iv PASSCHENDAELE ANNIVERSARY SUPPLEMENT, NAVY NEWS, OCTOBER 2007
bled itself white in the process.
marina Continued from page iii
garrison were charged with holding
In the autumn of 1917 Douglas
on to a pillbox in the face of an
Haig had blunted the knife of the
assault by a German raiding party.
German Army. But in doing so he
The Hun charged the concrete
scarred the British Army – and the
island in the sea of mud, hurling
nation – with wounds physical and
Stielhandgranate – stick hand-
psychological which haunt it to this
grenades – inside, crippling Sherry.
day.
But the Hoods held on. James Sherry
“For the first time the British
earned a bar to his Military Medal
Army lost its spirit of optimism,
and was spared his sentence of hard
and there was a sense of deadly
labour.
depression among many officers and
By November 5, only one
men with whom I came in touch,”
stronghold, the most potent one,
wrote Times correspondent Sir Philip
Tournant Farm, remained in German
Gibbs, the leading war correspondent
hands. And it would remain so. For
of the day.
plans for the Royal Naval Division
Even Haig’s loyal and, at times,
to storm it were abandoned and the
overly-optimistic intelligence chief,
sailor-soldiers headed to the rear.
John Charteris, questioned the
Their role at Ypres was ended.
wisdom of Passchendaele. It was, he
The next day, Arthur Asquith
wrote, “a rather barren victory.”
visited his Hoods in the sickbay.
‘Barren’ was not a word Basil
“Our men were almost all knee-deep
Rackham used. Or ‘victory’ for that
in mud and water throughout,” he
matter. “Passchendaele,” the adjutant
recalled. Despite rubbing their feet
of Hawke Battalion recalled years
with whale oil, the men suffered
later “was inhuman. I don’t often
horrendously. Of the 78 men in the
talk about my experiences in World
sickbay the day after the Hoods were
War I, but whenever I do I always say
finally pulled out of the line at Ypres,
that there was nothing so dreadful as
70 were suffering from trench foot.
Passchendaele.”
Cemetery
Capt Peter Ligertwood died in the
On November 14, Rudolf Binding
Passchendaele mud. At least one of
headed up to the German front line
Tagesbefehl
the flags he made for his company
at Passchendaele. The visit shocked
survived the battle.
him. “Many of the men can hardly
Tattered, beaten by the weather
speak. You see wild eyes gazing out
Trotz des unerhör
ten Masseneinsatzes an
and enemy alike, it was carried back
of faces which are no longer human,”
Menschen und Material h
at der Feind nichts
to England where it was presented
he wrote. “One cannot say that
erreicht. Ein sch
males, gänzlich zerstör
tes
to Plymouth Division of the Royal
morale is low or weak. Regiments
Marines with appropriate ceremony.
simply show a sort of staggering and T
richterfeld ist sein ganzer Gewinn
. Er hat diesen
Order of th
e Da
“The flag was no more than a wisp
faltering – as people do who have
Gewinn mit ausseror
dentlich hohen
Verlusten
y
of red bunting, faded and weather-
made unheard-of efforts.”
erkauft, während unsere
Verluste weit geringer
Despite the un
precedented use of men and matériel,
strained, nailed to a 3ft stick, cut
A German artillery officer and
waren als in jeder bisherigen
Abwehrschlacht
the enem
y has ac
hiev
from the woods of France,” said
his comrades left the Flanders front a thin, utterl
ed nothing. All he has g
y destro
y
Lt Col W P Drury, compiler of the
by cart “down flooded streets, past
And he has paid f
ed field of cr
ained is
Globe & Laurel.
devastated fields, past farms reduced
So ist die Schlacht in Flandern eine schwere
or this g
ater
s.
heavy losses, while our losses w
ain with ex
ceptionall
y
“I doubt it would fetch more than
to ruins”. He continued:
Niederlage für den Gegner
, für uns ein grosser
any of our other recent def
ere f
ar lo
wer than in
a copper or two as a second-hand
“Other troops move from one battle
Sieg. Wer dabei w
ar, kann stolz darauf sein,
ein
ensiv
e battles.
