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Medal Trio to A. McLeod


leon21

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Medal Trio To 139 Pte Angus McLeod of 52nd (Lowland) Division Cyclist Company of VIII Corps and Army Cyclist Corps.

Formed from Infantry Battalions of the Division, a draft of 2 Officers and 67 men  which  came from the 2/9th ( Glasgow )

 Highland Light Infantry Battalion  joined the Company on 26th April 1915, Angus joined about this time and he was given

 the number 139 on joining, a Divisional Cyclist Company had a total strength  of only 204 men.

Most units of the Corps served out their time in the UK, providing replacement drafts to Infantry Battalions. Formed units of

the Corps were not sent overseas, this was done in small groups of men with Divisions possessing individual Cyclist Companies

and Composite Battalions later formed at Corps level in 1916.

The primary roles of the Cyclists were reconnaissance and communications ( message taking ), they were armed as Infantry and

could provide mobile firepower if required, those units that went overseas continued in these roles but when the mobile phase of

the war had settled into a trench warfare then they spent much of their time doing trench-holding duties and on manual work.

These Cyclist troops were rarely committed to action rather being held back in preparation for a resumption of normal mobile

warfare. In 1918 with the deadlock of the trenches overcome Cyclist proved invaluable for Reconnaissance once again.

 

In May and June 1916 all Cyclist Companies were withdrawn from the Divisions to form a Cyclist Battalion for each Corps HQ

and placed under Corps Command.

 

Many Cyclist were killed or wounded when shot off their cycles by German snipers when taking messages back to their HQs.post-3823-0-00527200-1449173958_thumb.jpgpost-3823-0-00489600-1449173975_thumb.jpgpost-3823-0-37466000-1449173991_thumb.jpg

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  • 2 months later...

After some research done Pte A. McLeod first saw action in the Gallipoli campaign with 52nd Lowland Division part of VIII Corps.

The 52nd ( Lowland ) Division  left Devonport on the 6th June 1915 on the SS Karoa and landed at Port Said on 17th June, they Re-

Embarked on the SS Borda and landed at Mudros on the 28th July. The G.O.C. of the 52nd decided to allocate the cyclist company

as reinforcement drafts to the Infantry Battalions of the Division at Gallipoli, the men were transferred back to their original units

but the men of the 2/9th HLI had no parent unit at Gallipoli and so were attached to the 1/6th Glasgow HLI as a separate platoon.

The cyclists fought as infantrymen on the Helles front on the Gallipoli Peninsula for the remainder of the Gallipoli campaign

losing 9 killed and 21 wounded and 3 died of disease. Following the British Evacuation of Gallipoli the Division was sent to Egypt

as part of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force were it manned the East facing defensive Fortifacations during the battle of Romani,

the cyclist company was re-formed at EL Kantara on the 27th March 1916 and attached to the 1/5 Royal Scots Fusilliers, during

the battle of Romani in August 1916 the cyclist company held two of the Redoubts and lost 18 killed and two wounded.

Order of Battle.

155 ( South Scottish ) Brigade.

1/4 Battalion Royal Scots Fusiliers

1/5 Battalion Royal Scots Fusiliers

1/4 ( The Border ) Battalion Kings Own Scottish Borders

1/5 ( Dumfries and Galloway ) Battalion Kings Own Scottish Borders ( Left 28th June 1918 )

155 Machine Gun Company ( Formed 23rd March 1916 )

155 Trench Mortar Battery ( Formed 24th May 1917 )

 

156 ( Scottish Rifles ) Brigade

1/7 Battalion Cameronians ( Scots Rifles )

1/8 Battalion Cameronians ( Scots Rifles ) ( Left  28th June 1918 )

1/4 ( Queen Edinburgh Rifles ) Battalion Royal Scots ( Lothian )

1/7 Battalion Royal Scots ( Lothian Regiment ) ( Joined April 1915 )

156 Machine Gun Company of M.G. Corps ( Formed 16th March 1916 )

156 Trench Mortar Battery ( Formed 27th June 1917 )

 

157 ( Highland Light Infantry ) Brigade

1/5 ( City of Glasgow ) Battalion H.L.I.

1/6 ( City of Glasgow ) Battalion H.L.I.

1/7 ( Blythswood ) Battalion H.L.I.

1/5 ( Renfrewshire ) Battalion Princess Louise's ( Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders ) ( From April 1915 to 28th June 1918 )

157 Machine Gun Company of M.G. Corps ( Formed 14th March 1916 )

157 Trench Mortar Battery ( Formed 11th June 1917 )

Others

Lowland Mounted Brigade

1st Dismounted Brigade

Divisional Mounted Troops ( including 52nd Cyclist Company )

Divisional Artillery

Divisional Engineers

Divisional Pioneers

Divisional Machine Guns

Divisional  Medical Services

Divisional Transport

1st Lowland Mobile Veterinary Section

984 Divisional Employment Company

 

In June 1917 XXI Corps was formed in Egypt it formed part of the Egyptian Experditionary  Force that served in the Sinai and

Palestine Campaign

Order of Battle for the Battle of Jaffa 1917.

