by John Taylor
36. Cambrian News, 21 September 1917. The article says the letter was sent on 25 July, which must be a mistake as he was not captured until 26/27 July.
37. Marriage certificate, census records, birth/marriage/death records.
Chapter 8: Ray of Sunshine (pp. 49–55)
1. This was the usual spelling used by the British during the war, though the village is now generally known by its Flemish name of Sint-Juliaan. Langemarck is now properly known as Langemark Poelkapelle.
2. Baker-Carr, From Chauffeur to Brigadier, p. 251.
3. Order No. 91 in War Diary of 33rd Infantry Brigade HQ in NA (WO 95/1811).
4. This is the scheme outlined in Order No. 13 dated 17 August 1917 in War Diary of 1st Brigade Tank Corps HQ in NA (WO 95/98). Browne, p. 197 says ‘this plan was afterwards modified considerably, for what reason I do not know’.
5. War Diary of 7th Bn Tank Corps in NA (WO 95/100).
6. Undated report in papers of General Sir Ivor Maxse in IWM (PP/MCR/C42).
7. Fuller, Memoirs of an Unconventional Soldier, p. 154.
8. Ibid., p. 94; see also Fuller, Tanks in the Great War 1914–1918, p. xvi.
9. Lecture by Lt-Col. Baker-Carr on ‘The Employment of Tanks’ in Tank Museum (E2004.3211).
10. Baker-Carr, From Chauffeur to Brigadier, p. 252.
11. Letter from Ivor to Mary Maxse dated 20 August 1917 in West Sussex Record Office (WSRO), Chichester. Thanks to Tony Maxse for permission to quote from these papers, and to Rhodri Lewis at WSRO.
12. Letter from Leo to Ivor Maxse dated 11 September 1917 in WSRO.
13. The Times, 21 August 1917. The article appeared anonymously but the author is named as Beach Thomas in Browne, pp. 234–5. Douglas Browne says the story was based on interviews with men who had not taken part in the battle, since the actual participants were asleep, and says of the article, ‘those of us who had been there were unable to recognise a single detail’.
14. Williams-Ellis, p. 93.
15. Browne, p. 236.
16. Williams-Ellis, p. 93.
17. GHQ Summary of Information dated 28 August 1917 in NA (WO 157/23).
18. Browne, p. 195.
19. Stühmke, pp. 178–9.
20. 125th Infantry Regiment Stab Kriegstagebuch (i.e. HQ War Diary) in Hauptstaatsarchiv Stuttgart (M411 Bd 1082).
21. 51st Infantry Brigade Kriegstagebuch in Hauptstaatsarchiv Stuttgart (M410 Bü 938). The report is timed at 10.35 a.m. on 19 August 1917.
22. German trench-maps show the bunker slightly north of Vancouver as marked on British maps, but the accounts of the action make it clear they must have been the same.
23. Stühmke, pp. 180–1.
24. Divisionsbefehl (i.e. divisional order) issued at 9.30 p.m. on 19 August 1917, in 26th Infantry Division Kriegstagebuch Anlagen (i.e. appendices) in Hauptstaatsarchiv Stuttgart (M410 Bd 177).
25. 125th Infantry Regiment Stab Kriegstagebuch in Hauptstaatsarchiv Stuttgart (M411 Bd 1082).
26. 51st Infantry Brigade Kriegstagebuch in Hauptstaatsarchiv Stuttgart (M410 Bü 938). Report at the end of 20 August 1917.
27. Divisionsbefehl at 11.30 p.m. on 20 August 1917 in 26th Infantry Division Kriegstagebuch Anlagen in Hauptstaatsarchiv Stuttgart (M410 Bd 177).
Chapter 9: Crossing the Canal (pp. 56–61)
1. This is the date given in Anon., ‘The Wanderings of “D” in France’, but the War Diaries of 1st Brigade Tank Corps HQ and 4th Bn Tank Corps show they set out on the following day (i.e. 20 August).
