Lives of the First World War

For the unsung engineers of the Royal Naval Division. When the Royal Naval Division (RND) was formed at the beginning of the war, it went into battle as a naval ground force without the adequate supporting units. One of the ancillary battalions then formed was the Deal Battalion, also termed the Royal Marine Divisional Engineers. These men served with the RND at Gallipoli before being transported to France in 1916 where they supported the RND on the Somme and in particular at the battle of the Ancre, the final battle of that campaign. The Deal battalion was then broken up and re-designated as - 247th Field Company Royal Engineers (63rd Royal Naval Division), 248th Field Company Royal Engineers (63rd Royal Naval Division) and the 249th Field Company Royal Engineers (63rd Royal Naval Division). They continued to support the RND in the major engagements of 1917 (3rd Ypres) as well as 1918 (the 100 day offensive). Because of the naming complexities - 'Deal', 'Royal Marine Divisional Engineers', 'Royal Engineers' etc. and the fact that they joined the navy but ended categorised as army, their records are quite scattered across this site! Also, books on the Royal Naval Division typically focus on the well known fighting units (Hood, Anson etc) with little mention of their supporting battalions. The aim of this community is to group together those engineers that supported the RND and better understand their war experiences, contributions and sacrifices to assist present day family members and any interested researchers.

Created by: , Miles125599