Category: The Great War

Mary Christmas from Frank

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29th December 1914

Envelope addressed to Miss Crawshaw, 29 etc franked APO 13 De 14, censor 1611 (E Rogers) – written in ink and on back “gone to Camberwell”
Letter dated 29-12-14

Dear Till

Just a few lines to let you know how I got on at Xmas and what sort of time I had, well I must say I didn’t enjoy myself at all, for what with the weather and being in the trenches it just about put paid to the bill but I am getting on alright and still in the pink. The weather out here is miserable what with the rain and mud. Did you receive my letter with the Xmas card in I except you have by now? Till I received a Xmas card from Dolly which was very good of her and I sent her a PC so you can let me know what she says, when next you hear from her. How did you spend your time Xmas don’t forget to let me know?

Now Till I expect you have read about the gift we received from Princess Mary but I am unable to send it home to you as I have not got any rent now I have told you about me leaving you 6d per day for yourself, now dear I want to know if you could send me out some money so that I could register it home, so don’t forget to let me know what you can do, and if you send it in coin not in paper, now I think this is all for now so will conclude hoping this finds you in the best of health.

Love Bid xxx

After a quiet morning the Dorsets left their trenches and at 2.30pm marched to billets in Bailleul, arriving at about 6.50pm. They left behind some men on details and C Company who were relieved a little later on at around 8pm by the West Riding Regiment. C Company arrived later that evening.

Frank probably wrote home from his new billets. I imagine the trenches were far too wet in which to do any writing other than crossing out some words on a Field Post Card. Again, the letter is censored by E. Rogers. I’ve still had no luck finding out anything more about the life of this Dorsetshire officer.

Frank’s opinion of Christmas in the trenches says it all. To top it off, he now needs money to send his Christmas gift from Princess Mary back home. According to the Imperial War Museum, a great many troops did this. His promise of giving Mabel money from his pay continues, but it appears he needs a seed fund to start the ball rolling.

The Princess Mary Gift Fund was a venture started back in October 1914. Its ambitious and commendable aim was to provide every overseas person wearing the King’s uniform with a brass box containing a variety of objects depending on the recipient: From cigarettes, pipe and tinder to smokers, to bullet pen and sweets for the non-smokers, chocolate for nurses and sweets and spices for Indian troops. A card was included wishing everyone a “Victorious New Year”.

Sadly, there’s no indication that this box survived the intervening years, but below is a photograph of  a sample box with cigarettes in it.

 

Photo of a Princess Mary Christmas Fund Gift Box
Princess Mary Christmas Gift Fund Box

And if you’ve ever want to make a tiny replica of this iconic gift then knock your tiny socks off.

 

Bailleul is a town in France archly described by Gleichen as “with its rather quaint old brick fourteenth-century church, porched à la Louis Quinze, was tolerable rather than admirable”. The town was an important staging post for British troops throughout the war. There’s a far better written account of its role here than I could manage.

Image showing the Hôtel de Ville in Bailleul
A postcard written from Bailleul at around the same time as Frank was here in billets

The 15th Brigade had moved en masse into Divisional reserve. Gleichen was off to London on leave and was temporily replaced as CO by Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Richard Jebb Griffith, the Commanding Officer of the 1st Bn Bedfords, whom Gleichen rates as the “trustiest of C.O.’s, who had been under heavier fire than almost any one in the Brigade, yet never touched”. You can read more about this old war horse on the Bedfords’ website.

All quiet on the Western Front

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28th December 1914

Today the Dorsets’ diary is empty of any information other than saying it’s been quiet. 5th Division’s diary records that Sector B experienced shellfire and heavy musketry in the evening, a claim which is borne out by the Bedfords’ diary entry.

A Dorsetshire man died today, according to the CWGC, but there’s no mention of this in the war diary. 38 year old William George Richbell had only arrived nine weeks previously. He was a Special Reservist with the 3rd Battalion who had been rushed into active service with the 1st Battalion as a reinforcement on the 23rd October, joining his new comrades outside Neuve Chapelle on the 27th October.

