COLOUR PATCH

4TH NZ ARTILLERY BRIGADE

2/2746 Private Alfred James Wine [WIA]
1st & 4th Artillery Brigades,
New Zealand Artillery
New Zealand Expedition Force 1914-1919

This file last updated 8 August, 2023 6:42


Introduction

Image if available

The following information and chronological table are a summary of the entries from the World War One service record of Alfred James Wine (Jnr). Born in New Zealand, he enlisted in New Zealand Army.

His brother Howard Garrett Wine served in the New Zealand Army while their first cousin Albert Newton Wine served in the Australian Army.

Alfred James Wine married Elizabeth Kate Boswell in 1922. His death in 1958 was reported by "Mrs E. Wine."

Prepared for Margaret Anne Wine, 1st cousin (twice removed) of Alfred James and Howard Garrett Wine by Clive Mitchell-Taylor - 3 Apr 2019.

View Alfred Wine's Service record.

Abbreviations and Acronyms

Abbreviations or acronyms which have a dotted underline can be expanded by moving the cursor over the term - e.g. WIA. The cursor will be replaced by ? and the expanded abbreviation will be displayed. This is gradually being incorporated into the site, replacing the the current expansion of abbreviations. There may be a discernable delay of about a second before the expansion is first provided.

There is also a separate list of abbreviations which is available through the menu at the top of this page or the hyperlink here.  Abbreviations are inconsistent, even within a single occurence where a term is abbreviated.

There are a number of sources for tracing abbreviations used in Australian and New Zealand service records. Those used when operating with the British or US forces can generally be found, especially in World War 1. Abbreviations used solely within Australia in WW2 are most difficult to trace, particularly when they are regional. Sometimes a 'best guess' is the only answer.

Duplicated Pages

Some of the service information may appear to be duplicated although individual occurrences are not in the same order and different abbreviations used. This occurs when the unit and Army records are amalgamated upon discharge or death in Service.

Service Numbers

Service numbers in WW1 were unique to the unit (e.g. Battalion) or Corps (e.g. Artillery). In WW2 Service Numbers were unique to the State in which they were allotted. For further information about identity numbers for Service personnel, see Regimental and Service Numbers

Dates of Occurrence and Reporting

The date of reporting an incident may be hours, days or months after the date on which incident actually occurred.

The original service record is amended only when the incident is reported which means that events are not necessarily recorded in in strict chronological sequence. This is the date shown on the left of the page of the original record, and also on the left in my transcription but readers should note that at times there may be no date of reporting at all, particularly when service personel are repatriated for discharge at the end of hostilities.

To assist the reader, when transcribing the military record I have done my best to record events in their chronological sequence. This is date is on the right of the page of the original record and also on the right in my transcription.

For clarity I have transcribed all dates into the format d MMM yyyy.

New Zealand had a similar scheme with 26 prefixes. Alfred's regimental number is prefixed "2/" which indicates that he was in the Artillery. See New Zealand Regimental Number Prefixes


Enlistment Details

Service Number

2/2746

Name

Alfred James Wine (Jnr)

Born at

Aukland, New Zealand

Apparent Age

28 Years 2 Months
[Actual age was 38 Years and 6 Months, with DOB 9 Apr 1887 and this is actually recorded on his enlistment documents]

Trade or Calling

Farrier

Are you, or have you been an apprentice? If so, with whom, and for how long?

No

Marital Status

Single

Next of Kin

Mother - Mrs Catherine Wine, 31 Wellspark Avenue Grey Lyn
Later at Mitcham Farm, Tirau, Rotarua Line, Aukland

Have you ever been convicted by the Civil Power?

No

Have you ever been sentenced to imprisonment by the Civil power? If so, when and where?

No

Do you now belong to any military or naval force? If so, to what corps?

No

Have you truly stated the whole (if any) of your previous service?

No

Have you been registered for compulsory military training under the Defence Acy 1909? If so, where?

No

Have you ever been rejected as unfit for the military or nava forces of the Crown? If so, on what grounds?

No

Are you willing to be vacinated or re-vaccinated

Yes

Attested at

Trentham, NZ

Date of Enlistment

7 Oct 1915

Height

5 foot 7 inches [152.4 cm]

Weight

144 pounds [10 stone or 63.5 Kg]

Chest

33-36½ inches [82.5 cm - 90 cm]

Complexion

Dark

Eyes

Grey

Hair

Dark Brown

Religious Denomination

Church of England

Distinguishing marks

Scar upper right arm, barbed wire wound
Scar right leg from wound, big excavation of muscle, no detriment to [illegible] appeared.

Note

Medical Officer on enlistment notes "Good steady man, Farmer, Active and healthy"

Units

New Zealand Artillery Brigade


Chronological Events

Rank

Description

Date

Remarks

Gunner

Enlisted

7 Oct 1915

Gunner

Embarked overseas per NZT "MAUNGANUI" for Suez

8 Jan 1916

Gunner

Embarked for France with 4th Brigade, New Zealand Division Artillery

5 Apr 1916

Gunner

Appointed Cook

23 May 1916

Relinquished appointment of cook

27 Sep 1916

Gunner

Transfered to DAC

27/28 Jan 19

Gunner

Posted to 1st Battery, 1st Artillery Brigade ex DAC

6 Feb 1917

Driver

Proceeded on leave to UK

8 Aug 1917

Driver

Returned from leave

23 Aug 1917

Driver

Detached to School of Instruction (Driving School)

