Great War>Training Camps

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Connaught Barracks    Connaught Barracks is located about half a mile south of Fort Burgoyne in Dover and opened in July 1913. During the First World War the barracks were used for training and the assembly of large quantities of men and supplies to cross the channel to France. The site remained in military hands until 2006. If you can provide any additional information, please add it here. Want to know more about Connaught Barracks? There are:0 items tagged Connaught Barracks available in our Library   These include information on officers, regimental histories, letters, diary entries, personal accounts and information about actions during the Great War. Those known to have trained at Connaught Barracks during the Great War 1914-1918. Ballard Charles Edward. Pte. All names on this list have been submitted by relatives, friends, neighbours and others who wish to remember them, if you have any names to add or any recollections or photos of those listed, please Add a Name to this List The Wartime Memories Project is the original WW1 and WW2 commemoration website. 1st of September 2024 marks 25 years since the launch of the Wartime Memories Project. Thanks to everyone who has supported us over this time. Want to find out more about your relative's service? Want to know what life was like during the Great War? Our Library contains many many diary entries, personal letters and other documents, most transcribed into plain text. Looking for help with Family History Research?    Please see Family History FAQ's Please note: We are unable to provide individual research. Can you help? The free to access section of The Wartime Memories Project website is run by volunteers and funded by donations from our visitors. If the information here has been helpful or you have enjoyed reaching the stories please conside making a donation, no matter how small, would be much appreciated, annually we need to raise enough funds to pay for our web hosting or this site will vanish from the web. If you enjoy this site please consider making a donation. Announcements 18th Dec 2024     Please note we currently have a massive backlog of submitted material, our volunteers are working through this as quickly as possible and all names, stories and photos will be added to the site. If you have already submitted a story to the site and your UID reference number is higher than 265120 your submission is still in the queue, please do not resubmit. Wanted: Digital copies of Group photographs, Scrapbooks, Autograph books, photo albums, newspaper clippings, letters, postcards and ephemera relating to the Great War. If you have any unwanted photographs, documents or items from the First or Second World War, please do not destroy them. The Wartime Memories Project will give them a good home and ensure that they are used for educational purposes. Please get in touch for the postal address, do not sent them to our PO Box as packages are not accepted. World War 1 One ww1 wwII greatwar great battalion regiment artillery Did you know? We also have a section on World War Two. and a Timecapsule to preserve stories from other conflicts for future generations. 224855 Pte. Charles Edward Ballard 2nd Btn. Royal Sussex Regiment My grandfather’s service record does not survive, but from other official documents I have been able to piece together a little of his war history. Charles Ballard volunteered on 19th October 1914 and attested at Chichester, which was the depot for the Royal Sussex Regiment . Christmas 1914 found him at the Connaught Barracks (Dover) undergoing final training with 3rd Btn. Royal Sussex Regiment. He disembarked in France on 11th January, 1915 and joined the 2nd Btn. on 18th of January, 1915. He was originally a rifleman, but at some point was trained as a bomber, i.e. a specialist thrower of Mills grenades (bombs). This meant that he would go out on trench raids, unarmed except for his bombs, as part of a nine-man patrol (two each of throwers, bomb-carriers, bayonet-men, reserves and one sergeant or 2/Lt.) to attack enemy trenches in order to capture a prisoner; this was quite dangerous, and was usually done at night. His entire war was spent on the Western Front with 2nd Royal Sussex Regiment, which formed part of the 2nd Brigade in the 1st Division; he was transferred to Class Z of the Army Reserve (i.e. demobilized) on 10th February, 1919. As an aside, the 2nd Bn. Royal Sussex Regiment had earned the name of the “Iron Regiment” from German prisoners taken on 1st November, 1914, because of its stout defence at the First Battle of Ypres. The 1st Division was selected to be a part of the Allied forces that occupied part of Germany, under the terms of the Armistice. The ‘March to the Rhine’ started on 17th November, 1918 and 2n Royal Sussex Regiment crossed into Germany on 17th December, 1918. C Coy celebrated its Christmas dinner at Witterschlick (Germany) on 27th December and afterwards enjoyed a regimental concert. I have assumed that my grandfather was there. From family research, I have discovered that he lost at least two relatives. The first was his cousin, Pte. Frederick G. Adams, L/10699, D Coy, 2nd Btn. Royal Sussex Regiment (see his entry on this website). The family story passed down from my grandfather is that young Fred (d. 13th October, 1915 aged 17 years and 8 months) was shot in the head by a German sniper during his first week in the trenches at Loos. The second was his brother-in-law, Pte. Henry J. Mitchell, G/16053, 7th Btn. Royal Sussex Regiment . Henry was killed in action on 5th April, 1918 (aged 21 years) and is commemorated on the Pozieres Memorial. Grandfather would not talk about the war, except the following three snippets passed down from my father. 1. He was one of only six in his company of about 200+ men to survive the war neither killed nor wounded. 2. He once killed 28 Germans in a trench attack. 3. He described No. 1 Field Punishment (tied to a wagon wheel) to my father. My grandfather had previously served with 2nd Royal Sussex Regiment as a regular soldier in 1902-5, and his time in the Reserve (9 years) had just expired in April 1914. I would assume that he knew when to keep his head down with regards to discipline, and would like to think that he was unlikely to have been a recipient of No. 1 FP. Lest we forget! John M. Ballard Add to this record. Recomended Reading. Available at discounted prices. Links Suggest a link

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