Several bbs regulars have asked me to provide a report on my recent visit to the WW1 Battlefields - I sincerely hope the rest of you will bear with me.

PART 1
My visit to the Battlefields of Picardy and Flanders was in truth approached more from a historical perspective than an emotional one. That superb novel 'Birdsong' had provided the trigger for a long-anticipated trip. The book provides a grotesque glimpse of the holocaust that hundreds of thousands of enthusiastic young conscripts found themselves in during the Battle of the Somme in 1916 and afterwards - including many tens of thousands from far-flung Commonwealth countries who had flocked to support the Motherland.

At the outset, I wasn't terribly interested in visiting cemeteries. However, one can't help but be moved by the actual number being passed, by the countless numbers of headstones, and also by the beautiful condition in which they are maintained - affording an everlasting dignity in death that these warriors weren't afforded in action.

We visited several of the individual battlefields of the Somme (Picardy, France) and Ypres (Flanders, Belgium) that I had researched. In Picardy, we visited the sites of the initial 1 July 1916 attacks at La Boiselle & Ovillers, Thiepval, and Beaumont-Hamel (the location for the principal action in 'Birdsong')., and the sites of several of the follow-up battles - Pozieres, Mametz Wood, Mouquet Farm, Contalmaison, etc.

In addition to Beaumont-Hamel with its Birdsong connotations, I had become particularly interested in La Boiselle after learning that the Northumberland Fusiliers had lead the 34th Division's initial attack there - suffering 80% casualties in the first 10 (yes, T-E-N) minutes! At the edge of a field we stumbled across a simple memorial cross to a Fusilier Nugent, killed in the initial action on 1 July 1916, whose body wasn't actually found until 1998.

At Beaumont- Hamel we visited the Newfoundland Park Memorial to the dead of this Canadian Regiment. The Park contains a semi-preserved section of the battlefield with sections of trench, and a marked walk from the allied front-line trench across no-mans land and on to the some sections of the German front-line and support trenches. No-mans land still provides a lunar landscape of inter-linked shell holes. The terrain, and the close proximity of the German machine-gun positions, provided a stark understanding of the futility of the advance. However, the closely-cut grass has long-since sanitised the original war landscape. So, although it provides a very interesting insight of the battlefield landscape and close proximity of the respective fronts, it still does not provide a true feel for the horrors apparent at the time.

In Flanders, we visited several of the battlefields around the Ypres Salient (ie. bulge) that saw almost constant bloody action during the War as it was regarded as critical to defending the North Sea Ports that the Germans had mistakenly not taken during their initial offensive in 1914. These ports were critical to the maintenance of British supplies and personnel.

By way of a fairly typical example of the everyday carnage in this area, the survivors roll-call of the 1st Battalion of the Queens Royal West Surrey Regiment of 850 men who fought in the Battle of Gheluvelt, a couple of miles outside Ypres on 31st Oct 1914 was as follows:

Battalion HQ 0 A Company 4 NCO's: 20 privates B Company 4 privates C Company 2 privates D Company 1 NCO: 1private Total Survivors 32

The number of War cemeteries in the Ypres area is staggering, even in comparison to the other areas. The Tyne Cot cemetery near the Passchendaele battlefield is massive, evocative and deeply moving. The Memorial listing those who perished but never identified, and therefore having no headstone - the so-called "missing" - is awesome in it's vastness, simplicity and implicit sadness - a monument to unimagined bravery and the ultimate human sacrifice.

The Tyne Cot Memorial lists some 50,000 "missing": the Thiepval Memorial 73,000: the Menin Gate Memorial (Ypres) a further 55,000. I believe that those classed as missing actually accounted for something like two-thirds of those who died in the War.

John Laffin in his excellent book "British Bunglers & Butchers of WW1" (referring to our military leaders) says "They are missing because their remains were never found. Often nothing of them remained to be found. Tens of thousands of soldiers were blown to pieces or into a mulch of blood and bone by high explosive shells. The mud swallowed up others, sometimes while they were still alive".

I generally knew the statistics beforehand: however, I learned that knowing the statistics, and being aware of their true meaning on the ground are two entirely different things!

-- Anonymous, September 29, 2000

Answers

[Sorry about the formatting in what was supposed to be a casualty table in Part 1]

PART 2.
The battles were largely fought on open agricultural land that naturally was quickly recovered once hostilities ceased. One of the disappointments of the trip was that at most of the battlefields there are few remaining indications of what took place or where. I found it disappointing that such an important piece of our recent history has largely been lost without being properly marked for future generations. There are so many lessons that can be learned from the conflict.