16 Mar 1918

Driver

Rejoined unit ex School of Instruction

23 Mar 1918

Driver

Proceeded on leave

23 Sep 1918

Driver

Rejoined unit from leave

6 Oct 1918

Driver

Wounded in Action

23 Oct 1918, to 3 New Zealand Field Ambulance

Driver

Admitted to 49 CCS and to 56 CCS

24 Oct 1918

Driver

Rejoined unit ex CCS

7 Nov 1918

Driver

Embarked for New Zealand per NZT "WILLOCHRA"

8 Mar 1919

Driver

Disembarked in New Zealand

7 Apr 1919

Driver

Discharged at Termination of Period of Engagement
Period of Service:
New Zealand from 19 Oct 1915 to 8 Jan 1916
Overseas from 8 Jan 1916 to 15 May 1919
New Zealand from 16 Apr 1919 to 15 May 1919
Total Service 3 years, 214 Days
Awarded British War Medal and Victory Medal

13 May 1919

Awarded war Gratuity of £89.9.6

Death reported by Mrs E Wine,

20 May 1958


Medals and Dress Embellishments

British War Medal 1914-1920 and Victory Medal.


1914-15 Star

[Extract from Ribbons and Medals: Naval, Military, Air Force and Civil, Captain H. Taprell Dorling, DSO RN,
George Philip & Son, 33 Fleet Street, London EC4, 1940]
1914-15 Star

The decoration consists of a four-pointed star in bright bronze as shown, with the date 1914-15 on the central scroll. The reverse is plain, and is stamped with the name and unit of the recipient. The ribbon is red, white and blue, shaded and watered, worn with the red nearest the centre of the breast. It is atached to the medal through a ring.

It is similar in shape and description to the 1914 Star, to which few, if any, Australians were entitled. Those entitled were those who had already served with the Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force (AN&MEF) in the operations to capture German New Guinea in 1914.

The decoration, sanctioned in 1918, was issued "to all officers, warrant officers, non-commissioned officers and men of the British, Dominion, Colonial and Indian Forces, including civilian medical practitioners, nursing sisters, nurses and others eployed with military hospitals, who actually served on the establishment of a unit in a theatre of war as defined in Appendix 'A'. Individuals in possession of the 1914 Star will not be eligible for the award of this decoration."

Appendix 'A' included the Western, Eastern, Egyptian, African, Asiatic and Australasian Theatres of war, with commencement dates individual to countries and campaigns.


British War Medal 1914-20

[Extract from Ribbons and Medals: Naval, Military, Air Force and Civil, Captain H. Taprell Dorling, DSO RN,
George Philip & Son, 33 Fleet Street, London EC4, 1940]
British War Medal

This medal was approved by King George V in 1919 to record the bringing of the war to a successful conclusion and the arduous services rendered by His Majesty's Forces.

The medal, which is supended from its ribbon by means of a straight clasp, without swivel, bears on the obverse the effigy of His Majesty - exactly similar to that on a half-crown - with the legend 'Georgivus V : Omn : Rex et Ind : Imp'.

The reverse bears a design which represents St George on horseback, trampling underfoot the eagle shield of the central powers and a skull and crossbones, the emblems of death. Overhead is the risen sun of victory. The male figure, rather than a symbolical female one, was chosen because man had borne the brunt of the fighting. The figure was mounted on horseback as symbolical of man's mind controlling force (represented by the horse) of far greater strength than his own. The design is thus also symbolical of the mechanical and scientific appliances which helped so largely to win the war.

The ribbon has a orange watered centre with stripes of white and black at each side and with borders of royal blue. It is stated that the colours have no particular signification.


Victory Medal

[Extract from Ribbons and Medals: Naval, Military, Air Force and Civil, Captain H. Taprell Dorling, DSO RN,
George Philip & Son, 33 Fleet Street, London EC4, 1940]

This medal, of bronze, bears on the obverse a winged figure of Victory, full length in the middle of the medal and full face; the borders and the backgound plain, without either incription or date. On the reverse is an inscription. "The Great War for Civilization." and either the names of the different Allied and Associated Powers, or their coats of arms.

The rim is plain, and the medal hangs from a ring. The ribbon is red in the centre, with green and violet on either side shaded to form the colours of two rainbows.

It has also been approved that any officer or man who has been "mentioned in despatches" shall wear a small bronze oak leaf on the ribbon of this medal. Only one oak leaf is so worn, no matter how many "mentions" the wearer may have received.

The medal is designed to obviate the exchange of Allied Commemorative war medals, and is issued only to those who actually served on the establishment of a unit or ship in a theatre of war. [This is an important distinction, as those Australians who served only in Australia, or only in Australia and England, were not entitled to the award.]


New Zealand Expeditionary Force

A summary of the NZEF organisation is here.

The artillery were the second-largest component of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force, after the infantry. Most artillerymen were attached to batteries of 18-pounder field guns, while a few used howitzers. The ammunition was transported and supplied to the guns by ammunition columns. From 1916, trench mortar units were attached to the New Zealand artillery and infantry.

I have extracted the following table for the Western Front.

Concentrating on the organisation of the New Zealand Field Artillery, we can see that Gnr Wine was posted to a number of units. They include the 1st Battery and the 4th Howitzer Battery and the Ammunition Column.


Unit Shoulder Badges


Shoulder badges [l to r] of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Brigades of the New Zealand Field Artillery. Cloth patches sewn on the backs of uniform jackets from October 1916 identified which unit or sub-unit an individual belonged to.


Cap and collar badges

Cap and hat badge and collar badges of the New Zealand Artillery Corps.


Shoulder Titles

Metal epaulette badges of the New Zealand Field Artillery


Puggaree

Puggaree (hat band) worn by all New Zealand Field Artillery Units