#2nd Battle of Ypres

[theworldofwars]

Battle of Ypres. A prisoner with a man of the 2nd Battalion, Royal Fusiliers, 29th Division, by the side of the Menin Road at Gheluvelt, 1 October 1918.

[herprivateswe]

Troops of "C" Company, 1/2nd Battalion, Monmouthshire Regiment outside their huts at Bizet (near Armentieres) shortly before the battalion participated in the Second Battle of Ypres, April 1915.

[roszabell]

💕, 🪞, 📚

HIIIII I LOVE LOVE LOVE ALL OF UR ART AND THE WAG YOU DRAW MATTHEW CHEFS KISS CHEFS KISS!!!!!!!

AAAAAAAHHHHHH THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!

💕- who's a character you love but never (or rarely) talk about? ROMANO. romano romano romano. he is everything to me possibly even more than matt and gil, but it’s so inherent that i barely think about it, if that makes sense???? when i do see things about him it’s so much feelings that i almost can’t handle it lmfao????? it’s probably even close to a kin tbh but it’s so strange the way idek why i never think about him. love him so much tho ugh what a wet fucking cat with his claws out

🪞- do you have any physical appearance headcanons for your favourite character? love this omg. MATTHEW. 1) his hair is really light pale blonde, with a bit of strawberry tint that comes from alasdair. 2) freckles from arthur, but only on the bridge of his nose and at his hairline (top, and back of his neck) and shoulders. 3) also, a BIG hc for me, is that both he and alfred have more stretch marks than they do scars. lots of stretch marks, big like the kind boys get when puberty hits them hard, all along their spine and lower back, hips, backs of the knees. they shot up in height sure, but it’s super representative of the way they grew into nations so fucking quickly, what sets them apart from the others. they were pushed into growing up as nations and people at an insane pace as the industrial revolution began, and not only did it take a toll on their minds, but it’s reflected on their bodies, in the way that sometimes nation’s scars are reflections of emotional tolls of their people. 4) matthew only needed glasses after 2nd battle of Ypres when he was blinded, and now is extremely nearsighted. al needed glasses way before him for some other reason, and is farsighted.

📚 - recommend a fanfic! UGH one that i read just this week that emotionally turned me inside out is Nightingale by MapleIncognitoMode. It’s a PruCan human AU during the Napoleonic Wars, where Gil is an injured soldier saved by the sweet son of a nearby French aristocrat. It’s very very tender, well written and immersive. 20/10 if u want a medium length prucan oneshot

[hiddenwwi]

Canadian sniper Alex McCrae, serial number 118087. He was part of the 2nd Canadian Mounted Rifles and fought in Ypres 1915-1916 and Ghent in 1916.

His inscription has been in darkness for a hundred years. He like hundreds of other young Canadian and British soldiers wrote messages to the future hoping that someone, someday would know that they once lived. This underground site was very close to some of the most violent fighting on the Somme. Many of these young men lost their lives in battle not long after they wrote their names.

Because of the unimaginable destructive power of the high tech weaponry of WWI, many of those who died would virtually disappear from the earth without a trace, their bodies blown into nothing more than small, unrecognizable pieces of flesh and bone.

[lboogie1906]

Lieutenant Walter Tull (April 28, 1888 - March 25, 1918) was an English soccer player and the first Black British Army infantry officer to die on the battlefield. He was one of the earliest professional colored players. He was born in Folkestone, Kent, England the son of a carpenter, Daniel, from Barbados and his English wife, Elizabeth.

By 1897 his parents had passed away and he and his brother Edward were sent to live in an orphanage in Bethnal Green in the heart of London’s impoverished East End. He was signed to play for Tottenham Hotspur, a first-division professional soccer team. He made twenty appearances for the side before the racist chants from both the opposing and supporting fans drove the managers of the Tottenham Hotspur side to offer him to the Northampton Town soccer team. For Northampton, he made one hundred and eleven appearances until the outbreak of the WWI.

In December 1914 he enlisted in the 17th Battalion of the Middlesex regiment. He had agreed to return to soccer at the end of the war and play for Glasgow Rangers. He rose from private to sergeant. In November 1916 he took part in the Battle of Ancre, the last futile Allied effort of the 1st Battle of the Somme. In May 1917 he was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Middlesex Regiment. He took part in the Battle of Messines in June 1917 on the Western Front, a prelude to the 3rd Battle of Ypres in which he took a front-line role. His division was transferred along with five other divisions to the Italian Front in December 1917 where, at the Battle of the River Piave in northern Italy, he was mentioned in dispatches and recommended for the Military Cross for a successful raid into enemy territory. The award was never given to him. He and his men were transferred back to the Western Front for the German Spring Offensive of 1918. He fought at the 2nd Battle of the Somme and the Battle of Bapaume. He was killed in action.

On July 11, 1999, Northampton Town F.C. unveiled a memorial to him. #africanhistory365 #africanexcellence

[k2kid]

"...an intense desire to meet the enemy..." Corporal Tripp Writes Friends in London.

“…an intense desire to meet the enemy…” Corporal Tripp Writes Friends in London.

Fresh from arriving in England on the next stage of his military journey, having enlisted with the 18th Battalion on October 27, 1914, Corporal Herbert Tripp, reg. no. 53622, a chef, late of Sarnia, Ontario, and a former resident of London, Ontario, writes home to friends in London of his recent experiences in the Canadian Army. London Advertiser. May 15, 1915. Page 12. The Second Battle of…

[blackswaneuroparedux]

O wae is me my hert is sair, tho but a horse am I. My Scottish pride is wounded and among the dust maun lie. I used to be a braw Scots grey but now I'm khaki clad. My auld grey coat has disappeared, the thocht o't makes me sad.

- Royal Scots Greys, poem recited in reaction to the change their scarlet uniforms and grey horses to khaki.

Formed in 1681, the Royal Scots Greys cavalry unit was Scotland's senior regiment. Its long and distinguished service continued until 1971, when it was merged into The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards.

The regiment was formed as The Royal Regiment of Scots Dragoons in 1681 from a number of existing troops of cavalry. Its first action was the suppression of the Earl of Argyll’s rising, launched in 1685 in support of the Duke of Monmouth’s revolt.

Following the Glorious Revolution (1688), the regiment went over to King William III, fighting for him against the Jacobites in Scotland. It was ranked as the 4th Dragoons in 1692.

The following year, the entire regiment attended a royal inspection in London mounted on ‘greys’ (horses with white or dappled-white hair). This gained it the nickname ‘Scots Grey Dragoons’. However, this only became part of its official title in 1877, when it was renamed the 2nd Dragoons (Royal Scots Greys).

After a period of home service, it joined the War of the Spanish Succession (1701-14). The regiment fought at Schellenberg (1704), Blenheim (1704), the Passage of the Lines of Brabant (1705), Ramillies (1706), Oudenarde (1708), Tournai (1709), Malplaquet (1709) and Bouchain (1711).

It spent a further period on home service until 1742, when it joined the War of the Austrian Succession (1740-48). The regiment deployed to Germany first, fighting at Dettingen (1743). It then moved to Flanders, where it served at Fontenoy (1745), Rocoux (1746) and Lauffeld (1747).

It’s next major battle honour was at the Battle of Waterloo (1815). This was its only Napoleonic battle honour, at which 201 of its men and 228 of its horses were killed attacking a French infantry brigade. In this attack, Sergeant Charles Ewart captured the French 45th Line Infantry Regiment’s eagle. This later became part of the unit’s cap badge.

A long period of home service followed until the Crimean War (1854-56). There, the regiment won two Victoria Crosses charging uphill against 3,000 Russian cavalry at Balaklava (1854).

On returning home, it saw no further active service until the Boer War (1899-1902) in 1899. During this campaign, it camouflaged its white horses with khaki dye. In the years since Balaclava, much had changed about warfare. Gone were the red coats and bearskin shakos. The Scots Greys would now fight wearing khaki. In fact, with the popularity of wearing khaki that accompanied the start of the Boer War, the Scots Greys went so far as to dye their grey mounts khaki to help them blend in with the veldt. It took part in the Relief of Kimberley, fighting at Paardeberg (1900), before joining the advance to Bloemfontein and later Pretoria, service that included the Battle of Diamond Hill (1900). It also fought in the anti-guerrilla campaign in 1901-02.

After returning home in 1905, the Scots Greys stayed in Britain until August 1914, when it moved to France.

It fought on the Western Front as both cavalry and infantry, winning several battle honours including the Retreat from Mons (1914), Marne (1914), Ypres (1914), Neuve Chappelle (1915), Arras (1917) and Amiens (1918).

