Toll amongst junior officers

Project research brings to light toll amongst junior officers

One of the enduring myths of the Great War was fashioned in the 1960s, when Alan Clark (author of ‘The Donkeys’) and other revisionist writers (e.g. Joan Greenwood – Oh! What a lovely war) were able to propagate the idea of an uncaring officer class willingly sacrificing the ordinary men in the ranks without a care for the numbers killed or maimed, in pursuit of foolhardy and impossible targets. This caricature of the reality of the war culminated in the extremely well-crafted fourth and final series of the Blackadder comedy. It is perhaps worth noting however that the final episode and denouement of Blackadder saw all the officers who were so mercilessly lampooned in an extremely humorous series rush to their deaths in a climactic which was reckoned to be one of the most emotive and moving in any broadcast drama.

The reality of the Great War was the loss of many more officers proportionately than of serving Other Ranks. 232 officers of Brigadier-General rank and above were killed or wounded in the war – 78 dying on active service. After the first 12 months of the war the losses of recently recruited junior officers, who had been drawn principally from a narrow elite group of leading public schools reached such a level that the army was forced, albeit reluctantly, to look further amongst the educated but not so socially narrow class of grammar school men to replace the burgeoning loss of young men who had offered themselves in droves from Eton, Harrow, Winchester and similar elite bastions of the establishment.

The antidote to the glib offerings of Clark and Greenwood can be found in the superb story of the junior officers at company level and below – ‘Six weeks - The Short and Gallant Life of the British Officer in the First World War’ [2010] by John Lewis-Stempel. He comprehensively punctures the myth of an uncaring and remote class of officers lolling about in gilded chateaux at the rear, as the men suffered and died in the horrors of frontline trenches. The facts of the courage and diligent caring for the men they led are the reminder of a time when duty and self-sacrifice were qualities taken for granted: so ingrained, that of all the combatant armies, only the British Army never suffered any significant loss of morale or disobedience by men in the frontline. This is attributed in large part to the British policy of employing junior officers in large numbers to lead dangerous tasks (e.g. wiring parties in No man’s land’); otherwise managed by NCOs in the allied and opposing armies.

The story of the former pupils of Tynemouth High School who took promotion as temporary officers is now being researched by a volunteer who recently joined the project. Already we have found that of 381 former pupils noted in the school’s Record of Service who were known to have been involved in military and merchant navy service during the war some 65 took commissions as junior officers in the army. Of these 19 were killed - almost 30%. This figure is consistent with Stempel’s findings and shows the true contribution of the junior officers in the four year-long struggle. Losses amongst junior officers reached such proportions that The Times was requested to cease publication of names of the dead so great was the loss amongst the sons of the establishment and consequent damage to morale.

We are fortunate that John Lewis-Stempel is one of the leading authorities who have come forward to deliver one of the lectures we arranged jointly with Northumbria University, He is giving his lecture – ‘The experiences of junior officers at the front’ at 6pm on Tuesday 3^rd. December at the City Campus East site of Northumbria University – School of Law and Business building. This is an opportunity to hear and put your questions to the author of the acclaimed story of the Captains. Lieutenants and Second lieutenants who it is argued won the war for the allies by their leadership and example.

You can register interest in attending any of the lectures at our website www.tynemouthworldwarone.org Lectures are free and open to the public on a first come basis, although pre-registration helps us to plan ahead.

The lecture by Dr Martin Pugh on Women in the Greta War (November 13^th) attracted a large audience; confirming the rising tide of interest in the war and the views of the leading historians of today who we have been able to secure for this landmark series of lectures.

Powerful picture from 1919

Powerful picture from 1919 resonates around the world

On Remembrance Sunday the project posted on its Twitter site a scene in a London street (pictured) on the first anniversary of Armistice day in 1919.This powerful image of national remembrance was re-circulated by more than 300 other Twitter sites such that more than 200,000 people will have received the picture – possibly the same number as those gathered on that London street 94 years ago.