In 1911 William was a beer house keeper (having taken over from his father Thomas) who ran The Bell in Walton on the Hill. By 1914 he was listed as a general labourer in his service papers. He left behind a young wife and son, Florence and William. This former beer house is now a pub (having got its wine and spirit license in 1950) and it possibly retains a military connection today, through its alternative name of “The Rat”, perhaps so-called because it was frequented by members of the Royal Artillery in World War Two (according to the pub’s website).

Like many of the Dorsets’ rank and file, William Richbell had been recruited outside of the county. Some counties were too sparsely populated to feed a regiment’s constant need for new soldiers so they tended to recruit men from larger urban areas; London being a popular location for the Dorsets.

Cat amongst the turkeys

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27th December 1914

The Dorset patrols came back from their night time assignations and reported that everything was very quiet.

Later on that day, at 5.25pm the Dorsets submitted their daily report to the 15th Brigade HQ, saying that the situation as unchanged but they had experienced fairly heavy shellfire during the day. There were no casualties.

The 5th Division diary confirms enemy shellfire landing in Sector B and also in Neuve Église.

At home the nation’s ability to be distracted from the war was epitomised by the lead story in page 3 of the Telegraph where the photo is that of a woman dressed as a cat who is collecting money for the Belgian refugee fund. Pauline Prim is “the first lady who has ever impersonated a cat or any other animal upon the stage”. The Telegraph attributes her feline performance to her husband’s acting abilities and explains that “it was probably though watching her husband’s rehearsals that she was, in a very short time, able to represent a cat in the most lifelike manner.” Thank goodness for men says the Telegraph. Roll on votes for women I say. We also learn that posting amusing cat pictures is not just an internet phenomena.

Another phenomena we think is just a modern one, is that of shopping madness at Christmas, especially when it came to buying turkeys. Here women did rule the (poultry) roost. If they weren’t driving hard bargains in London’s street market (“where the poor buy”), they were accompanying their loved ones on leave to Smithfield, Billingsgate and Leadenhall markets, to choose a bird for the Christmas table. Turkeys were very expensive when compared to beef and pork at this time; over double the price per pound, especially French ones  – Italian ones being in “far inferior condition”. Turkeys, then as now, were being gobbled up.

Not so Stille Nacht

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26th December 1914

The Dorsets enjoyed, if that was possible, another quiet day with no shelling. Strangely both the Bedfords’ and the 5th Division’s diaries record that Sector B was shelled.

The Dorsets’ diary also mentions in the margin that the G.O.C. 2nd Corps visited the fire trenches – this was General Sir Smith-Dorrien, although he was now technically G.O.C Second Army.  The BEF had just been split in two armies for better control over the growing number of troops in Belgium and France. First Army was commanded by Lieutenant-General Sir Douglas Haig, Second Army by Smith-Dorrien. It could be argued that the BEF now ceased to exist, but the term continued to be used when referring to British troops in Belgium and France through the rest of the war.

Could Smith-Dorrien’s visit have really silenced the Dorsets when it came to talking about fraternisation with the enemy? He had issued a sharp order on 5th December warning his troops:

Friendly intercourse with the enemy, unofficial armistices, however tempting and amusing they may be, are absolutely prohibited.

This, coupled with his criticism of the 15th Brigade, could have certainly put the Dorsets under pressure to appear blameless at this time. Or perhaps my imagination is now running away with me. Amaretto and nocturnal babies does that to the best of us.

At 8pm singing could be heard coming from the German trenches. The Dorsets’ diary inexplicably adds a comment that the trenches were strongly held. Perhaps this was a sufficient amount of men to give a particular range to the choral performance.

A white lie Christmas?