According to a report in Scottish newspapers of the time it was decided to paint the horses khaki as their grey coats were too visible to German gunners. This gave rise to a comic poem posted above, of which this is the first verse.

**Royal Scots Dragoon Guards set off from Edinburgh Castle

[bantarleton]

Since its introduction in 1857, 1,355 individuals have been awarded the Victoria Cross but only three men have been awarded it twice. Arthur Martin-Leake was born in Hertfordshire in 1874. He served in the Boer war in South Africa firstly with the Hertfordshire Yeomanry and later with the South African Constabulary. He was awarded the Victoria Cross and the citation reads:- “During the action at Vlakfontein, on the 8th February, 1902, Surgeon-Captain Martin-Leake went up to a wounded man, and attended to him under a heavy fire from about 40 Boers at 100 yards range. He then went to the assistance of a wounded Officer, and, whilst trying to place him in a comfortable position, was shot three times, but would not give in till he rolled over thoroughly exhausted. All the eight men at this point were wounded, and while they were lying on the Veldt, Surgeon-Captain Martin-Leake refused water till everyone else had been served”. In 1914 when war was declared against Germany, Arthur volunteered for service and joined the 5th Field Ambulance, 2nd Division with the rank of Lieutenant. His unit was involved in the First Battle of Ypres and it was for his actions at this time that he was awarded a bar to his Victoria Cross. The citation read:- “Lieutenant Arthur Martin-Leake, Royal Army Medical Corps, who was awarded the Victoria Cross on 13th May, 1902, is granted, a Clasp for conspicuous bravery in the present campaign: — For most conspicuous bravery and devotion to duty throughout the campaign, especially during the period 29th October to 8th November, 1914, near Zonnebeke, in rescuing, whilst exposed to constant fire, a large number of the wounded who were lying close to the enemy's trenches”. Arthur finished his wartime service in 1918 as Temporary Lieutenant-Colonel in commanded a Casualty Clearing Station. He returned to India and worked there until his retirement in 1937 when he brought his wife and family back to England. Arthur Martin-Leake died in 1953 aged 79. In the accompanying photo Arthur is wearing the Victoria Cross and Bar and two South African War campaign medals.

[greatworldwar2]

• Polish 1st Armoured Division

The Polish 1st Armoured Division was an armoured division formed as part of the Polish Armed Forces in the West during World War II.

After the fall of Poland and then France in 1940, the remaining Poles that had fought in both campaigns retreated with the British Army to the United Kingdom. Stationed in Scotland the Polish 1st Armoured Division was formed as part of the Polish I Corps under Wladyslaw Sikorski, which guarded approximately 200 kilometres of British coast in 1940-1941. The commander of the Division, General Stanislaw Maczek, was Poland’s premier mechanized commander, and many of his subordinate officers from the unit he commanded in 1939, the 10th Mechanized Brigade, had made their way to Britain with him. They were organized on the British Armoured Division model, equipped with British uniforms, weapons and tanks. They were initially equipped and trained on Crusader tanks but in late 1943 and early 1944 these were replaced with Sherman tanks and Cromwell tanks.

By the end of July 1944, the 1st Armoured had been transferred to Normandy, its final elements arriving on August 1st. The unit was attached to the First Canadian Army as part of the 21st Army Group. This may have been done to help in communication, as the vast majority of Poles did not speak English when they arrived in United Kingdom from 1940 onwards. The Division joined combat on August 8th, during Operation Totalize. It suffered serious casualties as a result of "friendly fire" from Allied aircraft, but achieved a victory against the Wehrmacht in the battles for Mont Ormel, and the town of Chambois. This series of offensive and defensive operations came to be known as the Battle of Falaise, in which a large number of German Army and SS divisions were trapped in the Falaise Pocket and subsequently destroyed. Maczek's division had the crucial role of closing the pocket at the escape route of the trapped German divisions, hence the fighting was desperate and the 2nd Polish Armoured Regiment, 24th Polish Lancers and 10th Dragoons, supported by the 8th and 9th Infantry Battalions, took the brunt of German attacks by units attempting to break free from the pocket. Surrounded and running out of ammunition, they withstood incessant attacks from multiple fleeing panzer divisions for 48 hours until they were relieved. The total losses of the division from August 7th when it entered combat until the end of the battle of Falaise on August 22nd were 446 killed, 1501 wounded, and 150 missing, or 2097 soldiers in total during about two weeks of fighting.

After the Allied armies broke out from Normandy, the Polish 1st Armoured Division pursued the Germans along the coast of the English Channel. It liberated, among others, the towns of Saint-Omer, Ypres, Oostnieuwkerke, Roeselare, Tielt, Ruislede, and Ghent. During Operation Pheasant a successful outflanking manoeuvre planned and performed by General Maczek allowed the liberation of the city of Breda without any civilian casualties. The Division spent the winter of 1944-1945 on the south bank of the river Rhine, guarding a sector around Moerdijk, Netherlands. In early 1945, it was transferred to the province of Overijssel and started to push with the Allies along the Dutch-German border, liberating the eastern parts of the provinces of Drenthe and Groningen including the towns of Emmen, Coevorden and Stadskanaal.

In April 1945, the 1st Armoured entered Germany in the area of Emsland. On May 6th, the Division seized the Kriegsmarine naval base in Wilhelmshaven, where General Maczek accepted the capitulation of the fortress, naval base, East Frisian Fleet and more than 10 infantry divisions. There the Division ended the war and, joined by the Polish 1st Independent Parachute Brigade, undertook occupation duties until it was disbanded in 1947; it, together with the many Polish displaced persons in the Western occupied territories, formed a Polish enclave at Haren in Germany, which was for a while known as "Maczków". The majority of its soldiers opted not to return to Poland, which fell under Soviet occupation, preferring instead to remain in exile. Many artefacts and memorabilia belonging to Maczek and the 1st Polish Armoured Division are on display in the Polish Institute and Sikorski Museum in London.

[herprivateswe]

Troops of "C" Company, 1/2nd Battalion, Monmouthshire Regiment in their trenches at Bizet poised to shoot over the parapet, April 1915, shortly before participating in the Second Battle of Ypres.

[newty]

A collection of over 40 writers and their work from World War 1 and the years that followed.

11/11. Happy Armistice Day!

This is by no means a guide so much as it is recommendations and selections from my reading list, but I hope it can interest others in some extraordinary or important lives. Enjoy!

POETRY

Richard Aldington (1892-1962)

British. 2nd Lieutenant, Royal Sussex Regiment.

Themes: Callousness, Apathy, Sound, Myth & History, Art

War and Love 1915-1918 (1919)

"Trench Idyll"

"In The Trenches"

"Apathy"

"Soliloquy I" & "Soliloquy II"

Exile and Other Poems (1923)

“Eumenides”

“At a Gate by the Way”

Edmund Blunden (1896-1974)

British. 2nd Lieutenant, Royal Sussex Regiment.

Field: Ypres, Somme, Passchendaele

Themes: Survivor's Guilt, Isolation, Nature, Post-War Reflection

The Waggoner (1920)

"The Estrangement"

The Shepherd and Other Poems of Peace and War (1922)

"11th R.S.R."

"Reunion in War"

"The Troubled Spirit"

"War Autobiography: Written in Illness"

"Third Ypres: A Reminiscence"  

Rupert Brooke (1887-1915)

British. Sub-lieutenant, British Mediterranean Expeditionary Force, but died of sepsis before reaching Gallipoli.

Themes: Colonialism, Memory & Death

1914 and Other Poems (1915)

"1914"

Robert Graves (1895-1985)

British. Captain, Royal Welch Fusiliers.

Field: Somme, but also in a POW and Garrison camp iirc.

Themes: Camaraderie, Grief, Flippancy/Humor, Personal Change

Faeries and Fusiliers (1919)

The Pier-Glass (1921)

"Lost Love"

Collected Poems 1955 (1955)

"Recalling war"

Frederic Manning (1882-1935)

Australian & British. Private, King's Shropshire Light Infantry. Lance Corporal, 7th Battalion. 2nd Lieutenant, Royal Irish Regiment.

Field: The Somme, Ancre

Themes: Collective identity, Numbness, Individuality, Ritual as a coping method, Myth

Eidola (1917)

"αυτάρκεια"

Wilfred Owen (1893-1918)

British. 2nd Lieutenant, Manchester Regiment.Also see: The Hydra (1917-1918), the Craiglockhart War Hospital magazine.