Accepting the benefit of historical hindsight, with which things always appear infinitely clearer, what was readily apparent in every location we visited, was that the Allied Troops had essentially no chance of avoiding massive casualties even if they had ultimately been successful. You cant help but being affected by the sheer hopelessness of their situation, and of an overwhelming sense of the futility.

What would have amounted to success is actually difficult to define in that the strategic benefits of achieving the desired advance seem minimal. The true strategic goal appears to have been simply to relieve the pressure on the French at Verdun, where things were so difficult that they were experiencing instances of mutiny, and potentially facing utter chaos.

The Germans had had almost two years in which to establish strong and extensive defensive positions in locations that they had carefully chosen  usually on the tops of shallow ridges. The Allied troops were inevitably fighting on the Germans terms, being ordered to advanced at walking pace over low open, usually muddy, farmland churned up by shelling, most of them carrying 65lb backpacks. They were inevitably cut to ribbons, in many cases literally, by machine- gun fire from the defensive emplacements on the ridges.

The Somme battle plan was for a massive artillery bombardment that would kill or demoralise the German troops and cut the barbed wire in no-mans land, facilitating an easy advance for the Allied troops. Unfortunately, the German defences were deep and well protected and were relatively unscathed by the bombardment. In addition, the type of shells used was largely unsuccessful in cutting the barbed wire. The plan was then for the troops to advance ten minutes after the artillery stopped, during which time the guns were to be re-aimed at the German rear positions to prevent supplies and reinforcements coming forward.

As soon as the bombardment stopped the Germans knew the attack was coming and used the ten minute gap to get their machine-guns into position. The rest as they say is bloody history.

In some cases only one or two well positioned machine-guns would virtually wipe out entire battalions. A German machine-gunner wrote in his diary We were surprised to see them walking. We had never seen that before. When we started to fire we just had to load and reload. They went down in their hundreds. We didnt have to aim, we just fired.

Having witnessed on the ground what was in truth mission impossible, compounded by all manner of tactical and logistical failures, one is then struck by the apparent stubbornness and apparent unwillingness of the Generals to learn from the appalling initial experiences. As the Battle wore on day after day, week after week, campaigns were launched and re-launched using fresh troops, but employing virtually the same tactics  and usually with the same outcome.

The concept of an acceptable level of casualties was clearly very well established in military planning, and even the gruesome reality of massive actual casualties does not appear to have daunted the Generals one little bit.

The Somme offensive struggled on from 1 July until mid-November when, with the advent of winter rains, the exhausted, hungry troops could no longer drag themselves through the deepening mud, and it simply died away in disappointment and despair. The real sadness hits home when, after a day and a bit of touring around specific sites, one suddenly forms an overall picture of the pathetically small amount of, strategically insignificant, agricultural land that was gained at such a human cost.

For this gain the Allies lost in the region of 600,000 men. German losses were some 440,000. In excess of one million human lives were sacrificed in four months of fighting over a few square miles of Picardy farmland  just think about it.

-- Anonymous, September 29, 2000

PART 3
Our tour around the Ypres battlefields displayed the same tragic but sanitised characteristics of The Somme, until we stumbled on a privately-owned museum south of Ypres at a place called Sanctuary Wood.

As we entered the bar ran by Lurch the Owner, to pay the entry fee, it was as though we stepped back 70 years through a time-warp. A totally unplanned theme park  but without laughs. The dusty, dishevelled museum contained all manner of WW1 artefacts, including a series of these hardwood boxes with a viewfinder and handle to turn through series of unexpurgated, sepia 3-D photographs of the battlefront, or more generally, the aftermath. Somehow, these pictures were so utterly real and horrific  for several seemingly ever-lasting minutes I was there, in the middle of it all. I could actually feel cold fear. I watched as many of the photos as I could stand, and moved on feeling a little shaken, to follow the hand- written sign outside to the Trenches.

There was a wooded area of maybe 5 acres of very well preserved trenches, bunkers, and my God, big shell holes with edges so sharp they could have been blasted in the mud that very morning  full of shining black liquid! The sepia images were still with me as I wandered around feeling distinctly queasy. What was different here, I kept asking myself? The answer, I concluded, was grass  it was turf that had sanitised the other battlefield areas we had visited. Here there was virtually none  presumably, the trees and the clay precluded grass from growing  but for 85 years?

