x The 3rd Army School of Instruction at Flixecourt.
xi ‘You will be expecting to hear something about Merriman … Perhaps a few characteristics to begin with. He is of the genus fox, weasel, stoat, ferret, and rat. Whether these creatures are of one genus or not I don’t care. But combine all their more unpleasant qualities and you have him. He is cunning, smooth-faced, double-tongued, uncertain in temper, ferocious, predatory and given to burrowing underground. He is a born intriguer rejoicing in pulling secret wires, striving to undermine other people’s reputations, gloating over their mistakes, making the worst of their errors, always imagining evil, always eagerly searching after vicious motives, stooping to wilful invention to cover up any mistakes of his own, and piling up damnation for others if thereby he can save his own face … He gets in the ear of the powers that be, and by subtle suggestion and careful deference worms his way into their confidence, and having won his way, maintains his position by deliberately artless flattery, constant court and persistent attentions … In fact, my dear, he is the rankest poison I have ever met. He is a pure prig, he acts as a prickly irritant on all simple, decent people, and yet he poses as a friend of the needy, the careful dispenser of good things, the father of his flock … What are his relations with Headquarters? He is working day and night to oust our present Second in Command and to take his place. Whether he will succeed or not, I cannot say. If he does it will be a horrible disaster. So he pays eternal court to the CO, busies himself with the Second in Command’s job, very cautiously feels his way and takes every chance of improving the situation, catching up any word of criticism of his rival and hastening to clinch it with a wise head nodding and murmured agreement’ (Bland, 18.1.16). It is surprising that this letter escaped censorship, but perhaps Captain Bland was the duty censor at the time.
xii Capt. William Charles Samuel Warr.
xiii In 10.1914, Ypres was captured from the Germans by Allied troops who had retreated there after the fall of Antwerp. It remained under siege for some weeks until this was finally called off. The battle was the scene of mistakes by the senior commanders of both sides, and marked the end of the much reduced British Regular Army.
xiv 2nd Lt Frank Cowlin Wicks.
xv The lines are from a poem, ‘King Goodheart’, by W. S. Gilbert alone.
xvi From the nursery rhyme, ‘The Siphonaptera’: ‘Big fleas have little fleas/Upon their backs to bite ’em,/And little fleas have lesser fleas,/And so, ad infinitum …’
xvii ‘This afternoon, Sunday – I played football – my platoon against no. 8, myself in goal, and we won. For the rest? We are going on at the same old game, drill, trench-digging, brigade manoeuvres once a week, and so on. We might as well not be in France at all. Of course it’s much nicer than Salisbury Plain (except that you’re further off), as I get a good deal of pleasure from talking to the people’ (Tawney, 23.1.16).
xviii The prospect of leave had been made uncertain by German submarine activity in the English Channel.
xix ‘[Lt William] Bill Cushion has forsaken us all for the Flying Corps’ (Bland, 24.1.16).
xx ‘I understand that the official view of our functions is that there will be a big offensive in March or April, and that once the Germans are on the move, we (the Division) shall pursue them in the open. At least this is what a Lt, with whom I recently had a talk, tells me. He says the Staff feel pretty sure that by attacking everywhere at once we shall break through. But then Staff nearly always are confident. I don’t feel myself very happy. My own feeling is that our national mistake [is one] of relying on quantity [and] forgetting quality. The easy and impressive thing to do is to multiply men. The difficult and important thing is to get “brains” in command & to scrap ruthlessly the social traditions which make it easy for gentlemanly fools (not always so very gentlemanly, though!) to be officers. That is what France did when she was really fighting for her life in 1793 – as far as I can remember about 6,000 officers were sacked in a year, and privates promoted wholesale. Result: Napoleon’s marshals, nearly all of whom were the sons of artisans & small tradesmen’ (Tawney, 23.1.16).
xxi The UPS, or University and Public Schools Battalion, which at first was affiliated to the Royal Fusiliers, was the idea of J. L. Paton, high master of Manchester Grammar School, who wished to encourage men with an educated background to enlist. It was described as ‘the shortest way to a commission one can think of’.
xxii Teofanis were expensive cigarettes made from a tobacco grown in Greece and Turkey. By 1916 they were manufactured in south London. The favourite wartime brand was ‘King’s Guard’.
