The British Soldier on the Somme in 1916 (reformatted)

8/13/2019 The British Soldier on the Somme in 1916 (reformatted)

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Strategic and Combat Studies Institute Occasional Paper No 23

THE BRITISH SOLDIER ON THESOMME IN 1916

By Peter H Liddle

An historian working from so nationalistic a title would do well to state his awareness that in

any battle location at a certain time in history, unless there were to be exceptional positional

difference between attacker and defender, inordinate difference in weaponry, ammunition

supply and morale, there will be a high degree of commonality in the experience. In a battle

which develops over a period of four and a half months into an attritional struggle, still more

will this be the case. The British, French and Germans faced the same weather, on roughly

the same terrain, fought with equivalent weapon strengths, similar stoicism and under High

Commands equally demanding of their troops.

Of course in 1916 there was a serious disadvantage built in to the test facing the British and

French: quite apart from the superior elevation of the land held by the Germans North of the

River Somme, the land was French, the task facing the Franco-British troops, that of ejecting

the Germans and therein lay a major disadvantage. The men in field grey were content here

with what they held, were hidden behind, within and under, remarkably strengthened

underground positions. The attack, part of a grand co-ordinated strategy for the allies,

required as elsewhere the exposure in no mans land of the assaulting troops. Although the

Germans counter-attacked frequently, it was the allies upon whom the unavoidable burden

lay of openly attacking a concealed enemy. Militarily the allies danced to German music:

there was no alternative and here we do indeed have a different character in the challengefacing the men in khaki [and those wearing horizon-bleu] from that faced by their enemies.

Now, if we were to accept this, can there be claimed for Briton, Frenchman or German any

difference in his reaction to the testing of his soldierly qualities during the battle? A close

familiarity with a large body of original unpublished French and German diaries and letters

and relevant official records would be needed for such a claim and this historian cannot

make it but it can be established that, because of different systems of recruitment for the

armies engaged, the British troops were distinctive in that they were all, in one form or

another, volunteers, whereas the fully professional German and French officers and NCOs

commanded armies which, overwhelmingly, were conscripted. This statement is not

designed

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to undercut claims made for the national fervour with which Germans and French undertook

their obligation nor the voluntary element within their armies but it bears re-emphasis that for

a remarkable number of British divisions on the Somme, the presence of their men in France

was decreed by voluntary enlistment on a huge scale in the six New Armies raised in Britain

in the Autumn of 1914. Then, the men of the Territorial divisions which served on the

Somme had gone a step further in their Home Defence obligations; they had extended that

obligation by signing for a readiness to serve overseas. Finally, the Regular Army divisions

on the Somme were wholly composed of officers and men who had chosen pre-war or, since


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August 1914, to serve with the colours wherever they were sent. In fact, on the Somme, the

British were volunteers to a man.

Having made two general claims, one separating British and French experience from

German and the other British from both its ally and its enemy, I would now like exclusively to

concentrate on British soldiers. Caution has still to be exercised about any generalisationmade from the recorded testimony of individuals. Hundreds of thousands of troops may all

have been wearing khaki uniforms and steel helmets of identical design but within those

military trappings were individuals shaped by genetic and environmental influence.

Character, temperament, personality, social and educational background, spiritual and

material convictions, standpoints, opinions, views and attitudes, all the inbuilt individuality of

each man in uniform, urge caution upon those who seek to impose conformity in judgmental

comment.

Certainly the training into an acceptance of military discipline and in section, platoon,

company and battalion experience, will have necessarily worn away that manifestation of

individual freedom of expression and action which the average Briton instinctively feels is

part of his heritage. Nevertheless, in his soul, as might be recorded in letter or diary, the

individual remains with his personal qualities, feelings, needs, revealed or concealed. I refer

here in particular to the citizen soldier because there is little doubt that the professional

soldier in the ranks, the Regular, is less subject to the fluctuating barometer of immediate

circumstances acting upon the sensitivity of his psyche - quite simply it is not so sensitive - if

he were to have one!

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This paper is concerned with the soldiers spirit: attitudes, opinions, some of theingredientsof morale. The focus is not on the soldiers support in terms of materiel, though the inter-

relationship is undeniable and as the celebrated Australian historian Trevor Wilson would no

doubt claim:

Whoever has thebigger gun, more of them and with plenty of ammunition, he will have the

better morale.

The source material used in supporting the arguments advanced is almost entirely what was

written by soldiers in their letters and diaries from June to November 1916 recording their

impressions as they served in France that year. This particular body of evidence is held

within the Liddle Collection in the Brotherton Library of the University of Leeds in England

and it includes contemporary documentation of something like 7,000 men and women with

many hundreds of sets of soldier papers relating to the Somme. The subjectivity of such

evidence is clear by definition and hence any sound generalisation from it can only be made

by exercising great caution.

IT SHOULD perhaps be made clear that there can be no reason to remove from the

Territorial, the pre-war, part-time volunteer with his weekly drill and his annual camp, the

label of citizen soldier. By definition, his enlistment and service were regionally based, his

military identification local and his commitment to khaki limited, so that, in peacetime,

predominantly he wore his workmans clothesor business mans suit and accordingly thefocus will be upon the Territorial and the Kitchener men, that is those citizens whose


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enlistment in 1914 was so desperately needed to remedy the patent inadequacy of British

military strength for the war in which she was engaged. The men forming the New Armies

were classless in the sense that they were reflective of a National response from all sections

of the Community but, in the ranks, in terms of sheer numbers, they were overwhelmingly

working class and from the great industrial centres. The North of England is always

mentioned but alongside that region should stand Glasgow, Birmingham, the Midlands,Belfast, London, Cardiff and South Wales. Here again we have been given by received

wisdom the impression that they were all in battalions of Pals, that is units of men from the

same trade or industry in the same town. This was not the case, for example the

Leicestershire Regiment raised four service battalions in 1914 and one in 1915 and not one

was a Pals battalion and other regiments recruited similarly.

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However, a goodly number did receive Pals and the endeavours and losses of such units left

a lasting social mark upon the town of origin.

The men in the ranks of these New Army Battalions were used to hardship, heavy work in

small units or gangs, the carrying out of instructions. Beer, betting, abed, a daily hot meal,

football to play and with a team to support, their family, their woman, work-mates, for some

their Chapel or Church; not much more would be included in their list of those things which,

in adequate measure, brought contentment to their life.

The officers were from the middle, and still more privileged classes. Officers could expect so

much more from life than was the case with their men but with these higher expectations

there came responsibilities. Most had been educated at the fee-paying Public Schools, the

remainder at schools which strove to emulate their standards of service to King, Country,School, and others before self. Birth or commercial success may have conferred a privileged

position in the social hierarchy excluding others from leadership in most walks of life but

school, parents, society and now the Army, required the fulfilment of obligations: leadership

by example. Those New Army officers who had been in Officer Training Corps would know,

the rest would immediately accept, that horses and men came before ones own needs. So

the New Army, and to a considerable extent the Territorials too, were led by young officers

who, despite their inexperience in war, expected to lead, and to care for their men and they

commanded men who, despite the new more dangerous scene of their subordination,

expected to receive and obey orders. Such social cohesion in military service would be

important. Whatever may be said about the appropriateness or quality of the training ofofficers and men of the New Army, in obeying orders on the one side and in leading their

men by example on the other, men and officers were to fulfil their obligations on the Somme.

No fracture was exposed in their good working relationship by costly frustration in attack or

prolonged periods in the line. And, as is well established, the officer to man casualty rate

was far worse for the officer.

A further sociological point deserving mention lies in locating the Somme more precisely in

terms of British soldier origin and then experience. The concept of an eighteen mile or so

battle-front, even identified as North of the Somme or on eitherside of theAncre is as

indefinite to grasp as men from Northern England,an expression which today, as

yesterday, would not satisfactorily unite Manchester men with those of Newcastle-upon-

Tyne.


