ii PASSCHENDAELE ANNIVERSARY SUPPLEMENT, NAVY NEWS, OCTOBER 2007
Ypres did not end in the first week compounded the British premier’s brief his fellow Royal Marines. Division were locked in mortal combat ●
of August 1917. It would drag on for grave misgivings about the course and In a few days, the Royals would go with the ‘Hun’ at Antwerp. ta
another 100 days. conduct of the campaign in Flanders. “over the top” once more. Ligertwood The division was not a division in
The British Army, bolstered by “It was not that he could not had already been wounded once and the true sense. It was a mish-mash,
m
its Canadian and Australian allies, face losses, but he insisted that the knew that in the battle to come, his men sailors without ships who had rifles
am
bludgeoned its way across Flanders, losses must not be incurred without would quickly become disorientated thrust into their hands, led in many
th
advancing no more than four miles in commensurate results,” noted Maurice in the Ypres mud. cases by officers who knew little or
de
two months of battle. By the beginning Hankey, a former Royal Marine. “A He devised a simple plan: four nothing of the modern battlefield.
of October 1917, the line at its furthest man took 21 years to make, and sticks of wood with strips of red However brave such men were,
ke
point from Ypres stood just short of a human life was very precious.” canvas nailed to them which the they could not save Antwerp. “It was
th
ridge which bore the name of a village Indeed, anything but continuing marines would carry across the like sending sheep to the shambles,”
D
which in turn would give the entire the offensive in Flanders seemed battlefield like regimental colours of Asquith’s father acidly commented.
battle its name, Passchendaele. preferable to Lloyd George: taking old. These makeshift banners would At least one man had stood out in
ta
Passchendaele had never been an over some of the French front line, serve as rallying points – and they the ‘shambles’: Arthur Asquith – “as
re
objective per se – it had been one of sending divisions to Italy, perhaps to would rally the men. daring as anybody,” wrote machine-
Douglas Haig’s objectives on the road the Middle East too to rout the Turks Father Davey, the chaplain of the gunner Joseph Murray. “There isn’t
tra
to Bruges. But Bruges was now a pipe and seize Jerusalem. 2nd Royal Marines Light Infantry, one of us who wouldn’t go through
ha
dream. Passchendaele was tangible “It is a hard war – not because of stepped forward to bless these simple fire and water for him.”
th
and, Douglas Haig reasoned, a key the Boche but because of these people standards. “The men regarded them as The Admiralty evidently agreed,
str
● The ruins of the Cloth Hall at Ypres, passed by most soldiers heading
up to the Flanders front
point in the German defences around here,” fumed General William ‘Wully’ sacred,” Geoffrey Sparrow observed. for by the spring of 1917 the now
fo
Ypres. It had to be taken. Robertson, Chief of the Imperial Other preparations were equally Cdr Arthur Asquith was in charge of
de
War had come to the trading town of
marina Continued from page i
The battle for Passchendaele began General Staff, who threatened to meticulous. Scale models of the one of the Royal Naval Division’s
not the poilu, would bear the burden
Ypres in the dying days of October
with the battle for Poelcapelle, another resign as the row between soldiers and battlefield built with individual battalions, Hood – named like all its
rit
of the war.
1914 – and never left.
nondescript Flemish village a couple politicians reached its climax. pillboxes and trenches laid out sister units for naval heroes.
m
And that suited Douglas Haig.
In the ‘race to the sea’, as friend
of miles to the northwest. The soldiers won. for the sailor-soldiers to study.
ho
The general had long wished to
and foe tried to outflank each other
The signs were ominous. After a dry On October 16, Douglas Haig was Intelligence officers strode around the The Steadies – a nickname they took
do
push the British Expeditionary Force
and force victory, the German, British
September, October had been dogged handed a telegram from David Lloyd brigade headquarters brimming with from the Hood Battalion’s single-word
across Flanders between the historic
and French armies locked horns to the
by downpours. With good weather, George, a telegram as surprising as it confidence. motto – were weary. They had been at
th
cloth town of Ypres to the coast at
east of Ypres. No-one forced a way
intelligence officer John Charteris was gushing: For Cdr Arthur Asquith, however, it war for three years and they did not
“a
Nieuport, sweeping through the vital
through. The front solidified, running
reasoned, the Germans might yet be like what they saw of Flanders.
th
railway junction of Roulers then on
to the south, east and north of the
The War Cabinet desire to
was not enough. Too much time was
driven from the Belgian coast. “There was mud to the right of us,
ho
to Bruges.
town.
congratulate you and the troops
spent laying roads, building duckboard
But October 9 was a wet day. mud to the left of us, with mud and
te
It was a tantalising objective – and
It wasn’t just that Ypres – Ieper to
under your command upon the
paths over the Flanders mire. The
It allowed only a half success at slush as far as the eye could see,”
on
one which earned the wholehearted
the Flemings, ‘Wipers’ to the Tommy
achievements of the British
men needed to train, train for battle.
