From Ice Floes to Battlefields

by Anne Strathie

During the first few days of her voyage the Duke of Edinburgh stopped briefly to rescue a man who had fallen overboard from a troopship and to take part in a target practice exercise. When she arrived in Aden on 9 November, Brigadier-General Cox, commander of the 29th Indian Infantry, came aboard to explain the situation following Britain’s declaration of war on Turkey four days previously.

  Much had changed since the Duke of Edinburgh had left the Mediterranean in August. The Breslau and Goeben, which had been absorbed into the Turkish navy, now guarded the Dardanelles and bombarded Russia’s Black Sea settlements.14 Turkish troops had now moved south through Yemen and taken Turba Fort at Sheikh Said, near the southern entrance of the Red Sea. If they could not be dislodged there was a risk that troop and supply ships from India, other parts of Asia, New Zealand and Australia might need to sail around Africa on their way to Europe.

  After Captain Blackett and Major-General Cox had conferred at length orders were issued. At 3 a.m. on 10 November, under cover of darkness, the Duke of Edinburgh moved into firing range of Turba Fort and dropped anchor. At 6 a.m., she began bombarding the Turkish garrison fort, at a distance of 2 to 3 miles. When no response was forthcoming she stopped firing and moved inshore, followed by the ten-ship convoy and several tugs which had joined them at Aden. Over the next few hours almost 3,000 Indian soldiers piled into small boats, which were then pulled to shore by tug. As they rushed up the hill towards the Turkish stronghold the Duke of Edinburgh’s gunners provided cover and returned Turkish fire. By mid-afternoon Turba Fort had been taken with minimal casualties.15

  The next morning, the Duke of Edinburgh continued on her way to Suez. After a brief stop at Port Said she arrived in Malta on 21 November, where three British ships, nine French ships and four submarines were in harbour. She left Malta on 25 November and, after recoaling at Queenstown, Ireland, arrived at Scapa Flow on 8 December.

  Harry Pennell spent Christmas Day 1914 at sea with other members of 1st and 2nd Cruiser Squadrons. Over the past five years, no two Christmases had been the same. Who knew what the following year might bring?

  Map showing Ypres, the ‘salient’ and surrounding area; Hooge is to the east of Ypres, just south of the Ypres–Menin road. From 1919 Michelin guide to Ypres. Image © private.

  Notes

  The ‘Seven Seas’ is used generically here as it has been used at different times and in different areas of the world to refer to a number of seas and oceans. Details of the Duke of Edinburgh’s voyages are from the ship’s log (www.naval-history.net).

  1. Strathie, chapter 4.

  2. The engagement on Lake Nyasa (now known as Lake Malawi) is described in articles by Janie Hampton (‘Victory in Nyasaland’, History Today, July 2014) and Tom Rowley (‘First World War centenary: the battle on Lake Malawi’, Daily Telegraph, 6 July 2014).

  3. Detailed casualty figures are not given in this book as they would not have been known by those involved in engagements until considerably later, if at all.

  4. On his return to Britain in June 1913 Burton joined HMS Pembroke at Chatham, was promoted to stoker petty officer, married his long-term girlfriend Florence Cott, set up home in Gillingham, Kent, and joined the Lowestoft, a newly commissioned light cruiser. Early in the war the Lowestoft sank the German merchant ship Fernbellin.

  5. Guly, ‘George Murray Levick (1876–1956)’.

  6. Details of the sinking of the three ships appeared in numerous newspaper reports and in Admiralty documents ADM137/47, /2081 and /2232 and ADM1/8396/356.

  7. Learning to swim was not a specific part of naval training.

  8. Casualty lists and official reports were usually published in The Times, sometimes in piecemeal fashion, usually (but not always) within a few days of the relevant engagement.

  9. Manchester Evening News, 28 September 1914; Rennick’s death was also described in T P’s Journal of Great Deeds of the Great War (reported in Otago Daily Times, 23 March 1915).

  10. New Zealand Herald,10 December 1914, and The Press, 18 August and 27 November 1914.

  11. Ibid.

  12. The Mohawk’s sister ships included the Amazon, the Cossack and the Maori. Evans wrote extensively about his wartime experiences, including in Keeping the Seas and An Adventurous Life.