2. Anon., ‘The Wanderings of “D” in France’.
3. Browne, p. 199. Elephant-iron shelters were built of heavy-gauge corrugated iron.
4. Anon., ‘The Wanderings of “D” in France’.
5. Ibid.
6. Browne, pp. 204–5.
7. Official History – Passchendaele, p. 202.
8. War Diary of 1st Brigade Tank Corps HQ in NA (WO 95/98).
9. War Diary of 4th Bn Tank Corps in NA (WO 95/110).
10. War Diary of 143rd Infantry Brigade HQ in NA (WO 95/2754).
11. War Diary of 11th Division HQ in NA (WO 95/1788).
12. Watson, A Company of Tanks, p. 133.
13. Browne, p. 217.
14. H.L.B. (i.e. Horace Leslie Birks), ‘The Brewery, Poelcapelle, October, 1917’, The Tank (October 1955).
15. War Diary of 4th Bn Tank Corps in NA (WO 95/110).
16. Watson, A Company of Tanks, p. 140.
17. Anon., ‘The Wanderings of “D” in France’.
18. War Diary of 4th Bn Tank Corps in NA (WO 95/110).
19. Anon., ‘The Wanderings of “D” in France’.
20. This is presumed because infantry accounts of the battle refer to the new D Battalion names and numbers rather than the former G Battalion ones. For simplicity, the tanks are generally referred to here by their new D Battalion numbers, and by the names with which those numbers were associated. Apart from D51, the other changes were as follows:
• Crew of D41 (name given in 33rd Infantry Brigade report as Devil) under Second Lieutenant Andrew Lawrie transferred to G24 Gridiron.
• Crew of D42 (associated with name Daphne) under Second Lieutenant Henry Sherwood transferred to G21 Geyser.
• Crew of D45 (associated with name Destroyer) under Second Lieutenant John Symond transferred to G30 Gazeka.
These details are taken from 4th Bn War Diary and D Battalion Battlegraph for 22 August 1917 in Tank Museum (E2006.1861). They do not give names for the four D Bn tanks which did not go into action (including D51).
21. Judd, ‘The Middle Years of the War’. Some changes have been made to punctuation, notably the omission of numerous exclamation marks.
22. Stühmke, p. 181.
Chapter 10: Into the Pillar of Fire (pp. 62–71)
1. Anon., ‘The Wanderings of “D” in France’. Smith refers to ‘twelve 125 h.p. Daimler engines’ but they were actually 105 h.p.
2. War Diary of 184th Tunnelling Company, Royal Engineers in NA (WO 95/336).
3. Judd, ‘The Middle Years of the War’.
4. War Diary of 48th Division HQ in NA (WO 95/2746).
5. Interview in IWM Sound Archive (7031). This recording was made when Jason Addy was on a visit to Cambrai in 1977 (see Chapter 39 below), and closely follows an account in Lyn Macdonald, They Called it Passchendaele, London, 1978, pp. 156–8. There are a number of inconsistencies in the account, hardly surprising so many decades after the battle. He names the tank commander who died as Lieutenant Knight, whereas the only officer to be killed on that date was Lieutenant Lawrie, whose name has therefore been substituted here for consistency. In addition, Addy gives their objective as Bülow Farm rather than Vancouver, and insists they evacuated two wounded men, whereas Jagger’s medal citation only refers to one.
6. Interview in IWM Sound Archive (870). The order of sentences has been slightly changed.
7. Bion, War Memoirs, p. 30.
8. War Diary of 4th Bn Tank Corps in NA (WO 95/110).
9. Census records; Maurice, p. 242.
10. War Diary of 33rd Infantry Brigade HQ in NA (WO 95/1811).
11. War Diary of 48th Division HQ in NA (WO 95/2746).
12. War Diary of 1st Brigade Tank Corps HQ in NA (WO 95/98).
13. War Diary of 48th Division HQ in NA (WO 95/2746).
14. War Diary of 11th Division HQ in NA (WO 95/1788).
15. War Diary of Fifth Army HQ General Staff in NA (WO 95/520).
16. War Diary of 11th Division HQ in NA (WO 95/1788).
17. Anon., ‘The Wanderings of “D” in France’.
18. War Diary of 11th Division HQ in NA (WO 95/1788).
19. War Diary of 6th Bn Gloucestershire Regiment in NA (WO 95/2758).
20. War Diary of 144th Infantry Brigade HQ in NA (WO 95/2757/1).
21. War Diary of 48th Division HQ in NA (WO 95/2746).
22. Ibid.
23. From Part Five in a series of articles entitled ‘Return to Hell’ by Henry Williamson in
Evening Standard, 3 July 1964.