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Instead we should, for example, associate sons of Sheffield with the village of Serre, of

Liverpool with the town of Montauban, of Tyneside with the tiny village of La Boisselle. Here

we have a significant 1916 factor which has stood the test of time, an Anglo-French bond

linking communities by a continuing memory of their past in place and time, a bond forged

out of great costly endeavour cherished today with pride and sorrow in a manner defying the

cynic. If the Somme were now tohave been reduced to its villages and their link with

communities in Britain, it must now be limited in terms of time. No units served from first to

last on the Somme. Just as Battalion associations were with a relatively narrow sector, so

they were with a relatively short period of weeks. It is with July in front of Serre, or Fricourt,

or somewhere else in the German front line, September at Thiepval, for example, or

November at Beaucourt, or other dates with further ravaged but hallowed places that true

association lies rather than with the Battle of the Somme in its entirety.

There is a further necessary limitation; the requirement to emphasise that service on theSomme is subject to many service variables. We might start with the gunner, move to the

sapper and then the cavalryman and each is likely to be under significantly different

circumstances from that of the infantryman in the line. This is not necessarily the case:

sappers were engaged in trench repairs or supplies, gunner officers did forward observation

duties in the trenches, they would see service in the line as would some squadrons of

dismounted troopers but their experience was not that of men the bounds of whose service

was regularly to be in the line, in support, in reserve, until, like all units, there were out of the

line at rest. Men involved in rail, motor or horse transport, ammunition supply by mule, lines

of communication troops, those who staffed all medical stations behind the regimental aid

posts, infantry base depot work, all such men would have different routines andresponsibilities and then there would be factors such as the weather, the season, military

activity on any given day in a certain sector which might bring influence to bear on opinions

expressed or experience being described. Yet, it might still be said of most of those British

troops a little South of Arras in 1916 from June onwards, they had served on theSomme.

Such a statement with qualification is reasonable and if we were to accept, as was surely the

case, that life for few in the British Expeditionary Force in France was a bed of roses, we

have a thoughtful observation by British historian, John Bourne which enables us to put this

in context. The working class soldier was

7well adapted to thechallenge of war. Working class culture provided the army with a

bedrock of social cohesion and community on which its capacity for endurance rested. The

existential realities from which this culture evolved were remarkably similar to those of

military life, both in the army and on the battlefield."1

The harshness imposed and the mutual interdependence required by service on the Somme

were not challenges with which the citizen soldier was unfamiliar even if the crucible of war

demanded even more than was extorted by pre-war British industrial society at worker level.

Concentrating upon the emotional or spiritual response of the New Army soldier and theTerritorial in France in 1916, we should look at his conviction or otherwise in the cause which


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had brought him to France, at the evidence of the quality of officer/man relationships and the

forming of opinions and attitudes towards those elements which loomed large in daily life.

How did the men react to being in France, to the French, townsfolk, peasants and soldiers?

What did they think of Germany, Germans and of killing Germans? What factors sustained

or eroded their morale? Did religion reign high as a source of inspiration? How did these

citizen soldiers respond to battle and how did they describe its sights, sounds and smellsand the exercise of their individual or small unit responsibilities? Did prolonged periods in

front line, support, reserve, rest and return to the fray change attitudes towards fulfilling

ones duty? The answers of some men to such questions will be apparent in quotation from

their letters but what is being excluded is what, for most soldiers would be the activity which,

in terms of time spent upon it, would dominate their service in Franceeveryday routine.

The author of this paper has written elsewhere about this routine for the infantry man in the

line, the gunner, the sapper, the medical officer and his stretcher bearers.2

A final word of caution in the use of our evidence. Quotation is given for individual soldiers

and of course there are one and a half million of these soldiers and their officers performingtheir different tasks under different circumstances. Without computerised quantification of the

evidence, all that can be offered here are vignettes of opinion and description which the

author of this article knows are not strikingly different from many such judgements or

accounts.

1Facing Armageddon: The First World War Experienced, (eds) Hugh Cecil and Peter H. Liddle, Leo Cooper, London, 1996, in

Chapter 25, The British Working Man in Arms, John Bourne, p341.

2 Peter Liddle, The1916 Battle of the Somme, a Reappraisal, Leo Cooper , London, 1992.

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At the source of any soldiersmoral capacity to prepare for battle, endure its continuance

and then cope with the demands of a prolonged period of discomfort and danger in holding

the line, there must lie a sustained commitment to the cause which brought him there in the

first place. Much has been made of the British soldiers mocking dirge, Werehere because

werehere because werehere because werehere", but there is abundant evidence that

officers, NCOs and privates knew why and were satisfied with, the reason for their being in

Picardy in 1916. Some months before the battle one soldier expressed it well in a letter:

Weare working and looking forward to one thing, a grand and victorious ending to this

bloody war. We all have confidence in our leaders and ourselves"3

Before we express patronising disdain for the conventional expressions of idealisation of

ones own side asthevaliant troops fighting on the side of humanityand dehumanising the

enemy as 'barbaric hordes of Prussian militarism4we should realise that such expressions

are common and if our considerations were to be based on contemporary attitudes, then to

fire at them todays politically correct judgements is to use dud ammunition. A Medical

Orderly, experienced from March 1915 in dealing with the mutilations of war, recorded in his

diary for 29thSeptember 1916 that:

much as I would liketo get home I would rather stay another two years and have the damn

Huns properly crushed at the end of it.5

A V Ratcliffe, writing what was to be his last letter, expressed his sentiments more positively:


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Iwant to keep that which I have-a home among English people, whom I may affect not to

know and yet have a dormant kinship with. And I want to keep my ideals; that is why I am a

soldier. That is why I wear khaki, the dress of the pest slayer.6

In the November sleet at Beaumont Hamel, not many would write with such innocent

conviction but a search for contemporary unpublished letters or diaries documentingdisillusionment would achieve scant success. The cause stands its severe test.

3 Letter from Willie 6.4.16 in C J Lane papers, Liddle Collection, University of Leeds (hereafter, LC).

4 Lt RD Jeune, 94th Trench Mortar Battery. Diary, July, 1916, LC.

5 Cpl CJ Woosnam RAMC. Diary 29.9.16, LC.

6 Lt A V Ratcliffe, 10th Battalion West Yorkshire Regiment, Letter, June 1916, LC.

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IT MAY WELL BE THAT GOOD OFFICER/MAN RELATIONS throughout the B.E.F. and not

just among the battalions of citizen soldiers, are so universally well-attested that they do not

need further endorsement7but some examples from original letters and diaries are offered

further to demonstrate that the case is proven. At the most simple and personal level, a man

in the ranks expressed it thus in writing to the family of his wounded officer:

I am very sorry that Mr Wilson has got wounded as hewas a good officer to me and I hope

he has got home safe.8 Private P Martin wrote after the death of his officer, WA D Goodwin,

I respected Mr Goodwin with my wholelife as all the men in his charge did.9

As for the officers in their privately expressed judgements of their men, J W B Russell, who

was to be killed leading his men on the Somme, had written Themore one thinks about it

the more one admires the men-they reabsolutely wonderful to stick what they do stick10

~and, not incidentally, at his being recorded missing for 1 July, his batman had written to

Russells mother I havebeen servant to him for a long time. I have been in three fights and

never a better lad or soldier (sic) stepped on a field and what I say every word is true. Any

lad in the Batt. would follow him. He was respected by all.11

Charles Carringtons letters praise his men regularly. In October, in tribute totheir resilience,

he recorded, theworse time they get the more they smile".12 Lionel Sotheby in the previous

year considered that a good deal of time was needed to help one sum up the essence of the

British soldier and he, Sotheby, was left with a sense of the soldier's endurance and devil-may-care attitude. He added: Hegrouses as all true soldiers do, if he did not grouse, then

he could not be a true Tommy".13Also in 1915, an officer in the 10th Battalion Kings Own

Yorkshire Light Infantry was vastly proud of themen. Oh - they are grand - they faced death

calmly and even lit cigarettes whilst they waited to charge. They were fine and I love them

for it.14Here we might

7 For a general study of the subject, see Facing Armageddon Chapter 30 Officer-Man Relations, Discipline and Morale in the

British Army of the Great War, Gary Sheffield, pp 413 - 424.

8 Pte A Deeley, 4th Battalion Worcester Regiment. Undated Letter in R E Wilson papers, LC.

9 Pie P Martin, 8th Battalion York and Lancaster Regiment, Letter July 1916 in WA D Goodwin papers, LC.

10 Lt J W B Russell, 9th Battalion Duke of Wellingtons Regiment, Diary 14.5.16, LC.


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11 Pte Sam Woodhead, 9th Battalion Duke of Wellingtons Regiment. Undated Letter (July 1916) in JW B Russell papers, LC.