Poelcappelle. And half successes in recalled clerk Thomas MacMillan on
by
support of the Admiralty. Bruges-
– was surrounded on three sides by
armies in Flanders in the great
They needed at least two weeks of
Flanders were almost as disappointing the staff of 189th Brigade.
ju
based U-boats accounted for one in
the Germans. The ‘Hun’ looked down
battle which has been raging
intensive, unbroken instruction.
as outright failures. “It was not the The brigade made its headquarters
every three merchant ships sunk in the
upon Ypres from a ridge from the
since July 31.
With proper training, Arthur
enemy but mud that prevented us Asquith’s men could accomplish any at Dirty Bucket Corner – so called Y
spring of 1917.
hamlets of Staden and Passchendaele
doing better,” the brigadier fumed.
Starting from positions in which
task demanded of them. Without it, the for latrines which were grim even by
“Zeebrugge is the barrel of the pistol
to the northeast, through the village
The failure of October 9 left the
every advantage rested with
officer could promise nothing. Western Front standards.
and the submarines and destroyers
of Gheluvelt to the east and on to
normally upbeat Charteris as dejected
the enemy and hampered and
The grim latrines paled, however,
based there are the bullets which daily
Messines, half a dozen miles to the
as the men in the trenches.
delayed from time to time by
when compared with the Flanders
strike their deadly blows at the heart
south of the town.
A
“When one knows that the great
most unfavourable weather, you
landscape “marred in an abominable
of Britain’s seapower,” wrote Maurice
‘Ridge’ is perhaps a grandiose name
purpose one has been working for has
and your men have nevertheless
way by our own shells and by the
ca
Hankey, secretary of the War Cabinet.
for it. Never was the ‘ridge’ more than
escaped, somehow one sees and thinks
continuously driven the
enemy”.
ac
Jellicoe would not risk a
150ft above the low-lying Flanders
of nothing but the awfulness of it all,”
enemy back with such skill,
The shelling was compounded by
an
bombardment by the leviathans of
terrain; at Passchendaele it was a mere
he confided.
courage and pertinacity as
German Gothas – heavy bombers
a
the Grand Fleet, while the long-range
70ft higher than Ypres, its slope barely
The rain persisted and so did
have commanded the grateful
– spilling their loads by day or, more
“T
guns of the Navy’s monitors might
noticeable. Yet from this elevation, the
Douglas Haig. On October 12, he
admiration of the peoples of the
commonly, by night into the Flanders
to
damage ships in harbour and a few
German Army dominated the salient.
threw three corps at Passchendaele
British Empire and filled the
mud.
w
dock installations, but could never
The ‘ridge’ was not the only key
and its environs. “I expect we will
enemy with alarm.
“I lay awake listening to the
an
prevent the beasts leaving their lair.
feature of this land. Flanders is
have Passchendaele village today all confusion which their bombing
di
There was only one solution: a
peppered with drainage ditches – beeks
The stage was set for the final act of
right,” he wrote to his wife. created,” wrote MacMillan.
ground assault.
in Flemish – and covered with soil
the tragedy of Third Ypres.
The assault miscarried almost “I could hear the tooting of motor
th
Douglas Haig planned a three-stage
which is slow to drain, sitting upon
along the entire line; the men became, horns, the sounds of drivers of limber
A
offensive to roll-up the Belgian coast in
an almost impervious foundation of
one infantry officer lamented, “quite
ENTER THE 63
rd
wagons and the patter of their horses’
re
the summer and autumn of 1917. The
clay. The terrain of Flanders troubled
literally stuck in the mud”. The men hoofs in their wild scamper to clear
So
Royal Navy would play its part, too,
John Charteris, Haig’s intelligence
filtered back after the battle with
PREPARATIONS FOR BATTLE
the Menin Road. Between bombs,
la
with an amphibious landing behind
chief. Preparations for the Flanders
looks of “indescribable horror in their shells and gas, this road must have
th
the German lines east of Nieuport.
offensive were as thorough as any the
pale and unshaven faces”. Can this
The battle had largely passed the men
been the most perilous highway in any
The general was convinced his great
British Army had made. Charteris’
of the 63rd (Royal Naval) Division by.
“one fear” was the weather. Rain
battle be justified, the lieutnant asked of the theatres of war.”
de
plan would deliver, if not outright The sailor-soldiers – officer and man,
quickly swelled the beeks and turned
himself. “I’m sure that the reply from As the RND moved up to the front
sti
victory, then a notable success. But
they wore the insignia of the Senior
the ground into a quagmire. “It is
all the troops engaged in it would be a line, so too its headquarters. 189th
co
then again, even a limited success
Service, spoke like Jack, thought like
impossible to forecast the result,” the
most resounding ‘No!’” Brigade made for a German pillbox,
pl
would “give very useful results – apart
● ‘As daring as anybody’... Cdr
Jack, yet their uniforms were khaki
intelligence officer wrote on the eve of
But Douglais Haig would not desist. Hubner Farm, captured earlier in the
dr
from the effect on the German Army
Arthur Asquith, Commanding
and their home was the Western Front
battle. “The only thing that is certain is
He was determined to press on. “It offensive.
lis
and nation of another defeat.
offi cer, Hood Battalion
– had spent the spring and summer of
a big casualty list.”
was simply the mud which defeated Thomas MacMillan walked along
“The German Army has already
1917 holding the line outside Arras.