This place was cold, eery, and felt haunted. It was the closest we came to experiencing what it was all about, and frankly, it wasnt a pleasant experience - and after a hasty detour around a large pile of bones (human, I presumed!) we were out, and back to September 2000.

In between the main course and pud on our last evening in Ypres, we went to watch the playing of the Last Post at the Menin Gate  thinking that after 80 something years we might be the only two there. Well it was packed out, and the Honour Guard were a group of Australian Air Cadets who we had bumped into at several of the sights. I guess they there trying to figure out why so many of their countrymen had travelled three-quarters of the way around the World to become a statistic in a foreign war directed by aristocratic loonies.

The ceremony was deeply moving, and provided a tearful but fitting finale to a thought-provoking trip of widely differing emotions. It was exactly what I expected, and yet nothing like it. My abiding emotion is one of limitless respect for the devotion, unquenchable spirit and bravery of the warriors who fought for us in unimaginable conditions that could only have been Hell on Earth, or possibly even worse.

At the end of such a trip ones thoughts inevitably drift towards why?  and so another search begins. Im presently reading up on the Generals and the military and political leadership, in an attempt to better understand why the war was planned and executed so incompetently, and with such utter contempt for human life.

Im beginning to form a view, but really need to continue my research to be more certain of the facts. For now, Ill leave the last words to Winston Churchill:
Accusing as I do without exception all the great Allied offensives of 1915,1916, and 1917 as needless and wrongly conceived operations of infinite cost.if only the Generals had not been content to fight machine gun bullets with the breasts of gallant men, and think that that was waging war.

-- Anonymous, September 29, 2000

Thanks Al. Gone, but never forgotten - especially with such a well crafted description as that. Thank you.

-- Anonymous, September 29, 2000

clarky,

Great effort. I did something similar in 1998, however I went to some WW2 places. They all had a connection to me as I was trying to follow where my dad went.

One of my workmates is coming over next year and he is going to several of the places you did.

Can you send my an email address I can forward to him to ask you a couple of questions? Use this address. He is only a poor Aussie and I do not think he has travelled much so any help you may be able to give him may get him back here! He is planning to be at Menin Gate for ANZAC day in April 2001.

Thanks

gus

-- Anonymous, September 29, 2000

Clarky,

that was brilliant man.

I did a similar trip about 15 years ago. I've even got some photos I took in the museum you talk about. The cemetaries are almost indescribably beautiful and serene yet they hide such an awful, tragic history. I visited most of the places you describe in Belgium, though I didn't go to France. It was the most memorable holiday I've had. Thanks for reviving those memories!

-- Anonymous, September 29, 2000

Clarky - how do you follow a posting like that? All I can say is thank you so much for taking the time to write about your visit. Beautifully crafted and thought provoking in the extreme. Very much appreciated.

I wonder how many of us have distant family members involved in these terrifying offensives? My Grandmother`s sister, our only surviving relative from that age lost her husband in action. However, it is only recently, that I discovered how sad the circumstances were. It is not something that I have ever heard my Great Aunt talk about, but my father recently explained why. In fact, the poor man wasn`t killed in action, he was a `survivor`, of sorts. It seems that he was in fact severely damaged by `shell-shock` - though, of course then, it had horrible overtones of cowardice. It also seems that he was one of the first soldiers to undergo a radical new `cure` - namely being chained to a post in no mans land. He did make it home, but after eighteen months of complete silence and living in an almost vegetative state, got out of his chair one morning and walked to the kitchen and slit his wrists with a carving knife. I said `poor man`, but in fact he was just a boy, my father guessing at him being about seventeen when he volunteered or was called up, we don`t know which.

Just a small snippet of family history which could so easily have been lost, had it not come up accidentally during a conversation. Many such stories must have already been lost as that generation is virtally gone - it would be so easy just to consign such events to `history` - but I truly believe it would be folly to do so.

In fact, it was the book Birdsong which had triggered the conversation in the first place, and I thank whoever it was on here who recommended it to me.

-- Anonymous, September 29, 2000

Thanks Clarky - why do we do this to each other - shit petrols going up by 3p per gallon - whats the issue - all those guys had somebody at home.