  13. The Times, 4 November 1914.

  14. The ships were given Turkish names but British publications (now as then) tend to use the original names.

  15. A description of this event can be found in Nick van der Bijl (2014), British Military Operations in Aden and Radfan: 100 Years of British Colonial Rule, Pen and Sword Books, chapter 3.

  9

  Cavalry Officers, Chateaux and Censors

  In the early hours of 6 October 1914 the Northumberland Hussars arrived in Zeebrugge. The regiment, the first territorials to be called to serve overseas, had travelled to Belgium as part of the 7th Division of the 4th Corps of the British Expeditionary Force.

  Cecil Meares, who had served as a cavalry officer in the Boer War, was pleased to have been accepted for a regiment in which Sir Robert Baden-Powell and Sir John French (the BEF’s Commander-in-Chief) had also served. Since returning from Antarctica in 1912 Meares had spent most of his time in London but occasionally visited Scotland (where his father, stepmother and other family members lived) or travelled to give lectures and show his friend Herbert Ponting’s films of Antarctica.

  When the Hussars reached Bruges Meares sent some postcards to Annie Spengler, a lady friend with whom he was on nickname terms (she was ‘Spuffy’ or ‘Lola’, he was ‘Lobby’). Meares had left money with her so she could purchase and send him items such as his favourite make of puttees and a dictionary of military expressions in French and German.1 Since arriving in Belgium, Meares and other linguists had already been pressed into service, thanking people for gifts and explaining to pretty girls that many of the soldiers were already spoken for.

  On the way to Ostend it became clear that hard pavé roads were not really suitable for thoroughbred cavalry horses. After a night in some barns on the sand dunes outside Ostend, Meares and his comrades entered town. The station was packed with refugees fleeing from the advancing German army and the trains which would take the Hussars and other troops to Ghent had been delayed, so Meares took himself off to the Hotel de L’Espérance, which was just opposite the station. When he found some notepaper there he started writing a letter to Annie Spengler. He knew his letter would be scrutinised by the regimental censor for anything which might give away the location or tactics of the BEF:2

  We started from Southampton to a certain new port where we landed and went inland to another large town where I had a busy time arranging quarters for the horses & men as about 20,000 men were in the town. Next day we returned to another large place on the sea which is simply filled with refugees[,] wounded and troops of all kinds. Tomorrow we expect to go off to a very hot corner … I don’t know if this letter or the postcards will ever reach you.

  When the Hussars arrived in Ghent they received a rousing welcome and were showered with gifts and refreshments. As Ghent was now under threat from the Germans, people were busy blowing up bridges, digging trenches and putting up barbed wire defences to deter them. From time to time Belgian and French soldiers would arrive on bicycles with reports of encounters with Germans.

  The Hussars left Ghent on 12 October, heading for Ypres. By that time, everyone knew that Antwerp had fallen. As Meares and his fellow Hussars rode along the sound of horses’ hooves clattering over cobbled pavés mingled with the noise of distant rapid rifle and machine-gun fire. When they slept under canvas in fields and woods, they were woken by the sound of low-flying German aircraft. As the rain poured down they, their horses, their kit and their possessions became soaked through. Men and horses alike became increasingly exhausted and tense from being on constant alert for possible ambushes by lance-wielding German ‘Uhlan’ cavalry.3

  The Hussars rode into Ypres on 14 October. The Germans had recently passed through the city but stayed only
long enough to help themselves to provisions and fodder. The cavalry barracks and parts of the medieval Cloth Hall were now at the disposal of the 7th Division. The following day the Hussars made their first strike against a group of Uhlans they encountered during a reconnaissance and had the satisfaction of chasing another group at a break-neck gallop through the cobbled streets of Zillebeke, to the east of Ypres.

  The Hussars were to join the front line which bulged out of the main north to south Western Front, around the east of Ypres, from Zonnebeke, through Gheluvelt to Zanvoorde. As the prospect of the forthcoming clash between two mighty armies loomed, local residents fled their homes, carrying what they could carry in small carts or on their backs.

