Jan & Peter Herivel wrote: >Hi all > >I have a member of the 1st Tunnelling Company who was ruled unfit to >continue with this unit, was sent to a base depot, allocated to ANZAC Ent Bn >before being taken on strength by the 39th Battalion. Does anyone know what >Ent is? My initial reaction was Entertainment but this might be wrong. I >cannot find the abbreviation on Ross Mallett's wonderful AIF site or on the >AWM site. >This was a WW1 soldier This is the 1st Entrenching Battalion. Formed in 1916, it was used a field depot for infantry. It functioned as a pioneer unit. Drafts from different battalion would join the entrenching battalion prior to joining their units. In this manner, reinforcements would acquire some experience at the front before being sent into battle. The battle of Pozieres caused the unit to be reduced to a cadre. Later the unit contained tunnelling reinforcements. It was disbanded in 1917. See Bean III: 177-178. It's unaccountably missing from the order of Battle. I will fix.