Life, Death, and Growing Up on the Western Front PDF
Preview Life, Death, and Growing Up on the Western Front
LIFE, DEATH AND GROWING UP ON THE WESTERN FRONT 4133.indd 1 24/06/13 6:43 PM 4133.indd 2 24/06/13 6:43 PM LIFE, DEATH AND GROWING UP ON THE WESTERN FRONT ANTHONY FLETCHER YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS NEW HAVEN AND LONDON 4133.indd 3 24/06/13 6:43 PM Copyright © 2013 Anthony Fletcher All rights reserved. This book may not be reproduced in whole or in part, in any form (beyond that copying permitted by Section 107 and 108 of the U.S. Copyright Law and except by reviewers for the public press) without written permission from the publishers. For information about this and other Yale University Press publications, please contact: U.S. Office: [email protected] www.yalebooks.com Europe Office: [email protected] www.yalebooks.co.uk Set in Minion Pro by IDSUK (DataConnection) Ltd Printed in Great Britain by TJ International Ltd, Padstow, Cornwall Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data Fletcher, Anthony. Life, death and growing up on the western front/Anthony Fletcher. pages cm ISBN 978–0–300–19553–8 (cl: alk. paper) 1. Great Britain. Army—History—World War, 1914–1918. 2. World War, 1914–1918— Social aspects—Great Britain. 3. World War, 1914–1918—Social aspects—Europe, Western. 4. Great Britain. Army—Military life—History—20th century. 5. World War, 1914–1918—Personal narratives, British. 6. Great Britain. Army. British Expeditionary Force. 7. Soldiers—Great Britain—Correspondence. I. Title. D546.F54 2013 940.4‘8141—dc23 2013010439 A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 4133.indd 4 24/06/13 6:43 PM In Memory of Reggie, Clare and Delle 4133.indd 5 24/06/13 6:43 PM Chanctonbury Ring I can’t forget the lane that goes from Steyning to the Ring In summer time, and o’er the Downs how larks and linnets sing High in the air. The wind comes off the sea and oh! the air I never knew till now that life in old days was so fair But now I know it in this filthy rat infested ditch Where every shell must kill or spare and god knows which And I am made a beast of prey and this trench is my lair My God I never knew till now those days were so fair And we assault in half an hour and it’s a silly thing I cannot forget the lane that goes from Steyning to the Ring John Stanley Purvis, 5th Battalion the Yorkshire Regiment, 2 December 1915 A stone with these words was placed in Mouse Lane by the people of Steyning in the year 2000, in celebration of their inheritance. 4133.indd 6 24/06/13 6:43 PM Contents List of Main Characters ix List of Illustrations and Maps x Preface and Acknowledgements xiii Prologue 1 Part I: Going to War 1 ‘Quiet Earnest Faces’: The National Cause 9 2 ‘Glad to Go’: Patriotic Idealism 28 3 ‘Ready to Go’: Training 52 Part II: At the Front 4 ‘Write as Often as You Can’: Letters and Parcels 75 5 ‘Sticking it Out’: Fear and Shell Shock 98 6 ‘A Certain Sense of Safety with Him’: Leadership 119 7 ‘Such a Helpless Lot of Babes’: Care for the Men 143 8 ‘Drops of his Blood on my Hand’: Horror and Endurance 163 9 ‘I Merely Did my Duty’: Discipline and Morale 176 10 ‘Very Gallant in Every Way’: Early Losses 193 11 ‘Blighty, oh Blighty in about a Week’: Leave 198 12 ‘I Am Serene, Unafraid’: The Somme 211 13 ‘Capable of Finishing the Job’: Battles of 1917–1918 225 14 ‘The Men Cannot Grasp It’: Armistice 235 4133.indd 7 24/06/13 6:43 PM viii contents Part III: Sacrifice 15 ‘We Will Remember Them’: Remembrance and Commemoration 251 16 ‘All the Best and Choicest and Unblemished’: War Heroes 262 17 ‘Among the Happiest Years I Have Ever Spent’: Survivors 277 Epilogue: The Great War in Perspective 287 Notes 294 Bibliography 315 Index 319 4133.indd 8 24/06/13 6:43 PM List of Main Characters Letter Writers Second Lieutenant Yvo Charteris (1896–1915), Grenadier Guards Lieutenant- Colonel Rowland Feilding (1871–1945), Coldstream Guards, Connaught Rangers, London Regiment Captain Graham Greenwell (1896–1970), Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry Captain Julian Grenfell (1886–1915), Royal Dragoons Lieutenant- Colonel Robert Hermon (1878–1917), King Edward’s Horse, Northumberland Fusiliers Private Peter McGregor (1871–1916), Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders Captain Billie Nevill (1894–1916), East Surrey Regiment Lance Corporal Cyril Newman (1893–1978), Queen Victoria’s Rifles, London Regiment Private Alec Reader (1897–1916), Civil Service Rifles, London Regiment Second Lieutenant Ernest Kennedy Smith (1892–1915), Artists Rifles, The Buffs Lieutenant Wilbert Spencer (1897–1915), Wiltshire Regiment Captain Lance Spicer (1893–1980), King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry Sergeant Will Streets (1885–1916), York and Lancaster Regiment Private Jack Sweeney (1889–1961), Lincolnshire Regiment Lieutenant Herbert Trench (1892–1971), Honourable Artillery Company, Army Service Corps Major Reggie Trench (1888–1918), Inns of Court OTC, Sherwood Foresters Diarist Captain Charlie May (1889–1916), Manchester Regiment 4133.indd 9 24/06/13 6:43 PM
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