-- Anonymous, September 29, 2000

I know nothing about ww1 and little about ww2. But you showed and explained the ugly side of conflict to put shivers and realism in my head pal. Yet it's the pride I feel in my head which is dominant. You cant get more selfless than them front line soldiers battling in the face of trauma and death. Your writings really made me realise that although ww1 ended 82 years ago - it's still recent history, and must never be forgotten, for the sake of the human race if anything.

I'm Privileged to have read quality with integrity, CLASS.

-- Anonymous, September 29, 2000

Well written Clarky. Thank you.

-- Anonymous, September 30, 2000

Very moving and well-written Mr. Clark, sure beats reading about the new England VICE captain, well done + thanks for taking the time.

-- Anonymous, September 30, 2000

A couple of follow-up points.

Firstly, a contextual error in my report. The one million casualties were incurred across the entire Somme frontline, and not solely on the middle section that we visited, which amounted to about a quarter of the entire front. The action in this middle sector is often referred to as the Battle of Albert and was fought by the B&C 4th and 5th Armies.

Secondly, a few comments on the massive committment of the Commonwealth forces, particularly the Anzacs and the Canadians, which provided much food for thought, and could be the subject of another 'volume'. Their involvement was invariably characterised by high level professionalism and extreme bravery. However, as the carnage decimated their ranks, seemingly due principally I'm afraid to the incompetence of the British military leadership, one finds evidence of the Commonwealth senior commanders beginning to question the battle planning out of concern for its practicality, clarity of objectives, and fundamentally a concern for the lives of the men under their command.

It seems clear to me, even at this early stage of my research, that the leadership of the Commonwealth contingents was generally more professional and enlightened - I suspect because it was unencumbered by an aristocracy and privileged hereditary that still pervaded the British hierarchy at that stage.

After talking to the young Aussie Air Cadets, and getting a sense of their bewilderment, I have pondered on the plight of so many families in these far-flung outposts who sent their sons to support the motherland on the other side of the World, only to get a letter a few months later to say they were missing in action. Many of these parents, spouses and sons and daughters, not only never saw their loved ones again - they never found out what happened to them, never had a body to grieve over, or even have the minor solace of a headstone to visit. How desperately tragic.

-- Anonymous, September 30, 2000

Thought provoking stuff Clarky.

Im sure youd agree that the true horrors of war could never be fully conveyed on paper.

I always remember a look of far off sadness in my fathers eyes that I could never fully understand. As he was a veteran of the Second World War, my brother and I spent many Sunday lunchtime in the Monkseaton Arms trying to get the old man to talk about his memories but to no avail.

It wasnt until his death and we met up with some old buddies of his that we understood what he and his pals had been through.

I still think to this day that I would have understood him better had he explained but maybe it was his way of protecting us.

Whats happened in the Balkans of late just proves that mankinds thirst for self-destruction is always just below the surface.

-- Anonymous, September 30, 2000

Very true Hiro.
My old man was also a WW2 vet who never discussed his war experiences. The only thing he ever volunteered was getting 'ratted' on Champagne for three full days in France after the declaration of peace. Hardly surprising! As you say war always seems to be 'lurking', all around the World.
I'm reading a very interesting book right now that presents the theory that "war" is actually the natural state of mankind and that the conditions for "peace" are unnatural and very hard to create - and even harder to sustain. Seems logical actually, and certainly factual. It's either that or the devil really does exist!

-- Anonymous, September 30, 2000

Clarky, I've been in Belgium for fourteen years without ever really thinking about going to the battlefields, even though we drive through them every time we go to the Channel Tunnel, but you've convinced me that we should take a trip there soon. I always thought there was nothing left to see, except the cemeteries. Last year we went to the Normandy beaches which were really interesting, and much improved in terms of museums and displays compared to the last time I visited them about 20 years ago, I think because they must have made a big effort for the fifty years anniversary. Is there a particular anniversary for the Somme/Ypres which would be the best time to go?

-- Anonymous, September 30, 2000

Barry,

Although I was a little disappointed how little has been either preserved, or even marked, there is still a lot to see. Regarding timing, I don't really know.

I feel your own reading/reseach is important, but IMO best spots to visit, not in any particular order:

Ypres
Tyne Cot Cemetary/Memorial (near Passchendaele) - best memorial of them all; very dignified. Unfortunately couldn't find anything at all to mark the actual Battle of Passchendaele, which from my research must have been perhaps the worst spot of all.

Sanctuary Wood Museum (outside Ypres) - evil, spine-chilling place, but well preserved trenches, shell-holes, and bunkers give a good feeling for it all - not to mention those 3-D photos.