Field: Northern France

Themes: Inhumanity, Protest, Disgust & Pity

Poems (1921)

“Apologia Pro Poemate Meo”

“Mental Cases”

“Dulce et Decorum Est”

"S.I.W" (Self-Inflicted Wound)

“Wild With All Regrets”

Poems of Wilfred Owen (1931)

“The Unreturning”

The Complete Poems and Fragments (1984)

Isaac Rosenberg (1890-1918)

British (also Jewish!). Private, 12th Bantam Battalion of the Suffolk Regiment, then South Lancashire Regiment, then King's Own Royal Lancaster Regiment, then King's Own Royal Regiment.

Also see: Joseph Cohen Collection of Rosenberg documents and artifacts 

Field: Arras

Themes: Heroism, Loathing, Confusion

Poems (1922)

"Significance"

"The Immortals"

Delphi Complete Poetry, Plays, Letters and Prose of Isaac Rosenberg (2015)

Not free, but like the one for Wilfred Owen, I recommend these collections since they're super cheap (like $3) and mostly comprehensive even if there are some formatting errors.

Siegfried Sassoon (1886-1967)

British. 2nd Lieutenant, Royal Welch Fusiliers.

Also see: A Soldier's Declaration.

Field: The Somme, Arras

Themes: Activism, Self-Expression, Nature, Leadership, Camaraderie, Grief

The Old Huntsman and Other Poems (1918)

“The Kiss”

“The Last Meeting”

Counter-Attack and Other Poems (1918)

"Suicide in the Trenches" (sometimes typo'd, like in Collected Poems, as "Suicide in Trenches")

"Repression of War Experience"

"The Dream"

A Suppressed Poem (1918)  (alternative/full text)

War Poems (1919)

"Everyone Sang"  

Picture-Show (1920)

"Concert Party"

"Phantom" (removed from Collected Poems in 1961)  

"Aftermath"

Vigils (1936)

"War Experience"

"Revisitation"

The Collected Poems 1908-1956 (1961)

Contains text edits and revisions of previous work.

MEMOIR

Will R. Bird (1891-1984)

Canadian. 42nd Battalion, Royal Highlanders of Canada.

Field: France and Belgium

Also see: his bibliography. His work seems to have been popular, but is now exceedingly rare other than in some recent reprints.

And We Go On (1930)

Reissued as Ghosts Have Warm Hands (1968) which removes several anecdotes--and in particular, removes many instances of the ghost of his brother (who often appears to guide him after dying before Bird enlisted).

Thirteen Years After: The Story of the Old Front Revisited (1931)

Funded by Maclean's Magazine, Bird returned to France and wrote a series of reflections.

The Communication Trench: Anecdotes & Statistics from the Great War, 1914-1918 (1933)

A Soldier's Place: the War stories of Will R. Bird (2018)

Fifteen anecdotes from various war-time and post-war publications.

Edmund Blunden (1896-1974)

Undertone of War (1928)

Philip Gibbs (1877-1962)

British. Extraordinarily popular war journalist and later war correspondent.

Heavily censored in publications like the Daily Telegraph and Daily Chronicle.

Field: Western Front

The Soul of the War (1915)

From Bapaume to Passchendaele, 1917 (1918)

Reissued as The Struggle in Flanders on the Western Front, 1917 (1919)

The Way to Victory: Vol 1: The Menace and Vol 2: The Repulse (1919)

Wounded Souls (1920)

Now It Can Be Told (1920)

US title: The Realities of War

More That Must Be Told (1921)

Robert Graves (1895-1985)

Goodbye to All That (1929)

Censored (1929), Revised (1957), and I think Uncensored (2014)

Also a personal memoir--the first few chapters detail his childhood and discuss homosexuality.

Arnold Gyde (1894-1959)

British. Captain, 2nd Battalion South Staffordshire Regiment.

Field: Le Havre, Mons, Aisne

Contemptable (1916) as Casualty

Part of the Soldiers’ Tales of the Great War series

T. E. Lawrence (1888-1935)

British. Archeologist but mostly a military informant.

Field: Arab Revolt, Palestine 

Themes: Isolation, Brotherhood

Seven Pillars of Wisdom (1922)

Abridged "subscribers" edition subtitled with A Triumph (1926), Further abridged as Revolt in the Desert (1927), Unabridged as "The Oxford Text" (1997)

Also see: With Lawrence in Arabia (1924) by Lowell Thomas 

Thomas was a war correspondent for the US, and who filmed and photographed Palestine and Lawrence and created the media boom surrounding the two.

Also see: Lawrence and the Arabs (1927) by Robert Graves 

This book was initially panned for showing Lawrence as more of a flawed person than England's glorious war hero.

Edward C. Lukens

American. Lieutenant, 320th Infantry 80th Division.

Field: Meuse-Argonne

A Blue Ridge Memoir (1922) 

Includes an afterword titled “The Last Drive and Death of Major G. H. H. Emory” by E. McClure Rouzer

Wilfred Owen (1893-1918)

Journey from Obscurity: Wilfred Owen, 1893-1918 (1963-1965) by Harold Owen

Published in three volumes: Childhood, Youth, and War

E. M. Roberts

American. Lieutenant, RAF.

A Flying Fighter: An American Above the Lines in France (1918)

I’m not finding much on this book atm, but I remember finding some articles after I had read the book that mentioned much of it was embellished.

Siegfried Sassoon (1886-1967)

Siegfried's Journey, 1916-1920 (1945)

Discusses the range of his life on leave or otherwise away from the battlefield, along with his post-war travels and struggles. For his more military memoirs, see the Sherston Trilogy below.

Also see: Lady Ottoline's Album (1976)

included entirely bc there's a cute pics of him (pg 66-67,90-93) but also bc there's a lot of cool ppl in it (also Robert Graves 68, Edmund Blunden 69)

Diaries:

Scans of 1915-1922, 1924-1927, 1931-1932: Sassoon Journals @ Cambridge

Siegfried Sassoon Diaries 1915-1918 (1983)

Highlights: 27 May 1916. 13 July 1916. 23 April 1917. 17 April 1918.  27 April 1918. 9 May 1918. 19 December 1917.

Siegfried Sassoon Diaries 1920-1922 (1981)

Siegfried Sassoon Diaries 1923-1925 (1985)

FICTIONAL MEMOIR

Giving a third person narrator one's trauma or life allows the writer to view those events in a new light–and also partially absolve themselves from ownership of their actions and feelings. Thus, it was super popular to deflect the shame of trauma.

Richard Aldington (1892-1962)

Death of a Hero (1929)

Uncensored in two volumes (1930), in one volume (1965) and (1984)

Roads to Glory (1930)

Short stories

Hervey Allen (1889-1949)

American. Lieutenant, 111th Infantry Regiment of the 28th Division

Field: Marne, Aisne, Château-Theirrey

Toward the Flame (1926) (limited preview)

Henri Barbusse (1873-1935)

French. Western Front. Anti-war.

Under Fire: The Story of a Squad (1916)

One of the first WWI novels published. Formative work for Sassoon, but also popular with Owen iirc.

Larry Barretto (1890-1972)

American. Ambulance driver in France and Belgium.

A Conqueror Passes (1925)

The soldier protagonist swiftly falls into depression upon returning to civilian life, so he abandons everything to return to France. Where he hopes to return to the mental occupation of service, he finds instead that the world has moved on without him.

James Norman Hall (1887-1951)

American. Posing as a Canadian: Royal Fusiliers. After being discovered, Lafayette Escadrille and Lafayette Flying Corps, then Captain of US Army Air Service. German POW for several months.

Kitchener's Mob: The Adventures of an American in the British Army(1916)

Describes the Battle of Loos during his time as a machine gunner with the Royal Fusiliers.

High Adventure: A Narrative of Air Fighting in France (1918)

Also see: The Lafayette Flying Corps Vol 1 and Vol 2 (1920), a history written with fellow pilot Charles Bernard Nordhoff.

Also see: Falcons of France (1929), another memoir written with Charles Bernard Nordhoff.

John Dos Passos (1896-1970)

American. Ambulance Driver in France (Norton-Harjes Ambulance Corps) & Italy (American Red Cross)

One Man’s Initiation: 1917 (1920)

Reissued as First Encounter (1945)

Three Soldiers (1921)

Frederic Manning (1882-1935)

The Middle Parts of Fortune: Somme and Ancre, 1916 (1929) as Private 19022

Uncensored in two volumes

Censored edition is Her Privates We (1929), and Uncensored (2014)

Primarily depicts the mundane life of a private. A deserter crops up throughout the novel for commentary on the intersection of mental illness and perceived cowardice. The chapters on the trenches are extraordinary imo, and it's a great look at the unsensational life of billets and drill that most accounts leave out.

Charles Bernard Nordhoff (1887-1947)

American. Ambulance driver, then Lafayette Flying Corps, then Lieutenant of US Army Air Service

The Fledgling (1919)

Series of letters (and dairy entries?)