12 Lt Charles Carrington, 5th Royal Warwicks. Letter 19.10.16, LC.

13 21t Lionel Sotheby attached to Black Watch from Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders. Diary

14.1.15, LC.14 Capt F G R Wingham, 10th Battalion Kings Own Yorkshire Light Infantry. Letter 4.10.15, LC.

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want to add of coursethey lit cigarettes' rather than they even lit cigarettes'but what about

that word love? It is so misunderstood by some, notoriously by the ill-founded intellectual

arrogance of the literary man, Paul Fusswant to add The Great War and Modern Memory. 15

More still can be offered him to misunderstand. Donald Storrs-Fox, an officer with the 6th Bn

Sherwood Foresters, detailed to take an inexperienced Medical Officer into trenches held by

the battalion, wrote: I doenjoy going there-all my company looked so pleased to see me,

and smiled and looked so bucked. It made one feel as if it was worth walking 100 miles to

see them. They are a nice lot and I would not change my job for thousands of pounds."16Indeed love which passeth Fussells prurient understanding.An appropriate parallel might be

drawn between the narrow view of the world available to the soldier in the front line trench -

a slice of the sky and a fleeting danger-filled glimpse of his forward horizon [other than

expeditionsat night] and his limited view of authorities above him. His section corporal,

platoon corporals, sergeant and officer, his Company Commander, the Regimental Sergeant

Major, the Regimental Medical Officer, the Adjutant and then the CO, the Colonel; these

were figures of command, the source, as far as he was concerned, of the orders requiring

him to do this or that. Back beyond this, was unknown, not unheard of, but unknown -

Brigade and Division were within the grasp of identification; Corps and Army to GHQ were

beyond. Sir Douglas Haig, Asquith, HM King George, were distant totem poles forunquestioning loyalty, personifications of Britain at war. This inevitably limited perspective

will of course not preclude the TV interviewer from asking the very last British veteran of the

warWell now, what didyou think of Sir Douglas Haig?When one searches diligently for

other rank or junior officer comment upon the High Command in 1916, aware that

censorship may be a factor inhibiting comment, what can be found? The answer is very little.

An officer, J C Armstrong, greeted Haigs appointment to command the BEFbecause heis

a fine man with any amount of go in him and is moreover much liked by all ranks.17 In the

same month, another officer, P RJ Mason, considered that Haig wasquitethe best man for

his job18 but one senses that these confidentially expressed judgements are but distant

observations. When he is actually seen and then commented upon towards the end of the

Somme,

15 The Great War and Modern Memory, Paul Fussell, OUP, 1975, see Chapter VIII, provocatively entitled SoldierBoys.

16 Lt D Storrs-Fox, 6th Battalion, Notts and Derby Regiment. Letter 13.6.15, LC.

17 Capt J C Armstrong ASC. Letter 17.12.15

18 Capt P RJ Mason, 4th Battalion Kings Liverpool Regiment. Letter 20.12.15, LC.

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an observer provides a perspective that we might not have expected:


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Wevebeen reviewed today by Sir Douglas Haig. He looked frightfully pale and worried. I

suppose it must be an awful strain."19

IN THIS LACK OF EVIDENCE, WE HAVE A CASE as difficult to prove as the sound

judgement, surprising to many, that life was often boring for the soldier on the Western

Front. How does one find evidence of boredom? Here, for Sir Douglas Haig, it mightreasonably be suggested that the absence of critical observation in personal documents

during 1916 is something which we should note. We might consider adding to this

consideration, the strong endorsement Haig receives from his men in post-war evidence

where it is not designed for the impact and remuneration of publication. There is no

significant body of soldier evidence that morale was affected by a lack of confidence in his

High Command. Yes, there are pejorative comments on particular Senior Officers and on

Staff work. The author of this article has suggested elsewhere that this is understandable,

sometimes deserved but not always fair.20It should not be surprising in a huge prolonged

battle like the Somme that chapter and verse in this could be quoted. Captain P H Rawson

RAMC wrote in a letter in the second week of July: It israther nice to see the Generalsgetting the sack, they are all getting packed off about their business because they are not

competent to carry on their work,21and a Gunner Lieutenant writing of an action in October

near Les Boeufs: This is undoubtedlythe worst managed show I have come across. We

had no orders whatever and no information, and how we were expected to do any good,

God and the Staff alone know".22That men in the ranks could and did on occasion make

similar observation is true. It is ironic that Corporal Crask for example had occasion to

criticise arrangements associated with a Divisional Commander almost universally respected

at the time and praised subsequently. Wehave an inspection by the Divisional General

(Maxse) who congratulates us on the doings of the last few weeks, but personally think we

could have done without the congratulations as we had to stand for one and a half hours in

very hot weather and with full pack".23

19 2lt H Oldham, 9th Battalion West Yorkshire Regiment. Diary 11.10.16, LC.

20 The1916 Battle of the Somme, op. cit., see in particular pp. 138-140

21 Capt P H Rawson RAMC, Letter 13.7.16, LC.

22 Lt F RJ Peel RFA. Contemporary account, LC.23 LCpl V C Crask, 8th Battalion Suffolk Regiment. Diary 29 July to 4

August, LC.

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IN FRANCE, THE BRITISH SOLDIERS HAD ABUNDANT SYMPATHY for civilian suffering

in the war zone and admiration for their phlegmatic resolve to go about their daily business.

Naturally when this was perceived as 'fleecing' those who had crossed the Channel to

restore to France her invaded territory, critical comments were made. Similarly, differences

in the French way of life inspire patronising observations but one would scarcely look in

British soldier letters for evidence of those many occasions when the behaviour of the

occupying troops will have mystified or outraged their involuntary hosts.24A reasonable

post-war judgement on British soldier/ French civilian relations was left in the memoirs of a

Major R Archer Houblon.

It was remarkablehow well we got on with them. For several years to have foreign soldiersbilleted upon them, occupying most of their space, breaking down their fences and


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committing numberless annoyances that were inevitable, must have been a severe trial to

the inhabitants and yet I do not think they disliked us and I cannot remember leaving any

village without receiving expressions of regret and the kindest words of goodwill.25

In securing billets for troops, there was calculation on the British side to get acceptance as

well as on the French side to ensure advantageous financial returns. JB Arnolds memoirsdescribed the need to find a way to charm 'Madame' or, more formidable still, Grandmre.

In this, flagrant attention was paid to winning the support of any children around, and then

there would be demonstrated by the supplicants, in stance and demeanour, extreme fatigue,

inducing sympathy. Hospitality in the form of wine or coffee would be paid for generously,

knowledge of Frances tribulations in 1870 displayed, while hints were offered of a superfluity

of Army rations which of course would be made available to the littleones.Once victory in

persuasion seemed within sight, a swift occupation commenced, gear being strategically

dumped with clinching finality over what might have been protracted negotiation.26

Archer-Houblon developed his theme of interdependence.

Many of theinhabitants who still remained had turned their houses into shops and

estaminets, and at their doorway some diverting placards hung

24 Awaited with interest, even perhaps a degree of British trepidation is the result of a Canadian students research at the

University of Leeds. Craig Gibsons doctoral thesis concentrates upon British soldiers in the rear areas inFrance and soldier

inter-relationship with French communities.

25 Major R Archer-Houblon RFA. Memoir, LC.

26 Capt J B Arnold, 24th Battalion Northumberland Fusiliers. Drawn from his memoirs, LC.

13displayed. From eggs and boot-polish, the list of wares for sale would range to socks,

bibles, beer and rosaries and thebest one was in Albert Blood oranges and Funeral

Wreaths.27

An RAMC Captain, J.M. McLachlan, considered the French people were magnificent, the

whole-hearted way they have flung themselves into the show. Of course the fighting is, in

their country and they arent soaked in insular prejudices buttheyrea thrifty people and are

deeply imbued with the love of their country. I dontmean that they are more patriotic than

we are but we are still too much inclined to sit tight and smile smugly"28

There is admiration too in Percy Bendas letter:

TheFrench people seem to be taking it all very well and have great respect for us and do all

they can for our comfort with of course a few exceptions.29A working accord and the

tensions to be expected were noted by Captain P.R.J. Mason in a letter to his wife:

They are all peasants about here - they get on all right with the men unless there is any

question of money. They are fearfully avaricious and charge tremendous prices for

everything.30There is little doubt that this could be balanced by French documentation of

pilfering by British soldiers. French records may also prove illuminating on a subject

addressed in the memoirs of a British Padre, Captain N. Mellish, who had found it desirableto go down with the drafts and help men out of the estaminets and shepherd them to the


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train and at least save them from the women and men who fattened on the British soldier

and robbed him of his money, health and honour.31

On the subject of the soldier and the price to be paid for the favours of France, there is

evidence of at least one satisfying encounter. It is from an original source in the Liddle

Collection but as the man concerned later became celebrated in the British communicationsand entertainment industry; his name will not be given.