24. Stühmke, p. 182.
25. Anon., ‘The Wanderings of “D” in France’.
26. D Bn Battlegraph for 22 August 1917 in Tank Museum (E2006.1861).
27. War Diary of 144th Infantry Brigade HQ in NA (WO 95/2757).
28. Interview in IWM Sound Archive (7031).
29. Mitchell, pp. 118–19.
30. Interview in IWM Sound Archive (7031).
31. Maurice, pp. 243, 255–6 and 283–4.
32. Service record in NA (WO 363); emigration records for SS Kroonland.
33. War Diary of 48th Division HQ in NA (WO 95/2746).
34. Service records in NA (WO 364 and WO 374/41936), census records.
35. War Diary of 4th Bn Tank Corps in NA (WO 95/110).
36. Anon., ‘The Wanderings of “D” in France’.
37. D Bn Battlegraph for 22 August 1917 in Tank Museum (E2006.1861).
38. War Diary of 7th Bn Royal Warwickshire Regiment in NA (WO 95/2756/1).
39. War Diary of 48th Division HQ in NA (WO 95/2746).
40. Ibid.
41. Charles Carrington, Soldier from the Wars Returning, London, 1965, p. 101.
42. War Diary of 48th Division HQ in NA (WO 95/2746).
43. Ibid.
44. War Diary of 4th Bn Tank Corps in NA (WO 95/110).
45. War Diary of 1st Brigade Tank Corps HQ in NA (WO 95/98).
46. Watson, A Company of Tanks, pp. 140–1.
47. Vernehmung von 1 Offizier und 7 Mann der 12. Komp. D.-Batl. Tank-Corps, … 1 Offizier und 3 Mann der 18. Komp. F.-Batl. Tank-Corps, … dated 26 August 1917 in Militärarchiv, Freiburg im Breisgau (PH/3/585). The manufacturer’s number of D46 Dragon was actually 2058.
48. Nachrichtenblatt (i.e. bulletin) Nr. 36 dated 25 August 1917 in 2nd Battalion, 125th Infantry Regiment Kriegstagebuch Anlagen in Hauptstaatsarchiv Stuttgart (M411 Bd 1151).
Chapter 11: Deborah, the Dead Man and the Drummer (pp. 72–79)
1. Anon., ‘The Wanderings of “D” in France’.
2. See War Diary of Tank Corps HQ in NA (WO 95/92) and XVIII Corps Report on Operations of August 22nd 1917 in papers of General Sir Ivor Maxse in IWM (PP/MCR/C42).
3. War Diary of 48th Division HQ in NA (WO 95/2746).
4. D Bn Battlegraph for 22 August 1917 in Tank Museum (E2006.1861).
5. Service record in NA (WO 339/80499).
6. War Diary of 4th Bn Tank Corps in NA (WO 95/110).
7. Photographs from Royal Museum of the Army and of Military History (Nr Inv KLM-MRA 201530003 & 20608-sint-juliaan).
8 War Diary of 5th Bn Royal Warwickshire Regiment in NA (WO 95/2755/1)
9. Lieutenant C. E. Carrington, The War Record of the 1/5th Battalion, The Royal Warwickshire Regiment, Birmingham, 1922, pp. 55–6. A Subaltern’s War was originally published under his pen-name Charles Edmonds.
10. Report on Operations 22nd Aug: 1917 in NA (WO 158/839).
11. Service record in NA (WO 339/29568).
12. Anon., ‘The Wanderings of “D” in France’.
13. Service record in NA (WO 374/26074); Indian Army service record in British Library (L/MIL/9/485/135-46); nickname from Anon., ‘The Wanderings of “D” in France’.