Also see: The Lafayette Flying Corps Vol 1 and Vol 2 (1920), a history written with fellow pilot James Norman Hall.

Also see: Falcons of France (1929), another memoir written with James Norman Hall.

Erich Maria Remarque (1898-1970)

German. 2nd Guards Reserve Division, then 15th Reserve Infantry Regiment, 2nd Company, Engineer Platoon Bethe.

Field: Hem-Lenglet  Torhout and Houthulst.

All Quiet on the Western Front (1929)

The Road Back (1931) (limited preview)

Siegfried Sassoon (1886-1967)

The Sherston trilogy follows his entire service, although purged of anything literary or concerning his family. He also changed the names of almost everyone in it. The third book does a great job confronting the trauma he swears he doesn't have up until the last couple pages.

Memoirs of a Fox-Hunting Man (1928) Memoirs of an Infantry Officer (1930) Sherston's Progress (1936)

FICTION

More on the Internet Archive

Hervey Allen (1889-1949)

It Was Like This: Two Stories of the Great War (1940)

Leonid Andreyev (1871-1919)

The Confessions of a Little Man During Great Days (1917

Russian. Account of a fictional banker in St. Petersburg struggling through war shortages and family strife. Anti-war.

E. F. Benson (1867-1940)

British. Archeologist, Greek Scholar, Worked in Cairo with T. E. Lawrence. also hes gay

Up and Down (1918)

An at-home drama which begins pre-war and descends into featuring the relationship of letters between home and the front.

Dodo Wonders-- (1921)

Sequel to Dodo: A Detail of the Day (1893) Dodo’s Daughter (1913) and Dodo the Second (1914) social dramas.

Will R. Bird (1891-1984)

Private Timothy Fergus Clancy (1930)

John Buchan (1875-1940)

Scottish. Popular novelist, Writer for the Propaganda Bureau, Director of Intelligence, and Lieutenant of Intelligence Corps

The Thirty-Nine Steps (1915)

First in the Richard Hannay series, suspense spy novels meant to sensationalize war intrigue and German barbarism.

Also see: Nelson's History of the War, a serial which began in 1915 to become a 24-volume account of censored and pro-Allies Great War history.

Wilfrid Heighington (1897-1945)

Canadian. Lieutenant, 4th Canadian Infantry Brigade

Field: The Somme, Vimy Ridge

The Cannon’s Mouth (1943)

Edward Edward Plunkett, Lord Dunsany (1878-1957)

Anglo-Irish. Captain, Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers. Also participated in the Easter Uprising. Traveled to Ploegsteert, St-Emilie, the Somme, and Bourlon Wood as work for the MI7 (b) creating propaganda.

Tales of War (1918) & Unhappy Far-Off Things (1919)

Short stories largely created as propaganda and published in various papers before being collected in book form.

Also see: Patches of Sunlight (1938), his autobiography.

Rebecca West (1892-1983)

The Return of the Soldier (1918)

A rather fanciful novel of a woman confronting her cousin soldier returning home with amnesia, having forgotten the past 15 years of his life from shell-shock.

LETTERS

T. E. Lawrence (1888-1935)

I'm more familiar with Lawrence's post-war relationship with mental illness, which seems to be rooted in his tendency for self-reproach. He consistently bemoans his difference from the others, and details his reliance on military companionship for connections.

Highlights: To Lionel Curtis, 19/3/23. To Robert Graves, 12/11/22. To Lionel Curtis, 14/4/23.

Also published in: Lawrence, T. E., and Garnet, David. The Letters of T. E. Lawrence. Doubleday, Doran & Company, 1939.

Wilfred Owen (1893-1918)

Owen defends himself at every opportunity to eliminate the possibility that his distress is from cowardice, so while his testimony is valuable for its real-time recording, it's more difficult to pick out such violent and clear instances of trauma compared to other writers.

Also see: Uncensoring Owen Project

Highlights: To Susan Owen, 16/1/17. To Susan Owen, 4/2/17. To Susan Owen, 18/3/17 (which describes The Sentry). To Susan Owen, 6 (or 8)/4/17. To Susan Owen, 1/5/17. To Mary Owen, 8/5/17. To Siegfried Sassoon, 5/11/17. To Susan Owen, 6/17. To Susan Owen, 31/12/17. To Susan Owen, 4 (or 5)/10/19. To Siegfried Sassoon, 10/10/18.

Siegfried Sassoon (1886-1967)

Siegfried Sassoon letters to Max Beerbohm : with a few answers (1986)

Vera Brittain (1893-1970)

& Roland Leighton, Edward Brittain, Geoffrey Thurlow, Victor Nicholson

Letters From A Lost Generation: First World War Letters of Vera Brittain and Four Friends (1998)

PLAYS

R. C. Sherriff (1896-1975)

British. East Surrey Regiment

Field: Vimy Ridge, Loose, Passchendaele

Journey's End (1929)

Also novelized (1930) with Vernon Bartlett

J. M. Barrie (1860-1937)

Scottish. Propagandist. Also see: famous author propagandists

Echoes of the War (1918)

Four humorously written yet hard-hitting plays concerning the war, particularly interpersonal relationships at home. More like satire than jingoism tbh.

MEDICAL ESSAYS

Shell-shock and Other Neuropsychiatric Problems Presented in 589 Case Histories (1919) by E. E. Southard (ableist af but these case studies are an extraordinary insight into the breadth of symptoms and their treatment. highly recommended.)

War Neuroses and Shell Shock (1919) by F.W. Mott

Hysterical Disorders of Warfare (1918) by Lewis Yealland

Army Report of The War Office Committee of Enquiry into Shell Shock (1922)

Shell Shock and Its Lessons (1918) by Sir Grafton Elliot Smith, Tom Hatherley Pear

Repression of War Experience (1917) by W.H.R. Rivers

Conflict and Dream (1924) by W.H.R Rivers

Instinct and the Unconscious (1924)  by W.H.R Rivers

MEDICAL ACCOUNTS

Harold Barclay (1872-1922)

American. Captain, American Expeditionary Forces. Roosevelt Hospital Unit, then 42nd Division.

Field: Château-Thierry, St.-Mihiel

A Doctor in France, 1917-1919 (1923)

His diary--also published after his death.

Vera Brittain (1893-1970)

Testament of Youth (1933) 

Also see: Vera Brittain and the First World War: The Story of Testament of Youth (2014) for its extra chapter on Edward Brittain and his oft-discussed death (spoiler: they confirmed he was gay).

Ellen La Motte (1873–1961)

The Backwash of War (1916)

American. A collection of fourteen stories from the hospitals of France.

Helen Zenna Smith/Evadne Price (1888-1985)

Not So Quiet: Stepdaughters of War (1930) (limited preview)

Written in the style of Remarque’s All Quiet on the Western Front using Winifred Constance Young, an actual ambulance driver as inspiration. 

Sequels: Women of the Aftermath/One Woman’s Freedom (1931), Shadow Women (1932), Luxury Ladies (1933), They Lived With Me (1934)

May Sinclair/Mary Amelia St. Clair (1863-1946)

British. WSPU and WWSL member/Suffragette. Founding supporter of the Medico-Psychological Clinic in London, Munro Ambulance Corps in Flanders for a few weeks.

A Journal of Impressions in Belgium (1915) 

OTHER ACCOUNTS

A. T. Fitzroy/Rose Allatini (1890-1980)

Despised and Rejected (1918)

Austrian-British. A novel following members of the CO and Pacifist movement. also v gay

Father Bernard Carey (1865-1932)

Leaves from the Diary of a Catholic Chaplain in the Great World War 

(1920)

Irish. A chaplain's memoir of Egypt and East Africa, and the religious and racial intolerance in the military.

Philip Gibbs (1877-1962)

Germans on the Somme (1917)

John Masefield (1878-1967)

British. Poet Laureate. Briefly a Red Cross orderly, then propogandist with the Department of Information.

Gallipoli (1915)

Account of the campaign's failure to counteract anti-German propaganda in the US.

The Old Front Line (1918)

Eyewitness account of the Somme. Revisited and further completed in Battle of the Somme (1919)

The War and the Future (1918)

Also see: John Masefield's Letters from the Front, 1915-1917 (1985)

Also see: His poem “August 1914″

William Le Roy Stidger (1885-1949)

American. YMCA Pastor working with the AEF.

Soldier Silhouettes on our Front (1918) & Star Dust From The Dugouts (1919)

Stories of Christian faith through portraits of various soldiers.

Stanley Washburn (1878-1950) 

American. Correspondent of the London Times in Russia.