The Somme
Newfoundland Park Memorial near Beaumont Hamel. Biggest town in the area is Albert, with the only decent restaurant.

In addition, it is well worth visiting the Canadian Memorial Park at Vimy Ridge between Arras and Lens. There are extensive restored trench systems and a free tour of the tunnels that were built by the Allies to both facilitate logistical support for the front-line, and also to tunnnel under the enemy lines and plant mines!

Hope this helps.

-- Anonymous, September 30, 2000

Clarky, do you mind if I print your account off and use it with my Year 9 History classes? We spend a lot of time each year looking at the Battle of the Somme and your account is so much more evocative than a text book could ever be.

Amongst the source material I always use with them is an account of the battle froma British tommy (George Coppard) who explains very clearly that the men in the trenches actually knew what it was going to be like before it started. They knew that bombarding barbed wire simpy chucks the stuff up in the air and brings it down in a worse tangle than when they started. Also, the men were anticipating a pre- dawn order to attack. The order wasn't given until after 8 o'clock on a July morning when they could be seen from miles away.

Another account is from a chap who describes his terrified struggle across no man's land until a shell exploded next to him. He was actually delighted to discover that he had a badly injured arm and so had reason to stop is advance. It's hard for kids to understand that the horror of a situation could be so great that you could actually be happy to be badly wound ... yet still alive.

One of the regiments which attacked on that first morning was the "Accrington Pals". You probably know that "pals" regiments were a result of the War Office promising recruits that if they joined together they would serve together. Towns vied with each other to get the most volunteers in the early days of the war before the horrors of the trenches were known and conscription became necessary to keep the cannon fodder coming. If I remember rightly, Accrington was the smallest town to provide a complete regiment of volunteers. Of course, serving together also meant dying together. One of the survivors talks about how they were given the order to walk slowly across no man's land because the German trenches had been battered to bits by the earlier bombardment and it was just a case occupying them - there would be no resistances. He recounts how they set off in a line shoulder to should and after about a 100yards there was no one else still standing for 50 yards or more either side. I can't remember the exact figures but something like 85% of the men of that regiment died on the first morning of the Somme. Can you imagine what the reaction to that news was in the town? There can have been few families there who didn't lose a loved one of some description.

I've been to the odd little museum at Sanctuary Wood which you mention. I was in Belgium on a school trip with 40 odd kids in tow and we took them there after we'd been to Ypres. The 3D picture boxes provided immediate fascination, especially some of the gorier examples (did you see the one of the horse which had been literally blown up a tree and was hanging in the branches). Some of the more cerebral in our party were quite upset by these images. It was a cold April day and it had been snowing. When we went outside to the trench area the snow was mingling with the exposed yellow clay in places and making it virtually impossible to keep your feet. How did men live in those conditions for so long?

Thanks again for taking the time to share the details of your visit with us all.

-- Anonymous, September 30, 2000

Jacko,

If my observations can be of some small benefit in highlighting the real horror of such a terrible conflict for our schoolchildren I would be truly thrilled and delighted - thank you for asking.

There are indeed many tragic stories of the various "Pals" Regiments, and as you say, the effect on entire communities must have been traumatic. For instance, The Bradford Pals lost 1,770 men in the first hour of the Somme offensive - whichever way you look at it the statistics are mortifying.

-- Anonymous, September 30, 2000

Very moving account. I'm wondering if you sensed an aura about the battlefields you visited. I've visited a number - both big and small - and it almost seems to me that they all share the same something. I call it an aura, for lack of a better word. Maybe it's just an internal sense of sadness, but places where large numbers of people have died violently always seem to share the same atmosphere.

I remember talking to my grandmother years ago about World War I. She lived in Cramlington, which at that time was a small mining village where almost every man of the right age in the village was in the army and in the same regiment. She told me about how when one of the women in the village would get a letter from a husband or son, the rest would go to her cottage in order to find out who had been killed since the last letter had been received.

I remember feeling tremendous pride in the quiet dignity she displayed, as she told me that story. Your recount of the WW I battlefields has brought that memory back to me. Thanks.