I introduced myself very brazenly Im afraid, to themost charming little widow in Les

Ambassadeurs or somewhere there a bouts, and we hit it off splendidly. I should have been

convinced that she was une veritable femme

27 Source cited.

28 Capt J M McLachlan RAMC. Letter 10.3.16, LC.

29 Sgt Percy Benda, Suffolk Regiment. Letter 11.516, LC.

30 Capt P RJ Mason, 4th Battalion Kings Liverpool Regiment. Letter 25.1.16, LC.

31 Capt N Mellish VC CF. Memoir, LC.

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du monde if it hadnt been for a few mirrors too many in theflat and other aids to the

enjoyment of life not usually associated with those recently bereaved. I left Paris feeling that,

after all the front has its compensations. If only one could remove the sordid element from

vice, it might possibly be worth following up as an amusement.32

I think we may presume that for this officer, the front included Paris. There is little doubt,honour where it existed, could easily be lost. Thinking that they might simply view thegoods

as it were, H G R Williams went with comrades to a French Government licensed brothel.

Madame told them they were too early for drinks, however, they could go straight upstairs.

Some spiritual equivalent of rum was needed before going over thetop or rather upstairs

and the men demurred. Madame rang a bell and five scantily dressed females appeared.

According to Williams they were very ugly and in viewing them the curiosity they had felt

which had led to their visiting the establishment was more than satisfied. One cannot but feel

that they deserved the torrent of abuse in French and English which encouraged their

departure.33

For William Strang, a more innocent expedition ended disappointingly too.

Wewent along to a caf by the ruined hotel where Bailey and Jones had a very good tea.

We discovered that it was a disreputable disorderly house, being shown upstairs in a vague

sort of way and seeing all that was necessary through a door standing conveniently half

open. When we declared it was tea we were after, Madame la Patronne apologised and

laughed over our mistake and showed us into the tea-room. We had sour milk, rancid butter

and inedible cakes. Meanwhile Mademoiselle, the second young lady, gave more broad

hints of what we could have if we pleased. The excursion was not a success".34

The presence of thousands upon thousands of British soldiers in the rear areas suggests,

with regard to prostitution, that need and opportunity would meet in high but unquantifiable


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number. That on the British side there is little personal documentation of the goods being

savoured and paid for can be variably interpreted: moral reticence, moral rectitude or a

failure, in the event, of soldiermorale'

32 21t RE. Letter 8.3.17, LC.

33 Pte HG R Williams, 5th City of London Regiment. Memoirs p 189, LC.

34 Lt W Strang, 4th Battalion Worcestershire Regiment. Diary 12.8.16, LC.

15

AS FOR THE FRENCH TROOPS, IF ONE WERE TO RESTRICT ONESPERSPECTIVE to

judgements expressed during the Battle of the Somme and British soldiers in a position to

make fair judgement, we may fairly quote the opinion of 21t R E Wilson in the 4th Bn

Worcestershire Regiment in a letter dated9.10.16 Weare all very struck hereby the French

troops. They are well set up cheery clean men, far above the reports which one has

sometimes heard.35William Strang, of the tea-room episode, saw these French troops at

the same time and thought them Magnificent men, bigger and stouter and hardier than

ours... evidence of good, long, training everywhere.36It has to be said however, that some,

like 2Lt J W Parr of the5th HLI, having seen French troops at the beginning of the year in a

different sector, thought the averageFrenchy compared very unfavourably with our own

men - not a good argument for compulsory service to my mind.37

For the striking nature of his opinion, unrepresentative it has to be said, we might go to the

diary of one English soldier whose service in France led to his falling in love with the country

and its people. In July 1916, on the Somme but somehow finding time to read a novel, Max,

by K C Thurston, set in Paris, Cpl CJ Woosnam wrote:

It started all theold longings in me again. Good Lord. I would give anything to live there. It is

extraordinary to me to hear men talk of how glad they will be to get back to England again. If

I could get employment out here and have my wife and boys, I would never want to set foot

in England again".38

After which it is tempting to add another soldiers more mundane observation:

TheFrench lasses in the village have very large feet".39but from this it would be hard to

draw useful conclusion.

AND NOW FROM ALLY TO ENEMY. Here the range of view is infinitely narrower. Indeed

the contrast between contemporary evidence of the British soldiers attitude to his field-grey

opponent and the post-war image, portrayed in poem, novel and film, is stark. In original

letters or diaries, there seems to be a virtual absence of any sense of a unifying brotherhood

in the trenches. There are tributes to German bravery: from Lt D N

35 2Lt RE Wilson, 4th Battalion Worcestershire Regiment. Letter 9.10.16, LC.

36 Lt W Strang. Diary 9.10.16, LC.

37 2Lt JW Parr, 5th Battalion HLI. Letter 17.1.16, LC.


39 Spr Percy Room. RE Signals. Diary 30.6.16, LC.


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16

Wimberley,I was struck with how bravely theGerman machine-gunners must have fought

as I came across several German machineguns with their heavy sledge mounting still in

position, their crews lying dead beside their guns".40From E G Bates, whose letters reveal

an intense hatred of the enemy, there is a tribute to an NCO doing a wonderfully brave

thing. Wounded and captured, this man sought and was given permission to bring into the

British positions other wounded Germans.41However, Sapper Evans writing of the same day

as Wimberley and recognising the bravery of those German machine-gunners firing to the

very last moment, added, bitterly that as soon as our lads werein their trenches, man to

man and steel to steel they threw up their hands crying for mercy.42

W H Binks writing about 8 September 1916, saw a big fineHun with his hand in the air

shouting Kamerad and assoon as we got near to him he threw two bombs at a lad about

17 years old and killed him instantly".43This incident triggered a savage response. K A

Townsend wrote to his father in August that he would destroy thewhole race withpleasure44and I H Macdonell, on his way to France, and rejoicing in the sinking of a U-boat"

so those German swine all drowned together in their own hog wash; was resolved to take

no German prisoners at all because Germans had disgraced themselves in the way they

had waged the war.45P H Rawson wanted all the interned Germans to be killed46and G H

Burt wrote of wanting to go over thetop after the German swine.47800 Englishmen and 40

Germans buried yesterday. Damn Germany.48Someof the wounded Germans were

shooting men in the back after they had been dressed by them. They are swine! Take it from

me - I saw these things happen with my own eyes"49; and even theHuns deserve to be

burnt alive:50the prevalence of such expressions does not diminish in the succeeding years

of the war.

AT HOME YOU THINK OF HARDLY ANYTHING BUT THE WAR; at thewar we think of

very little but home. Your letters and those from others at home are the only things

40 Lt D N Wimberley, 1st Battalion Cameron Highlanders. Memoirs, LC.

41 2Lt E G Bates, attached 9th Battalion Northumberland Fusiliers. Letter 25.9.16, LC.

42 Spr Jack Evans, 82nd Field Coy RE. Letter 10.7.16, LC.

43 Pte W H Binks, 1/8th West Yorkshire Regiment. Memoirs, LC.

44 Lt KA Townsend RHA. Letter 24.8.16, LC.

45 Capt (at the date of his letter) I H Macdonell HLI. Letter 5.3.16, LC.

46 Capt P H Rawson RAMC. Letter 27.2.16, LC.

47 Lt. SH Burt RE. Undated letter (1916),L.C.

48 21t G Chapman, 13th Battalion Royal Fusiliers. Diary 16.11.16, LC.