  On Monday, 19 October, the 7th Division moved forward to attack German-held Menin (which Sir John French regarded as a key strategic point) but German resistance soon drove them back. During the day the Hussars came under fire from a German cycle battalion but, thanks to prompt relief from other divisional troops, made it back to Zonnebeke with few casualties.

  But it was not long before word had spread that British infantry regiments had suffered huge losses in the face of incessant German artillery fire. When Meares wrote to Annie Spengler that night, he tried not to worry her too much – or incur the wrath of the censor:

  Many thanks for your sweet letter … we have had a very strenuous time, marching all the time and in some rather tight places. Now we are in a certain town and have been out hunting Uhlans this morning[;] we shot one and I had a shot at some at about 50 yds in a thick wood but did not get them … The country here is very beautiful, rolling wooded country and very pretty villages; the people are very glad to see us and bring out fruit, coffee etc and think that we will help them, but I am sorry to say we have not been able to do much for them.

  This is a beautiful town and is full of troops of all kinds. I expect that there will be a big fight here soon, of course I can’t say where we are or have been but you will be surprised when you do hear. We have shot down 3 of their aeroplanes already …

  It seems to me that the war will last a long time. I am longing to see you again but I will have to be patient … we are up about 3 or 4 marching & fighting all day. Luckily I don’t have to go on guard at night. Now I am very tired so must say goodbye.

  The next morning Meares and his companions woke to the sound of heavy artillery and the buzz of German reconnaissance aircraft overhead. German reinforcements were now heading towards them, flanked and screened by Uhlans and armed cyclists.

  Cavalry officers riding out on patrol or surveillance duties (their usual role in a battle zone) were at risk of being mown down if they ventured beyond their own front line. There was also little cavalry officers could do in terms of fighting in an area which was becoming increasing scored by deep trenches. Meares and the Hussars effectively became support troops, helping out General Lawford’s 22nd Infantry Brigade with trench-building.4 After a hard day’s work in the salient bulge they were glad to return to Ypres for a night’s rest out of earshot of constant shell fire.

  One evening, just after they had tethered their horses and begun cooking, the Hussars were ordered out to a new billet at Hooge (Hooghe to Flemish-speaking locals), near Zillebeke, off the Ypres–Menin road. As the rain lashed down they struggled (in pitch darkness) to find their mud-spattered mounts and then to strap sopping saddles and blankets onto them. As they rode over to Hooge, they were suddenly ordered off to the front line trenches, where they had their first sight of German ‘Black Marias’.5

  When they arrived at Hooge, they met exhausted but stoical survivors of the 20th and 21st Infantry Brigades, which had been under heavy German artillery fire for several days. But, before they had time to settle into their new billet, they were ordered out to the now-deserted village of Klein Zillebeke, where they helped build trenches and barricades in anticipation of a German attack. Finally, after being relieved by the 6th Cavalry, they returned to Hooge for the night. As they passed through the wrought-iron gates and entered the grounds a loud burst of shrapnel announced that the Germans were not far away.

  Hooge chateau had been built in the turreted Normandy style and was surrounded by formal and landscape gardens. It had recently been used by General Haig and other high-ranking British officers as a headquarters, but Haig had since moved on. Meares tried to describe to Annie Spengler what his new surroundings were like and what had been happening:6

  I am writing to you in the drawing room of a beautiful chateau & the horses are all on the lawns in front; the big 4.7 guns are making a great din all round. At intervals the Germans drop big shells on this house which is very annoying. We have had a very hot time here lately, the 7th division has been holding up a whole German Army Corps for about 5 days and has had a rough time but now other troops & guns are coming up to help, so I hope it will be alright.

  Yesterday the regiment was in a very hot corner indeed but the men were splendid and we were very fortunate, not a man killed, but some wounded; the shrapnel fire was very heavy & lots of the very big shells; we were making some soup in a farm when 5 big ones dropped around it, but we & all the horses got away.