-- Anonymous, September 30, 2000

Clarky, Last Remembrance apart from the cadets and the Boy`s Brigade only eight of us marched behoind the RBL colours This year I was not bothered to go out of my way to even attend having paraded for twenty years , Read your postings,brought me to my senses, Ill be there and afterwards when we go back to the Legion for our dram I will enjoy that unique feeling of warmth and togetherness ,its very hard to describe but ex-seviceman will know. The stories will be repeated, glamourised, but strangely 90% are about the good times. WW1 was low on the good times , Thanks Clarky for your account and giving the Buff a reminder of his Granda Largue, proud to be with the Tynside Irish, I needed that kick up the ar--

-- Anonymous, September 30, 2000

Only too happy to provide the proverbial boot, Buff.

-- Anonymous, September 30, 2000

Clarky - what triggered your interest in WW1? You obviously have spent a great deal of time researching the subject.(:o)

-- Anonymous, October 01, 2000

Thank you for sharing some very personal and moving experiences with us clarky, the depth of feeling this visit stirred up shines through your words. I have yet to visit to the First World War battlefields, although I make regular pilgrimages to those of the Second. Your evocative piece has definitely added them to my next itinerary.

-- Anonymous, October 01, 2000

You were wondering how the bunglers and butchers can have been so cavalier with the lives of the B&C forces under their command. I think I can help you out here. I visited Le Touquet in the Pas de Calais where the headquarters were situated. It was built as a fortified town on a headland, but land reclamation from the sea has left it several miles inland completely dominating the surrounding land. The huge fortifications still surround it but it remains a wonderfully tranquil almost fairytale setting. A wonderful market square surrounded by 4 storey houses with iron trellis balconies and poplar trees and window boxes all around. A million miles from the mud and horror up the road which somehow fails to show up on clean, white situation maps with their neat pencil lines. It is also only 3 miles from the infamous Bullring which was supposed to be a rest camp for boys given a fortnight away from the front but was run by sadists who felt that the failure to win the war was because the soldiers were weak, so they took the opportunity to brutalise them when they should have been kissing their feet.

One of the terrible aspects of the murder on the Somme was that it sowed the seeds for more bloodshed in the Second World War. Nobody came out of 1914-18 with any illusions about the standard of the leadership they had had inflicted upon them and they all had a determination never to be led to slaughter by fools again. As a result, the junior officers who had miraculously survived WWI and now made up the majority of Colonels and Generals, each had a determination to safeguard the lives of the men under his command and protect them from the inefficiencies of the General Staff. This became painfully apparent in the fighting in the Western desert where the CiC would issue a plan of attack for 8th Army, the Corps commanders would decide to ignore parts of the plan which they felt were badly thought out or likely to prove bloody for their men, the divisional commanders would then ignore the bits of the plan passed on by the Corps commander convinced that they were protecting the men from fools, the Brigadiers would dismiss aspects likely to cause problems for his battalions and the battalion commanders would often insist on digging in and doing nothing since his set of orders had so many amendments that they could no longer be carried out. Obviously the PBI didnt trust any of them as far as they could throw them but fought bravely and well when asked to do so.

Along with a cavalier attitude towards orders at all levels, the Commonwealth forces naturally insisted in a far greater say in how the lives of their all-volunteer men should be risked. This resulted in the need for permission to use Commonwealth forces in each operation as it was introduced, reducing the flexibility of commanders to redeploy forces to meet new threats or exploit opportunities. The Commonwealth forces an immense pride in their answer to the call, and the Australians prefaced each of their battalions with a 2 so that they fielded the second 1st and second 2nd and so on. The New Zealanders were led by Bernard Freyberg who had won the VC in the trenches and he showed his feelings clearly to High Command during the battle of Sidi Rezegh when he lost faith in the direction of the operation and personally led the Kiwis from the battlefield (straight through the Afrika Korps incidentally, who were extremely shaken by the experience) and received full backing from his government back home.

-- Anonymous, October 01, 2000

The problem with all this lack of respect for the chain of command was that B&C operations invariably bogged down as the formations splintered into their separate battalions and ceased to operate en masse. This wasnt helped by the changes that had been brought in to combat the wholesale slaughter in specific towns which had resulted from the Pals Regiments. Regiments would still draw their 3 battalions from specific regions, but the battalions were split up to fight in different brigades to prevent all the men from one town being lost in a disaster (For example: Tyne Tees division would have 3 brigades each of 3 battalions. Each battalion was from a regiment of 3 battalions. They had therefore stopped the practice of say including the Northumberland Fusiliers regiment in the division, but would instead have the 150th Brigade formed from 1st battalion Durham Light Infantry, 3rd battalion Green Howards and 1st battalion Northumberland Fusiliers. The 2nd and 3rd battalions Northumberland Fusiliers would each make up part of another Brigade in a different Division).

