Photos WW1 British, Commonwealth & US Forces

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We have a view of Late Victorian, and Edwardian Society that we see very firmly through Rose tinted spectacles, with life being one endless summers afternoon. Afternoon Tea with the Vicar, fun and games at the village fetes, and the wonderful crack of leather on willow as young Corinthians play cricket on the green.
An Idyllic world full of conventions and respectability, and a world that was forever destroyed over 100 years ago today, on the Fields of the Somme on the Western Front.
There 100’000 men, Volunteers, Pals, the Cream of British Manhood were sent to attack an enemy, the armies of the Kaiser, who had invaded France, the attack failed, and over the course of 12 hours 58’000 men were casualties, with 19’000 killed outright. And with that attack, and the machine gun and artillery fire that ground up those men into so much dead meat, something tangible happened, that idyllic world, and all that the nationa held so dear died with them.
And so we today gather in groups or on our own, and bow our heads, and have a small moment to ourselves to think about the sacrifices that those brave young men made, to think of the sheer terror and horrors that those poor boys endured, and suffered, all in at the High Altar of Freedom, and for us all to say together,
We will remember them…

 

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WWI. France. 3 June 1916. Soldiers of the Australian 2nd Division in the trenches in the Bois-Grenier sector. Photo by Ernest Brooks. [AWM EZ0007]

 

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Australian infantry wearing Small Box Respirators (SBR). The soldiers are from the 45th Battalion, Australian 4th Division at Garter Point near Zonnebeke, Ypres sector, 27 September 1917.

 

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Royal Marine Light Infantry, photographed during the defence of Antwerp in October 1914,

 

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ANZAC (Australian and New Zealand Army Corps) Diggers, specifically members of the Australian Field Artillery Brigade, on a duckboard track, Chateau Wood, Ypres in October 1917

 

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Members of the 24th Battalion, AIF in a trench about 1.20 p.m., awaiting the lifting of the artillery barrage before the renewed attack which led to the capture of Mont St. Quentin by troops of the 2nd Australian Division. The Germans had placed a strong volunteer battalion at this point, specially selected to oppose the Australians. 2186 Sergeant Eric William Johnson, MM and Bar, is sitting second from left facing the camera.

 

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ANZAC Cove, Gallipoli 1915

 

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On September 15th 1916, Canadian troops captured the ruined village of Courcelette in France.
For the first time, Canadians used tanks in combat. Canada would suffer 24,000 casualties during the four-month Battle of the Somme.
When the Canadian Corps moved from the Ypres Salient to the Somme River region at the beginning of September 1916, its first major action was the Battle of Flers-Courcelette—a two-army assault launched by Sir Douglas Haig on September 15.
In the offensive that began at dawn, the Canadian Corps assaulted on a two-kilometre front near the village of Courcelette. Advancing behind a creeping barrage (a tactic only recently adopted by the artillery), the infantry was aided by the "new engine of war", the armoured tank, which frequently threw the enemy into complete confusion. The attack went well. By 8:00 a.m. the main objective, a defence bastion known as the Sugar Factory, was taken, and the Canadians pushed ahead to Courcelette. Numerous German counter-attacks were successfully repulsed and by the next day the position was consolidated. It is fitting, therefore, that the memorial to mark the 11 weeks of bloody fighting by Canadians on the battlefields of the Somme should be sited at the scene of their initial victory in that long and costly struggle.
In the weeks that followed, the three Canadian divisions again and again attacked a series of German entrenchments. The final Canadian objective was that "ditch of evil memory," Regina Trench. It repeatedly defied capture, and when the first three divisions were relieved in the middle of October, Regina Trench was closer, but still not taken.
When the newly arrived 4th Division took its place in the line, it faced an unbelievable ordeal of knee-deep mud and violent, murderous, enemy resistance. However, despite the almost impenetrable curtain of fire, on November 11, the Division captured Regina Trench only to find it reduced to a mere depression in the chalk.
A week later, in the final attack at the Somme, the Canadians advanced to Desire Trench - a remarkable feat of courage and endurance. The 4th Division then rejoined the Corps opposite Vimy Ridge.
There were no further advances that year. The autumn rains turned the battlefield into a bog and the offensive staggered to a halt. The line had been moved forward only ten kilometres; the Allies had suffered 600,000 casualties and 236,000 Germans were killed. The Germans refer to the Battle of the Somme as das Blutbad - the blood bath.
The Somme had cost Canada 24,029 casualties, but it was here that the Canadians confirmed their reputation as hard-hitting shock troops. "The Canadians," wrote Lloyd George, "played a part of such distinction that thenceforward they were marked out as storm troops. For the remainder of the war they were brought along to head the assault in one great battle after another. Whenever the Germans found the Canadian Corps coming into the line they prepared for the worst."