Field Notes From the Russian Front (1915) The Russian Campaign: April to August 1915 (1916) Victory In Defeat - The Agony Of Warsaw And The Russian Retreat (1916) Field Notes From the Russian Front (1917)

BLOGS & PROJECTS

Siegfried Sassoon resources

Cambridge Sassoon Project Blog

T. E. Lawrence texts and resources

Life timelines for several poets, like Sassoon and Owen

War Poets Association

Oxford War Poetry Digital Archive

List of additional war poets

WWI fiction resource

WWI timeline and artifacts resource

Today in WWI with Literary and Historical contexts

List of WWI authors and dust jackets

Additional WWI writers

Great War Theatre

Essay on American pilots in other armies

[fuckyeahhistorycrushes]

Bernard Montgomery (1887-1976) was a British Field Marshall during ww2. He commanded the British Eighth Army in North Africa and defeated Erwin Rommel at the 2nd Battle of El Alamein. He later went on to participate in the invasion of Italy, the Battle of Normandy, and the Battle of the Bulge. For a long time I pictured Monty as an old man so I was caught off guard when I found this picture when I wanted to find out more about him in ww1. Not only did he look hot, but younger Monty has an interesting story. Having a rough childhood where him and his siblings were abused by the mother, Monty always found comfort in the military and went into the Royal Warwickshire Regiment. When ww1 broke out, he was shot through the lung at the First Battle of Ypres and his grave was dug thinking that he wouldn't be able to recover. Eventually he did recover and Monty returned as a general staff officer in 1917. There is a picture of Winston Churchill at a military parade in Lille in 1918, and in the bottom left stands a stern looking Montgomery, not well known at that time but will make a large effect on history.

[hiddenwwi]

Canadian sniper Alex McCrae, serial number 118087. He was part of the 2nd Canadian Mounted Rifles and fought in Ypres 1915-1916 and Ghent in 1916. His inscription has been in darkness for a hundred years. He like hundreds of other young Canadian and British soldiers wrote messages to the future hoping that someone, someday would know that they once lived. This underground site was very close to some of the most violent fighting on the Somme. Many of these young men lost their lives in battle not long after they wrote their names. Because of the unimaginable destructive power of the high tech weaponry of WWI, many of those who died would virtually disappear from the earth without a trace, their bodies blown into nothing more than small, unrecognizable pieces of flesh and bone.

[thewardlowcollection]

The Great War

One hundred years ago at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month the armistice agreement was signed between the Allied Forces and Germany bringing peace to the Western Front and ending the war. 

Unsurprisingly, given its importance to many of the story lines and characters in the show, there are many fabulous fics that mention the War to end all Wars. For this post I’ve traced the journey of the 14th Battalion (Melbourne), 4th Brigade, New Zealand and Australian Division/Australian 4th Division of the Australian Imperial Force and chosen stories that mention some of the Battles the 14th were involved in.

The 14th Battalion of 1,023 men was raised in Melbourne in September 1914. They left Australia in December and reached Egypt in January 1915.  In Australia 39% of men between the ages of 18 and 44 fought in World War One, all of them were volunteers.

Chapter Four of @rositalg's War Stories, Waking (2016-2018) – Concerned when he doesn’t come home for dinner Phryne goes looking for her Inspector and finds a gathering of the 14th Battalion at his house. 

The Gallipoli Campaign, Turkey (19 February 1915 - 9 January 1916) 

This was the 14th’s first engagement. As part of the 1st Division ANZACs, on the 25th April 1915 they took part in the ANZAC Cove Landing. They also fought in the Second Battle of Krithia, Chunuk Bair, Hill 971 and Hill 60. Lance Corporal Albert Jacka of the 14th was the first Australian to earn a Victoria Cross after holding a trench single handedly during a Turkish counterattack. 

Chapter One of Universal Truths (2018) by @ollyjayonline – The 6th Battalion (Victoria) is under the command of a world weary British Major who, along with his loyal Captain, is doing his best to keep as many of his men alive as he can. Fifteen years later Jack remembers a long forgotten warning.  

Jack’s War (2018) by akraia – Jack is in the 23rd Battalion (Melbourne) who joined the Gallipoli campaign in mid-August. With the 24th Battalion (Victoria) they took over the defence of Lone Pine from the 1st Division in September 1915 and were subjected to constant shelling. Almost half of the Australians involved in the taking and defence of Lone Pine were casualties. The Australian Dawn Service is held at Lone Pine on the 25th April every year.  

The number of wounded on medical ships, the surrounding Greek islands and the Australian hospitals in Cairo far outweighed the medical supplies and accommodation that were available. 2,800 Australian nurses served during the war, initially at Cairo then after the evacuation they were re-posted to No.17 British Military Hospital in Alexandria. 

Chapter Two of War Stories, Sisters in the Park (2016-2018) by @rositalg – Jack and Phryne come to the aid of a woman who served in Alexandria.

The 14th was shipped back to Egypt in December 1915 and reorganised to combine veterans with the men fresh from Australia before becoming part of the 4th Division. As part of II ANZAC they were assigned to the defence of the Suez Canal from Turkish invasion. Then the French losses at the Battle of Verdun, France (21 February - 18 December 1916) made it clear that more men were required on the Western Front.

The Battle of the Somme, France (1 July - 18 November 1916). 

In June 1916 the 14th was reassigned to I ANZAC and sent to Armentières where they raided German trenches.

Stand-To for the 5,533 (2016) by LauramourFromOz – Fromelles (19 - 20 July) was the first battle of the AIF on the Western Front and was fought by the 5th Division. It included the 14th and 15th Brigades from Victoria. This fic starts with Jack being shot as he tries to keep a promise to a friend. In 1929 he is reunited with the Australian nurse who risked her own life to save him and helped him to fulfill his promise.

At Pozières (23 July - 3 September) the 14th relieved the severely depleted 2nd Division just in time for a German counterattack. In disarray the Australians were overrun and it looked like Pozières was lost when, the now Second Lieutenant Jacka led a desperate charge of seven men on a large group of Germans that had rounded up forty Australians. This inspired the prisoners to rise up and engage in hand-to-hand combat. They repelled the attack which was the last attempt of the Germans to take the village. Jacka, wounded seven times, received the Military Cross. I ANZAC was then assigned defensive duties over the bitter winter, with the arrival of spring though they began a series of patrols along the front line.

The Battle of Arras, France (9 April – 16 May 1917) 

On the 8th April Captain Jacka, now the 14th’s Intelligence Officer, led a night party on reconnaissance to the German line obtaining valuable information and putting in place guides for the assault parties. The 14th attrmpted to take the village of Bullecourt (10 - 11 April). There weren't enough tanks to destroy the barbed wire and miscommunication meant they had limited artillery support so, though they briefly held some German positions, eventually they were forced to retreat.

Nocturne (2015) by @gaslightgallows​ – Jack tells Phryne about meeting a soldier injured at Vimy Ridge (9 –12 April) whilst he was recovering in a convalescent home and how a shared love of music kept them both sane.

Third Battle of Ypres/Passchendaele, Belgium (31 July - 10 November 1917) 

The 4th Division was at Menin Road (20 September), Polygon Wood (26 September), Broodseinde (4 October) and then the rain turned the battle-scarred fields into mud in which men and horses drowned. To make things worse mustard gas was used for the first time. There were 1,250 Australian casualties at Poelcapelle (9 October), followed by complete disaster when the ANZACs attempted to capture Passchendaele (12 October) suffering 7,000 casualties.

Entrenched (2018) by Scratch_Pad – Beautifully interweaves Jack’s experiences throughout the episodes with his memories of the war.

A Love Story (2018) by @ollyjayonline​ – Jack is on his way to England and Phryne, when he diverts to Ypres to lay to rest old ghosts. There he is reminded that life truly is for the living. 

In November 1917 the five Australian infantry divisions became the Australian Corps and from then to October 1918 the 14th was engaged in almost constant action.

Battle of Cambrai, France (20 November - 8 December 1917) 

America joined the war in April 1917 but their first engagement with the enemy was 30 November when the 11th Engineer (Railway) Regiment were attacked whilst they were digging reserve trenches.

Silk, Smoke, Sky (2018) by QualiTea - Phryne coaxes a damaged ambulance past shell holes and smoking metal to get wounded soldiers to the hospital.

Coded Expressions (2016) by @omgimsarahtoo – Jack is contacted by an old war buddy and finds himself in the outback looking for answers to something that happened in February 1918 on the outskirts of Cambrai.

The Spring Offensive, France and Belgium (21 March – 18 July 1918) 

The 14th fought in Operation Michael, France (21 March - 5 April) at the village of Amiens, France.