toy for a child – and yet I think the
to the next, from one victory to the
platoon flag is even more worthy of
next, earning fame and glory, getting
Flandernkämpfer zu sein
. And so the battle in Flanders is a
preservation than the Corps Colours.
to know the land and its people, and
def
eat f
or th
heav
y
“I hope that little platoon flag which
we’ve been stuck here in Flanders
Jedem einzelnen Kämpfer ist der Dank des
is a g
e en
reat victor
em
y
y. Whoev
– and f
or us it
inspired the men in Flanders may fill
since the end of 1914, apart from a
Vaterlandes sicher.
Nur dadurch,
dass unsere
hav
er was there can be proud to
e been a Flanders war
future generations of Royal Marines
brief spell on the Somme. Of course,
rior.
with pride for their great Corps,
times here have changed completely,
Front in Flandern jedem
Ansturm trotzte,
ist es
Ever
whose tradition cannot be touched by
we’ve endured bitter times, but who
für die oberste Führung m
öglich gewesen,
im Osten
y sing
le soldier is assured of the g
Fatherland. It was onl
ratitude of the
any other regiment.”
knows about it? Virtually no-one.
gegen die Russen,
im Süden gegen die Italiener
Just lying idle, defying the storms,
thwar
y because our front in Flanders
ted ev
gewaltige Schläge zu führen
.
ery attac
k that the Supreme Command
Arthur Asquith was promoted to
observing no visible success – that
was able to deal po
wer
command 189th Brigade within six
gnaws at your nerves.”
the Russians and in the south ag
ful blo
ws in the East ag
ainst
weeks of the battle. His tenure was
Who sings the song of the soldier
– Rupprecht von Bayern,
Kronzprinz
ainst the Italians.
short-lived. Two days later he was
in the Flanders battle? mused Werner
Oberbefehlsh
aber der Heeresgruppe Rupprecht – Ruppr
echt of Ba
shot in the left ankle by a German
Beumelberg, soldier turned official
Comm
v
an
aria,
der-in
Crown Prin
shell.
historian of the Flandernschlacht.
-Chief
, Ar
ce
my Gr
oup Ruppr
echt
The wound never healed, Asquith
Not the military communiques
lost his leg below the knee and never
which became embarrassing in
fought in France again.
Army “breaking up”, to spare it in 1919 or even 1920.”
seeking fresh words of praise
having to bear the burden of the war Erich Ludendorff, the gruff, dour
and homage.
after mutinies had rocked it during de facto Commander-in-Chief of the
THE BATTLE DONE
Not the medals with which
the spring, and, above, all to kill German Army also pored over the ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Dreadnought to Scapa Flow,
the survivors are generously
Germans. figures.
volume 4
decorated.
To John Jellicoe he had promised The Reich could not afford to Compiled by Richard Hargreaves.
Massie, Robert, Castles of Steel
THE BUTCHER’S BILL Not the memorials which are
an offensive against the U-boat bases. wage such defensive battles in men With thanks to Capt Christopher Page
Page, Christopher, Command in the
erected to the fallen.
To Lloyd George he had promised an or matériel. And it was sapping the and the team at the Naval Historical
Royal Naval Division
‘THE GREATEST MARTYRDOM’ It is a completely silent,
offensive to achieve the same – and men’s morale. “The troops longed for Branch whose knowledge of the
Rupprecht von Bayern, Kronprinz,
hidden affair in the heart.
perhaps deliver a mortal blow to a war of movement,” he wrote. “The Royal Naval Division is unparalleled,
Mein Kriegstagebuch
The Royal Naval Division’s Battle
Reverence, a melancholy
the foe. Army pined for the offensive.” and to Donald Ligertwood for details Schneider, Benno and Haacke, Ulrich
of Third Ypres was over, but the
mourning, trembling, the
In the end he delivered neither. On November 11, the day after of his great uncle’s deeds. (eds), Das Buch vom Kriege 1914-
Passchendaele mincing machine
chattering of teeth, and a
The amphibious assault on the Douglas Haig brought the curtain The following books have also 1918
ground on for another week or so.
prayer.