A sound plan on a human level, but disastrous for training troops. The officers in each regiment knew those in each of their sister battalions well and had a certain esprit de corps, but this sense of cooperation was often lost and had to be forged from scratch when you found yourself sent up to division with battalions and men you had never met before. When things went badly, the battalions would splinter and each look after themselves and cohesion was lost at brigade level, let alone division. A far cry from the Germans who trained at divisional level and saw this as the natural unit of measure and hence carried out amazing tactical manoeuvres with ease which would have needed several days and gallons of Irish coffee for British formations to even think about.

There was an unexpected benefit from the mutual distrust of all officers and the antipathy of the battalions to one another; it made the British Army blitzkrieg-proof. The Germans were used to sending roving armoured columns behind enemy lines and paralysing them by overrunning headquarters and spreading panic. It was difficult to deal with troops who seemed to fight better once removed from the chain of command and who had no intention of surrendering in these situations. Time and again the Afrika Korps smashed through our forces and brigades would disintegrate while the troops calmly pulled back to be reformed further to the rear. A stark contrast to the Germans in Tunisia who fought magnificently until their headquarters were overrun and the troops laid down their arms with no idea of what to do without orders. Rommel himself reckoned that if he could have had B&C infantry and German officers he could have beaten all comers.

-- Anonymous, October 01, 2000

As it was, the Germans were able to continually beat our far superior numbers by their greater tactical flexibility. The seeds of distrust sown in the trenches came to bear fruit and literally thousands of the children of the survivors of WWI paid the price in WWII. The inability of the B&C forces to maintain unit cohesion or follow orders meant that we were forced to adopt tactics suited to the prevailing conditions and this led to the rise of Montgomery. He thought of himself as somebody who would make every effort to avoid the slaughter of WWI being repeated, and to do so insisted on having as many tanks and guns as humanly possible. To keep unit cohesion he would advance on a broad front with the tanks travelling at walking pace to allow the infantry to keep up. What he either never realised, or simply failed to acknowledge, was that these enormous build ups gave the Germans all the time in the world to prepare, and he never grasped that protecting the infantry by sending the tanks slowly ahead of them completely overlooked the savage power of anti-tank guns and that each tank had 5 living (briefly) men in them.

Far from being a life preserver, Monty was a butcher of WWI proportions. At El Alamein we outnumbered the Germans 5-1 in men, 8-1 in tanks and artillery and 15-1 in aircraft. Since most military authorities agree that a competently led force which outnumbers its enemy 3-1 will always win, the result should never have been in doubt. However, the tank regiments were virtually wiped out thanks to their Napoleonic employment and this was hardly an isolated incident, the appalling slaughter of the men in the 400 tanks lost during the daylight assault, line abreast up the Borgoubous ridge in Normandy showed that he had learned nothing about modern warfare. Best not even think about the only time he tried to demonstrate tactical flexibility at Arnhem.

Yet this man was the only one capable of getting the British forces to fight effectively. The desire to avoid the butchery and bungling of the First lot meant that we were forced to employ precisely those tactics to operate in the Second. The contempt for human life on the part of the General Staff in WWI had meant that they insisted on employing dreadful tactics in the belief that the soldiers were too dull-witted to understand anything else. In WWII the soldiers had been brought up to believe that you couldnt trust the Generals so it was almost your moral duty to ignore their reading of the situation even though they had all the reports coming in to see the bigger picture. This in turn ushered in Monty with his belief that everyone had to understand exactly what was expected of him before he would trust you which meant simple, inflexible and outmoded tactics and a far greater loss of life than necessary.

The butchery and bungling of the First World War continued well into the Second, long after the perpetrators had died quietly and safely in their beds.

-- Anonymous, October 01, 2000

Softie,

Thanks for your observations.
One of the truly amazing facts of this conflict - with each round of carnage usually resulting in the dead & dying simply being replaced by more fresh-faced volunteers in preparation for the next round of 'the silence of the lambs' - is that morale and discipline was capable of being maintained for such an extended period. While everyday life was much harsher in those days than today, the fortitude of the troops must have been just incredible.