Learning By Heart the Ways of the World (2016) by longwhitecoats – In the build up to the First Battle of Villiers-Bretonneu France (30 March - 5 April) Phryne finds herself on a mercy mission in an ambulance, fortunately she is not alone.

The Hundred Days Offensive (8 August to 11 November 1918)

The 14th were again at Amiens (8 - 12 August). The attack began at 4am in dense fog and by 8.20am the 4th Division had breached the German lines.

In October 1918, along with all the other Australian troops, the Battalion was withdrawn from the front line and demobbed in November. Over the course of the war the 14th had suffered 915 deaths and 2,229 casualties.

At the going down of the sun, and in the morning,

We will remember them.

[k2kid]

A photograph of 18th Battalion soldiers training. These soldiers are are members of “C” Company. Sergeant John Wallace stands at the ready with a Ross Rifle and Baynet with other members of his company. He is stading front row, 3rd from the right. Lance-Sergeant Sifton, VC, is standing to the extreme right with the tip of his bayonet almost touching the frame of the photograph. This rare photograph was definitely taken from between October 1914 to August 30, 1916 (the date the Lee-Enfield SMLE was issued to the Battalion). It was most likely taken in England at West-Sandling May – September 1915. The Ross rifle had a shorter bayonet than the SMLE and there was a gap between the forward part of the barrel and the attachement points of the bayonet and handle. Source: David Wallace via the 18th Battalion Facebook Group.

A series of four news articles from the St. Thomas Times-Journal illuminates the career of John A. Wallace who was an original member of the 18th Battalion[i]. The articles span from November 1914 to October 1915 and offer insights into the life of Wallace, and by extension, the other non-commissioned men of the Battalion. The articles cover four quite discrete parts of an 18th Battalion soldiers’ service and allow the past to become part of the reader’s present.

John Wallace enlisted on October 26, 1914 in St. Thomas, Ontario. Initially a Private, he had earned the promotion to the rank of Corporal[ii] by the time the 18th Battalion embarked for England in April 1915. He must have been a capable leader and soldier, for being only the age of 22 years old, he had claimed experience with the 2 years with the  Heavy Battery Artillery, Edinburgh, Scotland; 2 years with the Lothian and Border Horse; and a further 2 years with the 25th Regiment[iii]. Certainly, his promotion to corporal was indicative of his abilities and eventually he would earn the rank of Sergeant with the Battalion as it trained in England. He later would obtain the rank of Lieutenant and serve with the 58th Battalion, C.E.F. and sustaining wounds serving in the field.

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The first article, dated November 5, 1914 outlines the activity of recruitment of the men to form the 2nd Canadian Contingent. St. Thomas’ sons appear eager to join and the allotment of 100 enlistments has been obtained. It relates how five recruits went to London, Ontario on that date which meant that only three more enlistments had to be completed before the allotment was filled from that city. Wallace figures prominently in the piece having his name listed first among the five going to London. It appears that his stature in the community, and as will be seen later, in business and golf makes the news of his military experience noteworthy to the town of St. Thomas.

Several of the named men would be members of the 18th Battalion (see endnotes for links to their Soldiers Pages), with Lewis, Green, Beeson, and Haller being clearly identified through their service records.

Bertram M. Haller is an interesting case as he travelled from Preston (Cambridge), Ontario and appears to have been interviewed as part of this article as it is recorded he “…is eager to get away as soon as possible.” It is further interesting to note that all five men identified in this article that served with the 18th Battalion survived the war.

The war was into its fourth month and during that time the 1st Contingent had been formed and it had left for England for further training and acclimation only three weeks prior to this story. The enthusiasm of joining up was evident with the ability to fill this draft.

FIVE MORE MEN OFF FOR CAMP

John Wallace, James Grant[iv], Fred Lewis[v], Harry Green[vi], and Cecil Robertson[vii]

LIEUT. BEESON[viii] HEARS OF HIS APPOINTMENT

St. Thomas Contingent of One Hundred Practically Complete Now.

Five more recruits went to the camp at London Thursday morning marking ninety-seven in al that have gone from this city. As Private J. Aldrich is to be returned home owing to the serious illness of his mother, four more are required and three have passed the doctor. The other man comes up for examination before the doctor this evening.

The five men who went to London on Thursday morning were: John Wallace, James Grant, Fred Lewis, Harry Green and Cecil Robertson. The former, a member of the local Dominion Bank staff, was presented with a wrist watch by the members of the staff prior to his departure to the mobilization camp.

Lt. Beeson Accepted.

Lieut. James Beeson, Collegiate Institute physical instructor, had been notified of his appointment as an officer with the second expeditionary force and had been notified to report at London Friday morning. Lieuts. W.J.Y. Hardy and J.G. Coyne have not as yet been notified to report.

The following are the names of the additional three men who have passed:

William Hill, city, aged 28, chef, no service.

Percy Hill, Tillsonburg, married, aged 37, eight years with the Third West Surries.

Robert Howse, aged 33, married, four years First Tar Hamlet Regiment.

Burt M. Haller[ix] also applied for enlistment on Thursday afternoon and he will be examined for the final man of the 100 allowed from here. He came to the city for the purpose of enlisting[x] at noon and is eager to get away as soon as possible.

Source: St. Thomas Times-Journal. October 19, 1915.

The second letter appears to be written in late May 1915. As the Battalion had only arrived in England in April and established its presence in West Sandling, Kent on the 29th. The War Diary is not overly specific to the activities of the Battalion during that month and it appears to be a time of re-organization and preparation for training. It appears that the non-commissioned and commissioned officers had time allocated for training with units with more experience, as is related in this letter. Sergeant Wallace is attached for temporary duty with the battalion connected with the training and recuperation of the men of the Princess Patricia’s Light Infantry (PPCLI) and it there seems to be a touch of pride from the tone of Wallace’s letter as he relates his connection to this storied unit that had suffered so much at 2nd Ypres during the first use of gas by the Germans during an offensive action.

The letter to Dominion Bank Manager E.S. Anderson is reprinted in full and does not appear to be subject to censorship. It gives a good account of the news that was sure to be on all the 2nd Contingent troops’ lips as they prepared for active duty at the front. The war had been active for almost a year and the casualties witnessed and conversations had by Wallace with veterans would dispel any myths about combat for him and his fellow soldiers. He represents his experiences in a matter-of-fact method without undue sentimentality or exaggeration. One can read between the lines what the effects of combat had to the members of the 1st Canadian Contingent and, particularly, the PPCLI.

Sergeant Wallace then relates his experiences about his course in musketry and from the very early start he has to make from his billet to the training location it appears that he may be attached as an instructor-trainee. Most musketry training sessions appear to last between thirty minutes to an hour (and it is surprising to note the total lack of musketry training of the Battalion during it time in England. The Battalion spend more time on bayonet training, perhaps for physical training and esprit de corps) so it would be reasonable to surmise that Sergeant Wallace was instructing if he had to start so early in the morning.

Sergeant Wallace also gives us a idea of his sense of humour relating, as he does, about his propensity of sleeping in late when he was a civilian and relating how strong his appetite is.

PTE JOHN WALLACE of ST. THOMAS TELLS OF HIS VARIED EXPERIENCES

Former Member of the Dominion Bank Staff Here Writes Interesting Letter to E.S. Anderson – Stories of Fighting in France

Sgt. J.A. Wallace, ledger keeper at the local branch of the Dominion bank at the time of he enlisted with the 18th Battalion, 2nd Canadian Contingent, at present in Shorncliffe camp in England, writes[xi] interestingly of the strenuous training being given there, and of the large number of the wounded who are convalescing at Shorncliffe hospital in the following letter to E.S. Anderson, manager of the Dominion bank:

Dear Mr. Anderson:

I have just returned from furlough. I had five days which I spent at home[xii]. I think I had the happiest holiday a man could ever had, but the time was much too short.

I have been with my own battalion very little since coming to England, most of my time being spent with the Patricia Pats [Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry], which regiment[xiii] I was attached to for a bayonet fighting course. At the base in England where I was, the only men who are there are the wounded and maimed, who are either waiting for their discharge or being trained, that is those of whom are able for further service.

Stories of Awful Fighting.

In the Sergeant’s mess where I was all the sergeants of course had been out in France but where invalided home, and of course I heard a few things while with them about the actual conditions at the front. Apparently, it is an actual hell out there at times[xiv]. All the sergeants in the Pats had practically seen some kind of active service before, some of them having five or six medals but the mention of previous campaigns[xv] and contrasting them with the present big job, only caused laughter. I had a severe course of physical training and bayonet fighting while here[xvi]. The instructor seems to know the limit of human endurance – – I don’t think — because he just about finished me, we had eight hours a day of it. I managed to pull through, however, with an additional three or four inches on to my chest, and a feeling also that I can play my part in the game, and take any hardships that may come my way.

