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From Salisbury Plain to Singapore OPERATION NIGHTINGALE - Barrow Clump, Salisbury Plain AD 900 1897 1941 1977 2015 MILITARY ARTEFACTS - FINDS REPORT Mark Khan - SPTA Conservation Group Introduction Operation Nightingale is a programme that uses archaeology to help with the rehabilitation of injured service personnel. An Operation Nightingale took place at ancient burial mound, known as Barrow Clump on Salisbury Plain. One of 306 scheduled monuments on MOD land within Salisbury Plain, Barrow Clump was on the English Heritage 'Heritage at Risk' list due to extensive burrowing by badgers. The badgers were burrowing into the site and unearthing human remains and burial relics. The project was carried out by THE RIFLES - CARE FOR CASUALTIES Charity with the support of, The Defence Infra-structure Organisation (DIO), Wessex Archaeology, English Heritage and volunteers, to excavate the site and document the remains and preserve them, before rebuilding the cemetery mound. The project was recognised as a ground-breaking archaeology project of special merit by The British Archaeological Awards 2012. This report details a cross section of finds discovered during the project, that relate to the military usage of Barrow Clump. The finds mirror the use of Salisbury Plain as a military training area from the beginning of its use to the current day. They relate not only To the tactical military use the site, but also link to the stories of individuals who trained on Salisbury Plain, with some very surprising results. OP NIGHTINGALE Artefact - 1896 Dated 7mm Mauser Cartridge Case Britain's connection with the 7mm cartridge began with the Boer War. Large quantities of rifles and ammunition came into British possession at the cessation of hostilities. Some of this would have left South Africa for Britain, no doubt as souvenirs but also for ammunition research. The development of the P13 rifle and cartridge ( in .276 Enfield calibre) relied heavily on Mauser 93/95 design principles, and the search for a "better" 7mm (.276) Cartridge.) During the First World War, Britain took into Royal Naval service the 7mm Chilean Steyr M1912 Rifles. These were part of the equipment from three Cruisers contracted by Chile, but deferred delivery to War's end. These Mauser rifles were replaced by SMLEs, then Ross M1910 rifles when the Ships were handed over to Chile in 1919. Despite having stocks of Boer War (DM/DWM and FN manufacture) ammunition , Kynoch/Eley made fresh 7mm ammo specifically for RN use for sinking Mines at sea (not "blowing them up" as commonly supposed, sever- al bullet holes would let the air out, and the water in, so the mines would sink in deep waters. Britain also sent several acceptance commissions to Latin America, to buy Mauser rifles of the M93/95 types, with ammo, for the belea- guered Serbian Forces in the Salonika front.(Serbia was standardised on 7mm). It is unknown how much German ammo was bought in to the UK. The presence of an 1896 DM cartridge could indicate several scenarios (1) experimental shooting for Trials etc. in the 1902-1913: 2. A Lost souvenir (3) Other training use by RN or RM at Salisbury Plain, using M1912 Steyr Mausers and old ammo. 4. This round was simply disposed of at the location as a result of circumstances arising from the previous scenarios. It is know that DM (Deutsche MetallPa- tronenFabrik, Karlshruhe) made cases in a particular year, then filled them as required by orders, so a case dated 1896, may have been filled any time into the early 1900s; although from Boer bring-Backs, most of the cases have 1896 dating, even if delivered in 1897 and into the war years (99-1901 or so, by smuggling through Lorenco Marques ( currently Mozambique) then Portuguese Territory.) Chilean and Brazilian orders of ammo would also have fallen in this DM production time period1. The recovered 7mm cartridge Case A comparative 7mm Round Case Headstamp 1 Headstamp Key2 1 Manufacturer - Deutsche Waffen Munition. M D 2 Century of manufacture. 3 2 18 96 3 Year of Manufacture K Factory where manufacture - 4 Karlshruhe. Boers using 7mm Mausers (from a drawing by Caton woodvile - 4 THE ENGAGEMENT AT VLAKFONTEIN: THE DERBYSHIRES RE-TAKING THE GUNS AT THE POINT OF THE BAYONET). References Inset: A Boer War 7mm Mauser Rifle 1http://iaaforum.org/forum3/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=17418&p=124612#p124612 2 Henry P White and Burton D. Munhall, H.P. White Laboratory, Bel Air, Maryland, USA Artefact - Numbered and Dated Military Issue Fork OP NIGHTINGALE Items of a personal nature such as knives, forks and spoons are often marked with the owner’s identity, sometimes names but more commonly Army numbers. The fork , was found to be dated 1931 and had a number stamped into the handle. Checking The Commonwealth War Graves commission Records. the number – 821579, was found to have belonged to a Gunner JAMES RODGER MODERATE who was recorded is having perished during the Second World War. He is recorded as having served with 3 Bty, 6 Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regiment Royal Artillery and as having died aged 30 on 5 March 1943. He had no known grave but is commemorated on the Singapore Memorial, which stands in Kranji War Cemetery. 