Army Telegraphs WWI

[Chris Grimshaw]

Afternoon Team

Something slightly different this afternoon which I'm seeking information on.

I have three example's of "C" Form MESSAGES AND SIGNALS all cancelled Army Telegraph YBF, two dated 21 1 18and the third dated 22 1 18

All addressed to Major Needham, D.S.O. All are messages of congratulations from Senior officers. Notes with them state YBF = Div 26.  Can anyone substantiate this statement and where might I find further information.

Cheers

Chris

[Michael Dobbs]

Chris

I have been studying ARMY SIGNALS / ARMY TELEGRAPHS datestamps for some years now (amongst many other subjects) - whilst mainly WW2, I have recorded WW1 and earlier.  I have come up with the following (based on evidence seen in War Diaries, covers and other documentation):

The code letters which appear in ARMY SIGNALS datestamps can be loosely divided into the following groups:

(i) Abbreviations

Codes which were an abbreviation, even if somewhat non standard, of a geographical location or military formation, e.g:

HPN = Harpenden
BASP  = British Army Staff Paris

(ii) Field Formation Representation

(a) Codes in which one or more letters represented a particular type of field formation, while the remaining letters represented an alphanumeric code for the numerical designation of that formation, as in the First World War:

Y =  Division
Z =  Brigade

Example:

YEI = 59th Infantry Division
(Y for Division)
(E is the 5th letter)
(I is the 9th letter)

(b) The above referred to infantry formations only, while for armoured formations the above codes were prefixed with the letter M, i.e.

MY =  Armoured Division
MZ =  Armoured Brigade

Example:

MYG = 7th Armoured Division
(M for Armoured)
(Y for Division)
(G is the 7th letter)

(c) For Canadian formations codes were prefixed with the letter C, as shown in the following two examples:

Examples:

CYC = 3rd Canadian Infantry Division
(C for Canadian)
(Y for Division)
(C is the 3rd letter)

CMZB = 2nd Canadian Armoured Brigade
(C for Canadian)
(M for Armoured)
(Z for Brigade)
(B is the 2nd letter)

(d) Corps were represented by the letters CO which appeared as the last two digits of the code:

Examples:

CBCO = II Canadian Corps
(C for Canadian)
(B is the 2nd letter)
(CO for Corps)

CKCO = XXX Corps
(C is the 3rd letter)
(K is the 11th letter !)(see below)
(CO for Corps)

The second example poses a query: K is the 11th letter so why does it represent the '0' of 30 ?  The only explanation I can offer is that by leaving out the letter I, the letter K then becomes the 10th letter or just zero.  See Appendix 'B' for further uses of the letter K in this respect (e.g. YEK for 50th Infantry Division). 

COCO = XXX Corps
(C is the 3rd letter)
(O for zero)
(CO for Corps)

I also found useful the 1915 Director of Army Signals - Circular Memorandum (small pocket size booklet of 64 pages).  All the codes mentioned and the official notices I have comes across do not specifically mention datestamps - they are telegraphic codes but the datestamp appear to follow them in the majority, if not all, cases.

So your forms follow the following format:

YBF
(Y = Division)
(B is the 2nd letter)
(F is the 6th letter)
= 26th Division

Mike  :)

[Chris Grimshaw]

Thanks Mike

Very useful information.  Appreciated, such a detailed reply.

Chris