Chapter 5: ‘Full of brimming excitement about my leave’
i The Gloucestershire Regiment.
ii ‘We have been out since this morning till afternoon on a wood fighting scheme in a forest a few miles from here which was very strenuous, as the wood was so thick with undergrowth it made it difficult to keep direction in consequence. You can imagine my surprise when slowly going through with my men behind me, to see two wild boar career past about 25 yards in front of me and disappear in the undergrowth … There was no danger, as they never bother with anybody unless incited … They are like a pig, only twice the size, with long hair and tusks’ (Gomersall, 25.1.16).
iii ‘This afternoon watched our battn play the 1st South Staffordshires. It was a hard game and we just lost, 2–1. I then had tea in the village with two of our officers, where we were guests of the officers of our Divisional Field Ambulance. They were a ripping lot of doctors – been out at it since the commencement, and all the time with the fighting division, and we are very proud to be in it’ (Gomersall, 26.1.16).
iv Tins of ‘bully beef’ were notoriously unpalatable, and, unopened, were used to strengthen the floor of trenches. (See Michael Stedman, Manchester Pals, Leo Cooper, 1994, p. 76.)
v Sgt James Nuttall.
vi The Germans had taken Frise, to the east of Bray, and had launched an attack on Dompierre, across the River Somme. This is within the sector of the French Sixth Army and very close: just five miles east of Bray and twenty from Amiens.
vii Cardonette is a village a few miles to the north-east of Amiens. This is the last time May identifies, whether in code or otherwise, from where he is writing.
viii The small town was the largest so far visited by the battalion. It was in fields near Corbie that facsimile or dummy trenches of the German front line, which had been photographed by the Royal Flying Corps, were used for practice by the 21st and 22nd Manchesters.
ix Suzanne had been used for the billeting of French soldiers. From 13.1.16, when the German artillery had found its range, the village was heavily shelled which resulted in the almost complete evacuation of its inhabitants.
x Bray-sur-Somme was a strategic hub for both armies throughout the changing dispositions of the Western Front. It was first occupied in 8.1914 by the Imperial German Army, but during the Battle of Albert (9.1915) the town was heavily bombed and the Germans evacuated. It was subsequently under the control of British and French forces. While ‘at rest’ here, the Pals usually were assigned mining duties, but the 21st and 22nd Manchesters were allocated work to assist the Royal Engineers on the construction of a narrow-gauge railway to bring supplies to the front in preparation for the big push. (Stedman, Pals, p. 78).
xi The 8th Norfolks was relieved in the trenches by the 22nd Manchesters.
xii Capt. George Philip Burlton.
xiii Lt Earl Langford Maiden, the battalion quartermaster.
xiv Driver/Mechanic Henry Miles Stapylton-Smith. The responsibility for this activity was held by the Army Service Corps.
xv Probably Lt Hickey.
xvi The SS Connaught sailed soon afterwards and docked on the south coast of England. From there May travelled by train to London and on to Wanstead, Essex, where Maude was staying. He spent over a week there, with his wife and infant daughter, before leaving to return to the front on Valentine’s Day.
Chapter 6: ‘What a game it is
!’
i ‘We came in on Sunday evening, a lovely moonlit night, and us stumbling over grazing fields covered with shell-holes, while at every few hundred yards for 500 miles files of tired & cursing men were probably doing the same … we are in support till tomorrow when we go into the front line trenches for 3 days and then back to billets’ (Tawney, 14.2.16).
ii 2nd Lt Harold Williamson Royle.
iii 2nd Lt William James Cowan.
iv There is no mention in the official record of Zeppelins flying over his area of the Somme at this time.
v The slang term for anti-aircraft guns was ‘Archies’.
vi Earthworks piled behind a trench to help prevent a rear attack.
vii ‘Russian’ sap-heads were trenches, usually dug through no-man’s land towards the enemy and with temporary roofs, which could be dismantled quickly so that they were ready for use.
viii Two days later Lt Burchill was accidentally wounded.
ix Pte William Bull.