 

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*We fought hand-to-hand*
“Soon, we were in the thick of things. Bullets were flying by from the German trenches perhaps a quarter of a mile away. I was hardly out of the trench when some great force pushed me, knocking me over. I didn’t know what had hit me, but I felt blood running down my right eye. After that knockdown, I rejoined the line of troops and kept moving.
Perhaps, the Germans were too startled by the size and ferocity of our force to fight well for a minute. But it seemed like a group of big men who had met a lot of boys playing soldiers. One push and the German rifle was knocked from his hand. A long thrust with the bayonet and that unfortunate man had reached the end of his life. I could still see the faces of these men. Their evident terror, their astonishment at the number of men who leapt at them from above their trench. Their helplessness. There was not time for them to surrender.
They had jumped up with bayoneted rifles, and in a moment or two, it was all over. Our advance troops had passed me by. I could see dead German troops laying everywhere. Right near me were two of them laying close together. One of them was a big old man with a Prussian mustache. His hands still clasped the point in his stomach where the bayonet had gone in and been withdrawn.
The young man next to him lay all twisted up. He too had been bayoneted and it seemed that his bones had been broken from the strokes of the butt of a rifle. A rifle is a wicked weapon when swung by a powerful man, and there were many strong men in action that day.
The Germans weren’t giving out without a struggle. We had heard a lot about ‘chained machine-gunners’, but these men weren’t chained, and they were fighting to the bitter death. Our men were constantly rising and falling; some of them never to rise again. Our ranks were becoming rapidly decimated and there were few of us still going forward at this point. I have never seen an authentic list of casualties for A Company that day, but I know this; I never saw a single one of those 58 men that went over the top with our company ever again.”
- Private Bob Hoffman, United States Army, World War One, France. 1918.

 

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Doughboys of the AEF pose near Epinal, France.

 

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GAS ATTACK!
The Horrors of Chemical Warfare in World War I

In April 1915 Corporal Arthur Cook of 1st Somerset Light Infantry was sitting in his trench observing the enemy lines. What came next was amongst the first use of chlorine gas as a weapon which the Germans hoped would aid their bid in pushing back the Allied lines as part of the ‘Second Battle of Ypres’.

The following is two diary entries from Corporal Cook describing this attack and the infantry assault which followed it.

The entries are part of Richard Van Emden’s excellent book ‘The Soldiers’ War – The Great War Through Veterans’ Eyes’:

The German trenches in front of my platoon were about 800 yards away, but there is a hedge which runs from the enemy lines straight towards us and finishes up about 300 yards away. Early in the afternoon, I was gazing over the top of the trench when I saw a German walking along behind his trenches, and on his back was a large, flat container.

Suddenly I noticed he was leaving a trail of smoke behind him, which later turned into a dense green mass that commenced to roll along the ground gradually towards us. The wind was no more than a breeze. With horror, I realised that this must be the gas we had heard so much about. I hurriedly went around and warned all the men what was happening.

Only a few of us had been issued with some sort of protection, that consisted of a flat piece of cotton wool about three inches square with tapes attached, the pad being kept in position by placing it over the mouth and securing it with the tapes at the back of the neck.

I ordered those who had these to put them on at once, and those without them to scoop a hole in the ground, which would immediately fill with water, soak the handkerchiefs in it and ram them into their mouths. As this was being done, I got everybody to line the trench, and, when the enemy appeared, to open up rapid fire.

It was not long before the Germans emerged from their trenches, keeping at a safe distance from the gas cloud in front of them. Our line was very thinly held, but we had the satisfaction of inflicting many casualties on those advancing Germans, so much so that, after about 200 yards, they scuttled back to the shelter of their trenches, probably surprised at the resistance they had met; they left many dead and wounded.

