Irish Regiment of Canada War Diary January 1944

Discussion in 'Canadian' started by JEigl, Jun 16, 2021.

  1. JEigl

    JEigl Member

    I'm researching the service of Sgt Wilburn Chubb (B78534), who was fatally wounded on 21 January 1944, and succumbed to his wounds on 2 February. I've managed to find the IRC war diaries for November and December 1943 as well as February 1944, but cannot for the life of me find the diary for January.

    As far as I can tell, January was a fairly quiet month for the IRC, but according to a letter the regiment's chaplain sent to Sgt Chubb's widow, he was wounded by enemy mortar fire in the IRC's "first major engagement" with the enemy since arriving in Italy.

    I've attached the Toronto Star announcement of Sgt Chubb's death, which is the only place I've found mention of the nature of his wound and the letter from the Chaplain.

    If anyone could help me fill in this gap, I'd hugely appreciate it.
     

    Attached Files:

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  2. Temujin

    Temujin Member

    I haven’t found Jan 44 either……..so I went to 11 Brigade War Dairies, Ops Logs and looked thru them.

    They are confusing also, as the IrRC was “just arriving” in Italy……the Brigade Ops Logs in the War Diaires also have “blanks” in them….I mean I have the pages from 1 Jan to 18 Jan…..then nothing until 22 Jan……so I’m still looking to see what I’ll find.

    The problem is that if the files were “gone thru” and “mixed up” (happened quite often)….then when the microfilm crew went at it…..they just photo every page “as it was” in the box…..so that means things can be out of order …….so I’ll have to look thru the file to see if I can find the right page.

    Here is a copy of one page of the Brigade War diary so you can see what they say,, until I can find anything else. You can see their is no mention of the Irish in the diary…..but I’m still looking

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    Last edited: Jun 17, 2021
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  3. Temujin

    Temujin Member

    Just a note, I went thru his records and I see that his “exact” date of wounding is marked DNK (do not know)…..the only date is the date that it’s “published” in Part II Order’s which was the 21st Jan 44 (this is the date of the ORDER’s not necessarily the date he was actually wounded)….

    You can see the date he died was the 2 Feb 44, and it was in ORDER’s on the 6 Feb 44…..

    So, I will review Brigade War Dairies for Jan to see if I can spot ANY casualties

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    Last edited: Jun 17, 2021
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  4. Temujin

    Temujin Member

    Sorry, can’t find any Ops Logs for the 19th Jan in the Brigade war diaries. Did find these hand drawn maps of Brigade positions


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  5. klambie

    klambie Senior Member

    A few clues I see in his file:
    • Probably wounded 14 Jan (the date he was SOS IR of C, presumably on evacuation), confirmed in the newspaper account
    • May not be his complete file on Ancestry, looks like the basic genealogical package - other medical records possible/likely as he was under care for a couple of weeks
    • Qualified Carpenter so maybe working in Pioneer Platoon of Support Coy (though qualified might not mean you were assigned that job)
    • Wife's letter says HQ Coy, so probably the last address she had
    • Some IR of C WD transcriptions and other docs here, but don't think I see Jan 44 (site seems safe, but caveat emptor):
    50 free Magazines from IROC.NO.IP.ORG
     
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  6. Temujin

    Temujin Member

    Follow up on Kevin’s “clues” above.

    In the Brigade Ops Logs, it mentions that Brigade checked with Irish on rumor of 3 casualties to unit. They confirm they had 3 wounded by mortar fire in the previous 24 hours, moving rations to A and B Companies.

    Op Log below:

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    And, if you look at his records in Post No 3 above, it says that he was placed on the X-3 list (All ranks evacuated on medical grounds behind Regimental Aid Posts) on the 14 Jan. NOTE: I’ve modified the record in Post No 3 above to show……red arrow and blue box shows the X-3 list data and date of 14 Jan

    So I agree with Kevin’s clues, I believe he was one of the 3 wounded as mentioned in the Op Log above.

    Newspaper account below:

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    Last edited: Jun 17, 2021
  7. Temujin

    Temujin Member

    Follow up. As you mentioned in your post, Padre indicate that he was wounded in the “FIRST MAJOR ENGAGEMENT”…….as you can see by the Brigade Ops Log, the Irish had taken over the position from the R22R on the evening of the 13 Jan. So they had “just” arrived in their positions and 11 Brigade had completed their take over from 3 Brigade at midnight on the 13 Jan. Ops log below

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    Source for all the records in my posts above
    War diaries : T-12394 - Héritage
     
    Last edited: Jun 17, 2021
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  8. JEigl

    JEigl Member

    You guys have done some incredible investigation. Fortunately, I was able to get a hold of the diaries for Jan 1944 from Dryan67. If you'd like me to share them, I'd be happy to do so. Thanks for all of your help!
     
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  9. Temujin

    Temujin Member

    Excellent……I would love to have the War Diary for Jan 1944. As you said, I had all the other months, but no Jan 44

    Thanks
     
  10. dryan67

    dryan67 Senior Member

    I sent you a link.
     
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  11. Temujin

    Temujin Member

    Thank you very much
     

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