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Leon "Jack" Tachauer |
His War |
| My Grandfather died in 1957
when I was only 2 years old. I have no memory of him at all. He was only
67 years old, which is no real age in today’s terms. He was a soldier in
the Great War of 1914-1918, an "Old Contemptible." The war affected his
hearing and he was profoundly deaf for which he received a pension.
Because he was deaf, there was never any discussion of what he did in that
war. He was the recipient of the "Star & Bar" which signified that he
served under fire with the British Expeditionary Force between 5th
August – 22nd November 1914. As a result of my research into my family history, I became more interested in what "Pop" did during the war. Individual records of soldiers were destroyed as a result of enemy bomber action during the 2nd World War and in the absence of those records, I researched the commanding officers war diaries for his Battalion. The following is only a brief history of what his Battalion did, not what he did or may have done as an individual. Leon Tachauer joined the Army on 11th April 1907 at the age of 18 years. He enlisted under the name Leon Caston (adopting the stage surname of his father). He enlisted at Aldershot and signed on for 7 years with the Hampshire Regiment. His trade or calling on enlistment was "Labourer, general town." After his initial training, he was posted to 1st Battalion on 13th September 1907. The Battalion was based at Portsmouth at that time and used Salisbury Plain for training purposes. On 1st February 1908 Leon was posted to 2nd Battalion and travelled to South Africa, based at Bloemfontein until December 1908. Leon was attached to "F" Company and he was sent to Harrismith to join the 2nd Mounted Infantry Battalion. There he remained until the Battalion transferred to Mauritius and he passed mounted training with a very good qualification. He had also later passed a course on instruction on the Maxim Gun on 26th June 1911. The Battalion earned many sporting trophies and gunnery cups and medals during its stay in South Africa and at Wynburg in November 1910 supplied the guard of honour at the first opening of parliament of the Union of South Africa Leaving Cape Town on 11th December 1911 the Battalion spent several days in Durban, reaching Mauritius on December 4th with 20 officers, 31 NCO’s and 777 other ranks. On January 14th 1914, Leon was posted to 1st Battalion and returned home to England. On 10th April 1914 he transferred to 5 years on the reserve having completed his 7 years as a regular. Little did Pop realise that the storm clouds of a terrible war were brewing and that he would be recalled to arms. The assassination of Archduke Ferdinand at Sarajevo ensured that Pop had just a few months in Civvy Street before being called up on 5th August 1914. He was mobilised and posted to 1st Battalion of his old regiment, the Hampshire’s
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