Passchendaele
Page 48
Lt. Siegfried Sassoon.
3rd Batt: Royal Welsh Fusiliers.
July, 1917.
I am making this statement as an act of wilful defiance of military authority because I believe that the war is being deliberately prolonged by those who have the power to end it. I am a soldier, convinced that I am acting on behalf of soldiers. I believe that the war upon which I entered as a war of defence and liberation has now become a war of agression [sic] and conquest. I believe that the purposes for which I and my fellow soldiers entered upon this war should have been so clearly stated as to have made it impossible to change them and that had this been done the objects which actuated us would now be attainable by negotiation.
I have seen and endured the sufferings of the troops and I can no longer be a party to prolonging these sufferings for ends which I believe to be evil and unjust. I am not protesting against the conduct of the war, but against the political errors and insincerities for which the fighting men are being sacrificed.
On behalf of those who are suffering now, I make this protest against the deception which is being practised upon them; also I believe it may help to destroy the callous complacency with which the majority of those at home regard the continuance of agonies which they do not share and which they have not enough imagination to realise.
SOURCE: ‘Finished with the War: A Soldier’s Declaration’, Letters of Note, www.lettersofnote.com/2011/04/finished-with-war-soldiers-declaration.html
Commons Debate, 30 July 1917
In the following Commons debate, Mr Hastings Lees-Smith spoke on the subject of Sassoon’s protest:
Mr. LEES-SMITH: I wish to raise the case of an individual officer which has some connection with the subject which the hon. Member for Haggerston raised. It is the case of Second-Lieutenant Sassoon, of the 3rd Battalion Royal Welsh Fusiliers. This young officer, I think, appears to have one of the finest and most gallant records of service in the Army. He enlisted as a private – without waiting for the War to break out – on 3rd August, 1914, and I imagine would be one of the first 1,000 men to enlist. He has been wounded, and has been awarded the Military Cross for conspicuous gallantry. He has received formal recognition from the General Commanding for distinguished service in the field. About three weeks ago this young officer came to see me, and told me he had written this letter to his commanding officer. The Under-Secretary will see that this letter raises the question of policy which has to be considered in the light of the treatment which is meted out to those soldiers who break up meetings. It raises a question of policy, and why there should be differentiation of treatment between soldiers who hold one set of opinions and those who hold another. The writer says: [QUOTES SASSOON’S LETTER TO THE HOUSE]
This young officer asked me if I would follow up his case and, if necessary, bring it to the notice of the House. What he anticipated has occurred. After some delay he was forced to appear before a medical board, and the board, having heard the opinions he had expressed in the letter, informed him that he must be suffering from the effects of a passing nervous shock due to his terrible experiences at the front. He was sent to a hospital for officers suffering from shell shock and other minor ailments. I read that letter, because I think, however profoundly hon. Members may disagree from it, that it contains no indication whatever of having been written by a man suffering from any kind of nervous shock. This young officer is known to Members of this House. I myself had a long interview with him only a few weeks ago, and he certainly impressed me as a man of most unusual mental power and most extraordinary determination of character. The fact is, that the decision of the medical board is not based upon health, but based upon very easily understood reasons of policy.
SOURCE: The text of the debate over the Sassoon letter appears to be missing from the official record in Hansard. See: http://1914-1918.invisionzone.com/forums/index.php?/topic/202759-sassoons-statement-hansard/. Yet, it assuredly occurred, as numerous sources attest. See David Gray, ‘Protest’, Siegfried Sassoon: His Life and Illustrated Bibliography, http://siegfried-sassoon.firstworldwarrelics.co.uk/html/protest.html
APPENDIX 8
STATEMENT OF BRITISH AND GERMAN WASTAGE IN FLANDERS
SECRET
No. O.A. 216.
General Head Quarters,
British Armies in France.
16th October, 1917.
Chief of the Imperial General Staff.
As requested by your cipher telegram No. 43274, dated 15th instant, a statement is attached showing the comparative British and German wastage by divisions in the Flanders battle.
(Sd.) D. Haig.
Field-Marshal.
Commanding-in-Chief,
British Armies in France.
SECRET
Comparative Statement of British and German Wastage by Divisions in the Flanders Battle.
NOTE. The above figures do not include German divisions engaged in front of First French Army.
(Intd.) D.H.