49 2Lt F Miall-Smith, 8th Battalion Norfolk Regiments. Letter 4.7.16, LC.

50 2Lt F G Bates, attached 9th Battalion Northumberland Fusiliers. Letter 6.10.16, LC.

17


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that reassure us that some fifty miles away there is a land where all is not misery and

mud.51 These words from an officer in the Gloucesters encapsulate general truths. Of

course the Home Front authors of the letters received by the soldiers do as much as they

can to conceal their anxieties just as the soldiers, in their correspondence, strive not to

excite those fears. The letters from home opened in billet or trench were likely to be filled

with the intimate minutiae of daily domestic life, well-stocked with tender loving expressionsand perhaps reflecting a local image of a matter of national concern like an air raid or

conscientious objector tribunal proceedings. If one were to imagine the circumstances under

which such letters were read and then read again, their morale-sustaining capacity would be

apparent.

Hugh Livingstons wife encouraged him in July 1916 with such loving images that he must

have felt cherished and spiritually in close communion with those in his Low Fell, Gateshead

home.

I am writing this with thebaby on my knee. She has been so good... I dont feel so lonely if I

go to bed before dark. I take a look at your photo every time and try to keep the tears

back".52Cecil Lane must surely have been pleased to get a letter from a girl with whom he

had been at school. Annie, who signed herself, Your Old School Chum'; hints broadly that

she would like to be taken to revisit their school. You did not say who you weregoing to

take with you, you know Cecil, I would look after you A1 so long as you did me and did not

lose me...that is if you care for my company when you come home.53

Parental letters were, of course, in their own way, similarly supportive. Their importance is

attested in almost every soldier response. Here, an officer, Reg Bradley, writes to his

mother,

Thank you dear, ever so for your loving birthday letter so full of all that is best and truest.

One longs more and more for the end of this business knowing what one has got waiting at

home to welcome one in. Oh Mum it will be priceless to have each other again won't it? To

Father too I must write when I get the chance.54

It is to his schoolgirl daughter Ethel that Private Booth writes of being anxious about Ethels

baby sister, Nora who is late in being able to walk. He admonishes Ethel, on holiday before

the Autumn school term starts:

51 Lt F G H Power, 2nd Battalion Gloucestershire Regiment. Letter 24.1.15, LC

52 Babs Livingston. Letter 10.7.16, L.C.

53 Annie, letter to Cecil J Lane 9.6.16, LC (sadly Cecil was soon to be killed in action).

54 Capt R L Bradley, 22nd Battalion London Regiment. Letter 12.8.16, LC.

18

"you must pay attention to school. Although I know some mistakes occur in my letters I can

easily see yours."55

Life at the front is pictured in no frightening way in the letters of another fatherfor his very

young children.


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Thereare lots of black ratties. They steal cheese and bread and the men meat but if I see

one I hit him hard and he does squeal... I got up at 6o clock and went for a rideon a mule or

as we call them - a moke. It is half a horse and half a donkey and is called Billy. There are

lots of guns round about us and they do make a row. Im surethey would waken you up if

you had them going off near you in the night. Daisy (his horse) is quite well but she will

gallop so and it makes her far too hot. I hope you enjoy Harrogate. Mind be kind to Grannyand Grandpa and be good children".56

Just as tenderly but with adult maturity, Captain Peter Rawsons letters chroniclethe

romance of his courtship, engagement and marriage to Mary Furnival and then the

expectation of their first baby. His letters need no filling with concern for the family pets nor

seasonal growth in the garden. No sign of leave, but I can get specialleave if you will meet

me in London and get married, that is the only way for me to get leave.57One different

theme Rawson did deem worth mentioning in his letter was those not pulling their weight in

the war effort. Medical Orderly C J Woosnam, dealing with a wounded civilian case, a boy of

eight whose legs had been blown off, made his feelings clear in his diary even if fault mightbe found with his logic. Apity some of the Conscientious Objectors at home could not see

him.58Rory Macleod would have had allPacifists severely dealt with59and E G R Bowen,

writing in the year before the Somme, was not very proud of being a Welshman, those

infernal miners ought to be put under Martial Law at once, the swine because of their going

on strike.60A man in the ranks, Driver Peto, had expressed a similar attitude with regard to

industrial trouble in Scotland. Weare all fed up with the strikers on the Clyde. It is a case of

your own brothers betraying you. I wonder how they would appreciate matters if the British

Army and Navy struck work".61It is small wonder that

55 Pte N Booth, 10th Battalion York and Lancaster Regiment. Letter 7.9.16, LC.

56 Capt H R Wilson, 5th Battalion DLI. Letters 9.5.16 and 2.8.16, LC.

57 Capt P H Rawson RAMC. Letter 27.8.16, LC.


59 Lt R Macleod RFA. Letter 16.11.16, LC.

60 Capt F G R Bowen ASC. Letter 16.7.15. LC.

61 Dvr W M Peto ASC. Letter 7.3.15, LC.

19

frequently one comes across expressions like those of Private Henry Venables, a Regular, it

must be said. On reading in the Press about Zeppelin raids he considered that least it would

make people realisethat there is a war on".62

Many men testified at the time as well as in subsequently published personal experience

accounts that the Home Front on leave offered an almost bewildering contrast with the

France they had temporarily left. Which was the reality? Geoffrey Vickers, on leave in

London went to see Watch your Step at the Empire.

It is wonderful to sit in a placelike that and think of the place you came fromsee the mud

and the rain, the sloppy sandbags and slippery floorboards, sucking in the mud as you walk

on them, with the everlasting trench smell oozing through the cracks (a mixture of blood,


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corruption and cooking) And on the top of it all some poor fellow huddled on the ground

groaning while his pals look for the wound under six inches of mud and sodden khaki - Then

you look up and see a blaze of shifting light and colour and all the wonderfully dainty

kaleidoscope of a revue.63

SOLDIER'S LEAVES AND THEIR LEGACY OF EMOTIONAL TURBULENCE are themeswhich could be extensively developed but for the purposes of this article it is necessary to

move on to the overall question of morale. A good sustainable cause has already been

stressed as an essential ingredient in the maintenance of morale. Regimental pride and by

extension from the battalion down to the sections of a platoon and then again down to ones

particular mates, pride here was fundamental too. Identity as Newfoundlanders, New

Zealanders, Australians, Canadians, South Africans, was a tangible component of good

morale as it was to be an Accrington or Sheffield Pal or a Coldstream Guardsman. On 3 July

an officer in the 18th Battalion Kings Liverpool Regiment wrote that he feltproud of being

posted to this battalion after the work of the last two days, the only pity is that it is practically

wiped out.64In the same week, Captain H. Ackroyd RAMC praised the battalion of which hewas the Medical Officer, the 6th Battalion Royal Berks: I was very proud of theofficers and

men I have known so long.65It might be mentioned here that a converse expression

62 Pte H Venables, 1st Battalion Coldstream Guards. Letter 10.3.16, LC.

63 Lt C G Vickers, 7th Battalion Notts and Derby Regiment. Letter 26.7.15, LC.

64 Capt A C Slaughter, 18th Battalion Kings Liverpool Regiment. Letter 3.7.16, LC.

65 Capt H Ackroyd RAMC. Letter 8.7.16, LC.

20

of pride in ones unit identity can be found in the papers of some men whocomment upon

the ineptitude of all other units. The memoir of an Australian soldier, W C Gamble, illustrates

this point perfectly.66

Good officer/man relations, a sense of fairness in the way one was being treated in a

multitude of areas, certainly including danger, toil, food, rest, leave, we can guess that

deficiencies in any of these could drain to some degree whatever had collectively been built

up in the capacity of a unit to endure. Sheer weariness was a special menace. Corporal

Chambers expressed it succinctly in his diary, though it has to be said this record reveals

him as an inveterate grumbler. Theyhad enough. Helping our wounded out of Warwick

trenches. Poor devils, poor me too for I am just done up.67

The Somme diary of William Strang in the 4th Battalion Worcesters, is moving testimony of

officers and men reduced to a low ebb by an overlong period in the front line.

I was ill-tempered, worried, querulous and absolutely lacking in energy or interest in my

work. I managed to show a good face to the men but could not before my pals. . . . Our

tenure [in this forward position] seemed interminable: day after day and no sign of relief . . .