I’m afraid we had no sympathy for them, for as soon as an attempt was made to get them back to the lines, we picked them off. Such methods of warfare got no sympathy from us. I had the satisfaction of getting several bulls that afternoon.

Although we stopped the attack, that deadly gas was still rolling towards us. Owing to our concentration on stopping the enemies advance, we had overlooked the fact that the German with the canister continued his walk alongside the hedge towards us, ejecting his gas. This was a risky business for him, for had a high wind got up the gas would have overtaken him. I don’t think we would have lost much sleep over that!

The trouble was that the gas coming from the hedge was much denser than that coming from the front line. As gas is much heavier that air, I begged the men to keep their heads above the trench, as anyone sitting in it would be affected when the gas rolled over us. Unfortunately, some of the men did not take my advice and became gas casualties, whilst those of us who kept our heads up escaped with no ill effects.

At the end of the battle (22 April 1915 – 25 May 1915) the Allies (British and French Empires) still held the town of Ypres, Belgium, but had seceded valuable high ground to the Germans who inflicted considerable casualties – around 85,000 compared to approximately 35,000 of their own.

The armies were still locked on the Ypres Salient with the Allies launching a counter-attack known as the ‘Third Battle of Ypres’ in July 1917 (Battle of Passchendaele).

Corporal Arthur Cook somehow managed to survive the war with only a few minor injuries. He fought in many of the major battles right across the four year conflict including the fighting at Le Cateau, the battles of the Marne and Aisne, the Second Battle of Ypres, The Somme, Arras, Passchendaele, La Bassee, and the Battle of The Sambre.

Cook finished the war as a Company Sergeant-Major with many awards such as the D.C.M (Distinguished Conduct Metal) and the M.M (Military Medal).

He retired from the army in 1932 and became a Yeoman Warder at the Tower of London before passing away in 1954.

May he, and those of his generation, rest in peace.

 

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Canadian soldiers again this time it's World War 1 or the Great War in 1918 with two men equipped with gas masks examine a earlier .303 cal Lee Enfield SMLE

 

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WWI. Flanders, Belgium. c 19-20 September 1917. Wounded Australian soldiers are treated at an advanced dressing station near Ypres. [AWM E00715]

 

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WWI. Western Front. 31 July 1917. Irish Guardsmen wear German body armour while examining a captured MG 08 machine gun.

 

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Members of the 1st Australian Light Trench Mortar Battery, 1st Australian Division listening to "the latest" from one of their comrades around a fire or probably a kerosene lamp in a dugout billet at Ypres. October 28, 1917.

Left to right, back row (standing): 1118 Private (Pte) Douglas Kyle MM (partially obscured by Gowrie); Pte. Stanley Gowrie; 2736 Corporal (Cpl) Leslie Michael Williams MM (with moustache); Cpl. Fox; Lance Corporal Reginald Perry; Pte Sid Wormald; Cpl. Harry Brown (with moustache). Sitting: Pte. S O'Sullivan (partially obscured by Gowrie); Pte. William Eastwell (or P. Clifford); Pte. Jackson; Pte. Bennett; Cpl Turner MM (all facing camera). Foreground: 2353 Pte. Sid Hoptroff; Pte.W McDougall; Pte William Day.

"In Ypres the troops often lived in underground cellars, but almost continuous shelling from the German lines made the ruined city nearly as dangerous as the front lines. Getting to and from it from Steenvorde, where Hurley had his quarters and photographic darkroom, was a constantly hazardous undertaking." (September 23 1917)

(Photographer - Hurley, James Francis "Frank")

(Australian War memorial - E01223)

 

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US Soldiers in France celebrate the Armistice on November 11, 1918
The Armistice came into force at 11:00 AM Paris time on November 11, 1918 and marked a victory for the Allies and defeat for Germany, although it was not formally a surrender

 

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The 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, 1918. We will remember them.

 

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The 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, 1918. We will remember them.

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My paternal grandfather and his brother in law (my uncle), both of whom I remember with great fondness, served from August 1914 though till the end. My uncle was then sent to Russia with the British Expedition in 1919. They were both unassuming, wonderful men

 

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Members of the Canadian Automobile Machine Gun Brigade clean their Armoured Autocars