16th October, 1917
SOURCE: British War Cabinet Papers, CAB24/29/19
APPENDIX 9
DEBATE ON ALLIED CASUALTIES AND DECISION NOT TO PUBLISH TOTALS
War Cabinet Meeting, 17 October 1917
Casualties.
The Director of Military Operations, in reply to an enquiry, referred to the estimate of the comparative British and German losses since the commencement of the recent offensive, up to the 5th October, which had been circulated to the War Cabinet. The figures were:-
British, 148,470; German, 255,000
The Secretary of State for War stated that the British losses since the 1st October were about 41,000.
Attention was called to a telegram, No. 2993, from Stockholm, dated the 13th October, 1917, containing a newspaper announcement, on German authority, to the effect that during August the average officer casualties as published in the British casualty lists were 511 a day, the highest total recorded during the War.
Publication of Casualties.
Attention was called to the exaggerated reports circulated from time to time in this country in regard to our casualties. It was suggested that these rumours, which were often made in the most definite manner, would never be checked till publicity was given to the true facts.
Attention was also drawn to the false rumours that had been circulated to the effect that the bulk of the fighting was being done by the Colonials – rumours which also would be effectively disposed of by the publication of Casualty Lists. Mention was made of the statement recently communicated to a French newspaper by the Director of Military Operations, in denial of certain false rumours in this respect. The War Cabinet decided that –
It was not in the public interest to publish the whole of the casualties, but that opportunity should be taken from time to time to dispose of the various rumours in circulation by an occasional statement by the Prime Minister.
Note: the British Cabinet were misinformed. British casualties were about 230,000 at this stage of the battle, and the German casualties about 180,000.
SOURCE: War Cabinet Papers, 17 October 1917
NOTES AND REFERENCES*
Introduction
1. ‘In Flanders Fields’ was written by John McCrae in 1915 but has come to represent all casualties of that terrible battlefield.
2. See Fussell, The Great War and Modern Memory; Winter, Sites of Memory, Sites of Mourning: The Great War in European Cultural History; Eksteins, Rites of Spring: The Great War and the Birth of the Modern Age.
Chapter 1: Servants of Attrition
1. Wolff, p. 38.
2. Collins, ebook, loc. 1137.
3. Quoted in Holmes, p. 37.
4. Harris, pp. 153–77.
5. Simkins, ‘Voluntary Recruiting in Britain, 1914–1915’, British Library, http://www.bl.uk/world-war-one/articles/voluntary-recruiting.
6. Herwig, p. 256.
7. Ibid.
8. Prost, p. 65.
9. For the range of casualty estimates at Verdun, see T
erraine, The Smoke and the Fire, p. 65; Dupuy and Dupuy, p.1052, Clayton, p. 110; Doughty, p. 309; Philpott, p. 226; Churchill, p. 1004; Foley, p. 259.
10. Bartholomees, ‘The Issue of Attrition’, www.strategicstudiesinstitute.army.mil. p. 10.
11. For the range of estimates of casualties at the Somme see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Somme.
12. Bartholomees, ‘The Issue of Attrition’, www.strategicstudiesinstitute.army.mil. p. 15.
13. See Clausewitz, Book Six – Defense, On War, pp. 357–90.
14. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Somme.
15. Collins, ebook, loc. 384.
16. Herbert, His Life and Times, p. 36.
17. Herbert, The Secret Battle, p. 2.
18. Aldington, p. 204.
19. Hind, memoir, p. 29.
20. Ibid., p. 29.
21. Ibid., p. 30.
22. Ibid., p. 30.
23. Ibid., p. 30.
24. Wolff, p. 28.
25. Herbert, The Secret Battle, p. 43.
26. Wolff, p. 29.
27. Interview with Kristie Harrison, family relative, 24 April 2015.
28. William Keith Seabrook, private papers.
29. Ibid.
30. Kristie Harrison, email, April 2008.
31. Seabrook family, private papers, postcard, 13 January 1917.
32. Ibid., 9 January 1917.
33. Ibid.
34. Allhusen, private papers, diary.
35. Ibid.
36. Ibid.
37. Ibid.
38. Ibid.
39. Skirth, private papers, memoir.
40. Ibid.
41. Ibid.
42. Ibid.
43. Ibid.
44. Ibid.
45. Ibid.
46. Allfree, private papers, p. 9.
47. Ibid., p. 10.
48. Ibid.
49. Ibid., p. 53.
50. Campbell, private papers, diary.
51. Ibid.
52. Ibid.
53. Ibid.
54. Ibid.
55. Aldington, p. 182.
Chapter 2: The Human Factor
1. Lloyd George, p. 49.
2. Piketty, Technical Appendix, http://piketty.pse.ens.fr/en/capital21c2.
3. Herwig, p. 299.
4. McKernan, p. 181.
5. Vincent, pp. 21–2.
6. ‘Public Opinion of Lord Lansdowne’s Letter’, cited in JSTOR paper, ‘British Strategy and War Aims’, p. 246.
