Glossary of Diggerology As we strive to do our best to keep and maintain readers’ interest (and to get more ‘likes’) here is something new we have introduced to our Facebook pages – Diggerology (a new term, we think, created by Hunter Valley Military History). It may have been, and has probably already, been referred to as ‘Digger Dialect’. Diggerology was used by the Diggers of the AIF (Australian Imperial Force) during The Great War (First World War/World War One) of 1914-1918 in the training camps, on transport ships, in the trenches on the Gallipoli peninsula, in the trenches and the mud on the Western Front in France and Belgium and in the desert sands of Egypt, Sinai and Palestine. The following glossary of words and meanings are extracted from ‘Coal Miner Diggers – Hunter Valley Coal Miners at The Great War’ with permission from the author. Why not try to introduce these old words and sayings into your everyday conversations? From time to time a list of Diggerologies in alphabetical order shall be posted for your reading and enjoyment. This is an incentive of Hunter Valley Military History to commemorate the Centenary of The Great War. We can do all do our bit!! Today we have those beginning with the letter ‘D’:- D DAISY CUTTER: a shell that exploded immediately on impact with the ground, very dangerous for advancing infantrymen DEAD GROUND: ground which, though within range, cannot be seen or reached by direct artillery fire DECAUVILLE: a light railway in ready made lengths of rails and sleepers DEMONSTRATION: a feint attack or bombardment DERE: Turkish for a valley DEVIL’S WOOD: Delville Wood, on The Somme DIAL: face DIGGER: Australian or New Zealand infantry soldier DINKUM: genuine and reliable, a Gallipoli veteran DINKUMS: Australians of the 2nd Division DIRECTION BOARDS: wooden signboards at cross roads and sapheads or trench entrances DIVISION: three brigades of infantry plus artillery, engineers, etc. normally 12000 to 20000 men DIVISIONAL TRAIN: the horse drawn supply organisation of a division DIVVY: a division DIXIE: a large iron cooking pot with an iron lid DO: an attack or raid DO A BUNK: abscond or run away DOINGS: a place, trench or billet DOUGH: money DOUGHBOY: an American soldier DOW: Died of Wounds DOWN THE LINE: away from the front line DRAFT: reinforcements sent to a unit up the line DRILL ORDER: infantry equipment much reduced for drill parades DRUM FIRE: concentrated artillery fire in one sector, the guns firing one after another so that on each target there was always a shell bursting or about to burst DRY RATIONS: bread, biscuits, cheese, butter, jam, uncooked food DUCKBOARD: a wooden frame for flooring trenches and making foot tracks across boggy ground DUD: a shell or bomb which failed to explode DUGOUT: a shelter from shell fire and the weather, usually in the side of a trench and covered by a groundsheet DUM-DUM: a bullet that on impact expanded DUMMY TRENCHES: new trenches dug to disguise the preparation of an offensive elsewhere DUMP: a place in the open behind the line where equipment and supplies were stored To be continued …….
Posted on: Wed, 29 Jan 2014 23:03:52 +0000
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