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Thread: Friendly Fire

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    Default Friendly Fire

    My Grandfather Reginald Thomas Dunstan was killed on 4th November 1918, by "friendly fire", but no one really knows how he was killed, except for that phrase, any idea, how to establish what this term really means?

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    Where did "friendly fire" come from?

    I have to admit I thought the phrase was of fairly recent origin but the OED comes up with a 1918 quotation from the New York Times. On the other hand they don't show any examples from British English until the 1990s where the phrase is enclosed in quotation marks, suggesting it wasn't in common use.

    I'll be interested to be proved wrong but I rather doubt that the phrase was in use in Britain to describe WW1 casualties.

    The 'soldiers died' database just shows 'killed in action'.

    Perhaps the battalion war diary may shed some light on it -

    https://discovery.nationalarchives.go...ils/r/C7353047

    It's not likely that it would mention his name but it should shed light on what was going on at the time.

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    Valued member of Brit-Gen MrsPoppy's Avatar
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    The announcement in the newspaper (Western Times) just says 'killed in action'. So no clues there.

    Mrs P

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    Famous for offering help & advice peter nicholl's Avatar
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    Hi Dunstan and welcome to the Forum. First published in 1938, Col. A Crookenden's book. The History of The Cheshire regiment in The Great War, includes the following for the 9th Battalion on 4th November 1918: "The 9th Battalion went into the line in front of Sommaing on 2nd/3rd November. ................ All these movements were carried out not only under hostile but also under "friendly" artillery fire. On the 4th, the attack on Jenlain was resumed under a barrage which again caused some casualties to our men."
    Hope this helps.
    Peter Nicholl
    Researching:Nicholl,Boater, Haselgrove & Vaughan

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    Famous for offering help & advice peter nicholl's Avatar
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    At such a late stage in the war it is more than likely that the British were using a creeping artillery barrage to support the advance. The creeping barrage laid down a line of fire which moved forward so that their shells would land just ahead of the friendly troops. It did involve the danger that any miscalculation as to where the shells were meant to land or shells falling short would lead to death by "friendly fire". It also meant that the Germans knew that their targets would be just the other side of where the British shells were landing, when it came to countering fire.
    Peter Nicholl
    Researching:Nicholl,Boater, Haselgrove & Vaughan

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