7. Ibid., p. 246.
8. War Cabinet Papers, 12 December 1916.
9. See Grigg, Lloyd George: War Leader, 1916–18; Hattersley, David Lloyd George: The Great Outsider; Rowland, David Lloyd George: A Biography.
10. Hattersley, p. 53.
11. Quoted in Hattersley, p. 13.
12. JSTOR paper, ‘Lloyd George’s Premiership: A Study in Prime Ministerial Government’, p. 130.
13. Ibid.
14. Quoted in Hattersley, p. 221.
15. Quoted in Rowland, p. 286.
16. Quoted in Hattersley, p. 357.
17. Rowland, p. 340.
18. Hattersley, p. 377.
19. Dugdale, p. 125.
20. Asquith, p. 158.
21. JSTOR paper, ‘Lloyd George’s Premiership: A Study in Prime Ministerial Government’, p. 132.
22. Cassar, p. 26–7.
23. Wolff, p. 65.
24. JSTOR paper, ‘Lloyd George’s Premiership: A Study in Prime Ministerial Government’, p. 133.
25. War Cabinet Papers, 9 December 1916.
26. Ibid., 19 January 1917.
27. Ibid., 21 December 1916.
28. Ibid., 22 January 1917.
29. Ibid., 23 January 1917.
30. Ibid.
31. Jablonsky, p. 77.
32. Haig, p. 22.
33. Sheffield, The Chief, pp. 19 and 37.
34. Quoted in ibid., p. 25.
35. Corrigan, p. 8.
36. Sheffield, The Chief, p. 23.
37. Ibid., p. 32.
38. Haig, p. 149.
39. Secrett, p. 114.
40. Haig, p. 14.
41. Ibid., p. 27.
42. Haig, pp. 161–2.
43. See Harris, Douglas Haig and the First World War.
44. Quoted in Haig, p. 516 (see Appendix 3).
45. Corrigan, p. 45.
46. Haig, p. 106.
47. Quoted in Sheffield, The Chief, p. 132.
48. Haig, p. 187.
49. Sheffield, The Chief, p. 155.
50. Quoted in ibid., p. 132.
51. Haig, p. 195.
52. Ibid., p. 197.
53. Ibid.
54. Ibid., p. 13.
55. Ibid., p. 231.
56. Quoted in Holmes, The Western Front, p. 238.
Chapter 3: Death by Water
1. Paxman, p. 201.
2. JSTOR paper, ‘Wellington House and British Propaganda During the First World War’.
3. War Cabinet Papers, 26 October 1916.
4. Edmonds, pp. 2–5.
5. Lloyd George, p. 45.
6. Vincent, p. 38.
7. Ibid., pp. 21–2.
8. Ibid.
9. Quoted in Vincent, p. 45.
10. Wilson, ebook, loc. 10802.
11. Lloyd George, p. 44.
12. Herwig, p. 309.
13. ‘Official German Documents Relating to the World War’, II, pp. 1154–63.
14. Ibid.
15. Ibid.
16. Ludendorff, p. 3.
17. Herwig, p. 311.
18. ‘Official German Documents Relating to the World War’, II, pp. 1320–1.
19. Ibid.
20. War Cabinet Papers, 30 December 1916.
21. War Cabinet Papers, 8 March 1917.
22. Herwig, p. 301.
23. ‘Official German Documents Relating to the World War’, II, pp. 1320–1.
24. Herwig, p. 312.
25. German Chancellor Theobald von Bethmann-Hollweg on the prospect of war with the U.S., April 1917, ‘Source Records of the Great War’, Vol. V.