Off to the Front Soon[xvii].

I understand that we won’t be here for very long now, as the Canadian casualties must now be around seven thousand[xviii] now and the gaps have to be filled some way. I heard to-day that three or four hundred of this battalion have to be drafted over the line next week to replace the losses of the Pats, which practically a new regiment now, there scarcely being a single man of them on the field now, that is of the original regiment. I noticed from the casualty list that Hugh Somerville of St. Thomas had gone under[xix]. The Canadians got into two terrible cut-ups at Hill 60 and Ypres[xx], but they made a great name form themselves on this side, as fighters.

I am stationed at the present near Folkestone, at which part some of the wounded come in and they do roll in there – by the boat load. The other morning I counted inside of about three hours five trainloads go past. It is a sad thing to watch – boys who, some of them, can’t be more than sixteen or seventeen, carried on the train absolutely all in; but never a murmur of pain or anything else.

Reville at 3:45 a.m.

I am at present taking a course of musketry at Hythe, in Kent. I have to be there on the range at 6 a.m. which is more than an hour’s walk from where I am stationed. The please part of this business is, that at the very pleasing time in the morning – 3.45 a.m. to be exact – Sergeant Wallace, the one-time nine o’clock riser, jumps out of bed. Reville [sic] in ordinary times here has always been 5.15 for me, which to say the least as early enough, but this ‘ere new change of time fixes me. Since it came in I have curtailed my social engagements at Folkestone considerably. If I stay up at night until nine o’clock in fact, I get the idea that I am dissipating and out to be in bed. The weather here since I came with the exception probably of the first week, had been terribly warm. We go everywhere with our full pack now, of about 60 pounds, and it is all the time a case of sweating, sweating, sweating, and them some more sweat.

I beg to state that I am not losing any weight either, as I have as a precaution of future shortage, take the trouble to but a double degree of horse power into my eating strength.

Well, Mr. Anderson its getting around seven o’clock and this ‘ere three-forty-five reville [sic] is starting to prey on my mind. Knowing your strict observance to the virtue of punctuality, I know you don’t want me to be kept up too late or something might happen to my lethal senses in the morning. I must therefore cease fire.

To all the boys my salaams, and with kindest personal regards,

Sincerely yours,

JOHN WALLACE

Source: St. Thomas Times-Journal. June 12, 1915.

  The third letter is brief, possibly due to the increased tempo involving the preparations for the Battalion to move to the Continent and action at the Front. Sergeant Wallace had a relationship with the Elgin Golf and Country Club (now the St. Thomas Golf and Country Club) with the Golf Captain, a Mr. R.W. Johnson, and Sergeant Wallace is responding to a letter from Johnson. He pokes fun at the Kaiser, intermating that the war will be over for the next golf season and that the Kaiser may find fit employ as a golf caddy or greenkeeper.

Wallace then relates one being involved in creating improvised explosive devices as a substitute in expectation for the newly developed Mills Bomb. These temporary field expedient explosives were a stop-gap measure and had their own dangers, being locally manufactured and having variable quality control.

Sergeant Wallace ends the letter asking to be reminded to the other members of his golf club. It is interesting to note that as a bank clerk he had a membership to a golf club, probably in expectation of promotion and the club would offer a means for social mobility with the social and business contacts he would make from this membership.

KAISER MAY BE CADDYING OR GREENKEEPING AFTER THE WAR

John A. Wallace, Former St. Thomas Banker, Now at the Front, Suggests That His Impertinent Highness May be Looking for a Job When Fighting is Done

The following letter from Sergt. John A. Wallace, formerly of the Dominion Bank, will be read by his many friends with interest. Writing from Sandling Camp, England, just before leaving for France to R.W. Johnson, captain of the Elgin Golf and Country Club, he says:

“I must thank you sincerely for your kind letter, without forgetting, of course, the large hamper of tobacco which it will furnish. I deeply appreciate the kind sentiments expressed by you on behalf of the members of the club.

I am sorry to hear that the war had dampened golfing enthusiasm, but I think you can safely expect an open season next year. The Kaiser is such an extremely versatile creature that it is not unlikely he will be found at a job of caddying or greenkeeping somewhere when the war is over.

Training Completed[xxi]

Our training in England is now completed and we are packing up ready to leave. The first contingent has left us a reputation hard to live up to but if physique, training and spirit count for anything it well be done.

I have of late been learning the gentle art of making bombs out of jam pots, salmon tins, and gas pipe[xxii]. This home-made grenade business, particularly when we are practicing with live bombs, is not quite so peaceful by any means as the times I formerly had at the bank or on the golf course.

I often see James Ritch, although, generally I see more of his dust as he goes buzzing around on his motorcycle.

I hope I will again have the pleasure of meeting my friends at the golf club. Remember me to them all, as they have helped so much in making my stay in St. Thomas enjoyable and cherished.

With kindest personal regards I am yours very sincerely,

JOHN A. WALLACE”

Mr. Wallace is with “C” Company, 18th Battalion, 2nd C.E.F.

Source: St. Thomas Times-Journal. September 23, 1915.

The fourth, and last letter, is from Captain Charles Percy Ermatinger to is father. The letter completes the collection with a mention of Sergeant Wallace. The editor and journalists of the St. Thomas paper maintained a story consistent in its approach in making the news of the local men in the C.E.F. important and maintaining a “flow” of information.

This letter and story is short but gives an indication of the connectivity of people in a geographic area. Captain Ermatinger joined the C.E.F. at St. John, New Brunswick February 1915 and though he may have lived a thousand miles from his home town, he is cognizant of what news may be of interest to his father, a prominent judge and politician who may have been aware of a prominent insurance business man from London, Ontario. Captain Hallam had an involvement in the Canadian Militia and may have served with Captain Ermatinger as he “…makes a feeling reference…” to Hallam in his letter to his father.

A LETTER FROM CAPT. ERMATINGER

Has Been Transferred to Another Company; Meets John Wallace in England.

Judge C.O. Ermatinger has received an interesting letter from this son, Capt. Percy Ermatinger, who enlisted at Montreal with the Army Medical Corps. Capt. Ermatinger is now with No. 6 Company of the A.S.C., having recently transferred from No. 5 Company. His duties are much the same as a transport officer.

Capt. Ermatinger makes feeling reference to Capt. Arthur Hallam[xxiii], London, Ontario, who was killed in action September 18, and with whom he was well acquainted. Capt. Ermatinger mentions meeting John Wallace of the 18th Battalion, former teller of the Dominion Bank here, and other St. Thomas boys on the firing line. He enclosed in the letter some handkerchiefs worked on by a Belgian refugee.

Source: St. Thomas Times-Journal. October 19, 1915.

With the last letter Sergeant Wallace moves of with his men of “C” Company, 18th Battalion, 4th Canadian Infantry Brigade, 2nd Division to fight and survive the war, eventually obtaining the rank of lieutenant and serving with the 58th Battalion C.E.F. He would eventually achieve the rank of major and earned a discharge from the C.E.F. in November 1918[xxiv].

The letters offer the reader an insight into the influence of a man, not a native of Canada, who was engaged in the commercial and mercantile life of his community. Wallace’s efforts in this regard are reflected by the newspaper’s interest in telling his story, in part because it was relevant, and because it related to the social and business interest of the community in which it served. At 23 years of age John Andrew Robertson Wallace had established himself in his new community. He appears (very likely) to be a member of the local militia regiment, the 25th Elgin Regiment, to which he would be exposed to the other men of community, from the labourer to the lawyer. This experience, coupled with his prior military experience in Scotland, appears to have established his martial reputation and led to a promotion to Sergeant some time between his enlistment in November 1914 and the Battalion’s departure for England April 1915. In addition to his obvious banking and business interests, he joined the local golf club with all its social and sporting benefits.

Lieutenant Wallace in an undated photograph. Source: David Wallace via the 18th Battalion Facebook Group.

These connections were so strong that he maintained correspondence with the business and social members of the St. Thomas community, as shown by these letters. Wallace corresponds with his superior at the bank – a prominent business person. He maintains a relationship with the Golf Captain of his club. This position is a central one for the social and organizational aspect of the club and the captain would have had some credible social and political skills to become the captain. He further is sought out socially by Captain Ermatinger while in England. The connection between these two men is not fully realized from Captain Ermatinger’s letter but if the meeting was not a casual one it shows that Sergeant Wallace had the interest of some of the scions of St. Thomas society.