The men broke down slowly, most of them. Some of my men stood firm -Smart and Cross,

Helley and York, Dare and Hunt.... Sgt W stuck to the end but only just. .. it needed a great

effort and much self-conquest to [enable] him to perform his duties.


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I am not brave and I think about things too much. Much shell fire would drive me mad. I am

disappointed with myself and am terribly afraid of giving way."68

Happily, there is evidence of men coping with such weariness though in this example it has

to be said they are marching out of the line. Northumberland Fusilier, Lieutenant Bates,

proudly recorded his company after ten days of thevery worst conditions with rain day andnight and a biting wind all the time and being covered in mud, carrying heavy loads, having

suffered heavy casualties and yet whistling and singing as they marched down the road to

the rest billets69

66 Cpl W C Gamble, 25th Machine-Gun Coy AIF. Memoir, LC.

67 Cpl R Chambers, 6th Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment. Diary 9 - 15 August 1916, LC.

68 Lt W Strang, 4th Battalion Worcestershire Regiment. Diary July 1916, LC.

69 Lt E G Bates attached 9th Battalion Northumberland Fusiliers. Letter 7.11.16, LC.

21

GOOD BILLETS, REST PERIODS NOT OVERFILLED WITHLABOURING DUTIES or

retraining, concerts, sports and related welfare provision, vin rouge or vin blanc, oeufs and

frites in estaminets and a unit magazine humorously dealing with subjects for legitimate

ridicule or grousing: in all of these things lay the means to still the development of collective

resentment over any matter. Recently in Britain, the attention of the public has been drawn

to First World War Army discipline in its most extreme form - Field General Courts Martial

and those cases where such death sentences as were promulgated were later confirmed by

the Commander in Chief It appears that 48 men of the B.E.F. were executed by firing squad

during the months of the Battle of the Somme. Briefly, four points on this exhaustivelydebated issue will be made here:

First, the numerical scale against which to set this figure - not far short of one and a half

million British soldiers serving on the Somme.

Second, no retrospective collective case can be made in defence of theseunfortunate men

as the offences varied (including repetitions of the offence).For some, their crime in civil law

could well have brought the death penalty and for most of the others so openly had

transgression of clearly established requirements taken place that in 1916 active service

terms, scant defence could be put forward.

Third, through their progressive learning of Army discipline from theearliest days of

training, the soldier knew thescore. knew what was expected of him, knew the penalties of

failing to fulfil his duty.

Fourth, that there is virtually no evidence in soldier contemporary documentation, not even

in subsequent memoirs, that the men of the B.E.F. considered the use of the ultimate

penalty in Army discipline, outrageous.

On the subject of what the Army contributed by threat and by positive inducement to morale,

we should perhaps begin rather than conclude with the significance of good training. If a

man were to be justifiably confident in his own weapon or communications role efficiency


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and that of the men around him then here were the makings of good soldiers. If soldiers

were

22

well-trained and equipped, well-fed and well-rested, if rewards lay within reach, promotion inthe field and medal distinctions, then the Army was tackling soundly the challenging task of

training men for efficiency in the field. In July 1916, Pte Samuel Kelsos father received a

letter from his sons Company Commander on theaward of Sams Military Medal.I am sure

all ranks of the Company share the honour as it was well-deserved as a symbol of work well

done.70This sentence of collective reward matching collective performance receives many

endorsements but in times of crisis, of physical exhaustion, indeed of dispiriting ennui, the

Armys input into morale may have taken second place to friendships and the esteem of

ones fellowsas critical constituents in binding men into a collective purpose.

Friendships out hereseem to be so much more binding and sacred somehow than at home.We are all together and have to [accept] little discomforts and hardships and often there is

an element of danger as well but when we have our own chums and friends with us we can

help each other and everything seems so much brighter;wrote a Gloucestershire lad to his

Vicar at home.71

Drawing soundly-based generalisation from a wealth of evidence is the responsibility of the

historian and it has been attempted here. Sometimes the diarist or letter writer seems almost

to recognize the problem. Geoffrey Vickers, who had been awarded the Victoria Cross in

1915, recorded in his diary of the Somme,

Thereal feelings that conflict with me are the longing to regain that wonderful fit andefficient feelingthe aggressive attitude that almost looks for difficulties in order to have the

pleasure of surmounting them - and the fear that one may be no longer able to do what one

used to".

Vickers goes on to write that he doesnt fear death but thefear of dying - of constant strain

and anticipation - is a very real thing. It would be better described as the fear of fear. But to

fortunately constituted natures like mine it hardly exists in anticipation."

Vickers seems here to be acknowledging that by temperament he is insulated from the

apprehensions which test the resilience of others in the

70 Capt W Robertson, OC C Coy 16th Battalion HLI. Letter July 1916, LC.

71 Pte J Hedges. Letter 15.9.16, Blathwayt papers, Gloucestershire County Record Office.

23

same circumstance; however, he is also recognising that the interval since he last answered

satisfactorily what was asked of him leads him now to wonder about his current capability.

He writes of being windy but of getting better now, thankheaven, but two days ago I was

afraid I wasnt going to stick it after all - the most terrifying fear of all.72

Sapper Evans wrote in a letter in the second week of July, after intense fighting, hardly any

rest and with last week's rain causing thelast word in mud, wet and general discomfort that


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there is never a word of grumbling everything being doneas if the conditions were

perfect".73Undoubtedly there were occasions when men did not respond so well and less

than a week later one occurred at High Wood. The diary of a Lieutenant in the 21st

Manchesters, H. J. Brooks, describes a circumstance where the unknown nature of what

was developing seems to have been the agent of disarray and then local leadership in the

crisis, resurrected resolve. It was on 15 July.

Our threecompanies were gradually thrown in to High Wood to reinforce the Staffords, and

finally we moved our headquarters to join the South Stafford HQs in thebottom corner of

High Woodhere things were not at all satisfactory, nobody knowing where anyone was

and especially not knowing where the Bosch wasThe morale of our troops was by this

time rather shaky and we had one rather bad panic from the wood. We rushed out down the

slope in rear. The Colonel and I worked hard and succeeded in rallying a very large

proportion and moved forward with them again into the wood. The Colonels of the two

battalions conferred and agreed that the position was untenable but this time with approval

from Brigade H. Q. a co-ordinated evacuation of the position was conducted".74

IN THIS CONSIDERATION OF THE QUESTION OF MORALE, it may be noticed that there

has been little reference to religion. In terms of individuals in unknown but perhaps large

number this is a less than justified omission but it is probably true with regard to the efficacy

of institutional religion. The significance of Army Padres in maintaining morale in the field

was overwhelmingly dependent on the Padre as a man rather than as the Army-sanctioned

representative of denominational Christian or Jewish faith. Padres who were outstanding as

men, whether flamboyantly or

72 Lt C G Vickers VC, 7th Notts and Derbyshire Regiment. Diary 25.9.16, LC.

73 Spr Jack Evans, 82nd Field Coy RE. Letter 10.7.16, LC.

74 Capt HJ Brooks, 21st Battalion Manchester Regiment. Diary 15.7.16, I.C.

24

undemonstratively, inspired both the spiritually committed and those not so completely

identified in faith. These are reflections upon times when church or chapel attendance was

infinitely higher than today but sober judgement of the mass of evidence available would

suggest that it was personal inner conviction, perhaps most truly a form of fatalism, which

protected men to some degree from general apprehension or the special fear before an

attack.

Somehow it will not happen to meand then if it were to, there is nothing I can do about it

seems a fair summary of the spirituality of the soldier as long as we were to leave room for

those who received more identifiably a strong Christian or Jewish succour sustaining their

morale.