The picture captures the overwhelming national solidarity that must have been engendered by the terrible toll of the previous four years. Now as we prepare to enter the centenary of the outbreak of the war on 4^th August, 1914 there is a palpable sense that the nation will seek to recognise and re-evaluate the loss and the changes wrought by that tragic episode in the history of the modern world.

Over the period of the centenary we will be reminded of the names of battles fought by the British, Dominion and colonial troops – many of which require little mention to reawaken sad memory amongst older generations who lost fathers, uncles and brothers in the well-known campaigns and battles on the Western Front. Of course the war involved our major ally France as well as Belgium and Russia. However it came as a surprise to me just how little recognition there is today of the major episodes that involved the French troops who suffered in equal measure with their British ally. The response of the other governments to the centenary (allies and foes alike) is different and it is fair to say that the centenary will not be marked in such definite terms as within the British and Commonwealth nations.

The most potent place name in modern French culture is Verdun – the fortification on the north east border area of France - the scene of fighting which was unparalleled in its ferocity and human toll and a place which has the same resonance for the French as The Somme and Passchendaele. The story of Verdun will be told at our next talk at the Low Lights Tavern, Brewhouse Bank, North Shields on Tuesday, 26^th November at 730pm. Tickets are still available from Keel Row Bookshop, Preston Road, North Shields and from the Low Lights Tavern.

Ian McArdle will examine the myths and the reality of this most important struggle; said to be one reason for the ill-fated Somme campaign – designed to take pressure off the French by forcing the German High Command to divert troops north to protect their front line in Picardy.

Correction – please note the lecture by Professor Gary Sheffield in March, 2014 will be given on 

4^th March –not 8^th March as stated in last week’s column.

99 years on

99 years on the nation prepares for Centenary of outbreak of the Great War

After the nation remembers the catastrophe of 1914-18 this coming Remembrance Sunday we shall shortly enter the centenary year of the beginning of the war, which will see the first events of a four year programme of national remembrance of the most significant aspects of the war.

On 4^th August, 2014 the Queen will open a commemorative programme to be managed by the Imperial War Museum and the Department for Culture Media and Sport that will be focussed on five themes; the opening of the war; the Battle of Loos (September 1915; the battle of the Somme (July – November 1916); the 3^rd Battle of Ypres (July – November 1917 – commonly referred to as the Passchendaele campaign); and culminating in the final events around November 2018, to mark the Armistice that brought to a halt the bloodshed of more than four years. The programme content has aroused some criticism for apparently overlooking the Gallipoli campaign (1915) and the final 100 days of the Battle of Amiens (from 8^th August 1918) and the advance of the allied armies, claimed by many to be the greatest achievement of British forces of all time ( see Forgotten Victory – by Gary Sheffield). Professor Sheffield is the speaker (8^th March, 2014) in one of our winter programme of lectures at Northumbria University – see our website for details of all the lectures.

In advance of the 4^th of August, 2014 and the formal events we can expect a tidal wave of new books and publications (latest estimate more than 1000) seeking to re-tell the story of the war and individual participants from what will be claimed to be ‘ a new angle’. Whether these will actually cast any new light on a subject that has attracted probably more writing in the last 100 years than any other aspect of human history is open to doubt. All the records appertaining to the war have been in the public domain for many years and all the participants in the war have now passed away so no new insights or revelations are likely.

What is now apparent however is the rising number of groups seeking to tell the story of the war and family loss in the context of their own communities. The Tynemouth project began work three years ago but in the last 12 months a significant number of new groups have been formed in the NE region to research their own stories. All these projects will have a vital role to play in supporting the creation of an enormous national biographical record which the Imperial War Museum will launch in February 2014, aiming to build a database to tell the story of as many as possible of the 8 million men and women reckoned to have been directly involved in the war as fighting troops or as workers on the home front in munitions factories, shipyards and other vital sectors of the economy (e.g. mines and engineering).

Any readers of this blog who have materials of interest in respect of anyone who served in the war, whether from the Tynemouth borough area or elsewhere will be able to offer that information for inclusion in the national database. 

We will provide further details of this initiative when it is launched.