Death Notice, Barrie Examiner. August 12, 1937. Page 11. Source: David Wallace via the 18th Battalion Facebook Group.

After the war Wallace’s career as a banker took him to manage a Dominion Bank in Orillia. He died at the age of 45-years old, August 11, 1937.

His bond with St. Thomas was still so strong he was buried there.

          [i] Special thanks to the Wallace Family for sharing these news articles and photographs, the basis for this article.

[ii] The 18th Battalion Nominal Roll, April 1915, records John A. Wallace with the rank of corporal.

[iii] Possibly the 25th Elgin Regiment, St. Thomas, Ontario.

[iv] There is no record of a James Grant in the 18th Battalion April 1915 nominal roll. There is a recorded of a James Grant being a rejected volunteer. The LAC resource does not give enough information to make a definitive determination at this time.

[v] Lewis, George Frederick:  Service no. 53699 enlisted St. Thomas, Ontario November 2, 1914.

[vi] Green, Harry Arthur:  Service no. 53027 (Military Medal) enlisted St. Thomas, Ontario November 2, 1914. The attestation papers indicated London, Ontario but the Nominal Roll indicated St. Thomas.

[vii] Not found.

[viii] Beeson, James: Lieutenant enlisted November 4, 1914.

[ix] Haller, Bertram M.:  Service no. 54023 enlisted November 5, 1914 at St. Thomas, Ontario.

[x] Haller’s appears to be from Preston (now Cambridge), Ontario and, as stated in the news article, travelled to St. Thomas for a chance to enlist. Perhaps the allotment for Galt/Preston/Hespeler was full. My Grandfather, William Robb Dewar, reg. no. 53902, enlisted October 26, 1914 at Galt. It appears the goal to fill each town’s enlistment quota was to be done by the first week in November. The Kitchener Public Library index card for Bertram Haller indicates he enlisted in Preston and returned to Preston after this service.

[xi] It is estimated that this letter was written in the last week of May 1915. The 18th Battalion had arrived at West Sandling April 29, 1915 and had a rudimentary course of training. The War Diary for this month is not helpful here as it lacks detail.

[xii] Sergeant Wallace was born at Edinburgh, Scotland and listed his mother, Mrs. M. Wallace as living at 35 West Preston Street, Edinburgh, Scotland. It was quite common for soldiers from the Home Country to go on leaves to their families but it also caused a significant problem with soldiers from the 2nd Contingent going absent without leave (A.W.L.). The battalions and the Assistant Provost Marshall had to allocate a fair number of effort and resources to finding, collecting, charging, and punishing these men. For information see the Our Boys Were Certainly No Angels.

[xiii] This is possibly the 23rd Battalion, C.E.F. The soldiers of that battalion did reinforce the PPCLI with 125 men. Some would have been fresh soldiers and some may have been soldiers of the PPCLI that had convalesced and were fit for duty. It would make sense to affect a “train the trainer” strategy by sending soldiers who would be leading training drills to more experienced units for this training.

[xiv] The PPCLI was heavily engaged as recently as May 8, 1915 at Frezenberg. The battle resulted in 8 officers and 392 other ranks as casualties with 4 offices and 108 other ranks killed.

[xv] This may be a reference to the Canadian involvement in South Africa Boer War (1899 – 1902).

[xvi] See the 18th Battalion June 1915 War Diary for examples of training syllabus.

[xvii] The Battalion embarked for the Continent on September 14, 1915, a full 3 months after this letter was written.

[xviii] 6,000 replacements every three months were required as replacements during this part of the war.

[xix] Private Hugh Somerville was killed in action April 22, 1915.

[xx] Known also as the Battle of Mont Sorrel and the 2nd Battle of Ypres.

[xxi] The Battalion left for the Continent from Folkestone on September 14 arriving in Boulogne, France on September 15, 1915. The Battalion had been filling the trenches at Tolsford Hill in preparation for departure.

[xxii] This relates to the timing of the development of the Mills Bomb. The use of grenades for trench fighting was a key component of the weapons needed for the soldiers of the trenches. The bombs to which Sergeant Wallace is referring to are fused bombs that required a friction fuse or one that would be lit by a cigarette or another source of ignition. There is an example of the use of this type of grenade from the 18th Battalion was related in the 18th Battalion Medical Officer’s War Diary for October 3, 1915 in which he relates that Private Aikenhead, reg. no. 54160 was hit in the head when someone was testing a catapult to fire off bully beef tin grenades.

[xxiii] This name may be an error. There is no record of any soldier of that name being killed or dying of wounds during September or October 1915. However, Captain Ernest Walter Hallam of the 18th Battalion was killed in action on September 29, 1915. It is likely this soldier that is being referred to. He may have been known to the Ermatingers as he was the Manager of Continental Life Insurance Company in London, Ontario.

[xxiv] Wallaces service records have, as of the date of this article, not been digitized.

Apparently, it is an actual hell out there at times: The Letters of Sergeant Wallace A series of four news articles from the St. Thomas Times-Journal illuminates the career of John A.

[blackswaneuroparedux]

O wae is me my hert is sair, tho but a horse am I. My Scottish pride is wounded and among the dust maun lie. I used to be a braw Scots grey but now I'm khaki clad. My auld grey coat has disappeared, the thocht o't makes me sad.

- Royal Scots Greys, poem recited in reaction to the change their scarlet uniforms and grey horses to khaki.

Formed in 1681, this cavalry unit was Scotland's senior regiment. Its long and distinguished service continued until 1971, when it was merged into The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards.

The regiment was formed as The Royal Regiment of Scots Dragoons in 1681 from a number of existing troops of cavalry. Its first action was the suppression of the Earl of Argyll’s rising, launched in 1685 in support of the Duke of Monmouth’s revolt.

Following the Glorious Revolution (1688), the regiment went over to King William III, fighting for him against the Jacobites in Scotland. It was ranked as the 4th Dragoons in 1692.

The following year, the entire regiment attended a royal inspection in London mounted on ‘greys’ (horses with white or dappled-white hair). This gained it the nickname ‘Scots Grey Dragoons’. However, this only became part of its official title in 1877, when it was renamed the 2nd Dragoons (Royal Scots Greys).

After a period of home service, it joined the War of the Spanish Succession (1701-14). The regiment fought at Schellenberg (1704), Blenheim (1704), the Passage of the Lines of Brabant (1705), Ramillies (1706), Oudenarde (1708), Tournai (1709), Malplaquet (1709) and Bouchain (1711).

It spent a further period on home service until 1742, when it joined the War of the Austrian Succession (1740-48). The regiment deployed to Germany first, fighting at Dettingen (1743). It then moved to Flanders, where it served at Fontenoy (1745), Rocoux (1746) and Lauffeld (1747).

It’s next major battle honour was at the Battle of Waterloo (1815). This was its only Napoleonic battle honour, at which 201 of its men and 228 of its horses were killed attacking a French infantry brigade. In this attack, Sergeant Charles Ewart captured the French 45th Line Infantry Regiment’s eagle. This later became part of the unit’s cap badge.

A long period of home service followed until the Crimean War (1854-56). There, the regiment won two Victoria Crosses charging uphill against 3,000 Russian cavalry at Balaklava (1854).

On returning home, it saw no further active service until the Boer War (1899-1902) in 1899. During this campaign, it camouflaged its white horses with khaki dye. In the years since Balaclava, much had changed about warfare. Gone were the red coats and bearskin shakos. The Scots Greys would now fight wearing khaki. In fact, with the popularity of wearing khaki that accompanied the start of the Boer War, the Scots Greys went so far as to dye their grey mounts khaki to help them blend in with the veldt. It took part in the Relief of Kimberley, fighting at Paardeberg (1900), before joining the advance to Bloemfontein and later Pretoria, service that included the Battle of Diamond Hill (1900). It also fought in the anti-guerrilla campaign in 1901-02.

After returning home in 1905, the Scots Greys stayed in Britain until August 1914, when it moved to France.

It fought on the Western Front as both cavalry and infantry, winning several battle honours including the Retreat from Mons (1914), Marne (1914), Ypres (1914), Neuve Chappelle (1915), Arras (1917) and Amiens (1918).

According to a report in Scottish newspapers of the time it was decided to paint the horses khaki as their grey coats were too visible to German gunners. This gave rise to a comic poem posted above, of which this is the first verse.

**The unveiling of the Second Anglo-Boer War Memorial for the 2nd Dragoons (RoyalScotsGreys), Edinburgh, Scotland, 16 November, 1906. The Earl of Rosebery unveiled the Monument and spoke of the Regiment’s history. The Greys lost 149 officers, NCO’s and men, with 11 wounded.