The experience of the Somme does shatter the faith of some but not for those whose faith

was well-founded, for men like Captain Webb-Peploe convinced that his mother need not

worry in the least about my personal safety for it is always and (in) everything in the Lord's

hands and that's the best place for you and me, mother dear.75Webb-Peploe concludes his

letter: TheLord is as good as ever. It is wonderful what he does in the sustaining line but in

a later missive shares his spiritual frustration that so many of thesemen die outside the


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gates of salvation not having the consolation of faith and not having made their peace with

God.76

A tribute to the unconventional Padre is paid by Meirion Thomas in a letter where he praises

a parson for preaching colloquially to the men about Top-hole saints and Second Dawns

and then Thomas derides the usual dry asdust Church of England Sermon. He returns tothe striking sermon to which he has just listened. This man who terms himself Woodbine

Willie . . . goes into the trenches with his pocket full of Woodbines is quite the contrary. He

would be booted out of an English Church but he speaks to the men here in their own

language and (with) sound common sense.77

A man of committed faith, Captain R L Bradley, writing in late September about experience

of High Wood, admitted that now itsall over and we are back I can think a bit which is what

one cant do in ashow and it strikes me how little during it all one thought of and lived in

God. There seemed to be so much to do, keeping cheery and bucking up and steadying the

men that somehow one didnt livequite enough in Him. Of course He knows theres not

much time for a prayer and doesnt expect them".78

75 Capt M Webb-Peploe RFA. Letter 22.9.16, LC.

76 Source cited. Letter 5.10.16, LC.

77 Lt M Thomas RE. Letter 26.9.16, LC.

78 Capt R L Bradley, 22nd Battalion London Regiment. Letter 22.9.16, LC.

25

It is quite striking that in the same letter in which this officer acknowledges regretfully that, inbattle, he had not remained mindful of his Lord, his Company of the London Regiment had

thrilled him by their confident spirit, positivelyanxious for the Bosch to come over so that

they might show him just about how far hedget if he tried it on. Oh it was a wonderful

exhibition of a spirit, running right through a company and it's a time I shall remember to my

dying day with real gratefulness".79

Bradley and men like him were confirming what we might guess: before and after battle were

times for the witness of a mans faith, for few, if any,would it remain a factor as, all-

consumingly, they became engaged in action.

IT IS TIME TO LOOK, IN CONCLUSION, AT DESCRIPTION and immediate reaction to thebattle of the Somme as it developed. The sense of confidence of the infantry before 1 July

as the British bombardment roared over their heads, is caught perfectly in Billy Goodwins

letter home of 27 June.

Im feeling most excessively cheerful - our guns are simply deafening and only bombarding

deliberately at that - its the first time the ever too late - I dont think - British have been able

to show their hand genuinely! The amount of guns and infantry and cavalry - hopes of open

fighting at last!we have behind us and on a 25 mile front is perfectly amazing! We've only

got to go a paltry mile or so and I tell you Im not sorrywerethe first lot to go over. I think

with all our jolly artillery barraging a few yards in front of us the whole way, Mr Fritz wont

know or dare to look for us until wereon top of him. Everybody is feeling gloriously confident

which of course is half the show."80


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Written in a billet on 4 July, an account of the infantry assault on the first day of the Somme

as experienced by Lieutenant Gordon, 9th Bn Kings Own YorkshireLight Infantry,

graphically records the detail of movement, of death, courage, close contact with the enemy,

positions of isolation and at the same time clearly conveys the feelings of frustration and

confusion and a degree of bafflement which still do not crush the readiness to do ones duty.

79 Source cited.

80 Lt WAD Goodwin, 8th Battalion York and Lancaster Regiment. Letter 27.6.16, LC.

26

On themorning of the1st at 6.25 am, the British bombardment suddenly became more

violent than anything I have ever heard, its intensity was terrific. By this time we were all in

position ready for the assault. On our front which was between Fricourt and La Boiselle the

trenches were about 350 yards apart. But in front of the British trench there had been

constructed what is known as a Russian sap, a narrow slit trench about 7 feet deepconnected by communication saps to our front line from which it was distant about 120

yards...

At about 7.29 am, I led my wave forward from the front line trench. There was no gas (we

had used that the previous day), but the smoke from the shells was as dense as a Scotch

mist. The advance was by crawling and by rushes from shell hole to shell hole. The noise

was deafening and the German machinegun fire was terrible. Just before reaching the

Russian sap I was struck on the chin by a bit of shrapnel. When I reached the sap I lay down

and looked into it. I saw Colonel Lynch, who said, Hullo Gordon are you hit? I put up my

hand to my chin and found it covered with blood. The Colonel then began to get out of the

sap. He was killed by a shell almost immediately afterwards. I crossed the Russian sap and

pressed on. By this time our waves were jumbled together and, owing to the smoke it was

difficult to keep direction.

Advancing through the machine-gun fire and shrapnel barrage was hellish, and our losses

were heavy. I passed poor Walkers body; hehad been killed by a machine-gun I think. I saw

two Germans firing at us over their parapet.

After a few more minutes, which seemed ages, I reached the German front trench. Several

B Company men joined me, and I sat in a shell hole while one of them bandaged my chin,

which was cut and bruised and bleeding freely.

Although our bombardment had failed to knock our the enemy machine-guns, its effect on

their trenches had been very great. For the most part they were entirely knocked in, one long

succession of shell-holes, brown craters mainly, for the soil is thick. Now and then one came

to an enormous white crater caused I believe, by our great trench mortars. These were15 or

20 [feet] deep and as many yards across. In consequencethey penetrated beneath the

brown soil and threw up masses of chalk which lies beneath.

In places one came to a bit of pukka trench almost untouched. Thiswas comparatively rare.

The German machine-guns and infantry must have been

27


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preserved owing to the deep dug-outs. These were numerous and elaborate, most of them

with two or three entrances. The enemy wire entanglements had everywhere been

completely destroyed by our artillery.

While my chin was being bandaged I looked at my map and found that I had gone too far to

the right: in fact my party were quite near Fricourt, in the area of the battalion on our right,the gallant Somerset Light Infantry. I therefore decided to move to the left and with about half

a dozen of B Company, oneor two Somersets and a Durham private, we began to cross

the shell holes which marked the position of what had been the German trench. The faithful

Durhams had been our supports. They advanced with great dash and determination,

splendidly led on by Colonel Fitzgerald.

While we were moving to our left we suddenly came upon a dozen Germans about ten or

twelve yards off they fired at us with rifles. I whipped out my revolver and fired several

rounds, and some of my men also fired. One of the Germans dropped, and suddenly my

faithful Durham rushed forward shouting, Comeon boys, the buggers are on the run! The

enemy would not face the bayonet. We captured the wounded man and one other, who

threw down his rifle and held up his hands: the rest fled. The prisoners belonged to the111th

(Reserve) Bavarian Regiment.

I led my party along what was left of the trench, and soon came to the entrance of a deep

dug-out. Down this I threw a Mills bomb; I heard a noisewithin so I threwdown another

one. After the explosion I listened, and heard groans and cries of Mercy. I shouted Come

Out! in English and, after a moment, a thin, dark, haggard man, covered with blood, rushed

out holding up his hands. Several of my men were about to stick him with their bayonets but

he had been badly wounded in the face and was unarmed, so I stopped them.. Seeing this

he tried to shake my hand, and said, Kamerad. But I shook him off and searched him. Histerror was pitiable; he turned out his pockets for me and gave me some papers and

ammunition which I threw away and an electric torch, which I kept.

When he understood he was not to be killed his gratitude was extraordinary. As I would not

shake hands, he insisted on shaking hands with a Somerset who, a few moments before

had been about to bayonet him. He made me understand that there were more within, so I

sent him down again and he returned with six more most of them wounded by bombs. They

were thin, unshaven and terrified. Most had dark hair, a very different type from the

Prussians. I had them searched and disarmed and sent them to the rear.

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They ran off holding up their hands. Three more, who were too badly wounded to move,

were left in the dug-out. I saw many other prisoners going back about the same time.

Shortly after this I found that we had got back to our proper position, so I decided to push

straight on to the front. My party with many others who had joined me, amongst whom the

only officer was Ellenberger of our battalion, then advanced across the open ground

between the German front trenches and the Sunken Road which runs between Fricourt and

Contalmaison. The enemy shell fire was violent and I remember this rush across the open

only as a kind of nightmare. My servant Barsby stuck to me throughout.


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Just in front of the Sunken Road, which is about 1,100 yards in front of the original British fire

trench, was a German subsidiary line of trenches. Here I found many of our own men and

others from different battalions in our Brigade, but no senior officers except Col Fitzgerald of

the Durhams. After a short time I realised what had happened and reported myself to Col

Fitzgerald.