22 kilometres north of the city of Singapore, The Singapore Memorial, bears the names of over 24,000 casualties of the Commonwealth land and air forces that have no known grave. IWM H993 QF 3.7 inch anti-aircraft guns in Hyde Park, London in 1939 (Wikimedia Commons) Artefact - Numbered and Dated Military Issue Fork OP NIGHTINGALE 6 HAA Regiment had deployed as part of the B.E.F to France in 1939 but escaped back to England without much of its equipment. The Regiment comprising 3, 12 and 15 Batteries deployed heading for the far in east on 13 November 1941. They arrived at Durban on 18 December 1941. Following the Japanese attacks on Malaya on 7 December 1941 along with other units, 6 HAA Regiment were re-routed to Singapore arriving on the 13 January 1942. The Regiments equipment had gone to the Middle East, so it was rapidly re-equipped from stocks in Singapore and deployed to gun positions around the town. On 30 January 1942 a convoy of small ships left Singapore carrying 6 HAA Regiment (less 3 Battery) and other artillery units bound for Sumatra. 3 Battery remained in Singapore manning eight 3.7 inch anti-aircraft guns. The Japanese assault on Singapore lasted from 8 to 15 February 1942, ending with the British capitulation. This was decribed at the time by the Prime Minister Winston Churchill as the “the worst disaster and largest capitulation in British history". Amongst the 80,000 British and commonwealth troops captured were the survivng members of 3 Battery, 6 HAA Regiment. We know nothing specifically of James Moderates time during the fall of Singapore and his subsequent time as a Prisoner of War, but it is known that the prisoners suffered a time of great hardness, privation & cruelty at the hands of their Japanese captors. We can however pick up his story in early October 1942. At that time the Japanese decreed that 600 POW's made up largely of men of The Royal Artillery with men from attached units, would be sent as forced labour to Rabaul on the island of New Britain in Papua New Guinea. Transported by ship in horrendous conditions, many of the men were already very ill at this time. Arriving at Rabaul the men were set to work in a ppaling conditions and treated cruelly by their Japanese Captors. At the end of November 1942, 517 of the fittest men, including James Moderate were selected to be transported once more under horrendous conditions to help build a new airfield on Ballale Island located within the Shortland Islands Group in the Western Province of the Solomon Islands. Ballale Island Ballale Island Today Ballale Island 1943 Artefact - Numbered and Dated Military Issue Fork OP NIGHTINGALE The airfield construction was the responsibilty of a Japanese Naval construction Unit. It is known that when the POW's arrived on Ballale Island most were suffering from beriberi, malaria and other sicknesses. Chinese prisoners and local natives were also conscripted by the Japanese to build the airfield. None of the POW’s sent to Ballale Island survived. Many were killed accidentally by allied bombing, with those that had survived the bombing being murdered by the Japanese. Following the liberation of Ballale Island, an Australian Army Investigation Team exhumed 436 bodies together with artefacts proving these men were the POW’s who had been sent as forced labour to the island. None of these could be personally identified and the bodies were eventually re-interred in individual graves at the Bomama War Cemetery in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea. Interestingly, one of the artefacts uncovered that helped prove the fact that the bodies were indeed those of allied soldiers was a spoon made by the same company as James Moderate's fork, dated 1932 (Jame’s was dated 1931) and also marked "ZW" - exactly the same as James Spoon. Despite interrogating Japanese prisoners of war that had served on the island, the investigation team could not ascertain the true facts relating to the deaths of the POW's. They did conclude however, that there was no doubt that a large number were killed by Allied bombing, mainly as a result of the Japanese refusing to let them take shelter in slit trenches or air raid shelters. From evidence given by two Koreans serving with the Japanese on the island, more forthcoming than the Japanese interrogated, it was ascertained that the remaining POWs were killed and buried at some time in June '43.