14. Judd, ‘The Middle Years of the War’.
15. War Diary of 6th Bn Tank Corps in NA (WO 95/107).
16. Service record in NA (WO 339/53827).
17. War Diary of 6th Bn Tank Corps in NA (WO 95/107).
18. Official History – Passchendaele, p. 203.
19. War Diary of 61st Division HQ in NA (WO 95/3034).
20. War Diary of 6th Bn Tank Corps in NA (WO 95/107). For fuller accounts see John Foley, The Boilerplate War, London, 1963, and Tony Spagnoly and Ted Smith, Cameos of the Western Front – Salient Points Two, Barnsley, 1998.
21. Vernehmung von 1 Offizier und 7 Mann der 12. Komp. D.-Batl. Tank-Corps, … 1 Offizier und 3 Mann der 18. Komp. F.-Batl. Tank-Corps, … dated 26 August 1917 in Militärarchiv, Freiburg im Breisgau (PH/3/585).
22. Service record in NA (WO 339/53827).
23. Vernehmung von 1 Offizier und 7 Mann der 12. Komp. D.-Batl. Tank-Corps, … 1 Offizier und 3 Mann der 18. Komp. F.-Batl. Tank-Corps, … dated 26 August 1917 in Militärarchiv, Freiburg im Breisgau (PH/3/585).
24. Ibid.
25. Service record in NA (WO 339/53827).
26. Vernehmung von 1 Offizier und 7 Mann der 12. Komp. D.-Batl. Tank-Corps, … 1 Offizier und 3 Mann der 18. Komp. F.-Batl. Tank-Corps, … dated 26 August 1917 in Militärarchiv, Freiburg im Breisgau (PH/3/585).
27. Ibid.
28. Ibid.
29. Ibid.
30. Ibid.
31. Stühmke, p. 183.
Chapter 12: Failure is an Orphan (pp. 80–84)
1. War Diary of Fifth Army HQ General Staff in NA (WO 95/520).
2. War Diary of Tank Corps HQ in NA (WO 95/92).
3. War Diary of 11th Division HQ in NA (WO 95/1788).
4. War Diary of XVIII Corps HQ in NA (WO 95/952) – letter dated 22 August 1917.
5. Report dated 27 September 1917 in papers of General Sir Ivor Maxse in IWM (PP/MCR/C42).
6. Browne, p. 236.
7. Martel, p. 21.
8. XVIII Corps Report on Operations of August 22nd 1917 in papers of General Sir Ivor Maxse in IWM (PP/MCR/C42).
9. John Baynes, Far From a Donkey – The Life of General Sir Ivor Maxse, London & Washington, 1995.
10. CWGC records.
11. War Diary of 184th Infantry Brigade HQ in NA (WO 95/3063).
12. 125th Infantry Regiment Stab Kriegstagebuch (i.e. HQ War Diary) in Hauptstaatsarchiv Stuttgart (M411 Bd 1082).
13. Kampferfahrungen eines Kampftruppen-Kommandeurs aus den letzten Tagen (i.e. Battle experiences the commander of a combat unit in the last few days) dated 25 August 1917, in 26th Infantry Division Kreigstagebuch Anlagen in Hauptstaatsarchiv Stuttgart (M410 Bd 177).
14. Ibid.
15. Fernspruch Nr. 26 to Oberst Stühmke dated 24 August 1917, in 125th Infantry Regiment Stab Kriegstagebuch Anlagen in Hauptstaatsarchiv Stuttgart (M411 Bd 1102)
16. Watson, A Company of Tanks, p. 140.
17. Official History – Passchendaele, p. 202.
18. Williams-Ellis, pp. 92–4.
19. Major-General J. F. C. Fuller, ‘Summary of Tank Operations 1916-1918’, Royal Tank Corps Journal (March-June 1934).
20. From transcript of unpublished memoir dated 27 October 1933 by Private Frank Cunnington of 2/5th Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regiment (Sherwood Foresters), by courtesy of Julian Sykes.
