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During the last days of 1914 Thomas was diagnosed with Rheumatic fever and returned home from the front to recover. The rigours of war and, in particulur, the exhausiting retreat after the battle of Le Cateau could have been the cause or could have been triggers for existing heart problems. This page discusses some of the reasons why rheumatic fever was such a big issue during the early part of the 20th century and in particular the great war. Whatever the reason, this seemingly continued to plague Thomas the rest of his life.
Thomas returned to France on 29th January 1915 and was posted to 130th battery (Howitzer) R.F.A. on 2nd February 1915 where he would spend the next 11 months.
The 130th battery was originally part of the 30th brigade R.F.A which was part of 4th division during 1914 but on 9th January it left to join 27th division. From 9th January to 21st February it was part of the 27th division before moving to 5th divison.
However, this is where it gets very confusing in two regards. Firstly, on the roll of honour statement about Thomas service it states he left the european front for Mesopotamia in 1915 but in his service records there are no records of this service in 1915. He was posted to the mediteranean expeditionary force in 1916 which did go on to operate in that theatre but his service records indicate he was in France for nearly all of 1915.
Secondly, the war diaries for the 30th brigade barely mention the 130th battery in the first few months of 1915, partly due to the battery almost alway being attached to other units. Although it is clearly under the administrative order of 30th Brigade according to the brigade war diaries, no daily report is made on the 130th battery until 2nd June 1915. However, IWM hold a very interesting diary that is yet to be digitised, a diary of an unknown soldier serving with 130th battery. I have emailed IWM for more information 7/11/2022 but as yet have not heard anything back from them.
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