Belgian coast and the drive on Bruges down on his offensive in Flanders, been consulted: Schroeder, Joachim, Die U-Boote des
Passchendaele was taken. So too the To General der Infanterie had been abandoned long before the Ludendorff and his commanders met
Kaisers
ridge it sat upon. It cost the Canadian Hermann von Kuhl, Chief-of-Staff of fighting in Flanders ceased. in the Belgian town of Mons. There Beumelberg, Werner, Flandern 1917 Sellers, Leonard, The Hood
Expeditionary Force 16,000 the army group defending Flanders, As for the mortal blow, the they took a fateful decision. They Beumelberg, Werner, Sperrfeuer um Battalion
casualties – exactly as Arthur Currie Passchendaele was “the greatest German lines bent and bowed, but would win the war. They would strike Deutschland Sellers, Leonard, Royal Naval
had predicted. The entire offensive martyrdom of the war”, martyrdom did not break. in the West as soon as possible. Doughty, Robert, Pyrrhic Victory Division, issues 17 and 22
added the names of 245,000 from which inflicted irreparable harm upon Still, John Charteris juggled his Edmonds, James, France and Sheldon, Jack, The German Army at
the Commonwealth armies to the roll the Kaiser’s Army. “The sharp edge figures. It seemed as if the Germans And the beasts in their lair? Well, Belgium 1917, volume 2 Passchendaele
call of dead and wounded. And the of the German sword had become only had 300,000 men left to replace they were still there. Foerster, Wolfgang, Wir Kämpfer im Sparrow, Geoffrey and Ross, J N, On
foe? Best estimates suggest 180,000 jagged.” those lost on the Western Front; the By the autumn of 1917 the Weltkrieg Four Fronts with the Royal Naval
landsers perished or were wounded British Army’s camps would send ‘submarine peril’ had faded. Convoys Haig, Douglas, Diary, held by the Division
during the Flandernschlacht. Having shed so much blood to 637,000 fresh Tommies for the 1918 had starved the U-boats of rich National Archive, Kew Swales, Roy, Nelson at War 1914-
capture Passchendaele ridge and campaign. pickings on the high seas. Hurley, Capt Frank, Diary, held by 1918
Passchendaele, however, cannot the surrounding boggy wasteland, And so, John Charteris decided, But still German submarines and the National Library of Australia Terraine, John, The Road To
be measured in ground gained, or Haig’s headquarters now decided it Passchendaele had been a victory. destroyers sailed with near impunity Jerrold, Douglas, The Royal Naval Passchendaele
even lives lost. Passchendaele cost was terrain “unsuitable” for defence “We have beaten the Germans nearly from their lair in Bruges, through Division Thomas, Lowell, Raiders of the
the soldier, friend and foe alike, his should the Germans attacked in to breaking point,” he wrote in his the canals, into the North Sea via Jerrold, Douglas, The Hawke Deep
soul. strength. diary. Zeebrugge and Ostend. Battalion Wiest, Andrew, Passchendaele and
Twelve months before the German If the land was unsuitable, what “If we keep all our strength in the Douglas Haig had failed to trap Liddle, Peter (ed), Passchendaele in the Royal Navy
Army had struck at Verdun hoping point the battle? Douglas Haig put West we must win next year. If we the beasts in their lair. Perspective Winter, Denis, Haig’s Command
to bleed France white; it had almost it simply: to prevent the French distribute it, we may still be fighting The Navy would do it alone. Marder, Arthur J, From the Wolff, Leon, In Flanders’ Fields
● Dead horses and smashed limbers on the approaches to a German position at Passchendaele
Passchendaele copy.indd 4 20/9/07 10:35:15
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