21. Ibid.
22. Letter from Ivor to Mary Maxse dated 5 November 1917 in West Sussex Record Office. The original ends with a question-mark which has been omitted here.
23. Judd, ‘The Middle Years of the War’.
24. For more on Pond Farm, see this website: http://depondfarm.be/en
25. From Part Four in a series of articles entitled ‘Return to Hell’ by Henry Williamson in Evening Standard, 2 July 1964.
26. For details see service record in NA (WO 363) and R. K. R. Thornton (ed.), Ivor Gurney – Collected Letters, Manchester, 1991.
27. Copyright The Ivor Gurney Estate. Extracts are from his poem The Man in Gloucestershire Archives (D10500/1/P/4/98/13), which appeared in Michael Hurd, The Ordeal of Ivor Gurney, Oxford, 1978, pp. 103–5. Thanks to the Ivor Gurney Trust for permission to reproduce these extracts, and to Tim Kendall’s War Poetry blog for pointing out Ivor Gurney’s connection with the battle.
Chapter 13: The Dead Never Stirred (pp. 85–89)
1. Service record in NA (WO 339/29568).
2. The Times, 23 August 1917.
3. Macintosh, Men and Tanks, p. 127.
4. Anon., ‘The Wanderings of “D” in France’.
5. Beckenham Journal, Penge and Sydenham Advertiser, 15 September 1917.
6. Ibid.
7. Bion, The Long Week-end, p. 138.
8. Watson, A Company of Tanks, pp. 143–4. Wats
on refers to him as ‘the padre’ without giving his name.
9. War Diary of 4th Bn Tank Corps in NA (WO 95/110).
10. War Diary of 144th Infantry Brigade HQ in NA (WO 95/2757).
11. War Diary of Fifth Army General Staff in NA (WO 95/520).
12. War Diary of XVIII Corps HQ in NA (WO 95/951).
13. Vaughan, pp. 221–9.
14. Ibid., pp. 224–5.
15. Ibid., pp. 225–8.
16. War Diary of 4th Bn Tank Corps in NA (WO 95/110).
17. War Diary of Fifth Army General Staff in NA (WO 95/520).
18. Harry Vaughan is not believed to be related to Edwin Campion Vaughan.
19. War Diary of 4th Bn Tank Corps in NA (WO 95/110).
20. Vaughan, p. 228.
21. Ibid., p. 229.
22. Official History – Passchendaele, p. 207.
23. Williams-Ellis, pp. 94–5.
24. Watson, A Company of Tanks, pp. 146–7.
Chapter 14: The Bogs of Passchendaele (pp. 90–96)
1. Gough, p. 205.
2. Anon., ‘The Wanderings of “D” in France’.
3. Macintosh, Men and Tanks, p. 33.
4. The Times, 22 December 1938.
5. Butler, ‘Reminiscences of Salvage Work’.
6. Service record in NA (WO 374/10210).
7. Butler, ‘Reminiscences of Salvage Work’.
8. Supplement to London Gazette, 17 September 1917.
9. For a more detailed account, see Liddell Hart, The Tanks Volume One, pp. 211–13.
10. Service record in NA (WO 374/10210).
11. Butler, ‘Reminiscences of Salvage Work’.
12. Ibid.
13. Ibid.
14. Census records; service record in NA (WO 339/61434).
15. Family recollections.
16. Anon., ‘The Wanderings of “D” in France’.
17. Report dated 27 September 1917 in papers of General Sir Ivor Maxse in IWM (PP/MCR/C42).
18. Lieutenant-General Sir G. M. Harper, Notes on Infantry Tactics & Training, London, 1919.
19. Baker-Carr, From Chauffeur to Brigadier, p. 235.
20. War Diary of 1st Brigade Tank Corps HQ in NA (WO 95/98).
21. Anon., ‘The Wanderings of “D” in France’.
22. Maurice, p. 100.
23. War Diary of 4th Bn Tank Corps in NA (WO 95/110).
24. War Diary of 1st Brigade Tank Corps HQ in NA (WO 95/98).
25. Maurice, p. 259.
26. War Diary of 4th Bn Tank Corps in NA (WO 95/110).