  My major with whom I mess was shot thro the lungs, I did not think he would pull thro, as we could not get a stretcher or ambulance to take him away, after a long time we got a motor ambulance but it was wrecked about a mile away. The doctor & I stayed with him all night and got him into a motor car and away just as the shells were beginning to fall again … I do hope that Major Johnstone [sic] will recover he was an awfully nice man.

  I do hope that we will get a few days rest soon as everyone is worn out & of the regiments which left Lyndhurst only fragments remain. Today lots of French soldiers have come & I hear that the Indian troops are not far away. It is difficult to realise how bad this war is till one sees the thousands of refugees & hundreds of burning houses all around.

  You might lend this letter to Ponting to read … Could you send by post some chewing gum & some meat extract lozenges.

  Major Lawrence Johnston was, like Meares, a life-long traveller.7 The son of a wealthy, devoted mother, he had moved around the United States, England and France before studying at Cambridge and becoming a naturalised British citizen. After joining the Hussars and fighting for his adopted country in the Boer War, he had now more or less settled on an estate at Hidcote Barton in the Cotswolds (some 25 miles north of Cheltenham) where he was creating a large garden.

  On 24 October the Hussars rode over to what was usually referred to as ‘Polygon Wood’, where they helped the 2nd Royal Warwickshires consolidate their line. That done, they and some Divisional HQ staff galloped down the Menin Road and over a muddy turnip field towards what they thought was their new front line. But when several officers riding at the front of the group were shot down, they flung themselves off their mounts to the ground, ready to return fire.

  When French cavalry and Welsh Fusiliers joined them they mounted a counter-attack but by the afternoon the Germans looked like breaking through a weak spot in the Allied line. Finally, after some Grenadier Guards arrived, they managed to hold their position. But it had been a close thing. When reinforcements finally arrived the Hussars and others who had been fighting all day broke into cheers.

  That night, despite being exhausted, Meares and others found it hard to sleep while shells were exploding all around Hooge. Gradually the German bombardment became less intensive and the number of engagements up and down the line began to taper off. There were rumours and counter-rumours of victories and defeats but some men suspected they were in the midst of a lull before a storm. Meares and the Hussars, who were now billeted in farm buildings around Hooge, spent most days saddled up in reserve, ready to reconnoitre in the woods or do whatever was required of them.

  On 29 October, the day the Germans launched their anticipated attack, Meares and his regiment were in reserve – which meant he had time to write a letter to Annie Spengler:8

  Since I wrote last we have had a te
rrible time. A number of our officers have been wounded & gone home but this regiment has been very fortunate compared with the others. At present we are having a few days rest, but even now the guns are going hard all round & shrapnel is bursting fairly near. Fortunately crowds of soldiers have arrived here and the place is full of English & French troops so I hope that things will not be so strenuous.

  This regiment has done splendid work. There is so much that I would like to tell you but cannot do so. I hope that I will get back some day & tell you about it[;] no-one can have any idea how terrible this war is and this seems to be the very hottest corner. … The weather here is splendid, I am glad to say.

  Some of those small very strong peppermints would be welcome & a knitted Balaclava cap.

  Over the next few days the Germans pushed the British back from Zanvoorde Ridge and Gheluvelt. The Royal Welsh Fusiliers were virtually wiped out. As soon as the Hussars received orders to move forward to the line they mounted up in a clump of bare, splintered stumps which had once been a leafy wood and galloped across shell-strewn fields to Polygon Wood. All day they charged and recharged, attacked and counter-attacked. By night-fall the Germans had gained Messines, south of Ypres, but lost Gheluvelt. The salient around Ypres seemed to be holding.

  On 31 October a large group of commanding, senior and staff officers from the British 1st and 2nd Divisions gathered in a large room overlooking the gardens at Hooge chateau.9 The Germans, who had recently broken through parts of the Allied front line, were only two miles away; they also held several of the ridges overlooking the chateau – where the cars of visiting officers were parked in the gardens. During the bombardment of Hooge six senior officers were killed by shrapnel and glass which ripped across the garden room; several others were badly injured and were evacuated to casualty clearing stations. Fortunately some of the officers had withdrawn from the garden room into an interior room and were not injured.