26. War Cabinet Papers, 21 December 1916
27. Ibid.
28. War Cabinet Papers, 23 December 1916.
29. War Cabinet Papers, 21 December 1916.
30. Lloyd George, p. 76.
31. War Cabinet Papers, 15 March 1917.
32. War Cabinet Papers, 20 December 1916.
33. Ibid.
34. War Cabinet Papers, 13 February 1917.
35. War Cabinet Papers, 15 March 1917.
36. Herwig, p. 313.
37. Gray, p. 180.
38. Wilson, ebook, loc. 10829.
39. War Cabinet Papers, 11 April 1917.
40. War Cabinet Papers, 13 April 1917.
41. War Cabinet Papers, 30 May 1917.
42. Quoted in Wiest, pp. 104, 107.
43. War Cabinet Papers, 25 May 1917.
44. Herwig, p. 313. Wilson gives slightly different figures.
45. War Cabinet Papers, 8 February 1917.
46. ‘How Was Information Shared?’, BBC Schools, World War One, www.bbc.co.uk/schools/0/ww1/25332968.
47. ‘Germany’s Policy of Unrestricted Submarine Warfare, 31 January 1917’, FirstWorldWar.com, www.firstworldwar.com/source/uboat_bernstorff.htm.
48. ‘The Zimmerman Note’, WWI: The World War One Document Archive, wwi.lib.byu.edu/index.php/1917_Documents.
49. War Cabinet Papers, 2 March 1917.
50. Ibid.
51. Ibid.
52. War Cabinet Papers, 30 May 1917.
53. War Cabinet Papers, 11 May 1917.
54. War Cabinet Papers, 31 May 1917.
55. JSTOR paper, ‘British Strategy and War Aims’, p. 246.
56. Grigg, pp. 49, 51, 53.
57. War Cabinet Papers, 8 March 1917.
58. ‘Wilson’s War Message to Congress’, 2 April 1917, WWI: The World War One Document Archive, wwi.lib.byu.edu/index.php/Official_Papers.
> 59. War Cabinet Papers, 10 April 1917.
60. War Cabinet Papers, 11 April 1917.
Chapter 4: Knights and Pawns
1. Quoted in Mead, p. 277.
2. Terraine, The Road to Passchendaele, p. 17.
3. Edmonds, p. 8.
4. Terraine, The Road to Passchendaele, p. 23.
5. Ibid., pp. 28–9.
6. Spears, p. 37.
7. War Cabinet Papers, 10 January 1917.
8. Terraine, The Road to Passchendaele, p. 23.
9. Ibid., p. 24.
10. Haig, p. 261.
11. Quoted in Terraine, The Road to Passchendaele, p. 25.
12. Terraine, The Road to Passchendaele, pp. 25–6.
13. Spears, p. 40.
14. Ibid., p. 130.
15. Ibid., pp. 134–52.
16. War Cabinet Papers, 24 February 1917.
17. Terraine, The Educated Soldier, p. 267.
18. Haig, p. 272 (footnote).
19. Quoted in Spears, p. 139.
20. Haig, p. 270.
21. Ibid., p. 271.
22. Quoted in Spears, pp. 141–2.
23. War Cabinet Papers, 22 May 1917.
24. Spears, p. 143.
25. Ibid., p. 141.
26. Ibid., p. 143.
27. Haig, p. 271.
28. Mead, p. 280.
29. Haig, p. 272.
30. Quoted in Spears, p. 150.
31. Quoted in Spears, p. 155.
32. Haig, p. 273.
33. Spears, p. 158.
34. War Cabinet Papers, 9 March 1917.
35. Quoted in Wolff, p. 75.
36. Haig, p. 269.
37. Quoted in Wolff, p. 75.
38. Ibid.
39. War Cabinet Papers, 28 February 1917.
40. War Cabinet Papers, 14 March 1917.
41. Quoted in Wolff, p. 76.
42. War Cabinet Papers, 12 March 1917.
43. War Cabinet Papers, 9 March 1917.
44. Ibid.
45. War Cabinet Papers, 19 March 1917.
46. Ibid.
47. Ibid.
48. Wolff, p. 82.
49. Quoted in Terraine, The Road to Passchendaele, p. 24.
50. Quoted in Wolff, p. 83.
51. War Cabinet Papers, 10 April 1917.
52. Spears, p. 247.
53. Gibbs, pp. 26–7.
54. JSTOR paper, ‘Environments of War’, p. 158.