x ‘Major Merriman has just returned from leave, and is sick in his billet’ (Bland, 25.2.16).
xi This song is sung to the tune of one of the two regimental marches, The Manchester. The next two lines are left to the choice of the singer, but the final one is usually ‘I must have been bloody well barmy’.
xii Capt. Charles James Mottram Hobson.
xiii ‘Frankie Harrison tells me that Merriman has surpassed in cowardly priggishness, lying under three blankets and two coats with a large brazier ablaze, while Harrison and all the Company shivered cokeless in the outer darkness. He is an impossible unspeakable cad. Frankie shed a tear or two this morning when telling me all about it. There is only one hope – that his nerve will give way soon. Otherwise he will probably be accidentally wounded. If I were up in the trenches with him I could alleviate and cheer the rest, but I might be sorely tempted to remove the cause, – a dangerous game, the morals of which don’t worry me in the least. I would shoot him through the leg without a second’s compunction. As it is, I shan’t get a chance. He is feeling a worm for interfering with my leave, and of course I reassure him, but he is a worm all the same. Enough. He’s very polite to me lately, so away with him and his works. I am still very happy about it all’ (Bland, 1.3.16).
xiv The longest battle of the First World War, Verdun was regarded by the German army as an opportunity to break out of a stalemate that existed and reach the Channel ports. An offensive was launched in February 1916, from which the defending French forces had to retreat. Enemy gains were made. In June, after shelling the French with poison gas, the Germans launched a massive assault. However this could not be fully consolidated because of the commencement of the Battle of the Somme on 1 July. German troops were diverted to face this new threat, so the French took advantage at Verdun to counterattack with some success. Territory was recaptured through October and November. Over these months the French lost 161,000 dead and 300,000 missing or wounded. German losses were 142,000 killed and 187,000 wounded. Undoubtedly the action on the Somme distracted German resources, and the heavy French losses at Verdun were one reason that the brunt of the Somme assault was led by British troops.
xv ‘Corduroy’ was a ladder-like implement, usually made from cut tree branches, laid flat on the floor of a trench.
xvi Daley is unidentified. See note in Index of Names.
xvii Although Second Ypres, notorious for the first use of chlorine gas on the Western Front, had ended in 5.1915, occasional skirmishes continued in this area. Third Ypres, also known as the Battle of Passchendaele, commenced in autumn 1917.
xviii 2nd Lt T. H. Barnard.
xix Lt William Morrison Reid.
xx ‘There is an order that all dogs seen in the trenches are at once to be killed, as they may be bearers of messages or poison from the Bosche lines, and are extremely dangerous. We have killed several before but never experienced anything like this. We were informed of this dog being seen while we were having breakfast in the dug-out, and the Sergeant-Major passing at the time went off to shoot it with his revolver. We heard a shot and afterwards found it had hit the dog’s head but missed his brain. He fired another shot, which also hit the dog’s head, and the next thing came for our dug-out, where I was sitting in my usual place near the door. It had gone absolutely mad, and was foaming at the mouth, and blood was pouring from its eyes. It was a large, black dog, and naturally gave me a shock. It was a dangerous position to be in and I got out my revolver like lightning, but found I could not shoot as the Sergt. Major was coming up behind, and I might have hit him. He also could not fire for fear of hitting me. Luckily he got hold of the dog by the tail just as I was going to give it a hard kick under the jaw, and he carried it away, much to my relief … The Sergt. Major flung it to the ground and gave it a kick which turned it over just as it was going to our stretcher-bearers’ dug-out. It then got up again, and he put another bullet through its head, and as it appeared quite dead, it was flung over the parapet, and orders were given for it to be buried at night. An hour later, going down the trench a 100 yds. from this spot with the Sergt. Major, we heard a rifle shot, and afterwards learnt that the dog had been seen to move, and a shot had been fired which hit it all right. Almost immediately after we saw it on the parapet above us – it had come the 100 yds. quite by accident up to us again. It was bleeding and foaming as before, and sprang down over some barbed wire coils onto the trench bottom, where three rounds rapid fire from the revolver finished it …’ (Gomersall, 7.5.16).
