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. 

Haigh' last Push

Haig’s last ‘Big Push’ floundered in Belgian mud

The Great War gave recognition to many terms or place names that would become synonymous with the futility of men’s attempts to defy nature. Perhaps the greatest of these is the name of the

previously insignificant community of Pasendael (Passchendaele) sitting on the low ridge to the North East of the town of Ieper (Ypres) in Belgium. Over four months from July to October 1917 it would become the final objective of a failed ‘grand plan’, intended to break through the German frontlines and secure the trade routes through the Channel by seizing the Belgian seaports. From these ports the enemy’s submarines threatened the very continuance of the war, according to a gloomy appraisal of the security of the shipping lanes presented by Admiral Jellicoe, in the Spring of 1917.

The reluctant decision to sanction Field Marshal Haig’s plan for a summer offensive followed a long and drawn out struggle across the tables of Whitehall as Prime Minister Lloyd George and his colleagues were wary of a repeat of the blood-letting of the previous year on the Somme.

Lloyd George wanted to transfer military assets and men to prop up Italy and was sceptical of Haig’s confidence that the British imperial forces could carry through the latest scheme to break-out of the deadlock on the Western Front and seize the narrow strip of Belgian coastal ports before turning back onto the enemy’s rear. France was seriously weakened, following another failed offensive which had provoked substantial mutiny in its armies; and appeared content to sit out the next 12 months and await the arrival of significant American forces in 1918, following the US entry into the war in April. The arrival of substantial German troops released from fighting on the Russian fronts, as that country slipped into the chaos of Revolution, only served to increase the improbability of success for the proposed campaign, that would become known as the Third Battle of Ypres. For reasons of public morale Lloyd George was unable to remove Haig and reluctantly the government agreed to the planned offensive.

What no one could defeat was the weather. Despite knowledge of the poor conditions that existed in the battle areas at almost all times, repeated attacks were pressed forward into a sea of mud, as the rain poured down relentlessly, with few respites, in one of the wettest summers for fifty years. The horrors of that campaign stand out as possibly the worst conditions in which men have ever been sent to fight.

More than fifty men of the borough of Tynemouth were sacrificed in a campaign which slithered to a halt in mid-October, as the tiny gains of shell cratered and gas saturated swamp were measured against the losses of hundreds of thousands of killed and wounded, for an advance to the village which would give its name to this futile tragedy.

For a full understanding of the enormity of this disaster you can find a comprehensive and very readable explanation of the objectives and reality of the campaign in Leon Woolf’s ‘In Flanders Fields’ (Longmans 1959).

The Public meeting to gauge support for the formation of a group to begin the task of assembling the record of service and casualties of Wallsend, Howdon and Willington Quay districts in the Great War will be held at 7pm on Tuesday 29^th October, 2013 at the Memorial Hall, Frank Street, Wallsend If you are interested to help in the work of the proposed project (no previous experience in research is necessary- as training will be provided) please come to the meeting to find out how a properly constituted body will be formed and how you might be able to assist. A number of opportunities will be available for people with special skills to volunteer and it is hoped that the project will get underway early in the 2014, when funding and workspace have been secured.

Play about local man executed in Great War

Play about local man executed in Great War wins Arts Council funding

The Tynemouth commemoration project has based its work on a published Roll of Honour recording names of men who died from causes related to the Great War of 1914-19. That Roll includes the name of one local man – William Hunter, of Coronation Street - caught up in one of the most controversial issues of the war - the policy of judicial execution of hundreds of men for military offences. The project commissioned North East playwright and author Peter Mortimer in 2011 to write a play based on Hunter’s court martial papers; and now the significance of his case has been recognised by the Arts Council of England, who have awarded the project £11,000 to assist in the writing and production of the play – Death at Dawn – to be first performed in week commencing 1^st September, 2014 at the Linskill Community Centre.

There are a number of unusual aspects to Hunter’s case and Peter has taken the few known facts of his early life to develop a fictional account of how his short military career might have progressed; interwoven with the information available from the handwritten court martial records. William’s life was ended by a firing squad at 6.58am on the 21^st February, 1916. He had claimed, when arrested and tried, to have been under age when he enlisted. That claim appears to have been ignored although at least one very senior officer recommended a reprieve of the death sentence, relying on Hunter’s assertion about his age but was overruled by Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig who sanctioned all executions in France and Belgium.

The grant of the Arts Council money makes the staging of the play more certain, as other bodies are now likely to come forward with funds, in the knowledge that the play has support from the major funding body for the performing arts in England.

The play will be directed by Jackie Fielding and produced by North Tyneside’s only professional theatre company – Cloud Nine. Play author and Artistic Director of Cloud Nine, Peter Mortimer commented – “this is brilliant news. Arts Council funding in our straitened times is increasingly difficult to come by, so this is a real vote of confidence for the play and the project”

A Public meeting will take place on 29^th October, 2013 at 7pm at the Memorial Hall in Wallsend to gauge support for the formation of a group to begin the task of assembling the record of service and casualties of Wallsend. 

