino http://www.cwgc.org/find-a-cemetery/cemetery/70301/MONTECCHIO PRECALCINO COMMUNAL CEMETERY EXTENSION along with 437 other comrades in arms.
Firstly, I hadn't realised that we sent men into Italy, and secondly it seems that most historians almsot dismiss the action seen as a sideshow that isn't worthy of a deeper examinaton.
Cousin Fred had been drafted into the replacements for those annihilated in Flanders and Northern France in 1915, had survived horrors unimaginable at the Somme in July 1916, been moved on to the 3rd Ypres battle known later as Passchendaele, survived all that and got a relatively easy gig in the warmth of Northenrn Italy for a few months before meeting his maker only 4 months before the Armistice.

I've done a fair amount of surfing the internets in this computer, bit there seems to be a lack of printed historical material concerning our allied involvement in Italy in 1917 to 18, apart from sketchy refernces to the brief sojourn there to aid the Italians in seeing off the Austro-Hungarians. Afetr July 1918, the 20th Manchesters, along with the rest, returned to the western front.

Does anyone on this esteemed forum have any source or reference material they are aware of that could help me dig deeper into the why's and the wherefore's of how a lad from Newton Heath ended up in a cemetary in Italy please?

It is also my plan to ride the 1100 miles to visit cousin Fred later this year,or at a time when it is practicable for me when this sodding cast comes off and I can actually move under my own steam.

Cheers

Mungrel

 

[Glyno]

Just reading " The White War " Life and death on the Italian front by Mark Thompson. Damn good read and gives a cracking insight into the conflict in that part of Europe.

 

[Bigdave789]

Battle of Piave 1918

My Grandad Tom who died in 1982 was awarded the Military Medal during this campaign, he never told us what for and rarely spoke about it.
In 2008 I was at the HOG European rally at Lake Garda and had a ride over to the area where the battle took place North West of Venice near a place called Treviso.
I had a rough idea where I was looking for, a village on the banks of the river Piave which splits into two parts and is separated by a piece of land called Papadopoli Island.
I found a memorial to the British forces mainly the Manchester Regiment, I have some photos on a disc, if I can upload them on here for you I will.
Tom was from Birkenhead and joined up at age sixteen in 1914, he was on leave when his battalion was almost wiped out on the Somme, what was left including himself were transferred to the Manchesters.
We did a lot of research about the medal but we still don't know why he was awarded it, a mate of mine who'd been in the Army suggested maybe he'd dragged one of his wounded mates back to safety.

 

[Posh Pete]

My Grandad Tom who died in 1982 was awarded the Military Medal during this campaign, he never told us what for and rarely spoke about it.
In 2008 I was at the HOG European rally at Lake Garda and had a ride over to the area where the battle took place North West of Venice near a place called Treviso.
I had a rough idea where I was looking for, a village on the banks of the river Piave which splits into two parts and is separated by a piece of land called Papadopoli Island.
I found a memorial to the British forces mainly the Manchester Regiment, I have some photos on a disc, if I can upload them on here for you I will.
Tom was from Birkenhead and joined up at age sixteen in 1914, he was on leave when his battalion was almost wiped out on the Somme, what was left including himself were transferred to the Manchesters.
We did a lot of research about the medal but we still don't know why he was awarded it, a mate of mine who'd been in the Army suggested maybe he'd dragged one of his wounded mates back to safety.

Lots of interesting places to visit in the Tirol / Alto Adige area. The fighting took place at altitudes and hence conditions which made life very difficult for the Austrian army and the Italians / Brits. A bike tour to the area would cover some great roads and scenery also.

Re your grandad's medal, try posting on the Great War forum. Many of the regulars there are incredibly helpful.

 

[mike6631]

The Manchesters in Italy

Hi

If he was awarded the MM during the battle in Italy it would probably have been published in the London Gazette, in the Supplement. This is now available to search online, and with the info that you have (name; Regt, Battle etc) it may be possible to look up his citation. Try here
http://www.london-gazette.co.uk

Mike

 

[Bigdave789]

Hi

If he was awarded the MM during the battle in Italy it would probably have been published in the London Gazette, in the Supplement. This is now available to search online, and with the info that you have (name; Regt, Battle etc) it may be possible to look up his citation. Try here
http://www.london-gazette.co.uk

Mike

We did try that via a different route, we went to Birkenhead Library and looked though old copies of the Birkenhead News on microfiche and found the article.
We had been told to look around six months after the medal was awarded and sure enough in a February 1919 edition it was there, that's when I first came across the expression "Gazetted"
It still did not tell us what he had done to be awarded the medal it just said "for bravery"
We went to the public records office in Kew and even got copies of the battalion reports, all handwritten and his name appears on a list for a patrol onto Padadopoli Island the day before the main attack on the Austrian positions on the opposite bank.

 

[mike6631]

Hi again

Gallantry awards are only awarded on the basis of a citation, but unfortunately it looks like many of those relating to WW1 awards were destroyed during WW2, see here: http://www.greatwar.co.uk/medals/british-ww1-medal-records.htm

However it might be worth looking up his medal record card to see if anything was recorded there

Mike

 

[MikeP]

Try here:

http://www.tameside.gov.uk/archives/manchesterregiment