John Charteris was right to fear
us,” Haig told journalists. “The men the Menin Road, then stepped on to
an
lost much of that moral force without
The division had fought with
A BORN LEADER
for the Flanders weather. And he was
did splendidly. But the Flanders mud the duckboards to head for the farm.
to
which physical power, even in its most
distinction in Gallipoli, on the Somme
right about the casualty list, too.
is not a new invention. It has a name in “The ground presented the most
Pi
terrible form, is but an idle show.”
history – it has defeated other armies and at Gavrelle, in the Arras salient.
STEADY, HOOD
God-forsaken spectacle I had seen,”
be
He had no intention, Haig told
before this one.” The gods of war now demanded it he recalled.
St
the politicians, “of entering into a FEW GAINS
Haig was convinced his was the fight again. Arthur Asquith was the son of the Flanking the narrow walkway were
so
tremendous offensive involving heavy
right course. Never bend, never In mid-September 1917, the sailors former prime minister Henry Herbert “the day’s casualties, half-buried
w
losses” and he would only launch
MUD AND YET MORE MUD waver from it. There was only way were hauled out of the trenches at – or simply ‘H H’ – Asquith, ousted by in the mud. Men and horses, half-
his armies if there was “a reasonable
to defeat Germany – by defeating Arras and sent north to the small Lloyd George in December 1916. submerged, eyed us with a glassy
be
chance of success.”
PRAISE FROM PM her Army in the only theatre of war French town of Herzeele, south-east of But the 34-year-old never played stare, and the brown water ran red
br
The general summed up his
which counted, the Western Front. Dunkirk, before moving up to Ypres. upon his family connections. He owed with their blood.”
or
position in a memorandum for the
Douglas Haig’s great offensive The battle in Flanders, he assured the Herzeele offered few attractions, his progress to bravery on the field of The ground had been turned to a
a
War Cabinet.
promised considerably more than it Cabinet, “continues to make good save Le Lion Blanc (White Lion) “a Mars, not patronage. mushy pulp by the German guns, and
an
“The time and place to choose
delivered. It had rained heavily on progress”. The Tommy was “elated comfortable estaminet” with a likeable Just days after war broke out in every shell hole was now a muddy
w
are now beyond dispute. We have
the days before the attack was finally and confident”; his foe “considerably landlady, Lulu, and plenty of space for August 1914, Arthur Melland Asquith pool; one was so large it consumed
te
gone a long way already towards
unleashed on July 31. It continued to shaken” and “depressed”. The battle the men to lie down and rest. was itching to quit his job working for the remnants of one of the RND’s
sta
success. Victory may be nearer than is
rain after the attack was unleashed. had to be continued. “Everything goes Like the rest of Flanders in the an Anglo-Argentine firm in London field batteries.
‘d
generally realised.”
Weather was, of course, not the to show that the power of endurance autumn of 1917, the land about and serve his country. Before August “If you stumbled, you would go Be
With the French
only foe. ‘Fritz’ was waiting of Germany and her allies is so Herzeele was “a sea of was over, he had handed in in up to the waist – you just
Army wavering,
for Tommy. There had been severely strained that the mere mud”. The men trained his notice, explaining to his sank into the mud,” recalled Sgt
with the
no hiding the preparations fact of our ability and evident nevertheless. family that he could Maj Richard Tobin of the Royal
Admiralty
for the offensive. And determination to maintain Out for his daily not “sit quietly by Marines Light Infantry.
clamouring
so there would no the struggle to the end may ride, Surg Lt Geoffrey reading the papers.” “Literally every pool was
for the
swift breakthrough, no suffice to turn the scale at Sparrow, an affable Within one month full of decomposed bodies
Belgian
smashing through to any moment.” 30-year-old Devonian he was commissioned of humans and mules.”
coast,
Bruges. Just four days David Lloyd George with a penchant for a temporary sub- Each time the front line
Douglas
into the Third Battle was not convinced. painting, stopped lieutenant and inched forward through
Haig got
of Ypres, Douglas Haig He had never been in to watch company within another he the mud, so behind it the
his way.
called off the first stage favour of Haig’s offensive commander Capt and the men of network of duckboard
● ●
◆ of his offensive. But Third and two months of battle had Peter Ligertwood the Royal Naval walkways grew so that the
Passchendaele copy.indd 2 18/9/07 17:24:29
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