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25th December 1914

Merry Christmas everyone. I am writing this from my leather wing-backed armchair, fire crackling in the grate, chestnuts roasting (must move back a bit) and dogs at my feet. A glass of Lisbon’s finest at my side is pepped up with some meths from the garage, while Val Doonican croons festively from the gramophone. Are you sitting comfortably? Then I shall begin…

Christmas day 1914 in Wulverghem began with a sharp frost and most of the day was foggy. The Dorsets’ war diary reads as follows:

Quiet Day
Nothing to report
Casualties Nil

Good eh? Now, as everyone is probably bored to the back teeth by already, there were unofficial truces up and down the line on Christmas Day 1914. There are countless reasons why it happened and I won’t go into those here. This book, The Truce, by Chris Baker looks very interesting if you want to read further – although I’ll admit that I haven’t had time either so you’re forgiven too.

The 5th Division’s war diary records the following information:

In afternoon opposite Sector B a large number of Germans and our men meet half way between the trenches and fraternize (sic). Badges show the Germans to belong to Schulenberg’s Landwehr Brigade.

The Bedfords, who now shared Sector B with the Dorsets, also record nothing much in their war diary.

Christmas cards from Their Majesties the King & Queen distributed to all ranks of the Battn. Also present from Her R. Highness Princess Mary. Cold & frosty day. Quiet day. Germans semaphored over that they were not going to fire. Hard frost all day.

However, the Bedfords website annotates this with “[note that a private diary by a battalion member records fraternisation between men of B Company and the Germans in No Man’s Land]” but it doesn’t provide any information about how to find this diary. I thought I would be able to post excerpt here but only found quotations from the 2nd Bn Bedfords. It’s easy to muddle reports as the 2nd Bn Bedfords also met up with Germans further to the south.

So Sector B was visited by Germans yet the Dorsets fail to report that any meeting took place. I am very skeptical about their side of the story. We’ve seen the Dorsets skirt around facts a couple of times since they came to France. Once when attacking Hill 189 in September and another time when their attack failed at Givenchy in October.

The History of the Dorsetshire Regiment 1914-1919 quotes from Ransome’s personal diary.

“Nothing unusual in this connection occurred on the Dorset front, except that no shot was fired by either side , but further south a certain amount of “friendly” intercourse took place.”

If we believe the 5th Division’s war diary then the fact that Germans came across to Sector B surely contradicts this statement by Ransome. Its inclusion of a denial in the regiment’s official history could be seen as an admission of guilt – when no guilt was deserved in the first place. Did the Dorsets agree to a blanket ban on talking about what happened 100 years ago today? Perhaps regimental pride dictated this silence, or perhaps it was the CO’s wishes. Or perhaps nothing happened at all. Until I find any evidence the official history stands true, or course. But did the Dorsets meet with the Germans, or at least bury dead in front of the trenches together?

We know that 15th Brigade had been criticised by Smith-Dorrien in the offensive at La Bassée. Did they feel that admitting to any fraternisation with the enemy would further dim their star? Is that why the Bedford’s diary is also silent about Christmas day? I need to do more research about this in order to satisfy they were telling the truth. But it cannot be ignored that Germans did come over into No Man’s Land in their sector. Count Gleichen, who still commandeered the 15th Brigade, admits that it happened in his memoirs – he’s only a mile up the road at Brigade HQ in Neuve Église.

The trenches were much less pestered with shells and bullets than the Dranoutre lot, and it was easier work altogether for the men. We quite enjoyed it, and on Xmas Day so did the Germans. For they came out of their trenches and walked across unarmed, with boxes of cigars and seasonable remarks. What were our men to do? Shoot? You could not shoot unarmed men. Let them come? You could not let them come into your trenches; so the only thing feasible at the moment was done—and some of our men met them halfway and began talking to them.

Whatever happened the Dorsets enjoyed a quiet day without the usual danger of enemy fire. I do hope Frank enjoyed his new vest and pants and perhaps a lovely bar of “Choc”.

I also hope you have a lovely day with your families.