Chapter 7: ‘Dry trenches mean happy men’
i Sgt Harry Hinsley.
ii The aircraft was likely to be a Vickers FB (‘Fighting Biplane’) 5, known as the ‘Gun Bus’, of No. 11 Sqdn, RFC, based near St Omer. This was the world’s first operational military aircraft.
iii Minden Post was a spacious dug-out. It was shared by different units when at the front.
iv Lt Col. Paul W. Whetham; Lt Roy Mellor, who was also the battalion intelligence officer; Lt Dr George Barbour McGregor; Sgt Maj. Frederick Knowles.
v ‘In addition to food, the ration parties distributed supplies and ammunition … a terrible job, as it means fetching food, coal, water, stores of all sorts, for the whole battalion from back at the railhead, all, of course, by night’ (Tawney, 14.2.16).
vi Pte William Jarvis.
vii ‘The Colonel wanted to test the Battalion at “standing to” in case of attack, and sent an alarm signal through. Immediately all rushed off to stand to, men hurried here and there, and in less than three minutes practically everybody was “standing to” on the firestep. When we hurried along to see if all were “standing to” and everything ready, we came across a man who is used for fatigue work in my platoon, as he is deaf. (He is invaluable though as he is such a hard worker.) Naturally we enquired, “Hello Jarvis, why aren’t you standing to? Don’t you know the alarm is sounded?” Jarvis couldn’t have heard, and drawled out to us, breathless after our run, “Oh sir, is it true that the government has stopped the Rum Ration?” He is very fond of rum. You can imagine what was said, but I roared with the officers later, after the excitement of it all’ (Gomersall, 3.3.16).
viii ‘I am having 4 full days of irresponsible indolence, together with May and Ramsbottom, in a fresh billet – a cosy, sweet little place, abandoned in a great hurry by a dear old lady (I believe) who left behind furniture, glass crockery, wine and underclothing, of all which we make full use where possible. It has been really cheery to have a touch of something familiar’ (Bland, 13.3.16).
ix Maj. Francis Frederick Ommanney.
x 2nd Lts Henry Lander Faulkner and Albert Victor Dowling.
xi Maj. Frank Boyd Merriman.
xii ‘The battalion came out of the trenches last night in a state of absolute rebellion. M. had been more impossible and more ridiculous than usual and had got the whole Coy by the ears, Sgt Major and the Sergeants in a state of livid revolt, and the men fed up to the teeth, except that they were partly convulsed with laughter at his antics. It
is pitiable and tragic … I feel absolutely helpless. I don’t know what I can do. I believe I ought to denounce him to the CO, but in the Army you never know what sort of wired hole you are stepping into when you begin to criticise superior officers. You may get a VC or a Court Martial for the same action, according to its success or failure. We’ll see. I’ll consult May’ (Bland, 17.3.16).
xiii Sgt William Robert Thompson was first of 2 Platoon, A Coy.
xiv ‘I’ve taken refuge with May since teatime … We have been sitting in the garden which runs down to the River Somme – swiftly flowing and full of water. We have watched the day die in a gentle bloom of yellow and mauve and pale blue and pale green, the light soft through the innumerable poplars that France loves so dearly … I am happier for the moment’ (Bland, 8.3.16).
xv Ewald. May had in fact mentioned the interpreter, Bethmann, on 14.11.15.
xvi A helmet.
xvii May has forgotten one of the original musketeers, Aramis.
xviii May refers to the Derbyshire Dales, not far from Withington, where he and Maude were living before the war, and through which flows the River Derwent.
xix It is possible that May is referring to an advance to the Frenchman’s body.
xx Maj. Jesse Pevensey Duke.
xxi F113 is an artillery target area on a map.
xxii Maj. Alexander Winton Robertson.
xxiii Pte George Carr was right half in the battalion football team.
Chapter 8: ‘Pushes and rumours of pushes fill the air’
i Cpl Frederick Grady.
ii CSM Frederick Charles Knowles.
iii This quote is commonly attributed to Louis XIV of France.
iv The nickname of Lt Aubrey Harris, bombing officer with 21st Bn.
v (First name unknown) Whitham of 104th Battery, XXII Brigade, Royal Field Artillery.
To Fight Alongside Friends Page 24