At about 300 or 400 yards in front of the Sunken Road there is a trench called Crucifix

Trench by the British because just above it there is a crucifix standing between three tall

trees. This trench was the ultimate objective of our battalion. I asked Col Fitzgerald if I

should lead my men to it but he instructed me not to do it at the time, as owing to the rapid

advance of our Brigade both our flanks were exposed. Indeed the Sunken Road was being

continuously enfiladed by enemy machine-guns firing in the direction of Fricourt on our right

and from Birch Tree Wood on our left. I instructed my men to dig themselves in on the line of

the Sunken Road, which they began to do, gradually improving the cover against the

machine-gun fire, but not before we had sustained further losses.

I remained at the Sunken Road for several hours. I found an enormous dugout, from which I

believe many prisoners had been taken. This dug-out had been a German Battalion

headquarters. When I reached it, it contained seven German wounded, one or two British

wounded, a prisoner who had been kept as an orderly and a guard of two men. It was a

most interesting place, comfortable and perfectly safe from the most violent bombardment.

From it I took a grey officer's helmet, its owner must have belonged tothe110th (Reserve)

Bavarian Regiment. From this dug-out too we got gold tipped cigarettes and plenty of seltzer

water, which were consumed on the spot.

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As the day had become very hot, the seltzer was invaluable, especially for the wounded. I

got a message from Day of our battalion, who had arrived at the Sunken Road before me,

and although wounded by shrapnel in the leg, had most gallantly led a party forward to

Crucifix Trench, which they found unoccupied by the enemy.

Early in the afternoon orders came from the Brigade to advance and accordingly I led my

men forward at the double to Crucifix Trench amidst hot machine-gun fire. This trench had

never been deep or elaborate; it was a sort of subsidiary line and it had been tremendously

knocked about by our artillery. The men were hot and exhausted but the job of consolidating

the trench had to commence at once as our position was very exposed. Shelter Wood, BirchTree Wood and Fricourt farm were full of Germans with machine-guns. My flanks being

somewhat in the air, I sent bombing squads and machine-guns to cover them. I established

my HQ in the trench not far from the Crucifix itself there were no dug-outs in the trench

which gave but little cover. During the afternoon the enemy heavily shelled Crucifix Trench,

the Sunken Road and Patch Alley, a communication trench behind the Sunken Road.

It was a most unpleasant afternoon, and difficult to carry on owing to the extreme shortages

of officers. I met Day, who behaved very gallantly and although badly wounded, refused to

go back until I ordered him to do so. I feared a counter-attack but we were being well

supported by our own heavy artillery and shrapnel and I have no doubt that the enemy were

at that time disorganised if not demoralised.


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At about 5 oclock I met Captain Santer of our 10th Battalion, who was slightlywounded and

had come over from our left. He then took over command of Crucifix Trench. We sent back

several messengers to the Sunken Road from which Col Fitzgerald had been directing

operations, but we got no answer. At about 8 oclock Santer orderedme to return to the

Sunken Road to find out what was happening, as we wanted orders and reinforcements

urgently. I took my servant with me. When I got there I found Colonel Fitzgerald had beenwounded in the leg (he died a few days later) but to my great joy I found that we were to be

relieved by our reserve brigade. Very soon afterwards the two leading battalions, Lincolns

and Yorkshire Regiment began to arrive at the Sunken Road and then crossed the open in

fine style and relieved our fellows in Crucifix Trench. The latter returned to the Sunken Road.

This manoeuvre stirred up the enemy into a particularly vio-

30

lent spell of shelling which lasted a long time. The men took the best cover they could find. I

sat in the Battalion HQ dug-out.

At about quarter past nine Spicer and Keay, with three other officers arrived at the Sunken

Road. These officers remained behind with the Transport (Echelon B) when the battalion

attacked. Although they had a most tiring and exciting time in getting forward they were

extremely energetic and helpful when they arrived. You can imagine my relief and joy in

seeing Spicer. I admit I was utterly exhausted and done up and my chin was hurting and

required attention, so, after midnight I definitely handed over command to Spicer and

returned to the British trenches to find our Regimental first aid post. Barsby was with me as

always. It was after three when I got there, a long and eerie walk, tripping over many poor

men who had fallen. The Doctor was splendid: he washed and bandaged my chin and made

it much more comfortable. Then he gave me an enormous whisky and soda and sent me to

sleep on the floor. After a few hourssleep the Doctor sent me down to Echelon B, which

was at Buire.81

We would be quite wrong in terms of casualties and combat activity to see Gordons day as

the common experience of the British infantry during the four and a half month's battle.

British GHQ plans to bite and then hold and then launch a new major drive, to say nothing of

the German response in the form of counter-attacks, such would be the conditioning factors.

Units would move out of the line, to reserve and to rest in the normal procedure and then

over the Summer, Autumn and early Winter, the sun and rain, and later the sleet and

freezing temperatures would affect conditions for movement, work and of course simplybeing in thetrenches or gun positions. In July and August, as recorded by so many, the

smell of decay, dirt, sweat and latrine waste was all-pervading. As early as 14 July after the

successful surprise attack at Bazentin, the diary of Quarter Master Sergeant A C Cave of the

6th Battalion, Leicester Regiment presents a scene to offend every sense:

thewhole place smells stale with the slaughter which has been going on for the past

fourteen daysthe smell of the dead and lachrymatory gas. The place is a very Hell with the

whistling and crashing of shells, bursting shrapnel and the rattle of machine-guns. The

woods we had taken had not yet been cleared and there were pockets of Germans with

machine-guns still holding out and doing some damage. A Sergeant sinks to the ground

beside me


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81 Lt B Gordon, 9th Battalion Kings Own Yorkshire Light Infantry, account written 4.7.16, LC.

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with a bullet wound neatly drilled through his shoulder. Lucky man. It is not likely to prove

fatal. It is too clean and it means a few months in Blighty for him82

In several books the author of this article has drawn extracts from letters and diaries to

describe the new offensive in September and the influence of the weather upon combat

conditions as the Autumn weeks merged into the early, miserable Winter.83 The final

struggle around Beaumont Hamel in November, successful though It may have been, seems

in retrospect to have called for physical and mental endurance beyond imaginable capacity.

As a concluding piece of descriptive evidence here the reader is not offered something

contemporaneous with the events but the recollections of a man recorded fifty eight years

later. The mans reputationcommands our respect and the words left a deep impression on

his interrogator: Charles Carrington, author of Soldier from the Wars Returning and late

Professor of British and Commonwealth Relations at the Royal Institute of International

Affairs in London, carried indelible memories of the Somme.

We did 6 weeks at LeSars on the Albert to Bapaume road, the road that runs right through

the battlefield. This I think was the hardest physical experience that we ever went through

and we lost a third of our strength simply through illness. Through trench diseases, trench

foot and trench fever. We were simply never warm.. Always cold, never dry; always with wet

feet and coming out of the line for what was called a rest there was nowhere to go to

because you were in the middle of this vast devastated area of Somme battlefield which had

been completely deprived of its inhabitants where there wasnt asingle house standing.

Hardly a tree standing, a landscape entirely composed of mud and one camped in veryrough huts or tents in the greatest misery in the mud. I dontknow that I can say much more

of this except that it went on and on and it seemed as if it was never co ming to an end.84

No man served on this battlefield from the beginning to the end but we can safely presume

that all who were there for a prolonged period would have echoed Carringtons memories of

November 1916:

it went on and on and it seemed as if it was never coming to an end.

82 QMS AC Cave, 6th Battalion Leicester Regiment. Diary 14.7.16, LC.

83 e.g. The SoldiersWar 1914-1 8, Blandford Press, London, 1988 PP. 106 - 110;

The1916 Battle of the Somme: a Re-appraisal, Leo Cooper, London, 1992 pp. 93126

84 Lt C E Carrington, 5th Royal Warwicks. Tape-recorded interview, 1974, LC.

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SCSI Occasional Paper No 23 - The British Soldier on the Somme 1916by Peter H Liddle

Peter Liddle is the Founder and Keeper of the First World War Liddle Collection, in the

Brotherton Library of the University of Leeds


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Designed and set in New Baskerville and Univers TM by The British Army Review

Published by the Strategic and Combat Studies Institute Printed in the United Kingdom for

Her Majestys Stationery Office

Documents

The British Soldier on the Somme in 1916 (reformatted)