Unlike in Tynemouth Borough no document was ever produced (that is known about) giving a comprehensive record of Wallsend’s casualties. The first task of any group that is formed will be to collate the details to be found on numerous separate memorials, plaques and other artefacts connected to the town and the war. Memorials from places of employment, works, factories and shipyards as well as Church memorials will be a key source of information. The group, if formed will seek funding similar to that obtained by the Tynemouth project from the Heritage Lottery Fund.

If you are interested to help in the work of the proposed project (no previous experience in research is necessary- as training will be provided) please come to the meeting on 29^th October to find out how a properly constituted body will be formed and how you might be able to assist.

A number of opportunities will be available for people with special skills to volunteer and it is hoped that the project will get underway early in the 2014, when funding and workspace have been secured.

New project planned

New project planned to expand commemoration of North Tyneside’s Great War casualties

The Tynemouth commemoration project has based its work on a published Roll of Honour recording men who died from causes related to the Great War of 1914-19 although it has mention of men who died as late as 1921. That document only related to the former Borough of Tynemouth. The current borough of North Tyneside was formed in 1974 by the coming together of Tynemouth with two other boroughs – Wallsend and Whitley Bay and parts of a number of district council areas (Backworth, Shiremoor, Earsdon, Forest Hall, Killingworth, Longbenton, Dudley Burradon and Seaton Burn). Now we are helping an initiative in Wallsend to begin the task of forming a group to carry out a similar role for the many hundreds of victims of the war who lived in or were connected to the former Municipal Borough of Wallsend.

A public meeting will be convened shortly – details will be given in this column and advertised widely – to assess support for the formation of a group to begin the task of assembling the record of service and casualties of Wallsend. Unlike Tynemouth Borough no document was ever produced (that is known about) giving a comprehensive record of Wallsend’s casualties. The first task of any group that is formed will be to collate the details to be found on numerous separate memorials, plaques and other artefacts connected to the town and the war. Church memorials will be a key source of information; and the great work of the North East War Memorials Project which began many years ago to seek out and list the memorials of every town and village in the North East will be a valuable first source of information.

The group, if formed will seek funding similar to that obtained by the Tynemouth project and will be provided free access to the database systems of our project. A number of opportunities will be available for people with special, skills to volunteer and it is hoped that the project will get underway early in the 2014, when funding and workspace have been secured.

The next in our series of talks at the Low Lights Tavern, North Shields, will be given by John Sadler, author of a book of WW1 poetry under the title – ‘World War One poetry they didn’t let you read’ A few tickets are still available from the Low Lights Tavern, Keel Row Bookshop, Preston Road and the project workroom at Linskill Community Centre.

New venue for Public lectures at Northumbria University.

Due to unprecedented demand the project has been obliged to transfer ALL lectures from the Sutherland Building, Northumberland Road to the City Campus East site - Room 002, New Bridge Street, Newcastle, opposite the Manors Metro Station. (Charged parking is available). The next lecture is on 13^th November, 2013 when Dr Martin Pugh will speak on the role of women in the Great War. If you may like to attend this lecture please help us by registering your interest in advance via our website. All lectures are Free but space is limited so places cannot be guaranteed.

Norham High

Norham High leads the way to give pupils understanding of the Great War

As the education sector slowly wakes up to the impending centenary of the outbreak of the Great War in 2014, the Tynemouth project has already formed a multi-faceted partnership with Norham High School which will ensure that pupils from one of the parts of the borough which suffered the heaviest losses in the war will gain a full understanding of the impact of the war on the community in which they live today.

From initial contacts in the summer term of 2012/13 we have been looking to help the school teaching staff to prepare a fully- rounded programme of work which will be built into a week of the current school term and immerse over 400 pupils in the story of the war through all elements of the school curriculum examining the history, art, literature and music of the war as well as the physical aspects of the conflict. With an external specialist art practitioner who has already done some exciting work with pupils at Riverside School and members of a ‘military re-enactment’ group – Time Bandits – coming into the school, pupils will be able to learn about many aspects of the conflict both at home and at the Front. Everything from food in the trenches to handling military equipment and acting out daily routines will be combined to present a realistic and thoughtful series of class-based sessions but in an informal structure. Some pupils will have the opportunity to work on the design of an interpretation board to tell the story of a number of the 65 men of Preston (Ritson’s) colliery killed in the war and who have a memorial in Preston cemetery; shortly to be restored by North Tyneside Council as part of its commitment to ensuring that all the borough’s public war memorials are in as a good a condition as possible for the forthcoming centenary period. We hope that the board to be researched and designed by the pupils will (subject to funding) be manufactured and installed in time for the 90th anniversary of the unveiling of the memorial in June 1924.

New venue for Public lectures at Northumbria University

Due to unprecedented demand the project has been obliged to transfer ALL lectures from the Sutherland Building, Northumberland Road to the City Campus East site - Room 002, New Bridge Street, Newcastle, opposite the Manors Metro Station. (Charged parking is available).

The inaugural lecture to be given by Professor Sir Hew Strachan on Wednesday 9^th October is now fully subscribed. Places are still available for the further seven lectures, beginning on 13^th November at 6pm with Dr Martin Pugh who will speak on the role of women in the Great War.

If you have already registered for the lecture to be given by Professor Strachan you will receive a confirmation e-mail regarding the change of venue. You are advised to attend in good time to assist us in ensuring a prompt to start to what is already an acclaimed series of lectures.