52nd ( Lowland ) Division

54th East Anglian Division

75th Division

 

At some point during this Campaign Angus Mcleod was promoted to the rank of Corporal which is on his War and Victory Medals.

The Division also took part in the following Battles during 1917.

The First Battle of Gaza  ( 26-27 March ).

The Second Battle of Gaza  ( 17-19 April ).

The Third Battle of Gaza  ( 1-7 November ).

The Battle of Wadi-EL-Hesi  ( 8 November ).

The Battle of Burqa  ( 12 November ) ( 156 Brigade Only ).

The Battle of EL-Maghar  ( 13 November ) ( 155 Brigade Only ).

The Capture of Junction Station ( 14 November ).

The Battle of Nabi-Samweil  ( 20-24 November ).

The Battle of Jaffa  ( 21-22 December ) ( Including The Passage of The Nahr-EL-Auja. ).

Phases of the Palestine Campaign.

 

The 52nd Cyclist Company left the Division and came under XXI Corps command on 8th December 1917.

On the 24th March 1918 the 52nd Division received orders to proceed to France, they went via Marseilles and concentrated near

Abbeville, the Cyclist company re-joined the Division on the 1st April.

On the 29th April the Division moved to Aire and took over a sector of front line near Vimy, on the 23rd July they moved into the

line North East of Arras.

The Division took part in the following Battles during 1918.

The Battle of Albert ( Phase of the Second Battle of the Somme ).

The Battle of the Scarpe.

The Battle of the Drocourt-Queant line ( Phases of the Second Battle of Arras ).

The Battle of the Canal Du Nord ( Phase of the Battles on the Hindenburg Line ).

And the Final advance in Artois.

The Division was in the front line North of the Mons Canal and was engaged on clearing Herchies on the 11th November 1918.

Below is a copy of his medal card.

On the 1st of November 1916 all Territorials with the cyclist companies were transferred to regular Army Terms of Service

and renumbered , so Angus received the new number of 15348 in the Army Cyclist Corps.

 

img133.jpg

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Excellent Colin, glad you were able to confirm saw action in the Gallipoli campaign :)

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The 52nd ( Lowland ) Division.

The Demobilisation of the Division began in December of 1918 and came to an end on the 31 May 1919 when the final Cadres left for home.

Here is Angus McLeod's  1914/15 Star Medal Card it lists him as being Disembodied on the 23rd February 1919, a term used for  a man of

the Territorial Force.

Disembodied = meaning a man of the Territorial Army at the start of the war would have been "Embodied" into the Regular Army, and at

the end of his war service would have been "Disembodied" the Regular Army would not be concerned whether or not the man remained in

the Territorials, the same Phraseology was usually also used for men called up from the Reserves.

img132.jpg

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Well done, this must have taken a lot of research. Do you have the original document, or did you get a copy sent?

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Thanks Paul, yes it took me a while to gather all the info and put it all together, I downloaded a copy of his medal card.

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Very good, did you have to pay for the download?

 

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I came across it when I joined Ancestry a  few months back I was looking up other soldiers  medals information at the time as well as

Family History  creating a family tree.

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Have often looked into ancestry, but the scope is limited if you don't register, and somehow have been reluctant to join up till now.

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You can join on a free months trial to see if you like it as I did, then I stayed for an extra month cost £13.99. It's surprising the

amount of information you can find out in a month.

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  • 3 years later...

Update.

 

Managed to find the earlier 12 spoke variant of the Army Cyclist cap badge, to add with the later 16 spoke variant.

100_6127.jpg

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  • 4 months later...

I just spotted this WW1 Pension Card for your man, Angus McLeod, in the "Fold3" section of Ancestry (you may already have it?). It looks like the card's dated 1925 so I guess Angus must have been awarded a post-war pension for wounds or debilitating illness received on duty.

 

The card shows his two Army Cyclist Corps numbers, also a Highland Light Infantry service number, 1772.

Mcleod, Angus (15348, 139, 1772).jpg

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  • 2 weeks later...

Thank you Ian for posting the Pension Card, I had not seen it before today.

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  • 1 month later...

Have seen a territorial medal for 400 Pounds.

WW1 Territorial War medal for Voluntary Service Overseas, Geo V, to          
  1798 Private T. SMITH, Gordons. (only 94 issued to Gordon Highlanders).          
  He also served in the 14th London Regt. (London Scottish Regt). EF
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  • 3 months later...

The Territorial War Medal is not a cheap medal to buy, they command a high price.

Looks like Angus may have been one of the 67 men and two officers drafted from the 2/9th ( Glasgow ) Highland Light Infantry Battalion  

that joined the Divisional Cyclist Company of VIII Army Cyclist Corps on 26th April 1915.

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  • leon21 changed the title to Medal Trio to A. McLeod

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