With regard to your comment on orders being regularly "adapted" during WW2 as they went down the line. One thing that became apparent during our trip was that in some areas, individual Battalions and Companies had obviously not stuck rigidly to the decreed plan. We have come across several instances where the battle plan was modified. My instinct is that this was done by Officers at the front to improve the chances of success - or more likely to reduce probable casualties. Tragically, the hopelessness of their situation appears to have been generally well understood at Battalion and Company command level.

For instance, at Thiepval Wood on 16 July 1916, the Ulster Regiment advanced immediately the artillery bombardment stopped, and without waiting the prescribed 10 minutes - which elsewhere simply allowed the German machine-guns to be brought into position. In this instance, the Ulsters were staggeringly successful - they quickly overran the German front-line and second-line trenches. They were in the process of attacking the third and final trenches when they started running out of ammunition and found they were devoid of all logistical/medical support. Because they had been so much more successful than the Battalions on either flank, they had become isolated, lacking any support, vulnerable to developing counter-attacks, and had to withdraw almost to the starting point.

Despite several occurrences like this one of tactical excellence on the ground suggesting - to anyone prepared to listen - how a successful attack might be launched, there is sadly no evidence of any evolution of strategic or tactical thinking as the Battle of the Somme dragged on.

This, of course, all supports and reinforces the view of an aristocratic, autocratic leadership style at the highest levels that would be highly resistant to taking into account the expertise and front-line experience of the professional Officers and NCO's in their battle planning.

-- Anonymous, October 01, 2000

It doesn't look any better when compared to the successful implementation of shock troop tactics by the Germans in their last offensive. Hot knife through butter is one description of it, had they not run out of food and ammunition they'd probably have "won" the thing. Oddly enough nobody remembered this change of methods from the Germans and so we were somehow surprised when they were still using it come 1939.

-- Anonymous, October 01, 2000

Galaxy's tragic story of her great uncle and the after-effects of the WW1 conflict on him, was replicated extensively, and I don't believe a fully accurate picture is available as to the true ultimate casualties of this ghastly conflict.

Some interesting information is derived again from John Laffin's book "British Butchers & Bunglers of WW1" - which I would strongly recommend to anyone interested in this subject.

"Between the outbreak of war and the end of 1918 a total of 304 British soldiers were executed by firing squad. The offences for which death was the ultimate penalty were murder, desertion, cowardice, quitting a post when on duty, disobedience, striking a superior officer, casting away arms, mutiny, and sleeping on post.

By far the greatest number of executions were for the crime of desertion, while 16 men were shot for what was considered cowardice. Many hundreds of British soldiers deserted through fear and were not caught, so escaping punishment. Not all those who did desert were executed.

Perhaps the most significant figure which does not appear in war statistics concerns the tens of thousands of men who only just managed not to run away perhaps they were most genuine heroes of this particular conflict!

-- Anonymous, October 01, 2000

I did the somme section as a study visit for my degree. It was prefaced by the video oon the coach oof the last Blackaddder. Strange but it worked. I would just say something that is very close to my heart. Rememberence Daayy mmuust change, iit must changge to what i believe the whoole thing is about. It is about remembering that when we send troops out to war in our name we make damn sure it is for the right reasons. The how these troops died is tragic in iit's oown right and something I have studied at college, but worse though is the why and it will always be the why. WE sent them, and will continue to send them to die a long way from home in our name. It starts with intolerance and pride and ends in people dead in heaps....remember that the blood of the poppey is our own blood and stupidity.

Oh and the Briitish legion hhas a web site where you can give money wiith your switch card or CC.

-- Anonymous, October 02, 2000

Clarky
No way I can add to what you've already written but I would recommend the John Keegan book on WW1 to anybody interested.

-- Anonymous, October 02, 2000

Oh goody. I see that our wonderful government has decided to slash the wages of the 70 gardeners across Europe who care for British and Commonwealth graves. They can burn 600mil on the fucking Dome but they can't even wait until the widows and surviving comrades have died, can they? Evil-minded little bastards. One of the most powerful "Life Moments" hit me in a Canadian cemetery in Normandy. Would it have had the same effect if the whole site was rank with weeds and the stones were left to fall? Somehow I doubt it.

-- Anonymous, October 20, 2000

Such small-minded pettiness is so very hard to reconcile in a society riven with greed, incompetence, and proligacy. Sad, very sad.

One would think our 'leaders' might just possibly be better occupied figuring out how to avoid passenger trains cornering at 115mph on broken railway lines that were condemned months earlier!

-- Anonymous, October 20, 2000